text:  The inhabitants of whole provinces and cities were brought up to the capital to give their suffrages or compel others to give them; the popular assemblies degenerated into vast conspiracies a troop or seditious band usurped the sacred name of Comitia; the authority of the people their laws even themselves became a mere chimera; and the anarchy rose to such a point that it became impossible to tell whether the people had made an ordinance or had not