Latin

Latin II Project VII – Durant , Isiaci, venation,fortuna

Option A: Essay-Durant

In a well formed one page paper in English, having read the following selection which you frequently quote, reference and cite, following the rubic below and attaching the checklist, discuss the following passage and the picture it draws of the common displaced Roman farmer. Be sure to include at least, but be not limited to the causes, effects, and the significant of the Agrarian Revolt. Remember, if you use three words from a source and do not put it in quotations, it is plagiarism.

The Agrarian Revolt

Never before, and never again till our own time, were such stakes fought for, never was the world drama more intense. The first cause was the influx of slave-grown corn from Sicily, Sardinia, Spain, and Africa, which ruined many Italian farmers by reducing the price of domestic grains below the cost of production and marketing. Second, was the influx of slaves, displacing peasants in the country side and free workers in the towns. Third, was the growth of large farms. The law of 220 forbade senators to take contracts or invest in commerce; flush with the spoils of war, they bought up extensive tracts of agricultural land…To compete with these latifundia the little man had to borrow money at rates that insured his inability to pay; slowly he sank into poverty or bankruptcy, tenancy, or the slums. Finally the peasant himself, after he had seen and looted the world as a soldier, had no taste or patience for the lonely labor and unadventurous chores of the farm, he preferred to join the turbulent proletariat of the city, watch without cost the exciting games of the amphitheater, receive cheap corn from the government, sell his vote to the highest bidder or promiser, and lose himself in the impoverished and indiscriminate mass.

Durant, Will. “The Agrarian Revolt.” The Story of Civilization: Part III, Caesar and Christ. Simon and Schuster, New York. 1944. Page 111.