SCRIPTŪRA

that part of the revenue of the Roman Republic which was derived from letting out, as pasture land, those portions of the ager public us which were not taken into cultivation. The names for such parts of the ager public us were, pascua public a , saltus , or silvae . They were let by the censors to the public an i, like all other vectigalia; and the persons who sent their cattle to graze on such public pastures had to pay a certain tax or duty to the public an i, which of course varied according to the number and quality of the cattle which they kept upon them. The public an i had to keep the lists of persons who sent their cattle upon the public pastures, together with the number and quality of the cattle. From this registering ( scribere ) the duty itself was called scriptura , the public pasture land ager script urari us , and the public an i, or their agents who raised the tax, script urari i . The Lex Thoria ( B.C. 111) did away with the scriptura in Italy, where the public pastures were very numerous and extensive, especially in Apulia, and the lands themselves were now sold or distributed. In the provinces, where the public pastures were also let out in the same manner, the practice continued until the time of the empire; but afterwards the scriptura is no longer mentioned.