But that faith in an ideal, which is the foundation of all the power and of all the impotence of democracy, had come to be closely associated in the minds of the Romans with the tribunate of the plebs; and we do not need to recall the case of Cola Rienzi in order to perceive that, however unsubstantial might be the advantage thence arising to the multitude, it could not be abolished without a formidable convulsion of the state.

Accordingly with genuine political prudence they contented themselves with reducing it to a nullity under forms that should attract as little attention as possible.

The mere name of this essentially revolutionary magistracy was still retained within the aristocratically governed commonwealth--an incongruity for the present, and for the future, in the hands of a coming revolutionary party, a sharp and dangerous weapon.

For the moment, however, and for a long time to come the aristocracy was so absolutely powerful and so completely possessed control over the tribunate, that no trace at all is to be met with of a collegiate opposition on the part of the tribunes to the senate; and the government overcame the forlorn movements of opposition that now and then proceeded from individual tribunes, always without difficulty, and ordinarily by means of the tribunate itself.
The Senate.

Its Composition In reality it was the senate that governed the commonwealth, and did so almost without opposition after the equalization of the orders.
Its very composition had undergone a change.