7. The gentes were not only represented in the senate, but met also in
a public assembly called "comitia curiata." In these comitia the kings
were elected and invested with royal authority. After the complete
change of the constitution in later ages, the "comitia curiata"[6]
rarely assembled, and their power was limited to religious matters;
but during the earlier period of the republic, they claimed and
frequently exercised the supreme powers of the state, and were named
emphatically, The People.
8. The power and prerogatives of the kings at Rome, were similar to
those of the Grecian sovereigns in the heroic ages. The monarch was
general of the army, a high priest,[7] and first magistrate of the
realm; he administered justice in person every ninth day, but an
appeal lay from his sentence, in criminal cases, to the general
assemblies of the people. The pontiffs and augurs, however, were
in some measure independent of the sovereign, and assumed the
uncontrolled direction of the religion of the state.
9. The entire constitution was remodelled by Ser'vius Tul'lius, and a
more liberal form of government introduced.
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