The Danger of Living on Bread and Circuses: Alice Schroeder
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June 2 (Bloomberg) -- Rome in the first two centuries A.D.faced a yawning gulf between rich and poor. The mighty empirebuilt on tribute reached its geographic limits. Its economycreated few exportable goods. Slaves acquired by conquest builtmost of its bridges, roads and aqueducts and took jobs infarming, mining and construction. As this cheaper labor replacedRoman citizens, idle, unemployed, hungry people filled thecapital.
The Caesars created make-work and part-time jobs,subsidized housing and doled out grain. Even more, they found,was needed. “A people that yawns is ripe for revolt,” wroteJerome Carcopino in “Daily Life in Ancient Rome.”