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The Classical Journal, Vol. 27, No. 9. (Jun., 1932), pp. 645-657.
By KENNETHSCOTT
never been able to produce enough grain for its own needs, and
Roman history records famine upon famine whenever communi-
cations were interrupted with the Black Sea, with Asia, with
Egypt, or with Africa, and wheat did not arrive punctually from
overseas. The sea power of Sextus Pompey during the civil strife
which followed the murder of Julius Caesar almost brought Rome
to the point of starvation ; and Octavian, who had experienced this
danger, initiated, like Mussolini, who had felt the same pinch of
hunger during the World War, a battaglia del grano, a wheat
battle quite as serious as any actual warfare. Caesar Augustus
and his minister Maecenas are responsible for Vergil's composi-
tion of the Georgics, an attempt to popularize agriculture and
country life, to give publicity to their "back to the farm" move-
ment. The present battaglia, the government encouragement of
the production of wheat, the obligatory admixture of coarser
cereal in wheat bread as a symbol of the battle to make Italy inde-
pendent of imported wheat, are but a continuation of the propa-
ganda of the Roman Empire. Now, as then, the purchase of
quantities of foreign wheat necessitates a drain on the gold of
Italy and an unfavorable balance of trade.
There is a curious similarity in two gestures, one made by
Mussolini a few years ago, and the other by the Emperor Do-
mitian in the first century of the Christian era. Domitian, alarmed
by the general shortage of grain, issued an edict calling for the
cutting down of all the vineyards in Africa and Gaul in order to
stimulate the production of grain instead of wine. In the face of
popular outcry the edict was quickly revoked, but it doubtless had
effect as a warning, and it may well have been intended merely to
serve as such. I n precisely the same way Mussolini recently
threatened to reduce the acreage in vineyards in order to obtain
more grain. I t looks suspiciously like a move suggested by Do-
mitian's edict.
The writing of the Georgics as the result of political pressure
and imperial suggestion is but an example of the general policy
of literary patronage which was instituted by Augustus and which
we see reflected in the writings of Vergil, Horace, and Propertius.
"I1 Duce" has declared himself in favor of the same policy. "Art,"
MUSSOLINI AND T H E ROMAN EMPIRE 651
which once were owned by Rome and which must grow to the
greatness of their past."
The internal government of Italy has been vastly changed, but
the recent reforms have been made in much the same way as those
of Augustus, who in creating the Empire claimed to be restoring
the Republic and always vaunted his respect for constitutional
government and for the institutions of the Republic. As a matter
of fact he kept the form, the consuls and other magistrates, the
senate, the popular assemblies, the courts ; but he transformed the
spirit and shifted the emphasis so that the figure of the prince and
his party dominated everything. A sort of dyarchy was set up,
the rule of the prince and the senate, and together they transacted
the business of the civilized world. The same tendency is appar-
ent in the Fascist State, which has kept in general the form of the
kingdom established in 1870, but which is really directed by the
Duce and his party. The senate, which, like the ancient Roman
one, consists of the most distinguished men of Italy, holding
office for life, has acquired new prestige, just as it did under
Augustus. The representative chamber of deputies is elective, but
it is now based upon the corporation system, which is a "return to
the guild system of the Middle Ages and the corporations of
Ancient Rome. "
The reasons for the present change are much the same as those
which brought the Empire into being. The governments which
preceded the Fascists rose and fell with astonishing rapidity. They
were too weak to govern. Their ideal seems to have been com-
promise, and the parliament consisted of countless parties work-
ing against one another and playing to the grandstand of popular
favor and class hatred to catch votes. Certainly it would seem
that something may be said for a parliament and cabinet whose
purpose is not to wrangle, debate, scheme for votes, and sacrifice
the interests of the nation to meet the selfish wishes of groups of
constituents. A house or a government divided against itself is
bound to fall and is not likely to accomplish very much.
I t is, of course, only human and natural that disappointed politi-
cians, who suddenly found their careers closed, radicals who saw
union with the Soviets snatched from them in their supposed
T H E CLASSICAL JOURNAL