Note 1318 — Chapter X · THE ORGANIZATION OF THE COMITIA CENTURIATA

In the clause “Ut equitum centuriae cum sex suffrages et prima classis addita centuria, quae ... data, LXXXVIIII centuriae habeat,” centuriae applies to the centuries proper, but in the clause immediately following, “Quibus ex centum quattuor centuriis (tot enim reliquae sunt) octo solae accesserunt,” the word on Mommsen’s supposition must denote not the centuries themselves but the voting groups of centuries. Though Mommsen usually avoids the application of the term century to the assumed voting units, he allows himself to do so on p. 274 and in n. 2. Granting that in this instance he has used the word correctly, we should have the first class composed of simple centuries and the others of centuries which were themselves composed of centuries—an evidently absurd result of his assumption.