Page:Roman Constitutional History, 753-44 B.C..djvu/149

Rh in 184, and had an opportunity to carry out their policy, in so far as the censorial powers allowed. They expelled seven from the senate — two, at least, for just cause. They deprived Lucius Scipio of his public horse, in other words, excluded him from the equestrian centuries. They degraded another knight because he had neglected a sacrifice and was too fat. In assigning the citizens to districts, classes, and centuries, they were strict and severe toward all classes of society. They appear to have confined all freedmen to the city districts. They seem to have struck off the lists all the Latins who were not legally entitled to citizenship. Former censors had been negligent in this respect, Scipio being perhaps the first one who enrolled Latins indiscriminately. Cato and Flaccus may also have reduced and fixed the proportion of soldiers which the Latins should furnish. They assessed articles of luxury beyond a certain amount at an exceedingly high rate, and let the government contracts in the way most favorable to the state.

Impeachments of the Scipios. — For a number of years Cato and the opposition had been attacking, not the policy, but individual representatives, of the Scipionic party. They assailed at random persons of merit and ability, as well as incompetent and worthless individuals. When, about 187, the Scipionic party was weakened by internal dissensions, the opposition, probably through the influence of Cato, decided to prosecute Scipio Africanus himself and his brother Lucius. Africanus was impeached before the popular assembly. He disdained to play the rôle of a defendant, finally retired to his estate near Liternum, and was protected from further prosecution by Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, a tribune of the people. He never returned to Rome, and died about 184. Lucius Scipio was condemned by a special commission (quaestio extraordinaria) to pay an indemnity for money alleged to have been embezzled in the war