§413. Business and Commerce.--The commerce of Rome covered all lands and seas. Pliny tells us that the trade with India and China took from Rome $5,000,000 yearly. The wholesale trade was to a large extent in the hands of the capitalist class, the retail business was conducted by freedmen and foreigners. How large these businesses were we have no means of telling. The supplying of the food to the city must have given employment to thousands; the clothing trade has been mentioned already (§271). Building operations were carried on at an immense cost and on the largest scale. All the public buildings and many of the important private buildings were built by contract. There can be little doubt that the letting of the contracts for the public buildings was made very profitable for the officers who had it to do, but it must be admitted on the other hand that the work was well done. Crassus seems to have done a sort of salvage business. When buildings seemed certain to be destroyed by fire he would buy them with their contents at a nominal sum, and then fight the flames with gangs of slaves that he had trained for the purpose. The slave trade itself was very considerable and large fortunes were amassed in it (§139). The heavy work of ordinary laborers was performed almost entirely by slaves (§148), and it must be remembered that much work was then done by hand that is now done by machinery. The book business has been mentioned (§400). Even the place of the modern newspaper was taken by letters written as a business by persons who collected all the news, gossip, and scandal of the city, had it copied by slaves, and sent it to persons away from the city who did not like to trouble their friends (§379) and were willing to pay for intelligence.