Legislative Assemblies of The Roman Republic - Assembly of The Centuries

Assembly of The Centuries

The Century Assembly (comitia centuriata or "Army Assembly") of the Roman Republic was the democratic assembly of the Roman soldiers. The Century Assembly was organized as an Assembly, as every Roman citizen with the required wealth could vote, regardless of class. The Roman army was divided into units called "Centuries", and these gathered into the Century Assembly for legislative, electoral, and judicial purposes. Only this assembly could declare war or elect the highest-ranking Roman Magistrates: Consuls, Praetors and Censors. The Century Assembly could also pass a statute that granted constitutional command authority to Consuls and Praetors, and Censorial powers to Censors. In addition, the Century Assembly served as the highest court of appeal in certain judicial cases, and ratified the results of the Census. While the voters in this assembly wore white undecorated togas and were unarmed, while taking part in the Assembly they were classified as soldiers, and as such they could not meet inside of the physical boundary of the city of Rome. The president of the Century Assembly was usually a Consul (although sometimes a Praetor). Only Consuls (the highest-ranking of all Roman Magistrates) could preside over the Century Assembly during elections because the higher-ranking Consuls were always elected together with the lower-ranking Praetors. Once every five years, after the new Consuls for the year took office, they presided over the Century Assembly as it elected the two Censors.

The Century Assembly was supposedly founded by the legendary Roman King Servius Tullius, less than a century before the founding of the Roman Republic in 509 BC. As such, the original design of the Century Assembly was known as the Servian Organization. Under this organization, the assembly was supposedly designed to mirror the Roman army during the time of the Roman Kingdom. Soldiers in the Roman army were classified on the basis of the amount of property that they owned, and as such, soldiers with more property had more influence than soldiers with less property. The 193 Centuries in the assembly under the Servian Organization were each divided into one of three different grades: the officer class, the enlisted class, and a class of unarmed adjuncts. The officer class was grouped into eighteen Centuries. The enlisted class was grouped into five separate property classes, for a total of 170 Centuries. The unarmed soldiers were divided into the final five Centuries. During a vote, all of the Centuries of one class had to vote before the Centuries of the next lower class could vote. When a measure received a majority of the vote, the voting ended, and as such, many lower ranking Centuries rarely if ever had a chance to actually vote.

Under the Servian Organization, the assembly was so aristocratic that the officer class and the first class of enlisted soldiers controlled enough Centuries for an outright majority. In 241 BC, this assembly was reorganized in order to give more weight to the lower ranking Centuries, and thus make the assembly less aristocratic. Under the old system, there were a total of 193 Centuries, while under the new system, there were a total of 373 Centuries. Now, majorities usually could not be reached until the third class of enlisted Centuries had begun voting.

The lowest ranking Century in the Century Assembly was the fifth Century (called the proletarii) of the unarmed adjunct class. This Century was the only Century composed of soldiers who had no property, and since it was always the last Century to vote, it never had any real influence on elections. In 107 BC, in response to high unemployment and a severe manpower shortage in the army, the general and Consul Gaius Marius reformed the organization of the army, and allowed individuals with no property to enlist. As a consequence of these reforms, this fifth unarmed Century came to encompass almost the entire Roman army. This mass disenfranchisement of most of the soldiers in the army played an important role in the chaos that led to the fall of the Roman Republic in 27 BC.

During his dictatorship from 82 BC until 80 BC, Lucius Cornelius Sulla restored the old Servian Organization to this assembly. Sulla died in 78 BC, and in 70 BC, the Consuls Pompey Magnus and Marcus Licinius Crassus repealed Sulla's constitutional reforms, including his restoration of the Servian Organization to this assembly. Thus, they restored the newer organization that had originated in 241 BC. The organization of the Century Assembly was not changed again until its powers were all transferred to the Roman Senate by the first Roman Emperor, Augustus, after the fall of the Roman Republic in 27 BC.