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On the Roman Coloni. 131 they were forced to borrow the money from the officers of the revenue at a usurious interest. He orders that in future the money should be advanced (unquestionably without in- terest) from the church-chest, and that the coloni should refund it by degrees. The whole passage is as follows : Praeterea cognovimus quod prima illatio hiirdationis ^^ rus- ticos nostros vehementer angustat^ ita ut priusquam lahores suos venundare valeant^ compellantur tributa persolvere : qui dum de suo^ unde dare debeant^ non habent^ ab auc- tionariis publicis'^ mutuo accipiunt^ et gravia commoda pro eodem benejicio persolvunt : ex qua re Jit ut dispendiis gravibus coangustentur. Unde praesenti admonitione prae- cipimus ut omne quod mutuum pro eadem causa ab eoctraneis accipere poterant^ a tua experientia publico ^^ detur^ et a rus- ticis Ecclesiae paulatim ut habuerint accipiatur ; ne dum in tempore coangustantur^ quod eis postmodum sujfficere in inferendum poterat^ prius compulsi vilius vendant^ et hoc eis minime sujfficiat. With regard to property the coloni seem at first sight to stand on exactly the same foot as the slaves. What they possess is called peculium^ just as is the case with slaves: it is said that the claims of the master did not merely extend to the person of his colonics^ but embraced his peculium "'^ ; nay that the coloni earned for their master, and that what they earned belonged not to them, but to him^^. A minuter their straits consented to part with it under its value. "With reference to a mere corn- country the passage would be nonsense; for in such the produce might assuredly have been conveniently sold before the first of January. ■7^ The word burdatio occurs nowhere except in two passages of this letter (pp. 535, 536) ; and its etymology is uncertain. There can be no doubt however about its meaning, both on account of the prima illatio coupled with it (see the third section of my Dissertation on the Roman Finances), and because the word tributa is used imme- diately after as equivalent to it. ■^^ We should follow the manuscripts which read actionariis. Actionarii publici was a general name for all the officers of the revenue, and is used here for the tax- collectors. See Ducange on actionarius and auctionarius. '^ Tua experientia^ as appears from several passages, is the official honorary title which the pope gives to the subdeacon, Peter. Publico is the dative, and means the same as fisco^ the exchequer. The reading of the old editions, ex publico^ is to be re- jected therefore without hesitation. 79 L. un. C. Theod. de inquilinis (v. 10). L. 23. § 2. C. J. de agric. (xi. 47). ^^ L. 2. C. J. in quib. cans, coloni (xi. 49) : Quern nee propria quidem leges sui juris habere voluerunt, et — domino et acquirere, et habere voluerunt. L. 18. C. J. de agric. (xi. 47).