Page:Montesquieu - The spirit of laws.djvu/293

Rh causes;Ædiles were established for the civil administration; treasurers were made who had the management of the public money; and in fine by the creation of Censors the consuls were divested of that part of the legislative power which regulates the morals of the citizens, and the momentary policy of the different bodies of the slate. The chief privileges left them were to preside in the great meetings of the people, to assemble the senate, and to command the armies.

3. By the sacred laws tribunes were established, who had a power on all occasions of checking the encroachments of the patricians, and prevented not only particular, but likewise general injuries.

In fine, the plebeians increased their influence in public decisions. The people of Rome were divided in three different manners, by centuries, by curiæ, and by tribes; and whenever they gave their votes, they were assembled and formed one of thole three ways.

In the first the patricians, the leading men, the rich, the senate, which was very near the same thing, had almost the whole authority; in the second they had less; and less still in the third.

The division into centuries was a division rather of estates and fortunes, than of persons. The whole people were divided into a hundred and ninety-three centuries, which had each a single vote. The patricians and leading men composed the first ninety-eight centuries; and the other ninety-five consisted of the remainder of the citizens. In this division therefore the patricians were masters of the suffrages.

In the division into curiæ, the patricians had not the same advantages: some however they had, Rh