SERVUS PUBLICUS POPULI ROMANI, FISCI, GAESARIS.

The evidence as to the position of these slaves is so imperfect, that nothing more than an outline is possible. But their interest is mainly political and public: so far as private law is concerned there is little to be said, and thus a short account of them will suffice.

It is impossible to make a clear statement on our topic, without some remarks on the history of the relations of the popular treasury (Aerarium), with the Imperial treasury (Fiscus) and with the Privata Res Caesaris.

In the earlier part of the Imperial period the Aerarium is quite distinct from the Fiscus, and so long as this distinction is real, the expression send publici populi Romani applies in strictness only to those belonging to the people, and not to servi fiscales. The Fiscus is not only distinct from the Aerarium: it is regarded as the private property of the Emperor. In strict law it does not differ from the res familiares and other privatae res Caesaris. It is however distinctly administered, and it is the duty of the Emperor to devote it to public purposes. It passes as a matter of course to his successor on the throne. There is another form of property of the Emperor, which is distinguished under the name patrimonium. This too is more or less public in character: the revenues of Egypt come under this head. While it is not strictly fiscal it is administered on similar lines. There is no trace of any attempt to devise it away from the throne. Much of it, perhaps all, is public in everything except form.