History of Julius Caesar Vol. 1 of 2

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.)

150

It results from the testimony of Polybius, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Livy, Florus, and Eutropius, that at the moment of the fall of Tarquinius Superbus, the domination of Rome extended over all Latium, over the greater part of the country of the Sabines, and even as far as Ocriculum (Otricoli) in Umbria; that Etruria, the country of the Hernici, and the territory of Cære (Cervetri), were united with the Romans by alliances which placed them, with regard to these, in a state of subjection.

The establishment of the consular government was, for the peoples subject to Rome, the signal of revolt. In 253, all the peoples of Latium were leagued against Rome; with the victory of Lake Regillus, in 258, that is, fourteen years after the overthrow of the Tarquins, the submission of Latium began, and it was finished by the treaty concluded by Spurius Cassius with the Latins in the year of Rome 268. The Sabines were only finally reduced by the consul Horatius in 305. Fidenæ, which had acknowledged the supremacy of Tarquin, was taken in the year 319, then taken again, after an insurrection, in 328. Anxur (Terracina) was only finally subjected after the defeat of the Volsci; and Veii and Falerium only fell under the power of the Romans in the year 358 and 359. Circci, where a Latin colony had been established in the times of the kings, only received a new one in the year 360. Cære was reunited to the Roman territory in the year 364, and it was only at the time of the Gallic invasion that Antium and Ecetra were finally annexed to the Roman territory. In 408, the capture of Satricum, at the entrance of the country of the Volscians, prevented that people from supporting an insurrection which had already begun among the Latins. In 411, the whole plain of Latium was occupied by Roman citizens or allies, but in the mountains there remained Volscian and Latin cities which were independent and secretly enemies. Nevertheless it may be said that, towards that period, the Republic had re-conquered the territory which it possessed under the kings, although Rome had again, in 416, to suppress a last insurrection of the Latins.

151

Mommsen, Roman History, I., p. 241, 2nd edit.

152

In fourteen years, from 399 to 412, the patricians allowed only six plebeians to arrive at the consulship.

153

Titus Livius, X. 23.

154

Titus Livius, X. 9.

155

“Who does not see clearly that the vice of the dictator (Marcellus) in the eyes of the augurs was that he was a plebeian?” (Titus Livius, VIII. 23. – Cicero, De Divinatione, II. 35, 37; De Legibus, II. 13.)

156

The consuls and prætors could only assemble the comitia, command the armies, or give final judgment in civil affairs, after having been invested with the imperium and with the right of taking the auspices (jus auspiciorum) by a curiate law.

157

Second Oration on the Agrarian Law, 9.

158

Titus Livius, IV. 3.

159

If a citizen refused to give his name for the recruitment, his goods were confiscated; if he did not pay his creditors, he was sold for a slave. Women were forbidden the use of wine. (Polybius, VI. 2.) – The number of guests who could be admitted to feasts was limited. (Athenæus, VI. p. 274.) – The magistrates also, on entering on office, could not accept invitations to dinner, except from certain persons who were named. (Aulus Gellius, II. 24. – Macrobius, II. 13.) – “Marriage with a plebeian or a stranger was surrounded with restrictive measures; it was forbidden with a slave or with a freedman. Celibacy, at a certain age, was punished with a fine.” (Valerius Maximus, II. ix. 1.) – There were regulations also for mourning and funerals. (Cicero, De Legibus, II. 24.)

160

Aulus Gellius, IV. 12.

161

Plutarch, Cato the Censor, 23.

162

Historians have always assigned as the northern frontier of Italy, under the Republic, the River Macra, in Etruria; but that the limit was farther south is proved by the fact that Cæsar went to Lucca to take his winter quarters; this town, therefore, must have been in his command and made part of Cisalpine Gaul. Under Augustus, the northern frontier of Italy extended to the Macra.

163

Speech of Cæsar to the Senate, reported by Sallust. (Conspiracy of Catilina, li.)

164

This paragraph, expressing with great clearness the policy of the Roman Senate, is extracted from the excellent Hist. Romaine of M. Duruy, t. I., c. xi.

165

As, for example, to put the wife in complete obedience to her husband; to give the father absolute authority over his children, etc.

