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On this page: Socii

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SOCII.

sidered equivalent, it would seem to follow that until the partnership property were exhausted by the payment of the debts, there should be no pe­cuniary contribution by the person who supplied the labour. This principle is a consequence of what Gaius states that the capital of one and the labour of another might be considered equal, and the gain might be divided, and if there was a loss the loss must be divided in the same proportion.

Societates were formed for the purposes of farm­ing the public revenues. [publicanl]

(Gains, iii, 148—354 ; Dig. 17. tit. 2 ; Inst. 3. tit. 26 ; Cod. 4. tit. 37 • Miihlenbruch, Doctrina Pan'dectarum ; Mackeldey, Lelivbwh, &c. ,• Basse, Die Culpa des Rom. Reclits, s. 46, 49.) [G. L.]

SOCII (aru/u.iJLaxot). In the early times, when Home formed equal alliances with any of the sur­rounding nations, these nations were called Socii. (Liv. ii. 53.) After the dissolution of the Latin league, when the name Latini^ or Nomen Laiinum, was artificially, applied to a great number of Ita­lians, few only of whom were real inhabitants of the old Latin towns, and the majority of whom had been made Latins by the will and the law of Rome, there necessarily arose a difference between these Latins and the Socii, and the expression tSocii' Nomen Latinum is one of the old asyndeta, instead of Socii et Nomen Latinum. The Italian allies again must be distinguished from foreign al­lies. Of the latter we shall speak hereafter. The Italian allies consisted, for the most part, of such nations as had either been conquered by the Ro­mans, or had come under their dominion by other circumstances. When such nations formed an alliance with Rome, they generally retained their own laws ; or if at first they were not allowed this privilege, they afterwards received them back again. The condition of the Italian allies varied, and mainly depended upon the manner in which they liad come under the Roman dominion (Liv. viii. 25, 5x. 20) ; but in reality they were always depend­ent upon Rome. Nie'buhr (Hist, of Home, vol. iii. p. 616) considers that there were two main con­ditions of the Socii, analogous or equal to those of the provincials, that is, that they were either Jbederati or liberi (immunes, Cic. c. Verr. iii. 6). The former were such as had formed an alliance with Rome, which was sworn to by both parties ; the latter were those people to whom the senate had restored their autonomy after they were con­quered, such as the Hernican towns. (Liv. ix. 43.) But the condition of each of these classes must again have been modified according to circum­stances. The cases in which Rome had an equal alliance with nations or towns of Italy became gradually fewer in number : alliances of this kind existed indeed for a long time with Tibur, Prae-neste, Naples, and others (Polyb. vi. 14 ; Liv. ..xl-iii. 2 ; Cic. pro Ball). 8) ; but these places were, nevertheless, in reality as dependent as the other Socii. It was only a few people, such as the Oamertes and Heracleans, that maintained the rights of their equal alliance with Rome down to a very late time. (Liv. xxviii. 45; Pint. Mar. 28 ; Cic. pro Balb. 20, pro Arch. 4.) With these Jew exceptions, most of the Italians were either Socii (in the later sense) or Latini. During the latter period of the republic they had the connu-bium with Rome (Diodor. Excerpt. Mai9 xxxvii. 6), but not the suffrage of the Latins. It sometimes happened, as in the case of the Macedonian Onesi-

SOCIt;

mus, that a foreign individual was honoured by tlm senate by being registered among the Italian Socii (in sociorum fornmlam referre), and in this casa the senate provided him with a house and-lands in some part of Italy. (Liv. xliv. 16.) ,

Although the allies had their own laws, the: senate, in cases where it appeared conducive to the general welfare, might command them to submit to any ordinance it might issue, as in the case of the Senatusconsultum de Bacchanalibus. (Liv. xxxix;v 14.) Many regulations also, which were part of the Roman law, especially such as related tousmy, sureties, wills, and innumerable other things (Liv. xxxv. 7 ; Gaius, iii. 121, &c. ; Cic. pro Balb. 8), were introduced among the. Socii, and nominally received by them voluntarily. (Cic. /. c. ; Gell. xvi. 13, xix, 8.) The Romans thus gradually united the Italians with themselves, by introducing:their own laws among them ; but as they did not grant to them the same civic rights the Socii ultimately demanded them arms in their hands.

Among the duties which the Italian Soeii had to perform towards Rome the following are the prin­cipal ones : they had to send subsidies in troops, money, corn, ships, and other things, whenever Rome demanded them. (Liv. xxvi. 39, xxviii. 45, xxxv. 1£, &c.) The number of troops requisite for completing or increasing the Roman armies was decreed every year by the senate (Liv. • passim), and the consuls fixed the amount which each allied nation had to send, in proportion to its population capable of bearing arms, of which each nation waa obliged to draw up accurate lists, called formulae, (Liv. xxxiv. 56 ; Polyb. ii. 23, &c.; Liv. xxii. 57t xxvii. 10.) The consul also appointed the place and time at which the troops of the Socii, each part under its own leader, had to meet him and his legions. (Polvb. vi. 21, 26 ; Liv. xxxiv. 56, xxxvi. 3, xli. 5.) The infantry of the allies in a consular army Avas usually more numerous than that of the Romans; the cavalry was'generally three times the number of the Romans (Polyb. iii. 308, vi. 26, 30) : but these numerical proportions were not always observed. (Potyb. ii. 24, iii. 72.) The consuls appointed twelve praefects as com­manders of the Socii, and their power answered to that of the twelve military tribunes in the consular legions. (Polyb. vi. 26, 37.) These praefects^ who were probably taken from the allies themselves, and not from the Romans, selected a third of the cavalry, and a fifth of the infantry of the Socii, who formed a select detachment for extraordinary cases, and who were called the extraordinarii. The - re­maining body of the Socii was then divided into two parts, called the right and the left wing. (Polyb. /. c. ; Liv. xxxi. 21, xxxv. 5.) Thein­fantry of the wings was, as usual, divided into cohorts, and the cavalry into turmae. In some cases also legions were formed of the Socii. (Liv. xxxvii. 39.) Pay and clothing were given to the allied troops by the states or towns to which they belonged, and which appointed quaestors or pay­masters for this purpose (Polyb. vi. 21 ; :Gic. c.-Verr. v. 24) ; but Rome furnished them with provisions at the expense of the republic : the infantry re­ceived the same as the Roman infantry, but the cavalry only received two-thirds of what was given to the Roman cavalry. (Polyb. vi. 39 ; Cic. pro Balb. 20.) In the distribution of the spoil and of conquered lands they frequently received the same share as the Romans. (Liv. xl. 43, xli. 7, 38,