CHAPTER VII.

ON THE PUBLIC LANDS AND THE AGRARIAN LAWS.

Ager Publicus was the general term for all lands which belonged in property to the state and not to private individuals. The Romans were in the habit of mulcting those tribes which resisted their arms of a considerable portion of their lands, and in process of time acquired immense tracts. In this way, for example, upon the recovery of Capua, after its revolt to Hannibal, the whole Ager Campanus was confiscated.

A portion of the lands thus acquired was frequently sold by public auction, in order to provide funds for the immediate wants of the state. The remainder was disposed of in different ways, according to its nature and condition.

1. The rich land in good condition was usually disposed of in three ways—

(1.) If at no great distance from the city, or if not in an exposed situation, it was frequently made over (assignatus) in small allotments, usually of seven jugers, to the poorer citizens, those chiefly who had acquired a claim upon the state by long military service.

(2.) If, on the other hand, it lay upon an exposed frontier, or in the midst of hostile tribes, a Colonia was established according to the policy already explained (see above, p. 43).

(3.) Lastly, land of this description was sometimes left in the hands of the subjugated proprietors, now transformed from owners into mere tenants, who held the land on lease and paid a fair rent to the Roman exchequer. In this case the land remained the property of the state, and formed part of the Ager Publicus.

2. 3. Lands which had been laid waste by the operations of war, and ranges of wild pasture.

The state was in the habit of inviting occupation of such districts upon very favourable terms, the payment, viz., of one-tenth of the produce of corn lands, and one-fifth of the produce of vines and fruit trees, when the land should have been again brought under cultivation, and of a moderate sum per head for sheep and cattle grazing on the public pastures. These lands fell, as a matter of course, in the earlier ages, into the hands of the Patricians exclusively, the only class possessed of capital, and afterwards the wealthy Plebeians also obtained a share. These persons were tenants at

will (precario), who might be lawfully ejected whenever the state thought fit.

Occupiers of the public lands, although liable to be dispossessed at any time by the state, might retain possession of these lands for many generations; and the right of occupancy might be transferred or might be sold.

A piece of land occupied in this manner was called Possessio, the act of occupancy was Usus, the benefit derived by the state Fructus. The occupier was called the Possessor, and he was said Possidere.

The tenants of the Ager Publicus were thus divided into two classes, which stood in a very different position.

(1.) Those who had entered upon farms in full cultivation, who held leases for a limited period, and who paid a fair rent for the land. (2.) Those who had entered upon the occupation of land lying waste or desolate, who were bound, as the land was reclaimed, to pay to the state a certain proportion of the produce, and who were tenants at will, upon an understanding, however, that they were not liable to be displaced in order to make room for another rentpaying tenant.

Leges Agrariae. It is impossible to form a distinct idea of the Roman constitution, unless we fully comprehend the nature and object of laws which were upon many occasions the source of furious and fatal discord.

The LEGES AGRARIAE were in no case intended to interfere with or affect private property in land, but related exclusively to the AGER PUBLICUS.

The tenants of the Ager Publicus were in the earlier ages exclusively Patricians, who at the same time monopolized the administration of public affairs, and thus were enabled to defraud the state. Meanwhile the Plebeians complained that they were impoverished by new imposts, while the lands belonging to the community, if fairly managed, would yield a sufficient return to meet all demands upon the exchequer, or, if portioned out in allotments among themselves, afford them the means of supporting the increased burdens. Hence from an early period in the Commonwealth, Leges Agrariae were employed as most formidable and efficient weapons of offence by the Tribunes of the Plebs, and by the leaders of the democratic party.

The term Leges Agrariae was usually employed to denote, (1.) Those measures which had for their object a reform in the management of the public lands, by enforcing the regular payment of rent on the part of the occupiers, prohibiting them from occupying more than a certain extent, demanding the surrender of portions, and dividing these in smaller allotments among the poorer citizens; and, (2.) Those which were intended to prevent the occupation of

newly acquired territory, by insisting upon its immediate application to the establishment of colonies or its distribution to individuals (viritim).

The first Agrarian law upon record was the Lex Cassia, proposed and passed by Sp. Cassius Viscellinus when Consul, B.C. 486.

By far the most important measure of this class was the Lex Licinia, carried, after a protracted struggle, by C. Licinius Stolo, in B.C. 367, which served as the foundation of almost all later Agrarian laws. The chief provisions were—

1. That no one should occupy more than five hundred jugers of the Ager Publicus (ne quis plus D. iugera agri possideret).

