# CHAPTER 7 — How Much Land the Romans Gave to Their Colonists

I believe it is difficult to discover the truth about the amount of land the Romans distributed to each colonist, since I think they gave more or less according to the places where they sent their colonies. It can be assumed that in every way and in every place the distribution was moderate, first, in order to send more men, since they were deputized to guard that countryside, and then, since these men lived in poverty at home, it was not reasonable for the Romans to want their men to grow too rich outside the city. And Livy describes how once they had taken Veii, the Romans sent a colony there and distributed to each soldier 3 jugera and 7 unciae of land (which is the equivalent, in our system, of . . .), * because, in addition to what was discussed above, they also judged highly tillable land, rather than a sizeable piece of land, to be sufficient. And it is certainly necessary for each colony to have public pastures where each colonist can pasture his livestock and woodlands where they can cut wood for their fires; without such things, a colony cannot establish itself.