Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/311

Rh A G K A G li 289 position. Wide ranges of country, fit only for pasture, had to be disposed of, and were available to those alone who were able to stock them with flocks and herds, and to provide slaves to attend to and protect their property. Hence it was usual for the state to invite persons possessed of the necessary means to enter upon the occupation of such lands on advantageous terms; an invitation with which the patricians, as being the wealthy class, could alone comply. The ordinary conditions were, that after the land was again brought into cultivation, the occupants should pay as rent one-tenth of the produce of the corn-lands, and one-fifth of the vines and fruit-trees, with a moderate rate per head for sheep and cattle grazing on the public pastures. The lands were not assigned for any definite period; the occupants rere merely tenants at will, liable to extrusion whenever the state found it necessary to employ the land for any other purpose. It was a fundamental principle of Roman law that prescription could not be pleaded against the state; and consequently, though the right of occupancy might not only be transmitted from heir to heir, but might also be sold, no length of time could alter the precarious nature of the tenure by which the lands were held. The state always reserved to itself the power of resuming pos session when it thought fit; and though such resumption might in many cases be attended by individual hardship, it was nevertheless justified by the original contract. Much of the obscurity connected with the Roman agrarian laws has arisen from a misapprehension of the meaning of the words possidere, possessor, and possessio. These terms, when used in a strictly legal sense, denote merely occupancy by a tenant, and never imply an absolute right of property. The act of occupancy was termed usus, and the benefit derived by the state f nidus. &quot;The ager publicun,&quot; says Professor Ramsay, &quot;having been ac quired and occupied as explained above, numerous abuses arose in process of time, especially among the tenants belonging to the second class. These being, as we nave said, in the earlier ages, ex clusively patricians, who at the same time monopolised the admin istration of public affairs, they were in the habit of defrauding the state, either by neglecting altogether to pay the stipulated propor tion of the produce, or by paying less tnan was due ; or, finally, by claiming, what was in reality ager publicus, as their own private property ; it being easy, of course, in the absence of all strict super intendence and of scientific surveys, to shift the land-marks which separated public from private property. Meanwhile the deficiencies in the public treasury were made up by heavier taxes ; and the plebeians complained that they were impoverished by new imposts, while the lands belonging to the community, which they had ac quired by their blood, if fairly managed, would yield a sufficient return to meet all demands upon the exchequer ; or, if portioned out in allotments among themselves, afford them the means of sup porting the increased burdens. These complaints, unquestionably founded in justice, were soon vehemently expressed, and were revived from time to time more or less loudly, and enforced more or less earnestly, according to the state of public feeling and the energy of the popular champions. It is true that the wealthier plebeians soon became tenants of the ager publicus as well as the patricians ; but although this circumstance materially strengthened the hands of the occupiers, it did not improve the condition of the poor, or make them less keenlv alive to the injustice of the system against which they protested. &amp;gt;r (Manual of Rom. Antiq. p. 223.) Assuming, then, that the agrarian laws had for their sole object the distribution and management of the public lands (ager publicus), their effect must have been felt in two ways: (1.) In enforcing the regular payment of .rent from the occupants, preventing them from exceeding the limits assigned to them, and compelling the surrender of portions for division among the poorer citizens; and (2.) In insisting upon the immediate application of newly- acquired territories to the establishment of colonies, or its assignment to individuals. It is obvious that the laws first referred to, as involving long-established interests, would necessarily lead to violent contests. The first agrarian law, properly so called, was proposed and passed by Sp. Cassius Viscellinus, when consul, 486 B.C. (Liv. ii. 41, Dionys. viii. 76), but respecting the provisions of this we have no precise information. Cassius was himself a patrician, and we may therefore infer that the law did not encroach upon the just rights of the dominant class to which he belonged. It is not the object of this article to trace in detail the various measures which were pro posed, and the agitations with which they were severally attended. Three such, are recorded during the 4th century B.C. (Liv. iv. 36, 47, 48) ; but by far the most important measure of this class, and that which served as the model of nearly all subsequent agrarian laws, was that carried by C. Licinius Stolo, when tribune of the people, in 367 B.C. (Liv. vi. 42). The provisions of this law were : (1.) That no one should occupy more than 500 jugera (about 333 acres) of the public land ; (2.) That none should have more than 100 large and 500 small cattle grazing on the public pastures ; and (3.) That every occupant of the public lands should employ a certain proportion of free labourers in cultivating it. Niebuhr (vol. iii. p. 11, &c. Eng. transl.) has endeavoured to supply the other details ; but these can be received merely as ingenious, and it may be successful, conjectures. For an able controversy as to this law see Class. Museum, vol. ii. After the excitement occasioned by the passing of the Lieinian law had subsided, two centuries were allowed to pass with only a single interference (Valer. Max. v. 4, 5 ; Polyb. ii. 21) with the occupants of the public lands ; and during that time large additions had been made to the possessions of the state by the confiscations consequent upon the second Punic war. In the meantime tho wealthier families had extended their possessions greatly beyond the limits prescribed by the Lieinian law ; while the small proprietors had disappeared, and the poor continued to increase. In 133 B.C., Tiberius Gracchus proposed and carried a modification of the Lieinian law (Liv. Epit. Iviii. ; Appian. i. 9), which his premature death prevented from being carried into effect ; and a similar result attended the enactment of his brother (Liv. Epit. Ix.) Both were set aside or eluded after the death of Caius. During the period which preceded the subversion of the republic various other lawa were passed for the distribution of the public lands ; but these it is not necessary to enumerate. It may be mentioned, in conclusion, as a significant fact, that the prominent advocates of the agrarian laws, Cassius, Licinius, and the Gracchi, all belonged to the class which would have been injured by their operation nad they led to an undue interference with private property. (G. F.) AGREDA, a town of Spain, in the province of Old Castile, 23 miles N.E. of Soria. It is the chief town of the mountainous district of the same name, and 13 built on the skirts of the Sierra Moncayo. At Agreda the river Queiles is crossed by a fine stone bridge of one arch. Population, 3120. AGRICOLA, CN.EUS JULIUS, was born at Forum Julii, now Frejus, in Provence, 37 A.D., and was in Vespasian s time made lieutenant to Vettius Bolanus in Britain. Upon his return he was ranked by that emperor among the patri cians, and made governor of Aquitania. This post he held for three years ; he then was recalled to Rome, and chosen consul, Britain being assigned to him as his pro vince (78 A.D.) Here he reformed many abuses created by his predecessors, put a stop to extortion, and caused justice to be impartially administered. In the spring of 79 he marched towards the north, where he made new conquests, and ordered forts to be built for the Romans to winter in. He spent the following winter in concerting schemes to bring the Britons to conform to the Roman customs. He thought tho best way of diverting them from their warlike propensities was to soften their rough manners by proposing to them new kinds of pleasure, and inspiring them with a desire of imitating the Roman man ners. He encouraged the erection of magnificent temples, porticoes, baths, and other fine buildings. The British nobles at length had their sons educated ; and they who before had the utmost aversion to the Roman language now began to study it with great assiduity. They likewise adopted the Roman dress ; and, as Tacitus observes, they were brought to consider those things as marks of polite ness which were only so many badges of slavery. Agri- cola, in his third campaign, advanced as far as the Solway; and in his fourth he subdued the nations betwixt the Sol- way and the friths of Forth and Clyde, into which the rivers Bodotria and Glotta discharged themselves ; and here he built a chain of fortresses to check the nations yet I. - 37