e. Those who were RESIDENT FOREIGNERS, who possessed the right of trading. To class _a_ belonged the citizens of Rome, of the Roman colonies, and of some of the Municipia. To class _b_ belonged the citizens of most of the Municipia, who possessed only private rights, the citizens of all the _Praefecturae_, and the citizens of all the Latin colonies. ROADS. Even at this early date, the necessity of easy communication with the capital seems to have been well understood. Roads were pushed in every direction,--broad, level ways, over which armies might be marched or intelligence quickly carried. They were chains which bound her possessions indissolubly together. Some of them remain today a monument of Roman thoroughness, enterprise, and sagacity,--the wonder and admiration of modern road-builders. By these means did Rome fasten together the constantly increasing fabric of her empire, so that not even the successes of Hannibal caused more than a momentary shaking of fidelity, for which ample punishment was both speedy and certain. NOTED MEN. The three most noted men of the period embraced in the two preceding chapters were Appius Claudius, the Censor and patrician; and Manius Curius Dentatus and Gaius Fabricius, plebeians. We have seen that all plebeians who were land-owners belonged to one of the tribes, and could vote in the _Comitia Tributa_; this, however, shut out the plebeians of the city who owned no land, and also the freedmen, who were generally educated and professional men, such as doctors, teachers, etc. APPIUS CLAUDIUS as Censor, in 312, deprived the landowners of the exclusive privilege of voting in the _Comitia Tributa_, and gave to property owners of any sort the right to vote. Eight years later this law was modified, so that it applied to the four city tribes alone, and the thirty-one rural tribes had for their basis landed property only. During the censorship of Appius, Rome had its first regular water supply by the Appian aqueduct. The first military road, the VIA APPIA, was built under his supervision. This road ran at first from Rome as far as Capua. It was constructed so well that many parts of it are today in good condition. The road was afterward extended to Brundisium, through Venusia and Tarentum. MANIUS CURIUS DENTATUS was a peasant, a contemporary of Appius, and his opponent in many ways. He was a strong friend of the plebeians. He obtained for the soldiers large assignments of the _Ager Publicus_. He drained the low and swampy country near Reate by a canal. He was the conqueror of Pyrrhus. A man of sterling qualities, frugal and unostentatious, after his public life he retired to his farm and spent the remainder of his days in seclusion as a simple peasant.