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THE COMITIA TRIBUTA AND THE AGRARIAN LAWS.
The next gain made by the plebeians was the annual appointment from their own ranks of two officers, called AEDILES.

(Footnote: The word "Aedile" is derived from _Aedes_, meaning temple.) These officers held nearly the same position in reference to the Tribunes that the Quaestors did to the Consuls.

They assisted the Tribunes in the performance of their various duties, and also had special charge of the temple of Ceres.

In this temple were deposited, for safe keeping, all the decrees of the Senate.
These two offices, those of Tribune and Aedile, the result of the first secession, were filled by elections held at first in the Comitia Centuriata, but later in an assembly called the COMITIA TRIBUTA, which met sometimes within and sometimes without the city walls.
This assembly was composed of plebeians, who voted by "tribes" (_tributa_, meaning composed of tribes), each tribe being entitled to one vote, and its vote being decided by the majority of its individual voters.