This book is an attempt to explicate those parts of the Lex Agraria of 111 b.c. that have to do with the statuses of the areas of land involved; I am not sure, however, that a commentary is the most sensible way of doing this. The book begins with a discussion of the author of the lex, coming to the same conclusion as Roman Statutes, on grounds, however, that have in my view no force. The principal thesis is that there is no evidence for the existence of dominium ex iure Quiritium before the very end of the Republic. This would be interesting and important, if true; unfortunately, it depends on reading [is ager o]mneis priuatus esto in line 27, not [is ager locus do]m(i)neis priuatus esto. Sacchi discusses omneis on pages xviii, 203, 346, and 530. But not only does –eis as a nominative singular ending never occur in the text of the Lex Agraria, it would be a solecism in Latin of any type or period. S. also prints Mommsen's text, on the grounds that his second edition is recognized as the ‘best’, whatever that may be supposed to mean; but S. has not realized that it is epigraphically impossible: since we have known since the early 1990s that the bottom of Fragment B joins the top of Fragment D, large numbers of Mommsen's supplements simply have to be abandoned. There is little sign that the author has corrected the proofs.
No CrossRef data available.
