Page:Roman Constitutional History, 753-44 B.C..djvu/147

Rh Italy. His chief aim seems, however, to have been to insure the collection of duties, and only three hundred families were sent to each colony.

The most extensive and successful colonization at this time was carried out in the district between the Apennines and the Po. Gaius Laelius, a new man and an adherent of Scipio, was the one who first renewed the policy of Flaminius. Later both the Scipionic party and their opponents favored it. The Celts had finally been conquered, and the Boii lost half their territory. Six thousand families were sent to Placentia and to Cremona, and new Latin and Roman colonies were founded. The colonists received in some cases very liberal allotments of land.

The Porcian Laws. — In the course of the second century B.C. three Porcian laws were enacted, which superseded the last Valerian law on appeals. Publius Porcius Laeca, apparently a follower of Scipio, seems to have been the author of the first one, and Marcus Porcius Cato probably advocated it. The two last laws were passed before 134. It was now provided that within the mile limit Roman citizens should as a rule not be punished with death, but be allowed to go into exile; nor were they to suffer corporal punishment. The second law probably granted these privileges also to the Roman civilians living outside the mile limit, whether they dwelt in Italy or in the provinces; and the third prohibited execution or punishment by means of rods (virgae), even in the case of Roman citizens in the military service.

These laws greatly increased the practical value of Roman citizenship, and made the words, "I am a Roman citizen" (civis Romanus sum), a talisman that insured personal safety and inviolability wherever Roman law was respected. They also confirmed Roman pride and exclusiveness, and increased the contrast between the citizens and the allies and subjects.