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Pigs, Plebeians and Potentes: Rome's Economic Hinterland, c. 350–600A.D.1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2013

S. J. B. Barnish
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Papers of the British School at Rome , Volume 55 , November 1987 , pp. 157 - 185
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Copyright © British School at Rome 1987

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References

2 Numerous interim reports on the site have been published, and a final one is in preparation. Meanwhile, see especially Small, A. M. and Buck, R. J., ‘S. Giovanni di Ruoti, 1981’, Classical Views 26 (1982), 257–80Google Scholar; R. J. Buck, ‘Roman Law and Agriculture: the Evidence from S. Giovanni’, ibid., 243–57; Lo Scavo di S. Giovanni di Ruoti ed il Periodo Tardoantico in Basilicata, ed. Gualtieri, M., Salvatore, M. and Small, A. M. (Bari, 1983)Google Scholar; Small, A. M. and Freed, J. in Papers in Italian Archaeology IV, ed. Malone, C. and Stoddart, S. (BAR IS 248, Oxford, 1985), iv, 165–77 and 179–83Google Scholar; Buck, R. J. and Small, A. M., ‘Excavations at S. Giovanni, 1983’, Class. Views 28 (1984), 203–8Google Scholar; and Small, A. M. and Freed, J. in Società Romana e Impero Tardoantico III, ed. Giardina, A. (1st. Gramsci, Bari, 1986), 97–129Google Scholar.

3 Cf. D. Whitehouse and D. G. Steele, in Lo Scavo, 78 ff., 82, 107 ff.; Buck, , Class. Views 26, 249 fGoogle Scholar. For probably fifth century advice on pig-raising, aimed at a Gallic and Italian readership, see Palladius, , Opus Agric. III. 26Google Scholar, De Vet. Med. XIV. 5, 36. Opus III. 26. 5, IV. 10. 1–5 show that pigs went well with cultivation of vines and apples. According to Wickham, C., Settimane del Centro di Studio sull'Alto Medioevo 31 (1985), 417 fGoogle Scholar, ‘a predominance of pigs among stock generally shows a stock economy subordinate to agriculture’.

4 Campania: cf. Matthews, J. F., Western Aristocracies & Imperial Court, A.D. 364–425 (Oxford, 1975), 24–6Google Scholar. Lucania: cf. Procopius, , Wars VII. 22. 20Google Scholar; Cassiodorus, , Variae IV. 48Google Scholar; CIL X. 178. The great second to fourth century house of the Brittii Praesentes had links with the S. Giovanni region; cf. Arnheim, M. T. W., The Senatorial Aristocracy in the Later Roman Empire (Oxford, 1972), 140 fGoogle Scholar.

5 Reg. Pont. Rom. I2, ed. Jaffé, P. (Leipzig, 1885)Google Scholar; cf. F. Lanzoni, Le Diocesi d'ltalia I (Studi e Testi 35), 328.

6 Cf. Roberto, C., Plambeck, J. A. and Small, A. M., ‘The Chronology of the Sites of the Roman Period around S. Giovanni’, in Archaeological Field Survey in Britain and Abroad, ed. Macready, S. and Thompson, F. H. (London, 1985), 136–45Google Scholar, and A. M. Small, ‘Late Antique Settlements in Apulia and Lucania’, forthcoming.

7 Varro II. 4. 22; cf. Smith, C. Delano, Western Mediterranean Europe (London, etc., 1979), 221, 316Google Scholar.

8 Cf. Delano Smith, 228, on the problems of interpreting bone-finds. Note that neither site has yielded obvious farm-buildings, let alone the probable slaughter-house and cold-store linked with meat exports at Gatcombe villa, or the signs of large pigsties (recommended by the agronomists) and grain-fattening at other Romano-British farms. On these, cf. Branigan, K. et al. , Gatcombe Roman Villa (BAR 44, Oxford, 1977), 183 f., 201, 209 ff.Google Scholar, eund., Roman Villas in Southwest England, 72, 79; Applebaum, S. in Agrarian History of England and Wales II. i, ed. Finberg, H. P., 177–82Google Scholar. But the S. Giovanni magnetic survey suggests unexcavated areas of activity east of the main complex; cf. R. E. Linington in Lo Scavo, 68.

9 Cf. Steele, Lo Scavo, 82; Barker, G., in Whitehouse, D. et al. , ‘The Schola Praeconum I’, PBSR 50 (1982), 53–101, 87 ffGoogle Scholar.

10 Steele, Lo Scavo, 78 f.

11 Whitehouse, ibid., 108 f. For some unstated reason, he contradicts Steele on the middens, dating them 375–425 and 425–525. The key texts are Codex Theodosianus XIV. 4. 10, Nov. Valentiniani 36, and Cassiod., Variae, XI. 39, given below, Appendix.

12 N. Val. 36.

13 The possibility is taken seriously by Chastagnol, A., ‘Le Ravitaillement de Rome en Viande au Ve Siècle’, Rev. Hist. 210 (1953), 13–22, 22Google Scholar.

14 ‘Fuerit populus’ does not necessarily refer to past time only; for near parallels, see Var. II. 14. 1, VII. 28. 1.

15 Indications of the letter's time-scale may be found in the reference to water-mills which are first attested in 398, and had probably then been operating for some time (C. Th. XIV. 15. 4); and in the major contributions still made in 452 by Campania and Samnium to the pork supply. But the letter is too vague and rhetorical for these points to bear any weight.

16 Anon. Val. 67.

17 Cf. Hannestad, K., Les Ressources Agricoles de l'ltalie du 4e au 6e Siècle (Copenhagen, 1962), 67Google Scholar; and, on the dole and the nutritional value of the modius, ibid., 61.

18 Cf. Stein, E., Histoire du Bos-Empire II (Paris, etc., 1949), 133Google Scholar; Ruggini, L. C., Economia e Società nell'Itallia Annonaria (Milan, 1961), 294 f., n. 245Google Scholar. On the term modus, see Tengström, E., Bread for the People: Studies of the Com Supply of Rome during the Late Empire (Stockholm, 1974), 85Google Scholar.

