I do not believe that the cultivation of the soil by slaves was confined to Italy; the holders of large estates in the provinces would probably, either from choice or necessity, adopt the same mode of cultivation.

The latifundia, says Pliny, had ruined Italy, and had begun to ruin the provinces.

Slaves were no doubt employed in agricultural labor to a great extent in Sicily, and were the estates of those six enormous landholders who were said to have possessed the whole province of Africa, cultivated altogether by free coloni?
Whatever may have been the case in the rural districts, in the towns and cities the household duties were almost entirely discharged by slaves, and vast numbers belonged to the public establishments.

I do not, however, differ so far from Zumpt, and from M.Dureau de la Malle, as to adopt the higher and bolder estimate of Robertson and Mr.Blair, rather than the more cautious suggestions of Gibbon.

I would reduce rather than increase the proportion of the slave population.