States which belonged to neither of these categories were subject or, as the phrase ran, tributary (_stipendiariae_), the test of subjection being the normal one in the ancient world of the payment of a tax to a superior. Yet these too had their rights and their charter. The guarantee, however, was no longer individual but collective, and was contained in the law of the province (_lex provinciae_). This law was usually the work of the conquering general himself, assisted by ten senatorial commissioners (_decem legati_) appointed by the Senate, and it continued to bear the name of its chief creator, as we see in the cases of the _lex Rupilia_ of Sicily,[1497] the _lex Aemilia_ of Macedonia,[1498] and the _lex Pompeia_ of Bithynia.[1499] While it re-established the states of a conquered district, it also gave them certain ultimate rights. It defined the burden of the tribute, specified the particular circuit-courts which the citizens of the various towns were to attend, and framed regulations, which the governor was expected to observe, about national and international jurisdiction. But these regulations, slight and general as they were, are no sufficient test of the amount of autonomy, in administration and jurisdiction, actually enjoyed by the subject towns. Much of their independence was permissive and based on the will of the governor. But the ruler, whether honest or dishonest, was practically bound to grant it, for the Roman government had provided him with no staff which could take over the minuter duties of administration; if he was an enlightened man, he cherished the fiction that the states were free;[1500] if unenlightened, he at least knew that by permitting self-government he was saving himself trouble. In the case of the eastern cities the neglect of the governor was almost as great an evil as his exactions.[1501]