Chapter V: Consulship of Cæsar and Bibulus (2)

Is it truer to say that Cæsar, having become proconsul, aspired to the sovereign power? No; in departing for Gaul, he could no more have thought of reigning over Rome, than could General Buonaparte, starting for Italy in 1796, have dreamed of the Empire. Was it possible for Cæsar to foresee that, during a sojourn of ten years in Gaul, he would there link Fortune to him for ever, and that, at the end of this long space of time, the public mind at Rome would still be favourable to his projects? Could he foresee that the death of his daughter would break the ties which attached him to Pompey? that Crassus, instead of returning in triumph from the East, would be conquered and slain by the Parthians? that the murder of Clodius would throw all Italy into commotion? and, finally, that anarchy, which he had sought to stifle by the triumvirate, would be the cause of his own elevation? Cæsar had before his eyes great examples for his guidance; he marched in the track of the Scipios and of Paulus Æmilius; the hatred of his enemies forced him, like Sylla, to seize upon the dictatorship, but for a more noble cause, and by a course of proceeding exempt from vengeance and cruelty.

Let us not continually seek little passions in great souls. The success of superior men, and it is a consoling thought, is due rather to the loftiness of their sentiments than to the speculations of selfishness and cunning; this success depends much more on their skill in taking advantage of circumstances, than on that presumption, blind enough to believe itself capable of creating events, which are in the hands of God alone. Certainly, Cæsar had faith in his destiny, and confidence in his genius; but faith is an instinct, not a calculation, and genius foresees the future without understanding its mysterious progress.

END OF VOL. I.

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Montesquieu, _Grandeur et Décadence des Romains_, xviii.

[2] Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 22.

[3] “Cæsar resolved to pass into Britain, the people of which had, in nearly all wars, assisted the Gauls.” (Cæsar, _Gallic War_, IV. 20.)

[4] Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 47.

[5] Appian, _Civil Wars_, I. 110, 326, edit. Schweighæuser.

[6] Cicero, _Epistolæ ad Atticum_, XIV. 10.

[7] In fact, how many disturbances, civil wars, and revolutions in Europe since 1815! in France, Spain, Italy, Poland, Belgium, Hungary, Greece, and Germany!

[8] _Grandeur et Décadence des Romains._

[9] Titus Livius I. 44.--Dionysius of Halicarnassus, speaking of the portion of the rampart between the Porta Æsquilina and the Porta Collina, says, “Rome is fortified by a fosse thirty feet deep and a hundred or more wide in the narrowest part. Above this fosse rises a wall supported internally by a lofty and wide terrace, so that it cannot be shaken by battering rams, or overthrown by undermining.” (_Antiq. Roman._, IX. 68.)

[10] “Since that time (the time of Servius Tullius) Rome has been no farther enlarged ... and if, in face of this spectacle, any one would form a notion of the magnitude of Rome, he would certainly fall into error, for he would not be able to distinguish where the town ends and where it is limited, so close the suburbs come up to the town.... The Aventine, till the reign of Claudius, remained outside the Pomœrium, notwithstanding its numerous inhabitants.” (Aulus Gellius, XIII. 14.--Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 13.)

[11] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 49.

[12] “By this treaty, the Romans and their allies engage not to navigate beyond the Bonum Promontorium (a cape situated to the north and opposite Carthage, and now called by navigators the Cape of _Porto-Farino_).... The Carthaginians undertake to respect the Ardeates, the Antiates, the Laurentes, the Circeii, the Tarracinians, and indeed all the Latin peoples subject to Rome.” (Polybius, III. 22.)

[13] “When Tarquinius Priscus regulated, with the foresight of a skilful prince, the state of the citizens, he attached great importance to the dress of children of condition; and he decreed that the sons of patricians should wear the bulla with the robe hemmed with purple: but even this privilege was restricted to the children of those fathers who had exercised a curule dignity; the sons of other patricians had merely the prætexta, and it was necessary that even their fathers should have served the prescribed time in the cavalry.” (Macrobius, _Saturnalia_, I. 6.)

[14] “The plebeians were excluded from all offices, and put only to agriculture, the breeding of cattle, and mercantile occupations.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 9.)--“Numa encouraged the agriculturists; they were excused from service in war, and discharged from the care of municipal affairs.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 76.)

[15] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 9.--Plutarch, _Romulus_, 13.

[16] “Agrorum partes attribuerant tenuioribus.” (Festus, under the word _Patres_, p. 246, edit. O. Müller.)

[17] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 24.

[18] These questions have been the object of learned researches; but, after an attentive perusal of the works of Beaufort, Niebuhr, Gœttling, Duruy, Marquardt, Mommsen, Lange, &c., the difference of opinions is discouraging: we have adopted those which appeared most probable.

[19] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, V. 40.--Titus Livius, II. 16.

[20] Titus Livius, II. 48.--Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IX. 15.

[21] Titus Livius, II. 64.

[22] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, X. 15.

[23] “They called a _decree of the people_ (_scitum populi_) the measure which the order of patricians had voted, on the proposal of a patrician, without the participation of the plebs.” (See Festus, under the words _Scitum populi_, p. 330.)--Titus Livius, speaking of the tribunes, puts the following words into the mouth of Appius Claudius: “Non enim _populi_, sed _plebis_, eum magistratum esse.” (Titus Livius, II. 56.)

