The cause of the error into which Laelius[764] fell is now apparent. Finding the plebeian tribal assembly frequently termed concilium and the centuriate assembly of the whole people generally termed comitia, he hastily concluded that comitia should be restricted to assemblies of the whole people and concilia to assemblies of a part of the people. This discussion has proved, against Laelius, that for the republic and for the age of Augustus the distinction between the two words was not a distinction between the whole and a part, and that all the uses of comitia and concilium in this period may be explained by two simple facts: (1) that whereas concilium is singular, comitia is plural; (2) that concilium suggests deliberation, discussion. A result of this inquiry is to banish the expressions “concilium tributum plebis” and “patricio-plebeian comitia tributa”—the former as impossible, the latter as unnecessary—from the nomenclature of Roman public law. There were but three forms of organized assembly—curiate, centuriate, and tribal—all equally entitled to the name “comitia.” The difference between the “comitia tributa populi” and “comitia tributa plebis” was chiefly in the presidency, as will be shown in a later chapter.[765] Contio, on the other hand, denotes the listening or witnessing assembly, unorganized or organized but never voting, whereas concilium, overlapping contio and comitia, may include voting in addition to deliberation. Mommsen, Th., _Röm. Forschungen_, i. 129-217; Berns, C., _De comitiorum tributorum et conciliorum plebis discrimine_; Soltau, W., _Altröm. Volksversammlungen_, 37-46; Humbert, G., _Comitia_, in Daremberg et Saglio, _Dict._ i. 1374 ff.; _Concilium_, ibid. 1432 f.; Liebenam, W., _Comitia_, in Pauly-Wissowa, _Real-Encycl._ iv. 679 ff.; Kornemann, E., _Concilium_, ibid. iv. 801 ff.; Vaglieri, D., _Concilium_, in Ruggiero, _Diz. ep._ ii. 566 ff.; see also indices s. Comitia, Concilium, in the works of Niebuhr, Schwegler, Lange, Mommsen, Marquardt, Willems, Herzog, etc. The authorities thus far named represent the usual theory as to the distinction between comitia and concilium based on the definition of Laelius Felix discussed in this chapter. A new view is presented by Botsford, G. W., _On the Distinction between Comitia and Concilium_, in _Transactions of the American Philological Association_, xxxv (1904). 21-32—a paper reproduced with additions in the present chapter. See also Lodge, G., _Lexicon Plautinum_, i. 277 f. (Comitia), 289 (Concilium); Forcellini, _Totius Latinitatis Lexicon_, ii. 297 f. (Comitia), 347 f. (Concilium); Gudeman, _Concilium_, in _Thesaurus linguae latinae_, iv. 44-8. CHAPTER VII THE CONTIO