house, Servius Tullius by name, effected a most important change in the
constitution of the Roman state. He did here at Rome just what Solon at
about this time did at Athens (see p. 120). He made property instead of
birth the basis of the constitution. The entire population was divided
into five classes, the first of which included all citizens, whether
patricians or plebeians, who owned twenty _jugera_ (about twelve acres) of
land; the fifth and lowest embraced all that could show title to even two
jugera. The army was made up of the members of the five classes; as it was
thought right and proper that the public defence should be the care of
those who, on account of their possessions, were most interested in the
maintenance of order and in the protection of the boundaries of the state.

The assembling-place of the military classes thus organized was on a large
plain just outside the city walls, called the Campus Martius, or "Field of
Mars." The meeting of these military orders was called the _comitia
centuriata_, or the "assembly of hundreds." [Footnote: This assembly
was not organized by Servius Tullius, but it grew out of the military
organization he created.] This body, which of course was made up of
patricians and plebeians, gradually absorbed the powers of the earlier
patrician assembly (_comitia curiata_).

THE EXPULSION OF THE KINGS.--The legends make Tarquinius Superbus, or
Tarquin the Proud, the last king of Rome. He is represented as a monstrous
tyrant, whose arbitrary acts caused both patricians and plebeians to unite
and drive him and all his house into exile. This event, according to
tradition, occurred in the year 509 B.C., only one year later than the
expulsion of the tyrants from Athens (see p. 122).

So bitterly did the people hate the tyranny they had abolished that it is
said they all, the nobles as well as the commons, bound themselves by most