Note 2528 — Chapter XVI · COMITIAL LEGISLATION From the Gracchi to Sulla 134-82

This view is held by Sunden, De trib. pot. imm. (1897) 21 ff.; Meyer, ibid. 652-4; Vassis, in Athena, xii (1900). 54-7. Fröhlich, in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encycl. iv. 1537, supposes that elections simply were thereby transferred to the comitia centuriata; but the word χειροτονίαι used by Appian, though often denoting elections (as in B. C. i. 14. 58-60; 15. 66; 28. 127, where the meaning is easily derived from the context), includes also voting on laws, as in B. C. i. 23. 100; 55. 244. Had he meant elections, he would here have written ἀρχαιρεσία (cf. i. 1. 1; 44. 196), as otherwise the meaning would have been doubtful. The view represented by Fröhlich, moreover, would in no way explain the passage, nor was it likely that Sulla would leave to the tribes the ratification of laws but deprive them of the politically unimportant right to elect minor officials.