A History of Rome, Vol 1 by A H.J. Greenidge

A >> A H.J. Greenidge >> A History of Rome, Vol 1

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49

[72] Liv. xxxix. 22.

[73] Liv. xliv. 18.

[74] Dig. 21. 1. 40-42 (from the edict of the curule aediles) Ne quis
canem, verrem vel minorem aprum, lupum, ursum, pantheram, leonem ... qua
vulgo iter fiet, ita habuisse velit, ut cuiquam nocere damnumve
dare possit.

[75] Cic. _de Off_. ii. 17. 60 Tota igitur ratio talium largitionum
genere vitiosa est, temporibus necessaria. He adds the pious but
unattainable wish Tamen ipsa et ad facultates accomodanda et
mediocritate moderanda est. Compare the remarks of Poehlmann on the
subject in his _Geschichte des antiken Communismus und Sozialismus_ ii.
2. p. 471.

[76] Mommsen _Staatsr_. ii., p. 382.

[77] Plut, _Ti. Gracch_. 14.

[78] Liv. xxxix. 44; Plut, _Cat. Maj_. 18.

[79] Nitzsch _Die Gracchen_, p. 128.

[80] Cic. _de Off_. ii. 22. 76 (Paullus) tantum in aerarium pecuniae
invexit, ut unius imperatoris praeda finem attulerit tributorum. A
deterrent to luxury could still have been created by imposing heavy
harbour-dues on articles of value; but this would have required
legislation. Nothing is known about the Republican tariff at Italian
ports. The percentage may have been uniform for all articles.

[81] Liv. xxxiv. cc. 1-8; Val. Max. ix. 1. 3; Tac. _Ann_. iii. 33.

[82] Macrob. _Sat_. iii. 17; Festus pp. 201, 242; Schol. Bob. p. 310;
Meyer _Orat. Rom. Fragm_. p. 91.

[83] This date (161) is given by Pliny (_H.N_. x. 139); Macrobius
(_Sat_. iii. 17. 3) places the law in 159.

[84] Gell. ii. 24; Macrob. _Sat_. iii. 17; Plin. _H.N_. x. 139;
Tertull. _Apol_. vi. The ten asses of this law are the Fanni centussis
misellus of Lucilius.

[85] It seems that we must assume formal acceptance on the part of the
allies in accordance with the principle that Rome could not legislate
for her confederacy, a principle analogous to that which forbade her to
force her franchise on its members (Cic. _pro Balbo_ 8, 20 and 21).

[86] We may compare the enactment of 193 B.C., which was produced by the
discovery that Roman creditors escaped the usury laws by using Italians
as their agents (Liv. xxxv. 7 M. Sempronius tribunus plebis ... plebem
rogavit plebesque scivit ut cum sociis ac nomine Latino creditae
pecuniae jus idem quod cum civibus Romanis esset).

[87] The _Lex Licinia_, which is attributed by Macrobius (l.c.) to P.
Licinius Crassus Dives, perhaps belongs either to his praetorship (104
B.C.) or to his consulship (97 B.C.).

[88] Gellius (ii. 24), in speaking of Sulla's experiments, says of the
older laws Legibus istis situ atque senio obliteratis.

[89] _Exaequatio_ (Liv. xxxiv. 4).

[90] Cic. _de Rep_. iii. g. 16; see p. 80.

[91] Compare Tac. _Ann_. iii. 53. The Emperor Tiberius here speaks of
Illa feminarum propria, quis lapidum causa pecuniae nostrae ad externas
aut hostilis gentes transferuntur.

[92] The prohibition belongs to the year 229 B.C. (Zonar. viii. 19). For
other prohibitions of the same kind dating from, a period later than
that which we are considering see Voigt in Iwan-Mueller's _Handbuch_ iv.
2, p. 376 n. 95.

[93] Earlier enactments had been directed against canvassing, but not
against bribery. The simplicity of the fifth century B.C. was
illustrated by the law that a candidate should not whiten his toga with
chalk (Liv. iv. 25; 433 B.C.). The _Lex Poetelia_ of 358 B.C. (Liv. vii.
16) was directed against personal solicitation by _novi homines_. Some
law of _ambitus_ is known to Plautus (_Amph. prol. 73; cf. Trinumm_. iv.
3. 26), See Rein _Criminalrecht_ p. 706

[94] Liv. xl. 19 Leges de ambitu consules ex auctoritate senatus ad
populum tulerunt. This was the _lex Cornelia Baebia_ and that it
referred to pecuniary corruption is known from a fragment of Cato (ap.
_Non_. vii. 19, s.v. largi, Cato lege Baebia: pecuniam inlargibo tibi).