19 Cf. Ruggini, loc. cit. (n. 18).

20 According to Procopius (Anec. 26. 29) Theoderic distributed 4,500 medimnoi ( = 27,000 modii) of corn a year to the beggars at St. Peter's.

21 Cf. Tengström, 84–7, on ILS 9059 II and C. Th. XIV. 17. 5; but note that the pork opsonia, at least, were a fixed weight.

22 Wars VI. 7. 38, 21. 39. Does the figure include refugees from the surrounding countryside? The claim that Milan was razed to the ground is false.

23 Cf. Cod. Iust. I. 2. 14, praef., 2.17. 1, Nov. Iust. 7. 1; Jones, A. H. M., Later Roman Empire (Oxford, 1973, reprint), 697Google Scholar. Were the St. Peter's distributions (above, n.20) Church-owned rations?

24 Note, though, the recent arguments of Mango, C., Le Développement Urbain de Constantinople (Paris, 1985), 50, 53Google Scholar, that the Byzantine population was never more than 200–300,000.

25 On these disturbances, cf, especially, Pietri, Ch., ‘Le Sénat, Le peuple Chrétien et Les partis du Cirque à Rome sous le Pape Symmaque,’ MÉFR 78 (1966), 123–39Google Scholar, not wholly convincing.

26 Cf. Ennodius, op. no. 368 (MGH a. a. VII); Maximian, Eleg. I. 25–44, 59–76 (Baehrens).

27 Cf. Cameron, Alan and Schauer, D., ‘The Last Consul’, JRS 72 (1982), 126–45Google Scholar.

28 John of Antioch, fr. 201 ( = Priscus, fr. 30, Blockley), and Haenel, Corpus Legum, p. 260, show the praetorian prefecture functioning at Rome in 454 and 474.

29 The great numerical decline of the Roman and Constantinopolitan Senates seems to have taken place in the first half of the fifth century; imperial recognition of the fact may have encouraged the lesser gentry to reside in the capitals again, by freeing them from their former expenses (cf. Jones, LRE 529, 537 ff.).

30 Cassiod., , Var. IV. 30Google Scholar; cf. IV. 51 on a senator's building works in the suburbs, and III. 29, making over disused horreae to a senator for private building. Note also Nov. Majoriani 4.

31 C. 500, senators were showing rather ambivalent attitudes to their Roman expenses. Cf. Matthews, 391; Boethius, Cons. Phil. III, pr. iv, though contrast II, pr.iii; Cassiod Var. III. 39, V. 42. Cassiod., Chron., a. 519, may also imply generally low standards in the consular games.

32 But Var. IX. 17, a. 533/4, suggests unchronicled disturbances.

33 Cf. Cameron, and Schauer, , JRS 72, 136 fGoogle Scholar.

34 Aspetti Sociali del Quarto Secolo (Rome, 1951), 230ff.Google Scholar, recently followed by Hodges, R. and Whitehouse, D., Mohammed, Charlemagne and the Origins of Europe (London, 1983), 49 ffGoogle Scholar.

35 This was levied on the possessores, not on the arca vinaria, as in the recent edict CIL VI. 1771; cf. Chastagnol, A., La Préfecture Urbaine (Paris, 1960), 328 f.Google Scholar, but contrast Jones, LRE, 703.

36 Jones, LRE, 1290, n. 37, would emend ‘per singulas et semis decimas… damnum … vini … perceptione relevetur’ to ‘praeter singulas et semis decimas ….’, thus distinguishing the two; but there is no MS variant, and I am quite unconvinced.

37 Rev. Hist. 210 (1953), 222Google Scholar.

38 LRE 698 & n. 23, on HA Severus 23. 2.

39 For the latter, cf. Hodges and Whitehouse, 49.

40 Hannestad, 62, on the basis of Dio Cassius 76. 1. 1, and Herodian 3. 13. 14, estimates the plebs frumentaria in 203 as 150–160,000. He discusses the HA figure, and points out that we do not know if it represented total consumption.

41 Mohammed, 51. They use the formulae of Duncan-Jones, Brunt and Beloch (28.6, 35 and 51.7 percent) for calculating the proportion of adult males, and assume that the dole-entitled plebs amounted to 80 per cent of the population.

42 Lo Scavo, 108 f.

43 Cf. Jones, LRE, 446, 703 and n. 35 (not quite consistent). Problem of the bonus: multiplying the allocation of 14,700 solidi by the price of 240 gives 3,528,000; plus bonus = 3,628,000. But Jones calculates a basic import of 3,000,000 + 300,000 + 330,000 (duae decimae) = 3,630,000; very close to the text's 3,629,000 without the bonus. At LRE, 446, he points out that 14,700 solidi × a market price of 200 = 2,940,000; plus a plain 20 per cent compensation, this gives 3,528,000, and the bonus would again be included to approximate to the prescribed total.

44 Fr. 25 (Blockley); cf. Blockley, n. ad loc, and fr. 11. Mazzarino ascribes the decline of c. 400, larger still, by his reckoning, to the Visigoths.

45 The Vandal sack of 455, and the prolonged siege of Anthemius by Ricimer in 472 must have had some demographic impact, if only temporary. N. Val. 5, a. 440, has implications both ways for the population level.

46 Nov. Maj. 2.

47 For continuing insecurity in Tuscia in 417, cf. Rutilius, , De Reditu Suo I. 37–42Google Scholar.

48 But note the southward passage and return of the Visigoths in 410. C. Th. XI. 28. 7, a. 413, grants the southern provinces a 4/10 tax remission for 5 years: a sign of hardship, perhaps also of senatorial interest and pressure. Was it linked with the rebuilding of S. Giovanni?

