No More Learning

Cornelius Scipio Nasica took from the Boians nearly
half their territory. ” (Titus Livius, XXXVI. 39. )

[128] Appian, _Civil Wars_, I. vii. --This citation, though belonging to
a posterior date, applies nevertheless to the epoch of which we are
speaking.

[129] “Servius published an edict to oblige all who had appropriated,
under the title of usufructuaries or proprietors, the lands of the
public domain, to restore them within a certain time, and, by the same
edict, the citizens who possessed no heritage were ordered to bring him
their names. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 10. )

[130] “We need not be astonished if the poor prefer the lands of the
domain to be distributed (to all the citizens) than to suffer that a
small number of the most shameless should remain sole possessors. But if
they see that they are taken from those who gather their revenues, and
that the public is restored to the possession of its domain, they will
cease to be jealous of us, and the desire to see them distributed to
each citizen would diminish, when it shall be demonstrated to them that
these lands will be of greater utility when possessed in common by the
Republic. ” (Year of Rome 268. ) (_Speech of Appius_, Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, VIII. 73. )

[131] Agannius Urbicus, _De Controversiiss agrorum_, in the _Gromatici
veteres_, ed. Lachmann, vol. I, p. 82.

[132] Titus Livius, II. 48.

[133] “Lucius Æmilius said that it was just that the common goods should
be shared among all the citizens, rather than leave the enjoyment of
them to a small number of individuals; that in regard to those who had
seized upon the public lands, they ought to be sufficiently satisfied
that they had been left to enjoy them during so long a time without
being disturbed in their possession, and that if afterwards they were
deprived of them, it ill became them to be obstinate in retaining them.
He added that, besides the public law acknowledged by general opinion,
and according to which the public goods are common to all the citizens,
just as the goods of individuals belong to those who have acquired them
legitimately, the Senate was obliged, by a special reason, to distribute
the lands to the people, since it had passed an ordinance for that
purpose already seventeen years ago. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IX.
51. )

[134] Titus Livius, III. 31. --Dionysius of Halicarnassus, X. 33 _et
seq. _

[135] “The plebeians complain loudly that their conquests have been
taken from them; that it is disgraceful that, having conquered so many
lands from the enemy, not the least portion of it remains to them; that
the _ager publicus_ is possessed by rich and influential men who take
the revenue unjustly, without other title than their power and
unexampled acts of violence. They demand finally that, sharing with the
patricians all the dangers, they may also have their share in the
advantages and profit derived from them. ” (Year of Rome 298. ) (Dionysius
of Halicarnassus, X. 36. )

[136] “The moment would have been well chosen, after having taken
vengeance on the seditious, to propose, in order to soothe people’s
minds, the partition of the territory of the Bolani; they would thus
have weakened the desire for an agrarian law which would expel the
patricians from the public estates they had unjustly usurped. For it was
an indignity which cut the people to the heart, this rage of the
nobility to retain the public lands they occupied by force, and, above
all, their refusal to distribute to the people even the vacant lands
recently taken from the enemy, which, indeed, would soon become, like
the rest, the prey of some of the nobles,” (Year of Rome 341. ) (Titus
Livius, IV. 51. )

[137] Titus Livius, V. 30.

[138] Titus Livius, VI. 21. --It appears that the Pontine Marshes were
then very fertile, since Pliny relates, after Licinius Mucianus, that
they included upwards of twenty-four flourishing towns. (_Natural
History_, III. v. 56, edit. Sillig. )

[139] Titus Livius, VI. 35-42. --Appian, _Civil Wars_, I. 8.

[140] See the remarkable work of M. A. Mace, _Sur les Lois Agraires_,
Paris, 1846.

[141] ROMAN COLONIES. --Second period: 244-416

_Lavici_ (Labicum) (336). Latium. (_Via Lavicana_. ) _La Colonna. _
_Vitellia_ (359). The Volscians. (_Via Prænestina_. ) Uncertain.
_Civitella_ or _Valmontone_.
_Satricum_ (370). The Volscians. Banks of the Astura. _Casale di Conca_,
between _Anzo_ and _Velletri_.

