In contrast to the habits of the Greek polis (in which one usually was either a full citizen or no citizen at all),
the Romans developed a notion of `belonging' to the Roman State (Senatus Populusque Romanus)
in which the `citizenship' was thought of as consisting of a collection of rights and privileges,
which any particular person or group of persons might have in whole or in part. These rights included:
(a) the privilege of holding public office (Ius honorum) (b) the right to vote (Ius suffragii) (c) the right to marry a Roman citizen (Ius matrimonii) (d) the right to do business in Roman markets under the protection of Roman legal codes and courts (Ius commercii) NUMBERS of Citizens (the census): For military purposes, as well as for voting purposes,
the State, from the time of the Kings, was in the habit of keeping and revising lists of:
(a) the SENATORIAL ORDER (Senators and their families) (b) the EQUESTRIAN ORDER (Important and wealthy non-Senators,
including (later on) the tax-farmers, military supply contractors, etc. (c) the POPULUS ROMANUS (citizens, who did not qualify for higher status). From these lists, apparently, some numbers (not without some exaggeration and fictional additions)
have been transmitted to us (mostly through the Roman historian LIVY,
who was writing in the time of the Emperor Augustus, ca. 29 B.C. to 17 A.D.). ___________________________________________________________________ under King Servius 84,000 80,000 83,000 508 B.C. 130,000 498 150,000 493 110,000 474 103,000 465 104,714 459 117,319 393 152,573 __________________ 340 165,000 334 250,000 or 150,000 or 130,000 294 ca. 260,000 to 272,000 290/287 272,000 280 287,000 276 271,000 224 270,212 265 B.C. 382,234 or 292,334 252 297,797 247 241,212 241 260,000 224 270,212 225 273,000 209 137,108 204 214,000 ____________ 194 143,000 189 258,318 179 258,294 174 269,015 169 312,805 164 337,452 159 328,316 154 324,000 147 322,000 142 328,442 136 317,933 131 318,823 125 394,736 115 394,336 86 463,000 70 910,000 Under Augustus: 28 4,063,000 8 4,233,000 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ -Arnold J. Toynbee, Hannibal's Legacy (Oxford 1965) I, Chapter III Annex 10. -Tenney Frank, "Roman Census Statistics from 508 to 225 B.C.," American Journal of Philology 51 (1930) 313-324. Note: All the figures given are problematical, in various ways. First, there is the problem of the correct transmission of numbers in the manuscripts. Second, there is the issue of who precisely are being counted in each census. Third, there is the question as to whether complete census returns were ever made. Most authorities find it difficult to believe that statistics prior to 340 B.C. are anything but fictitious.
John Paul Adams, CSUN
john.p.adams@csun.edu