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The Servian Reforms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

Hugh Last
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Extract

The origin and purpose of the centuriate organization are a subject for which the surviving evidence is too scanty to permit of any confident interpretation; and it might well be argued that, when so much has been written already about so little, it is idle to write more. Nevertheless, I have ventured to put down the remarks which follow because, unless I am wrong, there are still some relevant facts which have not been taken into account, and also because certain recent treatments of the matter, by concentrating on selected details without regard to the fundamental problem of the reason why the Servian system, was introduced, seem to me to have moved rather away from the truth than towards it. But for the conclusions suggested below at most I do not claim more than that they deserve consideration.

In dealing with so complicated a piece of history within the limits of an article it is obviously both necessary to be selective and more than usually desirable to be clear. So I have not hesitated either to pass by the less relevant detail in silence or to mention points on which opinion is now generally agreed when such points are essential to make the argument intelligible. For help in an attempt to attain these ends I owe my hearty thanks to four friends—Professors Buckland and de Zulueta, Dr. David Daube and Dr. Momigliano, and in particular also to the first three of them for their generosity in putting at my disposal their knowledge of recent literature in the field of private law. They must not, however, be assumed to share any of the views here outlined.

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Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Roman Studies , Volume 35 , Issue 1-2 , November 1945, pp. 30 - 48
Copyright
Copyright ©Hugh Last 1945. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

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2 Römische Geschichte I, page of note 1296, ff.

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