Centuriate Assembly

In the Roman system of direct democracy, two primary types of assembly were used to vote on legislative, electoral, and judicial matters. The first was the committee (comitia, literally "going together" or "meeting place").^[4] The Centuriate Assembly was a Committee. Committees were assemblies of all citizens,^[5] and were used for official purposes, such as for the enactment of laws. Acts of a Committee applied to all of the members of that Committee. The second type of assembly was the council (concilium), which was a forum where specific groups of citizens met for official purposes.^[5] In contrast, the Convention (conventio, literally "coming together") was an unofficial forum for communication. Conventions were simply forums where Romans met for specific unofficial purposes, such as, for example, to hear a political speech.^[4] Private citizens who did not hold political office could only speak before a Convention, and not before a Committee or a Council.^[6] Conventions were simply meetings, and no legal or legislative decisions could be made in one. Voters always assembled first into Conventions to hear debates and conduct other business before voting, and then into Committees or Councils to actually vote.^[7]

A notice always had to be given several days before the assembly was to actually vote. For elections, at least three market-days (often more than seventeen actual days) had to pass between the announcement of the election, and the actual election. During this time period (the trinundinum), the candidates interacted with the electorate, and no legislation could be proposed or voted upon. In 98 BC, a law was passed (the lex Caecilia Didia) which required a similar three market-day interval to pass between the proposal of a law and the vote on that law.^[8] During criminal trials, the assembly's presiding magistrate had to give a notice (diem dicere) to the accused person on the first day of the investigation (anquisito). At the end of each day, the magistrate had to give another notice to the accused person (diem prodicere), which informed him of the status of the investigation. After the investigation was complete, a three market-day interval had to elapse before a final vote could be taken with respect to conviction or acquittal.^[9]

Only one assembly could operate at any given point in time, and any session already underway could be dissolved if a magistrate "called away" (avocare) the electors.^[8] In addition to the presiding magistrate, several additional magistrates were often present to act as assistants. They were available to help resolve procedural disputes, and to provide a mechanism through which electors could appeal decisions of the presiding magistrate.^[10] There were also religious officials (known as Augurs) either in attendance or on-call, who would be available to help interpret any signs from the Gods (omens), since the Romans believed that their gods let their approval or disapproval with proposed actions be known.^[10] In addition, a preliminary search for omens (auspices) was conducted by the presiding magistrate the night before any meeting.^[11] On several known occasions, presiding magistrates used the claim of unfavorable omens as an excuse to suspend a session that was not going the way they wanted. In 162, the presiding magistrate, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, even cancelled the elections of the consuls Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum and Gaius Marcius Figulus because he found he had not conducted the auspices correctly; the consuls were forced to resign and new elections were organised.^[12][13]

On the day of the vote, the electors first assembled into their Conventions for debate and campaigning.^[7] In the Conventions, the electors were not sorted into their respective centuries. Speeches from private citizens were only heard if the issue to be voted upon was a legislative or judicial matter, and even then, only if the citizen received permission from the presiding magistrate.^[14] If the purpose of the ultimate vote was for an election, no speeches from private citizens were heard, and instead, the candidates for office used the convention to campaign.^[15] During the convention, the bill to be voted upon was read to the assembly by an officer known as a "Herald". A tribune of the plebs could use his veto against pending legislation up until this point, but not after.^[16]

The electors were then told to break up the convention ("depart to your separate groups", or discedite, quirites), and assemble into their formal century. The electors assembled behind a fenced off area^[7] and voted by placing a pebble or written ballot into an appropriate jar.^[17] The baskets (cistae) that held the votes were watched by specific officers (the custodes), who then counted the ballots, and reported the results to the presiding magistrate. The majority of votes in any century decided how that century voted.^[1] If the process was not complete by nightfall, the electors were dismissed without having reached a decision, and the process had to begin again the next day.^[18]

Chart Showing the Checks and Balances of the Constitution of the Roman Republic

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Direct democracy

Direct democracy

Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the electorate decides on policy initiatives without elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently established democracies, which are representative democracies. The theory and practice of direct democracy and participation as its common characteristic was the core of work of many theorists, philosophers, politicians, and social critics, among whom the most important are Jean Jacques Rousseau, John Stuart Mill, and G.D.H. Cole.

