34 2 Rustic conditions in Africa 



particular episode, are we to suppose that by ' slaves ' Herodian loosely 

 means colonil Surely not. Then does Capitolinus by 'rustic common 

 folk' mean slaves? I cannot believe it. More probably the writer, 

 contemporary with Diocletian and Constantine, uses a loose expression 

 without any precise meaning. If we are to attempt any inference from 

 the language of Herodian, we must accept him as a witness that in 

 Africa, or at least in parts of Africa, agriculture was still being carried 

 on by slave labour. This does not exclude the existence of a small- 

 tenancy system side by side with it. And the state of things disclosed 1 

 in the African inscriptions referred to above is consistent with both 

 systems: for that the manor-farm on a great estate employed a slave 

 staff for its regular operations, and drew from tenants' services only 

 the help needed at certain seasons, seems the only possible conclusion 

 from the evidence. Therefore, while agreeing with Heisterbergk 2 that 

 the narrative of Herodian shews the populousness of Africa, we need 

 not go so far as to ignore the fact of a considerable farm-slave element 

 in the Province. 



Meanwhile there are signs that rural Italy was suffering from the 

 disorders and insecurity that had so often hindered the prosperity of 

 agriculture. Even under the strong reign of Severus, with a larger 

 standing army in Italy than ever before, a daring brigand 3 remained 

 at large for two years and was only captured by treachery. Though we 

 do not hear of his attacking farmers directly, such a disturbance must 

 have been bad for all country folk. That he black-mailed them is prob- 

 able: that they were plundered and maltreated by the licentious soldiery 

 employed against him, is as nearly certain as can be from what we 

 know of the soldiery of this time. 



XLVII. THE AFRICAN INSCRIPTIONS. 



Certain inscriptions 4 from the Roman Province of Africa, dating 

 from the second and third centuries AD or at least referring to matters 

 of that period, throw some light upon the management of great 

 imperial domains in that part of the world. To discuss these in full 

 one by one would be beyond the scope of this work, and would 

 require several chapters of intolerable length. I shall content myself 

 with giving a short account of each case, confined to those details 



1 This evidence has come to hand since Heisterbergk wrote (1876) Die Entstehung des 

 Colonats. 



2 op cit pp 1 1 6-8. 



3 Dion Cass epit LXXVI 10. For this story Dion is a contemporary witness. 



4 The special treatises on these documents are fully mentioned in Girard's Textts de 

 droit Remain, ed 4, 1913. An essay on the Colons du saltus Burunitanus in Esmein's 

 Mtlanges (1886) is still of great value. 



