previous next
16. Less agreeable to the senate was a measure1 which came up in the following year, in the consulship of Gaius Marcius and Gnaeus Manlius. It fixed the rate of interest at one per cent., and was carried through by Marcus Duillius and Lucius Menenius, tribunes of the plebs. [2] The commons ratified it much more eagerly than they had done the other law.2

Besides the new wars determined on in the previous year, the Faliscans also rose up as enemies. They were charged with two offences: their youth had fought on the side of the Tarquinienses; and they had refused the demand of the fetials that they should give up the Romans who had taken refuge in Falerii, after the defeat. [3] This command was assigned to Gnaeus Manlius. Marcius led an army into the territory of Privernum, unravaged during a long period of peace, and loaded his troops with booty. This abundance he administered bountifully, and sequestering nothing to the public treasury, encouraged the men to augment their private fortunes. [4] The Privernates having encamped in front of their town, within strong intrenchments, Marcius called his soldiers together and thus addressed them: “I give you now for booty the camp and city of our enemies, if you promise me [p. 411]that in the battle you will play the part of men,3 and be not more ready to plunder than to fight.” [5] They clamoured loudly for the signal and entered the battle with spirit, emboldened by no uncertain expectations. There in the fore-front Sextus Tullius, who has been mentioned before, cried out, “Look, general, and see how your army keeps the promises it gave you!” Then, laying down his javelin, he drew his sword and charged the foe. [6] All of the front line followed Tullius, and putting the enemy to flight at the first shock, pursued them to the town, where the Romans were already bringing up their scaling ladders to the wall, when the place surrendered. A triumph was celebrated over the Privernates.

[7] The other consul accomplished nothing worth recording, except that without precedent he got a law passed in his camp before Sutrium —the men voting by tribes —which levied a tax of one-twentieth on manumissions. The Fathers ratified this law, since it brought in no small revenue to the empty treasury; but the tribunes of the plebs, troubled less by the law than by the precedent established, had it made a capital offence for anyone thereafter to summon the people to the comitia away from Rome. [8] If this should be permitted, there was nothing, they argued, however baneful to the people, which could not be carried through by the votes of soldiers sworn to obey their consul.4

[9] In the same year Gaius Licinius Stolo was prosecuted under his own statute by Marcus Popilius Laenas, and condemned to pay a fine of ten thousand asses, on the charge that he held with his son a thousand iugera of land, and by emancipating his son5 had evaded the law.6

[p. 413]

1 B. C. 357

2 Tacitus tells us (Annals VI. xvi.) that the twelve Tables had forbidden a higher rate of interest. If so, the tribunes were merely reviving an obsolete enactment. The words unciarium fenus clearly mean a rate of one twelfth but just how that rate was applied is very doubtful. It may be 1/12 of the whole principal or 1/12 of 1 per cent.; the period may be one month or one year; and, finally, the year may be 10 months or 12. The rate in modern terms may then be 1 per cent. (as translated here), 8 1/3 per cent. as assumed by Frank, Economic Survey of Ancient Rome, I. 282), 10 per cent. (cf. Weissenborn ad loc.) or 100 per cent. (so apparently Last, Camb, Anc. Hist. VII. 476).

3 B.C. 357

4 Within a distance of one mile from the walls a citizen might appeal from the decision of a consul, but beyond that point the consul's authority was absolute.

5 From his paternal authority.

6 By the Licinio-Sextian legislation of 367 it had been forbidden that anybody should hold more than 500 iugera. cf. VI. xxxv. 5.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

load focus Notes (W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1898)
load focus Summary (English, Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D., 1924)
load focus Summary (Latin, Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D., 1924)
load focus Summary (Latin, W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1898)
load focus English (Rev. Canon Roberts, 1912)
load focus Latin (Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D., 1924)
load focus Latin (Charles Flamstead Walters, Robert Seymour Conway, 1919)
load focus Latin (W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1898)
load focus English (D. Spillan, A.M., M.D., 1857)
hide References (55 total)
  • Commentary references to this page (6):
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 31-32, commentary, 31.47
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 35.7
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 38.51
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 41-42, commentary, 41.11
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 41-42, commentary, 41.4
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, book 45, commentary, 45.34
  • Cross-references to this page (32):
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (17):
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: