CHAP.

XVII.

Capitation

on trade

and in

dustry.

But this tax, or capitation, on the proprietors of land, would have fuffered a rich and numerous class of free citizens to escape. With the view of fharing that fpecies of wealth which is derived from art or labour, and which exifts in money or in merchandise, the emperors impofed a diftinct and perfonal tribute on the trading part of their fubjects 188. Some exemptions, very strictly confined both in time and place, were allowed to the proprietors who difpofed of the produce of their own eftates. Some indulgence was granted to the profeffion of the liberal arts: but every other branch of commercial industry was affected by the severity of the law. The honourable merchant of Alexandria, who imported the gems and fpices of India for the use of the western world; the ufurer, who derived from the intereft of money a filent and ignominious profit; the ingenious manufacturer, the diligent mechanic, and even the most obfcure retailer of a fequestered village, were obliged to admit the officers of the revenue into the partnership of their gain and the fovereign of the Roman empire, who tolerated the profeffion, confented to share the infamous falary of public proftitutes. As this general tax upon industry was collected every fourth year, it was ftyled the Luftral Contribution: and the hiftorian Zofimus 199 laments that the approach of the fatal period was announced by the tears and ter

188 See Cod. Theod. 1. xiii. tit. i. and iv.

189 Zofimus, l. ii. p. 115. There is probably as much paflion and prejudice in the attack of Zofimus, as in the elaborate defence of the memory of Conftantine by the zealous Dr. Howell. Hift. of the World, vol. ii. p. 20.

rors

4

rors of the citizens, who were often compelled by CHA P. the impending fcourge to embrace the most ab- XVII. horred and unnatural methods of procuring the fum at which their property had been affeffed. The teftimony of Zofimus cannot indeed be justified from the charge of paffion and prejudice; but, from the nature of this tribute, it seems reafonable to conclude that it was arbitrary in the diftribution, and extremely rigorous in the mode of collecting. The fecret wealth of commerce, and the precarious profits of art or labour, are fufceptible only of a discretionary valuation, which is feldom disadvantageous to the intereft of the treafury; and as the perfon of the trader fupplies the want of a visible and permanent fecurity, the payment of the impofition, which, in the case of a land-tax, may be obtained by the feizure of property, can rarely be extorted by any other means than those of corporal punishments. The cruel treatment of the infolvent debtors of the state, is attested, and was perhaps mitigated by a very humane edict of Conftantine, who, difclaiming the use of racks and of fcourges, allots a spacious and airy prifon for the place of their confinement 190.

These general taxes were impofed and levied by Free gifts. the abfolute authority of the monarchy; but the oęcafional offerings of the coronary gold ftill retained the name and femblance of popular confent. It was an ancient curtom that the allies of the republic, who afcribed their fafety or deliver

190 Cod. Theod. 1. xi. tit. vii, leg. 3.

CHAP. ance to the fuccefs of the Roman arms; and even
XVII. the cities of Italy, who admired the virtues of

their victorious general, adorned the pomp of his
triumph by their voluntary gifts of crowns of gold,
which after the ceremony, were confecrated in
the temple of Jupiter, to remain a lasting monu-
ment of his glory to future ages. The progrefs
of zeal and flattery foon multiplied the number,
and increased the fize, of these popular donations;
and the triumph of Cæfar was enriched with two
thoufand eight hundred and twenty-two mafly
crowns, whose weight amounted to twenty thou❤
fand four hundred and fourteen pounds of gold.
This treasure was immediately melted down by
the prudent dictator, who was fatisfied that it
would be more ferviceable to his foldiers than to
the gods: his example was imitated by his fuc-
ceffors; and the custom was introduced, of ex-
changing thefe fplendid ornaments for the more
acceptable prefent of the current gold coin of the
empire 11. The fpontaneous offering was at
length exacted as the debt of duty; and instead of
being confined to the occafion of a triumph, it
was fuppofed to be granted by the feveral cities
and provinces of the monarchy, as often as the
emperor condefcended to announce his acceffion,
his confulfhip, the birth of a fon, the creation of
a Cæfar, a victory over the Barbarians, or any
other real or imaginary event which graced the

191

191 See Lipfius de Magnitud. Romana. 1. ii. c. 9. The Tarra gonese Spain presented the emperor Claudius with a crown of gold of feven, and Gaul with another of nine, hundred pounds weight. I have followed the rational emendation of Lipfius.

5

annals

XVII.

annals of his reign. The peculiar free gift of the CHA P.
fenate of Rome was fixed by cuftom at fixteen
hundred pounds of gold, or about fixty four
thousand pounds fterling. The oppreffed fub-
jects celebrated their own felicity, that their fove-
reign fhould graciously confent to accept this
feeble but voluntary teftimony of their loyalty and
gratitude 192.

192

A people elated by pride, or foured by dif- Conclu-
content, are feldom qualified to form a juft efti- fion.
mate of their actual fituation. The fubjects of
Constantine were incapable of difcerning the de-
cline of genius and manly virtue, which fo far
degraded them below the dignity of their an-
cestors; but they could feel and lament the rage
of tyranny, the relaxation of difcipline, and the
encrease of taxes. The impartial hiftorian, who
acknowledges the juftice of their complaints, will
obferve fome favourable circumftances which
tended to alleviate the mifery of their condition.
The threatening tempeft of Barbarians, which fo
foon fubverted the foundations of Roman great-
nefs, was ftill repelled, or fufpended, on the fron-
tiers The arts of luxury and literature were
cultivated, and the elegant pleasures of fociety
were enjoyed by the inhabitants of a confiderable
portion of the globe. The forms, the pomp, and
the expence of the civil adminiftration contri-

buted to restrain the irregular licence of the fol-
diers and although the laws. were violated by

192 Cod. Theod. 1. xii. tit. xiii. The fenators were fuppofed to be exempt from the Aurum Coronarium; but the Auri Oblatio, which was required at their hands, was precifely of the same nature.

VOL. III.

H

power,

CHA P. power, or perverted by fubtlety, the fage prin-
XVII. ciples of the Roman jurisprudence preferved a
fense of order and equity, unknown to the defpo-

tic
governments of the east. The rights of man-
kind might derive fome protection from religion
and philosophy; and the name of freedom, which
could no longer alarm, might fometimes admo-
nish, the fucceffors of Auguftus, that they did
not reign over a nation of Slaves or Barba-
rians 193.

193 The great Theodofius, in his judicious advice to his fon (Claudian in iv. Consulat. Honorii, 214, &c.), distinguishes the ftation of a Roman prince from that of a Parthian monarch. Virtue was necessary for the one; birth might fuffice for the other.