THE PLEBEIAN ASSEMBLY.--Not far from this time, there was instituted a new assembly, the _Comitia of Tribes, or Comitia Tributa_. There was a new division of the people into tribes or wards,--first twenty, then twenty-one, and, later, thirty-five. In this comitia, the plebeians were at the outset, if not always, the exclusive voters. The patricians had their assembly, the _Comitia Curiata_. The Comitia of the Tribes, which was then controlled by the plebeians, chose the tribunes. By degrees, both the other assemblies lost their importance. The plebeian body more and more extended its prerogatives. Besides the tribunes, the _Aediles_, two in number, who were assistants of the tribunes, and superintended the business of the markets, were chosen by the _Comitia Tributa_. THE LAW OF CASSIUS.--The anxiety of the plebeians to be rid of the restrictions upon the holding and enjoyment of land, led to the proposal of a law for their relief by the consul _Spurius Cassius_ (486 B.C.). Of the terms of the law, we have no precise knowledge. We only know, that, when he retired from office, he was condemned and put to death by the ruling class. WAR WITH THE AEQUIANS AND THE VOLSCIANS.--About this time Rome concluded a league with the _Latins_, and soon after with another people, the _Hernicans_, who lived farther eastward, between the, Aequians and Volscians. It was a defensive alliance, in which Rome had the leading place. Then follow the wars with the _Aequians_ and _Volscians_, where the traditional accounts are mingled with many fictitious occurrences. There are two stories of special note,--the story of Coriolanus, and the story of Cincinnatus. It is related that a brave patrician, _Caius Marcius Coriolanus_, at a time when grain was scarce, and was procured with difficulty from Etruria and Sicily for the relief of the famishing, proposed that it should be withheld from the plebeians unless they would give up the tribunate. The anger of this class, and the contempt which he showed for it, caused him to be banished. Thereupon he went to the _Volscians_, and led an army against Rome,--an army too strong to be resisted. One deputation after another went out of the city to placate him, but in vain. At length _Veturia_, his mother, and _Volumnia_, his wife, at the head of a company of matrons, went to his camp, and entreated him. Their prayer he could not deny, but exclaimed, "O my mother! Rome thou hast saved, but thou hast lost thy son." He died among the Volscians (491 B.C.). The tale, certainly in most of its parts, is fictitious. For example, he is said to have been called _Coriolanus_, from having previously conquered _Corioli_; but such designations were not given among the Romans until centuries later. The story of _Cincinnatus_ in essential particulars is probably true. At a time when the Romans were hard pressed by the _Æquians_, the messengers of the Senate waited on Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, formerly a senator and a consul of