LATIN COLONIES. --Second period: 244-416.

_Antium_ (287). Volscians. _Torre d’Anzio_ or _Porto d’Anzio_.
_Suessa Pometia_ (287). Near the Pontine Marshes. Disappeared at
an early period.
_Cora_. Volscians (287). _Cori_.
_Signia_ (259). Volscians. _Segni_.
_Velitræ_ (260). Volscians. _Velletri_.
_Norba_ (262). Volscians. Near the modern village of _Norma_.
_Ardea_ (312). Rutuli. _Ardea_.
_Circeii_ (361). Aurunces. _Monte Circello_: _San Felice_
or _Porto di Paolo_.
_Satricum_ (369). Volscians. _Casale di Conca_.
_Sutrium_ (371). Etruria. (_Via Cassia_. ) _Sutri_.
_Setia_ (372) Volscians. _Sezze_.
_Nepete_ (381). Etruria. _Nepi_.



[142] It is thus that we see, in 416, each poor citizen receiving two
_jugera_, taken from the land of the Latins and their allies. In 479,
after the departure of Pyrrhus, the Senate caused lands to be
distributed to those who had fought against the King of Epirus. In 531,
the Flaminian law, which Polybius accuses wrongly of having introduced
corruption into Rome, distributed by head the Roman territory situated
between Rimini and the Picenum; in 554, after the capture of Carthage,
the Senate made a distribution of land to the soldiers of Scipio. For
each year of service in Spain or Africa, each soldier received two
_jugera_, and the distribution was made by decemvirs. (Titus Livius,
XXXI. 49. )

[143] “Marcus Valerius demonstrated to them that prudence did not permit
them to refuse a thing of small importance to citizens who, under the
government of the kings, had distinguished themselves in so many battles
for the defence of the Republic. ” (Year of Rome 256. ) (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, V. 65. )--“On one hand, the plebeians pretended not to be
in a condition to pay their debts; they complained that, during so many
years of war, their lands had produced nothing, that their cattle had
perished, that their slaves had escaped or had been carried away in the
different incursions of the enemies, and that all they possessed at Rome
was expended for the cost of the war. On the other hand, the creditors
said that the losses were common to everybody; that they had suffered no
less than their debtors; that they could not consent to lose what they
had lent in time of peace to some indigent citizens in addition to what
the enemies had taken from them in time of war. ” (Year of Rome 258. )
(Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VI. 22. )

[144] Those who pleaded the causes of individuals were nearly all
senators, and exacted for this service very heavy sums under the title
of fees. (Titus Livius, XXXIV. 4. )

[145] “The days following, Servius Tullius caused a report to be drawn
up of the insolvent debtors, of their creditors, and of the respective
amount of their debts. When this was prepared, he caused counters to be
established in the Forum, and, in public view, repaid the lenders
whatever was due to them. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 10. )

[146] “Servilius caused a herald to proclaim that all persons were
forbidden to seize, sell, or retain in pledge the goods of Romans who
served against the Volsci, or to take away their children, or any one of
their family, for any contract whatever. ”--“An old man complains that
his creditor has reduced him to slavery: he declares loudly that he was
born free, that he had served in all the campaigns as long as his age
permitted, that he was in twenty-eight battles, where he had several
times gained the prize of valour; but that, since the times had become
bad, and the Republic was reduced to the last extremity, he had been
constrained to borrow money to pay the taxes. After that, he added,
having no longer wherewith to pay my debts, my merciless creditor has
reduced me to slavery with my two children, and, because I expostulated
slightly when he ordered me to do things which were too difficult,
caused me to be disgracefully beaten with several blows. ” (Year of Rome
259. ) (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VI. 29. )--“The creditors contributed
to the insurrection of the populace, they cast aside all moderation, but
threw their debtors into prison, and treated them like the slaves whom
they would have bought for money. ” (Year of Rome 254. ) (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, V. 53. )

[147] “The poor, especially those who were not in condition to pay their
debts, who formed the greatest number, refused to take arms, and would
hold no communication with the patricians, until the Senate should pass
a law for the abolition of debts. ” (Year of Rome 256. ) (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, V. 63. )

[148] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, V. 64.

