[122] “Appius convokes an assembly, accuses Valerius and Horatius of the
crime of perduellio, calculating entirely on the tribunian power with
which he was invested.
crime of perduellio, calculating entirely on the tribunian power with
which he was invested.
Napoleon - History of Julius Caesar - a
)
[86] Romulus kills Acron, routs the enemies, and returns to _offer to
Jupiter Feretrius the opima spolia taken from that prince_.
“After Romulus, Cornelius Cossus was the first who consecrated to the
same gods similar spoils, having slain with his own hand, in a combat
where he commanded the cavalry, the general of the Fidenates.
“We must not separate the example of M. Marcellus from the two
preceding. He had the courage and intrepidity to attack on the banks of
the Pô, at the head of a handful of horsemen, the king of the Gauls,
though protected by a numerous army; he struck off his head, and
_carried off his armour_, of which he made an offering to Jupiter
Feretrius. (Year of Rome 531. )
“The same kind of bravery and combat signalised T. Manilius Torquatus,
Valerius Corvus, and Scipio Æmilianus. These warriors, challenged by the
chieftains of the enemies, made them bite the dust; but, as they had
fought under the auspices of a superior chief, they did not offer their
spoils to Jupiter. ” (Year of Rome 392, 404, 602. ) (Valerius Maximus,
III. 2, §§ 3, 4, 5, 6. )
[87] “Tarquin divided the seats (of the great circus) among the thirty
curiæ, assigning to each the place which belonged to him. ” (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, III. 68. )--“It was then (after the war against the
Latins) that the site was chosen which is now called the great circus.
They marked out in it the particular places for the senators and for the
knights. ” (Titus Livius, I. 35. )
[88] “The hundred senators were divided into ten decaries, and each
chose one of its members to exercise this authority. The power was
collective: one alone carried the insignia of it, and walked preceded by
the lictors. The duration of this power was for five days, and each
exercised it in turn . . . The plebs was not long before it began to
murmur. Its servitude had only been aggravated; instead of one master,
it had a hundred. It appeared disposed to suffer only one king, and to
choose him itself. ” (Titus Livius, I. 17. )
[89] “For the rest, this liberty consisted at first rather in the annual
election of the consuls than in the weakening of the royal power. The
first consuls assumed all its prerogatives and all its insignia; only it
was feared that, if both possessed the fasciæ, this solemnity might
inspire too much terror, and Brutus owed to the deference of his
colleague the circumstance of possessing them first. ” (Titus Livius, II.
1. )
[90] “The death of Melius was justified,” said Quinctius, “to appease
the people, although he might be innocent of the crime of aspiring to
the kingly power. ” (Titus Livius, IV. 15. )
[91] “From these inflexible hearts came a sentence of death, which was
odious to the judges themselves. ” (Titus Livius, VI. 20. )
[92] _Discourse on Titus Livius_, I. 5.
[93] Proofs of the disagreement of the two consuls: “Cassius brought
secretly as many Latins and Hernici as he possibly could to have their
suffrages; there arrived in Rome such a great number, that in a short
time the town was full of strangers. Virginius, who was informed of it,
caused a herald to proclaim in all the public places that all those who
had no domicile in Rome should withdraw immediately; but Cassius gave
orders contrary to those of his colleague, forbidding any one who had
the right of Roman freedom to quit the town until the law was confirmed
and received. ” (Year of Rome 268. ) (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VIII.
72. )--“Quinctius, more indulgent than his colleague, willed the
concession to the people of all their just and reasonable demands;
Appius, on the contrary, was willing to die rather than to yield. ” (Year
of Rome 283. ) (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IX. 48. )
[94] “The two consuls were of the most opposite tempers, and were always
in discord (_dissimiles discordesque_). ” (Titus Livius, XXII.
41. )--“While they lost their time in quarrels rather than in
deliberations. ” (Titus Livius, XXII. 45. )
[95] Titus Livius, XXI. 52. --Dio Cassius, _Fragments_, CCLXXI. edit.
