Slaves as tenants 257 



saved on his own labour-bill might well be more than a set-off against 

 the loss of money-rents. More and more the tenants would become 

 dependent on him. Nominally free, they were becoming tied to the 

 soil on onerous terms, and the foundation was laid of the later relation 

 of Lord and Serf. 



Such I conceive to be the rustic situation the beginnings of which 

 are probably to be placed as early as Columella's time, though we do 

 not find him referring to it. He says nothing of another point, which 

 was of importance 1 later, namely the admission of slaves or freedmen 

 as tenants of farms. It has all the appearance of a subsequent step, 

 taken when the convenience of services rendered by resident tenants 

 had been demonstrated by experience. It is no great stretch of imagi- 

 nation to suggest that, as the supply of slaves fell off, it was the policy 

 of owners to turn their slave-property to the best possible account. 

 When a steward or a gang-foreman was no longer in his prime, able 

 (as Columella enjoins) to turn to and shew the common hands how 

 work should be done, how could he best be utilized? A simple plan 

 was to put him on a small farm with a few slave labourers. This would 

 secure the presence of a tenant whose dependence was certain from 

 the first, while a younger man could be promoted to the arduous duties 

 of the big Home Farm. Be this as it may, it is certain that problems 

 arising from shortage of slaves were presenting themselves in the 

 middle of the first century AD. For slave-breeding, casual in Cato's 

 day and incidentally mentioned by Varro, is openly recognized by 

 Columella, who allows for a larger female element in his farm staff and 

 provides rewards for their realized fertility. 



If the system of farm-tenancies was already becoming a part of 

 land-management so important as the above remarks may seem to 

 imply, why does the management of a landed estate for landlord's 

 account under a steward occupy almost the whole of Columella's long 

 treatise? I think there are several reasons. First, it is management of 

 tillage-crops and gardens and live stock with which he is chiefly con- 

 cerned, not tenures and labour-questions: and technical skill in agri- 

 culture is of interest to all connected with it, though the book is 

 primarily addressed to landlords. Secondly, the desirable tenant was 

 (and is) a man not much in need of being taught his business: as for 

 an undesirable one, the sooner he is got rid of the better. Thirdly, the 

 plan of steward-management was still the normal one: the only pity 

 was that the indolence of owners led to appointment of bad stewards 

 and left them too much power. Only sound knowledge can enable 

 landlords to choose good stewards and check bad management. Seeing 

 agriculture in a bad way, Columella writes to supply this knowledge, 



1 See for instance Digest xxxm 7 i8 4 , and so 1 , opinions of Scaevola. 

 H.A. T*? 



