Note 373 — Chapter III · THE THIRTY-FIVE TRIBES

The function of the tribuni aerarii was to pay the soldiers; Cato, Epist. Quaest. i, in Gell. vi (vii). 10. 2; Varro, v. 181; Fest. ep. 2; Pliny, N. H. xxxiv. 1. 1. Perhaps they also collected money into the treasury; Cic. Att. i. 16. 3. From Cato’s statement they appear to have been financially responsible; and we are informed that as early as 100 they constituted a rank (ordo) evidently next below the equites; Cic. Rab. Perd. 9. 27. Under the Aurelian law of 70 they made up a decury of jurors; Cic. Att. i. 16. 3; Pliny, N. H. xxxiii. 1. 31. From these facts it is clear that the aerarian tribunes were officers of the aerarium, but no connection with the tribes can be discovered; Soltau, Altröm. Volksversamml. 409-12.