[149] Appius Claudius Sabinus expressed an opinion quite contrary to
that of Marcus Valerius: he said that “there could be no doubt that the
rich, who were not less citizens than the poor, and who held the first
rank in the Republic, occupied the public offices, and had served in all
the wars, would take it very ill if they discharged their debtors from
the obligation of paying what was due. ” (Year of Rome 256. ) (Dionysius
of Halicarnassus, V. 66. )

[150] It results from the testimony of Polybius, Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, Livy, Florus, and Eutropius, that at the moment of the
fall of Tarquinius Superbus, the domination of Rome extended over all
Latium, over the greater part of the country of the Sabines, and even as
far as Ocriculum (_Otricoli_) in Umbria; that Etruria, the country of
the Hernici, and the territory of Cære (_Cervetri_), were united with
the Romans by alliances which placed them, with regard to these, in a
state of subjection.

The establishment of the consular government was, for the peoples
subject to Rome, the signal of revolt. In 253, all the peoples of Latium
were leagued against Rome; with the victory of Lake Regillus, in 258,
that is, fourteen years after the overthrow of the Tarquins, the
submission of Latium began, and it was finished by the treaty concluded
by Spurius Cassius with the Latins in the year of Rome 268. The Sabines
were only finally reduced by the consul Horatius in 305. Fidenæ, which
had acknowledged the supremacy of Tarquin, was taken in the year 319,
then taken again, after an insurrection, in 328. Anxur (_Terracina_) was
only finally subjected after the defeat of the Volsci; and Veii and
Falerium only fell under the power of the Romans in the year 358 and
359. Circci, where a Latin colony had been established in the times of
the kings, only received a new one in the year 360. Cære was reunited to
the Roman territory in the year 364, and it was only at the time of the
Gallic invasion that Antium and Ecetra were finally annexed to the Roman
territory. In 408, the capture of Satricum, at the entrance of the
country of the Volscians, prevented that people from supporting an
insurrection which had already begun among the Latins. In 411, the whole
plain of Latium was occupied by Roman citizens or allies, but in the
mountains there remained Volscian and Latin cities which were
independent and secretly enemies. Nevertheless it may be said that,
towards that period, the Republic had re-conquered the territory which
it possessed under the kings, although Rome had again, in 416, to
suppress a last insurrection of the Latins.

[151] Mommsen, _Roman History_, I. , p. 241, 2nd edit.

[152] In fourteen years, from 399 to 412, the patricians allowed only
six plebeians to arrive at the consulship.

[153] Titus Livius, X. 23.

[154] Titus Livius, X. 9.

[155] “Who does not see clearly that the vice of the dictator
(Marcellus) in the eyes of the augurs was that he was a plebeian? ”
(Titus Livius, VIII. 23. --Cicero, _De Divinatione_, II. 35, 37; _De
Legibus_, II. 13. )

[156] The consuls and prætors could only assemble the comitia, command
the armies, or give final judgment in civil affairs, after having been
invested with the _imperium_ and with the right of taking the auspices
(_jus auspiciorum_) by a curiate law.

[157] _Second Oration on the Agrarian Law_, 9.

[158] Titus Livius, IV. 3.

[159] If a citizen refused to give his name for the recruitment, his
goods were confiscated; if he did not pay his creditors, he was sold for
a slave. Women were forbidden the use of wine. (Polybius, VI. 2. )--The
number of guests who could be admitted to feasts was limited. (Athenæus,
VI. p. 274. )--The magistrates also, on entering on office, could not
accept invitations to dinner, except from certain persons who were
named. (Aulus Gellius, II. 24. --Macrobius, II. 13. )--“Marriage with a
plebeian or a stranger was surrounded with restrictive measures; it was
forbidden with a slave or with a freedman. Celibacy, at a certain age,
was punished with a fine. ” (Valerius Maximus, II. ix. 1. )--There were
regulations also for mourning and funerals. (Cicero, _De Legibus_, II.
24. )

[160] Aulus Gellius, IV. 12.

