Hired labour 199 



were settled on the Campanian plain. His prediction 1 that, if this 

 district were to be distributed in freehold allotments, it would presently 

 pass into the hands of a few wealthy proprietors (as the Sullan allot- 

 ments had been doing) suggests a certain degree of sincerity. But 

 taken as a whole the utterances of Cicero are too general, and too 

 obviously meant to serve a temporary purpose, to furnish trustworthy 

 data for estimating the numerical strength and importance of the 

 working farmers in the Italy of his day. 



XXVII. SALLUST AND OTHERS. 



In the writings of Cicero's contemporaries other than Varro there 

 is very little to be found bearing upon rustic life and labour as it went 

 on in their time. Literature was occupied with other themes appropriate 

 to the political conflicts or social scandals or philosophic questionings 

 that chiefly interested various individuals and the circles in which they 

 moved. The origins of civilization formed a fascinating problem for 

 some, for instance the Epicurean Lucretius : but his theory of the 

 development of agriculture deals with matters outside of our subject. 

 The one helpful passage of Caesar 2 has been noticed already. So too 

 has the contemptuous reference 3 of Sallust to agriculture as slaves' 

 work. This writer in a few places touches on points of interest For 

 instance, in speaking 4 of the various classes of men who were ripe for 

 revolution, he says * moreover there were the able-bodied men who 

 had been used to earn a hard living as hired labourers on farms ; the 

 attraction of private and public bounties had drawn them into Rome, 

 where they found idle leisure preferable to thankless toil.' Such state- 

 ments, unsupported by statistics, must be received with caution, but 

 this assertion is so far backed up by what we learn from other sources, 

 that we can accept it as evidence. How many such rustic immigrants 

 of this class there were at any given moment, is what we want to 

 know, and do not. Again, in a passage 5 describing the popularity of 

 Marius in 108 EC, he says 'in short, the commons were fired with such 

 enthusiasm that the handworkers and the rustics of all sorts, men 

 whose means and credit consisted in the labour of their hands, struck 

 work and attended Marius in crowds, putting his election before their 



1 de lege agr II 82 deinde ad paucos opibus et copiis adfluentis totum agrum Campanum 

 perferri videbitis. 



2 See above, chap xxv p 183. 3 Sallust Cat 4 i. 



4 Sallust Cat 37 7 iuventus, quae in agris manuum mercede inopiam toleraverat ...etc. 

 6 Sallust lug 73 6 opifices agrestesque omnes, quorum res fidesque in manibus sitae want 

 ...etc. 



