COKTTIA. 



COMMENSURABLE. 



r 



had the right of giving hii sum-age in the centuries. The magistrates 

 who were competent to mil UMM comitia wen the consul, the pnetor 

 IB the absence of the consul, and the dictator, or hi* representative i ! 

 magister equitum. The magistrate who prodded sat on the sell* 

 cnruhs. On holrdays (/rriir) coiuitU were nut lawful; the day* on 

 which they could be held were called diet comitiales. The place of 

 meeting was the Campus Martini, where were placed the tepta for the 

 voters, or inclosure* into which rlmp* were admitted one after the 

 other, the president's tabemaculum, and the villa publica for the 

 augur*. Before the business began the auspice* were taken, and if 

 they were not favourable the meeting waa deferred to another day ; 

 but if no obstacle appeared, the buuneas was opened with the standing 

 formula, ntitii.iuttatit Quintet 1 by reading either the names of the 

 candidate*, or the proposition of a law (raoofio). Originally they gave 

 their suffrage* aluud (rird rorr), but afterwards by tablet!, or ballot; 

 which mode of Toting ww established by the logw tabeUaritt, in order 

 to cor* the freedom of election. It waa not till after a long content, 

 commenced by the tribune Qabiniua, B.C. 140, that the plebeians 

 obtained the protection of the ballot 



A* the comitia curiata originally possessed the sovereign power, so, 

 after the time of Serrius Tuilius, it came into the hands of the comitia 

 centuriata. 



In the first place all legislation belonged to them comitia, and the 

 enactment! made by them only were called leges (laws), being obliga- 

 tory upon all the Romans. A Iti differed both from a decree of the 

 ncmitr (itnalti-contiiltttm), and from an enactment of the comitia 

 tributa (plebiicitum), which only bound the respective estates of the 

 patricians and the plcbs. If a law was to be proposed to the comitia 

 centuriata, it was to be promulgated (promulgala), that is, notice of it 

 waa to be given on three market-days before the day of assembly. The 

 proposed law being accepted by the people, which they expressed by 

 the term " perfcrre," was, after being confirmed by oath of the people, 

 engraved on a public tablet and deposited in the acrarium. See Uljttn, 

 tit. i. s 3, and I) 85,2. 1. 



Henceforward all magistrates, both ordinary and extraordinary, were 

 elected at these comitia, as consuls, pnetors, censors, decemvirs, and 

 military tribunes. Those who sought for office appeared in a white 

 toga (toga cadida, and hence they were called candidati) before the 

 people on three previous market-days. The candidate who was 

 elected was proclaimed by the praco, or crier ; and if this formality 

 was not observed the election was null. Until the magistrate elect 

 entered upon his office he was called " designatus." 



The comitia centuriata were also the court for the decision of war, 

 and probably for accepting and confirming treaties, as well as the court 

 of the people (judiriura popidi), for judging public crimes (rn'minu 

 ptiolifa) of a grave kind, which were immediately directed against the 

 state or people ; as for example, attempts upon the freedom of the 

 people, attempts of individuals to seize on the sovereign power, insult 

 to or the murder of a tribune. Such a crime, which was called crimeu 

 perduellionis, was different from the crimen majestatis. (Cicero, ' De 

 Kepub.' ii. 36 ; ' De Legit,' iii., 4 ; ' pro Sext,' 30, 34 ; and Heinecc., 

 Antiq.,'iv. 18, 46, and 47.) 



8. The C'omilia tributa were the comitia wherein the Roman people 

 met and voted according to tribes. The plebeians having acquired 

 considerable power in the state, these comitia achieved their first 

 important victory B.C. 471, by the Publilian law, which secured to 

 them the right of electing the tribunes, and eventually the other 

 inferior magistrates ; while their second great power was gained by the 

 law of Valerius PublicoU, B.C. 449, which, giving them the right of 

 originating measures, raised their decrees to the same position as a lex, 

 j again extended by the Hortensian law, so that " Plebiscita omues 

 rites tenerent." Neither birth nor fortune gave advantage in 

 comitia, as was the case in the other comitia. Every Roman 

 citizen who was classed or registered in a tribe waa permitted to 

 vote in them. The place of meeting was not fixed, but ordinarily it 

 was the Campus Martins; sometimes also the forum or capitol, or 

 Circus Flamininus. The same minute formalities with respect to 

 the auspices were not necessary as at the comitia centuriata. The 

 assemblies were called by a tribune, who also presided, if tribunes or 

 tedilrs were to be elected ; but at elections of other magistrates, or if 

 law* were to be made, consuls and pnetors also might preside. 



Soon after these comitia were established, all inferior magistrates, 

 ordinary and extraordinary, were elected in them, as tribunes, rallies, 

 qucstors, proconsuls, and proprietors; the election of the pontifex 

 maximus, and of various other religious functionaries, wan made in 

 these comitia. They also sat in judgment in certain inferior cases ; 

 but for capital punishments the comitia centuriata only had competent 

 authority, and the trial of Coriolanus, as the story has come down to 

 us, must be regarded as an anomaly and an illegal act 



It has been already mentioned that enactments made by the comitia 

 tributa were called plebiscita, and at first bound only the plebeians. 

 Bat as the power of the plebeians became enlarged by degrees, the 

 plebiscita, after many contest* between the plebeians and patricians, 

 were made equal in effect to the leges, by the lex Horteniia, B.C. 288. 

 (Qaius, i. 1.) From this time these oomitia possessed the complete 

 legislative power, thoroughly independent of the senate. Accordingly 

 enactments fur making war or peace, or granting a triumph, were fre- 

 quently passed against the will of the senate. 



