From what has been said on the judicial functions of the comitia in this and earlier chapters, it is clear that the jurisdiction of the people is inseparably connected with the political and constitutional history of Rome. Beginning feebly in the early republic, the right of appeal was most intensely exercised from the middle of the third to the middle of the second century B.C. Its decline thereafter, owing mainly to the rise of the quaestiones, was a symptom of the general decay of the republic. Peter, C., _Epochen der Verfassungsgesch. der röm. Republik_, 118-140 (on the general character of the period); Ihne, W., _History of Rome_, iv. 125 ff., 171-3, 321-32; Mommsen, _Röm. Staatsrecht_, ii. 317-27, 491-7; _Die Scipionenprocesse_, in _Röm. Forsch._ ii. 417-510; Lange, _Röm. Altertümer_, ii. 582-93; Herzog, _Gesch. u. Syst. der röm. Staatsverfassung_, i. 811 f., 1177 f.; Greenidge, A. H. J., _Legal Procedure of Cicero’s Time_, 327-66; Mispoulet, J. B., _Les institutions politiques des Romains_, i. 228 f.; Willems, _Droit public Romain_, 175 ff.; Girard, P. F., _Histoire de l’organisation judiciaire des Romains_, i. 235 ff.; Hallays, A., _Comices à Rome_, 70 f.; Stella Maranca, _Il tribunato della plebe dalla lex Hortensia alla lex Cornelia_; Gerlach, _De vita P. Cornelii Scipionis Africani Superioris_; _P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus der Aeltere und seine Zeit_; Nissen, _Kritische Untersuchungen über die Quellen der vierten und fünften Dekade des Livius_, 213 ff.; Bloch, G., _Observations sur le procès des Scipions_, in _Revue des études anciennes_, viii (1906). 93-110, 191-228, 287-322; Pascal, C., _Studi Romani_, i: _Il processo degli Scipioni_; ibid. iii: _L’Esilio di Scipione Africano Maggiore_; _Di un studio recente sul processo degli Scipioni_, in _Riv. d. storia ant._ iv (1899). 268-71; Niccolini, G., _La questione dei processi degli Scipioni_, ibid. iii. fasc. 4 (1898). 28-75; articles in Pauly-Wissowa, _Real-Encycl._ i. 448-64: Aedilis (Kubitschek); 584-8: M. Aemilius Scaurus (Klebs); iv. 702-5: Comitia, part of (Liebenam); 1462-70: P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major (Henze); 1471-83: L. Cornelius Scipio Asiagenus (Münzer); v. 1324-7: Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus (ibid.); Daremberg et Saglio, _Dict._ i. 95-100: Aedilis (Humbert); see also ibid. s. Comitia. CHAPTER XV COMITIAL LEGISLATION FROM HORTENSIUS TO THE GRACCHI 287-134 I. _An Era of Repose_ 287-232