for until the beginning of the third century, Graeco-Oriental forms were the common law of the Eastern half of the Empire, and the edict of Caracalla, which by the grant of the civitas implied the future currency of Roman forms, must have created something like a legal revolution in this part of Rome's dominions.[1]
The omnipresence of Roman law was a fitting consequence and symbol of the even, harmonious, uneventful working of provincial life, and of the uniform machinery which was eliminating national characteristics and reducing all provinces to the same level of excellence or decadence. But, in spite of the highly organised character of provincial administration, it was the city-state (civitas) that was still the unit, and the character of its public life remained at all times the test of the effectiveness of the Roman system.
Amidst the brilliant variety of the urban life of the Empire, some uniformity had been secured even during the days of the Republic by Rome's leaning to aristocratic types of organisation. But a slight modification of existing forms of constitution was all that was needed to bring the local machinery into harmony with that of the central government, and there was no effort made to create a uniform type of administration or to regard the provincial state as a mere municipality adapted only to serve the purposes of the imperial system. The Principate ushers in this latter tendency, but at first it is very gradual. In its initial stages it manifests itself in the light of a paternal interest, whether on the part of governors or Emperors, in the affairs of local corporations, in minute regulations as to the responsibilities of magistrates, the use of public funds, and the care of public property.[2] Perhaps for a time such measures were beneficial; certainly for nearly two centuries, in spite of the fact that there is here and there observable a tendency to shirk municipal office as a burden,[3] the vitality of the towns, fostered by peace and the large revenues of commerce, was strong enough to resist the enervating effects of this interference, and hundreds of inscriptions show us a wealth, a splendour, a generosity in endowment, and a thirst for municipal fame, that seem a sufficient reward for).]
- ↑ See Mitteis Reichsrecht und Volksrecht.
- ↑ Cf. Plin. Epp. ad Traj. 17 (28), 37 (46), 39 (48), 47 (56), 54 (62), 111 (112).
- ↑ The lex Malacitana (the charter of a Latin colony in Spain founded between 81 and 84 A.D.) contains (c. li.) elaborate provisions for forcing candidates to come forward for office (Bruns Fontes). Trajan in a letter to Pliny speaks of those "qui inviti fiunt decuriones" (Plin. Ep. ad Traj. 113 [114
