Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/335

 CHAP. ITT. FIRST REVOLUTION. 32J> The conspirators take good care net to assemble the people, but to repair to the senate house. The senate declares Tarquin dethroned and royalty abolished. But the decree ot the senate must be confirmed by the city. Lucretius, as prefect of the city, has the right to con- voke the assembly. The curies are assembled, and they agree with the conspirators; they declare for the dep- osition of Tarquin, and the creation of two consuls. This principal point being decided, they leave the nomination of the consuls to the assembly by centuries. But will not this assembly, in which some plebeians vote, protest against what the patricians have done in the senate and the curies? It cannot. For every Roman assembly is presided over by a magistrate, who states the object of the vote, and no other question can come up for deliberation. More than this, none but the president at this period has the right to speak. If a law is to be voted upon, the centuries can vote only yes or no. If it is an election, the president pre- sents the candidates, and no candidate except those presented can be voted for. In the present case, the president appointed by the senate is Lucretius, one of the conspirators. He states that the only object of the meeting is the election of two consuls. He present* two names, those of Junius and Tarquinius Collatinus^ as candidates for the office. These two men are neces- sarily elected. The senate now ratify the election, and lastly the augurs confirm it in the name of the gods. This revolution did not please every body at Rome. Many plebeians joined the king, and followed his for- tunes. On the other hand, a rich Sabine patrician, the powerful chief of a numerous gens, the haughty Attus Clausus, found the new government so much to bis taste that he came to Rome to live.