r to live in idleness, and was itself
extremely injurious to industry; but another arrangement was adopted by
the Roman government, which rendered the _cultivation of land around
Rome unprofitable to the proprietors_. A large sum was annually employed
by the state _in purchasing grain in the provinces_, and in transporting
this supply to Rome, where it was _sold at a fixed price to the bakers_.
Augustus appointed an officer, styled _Prefectus Annonae_, whose duty was
to provide by government purchases for the subsistence of the people. An
allowance was also made _to the private importers of grain_, in order to
ensure a constant supply.[51] In this way, a very large sum was expended
_to keep grain cheap in a city_ where a variety of circumstances tended
to make it dear. This singular system of annihilating capital, _and
ruining agriculture and industry_, was so deeply rooted in the Roman
administration, that similar gratuitous distributions of grain were
established at Antioch and Alexandria, and introduced into
Constantinople when that city became the capital of the empire."[52]

The necessary effect of this system was the cessation of agriculture in
Italy, the ruin of the small proprietors, and the engrossing of the land
in the provinces by a few great landholders, who cultivated their
extensive estates by means of slaves. "Riches, far exceeding the wealth
of modern sovereigns, flowed into the hands of the great proprietors;
villas and parks were formed over all Italy on a scale of the most
stupendous grandeur; and land _became more valuable as hunting-ground
than as productive farms_. The same habits were introduced into the
provinces. In the neighbourhood of Rome, agriculture was ruined by the
public distribution of grain received as tribute from the provinces,
and by the bounty granted to merchants importing to secure a maximum
price of bread. The same system proceeded in the provinces; and similar
distributions at Alexandria and Antioch must have been equally
injurious."[53] When Constantine established his new capital on the
shores of the Bosphorus, he was under the necessity of adopting, and
even extending, the same ruinous system. "Wealthy individuals from the
provinces were compelled to keep up houses at Constantinople, pensions
were conferred upon them, and a right to distributions of provisions to
a considerable amount was annexed to those dwellings. These rations
consisted of bread, oil, wine, meat, and forme