The aim of the research in this study is not to create a new theory of the origin of the colonate, but to show the circumstances surrounding it & to discover to what measure these contributed to reducing free tenants to a position where they did not dare to leave the land they tilled -- land which did not belong to them. What is at issue here, is the freedom of common people who worked another’s land in order to survive. Contents: Tax & Freedom; Tax & Social Mobility; Debts & Freedom; Coloni Iuris Alieni: Indebted & Enslaved; Adscripticii: Capita without Iugera; Barbarians on Roman Territory; Inquilini: People without Domicile; Conclusion; Appendix; Select Bibliography; & indices.