The Roman state, in its administration of the public property, had always favoured the system of contracting out. The system was that of purchase or lease by middlemen (_publicani_) of a prospective source of revenue, which the individual or the company farmed at its own risk or profit. Sometimes the middleman was himself the occupant (_possessor_) of, or the contractor (_conductor_) for, the source of wealth from which the revenue was derived. This principle was applied to limited sources of wealth or those requiring particular industrial appliances, such as fisheries, salt-works, mines, and forest-land. This system of direct farming was sometimes applied to domain-land both in Italy and the provinces. The _ager Campanus_ was dealt with in this way, and the royal domains of the kings whom Rome had supplanted were, with the confiscated territory of Corinth, let on long leases to _publicani_,[1108] who doubtless in most cases sublet these territories to smaller holders. Such contracts were put up to auction, and their terms were fixed by a _lex censoria_ dictated by the censor as the representative of the state. This _lex_, besides specifying the revenue which the lessee was required to pay, also fixed the conditions under which the contract was to be undertaken.[1109] The second kind of tax-farmer is a true middleman.[1110] The _publicanus_ here is not himself employed in working the source of wealth; he is not a _possessor_ or occupant, but one who has bought from the state the right to collect revenue from such an occupant. The right is put up to auction and bought for a fixed sum, for which the company of successful contractors furnishes security. Their gains depend on the prospective surplus of the revenue which they propose to farm over the sum which they have agreed to pay. This was the method of dealing with the public land which had been left open for occupation by squatters (_occupatorius ager_). It was either tilled land (_ager_) enjoyed by a _possessor_, or pasture land (_silva pascua_, _saltus_) over which the _pastor_ grazed his flocks. Both occupants were tolerated by the state on condition that they paid a fixed due for their precarious tenure.[1111] The _publicani_ were the men who had the right to collect this _vectigal_ from the user of the land, and the dues which they might collect were determined by the _lex dicta_ under which the censor sold the right.[1112] A further class of revenues collected in this manner were the harbour dues (_portoria_). They were based on the same leading idea of the use of public ground by a private occupant; he pays for this use, and the right of collecting this _vectigal_ within a given area is sold to a company of _publicani_. A great extension was given to this system of tax-farming by its application to provincial administration. The Roman translated the tithe (δεκάτη, _decuma_) which he found in Sicily and Asia into his own