[24] “The plebs was composed of all the mass of the people which was neither senator nor patrician.” (See Festus, under the words _Scitum populi_.)

[25] “Populus autem non omnis hominum cœtus quoquo modo congregatus, sed cœtus multitudinis juris consensu et utilitatis communione sociatus.”--(Cicero, _De Republica_, I. 25.)

[26] “Populus curiatis eum (Numam) comitiis regem esse jusserat. Tullum Hostilium populus regem, interrege rogante, comitiis curiatis creavit. Servius, Tarquinio sepulto, populum de se ipse consuluit jussusque regnare legem de imperio suo curiatam tulit.” (Cicero, _De Republica_, II. 13-21.)

[27] “The predecessors of Servius Tullius brought all causes before their tribunal, and pronounced judgment themselves in all disputes which regarded the State or individuals. He separated these two things, and, reserving to himself the cognizance of affairs which concerned the State, abandoned to other judges the causes of individuals, with injunctions, nevertheless, to regulate their judgments according to the laws which he had passed.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 25.)

[28] “The consuls, like the ancient kings, have twelve lictors carrying axes and twelve lictors carrying rods.” (Appian, _Syrian Wars_, 15.)

[29] “From that time Tarquinius Superbus carried, during the rest of his life, a crown of gold, a toga of embroidered purple, and a sceptre of ivory, and his throne was also of ivory; when he administered justice, or walked abroad in the town, he was preceded by twelve lictors, who carried axes surrounded with rods. (_Dionysius overlooks the twelve other lictors who carried rods only._) After the kings had been expelled from Rome, the annual consuls continued to use all these insignia, except the crown and the robe with purple embroidery. These two only were withdrawn, because they were odious and disagreeable to the people. But even these were not entirely abolished, since they still used ornaments of gold and dress of embroidered purple, when, after a victory, the Senate decreed them the honours of the triumph.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, III. 62.)

[30] “The soldiers of Romulus, to the number of three thousand, were divided into three bodies, called ‘tribes.’” (Dio Cassius, _Fragm._, XIV., edit. Gros.--Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 7.--Plutarch, _Romulus_, 25.)--“The name of tribune of the soldiers is derived from the circumstance that the three tribes of the Ramnes, the Luceres, and the Tatiens each sent three to the army.” (Varro, _De Lingua Latina_, V. § 81, p. 32, edit. O. Müller.)

[31] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 35. Attempts have been made to explain in different ways the origin of the word _curia_. Some have derived it from the word _curare_, or from the name of the town of _Cures_, or from κὑριος, “a lord:” it seems more natural to trace it to _quiris_ (_curis_), which had the signification of a lance (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 48.--Plutarch, _Romulus_, for thus we obtain a term analogous with that of the Middle Ages, where _spear_ signified a _man-at-arms_, accompanied by six or eight armed followers. And as the principal aim of the formation of the curia was to furnish a certain number of armed citizens, it is possible that they may have given to the whole the name of a part. We read in Ovid, _Fasti_, II. lines 477-480:--

“Sive quod hasta curis priscis est dicta Sabinis,
Bellicus a telo venit in astra deus:
Sive suo regi nomen posuere Quirites,
Seu quis Romanis junxerat ille Cures.”

[32] Titus Livius, 1. 43.

[33] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 14, and IV. 20.

[34] “The appeal to the people existed even under the kings, as the books of the pontiffs show.” (Cicero, _De Republica_, II. 31.)

[35] Plutarch, _Numa_, 17.--Pliny, _Natural History_, XXXIV. 1.

[36] “Servius Tullius conformed no longer as aforetime to the ancient order of three tribes, distinguished by _origin_, but to the four new tribes which he had established by _quarters_.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 14.)

[37] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, III. 61.--Titus Livius, I. 35.

[38] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 22.

[39] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 19. “Servius Tullius, by these means, threw back upon the richest all the costs and dangers of war.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 20.)

[40] “If Numa was the legislator of the religious institutions, posterity proclaims Servius as the founder of the order which distinguishes in the Republic the difference of rank, dignity, and fortune. It was he who established the _census_, the most salutary of all institutions for a people destined to so much greatness. Fortunes, and not individuals, were called upon to support the burdens of the State. The _census_ established the classes, the centuries, and that order which constitutes the ornament of Rome during peace and its strength daring war.” (Titus Livius, I. 42.)

[41] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 16.

[42] “When Servius Tullius had completed the taking of the census, he ordered all the citizens to assemble in arms in the greatest of the fields situated near the town, and, having arranged the horsemen in squadrons, the footmen in phalanx, and the light-armed men in respective orders, he submitted them to a lustration, by the immolation of a bull, a ram, and a he-goat. He ordered that the victims should be led thrice round about the army, after which he sacrificed to Mars, to whom this field was dedicated. From that epoch to the present time the Romans have continued to have the same ceremony performed, by the most holy of magistracies, at the completion of each census; it is what they call a _lustrum_. The total number of all the Romans enumerated, according to the writing of the tables of the census, gave 300 men less than 85,000.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 22.)

[43] “This good order of government (under Servius Tullius) was sustained among the Romans during several centuries, but in our days it has been changed, and, by force of circumstances, has given place to a more democratic system. It is not that the centuries have been abolished, but the voters were no longer called together with the ancient regularity, and their judgments have no longer the same equity, as I have observed in my frequent attendance at the comitia.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 21.)