Gros.
[96] Titus Livius, XXI. 52.
[97] “In the Roman army the two consuls enjoyed an equal power; but the
deference of Agrippa in concentrating the authority in the hands of his
colleague, established the unity so necessary for the success of great
enterprises. ” (Titus Livius, III. 70. )--“The two consuls commanded often
both in the day of battle. ” (Titus Livius, _Battle of Mount Vesuvius_,
VIII. 9; _Battle of Sentinum_, X. 27. )--“A fatal innovation; from that
time each had in view his personal interest, and not the general
interest, preferring to see the Republic experience a check than his
colleague covered with glory, and evils without number afflicted the
fatherland. ” (Dio Cassius, _Fragments_, LI. edit. Gros. )
[98] “They called tribunes of the people those who, from tribunes of the
soldiers, which they were first, were charged with the defence of the
people during its retreat at Crustumerium. ” (Varro, _De Lingua Latina_,
V. 81, edition of O. Müller. )
[99] “The discontented obtained from the patricians the confirmation of
their magistrates; afterwards they demanded of the Senate the permission
to elect annually two plebeians (_ediles_) to second the tribunes in all
things in which they might have need of aid, to judge the causes which
these might entrust into their hands, to have care of the sacred and
public edifices, and to ensure the supplying of the market with
provisions. ” (Year of Rome 260. ) (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VI. 90. )
[100] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VI. 89.
[101] The tribunes oppose the enrolment of troops. (Year of Rome 269. )
(Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VIII. 81. )--“Licinius and Sextius
re-elected tribunes of the people, allowed no curule magistrate to be
elected; and, as the people continued to re-appoint the two tribunes,
who always threw out the elections of the military tribunes, the town
remained five years deprived of magistrates. ” (Year of Rome 378. ) (Titus
Livius, VI. 35. )--“Each time the consuls convoked the people to confer
the consulship on the candidates, the tribunes, in virtue of their
powers, prevented the holding of the assemblies. So also, when these
assembled the people to make the election, the consuls opposed it,
pretending that the right of convoking the people and collecting the
suffrages belonged to them alone. ” (Year of Rome 271. ) (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, VIII. 90. )--“Sometimes the tribunes prevented the
patricians from assembling for the election of the interrex, sometimes
they forbade the interrex himself making the senatus consultus for the
consular comitia. ” (Year of Rome 333. ) (Titus Livius, IV. 43. )
[102] Titus Livius, III. 30.
[103] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, X. 31.
[104] “The most remarkable event of this year (the year of Rome 282), in
which military successes were so nearly balanced, and in which discord
broke out in the camp and in the town with so much fury, was the
establishment of the comitia by _tribes_, an innovation which gave to
the plebeians the honour of the victory, but little real advantage. In
fact, the exclusion of the patricians deprived the comitia of all their
pomp, without augmenting the power of the people or diminishing that of
the Senate. ” (Titus Livius, II. 60. )
[105] Assembly of the people both of the town and country; the suffrages
were given in it, not by centuries, but by tribes:--“The day of the
third market, from an early hour in the morning, the public place was
occupied by so great a crowd of country people as had never been seen
before. The tribunes assembled the people by tribes, and, dividing the
Forum by ropes stretched across, formed as many distinct spaces as there
were tribes. Then, for the first time, the Roman people gave its
suffrages by tribes, in spite of the opposition of the patricians, who
tried to prevent it, and demanded that they should assemble by
centuries, according to the ancient custom. ” (Year of Rome 263. )
(Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VII. 59. )--“From that period (the year 283,
consulate of Appius) to our days, the comitia by tribes have elected the
tribunes and ediles, without auspices or observation of other auguries.
