PRAEFECTURAE, FORA, VICI, CASTELLA,
Vituriorum[1]. In one case we hear of the duovir of a colony acting as prefect of a castellum[2]. It is impossible to draw an exact line of distinction between the several minor communities, but for the purposes of convenience in the discussion the fora, conciliabula, vici, and castella may be put together. These in turn fall into two groups, the fora and conciliabula on the one hand, and the vici and castella on the other. Settlements of the first two classes were always authorized by the central government and thus bore a certain resemblance to colonies[3]. Indeed it is quite possible that in the earliest period Roman colonies held the same legal relation to Rome as the fora and conciliabula did in later times[4]. This official relation for the fora is indicated by such typical names as Forum Popili and Forum Livi. Most of them were founded by Roman magistrates charged with the construction of a highway, and the name is found most frequently in northern Italy[5], and for settlements made under the republic. In the last century of the republic most of the fora and conciliabula were erected into communities with full rights of local self-government.
On a somewhat lower plane stood the vici and castella. Of them Isidore remarks[6]: vici et castella et pagi sunt, quae nulla dignitate civitatis ornantur, sed vulgari hominum conventu incoluntur et propter parvitatem sui maioribus civitatibus attribuuntur. The vici, at least, were usually private settlements, and the castella may be regarded as fortified vici, although in the founding of a castellum probably the initiative would ordinarily be taken by a military authority, and the commandant may well have acted at the outset as the local magistrate[7]. Most of
- ↑ No. 10, II. 43-44. For a specific illustration of the relations between a civitas and its attributi, see commentary on no. 49 on the question at issue between the municipium of Tridentum and the Anuani.
- ↑ CIL. VIII, 15726.
- ↑ Schulten, R.E. 4, 799 f.
- ↑ Mommsen, St. R. 3, 755 ff.
- ↑ Schulten, R.E. 7, 62.
- ↑ Orig. 15. 2. II.
- ↑ Mommsen, Hermes, 24 (1889), 200.
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