PUBLICANS AND SINNERS
E. Badian
This book is a compact but comprehensive study of the role, during the Roman Repub- lic, of the publicani who may be variously described as capitalists, contractors, revenue collectors, entrepreneurs, or simply 'big business'.
The author is not only concerned with the role of the publicani in the machinery of government. He is also interested in the part they played in the political history of Rome and in the 'Roman revolution'. He advances original and important interpreta- tions regarding the conditions which brought about the collapse of the Republic and its replacement by an imperial autocracy.
The question of the moral propriety of entrusting public works to private enterprise is considered through a meticulous and judicious examination of evidence for the Roman experience, which shows that govern- ment is no more above the kinds of temptation that can lead to corruption than are private individuals.
As always, Professor Badian assembles his evidence thoroughly and propounds views which are bound to be a starting-point for further research. The work will be indispensable to the ancient historian, a valuable and stimulating guide to students, and will be read with profit by any student of history who is interested in the political, social a economic affairs of men.

Review: This book is a classic, a rich and rewarding study of an essential aspect of Roman imperialism - the way that almost all aspects of Rome's administration was supported by private enterprise, from transporting grain to feeding armies to building aqueducts to collecting taxes and much more. Anyone with a serious interest in Roman history will find it very rewarding.
Baidan concentrates particularly on the publicani, the top level of capitalists who bid for the major government contracts and then subcontracted out the various parts of the job while managing the whole. Despite the essential contribution of this group to the functioning of the Roman state throughout the Republic and into the early years of the Empire, little has been written about them. Baidan's book does two important things. First, he uses what very little literary evidence we have to reconstruct (or really make some reasonable assumptions) about how the publicani made contracts, functioned as businessmen, and ran their enterprises. Second, he shows how both the historians of the ancient senatorial class and the modern academic middle-class tend to either ignore or demonize their part in Roman life. He makes a fair case for the positive contribution of the business equities and provides a fascinating glimpse into this aspect of Roman economic history.