PUBLĪLĬA

In the consulship of L. Pinarius and P. Furius, B.C. 471, the tribune Publilius Volero proposed, in the a embly of the tribes, that the tribunes should in future be appointed in the comitia of the tribes ( ut plebeii magi stratus tri but is com it i is fierent ), instead of by the centuries, as had formerly been the case; since the clients of the patricians were so numerous in the centuries, that the plebeians could not elect whom they wished. This measure was violently opposed by the patricians, who prevented the tribes from coming to any resolution respecting it throughout this year; but in the following year, B.C. 471, Publilius was re-elected tribune, and together with him C. Laetorius, a man of still greater resolution than Publilius. Fresh measures were added to the former proposition: the aediles were to be chosen by the tribes, as well as the tribunes, and the tribes were to be competent to deliberate and determine on all matters affecting the whole nation, and not such only as might concern the plebes. This proposition, though still more violently resisted by the patricians than the one of the previous year, was carried. Some said that the number of the tribunes was now for the first time raised to five, having been only two previously.