304 HISTORY OF ROMAN LAW 



banking facilities. 1 While these conditions doubtless existed, and it is 

 certain that the credit system was crude and primitive compared 

 with that of the present day, yet we can see in the Digest that the 

 functions of the Roman argentarii must have considerably relieved 

 the strain on the metallic currency. This was partly recognized at the 

 time, for the banking business is expressly stated to be of public 

 utility; and since the recent excavation of the Basilica Aemilia in 

 the Forum, where the principal banking-offices were situated, and 

 the marble pavement of which is still strewn with remains of their 

 coins, we know that in Rome, at least, the state provided well for 

 their comfort. It is safe to infer, from the silence of the Digest, 

 that even its compilers in the sixth century had never heard of 

 negotiable instruments or of bills payable to bearer; yet the bankers 

 of the Empire did many things to facilitate commercial transactions. 

 They received money on deposit in the modern way, the sum de- 

 posited becoming a debt due to the depositor, and they made pay- 

 ments for his account on his written order. They could transact 

 for a client all sorts of sales, collections, investments, and other busi- 

 ness, make loans on his behalf, and issue drafts on correspondents 

 in other cities. When Cicero sent his son to Athens, he provided 

 him with means of drawing money when he got there, though we 

 cannot suppose that he gave him a bill of exchange. He probably 

 got from his banker an order on some Athenian bank, or else bought 

 a debt payable in Athens. Branch banks could be managed by agents 

 or by slaves, and we know that the banker might have his head 

 office in one province and carry on business in another. 2 The best 

 evidence, perhaps, of the importance and variety of the banker's 

 functions appears in the elaborate legal rules dealing with the produc- 

 tion of his books and the statement of his accounts, and filling many 

 paragraphs in the Digest and Code. 3 



It is from these same sources, as well as from the Theodosian Code 

 and from a great array of inscriptions, that we derive our knowledge 

 of the Roman workingman's clubs and trade-unions. The inscriptions 

 have not only supplied many details not found in the books, but they 

 show to what an extent free labor flourished all over the Empire, 

 even in competition with slavery. Under the Republic trade asso- 

 ciations grew strong and had much influence in politics, for Cicero 

 constantly mentions them, and was advised by his friends to bid 

 for their vote. Indeed, their power became so great, during the 

 anarchical times of the later Republic' that they were twice sup- 

 pressed by the Senate and again by Julius Caesar and Augustus. 

 These last prohibitions did not, however, apply to associations that 



1 Cunningham, Essay on Western Civilization, p. 183. 



2 Dig. 2, 13, 4, 5. See Guillard, Les Banquiers a. Rome; Deloume, Les Manieurs 

 d'argent a Rome. 



3 Dig. 2, 13; Cod. 2,1. 



