According to both Dionysius and Livy, the equites voted in eighteen centuries before the seniores of the first class; and hence there were, according to Livy, 194, and, according to Dionysius, 193 centuries or votes. The latter number is the more probable, since Livy’s even number of 194 centuries would have rendered it impossible to obtain an absolute majority. In this manner all Roman citizens, whether patricians or plebeians, who had property to a certain amount, were privileged to take part and vote in the centuriata comitia, and none were excluded except slaves, peregrini, women and the aerarii. The juniores were all men from the age of seventeen to that of forty-six, and the seniores all men from the age of forty-six upwards. The order of voting was arranged in such a manner, that if the eighteen centuries of the equites and the eighty centuries of the first class were agreed upon a measure, the question was decided at once, there being no need for calling upon the other classes to vote. Hence, although all Roman citizens appeared in these comitia on a footing of equality, yet by far the greater power was thrown into the hands of the wealthy.--As regards the functions of the comitia centuriata, they were--(a.) _The election of magistrates._ The magistrates that were elected by the centuries are the consuls (whence the assembly is called _comitia consularia_), the praetors (hence _comitia praetoria_), the military tribunes with consular power, the censors, and the decemvirs. (b.) _Legislation._ The legislative power of the centuries at first consisted in their passing or rejecting a measure which was brought before them by the presiding magistrate in the form of a senatus consultum, so that the assembly had no right of originating any legislative measure, but voted only upon such as were brought before them as resolutions of the senate. (c.) _The decision upon war_, on the ground of a senatus consultum, likewise belonged to the centuries. Peace was concluded by a mere senatus consultum, and without any co-operation of the people. (d.) _The highest judicial power._ The comitia centuriata were in the first place the highest court of appeal, and in the second, they had to try all offences committed against the state; hence, all cases of _perduellio_ and _majestas_: and no case involving the life of a Roman citizen could be decided by any other court. The sanction of the curiae to the measures of the centuriae has been already explained.--The comitia centuriata could be held only on _dies comitiales_ or _fasti_, on which it was lawful to transact business with the people, and the number of such days in every year was about 190; but on _dies nefasti_ (that is, _dies festi_, _feriati_, comp. DIES), and, at first also on the nundinae, no comitia could be held, until in B.C. 287 the Hortensian law ordained that the nundinae should be regarded as dies fasti.--The place where the centuries met was the Campus Martius, which contained