izens who were too
proud to work and yet willing to be fed by the government. The
industrial conditions of the rural districts and small cities were no
better.

There were a few non-residents who cultivated the soil by means of
slaves, or by _coloni_, or serfs who were bound to the soil. These
classes were recruited from the conquered provinces. Farming had
fallen into disrepute. The small farmers, through the introduction of
slavery, were crowded from their holdings and were compelled to join
the great unfed populace of the city. Taxation fell heavily and
unjustly upon the people. The method of raising taxes by farming them
out was a pernicious system that led to gross abuse. All enterprise
and all investments were discouraged. There was no inducement for men
to enter business, as labor had been dishonored and industry crippled.
The great body of Roman people were divided into two classes, those who
formed the lower classes of laborers and those who had concentrated the
wealth of the country in their own hands and held the power of the
nation in their own control. The mainstay of the nation had fallen
with the disappearance of the sterling middle class. The lower classes
were reduced to a mob by the unjust and unsympathetic treatment
received at the hands of the governing class.

In the civil administration there was a division of citizens into two
classes: those who had influence in the local affairs of their towns or
neighborhood, and those who were simply interested in the central
organization. During the days of the republic these people were
closely related, because all citizens were forced to come to Rome in
order to have a voice in the political interests of the government.
But during the empire {266} there came about a change, and the citizens
of a distant province were interested only in the management of their
own local affairs and lost their interest in the general government, so
that when the central government weakened there was a tendency for the
local interests to destroy the central.

After the close of Constantine's reign very great evils threatened the
Roman administration. First of these was the barbarians; second, the
populace; and third, the soldiers. The barbarians continually made
inroads upon the territory, broke down the governmental system, and
established their own, not so much for the sake of destruction and
plunder, as is usually supposed, but to seek the betterment of their