60

JUS CENSUS, MILITIE, TRIBUTORUM.

his pupil, there was an action against him (judicium tutela), Cic. pro Q. Rosc. 6. Orat. i. 36. Cæcin. 3.

Under the Emperors guardians were obliged to give security (satisdăre) for their proper conduct (REM PUPILLI FORE SALVAM), Digest. A signal instance of punishment inflicted on a perfidious guardian is recorded, Suet. Galb. 9.*

I. PUBLIC RIGHTS OF ROMAN CITIZENS.

THESE were Jus Census, Militia, Tributorum, Suffragii, Honorum, et Sacrorum.

I. JUS CENSUS. The right of being enrolled in the censor's books. This will be treated of in another place.

II. JUS MILITIÆ. The right of serving in the army. At first none but citizens were enlisted, and not even those of the lowest class. But in aftertimes this was altered; and under the emperors soldiers were taken, not only from Italy and the provinces, but also at last from barbarous nations, Zosim. iv. 30, 31.

III. JUS TRIBUTORUM. TRIBUTUM properly was money publicly imposed on the people [the plebs], which was exacted from each individual through the tribes in proportion to the valuation of his estate (pro portione census).† Money publicly exacted on any other account, or in any other manner, was called VECTIGAL, Varro de Ling. Lat. iv. 36. But these words are not always distinguished.

There were three kinds of tribute; one imposed equally on each person (in capita), which took place under the first kings, Dionys. iv. 43.; another according to the valuation of their estate (ex censu), Liv. i. 43. iv. 60. Dionys. iv. 8. 19.; and a third, which was extraordinary, and demanded only in cases of necessity, and therefore depending on no rule (temerarium, Festus).§ It was in many instances also voluntary, Liv. xxvi. 36., and an account of it was taken, that when the treasury was again enriched, it might be repaid, as was done after the second Punic war, Id.

* "Majority commenced by law at twenty-five; but an imperial licence might set free from curatorial restraint a man at twenty, and a woman at eighteen.' Blair, p. 92.

"Livy reverses this, saying, tribus appellate a tributo, i. 43. The tax was levied according to the tribes, Dimys. iv. 14.” — Nieb. i. p. 407.

This, Niebuhr, i. p. 407-411., considers to have been that imposed on the ærarians, i. e. all not included in the tribes, and not bound to military service; viz. the women and children, the clients, citizens of confederate states, who settled at Rome, freedmen, and those degraded from their tribe, as Mam. Æmilius, Liv. iv. 24.

§ During the civil wars, which followed on the death of Cæsar, through the necessity of the times, and the exhausted state of the public treasury, the tribute was revived, for the purpose of raising money sufficient to make good the promises that had been made to the troops, Cic. Ep. Fam. xii. 30. Cicero intimates, that there was a general aversion to its revival; and also that it might have been obviated, had not Antony obtained fraudulent possession of the immense wealth of Cæsar, 2 Phil. 37.

PORTORIUM, DECUME, SCRIPTURA.

61

After the expulsion of the kings, the poor were for some time freed from the burden of taxes, until the year 349, when the senate decreed, that pay should be given from the treasury to the common people in the army, who had hitherto served at their own expense; whereupon all were forced to contribute annually, according to their fortune, for the pay of the soldiers, Liv. iv. 59, 60.

In the year of the city 586 annual tributes were remitted, on account of the immense sums brought into the treasury by M. Paulus Emilius, after the defeat of Perseus, Cic. Offic. ii. 22. and this immunity from taxes continued, according to Plutarch, down to the consulship of Hirtius and Pansa.

The other taxes (VECTIGALIA) were of three kinds, Portorium, Decima, and Scriptura.

1. PORTORIUM was money paid at the port for goods imported and exported, the collectors of which were called PORTITORES; or for carrying goods over a bridge, where every carriage paid a certain sum to the exacter of the toll, Digest. Vid. Cæs. B. G. I. 18. et III. 1. The portoria were remitted A. U. 692, the year in which Pompey triumphed over Mithridates, Dio. 37. 51. Cic. Att. ii. 16., but were afterwards imposed on foreign merchandise by Cæsar, Suet. Jul. 43.

2. DECUMÆ, Tithes, were the tenth part of corn, and the fifth part of other fruits, which were exacted from those who tilled the public lands, either in Italy or without it. Those who farmed the tithes were called DECUMANI, and esteemed the most honourable of the publicans or farmers general, as agriculture was esteemed the most honourable way of making a fortune among the Romans, Cic. Verr. ii. 13. iii. 8. The ground from which tithes were paid was also called DECUMANUS, Cic. Verr. iii. 6.† But these lands were all sold or distributed among the citizens at different times, and the land of Capua the last, by Cæsar, Suet. Jul. 23. Cic. Att. ii, 16.

3. SCRIPTURA was the tax paid from public pastures and woods; so called, because those who wished to feed their cattle there, subscribed their names before the farmer of them (coram pecuario vel scriptuario), Varro de Re Rusticâ, ii. 16. and paid a certain sum for each beast; Festus in SCRIPTUARIUS AGER, as was likewise done in all the tithe-lands (in agris decumanis), Cic. Verr. iii. 52. Plaut. Truc. i. 2. 44.

