There were several laws respecting the
distribution of corn: by one passed in the year of Rome 680, five bushels
were to be given monthly to each of the poorer citizens, and money was to
be advanced annually from the treasury, sufficient to purchase 800,000
bushels of wheat, of three different qualities and prices. By the
Sempronian law, this corn was to be sold to the poor inhabitants at a very
low price; but by the Clodian law it was to be distributed _gratis_:
the granaries in which this corn was kept were called Horrea Sempronia. The
number of citizens who received corn by public distribution, in the time of
Augustus, amounted to 200,000. Julius Caesar had reduced the number from
320,000 to 150,000. It is doubtful whether five bushels were the allowance
of each individual or of each family; but if Dr. Arbuthnot be correct in
estimating the _modius_ at fourteen pounds, the allowance must have
been for each family, amounting to one quarter seven bushels, and one peck
per annum.
We have dwelt on these particulars for the purpose of pointing out the
extreme importance of a regular and full supply of corn to Rome; and this
importance is still further proved by the special appointment of
magistrates to superintend this article. The prefect, or governor of the
market, was an ancient establishment in the Roman republic; his duty was to
procure corn: on extraordinary occasions, this magistrate was created for
this express purpose, and the powers granted him seem to have been
increased in the latter periods of the republic, and still more, after the
republic was destroyed.
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