Augur

Augur

An augur was a priest and official in the classical Roman world. His main role was the practice of augury, the interpretation of the will of the gods by studying events he observed within a predetermined sacred space (templum). The templum corresponded to the heavenly space above. The augur's decisions were based on what he personally saw or heard from within the templum; they included thunder, lightning and any accidental signs such as falling objects, but in particular, birdsigns; whether the birds he saw flew in groups or alone, what noises they made as they flew, the direction of flight, what kind of birds they were, how many there were, or how they fed. This practice was known as "taking the auspices". As circumstance did not always favour the convenient appearance of wild birds or weather phenomena, domesticated chickens kept for the purpose were sometimes released into the templum, where their behaviour, particularly how they fed, could be studied by the augur.

Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus (consul 177 BC)

Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus (consul 177 BC)

Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus was a Roman politician and general of the 2nd century BC. He served two consulships, one in 177 and one 163 BC, and was awarded two triumphs. He was also the father of the two famous Gracchi brothers: Tiberius and Gaius.

Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum

Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum

Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum was a politician of the Roman Republic. Born into the illustrious family of the Cornelii Scipiones, he was one of the most important Roman statesmen of the second century BC, being consul two times in 162 and 155 BC, censor in 159 BC, pontifex maximus in 150 BC, and finally princeps senatus in 147 BC.

Gaius Marcius Figulus (consul 162 BC)

Gaius Marcius Figulus (consul 162 BC)

Gaius Marcius Figulus was a politician of the Roman Republic who served as praetor in 169 BC, Roman consul in 162 BC, and again as consul in 156 BC. Upon being elected to the praetorship in 169 BC, Figulus received command of the Roman fleets by lot. Later that year, he transported the consul, Quintus Marcius Philippus, to Ambracia so that he could assume command of Roman forces fighting the Third Macedonian War. Figulus himself sailed on to Creusa, then crossed Boeotia by land in a single day to join the rest of the fleet at Chalcis. The only other mention Livy makes of Figulus is a reference to his having assigned part of the fleet to winter quarters at Sciathus, and the remainder at Oreum, in Euboea, which he judged the best location to maintain supply lines to the army in Macedon.

Constitution of the Roman Republic

Constitution of the Roman Republic

The constitution of the Roman Republic was a set of uncodified norms and customs which, together with various written laws, guided the procedural governance of the Roman Republic. The constitution emerged from that of the Roman kingdom, evolved substantively and significantly—almost to the point of unrecognisability—over the almost five hundred years of the republic. The collapse of republican government and norms from 133 BC would lead to the rise of Augustus and his principate.

The presiding magistrate sat on a special chair (the "curule chair"), wore a purple-bordered toga, and was accompanied by bodyguards called lictors. Each lictor carried the symbol of state power, the fasces, which was a bundle of white birch rods, tied together with a red leather ribbon into a cylinder, and with a blade on the side, projecting from the bundle. While the voters in this assembly wore white undecorated togas and were unarmed, they were still soldiers, and as such they could not meet inside of the physical boundary of the city of Rome (the pomerium). Because of this, as well as the large size of the assembly (as many as 373 centuries), the assembly often met on the Field of Mars (Latin: Campus Martius), which was a large field located right outside of the city wall.^[19] The president of the Centuriate Assembly was usually a Consul (although sometimes a Praetor). Only Consuls (the highest-ranking of all Roman Magistrates) could preside over the Centuriate Assembly during elections because the higher-ranking Consuls were always elected together with the lower-ranking Praetors. Consuls and Praetors were usually elected in July, and took office in January. Two Consuls, and at least six Praetors, were elected each year for an annual term that began in January and ended in December. In contrast, two Censors were elected every five years on average. Once every five years, after the new Consuls for the year took office, they presided over the Centuriate Assembly as it elected the two Censors.

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Toga

Toga

The toga, a distinctive garment of ancient Rome, was a roughly semicircular cloth, between 12 and 20 feet in length, draped over the shoulders and around the body. It was usually woven from white wool, and was worn over a tunic. In Roman historical tradition, it is said to have been the favored dress of Romulus, Rome's founder; it was also thought to have originally been worn by both sexes, and by the citizen-military. As Roman women gradually adopted the stola, the toga was recognized as formal wear for male Roman citizens. Women found guilty of adultery and women engaged in prostitution might have provided the main exceptions to this rule.