Thus ended the troubles which agitated Rome. ” (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, IX. 49. )--“The Roman people, more irritated than ever,
demanded that for each tribe a third urn should be added for the town of
Rome, in order to put the suffrages in it. ” (Year of Rome 308. )
(Dionysius of Halicarnassus, XI. 52. )
[106] “Duas civitates ex una factas: suos cuique parti magistratus, suas
leges esse. ” (Titus Livius, II. 44. )--“In fact, we are, as you see
yourselves, divided into two towns, one of which is governed by poverty
and necessity, and the other by abundance of all things and by pride and
insolence. ” (Year of Rome 260). (_Speech of Titus Larcius to the envoys
of the Volsci_, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VI. 36,)
[107] The clients began to vote in the comitia by tribes after the law
Valeria Horatia; we see, by the account of Titus Livius (V. 30, 32),
that in the time of Camillus the clients and the patricians had already
entered the comitia by tribes.
[108] Appian, _Civil Wars_, I. 1.
[109] Titus Livius, III. 9.
[110] Lectorius, the most aged of the tribunes of the people, spoke of
laws which had not been long made. “By the first, which concerned the
translation of judgments, the Senate granted to the people the power of
judging any one of the patricians. ” (Year of Rome 283. ) (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, IX. 46. )
[111] “The laws voted by the people in the comitia by tribes were to be
obligatory on all Romans, and have the same force as those which were
made in the comitia by centuries. The pain of death and confiscation was
even pronounced against any one who should be convicted of having in
anything abrogated or violated this regulation. This new ordinance cut
short the old quarrels between the plebeians and the patricians, who
refused to obey the laws made by the people, under the pretext that what
was decided in the assemblies by tribes was not obligatory on all the
town, but only on the plebeians; and that, on the contrary, what was
decided in the comitia by centuries became law as well for themselves as
for the other citizens. ” (Year of Rome 305. ) (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, XI. 45. )--“One point always contested between the two
orders was to know if the patricians were subjected to the _plebiscita_.
The first care of the consuls was to propose to the comitia assembled by
centuries a law to the effect that the decrees of the people assembled
by tribes should be laws of the State. ” (Year of Rome 305. ) (Titus
Livius, III. 55. )--“The patricians pretended that they alone had the
power of giving laws. ” (Titus Livius, III. 31. )
[112] “The comitia by curiæ for everything which concerns military
affairs; the comitia by centuries for the election of your consuls and
of your military tribunes, &c. ” (Titus Livius, V. 52. )
[113] Aulus Gellius, XV. 27. --Festus, under the words _Scitum populi_.
[114] Titus Livius, IV. 3.
[115] “The indignation of the people was extreme, on account of the
refusal to take the auspices, as if it had been an object for the
reprobation of the immortal gods. ”--“The tribune demanded for what
reason a plebeian could not be consul, and was told in reply that the
plebeians had not the auspices, and that the decemvirs had interdicted
marriage between the two orders only to hinder the auspices from being
troubled by men of equivocal birth. ” (Titus Livius, IV. 6. )--“Now in
what hands are the auspices according to the custom of our ancestors? In
the hands of the patricians, I think; for the auspices are never taken
for the nomination of a plebeian magistrate. ”--“Is it not then the same
thing as to annihilate the auspices in this city, to take them, in
electing plebeian consuls, from the patricians, who alone can observe
them? ” (Year of Rome 386. ) (Titus Livius, VI. 41. )
To the consul, the prætor, and the censor was reserved the right of
taking the great auspices; to the less elevated magistracies that of
taking the lesser ones. The great auspices appear, in fact, to have been
those of which the exercise was of most importance to the rights of the
aristocracy. The ancients have not left us a precise definition of the
two classes of auspices; but it appears to result from what Cicero says
of them (_De Legibus_, II. 12), that by the great auspices were
understood those for which the intervention of the augurs was
indispensable; the little auspices, on the contrary, were those which
were taken without them. (See Aulus Gellius, XIII. 15. )
As to the auspices taken in the comitia where the consular tribunes were
elected, passages of Titus Livius (V. 14, 52; VI. 11) prove that they
were the same as for the election of the consuls, and consequently that
they were the great auspices; for we know from Cicero (_De Divinatione_,
I. 17; II. 35--compare Titus Livius, IV. 7) that it was the duty of the
magistrate who held the comitia to bring there an augur, of whom he
demanded what the presages announced. The privileges of the nobility
were maintained by causing the comitia for the election of the consular
tribunes to be held by an interrex chosen by the aristocracy.
