THE EARLY ROMAN STATE: KING, SENATE, AND POPULAR ASSEMBLY.--The early
Roman state seems to have been formed by the union of three communities.
These constituted three tribes, known as Ramnes (the Romans proper, who
gave name to the mixed people), Tities, and Luceres. Each of these tribes
was divided into ten wards, or districts (_curiae_); each ward was
made up of _gentes_, or clans, and each clan was composed of a number
of families. The heads of these families were called _patres_, or
"fathers," and all the members patricians, that is, "children of the
fathers."

At the head of the nation stood the King, who was the father of the state.
He was at once ruler of the people, commander of the army, judge and high
priest of the nation, with absolute power as to life and death.

Next to the king stood the Senate, or "council of the old men," composed
of the "fathers," or heads of the families. This council had no power to
enact laws: the duty of its members was simply to advise with the king,
who was free to follow or to disregard their suggestions.

The Popular Assembly (_comitia curiata_) comprised all the citizens
of Rome, that is, all the members of the patrician families, old enough to
bear arms. It was this body that enacted the laws of the state, determined
upon peace or war, and also elected the king.

CLASSES OF SOCIETY.--The two important classes of the population of Rome
under the kingdom and the early republic, were the patricians and the
plebeians. The former were the members of the three original tribes that
made up the Roman people, and at first alone possessed political rights.
They were proud, exclusive, and tenacious of their inherited privileges.
The latter were made up chiefly of the inhabitants of subjected cities,