Public Lands and Agrarian Laws of the Roman Republic By: Andrew Stephenson
First Page: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIES IN HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCE HERBERT B. ADAMS, Editor History is past Politics and Politics present History Freeman NINTH SERIES VII VIII PUBLIC LANDS AND AGRARIAN LAWS OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC BY ANDREW STEPHENSON, PH.D. Professor of History, Wesleyan University BALTIMORE THE JOHNS HOPKINS PRESS JULY AUGUST, 1891 Copyright, 1891, BY THE JOHNS HOPKINS PRESS. PREFACE. In the following pages it has been my object to trace the history of the domain lands of Rome from the earliest times to the establishment of the Empire. The plan of the work has been to sketch the origin and growth of the idea of private property in land, the expansion of the ager publicus by the conquest of neighboring territories, and its absorption by means of sale, by gift to the people, and by the establishment of colonies, until wholly merged in private property. This necessarily involves a history of the agrarian laws, as land distributions were made and colonies established only in accordance with laws previously enacted. My reason for undertaking such a work as the present is found in the fact that agrarian movements have borne more or less upon every point in Roman constitutional history, and a proper knowledge of the former is necessary to a just interpretation of the latter. This whole question presents numerous obscurities before which it has been necessary more than once to hesitate; it offers, both in its entirety and in detail, difficulties which I have at least earnestly endeavored to lessen. These obscurities and difficulties, arising in part from insufficiency of historical evidence and in part from the conflicting statements of the old historians, have been recognized by all writers and call forth on my part no claim for indulgence. This monograph is intended as a chapter merely of a history of the public lands and agrarian laws of Rome, written for the purpose of a future comparison with the more recent agrarian movements in England and America. ANDREW STEPHENSON. MlDDLETOWN, CONN. May 8, 1891. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Sec. 1. LANDED PROPERTY " 2. QUIRITARIAN OWNERSHIP " 3. AGER PUBLICUS " 4. ROMAN COLONIES CHAPTER II. Sec. 5. LEX CASSIA " 6. AGRARIAN MOVEMENTS BETWEEN 486 AND 367 (a) Extension of Territory by conquest up to the year 367 B.C. (b) Colonies Founded between 454 and 367 Sec. 7. LEX LICINIA " 8. AGRARIAN MOVEMENTS BETWEEN 367 AND 133 (a) Extension of Territory by conquest between 367 and 133 (b) Colonies Founded between 367 and 133 Sec. 9. LATIFUNDIA " 10. INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY " 11. LEX SEMPRONIA TIBERIANA " 12. LEX SEMPRONIA GAIANA CHAPTER III. Sec.13. LEX THORIA " 14. AGRARIAN MOVEMENTS BETWEEN 111 AND 86 " 15. EFFECT OF THE SULLAN REVOLUTION " 16. AGRARIAN MOVEMENTS BETWEEN 86 AND 59 " 17. LEX JULIA AGRARIA " 18. DISTRIBUTION OF LAND AFTER THE CIVIL WAR BETWEEN CÆSAR AND POMPEY " 19. DISTRIBUTIONS FROM THE DEATH OF CÆSAR TO THE TIME OF AUGUSTUS (a) Lex Agraria of Lucius Antonius (b) Lex de Colonis in Agros Deducendis (c) Second Triumvirate PUBLIC LANDS AND AGRARIAN LAWS OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. CHAPTER I. SEC. 1. LANDED PROPERTY. The Romans were a people that originally gave their almost exclusive attention to agriculture and stock raising. The surnames of the most illustrious families, as Piso (miller), Porcius (swine raiser), Lactucinius (lettuce raiser), Stolo (a shoot), etc., prove this. To say that a man was a good farmer was, at one time, to bestow upon him the highest praise.[1] This character, joined to the spirit of order and private avarice which in a marked degree distinguished the Romans, has contributed to the development among them of a civil law which is perhaps the most remarkable monument which antiquity has left us... Continue reading book >>

Public Lands and Agrarian Laws of the Roman Republic By: Andrew Stephenson

First Page:

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIES IN HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCE

HERBERT B. ADAMS, Editor

History is past Politics and Politics present History Freeman

NINTH SERIES VII VIII

PUBLIC LANDS AND AGRARIAN LAWS OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC

BY ANDREW STEPHENSON, PH.D. Professor of History, Wesleyan University

BALTIMORE

THE JOHNS HOPKINS PRESS

JULY AUGUST, 1891

PREFACE.

