Many without doubt had perished in
the foreign wars; but the special reason for their disappearance was
that it had become impossible for them to subsist.
The peasants lived by the culture of grain. When Rome received the
grain of Sicily and Africa, the grain of Italy fell to so low a price
that laborers could not raise enough to support their families and pay
the military tax. They were compelled to sell their land and this was
bought by a rich neighbor. Of many small fields he made a great
domain; he laid the land down to grazing, and to protect his herds or
to cultivate it he sent shepherds and slave laborers. On the soil of
Italy at that time there were only great proprietors and troops of
slaves. "Great domains," said Pliny the Elder, "are the ruin of
Italy."
It was, in fact, the great domains that drove the free peasants from
the country districts. The old proprietor who sold his land could no
longer remain a farmer; he had to yield the place to slaves, and he
himself wandered forth without work. "The majority of these heads of
families," says Varro in his treatise on agriculture, "have slipped
within our walls, leaving the scythe and the plough; they prefer
clapping their hands at the circus to working in their fields and
their vineyards.
Pages:
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378