n of Rome and of the
whole peninsula of Italy underwent a complete transformation as a result
of the infusion of this new element, combined with the emigration of
Italians to the provinces.

The importance of the role played by the freedmen in Roman society was in
proportion to their numbers. From them were recruited the lower ranks of
the civil service, they filled every trade and profession, the commerce of
the empire was largely in their hands, they became the managers of estates
and of business undertakings of all sorts. The eager pursuit of money at
all costs was their common characteristic, and "freedman's wealth" was a
proverbial expression for riches quickly acquired. The more successful of
their class became landholders in Italy and aped the life and manners of
the nobility. Their lack of good taste, so common to the _nouveaux riches_
of all ages, afforded a good target for the jibes of satirists and is
caricatured in the novel of Petronius. We have already seen the influence
of the few among them who by the emperors' favor attained positions of
political importance. Despise the freedmen though they might, the Romans
found them indispensable for the conduct of public and private business.

*Commerce and industry.* The restoration of peace within the empire, the
suppression of piracy, the extension of the Roman military highways
throughout all the provinces, the establishment of a single currency valid
for the whole empire, and the low duties levied at the provincial customs
frontiers combined to produce an hitherto unexampled development of
commercial enterprise. Traders from all parts of the provinces thronged
the ports of Italy, and one merchant of Hierapolis in Phrygia has left a
record of his seventy-two voyages there. But Roman commerce was not
confined within the Roman borders, it also flourished with outside
peoples, particularly those of the East. From the ports of Egypt on the
Red Sea large merchant fleets sailed for southern Arabia and India, while
a brisk caravan trade through the Parthian and Bactrian kingdoms brought
the silks of China to the Roman markets. Even the occasional presence of
Roman merchants in China is vouched for by Chinese records. Among all the
races of the empire the most active in these mercantile ventures were the
Syrians, whose presence may be traced not only in the commercial centers
of the East, but also in the harbors of Italy and throughout all the
western provinces.

The