The History of Rome

The maintenance of the state economy devolved, of course, upon the burgesses. The most important function of the burgess was his service in the army; for the burgesses had the right and duty of bearing arms. The burgesses were at the same time the "body of warriors" (populus, related to populari, to lay waste): in the old litanies it is upon the "spear-armed body of warriors" (pilumnus poplus) that the blessing of Mars is invoked; and even the designation with which the king addresses them, that of Quirites[9], is taken as signifying "warrior". We have already stated how the army of aggression, the "gathering" (legio), was formed.  In the tripartite Roman community it consisted of three "hundreds" (centuriae) of horsemen (celeres, "the swift," or flexuntes, "the wheelers") under the three leaders-of-division of the horsemen (tribuni celerum)[10] and three "thousands" of footmen (milties) under the three leaders-of-division of the infantry (tribuni militum), the latter were probably from the first the flower of the general levy.  To these there may perhaps have been added a number of light-armed men, archers especially, fighting outside of the ranks[11]. The general was regularly the king himself.  Besides service in war, other personal burdens might devolve upon the burgesses; such as the obligation of undertaking the king's commissions in peace and in war[12], and the task-work of tilling the king's lands or of constructing public buildings. How heavily in particular the burden of building the walls of the city pressed upon the community, is evidenced by the fact that the ring-walls retained the name of "tasks" (moenia). There was no regular direct taxation, nor was there any direct regular expenditure on the part of the state. Taxation was not needed for defraying the burdens of the community, since the state gave no recompense for serving in the army, for task-work, or for public service generally; so far as there was any such recompense at all, it was given to the person who performed the service either by the district primarily concerned in it, or by the person who could not or would not himself serve. The victims needed for the public service of the gods were procured by a tax on 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