Note 872 — Chapter VIII · THE CALATA COMITIA

Varro, L. L. vi. 13, 28; Macrob. Sat. i. 15. 12; cf. Herzog, Röm. Staatsverf. i. 109 and n. 1. Mommsen, Röm. Staatsr. ii. 40, n. 2, warns us against confusing “this unorganized contio” with the comitia calata, which are always organized in curiae or in centuries. Labeo, in Gell. xv. 27. 1, states, however, that calata comitia were held for the inauguration of the king and priests. If for this occasion the purely passive assembly was organized in voting divisions, there can be no reason for doubting that it was organized also on the occasion in question, when it met in the assembly-place of the calata comitia—a place which could not be opened sine calatione—and its convocation was designated by “calare” not “vocare.” It is significant that the phrase “calata contio” is never used. Mommsen gives no authority or reason for his assumption; cf. Lange, Röm. Alt. i. 398; Herzog, Röm. Staatsverf. i. 111; Marquardt, Röm. Staatsv. iii. 283, 323; Wissowa, Relig. u. Kult. d. Römer, 440, for the view here maintained that the assembly for hearing the calendar was calata.