the election was conducted either by the actual consuls themselves, or by an interrex or a dictator, and the persons elected, until they entered upon their office, were called _consules designati_. While they were _designati_, they were in reality no more than private persons, but still they might exercise considerable influence upon public affairs, for in the senate they were asked for their opinion first. If they had been guilty of any illegal act, either before or during their election, such as bribery (_ambitus_), they were liable to prosecution, and the election might be declared void.--The time at which the old consuls laid down their office and the consules designati entered upon theirs, differed at different times. The first consuls are said to have entered upon their office in October, then we find mention of the 1st of August, of the ides of December, the 1st of July, and very frequently of the ides of March, until, in B.C. 153, it became an established rule for the consuls to enter upon their duties on the 1st of January; and this custom remained down to the end of the republic. On that day the senators, equites, and citizens of all classes conducted in a procession (_deductio_ or _processus consularis_) the new magistrates from their residence to the capitol, where, if the auspices were favourable, the consuls offered up sacrifices, and were inaugurated. From thence the procession went to the curia, where the senate assembled, and where the consuls returned thanks for their election. There they might also speak on any subject that was of importance to the republic, such as peace and war, the distribution of provinces, the general condition of the state, the _feriae Latinae_, and the like. During the first five days of their office they had to convoke a _contio_, and publicly to take a solemn oath, by which, in the earliest times, they pledged themselves not to allow any one to assume regal power at Rome, but afterwards only to maintain the laws of the republic (_in leges jurare_). On the expiration of their office they had to take another oath, stating that they had faithfully obeyed the laws, and not done anything against the constitution. The new consuls on entering upon their office usually invited their friends to a banquet. When a consul died during his year of office, his colleague immediately convoked the comitia to elect a new one. A consul thus elected to fill a vacancy was called _consul suffectus_, but his powers were not equal to those of an ordinary consul, for he could not preside at the elections of other magistrates, not even in the case of the death of his colleague. In the latter case, as well as when the consuls were prevented by illness or other circumstances, the comitia were held by an interrex or a dictator.--The outward distinctions of the consuls were, with few exceptions, the same as those which had formerly belonged to the kings. The principal