Identifier: storyofancientna00west (find matches)
Title: The story of the ancient nations : a text-book for high schools
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: Westermann, William Linn, 1873-1954
Subjects: History, Ancient
Publisher: New York : London : D. Appleton and Company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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lso boundto work for the conductors a certain number of days eachyear. Vespasian passed a law which definitely fixed the amountof rental which the coloni were to pay to the conductors,and the number of days of labor which they owed them.In the case of grains and fruits, the payment was usuallyone-third of the crop. The number of days of their laborfor the conductors was fixed at six each year, two at the timeof plowing, two at the sowing, and two at the harvesting.The procurators saw to it that these laws were inscribed onstone and set up in places where they could be read by thecoloni, in order to protect them from unjust demands on thepart of the conductors. They applied to the coloni workingon the great private estates as well as to those on the im-perial domains. 514. Titus and Domitian.—The two years of the ruleof Titus were marked by two noteworthy events. The firstwas the eruption of Vesuvius, which, in 79 a. d., buried thetwo cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The second was
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408 THE STORY OF ROME the completion of the Flavian Amphitheater, called theColosseum, which was begun by Vespasian. The ruin- oithis gigantic building at Rome are still regarded as one ofthe greatest structures in the world. It was built for the exhibition of the gladiatorial games, or wild-beast hunts andtights, and could be flooded so that naval battles might bedisplayed. It is said that the building would seat SO,000spectators. Domitian believed that an emperors power should beabsolute, and he therefore took little account of the Senate.Consequently he appears in the history oi Tacitus as abloody tyrant, with no good qualities. His rule, however,was energetic and capable. In the year 9b a. d., a plotin the palace resulted in his death, and the Flavian linewas at an end. References for Outside ReadingMunro, Source Hook-, pp. 148-162; Botsford, S Rome, pp. 241-281; Tacitus, Annals and Histories; Suetonius, Lives of the TwelveCasars; Abbott. Short History of Rome, pp. 87-203; Davis,

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