Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/216

192 AGRICOLA ance to children, and were even sold under this precarious tenure, though in principle the state could always resume their possession. These public lands were also, on their con- quest, often transformed into common pastur- age. Such lands had various technical names, as occupati, occupatorii, concessi, arciftnales, &c. ; but the general name was that of posses- siones, and the payment or tithe given to the state for their use was called fructus or vecti- galia. The possession of all such lands by in- dividuals was permissive, and differed wholly from the absolute right of property, by which each Roman citizen, whether an original pa- trician or one of the plebeians who were first admitted to private and then to public rights, held landed property by the various titles and denominations known in the Roman law. But the patricians, the original shareholders in the public domain, became by long use accustomed to consider their grants as absolute property, especially as they had improved them in vari- ous ways ; and accordingly they often refused to pay the tithe due to the treasury. In the early period of the republic, previous to the twelve tables, Spurius Cassius, a patrician, on becoming consul, procured a law that some parts of the public domain, long before con- quered, but occupied by the patricians, should be surrendered to the state and assigned to the necessitous citizens. The patricians resisted it, and the law remained a dead letter. The pa- tricians not only prevented new divisions of the public lands, but by violence or usury ac- quired those of the plebeians. This led to agitation for a revival of the law of Spurius Cassius, which the celebrated decemvir Appius Claudius strongly opposed. Next, the inva- sion of the Gauls under Brennus ruined the numerous small free tenants and freeholders, and obliged them to sell their landed property to the wealthy patricians. Those among the small freeholds which were not thus absorbed were overwhelmed by the surrounding large estates. The keeping of large flocks of cattle ruined the saltus publici, or common pasture lands, and in fact excluded the small farmers from them. This abuse occasioned the publi- cation, in 367 B. C., of the Licinian law (roga- tiones Licinice), so called from Licinius Stolo, its originator. This law is considered as form- ing the basis and containing the essence of the agrarian idea. The technical name of this law was De Modo Agri. It prescribed, under a pen- alty of heavy fines, that no one should possess more than 500 jugera (about 380 acres) of the public domain ; and that no one should send to graze on the public pastures more than 100 large or 500 small animals. This law was put in force for a brief period, after which it was neg- lected for nearly two centuries, when it was renewed by Tiberius Gracchus, with some addi- tions and modifications in favor of the wealthy, who were mostly patricians. Any one having one or two sons could hold from 250 to 500 jugera in the public domain above his original right, as established by the Licinian law. The attempt to execute these laws occasioned the tragical end of the two Gracchi (133 and 121 B. C.). In succeeding times, an agrarian law was mooted by a certain Saturninus, having for its object the distribution of lands conquered in Cisalpine Gaul. Another was proposed by Drusus to distribute all the conquered lands among the poor; and in the time of Cicero, Servilius Rullus proposed that the public do- mains out of Italy conquered by Pompey should be sold, and out of the proceeds lands bought in Italy for needy citizens. Not one of all the Roman agrarian laws was ever executed, and not one of them had that confiscatory' or level- ling character so frequently attributed to them. Not one of these laws aimed at the equal division of landed property owned by individuals in their own absolute right, or intended any limitation upon such ownership. AGREDA, Maria de (Coronel), a Franciscan nun, lady superior of the convent of the Immaculate Conception (founded by her mother) at Agreda, in Spain, born in that town in 1602, died there, May 24, 1665. She professed to receive reve- lations direct from heaven. At the command of God, who appeared to her in a dream, as she said, she undertook to write the life of the Virgin Mary. It was first published in 1690, under the title Mistica Ciudad de Dios (4 vols.). Every word, according to her attesta- tion, had been written under inspiration. The reading of it was forbidden at Rome, and the Sorbonne in Paris censured the individual who translated a portion into French. Bossuet ex- posed the indecencies of the work. It has been translated into German. AGREEMENT. See CONTRACT. AGRIB, Agreeb, or Gharib, Mount, a remarka- ble conical mountain in central Egypt, in lat. 28 12' N., Ion. 32 42' E. It is situated about 16 miles inland from the gulf of Suez, opposite Mt. Sinai, is about 6,000 feet high, and can be seen at a distance of 100 miles. AGRICOLA, Cnrins Julius, a Roman general, born at Forum Julii (now Frejus in Provence), June 13, A. D. 37, died Aug. 23, 93. He re- ceived his education at Massilia (Marseilles), and his military training under Suetonius in Brit- ain. On Vespasian's election by his legions (69), Agricola, then quaestor in Asia, was one of the first to acknowledge him, and that emperor in gratitude appointed him governor of Aquitania. He was next made consul, and subsequently governor of Britain. During this governor- ship he conquered Wales and the island of An- glesea, built a wall from the Clyde to the frith of Forth to keep off the incursions of the northern barbarians, and defeated the British Galgacus in Scotland, and thus brought Britain under complete subjection. The Roman fleet now for the first time sailed round the whole island. He was recalled by Domitian, and lived in retirement till his death, which was attrib- uted to the emperor's jealousy of his military reputation and popularity. His daughter Do-