But if the rich were becoming richer, it seems that the
poor were also becoming poorer. After Rome became mistress of the
Mediterranean, her markets were flooded with the cheap wheat raised in the
provinces, especially in those granaries, Sicily and Africa. The price of wheat
fell so low that Roman peasants could not raise enough to support their
families and pay their taxes. When agriculture became unprofitable, the farmer
was no longer able to remain on the soil. He had to sell out, often at a
ruinous sacrifice. His land was bought by capitalists, who turned many small
fields into vast sheep pastures and cattle ranches. Gangs of slaves, laboring
under the lash, gradually took the place of the old Roman peasantry, the very
strength of the state. Not unjust was the famous remark, "Great domains
ruined Italy." [15]
[15] Latifundia perdidere Italiam (Pliny, Natural
History, xviii, 7).
THE EXODUS OF THE CITIES
The decline of agriculture and the disappearance of the
small farmer under the stress of foreign competition may be studied in modern
England as well as in ancient Italy. Nowadays an English farmer, under the same
circumstances, will often emigrate to America or to Australia, where land is
cheap and it is easy to make a living. But these Roman peasants did not care to
go abroad and settle on better soil in Spain or in Africa. They thronged,
instead, to the cities, to Rome especially, where they labored for a small
wage, fared plainly on wheat bread, and dwelt in huge lodging houses, three or
four stories high.