All those taxes were let publicly by the censors at Rome (locabantur sub hastá), Cic. Rull. i. 3. Those who farmed them (redimebant v. conducebant) were called PUBLICANI or MANCIPES, Cic. pro Domo, 10. They also gave securities to the people (PRÆDES), and had partners who shared the profit and loss with them (Soci).

"Plantations and vineyards might fairly be subjected to a higher rate, as they require no seed, and less labour; hence the Roman people received two tenths from them and so, perhaps, on the same ground did they of the young, the cheese, and the wool, of cattle kept on the common pastures, before an agistment was introduced.” - Nieb. ii. p. 137.

-

:

"Tacitus (de Mor. Germ. xxix. qui decumates agros field again."-T. Brotier explains the expression thus: dicti videntur, quod incolæ, Germanorum incursionibus fidem reciperentur, proventuum decimam solverint."

exercent) opens out a new "Agri illi decumates inde obnoxii, ut in Romanorum

62

VICESIMA

JUS SUFFRAGII, HONOrum, sacrorum.

There was long a tax upon salt. In the second year after the expulsion of Tarquin, it was ordained that salt should not be sold by private persons, but should be furnished at a lower rate by the public, Liv. ii. 9. A new tax was imposed on salt in the second Punic war, at the suggestion of the censors Claudius Nero and Livius, chiefly the latter, who hence got the surname of Salinator, Liv. xxix. 37. But this tax was also dropped, although it is uncertain at what time.

There was another tax, which continued longer, called VICESIMA, i. e. the twentieth part of the value of any slave who was freed, Cic. Att. ii. 16. It was imposed by a law of the people assembled by tribes, and confirmed by the senate [A. U. 396.] What was singular, the law was passed in the camp, Liv. vii. 16. The money raised from this tax (aurum vicesimarium) used to be kept for the last exigencies of the state, Liv. xxvii. 10.*

Various other taxes were invented by the emperors; as the hundredth part of things to be sold (centesima, Tacit. Ann. i. 78.), the twentyfifth of slaves (vigesima quinta mancipiorum), and the twentieth of inheritances (vigesima hæreditatum), by Augustus, Suet. Aug. 49. Dio. Iv. 25., a tax on eatables (pro eduliis), [also on porters and courtezans], by Caligula, Suet. 40., and even on urine, by Vespasian, Suet. 23, &c.

IV. JUS SUFFRAGII, the right of voting in the different assemblies of the people.

V. JUS HONORUM, the right of bearing public offices in the state. These were either priesthoods or magistracies (sacerdotia et magistratus), which at first were conferred only on Patricians, but afterwards were all, except a few, shared with the Plebeians.

VI. JUS SACRORUM. Sacred rites were either public or private. The public were those performed at the public expense: the private were those which every one privately observed at home. The Vestal Virgins preserved the public hearth of the city; the curiones, with their curiales, kept the hearths of the thirty curiæ; the priests of each village kept the fires of each village (Pagorum). And because, upon the public establishment of Christianity in the empire, [A. D. 311] when, by the decrees of Constantine and his sons, the profane worship of the gods was prohibited in cities, and their temples shut, those who were attached to the old superstition fled to the country, and secretly performed their former sacred rites in the villages; hence PAGANS came to be used for Heathens, (évinoì, Gentiles,) or for those who were not Christians; as anciently among the Romans those were called PAGANI who were not soldiers, Juvenal. xvi. 32. Suet. Galb. 19. Plin. Ep. vii. 25. Thus, Pagani et Montani, are called Plebes Urbana by Cicero, because they were ranked among the city tribes, although they lived in the villages and mountains, pro Domo, 28.

Each gens had certain sacred rites peculiar to itself (gentilitia, Liv. v. 52.), which they did not intermit even in the heat of a war,

It was first applied in the year of the city 544, during the second Punic war. It then amounted to 4000 pounds weight of gold.

DEPORTATIO, RELEGATIO, DIMINUTIO CAPITIS.

63

Liv. v. 46. Every father of a family had his own household gods, whom he worshipped privately at home,

Those who came from the free towns, and settled at Rome, retained their municipal sacred rites, and the colonies retained the sacred rites of the Roman people.

No new or foreign gods could be adopted by the Romans, unless by public authority. Thus Esculapius was publicly sent for from Epidaurus, and Cyběle from Phrygia, Liv. xxix. 11, 12. Hence,

if any one had introduced foreign rites of himself, they were publicly condemned by the senate, Liv. iv. 30. xxv. 1. xxxix. 16. But under the emperors all the superstition of foreign nations flocked to Rome; as the sacred rites of Isis, Serapis, and Anubis from Egypt, &c.

