Centuriate assemblies comprised 193 centuries drawn from five
census classes. Two factors made the propertied classes predomi- nant here. On the one hand, the first class, made up of the eighteen
equestrian centuries and the eighty centuries of first-class infantry,
commanded the majority of votes (98 out of 193) by itself. On the
other, as we have seen, the centuries were not of equal sizes: the
higher a century stood in the census hierarchy, the fewer citizens it
contained. The centuries voted in hierarchical order, and votes
were counted as they were cast. Counting stopped as soon as a
majority had been obtained. So if the upper-class centuries all
voted in the same way, the majority was reached and the ballot
closed before the lower census classes had even been called. The
latter played no part in decision-making except when there was
disagreement and divergent voting among the higher categories.
The lower orders could thus be said to have a power of arbitration
in the event of conflict and division among the propertied elite.
Clearly, the system encouraged the upper classes to maintain a
certain political cohesion.
Centuriate assemblies comprised 193 centuries drawn from fivecensus classes. Two factors made the propertied classes predomi- nant here. On the one hand, the first class, made up of the eighteenequestrian centuries and the eighty centuries of first-class infantry,commanded the majority of votes (98 out of 193) by itself. On theother, as we have seen, the centuries were not of equal sizes: thehigher a century stood in the census hierarchy, the fewer citizens itcontained. The centuries voted in hierarchical order, and voteswere counted as they were cast. Counting stopped as soon as amajority had been obtained. So if the upper-class centuries allvoted in the same way, the majority was reached and the ballotclosed before the lower census classes had even been called. Thelatter played no part in decision-making except when there wasdisagreement and divergent voting among the higher categories.The lower orders could thus be said to have a power of arbitrationin the event of conflict and division among the propertied elite.Clearly, the system encouraged the upper classes to maintain acertain political cohesion.
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Centuriate assemblies comprised 193 centuries drawn from five
census classes. Two factors made the propertied classes predomi- nant here. On the one hand, the first class, made up of the eighteen
equestrian centuries and the eighty centuries of first-class infantry,
commanded the majority of votes (98 out of 193) by itself. On the
other, as we have seen, the centuries were not of equal sizes: the
higher a century stood in the census hierarchy, the fewer citizens it
contained. The centuries voted in hierarchical order, and votes
were counted as they were cast. Counting stopped as soon as a
majority had been obtained. So if the upper-class centuries all
voted in the same way, the majority was reached and the ballot
closed before the lower census classes had even been called. The
latter played no part in decision-making except when there was
disagreement and divergent voting among the higher categories.
The lower orders could thus be said to have a power of arbitration
in the event of conflict and division among the propertied elite.
Clearly, the system encouraged the upper classes to maintain a
certain political cohesion.
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