Publicola
A surname, signifying a friend of the common people, acquired by Publius Valerius.
He assisted Brutus to expel the Tarquins, and won the victory in the battle in which Brutus and the sons of Tarquin had fallen. He was four times consul, but died in poverty, and was buried at the public expense amid general mourning. Publilius, Volero. Tribune of the plebs, B. C. 472, and again 471, effected an important change in the Roman constitution. In virtue of the laws which he proposed, the tribunes of the plebs and the aediles were elected by the comitia tributa, instead of by the comitia centuriata, as had previously been the case, and the tribes obtained the power of deliberating and determining in all matters affecting the whole nation, and not such only as concerned the plebs.