Note 522 — Chapter III · THE CLASSES OF THE POPULATION AND THE THEORY OF THE CONSTITUTION IN THE DEVELOPED REPUBLIC

For the censor as such had no power to confer freedom (Mommsen Staatsr. ii. p. 374). Cicero (de Orat. i. 40, 183) mentions the juristic controversy whether the slave was free from the moment of the announcement or from the lustrum, which gave validity to the censorian ordinances. Servi publici were manumitted by the magistrates, but whether by the consul only or by any magistrate is unknown (Momms. Staatsr. i. p. 321). The greatest instance of state emancipation is that of the Volones in 214 B.C. (Liv. xxiv. 16).