[44] “The poorest citizens, in spite of their great number, were the last to give their vote, and made but one century.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 21.)

[45] Titus Livius, I. 43.

[46] “From the age of seventeen years, they were called to be soldiers. Youth began with that age, and continued to the age of forty-six. At that date old age began.” (Aulus Gellius, X. 28.--Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 16.)

[47] Titus Livius speaks only of a hundred and ninety-two centuries; Dionysius of Halicarnassus reckons a hundred and ninety-three. “In the Roman plebs, the poorest citizens, those who reported to the census not more than fifteen hundred _ases_, were called _proletarii_; those who were not worth more than three hundred and seventy-five _ases_, and who thus possessed hardly anything, were called _capite censi_. Now, the fortune and patrimony of the citizen being for the State a sort of guarantee, the pledge and foundation of his love for his country, the men of the two last classes were only enrolled in case of extreme danger. Yet the position of the _proletarii_ was a little more honourable than that of the _capite censi_; in times of difficulty, when there was want of young men, they were incorporated in the hastily-formed militia, and equipped at the cost of the State; their name contained no allusion to the mere poll-tax to which they were subjected; less humiliating, it reminded one only of their destination to give children to their country. The scantiness of their patrimony preventing them from contributing to the aid of the State, they at least contributed to the population of the city.” (Aulus Gellius, XVI. 10.)

[48] “Tarquinius Priscus afterwards gave to the knights the organisation which they have preserved to the present time.” (Cicero, _De Republica_, II. 20.)

[49] “It is said that the number of citizens inscribed under this title was 80,000. Fabius Pictor, the most ancient of our historians, adds that this number only includes the citizens in condition to bear arms.” (Titus Livius, I. 44.)

[50] The different censuses of the people furnished by the ancient historians have been explained in different manners. Did the numbers given designate all the citizens, or only the heads of families, or those who had attained the age of puberty? In my opinion, these numbers in Livy, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and Plutarch, applied to all the men in a condition to carry arms, that is, according to the organisation of Servius Tullius, to those from seventeen to sixty years old. This category formed, in fact, the true Roman citizens. Under seventeen, they were too young to count in the State; above sixty, they were too old.

We know that the aged sexagenarians were called _depontani_, because they were forbidden the bridges over which they must go to the place of voting. (Festus, under the word _sexagenarius_, p. 834.--Cicero, _Pro S. Roscio Amerino_, 35.)

80,000 men in condition to carry arms represent, according to the statistics of the present time, fifty-five hundredths of the male part of the population, say 145,000 men, and for the two sexes, supposing them equal in number, 290,000 souls. In fact, in France, in a hundred inhabitants, there are 35 who have not passed the age of seventeen, 55 aged from seventeen to sixty years, and 10 of more than sixty.

In support of the above calculation, Dionysius of Halicarnassus relates that in the year 247 of Rome a subscription was made in honour of Horatius Cocles: 300,000 persons, men and women, gave the value of what each might expend in one day for his food. (V. 25.)

As to the number of slaves, we find in another passage of Dionysius of Halicarnassus (IX. 25) that the women, children, slaves, merchants, and artisans amounted to a number triple of that of the citizens.

If, then, the number of citizens in condition to carry arms was 80,000, and the rest of the population equalled three times that number, we should have for the total 4 x 80,000 = 320,000 souls. And, subtracting from this number the 290,000 obtained above, there would remain 30,000 for the slaves and artisans.

Whatever proportion we admit between these two last classes, the result will be that the slaves were at that period not numerous.

[51] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 9, 23.

[52] “Within the town, the buildings were not allowed to approach the ramparts, which they now ordinarily touch, and outside a space extended which it was forbidden to cultivate. To all this space, which it was not permitted to inhabit or cultivate, the Romans gave the name of _Pomœrium_. When, in consequence of the increase of the town, the rampart was carried farther out, this consecrated zone on each side was still preserved.” (Titus Livius, I. 44.)

[53] “Founded on the testimony of the sacred books which are preserved with great care in the temples.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, XI. 62.)

[54] “These precious pledges, which they regard as so many images of the gods.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VI. 45.)

[55] “Hence is explained the origin of the name given to the Capitol: in digging the foundation of the temple, they found a human head; and the augurs declared that Rome would become the head of all Italy.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 61.)

[56] “This recourse to the opinions of the priests and the observations of religious worship made the people forget their habits of violence and their taste for arms. Their minds, incessantly occupied with religious ideas, acknowledged the intervention of Providence in human affairs, and all hearts were penetrated with a piety so lively that good faith and fidelity to an oath reigned in Rome more than fear of laws or punishments.” (Titus Livius, I. 21.)

[57] Titus Livius, I. 45.

[58] “Assemblies of people, levies of troops--indeed, the most important operations--were abandoned, if the birds did not approve them.” (Titus Livius, I. 36.)

[59] “Numa established also the auspicious and inauspicious days, for with the people an adjournment might sometimes be useful.” (Titus Livius, I. 19.)

[60] “We have a town, founded on the faith of auspices and auguries; not a spot within these walls which is not full of gods and their worshippers; our solemn sacrifices have their days fixed as well as the place where they are to be made.” (Titus Livius, V. 52, _Speech of Camillus_, VI. &c.)