Fasces

Fasces

Fasces is a bound bundle of wooden rods, sometimes including an axe with its blade emerging. The fasces is an Italian symbol that had its origin in the Etruscan civilization and was passed on to ancient Rome, where it symbolized a magistrate's power and jurisdiction. The axe, originally associated with the labrys the double-bitted axe, originally from Crete, is one of the oldest symbols of Greek civilization. To the Romans, it was known as a bipennis.

Pomerium

Pomerium

The pomerium or pomoerium was a religious boundary around the city of Rome and cities controlled by Rome. In legal terms, Rome existed only within its pomerium; everything beyond it was simply territory (ager) belonging to Rome.

Campus Martius

Campus Martius

The Campus Martius was a publicly owned area of ancient Rome about 2 square kilometres in extent. In the Middle Ages, it was the most populous area of Rome. The IV rione of Rome, Campo Marzio, which covers a smaller section of the original area, bears the same name.

The Centuriate Assembly was supposedly founded by the legendary Roman King Servius Tullius, less than a century before the founding of the Roman Republic in 509 BC. As such, the original design of the Centuriate Assembly was known as the "Servian organization". Under this organization, the assembly was supposedly designed to mirror the Roman army during the time of the Roman Kingdom, with a division such that the citizen-soldiers had the responsibility of electing the consuls and praetors, and therefore, their leaders. The Roman army was based on units called centuries, which were comparable to Companies in a modern army. While Centuries in the Roman army always consisted of about one hundred soldiers, Centuries in the Centuriate Assembly usually did not. This was because the property qualifications for membership in a voting century did not change over time, as property qualifications for membership in a military century did.

Soldiers in the Roman army were classified on the basis of the amount of property that they owned, and as such, soldiers with more property outranked soldiers with less property. Since the wealthy soldiers were divided into more centuries in the early Roman army, with a greater military burden, the wealthy soldiers were also divided into more centuries in the Centuriate Assembly. Thus, the wealthy soldiers, who were fewer in number and had more to lose, had a greater overall influence.

The 193 centuries in the assembly under the Servian Organization were each divided into one of three different grades: the officer class (the cavalry or equites), the enlisted class (infantry or pedites) and the miscellaneous class (mostly unarmed adjuncts).^[19] The officer class was grouped into eighteen centuries, six of which (the sex suffragia) were composed exclusively of Patricians.^[19] The enlisted class was grouped into 170 centuries. Most enlisted individuals (those aged seventeen to forty-six) were grouped into eighty-five centuries of "junior soldiers" (iuniores or "young men"). The relatively limited number of enlisted soldiers who were aged forty-six to sixty were grouped into eighty-five centuries of "senior soldiers" (seniores or "old men").^[20] The result of this arrangement was that the votes of the older soldiers carried more weight than did the votes of the numerically greater younger soldiers. According to Cicero, the Consul of 63 BC, this design was intentional so that the decisions of the assembly were more in line with the will of the more experienced soldiers who arguably had more to lose. The 170 centuries of enlisted soldiers were divided into five classes, each with a separate property requirement: The first class consisted of soldiers with heavy armor, the lower classes had successively less armor, and the soldiers of the fifth class had nothing more than slings and stones. Each of the five property classes were divided equally between centuries of younger soldiers and centuries of older soldiers. The first class of enlisted soldiers consisted of eighty centuries, classes two through four consisted of twenty centuries each, and class five consisted of thirty centuries.^[21] The unarmed soldiers were divided into the final five centuries: four of these centuries were composed of artisans and musicians (such as trumpeters and horn blowers), while the fifth century (the proletarii) consisted of people with little or no property.^[22]

During a vote, all of the centuries of one class had to vote before the centuries of the next lower class could vote. The seven classes voted in a specific order: The first enlisted class voted first,^[23] followed by the officer class (with the six patrician equestrian centuries voting first among them), then the second enlisted class, then the third enlisted class, then the fourth enlisted class, then the fifth enlisted class, and then finally the unarmed centuries. When a measure received a simple majority of the vote, the voting ended, and as such, many lower ranking centuries rarely if ever had a chance to actually vote.