[161] Plutarch, _Cato the Censor_, 23.
[162] Historians have always assigned as the northern frontier of Italy,
under the Republic, the River Macra, in Etruria; but that the limit was
farther south is proved by the fact that Cæsar went to Lucca to take his
winter quarters; this town, therefore, must have been in his command and
made part of Cisalpine Gaul. Under Augustus, the northern frontier of
Italy extended to the Macra.

[163] Speech of Cæsar to the Senate, reported by Sallust. (_Conspiracy
of Catilina_, li. )

[164] This paragraph, expressing with great clearness the policy of the
Roman Senate, is extracted from the excellent _Hist. Romaine_ of M.
Duruy, t. I. , c. xi.

[165] As, for example, to put the wife in complete obedience to her
husband; to give the father absolute authority over his children, etc.

[166] In the origin, the municipia were the allied towns preserving
their autonomy, but engaging to render to Rome certain services
(_munus_); whence the name of municipia. (_Aulus Gellius_, XVI. 13. )

[167] To be able to enjoy the right of city, it was necessary to be
domiciliated at Rome, to have left a son in his majority in the
municipium, or to have exercised there a magistracy.

[168] Aul. Gellius, XVI. xiii. --Paulus Diaconus, on the word
_Municipium_, p. 127.

[169] In this category were sometimes found municipia of the third
degree, such as Cære. (See Festus, under the word _Præfecturæ_, p.
233. )--Several of these towns, such as Fundi, Formiæ, and Arpinum,
obtained in the sequel the right of suffrage; they continued, however,
by an ancient usage, to be called by the name of _præfecturæ_, which was
also applied by abuse to the colonies.

[170] _Socius et amicus_ (Titus Livius, XXXI. 11). --Compare Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, VI. 95; X. 21.

[171] With Carthage, for example. (Polybius, III. 22. --Titus Livius,
VII. 27; IX. 19, 43. )

[172] Thus with the Latins. “Ut eosdem quos populus Romanus amicos atque
hostes habeant. ” (Titus Livius, XXXVIII. 8. )

[173] Cicero, _Oration for Balbus_, xvi.

[174] The freedmen were, in fact, either Roman citizens, or Latins, or
ranged in the number of the _dediticii_; slaves who had, while they were
in servitude, undergone a grave chastisement, if they arrived at
freedom, obtained only the assimilation to the _dediticii_. If, on the
contrary, the slave had undergone no punishment, if he was more than
thirty years of age, if, at the same time, he belonged to his master
according to the law of the quirites, and if the formalities of
manumission or affranchisement exacted by the Roman law had been
observed, he was a Roman citizen. He was only Latin if one of these
circumstances failed. (_Institutes_ of Gaius, I. § 12, 13, 15, 16, 17. )

[175] “Valerius sent upon the lands conquered from the Volsci a colony
of a certain number of citizens chosen from among the poor, both to
serve as a garrison against the enemies, and to diminish at Rome the
party of the seditious. ” (Year of Rome 260. ) (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, VI. 43. )--This great number of colonies, by clearing the
population of Rome of a multitude of indigent citizens, had maintained
tranquillity (452). (Titus Livius, X. 6. )

[176] Modern authors are not agreed on this point, which would require a
long discussion; but we may consider the question as solved in the sense
of our text by Madvig, _Opuscula_, I. pp. 244-254.

[177] “There the people (_populus_) named their magistrates; the
_duumviri_ performed the functions of consuls or prætors, whose title
they sometimes took (_Corpus Inscriptionum Latin. _, _passim_); the
_quinquennales_ corresponded to the censors. Finally, there were
_questors_ and _ediles_. The Senate, as at Rome, was composed of
members, elected for life, to the number of a hundred; the number was
filled up every five years (_lectio senatus_). ” (_Tabula Heracleensis_,
cap. x. _et seq. _)

[178] A certain number of colonies figure in the list given by Dionysius
of Halicarnassus of the members of the confederacy (V. 61).