[95] Obsequens lxxi.

[96] Liv. _Ep_. xlvii.

[97] Polyb. vi. 56 [Greek: _para men Karchaedoniois dora phaneros
didontes lambanousi tas archas, para de Rhomaiois thanatos esti peri
touto prostimon_.]

[98] The position of the ruined patrician will be fully illustrated in
the following pages when we deal with the careers of Scaurus and
of Sulla.

[99] Liv. xxxiv. 52.

[100] Liv. xxxix. 7.

[101] Liv. xxxviii. 9.

[102] For the later history of the _aurum coronarium_ see Marquardt
_Staatsverw_. ii. p. 295. It was developed from the _triumphales
coronae_ (Festus p. 367) and is described as gold Quod triumphantibus
... a victis gentibus datur and as imposed by commanders Propter
concessam vitam (_al_. immunitatem) (Serv. _Ad. Aen_. viii. 721).

[103] Liv. xxi. 63 (218 B.C.) Id satis habitum ad fructus ex agris
vectandos; quaestus omnis patribus indecorus visus.

[104] It was antiqua et mortua (Cic. _in Verr_. v. 18. 45).

[105] Cicero (_Parad_. 6. 46) speaks of those Qui honeste rem quaerunt
mercaturis faciendis, operis dandis, publicis sumendis. Compare the
category of banausic trades in _de Off_, 1. 42. 150, although in the
_Paradoxa_ the contrast is rather that between honest and vicious
methods of money-making. Deloume (_Les manieurs d'argent a Rome_
pp. 58 ff.) believes that the fortune of Cicero swelled through
participation in _publica_.

[106] Plut. _Cato Maj_. 21.

[107] Plut. _Crass_. 2.

[108] Plut. _Cato Maj_. 21. Cato employed this method of training as a
means of increasing the _peculium_ of his own slaves. But even the
_peculium_ technically belonged to the master, and it is obvious that
the slave-trainer might have been used by others as a mere instrument
for the master's gain.

[109] Plat. l.c. [Greek: _haptomenos de syntonoteron porismou taen men
georgian mallon haegeito diagogaen hae prosodon_.]

[110] Plaut. _Trinumm. Prol_. 8:

Primum mihi Plautus nomen Luxuriae indidit:
Tum hanc mihi gnatam esse voluit Inopiam.

[111] Liv. xxxiv. 4 (Cato's speech in defence of the Oppian law) Saepe
me querentem de feminarum, saepe de virorum, nec de privatorum modo, sed
etiam magistratuum sumptibus audistis; diversisque duobus vitiis,
avaritia et luxuria, civitatem laborare. Compare Sallust's impressions
of a later age (_Cat_. 3) Pro pudore, pro abstinentia, pro virtute,
audacia, largitio, avaritia vigebant.

[112] Polyb. vi. 56.

[113] Polyb. xxiv. 9.

[114] Cato ap. Gell. xi. 18. 18. The speech was one De praeda
militibus dividenda.

[115] We first hear of a standing court for _peculatus_ in 66 B.C. (Cic.
_pro Cluent_. 53. 147). It was probably established by Sulla.

[116] Rein _Criminalr_. pp. 680 ff.; Mommsen _Roem. Forsch_. ii.
pp. 437 ff.

[117] Liv. xxxvii. 57 and 58 (190 B.C.).

[118] See especially the case of Pleminius, Scipio's lieutenant at Locri
(204 B.C.), who, after a committee had reported on the charge, was
conveyed to Rome but died in bonds before the popular court had
pronounced judgment (Liv. xxix. 16-22).

[119] Liv. xlii. 1 (173 B.C.) Silentium, nimis aut modestum aut timidum
Praenestinorum, jus, velut probato exemplo, magistratibus fecit
graviorum in dies talis generis imperiorum.

