Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

AGRARIAE LEGES. AGRARIAE LEGES. 41
Appian, B. C. i. 8) B. C. 365, limited each indi- iprevent future divisions of the public land, with a
vidual's possession of-public land to 500 jugera, provision that the sums payable in respect of this
and imposed some other restrictions; but the pos- land to the state, should be formed into a fund for
sessor had no better title to the 500 jugera which the relief of the poor. But another tribune, Spunthe law left him, than he formerly had to what rius Thorius, B. c. 111, repealed this law as to the
the law took from him. [LEGES LICINIAE.] tax from the public lands, and thus the plebs lost
The surplus land was to be divided among the everything for the future, both lands and poors'
plebeians, as we may assume from this being an money. [LEx THORIA.]
agrarian law. The Licinian law not effecting its Other agrarian laws followed. In the sixth conobject, Tib. Sempronius Gracchus, B. C. 133, re- sulship of Marius, B. c. 100, agrarian laws were
vived the measure for limiting the possession of carried by the tribune L. Appuleius Saturninus
public land to 500 jugera. The arguments of the and his party, the object of which was chiefly to
possessors against this measure, as they are stated provide for the veteran soldiers of Marius. These
by Appian (B. C. i. 10), are such as might reason- measures were carried by violence, but they were
ably be urged; but he adds that Gracchus pro- subsequently declared null. The tribune, M.
posed to give to each possessor, by way of com- Livius Drusus the younger, B. C. 91, proposed the
pensation for improvements made on the public division of all the public land in Italy and the
land, the full ownership of 500 jugera, and half establishment of the colonies which had been prothat quantity to each of his sons if he had any. jected: he was for giving away everything that
Under the law of Tiberius Gracchus three commis- the state had (Florus, iii. 16). This Drusus was
sioners (triumviri) were to be chosen annually by also a tool of the senate, whose object was to
the thirty-five tribes, who were to decide all ques- humble the equestrian order by means of the plebs
tions that might arise as to the claims of the state and the Italian Socii. But the Socii were also inupon lands in the occupation of possessors. The terested in opposing the measures of Drusus, as
law provided that the land which was to be re- they possessed large parts of the public land in
sumed should be distributed in small allotments Italy. To gain their consent, Drusus promised to
among the poorer citizens, and they were not to give them the full Roman citizenship. But he
have the power of alienating their allotments. and the senate could not agree on all these meaGracchus also proposed that the ready money sures, Drusus was murdered, and the Socii, seeing
which Attalus III., King of Pergamlus, had their hopes of the citizenship balked, broke out in
with all his other property bequeathed to the open war (B.C. 90). The measures of Drusus
Roman state, should be divided among the persons were declared null, and there was no investigation
who received allotments, in order to enable them as to his death. The Social or Marsic war, after
to stock their land. Tiberius Gracchus lost his threatening Rome with ruin, was ended by the
life in a riot B. C. 133; but the senate allowed Romans conceding what the allies demanded.
the commissioners to continue their labours. After [LEx JULIA.]
the death of Tiberius Gracchus, a tragical event The land to which all the agrarian laws, prior
happened at Rome. P. Cornelius Scipio, who had to the Thoria Lex, applied, was the public land
maintained the cause of the possessors, both Roman in Italy, south of the Macra and the Rubico, the
and Italian, against the measure of Gracchus, was southern boundaries of Gallia Cisalpina on the west
found dead in his bed. Suspicion was strong against and east coasts respectively. The Thoria Lex
the party of Caius Gracchus, the younger brother applied to all the public land within these limits,
of Tiberius, whose sister Sempronia was the wife of except what had been disposed of by assignation
Scipio, but no inquiry was made into the cause prior to the year B. C. 133, in which Tiberius
of Scipio's death. Caius Gracchus became a tri- Gracchus was tribune, and except the Ager CCambune of the plebs, B. C. 123, and he put the law of panus. It applied also to public land in the prohis brother again in force, for it had virtually been vince of Africa, and in the territory of Corinth.
suspended by the senate, B. C. 129, by their with- [THORIA LEx.] The object of the agrarian law
drawing the powers from the three commissioners, of P. Servilius Rullus, proposed in the consul..
of whom Gracchus was one, and giving them to the ship of Cicero B. C. 63, was to sell all the public
consul, C. Sempronius Tuditanus, who, being en- land both in and out of Italy, and to buy lands in
gaged in the Illyrian war, could not attend to the Italy on which the poor were to be settled. Ten
business. Caius Gracchus proposed the establish- commissioners, with extraordinary powers, were to
ment of various colonies under the provisions of carry the law into effect, and a host of surveyors,
the law. To check his power, the senate called clerks, and other officers, were to find employment
in the aid of another tribune, M. Livius Drusus, in this agrarian job. The job was defeated by
who outbid Caius in his popular measures. The Cicero, whose three extant orations against Rullus
law of Gracchus proposed that those who received contain most instructive matter on the condition
allotments of land should pay the state a small of the Roman state at that time. The tribune
sum in respect of each. Drusus released them from Flavius, B. C. 60, at the instigation of Cn. Pompeius,
this payment. Caius proposed to found two colo- brought forward a measure for providing the solnies: Drusus proposed to found twelve, each con- diers of Pompeius with lands. Cicero was not alsisting of three thousand men. Cals Gracchus together opposed to this measure, for he wished to
lost his life in a civil commotion B. C. 121. Shortly please Pompeius. One clause of the law provided
after his death, that clause of the Sempronian law that lands should be bought for distribution with
which forbade the alienation of the allotments, the money that should arise in the next five years
was repealed; and they forthwith began to fall from the new revenues that had been created by
into the hands of the rich by purchase, or by the Asiatic conquests of Pompeius. The law was
alleged purchases as Appian obscurely states (B. C. dropped, but it was reproduced in a somewhat
i. 27). A tribune, Spurius Borius (Borius is the altered shape by C. Julius Caesar in his consulname in the MSS. -of Appian), carried a law to ship, B. C. 59, and it included the Stellatis Ager