Cicero is here contrasting the comitia centuriata, which recalled him, with the tribal assembly of the plebs, which pronounced the sentence of exile. Now as he was condemned by the plebeian assembly, it is clear that in this passage Cicero calls the plebeian assembly comitia. How Mommsen[732] can make this citation refer to his “patricio-plebeian” comitia tributa no one can possibly explain. In _Att._ iii. 12. 1, comitia expressly includes the tribunician elections. The same elections are twice called comitia in _Att._ iii. 14; and in iii. 13. 1, Cicero, again mentioning these comitia, says: “In tribunis plebis designatis reliqua spes est.” From all these passages it becomes evident that Cicero regards the plebeian assembly as comitia. In many passages comitia seems to include all the elections of the year, of plebeian as well as of patrician magistrates; for the elections were usually held in the same season, and could not well be separated in thought.[733] In fact, according to Cicero’s usage, comitia includes all kinds of national assemblies which do not come under the term contiones; cf. _Sest._ 50. 106: “In three places can the judgment and the will of the Roman people be best discovered, in contio, in comitia, and in the gathering for the festivals and the gladiatorial shows.”[734] Cf. also 54. 115; 59. 125. The very phrase comitia populi (_Rep._ ii. 32. 56; _Div._ ii. 18. 42) implies the existence of other comitia, for instance comitia plebis. It is not strange, therefore, that Cicero should use the following expression; _Rep._ i. 33. 50: “The nobles who have arrogated to themselves this name, not with the consent of the people, but by their own comitia.”[735] Here he makes it evident that there may be comitia of the nobles in contrast with the “consent of the people.” Should the senate usurp the elective function, Cicero would not hesitate to call that small body comitia, as appears from his ironical expressions in _Phil._ xi. 8. 19 (“Quod si comitia placet in senatu haberi” and “Quae igitur haec comitia”), in which he anticipates imperial usage; cf. Vell. ii. 124; Tac. _Ann._ i. 15. Furthermore he speaks of comitia, consisting of but seventeen tribes, for the election of sacerdotes; _Cael._ 8. 19; _Leg. Agr._ ii. 7. 18; _Ad Brut._ i. 5. 3 f.; 14. 1; _Fam._ viii. 12. 4; 14. 1. From his point of view, a tribal assembly of the whole people was one which consisted of all thirty-five tribes, irrespective of the number present in the several tribes, irrespective, too, of the rank of those who attended. An assembly tributim of a part of the people, on the other hand, was one in which some of the tribes were unrepresented. All this is clearly expressed in _Leg. Agr._ ii. 7. 16 f.: