AERĀRĬI

a cla of Roman citizens, who were not included in the thirty tribes instituted by Servius Tullius. Although citizens, they did not po e the suffragium, or right of voting in the comitia. They were cives sine suffragio . They also paid the tribute in a different manner from the other citizens. The Aerarians were chiefly artisans and freedmen. The Caerites, or inhabitants of the Etruscan town of Caere, who obtained the franchise in early times, but without the suffragium, were probably the first body of aerarians. Any Roman citizen guilty of a crime punishable by the censors, might be degraded to the rank of an aerarian; so that his civic rights were suspended, at least for the time that he was an aerarian. All citizens so degraded were cla ed among the Caerites; whence we find the expre ions aerarium facere and in tabulas Caeritum referre used as synonymous. Persons who were made infames likewise became aerarians, for they lost the jus honorum and the suffragium. The aerarians had to pay a tributum pro capite which was considerably higher than that paid by the other citizens. They were not allowed to serve in the legions.