A Guide to Roman History from the Earliest Period to the Close of the Western Empire (Electronic book text)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. Excerpt from book: Section 3CREDITORS. 135 At the foundation of Rome, Veil was a flourishing city, and the most powerful of the Etruscan confederation. N. B.Both the people and the city were called Veil; the present name is textit{Isola Farnese. Lat. 42Long. 12" 22'. 489. textit{How long were the Veii in hostility with Rome ? A. Above 3] centuries; when the city was taken hy Camil'lus, after a siege of 10 years. (b. c. 391.) After the reigu of Ha'drian the name disappears from hi- tory. Social And Political History Of The Infant Eepublic. 490. textit{Wlml. redress had a Creditor, when a man owed money which he could not pay ? * A. The Creditor gave him 30 days warning; if the debt was not paid in the interim, the debtor was taken before the Consul, and put into prison for 60 days. He was now called " Addictus" textit{(a prisoner). 491. textit{Why was the Debtor imprisoned for 60 textit{days ? A. That the Creditor might take him into the Forum on 3 successive market days, proclaim aloud the amount of the debt, and see if any one would pay it. 492. textit{If no one volunteered to pay the debt, what was done with the prisoner ? A. The Creditor might either put him to death, or sell him as a slave. 493. textit{Suppose more than one Creditor had a claim upon him, what was done then ? A. The law of the XII. tables allowed the Creditors to cut him to pieces, and share the body amongst them in proportion to their debt. The lex Pcetelia (b. 0. 326) greatly mitigated these cruel laws. 494. textit{In what way could a Debtor escape this cruel lot ? A. By pawning himself and all his family to his Creditor, till the debt could be textit{worked off. In this condition he was called " Nexus" textit{(a man who had pawned himself). 495. textit{In what prison were Debtors confined? A. In t...