Socii
Among the Romans the socii, as distinguished in constitutional law from Roman subjects,
were the allies who, while their independence was recognized, stood in a more or less
dependent relation to the Roman State. Under the Republic, up to the time when the right of
citizenship was conferred on all the free inhabitants of Italy (B.C. 89), the Latins, and the
Italian communities on the same footing with them, enjoyed a privileged position among the
other allies. In the military organization of the Roman Republic the contingents which they
furnished were called
socii in contradistinction to the legions and the
non-Italian auxiliaries. (See
Exercitus; and cf.
Legio.)
Socii Navāles
are the crews, furnished by the allied towns, of the ships of war. See Mommsen,
Staatsrecht, iii. pp. 645-718; and the article
Foederatae Civitates.