CHAPTER IX.
THE COMMONWEALTH.
FROM THE BANISHMENT OF TARQUIN TO THE APPOINTMENT OF THE DICTATOR--U.C.

245.
The great republic seek that glowed, sublime, With the mixt freedom of a thousand states .-- _Thomson_.
1.

The regal power being overthrown, a republican form of government was substituted in its room.

The senate, however, reserved by far the greatest share of the authority to themselves, and decorated their own body with all the spoils of deposed monarchy.

The centuries of the people chose from among the senators, instead of a king, two annual magistrates, whom they called CONSULS,[1] with power equal to that of the regal, and with the same privileges and the same ensigns of authority.
2.