Thus we find the Tribunes preventing the
Consuls from summoning the Senate and from proposing laws to the Comitia
of the Centuries. As the persons of the Tribunes were sacred, the Senate
could exercise no control over them, while they, on the contrary, could
even seize a Consul or a Censor, and throw him into prison. The only
effective check which the Senate had upon the proceedings of the
Tribunes was, that one Tribune could put his veto upon the acts of his
colleagues. Consequently, by securing the support of one member of the
body, the Senate were able to prevent the other Tribunes from carrying
out their plans.

The _Plebiscita_ enacted by the Tribes had the same force as the _Leges_
of the Centuries.[48] There were thus two sovereign assemblies at Rome,
each independent of the other; that of the Tribes, as already observed,
was the most important at the period which we have now reached.

* * * * *

IV. FINANCES.--The ordinary expenditure of the Roman state was not
large. All the magistrates discharged their duties without pay; and the
allied troops, which formed so large a portion of a Roman army, were
maintained by the allies themselves. The expenses of war were defrayed
by a property-tax called _Tributum_, which was usually one in a
thousand, or one tenth per cent., but after the last war with Macedonia
the treasury received such large sums from the provinces that the
tributum was abolished. From this time the expenses of the state were
almost entirely defrayed by the taxes levied in the provinces. The other
revenues of the state, which bore the general name of _Vectigalia_, may
be dismissed with a few words. They consisted of the rents arising from
the public lands, of the customs' duties, of the taxes upon mines, salt,
etc.

* * * * *

V. THE ARMY.--The Roman army was originally called _Legio_; and this
name, which is coeval with the foundation of Rome, continued down to the
latest times. The Legion was therefore not equivalent to what we call a
regiment, inasmuch as it contained troops of all arms, infantry,
cavalry, and, when military engines were extensively employed, artillery
also. The number of soldiers who, at different periods, were contained
in a legion, does not appear to have been absolutely fixed, but to have
varied within moderate limits. Under Romulus the legion contained 3000
foot-soldiers. From the expulsion of the Kings until t