Chapter 3128 viaticum (6)

Chapter 7 of "The Wealth of Nations" written by Adam Smith specifically talks about colonies, and compares European colonies with those of ancient Rome and Greece.

There was a law in the early days of the ancient Roman Republic that each citizen could not own more than 500 euros of land, but it rarely had any effect. Adam Smith said that he only knew of this law being implemented once or twice, and Pomona said Never heard of it once.

The first is pioneering. These wastelands in the past were publicly owned. After they were reclaimed, they were occupied by pioneers. This is why there are many estates in southern Italy, where there used to be a lot of wasteland.

However, changes in personnel matters, such as marriage, inheritance, cession, etc., disrupted the original distribution, often causing land originally maintained by multiple families to belong to one person. According to the customs of the time, one could not retain the qualifications of a citizen without land. .

Coupled with the existence of slavery, it was difficult for poor free people without land to make a living. They could only receive gifts from candidates at the time of annual elections.

The generals would also give gifts of money to the citizens when they returned in triumph. Along with victory in the war came new land and slaves, and those slaves were often the "original owners" of the land incorporated into Rome's new territory.

When the tribunes wanted to incite the common people to fight against a certain senator or consul, they would remind people of the ancient land distribution system and preach that laws restricting private property were the basic laws of the republic. So people clamored for land, but The wealthy would never have any land given to them, and in order to satisfy their demands to a certain extent, the senators often proposed new colonies.

New colonies were not always deserted and sparsely populated. For example, Gaul, Sicily and other places were inhabited, and Sicily was also a wasteland a long time ago.

Adam Smith said that because the ancient Greeks were particularly warlike, it was extremely difficult for any city-state to expand its territory, so they each occupied a very small territory. When the population of a city-state becomes too large to sustain on the land of the state, they will send some of them to live in remote areas of the world. For example, before the establishment of Rome, Sicily was mostly populated by Ivonians and Ivorians. , they also immigrated to Asia Minor and the Aegean Sea islands.

Pomona has not researched this. She has only heard it mentioned by the owner of the Sicilian restaurant downstairs. Although Sicily was very fertile and was once the granary of the Mediterranean, known as the "Golden Basin", when Sicilian serfs were exploited by manor owners and ran out of land, they had no choice but to find another way out. But not all Sicilians are mafiosi as shown in the movies and as Mrs. Hall thought.

Mrs. Hall was the neighbor who saw Pomona holding the pizza and looking at her like a thief. She has always suspected that the Sicilian restaurant downstairs is actually run by the Mafia. Even if she just spends money there, Mrs. Hall will regard her as a Mafia accomplice.

She called the police several times. Although the police never revealed to the restaurant owner who called the police, he knew which "concerned citizen" did it.

Sicily also had a splendid culture, not inferior to other city-states in ancient Greece. But this island is in the center of the Mediterranean. Countless conquerors wanted to occupy this place, which led to multi-ethnic people living on the island and a variety of dishes. In short, his store not only has pasta and pizza, but if you want to eat, you have to come to his store. He understands the hard work of young people working in big cities. Italian food, like French food, requires sitting down and spending a lot of time. Savor it slowly, French restaurants are not the only ones suitable for dates and romance!

"He has a bad temper?" Severus listened carefully to Pomona's story, not even looking at the jewelry placed in the glass cabinet.

“He’s Sicilian,” Pomona said, holding back a laugh. “Don’t ignore Italians’ passion for food.”

Severus sneered and then looked up at the display case.

It was a sword studded with jewels. It was more of a sword-shaped decoration than a sword.

"This is the Sword of Devotion, used at the coronation of King George IV." Pomona said, looking at the introduction.

He stood up straight and looked at it intently.

Pomona didn't bother him. The last time he caught a poacher, the Ministry of Magic just gave him a letter of commendation and he was very happy, although there was no other substantial reward.

Cato the Elder also served as a censor like Appius. It was a fat and lucrative position. Public works in ancient Rome were issued by this official position.

Before him, an inspector resigned, and the new inspector did not allow the tax collectors who had tendered for the outgoing inspector to bid again because they had already made a lot of money. These excluded tax farmers actually bribed A tribune made him accuse him at the Assembly of Tribus, and brought him almost to trial.

The tax farming system was beneficial to ancient Rome, because with the auction of tax farming rights, a sum of cash immediately came into the account, without having to spend a lot of manpower to collect it and then take risks to transport it back to Rome.

Hannibal campaigned in Rome and Italy for 16 years and caused serious damage to these areas, so he raised taxes.

In order to overcome financial difficulties at that time, Rome issued national debt, allowing private creditors to occupy any piece of public land within 80 kilometers from Rome and use the rent of this public land as repayment.

These lands did not become estates, farms, or ranches. According to the customs of ancient Rome at that time, it would be pompous to have a lot of servants in and out. If a Roman was poor enough to live in a cobbler-like house with only two or three slaves, even the slaves would not respect him.

In the past, the Romans drank porridge. As the food supply became abundant, they gradually turned to toast, but bread was not the protagonist of the banquet.

