either on citizenship (civitas) or treaties (foedera). That is, all
free men were in some sense either cives or socii. We may
tabulate them thus

In group A there was only one civitas, that of Rome. But it
differed in degree, according as the holders were enrolled in
Roman tribes and enjoyed the 'public' rights, or were placed
on a separate list and so excluded from the Assemblies and from
office. In group B each community had a civitas of its own, and
was technically a state (civitas in the concrete sense), nominally
independent. But its sovranty was limited by the terms of its
treaty; for the charter (lex) of a Latin colony was virtually equi-
valent to a foedus creating a new civitas. The territory of group A
was ager Romanus, and it was under Roman law. Even in the
communities of half-citizens (municipes) the local laws were gradually
superseded by Roman, as the jurisdiction of circuit-judges (praefecti)
sent from Rome got into working order. The territories of group B
were all ager peregrinus, and the laws those of the several states,
unless any community by its own act chose with the leave of
Rome to adopt Roman law. The one restriction common to
them all was that they could have no foreign policy. From this
point of view Rome was Italy, and the mark of Allies (in this
period all Italian save perhaps Massalia) was that they were by
treaty bound to furnish contingents to Roman armies or fleets,
while Friends (amici, such as Rhodes) were not. But the con-
tingents furnished by the socii were clearly distinguished from the
citizen troops of Rome. They were organized in smaller bodies,
commanded by their own local officers of subordinate position,
and equipped and paid by their several states. The maximum
number due from each state was fixed by a schedule (formula),
but it would seldom be necessary for the consuls when raising an
army to call out all the available forces at once.

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