DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18096#0098
56 Roman Africa
inform us of scarcity and distress in the reigns of Augustus and
Tiberius. Under Claudius there was dearth of corn for three
consecutive years, and famine caused great hardship in various
parts of the Empire during the rule of Domitian and some of
his successors. Under the later emperors there are records of
several others, but one may reasonably suppose that the admirable
system of corn storage in years of plenty, inaugurated by
Trajan, lessened the evil in a time of need. During his strug-
gles with Caesar Pompey stopped the export. Such was the
distress in the capital that the populace implored Caesar to
terminate his differences with his rival. A treaty was then
arranged, the chief condition being that grain-ships were to be
allowed to leave the African ports and to cross the Mediter-
ranean unmolested.
It is difficult in these days of abundant food supply, and
with the control of so large a portion of the earth's surface to
meet the growing requirements of mankind, to measure the
anxiety of the Roman people when the days of harvesting were
drawing near. Their very existence was at one period at the
mercy of the waves, and tempestuous weather off the ports of
Africa or on the coasts of Sicily and Spain was too often the
cause of deep anxiety in the metropolis.1 As far back as the
time of Caius Gracchus, the socialist of his time and hero of the
hour, poor citizens were allowed their doles of wheat at half the
current prices in the market, and what were known as tesscrce
frumentarice, equivalent to modern soup and coal tickets, were
distributed freely by civil functionaries to all persons in need.
So pauperising a measure attracted to the capital the idle and
worthless from all parts of Italy, and ultimately created an evil
which the earlier emperors had great difficulty in checking. It
was not likely that the populace would remain satisfied till they
had ultimately acquired the right of demanding bread unstinted
and without payment, nor was it possible for the resources of
the treasury to be equal to supplying a demand which was
both arbitrary and impolitic. In the last days of the Republic
no less than 320,000 persons claimed their weekly doles, and it
required all the popularity of a Caesar and the combined efforts
1 Tacitus, Ann. iii. 54 : Vita populi Romani per incerta maris et tempestatuni
quotidie vohitur.
inform us of scarcity and distress in the reigns of Augustus and
Tiberius. Under Claudius there was dearth of corn for three
consecutive years, and famine caused great hardship in various
parts of the Empire during the rule of Domitian and some of
his successors. Under the later emperors there are records of
several others, but one may reasonably suppose that the admirable
system of corn storage in years of plenty, inaugurated by
Trajan, lessened the evil in a time of need. During his strug-
gles with Caesar Pompey stopped the export. Such was the
distress in the capital that the populace implored Caesar to
terminate his differences with his rival. A treaty was then
arranged, the chief condition being that grain-ships were to be
allowed to leave the African ports and to cross the Mediter-
ranean unmolested.
It is difficult in these days of abundant food supply, and
with the control of so large a portion of the earth's surface to
meet the growing requirements of mankind, to measure the
anxiety of the Roman people when the days of harvesting were
drawing near. Their very existence was at one period at the
mercy of the waves, and tempestuous weather off the ports of
Africa or on the coasts of Sicily and Spain was too often the
cause of deep anxiety in the metropolis.1 As far back as the
time of Caius Gracchus, the socialist of his time and hero of the
hour, poor citizens were allowed their doles of wheat at half the
current prices in the market, and what were known as tesscrce
frumentarice, equivalent to modern soup and coal tickets, were
distributed freely by civil functionaries to all persons in need.
So pauperising a measure attracted to the capital the idle and
worthless from all parts of Italy, and ultimately created an evil
which the earlier emperors had great difficulty in checking. It
was not likely that the populace would remain satisfied till they
had ultimately acquired the right of demanding bread unstinted
and without payment, nor was it possible for the resources of
the treasury to be equal to supplying a demand which was
both arbitrary and impolitic. In the last days of the Republic
no less than 320,000 persons claimed their weekly doles, and it
required all the popularity of a Caesar and the combined efforts
1 Tacitus, Ann. iii. 54 : Vita populi Romani per incerta maris et tempestatuni
quotidie vohitur.