tion of ranks.

Burdens of the Burgesses

The maintenance of the state economy devolved, of course, upon
the burgesses. The most important function of the burgess was his
service in the army; for the burgesses had the right and duty of
bearing arms. The burgesses were at the same time the "body of
warriors" (-populus-, related to -populari-, to lay waste): in the
old litanies it is upon the "spear-armed body of warriors" (-pilumnus
poplus-) that the blessing of Mars is invoked; and even the designation
with which the king addresses them, that of Quirites,(9) is taken
as signifying "warrior." We have already stated how the army of
aggression, the "gathering" (-legio-), was formed. In the tripartite
Roman community it consisted of three "hundreds" (-centuriae-) of
horsemen (-celeres-, "the swift," or -flexuntes-, "the wheelers")
under the three leaders-of-division of the horsemen (-tribuni
celerum-)(10) and three "thousands" of footmen (-milties-) under
the three leaders-of-division of the infantry (-tribuni militum-),
the latter were probably from the first the flower of the general
levy. To these there may perhaps have been added a number
of light-armed men, archers especially, fighting outside of the
ranks.(11) The general was regularly the king himself. Besides
service in war, other personal burdens might devolve upon the burgesses;
such as the obligation of undertaking the king's commissions in
peace and in war,(12) and the task-work of tilling the king's lands
or of constructing public buildings. How heavily in particular the
burden of building the walls of the city pressed upon the community,
is evidenced by the fact that the ring-walls retained the name
of "tasks" (-moenia-). There was no regular direct taxation, nor
was there any direct regular expenditure on the part of the state.
Taxation was not needed for defraying the burdens of the community,
since the state gave no recompense for serving in the army, for
task-work, or for public service generally; so far as there was any
such recompense at all, it was given to the person who performed
the service either by the district primarily concerned in it, or by
the person who could not or would not himself serve. The victims
needed for the public service of the gods were procured by a tax
on actions at law; the defeated party in an ordinary process paid
down to the state a cattle-fine (-sacramentum-) proportioned to
the value of the object in disput