[61] Cicero, _De Republica_, II. 14.

[62] “All religious acts, public and private, were submitted to the decision of the pontiff; thus the people knew to whom to address themselves, and disorders were prevented which might have brought into religion the neglect of the national rites or the introduction of foreign ones. It was the same pontiff’s duty also to regulate what concerned funerals, and the means of appeasing the Manes, and to distinguish, among prodigies announced by thunder and other phenomena, those which required an expiation.” (Titus Livius, I. 20.)

[63] “The grand pontiff exercises the functions of interpreter and diviner, or rather of hierophant. He not only presides at the public sacrifices, but he also inspects those which are made in private, and takes care that the ordinances of religious worship are not transgressed. Lastly, it is he who teaches what each individual ought to do to honour the gods and to appease them.” (Plutarch, _Numa_, 12.)

[64] “Numa divided the year into twelve months, according to the moon’s courses; he added January and February to the year.” (Titus Livius, I. 19.--Plutarch, _Numa_, 18.)

[65] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 73.

[66] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 64.

[67] Salian is derived from _salire_ (to leap, to dance). (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 70.)--It was their duty, on certain occasions, to execute sacred dances, and to chant hymns in honour of the god of war.

[68] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 72.--“The name of _feciales_ is derived from the circumstance that they presided over the public faith between peoples; for it was by their intervention that war when undertaken assumed the character of a just war, and, that once terminated, peace was guaranteed by a treaty. Before war was undertaken, some of the _feciales_ were sent to make whatever demands had to be made.” (Varro, _De Lingua Latina_, V. § 86.)--“If allies complained that the Romans had done them wrong, and demanded reparation for it, it was the business of the _feciales_ to examine if there were any violation of treaty.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 72.)--Those _fecial_ priests had been instituted by Numa, the mildest and most just of kings, to be guardians of peace, and the judges and arbiters of the legitimate motives for undertaking war. (Plutarch, _Camillus_, 20.)

[69] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 14.--Pliny, _Natural History_, XXI. 8.

[70] Numa raised a temple to Romulus, whom he deified under the name of _Quirinus_. (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 63)

[71] “Temple of Vesta, emblem of chastity; temple to Public Faith; raised by Numa.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 65 and 75.)

[72] “The god Terminus; the festival in honour of Pales, the goddess of shepherds; Saturn, the god of agriculture; the god of fallow-grounds, pasture,” &c. (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 74.)

[73] “After having done these things in peace and war, Servius Tullius erected two temples to Fortune, who appeared to have been favourable to him all his life, one in the oxen-market, the other on the banks of the Tiber, and he gave her the surname of _Virilis_, which she has preserved to the present day among the Romans.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 27.)

[74] “The Temple of Janus had been closed twice since the reign of Numa: the first time by the consul Titus Manlius, at the end of the first Punic war; the second, when the gods granted to our age to see, after the battle of Actium, Cæsar Augustus Imperator give peace to the universe.” (Titus Livius, I. 19.)--And Plutarch says, in his _Life of Numa_, XX., “Nevertheless, this temple was closed after the victory of Cæsar Augustus over Antony, and it had previously been closed under the consulate of Marcus Atilius and of Titus Manlius, for a short time, it is true; it was almost immediately opened again, for a new war broke out. But, during the reign of Numa, it was not seen open a single day.”

[75] We employ intentionally the word _republic_, because all the ancient authors give this name to the State, under the kings as well as under the emperors. It is only by translating faithfully these denominations that we can form an exact idea of ancient societies.

[76] “We acknowledge how many good and useful institutions the Republic owed to each of our kings.” (Cicero, _De Republica_, II. 21.)

[77] “Among the Romans, the children possess nothing of their own during their father’s life. He can dispose not only of all the goods, but even of the lives of his children.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VIII. 79; II. 25.)

[78] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II., 25, 26.--“From the beginning,” says Mommsen, “the Roman family presented, in the moral order which reigned among its members, and their mutual subordination, the conditions of a superior civilisation.” (_Roman History_, 2nd edit., I., p. 54.)

[79] “Morals were so pure that, during two hundred and thirty years, no husband was known to repudiate his wife, nor any woman to separate from her husband.” (Plutarch, _Parallel of Theseus and Romulus_.)

[80] Cicero admires the profound wisdom of the first kings in admitting the conquered enemies to the number of the citizens. “Their example,” he says, “has become an authority, and our ancestors have never ceased granting the rights of citizens to conquered enemies.” (_Oration for Balbus_, xxxi.)

[81] ROMAN COLONIES (COLONIÆ CIVIUM CUM JURE SUFFRAGII ET HONORUM).--First period: 1-244 (under the kings).

_Cænina_ (Sabine). Unknown.
_Antemnæ_ (Sabine). Unknown.
_Cameria_ (Sabine). Destroyed in 252. Unknown.
_Medullia_ (Sabine). _Sant’-Angelo_.--See Gell., _Topogr. of Rome_, 100.
_Crustumeria_ (Sabine). Unknown.
_Fidenæ_ (Sabine). Ruins near _Giubileo_ and _Serpentina_. Re-colonised in
326. Destroyed, according to an hypothesis of M. Madvig.
_Collatia._
_Ostia_ (the mouth of the Tiber). Ruins between _Torre Bovacciano_
and _Ostia_.

