the Comitia Plebis Tributa was called together by the ten Tri-
buni Plebis, the Comitia Populi Tributa was convened by the
offi cials called consuls or praetors. Th is body could pass laws
and elect other government offi cials—quaestors, curule ae-
diles, and military tribunes. It could also conduct trials for
cases less serious than treason or homicide.
Th e Comitia Centuriata also included all Roman citi-
zens. Th is assembly could enact laws, but it met only infre-
quently and so rarely did any legislating. Th is body elected
the most important magistrates: the consuls, the praetors,
and the censors. It also conducted important trials, for cases
of treason or murder or in cases where a Roman citizen had
been sentenced to death by another court but exercised his
right of appeal. Because the issues brought before the Comitia
Centuriata were so important, it was required to hold several
formal discussion periods before actually voting on matters.
Th e way the Comitia Centuriata voted explicitly favored
the rich citizens. Th e Roman citizen body was divided into
193 “centuries” (divisions that, despite their name, had many
more than 100 members), and these centuries were divided
across fi ve property classes. Th e top property class had the
most centuries assigned to it, and each of those centuries in-
cluded very few Romans citizens. Each lower property class
included fewer centuries, and each century included more
citizens, so most citizens were packed into a small number
of centuries in the fi ft h property class. Voting in the Comitia
Centuriata proceeded by class, with the centuries in the top
class voting fi rst. In this way, a small number of very wealthy
Romans could almost always determine the outcome of vot-
ing on the important laws and offi ces that were the concern
of this assembly.
REPUBLICAN MAGISTRATES
Every year Rome held elections to choose new offi cials, or
magistrates. Th ese public offi ces served a dual purpose; they
provided Rome with people to run its aff airs, and they gave
ambitious men a means of ascending the political ladder. All
magistrates except the Tribuni Militum (Tribunes of the Sol-
diers) were members of the Senate.
Th e lowest offi c e w a s t h at of Tr i bu nu s M i l it u m. Th is offi ce
was held by 12 young men in their late 20s. Th ey were respon-
sible for managing the legions of soldiers under the command
of the two consuls. Next were quaestors. Between 12 and 16
men held this offi ce every year. Th ey handled Rome’s fi nan-
cial matters: collecting customs or duties at ports, collecting
rent for Rome’s public lands, running the city’s treasury, or
helping a provincial governor administrate his province. Tra-
ditionally, a man tried to get elected quaestor at the age of 30,
which was also the proper age for entering the Senate. Some
quaestors were already senators when they were elected, and
the censors usually admitted to the Senate any quaestor who
did not already belong.
Aediles handled public matters. Originally, the aediles
were assistants to the Tribuni Plebis and were mainly respon-
sible for taking care of certain temples. In the fourth century
b.c.e., however, the Romans added two new offi ces, the curule
aediles, held by patricians. Th ese were called curule because
these two aediles were entitled to sit in the chair of offi ce, the
sella curulis. Aft er this period all the aediles, both the curule
aediles and the plebeian aediles, were responsible for taking
care of the city of Rome and its inhabitants. Th ey cared for
Rome’s streets, traffi c, water supply, and markets and orga-
nized religious festivals and cult observances. Curule aediles
were also responsible for organizing the public games called
the ludi Romani. Th ese games were very expensive, and aedi-
les oft en had to pay many of the costs themselves. Th ey were
willing to do this because it helped them get elected to fur-
ther offi ces. Four aediles were chosen each year, two plebeian
aediles elected from the plebeian class by the Comitia Plebis
Tributa and two curule aediles elected from the patricians by
the Comitia Populi Tributa.
Praetors held the second-highest offi ce in Rome (not
counting censors). Six to eight praetors were elected ev-
ery year. Praetors were in charge of litigation and courts of
law. Th e urban praetor (praetor urbanus) handled litigation
within Rome. Th e foreign praetor (praetor peregrinus) trav-
eled around Italy performing the same role. Th e other prae-
tors took care of legal matters in the provinces. Th e normal
age for serving as praetor was 39 or 40. Praetors held impe-
rium, which gave them the right to execute Rome’s laws and to
command an army. Normally, aft er serving a year as praetor,
a man would be sent off by the Senate to govern a province.
Consuls were the highest-ranking magistrates in Rome.
Th ey also held imperium. Th e Comitia Centuriata elected
two consuls every year, and they took their oath of offi ce on
New Year’s Day. Th e consuls served together and alternated
months in which they would run Rome, convening the Co-
mitia Centuriata and bringing laws before it and speaking
fi rst at meetings of the Senate. Consuls could command any
of Rome’s armies and hold power in any part of Rome’s terri-
tory. Th e normal age to be elected to the consulship was 42,
two years aft er being elected quaestor. Aft er a year as consul,
Romans expected to be sent by the Senate to govern a prov-
ince. Th e Senate generally gave consuls one of the provinces
that required military authority for its governance. Former
consuls were known as consulares and were held in high es-
teem, having navigated to the top of the political system.
Censors were the most senior magistrates, though they
had less power than consuls because they lacked imperium.
Only men who had already been consul could become cen-
sors. Th e Comitia Centuriata elected two censors at a time,
each serving fi ve-year terms. Th ey conducted a census of all
Roman citizens, regulated the memberships of the various
bodies such as the Senate, and issued state contracts. Because
censors had the right to deprive men of their citizenship and
deprive Senators of their (otherwise lifetime) offi ce, the offi ce
was both respected and feared, and candidates for the censor-
ship were held to very high standards.
Th e Tribuni Plebis, those magistrates charged with call-
ing together the Comitia Plebis Tributa, were magistrates532 government organization: Rome