[717] Dionys. x. 50 ἐπὶ τῆς λοχίτιδος ἐκκλησίας νόμον ἐκύρωσαν (the consuls Sp. Tarpeius and A. Aternius) ἵνα ταῖς ἀρχαῖς ἐξῇ πάσαις τοὺς ἀκοσμοῦντας ἤ παρανομοῦντας εἰς τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἐξουσίαν ζημιοῦν· τέως γὰρ οὐχ ἅπασιν ἐξῆν ἀλλὰ τοῖς ὑπάτοις μόνοις. Cf. Cic. de Rep. ii. 35, 60.
[718] Dionys. l.c.; Gell. xi. 1. Dionysius (probably by an error of the copyist) represents the fine as being two oxen or thirty sheep.
[719] Cic. de Rep. ii. 35, 60 “levis aestimatio pecudum in multa lege C. Julii, P. Papirii consulum constituta est”; Liv. iv. 30 “legem de multarum aestimatione pergratam populo ... ipsi (the consuls Julius and Papirius) praeoccupaverunt ferre”; Gell. xi. 1 “in oves singulas aeris deni, in boves aeris centeni ... Suprema multa est ejus numeri, ... ultra quem multam dicere in dies singulos jus non est.” Gellius, however, attributes the pecuniary estimate to the lex Aternia.
[720] The view has been sometimes held that the multa suprema was one beyond which the magistrate could not under any circumstances go. In this case there is no known limit at which the appeal became possible. That there was one, however, is shown by the provocatio ab omni judicio allowed by the Twelve Tables (Cic. de Rep. ii. 31, 54. See p. 106).
[721] p. 246.
[722] Lex Tab. Bant. 1. 12 “Sei quis mag(istratus) multam inrogare volet [quei volet, dum minoris] partus familias taxsat, liceto.”
[723] e.g. in case of continued resistance to the veto. See Liv. xliii. 16 (169 B.C., P. Rutilius) “Ti Gracchi primum bona consecravit, quod in multa pignoribusque ejus, qui tribunum adpellasset, intercessioni non parendo, se in ordinem coegisset”; or for a supposed stigma inflicted by a censor on a tribune (Plin. H.N. vii. 44). Cicero, pro Domo 47, 123, mentions the consecration of the goods of L. Metellus by C. Atinius (131 B.C., Plin. l.c.) as an instance of “furor tribuni plebis, ductus ex nonnullis perveterum temporum exemplis.” P. Clodius (58 B.C.) consecrated the goods of Cicero and of Gabinius the consul (ib. § 124).
[724] Lex Quinctia de aquaeductibus (Bruns Fontes) l. 20 “tum is praetor ... multa pignoribus cogito coerceto.”
[725] Cic. de Orat. iii. 1, 4, “pignora caedere” or “concidere”; the destruction was performed as an example “in conspectu populi Romani.”
[726] Auct. de Vir. Illustr. 72, 6. Cf. the procedure of the consul Servilius against the revolutionary praetor Caelius Rufus in 48 B.C. Dio Cass. xlii. 23 τόν τε δίφρον αὑτοῦ συνέτριψεν.