[120] For such requisitions see Plut. _Cato Maj_ 6 (of Cato's government
of Sardinia) [Greek: _ton pro autou strataegon eiothoton chraesthai kai
skaenomasi daemosiois kai klinais kai himatiois, pollae de therapeia kai
philon plaethei kai peri deipna dapanais kai paraskeuais barhynonton_.]

[121] Liv. xxxii. 27 Sumptus, quos in cultum praetorum socii facere
soliti erant, circumcisi aut sublati (198 B.C.).

[122] The _Lex de Termessibus_ (a charter of freedom given to Termessus
in Pisidia in 71 B.C.) enjoins (ii. l. 15) Nei ... quis magistratus ...
inperato, quo quid magis iei dent praebeant ab ieisve auferatur nisei
quod eos ex lege Porcia dare praebere oportet oportebit. This Porcian
law was probably the work of Cato (Rein _Criminalr_. p. 607).

[123] Liv. xxxviii. 43; xxxix. 3; Rein, l.c.

[124] Liv. xliii. 2.

[125] Cic. _Brut_. 27. 106; _de Off_. ii. 21. 75; cf. _in Verr_.
iii. 84. 195; iv. 25. 56.

[126] Liv. xli. 15. (176 B.C.) Duo (praetores) deprecati sunt ne in
provincias irent, M. Popillius in Sardiniam: Gracchum eam provinciam
pacare &c.... Probata Popillii excusatio est. P. Licinius Crassus
sacrificiis se impediri sollemnibus excusabat, ne in provinciam iret.
Citerior Hispania obvenerat. Ceterum aut ire jussus aut jurare pro
contione sollemni sacrificio se prohiberi.... Praetores ambo in eadem
verba jurarunt. I have seen the passage cited as a proof that governors
would not go to unproductive provinces; but Sardinia was a fruitful
sphere for plunder, and the excuses may have been genuine. That of
Popillius seems to have been positively patriotic.

[127] Liv. xlii. 45 Decimius unus sine ullo effectu, captarum etiam
pecuniarum ab regibus Illyriorum suspicione infamis, Romam rediit.

[128] Cic. _in Verr_. v. 48. 126 (70 B.C.) Patimur ... multos jam annos
et silemus cum videamus ad paucos homines omnes omnium nationum pecunias
pervenisse.

[129] For the principle see Gaius iii. 151-153.

[130] Polybius (vi. 17), after speaking of various kinds of property
belonging to the state, adds [Greek: _panta cheirizesthai symbainei ta
proeiraemena dia tou plaethous, kai schedon hos epos eipein pantas
endedesthai tais onais kai tais ergasiais tais ek touton_].

[131] Polyb. vi. 17. The senate can [Greek: _symptomatos genomenou
kouphisai kai to parapan adynatou tinos symbantos apolysai taes
ergonias_]. Thus the senate invalidated the _locationes_ of the censors
of 184 B.C. (Liv. xxxix. 44 Locationes cum senatus precibus et lacrimis
publicanorum victus induci et de integro locari jussisset.)

[132] In 169 B.C. it was the people that released from an oppressive
regulation (Liv. xliii. 16). In this case a tribune answered the
censor's intimation, that none of the former state-contractors should
appear at the auction, by promulgating the resolution Quae publica
vectigalia, ultro tributa C. Claudius et Ti. Sempronius locassent, ea
rata locatio ne esset. Ab integro locarentur, et ut omnibus redimendi et
conducendi promiscue jus esset.

[133] Deloume op. cit. pp. 119 ff. Polybius (vi. 17) has been quoted
as an authority for the distinction between these two classes. He says
[Greek: _oi men gar agorazousi para ton timaeton autoi tas ekdoseis, oi
de koinonousi toutois, oi d' enguontai tous aegorakotas, oi de tas
ousias didoasi peri touton eis to daemosion_.] The first three classes
are the _mancipes, socii and praedes_. In the fourth the shareholders
(_participes_ or perhaps _adfines_, cf. Liv. xliii. 16) are found by
Deloume (p. 120); but the identification is very uncertain. The words
may denote either real as opposed to formal security or the final
payment of the _vectigal_ into the treasury. A better evidence for the
distinction between _socii_ and shareholders is found in the
Pseudo-Asconius (in Cic. _in Verr_. p. 197 Or.) Aliud enim socius, Aliud
particeps qui certam habet partem et non _in_divise agit ut socius. The
_magnas partes_ (Cic. _pro Rab_. Post. 2. 4) and the _particulam_ (Val.
Max. vi. 9. 7) of a _publicum_, need only denote large or small shares
held by the _socii_. _Dare partes_ (Cic. l.c.) is to "allot shares," but
not necessarily to outside members. Apart from the testimony of the
Pseudo-Asconius and the mention of _adfines_ in Livy the evidence for
the ordinary shareholder is slight but by no means fatal to his
existence.