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Servian constitution

Servian constitution

The Servian constitution was one of the earliest forms of military and political organization used during The Roman Republic. Most of the reforms extended voting rights to certain groups, in particular to Rome's citizen-commoners who were minor landholders or otherwise landless citizens hitherto disqualified from voting by ancestry, status or ethnicity, as distinguished from the hereditary patricians. The reforms thus redefined the fiscal and military obligations of all Roman citizens. The constitution introduced two elements into the Roman system of government: a census of every male citizen, in order to establish his wealth, tax liabilities, military obligation, and the weight of his vote; and the comitia centuriata, an assembly with electoral, legislative and judicial powers. Both institutions were foundational for Roman republicanism.

Servius Tullius

Servius Tullius

Servius Tullius was the legendary sixth king of Rome, and the second of its Etruscan dynasty. He reigned from 578 to 535 BC. Roman and Greek sources describe his servile origins and later marriage to a daughter of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, Rome's first Etruscan king, who was assassinated in 579 BC. The constitutional basis for his accession is unclear; he is variously described as the first Roman king to accede without election by the Senate, having gained the throne by popular and royal support; and as the first to be elected by the Senate alone, with support of the reigning queen but without recourse to a popular vote.

Roman Kingdom

Roman Kingdom

The Roman Kingdom was the earliest period of Roman history when the city and its territory were ruled by kings. According to oral accounts, the Roman Kingdom began with the city's founding c. 753 BC, with settlements around the Palatine Hill along the river Tiber in central Italy, and ended with the overthrow of the kings and the establishment of the Republic c. 509 BC.

Roman army

Roman army

The Roman army was the armed forces deployed by the Romans throughout the duration of Ancient Rome, from the Roman Kingdom to the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, and its medieval continuation, the Eastern Roman Empire. It is thus a term that may span approximately 2,205 years, during which the Roman armed forces underwent numerous permutations in size, composition, organisation, equipment and tactics, while conserving a core of lasting traditions.

Centuria

Centuria

Centuria is a Latin term denoting military units originally consisting of 100 men. The size of the century changed over time, and from the first century BC through most of the imperial era the standard size of a centuria was 80 men.

Company (military unit)

Company (military unit)

A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 100-250 soldiers and usually commanded by a major or a captain. Most companies are formed of three to seven platoons, although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and structure.

Patrician (ancient Rome)

Patrician (ancient Rome)

The patricians were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the Roman Kingdom, and the early Republic, but its relevance waned after the Conflict of the Orders. By the time of the late Republic and Empire, membership in the patriciate was of only nominal significance.

Cicero

Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire. His extensive writings include treatises on rhetoric, philosophy and politics. He is considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the Roman equestrian order, and served as consul in 63 BC.

Majority

Majority

A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from related terms, is more than half of the total. It is a subset of a set consisting of more than half of the set's elements. For example, if a group consists of 20 individuals, a majority would be 11 or more individuals, while having 10 or fewer individuals would not constitute a majority. "Majority" can be used to specify the voting requirement, as in a "majority vote", which means more than half of the votes cast.

Under the Servian Organization, the assembly was so aristocratic that the officer class and the first class of enlisted soldiers controlled enough centuries for an outright majority. In 241 BC, this assembly was reorganized by the Censors Marcus Fabius Buteo and Gaius Aurelius Cotta, in order to give more weight to the lower ranking centuries, and thus make the assembly less aristocratic.^[24] Under the old system, there were a total of 193 centuries, while under the new system, there were a total of 373 centuries. Under the new system, the thirty-five Tribes were each divided into ten centuries:^[25] five of older soldiers, and five of younger soldiers. Of each of these five centuries, one was assigned to one of the five property classes. Therefore, each Tribe had two centuries (one of older soldiers and one of younger soldiers) allocated to each of the five property classes. In addition, the property requirements for each of the five classes were probably raised. In total, this resulted in 350 centuries of enlisted soldiers. The same eighteen centuries of officers, and the same five centuries of unarmed soldiers, were also included in the redesign.^[24] Now, majorities usually could not be reached until the third class of enlisted centuries had begun voting.

