As already noticed, a Roman assembly can meet only when summoned by a magistrate, and it can transact only the business put before it by the magistrate. His proposal it must either accept or reject; there is no possibility of amendment, nor, in the actual assembly itself, of any discussion. When legislation was proposed, the magistrate had to draft the bill (rogatio) which he intended to put before the people, or cause it to be drafted for him, and this bill was, by constitutional practice, usually debated in the senate. By strict law, however, this was not necessary, and the consent or disapproval of the senate made no difference to the validity of a law once it was passed. It was the duty of the magistrate when the bill was drafted to publish it in an edict (proponere, promulgare) in which he also announced the date on which he would summon the assembly to vote on it.
The interval between promulgation and voting had, by a lex Caecilia Didia (98 B.C.), to be at least twenty-four days (trinundinum –three Roman weeks–), and this rule seems to have been followed in practice even before it was laid down by law. After promulgation the bill might be withdrawn but it could not be altered. During this interval the magistrate could, and usually did, hold informal public meetings for discussion (contiones) in which he spoke himself and might allow anyone else to speak for or against the bill. Sometimes the contio took place immediately before the assembly proper. Before the voting the bill was read out again and the presiding magistrate asked the people whether they agreed to it or not, velitis iubeatis, Quirites? The people then arranged themselves in their divisions (tribes or centuries) and voted separately. Originally each man gave his vote orally, but with the growth of bribery in the late republic an attempt was made to check it by introducing the secret ballot. Each man was given two tablets, one marked U.R. (uti rogas –"as you propose"–) and the other A. (antiquo –"I vote for the old state of things"); the former he cast into the urn if he wished to vote for the proposal, the latter if he rejected it.
