376 MARTIN P. NILSSON 
so numerous that the plan could not be carried out. In the eastern 
provinces the Jews were very numerous, in Egypt they are consi- 
dered to have amounted to the eighth or seventh part of the popula- 
tion, in Cyrenaica and Cyprus they were killed by hundreds of 
thousands in the pogroms, in Asia Minor and Southern Italy they 
were numerous, in Africa, Spain, and Southern France not few. But 
after the fall of Jerusalem and the great rebellion in the reign of 
Haprian the Jews separated themselves from the rest of the popula- 
tion; hence their importance in the mixture of the races was not 
so great. ; 
In ancient times the Jews were not merchants and bankers as 
now. This position was occupied by the Syrians. In the last two 
centuries B. C. we find many Italian merchants in the East. They 
were especially bankers and slave- and corn-merchants, and their trade 
depended on the power of Rome. But when the abuses in the provinces 
were repressed by the emperors, the Italians disappeared and their 
places were taken by the provincials. The real merchants were the 
Syrians, who had important factories in Italy and who appear in 
every province. They,were numerous e. g. in Gaul, where even in 
the sixth century they were organized into separate Christian churches, 
at least in Paris and Orleans. Sarvıan mentions the hosts of Syrian 
merchants who have inundated all the towns and think only of lies 
and falsehood. The merchants of Italy were not Romans by birth. 
They were enfranchised slaves, who in this manner had obtained 
the citizenship *’. * 
The enfranchisement of slaves is a very important cause of the 
alteration of the population; it took place on a large scale. It was 
a point of honour for a noble or wealthy Roman to enfranchise his 
slaves, at least when he made his will. AuaGusrus regulated the en- 
franchisement. The number of slaves which it was permitted to en- 
franchise was regulated according to the number of slaves which a 
man possessed, but was in no case permitted to exceed one hundred. 
The freedmen were in a socially inferior position, but their descen- 
dants attained the full citizenship and their grandsons might even 
become senators. A discussion that took place in the senate in the 
reign of Nero is very illuminating. It was said that the enfranchised 
slaves were numerous, they crowded the tribuses and the inferior 
positions in the state, most of the knights and many of the senators 
were descendants of freedmen. If the freedmen were turned out, 
there would be a lack of free citizens. 
