Management of estates by stewards 153 



mean ruin. Pauper wage-earners, landless men, were not reached by 

 the military levy in the ordinary way. How soon they began to be 

 enrolled as volunteers, and to what extent, is uncertain. But con- 

 scription of qualified citizens remained the staple method of filling 

 the legions 1 until the famous levy held by Marius in 107. Conscrip- 

 tion had for a long time been becoming more and more unpopular 

 and difficult to enforce, save in cases where easy victory and abundant 

 booty were looked for. The Roman government fell into the habit of 

 employing chiefly the contingents of the Italian Allies in hard and 

 unremunerative campaigns. This unfair treatment, and other wrongs 

 to match, led to the great rebellion of 90 BC. But the grant of the 

 Roman franchise to the Italians, extorted by force of arms, though it 

 made more Roman citizens, could not make more Roman farmers. 

 The truth is, a specializing process was going on. The soldier was 

 becoming more and more a 'professional : farming was becoming more 

 and more the organized exploitation of labour. Long and distant 

 wars unfitted the discharged soldiers for the monotonous round of 

 rustic life : while they kept the slave-market well supplied with 

 captives, thus making it easy for capitalists to take advantage of great 

 areas of land cheaply acquired from time to time. Moreover, the - 

 advance of Roman dominion had another effect beside the mere 

 supply of labouring hands. It made Rome the centre of the Medi- 

 terranean world, the place where all important issues were decided, 

 and where it was necessary to reside. The wealthy landowner was 

 practically compelled to spend most of his time in the ruling city, in 

 close touch with public affairs. Now this compelled him to manage 

 his estates by stewards, keeping an eye on them so far as his engage- 

 ments in Rome left him free to do so. And this situation created a 

 demand for highly-qualified stewards. The supply of these had to 

 come mainly from the eastern countries of old civilization. But if 

 technical skill could thus be procured (and it was very necessary for 

 the variety of crops that were taking the place of corn), it was 

 generally accompanied by an oriental subtlety the devices of which 

 were not easy to penetrate. From the warnings of the agricultural 

 writers, as to the need of keeping a strict watch on a vilicus, we may 

 fairly infer that these favoured slaves were given to robbing their 

 masters. The master, even if he had the knowledge requisite for 

 practical control, seldom had the leisure for frequent visits to his 

 estate. What he wanted was a regular income to spend : and the 

 astute steward who was always ready with the expected cash on the 

 appointed day had little fear of reprimand or punishment. His own 

 interest was that his own master should expect as little as possible, 



1 See Greenidge History pp 60- 1, 424-5. 



