ta_. The first of these
powers was a development of the tribunician veto, whereby this was given
to a proposal under discussion in the Senate rather than upon a
magistrate's attempt to execute it after it had taken the form of a law or
a senatorial decree. To permit the tribunes to interpose their veto at
this stage they had to be allowed to hear the debates in the Senate. At
first they did so from their bench which they set at the door of the
meeting-place, but finally they were permitted to enter the council hall
itself. The power of prosecution made the tribunes the guardians of the
interests of the state against any misconduct on the part of a magistrate.
From this time on the tribunes have practically the status of magistrates
of the Roman people.

The struggle of the orders left its mark on the Roman constitution in
providing Rome with a double set of organs of government. The tribunate,
plebeian aedileship, and _comitia tributa_ arose as purely plebeian
institutions, but they came to be incorporated in the governmental
organization of the state along with the magistracies and the assemblies
that had always been institutions of the whole Roman people.

IV. THE ROMAN MILITARY SYSTEM

Upon the history of no people has the character of its military
institutions exercised a more profound effect than upon that of Rome. The
Roman military system rested upon the universal obligation of the male
citizens to render military service, but the degree to which this
obligation was enforced varied greatly at different periods. For the
mobilization of the man power of the state was dependent upon the type of
equipment, methods of fighting, and organization of tactical units in
vogue at various times, as well as upon the ability of the state to equip
its troops and the strength of the martial spirit of the people.

*The army of the primitive state.* In all probability the earliest Roman
army was one of the Homeric type, where the nobles who went to the
battlefield on horseback or in chariots were the decisive factor and the
common folk counted for little.

*The phalanx organization.* However, at an early date, under Etruscan
influences according to tradition, the Romans adopted the phalanx
organization, making their tactical unit the long deep line of infantry
armed with lance and shield. Those who were able to provide themselves
with the armor necessary for taking their place in the phalanx formed