THE COMITIA TRIBUTA AND THE AGRARIAN LAWS.


The next gain made by the plebeians was the annual appointment from
their own ranks of two officers, called AEDILES. [Footnote: The word
"Aedile" is derived from _Aedes_, meaning temple.] These officers
held nearly the same position in reference to the Tribunes that the
Quaestors did to the Consuls. They assisted the Tribunes in the
performance of their various duties, and also had special charge of
the temple of Ceres. In this temple were deposited, for safe keeping,
all the decrees of the Senate.

These two offices, those of Tribune and Aedile, the result of the
first secession, were filled by elections held at first in the Comitia
Centuriáta, but later in an assembly called the COMITIA TRIBÚTA, which
met sometimes within and sometimes without the city walls.

This assembly was composed of plebeians, who voted by "tribes"
(_tributa_, meaning composed of tribes), each tribe being
entitled to one vote, and its vote being decided by the majority of
its individual voters. [Footnote: These "tribes" were a territorial
division, corresponding roughly to "wards" in our cities. At this time
there were probably sixteen, but later there were thirty-five. The
plebeians in the city lived mostly in one quarter, on the Aventine
Hill.]

The Comitia Tribúta was convened and presided over by the Tribunes and
Aediles. In it were discussed matters of interest to the plebeians. By
it any member could be punished for misconduct, and though at first
measures passed in it were not binding on the people at large, it