tribunary

[Eng. tribun(e): -ary.] Of or pertaining to a tribune or tribunes; tribunitial. trib-u-nate, s. [ Lat.tribunatus, from tribunus a tribune (q. v.).] Tribuneship. "Before the succe ion of the tribunate and manifestly in the decemvirate."- Smith: Commonwealth, ch. iv. tribune, tri-bune, *tri-bun, subst . [Latin tribunus =a tribune, prop. the chief of, or elected by, a tribe, from tribus a tribe (q. v.); Fr. tribun ; Sp., Port., & Ital. tribuno .] chin, bench; go, gem; thin, this; sin, as; expect, Xenophon, exist. ph = f. tribuneship 1. Roman Antiq .: Properly, the chief magistrate of a tribe. There were several kinds of officers in the Roman state that bore the title. (1) The plebeian tribunes, who were first created after the sece ion of the commonalty to the Mons Sacer (A. U. C. 260), as one of the conditions of its return to the city. They were especially the magistrates and protectors of the commonalty, and no patrician could be elected to the office. At their first appointment the power of the tribunes was very small, being confined to the a embling of the plebeians and the protection of any individual from patrician aggre ion; but their persons were sacred and inviolable, and this privilege consolidated their other powers, which, in the later ages of the republic, grew to an enormous height, and were finally incorporated with the functions of the other chief magistracies in the person of the emperor. The number of the tribunes varied from two to ten, and each of these might annul the proceedings of the rest by putting in his veto. (2) Military tribunes were first elected in the year A. U. C. 310, in the place of the consuls, in consequence of the demands of the commonalty to be admitted to a share of the supreme power. This measure was not, however, a complete conce ion of their demands, but, in fact, evaded them in a great degree; for the tribunate was not invested with the full powers or honors of the consulate, not being a curule magistracy, and, though it was open to all the people, patricians were almost invariably chosen. The number of the military tribunes was sometimes six and sometimes three. For above seventy years sometimes consuls were elected and sometimes military tribunes; at last the old order was permantly restored, but the plebeians were admitted to a share of it. (3) Legionary tribunes, or tribunes of the soldiers, were the chief officers of a legion, six in number, who commanded under the consul, each in his turn, usually about a month; in battle each led a cohort. "These are the tribunes of the people, The tongues o' the common mouth; I do despise them." Shakesp.: Coriolanus , ii. 2. 2. A bench or elevated place; a raised seat or stand. Specifically: *(1) The throne of a bishop. (2) A sort of pulpit or rostrum where a speaker stands to addre an audience. "She had scarcely stepped off the tribune when Mr. Debarry entered, and there was a commotion which made her wait."-George Eliot : Felix Holt . trib-une-ship, tri-bune-ship, subst . [English tribune; -ship .] The office or post of a tribune; the period during which one holds the office of tribune. "But to say a truth, this tribuneship having taken originally the first beginning from the common people is great and mighty in regard that it is popular." P. Holland : Plutarch , p. 718.