What needed to be done if there is a bad harvest, famine or poor citizens could not even afford to pay the rent of a field? This vexed problem spanned throughout the history of Rome, from the provisions of the nexum to the attempts of Caius Gracchus to help the Romans in need.In fact, the solutions proposed by his brother Tiberius regarding the equal distribution of the land among the Romans are not sufficient to respond if there is a plague or a long winter that dries the soil.
Romans started to deal with the distribution of grain at a reduced price in the early republican period: the grain was obtained from the provinces as taxes or as a spontaneous form of help sent to Rome. However, grain laws (called in Latin Leges frumentariae) became since their first implementation a propagandistic tool.The grain laws are recored not only in the Latin literature but also in the major monuments of Rome.
For example, the arch of Constantine has a relief, called "Largitio" in which the emperor is shown giving grain to the people. Similarly, reliefs of the emperor Marcus Aurelius show the same generosity of the Roman leader.The law proposed by Gaius Gracchus consisted in the sale at a fixed price of the grain: the grain could not cost more than 6 and one third asses of a modius that is to say it could not cost 6 and 1/3 asses for around 3 pounds per family, given that a standard Roman family was composed by 4 people. The patricians considered this law an absurdity because they believed that Gracchus law was funded with the state treasury and that, with an almost free distribution of grain, the poor would have not gone to work anymore.On the other hand the lex sempronia remains a way to solve the delicate issue of the growing immigration in Rome by the people who lost their assets when Rome expanded its power.
Romans started to deal with the distribution of grain at a reduced price in the early republican period: the grain was obtained from the provinces as taxes or as a spontaneous form of help sent to Rome. However, grain laws (called in Latin Leges frumentariae) became since their first implementation a propagandistic tool.The grain laws are recored not only in the Latin literature but also in the major monuments of Rome.
For example, the arch of Constantine has a relief, called "Largitio" in which the emperor is shown giving grain to the people. Similarly, reliefs of the emperor Marcus Aurelius show the same generosity of the Roman leader.The law proposed by Gaius Gracchus consisted in the sale at a fixed price of the grain: the grain could not cost more than 6 and one third asses of a modius that is to say it could not cost 6 and 1/3 asses for around 3 pounds per family, given that a standard Roman family was composed by 4 people. The patricians considered this law an absurdity because they believed that Gracchus law was funded with the state treasury and that, with an almost free distribution of grain, the poor would have not gone to work anymore.On the other hand the lex sempronia remains a way to solve the delicate issue of the growing immigration in Rome by the people who lost their assets when Rome expanded its power.
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