Page:A history and description of Roman political institutions (IA historyanddescri00abbo).pdf/61

Rh laws against the same offense were enacted. If tradition can be relied on, even the taking of interest was forbidden. A far more rational measure of relief was the of 326, which alleviated the condition of such debtors as were turned over to their creditors for failure to pay their debts. In 352 an entirely new method of improving the credit system was tried. A state bank was opened, if we may apply so pretentious a term to the institution established in that year under the control of a commission of five. This commission was probably appointed to make state loans, and to secure loans from individuals, on securities not readily negotiable at reasonable rates of interest, but the plan apparently met with very little success. The greatest relief to the proletariar came indirectly as a result of the long series of wars in which Rome was engaged during the period under consideration. It is a significant fact that one of the provisions of the so-called, whose passage was forced by a mutiny in the army, directed that no soldier's name should be dropped from the army rolls without his consent. Payment for military service, the prospect of booty, and a share in conquered land had evidently made service in the army a profitable form of employment. The relief which the proletariat derived from the acquisition of new territory can be readily appreciated when we remembert hat between 367 and 287 twenty-one Latin colonies and six Roman colonies were founded. In some of these cases a large number of colonists was sent out. Thus, for instance, 2500 were sent to Cales in the year 334.

50. The Lex Publilia and the Lex Hortensia. The great political movements of this period, in which the mass of the people were concerned, are connected with the passage of the in 339, of the  of 287, and