LATIN COLONIES (COLONIÆ LATINÆ).--First period: 1-244 (under the kings).

We cannot mention with certainty any Latin colony founded at this epoch, from ancient authorities. The colonies of _Signia_ and _Circeii_ were both re-colonized in the following period, and we shall place them there.

[82] “Tarquin embellished also the great circus between the Aventine and Palatine hills; he was the first who caused the _covered seats_ to be made round this circus.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, III. 68.)

[83] Titus Livius, I. 44.--“Immediately the centurions, whose centuries had taken flight, and the _antesignani_ who had lost their standard, were condemned to death: some had their heads cut off; others were beaten to death. As to the rest of the troops, the consul caused them to be decimated; in every ten soldiers, he upon whom the lot fell was conducted to the place of execution, and suffered for the others. It is the usual punishment among the Romans for those who have quitted their ranks or abandoned their standards.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IX. 1.)

[84] “Romulus placed upon their hair a crown of laurels.” (Plutarch, _Romulus_, XX.)

[85] “The Senate and the people decreed to King Tarquin the honours of the triumph.” (_Combat of the Romans and Etruscans_, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, III. 60.)--“An ovation differs from a triumph, first, because he who receives the honours of it enters on foot at the head of the army, and not mounted in a car; secondly, that he has neither the crown of gold, nor the toga embroidered with gold and of different colours, but he carries only a white _trabea_ bordered with purple, the ordinary costume of the generals and consuls. Besides having only a crown of laurel, he does not carry a sceptre. This is what the little triumph has less than the great; in all other respects there is no difference.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, V. 47.)

[86] Romulus kills Acron, routs the enemies, and returns to _offer to Jupiter Feretrius the opima spolia taken from that prince_.

“After Romulus, Cornelius Cossus was the first who consecrated to the same gods similar spoils, having slain with his own hand, in a combat where he commanded the cavalry, the general of the Fidenates.

“We must not separate the example of M. Marcellus from the two preceding. He had the courage and intrepidity to attack on the banks of the Pô, at the head of a handful of horsemen, the king of the Gauls, though protected by a numerous army; he struck off his head, and _carried off his armour_, of which he made an offering to Jupiter Feretrius. (Year of Rome 531.)

“The same kind of bravery and combat signalised T. Manilius Torquatus, Valerius Corvus, and Scipio Æmilianus. These warriors, challenged by the chieftains of the enemies, made them bite the dust; but, as they had fought under the auspices of a superior chief, they did not offer their spoils to Jupiter.” (Year of Rome 392, 404, 602.) (Valerius Maximus, III. 2, §§ 3, 4, 5, 6.)

[87] “Tarquin divided the seats (of the great circus) among the thirty curiæ, assigning to each the place which belonged to him.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, III. 68.)--“It was then (after the war against the Latins) that the site was chosen which is now called the great circus. They marked out in it the particular places for the senators and for the knights.” (Titus Livius, I. 35.)

[88] “The hundred senators were divided into ten decaries, and each chose one of its members to exercise this authority. The power was collective: one alone carried the insignia of it, and walked preceded by the lictors. The duration of this power was for five days, and each exercised it in turn ... The plebs was not long before it began to murmur. Its servitude had only been aggravated; instead of one master, it had a hundred. It appeared disposed to suffer only one king, and to choose him itself.” (Titus Livius, I. 17.)

[89] “For the rest, this liberty consisted at first rather in the annual election of the consuls than in the weakening of the royal power. The first consuls assumed all its prerogatives and all its insignia; only it was feared that, if both possessed the fasciæ, this solemnity might inspire too much terror, and Brutus owed to the deference of his colleague the circumstance of possessing them first.” (Titus Livius, II. 1.)

[90] “The death of Melius was justified,” said Quinctius, “to appease the people, although he might be innocent of the crime of aspiring to the kingly power.” (Titus Livius, IV. 15.)

[91] “From these inflexible hearts came a sentence of death, which was odious to the judges themselves.” (Titus Livius, VI. 20.)

[92] _Discourse on Titus Livius_, I. 5.

[93] Proofs of the disagreement of the two consuls: “Cassius brought secretly as many Latins and Hernici as he possibly could to have their suffrages; there arrived in Rome such a great number, that in a short time the town was full of strangers. Virginius, who was informed of it, caused a herald to proclaim in all the public places that all those who had no domicile in Rome should withdraw immediately; but Cassius gave orders contrary to those of his colleague, forbidding any one who had the right of Roman freedom to quit the town until the law was confirmed and received.” (Year of Rome 268.) (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VIII. 72.)--“Quinctius, more indulgent than his colleague, willed the concession to the people of all their just and reasonable demands; Appius, on the contrary, was willing to die rather than to yield.” (Year of Rome 283.) (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IX. 48.)

[94] “The two consuls were of the most opposite tempers, and were always in discord (_dissimiles discordesque_).” (Titus Livius, XXII. 41.)--“While they lost their time in quarrels rather than in deliberations.” (Titus Livius, XXII. 45.)

[95] Titus Livius, XXI. 52.--Dio Cassius, _Fragments_, CCLXXI. edit. Gros.

[96] Titus Livius, XXI. 52.

[97] “In the Roman army the two consuls enjoyed an equal power; but the deference of Agrippa in concentrating the authority in the hands of his colleague, established the unity so necessary for the success of great enterprises.” (Titus Livius, III. 70.)--“The two consuls commanded often both in the day of battle.” (Titus Livius, _Battle of Mount Vesuvius_, VIII. 9; _Battle of Sentinum_, X. 27.)--“A fatal innovation; from that time each had in view his personal interest, and not the general interest, preferring to see the Republic experience a check than his colleague covered with glory, and evils without number afflicted the fatherland.” (Dio Cassius, _Fragments_, LI. edit. Gros.)

[98] “They called tribunes of the people those who, from tribunes of the soldiers, which they were first, were charged with the defence of the people during its retreat at Crustumerium.” (Varro, _De Lingua Latina_, V. 81, edition of O. Müller.)

[99] “The discontented obtained from the patricians the confirmation of their magistrates; afterwards they demanded of the Senate the permission to elect annually two plebeians (_ediles_) to second the tribunes in all things in which they might have need of aid, to judge the causes which these might entrust into their hands, to have care of the sacred and public edifices, and to ensure the supplying of the market with provisions.” (Year of Rome 260.) (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VI. 90.)

[100] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VI. 89.

[101] The tribunes oppose the enrolment of troops. (Year of Rome 269.) (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VIII. 81.)--“Licinius and Sextius re-elected tribunes of the people, allowed no curule magistrate to be elected; and, as the people continued to re-appoint the two tribunes, who always threw out the elections of the military tribunes, the town remained five years deprived of magistrates.” (Year of Rome 378.) (Titus Livius, VI. 35.)--“Each time the consuls convoked the people to confer the consulship on the candidates, the tribunes, in virtue of their powers, prevented the holding of the assemblies. So also, when these assembled the people to make the election, the consuls opposed it, pretending that the right of convoking the people and collecting the suffrages belonged to them alone.” (Year of Rome 271.) (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VIII. 90.)--“Sometimes the tribunes prevented the patricians from assembling for the election of the interrex, sometimes they forbade the interrex himself making the senatus consultus for the consular comitia.” (Year of Rome 333.) (Titus Livius, IV. 43.)

[102] Titus Livius, III. 30.

[103] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, X. 31.

[104] “The most remarkable event of this year (the year of Rome 282), in which military successes were so nearly balanced, and in which discord broke out in the camp and in the town with so much fury, was the establishment of the comitia by _tribes_, an innovation which gave to the plebeians the honour of the victory, but little real advantage. In fact, the exclusion of the patricians deprived the comitia of all their pomp, without augmenting the power of the people or diminishing that of the Senate.” (Titus Livius, II. 60.)

[105] Assembly of the people both of the town and country; the suffrages were given in it, not by centuries, but by tribes:--“The day of the third market, from an early hour in the morning, the public place was occupied by so great a crowd of country people as had never been seen before. The tribunes assembled the people by tribes, and, dividing the Forum by ropes stretched across, formed as many distinct spaces as there were tribes. Then, for the first time, the Roman people gave its suffrages by tribes, in spite of the opposition of the patricians, who tried to prevent it, and demanded that they should assemble by centuries, according to the ancient custom.” (Year of Rome 263.) (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VII. 59.)--“From that period (the year 283, consulate of Appius) to our days, the comitia by tribes have elected the tribunes and ediles, without auspices or observation of other auguries. Thus ended the troubles which agitated Rome.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IX. 49.)--“The Roman people, more irritated than ever, demanded that for each tribe a third urn should be added for the town of Rome, in order to put the suffrages in it.” (Year of Rome 308.) (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, XI. 52.)

[106] “Duas civitates ex una factas: suos cuique parti magistratus, suas leges esse.” (Titus Livius, II. 44.)--“In fact, we are, as you see yourselves, divided into two towns, one of which is governed by poverty and necessity, and the other by abundance of all things and by pride and insolence.” (Year of Rome 260). (_Speech of Titus Larcius to the envoys of the Volsci_, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VI. 36,)

[107] The clients began to vote in the comitia by tribes after the law Valeria Horatia; we see, by the account of Titus Livius (V. 30, 32), that in the time of Camillus the clients and the patricians had already entered the comitia by tribes.

[108] Appian, _Civil Wars_, I. 1.

[109] Titus Livius, III. 9.

[110] Lectorius, the most aged of the tribunes of the people, spoke of laws which had not been long made. “By the first, which concerned the translation of judgments, the Senate granted to the people the power of judging any one of the patricians.” (Year of Rome 283.) (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IX. 46.)

[111] “The laws voted by the people in the comitia by tribes were to be obligatory on all Romans, and have the same force as those which were made in the comitia by centuries. The pain of death and confiscation was even pronounced against any one who should be convicted of having in anything abrogated or violated this regulation. This new ordinance cut short the old quarrels between the plebeians and the patricians, who refused to obey the laws made by the people, under the pretext that what was decided in the assemblies by tribes was not obligatory on all the town, but only on the plebeians; and that, on the contrary, what was decided in the comitia by centuries became law as well for themselves as for the other citizens.” (Year of Rome 305.) (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, XI. 45.)--“One point always contested between the two orders was to know if the patricians were subjected to the _plebiscita_. The first care of the consuls was to propose to the comitia assembled by centuries a law to the effect that the decrees of the people assembled by tribes should be laws of the State.” (Year of Rome 305.) (Titus Livius, III. 55.)--“The patricians pretended that they alone had the power of giving laws.” (Titus Livius, III. 31.)

