Wealth had not flowed into the state in such large quantities as to corrupt it.

The great mass of the people were peasants, small land-owners, of frugal habits and moral qualities.

But comparatively few owned large estates as yet, or possessed large tracts of the _Ager Publicus_.

A century later, when most of the available land in the peninsula was held by the wealthy and farmed by slaves, we find a great change.
The fall of TARENTUM marks an important era in Roman history.

Large treasures were obtained from this and other Greek cities in Southern Italy.