Salve Favone

Scripsisti:
As you mentioned freedmen or above were allowed to work the land, and this gave an avenue for making money where previously only slaves would be working these fields. Perhaps over time these men could save their money and buy their own small plots. Its like Reagan's 'trickle-down' theory to economics almost!

Ooh, where I live in NE Ohio has still not recovered from those voodoo economics. Some cities are turning into virtual ghosttowns because of Raygun's tinkle.

That was one of the problems that the Gracchan reforms was said to have tried to address, the depopulation of some provinces, and most specifically Etruria. I have seen a study made of land use in Apulia and how the landisfundia had depopulated it. I ran across a reference to Africa too that said almost all arable land in the province was owned by only six people. The information is sketchy so there is no certainty, but apparently the Gracchan requirement on freedmen was aimed against the landisfundia. It would however have applied only to public lands, and soon after Gaius Gracchus these plots were confirmed as private property. Presumably the requirement to hire freedmen would no longer apply. The requirement hindered the landisfundia because it presumably added to operations costs. It did not provide land to freedmen. It may have been intended in part to remove some freedmen from the City, but did not offer them much incentive to do so, and does not appear to have worked. If freedmen were being moved to the countryside, why would those who were enfranchised placed in the urban tribes? Those that were enfranchised were the ones who had served in the army and thus would be the most likely to obtain land.

You are of course right that the 500 iugera was originally a cap set by the Lex Licinia. Again the information is sketchy. There was said to have been created 80,000 new farms. Not all need have been 500 iugera, but the information indicates that the land commission did make the plots at that level. There were also set up colonies with smaller plots. Usually a three man commission would be set up for founding a colony and distributing its land. It is possible, but I have not read anything yet that said the Gracchan land commission founded such colonies. Gaius' attempt at Carthage was certainly a separate project. I will look more into that and see if I find anything on the land commission itself establishing colonies..