institution
comitia centuriata
the centuriate assembly
also: centuriata, comitia centuriata, assembly by centuries
The Roman voting assembly organised by property-classes into voting units called centuries; it elected consuls and praetors and required prior auspices. In Fam. 7.30 the presiding magistrate, having taken the auspices for the tribal assembly, irregularly used them to hold the centuriate elections and proclaim Caninius consul.
Reading notes
- On Divination §2.74 the prerogative century
The centuria praerogativa was the century chosen by lot to vote first in the centuriate assembly; its choice was thought to set the tone for the rest, so its omens were watched.
- On the Laws §3.11 the greatest assembly
The comitia centuriata, the assembly voting by property-classes and centuries, alone competent to try a citizen's life. Cicero's law (after the Twelve Tables) restricts capital matters to this body, since it brings more counsel than the loosely convened tribes.
- On the Laws §3.44 the centuriate assembly
The Servian assembly of the Roman people arranged by census-class, age, and century, weighted toward the wealthy. Cicero praises it as bringing more deliberation to a vote than the tribal assembly's looser gathering.
- For Publius Sulla §91 by all the centuries was declared consul
Consuls were elected by the comitia centuriata, the assembly voting in property-graded "centuries." Sulla's election for 65 BC by all the centuries is the height from which his fall --- conviction and loss of office --- is measured.