Note 1347 — Chapter X · THE ORGANIZATION OF THE COMITIA CENTURIATA

Livy xliii. 16. 14: “Cum ex duodecim centuriis equitum octo censorem condemnassent multaeque aliae primae classis” (171 B.C.). This passage proves that the announcement distinguished the votes of the twelve equestrian centuries both from the sex suffragia and from those of the class. Cic. Phil. ii. 33. 82: “Sortitio praerogativae; quiescit. Renuntiatur; tacet. Prima classis vocatur, renuntiatur; deinde, ita ut adsolet, suffragia; tum secunda classis vocatur.” Here Cicero informs us that the (sex) suffragia were announced after the report of the first class had been given. The circumstance that he does not mention the separate calling of the suffragia indicates that their separation from the first class was limited to the announcement. There is no reason why the Romans should have added to the length of the centuriate sessions by assigning a part of the day to the exclusive use of these six centuries. Livy, i. 43. 8 f., has their inferiority in mind. It is unnecessary to amend the Ciceronian passage. The attempt of Holzapfel, in Beiträge zur alten Gesch. i (1902). 254 f., is unsuccessful. Klebs, in Zeitschr. d. Savignyst. xii (1892). 237 ff., fruitlessly opposes the division of the equites into these two groups.