[134] E.g. by loan to a _socius_ at a rate of interest dependent on his
returns, perhaps with a _pactum de non petendo_ in certain
contingencies.

[135] These are, in strict legal language, the true _publicani_; the
lessees of state property are _publicanorum loco_ (Dig. 39. 4, 12
and 13).

[136] Later legal theory assimilated the third with the first class.
Gaius says (ii. 7) In eo (provinciali) solo dominium populi Romani est
vel Caesaris, nos autem possessionem tantum vel usumfructum habere
videmur. But the theory is not ancient-perhaps not older than the
Gracchan period. See Greenidge _Roman Public Life_ p. 320. From a broad
standpoint the first and second classes may be assimilated, since the
payment of harbour dues (_portoria_) is based on the idea of the use of
public ground by a private occupant.

[137] _Cic. de Leg. Agr_. ii. 31. 84.

[138] Thedenat in Daremberg-Saglio _Dict. des Antiq. s.v_. Ergastulum.

[139] Compare Cunningham _Western Civilisation in its Economic Aspects_
vol. i. p. 162.

[140] Cic. _in Verr_. ii. 55. 137; iii. 33. 77; ii. 13. 32; 26. 63.

[141] Ibid. ii. 13. 32.

[142] Liv. xxv. 3.

[143] Liv. xxiii. 49.

[144] Liv. xxiv. 18; Val. Max. v. 6. 8.

[145] Plut. _Cato Maj_. 19.

[146] Liv. xliii. 16.

[147] Cic. _Brut_. 22. 85 Cum in silva Sila facta caedes esset notique
homines interfecti insimulareturque familia, partim etiam liberi,
societatis ejus, quae picarias de P. Cornelio, L. Mummio censoribus
redemisset, decrevisse senatum ut de ea re cognoscerent et statuerent
consules. For the value of the pine-woods of Sila see Strabo vi. 1. 9.

[148] Liv. xlv. 18 Metalli quoque Macedonici, quod ingens vectigal erat,
locationesque praediorum rusticorum tolli placebat. Nam neque sine
publicano exerceri posse, et, ubi publicanus esset, ibi aut jus publicum
vanum aut libertatem sociis nullam esse. The _praedia rustica_ were
probably public domains, that might have formed part of the crown lands
of the Macedonian Kings and would now, in the natural course of events,
have been leased to _publicani_.

[149] It might happen that the interest of the _negotiator_ was opposed
to that of the _publicanus_. The former, for instance, might wish
_portoria_ to be lessened, the latter to be increased (Cic. _ad Att_.
ii. 16. 4). But such a conflict was unusual.

[150] Cato _R.R_. pr. 1. Est interdum praestare mercaturis rem
quaerere, nisi tam periculosum sit, et item fenerari, si tam honestum
sit. Majores nostri sic habuerunt et ita in legibus posiverunt, furem
dupli condemnari, feneratorem quadrupli. Quanto pejorem civem
existimarint feneratorem quam furem, hinc licet existimare. Cf. Cic.
_de Off_. i. 42. 150. Improbantur ii quaestus, qui in odia hominum
incurrunt, ut portitorum, ut feneratorum.

[151] Cic. _de Off_. ii. 25. 89. Cum ille ... dixisset "Quid fenerari?"
tum Cato "Quid hominem," inquit, "occidere?"

[152] For such professional money-lenders see Plaut. _Most_. iii. 1. 2
ff.; _Curc_. iv. 1. 19.

[153] Liv. xxxii. 27.

