mselves in
the face of the demands of military service abroad and the competition of
imported grain as well as that of the _latifundia_ themselves.

The public domain that was not required for purposes of colonization had
always been open for pasturage or cultivation to persons paying a nominal
rental to the state. Those who profited most from this system were the
wealthier landholders who could occupy and cultivate very considerable
areas. This fact explains the senatorial opposition to the division and
settlement of the _ager Gallicus_ proposed and carried by the tribune
Flaminius in 233 B. C. The dangers of the practice to the smaller
proprietors caused the passing of laws, probably late in the third
century, which limited the amount of public land to be occupied by any
individual and his family. But these laws were disregarded, for the Senate
administered the public domain and the senators were the wealthy
landholders. After several generations the public lands occupied in this
way came to be regarded as private property. The havoc wrought by Hannibal
in South Italy, where he destroyed four hundred communities, caused the
disappearance of the country population and opened the way for the
acquisition of large estates there, and the law which restricted the
commercial activities of senators and forbade their engaging in tax
collecting or undertaking similar state contracts encouraged them to
invest their capital in Italian land and stimulated the growth of their
holdings.

The change in agrarian conditions in Italy was also advantageous to large
estates. The cheapness of Sicilian grain rendered it more profitable in
Italy to cultivate vineyards and olive orchards, and to raise cattle and
sheep on a large scale. For the latter wide acreages were needed: a summer
pasturage in the mountains and a winter one in the lowlands of the coast.
Abundant capital and cheap labor were other requisites. And slaves were to
be had in such numbers that their labor was exploited without regard for
their lives. Cato the Elder, who exemplified the vices as well as the
virtues of the old Roman character, treated his slaves like cattle and
recommended that they be disposed of when no longer fit for work. Often
the slaves worked in irons, and were housed in underground prisons
(_ergastula_). The dangers of the presence of such masses of slaves so
brutally treated came to light in the Sicilian Slave War which broke out
in 136 B. C., when ove