Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/502

 496 MUNICIPAL CEGIME DISAPPEABS. BOOK V. Rome; but even then the proceedings, and what one might call the artifices, of the government remained aristocratic. In the comitia centuriata the votes were ilistributed according to property. It was not alto- gether different with the comitia tributa : legally, no distinction of wealth was admitted there; in fact, the poor class, being included iu the four city tribes, had but four votes to oppose to the thirty-one of the class of proprietors. Besides, nothing was more quiet, ordi- narily, than these assemblies; no one spoke there, ex- cept the president, or some one whom he called upon. Orators were little heard tbere, and there was little discussion. More generally there was simply a vote of yes or no. and a count of the votes. This last opei*- ation, being very complicated, demanded much time and patience. Add to this that the senate was not renewed annually, as in the democratic cities of Greece; it sat for life, and very nearly recruited itself. It was really an oligarchic body. The manners of the Romans were still more aristo- cratic than their institutions. The senators had seats reserved at the theatre. The rich alone served in the cavalry ; the grades of the army were in great part reserved for the young men of the great fi:imilies. Scipio was not sixteen years old when he already com- manded a squadron. The rule of the rich class was kept up longer at Rome than in any other city. This was due to two causes. One was, that Rome made great conquests, and the profits of these went to the class that was already rich ; all lands taken from the conquered were possessed by iheni ; they seized upon the commerce of the con- quered countries, and joined with it the benefits derived from the collection of duties and the administration of the