THE CAMBRIDGE MEDIEVAL HISTORY I 284
The Establishment of Hereditary Economic Castes
19.5. The Establishment of Hereditary Economic Castes
In the Lex Julia of 23 B.C. enacted by Augustus the principle was already formulated that a combination of individual workmen or traders into a college had to be warranted not only by their wishes and interests but by public utility. The public element assumes now a preponderating influence. Bakers are authorised to form a craft guild not because they see an advantage in being organised in this way, but because the State wants their services in regulating the trade in bread and providing for the needs of the inhabitants of cities. The result of this enlisting of trades and crafts into public service is a system entirely at variance with our conceptions of supply and demand, and of economic intercourse.
To begin with, all freedom in the choice of professions came to an end. Corporations are required to hold their members to their occupations all through life. All attempts of single members to leave their place of abode and customary work are considered as a flight from duty and severely forbidden. In 395, e.g., Arcadius and Honorius decree heavy fines against powerful people who conceal and protect fugitive members of curiae and collegia. For each one of the latter the patron has to pay a fine of a pound of gold (C. Th. XH. 1, 147). The codices are full of enactments against fugitives of this kind, and such legislation would prove, by itself, that a regime of caste was being gradually established in the Empire. It is certain that the invasions of barbarians, such as those of Alaric for example, contributed powerfully to scatter the working population, but, apart from these, one of the motives of flight was the heavy burden of taxation. It is probable that the initiative in regard to the measures of stern compulsion came not from the bureaucrats of the Empire, but from the corporations themselves which were made liable to the requirements of the State in case of the flight of their members. Of course, the consistent enforcement of such a policy actually blocked the natural selection of professions and the development of independent enterprise.
Let us, to take a concrete example, attend somewhat closer to the discipline imposed on the important college of navicularii. During the first two centuries of our era the term designated all shipowners engaged in the carrying trade by sea; gradually it came to mean shippers employed by the State for the transport of goods, especially of corn. Most of the corn necessary for the population of Rome was derived from Egypt and Africa, and we hear of a large fleet starting from Alexandria for the purpose of carrying over the supply. There is good evidence to shew that during the second century A.D the college was composed of men who had joined it as voluntary members and sought the privileges which were conceded to it in return for its services to the State. All this appears changed in the fourth century. The navicularii are to devote themselves primarily to the transport of goods belonging to the State, more particularly corn and oil for Rome and Constantinople, while African navicularii were bound to bring wood for fuel to the public baths of Rome. The Egyptian navicularii received their cargo from the collectors of the annona, the corn tribute in the province.
The season for the voyages of their ships was reckoned from the first of April to the 15th of October, the other months being held free on account of stormy weather. Each navicularius had to send his ships to the fleet once in two years. When the ship weighed anchor it had to proceed by the shortest route and not to stop anywhere without absolute necessity. Should one of the ships of the corn fleet be delayed in a port the governor and Senate of the place were bound, if necessary, to use force, in order to send the merchants out to sea again. Outside these official journeys they had the right to move on their own behalf, but evidently their right did not outweigh the uncomfortable limitations imposed on them during their service period, as we find the emperors endeavouring in every way to keep the navicularii to their task and to prevent them from slipping out of the college.
A curious letter of St Augustine tells how the bishop refused to accept the bequest of a certain Bonifacius, an African navicularius, on behalf of the see of Hippo. Bonifacius had disinherited his son and wanted to pass over his property to the Church. St Augustine refuses to accept the gift, because he does not wish to entangle the Church with the dealings of the navicularii. In case of shipwreck the Government would order an inquiry, the sailors rescued from the wreck would be put to torture, the Church would have to pay for the lost cargo, etc The members of the college evidently had to be rich men and, sometimes, if there were gaps to be filled, the State would compel rich men to join the corpus navicularium. The service was hereditary, and if any member absconded, his property was forfeited to the college.
These facts may be sufficient to shew to what extent the commerce of those days suffered under the stringent discipline imposed by the requirements of the State, and what a queer mixture of a business man and of an official a shipowner of those days was. I may add that, although we know most about navicularii, bakers, purveyors of pork, and similar merchants engaged in supplying the capitals with food. The provisioning of the smaller towns and the management of all crafts and trades were carried on more or less on similar principles.
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