Page:Roman Constitutional History, 753-44 B.C..djvu/163

Rh poor citizens obtained half an acre of land or more, and were included in the number reported at each census. It was probably caused in part by the granting of full citizenship to some citizens without suffrage.

It is a noteworthy coincidence that the full establishment of the Roman dominion in the West may be dated from the battle of Pydna in 168, and the decline of the Roman population in times of comparative peace dates from 164. The significance of the number of citizens published about every five years could not escape the attention of the leading men of the day. Italy was apparently weaker in numbers in 150 than it had been in 250; and the Roman nation was diminishing. The independent middle classes were disappearing, and the population was resolving itself into a class of masters and a class of dependents and slaves.

Causes of Decline in Population. — Nor were causes of the decline far to seek. The Roman nobles and capitalists had in a large measure continued the work of destruction which the Carthaginians had begun. About the time of the first Punic war the rich Romans began to buy up the small farms and to convert them into large estates. As heritable leases were not recognized in the management of private land in Italy, and leases for short periods were exceptional, no distinct class of tenants was formed, and the large estates were at best managed by overseers, and tilled by slaves.

A greater danger, however, was threatening the Italian farmers than the old competition of the rich. When Sicily had become a province and peace was established, grain cultivated there by slaves could be produced and sent to Rome cheaper than it could be grown on the Italian peninsula. It might, then, for political reasons have been wise to impose an import duty on transmarine grain, and thus save the Italian farmers, who were the soldiers