however, was paid to the changes made by Appius. Q. Fabius Rullianus, one of the censors of that year, allowed landless freemen and the freedmen to remain in the tribal organization, but assigned them to the four city tribes, which were so large that individual votes were of comparatively little avail. The sons of freedmen were again treated as ineligible to the senate or to a magistracy, but in other respects they enjoyed the political rights of citizens. As a result of the whole incident the position of the senate and of the nobilitas was strengthened. It had proved itself more powerful than its enemies. Two achievements of Appius of a permanent character should be mentioned, before we leave the discussion of his career, viz., the part which he played in securing the publication of the calendar and of the legis actiones in 304, and the construction of the via Appia in 312. Exactly what happened in 304 is not clear from the words of Livy,—civile ius repositum in penetralibus potificum (Cn. Flavius) evulgavit fastosque circa forum in albo proposuit (IX. 46. 5). The general method of procedure in civil cases and the calendar had both been given in the laws of the twelve tables. The service which Flavius rendered to the people consisted perhaps, as some writers maintain, in the publication of the pertinent contents of the laws of the twelve tables in book form, or he may have set down for general use a list of court days and a complete set of the forms which were to be employed in civil cases. Whatever the exact truth of the case may have been, information essential to everyday life, which had formerly confined to a few, became the common property of all. To Appius, Rome was also indebted for the first of those great military roads which proved such a powerful factor in extending Roman commerce and Roman ideas, and in facilitating the transfer of troops to all parts
