Alimenta

The alimenta was a welfare programs in the form of social welfare for the people including the youth. It provided general funds, as well as food and subsidized education.

Roman welfare program that existed from around 98 AD to 272 AD.

The program was supported out of the spoils or "booty" of the Dacian Wars and by a combination of estate taxes and some left over philanthropy, used sometimes to bribe the votes of the people.

According to most modern historians, including Nerva biographers Nathan Elkins and John Grainger, it was initiated by emperor Nerva and expanded by Trajan.

The Alimenta was next to the Temple of Juno Moneta the mint, on the Capitoline Hill in Rome. The Temple of Saturn, in the Forum Romanum, served as the treasury and registry of birth records.

See Temples.

This welfare system had moved the Roman people away from charity into a state run system of legal charity. The free bread of such systems degenerate the character of the people according to Polybius and Plutarch.

John the Baptist and Jesus warned the people of the same ancient precepts of human nature with their condemnation of the Corban of the Pharisees and the covetous practices which make the people merchandise returning them to the bondage of Egypt.

Paul would also warned the people that the [[table][ of the state was a snare and a trap, quoting David who knew if you had an appetite for the wages of unrighteousness you should put a knife to your own throat.