[1497] Cic. in Verr. ii. 13, 32; 15, 37; 16, 39; 24, 59.
[1498] Liv. xlv. 17 and 32.
[1499] Plin. ad Traj. 79 (83), 1.
[1500] As Cicero did in his government of Cilicia. See ad Att. vi. 2, 4 “omnes (civitates), suis legibus et judiciis usae, αὐτονομίαν adeptae, revixerunt”; vi. 1, 15 “multaque sum secutus Scaevolae (governor of Asia circa 98 B.C.); in iis illud, in quo sibi libertatem censent Graeci datam, ut Graeci inter se disceptent suis legibus ... Graeci vero exsultant quod peregrinis judicibus utuntur.”
[1501] This we may gather from Cicero’s account of the proceedings of the native magistrates in Cilicia (ad Att. vi. 2, 5 “Mira erant in civitatibus ipsorum furta Graecorum, quae magistratus sui fecerant: quaesivi ipse de iis, qui annis decem proximis magistratum gesserant; aperte fatebantur”).
[1502] On the conquest of Epirus in 167 B.C., although all the Illyrians were declared liberi, only some were pronounced “non solum liberi sed etiam immunes” (Liv. xlv. 26).
[1503] Cf. Tac. Hist. iv. 74 “nam neque quies gentium sine armis neque arma sine stipendiis neque stipendia sine tributis haberi queunt.”
[1504] Liv. xlv. 29.
[1505] Cic. pro Leg. Man. 6, 14 “ceterarum provinciarum vectigalia, Quirites, tanta sunt ut iis ad ipsas provincias tutandas vix contenti esse possimus, Asia vero tam opima est et fertile ut ... facile omnibus terris antecellat.”
[1506] Gaius ii. 7 “in eo (provinciali) solo dominium populi Romani est vel Caesaris, nos autem possessionem tantum vel usumfructum habere videmur.” The theory is perhaps as old as the Gracchan period. C. Gracchus’ association of the Asiatic taxes with the censor (cf. p. 231) must have done a good deal to develop it. It is no wonder that this theory led to the view that the provinces were “quasi quaedam praedia populi Romani” (Cic. in Verr. ii. 3, 7).