[154] On the history and functions of the bankers see Voigt _Ueber die
Bankiers, die Buchfuehrung und die Litteralobligation der Roemer_ (Abh. d.
Koenigl. Saechs. Gesell. d. Wissench.; Phil. hist. Classe, Bd. x);
Marquardt Staatsverw, ii. pp. 64 ff.; Deloume _Les manieurs d'argent a
Rome_, pp. 146 ff.

[155] Plin. _H.N_. xxi. 3. 8.

[156] Cf. Cic. _de Off_, iii. 14. 58. Pythius, qui esset ut
argentarius apud omnes ordines gratiosus....

[157] Yet the two never became thoroughly assimilated. The
_argentarius_, for instance, was not an official tester of money, and
the _nummularii_ appear not to have performed certain functions usual to
the banker, e.g. sales by auction. See Voigt op. cit. pp. 521. 522.

[158] Plaut. _Cure_. iv. 1. 6 ff.

Commonstrabo, quo in quemque hominem facile inveniatis loco.
* * * * *
Ditis damnosos maritos sub basilica quaerito.
Ibidem erunt scorta exoleta, quique stipulari solent.
* * * * *
In foro infumo boni homines, atque dites ambulant.
Sub veteribus, ibi sunt qui dant quique accipiunt faenore.

[159] To be bankrupt is _foro mergi_ (Plaut. _Ep_. i. 2. 16), _a foro
fugere, abire_ (Plaut. _Pers_. iii. 3. 31 and 38).

[160] Cic. _de Off_. ii. 24. 87. Toto hoc de genere, de quaerenda, de
collocanda pecunia, vellem etiam de utenda, commodius a quibusdam
optumis viris ad Janum medium sedentibus ... disputatur. For _Janus
medius_ and the question whether it means an arch or a street see
Richter _Topogr. der Stadt Rom_. pp. 106. 107.

[161] Liv. xxxix. 44; xliv. 16. The Porcian was followed by the Fulvian
Basilica (Liv. xl. 51). The dates of the three were 184, 179, 169 B.C.
respectively.

[162] Deloume op. cit. pp. 320 ff.; Guadet in Daremberg-Saglio _Dict.
des Antiq. s.v_. Basilicae.

[163] Large transport ships could themselves come to Rome if their build
was suited to river navigation. In 167 B.C. Aemilius Paulus astonished
the city with the size of a ship (once belonging to the Macedonian King)
on which he arrived (Liv. xlv. 35). On the whole question of this
foreign trade see Voigt in Iwan-Mueller's _Handbuch_ iv. 2, pp. 373-378.

[164] Voigt op. cit. p. 377 n. 99.

[165] Compare Cunningham _Western Civilisation in its Economic Aspects_
vol. i. p. 165, "It is only under very special conditions, including the
existence of a strong government to exercise a constant control, that
free play for the formation of associations of capitalists bent on
securing profit, is anything but a public danger. The landed interest in
England has hitherto been strong enough to bring legislative control to
bear on the moneyed men from time to time.... The problem of leaving
sufficient liberty for the formation of capital and for enterprise in
the use of it, without allowing it licence to exhaust the national
resources, has not been solved."

[166] Plut. Numa 17. On the history of these gilds see Waltzing
_Corporations professionelles chez les Remains_ pp. 61-78.

[167] The praetor was Rutilius (Ulpian in Dig. 38. 2. 1. 1), perhaps P.
Rutilius Rufus, the consul of 105 B.C. (Mommsen Staatsr. in. p. 433).
See the last chapter of this volume. For the principle on which such
_operae_ were exacted from freedmen see Mommsen l.c.

[168] Inliberales ac sordidi quaestus (Cic. _de Off_. i. 42. 150).

[169] Gell. vii. (vi.) 9; Liv. ix. 46; Mommsen _Staatsr_. i. p. 497.

[170] Cf. Cic. _de Off_. i. 42. 151 Omnium autem rerum, ex quibus
aliquid adquiritur, nihil est agricultura melius, nihil uberius, nihil
dulcius, nihil homine libero dignius.

[171] See de Boor _Fasti Censorii_. A disturbing element in this
enumeration is the uncertainty of numerals in ancient manuscripts. But
the fact of the progressive decline is beyond all question. No
accidental errors of transcription could have produced this result in
the text of Livy's epitome.

