Social, Political, and Economic Structures of Imperial Rome 81The recipients of this new wealth invested much of
it in Italy. Small farmers, impoverished by war and
taxes, sold their plots to former officers who incorpo-
rated them into large, slave-worked plantations. When-
ever possible, investors purchased land in different parts
of the peninsula so that each property could be devoted
to a specialized crop. This allowed owners to take max-
imum advantage of soil and climate while minimizing
the risks of a bad harvest, for it was unlikely that every
part of Italy would be hit simultaneously by drought or
other catastrophes. Specialization also permitted
economies of scale. Owners devoted careful thought to
the optimum size for a vineyard, an olive plantation, or
a ranch. Slaves may have been cheap in the aftermath
of the wars, but feeding more of them than necessary
was pointless.
Ideally, in addition to its cash crop, an estate pro-
duced just enough to support its labor force. Self-
sufficiency reduced costs and was relatively easy to
achieve, in part because slaves were no longer regarded
as part of the family. In the past, most slaves had been
Italian. Now they were foreign captives and therefore
harder to fit into the fabric of Roman life. Conditions
on some of the estates were appalling. In the Sicilian
grain lands, slaves worked on chain gangs and were
locked up at night. To be sold to the Spanish mines
was a death sentence. Elsewhere, conditions were bet-
ter, but even the most enlightened owners viewed
slaves as an investment, and slave revolts were common
(see document 5.1).
In this way wealthy families developed networks of
specialized properties that brought in huge profits and
insured them against risk through diversification (see il-
lustration 5.1). Ordinary farmers could not compete.
Their small plots were inherently inefficient, and they
lacked the capital either to expand or to make improve-
ments. If they tried to do so, they had to borrow from
their wealthier neighbors, and though debt slavery had
long been abolished, many lost their land through fore-
closures. Others were forced out of business by unfair
competition. Someone with a half-dozen great estates
could easily sell below cost if by so doing he or she
could drive out a competitor and pick up his land at
distress-sale prices.
Citizens by the thousands gave up their land and
migrated to the cities, but opportunities were limited.
Imperialism had concentrated wealth in the hands of a
few while doing little to increase the overall rate of eco-
nomic activity. The rich developed habits of conspicu-
ous consumption that horrified traditionalists such as
Cato, but their most extravagant wants could be met by
a handful of artisans, many of whom were skilled slaves
DOCUMENT 5.1
A Slave Revolt in Sicily
The habitual mistreatment of slaves under the late republic
provoked a series of terrifying slave revolts. The one described
below by Diodorus of Sicily lasted from 134 to 131 B.C. and
involved an army of more than seventy thousand slaves. An-
other great uprising occurred in Sicily in 104–100 B.C., and
yet another in Italy under the gladiator Spartacus (73–71
B.C.) in which 100,000 slaves were said to have been killed.The Servile War broke out from the following
cause. The Sicilians, being grown very rich and
elegant in their manner of living, bought up large
numbers of slaves... and immediately branded
them with marks on their bodies. Oppressed by
the grinding toil and beatings, maltreated for the
most part beyond all reason, the slaves could en-
dure it no longer.
The whole revolt began in the following man-
ner. There was a man in Enna named Damophilus,
magnanimous in his wealth but arrogant in disposi-
tion. This man was exceedingly cruel to his slaves,
and his wife Megallis strove to outdo her husband
in torture and general inhumanity toward them. As
a result, those who were thus cruelly abused were
enraged like wild beasts and plotted together to
rise in arms and kill their masters. They applied to
Eunus [a slave from Syria who was also a well-
known magician] and asked whether the gods
would speed them in their design. Performing
some of his usual mumbo-jumbo, he concluded
that the gods granted it, and urged them to begin
at once. Thereupon they forthwith collected 400
of their fellow slaves and, when the opportunity
presented itself, they burst fully armed into the
city of Enna with Eunus leading them and per-
forming tricks with flames of fire for them. They
stole into the houses and wrought great slaughter.
They spared not even the suckling babes, but tore
them from the breast and dashed them to the
ground. It cannot be expressed with what wanton
outrage they treated wives before the very eyes of
their husbands. They were joined by a large
throng of the slaves in the city, who first visited
the extreme penalty upon their masters and then
turned to murdering others.
Diodorus of Sicily, from Roman Civilization: Third Edition: 2
Vol. Set,Naphtali Lewis and Meyer Rheinhold, eds. Copyright
© 1990, Columbia University Press. Reprinted with permission
of the publisher.