History of Julius Caesar Vol. 1 of 2

“Populus curiatis eum (Numam) comitiis regem esse jusserat. Tullum Hostilium populus regem, interrege rogante, comitiis curiatis creavit. Servius, Tarquinio sepulto, populum de se ipse consuluit jussusque regnare legem de imperio suo curiatam tulit.” (Cicero, De Republica, II. 13-21.)

27

“The predecessors of Servius Tullius brought all causes before their tribunal, and pronounced judgment themselves in all disputes which regarded the State or individuals. He separated these two things, and, reserving to himself the cognizance of affairs which concerned the State, abandoned to other judges the causes of individuals, with injunctions, nevertheless, to regulate their judgments according to the laws which he had passed.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 25.)

28

“The consuls, like the ancient kings, have twelve lictors carrying axes and twelve lictors carrying rods.” (Appian, Syrian Wars, 15.)

29

“From that time Tarquinius Superbus carried, during the rest of his life, a crown of gold, a toga of embroidered purple, and a sceptre of ivory, and his throne was also of ivory; when he administered justice, or walked abroad in the town, he was preceded by twelve lictors, who carried axes surrounded with rods. (Dionysius overlooks the twelve other lictors who carried rods only.) After the kings had been expelled from Rome, the annual consuls continued to use all these insignia, except the crown and the robe with purple embroidery. These two only were withdrawn, because they were odious and disagreeable to the people. But even these were not entirely abolished, since they still used ornaments of gold and dress of embroidered purple, when, after a victory, the Senate decreed them the honours of the triumph.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, III. 62.)

30

“The soldiers of Romulus, to the number of three thousand, were divided into three bodies, called ‘tribes.’” (Dio Cassius, Fragm., XIV., edit. Gros. – Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 7. – Plutarch, Romulus, 25.) – “The name of tribune of the soldiers is derived from the circumstance that the three tribes of the Ramnes, the Luceres, and the Tatiens each sent three to the army.” (Varro, De Lingua Latina, V. § 81, p. 32, edit. O. Müller.)

31

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 35. Attempts have been made to explain in different ways the origin of the word curia. Some have derived it from the word curare, or from the name of the town of Cures, or from κὑριος, “a lord:” it seems more natural to trace it to quiris (curis), which had the signification of a lance (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 48. – Plutarch, Romulus, for thus we obtain a term analogous with that of the Middle Ages, where spear signified a man-at-arms, accompanied by six or eight armed followers. And as the principal aim of the formation of the curia was to furnish a certain number of armed citizens, it is possible that they may have given to the whole the name of a part. We read in Ovid, Fasti, II. lines 477-480: —

“Sive quod hasta curis priscis est dicta Sabinis,
Bellicus a telo venit in astra deus:
Sive suo regi nomen posuere Quirites,
Seu quis Romanis junxerat ille Cures.”

32

Titus Livius, 1. 43.

33

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 14, and IV. 20.

34

“The appeal to the people existed even under the kings, as the books of the pontiffs show.” (Cicero, De Republica, II. 31.)

35

Plutarch, Numa, 17. – Pliny, Natural History, XXXIV. 1.

36

“Servius Tullius conformed no longer as aforetime to the ancient order of three tribes, distinguished by origin, but to the four new tribes which he had established by quarters.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 14.)

37

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, III. 61. – Titus Livius, I. 35.

38

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 22.

39

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 19. “Servius Tullius, by these means, threw back upon the richest all the costs and dangers of war.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 20.)

40

“If Numa was the legislator of the religious institutions, posterity proclaims Servius as the founder of the order which distinguishes in the Republic the difference of rank, dignity, and fortune. It was he who established the census, the most salutary of all institutions for a people destined to so much greatness. Fortunes, and not individuals, were called upon to support the burdens of the State. The census established the classes, the centuries, and that order which constitutes the ornament of Rome during peace and its strength daring war.” (Titus Livius, I. 42.)

41

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 16.

42

“When Servius Tullius had completed the taking of the census, he ordered all the citizens to assemble in arms in the greatest of the fields situated near the town, and, having arranged the horsemen in squadrons, the footmen in phalanx, and the light-armed men in respective orders, he submitted them to a lustration, by the immolation of a bull, a ram, and a he-goat. He ordered that the victims should be led thrice round about the army, after which he sacrificed to Mars, to whom this field was dedicated. From that epoch to the present time the Romans have continued to have the same ceremony performed, by the most holy of magistracies, at the completion of each census; it is what they call a lustrum. The total number of all the Romans enumerated, according to the writing of the tables of the census, gave 300 men less than 85,000.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 22.)

43

“This good order of government (under Servius Tullius) was sustained among the Romans during several centuries, but in our days it has been changed, and, by force of circumstances, has given place to a more democratic system. It is not that the centuries have been abolished, but the voters were no longer called together with the ancient regularity, and their judgments have no longer the same equity, as I have observed in my frequent attendance at the comitia.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 21.)

44

“The poorest citizens, in spite of their great number, were the last to give their vote, and made but one century.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 21.)

45

Titus Livius, I. 43.

46

“From the age of seventeen years, they were called to be soldiers. Youth began with that age, and continued to the age of forty-six. At that date old age began.” (Aulus Gellius, X. 28. – Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 16.)

47

Titus Livius speaks only of a hundred and ninety-two centuries; Dionysius of Halicarnassus reckons a hundred and ninety-three. “In the Roman plebs, the poorest citizens, those who reported to the census not more than fifteen hundred ases, were called proletarii; those who were not worth more than three hundred and seventy-five ases, and who thus possessed hardly anything, were called capite censi. Now, the fortune and patrimony of the citizen being for the State a sort of guarantee, the pledge and foundation of his love for his country, the men of the two last classes were only enrolled in case of extreme danger. Yet the position of the proletarii was a little more honourable than that of the capite censi; in times of difficulty, when there was want of young men, they were incorporated in the hastily-formed militia, and equipped at the cost of the State; their name contained no allusion to the mere poll-tax to which they were subjected; less humiliating, it reminded one only of their destination to give children to their country. The scantiness of their patrimony preventing them from contributing to the aid of the State, they at least contributed to the population of the city.” (Aulus Gellius, XVI. 10.)

48

“Tarquinius Priscus afterwards gave to the knights the organisation which they have preserved to the present time.” (Cicero, De Republica, II. 20.)

49

“It is said that the number of citizens inscribed under this title was 80,000. Fabius Pictor, the most ancient of our historians, adds that this number only includes the citizens in condition to bear arms.” (Titus Livius, I. 44.)