AGRIMENSORES
At the foundation of a colony and the assignation of lands the auspicia were taken, for which purpose the presence of the augur was necessary. But the business of the augur did not extend beyond the religious part of the ceremony: the division and measurement of the land were made by professional measurers. These were the Finitores mentioned in the early writers (Cic. c. Rullum, II.13; Plautus, Poenulus, Prolog. 49), who in the later periods were called Mensores and Agrimensores. The business of a Finitor could only be done by a free man, and the honourable nature of his office is indicated by the rule that there was no bargain for his services, but he received his pay in the form of a gift. These Finitores appear also to have acted as judices, under the name of arbitri, in those disputes about boundaries which were purely of a technical, not a legal, character. Under the empire the observance of the auspices in the fixing of camps and the establishment of military colonies was less re...