[muawiyah]

Back about Augustus Caesar's time the Romans came into a vast number of slaves ~ they put them to work doing everything anybody could think of needed to be done in Rome and other major imperial cities.

That left the poor citizens with nothing to do, hence the use of the dole and games to keep them entertained.

They got about 300 years out of that technique in the West, and nearly 1400 years in the East.

[Bryanw92]

>>That left the poor citizens with nothing to do, hence the use of the dole and games to keep them entertained.

>>They got about 300 years out of that technique in the West, and nearly 1400 years in the East.

Those non-working citizens didn’t demand a lifestyle that was comparable to that of a working craftsman, as ours do. If our poor lived in overcrowded dormitories, owned only what they could carry, and ate porridge twice a day, we could support them too while the rest of us work 60 hour weeks to keep the wheels turning on civilization.