THE EXAMPLE OF ROME 201 



the listless, complaining, inert character and also the cruelty and 

 licentiousness which became so common in those times. We may 

 perhaps question whether malaria alone would do this, yet having 

 seen the potent effect of climate upon business in America today, 

 we may at least query whether the general ill health combined 

 with the economic effects of poor crops may not afford a sufficient 

 explanation of the low estate of Rome in the second century B. C. 



The most significant feature of the whole question is the coinci- 

 dence of a great many symptoms, all of which are what would be 

 expected as results of a deteriorating climate. Here seems to be 

 the sequence of events. First, a climate with less rainfall and less 

 variability than formerly, but with more liability to the occasional 

 severe showers which are characteristic of regions of light rainfall. 

 Next, poorer crops, the abandonment of many fields, the substi- 

 tution of olives, vineyards, sheep and goats for grain and vege- 

 tables. This would lead to the pasturing of the sheep and goats 

 on thousands of hillsides. The already sparse cover of grass 

 would be still further diminished, as would the young trees and 

 bushes which were already suffering from lack of rain and which 

 are greedily eaten, especially by goats. The animals' feet would 

 break up the soil, and the heavy, but infrequent showers of spring 

 and fall would carry it away. Thus, not only would the slopes be 

 denuded and many fields spoiled, but large deposits of silt would 

 be laid down in the valleys and lowlands. Over these the streams 

 would wander in many channels. Moreover, the streams would 

 become intermittent because of the prolongation of the summer 

 dry season, and undrained swamps and pools would abound. 

 These would form ideal places for the mosquitoes that carry mala- 

 ria, and the dryness of the summer would insure a continual supply 

 of the insects. Thus malaria would abound, and with it would 

 come a large amount of apathy, indolence, and vice. 



Pursuing another line of thought we find that poor crops would 

 lead to debts, to usury on the part of heartless creditors, and to 

 complaints against taxation. This would also lead to the concen- 