[172] Liv. _Ep_. xvi.

[173] Ibid. lvi.

[174] Ibid. xlvi. xlviii.

[175] Euseb. Arm. a. Abr. 1870 Ol. 158.3 (Hieron. Ol. 158.2 = 608
A.U.C.).

[176] Liv. _Ep_. lvi.

[177] Eorum qui arma ferre possent (Liv. i. 44); [Greek: _ton echonton
taen strateusimon haelikian] (Dionys. xi. 63); [Greek: ton en tais
haelikiais_] (Polyb. ii. 23).

[178] Besides the _proletarii_ all under military age would be excluded
from these lists. Mommsen (_Staatsr_. ii. p. 411) goes further and
thinks that the _seniores_ are not included in our lists.

[179] The limit to the incidence of taxation was a property of 1500
asses (Cic. _de Rep_. ii. 22. 40), the limit of census for military
service was by the time of Polybius reduced to 4000 asses (Polyb. vi.
19). Gellius (xvi. 10. 10) gives a reduction to 375 asses at a date
unknown but preceding the Marian reform. Perhaps the numerals are
incorrect and should be 3,750.

[180] Liv. xl. 38.

[181] Gell. i. 6. Cf. Liv. _Ep_. lix.

[182] See Wallon _Hist. de l'Esclavage_ ii. p. 276.

[183] _Concubinatus_ could not, by the nature of the case, become a
legal conception until the Emperor Augustus had devised penalties for
_stuprum_. It was then necessary to determine what kind of _stuprum_ was
not punishable. But the social institution and its ethical
characteristics, although they may have been made more definite by legal
regulations, could not have originated in the time of the Principate.
For the meaning of _paelex_ in Republican times see Meyer _Der roemische
Konkubinat_ and a notice of that work in the _English Historical Review_
for July 1896.

[184] Cunningham _Western Civilisation_ p. 156. Cf. Soltau in
_Kulturgesch. des klass. Altertums_ p. 318.

[185] Plin. _H.N_. xviii. 3. 22; Varro _R.R_. i. 1. 10.

[186] Colum. 1. 1. 18. The Latin translation was probably made shortly
after the destruction of Carthage, _circa_ 140 B.C. (Mahaffy _The Work
of Mago on Agriculture_ in _Hermathena_ vol. vii. 1890). Mahaffy
believes that the Greek translation by Cassius Dionysius (Varro _R.R_.
i. 1. 10) was later, and he associates it with the colonies planted by
C. Gracchus in Southern Italy.

[187] Saturnia in 183 (Liv. xxxix. 55), Graviscae in 181 (Liv. xl. 29),
Luna in 180 and again in 177 (Liv. xli. 13; Mommsen in C.I.L. i. n.
539). See Marquardt _Staatsverw_, i. p. 39.

[188] Plut. _Ti. Gracch_. 8; Nitzsch _Die Gracchen_ p. 198.

[189] Nitzsch _Die Gracchen_ p. 198.

[190] Liv. xxxix. 29.

[191] Varro _R.R_. ii. 5. II Pascuntur armenta commodissime in
nemoribus, ubi virgulta et frons multa. Hieme secundum mare, aestu
abiguntur in montes frondosos.

[192] Nitzsch _Die Gracchen_ p. 16.

[193] Nitzsch op. cit. p. 17.

[194] Cic. _de Off_. ii. 25. 89. So in Cato's more reasoned estimate
(_R.R_. i. 7) of the relative degrees of productivity, although _vinea_
comes first (cf. p. 80) yet _pratum_ precedes _campus frumentarius_.

[195] App. _Hannib_. 61.

[196] App. l.c.; Gell. x. 3. 19.

[197] Nitzsch _Die Gracchen_ p. 193 So zerfiel denn Mittelitalien in
zwei scharf-getheilte Haelften, den ackerbauenden Westen und den
viehzuchttreibenden Osten; jener reich an Haefen, von Landstrassen
durchschnitten, in einer Menge von Colonien oder einzelnen Gehoeften von
Roemischen Ackerbuergern bewohnt; dieser fast ohne Haefen, nur von einer
Kuestenstrasse durchschnitten, fuer den grossen Roemer der rechte Sitz
seiner Sclaven und Heerden. Cf. p. 21. For the pasturage in Calabria
and Apulia see op. cit. pp. 13 and 193.

