The Romans are as famous for their holidays as for anything else. The massive spectacles they put on constitute the "circuses" in "bread and circuses," a phrase still used to denote functions put on to gain favor crassly with a mass population. Courts were closed, and certain types of work were restricted. The sheer number of such festival holidays (ludi) has also become notorious. While in the first century B.C.E., 57 days were devoted to ludi, in the fourth century C.E. as many as 177 days had ludi. With nearly half of the year devoted to holidays, when did people work? Holidays did not mean everyone got off work. Many people would still have to work to maintain their living, and slaves would be at their masters' whim. Games required a large number of people to work just to put...