49 Cf, e.g., Stein I, 358–42, Matthews, 357–62.

50 Note also Var. XII. 14. The pork levy was probably only a specially assigned part of the taxes normally due to the praetorian prefecture (cf. N. Val. 36), and a reduction in the former might theoretically have meant a rise in the latter; but of this, Cassiodorus, then prae. praet., gives no hint.

51 For Rome, cf. Matthews, 18 ff. Sidonius Apollinaris, as prae. urbi in 468, feared a food riot ((Ep. I. 10); while the appointment formula, Var. VI. 18, envisages the possibility.

52 Cf. Pietri, above, n. 25; Richards, J., The Popes and the Papacy in the Early Middle Ages (London, 1979), 80–3, 97–9Google Scholar; Llewellyn, P. A. B., ‘The Roman Church during the Laurentian Schism’, Church History 45 (1976), 417–27CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

53 Cf. Hannestad, 61; Tengström, 80, takes a more favourable view of the dole.

54 Cf. Paulinus of Nola, Ep. 13. 11 ff., Ennodius 49 (Lib. pro Syn.), 132 f., Procop., , Wars V. 1. 33Google Scholar, VII. 20. 27.

55 Cf. C. Th. XIV. 17. 6, a. 370.

56 Cf. Procop, , Wars V. 14. 17, 20Google Scholar. 5, 25. 11 (note Thucydidean echoes), VI. 3. 8ff; for plebeian otium, Amm. Marc. XXVIII. 4. 28–34, Prudentius, , C. Symm. II. 954Google Scholar.

57 Cf. Olympiodorus, fr. 43; Ward-Perkins, B., From Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages (Oxford, 1984), 38 ffGoogle Scholar.

58 On church building in general, cf. Ward-Perkins, 236–41; on Symmachus, Richards, 40 f., 83. Note that papal building seems to diminish after his pontificate.

59 Cf. Cassiod, , Var. I. 25Google Scholar, Anon. Val. 67; Lanciani, R., Destruction of Ancient Rome (New York, 1899), 77 ff.Google Scholar, Ward-Perkins, 46, Cecchini, M., Arch. Med. 10 (1983), 483Google Scholar.

60 On the impact of senatorial households on the free market, cf. Carrié, J.-M., ‘Les Distributions Alimentaires’, MÉFR 87 (1975), 1048 fGoogle Scholar. Dole-market: vina fiscalia were sold at low prices (Jones, LRE, 704); and, before 369, at least part of the bread ration had been sold (cf. Tengstrom, , 84, on C. Th. XIV. 17. 5Google Scholar). But HA Aurelian 35, 48 suggests that pork was free; N. Val. 36. 2, ‘ducena quadragena pondo ad solidos … inlaturi’ would then refer to the buying price, as Jones, 703, takes it, not the selling price.

61 CIL VI. 1198 (Petronius Maximus, a. 443–5); these fora had been common c. 400.

62 Cf. Giardina, A., ‘Aristocrazie terriere e piccola mercatura’, Quad. Urbinati 36 (1981), 131 ff.Google Scholar, on N. Val. 5. Note the baths and bakery owned by the illustris Vestina (Liber Pontificalis, ed. L. Duchesne, I, 221 f.).

63 XXVIII. 4. 28, 34; note also the occupational names Messores and Trulla. On Lucanian sausage, cf. Buck, Class. Views 26, (1982) 351.

64 Especially C. Th. XIV. 4. 3.

65 C. Th. XIV. 4.2 (a. 324), 4.3 (a. 363), 4.4 (a. 367).

66 C. Th. XIV. 4. 10, N. Val. 36; cf. XIV. 4. 3. for folles.

67 On the problems of adaeratio, cf. Mazzarino, cap.4; Cérati, A., Caractère Annonaire et Assiette de l'Impôt Fonder en Bas-Empire (Paris, 1975), 153–80Google Scholar; Whittaker, C. in Imperial Expenditure, Revenue and Monetary Policy in the fourth centuty A.D., ed. King, C. E. (BAR IS 76, Oxford, 1984), 6 fGoogle Scholar.

68 Cf. Jones, LRE, 460 and n. Gregory of Tours, Vita Patrum II. 1 illustrates the point well.

69 It is strange that, in 452, the commuted total still covered these costs with the duae decimae. Perhaps Cassiodorus has become confused over a later and unattested reform whereby this compensation was abolished—another factor in the decline of the levy.

70 Cf. C. Th. XI. 2. 4, a. 384.

71 Cf. Jones, LRE, 703.

72 Cf. above, n. 35.

73 Cf. Anon. de Rebus Bellicis II on the social effects of a gold-economy; Theoderet, , Ep. xxxviiGoogle Scholar (Azéma I, 102) shows how peasants would raise gold for taxes, by sale of produce; or, if necessary, by loans from state-salaried soldiers; but contrast below, on the eventual use of gold, even by coloni.

74 Procop., Anec. 30.13 (cf. also John Lydus, De Mag. II. 61) shows how coemptiones helped both farmer and tax-collector, by feeding gold into the circuit; but contrast Anec. 22. 17 ff., 23. 9–14. On the problems of coemptio, cf. Vanags, P., in Aspects of the De Rebus Bellicis I, ed. Hassall, M. (BAR IS 63, Oxford, 1979), 49 fGoogle Scholar. The relation of the great incomes of the late empire and the sale of farm produce is thoroughly discussed by Vera, D., ‘La Rendita Fondiaria’, Società Romana e Impero Tardoantico I, ed. Giardina, A. ((Ist. Gramsci) Bari, 1986)Google Scholar, cap. 11.

75 Now. Maj. 2. 3: trina illatio, a method still used under the Ostrogoths.

76 Cf. Ausonius, Ep. 26, for both processes in private, large-scale purchase.

77 Cf. C. Th. XIV. 4. 2, 3, Cassiod., , Var. VIII. 33Google Scholar, discussed below.

78 Cf. Whittaker, in Imperial Revenue, 11 f., and in Trade in the Ancient Economy, ed. Garnsey, P., Hopkins, K. and Whittaker, C. (London, 1983)Google Scholar, cap. 13, perhaps overstating the importance of this process.

