The Roman Republic
attendtowhatoursourcestellus,thatsomepeoplemadespeechesandother
peoplevoted.
Ontheotherhand,thesheersizeofthecitizenbody,whichinthisperiod
numbered some , to , adult malevoters, and its geographi-
caldistribution,hasitsownrelevancetothequestionofdemocracy.P.A.
Bruntoncewrote(Italian Manpower,):‘‘Thecitizenbodywassonumerous
andsoscatteredthatintheabsenceoftherepresentativeprinciplethedemo-
cratic features which they (Roman political institutions) seem to manifest
were bound to be illusory in practice, and Rome could consequently not
enjoyagenuinelypopulargovernment.’’Therewasindeednonotionofrep-
resentationorlocalballotstations.Thearchaicinstitutionoftheassemblyin
theForum,theCapitol,ortheCampusMartiusremainedtheonlymeansby
whichthecitizencouldrecordhisvote.ButRomancitizensnowoccupied
blocks of territory which stretched north-eastwards to the Adriatic coast
andsouthwardsintoCampania,amaximumdistanceofaboutmilesin
eachdirection;furthermore,innorthernItalyafewRomancitizencolonies
wereestablishedatagreaterdistance—ParmaandMutinain,Lunain.
Distance,socialstatus,andeconomicresourcesmusthaveexertedafunda-
mentalinfluenceindeterminingwhichpersonsoutofthevastnumberwith
theoreticalvotingrightsactuallycametovote.Theconsularandpraetorian
elections,heldtowardstheendofeachyearofoffice(March–March),
wereatleastpredictable,andmorevotersmayhavecomeforthem.Butthe
rulewhichlaiddownpublicationofproposedlawsforthreesuccessivenun-
dinae(eight-dayperiods),whichRutiliusRufus,consulof,wastoem-
phasizeasameansofpublicinformation(Macrobius,Sat.,,),wasitself
aprimitiveinstitution,bestadaptedforpeasantscomingintomarketfrom
afewmilesaroundthecity.
It could not be claimed, therefore, that the system created,oreven al-
lowed,anequalopportunitytovoteforallcitizens.Forcomparison,theciti-
zensoftheAtheniandemocracylivedatamaximumdistanceofsomethirty
milesfromthePnyx,wherealonetheycouldcasttheirvotes.Thistoowill
have meant, for thosewho lived furthest away, a round trip of up to two
days.lnAthenstoo,therefore,distanceandsocialclasswillhaveexercised
aprofoundeffectonwhovoted.Romeshowsthesamepatterninamuch
moreextremeform.
ToPolybiustheRomanvotersweresimply‘‘thepeople’’(ὁδῆμος). It is
perhapsthemostsignificantgapinwhatsurvivesofhisaccountoftheRoman
constitution that he does not describe the system of voting in groups, or
differentiate between centuriate assembly and tribal assembly, or indicate
eitherthestratificationbysocialclassorthesequentialvotingwhichchar-