3. Decurions who had fallen into indigence were supported at the expense of the _municipium_.
These were the only advantages possessed by the curials over the common people, who, on the other hand, enjoyed the benefit that every career was open to them, and that, by entering the army, or engaging in public employments, they might raise themselves at once into the privileged class.
The condition of the curials, then, both as citizens and in relation to the State, was onerous and devoid of liberty. Municipal administration was a burdensome service, to which the curials were doomed, and not a right with which they were invested. Let us now see what was the condition of the curials, not in relation to the State, and to the other classes of citizens, but in the _curia_ and amongst themselves. Here still existed the forms, and even the principles, of liberty. All the curials were members of the _curia_, and sat therein. The ability to bear the burdens of the office entailed that of exercising its rights, and taking part in its affairs; the names of all the curials of each _municipium_ were inscribed, in an order which was determined according to their dignity, age, and other circumstances, in a book called the _album curiæ_. { 197} When there was occasion to deliberate upon any matter, they were all convoked together by the superior magistrate of the town, the _duumvir, ædilis_ or _prætor_, and they all gave their opinions and their votes; everything was decided by the majority of votes: and no deliberation of the _curia_ was valid unless two-thirds of the curials were present.
The attributes of the curia as a body were:
1. The examination and decision of certain affairs;
2. The appointment of magistrates and municipal officers.
Nowhere can I find an enumeration of the affairs which fell under the cognizance of the _curia_ as a body. Everything, however, indicates that most of those municipal interests which required more than the simple execution of the laws or of orders already given, were discussed in the _curia_. The proper and independent authority of the municipal magistrates appears to have been very limited. For example, there is reason to believe that no expense could be incurred without the authorization of the _curia_. It fixed the time and place for holding fairs; it alone granted recompenses; and so forth.