Copy 1, Volume 2

Library of useful knowledge.

  • Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge
Date:
1827-1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Library of useful knowledge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    61/496 page 55
    man Governor was placed over the states under this Right; * and the soil was probably subject to a tax upon produce, with the exception of certain of the districts least remote from Rome, which were comprehended under the name of Italia urbicaria. The Italian states were compelled, like the Latins, to raise auxiliary troops for the service of Rome. The date of the origin of the last- mentioned two Rights is uncertain f; perhaps it is not unreasonable to conjec¬ ture that both commenced with the first subjection of the several states which were regulated by them, but that the limitations of those Rights were modi¬ fied and more accurately defined in the course of time, and particularly upon the establishment of relations of a dif ferent kind between Rome and her more recent dependencies. It wras natural that the members of the old Latin league should, except in the case of those states upon which great severity was exercised, be considered as less alien and foreign to Rome than Campanians or Sammtes: and, again, the political condition of those states, which were neither Latin nor Provincial, would be more strictly marked out, and might perhaps first receive its technical title, upon the creation of the Provincial Right; since every fresh institution of this nature might require and imply a correct determination of whatever had preceded. The next Right to be described is the Provincial Right (Jus Provinciate). The provinces were governed by officers sent from Rome : there were usually two of these, one for collecting the tributes, the other, who was the superior, for the ex¬ ercise of judicial, military, and general authority. Their laws were enacted, either specially at Rome, or by the governor in the province*. These laws were declared, sometimes at the time at which the province was created, and sometimes as the occasion arose. The inhabitants of provinces were in most * Thus, according’ to Appian (B.C. I. 38.), Pice- num appears to have been placed under the authority of Q. Servilius, about ninety years before Christ, at the time of the Marsic war. But Maffei disputes this. Veron. Illus. Par. I. 1st. Ver. lib. iii. p. 44. + See, as to the Latin Right, a note at § 5. t In the case of the states of Sicily, which was a province particularly favoured, no imposts were exacted besides those which they had borne before their connection with Rome, the only change con¬ sisting in the substitution of the Roman,government in the place of the former authorities. Cic. in Ver. Act. II. lib. iii. 6. 12- . instances subject to very heavy im¬ posts, either on their persons, or the produce of their lands. The lands them¬ selves were sometimes taken from them, and Roman colonies planted there; sometimes the land was leased to the original or new owners at a heavy ground rent. Besides these taxes, there were, in many instances, customs, tolls on mines, and various other methods of wringing money from the provincials. They were also burdened with the main¬ tenance of crowds of dependents upon the governors, and with innumerable other vexations. The consequence was that, although some rude countries were improved by being placed in this relation to Rome, in most instances the drain upon the capital and industry of the subject country was so severe and un¬ remitting, that the latter retrograded in wealth, comfort, and civilization, from the first moment of its subjection to Rome. Throughout the districts subject to these several Rights, there were planted states and cities, which maintained pecu¬ liar relations to Rome. Such were Municipal Towns, Colonies, Prefec¬ tures, and Federate States (Municipia, Colonies, Prefectures, Civitates Fede¬ rates). The citizens of the Municipal Towns, or Municipal Citizens, were of three sorts. We have already mentioned one class, who were Roman Citizens. These belonged to such towns as had been en¬ tirely incorporated into the Roman Citi¬ zenship. There was a second class, of which the individuals were considered foreigners while absent from Rome, but as entitled, when at Rome, to the same privileges as Roman Citizens, with the exceptions of capacity for bearing ma¬ gistracies and of right of suffrage. Those of a third class were Roman Citizens in a very restricted sense. They had laws and rights of their own, and were not subject to those of Rome. The Muni¬ cipal Towns had generally institutions analogous, in most respects, to the Ro¬ man forms. The Colonies were settlements planted by the Romans, consisting of Roman Citizens, or (though not till times later than those of which we are now treating) of veteran soldiers. The former were called Plebeian, the latter Military Co¬ lonies*. Some states also, without being * It seems that, from about the 100th year before Christ, scarcely1 any but Military Colonies were planted. Veil. Pat. i. 15. The origin of the Pie-
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