166

In the origin, the municipia were the allied towns preserving their autonomy, but engaging to render to Rome certain services (munus); whence the name of municipia. (Aulus Gellius, XVI. 13.)

167

To be able to enjoy the right of city, it was necessary to be domiciliated at Rome, to have left a son in his majority in the municipium, or to have exercised there a magistracy.

168

Aul. Gellius, XVI. xiii. – Paulus Diaconus, on the word Municipium, p. 127.

169

In this category were sometimes found municipia of the third degree, such as Cære. (See Festus, under the word Præfecturæ, p. 233.) – Several of these towns, such as Fundi, Formiæ, and Arpinum, obtained in the sequel the right of suffrage; they continued, however, by an ancient usage, to be called by the name of præfecturæ, which was also applied by abuse to the colonies.

170

Socius et amicus (Titus Livius, XXXI. 11). – Compare Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VI. 95; X. 21.

171

With Carthage, for example. (Polybius, III. 22. – Titus Livius, VII. 27; IX. 19, 43.)

172

Thus with the Latins. “Ut eosdem quos populus Romanus amicos atque hostes habeant.” (Titus Livius, XXXVIII. 8.)

173

Cicero, Oration for Balbus, xvi.

174

The freedmen were, in fact, either Roman citizens, or Latins, or ranged in the number of the dediticii; slaves who had, while they were in servitude, undergone a grave chastisement, if they arrived at freedom, obtained only the assimilation to the dediticii. If, on the contrary, the slave had undergone no punishment, if he was more than thirty years of age, if, at the same time, he belonged to his master according to the law of the quirites, and if the formalities of manumission or affranchisement exacted by the Roman law had been observed, he was a Roman citizen. He was only Latin if one of these circumstances failed. (Institutes of Gaius, I. § 12, 13, 15, 16, 17.)

175

“Valerius sent upon the lands conquered from the Volsci a colony of a certain number of citizens chosen from among the poor, both to serve as a garrison against the enemies, and to diminish at Rome the party of the seditious.” (Year of Rome 260.) (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VI. 43.) – This great number of colonies, by clearing the population of Rome of a multitude of indigent citizens, had maintained tranquillity (452). (Titus Livius, X. 6.)

176

Modern authors are not agreed on this point, which would require a long discussion; but we may consider the question as solved in the sense of our text by Madvig, Opuscula, I. pp. 244-254.

177

“There the people (populus) named their magistrates; the duumviri performed the functions of consuls or prætors, whose title they sometimes took (Corpus Inscriptionum Latin., passim); the quinquennales corresponded to the censors. Finally, there were questors and ediles. The Senate, as at Rome, was composed of members, elected for life, to the number of a hundred; the number was filled up every five years (lectio senatus).” (Tabula Heracleensis, cap. x. et seq.)

178

A certain number of colonies figure in the list given by Dionysius of Halicarnassus of the members of the confederacy (V. 61).

179

Pliny, Natural History, III. iv. § 7.

180

Because it named its magistrates, struck money (Mommsen, Münzwesen, p. 317), privileges refused to the Roman colonies, and preserved its own peculiar laws according to the principle: “Nulla populi Romani lege adstricti, nisi in quam populus eorum fundus factus est.” (Aulus Gellius, XVI. xiii. 6. – Compare Cicero, Oration for Balbus, viii. 21.)

181

Cicero, Oration on the Agrarian Law, ii. 27.

182

Titus Livius, XXVII. 9.

183

Florus, I. 16.

184

Titus Livius, VIII. 13, 14.

185

Titus Livius, VIII. 14. These towns had the right of city without suffrage; of this number were Capua (in consideration of its knights, who had refused to take part in the revolt), Cumæ, Fundi, and Formiæ.

186

Velleius Paterculus, I. 15.

187

Titus Livius, VIII. 14.

188

Titus Livius, VIII. 14, et seq.– Valerius Maximus, VI. ii. 1.

189

Florus, I. 16.

190

Titus Livius, VIII. 26; XXI. 49; XXII. 11.

191

“Eam solam gentem restare.” (Titus Livius, VIII. 27.)

192

Cicero, de Officiis, iii. 30.

193

Titus Livius, IX. 24, 28.

194

Diodorus Siculus, XX. 36. – Titus Livius, IX. 29.

