_Constituunt_==decree, determine; _condicunt_==proclaim, appoint. The _con_ in both implies _concerted_ or public action. They are forensic terms. _Nox--videtur_. So with the Athenians, Macrob. Saturn. 1, 3.; and the Hebrews, Gen. 1, 5. _Ex libertate_, sc. _ortum, arising from_. Gün. _Nec ut jussi. Not precisely at the appointed time_, but a day or two later, if they choose. _Ut turbae placuit. Ut_==simul ac, as soon as, _when_. It is the _time of commencing their session_, that depends on the will of the multitude; not their sitting _armed_, for that they always did, cf. _frameas concutiunt_ at the close of the section; also § 13: nihil neque publicae neque privatae rei nisi armati agunt. To express this latter idea, the order of the words would have been reversed thus: _armati considunt_. _Tum et coercendi_. When the session is commenced, _then (tum)_ the priests have the right not merely to command silence, but _also (et) to enforce it_. This use of _et_ for _etiam_ is very rare in Cic., but frequent in Livy, T. and later writers. See note, His. 1, 23. _Imperatur. Imperare_ plus est, quam _jubere_. See the climax in Ter. Eun. 2, 3, 98; jubeo, cogo atque impero. _Impero_ is properly military command. K. _Prout_ refers, not to the order of speaking, but to the degree of influence they have over the people. Gr.--_Aetas_. Our word _alderman_ (elderman) is a proof, that office and honor were conferred on _age_ by our German ancestors. So _senator_ (senex) among the Romans. _Armis laudare_, i.e. armis concussis. "Montesquieu is of opinion that in this Treatise on the manners of the Germans, an attentive reader may trace the origin of the British constitution. That beautiful system, he says, was formed in the forests of Germany, Sp. of Laws 11, 6. The _Saxon_ Witena-gemot (Parliament) was, beyond all doubt, an improved political institution, grafted on the rights exercised by the people in their own country." Murphy, cf. S. Tur. His. of Ang. Sax. B. 8. cap. 4 XII. _Accusare--intendere. To accuse and impeach for capital crimes_. Minor offences were tried before the courts described at the end of the section.--_Quoque_. In addition to the legislative power spoken of in the previous section, the council exercised _also_ certain judicial functions. _Discrimen capitis intendere_, lit. _to endeavor to bring one in danger of losing his life_. _Ignavos--infames. The sluggish, the cowardly, and the impure_; for so _corpore infames_ usually means, and there is no sufficient reason for adopting another sense here. _Infames_ foeda Veneris aversae nota. K. Gr. understands those, whose persons were disfigured by dishonorable wounds, or who had mutilated themselves to avoid military duty. Gün. includes both ideas: _quocunque_, non tantum _venereo_, corporis abusu contempti. _Insuper_==superne. So 16: multo _insuper_ fimo onerant. _Diversitas_ is a post-Augustan word, cf. Freund, sub v.