At first the patricians were in great dismay, and they confirmed all the laws proposed. Among them is that which gave the _plebiscita_ general validity (_ut quod tributim plebes jussisset populum teneret_). This law is one of the greatest riddles in Roman history; and it cannot be solved with any historical certainty, although I have formed for myself an hypothesis on the subject, of the truth of which I am perfectly convinced. The law is thus given in Livy; afterwards in the eighth book he says of the second Publilian law, _ut plebiscita omnes Quirites tenerent_; and in like manner, Pliny and Lælius Felix in Gellius quote the law of Hortensius which is to be placed a hundred and sixty years later; Gaius says concerning the latter, _ut plebiscita populum tenerent_. When we now consider these three laws,--as to the Publilian, Livy alone mentions it,--they seem all of them to say the same thing. Is this really the case; or was the enactment only revived from time to time, because of its having fallen into oblivion? If we investigate the character of these laws according to their several ages, we see that the meaning of each was a distinct one, and that the import of the _plebiscita_ was differently interpreted at different periods. The result of my researches is this, that Livy in his mention of the _lex Valeria Horatia_, was certainly not accurate, because he did not himself clearly see his way, and the generally known Hortensian law was present to his mind. The law may have been something to this effect,--_quæ plebs tributim jusserit_, QUARUM RERUM PATRES AUCTORES FACTI SINT, _ut populum tenerent_; for, from that time the course of the legislation was frequently this, that when the tribunes had gotten a proposition adopted by the commonalty, they laid it before the curies, who immediately put it to the vote; which was an abridgment of the proper order of business, according to which the laws approved by the senate had first to go to the centuries, and then only to the curies. In the new system, the asking the leave of the senate and the passing through the centuries were done away with. This was a great change, as now the discussion might originate with the _Plebes_ itself. That, however, the _plebiscita_ without the approval of the curies had no legal force, is evident, especially from the struggle on the occasion of the Licinian laws; wherefore at that time already, _leges_ may be spoken of with reference to the resolutions of the _Plebes_, for as soon as the curies had sanctioned them, they were _leges_. Whenever the _Plebes_ and the curies were not kept asunder by class-interests, every matter was carried. It is also to be borne in mind, that this law was enacted, not by a tribunician, but by a consular rogation. The _lex Publilia_ had been rendered superfluous by the decemviral legislation, as in this there were no _comitia tributa_.