79 Cf. Vera, above, n. 74, who argues that most of the marketing was done at intermediate level, by the actores or conductores of the major landowners. There is, however, evidence which he criticizes too strongly for some degree of gold coin-use by coloni in the sixth century. For the result of the process, see especially Olympiodorus, fr. 41. 2 (Blockley): senatorial incomes in kind only ⅓ of gold; note also Lauricius' revenues (P. Ital. 1, Tjäder).

80 Economia, esp. 207–32, 276–360. The texts are Cassiod., , Var. I. 16Google Scholar, II. 26, 38, IV. 7, IX. 7, XII. 22–23, Justinian, Sanctio Pragm. 26 (Nov., app. 7, CJC III). Var. I. 16 gives best support to Ruggini, but II. 38 suggests that traders were small and vulnerable men. But cf. Whittaker, Trade, 163–75, for the general importance of landlord-tied merchants.

81 Cf. C. Th. XIV. 4. 1, 4. 5, N. Val. 36, Chastagnol, , Rev. Hist. 210, 17Google Scholar.

82 Are the interpretia of N. Val. 36, from which they paid their bonus, the profits of trading on the free market, or of buying dole-pork at local prices, after receiving commuted money at Roman prices? I suspect the latter.

83 Cf. Whittaker in Imperial Revenue, 4–7; but this seems controversial—contrast A. K. Bowman, ibid., 25, and R. Reece in Aspects of the De Rebus Bellicis, 61. As noted, pork commutation was then still calculated in bronze; but a gold-shortage will have affected commercial activity and available cash.

84 Cf. M. Salvatore in Lo Scavo, 111–23; J. Freed, ibid., 99–103, in Papers in ltal. Arch. IV. iv, 182–6, 192, and in Società Romana III, 121 ff., 126, calling attention to the implications for regional stability and prosperity. Note also Cann, S. and Lloyd, J., Arch. Med. 11 (1984), 425–35Google Scholar.

85 The role of the Trygetii in Vandal diplomacy (Prosper, Chron., a. 432, Diaconus, Paulus, Hist.Rom. XIII. 11Google Scholar) suggests important African interests.

86 Painted Common Ware was made in a former Lucanian villa, at Calle di Tricarico; and cf. Cassiod., , Var. II. 23Google Scholar, a pottery or tile-works owned or run by three spectabiles.

87 R. Hodges, personal comment.

88 C. Just. X. 27. 2 shows, though, the high degree of monetization of the eastern tax system by the reign of Anastasius.

89 African tributary corn may have still reached Italy from 442 to 455; cf. Procop., , Wars III. 4. 13Google Scholar, Zecchini, G., Aezio (Rome, 1983), 180Google Scholar. But contrast N. Val. 5 for the importance of possible eastern imports in 440, though Greek merchants could have dealt in western food.

90 Cf. K. Dunbabin in Lo Scavo, 47–58; the two mosaics subsequently found seem of similar type.

91 For decline in the Via Herculia area near Venosa, and stability in the Via Appia area near Gravina, see Small, above, n. 6; for decline in the Volcei area, Dyson, S., The Roman Villas of Buccino (BAR IS 187, Oxford, 1983)Google Scholar. Small, though, observes that our ignorance of Lombard-period pottery forms may lead to overestimation of decline, while Dyson (190) sees the real break in settlement pattern as occurring only in the Justinianic period.

92 A. M. Small, personal information. One is pierced for wearing.

93 Coin finds in Dyson. The third century A.D. seems best represented.

94 Cf. Crawford, M., ‘Money and Exchange in the Roman World’, JRS 60 (1970), 43 f.Google Scholar; but contrast Millar, F., JRS 71 (1981), 53–75Google Scholar.

95 Patlagean, E., Pauvreté Économique et Pauvreté Sociale à Byzance (Paris, etc., 1977), 353 f.CrossRefGoogle Scholar, suggests that agricultural day labourers would be paid chiefly in kind; but cf. above, n. 56.

96 R. Hodges, forthcoming report.

97 Cf. Hodges and Barnish, ibid. Greg. Tur., Liber in Gloria Conf. 47, and the Charta Comutiana (ed. Duchesne, , Lib. Pont. I. cxlvi f.Google Scholar) may give documentary parallels for such a community.

98 R. Hodges, personal information.

99 Cf. Patlagean, 358 f., 365, 412–18; for Italian coins, F. Gnecchi, Riv. ltal. Num. 1897, 19–22, L. Cesano, ibid., 1913, 511 f., 529 f., 536, A. Levi, N. Sc., 1919, 356 f., Coin Hoards 3 (1977)Google Scholar, nos. 233–4, Ruggini, L. C., in La Zecca di Milano. ed. Gorini, G. (Milan, 1984)Google Scholar, app. 1, Cocchi, E. Ercolani, Studi Romagnuoli 29 (1978), 367–99Google Scholar.

100 Halving and counterfeiting are very common. On commercial utility, cf. Patlagean, esp. 412 f., Fulford, M., ‘Coin Circulation and Mint Activity in the Late Roman Empire’, Arch. Journ. 135 (1978), 67–114Google Scholar, with whom compare and contrast Reece, R., PBSR 50 (1982), 144Google Scholar.

101 Early Mediaeval Italy (London, 1981), 113Google Scholar.

102 N. Val. 24.

103 Cf. Ward-Perkins, 22 ff.

104 Cf. Arthur, P., in Papers in Ital. Arch. IV. iv, 250 f.Google Scholar; also Cassiod., , Var. VI. 23–4Google Scholar.

105 Cf. Salvatore, M., Arch. Med. 9 (1982), 432Google Scholar: dating based on mosaic styles, plus the first attested bishop.

