. Republican Rome; her conquests, manners and institutions from the earliest times to the death of Caesar . those whom he addresses as conquerors and lordsof the earth were for the most part a rabble of dissolute idlers,whom he proposed to convert, as if by magic, into sober andindustrious farmers. But for the moment his passionate zealcarried all before it and he had his way. Gracchuss Land Bill By the law of I^icinius, passed before the middle of thefourth century (367 ), no citizen had been allowed to occupymore than five hundred ploughgates ^ of the public land. Butno precaution had be
. Republican Rome; her conquests, manners and institutions from the earliest times to the death of Caesar . those whom he addresses as conquerors and lordsof the earth were for the most part a rabble of dissolute idlers,whom he proposed to convert, as if by magic, into sober andindustrious farmers. But for the moment his passionate zealcarried all before it and he had his way. Gracchuss Land Bill By the law of I^icinius, passed before the middle of thefourth century (367 ), no citizen had been allowed to occupymore than five hundred ploughgates ^ of the public land. Butno precaution had been taken to ensure the observance ofthe act, which was a mere mask to disguise the ambition ofpowerful plebeians, and it had long been suffered to fall intoabeyance. For more than two centuries the appropriation ofdomain-lands by private individuals had been tacitly sufferedto proceed, and estates thus unlawfully acquired had passedfrom father to son, or changed hands by regular these estates, according to law, were still public * The Latin word is jugerum—about half an acre,362. 1 ni MUNI • SM pi ] ^^sr^Bp i i AHki . :l 1 j^i ^KVv^^ ! j^^^^^Hh ^ 1^ ^eH : t^Sh^I i^w shI .^^^VH| P ^^R 1 ?H Vtj^X^^Bt ^^1 3^ 1 1 1 1 a 1 « ^Bltfl 1 Ib7 i •»i ? 1 1 m ^^f- •] 1 THE GRACCHI lands, for by a principle of Roman jurisprudence no lengthof prescription was allowed to override the original right ofownership, which lay with the State. Availing himself of thisprinciple, Gracchus now proposed to revive the provisions ofthe Ivicinian law, with due safeguards to prevent their infringe-ment in the future. Accordingly he brought in a bill toenforce the limit of five hundred ploughgates, with an additionof two hundred and fifty ploughgates each for two grown-upsons. Estates thus assigned were henceforth to be regardedas private property, and all further occupation was rest of the public land was to be resumed by the Stateand parcelled out in small holdin
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