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The Growth of the State. In attempting to account for the long decline and fall of Rome, Durant adopts a "multiple causation" theory. The metals in the Roman State-owned mines ran out. As the old freehold farming class lost its lands to the big owners of the latifundia, the productivity of the soil decreased. The State dole of grain brought men into the cities to join the workless proletariat, and the spoil of Spain, Gaul, Syria and Egypt made Romans think less and less about making fortunes through honest labor.
Birth control limited the population in Italy at a time when the German tribes were spawning. As the cost of government went up with the vast proliferation of games and benefactions, men sought to escape their duties as taxpayers by deliberately debasing their social standings. The role of the State increased after the time of Augustus, and the individual tended to lose his moral hardihood as his mind was more & more made up for him by his political masters.
Will Durant, giving full, colorful treatment to Roman culture and everyday life, does not labor the modern political and social analogies. But no reader of Caesar and Christ can fail to miss them.