Brutal Consequence Of Rome's Marginal Economy

Roman women, even the wealthiest, were forbidden to hold any political office. By long tradition they were expected to stay home and obey their husbands, but many Roman wifes declined to meet these expectations. Indeed, in the Empire's later centuries women acquired considerable independence with respect to marriage, divorce and the holding of property, and upper-class women were often well educated. The Roman father - however - was the master of his family and exercised the power of life or death over his newborn children. If he liked their looks, he kept them; if they seemed scrawny or deformed, or if the father already had enough children (particularly female children), they were often cast out, to be adopted by passers-by or to die of exposure. This custom of infanticide was yet another brutal consequence of Rome's marginal economy: the Empire could not afford excess mouths.

The imperial economic system provoked no general rebellion because the lower classes knew no better way of managing an empire. Virtually all ancient civilizations were afflicted by mass enslavement, impoverishment, malnutrition, internal violence, the suppression of women and the abandonment of unwanted infants - although the religion of the Hebrews prohibited infanticide. In these respects Roman imperial civilization was no worse than the others, and in the larger cities, where public baths and other amenities were available (such as free bread in the city of Rome), it was significantly better. Life in Rome's 'golden age' could be pleasant enough if one were male, adult, very wealthy and naturally immune to various epidemic diseases.