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

PUBLICANTI. PUBLICANI. 973
produce, were not sold at Rome, but in the dis- become a member of a company ofpublicani; frcedtricts of Sicily itself, according to a practice estab- men and slaves wvere excluded. (Pseudo Ascon. in
lished by Hiero. (Cic.c. Verr. ii. 3, 64, &c.) The Divinat. p. 113; Cic. c. Veerr. iii. 39.) No
persons who undertookl the farmingl of the public Roman magistrate however, or governor of a prorevenue of course belonged to the wealthiest Ro- vince, was allowed to take ally share whatever in
mnans. Their wealth and consequent influence may a company of publicani (Cic. c. Veerr. iii. 57), a regu.
be seen from the fact, that as early as the second lation which was chiefly intended as a protection
Punic war, after the battle of Cannae, when the against the oppression of the provincials. During
aerarium was entirely exhausted, the publicani ad- the later period of the empire various changes
vanced large sums of money to the state, on condi- were introduced in the farming of the public revetion of repay'ment after the end of the war. (Val. nues. Although it was, on the whole, a rule that
Max. v. 6. ~ 8; Liv. xxiv. 18; compare xxiii. no person should be compelled to take any share
48, &c.) But what class of Romans the publicani in a company of publicani, yet such cases somewere at this time is not stated; scarcely half a times occurred. (Burmann, Vectiq. Pop. Romt.
century later however we find that they were p. 138, &c.) Fromn the time of Constantine the
principally men of the equestrian order (Liv. xliii. leases of the publicatni were generally not longer
16); and down to the end of the republic, as well than for three years. (Cod. 4. tit. 61. s. 4.)
as during the early part of the empire, the farming Several parts of the revenue which had before been
of the public revenues was almost exclusively in let to publicani, were now raised by especial offithe hands of the equites; whence the word equites cers appointed by the emperors. (Burmann, 1. c.
and publicani are sometimes used as synonymous. p. 141, &c.)
(Cic. c. Verr. i. 51, ii. 71, ad Att.ii. 1,; Suet. All the persons hitherto mentioned as members
AZg. 24; Tacit. Annal. iv. 6.) of these companies, whether they held any office
The publicani had to give security to the state in such a company or not, and merely contributed
for the sum at which they bought one or more their shares and received their portions of the
branches of the revenue in a province; but as for profit (Cic. ad Alt. i. 19; Nepos, Ati. 6), did not
this reason the property of even the wealthiest in- themselves take any part in the actual levying or
dividrual must have been inadequate, a lmnlber of collecting of the taxes in the provinces. This part
equites generally united together and formed a of the business was performed by an inferior class
company (socii, societas or corpus), which was re- of men, who were said ol2peras publlccanis dare, or
cognized by the state (Dig. 3. tit. 4. s. I), and by esse in operis societalis. (Val. Max. vi. 9. ~ 8;
which they were enabled to carry on their under- Cic. c. Verr. iii. 41, ad Faom. xiii. 9; compare
takings upon a large scale. Such companies ap- c. Verr. ii. 70, pro Plance. 19.) They were enpear as early as the second Punic war. (Liv. gaged by the publicani, and consisted of freemen
xxiii. 48, 49.) The shares which each partner of as well as slaves, Romans as well as provincials.
such a company took in the business, were called (Cic. c. Verr. ii. 77, de Prov. Cons. 5.) This
partes, and if they were small, particulae. (Cic. body of men is called faimilia publicanorum, and
pro Rabir. Post. 2; Val. Max. vi. 9. ~ 7.) The comprehended, according to the praetor's edict
responsible person in each company, and the one (Dig. 39. tit. 4. s. 1), all persons who assisted the
who contracted with the state, was called manceps publicani in collecting the vectigal. Various laws
(Fest. s. v. lhlanceps; Pseudo-Ascon. in Divinrt. p. were enacted in the course of time, which were
11 3, ed. Orelli.) MANCEPS]; but there was also a partly intended to support the servants of the
maogister to manage the business of each society, publicani in the performance of their duty, and
who resided at Rome, and kept an extensive cor- partly to prevent them from acts of oppression.
respondence with the agents in theprovinces. (Cic. (See Digest. 39. tit. 4: De Publicanis et eectiadc Att. v. 15, c. Verr. ii. 74.) He seems to have ygalib. et comnmissis; Gaius, iv. 28.)
held his office only for one year; his representa- The separate branches of the public revenue in
tive in the proviices was called sub magistro, who the provinces (deczmzae, portoria, scriptura, and
hlad to travel about and superintend the actual the revenues from the mines and saltworks) were'business of collecting the revenues. The apXT'r- mostly leased to separate companies of publicani;
AoS,'vs in St. Luke (xix. 2) was probably such a whence they were distinguished by names desub magistro. The magister at Rome had also to rived from that particular branch which they had
keep the accounts which were sent in to him (tabu6- taken in farm; e. g. decumani, pecuarii or scriple accepti et ei epesi). The credit of these com- turarii, salinarii or mancipes salinarum, &c. (Pseudopanies of publicani and the flourishing state of Ascon. 1. c.; compare D)ECUMAE, PORTORIUM,
their finances were of the utmost importance to SALINAE, SCRIPTURA.) On somIe occasions, howthe state, and in fact its very foundation: of ever, one comupany of publicani farmed two or
this the Romans were well aware (Cic. pro Leg. more branches at once; thus we have an instance
llanlil. 6), and Cicero therefore calls them the of a societas farming the portorium and the scrip"'ornaamentum civitatis etfirmamnentum reipu)blicae." tura at the same time. (Cic. c. Venr. ii. 70.)
(Comp. pro Plane. 9.) It has been already men- The commentator, who goes by the name of
tioned that the publicani, in case of need, acted Asconius, asserts that the portitores were publias a kind of public bank and advanced sums of cani who iirmed the portorium; but from all
money to the state (compare Cic. ad Farn. v. 20), the passages where they are mentioned in ancient
which therefore thought them worthy of its es- writers, it is beyond all doubt that the portitores
pecial protection. But they abused their power were not publicani properly so called, hbt only
at an early period, in the provinces as well as at their servants ellgaged in examining the goods
Rome itself; and Livy (xlv. 18) says, " ubi pub- imported or exported, and levying the customlicanus est, ibi aut jus publicum vanum, anut liber- duties upon them. They belonged to the saume
tas sociis nulla." (Compare Liv. xxv. 3, 4.) class as the publicalus of the New Testament.
Nobody but a Roman citizen mwas allowed to (St. Luke, v. 27, 29.) Respecting the impudenlt