The first important A. L. of a permanent nature, actually passed, was that proposed by the tribune, Licinius Stub°, and carried, after a struggle of five years, in the year of Rome 383. The provisions of Licinius's bill, or rogation, were as follows: "Every Roman citizen shall be entitled to occupy any portion of the unallotted state land not exceeding 500 jugera (see AenE), and to feed on the public pasture-land any number of cattle not exceeding 100 head of large, or 500 head of small, paying in both cases the usual rates to the public treasury. Whatever portions of the public land beyond 500 jugera are at present occupied by individuals shall be taken from them, and distributed among the poorer citizens as absolute property, at the rate of seven jugera apiece. Occupiers of public land shall be bound to employ a certain number of freemen as laborers." This law produced for a time very salutary effects. But before the year 621, when Tiberius Gracchus was elected tribune, the Licinian law lit been suffered to fall into abeyance; and although vast tracts had been acquired by the Italian, the Punic and the Greek wars, no regular distribution of land among the destitute citizens had taken place for upwards of a century. Numerous military colonies had indeed been founded in the conquered districts, and in this way many of the poorer Romans or their allies had been provided for; but still there remained large territories, the property of the state, which, instead of being divided among the poorer members of the state, were entered upon and brought into cultivation by the rich capitalists, many of whom thus came to hold thousands of jugera, instead of the five hundred allowed by the Licinian law. To a Roman statesman, therefore, looking on the one hand to the wretched pauper population of the meaner streets of Rome, and on the other to the enormous tracts of the public land throughout Italy which the wealthy citizens held in addition to their own private property, the question which would naturally present itself was—Why should not the state, as landlord, resume from these wealthy capitalists, who arc her tenants, as much of the public land as may be necessary to provide little farms for these pauper citizens, and so convert them into respectable and independent agriculturists? This question must have presented itself to many; but there were immense difficulties in the way. Not only had long possession of the state lands, and the expenditure of large sums in bringing them into cultivation, given the wealthy tenants a sort of proprietary claim upon them, but in the course of generations, during which estates had been bought, sold and inherited, the state lands had becomeso confused with private property that in many cases it was impossible to distinguish between the two. Notwithstanding these
difficulties, Tiberius Gracchus had the boldness to propose an A. L., to the effect that every father of a family might occupy 500 jugera of the state land for himself, and 250 jugera additional for each of his sons; but that, in every case where this amount was exceeded, the state should resume the surplus, paying the tenant a price for the buildings, etc., which lie had been at the expense of erecting on the lands thus lost to him. The recovered lands were then to be distributed among the poor citizens; a clause being inserted in the bill to prevent these citizens from selling the lands thus allotted to them, as many of them would have been apt to do.
According to the laws and constitution of Rome, there was nothing essentially unjust in this proposal, which was, in private, at least, approved of by some of the most distin guished men of the time. The energy of Gracchus carried the measure, in spite of the opposition of the aristocratic party, whose vengeance, however, could only be satisfied with the assassination of Gracchus and his brother. See GRACCITIIS. The attempts to carry out the " Sempronian law," as it was called, were attended with great difficulties, and although not formally repealed, it continued to be evaded and rendered inoperative. Various A. laws were subsequently passed, some by the victorious aristocratic party, in a spirit directly opposed to the Licinian and Sempronian laws.
Besides A. laws having for their object the division among the commons of public lands usurped by the nobles, there were others of a more partial and local nature, for the establishment of colonies in particular conquered districts: these naturally met with less opposition. Still more different were those violent appropriations of territory made by the victorious military leaders in the latter times of the republic, in order to reward their soldiers, and establish exclusively military colonies. In these the private rights of the previous occupants were often disregarded.