ends, such as building roads or feeding the sacred geese on
the Capitoline Hill. One of the main jobs of the censors was
to let out such contracts for public works. Th ey also leased
public land and auctioned off the right to collect some taxes.
TAX FARMING
One of the most lucrative businesses in the late republic was
tax farming. Tax farmers, or publicani, purchased from the
censors the right to collect certain taxes, ranging from the
customs dut ies of a por t to t he ha r vest t it hes of a n ent i re prov-
ince. To earn a profi t, of course, the publicani had to collect
more in revenue than they had promised to pay the Roman
government. Because of the need for considerable amounts of
capital to bid for such contracts and the need for big staff s to
collect the taxes, the publicani formed large companies and
even sold shares that could be traded. Although they were
reviled in the provinces and even by some upper-class Ro-
mans, tax farmers came to wield considerable infl uence at
Rome. Having bid too much for the right to collect taxes in
Asia in the late 60s b.c.e., they successfully lobbied to have
the sum reduced by a third. Th e publicani controlled a vast
fi nancial network and could help magistrates transfer large
sums of money across the Mediterranean without physically
transporting coinage or bullion. Th ey also collaborated with
governors in order to exploit the provinces fully. Corruption,
provincial complaints, and the expansion of the Roman bu-
reaucracy led to a gradual decline in tax farming under the
empire.
ECONOMIC POLICY AND REGULATION
While the Romans may not have had a sophisticated concep-
tion of their economy and the rules governing it, they did
attempt to regulate certain markets and formulate what one
might call economic policies. In both cases their actions were
primarily reactive and driven as much by social concerns as
by economic ones. Sumptuary laws provide a good illustra-
tion of this approach. In the second century b.c.e., as wealth
fl ooded into Rome, many people began to buy foreign luxury
goods and serve expensive foods at dinners. Conservative
Romans believed that this trend was dangerous and attrib-
uted it to the corrupting infl uence of military service in the
rich and exotic East. In order to combat this perceived cor-
ruption, they passed a series of laws limiting the amount of
money one could spend on dinners and the types of foods one
could serve. Th us, moral concerns prompted economic legis-
lation. Interest in such laws, which seem to have been fairly
ineff ective, continued down into the Imperial Period. Caesar,
for example, taxed or banned certain foreign luxuries and is
said to have seized such goods from bot h t he market and even
the dinner tables of private homes in which they were being
served. Such strict enforcement does not appear to have been
the normal practice, however.
At Rome and in other communities aediles were the
magistrates normally charged with (among other duties)
the oversight of markets. Th ey prosecuted those who broke
market regulations and looked aft er the city’s general food
supply as well. Th e Roman Senate also had an important role
in economic regulation. Before Clodius began in 58 b.c.e.
the free grain distribution program that at times provided
food for several hundred thousand Romans, the Senate ar-
ranged for the sale of subsidized grain in the city. Although
the prices of basic foodstuff s seem normally to have fl uctu-
ated due to supply and demand, there were attempts to con-
trol the prices of some goods. For example, Suetonius, the
imperial biographer, reports that Domitian (r. 81–96 c.e.)
limited the price of eunuchs. Other measures sought to con-
trol prices by limiting production. According to Cicero, the
Romans prevented the Gauls from cultivating vineyards and
olive groves to protect the interests of Roman wine and olive
oil producers.THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ECONOMY IN THE
LATE REPUBLIC
Th e fi nancial strain of the Second Punic War led the Romans
to develop a new monetary system around 211 b.c.e. Th e main
Roman coin became the silver denarius, which was minted in
increasingly large quantities down to the end of the repub-
lic. Although some infl ation occurred during this period, the
growth in the money supply seems to have been balanced by
an increase in monetization as more and more people came
to rely on Roman coins for their transactions and as a store
of wealth. Bullion and credit also contributed to the growth
in the money supply, but since it is impossible to quantify the
amount of bullion in circulation or the extent to which credit
took the place of coin in transactions, it is diffi cult to estimate
their signifi cance.
Th e late republic witnessed a substantial increase in
long-distance trade within the Mediterranean basin. Rome’s
newfound wealth allowed it to import many goods into Italy
while continuing to export wine and other products. At the
same time, Rome faced certain profound economic diffi cul-
ties. An overreliance on slave labor, particularly for agricul-
ture, led to a series of devastating slave revolts, most notably
the one led by Spartacus in the 70s b.c.e. Th e provinces suf-
fered too, from excessive taxation and corrupt Roman gover-
nors. Finding suffi cient resources to reward Roman veterans
also proved challenging.
Debt, however, more than anything else, constituted
a perennial problem among farmers at the mercy of the
weather, the urban plebs, and even aristocrats competing
in the high-stakes and increasingly cash-intensive political
arena. Th e Lex Poetelia Papiria, a law passed by the tribunes
Gaius Poetelius Libo Visolus and Lucius Papirius Cursor in
326 b.c.e., helped ameliorate the consequences of indebted-
ness by outlawing debt slavery, but it could not do away with
the underlying problem. Debt crises occurred frequently in
the late republic and could even threaten the stability of the
government. Th e conspiracy of Catiline, a failed plot to over-
throw the state in 63 b.c.e., drew much of its support from the
indebted. As dictator in the 40s b.c.e., Julius Caesar movedeconomy: Rome 369