In what respect alone was the criminal law of the Romans severe?
15.

What were the sources of the Roman revenue?
16.

To whom was the management of the finances entrusted?
FOOTNOTES: [1] Niebuhr, however, is of opinion, that judicial officers were elected by the "comitia curiata," from the earliest ages.
[2] This privilege was conceded to the plebeians by the Valerian law, but must have been possessed by the patricians from the earliest times; for Horatius, when condemned for the murder of his sister, in the reign of Tullus Hostilius, escaped by appealing to the comitia curiata.

The Valerian law had no sanction, that is, no penalty was annexed to its transgression; and during the two centuries of patrician usurpation and tyranny, was frequently and flagrantly violated.

On this account the law, though never repealed, was frequently re-enacted.
[3] The formula "to devote his head to the gods," used to express the sentence of capital punishment, was derived from the human sacrifices anciently used in Rome; probably, because criminals were usually selected for these sanguinary offerings.
[4] The lands absolutely assigned to the plebeians free from rent, were the most remarkable species of Quiritary property.