[116] Titus Livius, VI. 5.
[117] Titus Livius, VII. 17.
[118] In 333, the number was increased to four. Two, overseers for the
guard of the treasury and the disposition of the public money, were
appointed by the consuls; the two others, charged with the
administration of the military chest, were appointed by the tribes.
[119] “_The master of the knights_ was so called because he exercised
the supreme power over the knights and the _accensi_, as the dictator
exercised it over the whole Roman people; whence the name of _master of
the people_, which was also given to him. ” (Varro, _De Lingua Latina_,
V. 82, edit. Müller. )
[120] “The duumvirs charged with the sacred rites were replaced by the
decemvirs, half plebeians, half patricians. ” (Titus Livius, VI. 37. )
[121] Titus Livius, VII. 5.
[122] “Appius convokes an assembly, accuses Valerius and Horatius of the
crime of perduellio, calculating entirely on the tribunian power with
which he was invested. ” (Year of Rome 305. ) (Dionysius of Halicarnassus,
XI. 39. )
[123] “In the interim, there was at Rome a conspiracy of several slaves,
who formed together the design of seizing the forts and setting fire to
the different quarters of the town. ” (Year of Rome 253. ) (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, V. 51. )--“From the summit of the Capitol, Herdonius
called the slaves to liberty. He had taken up the cause of misfortune;
he had just restored to their country those whom injustice had banished,
and delivered the slaves from a heavy yoke; it is to the Roman people
that he wishes to give the honour of this enterprise. ” (Year of Rome
294. ) (Titus Livius, III. 15. )--“The slaves who had entered into the
conspiracy were, at different points, to set fire to the town, and,
while the people were occupied in carrying assistance to the houses
which were in flames, to seize by force of arms the citadel and the
Capitol. Jupiter baffled these criminal designs. On the denunciation of
two slaves, the guilty were arrested and punished. ” (Year of Rome 336. )
(Titus Livius, IV. 45. )
[124] “Finally, under the consulship of M. Minucius and A. Sempronius,
wheat arrived in abundance from Sicily, and the Senate deliberated on
the price at which it must be delivered to the citizens. ” (Year of Rome
263. ) (Titus Livius, II. 34. )--“As the want of cultivators gave rise to
the fear of a famine, people were sent to search for wheat in Etruria,
in the Pomptinum, at Cumæ, and even as far as Sicily. ” (Year of Rome
321. ) (Titus Livius, IV. 25. )
[125] “When Romulus had distributed all the people in tribes and curiæ,
he also divided the lands into thirty equal portions, of which he gave
one to each curia, reserving, nevertheless, what was necessary for the
temples and the sacrifices, _and a certain portion for the domain of the
Republic_. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 7. )
[126] “Numa distributed to the poorest of the plebeians the lands which
Romulus had conquered and a small portion of the lands of the public
domain. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 62. )--“ Similar measures are
attributed to Tullius Hostilius and Ancus Martius. ” (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, III. 1, 48. )--“As soon as he was mounted on the throne,
Servius Tullius distributed the lands of the public domain to the
_thetes_ (mercenaries) of the Romans. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV.
13. )
[127] Romulus, according to Dionysus of Halicarnassus, sent two colonies
to Cænina and Antemnæ, having taken from those two towns the third of
their lands. (II. 35. )--In the year 252, the Sabines lost ten thousand
acres (_jugera_) of arable land. (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, V. 49. )--A
treaty concluded with the Hernici, in 268, deprived them of two-thirds
of their territory. (Titus Livius, II. 41. )--“In 413, the Privernates
lost two-thirds of their territory; in 416, the Tiburtines and
Prenestines lost a part of their territory. ” (Titus Livius, VIII. I,
14. )--“In 563, P. 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.
