ABSTRACT
AT the beginning of the Empire the industrial situation was not very different from that of the end of the Republic. It was at first characterized by a period of widespread prosperity and by a continual expansion, which were favoured by the internal situation. Insecurity was not such as to discourage production, nor were the exactions of the treasury so great that producers succumbed under the weight of taxation—nor again were the slaves so few that lack of hands reduced the size of the larger undertakings. Later, the guilds grew up in all quarters: industry on a small scale, which since the time of Cicero had been circumscribed and restricted to certain trades—losing ground undoubtedly in face of the system of slave workshops—regained unexpected vitality and showed for a certain time an activity which spread from Rome and the provincial centres into the small towns. But we have seen how the guild gave way in its turn and how the artisans attempted, in spite of the advantages and privileges which they were given, to evade their obligations; the diminution of productivity revealed itself as a danger, the rise in prices of all commodities—which was attributed on one hand to the claims put forward by the colleges, which had become conscious of their relative power in the general economy, and on the other to the decreasing number of available commodities—compromised the peace of the cities, broke the Imperial authority and added yet another factor to the innumerable causes of disorder already in existence.
