The History of Rome, Book I: The Period Anterior to the Abolition of the MonarchyMommsen, Theodor
History
The History of Rome, Book I: The Period Anterior to the Abolition of the Monarchy
Mommsen, Theodor
Rome -- History
12. Even about 480, allotments of land of seven -jugera- appeared
to those that received them small (Val. Max. iii. 3, 5; Colum. i,
praef. 14; i. 3, ii; Plin. H. N. xviii. 3, 18: fourteen -jugera-,
Victor, 33; Plutarch, Apophth. Reg. et Imp. p. 235 Dubner, in
accordance with which Plutarch, Crass. 2, is to be corrected).
A comparison of the Germanic proportions gives the same result.
The -jugerum- and the -morgen- [nearly 5/8 of an English acre],
both originally measures rather of labour than of surface, may be
looked upon as originally identical. As the German hide consisted
ordinarily of 30, but not unfrequently of 20 or 40 -morgen-, and
the homestead frequently, at least among the Anglo-Saxons, amounted
to a tenth of the hide, it will appear, taking into account the
diversity of climate and the size of the Roman -heredium- of 2
-jugera-, that the hypothesis of a Roman hide of 20 -jugera- is not
unsuitable to the circumstances of the case. It is to be regretted
certainly that on this very point tradition leaves us without
precise information.
13. The analogy also between the so-called Servian constitution and
the treatment of the Attic --metoeci-- deserves to be particularly
noticed. Athens, like Rome, opened her gates at a comparatively
early period to the --metoeci--, and afterwards summoned them also
to share the burdens of the state. We cannot suppose that any
direct connection existed in this instance between Athens and Rome;
but the coincidence serves all the more distinctly to show how the
same causes--urban centralization and urban development--everywhere
and of necessity produce similar effects.
CHAPTER VII
The Hegemony of Rome in Latium
Extension of the Roman Territory
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