[86] Romulus kills Acron, routs the enemies, and returns to _offer to
Jupiter Feretrius the opima spolia taken from that prince_.
“After Romulus, Cornelius Cossus was the first who consecrated to the
same gods similar spoils, having slain with his own hand, in a combat
where he commanded the cavalry, the general of the Fidenates.
“We must not separate the example of M. Marcellus from the two
preceding. He had the courage and intrepidity to attack on the banks of
the Pô, at the head of a handful of horsemen, the king of the Gauls,
though protected by a numerous army; he struck off his head, and
_carried off his armour_, of which he made an offering to Jupiter
Feretrius. (Year of Rome 531. )
“The same kind of bravery and combat signalised T. Manilius Torquatus,
Valerius Corvus, and Scipio Æmilianus. These warriors, challenged by the
chieftains of the enemies, made them bite the dust; but, as they had
fought under the auspices of a superior chief, they did not offer their
spoils to Jupiter. ” (Year of Rome 392, 404, 602. ) (Valerius Maximus,
III. 2, §§ 3, 4, 5, 6. )
[87] “Tarquin divided the seats (of the great circus) among the thirty
curiæ, assigning to each the place which belonged to him. ” (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, III. 68. )--“It was then (after the war against the
Latins) that the site was chosen which is now called the great circus.
They marked out in it the particular places for the senators and for the
knights. ” (Titus Livius, I. 35. )
[88] “The hundred senators were divided into ten decaries, and each
chose one of its members to exercise this authority. The power was
collective: one alone carried the insignia of it, and walked preceded by
the lictors. The duration of this power was for five days, and each
exercised it in turn . . . The plebs was not long before it began to
murmur. Its servitude had only been aggravated; instead of one master,
it had a hundred. It appeared disposed to suffer only one king, and to
choose him itself. ” (Titus Livius, I. 17. )
[89] “For the rest, this liberty consisted at first rather in the annual
election of the consuls than in the weakening of the royal power. The
first consuls assumed all its prerogatives and all its insignia; only it
was feared that, if both possessed the fasciæ, this solemnity might
inspire too much terror, and Brutus owed to the deference of his
colleague the circumstance of possessing them first. ” (Titus Livius, II.
1. )
[90] “The death of Melius was justified,” said Quinctius, “to appease
the people, although he might be innocent of the crime of aspiring to
the kingly power. ” (Titus Livius, IV. 15. )
[91] “From these inflexible hearts came a sentence of death, which was
odious to the judges themselves. ” (Titus Livius, VI. 20. )
[92] _Discourse on Titus Livius_, I. 5.
[93] Proofs of the disagreement of the two consuls: “Cassius brought
secretly as many Latins and Hernici as he possibly could to have their
suffrages; there arrived in Rome such a great number, that in a short
time the town was full of strangers. Virginius, who was informed of it,
caused a herald to proclaim in all the public places that all those who
had no domicile in Rome should withdraw immediately; but Cassius gave
orders contrary to those of his colleague, forbidding any one who had
the right of Roman freedom to quit the town until the law was confirmed
and received. ” (Year of Rome 268. ) (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VIII.
72. )--“Quinctius, more indulgent than his colleague, willed the
concession to the people of all their just and reasonable demands;
Appius, on the contrary, was willing to die rather than to yield. ” (Year
of Rome 283. ) (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IX. 48. )
[94] “The two consuls were of the most opposite tempers, and were always
in discord (_dissimiles discordesque_). ” (Titus Livius, XXII.
41. )--“While they lost their time in quarrels rather than in
deliberations. ” (Titus Livius, XXII. 45. )
[95] Titus Livius, XXI. 52. --Dio Cassius, _Fragments_, CCLXXI. edit.
Gros.
[96] Titus Livius, XXI. 52.