106 Cf. Cassano, R. Moreno, ‘Mosaici Paleocristiani di Puglia’, MÉFR 88 (1976), 315–23Google Scholar, and in Puglia Paleocristiana III, ed. Quacquarelli, A. (Bari, 1979), 207–19Google Scholar; G. Alvisi, ibid., 28, 31 f; M. Cagiano de Azevedo, ibid., 59–68; D. De Bernardi Ferrero, ibid., 163; M. Trinci Cecchelli, ibid., 412–48.

107 de Robertis, F. M., ‘Sulle Condizioni Economiche della Puglia, dal IV al VIII secolo D. C.’., Arch. Stor. Pugliese 4 (1951), 42–57Google Scholar gives a probably over-favourable survey of the evidence for the Apulian economy. On excavations at Canosa, see Cassano, R. et al. , Arch. Med. 12 (1985), 42–57Google Scholar: eastern amphorae date from c. 400 on, Italian seem to be rare.

108 ‘Late Antique Settlements,’ forthcoming

109 Cf. R. J. Buck and A. M. Small, Epigraphica, 1986, 93–103. The sees of potentia and Consilinum were linked in the late fifth and sixth century, (cf. Lanzoni I, 328 f.); but note that the communications of Ruoti with Potentia are bad.

110 Var. VIII. 33; cf. Gabba, E., ‘Mercati e Fiere nell'Italia Romana’, St. Class, e Or. 24 (1975), 159 ffGoogle Scholar.

111 The dedication to Cyprian suggests that it had once had African links, but these are not mentioned. Cf. above, n. 109: Potentia-Consilinum link.

112 Cf. Whitehouse in Lo Scavo, 107; Arthur, P. and Whitehouse, D., ‘La Ceramica dell'Italia Meridionale: Produzione e Mercato tra V e X secolo’, Arch. Med. 9 (1982), 42 ffGoogle Scholar.

113 Cf. Gabba; MacMullen, R., Phoenix 24 (1970), 333–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

114 Cf. N. Val. 24; but Marcellianum would have been too well known for much evasion.

115 Ruggini, Economia, 305 ff., sees it as a sign that urban-centred trade had recently stagnated; cf. also Gabba, 162 f. Shaw, B. D., Antiquites Africaines 17 (1981), 60 ffGoogle Scholar. is good on the complex relations of fairs and towns.

116 The episcopal link is strongly suggested by the baptistery, and by the change of name of the diocese from Consilinum to Marcellianum (cf. Duchesne, L., MAH 23 (1903), 108Google Scholar). Note Edictum Theoderici (in my view an Italian code) 142, allowing the transfer of rustica mancipia to urban households.

117 But contrast Wickham, 87, on urban churches and aristocratic competition.

118 Cf. above, n. 107; Patterson, H., in San Vincenzo al Volturno, ed. Hodges, R. and Mitchell, J. (BAR IS 252, Oxford, 1985), 86 ffGoogle Scholar. The collections have not yet been published, and she does not give any analysis.

119 Cf. ibid., and R. Hodges, ibid., 9.

120 Cf. above, n. 97.

121 Var. VIII. 31.

122 Cf. Ruggini, Economia, 303 ff.

123 Wickham, 87.

124 Cf. White, K., Roman Farming (London, 1970), 280, 290Google Scholar. It is too mountainous for good arable, but Var. XII. 12 suggests export of fine wines and cheese; cf. XII. 14, on the rather exceptional rural economy and problems of Rhegium; Expositio Totius Mundi et Gentium 53, for mid fourth century export of much wine and cloth.

125 Cf. Wilson, R. A., Sicily under the Roman Empire (unpublished D. Phil. Diss., Oxford, 1977), cap. 7, 324–6, 332–9Google Scholar, Piazza Armerina (London, 1983), 95Google Scholar, and in Papers in Ital. Arch. IV. i, 323 ff., 327 ff.

126 Cf. Loiocano, P., Boll. d'Arte 28 (1934–1935), 174–85Google Scholar; note also CIL IX. 10, for the development of a fourth century Calabrian harbour.

127 Ruggini ascribes withdrawal from the Bruttian cities to the growing division between landlords and negotiatores, under the pressure of Ostrogothic coemptiones, which made use of them for transport. Even if we accept their initial identity (contrast above, n. 80), evidence for separation (Just, Sanct. Pragm. 26), dates only in 554; while the process might actually have stimulated the local markets.

128 Cf. Chastagnol, , Rev. Hist. 210, 17Google Scholar; though we cannot conclude from C. Th. XIV. 4. 10 that, by 419, payments in kind were always laridum. VII. 4. 2, a. 335 shows army pork supplies in Africa as either fresh or preserved. Cf., also, VIII. 4. 17, and Buck, , Class. Views 26, 251 fGoogle Scholar.

129 For the valuable salt-pans of a senatorial villa in Tuscia, see Rutilius I. 475–90.

130 Because, however, pigs are awkward animals to drive, the new system, however costly to get going, may have proved an economy in the long run.

131 Cf. Magnus, Gregorius, Reg. Ep. IX. 114Google Scholar (CCSL).

132 Cf. Columella XII. 55. Steele's table 3, Lo Scavo, 78, shows the ratio as rising from 49 bones to 8 pigs in midden I to 595:24 in IV (the second studied). Caprine and cow-bones show similar, but much lesser rises. However, all this may reflect only changed domestic habits, rather than modes of export.

133 Exp. 53 (p. 190, Rougé). Its possibly mid-sixth century relative, the Descriptio says ‘lardum multum aliis provinciis mittit, quoniam montes eius et variis abundant animalibus et plurima pascua’ (ibid.).

