Editing Roman Republic (section)

==Trade and economy==
===Farming===
{{Main|Roman agriculture|Ancient Rome and wine}}
The Republic was created during a time of warfare, economic recession, food shortages, and plebeian debt. In wartime, plebeian farmers were liable to conscription. In peacetime, most depended on whatever cereal crops they could produce on small farming plots, allotted to them by the state, or by patrons. Soil fertility varied from place to place, and natural water sources were unevenly distributed. In good years, a small holder might trade a small surplus, to meet his family's needs, or to buy the armatures required for his military service. In other years, crop failure through soil exhaustion, adverse weather, disease or military incursions could lead to poverty, unsupported borrowing, and debt. Nobles invested much of their wealth in ever-larger, more efficient farming units, exploiting a range of soil conditions through mixed farming techniques. As farming was labour-intensive, and military conscription reduced the pool of available manpower, over time the wealthy became ever more reliant on the increasingly plentiful slave labour provided by successful military campaigns.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|pp=265–268, 283}}{{sfn|Bannon|2009|pp=5–10}}{{sfn|Drummond|1989|pp=118–122, 135–136}} Large, well-managed agricultural estates helped provide for clients and dependents, support an urban family home, and fund the owner's public and military career, in the form of cash for bribes and security for loans. Later Roman moralists idealised farming as an intrinsically noble occupation.{{sfn|Livy|loc=iii.26–29}}{{sfn|Cornell|1989b|pp=412–413|loc="[[Cato the Elder]] dwelt upon the probably mythical poverty of leading Romans such as [[Manius Curius Dentatus|Manius Dentatus]], and the incorruptible [[Gaius Fabricius Luscinus]]."}}{{sfn|Rosenstein|2008}}

In law, land taken by conquest was {{lang|la|[[ager publicus]]}} (public land). In practice, much of it was exploited by the nobility, using slaves rather than free labour. Rome's expansion via war and colonisation was at least partly driven by the land-hunger of displaced peasants, who must otherwise join the swelling, dependent population of urban ''plebs''.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|pp=265–268}} At the end of the second Punic War, Rome added the fertile {{lang|la|[[ager Campanus]]}}, suitable for intense cultivation of vines, olives and cereals. Like the grain-fields of Sicily—seized after the same conflict—it was likely farmed extra-legally by leading landowners, using slave gangs. A portion of Sicily's grain harvest was sent to Rome as tribute, for redistribution by the {{lang|la|aediles}}.{{sfn|Gabba|1992|pp=197–198}}{{sfn|Lintott|1992b|p=55|loc="A later consular investigation into similar land encroachments is dated to 175."}} The urban ''plebs'' increasingly relied on firstly subsidised, then free grain.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|pages=328–329}}

[[File:Aqua Anio Vetus, Tivoli - 51072576848.jpg|thumb|Ruins of the [[Aqua Anio Vetus]], a [[Roman aqueduct]] built in 272&nbsp;BC]]
With the introduction of aqueducts (from 312), suburban market-farms could be supplied with runoff or waste aqueduct water. Perishable commodities such as flowers (for perfumes, and festival garlands), fresh grapes, vegetables and orchard fruits, and small livestock such as pigs and chickens, could be farmed close to municipal and urban markets.{{sfn|Bannon|2009|pp=5–10}} Food surpluses, no matter how obtained, kept prices low.{{sfn|Bannon|2009|loc=5–10, citing {{harvnb|Hodge|1989|p=219}} for Cato's diatribe against the misuse of aqueduct water by [[Lucius Furius Purpureo|L. Furius Purpureus]], consul in 196.}}{{sfn|Nicolet|1992|p=619}} Faced with increasing competition from provincial and allied grain suppliers, many Roman farmers turned to more profitable crops, especially grapes for wine production. By the late Republican era, Roman wine had been transformed from an indifferent local product for local consumption to a major domestic and export commodity, with some renowned, costly and collectable vintages.{{sfn|Rosenstein|2008|pages=2–16}}{{sfn|Nicolet|1992|pages=612–615| ps=. Up to this time, the Roman elite had favoured Greek imported wine over any of Rome's homegrown vintages.}}

Roman writers have little to say about large-scale stock-breeding but make passing references to its profitability. Drummond speculates that this focus on agriculture rather than livestock might reflect elite preoccupations with historical grain famines, or long-standing competition between agriculturalists and pastoralists.{{sfn|Drummond|1989|pp=118–122}}{{sfn|Gabba|1992|pp=237–239}} Though meat and hides were valuable by products of stock-raising, cattle were primarily reared to pull carts and ploughs, and sheep were bred for their wool, the mainstay of the Roman clothing industry. Horses, mules and donkeys were bred as civil and military transport. Pigs bred prolifically and could be raised at little cost by any small farmer with rights to [[pannage]]. Their central dietary role is reflected by their use as sacrifices in cults and funerals.{{sfn|Drummond|1989|pp=118–122}}