Roman Public LifeGreenidge, A. H. J. (Abel Hendy Jones)
History
Roman Public Life
Greenidge, A. H. J. (Abel Hendy Jones)
Constitutional history -- Rome; Rome -- Politics and government
The effect of this unification, and of the tendencies which had preceded
it, was to divide the inhabitants of Italy into two broad classes—those
of citizens (_cives_) and those of allies (_socii_) of Rome. The first
class (far the smaller numerically) represented the earlier effort at
incorporation; the second was the consequence of the later policy
which founded a military league. Minuter distinctions of rights, which
necessitate cross-divisions in the classification of the states,
sometimes obscure this fundamental analysis; but it was never lost sight
of and was the guiding light to the Roman lawyer, as it is to us, in his
path through the labyrinth of the complex organisation of Italy.
The _cives_ of Rome bear this name either in a full or a partial sense;
they may be citizens with voting rights or citizens in private law alone
(_cives sine suffragio_). If we fix our attention on the first of these
classes, we find that historically there were two modes in which the
_civitas_ was gained by a commune outside the city. It might be due
to the incorporation of an already existing state, or it might be the
consequence of the planting of a Roman colony. The merging of some of
the Latin communities in Rome[1412] has already furnished instances of
the former mode of conferment; the Roman colonies which illustrate the
second (_coloniae civium Romanorum_) were outlying fragments of the
Populus, planted as a defensive garrison on the third of the conquered
land, which was the legitimate spoil of the invader. A social was from
the first combined with the military object; but the enforced exodus of
portions of the burgess body on some occasions[1413] proves that, in this
form of colonisation, the interest of the state came before that of the
individual. It was, in fact, a military levy ordained by law, although
voluntary profession usually took the place of the compulsory summons of
the regular _dilectus_. In military array, with standards flying,[1414]
the squadron marched to the appointed place under the leadership of the
commissioners appointed by the people. When a new town was to be founded,
or an old one reconstituted, it was done with the imposing ceremonies
that marked the birth and enlargement of Rome. After the will of the gods
had been tested and happy omens gained, the commissioners, with veiled
heads and loins girt up, guided a plough, to which were yoked an ox and a
cow. They thus drew the _pomerium_ of the state, only staying the furrow
where the gates of the city were to be.[1415] The greater number of these
settlements of Roman citizens were for the protection of the Italian
coasts, and the members of the maritime colonies (_coloniae maritimae_)
were allowed exemption from active military service.[1416] Few in numbers
(often but a handful of 300 men), and settled in an already existing
political society, the colonists formed a privileged patriciate amongst
its older members. The town-council, and such subordinate magistrates as
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