A slave without any skills is only worth four years of living for a medium-sized farmer. If he knows some special skills, such as oil massage, singing, and playing musical instruments, the price will double or rise. And if he can write well, the price will be doubled. Forget it, they will be taken away by the tax collectors to take charge of tenders and projects.

In some remote areas of Rome, there was no other administrative agency except the tax collectors. The tax collectors collected the taxes themselves and then received public projects from the censors. The slave who could write and calculate had to calculate the project quotation and implementation needs. cost of.

Cato, unlike the previous censor, did not allow his predecessor's tax collectors to not participate in the tender. He used the least amount of money to produce the best quality project, but as a result, the contractor's profits were low, so the tax collectors sued him again.

Those slaves who can massage with essential oils and play the piano will be rewarded if their master is in a good mood, so that their day of redemption will be closer. What's more, when there are more slaves, the division of labor becomes clearer. For example, if the master wants to take a bath, some slaves are responsible for carrying water, and some are responsible for scattering flower petals. Which one is easier, carrying water or scattering flower petals?

There were so many slaves in Rome, but they did not riot. Instead, they broke out in Sicily and Sparta. The Sicilian people were exploited to the point where they could not survive, but the Spartans were brave and good at fighting. They were excellent gladiators and mercenaries. They fought for The way to freedom is different from other slaves.

In addition to these slaves, some Roman nobles also had Greek secretaries and tutors, who sometimes served as accompanying guests. So these Greeks who were taken as captives naturally brought Greek civilization into the homes of the "victors".

The Romans learned how to drink from the Greeks, but would they write the Symposium like Socrates, or would they do something else?

Both Cato the Elder and Cato the Younger hoped to revive the tradition of Rome. During his tenure as censor, Cato the Elder did not make any money. His income mainly came from manors and other sources.

At that time, sea transportation was very risky, but it was still much cheaper than land transportation, and many people were still engaged in it.

It’s just that this business requires a lot of capital. In addition to pre-purchasing goods, ship owners and cargo owners also need to pay deposits and funds to prepare for sailing. When ship owners and cargo owners have financial difficulties, they will find lenders.

Cato's method of lending was to ask his freed slaves to find 50 people and 50 ships. Once they were all found, he would not have to bear the risk of lending in full. Even if one or two ships sank, his profits could still make up for the losses.

During the Second Punic War, two knights contracted to purchase and deliver military supplies. The contract stated that all risks at sea were the responsibility of the state. So they filled the ship with worthless stones, deliberately sank it at sea, and demanded compensation from the country when they came back. This case was brought to the Senate, and the Senate blocked the Inquisition. However, these two knights were young descendants of the Senate. The Inquisition was afraid of offending too many people, so they trivialized this well-known scandal. "Yes."

However, the two plebeian tribunes brought the case to the Assembly of Tribes and suggested punishing the two contractors. However, these two actually organized people to use violence to obstruct the voting. The tribunes refused to give in and appealed again. , and finally sentenced one of the "main parties", a freed slave, to exile.

According to Herodotus' description, Cyrus and Croesus of Lydia began shortly after the capture of Astyages, in order to curb the growth of Persia and also increase their own ruling areas. To avenge his brother-in-law, Croesus longed for war.

But before making a final decision, he planned to consult an oracle. There were several oracles around him with high credibility, including Delphi, Amphiaraus in Thebes, and Ammon in Libya.

After much hesitation, he decided to consult the oracle at Delphi and sent a rich sacrifice, including 3,000 cattle, gold and silver tables, and incense burners.

The priestess told him "When a mule becomes king of the Medes, you must flee and never be ashamed."

Because of this answer, Croesus sent envoys to Sparta with gifts to request an alliance.

In fact, without allies, Lydia may not be able to fight against the newly rising Persia. At that time, Lydia's cavalry was stronger than the Persians, but Cyrus thought of a strategy. He placed the consigned camels on his own In front of the front.

Lydian horses had never seen a camel and were not accustomed to the smell of a camel, so the Lydian cavalry was forced to dismount. Even so, as infantry they still fought bravely and were not driven into the city until a bloody battle. If the allies had come at this time, Lydia might not have been destroyed.

"What are you thinking about?" Severus asked.

"Donkey." Pomona sighed. "Herodotus said that the prophecy of Delphi..."

"Look over there." He motioned for her to look to the side.

Pomona looked over and saw that the gentleman who had rescued her was talking and laughing with another petite girl.

Just like a salesman, if you knock on a door and it doesn't open, knock a few more times and one will open. Having Mrs. Hall in that building had at least one advantage: there was no need to worry about a salesman knocking on the door.

"Where is your 'mothership'?" Severus asked.

"What mothership?" Pomona said confused.

"Look around." Severus motioned for her to look around.

Everyone's eyes were on the jewelry, and no one paid attention to this corner.

"Do you still think it's weird to come out with me?" he said seriously.

She thought about it, but still didn't want to answer.

He was waiting patiently for her answer, but finally his patience ran out, and he put his arm on her shoulders, holding her in his arms and apparated away.