Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/113

 CHAP. VIL THE RIGHT OF SUCCESSIOK. 107 dency of the pontiff' We must not imagine that this was an empty formahty, particularly in the early ages. Tiiese comilia by curies were the most solemn assem- blies of the Roman city; and it would be puerile to say that they convoked the people under the presidency of the religious chief, to act simply as witnesses at the reading of a will. "We may suppose that the people voted, and we shall see, on reflection, that this was absolutely necessary. There was, in fact, a general law which regulated the order of succession in a rigor- ous manner; to modify this order in any particular, another law was necessary. This exceptional law was the will. The right of a man to devise by will was not, therefore, fully accorded, and could not be, so long as this society remained under the empire of the old re- ligion. In the belief of these ancient ages, the living man was only the representative, for a few years, of a constant and immortal being — the family. He held the worship and the property only in trust ; his right to them ceased with his life. 6. The Right of Primogeniture. We must transport ourselves beyond the time of which history has preserved the recollection, to those distant ages during which domestic institutions were established, and social institutions were prepared. Of this epoch there does not remain, nor can there remain, any written monument ; but the laws which then gov- erned men have left some traces in the legislation of succeeding times. » Ulpian, XX. 2. Gaius, I. 102, 119. Aulus Gellius, XV. 27. The testament calatis comitiis was doubtless the oldest in use. It was no longer known in Cicero's time. (Z)e Orat., I. 63.)