Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/517

 CHAP. II. THE ROMAN CONQUEST. 511 citizen at the expiration of his term of offico.' This time the gift of this right was complete and without reserve; suffrage, magistracies, census, marriage, pri- vate law, all were included. Rome resigned itself to share with the foreigner its religion, its government, and its laws; only its favors were individual, and were addressed not to entire cities, hut to a few men in each of them. Rome admitted to her bosom only what was best, wealthiest, and most estimable in Latium. This right of citizenship then became piecious, first, because it was complete, and secondly, because it was a privilege. Through it a man figui-ed in the comitia of the most powerful city of Italy; he might be consul and commander of the legions. There was also the means of satisfying more modest ambitions; thanks to this right, one might ally himself, by marriage, to a Roman family; or he might take up his abode at Rome, and become a proprietor there ; or he might cany on trade in Rome, which had already become one of the first commercial towns in the world. One might enter the comijany of farmei'S of the revenue, — that is to say, take a part in the enormous profits which accrued from the collection of the revenue, or from speculations in the lauds of the ager publicus. Wherever one lived he was eflTectually protected ; he escaped the authority of the municipal magistrate, and was sheltered fron> the caprices of the Roman magistrates themselves. By being a citizen of Rome, a man gained honor, wealthy and security. The Latins, therefore, became eager to obtain this title, and used all sorts of means to acquire it. One day, when Rome wished to appear a little severe, she ' Appian, Civil Wars, II. 26.