Decŭma
（
sc. pars). “A tithe.” This name was applied by the
Romans to the tribute in kind, which Sicily, and at one time Asia Minor, had to pay out of the
yearly production of wheat, wine, oil, and produce, instead of the
stipendium usual in other provinces. It was a burden on the land called after it
ager decumanus, and was exacted from the persons occupying at the time. Every
year the number of cultivators, of acres under cultivation, and the produce of the harvest,
were ascertained, and the right of exacting the
decuma of the whole
territory of a city sold to the highest bidder. In the case of Sicily this took place at
Syracuse; in the case of Asia, in Rome. The purchaser of the decuma bound himself to deliver a
certain quantity of corn in Rome; if the harvest were good, he found his advantage in the
surplus. Such farmers of the decumae were called
decumani. (See
Publicanus.) If the amount delivered were insufficient
for the needs of the city, a second amount could be extracted by decree of the Senate or the
people, which was paid for by the State. See
Annona;
Frumentariae Leges.
