1

those who had no taint of servile blood. We shall have occasion to point out hereafter, that Ingenuitas, for two generations at least, was considered an indispensable qualification in a candidate for the office of Tribune of the Plebs, and we cannot doubt that this rule applied to all the higher magistracies. Appius Claudius, when Censor, (B.C. 312,) was the first who "polluted" the Senate by admitting the sons of Libertini; (senatum primus libertinorum filiis lectis inquinaverat ;) but although public indignation was so strong that the consuls were borne out when they refused to acknowledge the persons so nominated, yet it is nowhere hinted that Appius violated any law in making such a choice. During the disorders produced by the civil wars, the Senate became crowded with Libertini; and the satirists always speak with special bitterness of the wealth and influence enjoyed by the favourite Liberti of the early emperors. Under the empire, also, the Status of Ingenuitas was sometimes bestowed upon Libertini by a special grant. It would appear that the marriage of an Ingenuus with a Libertina entailed Ignominia (see above, p. 114) on the former; for among the various rewards bestowed upon Hispala Fecenia, the Libertina who, in B.C. 186, gave information with regard to the excesses practised in the Bacchanalian orgies, it was decreed-Uti ei ingenuo nubere liceret: neu quid ei, qui eam duxisset, ob id fraudi ignominiaeve esset (Liv. XXXIX. 19.)

Iuformal Manumission. In addition to the regular and legally recognised forms of manumission, a slave might be liberated in various ways, by the mere expression of a wish to that effect on the part of his master; but in this case his position was less secure. Thus we hear of Manumissio inter amicos s. Libertas inter amicos data, when a master, in the presence of his friends, pronounced his slave free Manumissio per epistolam, when, being at a distance, he wrote a letter to that effect-Manumissio per mensam, when he permitted his slave to sit at table with him. A slave who was able to prove any one of these acts on the part of his master, could, by an appeal to the Praetor, resist any attempt to bring him back to slavery. His position, however, was dubious. He was said in libertate morari or in libertatis forma servari; and any property which he might accumulate belonged of right to his Patron. The political privileges of such persons was first defined by the Lex Iunia Norbana, passed about A.D. 19, which bestowed upon all slaves irregularly manumitted the Ius Latü, (see above, p. 117,) and hence the name Latini Iuniani, by which they are sometimes designated. A slave liberated in an irregular manner, might be again manumitted according to one of the three regular methods; and this process, termed iteratio, conferred full citizenship upon a Latinus Iunianus.

Manumission of Slaves by the State. The state itself occasionally bestowed freedom upon slaves, as a recompense for long service, or for some signal benefit conferred on the community, such as giving information against conspirators or the perpetrators of heinous crimes; and if such slaves were not public property, (servi publici,) they were purchased with the public money from their masters. 3 One of the most remarkable examples of manumission by the state, on a large scale, is to be found in the case of the Volones, that is, the slaves who, to the number of 8000, volunteered to serve as soldiers during the second Punic war, and who received their freedom after the battle of Beneventum, (B.C. 214,) as a reward for their efficient bravery.⭑

1 Liv. IX. 46. comp. Cic. pro Cluent. 47. Suet. Claud. 24. Dion Cass. XL. 63. XLIII. 47. 2 Dion Cass. XLVIII. 45. Appian. B. C. V. 80.

3 Liv. IV. 45. XXII. 33. XXVÍ. 27. XXVIL 3. XXXII. 26. Cic. pro Balb. 9. pro Rabir. perd. reo. 11.

4 Liv. XXIL 57. XXIV. 14-16. XXV 20. 22. XXVII. 38.

REFERENCES TO CHAPTER III.

GENERAL REFERENCES.-See Bibliography of Chapter I.

Romani Cives. Ius Civitatis.-Mommsen, Röm. Staatsrecht, III. p. 29, sqq.; p. 127, sqq. Willems, Droit public Romain, p. 73, sqq. Madvig, Die Verwaltung und Verfassung, &c., p. 21, sqq. Herzog, Geschichte und System, &c., p. 90, sqq.; 971, sqq.