[198] Liv. xxviii. II; cf. Luc. _Phars_. i. 30.

[199] Dureau de la Malle (Economie Politique ii. p. 38) compares the
precept of the Roman "Quid est agrum bene colere? bene arare. Quid
secundum? arare. Tertio stercorare" with the adage of the French farmer
"Fumez bien, labourez mal, vous recueillerez plus qu'en fumant mal et en
labourant bien".

[200] See Dreyfus _Les lois agraires_ p. 97. Varro (_R.R_. i. 12. 2) is
singularly correct in his account of the nature of the disease that
arose from the _loca palustria_:--Crescunt animalia quaedam minuta, quae
non possunt oculi consequi, et per aera intus in corpus per os ac nares
perveniunt atque efficiunt difficilis morbos. The passage is cited by
Voigt (Iwan-Mueller's _Handbuch_ iv. 2. p. 358) who gives a good sketch
of the evils consequent on neglect of drainage.

[201] Nitzsch _Die Gracchen_ p. 228.

[202] Polyb. xxxvii. 4.

[203] Nitzsch _Die Gracchen_ p. 237.

[204] Polyb. xxxvii. 3.

[205] Polyb. ii. 15.

[206] For such purchases from Sardinia see Liv. xxxvi. 2, from Sicily
(at a period later than that which we are considering) Cic. _in Verr_.
iii. 70, 163.

[207] Cf. Cato _R.R_. i. 3 (In choosing the situation of one's
estate) oppidum validum prope siet aut mare aut amnis, qua naves
ambulant, aut via bona celebrisque.

[208] For the traditions which assign a very early date for laws dealing
with the _ager publicus_ see the following chapter, which treats of the
legislation of Tiberius Gracchus.

[209] App, _Bell. Civ_. i. 7 [Greek: _taes de gaes taes doriktaetou
sphisin ekastote gignomenaes taen men exeirgasmenaen autika tois
oikizomenois epidiaeroun hae epipraskon hae exemisthoun, taen d' argon
ek tou polemou tote ousan, hae dae kai malista eplaethyen, ouk agontes po
scholaen dialachein, epekaerytton en tosode tois ethelousin ekponein epi
telei ton etaesion karpon_].

[210] For the evidence for this and other statements connected with the
_ager publicus_ see the citations in the next chapter.

[211] In consequence of the doubtfulness of the traditions concerning
early agrarian laws this time cannot even be approximately specified.
See the next chapter.

[212] Tradition represents the first laws dealing with the _ager
publicus (e. g_. the supposed _lex Licinia_) as earlier than the _lex
Poetelia_ of 326 B.C., which abolished the contract of _nexum_.

[213] Plut. _Ti. Gracch_. 8 [Greek: _hysteron de ton geitnionton plousion
hypoblaetois prosopois metapheronton tas misthoseis eis eautous_.]

[214] App. _Bell. Civ_. i. 7 [Greek: _oi gar plousioi ... ta ... anchou
sphisin, osa te haen alla brachea penaeton, ta men onoumenoi peithoi ta
de bia lambanontes, pedia makra anti chorion egeorgoun_.] Cf. Seneca
_Ep_. xiv. 2 (90). 39 Licet agros agris adjiciat vicinum vel pretio
pellens vel injuria.

[215] [Greek: _pedia makra_] (App. l.c.), Plin. _H.N_. xviii. 6. 35
Verumque confitentibus latifundia perdidere Italiam. (For the expression
_lati fundi_ see Siculus Flaccus pp. 157, 161). Frontinus p. 53 Per
longum enim tempus attigui possessores vacantia loca quasi invitante
otiosi soli opportunitate invaserunt, et per longum tempus inpune
commalleaverunt. For the invasion of pasturage see Frontinus p. 48 Haec
fere pascua certis personis data sunt depascenda tunc cum agri adsignati
sunt. Haec pascua multi per inpotentiam invaserunt et colunt.

[216] In spite of the fertility of the land, the native Gallic
population had vanished from most of the districts of this region as
early as Polybius' time (Polyb. ii. 35). Cf. Nitzsch _Die Gracchen_
p. 60.