378 Theyfoa/5. Irregular exactions 



as an honour. We must note that, if this immunitas relieved the crown- 

 tenants, it left all the more burdens to be borne by those who enjoyed no 

 such relief. And this cannot have been good for agriculture in general. 

 It is not to be supposed that ihejiscus 1 was a slack and easy landlord. 

 Goods of debtors were promptly seized to cover liabilities : attempts 

 to evade payment of tributa by a private agreement 2 between mortgagor 

 and mortgagee were quashed : a rescript 3 of Marcus and Verus insisted 

 on the treasury share (^) of treasure trove : and so on. But there are 

 signs of a reasonable and considerate policy, in not pressing demands 

 so as to inflict hardship. Trajan 4 had set a good example, and good 

 emperors followed it. We may fairly guess that this moderation in 

 financial dealings was not wholly laid aside in the management of 

 imperial estates. Nor is it to be imagined that the advantages of im- 

 perial tenants were exactly the same in all parts of the empire. In 

 Provinces through which armies had to move it is probable that coloni 

 Caesaris would suffer less 5 than ordinary farmers from military annoy- 

 ances. But on the routes to and from a seat of war it is obvious that 

 the imperial post-service would be subjected to exceptional strain. 

 Now this service was at the best of times 6 a cause of vexations and 

 losses to the farmers along the line of traffic. The staff made good all 

 deficiencies in their requirements by taking beasts fodder vehicles etc 

 wherever they could find them : what they restored was much the 

 worse for wear, and compensation, if ever got, was tardy and inadequate. 

 The repair of roads was another pretext for exaction. It is hardly to 

 be doubted that in these respects imperial tenants suffered less than 

 others. Some emperors 7 took steps to ease the burden, which had been ' 

 found too oppressive to the roadside estates. But this seems to have 

 been no more than relief from official requisitions : irregular ' com- 

 mandeering ' was the worst evil, and we have no reason to think that it 

 was effectually suppressed. It appears in the next period as a rampant 

 abuse, vainly forbidden by the laws of the Theodosian code. 



L. THE LATER COLONATE, ITS PLACE IN 

 ROMAN HISTORY. 



In the endeavour to extract from scattered and fragmentary evidence 

 some notion of agricultural conditions in the Roman empire before 

 and after Diocletian we are left with two imperfect pictures, so strongly 

 contrasted as to suggest a suspicion of their truth. We can hardly 



1 Title XLIX 14 de iurefisci. 2 n 14 42 (Papinian). 



3 XLIX 14 3 10 . * XLVIII 22 i, cf XLIX 14 47, 50, (Paulus). 



5 That they did sometimes suffer may be inferred from the case of the Aragueni (p 374) 

 who describe themselves as vdpoiKoi and yewpyoi (^inquilini and coloni} of the emperor. 



6 L 5 10, u, etc. 



7 See Spartian Hadrian 7 5, Capitolinus Anton 12 3, Spartian Severus 14 2. 