134 E.g., by Ruggini, Economia, 360–87; Mickwitz, G., ‘Ein Goldwertindex der Römisch-Byzantinischen Zeit’, Aegyptus 13 (1935), 95–106Google Scholar; cf., also, Hannestad, 90 ff., Chastagnol, Rev. Hist. 210, 20 f. Contrast the doubts of Bowman, in Imperial Revenue, 26, of Bagnall, R. & Sijperstein, P., ZPE 24 (1977), 114ff.Google Scholar, and of Patlagean, 379. See Patlagean, 377–409, for a rather different approach; she is inclined to doubt the value of such constructions for social history.

135 Cf., e.g., the Titulus Vestinae donation, Lib. Pont. I, 221 f; the Pierius donation, P. Ital. 10–11.

136 Cf. Ruggini, 361 ff., 382 ff.; Jones, 445–8, The Roman Economy (Oxford, 1974), 206 ffGoogle Scholar.

137 C. Th. VIII. 4. 17 (on date, see Ruggini, 378 f., n. 458): N. Val. 13. 4.

138 N. Val. 36. 2; cf. above, nn. 43, 60, 82.

139 LRE, 446; cf. above, n. 43.

140 Cf. N. Val. 36: ‘et pretii moderata adaeratione’.

141 Cf. Chastagnol, , Rev. Hist. 210, 21Google Scholar, Ruggini, , Economia, 364, 379 ffGoogle Scholar. I cannot accept the 30 amphorae the solidus price of Anon. Val. 73. Like the corn-price, it probably represents a glut, or perhaps the lowtariffed vina fiscalia of Rome; cf, the eastern price of 501/2, cited by Ruggini, 375, n. 453. Both Ruggini and Chastagnol use folles and denarii in their calculations: a dangerous procedure, but their different results show the same general tendency of decline.

142 Cf. Pliny, , N. H. XIV. 39. 69Google Scholar, Strabo VI. 1. 14, Athenaeus I. 26e, 27c (citing Galen), Exposito 53, Cassiod., , Var. XII. 12Google Scholar.

143 Cassiod., , Var. IV. 34Google Scholar, IX. 3, suggests some official anxiety about the gold-supply; but this is reflected neither in the quality of currency, nor in the medium of taxation. Callu, J.-P., ‘Le Centenarium et l'Enrichissement Monétaire’, Ktema 3 (1978), 301–15Google Scholar, is good on the growing use and importance of gold coinage at this period. Note that there seems to have been some fifth century decline in western gold emissions (R. Burgess, personal information), and much coin must have been obtained through trade with the east; cf. Barnish, S., Byzantion 55 (1985), 11 ffGoogle Scholar.

144 Jones, P.J., in Storia d'ltalia II. 2, 1588 f., ed. Einaudi, G. (Turin, 1974)Google Scholar, ascribes to such a fall, especially urban, Italy's ability to export food under the Ostrogoths.

145 Economia 284–8, 397; cf. Cassiod., Var. II. 12. Whatever the practice of other writers, Cassiodorus does not necessarily mean Italia Annonaria by Italia; cf. L. Traube's index, MGH a. a. XII, and contrast, e.g., Var, IX. 3 and XII. 4 with each other.

146 Cf. Potter, T. W., The Changing Landscape of South Etruria (London, 1979), 140–6Google Scholar; Hodges and Whitehouse, 33–43; contrast Wickham, 94.

147 Cf. Ward-Perkins, B. and Mills, N., in the Ager Lunensis survey reports, PBSR 54, 1986, 109, 118–23Google Scholar. Coccia, S. et al. , Arch. Med. 12 (1985), 528Google Scholar, suggest that scarcity of early medieval finds in their Monte Tolfa survey implies the need for new techniques, more than demographic collapse. For parallels from other periods, cf. Rathbone, D., JRS 71 (1981), 21Google Scholar; Stoddart, G., Arch. Med. 8 (1981), 522Google Scholar.

148 On the northern glazed-wares, initially with an inter-regional market, and tending to replace African and Syrian fine-wares, see Brogiolo, G. P., in Archeologia Urbana in Lombardia (Sopr. Arch, della Lombardia, Modena, 1984), 48Google Scholar.

149 Cf. above, n. 73.

150 For the east, see specially C. J. XI. 48. 5 (a. 366, repeated by Justinian, and extended from Africa to the east), XI. 48. 20, a. 529; for the west, P. Ital. 3, Mag., Greg., Reg. Ep. I. 42Google Scholar, V. 7 (cf. XIII. 35 for peasant involvement in a cash economy). Jones, , LRE 445, 803–8Google Scholar, takes this view of the evidence, but contrast Whittaker in Trade, 168, D. Vera, above, nn. 74, 79.

151 W. Wroth's British Museum catalogue lists 7 identifiable bronzes of Odoacer; 30-58 of Theoderic; 37–65 of Athalaric; 16 of Theodahad; 4 of Witigis and Matasuentha, and 31 of Totila. Approximate regnal lengths: 14, 36, 8, 1–2, 4, 11 years.

152 Cf. Kahane, L. et al. , ‘The Ager Veientanus’, PBSR 36 (1968), 253Google Scholar (3 of the sites noted, nos. 212, 219, 435, may have been of fair size,; Kahane, A. and Ward-Perkins, J. B., ‘The Via Gabina’, PBSR 40 (1972), 111 f.Google Scholar (sites nos. 13 and 17); Potter, T. W., ‘Ricerche in Etruria Meridionale’, Arch. Med. 2 (1975), 222 ff.Google Scholar; Coccia, S. et al. , Arch. Med. 12 (1985), 525Google Scholar.

153 Cassiod., , Var. IX. 10Google Scholar; cf. IX. 9, a similar increase for Dalmatia, similarly revoked. Theoderic may have exploited the increase in prosperity too late; cf. below p. 182

154 Cf. Ennodius 263 (Pan. Theod.), 72 f. (the text may need emendation); CIL X. 6850–1; Cassoid., , Var. II. 21, 32–3Google Scholar; Vita S. Hilari, AA SS, Mai III, 471 ff.

