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Caius Maxentius

The Plebian Mob

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The story of all the ex-farmers going to Rome to become an idle rabble after the Second Punic War is well-known. I'm curious to know more about what these people did afterwards. Was there really hundreds of thousands of people basically on government welfare (bread & circuses)? How long did this situation last? Was this class of people still filling the Colosseum in Constantine's time?

 

Was there much paid labor or "small business" that these people could do in the city to make a living?

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I would recommend Zvi Yavetz excellent book "Plebs and Princeps" that beside giving an overview of the relationship of Julius Caesar and the Julio-Claudian emperors with the Plebs also give a good overview on the actions and motives of the urban masses.

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