[97] “In the Roman army the two consuls enjoyed an equal power; but the
deference of Agrippa in concentrating the authority in the hands of his
colleague, established the unity so necessary for the success of great
enterprises. ” (Titus Livius, III. 70. )--“The two consuls commanded often
both in the day of battle. ” (Titus Livius, _Battle of Mount Vesuvius_,
VIII. 9; _Battle of Sentinum_, X. 27. )--“A fatal innovation; from that
time each had in view his personal interest, and not the general
interest, preferring to see the Republic experience a check than his
colleague covered with glory, and evils without number afflicted the
fatherland. ” (Dio Cassius, _Fragments_, LI. edit. Gros. )
[98] “They called tribunes of the people those who, from tribunes of the
soldiers, which they were first, were charged with the defence of the
people during its retreat at Crustumerium. ” (Varro, _De Lingua Latina_,
V. 81, edition of O. Müller. )
[99] “The discontented obtained from the patricians the confirmation of
their magistrates; afterwards they demanded of the Senate the permission
to elect annually two plebeians (_ediles_) to second the tribunes in all
things in which they might have need of aid, to judge the causes which
these might entrust into their hands, to have care of the sacred and
public edifices, and to ensure the supplying of the market with
provisions. ” (Year of Rome 260. ) (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VI. 90. )
[100] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VI. 89.
[101] The tribunes oppose the enrolment of troops. (Year of Rome 269. )
(Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VIII. 81. )--“Licinius and Sextius
re-elected tribunes of the people, allowed no curule magistrate to be
elected; and, as the people continued to re-appoint the two tribunes,
who always threw out the elections of the military tribunes, the town
remained five years deprived of magistrates. ” (Year of Rome 378. ) (Titus
Livius, VI. 35. )--“Each time the consuls convoked the people to confer
the consulship on the candidates, the tribunes, in virtue of their
powers, prevented the holding of the assemblies. So also, when these
assembled the people to make the election, the consuls opposed it,
pretending that the right of convoking the people and collecting the
suffrages belonged to them alone. ” (Year of Rome 271. ) (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, VIII. 90. )--“Sometimes the tribunes prevented the
patricians from assembling for the election of the interrex, sometimes
they forbade the interrex himself making the senatus consultus for the
consular comitia. ” (Year of Rome 333. ) (Titus Livius, IV. 43. )
[102] Titus Livius, III. 30.
[103] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, X. 31.
[104] “The most remarkable event of this year (the year of Rome 282), in
which military successes were so nearly balanced, and in which discord
broke out in the camp and in the town with so much fury, was the
establishment of the comitia by _tribes_, an innovation which gave to
the plebeians the honour of the victory, but little real advantage. In
fact, the exclusion of the patricians deprived the comitia of all their
pomp, without augmenting the power of the people or diminishing that of
the Senate. ” (Titus Livius, II. 60. )
[105] Assembly of the people both of the town and country; the suffrages
were given in it, not by centuries, but by tribes:--“The day of the
third market, from an early hour in the morning, the public place was
occupied by so great a crowd of country people as had never been seen
before. The tribunes assembled the people by tribes, and, dividing the
Forum by ropes stretched across, formed as many distinct spaces as there
were tribes. Then, for the first time, the Roman people gave its
suffrages by tribes, in spite of the opposition of the patricians, who
tried to prevent it, and demanded that they should assemble by
centuries, according to the ancient custom. ” (Year of Rome 263. )
(Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VII. 59. )--“From that period (the year 283,
consulate of Appius) to our days, the comitia by tribes have elected the
tribunes and ediles, without auspices or observation of other auguries.
