Page:Roman Constitutional History, 753-44 B.C..djvu/36

22 The Five Classes. — The freeholders were then divided into five classes, according to the amount of each one's real estate. Sons (filii familias), who in law could own nothing, were placed in the same class as their fathers. Persons owning (in round numbers) twelve acres or more (20 jugera, long afterward valued at 100,000 asses sextantarii = $2200) were put in the first class; the owners of from nine to twelve acres ($1650-2200), in the second class; the owners of from six to nine acres ($1100-1650), in the third class; the owners of from three to six acres ($550-1100), in the fourth class; those owning from one to three acres ($183-550), in the fifth class. Possibly all the patricians, or old citizens, were placed in the first class, and the plebeians and clients were enrolled mainly in the four lower classes.

The Centuries of Infantry. — The classes were divided into centuries. The members of the first class formed eighty centuries of infantry. The second, third, and fourth classes formed twenty centuries each; the fifth, thirty centuries. The organization of centuries probably represented in a general way the conditions of the time; and it is noticeable that the comparatively rich members of the first class formed so large a proportion of the population.

One-half of the centuries of infantry in each class consisted of juniors, men not less than seventeen nor more than forty-six years old, who were required to serve in the field. The other half consisted of seniors, who were not less than forty-six nor more than sixty, and formed a reserve for the protection of the city. Each century of juniors may have contained one hundred men; each century of seniors would then contain about fifty men.

Those who did not own the minimum of one acre (proletarii) were passed by in the formation of the regular centuries. They furnished two centuries of workmen (fabri tignarii and aerarii), two of musicians (liticines or tubicines,