VI. CHA P. general income of the Roman provinces could feldom amount to lefs than fifteen or twenty millions of our money"; and, 2dly, That fo ample a revenue must have been fully adequate to all the expences of the moderate government inftituted by Auguftus, whofe court was the modeft family of a private fenator, and whofe military establishment was calculated for the defence of the frontiers, without any afpiring views of conqueft, or any ferious apprehenfion of a foreign invafion. Taxes on Roman ci tizens in Notwithstanding the feeming probability of both these conclufions, the latter of them at least ftituted by is pofitively difowned by the language and conAuguftus. duct of Auguftus. It is not eafy to determine whether, on this occafion, he acted as the common father of the Roman world, or as the oppreffor of liberty; whether he wished to relieve the provinces, or to impoverish the fenate and the equestrian order. But no fooner had he affumed the reins of government, than he frequently intimated the infufficiency of the tributes, and the neceffity of throwing an equitable proportion of the public burden upon Rome and Italy. In the profecution of this unpopular defign, he advanced, however, by cautious and well-weighed steps. The introduction of cuftoms was followed by the establishment of an excife, 96 Lipfius de magnitudine Romanâ (1. ii. c. 3.) computes the revenue at one hundred and fifty millions of gold crowns; but his whole book, though learned and ingenious, betrays a very heated imagination. and VI. and the fcheme of taxation was completed by CHA P. an artful affeffment on the real and perfonal property of the Roman citizens, who had been exempted from any kind of contribution above a century and a half. toms. I. In a great empire like that of Rome, a The cuf natural balance of money muft have gradually eftablished itself. It has been already obferved, that as the wealth of the provinces was attracted to the capital by the ftrong hand of conqueft and power; fo a confiderable part of it was reftored to the induftrious provinces by the gentle influence of commerce and arts. In the reign of Auguftus and his fucceffors, duties were impofed on every kind of merchandise, which through a thousand channels flowed to the great centre of opulence and luxury; and in whatsoever manner the law was expreffed, it was the Roman purchafer, and not the provincial merchant, who paid the tax. The rate of the customs varied from the eighth to the fortieth part of the value of the commodity; and we have a right to suppose that the variation was directed by the unalterable maxims of policy; that a higher duty was fixed on the articles of luxury than on thofe of neceffity, and that the productions raised or manufactured by the labour of the fubjects of the empire, were treated with more indulgence than was fhewn to the pernicious, or at least the unpopular commerce of Arabia and VI. CHA P. India. There is ftill extant a long but imperfect catalogue of eaftern commodities, which about the time of Alexander Severus were fubject to the payment of duties; cinnamon, myrrh, pepper, ginger, and the whole tribe of aromatics, a great variety of precious ftones, among which the diamond was the most remarkable for its price, and the emerald for its beauty?: Parthian and Babylonian leather, cottons, filks, both raw and manufactured, ebony, ivory, and eunuchs ICO. We may obferve that the ufe and value of thofe effeminate flaves gradually rofe with the decline of the empire. The ex cife. II. The excife, introduced by Auguftus after the civil wars, was extremely moderate, but it was general. It feldom exceeded one per cent. ; but it comprehended whatever was fold in the markets or by public auction, from the most confiderable purchase of lands and houses, to thofe minute objects which can only derive a value from their infinite multitude, and daily confumption. Such a tax, as it affects the body of the people, has ever been the occafion of clamour and difcontent. An emperor well acquainted 9 See Pliny (Hift. Natur. I. vi. c. 23. l. xii. c. 18.). His obfervation, that the Indian commodities were fold at Rome at a hundred times their original price, may give us fome notion of the produce of the customs, fince that original price amounted to`more than eight hundred thousand pounds. 99 The ancients were unacquainted with the art of cutting diamonds. 100 M. Bouchaud, in his treatife de l'Impot chez les Romains, has transcribed this catalogue from the Digeft, and attempts to illustrate it by a very prolix commentary. VI. with the wants and refources of the ftate, was CHA P. obliged to declare by a public edict, that the fupport of the army depended in a great measure on the produce of the excife 11. ΙΟΙ inherit III. When Auguftus refolved to establish a Tax on le permanent military force for the defence of his gacies and government against foreign and domeftic ene- ances. mies, he inftituted a peculiar treasury for the pay of the foldiers, the rewards of the veterans, and the extraordinary expences of war. The ample revenue of the excife, though peculiarly appropriated to those uses, was found inadequate. To fupply the deficiency, the Emperor fuggested a new tax of five per cent. on all legacies and inheritances. But the nobles of Rome were more tenacious of property than of freedom. Their indignant murmurs were received by Auguftus with his ufual temper. He candidly referred the whole business to the fenate, and exhorted them to provide for the public service by fome other expedient of a lefs odious nature. They were divided and perplexed. He infinuated to them, that their obftinacy would oblige him to propose a general land-tax and capitation. They acquiefced in filence 102. The new impofition on legacies and inheritances was however mitigated by fome restrictions. It did not take place unless the object was of a certain value 101 Tacit. Annal. i. 78. Two years afterwards, the reduction of the poor kingdom of Cappadocia gave Tiberius a pretence for diminishing the excife to one half, but the relief was of very short duration. 10 Dion Caffius, 1. lv. p. 794. 1. lvi. p. 825. IV. CHA P. most probably of fifty or an hundred pieces of gold 103; nor could it be exacted from the nearest of kin on the father's fide104. When the rights of nature and poverty were thus fecured, it seemed reasonable, that a stranger, or a distant relation, who acquired an unexpected acceffion of fortune, should cheerfully resign a twentieth part of it, for the benefit of the ftate 105. Suited to the laws and man. ners. Such a tax, plentiful as it must prove in every wealthy community, was most happily fuited to the fituation of the Romans, who could frame their arbitrary wills, according to the dictates of reafon or caprice, without any restraint from the modern fetters of entails and fettlements. From various causes the partiality of paternal affection often loft its influence over the ftern patriots of the commonwealth, and the diffolute nobles of the empire; and if the father bequeathed to his fon the fourth part of his eftate, he removed all ground of legal complaint 106. But a rich childlefs old man was a domeftic tyrant, and his power increased with his years and infirmities. A fervile crowd, in which he frequently reckoned prætors and confuls, courted his fmiles, pam. pered his avarice, applauded his follies, ferved his paffions, and waited with impatience for his 103 The fum is only fixed by conjecture. 10+ As the Roman law fubfifted for many ages, the Cognati, or relations on the mother's fide, were not called to the fucceffion. This harsh institution was gradually undermined by humanity, and finally abolished by Juftinian. 105 Plin. Panegyric. c. 37. 106 See Hieneccius in the Antiquit. Juris Romani, 1. ii. death. |