Sulla, who attempted to change the power of the Assemblies

Since the lowest ranking century in the Centuriate Assembly, the fifth unarmed century (the proletarii), was always the last century to vote, it never had any real influence on elections, and as such, it was so poorly regarded that it was all but ignored during the Census. In 107 BC, in response to high unemployment and a severe manpower shortage in the army, the general and Consul Gaius Marius reformed the organization of the army, and allowed individuals with no property to enlist. As a consequence of these reforms, this fifth unarmed century came to encompass almost the entire Roman army.^[20] This mass disenfranchisement of most of the soldiers in the army played an important role in the chaos that led to the fall of the Roman Republic in 27 BC.

During his dictatorship from 82 BC until 80 BC, Lucius Cornelius Sulla restored the old Servian organization to this assembly. This reform was one in a slate of constitutional reforms enacted by Sulla as a consequence of the recent Civil War between his supporters and those of the former Consul Gaius Marius. His reforms were intended to reassert aristocratic control over the constitution, and thus prevent the emergence of another Marius. Sulla died in 78 BC, and in 70 BC, the Consuls Pompey Magnus and Marcus Licinius Crassus repealed Sulla's constitutional reforms, including his restoration of the Servian organization to this assembly. They restored the less aristocratic organization (from 241 BC by the Censors Marcus Fabius Buteo and Gaius Aurelius Cotta). The organization of the Centuriate Assembly was not changed again until its powers were all transferred to the Roman Senate by the first Roman Emperor, Augustus, after the fall of the Roman Republic in 27 BC.

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Marcus Fabius Buteo

Marcus Fabius Buteo

Marcus Fabius Buteo was a Roman politician during the 3rd century BC. He served as consul and as censor, and in 216 BC, being the oldest living ex-censor, he was appointed dictator, legendo senatui, for the purpose of filling vacancies in the senate after the Battle of Cannae. He was appointed by the consul Varro, and, with M. Junius Pera, he was the only dictator to serve a simultaneous term with another. He resigned from the post immediately after he revised the censors' lists and enrolled the new Senate members.

Gaius Marius

Gaius Marius

Gaius Marius was a Roman general and statesman. Victor of the Cimbric and Jugurthine wars, he held the office of consul an unprecedented seven times. He was also noted for his important reforms of Roman armies. He set the precedent for the shift from the militia levies of the middle Republic to the professional soldiery of the late Republic; he also improved the pilum, a javelin, and made large-scale changes to the logistical structure of the Roman army.

Marian reforms

Marian reforms

The Marian reforms were reforms of the ancient Roman army implemented in 107 BC by the statesman Gaius Marius, for whom they were later named. The reforms originated as a reaction to the military and logistical stagnation of the Roman Republic in the late 2nd century BC. Centuries of military campaigning throughout the Mediterranean and increasing invasions and uprisings across Roman territory had stretched the human and physical resources of the Roman army.

Pompey

Pompey

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of Rome from republic to empire. Early in his career, he was a partisan and protégé of the Roman general and dictator Sulla; later, he became the political ally, and finally the enemy, of Julius Caesar.

Marcus Licinius Crassus

Marcus Licinius Crassus

Marcus Licinius Crassus was a Roman general and statesman who played a key role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. He is often called "the richest man in Rome."

Roman Senate

Roman Senate

The Roman Senate was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome. It survived the overthrow of the Roman monarchy in 509 BC; the fall of the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC; the division of the Roman Empire in AD 395; and the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476; Justinian's attempted reconquest of the west in the 6th century, and lasted well into the Eastern Roman Empire's history.

Augustus

Augustus

Caesar Augustus, also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Principate, which is the first phase of the Roman Empire, and is considered one of the greatest leaders in human history. The reign of Augustus initiated an imperial cult as well as an era associated with imperial peace, the Pax Romana or Pax Augusta. The Roman world was largely free from large-scale conflict for more than two centuries despite continuous wars of imperial expansion on the empire's frontiers and the year-long civil war known as the "Year of the Four Emperors" over the imperial succession.