a little plat in Latium or in the Sabine country. They
were the descendants of the Latins or the Italians who were subjugated
by the Romans. Cato the Elder in his book on Agriculture gives us an
idea of their manners: "Our ancestors, when they wished to eulogize a
man, said 'a good workman,' 'a good farmer'; this encomium seemed the
greatest of all."[121]

Hardened to work, eager for the harvest, steady and economical, these
laborers constituted the strength of the Roman armies. For a long time
they formed the assembly too, and dictated the elections. The nobles
who wished to be elected magistrates came to the parade-ground to
grasp the hand of these peasants ("prensare manus," was the common
expression). A candidate, finding the hand of a laborer callous,
ventured to ask him, "Is it because you walk on your hands?" He was a
noble of great family, but he was not elected.

=The Freedmen.=--The last of all the citizens are the freedmen, once
slaves, or the sons of slaves. The taint of their origin remains on
them; they are not admitted to service in the Roman army and they vote
after all the rest.

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC

=The Comitia.=--The government of Rome called itself a republic
(Respublica), that is to say, a thing of the people. The body of
citizens called the people was regarded as absolute master in the
state. It is this body that elects the magistrates, votes on peace and
war, and that makes the laws. "The law," say the jurisconsults, "is
what the Roman people ordains." At Rome, as in Greece, the people do
not appoint deputies, they pass on the business itself. Even after
more than 500,000 men scattered over all Italy were admitted into the
citizenship, the citizens had to go in person to Rome to exercise
their rights. The people, therefore, meet at but one place; the
assembly is called the Comitia.

A magistrate convokes the people and presides over the body. Sometimes
the people are convoked by the blast of the trumpet and come to the
parade-ground (the Campus Martius), ranging themselves by companies
under their standards. This is the Comitia by centuries. Sometimes
they assemble in the market-place (the forum) and separate themselves
into thirty-five groups, called tribes. Each tribe in turn enters an
enclosed space where it does its voting. This is the Comitia by
tribes. The magistrate who convokes the assembly indicates the
business on which the suffrages are to be taken, and when the ass