"The economy of the latifundia was quite different. It began to be developed in the second century B.C. in the south of Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, and later in North Africa. It was, in part, the result of the conquests and the immense influx of wealth and manpower which submerged Italy and later the entire West. We know it chiefly through literary descriptions. Its development usually involved some changing over from arboriculture to pastoral farming, and in certain regions such as Sicily or North Africa it led to large-scale grain production aimed at supplying the Italian markets. These were immense estates of many hundreds of acres and were owned by members of the Roman aristocracy, the great senatorial families. A number of these estates were later confiscated and passed into the hands of the emperor after the civil wars, to form the core of the great imperial domains of the second century A.D. At the same time the large private holdings, upon which the power of the Roman aristocracy depended right up till the end of the Empire, did not disappear--witness the estates of Symmachus or of Saint Melania at the beginning of the fifth century. Needless to say, the owner of such domains as these, which often included land in various provinces, did not reside on his estates. All he did was pocket the income which his bailiffs turned over to him. These bailiffs were very much more important people than the overseers of Cato's De Agricultura. Likewise, the slaves who worked on these estates were not counted in tens, but in hundreds or thousands. Most of them came from the East, prisoners of war or human cattle bought in the Aegean markets, especially at Delos, where, according to Strabo, as many as 10,000 slaves could be turned over in a day."
Claude Mossé, The Ancient World of Work (1969)
[Translated by Janet Lloyd].
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