Agrarian policy 175 



regular supply of labour. The slave was not liable to military service : 

 so the master was not liable to have his staff called up at short notice. 

 In short, economic influences, aided by selfish or corrupt administration 

 of the laws under the rule of the nobility, gave every advantage to the 

 rich landlords. No wonder that patriotic reformers viewed the prospect 

 with alarm, and sought some way of promoting a revival of the peasant 

 farmers. 



The story of the Gracchan movement and the causes of its failure 

 are set forth from various points of view in histories 1 of Rome and 

 special monographs. What concerns us here is to remark that its 

 remedial legislation dealt solely with land belonging to the state and 

 occupied by individuals. Power was taken to ascertain its boundaries, 

 to resume possession on behalf of the state, and to parcel it out in allot- 

 ments among needy citizens. How far success in the aim of restoring 

 a free citizen population in the denuded districts was ever possible, we 

 cannot tell. But we know that it did not in fact succeed. By 1 1 1 BC 

 whatever had been achieved 2 was finally annulled. The bulk of the ager 

 publicus had disappeared. The sale of land-allotments, at first forbidden, 

 had been permitted, and the process of buying out the newly created 

 peasantry went on freely. But large estates formed under the new 

 conditions were subject to no defect of title. They were strictly private 

 property, though the term possessiones still remained in use. Slave- 

 labour on such estates was normal as before. Indeed rustic slavery 

 was now at its height. This short period of attempted land-reform 

 comes between the two great Sicilian slave- wars (135-2 and 103-99 

 BC), in the events of which the horrors of contemporary agriculture 

 were most vividly expressed. It was also a time of great wars abroad, 

 in Gaul, in Africa, and against the barbarian invaders from the North. 

 Roman armies suffered many defeats, and the prestige of Roman power 

 was only restored by the military remodelling under Marius. When 

 Marius finally threw over the principle that military service was a duty 

 required of propertied citizens, and raised legions from the poorest 

 classes, volunteering with an eye to profit, he in effect founded the 

 Empire. We can hardly help asking 3 from what quarters he was able 

 to draw these recruits. Some no doubt were idlers already living in 



1 The account given in Greenidge's History of Rome deserves special reference here. On 

 pp 266-7 ne we U points out that it was not the Gracchan aim to revive the free labourer but 

 the peasant proprietor. 



2 This is known from the lex agraria of which a large part is preserved. See text in 

 Bruns' Fontes or Wordsworth's Specimens. Translated and explained in Dr E G Hardy's 

 Six Roman Laws. 



3 Perhaps some inference may be drawn from Sallust lug 73 6 plebes sic accensa uti 

 opifices agrestesque omnes, quorum res Udesque in manibus sitae erant, relictis operibus fre- 

 quentarent Afarium...etc, though this refers directly to political support, not to the recruiting 

 of troops. 