Jn the later time* of the republic, the management of the comitia 

 became an important object both for ambitious aspirants to power, 

 and for those who professed to maintain the rights of the people. 

 OMU>, after being made perpetual dictator, virtually concluded their 

 authority l.y himself appointing consul*, and naming half of the other 

 magistrate*. Finally, the election* of the cotuitia became a mere 



formality. 



(Sigonius, dtAntiq. J*r. Clr. Rom. i. 17. ; Nio. Gruchii, lil.. iii. de 

 (';/. KUM. i* Tka. Antiif. Sam,, ed. Oneviu*, t i. ; ; Dr. 



Smith 1 * AV-fioMty of Onde and Roman Antiquitia, article* " Comitia ," 

 ucitum.") 



COMMA, in Music (4wa), is the difference between two sounds 

 whose ratio is 81 : 80 ; or, the difference between the major 

 c D (J) and the minor tone, D E (&). Practically considered, the cc.mma 

 i* the ninth part of a major tone. Ptolemy thought so small an in- 

 terval inappreciable : Salinas asserts the contrary. Maxwell (' Essay 

 mi Tune 1 ) agrees with the latter, and gives the following rule for 

 tuning the comma : Obtain o, stopped as the octave to the open fourth 

 string (on the violin), and the diHerence between that note and the 

 same taken as the greater sixth below the first open string, must be a 

 comma. We refer those who wish to go deeper into this mat 

 Smith's ' Harmonics. 1 But the clearest and fullest information < 

 subject is to be obtained from the ' Tbe'orie Acoustico-Musicale ' of 

 M. Suremain-Missery. 



COMM AM >KKY, a species of benefice attached to certain foreign 

 military orders, usually conferred on knights who had done them some 

 especial service. According to Furetiere, these commaaderies were of 

 different kinds and degrees, as the statutes of the different orders 

 directed. The name of commandery in the order of St Louis was 

 given to the pension which the king of France formerly assigned to 

 twenty-four commander* of that order. The order of Malta had com- 

 mandcries of justice, which a knight obtained from long standing ; 

 and others of favour, of which the grand master had the power of 

 disposal. 



In England, commanderies were the same amongst the Knights 

 Hospitallers as preceptories had been among the Knights Templars, 

 namely, societies of those knights placed upon some of their estates in 

 the country under the government of a commander, who were allowed 

 proper maintenance out of the revenues under their care, and accounted 

 for the remainder to the grand prior at London. At the dissolution of 

 religious houses, in the time of Henry VIII., there were more than 

 fifty of these comnmuderies in England, subordinate to the great 

 priory of St John of Jerusalem. A few of these held productive 

 estates, and had even the appearance of being separate corporations, to 

 much so as to have a common seal ; but the greater part were little 

 more than farms or granges. The Templars 1 term of preoeptory was 

 as frequently used to designate these establishments as the term com- 

 mandery. In Germany the provision for the vicars of a cathedral is 

 also called a commandery. (Fureticre, ' Dictionnaire Universe! ; ' 

 Tanner, ' Notitia Monastica, 1 edit. 1787, prof. p. xvii. ; Dugdale's 

 Monaeticou Anglicanum, 1 hut edit, vol. vl, pp. 786, 800.) 



The title of commander has also been adopted to designate the 

 second rank of- the Knights of the Bath, who are Knights Commanders. 

 [ HATH, KNIOBTS OF THE.] 



COMMENDAM, from " commenda," a term of the canon law, which, 

 according to its original signification, was applied where the custody of 

 a void ecclesiastical benefice was, during the avoidance, committ d by 

 the bishop or other superior to a person who was to discharge the 

 spiritual duties attached to the benefice without meddling with the 

 profits. The person to whose charge these duties were committed was 

 said to hold the benefice in rummeiu/am. In time, this practice dege- 

 nerated into an actual perception of the profits, and the device of 

 holding livings tit commendam was found by the ecclesiastics of the 

 middle ages a useful method of evading the provisions of the canon law 

 against pluralities. [BENKFICE.] By the law of England no benefice 

 can be held in commendam without a licence from the crown. This 

 prerogative has been most frequently exercUed where the parson of a 

 pariah has been made bishop of a see, the revenues of which were 

 insufficient to support the dignity of the station. For the only way to 

 prevent the avoidance of a benefice by promotion to a bishopric, is to 

 grant a licence to retain it in cummcndam, commonly called a rum- 

 mcndam retina*. This licence is granted before consecration, or 

 before confirmation, in the case of a translation ; another kind of dis- 

 pensation, called a commendam capm or recipere, enable* a bishop to 

 take a benefice after consecration or confirmation. The consent of the 

 patron of the benefice was essential to the validity of a commendam. 



Not only dignities and benefices, but headships of colleges and 

 hospitals, might be granted in commendam, fto. 



Licence to hold in commendam might be temporary or perpetual ; but 

 the learning on this subject has now become of little practical value ; 

 for by statute * 7 Will. IV., c. 77, s. 18, it is enacted, that no eccle- 

 siastical dignity, office, or benefice, shall be held in commendam by any 

 bishop (unless he then held the same); and that every commendam 

 thereafter granted, whether to retain or to receive, and whether tem- 

 porary or perpetual, shall be absolutely void to all intents and purposes. 



CUMMKXSL'UAHLE. Two magnitudes are commensurable which 

 have a common measure. The peculiar part of this subject belongs to 



iNCOUMKNStBABLES, TnEOHY OK, and PROPORTION, wllii'li 



