Columella perhaps?
Exactly, thank you!
PS: According to calculations of Historians the budget for grain supply during Augustus reign was about 50 Mio HS. While the budget for the army was about 500-750 Mio HS. The total budget at this time is estimated about 1000 Mio HS. Just 5% of the imperial budget to get the support of the plebs urbana, one of the 3 major acceptance groups in the roman model of legitimisation? Sounds like a great deal to me.
And as already mentioned, just a minority of 150-200.000 people got this grain. This is nothing looking to about 50 Mio inhabitants in the empire. Even if we are looking to just the 4-5 Mio romans, it is nothing.
No, the dole was never an issue for the imperial budget. Nevertheless I would like to see it abandonened, too. It is just another tradition. But I understand, why the emperors saw no need to do so.
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