From the reign of Titus onwards, the camp was no longer appropriated exclusively to the troops. At the time when the Oppidum had been converted into a permanent camp, the whole of the plateau, its slopes, and part of the ground situated to the north, had been considered as Ager Romanus. It was what we should now call "crown land,"—Ager Publicus. The inhabitants, therefore, could not possess or build upon this land, or, if permitted to occupy a part, it was as usufructuaries, not as freeholders.
This Roman law, which dated from the time of the Republic, and which at first affected all provincial soil, was never rigorously applied. Its enforcement would have been difficult, and the populations of the provinces, as well as those of Italy, solicited and easily obtained the jus Italicum, which consisted in the full possession of the soil, with liberty to use, to sell, and to transmit it by way of inheritance. When the imperial government was definitively established, the emperors favoured the development of the principle of private property; because the great landholders were then the only persons who could be considered as forming an aristocratic class, privileged, it is true, but, on the other hand, bearing the burden of special functions—such, for instance, as that of urban magistrature, then very onerous. It must be observed that the civic rights accorded by Rome extended not only to a town, but to the whole of the territory pertaining to it.
As the Vale of Abonia possessed the jus civitatis, and the site of the camp remained unoccupied, the inhabitants petitioned that ground so well adapted to habitations should be restored to civil uses. It was then determined by the Emperor Vespasian that the ager publicus of Abonia should be colonized. Colonization under the Roman empire meant the division solemnly made by the agrimensores, according to certain religious prescriptions, of a part of the ager publicus into shares.
These shares were unequal, and, although apportioned by lot among the colonists—that is to say, among the native inhabitants and the foreigners who presented themselves as applicants for their possession, it always happened—by what means we are unable to say—that the allotments fell according to the rank or fortune of the individual. The ancient Oppidum was therefore colonized.
The remains of its ramparts soon disappeared; the wide fosse, which separated the large camp from the smaller one, became a road terminating by sloping paths in the level of the plateau; a theatre rose on the eastern declivity; water was brought in abundance, by a fine aqueduct of masonry, to baths constructed at the southern point, and to all the new habitations which soon arose on every side, surrounded by gardens. A temple, dedicated to Augustus, was erected on the site of the ancient Prætorium, on the very spot where stood the shrine of former days, and a second sacred edifice dedicated, say some, to Hercules—which is doubtful—took the place of the ancient southern stronghold. A forum and a basilica occupied the middle of the plateau. The villæ spread beyond the circumvallation, and extended over the two declivities, east and west.
The lower town continued to be occupied by the merchants, craftsmen, boatmen, and the poorer class; it extended along the two shores down the river. The bridge previously mentioned was rebuilt with stone, and a second bridge of timber was thrown across half a mile further up the stream, at the continuation of the sunken way by which the plateau was divided.
CHAPTER VII.
Three centuries of peace had caused the disappearance of the last vestiges of the ancient ramparts which surrounded the permanent camp of the Romans, then occupied by the cité of Abonia. But for many years the incursions of the Germans had disquieted some of the neighbouring countries. They had made their appearance among the Remi several times, and although they habitually presented themselves as defenders of the empire, or were actually called in by one party or the other during the civil discords by which Gaul was then rent, their conduct was that of enemies, not of allies. Finding the country attractive, they spread gradually among the eastern provinces, robbing, pillaging, and burning among the friends who invited their aid, as well as among the enemies they were going to attack. At their approach the rural districts were deserted, and the uninclosed towns hastily fortified.