Page:A history and description of Roman political institutions (IA historyanddescri00abbo).pdf/8

iv periods in its history, — the monarchial, the republican, and the imperial, — is presented as a unit, and its institutions are treated first on the historical, then on the descriptive, side. The historical treatment seemed to me necessary because without it one cannot get a conception of the constitution as an organic whole nor can one understand how the relation of the several parts to one another determined in large measure the development of each. On the other hand, few students will get a complete view and a clear idea of any one institution without a separate description of it. The book is so arranged, however, that teachers who wish to do so may use either the historical or the descriptive part separately.

The brevity at which I have aimed has made it necessary at times in the discussing controverted questions to content myself with stating what seemed to me the most probable theory. It has possibly at other points led to the omission of certain details whose presentation might modify the reader's conception of the institution in question. If this has given a dogmatic tone to any part of the work, I hope that the defect has been corrected by the fact that reference has been made to the sources for almost every important statement, and that modern literature has been freely cited, so that the reader may for an independent judgment or may acquaint himself with the views held by others on the matter in question.

Of the works which I have found of service in the preparation of this book I would mention my great indebtedness