agistrates. This land, so
occupied, was called AGER OCCUPATUS, or _possessio_; but it really was
still the property of the state. The rent paid was a certain per cent
(from 10 to 20) of the crops, or so much a head for cattle on pasture
land. Although the state had the undoubted right to claim this land at
any time, the magistrates allowed the occupants to retain it, and were
often lenient about collecting dues. In course of time, this land, which
was handed down from father to son, and frequently sold, began to be
regarded by the occupants as their own property. Also the land tax
(TRIBUTUM), which was levied on all _ager privatus_, and which was
especially hard upon the small plebeian land-owners, could not legally
be levied upon the _ager occupatus_. Thus the patricians who possessed,
not owned, this land were naturally regarded as usurpers by the
plebeians.

The first object of the AGRARIAN LAWS was to remedy this evil.

SPURIUS CASSIUS, an able man, now came forward (486?), proposing a law
that the state take up these lands, divide them into small lots, and
distribute them among the poor plebeians as homes (homesteads). The law
was carried, but in the troublesome times it cost Cassius his life, and
was never enforced.

CHAPTER VIII. THE CONTEST OF THE PLEBEIANS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS.

The plebeians were now (about 475) as numerous as the patricians, if
not more so. Their organization had become perfected, and many of their
leaders were persistent in their efforts to better the condition
of their followers. Their especial aim was to raise their civil and
political rights to an equality with those of the patricians. The
struggle finally culminated in the murder of one of the Tribunes, Gnarus
Genucius, for attempting to veto some of the acts of the Consuls.

VALERO PUBLILIUS, a Tribune, now (471) proposed and carried,
notwithstanding violent opposition by the patricians, a measure to the
effect that the Tribunes should hereafter be chosen in the _Comitia
Tributa_, instead of the _Comitia Centuriata_. Thus the plebeians
gained a very important step. This bill is called the PUBLILIAN LAW
(_Plebiscitum Publilium_). (Footnote: All bills passed in the Comitia
Tributa were called Plebiscita, and until 286 were not necessarily
binding upon the people at large; but this bill seems to have been
recognized as a law.)

For the next twenty years the struggle continued unabated. The plebeians
demanded a WRITTEN CODE OF LA