Page:Roman Constitutional History, 753-44 B.C..djvu/114

100 The Latins. — Of the Roman subjects, the Latins formed the most important and the most favored class. All the important towns of the old Latins (prisci Latini), except Tibur and Praeneste, had by this time (in 268) either perished or been incorporated with Rome. The Latins of later times were almost exclusively the inhabitants of the Latin colonies, founded in the main by Roman citizens, who thereby lost their citizenship and received Latin rights. About twenty-seven Latin colonies had been established before 268. Besides the privilege of securing Roman citizenship, of commercial intercourse, and of intermarriage (p. 94), the colonists were usually allowed to occupy a part of the Roman public domain and to participate in state leases and contracts. They regarded Rome as their mother city and felt the ties of a common language and law, and common customs. Scattered over central and southern Italy, they became more and more the main support of Roman dominion and the pioneers of Roman civilization in Italy.

The Other Allies of Rome. — The position of every other community of any significance depended simply on the terms of its treaty with Rome. The terms varied greatly in different cases. Some allied communities, for example the Hernican, were placed in time on the same footing as the Latins; others, such as Naples, retained their local self-government and other privileges; while others, Tarentum for instance, were treated in an almost despotic way.

The Policy of Rome. — "Divide and rule" was the policy of Rome. All national leagues were dissolved or rendered insignificant, and in general no allied community was granted the right of commercial intercourse, or of intermarriage, or of conferring and taking joint action, with any other. Furthermore, an important community, such as