[179] Pliny, _Natural History_, III. iv. § 7.

[180] Because it named its magistrates, struck money (Mommsen,
_Münzwesen_, p. 317), privileges refused to the Roman colonies, and
preserved its own peculiar laws according to the principle: “Nulla
populi Romani lege adstricti, nisi in quam populus eorum fundus factus
est. ” (Aulus Gellius, XVI. xiii. 6. --Compare Cicero, _Oration for
Balbus_, viii. 21. )

[181] Cicero, _Oration on the Agrarian Law_, ii. 27.

[182] Titus Livius, XXVII. 9.

[183] Florus, I. 16.

[184] Titus Livius, VIII. 13, 14.

[185] Titus Livius, VIII. 14. These towns had the right of city without
suffrage; of this number were Capua (in consideration of its knights,
who had refused to take part in the revolt), Cumæ, Fundi, and Formiæ.

[186] Velleius Paterculus, I. 15.

[187] Titus Livius, VIII. 14.

[188] Titus Livius, VIII. 14, _et seq. _--Valerius Maximus, VI. ii. 1.

[189] Florus, I. 16.

[190] Titus Livius, VIII. 26; XXI. 49; XXII. 11.

[191] “Eam solam gentem restare. ” (Titus Livius, VIII. 27. )

[192] Cicero, _de Officiis_, iii. 30.

[193] Titus Livius, IX. 24, 28.

[194] Diodorus Siculus, XX. 36. --Titus Livius, IX. 29.

[195] Diodorus Siculus, XIX. 101.

[196] Titus Livius, IX. 31.

[197] Diodorus Siculus, XX. 35.

[198] Now _Lago di Vadimone_ or _Bagnaccio_, situated on the right bank
and three miles from the Tiber, between that river and the Lake
Ciminius, about the latitude of _Narni_.

[199] Titus Livius, IX. 43. --Cicero, _Oration for Balbus_, 13. --Festus,
under the word _Præfecturæ_, p. 233.

[200] Titus Livius, IX. 45. --Diodorus Siculus, XX. 101.

[201] Titus Livius, IX. 45; X. 3, 10.

[202] Appian, _Samnite Wars_, § vii. , p. 56, edit. Schweighæuser.

[203] Diodorus Siculus, XIX. 10.

[204] Titus Livius, X. 11, _et seq. _

[205] Titus Livius, X. 22, _et seq. _--Polybius, II. 19. --Florus, I. 17.

[206] Volsiniæ, Perusia, and Arretium. (Titus Livius, X. 37. )

[207] Orosius, III. 22. --Zonaras, VII. 2. --Eutropius, II. 9.

[208] Velleius Paterculus, I. 14. --Festus, under the word _Præfecturæ_,
p. 233.

[209] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, _Excerpta_, p. 2335, edit.
Schweighæuser.

[210] Polybius, II. 19, 24.

[211] Titus Livius, _Epitome_, XII. , XIII. , XIV. --Plutarch, _Pyrrhus, et
seq. _--Florus, I. 18. --Eutropius, II. 11, _et seq. _--Zonaras, VIII. 2.

[212] Valerius Maximus, III. vii. 10.

[213] Appian (_Samnite Wars_, X. iii. , p. 65) says that Pyrrhus advanced
as far as Anagnia.

[214] Cicero, _Oration for Balbus_, xxii.

[215] Titus Livius, _Epitome_, XIV. --Orosius, IV. 3.

[216] Florus, I. 20.

[217] Titus Livius, _Epitome_, XV. --_Fasti Capitolini_, an. 487.

[218] ROMAN COLONIES. --Third period: 416-488.

_Antium_ (416). A maritime colony (Volsci). _Torre d’Anzo_ or
_Porto d’Anzo_.

_Terracina_ (425). A maritime colony (Aurunci). (_Via Appia. _)
_Terracina. _

_Minturnæ_ (459). A maritime colony (Aurunci). (_Via Appia. _) Ruins
near _Trajetta_.