Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

TRIBUTUM.

391

TMCLINIUM.

Pttpinia, Rotnilia, Sergia, Veturia, and Vol-
tinia. As Rome gradually acquired posses-
sion of more of the surrounding territory,
the number of tribes also was gradually in-
creased. When Appius Claudius, with his
numerous train of clients, emigrated to Rome,
lands were assigned to them in the district
where the Anio flows into the Tiber, and a
new tribe, the tribus Claudia, was formed.
This tribe was subsequently enlarged, and
was then designated by the name Crus-
tumina or Clustumina. This name is the
first instance of a country tribe being named
after a place, for the sixteen older ones all
derived their name from persons or heroes.
In b. c. 387, the number of tribes was 'in-
creased to twenty-five by the addition of
four new ones, viz. the Stellatina, Tromen-
tina, Sabatina, and Arniensis. In b. c. 358
two more, the Pomptina and Pub/ilia, were
formed of Yolseians. In b. c. 332, the cen-
sors Q. Publilius Philo and Sp. Postumius
increased the number of tribes to twenty-
nine, by the addition of the Maecia and
Scaptia. In b. c. 318 the TJfentina and
Falerina were added. In b. c. 299 two
others, the Aniensis and Tercntina, were
added by the censors, and at last in b. c. 241,
the number of tribes was augmented to
thirty-five, by the addition of the Quirina
and Velina. Eight new tribes were added
upon the termination of the Social War, to
include the Socii, who then obtained the Ro-
man franchise; but they were afterwards
incorporated among the old 35 tribes, which
continued to be the number of the tribes to
the end of the republic. When the tribes,
in their assemblies, transacted any business,
a certain order (ordo tribuum) was observed,
in which they were called upon to give their
votes. The first in the order of succession
was the Suburana, and the last the Ar-
niensis. Any person belonging to a tribe
had in important documents to add to his
Dwn name that of his tribe, in the ablative
case. Whether the local tribes, as they were
established by the constitution of Servius
Tullius, contained only the plebeians, or
included the patricians also, is a point on
which the opinions of modern scholars are
divided : but it appears most probable that
down to the decemviral legislation the tribes
and their assemblies were entirely plebeian.
From the time of the decemviral legislation,
the patricians and their clients were un-
doubtedly incorporated in the tribes. Re-
specting the assemblies of the tribes, see

C'OMITIA TltlBUTA.

TRIBUTUM, a tax which was partly ap-
plied to cover the expenses of war, and
partly those of the fortifications of the city.

The usual amount of the tax was one for
every thousand of a man's fortune, though
in the time of Cato it was raised to three in
a thousand. The tributum was not a pro-
perty-tax in the strict sense of the word, for
the accounts respecting the plebeian debtors
clearly imply, that the debts were not de-
ducted in the valuation of a person's pro-
perty, so that he had to pay the tributum
upon property which was not his own, but
which he owed, and for which he had conse-
quently to pay the interest as well. It was
a direct tax upon objects without any regard
to their produce, like a land or house-tax,
which indeed formed the main part of it.
That which seems to have made it most op-
pressive, was its constant fluctuation. It
was raised according to the regions or tribes
instituted by Servius Tullius, and by the tri-
bunes of these tribes, subsequently called
tribuni aerarii. It was not, like the other
branches of the public revenue, let out to
farm, but being fixed in money it was raised
by the tribunes, unless (as was the case after
the custom of giving pay to the soldiers was
introduced) the soldiers, like the knights,
demanded it from the persons themselves
who were bound to pay it. [Aes kquestre
and hoedearium.] When this tax was to
be paid, what sum was to be raised, and what
portion of every thousand asses of the census,
were matters upon which the senate alone
had to decide. But when it was decreed, the
people might refuse to pay it when they
thought it too heavy, or unfairly distributed,
or hoped to gain some other advantage by
the refusal. In later times the senate some-
times left its regulation to the censors, who
often fixed it very arbitrarily. No citizen
was exempt from it, but we find that the
priests, augurs, and pontiffs made attempts
to get rid of it: but this was only an abuse,
which did not last. After the war with Ma-
cedonia (b. c. 147), when the Roman trea-
sury was filled with the revenues accruing
from conquests and from the provinces, the
Roman citizens became exempted from pay-
ing the tributum, and this state of things
lasted down to the consulship of Hirtius and
Pansa (43 b. a), when the tributum was
again levied, on account of the exhausted
state of the aerarium. After this time it was
imposed according to the discretion of the
emperors. Respecting the tributum paid by
conquered countries and cities, see Vecti-

galia.

TRICLINIUM, the dining-room of a Ro-
man house, the position of which, relatively
to the other parts of the house, is seen in thc-
" house of the Tragic poet" (see p. 144).
It was of an oblong shape, and was twice