[153] Titus Livius, X. 23.
[154] Titus Livius, X. 9.
[155] “Who does not see clearly that the vice of the dictator (Marcellus) in the eyes of the augurs was that he was a plebeian?” (Titus Livius, VIII. 23.—Cicero, De Divinatione, II. 35, 37; De Legibus, II. 13.)
[156] The consuls and prætors could only assemble the comitia, command the armies, or give final judgment in civil affairs, after having been invested with the imperium and with the right of taking the auspices (jus auspiciorum) by a curiate law.
[157] Second Oration on the Agrarian Law, 9.
[158] Titus Livius, IV. 3.
[159] If a citizen refused to give his name for the recruitment, his goods were confiscated; if he did not pay his creditors, he was sold for a slave. Women were forbidden the use of wine. (Polybius, VI. 2.)—The number of guests who could be admitted to feasts was limited. (Athenæus, VI. p. 274.)—The magistrates also, on entering on office, could not accept invitations to dinner, except from certain persons who were named. (Aulus Gellius, II. 24.—Macrobius, II. 13.)—“Marriage with a plebeian or a stranger was surrounded with restrictive measures; it was forbidden with a slave or with a freedman. Celibacy, at a certain age, was punished with a fine.” (Valerius Maximus, II. ix. 1.)—There were regulations also for mourning and funerals. (Cicero, De Legibus, II. 24.)
[160] Aulus Gellius, IV. 12.
[161] Plutarch, Cato the Censor, 23.
[162] Historians have always assigned as the northern frontier of Italy, under the Republic, the River Macra, in Etruria; but that the limit was farther south is proved by the fact that Cæsar went to Lucca to take his winter quarters; this town, therefore, must have been in his command and made part of Cisalpine Gaul. Under Augustus, the northern frontier of Italy extended to the Macra.