ion, that judicial officers were
elected by the "comitia curiata," from the earliest ages.

[2] This privilege was conceded to the plebeians by the Valerian law,
but must have been possessed by the patricians from the earliest
times; for Horatius, when condemned for the murder of his sister, in
the reign of Tullus Hostilius, escaped by appealing to the comitia
curiata. The Valerian law had no sanction, that is, no penalty was
annexed to its transgression; and during the two centuries of
patrician usurpation and tyranny, was frequently and flagrantly
violated. On this account the law, though never repealed, was
frequently re-enacted.

[3] The formula "to devote his head to the gods," used to express the
sentence of capital punishment, was derived from the human sacrifices
anciently used in Rome; probably, because criminals were usually
selected for these sanguinary offerings.

[4] The lands absolutely assigned to the plebeians free from rent,
were the most remarkable species of Quiritary property. It was so
called from the Quirites, who formed a constituent part of the Roman
people, and whose name was subsequently given to the entire.

* * * * *

CHAPTER IX.

THE PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS AND PRIVATE LIFE OF THE ROMANS.

Butchered to make a Roman holiday.--_Byron_.

The inferiority of the Romans to the Greeks in intellectual
acquirements, was no where more conspicuous than in their public
amusements. While the refined Grecians sought to gratify their taste
by music, the fine arts, and dramatic entertainments, the Romans
derived their chief pleasure from contemplating the brutal and bloody
fights of gladiators; or at best, such rich shows and processions as
gratify the uneducated vulgar. The games in the circus, with which the
Romans were so delighted, that they considered them of equal
importance, with the necessaries of life, consisted of athletic
exercises, such as boxing, racing, wrestling, and gladiatorial
combats. To these, chariot-racing was added under the emperors, and
exhibitions of combats between wild beasts, and, in numerous
instances, between men and beasts.

2. After the establishment of the naval power of Rome, naumachiae, or
naval combats, were frequently exhibited in circi built for the
purpose. These were not always sham fights; the contests were, in many
instances, real engagements displaying all the horrors of a sanguinary
battle.

3. The custom of exhibiting