Zumpt, De propagatione civitatis Romanae (Studia Romana), Berlin, 1859. Villatte, De propagatione civitatis Romanae, Bonn, 1870. Lindet, De l'acquisition et de la perte du droit de cité Romain, Paris, 1880. Lesterpt de Beauvais, Du droit de cité à Rome, Paris, 1882. Grenouillet, De la condition des personnes, &c., Paris, 1882. De Letourville, Étude sur le droit de cité à Rome, Paris, 1883. Pinvert, Du droit de cité, Paris, 1885.

Civitas sine Suffragio. Caerites. Aerarii.-Pardon, De aerariis, Berlin, 1853. Belot, Histoire des chevaliers romains, I. p. 200, sqq. Hoffmann, Das Gesetz der zwölf Tafeln, &c. (Zeitschrift f. oesterr. Gymn., 1866, p. 586, sqq.)

Caput. Status. Deminutio Capitis. Infamia. Ignominia.— v. Savigny, System des röm. Rechts, Berlin, 1840, II. p. 443, sqq. Gens, Capitis deminutio, Berolini, 1880. Álcindor, De la maxima et de la media capitis deminutio, Paris, 1884. Delastre, De la capitis deminutio maxima, Paris, 1884. Krüger, Geschichte der capitis deminutio, Breslau, 1887. Hepp, De la note d'infamie, Paris, 1862. Rabot, Étude sur l'infamie à Rome, Toulouse, 1884. Schaffhauser, De la perte du droit de cité et du postliminium, Paris, 1882. Gauthier, Du postliminium, Paris, 1883. Le Clech, Du postliminium, Paris, 1883.

Peregrini. Hospitium. Hospes.-Mommsen, Röm. Staatsrecht, III. p. 590, sqq. Willems, Droit public Romain, p. 126, sqq. Madvig, Die Verwaltung und Verfassung, &c., p. 58, sqq.

Mommsen, Röm. Forschungen, I. p. 326, sqq. Frenoy, Condition des pérégrins à Rome, Paris, 1879. Garnot, Aperçu sur la condition des étrangers à Rome, Paris, 1884. Cothénet, De la condition des pérégrins, Dijon, 1885.

Latini.-Mommsen, Röm. Staatsrecht, III. p. 607, sqq. Willems, Droit public Romain, p. 129, sqq. Madvig, Die Verwaltung und Verfassung, &c., I. p. 58, sqq. Herzog, Geschichte und System, &c., I. p. 1005, sqq.

Mommsen, Die Stadtrechte der lat. Gemeinden Salpensa und Malaca, Leipzig, 1857. Rudorff, De majore ac minore Latio, Berolini, 1860. Beaudoin, Le majus et le minus Latium (n. revue hist. de droit, 1879, p. 1, sqq.; 111, sqq.) Hirschfeld, Zur Geschichte des latein. Rechts, Wien, 1879.

Coloniae.-Marquardt, Röm. Staatsverwaltung (2 ed.), I. p. 35, sqq. Willems, Droit public Romain, p. 369, sqq. Madvig, Die Verwaltung und Verfassung, &c., II. p. 23, sqq.

Madvig, Opuscula, Kopenhagen, 1834, p. 208, sqq. Schmidt, Das Kolonialwesen der Römer, Potsdam, 1847. Zumpt, Comment. epigraph., Berolini, 1850, I. p. 73, sqq.; 195, sqq. Rudorff, in Rom. Feldmesser, Berlin, 1852, II. p. 323, sqq. Sambeth, De Romanorum coloniis, Tübingen, 1861-62.

Municipia.-Marquardt, Röm. Staatsverwaltung (2 ed.), I. p. 26, sqq. Willems, Droit public Romain, p. 374, sqq. Madvig, Die Verwaltung und Verfassung, &c., II. p. 2, sqq.

Zumpt, Ueber den Unterschied der Benennungen Municipium, Colonia, Praefectura, Berlin, 1839. Rubino, Ueber die Bedeutung der Ausdrücke Municipium und Municipes (Zeitschr. f. Alterthumsw., 1844, n. 109-124). Zöller, De civitate sine suffragio et municipio Romanorum, Heidelberg, 1866.

