Public Lands and Agrarian Laws of the Roman Republic

Public Lands and Agrarian Laws of the Roman Republic is a book by Andrew Stephenson. The preface says its object is to trace the history of the domain lands of Rome from the earliest times to the establishment of the Empire. The preface says the plan is to sketch the origin and growth of the idea of private property in land and the expansion of the ager publicus by the conquest of neighboring territories.

A quoted account says that as soon as Servius was invested with the government, he divided the public lands among such of the Romans as had no lands of their own. The text says municipia sine suffragio, for example Caere and Etruria, had only interior privileges, and their inhabitants could not vote at Rome. The text says a proposal met with opposition from many of the senators, and that Cæsar, pretending to be much vexed at their unfair behavior, left the house and never called the senate together again during the remainder of his consulship.