The development of vast private estates
at the expense of the public and imperial domains was another prominent
characteristic of the times. This was the result of the failure of the
state to check the spread of waste lands, in spite of its attempt to
develop the system of hereditary leaseholds to small farmers. To maintain
the level of production the government opened the way for the great
proprietors to take over all deserted lands under various forms of
heritable lease or in freehold tenure. The system of attaching waste lands
to those of the neighboring landholders and making the latter responsible
for their cultivation was an added cause of the growth of large estates.
The result of this development was that the state tenants became _coloni_
of the great landlords, and the latter were responsible for the taxes and
other obligations of their _coloni_ to the state. The weight of these
obligations rested as before upon the _coloni_, and led to their continued
flight and a further increase in waste land. Like the _curiales_ and
_corporati_, the _coloni_ tried to exchange their status by entering the
public service or attaining admission to some other social class. But, in
like manner also, they found themselves excluded from all other
occupations and classes. Only the fugitive _colonus_ who had managed to
remain undetected for thirty years (in the case of women twenty years)
could escape being handed back to the land which he had deserted.

*The power of the landed nobility.* The immunities of the senatorial order
and the power of the high officials tended to give an almost feudal
character to the position of the great landed proprietors. These had
inherited the judicial powers of the procurators on the imperial estates
and transferred this authority to their own domains. Over their slaves and
_coloni_ they exercised the powers of police and jurisdiction. As they
were not subject to the municipal authorities, and, during the greater
part of the fourth century, were also exempt from the jurisdiction of the
provincial governors they assumed a very independent position, and did not
hesitate to defy the municipal magistrates and even the minor agents of
the imperial government. Their power made their protection extremely
valuable, and led to a new type of patronage. Individuals and village
communities, desirous of escaping from the exactions to which they were
subject in their municipal districts, placed themselves under the