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Emperor Caracalla then had another idea and, seeing the problem wrestling with an idea for 12 years had caused his father,
he put it into practice straight away. All free men would now automatically become citizens of Rome. Citizens were quite important people and being Roman meant
certain privileges. Now some English people could become Romans.
Among other things men could now vote, wear the toga instead of a
tunic and leggings and stand for public office. Obviously a purple toga was still out as this was only worn by the emperor. Wealthy women could also wear
something very similar to a toga. Citizens could also sign a contract and own property. There were lots of other rights too.
But, in the same way that history sometimes repeats itself, there may have been another reason for young Caracalla’s idea. Roman citizens had to pay
extra taxes that non-citizens didn’t pay although non-citizens did have to pay another tax which citizens didn’t pay. It may be that now both taxes were paid by
everyone and that the handing out of citizenship to all these free men who were not Roman could have actually resulted in them being worse off financially.
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