380 Devolution impossible. Municipalities 



limited spheres, and the central government respects their ' autonomy/ 

 only interfering in emergencies to enforce the fulfilment of definite 

 common obligations. 



But, if it had been desired to gain any such relief by a system of 

 devolution within the Roman empire, this would have meant the recog- 

 nition of 'autonomy' in the Provinces. And this was inconceivable. 

 The extension of Roman dominion had been achieved by dividing 

 Rome's adversaries. Once conquered, it was the interest or policy of 

 the central power to keep them in hand by preventing the growth of 

 self-conscious cohesion in the several units. Each Province was, as the 

 word implied, a department of the Roman system, ruled by a succession 

 of Roman governors. It looked to Rome for orders, for redress of 

 grievances, for protection at need. If the advance of Rome destroyed 

 no true nations, her government at least made the development of 

 truly national characteristics impossible, while she herself formed no 

 Roman nation. Thus, for better or worse, the empire was non-national. 

 But, as we have already seen, the decline of Italy made it more and 

 more clear that the strength of the empire lay in the Provinces. Now, 

 having no share in initiative and no responsibility, the Provinces steadily 

 lost vitality under Roman civilization, and became more and more 

 helplessly dependent on the central power. As the strain on the em- 

 pire became greater, the possibility of relief by devolution grew less : 

 but more centralization was no cure for what was already a disease. 



That local government of a kind existed in the empire is true 

 enough ; also that it was one of the most striking and important 

 features of the system. But it was municipal, and tended rather to 

 subdivide than to unite. It was the outcome of a civilization profoundly 

 urban in its origins and ideas. The notion that a city was a state was by 

 no means confined to the independent cities of early Greece. Whether 

 it voluntarily merged itself in a League or lived on as a subordinate 

 unit in the system of a dominant power, the city and its territory were 

 politically one. Within their several boundaries the townsmen and 

 rustic citizens of each city were subject to the authorities of that 

 community. Beyond their own boundary they were aliens under the 

 authorities of another city. It is no wonder that jealousies between 

 neighbour cities were often extreme, and that Roman intervention was 

 often needed to keep the peace between rivals. But the system suited 

 Roman policy. In the East and wherever cities existed they were 

 taken over as administrative units and as convenient centres of taxa- 

 tion : in the West it was found useful and practicable to introduce 

 urban centres into tribes and cantons, and even in certain districts to 

 attach 1 local populations to existing cities as dependent hamlets. And, 



1 aitributi or contributi. See Mommsen, Staatsrecht ill, die attribuirten Orte. 



