Note 279 — Chapter III · THE THIRTY-FIVE TRIBES

The supposition that there were originally but four rests upon those passages which mention only that number in connection with Servius, as Livy 1. 43. 13; Fest. ep. 368; (Aurel. Vict.) Vir. Ill. 7. 7; the discussion of the four city tribes as though they were the only Servian tribes by Dionysius (iv. 14. 1), whereas in the next chapter he describes those also of the country; and the designation of the rural districts as regiones rather than tribes by Varro, De vit. pop. rom. i, in Non. Marc. 43: “Et extra urbem in regiones xxvi agros viritim liberis attribuit.” In L. L. v. 56, however, he calls the country districts tribes.