195

Diodorus Siculus, XIX. 101.

196

Titus Livius, IX. 31.

197

Diodorus Siculus, XX. 35.

198

Now Lago di Vadimone or Bagnaccio, situated on the right bank and three miles from the Tiber, between that river and the Lake Ciminius, about the latitude of Narni.

199

Titus Livius, IX. 43. – Cicero, Oration for Balbus, 13. – Festus, under the word Præfecturæ, p. 233.

200

Titus Livius, IX. 45. – Diodorus Siculus, XX. 101.

201

Titus Livius, IX. 45; X. 3, 10.

202

Appian, Samnite Wars, § vii., p. 56, edit. Schweighæuser.

203

Diodorus Siculus, XIX. 10.

204

Titus Livius, X. 11, et seq.

205

Titus Livius, X. 22, et seq.– Polybius, II. 19. – Florus, I. 17.

206

Volsiniæ, Perusia, and Arretium. (Titus Livius, X. 37.)

207

Orosius, III. 22. – Zonaras, VII. 2. – Eutropius, II. 9.

208

Velleius Paterculus, I. 14. – Festus, under the word Præfecturæ, p. 233.

209

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Excerpta, p. 2335, edit. Schweighæuser.

210

Polybius, II. 19, 24.

211

Titus Livius, Epitome, XII., XIII., XIV. – Plutarch, Pyrrhus, et seq.– Florus, I. 18. – Eutropius, II. 11, et seq.– Zonaras, VIII. 2.

212

Valerius Maximus, III. vii. 10.

213

Appian (Samnite Wars, X. iii., p. 65) says that Pyrrhus advanced as far as Anagnia.

214

Cicero, Oration for Balbus, xxii.

215

Titus Livius, Epitome, XIV. – Orosius, IV. 3.

216

Florus, I. 20.

217

Titus Livius, Epitome, XV. —Fasti Capitolini, an. 487.

218

Roman Colonies. – Third period: 416-488.

Antium (416). A maritime colony (Volsci). Torre d’Anzo or Porto d’Anzo.

Terracina (425). A maritime colony (Aurunci). (Via Appia.) Terracina.

Minturnæ (459). A maritime colony (Aurunci). (Via Appia.) Ruins near Trajetta.

Sinuessa (459). A maritime colony (Campania). (Via Appia.) Near Rocca di Mondragone.

Sena Gallica (465). A maritime colony (Umbria, in agro Gallico). (Via Valeria.) Sinigaglia.

Castrum Novum (465). A maritime colony (Picenum). (Via Valeria.) Giulia Nuova.

Latin Colonies.

Cales (420). Campania. (Via Appia.) Calvi.

Fregellæ (426). Volsci. In the valley of the Liris. Ceprano(?). Destroyed in 629.

Luceria (440). Apulia. Lucera.

Suessa Aurunca (441). Aurunci. (Via Appia.) Sessa.

Pontiæ (441). Island opposite Circeii. Ponza.

Saticula (441). On the boundary between Samnium and Campania. Prestia, near Santa Agata de’ Goti. Disappeared early.

Interamna (Lirinas) (442). Volsci. Terame. Not inhabited.

Sora (451). On the boundary between the Volsci and the Samnites. Sora. Already colonised in a previous period.

Alba Fucensis (451). Marsi. (Via Valeria.) Alba, a village near Avezzano.

Narnia (455). Umbria. (Via Flaminia.) Narni. Strengthened in 555.

Carseoli (456). Æqui. (Via Valeria.) Cerita, Osteria del Cavaliere, near Carsoli.

Venusia (463). Frontier between Lucania and Apulia. (Via Appia.) Venosa. Re-fortified in 554.

Adria (or Hatria) (465). Picenum. (Via Valeria and Salaria). Adri.

Cosa (481). Etruria or Campania. Ansedonia(?), near Orbitello. Re-fortified in 557.

Pæstum (481). Lucania, Pesto. Ruins.

Ariminum (486). Umbria, in agro Gallico. (Via Flaminia.) Rimini.

Beneventum (486). Samnium. (Via Appia.) Benevento.

