Page:Roman Constitutional History, 753-44 B.C..djvu/37

Rh cornicines), and one of unarmed substitutes. Later all not properly belonging to the four preceding formed the century of substitutes (accensi velati).

Centuries of Cavalry. — Twelve centuries of cavalry were added to the six former centuries (p. 20), making in all eighteen hundred men. The old centuries remained patrician, the new consisted of patricians and plebeians. All the horsemen seem to have belonged to the first class and were juniors. They received $220 each for the purchase of horses (aes equestre) and about once a year $44 each for the maintenance of their horses (aes hordiarium).

The infantry, on the other hand, were obliged to equip themselves at their own expense. They were in this way taxed proportionately, in so far as the equipment of the first class cost more than that of the second and a great deal more than that of the fifth.

Military Character of the Reform. — The new organization of five classes and one hundred and ninety-three centuries was unquestionably of a military character and had a military aim. The centuries may at first have been almost identical with the companies of the army. In the course of time, however, the population and the amount and distribution of landed property changed, while the number of centuries and the amount of land required for admission to each class remained unchanged. As a result the Servian organization then conformed no longer to existing facts, and had effects not contemplated by its originator.

Political Consequences of the Reform. — Notwithstanding the military character of the reform, it might seem reasonable that the king should henceforth consult, not the assembly of curies, but the centuries, or the soldiers, in regard to a declaration of war; and that on the eve of a battle testaments should be made in the presence of the centuries rather