Thus ended the troubles which agitated Rome. ” (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, IX. 49. )--“The Roman people, more irritated than ever,
demanded that for each tribe a third urn should be added for the town of
Rome, in order to put the suffrages in it. ” (Year of Rome 308. )
(Dionysius of Halicarnassus, XI. 52. )
[106] “Duas civitates ex una factas: suos cuique parti magistratus, suas
leges esse. ” (Titus Livius, II. 44. )--“In fact, we are, as you see
yourselves, divided into two towns, one of which is governed by poverty
and necessity, and the other by abundance of all things and by pride and
insolence. ” (Year of Rome 260). (_Speech of Titus Larcius to the envoys
of the Volsci_, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VI. 36,)
[107] The clients began to vote in the comitia by tribes after the law
Valeria Horatia; we see, by the account of Titus Livius (V. 30, 32),
that in the time of Camillus the clients and the patricians had already
entered the comitia by tribes.
[108] Appian, _Civil Wars_, I. 1.
[109] Titus Livius, III. 9.
[110] Lectorius, the most aged of the tribunes of the people, spoke of
laws which had not been long made. “By the first, which concerned the
translation of judgments, the Senate granted to the people the power of
judging any one of the patricians. ” (Year of Rome 283. ) (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, IX. 46. )
[111] “The laws voted by the people in the comitia by tribes were to be
obligatory on all Romans, and have the same force as those which were
made in the comitia by centuries. The pain of death and confiscation was
even pronounced against any one who should be convicted of having in
anything abrogated or violated this regulation. This new ordinance cut
short the old quarrels between the plebeians and the patricians, who
refused to obey the laws made by the people, under the pretext that what
was decided in the assemblies by tribes was not obligatory on all the
town, but only on the plebeians; and that, on the contrary, what was
decided in the comitia by centuries became law as well for themselves as
for the other citizens. ” (Year of Rome 305. ) (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, XI. 45. )--“One point always contested between the two
orders was to know if the patricians were subjected to the _plebiscita_.
The first care of the consuls was to propose to the comitia assembled by
centuries a law to the effect that the decrees of the people assembled
by tribes should be laws of the State. ” (Year of Rome 305. ) (Titus
Livius, III. 55. )--“The patricians pretended that they alone had the
power of giving laws. ” (Titus Livius, III. 31. )
[112] “The comitia by curiæ for everything which concerns military
affairs; the comitia by centuries for the election of your consuls and
of your military tribunes, &c. ” (Titus Livius, V. 52. )
[113] Aulus Gellius, XV. 27. --Festus, under the words _Scitum populi_.
[114] Titus Livius, IV. 3.
[115] “The indignation of the people was extreme, on account of the
refusal to take the auspices, as if it had been an object for the
reprobation of the immortal gods. ”--“The tribune demanded for what
reason a plebeian could not be consul, and was told in reply that the
plebeians had not the auspices, and that the decemvirs had interdicted
marriage between the two orders only to hinder the auspices from being
troubled by men of equivocal birth. ” (Titus Livius, IV. 6. )--“Now in
what hands are the auspices according to the custom of our ancestors? In
the hands of the patricians, I think; for the auspices are never taken
for the nomination of a plebeian magistrate. ”--“Is it not then the same
thing as to annihilate the auspices in this city, to take them, in
electing plebeian consuls, from the patricians, who alone can observe
them? ” (Year of Rome 386. ) (Titus Livius, VI. 41. )
To the consul, the prætor, and the censor was reserved the right of
taking the great auspices; to the less elevated magistracies that of
taking the lesser ones. The great auspices appear, in fact, to have been
those of which the exercise was of most importance to the rights of the
aristocracy. The ancients have not left us a precise definition of the
two classes of auspices; but it appears to result from what Cicero says
of them (_De Legibus_, II. 12), that by the great auspices were
understood those for which the intervention of the augurs was
indispensable; the little auspices, on the contrary, were those which
were taken without them. (See Aulus Gellius, XIII. 15. )
As to the auspices taken in the comitia where the consular tribunes were
elected, passages of Titus Livius (V. 14, 52; VI. 11) prove that they
were the same as for the election of the consuls, and consequently that
they were the great auspices; for we know from Cicero (_De Divinatione_,
I. 17; II. 35--compare Titus Livius, IV. 7) that it was the duty of the
magistrate who held the comitia to bring there an augur, of whom he
demanded what the presages announced. The privileges of the nobility
were maintained by causing the comitia for the election of the consular
tribunes to be held by an interrex chosen by the aristocracy.
