The Centuriate Assembly (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: ''comitia centuriata'') of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

was one of the three voting assemblies in the

Roman constitution The Roman Constitution was an uncodified set of guidelines and principles passed down mainly through precedent.Byrd, 161 The Roman constitution was not formal or even official, largely unwritten and constantly evolving. Having those characteristic ...

. It was named the Centuriate Assembly as it originally divided Roman citizens into groups of one hundred men by classes. The centuries initially reflected military status, but were later based on the wealth of their members. The centuries gathered into the Centuriate Assembly for legislative, electoral, and judicial purposes. The majority of votes in any century decided how that century voted. Each century received one vote, regardless of how many electors each Century held. Once a majority of centuries voted in the same way on a given measure, the voting ended, and the matter was decided.Taylor, 40 Only the Centuriate Assembly could declare war or elect the highest-ranking Roman magistrates: consuls,

praetors Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected ''magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge variou ...

and

censors Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

.Abbott, 257 The Centuriate Assembly could also pass a law that granted constitutional command authority, or "

Imperium In ancient Rome, ''imperium'' was a form of authority held by a citizen to control a military or governmental entity. It is distinct from '' auctoritas'' and '' potestas'', different and generally inferior types of power in the Roman Republic a ...

", to Consuls and Praetors (the ''lex de imperio'' or "Law on Imperium"), and Censorial powers to Censors (the ''lex de potestate censoria'' or "Law on Censorial Powers").Abbott, 257 In addition, the Centuriate Assembly served as the highest court of appeal in certain judicial cases (in particular, cases involving

perduellio In the early days of Ancient Rome, ''perduellio'' () was the term for the capital offense of high treason, although it was not well defined. The form of action on this charge changed over the course of the Roman republic. The word later became jus ...

), and ratified the results of a Census.Taylor, 3, 4 Since the Romans used a form of direct democracy, citizens, and not elected representatives, voted before each assembly. As such, the citizen-electors had no power, other than the power to cast a vote. Each assembly was presided over by a single Roman Magistrate, and as such, it was the presiding magistrate who made all decisions on matters of procedure and legality. Ultimately, the presiding magistrate's power over the assembly was nearly absolute. The only check on that power came in the form of vetoes handed down by other magistrates. Any decision made by a presiding magistrate could be vetoed by a tribune of the plebs, or by a higher-ranked magistrate (for example, a consul could veto a praetor).

Assembly procedure

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").Lintott, 42 The Centuriate Assembly was a Committee. Committees were assemblies of ''all citizens'',Abbott, 251 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.Abbott, 251 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.Lintott, 42 Private citizens who did not hold political office could only speak before a Convention, and not before a Committee or a Council.Abbott, 252 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.Taylor, 2 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.Lintott, 44 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.Lintott, 44-45 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.Lintott, 44 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.Taylor, 63 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.Taylor, 63 In addition, a preliminary search for omens (''auspices'') was conducted by the presiding magistrate the night before any meeting.Taylor, 7 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 Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum (c. 206 BC – c. 141 BC) 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 cent ...

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. On the day of the vote, the electors first assembled into their ''Conventions'' for debate and campaigning.Taylor, 2 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.Lintott, 45 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.Taylor, 16 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.Lintott, 46 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 areaTaylor, 2 and voted by placing a pebble or written ballot into an appropriate jar.Lintott, 46-47 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.Taylor, 40 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.Lintott, 48 Roman constitution

Presiding magistrate and elections

The presiding magistrate sat on a special chair (the "

curule chair A curule seat is a design of a (usually) foldable and transportable chair noted for its uses in Ancient Rome and Europe through to the 20th century. Its status in early Rome as a symbol of political or military power carried over to other civilizat ...

"), wore a purple-bordered

toga The toga (, ), a distinctive garment of ancient Rome, was a roughly semicircular cloth, between 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 tra ...

, and was accompanied by bodyguards called

lictors A lictor (possibly from la, ligare, "to bind") was a Roman civil servant who was an attendant and bodyguard to a magistrate who held ''imperium''. Lictors are documented since the Roman Kingdom, and may have originated with the Etruscans. Origi ...

. 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 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. ...

''). 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.Taylor, 85 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.

Servian organization (509-241 BC)

The Centuriate Assembly was supposedly founded by the legendary Roman King

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, ...

, 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 The Roman army (Latin: ) was the armed forces deployed by the Romans throughout the duration of Ancient Rome, from the Roman Kingdom (c. 500 BC) to the Roman Republic (500–31 BC) and the Roman Empire (31 BC–395 AD), and its medieval contin ...

was based on units called c enturies, which were comparable to

Companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared go ...

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).Taylor, 85 The officer class was grouped into eighteen centuries, six of which (the ''sex suffragia'') were composed exclusively of

Patricians The patricians (from la, patricius, Greek: πατρίκιος) 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 ...

.Taylor, 85 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").Taylor, 86 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 Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

, 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.Taylor, 87 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.Abbott, 21 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,Tim Cornell, ''The beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000 – 264 BC)'', Routledge, 1995, p. 196. 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.

Reorganization (241 BC- 27 BC)

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 Marcus Fabius Buteo (died around 210-209 BC) 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 f ...

and Gaius Aurelius Cotta, in order to give more weight to the lower ranking centuries, and thus make the assembly less aristocratic.Abbott, 75 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:Abbott, 74 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.Abbott, 75 Now, majorities usually could not be reached until the third class of enlisted centuries had begun voting. 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.Taylor, 86 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 A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship a ...

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

and Gaius Aurelius Cotta).

References

* Abbott, Frank Frost (1901). ''A History and Description of Roman Political Institutions''. Elibron Classics (). * Byrd, Robert (1995). ''The Senate of the Roman Republic''. U.S. Government Printing Office, Senate Document 103-23. * Cicero, Marcus Tullius (1841). ''The Political Works of Marcus Tullius Cicero: Comprising his Treatise on the Commonwealth; and his Treatise on the Laws. Translated from the original, with Dissertations and Notes in Two Volumes''. By Francis Barham, Esq. London: Edmund Spettigue. Vol. 1. * Lintott, Andrew (1999). ''The Constitution of the Roman Republic''. Oxford University Press (). * Polybius (1823). ''The General History of Polybius: Translated from the Greek''. By James Hampton. Oxford: Printed by W. Baxter. Fifth Edition, Vol 2. * Taylor, Lily Ross (1966). ''Roman Voting Assemblies: From the Hannibalic War to the Dictatorship of Caesar''. The University of Michigan Press ().

Assembly procedure

Presiding magistrate and elections

Servian organization (509-241 BC)

Reorganization (241 BC- 27 BC)

See also

References

Notes

Further reading

Primary sources

Secondary source material