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The following passage from Appian (
Civil Wars, I.7)— "The Romans," he says, "when they conquered any part of Italy, seized a portion of the lands, and either built cities in them, or sent Roman colonists to settle in the cities which already existed. Such cities they designed to be garrison places. As to the land thus acquired from time to time, they either divided the cultivated part among the colonists, or sold it, or let it to farm. As to the land which had fallen out of cultivation in consequence of war, and which, indeed, was the larger p39 part, having no time to allot it, they gave public notice that any one who chose might in the meantime cultivate this land, on payment of part of the yearly produced, namely, a tenth of the produce of arable land, and a fifth of the produce of olive-yards and vineyards. A rate was also fixed to be paid by those who pastured cattle (on this undivided land) but for the larger and smaller animals. And this they did with a view to increase the numbers of the Italian people, whom they considered to be the most enduring of labour, in order that they might have domestic allies. But it turned out just the contrary of their expectations. For the rich occupied the greater part of this undivided land, and at length, feeling confident that they should never be deprived of it, and getting hold of such portions as bordered on their lands, and also of the smaller portions in the possession of the poor, some by purchase and others by force, they became the cultivators of extensive districts instead of farms. And in order that their cultivators and shepherds might be free from military service, they employed slaves instead of freemen; and they derived great profit from their rapid increase, which was favoured by the immunity of the slaves from military service. In this way the great became very rich, and slaves were numerous throughout the country. But this system reduced the number of the Italians, who were ground down by poverty, taxes, and military service; and whenever they had a respite from these evils, they had nothing to do, the land being occupied by the rich, who also employed slaves instead of freemen."
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the agrarian law of P. Servilius Rullus, proposed in the consulship of Cicero B.C. 63, was to sell all the public land both in and out of Italy, and to buy lands in Italy on which the poor were to be settled... The law was dropped, but it was reproduced in a somewhat altered shape by C. Julius Caesar in his consulship, B.C. 59, and it included the Stellatis Ager p42 and the Campanus Ager, which all previous agrarian laws had left untouched.
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