AGRARIAN REVOLUTIONS OF THE PAST 17 



Rome experienced a policy of land enclosures 

 similar to that adopted in England at a much later 

 tune. The cultivation of grain on the vast estates 

 was abandoned in favor of the less toilsome task of 

 breeding cattle. A few herdsmen replaced the more 

 numerous grain farmers on the latifundia. This 

 change in policy resulted in great distress and dis- 

 satisfaction. In 133 B.C. the agrarian law of 367 

 B.C. was revived. Through the efforts of Gracchus 

 much of the public land was recovered and redis- 

 tributed to the dispossessed owners or their descend- 

 ants. 



The conflict between patricians and plebeians 

 throughout Roman history was largely the result of 

 inequalities growing out of land distribution. Nu- 

 merous agrarian laws were passed from time to time 

 for the purpose of correcting the evils or abuses of 

 land policies. The name "agrarian laws" in Rome 

 came to be associated with the idea of interference 

 with private property in land and with the appli- 

 cation of these laws to communistic practices. 



When we turn from ancient history to the history 

 of modern nations, we find that land problems devel- 

 oped very early and have persisted almost con- 

 tinuously to the present time. The voice of the land 

 reformer was raised in England during the Middle 

 Ages against economic injustice and social inequali- 

 ties. 



John Ball and William Langland were reformers 

 of the type of the early Jewish prophets. John Ball 



