A History of Rome During the Later Republic and Early Principate Part 16

[104] It was antiqua et mortua (Cic. _in Verr_. v. 18. 45).

[105] Cicero (_Parad_. 6. 46) speaks of those Qui honeste rem quaerunt mercaturis faciendis, operis dandis, publicis sumendis. Compare the category of banausic trades in _de Off_, 1. 42. 150, although in the _Paradoxa_ the contrast is rather that between honest and vicious methods of money-making. Deloume (_Les manieurs d'argent a Rome_ pp. 58 ff.) believes that the fortune of Cicero swelled through partic.i.p.ation in _publica_.

[106] Plut. _Cato Maj_. 21.

[107] Plut. _Cra.s.s_. 2.

[108] Plut. _Cato Maj_. 21. Cato employed this method of training as a means of increasing the _peculium_ of his own slaves. But even the _peculium_ technically belonged to the master, and it is obvious that the slave-trainer might have been used by others as a mere instrument for the master's gain.

[109] Plat. l.c. [Greek: _haptomenos de syntonoteron porismou taen men georgian mallon haegeito diagogaen hae prosodon_.]

[110] Plaut. _Trinumm. Prol_. 8:

Primum mihi Plautus nomen Luxuriae indidit: Tum hanc mihi gnatam esse voluit Inopiam.

[111] Liv. x.x.xiv. 4 (Cato's speech in defence of the Oppian law) Saepe me querentem de feminarum, saepe de virorum, nec de privatorum modo, sed etiam magistratuum sumptibus audistis; diversisque duobus vitiis, avaritia et luxuria, civitatem laborare. Compare Sall.u.s.t's impressions of a later age (_Cat_. 3) Pro pudore, pro abstinentia, pro virtute, audacia, largitio, avaritia vigebant.

[112] Polyb. vi. 56.

[113] Polyb. xxiv. 9.

[114] Cato ap. Gell. xi. 18. 18. The speech was one De praeda militibus dividenda.

[115] We first hear of a standing court for _peculatus_ in 66 B.C. (Cic.

_pro Cluent_. 53. 147). It was probably established by Sulla.

[116] Rein _Criminalr_. pp. 680 ff.; Mommsen _Rom. Forsch_. ii.

pp. 437 ff.

[117] Liv. x.x.xvii. 57 and 58 (190 B.C.).

[118] See especially the case of Pleminius, Scipio's lieutenant at Locri (204 B.C.), who, after a committee had reported on the charge, was conveyed to Rome but died in bonds before the popular court had p.r.o.nounced judgment (Liv. xxix. 16-22).

[119] Liv. xlii. 1 (173 B.C.) Silentium, nimis aut modestum aut timidum Praenestinorum, jus, velut probato exemplo, magistratibus fecit graviorum in dies talis generis imperiorum.

[120] For such requisitions see Plut. _Cato Maj_ 6 (of Cato's government of Sardinia) [Greek: _ton pro autou strataegon eiothoton chraesthai kai skaenomasi daemosiois kai klinais kai himatiois, pollae de therapeia kai philon plaethei kai peri deipna dapanais kai paraskeuais barhynonton_.]

[121] Liv. x.x.xii. 27 Sumptus, quos in cultum praetorum socii facere soliti erant, circ.u.mcisi aut sublati (198 B.C.).

[122] The _Lex de Termessibus_ (a charter of freedom given to Termessus in Pisidia in 71 B.C.) enjoins (ii. l. 15) Nei ... quis magistratus ...

inperato, quo quid magis iei dent praebeant ab ieisve auferatur nisei quod eos ex lege Porcia dare praebere oportet oportebit. This Porcian law was probably the work of Cato (Rein _Criminalr_. p. 607).

[123] Liv. x.x.xviii. 43; x.x.xix. 3; Rein, l.c.

[124] Liv. xliii. 2.

[125] Cic. _Brut_. 27. 106; _de Off_. ii. 21. 75; cf. _in Verr_.

iii. 84. 195; iv. 25. 56.

[126] Liv. xli. 15. (176 B.C.) Duo (praetores) deprecati sunt ne in provincias irent, M. Popillius in Sardiniam: Gracchum eam provinciam pacare &c.... Probata Popillii excusatio est. P. Licinius Cra.s.sus sacrificiis se impediri sollemnibus excusabat, ne in provinciam iret.

Citerior Hispania obvenerat. Ceterum aut ire jussus aut jurare pro contione sollemni sacrificio se prohiberi.... Praetores ambo in eadem verba jurarunt. I have seen the pa.s.sage cited as a proof that governors would not go to unproductive provinces; but Sardinia was a fruitful sphere for plunder, and the excuses may have been genuine. That of Popillius seems to have been positively patriotic.

[127] Liv. xlii. 45 Decimius unus sine ullo effectu, captarum etiam pecuniarum ab regibus Illyriorum suspicione infamis, Romam rediit.

[128] Cic. _in Verr_. v. 48. 126 (70 B.C.) Patimur ... multos jam annos et silemus c.u.m videamus ad paucos homines omnes omnium nationum pecunias pervenisse.

