2o6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



well as against outer enemies. The "mount-men" of the Palatine 

 and the " hill-men " of the Quirinal were habitually at feud ; and, even 

 among tlie minor divisions of those who occupied the Palatine, there 

 were dissensions. As Mommsen says, primitive Rome was "rather 

 an aggregate of urban settlements than a single city." And that the 

 clans who formed these settlements brought with them their enmities 

 is to be inferred from the fact that not only did they fortify the hills 

 on which they fixed themselves, but even '* the houses of the old and 

 powerful families were constructed somewhat after the manner of for- 



tresses." 



So that again, in the case of Rome, we a see a cluster of small in- 

 dependent communities allied in blood but partially antagonistic, which 

 had to cooperate against enemies on such terms as all would agree to. 

 In early Greece the means of defense were, as Grote remarks, greater 

 than the means of attack ; and it was the same in early Rome. Hence, 

 while coercive rule within each family and small group was easy, there 

 was difficulty in extending coercion over many groups fortified as 

 they were against one another. Moreover, the stringency of govern- 

 ment within each settlement constituting the primitive city was 

 diminished by facility of escape from one and admission into another. 

 As we have seen among simple tribes, desertions take place when the 

 rule is unduly harsh ; and we may infer that, within each of these clus- 

 tered settlements, there was a check on exercise of force by the heads 

 of the more powerful families over those of the less powerful, caused 

 by the fear that migration might weaken the settlement and strength- 

 en an adjacent one. Thus the circumstances were such that when, for 

 defense of the primitive city, cooperation became needful, the heads 

 of the clans included in the several settlements came to have substan- 

 tially equal powers. The original senate was the collective body of 

 clan-elders ; and " this assembly of elders was the ultimate holder of 

 the ruling power ": it was " an assembly of kings." At the same time, 

 the heads of families in each clan, forming the body of burgesses, 

 stood, for like reasons, on equal footing. Primarily for command in 

 war, there was an elected head, who was also chief magistrate. Though 

 not liaving the authority given by alleged divine descent, he had the 

 authority given by supposed divine approval ; and, himself bearing 

 the insignia of a god, he retained till death the absoluteness appropri- 

 ate to one. But, besides the fact that the choice, originally made by 

 the senate, had to be again practically made by it in case of sudden 

 vacancy, and besides the fact that each king, nominated by his 

 predecessor, had to be approved by the assembled burgesses, there 

 is the fact that his power was exclusively executive. The assembly 

 of burgesses " was in law superior to, rather than coordinate with, 

 the king." Further, in the last resort was exercised the still supe- 

 rior power of the senate, which was the guardian of the law, and 

 could veto the joint decision of king and burgesses. Thus the con- 



