Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, Book XV, XXVII

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XXVII

[27arg] The meaning of comitia calata, curiata, centsriata, and tribulta, and of concilium, and other related matters of the same kind.

IN the first book of the work of Laelius Felix addressed To Quintus Mucius it is said ¹ that Labeo wrote ² that the comitia calata, or “convoked assembly,” was held on behalf of the college of pontiffs for the purpose of installing the king ³ or the flames. Of these assemblies some were those “of the curies”, others those “of the centuries”; the former were called together (calari being used in the sense of “convoke”) by the curiate lictor, the latter by a horn blower.

[p. 119] In that same assembly, which we have said was called calata, or “convoked,” wills were customarily made and sacrifices annulled. For we learn that there were three kinds of wills: one which was made in the “convoked assembly” before the collected people, a second on the battle-field, ⁴ when the men were called into line for the purpose of fighting, a third the symbolic sale of a householder's property by means of the coin and balance. ⁵

In the same book of Laelius Felix this is written: “One who orders a part of the people to assemble, but not all the people, ought to announce a council rather than an assembly. Moreover, tribunes do not summon the patricians, nor may they refer any question to them. Therefore bills which are passed on the initiative of the tribunes of the commons are properly called plebiscita, or 'decrees of the commons,' rather than 'laws.' In former times the patricians were not bound by such decrees until the dictator Quintus Hortensius passed a law, providing that all the Quirites should be bound by whatever enactment the commons should pass.” ⁶ It is also written in the same book: “When voting is done according to families of men, ⁷ the assembly is called 'curiate'; when it is according to property and age, ' centuriate'; when according to regions and localities, 'tribal.' Further it impious for the assembly of the centuries to be held within the pomerium, because the army must be summoned outside of the city, and it is not lawful for it to be summoned within the city. Therefore it was customary for the [p. 121] assembly of the centuries to be held in the field of Mars, and the army to be summoned there for purposes of defence while the people were busy casting their votes.”

1 Frag. I ff., i. p. 70, Bremer.

2 Frag. 22, Huschke; inc. 187, Bremer.

3 That is, the rex sacrorum; see note on x. 15. 21.

4 See Mommsen, Staatsr. iii, p. 307, n. 2.

5 See note on xv. 13. 11.

6 In 287 B.C.

7 The comitia curiata were organized on the basis of the thirty curiae of the three original Roman tribes. These curiae included the patrician gentes, which, before the time of the military assembly (comitia centuriata) attributed to Servius Tullius, alone had the full rights of citizenship.

The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius. With An English Translation. John C. Rolfe. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1927.

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Cross-references to this page (19):
- Harper's, Publiliae Leges
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), ADOP´TIO
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), AUGUR
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), COMIT´IA
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), FLAMEN
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), INAUGURA´TIO
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), LEX
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), MANCI´PIUM
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), PO´NTIFEX
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), PO´PULUS
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), REGIFU´GIUM
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), REX
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), REX SACRO´RUM
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), TESTAMENTUM
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), TRIBUS
- Smith's Bio, Felix, Lae'lius
- Smith's Bio, Gaius
- Smith's Bio, La'beo, Corne'lius
- Smith's Bio, Scae'vola, Mu'cius
Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (2):
- Lewis & Short, călo
- Lewis & Short, exercĭtus

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Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights
John C. Rolfe, Ed.

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XXVII

Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights John C. Rolfe, Ed.

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XXVII

Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights
John C. Rolfe, Ed.