Page:The Referendum and the Recall Among the Ancient Romans (Abbott, 1915, hvd.32044080048069).pdf/15

Rh assails the power of the people, is not longer a tribune at all.... For the tribunes, as well as the consuls, hold office by the people's votes.... We esteem him to be legally chosen tribune who is elected only by the majority of votes; and is not therefore the same person much more lawfully degraded, when by a general consent of them all, they agree to depose him?' " These are the arguments which we hear to-day in support of the same procedure. Cicero and other ancient authors tell us that Tiberius came under the influence of Greek teachers, and some modern writers have supposed that he imbibed this doctrine of popular sovereignty from them, but our analysis of the earlier period seems to show that the full recognition of this theory was the natural outcome of the precedents which had been set during the preceding century.

It is an interesting coincidence that these two doctrines of the referendum and the recall reached their fully developed form at the same moment, in the time of Tiberius, and that from his tribunate we date the beginning of the Revolution. The coincidence is one of historical interest, but of course does not justify us in assuming that the introduction of these two political devices in the present day will lead to equally radical results.