The issue was decided by the vote of the groups. In the assemblies of the curiae and the tribes the voting of the groups took place simultaneously, in that of the centuries in the order which we have already described.[1295] In the two former assemblies the order in which the votes of the groups were proclaimed had thus to be decided by lot.[1296] The reading (_pronuntatio_, _recitatio_) was continued only to the point at which an absolute majority for or against the measure had been obtained. When sixteen curiae or eighteen tribes were found to have given the same vote, it ceased, and the formal announcement of the result (_renuntiatio_) was then made by the magistrate. In the _comitia centuriata_ the announcement of the result might be reached without all the centuries being called on to vote, since the result of each vote was proclaimed immediately after the group had given it, and the needful majority might be reached before all the groups had voted. The absolute majority was required in elections as well as in legislative acts, and hence the candidate who gained a mere relative majority was not returned.[1297] Records of the voting were kept for some time in case the decision should be challenged.[1298] The promulgated _lex_ was, as we saw, deposited in the _aerarium_, as laws which had passed must have been long before this provision was made, but they were kept without order or method, and skilled assistants were required to ferret out the desired enactment.[1299] Little regular provision seems to have been made for the publication even of recent measures; but those which were considered important were originally painted on wood and later engraved on bronze, and fixed in temples or other public places.[1300] CHAPTER VI THE SENATE