Poverty in ancient Rome

Poverty in ancient Rome is challenging to define as much of the Roman population lived in conditions resembling modern poverty. Roman society was largely agrarian and afflictions such as low literacy rates, high infant mortality, and poor diets were widespread throughout the populace. Poverty can be defined through landlessness; the majority of land in ancient Rome was concentrated in the hands of a small class of wealthy people, leaving the rest of the population with little land. However, people in urban settings likely could have lived well without owning land. Ancient Roman poverty can also be viewed through the lens of political disenfranchisement; the poor were less able to access political offices, had increased difficulty casting ballots, had votes of lesser significance, and had higher tax rates. The Codex Theodosianus, a late Roman legal document, describes various laws in which the poor were to be punished differently from the rich. Estimates of the GDP per capita in ancient Rome suggest that the majority of the population was living at subsistence levels, with enough money to live securely but not comfortably.

Roman writers such as Seneca and Cicero describe the poorer parts of the population as unvirtuous and immoral masses who were threats to the nation and unconcerned with the values of the Roman world. Sallust, a 1st-century BCE Roman politician and historian, argued that the plebeians envied wealthier individuals and were motivated by jealousy to destabilize Roman society; he cites the Catilinarian conspiracy, an attempted coup which Sallust believed was promoted by the plebs. Other Roman writers like the 1st-century Roman philosopher Seneca condemned wealth, decrying it as corruptive and leading to discontentment in life. The Romans also valued simple agrarian lifestyles, honoring heroes such as Cincinnatus who—according to legend—lived on a farm prior to his military campaigns. Ancient Roman Christian depictions tend to depict the poor as more sympathetic and often call for the wealthy to help them. John Chrysostom, a 4th-century Christian theologian, argued that if the rich redistributed their wealth amongst the populace "you would have difficulty in finding one poor person for every fifty or even every hundred of the others."^[1] However, other Christian writers adopted less critical viewpoints on wealth; the 3rd-century theologian Clement of Alexandria portrayed wealth as morally neutral, arguing that the piety of the rich is not necessarily stifled by their wealth.

The ancient Roman government implemented various policies designed to provide financial aid to the poor: the cura Annonae was grain redistribution program and the alimenta was a welfare program for impoverished children. Wealthy Roman philanthropy, while it did occur, was often more motivated by the desire to appear benevolent and to build up one's social status than genuine altruism. Philanthropists in ancient Rome expected to have statues and plaques commemorating their generosity built in their honor. The selfish motivations often underpinning Roman gift-giving were noticed and mocked by contemporary writers: Cicero described this phenomenon, stating "We may also observe that a great many people do many things that seem to be inspired more by a spirit of ostentation than by heart-felt kindness; for such people are not really generous but are rather influenced by a sort of ambition to make a show of being open-handed."^[2] Seneca promoted genuine charity in his writings, declaring that the "wise man" will "stretch out his hand to the shipwrecked mariner, will offer hospitality to the exile, and alms to the needy."^[3] However, Seneca did not advocate for unrestricted generosity, arguing that charity should be limited to "good men or to those whom it [charity] may make into good men."^[4] Similar ideas were expressed by the 3rd-century BCE comic playwright Plautus: "A man who gives a beggar something to eat or drink does him bad service: what he gives him gets wasted and he prolongs his life in misery."^[5]