preside sat on the tribunal supported by his colleagues, and laid before the people the subject of the meeting, concluding with the words _velitis, jubeatis Quirites_. The bill was never read by the tribune himself, but by a praeco, and then began the debates, in which persons might either oppose or recommend the measure, though private persons had to ask the tribunes for permission to speak. When the discussion was over the president called upon the people _ite in suffragium_, as at the comitia centuriata. They then formed themselves into their tribes, which, like the centuries, ascertained their own votes in enclosures (septa). Which of the 35 tribes was to give its vote first, was determined by lot, and that tribe was called _praerogativa_ or _principium_ (the others were termed _jure vocatae_). The vote of the first tribe was given by some person of distinction whose name was mentioned in the plebiscitum, if it was of a legislative nature. The manner of collecting the votes was, on the whole, the same as in the comitia centuriata. The announcing of the result of the votes was the _renuntiatio_. If it so happened that two candidates had the same number of votes, the question was decided by drawing lots. The circumstances which might cause the meeting to break up and defer its business till another day, are the same as those which put an end to the comitia centuriata. (4) _The comitia centuriata mixed with the comitia tributa._--The Servian constitution was retained unaltered so long as no great change took place in the republic; but when the coinage and the standard of property had become altered, when the constitution of the army had been placed on a different footing, and, above all, when the plebeians began to be recognized as a great and essential element in the Roman state, it must have been found inconvenient to leave to the equites and the first class so great a preponderance in the comitia of the centuries, and it became necessary to secure more power and influence to the democratic element. A change, therefore, took place, and the comitia centuriata became mixed with the comitia tributa; but neither the time nor the exact nature of this change is accurately ascertained. Some refer it to the censorship of C. Flaminius, B.C. 220, others to that of Q. Fabius and P. Decius, B.C. 304. But there is evidence that it must be assigned to even an earlier date than this, for the (tribus) praerogativa is mentioned as early as B.C. 396 in the election of the consular tribunes, where the pure comitia tributa cannot be meant, and a centuria praerogativa is a thing unknown. With regard to the manner of the change, the most probable opinion is, that the citizens of each tribe were divided into five property classes, each consisting of seniores and juniores, so that each of the 35 tribes contained ten centuries, and all the tribes together 350 centuries. According to this new arrangement, the five ancient classes, divided into seniores and