in all the resolutions of the _Plebes_; for _plebiscita_[100] there have been as long as the _Plebes_ existed. But if, on the contrary, one wished to go to the vote, the discussion was then closed, and the tribune bade the patricians and the clients withdraw. The rostra stood between the comitium and the forum, and to the former the _Populus_ retired. Hereupon ropes were drawn dividing the forum into a certain number of squares; into each of these a tribe entered, and every tribe then voted by itself under the direction of its tribune. When it was now settled that such a resolution was passed by the tribes, the patricians by law might throw it out, just as the Upper House and the King may a bill of the Lower One; yet if the latter is earnestly and decidedly bent upon having it carried, its rejection would be quite impossible, as it would give the signal for the dissolution of the state. They did not wish things to go so far; they therefore tried to defeat a motion of this kind before hand. Yet what was gained by its having miscarried to-day, when it might again be brought forward on the morrow? A very great deal; in fact, three weeks’ time, within which perhaps a war might arise, which would prevent it all. Nay, they might drag it on through a whole year; only the evil in that case grew worse and worse, and the struggle yet fiercer. This is the folly of all oligarchs, which they continually repeat. The patricians were so infatuated as not to see, that, if they gained over a sufficiently strong party in the _Plebes_ itself against the measure, it would to all intents and purposes be the same as if the resolution had been actually carried, and then rejected; and yet that odium would not be excited. In the end, the patricians never show the courage of letting matters come to a crisis; but they yield with an ill grace, reserving to themselves their old rights, from which they will never abate unless driven to it by sheer force.