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My understanding is that the grain dole was a great drain on the Roman state, it later evolved to include other staples such as olive oil. What if Marcus Aurielus along with suppressing the games reduced the numbers of people eligible for the handouts and used part of the funds to sponsor them as settlers to his newly conquered territories? They could also make money from selling the grain on the open market and use it towards large scale infrastructure projects to keep the population occupied.
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