[496] Gell. i. 11. 3; Vergil, Aen. vii. 716: “Hortinae classes.”
[497] Gell. vi (vii). 13. 3: “In M. Catonis oratione, qua Voconiam legem suasit, quaeri solet, quid sit classicus, quid infra classem;” p. 90 below.
[498] CIL. i. 200 (Lex Agr.). 37: (“Recuperatores ex ci)vibus L quei classis primae sient, XI dato.”
[499] P. 66 f.; cf. Fest. 249. 1: “In descriptione classium quam fecit Ser. Tullius.” The attempt of Smith, Röm. Timokr., especially 140 ff., to prove that the five classes were introduced by the censors of 179 has nothing in its favor. It rests upon Livy xl. 51. 9: “Mutarunt suffragia, regionatimque generibus hominum causisque et quaestibus tribus descripserunt.” This passage makes no reference to the classes. In “generibus hominum” are included chiefly the “genus ingenuum” and the “genus libertinum.” “Causis” applies to those conditions of the libertini, such as the possession of children of a definite age, which might serve as a ground for enrolment in a rural tribe; and “quaestibus” refers to the distinction between landowners and the “opifices et sellularii” of the city. “They changed the arrangement for voting, and drew up the tribal lists on a local basis according to the social orders, the conditions, and the callings of men;” cf. Lange, Röm. Alt. ii. 265 f.; p. 354 f. below. Among the many objections to Smith’s theory these two may be mentioned: if the classes were introduced at this late historical time, (1) they would not have been ascribed to Servius Tullius; (2) they would have been adapted to the economic conditions of the second century B.C., whereas in 179 they were largely outgrown by the depreciation of the standard of value, the increase in the cost of living, and the growth of enormous estates. The Römische Timokratie is ably written, but its main thesis—the institution of the classes in the second century B.C.—remains unproved.
[500] P. 64.
[501] Verf. d. Serv. 643 f. et passim. He made a mistake however in supposing that from the beginning land was valued in terms of money.
[502] Mommsen, Röm. Trib. 111; Röm. Staatsr. iii. 247 ff.; Kübler, in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encycl. iii. 2631. When the change was made from a land to a money rating, the land of the fifth class was appraised relatively higher than that of the others. Neumann, Grundherrsch. d. röm. Rep. 9 f., prefers to assume 16 (= 2 + 14) iugera for the highest class in order to explain the often mentioned estates of seven and fourteen iugera. But it is difficult to work out a consistent scheme on this basis. Smith, Röm. Timokr. 78 ff. et passim, strongly objects to the view in any form, as he doubts the existence of the Servian classes. In general he has greatly exaggerated the difficulties of their administration.
[503] Sall. Iug. 86; Gell. xvi. 10. 14, 16; cf. Cass. Hem. 21 (Peter, Reliquiae, i. 102 f.).
[504] Haeberlin, in Riv. ital. numis. xix (1906). 614 f.
[505] Samwer-Bahrfeldt, Gesch. d. alt. röm. Münzw. 176 f.; Hill, Greek and Roman Coins, 47, 49, n. 1; Kubitschek, in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encycl. ii. 1509 ff.; Hultsch, ibid. v. 206; Regling, in Klio, vi (1906). 503. Babelon, Trait. d. mon. Grecq. et Rom. i. 595, still holds the view that the triental as was introduced in 269; cf. his Orig. d. la mon. 376; Mon. d. la rép. Rom. i. 37.