MANCEPS has the same relation to Mancipium that Auspex has to
Auspicium. It is properly _qui manu capit_. But the word has several
special significations. Mancipes were they who bid at the public
lettings of the censors for the purpose of farming any part of the
public property. Sometimes the chief of the publicani generally are
meant by this term, as they were no doubt the bidders and gave
the security, and then they shared the undertaking with others or
underlet it. The mancipes would accordingly have distinctive names
according to the kind of revenue which they took on lease, as
_Decumani_, _Portitores_, _Pecuarii_.