vy iv. 12, 13 is correct, which is doubtful) the
senate appointed a special officer, called _praefectus annonae_, with
greatly extended powers. As a consequence of the second Punic War, Roman
agriculture was at a standstill; accordingly, recourse was had to Sicily
and Sardinia (the first two Roman provinces) in order to keep up the
supply of corn; a tax of one-tenth was imposed on it, and its export to
any country except Italy forbidden. The price at which the corn was sold
was always moderate; the corn law of Gracchus (123 B.C.) made it
absurdly low, and Clodius (58 B.C.) bestowed it gratuitously. The number
of the recipients of this free gift grew so enormously, that both Caesar
and Augustus were obliged to reduce it. From the time of Augustus to the
end of the empire the number of those who were entitled to receive a
monthly allowance of corn on presenting a ticket was 200,000. In the 3rd
century, bread formed the dole. A _praefectus annonae_ was appointed by
Augustus to superintend the corn-supply; he was assisted by a large
staff in Rome and the provinces, and had jurisdiction in all matters
connected with the corn-market. The office lasted till the latest times
of the empire.

ANNONAY, a town of south-eastern France, in the north of the department
of Ardeche, 50 m. S. of Lyons by the Paris-Lyons railway. Pop. (1906)
15,403. Annonay is built on the hill overlooking the meeting of the deep
gorges of the Deome and the Cance, the waters of which supply power to
the factories of the town. By means of a dam across the Ternay, an
affluent of the Deome, to the north-west of the town, a reservoir is
provided, in which an additional supply of water, for both industrial
and domestic purposes, is stored. At Annonay there is an obelisk in
honour of the brothers Montgolfier, inventors of the balloon, who were
natives of the place. A tribunal of commerce, a board of
trade-arbitrators, a branch of the Bank of France, and chambers of
commerce and of arts and manufactures are among the public institutions.
Annonay is the principal industrial centre of its department, the chief
manufactures being those of leather, especially for gloves, paper, silk
and silk goods, and flour. Chemical manures, glue, gelatine, brushes,
chocolate and candles are also produced.

ANNOY (like the French _ennui_, a word traced by etymologists to a Lat.
phrase, _in odio esse_, to be "in hatred" or hateful of someone), to vex
or affect with irri