14) Carney (note 4) 23-24 refers to the period following the praetorship in a way that implies prior connections with the
publicani: 'Marius, now a prominent member of a group of wealthy businessmen with connections in Puteoli in Southern Italy, came to be of such importance amongst the
publicani .
4) Without this reference to witchcraft the heretical sect called the
Publicani might not be easily differentiated from the other dualist heretical sects of France and Germany.
Most formidable of all, even if the extent of their influence has been overestimated by some, were the
publicani, rich champions of the original quango state whose interests and sensibilities, so Cicero regularly stressed, required consideration--even when nothing could be more shameful.
Where we can see the Roman
publicani operating, for example in Asia Minor, there is a two-tier system at work: the societates publicanorum made pactiones with the cities, who were then responsible for collecting their own taxes.
