MUNICIPIUM, the term applied primarily to a status, a certain relation between individuals or communities and the Roman state (Lat. menus, a duty or privilege) ; subsequently to a community standing in such a relation to Rome.
Early History.—The status had its origin in the conferment of citizenship upon Tusculum in 381 B.c., and was widely extended in the settlement made by Rome at the close of the Latin War in 338 B.c. (see ROME : History). Italian towns were then divided into three classes: (a) Coloniae civium Romanorum, the members of which had all the rights of citizenship; (2) municipia, which received partial citizenship; (3) foederatae civitates, separate from Rome, and in relations with her separately arranged for each state by treaty (foedus). The municipia stood in very dif ferent degrees of dependence on Rome. Some, such as Fundi, enjoyed a local self-government only limited in the matter of jurisdiction; others, such as Anagnia, were governed directly from Rome. But all had certain features in common. Their citizens were called upon to pay the same dues and perform the same service in the legions as full Roman citizens, but had not the right of voting in the Comitia (ius suffragii) or of holding Roman magistracies (ins honorum). Jurisdiction was entrusted in every municipium to praefecti iuri dicundo sent out from Rome to represent the praetor urbanus. Municipium must therefore have been more a burden than a privilege. But after the Second Punic War, when Rome had become the chief power in the Medi terranean, we can trace a tendency among the Italian cities to regard citizenship of this great state as a privilege and to claim complete citizenship as a reward of their services in helping to build up the Roman power. During the 2nd century B.C. the ius suffragii and ius honorum were conferred upon numerous muni cipia. They can have exercised their public rights but seldom, owing to their distance from Rome.
Later Republic and Empire.—The result of the social war (see ROME : History) was the establishment of a new uniform municipality throughout Italy. By the Lex Iulia of go B.C. and the Lex Plautia Papiria of 89 B.C., every town in Italy which made application in due form received the complete citizenship. The term municipium was no longer confined to a particular class of Italian towns but included all urban communities of Roman citizens in Italy. The organization of a municipal system, which
should regulate the governments of all these towns on a uniform basis and define their relation to the Roman government, was probably the work of Sulla. Julius Caesar extended the sphere of the system by his enfranchisement of Cisalpine Gaul and the inclusion of all the towns of that region in the category of municipia. Augustus and his successors granted to existing towns in the provinces either the full citizenship or a partial civitas known as the ius Latii, and the distinction survived for some time in the provinces between coloniae, municipia iuris Romani, and municipia iuris Latini. But the uniform administration gradu ally adopted in all three classes rendered the distinction unim portant, and the general term municipium is used of all alike.
The municipal constitution of the 1st century is based upon a type common to Greece and Rome from earliest times. The government of each town consists of magistrates, senate, and assembly, and is independent of the Roman government except in cases of higher civil jurisdiction, which come under the cog nizance of the praetor urbanus at Rome (see PRAETOR). Each community is bound to perform certain services to the Imperial government, such as the contribution of men and horses for military service, the maintenance of the imperial post, and the entertainment of Roman officials or billeting of soldiers. The citizens were of two classes: (I) cives, whether by birth, natu ralization, or emancipation, (2) incolae, who enjoyed a partial citizenship based on domicile for a certain period. Both classes were liable to civic burdens, but the incolae had a limited right of voting. The citizens were grouped in tribes or curiae, and accordingly the comitia sometimes bore the name of tributa, sometimes that of comitia curiata. The theoretical powers of these comitia were extensive, but the growing influence of the municipal senates gradually made popular election a mere form.