Praefecturae.-Mommsen, Röm. Staatsrecht, III. p. 570, sqq. Marquardt, Rom. Staatsverwaltung (2 ed.), I. p. 26, sqq.; 41, sqq.

Socii. Nomen Latinum.-Mommsen, Röm. Staatsrecht, III. p. 645, sqq. Marquardt, Röm. Staatsverwaltung (2 ed.), I. p. 44, sqq. Beloch, Der italische Bund, Leipzig, 1880, p. 158, sqq.

Servi.-Rein, Das Privatrecht, Leipzig, 1858, p. 552, sqq. MarquardtMau, Privatleben, p. 337, sqq. Friedlaender, Sittengeschichte (6 ed.), III. p. 89, sqq. Willems, Droit public Romain, p. 135, sqq.

Blair, An Inquiry into the state of Slavery amongst the Romans, Edinburgh, 1833. Caqueray, De l'esclavage chez les Romains (Revue histor. de droit française et étr., 1864, II. p. 195, sqq.) Egger, Mémoires d'histoire ancienne, Paris, 1863. Adam, Ueber die Sclaverei und Sclavenentlassung, Tübingen, 1866. Wallon, Histoire de l'esclavage (2nd ed.), Paris, 1879. Trincheri, Studi sulla condizione degli schiavi in Roma, Roma, 1883.

The Liberation of Slaves.-Rein, Das Privatrecht, Leipzig, 1858, p. 569, sqq. Willems, Droit public Romain, p. 143, sqq. Madvig, Die Verfassung und Verwaltung, &c., I. p. 190, sqq..

Bodemeyer, De manumissione Testamentaria atque de fideicommisso libertatis, Göttingen, 1852.

Libertinus. Libertus. Patronus.-Mommsen, Röm. Staatsrecht, III. p. 420, sqq. Willems, Droit public Romain, p. 107, sqq. Madvig, Die Verfassung und Verwaltung, &c., I. p. 197, sqq.

Grégoire, De la condition civile et politique des descendants des affranchis (Revue de legisl., II. p. 384, sqq.) Ferrero, Dei libertini, Torino, 1877. Vogt, Ueber die Klientel und Libertinität (Berichte der k. sächs. Gesellsch. d. Wiss., Philol.-hist. Klasse, 1878, I. 146, sqq.) Leist, Das rom. Patronatrecht, Erlangen, 1879. Josson, Condition juridique des affranchis, &c., Douai, 1879. Lemonnier, Etude historique sur la condition privée des affranchis, &c., Paris, 1885.

Informal Manumission.—Vangerow, Ueber die Latini Juniani, Marburg, 1833. Portet, Des Latins Junians, Evreux, 1882. Cantarelli, I Latini Juniani, Bologna, 1882. Schneider, Die lex Iulia Norbana (Zeitschr. f. Rechtsgesch., 1884, p. 225, sqq.) Von Brinz, Die Freigelassenen der Aelia Sentia, Freiburg, 1884.

CHAPTER IV.

THE COMITIA.

We stated, at the commencement of the preceding chapter, that, according to the theory of the Roman constitution, all power proceeded from the voice of the citizens, as expressed in their constitutional assemblies, called Comitia—that no magistrate could be elected, no law enacted, no Roman citizen tried for a criminal offence, except by these assemblies. The citizens, however, could not lawfully assemble for the discharge of these duties, nor for any political purpose, except when formally summoned by a civil magistrate. They might be called together by a magistrate for one of two purposes.

1

1. For the purpose of being addressed upon some matter of public interest, without any proposition being submitted to them upon which they were required to vote. In this case the assembly was called Concio.

2. For the purpose of having some proposition submitted to them, which they were required to accept or to reject by their votes. In this case the assembly was called, Comitia, or anciently Comitiatus. 2 Comitium never denotes the assembly, but the part of the Forum where the popular assemblies met in the earliest times. See p. 16.

