ASSIDUUS, or ADIDUUS, among the Romans,
denoted a rich or wealthy person. The word in this
sense is derived from at assis, q. d. a monied man.
Hence we meet with assiduous sureties, assidui fidejussores,
answering to what the French now call city sure-
ties or securities, cautions bourgeois.
When Servius Tullius divided the Roman people in-
to five classes, according as they were assessed or tax-
ed to the public, the richer sort who contributed asses
were denominated assidui; and as these were the chief
people of business who attended all the public concerns,
those who were diligent in attendances came to be de-
nominated assidui.