2. That no one should have more than a hundred large and five hundred small cattle grazing upon the public pastures.

3. That each occupant of the Ager Publicus should employ a certain proportion of free labourers in cultivating it.

For upwards of two centuries after the passing of the Lex Licinia no attempt was made to interfere with the actual occupants of the Ager Publicus. Meanwhile immense additions had been made to the domains of the Commonwealth during the contests which terminated in the subjugation of all Italy, and during the second Punic war. Large portions of the territory thus acquired had been assigned to the allies of Rome, had been disposed of in founding colonies, and had been assigned to the veterans of Scipio, but at the same time vast tracts had been retained as Ager Publicus, and no division among the poorer citizens individually (viritim) had taken place since the Lex Agraria Flaminia passed, greatly to the disgust of the senate, by C. Flaminius when Tribune of the Plebs, B.C. 233, in terms of which, the lands conquered from the Senones had been portioned out in small lots. Moreover, although the Lex Licinia had never been repealed, the most important provisions had been violated. A large number of the wealthier families had gradually become occupiers, many of them of an extent far beyond five hundred jugers, their flocks and herds grazing on the public pastures greatly exceeded the lawful number, and the free agricultural labourers had been almost entirely superseded by slaves. On the other hand the estates of small proprietors had been almost all swallowed up by the rich landholders. It was to remedy these abuses that Tiberius Gracchus introduced his celebrated Lex Sempronia Agraria, the declared object of which was to revive, under a modified form, the ancient Lex Licinia. The bill was met by the most violent opposition; but it was passed notwithstanding, and a standing commission appointed to carry it into effect. The difficulties and opposition encountered at every step rendered the progress of the commissioners very slow, and this, and all the other enactments of Tiberius Gracchus and his brother, were set aside or evaded after

the death of the latter. In the civil strife a very large portion of the public lands in Italy were alienated from the state and made over to the soldiers of the great commanders-Sulla, Pompeius, Julius Cæsar, and the Triumvirs.

In addition to the Lex Cassia-Lex Licinia-Lex Flaminiaand Lex Sempronia, which have been adverted to in the above sketch, the following Leges Agrariae deserve notice

Lex Thoria, passed by Sp. Thorius, Tribune of the Plebs, B.C. 107. The object of this law was to ordain that the rents paid by the occupiers should be divided among the poorer citizens, instead of being made over to the public exchequer.

Lex Servilia, proposed by P. Servilius Rullus, Tribune of the Plebs, B.C. 63, for the division of the Ager Campanus.

Lex Julia, passed by Julius Cæsar during his Consulship, R.C. 59, by which the Ager Campanus was distributed among twenty thousand citizens.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE ROMAN REVENUES.

Different Words signifying Revenue.—Pascua—Vectigalia-Publicum.

Pascua, i. e., Pasture lands, signified Revenue; because, in the earliest ages, the public income was derived solely from the rent of pastures belonging to the state.

Vectigal is the word used more frequently than any other to denote the revenue of the state generally.

Publicum, in its widest acceptation, comprehended everything which belonged to the community at large, and hence included not only the domain lands, their produce, and the exchequer, but also roads, bridges, and public buildings. In a more limited sense, it signified Revenue, the word Vectigal being, in this case, understood.

Sources of the Roman Revenues.- -The Roman revenues were derived partly from lands, mines, and other property held by the state, partly from taxes paid by Roman citizens and by the subjects of Rome. Those subject states who paid a fixed sum in money were styled Stipendiarii, those who paid a proportion of the produce of their soil, Vectigales; and the latter were regarded as occupying a more favourable position than the former. The terms, however, are frequently used indifferently.

Revenue derived from Land. The revenue derived from land was of two kinds, according as the land was the property of the state (Ager Publicus), or was the absolute property of the occupiers, subject to certain burdens in favour of the state. In the former case the revenue received was, in the strictest sense, a rent paid by a tenant to his landlord; in the latter case, it was what we now term a land tax. By far the larger portion of the public revenue derived from land in Italy during the Commonwealth proceeded from Ager Publicus, and was therefore rent. In the provinces beyond the seas, on the other hand, the inhabitants were for the most part left in possession of their lands, but were required to pay a fixed sum, or a certain proportion of the produce of the soil. Rome, however, possessed Ager Publicus in the provinces, as well as in Italy.

Decumae.—The tithe being the ordinary amount levied in Italy and in the provinces first subdued, was used as the general term to denote the proportion of the produce of arable land paid to the state