Page:A General Sketch of Political History from the Earlist Times.djvu/92

 8o THE GLORY OF GREECE AND RISE OF ROME to Italy ; but he attempted an operation against the Romans for which the Phalanx was not adapted. Being unable to retain its rigid formation it was thrown into confusion, and being once penetrated became practically helpless. The defeat decided him to retire from Italy altogether. The complete subjection of Southern Italy by the Romans was the immediate conse- quence of his departure. Now that we have reached the point when Rome was practically mistress of Italy, we can examine the system some- 5. The Roman what more closely, and see where its strength and System. its weakness lay. The centre of the dominion is the city of Rome with the adjacent territories, corresponding to Athens or any other of the city states of Greece with its adjacent territories. The administration of this state is in the hands of a select council, the Senate, of which membership is practically permanent. Its numbers are made up at brief intervals mainly from among persons who have held high public office. It owes its powers not to enactment but to custom, which has practically given it control of foreign relations. Large executive powers are held by the annually elected officers of state, but they by custom practically carry out the will of the Senate. Both Senate and officers have a power of issuing decrees of a temporary character. But the permanent legislation corresponding to what we call statutes is in the hands of two assemblies, the Comitia Centuriata and the Comitia Tributa. Laws are egis a ion. introduced in the former by the consuls and in the latter by tribunes. The members vote by groups, but there is no representation ; that is, any one who wishes his vote to be recorded in that of his group must attend in person. It follows that all the voting is done only by the people who have no difficulty in presenting themselves at Rome and taking part in the assemblies. Practically, therefore, the voting is entirely controlled by the dwellers in or near Rome. As long as he finds himself decently governed, the Roman citizen is satisfied with '^his abstract right to come and vote, which he does not ordinarily care to exercise. Dangerous legislation, is