155 Cf. Patlagean, 410, 413 ff.; those poorer still may have been badly affected by such reforms. I understand that such coins have not been identified at rural S. Vincenzo.

156 Cf. Patlagean, 281, 419, 426 f.

157 Cf. the references to ‘expensae publicae’, in I. 34 (corn), and to ‘usus nostros’ in II. 12.

158 On the problems of supply, cf. Ruggini, Economia, 207 ff.

159 For these conditions, cf. Cassiod., , Var. V. 35, IX. 5, XII. 23–4, 26–8Google Scholar.

160 Cf. Giardina, , Quad. Urb. 36, 131 ff.Google Scholar, on N. Val. 5.

161 Cf. Freed, in Lo Scavo, 99; Patterson, in San Vincenzo, 88. But note that pre-fifth century S. Giovanni does not seem to have produced such amphorae, and the lack cannot have been entirely due to problems of inland transport, although those amphorae found are particularly adapted to this (Freed, Società Romana III, 125). The site has yielded many oyster shells; and, on their implications for transport, cf. Salway, P., Roman Britain (Oxford, 1981), 565Google Scholar. Moreover, the area is now, and probably was then, unsuitable for olive-growing, yet many oil-lamps were found (A. M. Small, personal comment).

162 Cf. above, n. 151; Thompson, M., The Athenian Agora II (Princeton, 1954), 6f.Google Scholar: 13 of Odoacer, 36 of Theoderic, 4 of Athalaric. These coins are used as evidence for trade links by Fulford, M., ‘Carthage, Overseas Trade and the Political Economy’, Reading Med. Stud. 6 (1980), 68–80, 74Google Scholar.

163 Cf. Cassiod., , Var. XI. 35–8Google Scholar, a. 534–5.

164 Var. IX. 18.

165 Var. XII. 5.

166 Procop., , Wars VII. 18. 20–3, 22Google Scholar. 1–6, 20 f. For Venantius and his sinister activities, see Var. III. 8,46.

167 Wars V. 15. 1 f.

168 Wars V. 3. 1–4; Tur., Greg., Lib. Hist. III. 31Google Scholar. For his Tuscan power-base, cf., further, Com. Marcellinus, Chron., a. 536, 5; de Azevedo, M. Cagiano, Misc. in Onore di E. Manni I (Rome, 1980), 357–62Google Scholar, Quad. dei Lincei 232 (1977), 4–17Google Scholar.

169 Wars V. 12. 50–4, perhaps exaggerating his independence; he later became king of the Visigoths.

170 Wars III. 10. 22–4, 25–34.

171 Note the part played by Pope Silverius, hardly an enthusiast for Justinian. Belisarius stocked Rome with Sicilian grain on his arrival (Wars V. 14. 4, 17).

172 Matthews, 338, from his earlier viewpoint, describes the Tullianus episode as showing ‘a familiar state of affairs'. Cassiodorus’ great-grandfather had defended Bruttii and Sicily against the Vandals (Var. I. 4). Note also Var. IX. 18's citation of N. Val. 8. 1. 2, a. 440.

173 Euch. 187–219. Ennodius' north Italian (or? Gallic) friend Astyrius (Ennod. 31) may be another example. Sidonius' too rustic-minded friends (Ep. I. 6, VII. 15, VIII. 8) recall both Paulinus, and the skeletons from the S. Vincenzo cemetery church. Probably belonging to the villa's highest social stratum, these show signs of heavy physical labour; cf. V. Higgins, in San. Vincenzo, 117 f., 121, though hunting, not farm-work could be the explanation.

174 Cf. Freed in Lo Scavo, 103.

175 Cf. Cassiod., , Var. IV. 48Google Scholar, 8 months' leave of absence in Lucania for a senator. For senators uneasy with their lot, see above, n. 31.

176 Small, Società Romana III, 111.

177 Var. VIII. 31, discussed above.

178 Cf. Arthur and Whitehouse, Arch. Med. 9, 41 ff., Salvatore in Lo Scavo, 111–23.

179 Cf. Kalby, L. in Atti del II Congr. Maz. di Arch. Crist. (Rome, 1971), 245–52Google Scholar.

180 Reg.Ep. IX. 114.

181 Diaconus, Johannes, V. Gregorii IV, 24Google Scholar.

182 Cf. Hodges, R. et al. , ‘Excavations at Vacchereccia’, PBSR 52 (1984), 171 ff., 187 ffGoogle Scholar; Hodges, R. and Patterson, H., in San Vincenzo, 9, 89 f., 264Google Scholar. But note that some good jewellery was still reaching the area, and the S. Vincenzo site was still used for religious and funerary purposes, at least.

183 Cf. above, n. 150; R. Wilson, Piazza Armerina, 77, Voza, G., ‘La Villa Romana di Patti’, Kokalos 22–3 (1976–1977), 574–9Google Scholar.

184 On sixth to seventh century senatorial links between Rome, Sicily and Constantinople, cf. Brown, T. S., Gentlemen & Officers (London, 1984), 27 ffGoogle Scholar.

185 Cf. Procop., Wars VII. 33. 5.

186 Cf. Barnish, cited above, n. 143.

187 Cf. Cassano et al., above, n. 107; Arthur, in Papers in Ital. Arch. IV. iv, 255 f.; Fulford, above, n. 162: also in Excavations at Carthage: the British Mission I. 2, ed. Hurst, H. (Sheffield, 1984), cap. 12Google Scholar; R. Reece, ibid., I. 1, 173 ff.; Keay, S. J., Late Roman Amphorae in the Western Mediterranean (BAR IS 196, Oxford, 1984), 420–6, 434 fGoogle Scholar. For Spain and Africa, note also Cassiod., , Var. V. 35Google Scholar.

