264 OiLtlines of Ej trope a7i History These lands were now being worked by slaves, the captives, of whom the Romans had taken great numbers in their wars. Such captives of war were usually sold into slavery. Pirates now in control of the eastern Mediterranean also brought in multitudes of captives, whom they sold as slaves to wealthy buyers. As a result great hosts of such slaves were working" the lands of Italy, and a single large landholder might possess thousands of them. The farmer is unable to compete with slave labor ; he falls into debt, loses his scanty lands, and goes up to the city. On the way thither he finds all Italy stripped of its hardy farmers by the wars, and their lands in the possession of Roman capitalists, who have equipped them with foreign slaves. He finds the city filled with a great multitude of former citizens, now penniless like himself, who have lost their citizenship with their property. All Italy is thus seething with discontent. What matters it to the landless peasant who has fought the battles of Rome and won her dominion over the whole civilized world — what matters it to him that the city is now being adorned with splendid public buildings, such as have never been seen in the West before, outside of the Greek cities ? He sees the gardens and villas of the rich filled with sculpture from the cities of Hellas and Asia ; he sees a network of new military roads spreading in all directions from the city ; he finds the houses of the Roman nobles in the city filled with foreign slaves ; he hears his old commanders speaking Greek and sees them reading Greek books ; he knows that they send their sons to Athens to receive a Greek education. He knows, moreover, that while these Roman lords are thus taking possession of the best things in Greek life, they are likewise appropriating the wealth of all this great world, where Greek culture is everywhere. This wealth and the leadership of the vast dominions that contribute it, have made the Roman Senate powerful beyond the uttermost dreams of the fathers of old, and in this new power and wealth the Roman multitude have no share. What is worse they have lost their own property
