the Roman corporations in general, closed
as to numbers, very frequently evaded the limit imposed upon them
by admitting supernumerary members.

Census

This new organization of the army was accompanied by a more careful
supervision of landed property on the part of the state. It was
now either ordained for the first time or, if not, at any rate
defined more carefully, that a land-register should be established,
in which the several proprietors of land should have their fields
with all their appurtenances, servitudes, slaves, beasts of draught
and of burden, duly recorded. Every act of alienation, which did
not take place publicly and before witnesses, was declared null;
and a revision of the register of landed property, which was at
the same time the levy-roll, was directed to be made every fourth
year. The -mancipatio- and the -census- thus arose out of the
Servian military organization.

Political Effects of the Servian Military Organization

It is evident at a glance that this whole institution was from the
outset of a military nature. In the whole detailed scheme we do
not encounter a single feature suggestive of any destination of the
centuries to other than purely military purposes; and this alone
must, with every one accustomed to consider such matters, form
a sufficient reason for pronouncing its application to political
objects a later innovation. If, as is probable, in the earliest
period every one who had passed his sixtieth year was excluded from
the centuries, this has no meaning, so far as they were intended
from the first to form a representation of the burgess-community
similar to and parallel with the curies. Although, however, the
organization of the centuries was introduced merely to enlarge
the military resources of the burgesses by the inclusion of
the --metoeci-- and, in so far, there is no greater error than to
exhibit the Servian organization as the introduction of a timocracy
in Rome--yet the new obligation imposed upon the inhabitants to
bear arms exercised in its consequences a material influence on
their political position. He who is obliged to become a soldier
must also, so long as the state is not rotten, have it in his power
to become an officer; beyond question plebeians also could now be
nominated in Rome as centurions and as military tribunes. Although,
moreover, the institution of the centuries was not intended
to curtail the political privileges exclusively pos