Note 58 — THE ORIGIN OF PROPERTY IN LAND

Livy has been cited; but if those who have done so had first read him, they would have seen that every time that he wishes to speak of public land, he says ager publicus and not ager by itself. ii. 41: agrum publicum possideri a privatis criminabatur. ii. 61: Possessores agri publici. iv. 36: agris publicis. iv. 51: possesso per injuriam agro publico. iv. 53: possessione agri publici cederent. vi. 5: in possessione agri publici grassabantur, etc. That it sometimes happens that in a passage where he has written ager publicus, he afterwards writes ager without the adjective, is natural enough. If he speaks in one place of triumvirum agro dando or de agris dividendis plebi, he has no need to add the adjective which is obviously understood. In chapter xxxv. of book vi. he speaks of the lex Licinia “de modo agrorum,” i.e., as to the maximum size of rural properties. It has been conjectured that he made a mistake, and that he meant to speak of the ager publicus; but this is very doubtful. Varro, de re rustica 1, 2, and Columella, 1, 3, understand the law as Livy does; they see in it a limitation of property in general. I cannot, therefore, agree with M. d’Arbois de Jubainville, who interprets de modo agrorum, as if it were de modo agri publici. We must translate literally, and not change the sense.