[112] “The comitia by curiæ for everything which concerns military affairs; the comitia by centuries for the election of your consuls and of your military tribunes, &c.” (Titus Livius, V. 52.)

[113] Aulus Gellius, XV. 27.--Festus, under the words _Scitum populi_.

[114] Titus Livius, IV. 3.

[115] “The indignation of the people was extreme, on account of the refusal to take the auspices, as if it had been an object for the reprobation of the immortal gods.”--“The tribune demanded for what reason a plebeian could not be consul, and was told in reply that the plebeians had not the auspices, and that the decemvirs had interdicted marriage between the two orders only to hinder the auspices from being troubled by men of equivocal birth.” (Titus Livius, IV. 6.)--“Now in what hands are the auspices according to the custom of our ancestors? In the hands of the patricians, I think; for the auspices are never taken for the nomination of a plebeian magistrate.”--“Is it not then the same thing as to annihilate the auspices in this city, to take them, in electing plebeian consuls, from the patricians, who alone can observe them?” (Year of Rome 386.) (Titus Livius, VI. 41.)

To the consul, the prætor, and the censor was reserved the right of taking the great auspices; to the less elevated magistracies that of taking the lesser ones. The great auspices appear, in fact, to have been those of which the exercise was of most importance to the rights of the aristocracy. The ancients have not left us a precise definition of the two classes of auspices; but it appears to result from what Cicero says of them (_De Legibus_, II. 12), that by the great auspices were understood those for which the intervention of the augurs was indispensable; the little auspices, on the contrary, were those which were taken without them. (See Aulus Gellius, XIII. 15.)

As to the auspices taken in the comitia where the consular tribunes were elected, passages of Titus Livius (V. 14, 52; VI. 11) prove that they were the same as for the election of the consuls, and consequently that they were the great auspices; for we know from Cicero (_De Divinatione_, I. 17; II. 35--compare Titus Livius, IV. 7) that it was the duty of the magistrate who held the comitia to bring there an augur, of whom he demanded what the presages announced. The privileges of the nobility were maintained by causing the comitia for the election of the consular tribunes to be held by an interrex chosen by the aristocracy.

[116] Titus Livius, VI. 5.

[117] Titus Livius, VII. 17.

[118] In 333, the number was increased to four. Two, overseers for the guard of the treasury and the disposition of the public money, were appointed by the consuls; the two others, charged with the administration of the military chest, were appointed by the tribes.

[119] “_The master of the knights_ was so called because he exercised the supreme power over the knights and the _accensi_, as the dictator exercised it over the whole Roman people; whence the name of _master of the people_, which was also given to him.” (Varro, _De Lingua Latina_, V. 82, edit. Müller.)

[120] “The duumvirs charged with the sacred rites were replaced by the decemvirs, half plebeians, half patricians.” (Titus Livius, VI. 37.)

[121] Titus Livius, VII. 5.

[122] “Appius convokes an assembly, accuses Valerius and Horatius of the crime of perduellio, calculating entirely on the tribunian power with which he was invested.” (Year of Rome 305.) (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, XI. 39.)

[123] “In the interim, there was at Rome a conspiracy of several slaves, who formed together the design of seizing the forts and setting fire to the different quarters of the town.” (Year of Rome 253.) (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, V. 51.)--“From the summit of the Capitol, Herdonius called the slaves to liberty. He had taken up the cause of misfortune; he had just restored to their country those whom injustice had banished, and delivered the slaves from a heavy yoke; it is to the Roman people that he wishes to give the honour of this enterprise.” (Year of Rome 294.) (Titus Livius, III. 15.)--“The slaves who had entered into the conspiracy were, at different points, to set fire to the town, and, while the people were occupied in carrying assistance to the houses which were in flames, to seize by force of arms the citadel and the Capitol. Jupiter baffled these criminal designs. On the denunciation of two slaves, the guilty were arrested and punished.” (Year of Rome 336.) (Titus Livius, IV. 45.)

[124] “Finally, under the consulship of M. Minucius and A. Sempronius, wheat arrived in abundance from Sicily, and the Senate deliberated on the price at which it must be delivered to the citizens.” (Year of Rome 263.) (Titus Livius, II. 34.)--“As the want of cultivators gave rise to the fear of a famine, people were sent to search for wheat in Etruria, in the Pomptinum, at Cumæ, and even as far as Sicily.” (Year of Rome 321.) (Titus Livius, IV. 25.)

[125] “When Romulus had distributed all the people in tribes and curiæ, he also divided the lands into thirty equal portions, of which he gave one to each curia, reserving, nevertheless, what was necessary for the temples and the sacrifices, _and a certain portion for the domain of the Republic_.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 7.)

[126] “Numa distributed to the poorest of the plebeians the lands which Romulus had conquered and a small portion of the lands of the public domain.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 62.)--“ Similar measures are attributed to Tullius Hostilius and Ancus Martius.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, III. 1, 48.)--“As soon as he was mounted on the throne, Servius Tullius distributed the lands of the public domain to the _thetes_ (mercenaries) of the Romans.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 13.)

