Economic conditions

The Roman expansion was accompanied by profound changes in the economic and social life of Rome and Italy. In the course of the second century BC the city of Rome emerged as an important commercial centre which attracted large numbers of merchants and tradesmen from other parts of Italy and overseas and private businesses of all kinds were set up which provided services and manufactured goods.^[540] The increase in economic activity during this period is manifested by the development and widespread use of currency^[541] and by the establishment of financial institutions in Rome and other Italian cities.^[542] Furthermore, sea-trade was facilitated by the establishment of new commercial ports on the coasts of Italy, such as that of Puteoli in the vicinity of Naples.^[543]

Notwithstanding the growth of trade and industry, agriculture remained the basis of the Roman economy during the later Republic.

In the years that followed Rome's wars of expansion in the East the peasant population of Italy decreased considerably and the free workers of the land were almost entirely replaced by slave labour.^[548] As the production of com and wheat was no longer profitable, for these were now imported in large quantities from overseas, many small farm-owners in Italy faced bankruptcy. Although some of the most enterprising farmers were able to shift to other products, such as olives and grapes, which could be sold more easily to overseas markets, or turned to cattle-raising, the great majority of the small proprietors could no longer hold their own against the great estate-owners and were forced to abandon their land. Many of them continued to work the soil as tenants or hired labourers, while others left farming altogether and turned into professional soldiers or moved to the cities where they lived on government grants or became clients of wealthy citizens. Gradually, whole districts were turned into cattle-ranches or large estates (latifundia), owned by a few wealthy families and worked by slaves or tenants. During the late second century BC thousands of landless and poverty-stricken people from all over Italy flowed into Rome where they joined the growing urban proletariat of the city.

A form of economic activity that appears to have flourished during this period revolved around the contractual undertaking of various public works (publica) by private individuals. The word publicum, in a broad sense, denoted property belonging to the state (both in Italy and overseas), such as forests and pastures, stone quarries and mines, roads, bridges, aqueducts and all kinds of public buildings. In a narrower sense, the same word meant public revenue. The Roman revenues were derived in part from lands and other forms of property owned by the state and in part from taxes paid by the citizens of Rome or her subjects in Italy and the provinces. Most of these revenues, especially taxes, were not collected directly by the state, due to its lack of the necessary means, but were let on lease to private contractors. The latter undertook, at their own risk and expense, to exploit the state's assets or to collect taxes, and to pay a fixed amount on an annual basis to the Roman state treasury. Those who entered into such contracts with the state were referred to as publicani. As the great majority of the publicani belonged to the equestrian class, the terms equites and publicani were treated for all practical purposes as synonymous.^[550] [551] In order to minimise the financial and other risks involved in carrying out their work most publicani were organised in companies referred to as societates publicanorum?¹ Of the several companies competing for the undertaking of a public work the one which would put in the lowest tender for carrying out the work was usually awarded the contract.^[552] The wealth and influence of this class of businessmen grew rapidly as Rome expanded in territory and her revenues increased. But as the publicani always sought to profit from the excess they collected over the amount they were bound to turn over to the state, they became notorious for their greed and cruelty.^[553]