n actions at law; the defeated party in an ordinary process paid
down to the state a cattle-fine (-sacramentum-) proportioned to
the value of the object in dispute. There is no mention of any
regular presents to the king on the part of the burgesses. On the
other hand there flowed into the royal coffers the port-duties,(13)
as well as the income from the domains--in particular, the pasture
tribute (-scriptura-) from the cattle driven out upon the common
pasture, and the quotas of produce (-vectigalia-) which those
enjoying the use of the lands of the state had to pay instead of
rent. To this was added the produce of cattle-fines and confiscations
and the gains of war. In cases of need a contribution (-tributum-)
was imposed, which was looked upon, however, as a forced loan and
was repaid when the times improved; whether it fell upon the burgesses
generally, or only upon the --metoeci--, cannot be determined; the
latter supposition is, however, the more probable.

The king managed the finances. The property of the state,
however, was not identified with the private property of the king;
which, judging from the statements regarding the extensive landed
possessions of the last Roman royal house, the Tarquins, must have
been considerable. The ground won by arms, in particular, appears to
have been constantly regarded as property of the state. Whether and
how far the king was restricted by use and wont in the administration
of the public property, can no longer be ascertained; only the
subsequent course of things shows that the burgesses can never have
been consulted regarding it, whereas it was probably the custom to
consult the senate in the imposition of the -tributum- and in the
distribution of the lands won in war.

Rights of the Burgesses

The Roman burgesses, however, do not merely come into view as
furnishing contributions and rendering service; they also bore a
part in the public government. For this purpose all the members
of the community (with the exception of the women, and the children
still incapable of bearing arms)--in other words, the "spearmen"
(-quirites-) as in addressing them they were designated--assembled
at the seat of justice, when the king convoked them for the purpose
of making a communication (-conventio-, -contio-) or formally bade
them meet (-comitia-) for the third week (-in trinum noundinum-),
to consult them by curies. He appointed such formal assemblies
of the community to