Note 287 — Chapter III · THE THIRTY-FIVE TRIBES

Fabius Pictor, in Livy 1. 44. 2. Altogether unnecessary therefore is Soltau’s supposition (Altröm. Volksversamml. 458, n. 2), in itself improbable, that Fabius, who wrote his annals in Greek, applied the word φυλαί incorrectly to the rural districts. However that may be, Cato, as good an authority, spoke of these same districts as tribes. If the number thirty was suggested to Fabius by the curiate organization (cf. Ullrich, Centuriatcomitien, 9), this circumstance would be no argument against the existence of country tribes. On the strength of the army in the early republic, see p. 83.