AERĀRĬI, a class of Roman citizens, who were not included in the
thirty tribes instituted by Servius Tullius. Although citizens, they
did not possess 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 classed among the Caerites; whence we find
the expressions _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.