In the following pages it has been my object to trace the history of the domain lands of Rome from the earliest times to the establishment of the Empire. The plan of the work has been to sketch the origin and growth of the idea of private property in land, the expansion of the ager publicus by the conquest of neighboring territories, and its absorption by means of sale, by gift to the people, and by the establishment of colonies, until wholly merged in private property. This necessarily involves a history of the agrarian laws, as land distributions were made and colonies established only in accordance with laws previously enacted.

My reason for undertaking such a work as the present is found in the fact that agrarian movements have borne more or less upon every point in Roman constitutional history, and a proper knowledge of the former is necessary to a just interpretation of the latter.

This whole question presents numerous obscurities before which it has been necessary more than once to hesitate; it offers, both in its entirety and in detail, difficulties which I have at least earnestly endeavored to lessen. These obscurities and difficulties, arising in part from insufficiency of historical evidence and in part from the conflicting statements of the old historians, have been recognized by all writers and call forth on my part no claim for indulgence.

This monograph is intended as a chapter merely of a history of the public lands and agrarian laws of Rome, written for the purpose of a future comparison with the more recent agrarian movements in England and America.

ANDREW STEPHENSON.

MlDDLETOWN, CONN. May 8, 1891.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Sec. 1. LANDED PROPERTY " 2. QUIRITARIAN OWNERSHIP " 3. AGER PUBLICUS " 4. ROMAN COLONIES

CHAPTER II.

Sec. 5. LEX CASSIA " 6. AGRARIAN MOVEMENTS BETWEEN 486 AND 367 (a) Extension of Territory by conquest up to the year 367 B.C. (b) Colonies Founded between 454 and 367

Sec. 7. LEX LICINIA " 8. AGRARIAN MOVEMENTS BETWEEN 367 AND 133 (a) Extension of Territory by conquest between 367 and 133 (b) Colonies Founded between 367 and 133

Sec. 9. LATIFUNDIA " 10. INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY " 11. LEX SEMPRONIA TIBERIANA " 12. LEX SEMPRONIA GAIANA

CHAPTER III.

Sec.13. LEX THORIA " 14. AGRARIAN MOVEMENTS BETWEEN 111 AND 86 " 15. EFFECT OF THE SULLAN REVOLUTION " 16. AGRARIAN MOVEMENTS BETWEEN 86 AND 59 " 17. LEX JULIA AGRARIA " 18. DISTRIBUTION OF LAND AFTER THE CIVIL WAR BETWEEN CÆSAR AND POMPEY " 19. DISTRIBUTIONS FROM THE DEATH OF CÆSAR TO THE TIME OF AUGUSTUS (a) Lex Agraria of Lucius Antonius (b) Lex de Colonis in Agros Deducendis (c) Second Triumvirate

PUBLIC LANDS AND AGRARIAN LAWS OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC.

CHAPTER I.

SEC. 1. LANDED PROPERTY.

The Romans were a people that originally gave their almost exclusive attention to agriculture and stock raising. The surnames of the most illustrious families, as Piso (miller), Porcius (swine raiser), Lactucinius (lettuce raiser), Stolo (a shoot), etc., prove this. To say that a man was a good farmer was, at one time, to bestow upon him the highest praise.[1] This character, joined to the spirit of order and private avarice which in a marked degree distinguished the Romans, has contributed to the development among them of a civil law which is perhaps the most remarkable monument which antiquity has left us... Continue reading book >>

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