Pliny’s Roman Economy: Natural History, Innovation, and Growth by Richard P. Saller

Abstract

This book does not start out well. Saller writes, “Most recent efforts do not hold up to close scrutiny and so do not demonstrate sustained growth up to the Antonine Plague” (9). Saller cites Harper in this regard, but he fails to note Harper’s 2016 article that showed real wages increasing in Roman Egypt during those years.1Although wages are not strictly a proxy for the national product, rising wages are a good index of national income in an agricultural economy in which a plague did not reduce the quantity of labor. The rest of Chapter 1, which summarizes other publications about growth, seems pointless given its omission of an important source of ancient Roman economic data.Saller arrives at his main topic in Chapter 2, describing Pliny’s life and work habits, as well as a detailed description of Pliny’s Natural History and its probable readers. The chapters that follow discuss various topics in Pliny’s book. Pliny had a Stoic view of nature; he decried the damaging exploitation of the natural world. He condemned iron mining on the grounds that it could contribute to killing people. He also presented a list of power and agricultural innovations, about which Saller gives his opinions.When Saller turns to Pliny’s economics, he prefaces his analysis with the caveat, “The point is not to blame him for a lack of rationality but to show his thought was framed by different values and a bounded rationality.” Pliny’s discussion focuses on agriculture and trade. He cites my book about The Roman Market Economy, but he fails to discuss the rate of interest.2 Pliny the Younger—the ward and nephew of the Pliny the Elder, the subject of this book—explained to Emperor Trajan, well after his uncle’s time, that “no one wanted to borrow at 9 percent” (174). The Greeks, however, had already advanced sophisticated ideas about interest rates and risk before Pliny the Elder lived. Saller could have included them in his discussion of Roman economics since the use of interest was common in Rome as well.Saller closes his book with a dubious recommendation of Pliny’s Natural History as a good source of information for ancient historians. Yet, only potential readers with a particular interest in Pliny the Elder or in contemporary Roman agriculture and trade will find Pliny’s book to have much relevance for them.