These were the private and public rights of Roman citizens. It was a maxim among the Romans, that no one could be a citizen of Rome, who suffered himself to be made a citizen of any other city, Cic. pro Cæcin. 36. Nepos in Vita Attici, 3. which was not the case in Greece, Cic. pro Arch. 5. Balb. 12. And no one could lose the freedom of the city against his will, Cic. pro Dom. 29, 30. pro Cacin. 33. If the rights of a citizen were taken from any one, either by way of punishment, or for any other cause, some fiction always took place. Thus, when citizens were banished, they did not expel them by force, but their goods were confiscated, and themselves were forbidden the use of fire and water (iis igne et aquá interdictum est), which obliged them to repair to some foreign place. Augustus added to this form of banishment what was called DEPORTATIO, whereby the condemned, being deprived of their rights and fortunes, were conveyed to a certain place, without leaving it to their own choice to go where they pleased.

When any one was sent away to any place, without being deprived of his rights and fortunes, it was called RELEGATIO. Thus Ovid, Trist. ii. 137. v. 11. 21.

So, captives in war did not properly lose the rights of citizens. Those rights were only suspended, and might be recovered, as it was called, jure postliminii, by the right of restoration or return, Cic. Top. 8. de Orat. i. 40.

In like manner, if any foreigner, who had got the freedom of Rome, returned to his native city, and again became a citizen of it, he ceased to be a Roman citizen, Cic. pro Balb. 12. This was called postliminium, with regard to his own country, and rejectio civitatis with regard to Rome.

Any loss of liberty, or of the rights of citizens, was called DIMINUTIO CAPITIS, Cic. pro Mil. 36. jus libertatis imminutum, Sallust. Cat. 37. Hence Capitis minor, sc. ratione vel respectu, or capite diminutus, lessened in his state, or degraded from the rank of a citizen, Horat. Od. iii. 5. 42. The loss of liberty, which included the loss of the city, and of one's family, was called diminutio capitis maxima; banishment, diminutio media; any change of family, minima, Digest. ii. de capite minutis.

64

JUS LATII OR LATINITAS.

JUS LATII.

THE JUS LATII or LATINITAS, Suet. Aug. 47. Cic. Att. xiv. 12. was next to the jus civitatis.

Latium anciently (Latium Vetus) was bounded by the rivers Tiber, Anio, Ufens, and the Tuscan sea. It contained the Albans, Rutŭli, and Equi. It was afterwards extended (Latium Novum) to the river Liris, and comprehended the Osci, Ausones, and Volsci, Plin. iii. 9. The inhabitants of Latium were called LATINI SOCII, NOMEN LATINUM, ET SOCII LATINI NOMINIS, &c. Socii et Latinum nomen, means the Italians and Latins.

The JUS LATII was inferior to the jus civitatis, and superior to the jus Italicum. But the precise difference is not ascertained.

The Latins used their own laws, and were not subject to the edicts of the Roman prætor. They were permitted to adopt some of the Roman laws, if they chose it, and then they were called POPULI FUNDI, Cic. pro Balb. 8. If any state did not choose it, it was said EI LEGI, V. de ea lege FUNDUS FIERI NOLLE, i. e. auctor, subscriptor esse, v. eam probare et recipere, Ib.

The Latins were not enrolled at Rome, but in their own cities, Liv. xli. 9. They might be called to Rome, to give their votes about any thing, Liv. xxv. 3. But then they were not included in a certain tribe, and used to cast lots to know in what tribe they should vote, Ibid.; and when the consuls chose, they ordered them by a decree of the senate to leave the city, Cic. Brut. 26., which however rarely happened, Cic. pro Sextio, 15.

Such Latins as had borne a civil office in their own state, became citizens of Rome, Appian. de Bell. Civ. ii. p. 443.; but could not enjoy honours before the lex Julia was made, Liv. viii. 4. xxiii. 22., by which law the right of voting and of enjoying honours was granted to those who had continued faithful to Rome in the Social war, A. U. 663; which the Latins had done.* The distinction, however, betwixt the jus Latii and the jus civitatis, and the same mode of acquiring the full right of citizenship (per Latium in civitatem veniendi), was still retained, Plin. Paneg. 37. 39. Strab. iv. p. 186.

The Latins at first were not allowed the use of arms for their own defence, without the order of the people, Liv. ii. 30. iii. 19.; but afterwards they served as allies in the Roman army, and indeed constituted the principal part of its strength. They sometimes furnished two thirds of the cavalry, and also of the infantry, Liv. iii. 22. xxi. 17. et alibi passim. But they were not embodied in the legions, and were treated with more severity than Roman citizens, being punished with stripes, from which citizens were exempted by the Portian law, Sallust. Jug. 69.

That the allies, after the termination of the social war, might have little sway in the comitia, the senate would not distribute them in the old thirty-five tribes, but created for them eight new tribes; ordering that these should give their suffrages the last, so that they seldom came to vote at all; which afterwards occasioned great disturbances in the republic.

The same year another law was enacted, conferring the freedom of Rome on all foreigners who were free of the cities allied to the republic by league, provided they had at that time a habitation in Italy, and gave their names in to the Roman prætors within sixty days after the promulgation of the law.