[127] Romulus, according to Dionysus of Halicarnassus, sent two colonies to Cænina and Antemnæ, having taken from those two towns the third of their lands. (II. 35.)--In the year 252, the Sabines lost ten thousand acres (_jugera_) of arable land. (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, V. 49.)--A treaty concluded with the Hernici, in 268, deprived them of two-thirds of their territory. (Titus Livius, II. 41.)--“In 413, the Privernates lost two-thirds of their territory; in 416, the Tiburtines and Prenestines lost a part of their territory.” (Titus Livius, VIII. I, 14.)--“In 563, P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica took from the Boians nearly half their territory.” (Titus Livius, XXXVI. 39.)

[128] Appian, _Civil Wars_, I. vii.--This citation, though belonging to a posterior date, applies nevertheless to the epoch of which we are speaking.

[129] “Servius published an edict to oblige all who had appropriated, under the title of usufructuaries or proprietors, the lands of the public domain, to restore them within a certain time, and, by the same edict, the citizens who possessed no heritage were ordered to bring him their names.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 10.)

[130] “We need not be astonished if the poor prefer the lands of the domain to be distributed (to all the citizens) than to suffer that a small number of the most shameless should remain sole possessors. But if they see that they are taken from those who gather their revenues, and that the public is restored to the possession of its domain, they will cease to be jealous of us, and the desire to see them distributed to each citizen would diminish, when it shall be demonstrated to them that these lands will be of greater utility when possessed in common by the Republic.” (Year of Rome 268.) (_Speech of Appius_, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VIII. 73.)

[131] Agannius Urbicus, _De Controversiiss agrorum_, in the _Gromatici veteres_, ed. Lachmann, vol. I, p. 82.

[132] Titus Livius, II. 48.

[133] “Lucius Æmilius said that it was just that the common goods should be shared among all the citizens, rather than leave the enjoyment of them to a small number of individuals; that in regard to those who had seized upon the public lands, they ought to be sufficiently satisfied that they had been left to enjoy them during so long a time without being disturbed in their possession, and that if afterwards they were deprived of them, it ill became them to be obstinate in retaining them. He added that, besides the public law acknowledged by general opinion, and according to which the public goods are common to all the citizens, just as the goods of individuals belong to those who have acquired them legitimately, the Senate was obliged, by a special reason, to distribute the lands to the people, since it had passed an ordinance for that purpose already seventeen years ago.” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IX. 51.)

[134] Titus Livius, III. 31.--Dionysius of Halicarnassus, X. 33 _et seq._

[135] “The plebeians complain loudly that their conquests have been taken from them; that it is disgraceful that, having conquered so many lands from the enemy, not the least portion of it remains to them; that the _ager publicus_ is possessed by rich and influential men who take the revenue unjustly, without other title than their power and unexampled acts of violence. They demand finally that, sharing with the patricians all the dangers, they may also have their share in the advantages and profit derived from them.” (Year of Rome 298.) (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, X. 36.)

[136] “The moment would have been well chosen, after having taken vengeance on the seditious, to propose, in order to soothe people’s minds, the partition of the territory of the Bolani; they would thus have weakened the desire for an agrarian law which would expel the patricians from the public estates they had unjustly usurped. For it was an indignity which cut the people to the heart, this rage of the nobility to retain the public lands they occupied by force, and, above all, their refusal to distribute to the people even the vacant lands recently taken from the enemy, which, indeed, would soon become, like the rest, the prey of some of the nobles,” (Year of Rome 341.) (Titus Livius, IV. 51.)

[137] Titus Livius, V. 30.

[138] Titus Livius, VI. 21.--It appears that the Pontine Marshes were then very fertile, since Pliny relates, after Licinius Mucianus, that they included upwards of twenty-four flourishing towns. (_Natural History_, III. v. 56, edit. Sillig.)

[139] Titus Livius, VI. 35-42.--Appian, _Civil Wars_, I. 8.

[140] See the remarkable work of M. A. Mace, _Sur les Lois Agraires_, Paris, 1846.

[141] ROMAN COLONIES.--Second period: 244-416

_Lavici_ (Labicum) (336). Latium. (_Via Lavicana_.) _La Colonna._
_Vitellia_ (359). The Volscians. (_Via Prænestina_.) Uncertain.
_Civitella_ or _Valmontone_.
_Satricum_ (370). The Volscians. Banks of the Astura. _Casale di Conca_,
between _Anzo_ and _Velletri_.

LATIN COLONIES.--Second period: 244-416.

_Antium_ (287). Volscians. _Torre d’Anzio_ or _Porto d’Anzio_.
_Suessa Pometia_ (287). Near the Pontine Marshes. Disappeared at
an early period.
_Cora_. Volscians (287). _Cori_.
_Signia_ (259). Volscians. _Segni_.
_Velitræ_ (260). Volscians. _Velletri_.
_Norba_ (262). Volscians. Near the modern village of _Norma_.
_Ardea_ (312). Rutuli. _Ardea_.
_Circeii_ (361). Aurunces. _Monte Circello_: _San Felice_
or _Porto di Paolo_.
_Satricum_ (369). Volscians. _Casale di Conca_.
_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.