[129] For the principle see Gaius iii. 151-153.

[130] Polybius (vi. 17), after speaking of various kinds of property belonging to the state, adds [Greek: _panta cheirizesthai symbainei ta proeiraemena dia tou plaethous, kai schedon hos epos eipein pantas endedesthai tais onais kai tais ergasiais tais ek touton_].

[131] Polyb. vi. 17. The senate can [Greek: _symptomatos genomenou kouphisai kai to parapan adynatou tinos symbantos apolysai taes ergonias_]. Thus the senate invalidated the _locationes_ of the censors of 184 B.C. (Liv. x.x.xix. 44 Locationes c.u.m senatus precibus et lacrimis publicanorum victus induci et de integro locari jussisset.)

[132] In 169 B.C. it was the people that released from an oppressive regulation (Liv. xliii. 16). In this case a tribune answered the censor's intimation, that none of the former state-contractors should appear at the auction, by promulgating the resolution Quae publica vectigalia, ultro tributa C. Claudius et Ti. Semp.r.o.nius loca.s.sent, ea rata locatio ne esset. Ab integro locarentur, et ut omnibus redimendi et conducendi promiscue jus esset.

[133] Deloume op. cit. pp. 119 ff. Polybius (vi. 17) has been quoted as an authority for the distinction between these two cla.s.ses. He says [Greek: _oi men gar agorazousi para ton timaeton autoi tas ekdoseis, oi de koinonousi toutois, oi d' enguontai tous aegorakotas, oi de tas ousias didoasi peri touton eis to daemosion_.] The first three cla.s.ses are the _mancipes, socii and praedes_. In the fourth the shareholders (_participes_ or perhaps _adfines_, cf. Liv. xliii. 16) are found by Deloume (p. 120); but the identification is very uncertain. The words may denote either real as opposed to formal security or the final payment of the _vectigal_ into the treasury. A better evidence for the distinction between _socii_ and shareholders is found in the Pseudo-Asconius (in Cic. _in Verr_. p. 197 Or.) Aliud enim socius, Aliud particeps qui certam habet partem et non _in_divise agit ut socius. The _magnas partes_ (Cic. _pro Rab_. Post. 2. 4) and the _particulam_ (Val.

Max. vi. 9. 7) of a _public.u.m_, need only denote large or small shares held by the _socii_. _Dare partes_ (Cic. l.c.) is to "allot shares," but not necessarily to outside members. Apart from the testimony of the Pseudo-Asconius and the mention of _adfines_ in Livy the evidence for the ordinary shareholder is slight but by no means fatal to his existence.

[134] E.g. by loan to a _socius_ at a rate of interest dependent on his returns, perhaps with a _pactum de non petendo_ in certain contingencies.

[135] These are, in strict legal language, the true _publicani_; the lessees of state property are _publicanorum loco_ (Dig. 39. 4, 12 and 13).

[136] Later legal theory a.s.similated the third with the first cla.s.s.

Gaius says (ii. 7) In eo (provinciali) solo dominium populi Romani est vel Caesaris, nos autem possessionem tantum vel usumfructum habere videmur. But the theory is not ancient-perhaps not older than the Gracchan period. See Greenidge _Roman Public Life_ p. 320. From a broad standpoint the first and second cla.s.ses may be a.s.similated, since the payment of harbour dues (_portoria_) is based on the idea of the use of public ground by a private occupant.

[137] _Cic. de Leg. Agr_. ii. 31. 84.

[138] Thedenat in Daremberg-Saglio _Dict. des Antiq. s.v_. Ergastulum.

[139] Compare Cunningham _Western Civilisation in its Economic Aspects_ vol. i. p. 162.

[140] Cic. _in Verr_. ii. 55. 137; iii. 33. 77; ii. 13. 32; 26. 63.

[141] Ibid. ii. 13. 32.

[142] Liv. xxv. 3.

[143] Liv. xxiii. 49.

[144] Liv. xxiv. 18; Val. Max. v. 6. 8.

[145] Plut. _Cato Maj_. 19.

[146] Liv. xliii. 16.

[147] Cic. _Brut_. 22. 85 c.u.m in silva Sila facta caedes esset notique homines interfecti insimulareturque familia, partim etiam liberi, societatis ejus, quae picarias de P. Cornelio, L. Mummio censoribus redemisset, decrevisse senatum ut de ea re cognoscerent et statuerent consules. For the value of the pine-woods of Sila see Strabo vi. 1. 9.

[148] Liv. xlv. 18 Metalli quoque Macedonici, quod ingens vectigal erat, locationesque praediorum rusticorum tolli placebat. Nam neque sine publicano exerceri posse, et, ubi publica.n.u.s esset, ibi aut jus public.u.m vanum aut libertatem sociis nullam esse. The _praedia rustica_ were probably public domains, that might have formed part of the crown lands of the Macedonian Kings and would now, in the natural course of events, have been leased to _publicani_.

[149] It might happen that the interest of the _negotiator_ was opposed to that of the _publica.n.u.s_. The former, for instance, might wish _portoria_ to be lessened, the latter to be increased (Cic. _ad Att_.