219

Campanians: Stellatina. Etruscans: Tromentina, Sabatina, Arniensis, in 367 (Titus Livius, VI. 5). Latins: Mœcia, and Scaptia, in 422 (Titus Livius, VIII. 17). Volsci: Pomptina, and Publilia, in 396 (Titus Livius, VII. 15). Ausones: Ufentina and Falerna, in 436 (Titus Livius, IX. 20). Æqui: Aniensis and Terentina, in 455 (Titus Livius, X. 9). Sabines: Velina and Quirina, in 513 (Titus Livius, Epitome, XIX.).

220

At the beginning of each consular year, the magistrates or deputies of the towns were obliged to repair to Rome, and the consuls there fixed the contingent which each of them was to furnish according to the list of the census. These lists were drawn up by the local magistrates, who sent them to the Senate, and were renewed every five years, except in the Latin colonies, where they seem to have taken for a constant basis the number of primitive colonists.

221

The country of the Samnites, among others, was completely cut up by these domains.

222

Titus Livius places in the mouth of the consul Decius, in 452, these remarkable words: “Jam ne nobilitatis quidem suæ plebeios pœnitere” (Titus Livius, X. 7); and later still, towards 538, a tribune expresses himself thus: “Nam plebeios nobiles jam eisdem initiatos esse sacris, et contemnere plebem, ex quo contemni desierint a patribus, cœpisse.” (Titus Livius, XXII. 34.)

223

Titus Livius, XIV. 48.

224

We have the proof of this in the condemnation of those who transgressed the law of Stolo. (Titus Livius, X. 13.)

225

Valerius Maximus, IV. iii. 5. – Plutarch, Cato, iii.

226

Valerius Maximus, IV. iii. 6.

227

Valerius Maximus, IV. iii. 9.

228

Titus Livius, IX. 46.

229

“The goods of the debtor, not his body, should be responsible for the debt. Thus all the captured citizens were free, and it was forbidden for ever to put in bonds a debtor.” (Titus Livius, VIII. 28.)

230

Ignorance of the calendar, and of the method of fixing the festivals, left to the pontiffs alone the knowledge of the days when it was permitted to plead.

231

“The lawyers, for fear that their services might become useless in judicial proceedings, invented certain formulæ, in order to make themselves necessary.” (Cicero, Pro Murena, xi.)

232

Titus Livius, Epitome, XI. – Pliny, XVI. x. 37.

233

Cicero, Brutus, C. xiv. – Zonaras, Annales, VIII. 2.

234

“You see here all the principal senators who set you the example. They will partake with you the fatigues and perils of war, although the laws and their age exempt them from carrying arms.” (Speech of the Dictator Postumius to his troops; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VI. 9.)

235

Titus Livius, X., XII. 49.

236

Valerius Maximus, II. viii. 4, 7.

237

Plutarch, Flamininus, xxviii.

238

Aur. Victor, Ill. Men, xxxvi. and xxvii.

239

Titus Livius, IX. 10

240

“A sedition was already rising between the patricians and the people, and the terror of so sudden a war (with the Tiburtini) stifled it.” (Titus Livius, VII. 12.) – “Appius Sabinus, to prevent the evils which are an inevitable consequence of idleness, joined with want, determined to occupy the people in external wars, in order that, gaining their living for themselves, by finding on the lands of the enemy abundant provisions which were not to be had in Rome, they might render at the same time some service to the State, instead of troubling at an unseasonable moment the senators in the administration of affairs. He said that a town which, like Rome, disputed empire with all others, and was hated by them, could not want a decent pretext for making war; that, if they would judge the future by the past, they would see clearly that all the seditions which had hitherto torn the Republic had never arrived except in time of peace, when people no longer feared anything from without.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IX. 43.)

241

Claudius made war thus in Umbria, and took the town of Camerinum, the inhabitants of which he sold for slaves. (See Valerius Maximus, VI. v. § 1. – Titus Livius, Epitome, XV.) – Camillus, after the capture of Veii, caused the free men to be sold by auction. (Titus Livius, V. 22.) – In 365, the prisoners, the greater part Etruscans, were sold in the same manner. (Titus Livius, VI. 4.) – The auxiliaries of the Samnites, after the battle of Allifæ (447), were sold as slaves to the number of 7,000. (Titus Livius, IX. 42.)