134 THE ROMAN EMPIRE
outsiders who benefi ted were characteristically select lower- class dependants
(freedman, slaves) who had won the confi dence or affection of their master.
Augustus did not block off this avenue of social mobility, although he did
seek to reduce the scale of slave manumission, and to restrict the capacity of
freedmen to pass down property within the family.^7
In general, emperors did not, and could not, closely monitor entry into
the propertied class. But they did introduce one new way of gaining
admission, duties in the service of the regime and the empire. Soldiers were
rewarded for their role in preserving the social order with adequate, and in
the case of offi cers, generous, pay and a substantial remuneration on
retirement, which put veterans in a position to establish themselves as
prosperous members of local communities.^8 Moreover, insofar as veterans
did become members of the provincial upper classes, they benefi ted from the
offi cial favour shown to this group as a whole. In return for cooperating
with the central government in the areas of administration, jurisdiction, and
law and order, the urban elites of the provinces were able to consolidate
their local social and economic power.
Inequalities, deriving from uneven property distribution that was confi rmed
or even accentuated by imperial policies, were underpinned by Roman law.
In effect, the decisions of emperors (constitutions, rescripts), supplemented
by interpretations of authorized jurists, were the fount of law under the
Principate, and held validity wherever Roman offi cials exercised jurisdiction.
In practice, the shortage of functionaries made the imposition of a unifi ed
legal system across the empire unfeasible, even had this been an aim of the
imperial government.^9 Where local law and juridical procedures were well
established, as in most parts of the East, they were permitted to continue in
operation, with Roman courts offering appellate, and in the case of Roman
citizens, fi rst- order, jurisdiction. In the underdeveloped West, however, the
introduction of Roman courts, procedures and remedies was actively pursued.
This, like other aspects of Romanization, worked in favour of the Rome-
backed local elite. It was they who benefi ted from the extension of Roman
law with its highly developed property rights, from the entitlements attached
to Roman citizenship in general, and from the legal privileges associated with
social status when these gained offi cial recognition in decisions of emperors
from the time of Hadrian.
The other aspect of those imperial enactments was their confi rmation of
the subservient position of the mass of the population, the humiliores as
opposed to the honestiores.
The direct exploitation of labour by rich proprietors was a central feature
of Roman imperial society. Enrichment in the Roman world did not take the
form of the accumulation of profi t through the activity of companies
employing wage- labourers. Wealth was generated for members of the
propertied class to a large extent by the labour of their personal dependants.^10
Most of the working masses laboured in agriculture: low productivity
ensured that a relatively small proportion of the population could be spared