r 200,000 of them rebelled and defied the Roman arms
for a period of four years.

*The decline of the free peasantry.* Partly a cause and partly a result of
the spread of the _latifundia_ was the decline of the free Italian
peasantry. As we have seen, the competition of the slave plantations
proved ruinous to those who tilled their own land. But another very potent
cause contributing to this result was the burden imposed by Rome's foreign
wars. Since only those who had a property assessment of at least 4000
asses were liable to military service, and since the majority of Roman
citizens were engaged in agricultural occupations, the Roman armies were
chiefly recruited from the country population. And no longer for a part of
each year only, but for a number of consecutive years, was the peasant
soldier kept from his home to the inevitable detriment of his fields and
his finances. Furthermore, a long period of military service with the
chances of gaining temporary riches from the spoils of war unfitted men
for the steady, laborious life of the farm. And so many discharged
soldiers, returning to find that their lands had been mortgaged in their
absence for the support of their families, and being unable or unwilling
to gain a livelihood on their small estates, let these pass into the hands
of their wealthier neighbors and flocked to Rome to swell the mob of
idlers there. Then came the heavy losses of the Second Punic and the
Spanish Wars. Although the census list of Roman citizens eligible for
military service shows an increase in the first half of the second century
B. C., between 164 and 136 it sank from 337,000 to 317,000. Yet the levies
had to be raised, even if, as we have seen, they were unpopular enough to
induce the tribunes to intercede against them. The Latin and Italian
allies felt the same drain as the Roman citizens, but had no recourse to
the tribunician intercession. The Senate was consequently brought face to
face with a very serious military problem. The provinces, once occupied,
had to be kept in subjection and defended. Since the Roman government
would not, or dare not, raise armies in the provinces, it had to meet
increasing military obligations with declining resources.

*The urban proletariat.* Another difficulty was destined to arise from the
growth of a turbulent mob in Rome itself. This was in large measure due to
Rome's position as the political and commercial center of the
Mediterranean world. By t