Conciones.-A Concio, in so far as its objects were concerned, corresponded in many respects to what we now term a "Public Meeting.' The magistrate by whom it was summoned employed a public crier, (praeco,) and was said advocare s. convocare concionem; the multitude merely listened to the oration of the person by whom they had been called together, and of those persons whom he introduced to their notice, (produxit in concionem,) for no private person could come forward and address them without obtaining permission from the presiding magistrate. 3

The word Concio in the best writers is used for a public meeting in the restricted sense above described, and is sharply distinguished from Comitia; but it would appear that originally Concio was employed in a more comprehensive signification to denote all public assemblies regularly summoned, including, of

1 We throw out of view here those occasions when the people were called together for the purposes of a military levy, (delectus,) of the Census, of solemn sacrifices, and the like, as not pertaining to the present subject.

10.

2 Cic. do legg. III. 12. 18. Aul. Gell. XIII. 15.

3 Dionys. V. 11. Liv. III. 71. XLII. 34.

Aul. Gell. XIII. 15. Liv. XXXIX. 15.

Cic. ad Att. II. 24. IV. 2. pro Sest. 63. in Vatin

Cic. pro Sest. 50.

course, Comitia, and that the phrases-Inlicium vocare-In concionem vocare -Ad Comitia vocare-Ad Conventionem vocare-were regarded as synonymous. 1

Concio, however, in the purest authors, is constantly employed to denote, not only a public meeting, but also a speech delivered to such a meeting, and thus, Concionem habere is equivalent to Verba facere, that is, to deliver a harangue;" and hence such phrases as Conciones scriptae-Legi tuam concionem-Concio funebris-Dare concionem alicui, (to grant any one permission to speak,) and the verb Concionari.3

The right of calling a Concio belonged, during the regal period, in all probability, to the king alone, or to his immediate representatives, the Tribunus Celerum or the Praefectus Urbis. Under the republic it was exercised by all the higher magistrates, including the Tribunes of the Plebs. The ordinary places of meeting were the Comitium, the lower Forum, the Capitol, and the Campus Martius. The presiding magistrate usually occupied a Templum, that is, a place consecrated by the Augurs, and opened the proceedings on this, as on other occasions when the people were addressed, by a solemn prayer (see Liv. XXXIX. 15.)

Concilium.-While Comitia denoted an assembly of the whole people, called together for the purpose of voting upon some measure, Concilium is sometimes used to denote a similar assembly, consisting of a portion only of the community -Is, qui non universum populum, sed partem aliquam adesse iubet, non COMITIA, sed CONCILIUM, edicere debet. Hence Concilium Plebis, or simply Concilium, is employed to denote the Comitia Tributa, because that assembly consisted originally of Plebeians only, and the term having been once recognized, remained in use after the Comitia Tributa included all classes. " On the other hand, Concilium Populi denotes the Comitia Centuriata, which, from the first, embraced the whole Populus.

6

Concilium is also frequently employed to denote a promiscuous assemblage, without any reference either to Conciones or Comitia.

Comitia. When a magistrate summoned Comitia it was invariably for the purpose of asking the people to do something, (ut rogaret quid populum,) and in submitting the matter to their consideration, he was said agere cum populo, which became the technical phrase for dealing with the people in their Comitia —Cum populo agere est rogare quid populum quod suffragiis suis aut iubeat

There were three kinds of Comitia, which were named from the three modes in which the people were organized politically. These were—

1. Comitia Curiata, in which the people voted in Curiae.

2.

3.

Centuriata,
Tributa,

To these some add a fourth, Comitia Calata, the nature of which we shall explain at the close of this chapter.

In none of the three first named did the people vote promiscuously, but,

1 Varro L.L. VI. § 88. Paul. Diac. s v. Contio, p. 38. s.v. Inlicium, p. 113.

2 Concionem habere est verba facere ad populum sine ulla rogatione. Aul. Gell. XIII. 15.

3 Cic. in Vatin. 1. ad Fam. IX. 14. ad Att. IV. 2. pro Flacc. 7.

4 Lael. Fel. ap. Aul. Gell. XV. 27.

5 Liv. VII. 5. XXXVIIL 53. XXXIX. 15. XLIII. 16.

6 Liv. III. 71. VI. 20.

7 Aul. Gell. XIII. 15. comp. Cic. de. legg. III. 4. in Vatin. 7. Sallust. Cat. 51. Maerob. 8. L 16. We find in Liv. XLIL 34. the phrase agere AD populum used with reference to a speech delivered to a Concio.