188 Cf. Arthur, 250 f; Fulford, 74 (numismatic evidence); Keay, 428 f.; D'Andria, , Ann. Scuola Norm. Sup. di Pisa 3. 7, 77–81, 86 f.Google Scholar; Prieto, F. J. Nieto in Papers in Iberian Archaeology, ed. Blagg, T., Jones, R. and Keay, S. (BAR IS 193, Oxford, 1984), 540–8Google Scholar. On the possibility of Syrian oil coming west, cf. Tchalenko, G., Les Villages Antiques de la Syrie du Nord (Paris, 1953), I. 423Google Scholar; Pratt, S., PBSR 50, 184Google Scholar; Arthur, 256; Keay, 429.

189 Arthur, 250 f.

190 Cf. Vitensis, Victor, Hist. Persec. I. 14Google Scholar, Diac, Paulus, Hist. Rom. XV. 7Google Scholar; Finley, M. I., Ancient Sicily2 (London, 1979), 155 fGoogle Scholar.

191 Were any Sardinian or African revenues also regained? Note the revival of the ordinary consulship in 480, and the Colosseum inscriptions. The Vandals seem to have done little permanent damage in Sicily; cf. Finley, 161 f., Wilson, R. in Papers in Ital. Arch. IV. i, 327 ff.Google Scholar, diss. cit., 321–41; but contrast Salvian, De Gub. Dei VI. 68.

192 Cf. Barnish, , PBSR 54 (1986), 175–9Google Scholar.

193 Cf. Cassiod., , Var. V. 43–4Google Scholar: a severe rebuke, and acknowledgement of a servile apology.

194 Procop., , Wars III. 9. 1–5Google Scholar, 14.6.

195 Cf. Victor Vit. I. 23, III. 19, Procop. III. 20. 4–9.

196 Cf. Thompson, E. A., Romans and Barbarians (Madison, 1982), 79Google Scholar.

197 Wars III. 14. 1–13. Belisarius showed a similar ignorance of the Vandals, noted with surprise by Thompson; but this may be partly a fiction of Procopius, enhancing the effect of his triumph.

198 Wars V. 8. 21.

199 Cf. C. J. VII. 40. 1, a. 530, Procop., , Anec. 25. 8–10Google Scholar.

200 Zachariah of Mitylene, Chron., ed. Hamilton, F. and Brookes, E. (London, 1899), 262Google Scholar.

201 Cf. Arthur, , in Papers in ltd. Arch. IV. iv, 256Google Scholar; Fulford, , RMS 6, 75 f.Google Scholar; Keay, 427 f., and in Papers in Iberian Arch., 564 f; Nieto Prieto, ibid., 545–8; J. M. Nolla i Brufau, ibid., 446–9.

202 Cf. Whitehouse, D., in Whitehouse, et al. , ‘The Schola Praeconum II’, PBSR 53 (1985), 185Google Scholar; note also Keay in Papers in Iberian Arch., 564 f.; d'Agostino, M. and Marazzi, F., Arch. Med. 12 (1985), 16–24Google Scholar, on an Ischian pottery deposit.

203 Cf. Diac, Joh., V. Greg. IV. 24Google Scholar.

204 Cf. Collins, R. in Visigothic Spain: New Approaches, ed. James, E. (Oxford, 1980), 190–212Google Scholar; he conjectures (203 f.) that Mérida exported corn to the east.

205 For Theoderic, cf. Boethius, , C. Phil. I, pr. iv, and above, n. 153Google Scholar; for Justinian and the Nika riots, Lydus, John, De Mag. III. 70Google Scholar, Cameron, Averil, Procopius and the Sixth Century (London, 1985), 23, 64, 69 fGoogle Scholar.

206 World of Late Antiquity (London, 1971), 150–4Google Scholar. Peace with Persia, on which the expedition depended, was in fact being negotiated before the riots, but Justinian was presumably aware of his unpopularity.

207 Cf. Tchalenko, 427 f.; Patlagean, 74 ff., 83 ff., 251; Stein II, 193, 291 f; Allen, P., ‘The Justinian Plague’, Byzantion 49 (1979), 6Google Scholar; for a regional study, Avi-yonah, M., ‘Economics of Byzantine Palestine’, Israel Exploration Journ. 8 (1958), 39–51Google Scholar.

208 Cf. John Lydus III. 51, C. J. II. 7. 25, praef.

209 See above, n. 162.

210 For Vincenzo, S., cf. Hodges, R. and Patterson, H. in San Vincenzo, 8, 89Google Scholar: the latest ARS sherd (Hayes 99b) dates c. 530–80. For Giovanni, S., cf. Buck, , Class. Views 26, 256 f.Google Scholar, supposing wartime destruction, though we now know that the site was not systematically looted. Fine wares cannot be pushed to a later date than 535–45, though Painted Common Ware may have continued after the end of the fine-ware imports. A Merovingian belt-buckle of 550–600 has been found in a destruction layer, and it is tempting to link the fire with the raids of Buccelin and Leutharis in 554, though the experts prefer to date the object nearer 600 (A. M. Small, personal information).

211 Cf. Landolfus Sagax, Hist. Misc. 272, on Belisarius' resettlement of Naples after his sack with recruits from much of southern Italy and Sicily. However, the city eventually became a centre for the remnants of the aristocracy.

212 For desertion in Umbria and Tuscany, cf. P. Ital. 13.

213 On taxation in sixth century Byzantine Italy, cf. Jones, LRE, 283 f., 463 f., 820 f.

214 On these jobs, see Paulini, S.Epigmmma, CSEL XVI, 503 fGoogle Scholar.

215 Procop., , Wars V. 9. 3–6Google Scholar.

216 Justinian, Sanct. Pragm. 27, allowed Italian senators to reside at will in Constantinople or on their estates, ‘cum dominis absentibus recreari possesiones aut competentem mereri culturam difficile sit’. Cf. Paulinus of Pella, Euch. 181–201, for the need of a run-down estate for close supervision by the master.

page 184 note * Jones, LRE 1289, n. 35, comments ‘this must be wrong, perhaps inserted from the line below’; Pharr translates as ‘householder’.