Comitia Centuriata

All the business that had belonged to the comitia curiata in the early republic was transferred to the comitia centuriata, which assembled in order to elect the annual magistrates, to make laws, and to declare war or peace.

The name of the comitia centuriata reflects their military origins (the centuriae were military bodies, centuries, of one hundred soldiers each). In the later republic, however, and probably as early as ca. 400 BCE the voting centuries no longer corresponded to military units, while the number of the people each of them contained differed greatly.

The comitia centuriata was a wealth-based assembly instituted by the king Servius Tullius. The people were divided into six classes on the basis of their property (Liv. I.43). There were 193 voting centuries in all, which were divided among the five classes in such a way that the wealthier classes had the largest number of centuries, even though they were numerically the smallest.

On the other hand, the sixth class included a large number of poor Roman citizens with no land property, who could not even qualify for membership in the fifth class. Those were all enrolled in a single century and so were all represented by one vote. In other words, they were totally unable to exercise any influence on public affairs.

Here is a rough calculation of how many centuries each class had:

     Classis I: 80-82 centuries [Optimates--very wealthy aristocrats]
     Classis II: 20-22 centuries [Equites--wealthy but not aristocrats]
     Classis III: 20 centuries [Populares--middle class]
     Classis IV: 20-22 centuries [Populares--low middle class]
     Classis V: 30-34 centuries [Populares--very poor]
     Classis VI: 1 century [Proletarii--dirt poor]

Each class was also subdivided equally into centuries, one-half of which consisted of the seniores (men over 46 years of age), and the other of the iuniores (men between 17 and 45). And, of course, they voted in order of seniority.

Each century was counted as one vote. Therefore, a class had as many votes as centuries. Notice that more than half of the votes were held by the first and second class together (100 votes out of a total of 193). The order of voting was arranged in such a way that if the first two classes agreed upon a measure, there was no need to call upon the other classes to vote. So, even though all citizens appeared in the comitia to vote, the greater power by far was held by the wealthy.