central basin and a small chapel, a possible bath suite, a storeroom and two
further rooms.
Roman law courts were divided into civil and statecontrolled groups. The
state courts were only concerned with criminal activity that threatened the
security of the government and the political system – sedition, forgery,
assassination and so on. The civil and private courts dealt with the more
ordinary crimes. Most cases including theft and robbery, criminal damage and
injury were settled with fines and reparations. The amount of the fines for
theft varied according to whether the thief was caught in the act, and whether
the stolen property was recovered during a formal search or by chance.
Ordinarily, a citizen was not allowed to kill a thief unless the incident
happened at night, although even then he was not allowed to use a weapon
and had to call for witnesses. After the second century, no form of killing was
allowed. The victim of the crime had to prove that the thief had acted with
CLASSICAL CRIMESFigure 10. Vigiles graffito found in Rome