[116] Titus Livius, VI. 5.
[117] Titus Livius, VII. 17.
[118] In 333, the number was increased to four. Two, overseers for the
guard of the treasury and the disposition of the public money, were
appointed by the consuls; the two others, charged with the
administration of the military chest, were appointed by the tribes.
[119] “_The master of the knights_ was so called because he exercised
the supreme power over the knights and the _accensi_, as the dictator
exercised it over the whole Roman people; whence the name of _master of
the people_, which was also given to him. ” (Varro, _De Lingua Latina_,
V. 82, edit. Müller. )
[120] “The duumvirs charged with the sacred rites were replaced by the
decemvirs, half plebeians, half patricians. ” (Titus Livius, VI. 37. )
[121] Titus Livius, VII. 5.
[122] “Appius convokes an assembly, accuses Valerius and Horatius of the
crime of perduellio, calculating entirely on the tribunian power with
which he was invested. ” (Year of Rome 305. ) (Dionysius of Halicarnassus,
XI. 39. )
[123] “In the interim, there was at Rome a conspiracy of several slaves,
who formed together the design of seizing the forts and setting fire to
the different quarters of the town. ” (Year of Rome 253. ) (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, V. 51. )--“From the summit of the Capitol, Herdonius
called the slaves to liberty. He had taken up the cause of misfortune;
he had just restored to their country those whom injustice had banished,
and delivered the slaves from a heavy yoke; it is to the Roman people
that he wishes to give the honour of this enterprise. ” (Year of Rome
294. ) (Titus Livius, III. 15. )--“The slaves who had entered into the
conspiracy were, at different points, to set fire to the town, and,
while the people were occupied in carrying assistance to the houses
which were in flames, to seize by force of arms the citadel and the
Capitol. Jupiter baffled these criminal designs. On the denunciation of
two slaves, the guilty were arrested and punished. ” (Year of Rome 336. )
(Titus Livius, IV. 45. )
[124] “Finally, under the consulship of M. Minucius and A. Sempronius,
wheat arrived in abundance from Sicily, and the Senate deliberated on
the price at which it must be delivered to the citizens. ” (Year of Rome
263. ) (Titus Livius, II. 34. )--“As the want of cultivators gave rise to
the fear of a famine, people were sent to search for wheat in Etruria,
in the Pomptinum, at Cumæ, and even as far as Sicily. ” (Year of Rome
321. ) (Titus Livius, IV. 25. )
[125] “When Romulus had distributed all the people in tribes and curiæ,
he also divided the lands into thirty equal portions, of which he gave
one to each curia, reserving, nevertheless, what was necessary for the
temples and the sacrifices, _and a certain portion for the domain of the
Republic_. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 7. )
[126] “Numa distributed to the poorest of the plebeians the lands which
Romulus had conquered and a small portion of the lands of the public
domain. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 62. )--“ Similar measures are
attributed to Tullius Hostilius and Ancus Martius. ” (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, III. 1, 48. )--“As soon as he was mounted on the throne,
Servius Tullius distributed the lands of the public domain to the
_thetes_ (mercenaries) of the Romans. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV.
13. )
[127] Romulus, according to Dionysus of Halicarnassus, sent two colonies
to Cænina and Antemnæ, having taken from those two towns the third of
their lands. (II. 35. )--In the year 252, the Sabines lost ten thousand
acres (_jugera_) of arable land. (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, V. 49. )--A
treaty concluded with the Hernici, in 268, deprived them of two-thirds
of their territory. (Titus Livius, II. 41. )--“In 413, the Privernates
lost two-thirds of their territory; in 416, the Tiburtines and
Prenestines lost a part of their territory. ” (Titus Livius, VIII. I,
14. )--“In 563, P. 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.
