The system of taxation. The debasement of the Roman coinage in the course of the third century resulted in a thorough disorganization of the public finances, for the taxes and disbursements fixed in terms of money had no longer their previous value. Diocletian completely reorganized the financial system by introducing a general scheme of taxation and remuneration in produce in place of coin, [pg 345]and by establishing a new method of assessment. This latter consisted in the division of the land, cattle and agricultural labor into units of equal tax value. The unit of taxation for land was the iugum, which differed in size for arable land, vineyards and orchards, as well as for soils of varying fertility. A fixed number of cattle likewise constituted a iugum, assessed at the same value as a iugum of land. The unit of labor, regarded as the equivalent of the iugum was the caput, which was defined as one man or two women engaged in agricultural occupations. Thus the workers were taxed in addition to the land they tilled.
The indiction. The amount of the land tax to be raised each year was announced in an annual proclamation called an indiction (indictio), and a revaluation of the tax units was made periodically. The term indiction was also used of the period between two reassessments, which occurred at first every five, but after 312 A. D. every fifteen, years. The indictions thus furnished the basis for a new system of chronology. From the taxes raised in kind the soldiers and those in the civil service received their pay in the form of an allowance (annona), which might under certain conditions be commuted for its monetary equivalent.
Special taxes. In addition to the land tax raised in the form of produce on the basis of the iuga and capita, there were certain other taxes payable in money. The chief of these were: the chrysargyrum, a tax levied on all trades; the aurum coronarium, a nominally voluntary but really compulsory contribution paid by the municipal senators every five years to enable the emperor to distribute largesses to his officials and troops; the aurum oblaticium, a similar payment made by the senatorial order of the empire; and the collatio glebalis or follis senatoria, a special tax imposed upon senators by Constantine I.
Munera. Besides the taxes, the government laid upon its subjects the burden of performing certain public services without compensation. The most burdensome of these charges (munera) were the upkeep of the public post, and the furnishing of quarters (hospitium) and rendering other services in connection with the movement of troops, officials and supplies. So heavy was the burden of the post that it denuded of draught animals the districts it traversed and had to be abandoned in the sixth century. It was in connection with the exaction of these charges, the collection of the revenue in kind, and in [pg 346]the administration of justice that the imperial officials found opportunity to practice extortions which weighed more heavily upon the taxpayers than the taxes themselves.
The curiales. The class which suffered most directly from the established fiscal system was that of the curiales, as the members of the municipal senatorial orders were now called. In the course of the third century the status of curialis had become hereditary, and was an obligation upon all who possessed a definite property qualification, fixed at twenty-five iugera of land in the fourth century. Since the local senates had become agents of the fiscus in collecting the revenues from their municipal territories, the curiales, through the municipal officers or committees of the local council, had to apportion the quotas of the municipal burden among the landholders, to collect them, and be responsible for the payment of the total amount to the public officers. They were also responsible for the maintenance of the public post and the performance of other services resting upon the municipalities. Inevitably the curiales sought to protect themselves by shifting the burden of taxation as much as possible upon the lower classes in the municipal territory who regarded them as oppressors. “Every curialis is a tyrant” (quot curiales, tot tyranni), says a fourth century writer.
The exactions of the imperial officers proved more than the curiales could meet, and they sought to withdraw from their order and its obligations. But the government required responsible landholders and so they were forbidden to dispose of their properties or to leave their place of residence without special permission. And when they tried to find exemption by entering the imperial senatorial order, the military or civil service, or the clergy, these avenues of escape were likewise closed. Only those who had filled all the municipal offices might become clarissimi and immune from the curial obligations, and only clergy of the rank of bishops were excused, while the lower orders had to supply a substitute or surrender two-thirds of their property before they could leave the curia. Valentinian I attempted to aid the curiales by appointing officials known as defensores civitatium or plebis—“defenders of the cities” or “of the plebs”—whose duty it was to check unjust exactions and protect the common people against officials and judges. These defensores were at first persons of influence, chosen by the municipalities and approved by [pg 347]the emperor. They were empowered to try certain cases themselves, and had the right to address themselves directly to the emperor without reference to the provincial governor. However, the defensores accomplished little, and in the fifth century their office had become an additional obligatory service resting upon the curiales. By 429 A. D. hardly a curialis with adequate property qualifications could be found in any city, and by the sixth century the class of municipal landholders had practically disappeared.
The hereditary corporations. We have seen how, in the course of the third century, the professional corporations were burdened with the duty of performing certain public services in the interest of the communities to which they belonged. The first step taken by the state to insure the performance of these services was to make this duty a charge which rested permanently upon the property of the members of the corporations (corporati), no matter into whose possession it passed. But men as well as money were needed for the performance of these charges, and consequently, in order to prevent a decline in the numbers of the corporati, the state made membership in these associations an hereditary obligation. This was really an extension of the principle that a man was bound to perform certain services in the community in which he was enrolled (his origo). Finally, the emperors exercised the right of conscription, and attached to the various corporations which were in need of recruits persons who were engaged in less needed occupations.
The burden of their charges led the corporati, like the curiales, to seek refuge in some other profession. They tried to secure enrollment in the army, among the officiales, or to become coloni of the emperor or senatorial landholders. But all these havens of refuge were closed by imperial edicts, and when discovered the truant corporatus was dragged back to his association. Only those who attained the highest office within their corporation were legally freed from their obligations.
Although the corporations probably retained their former organization and officers, their active heads were now called patroni, and these directed the public services of their colleges. In Rome and Constantinople the colleges were under the supervision of the city prefects, in the municipalities under that of the local magistrates and provincial governors. The professional colleges are the only ones which sur[pg 348]vived during the late empire. The religious and funerary associations vanished with the spread of Christianity and the general impoverishment of the lower classes.
The coloni. Among the agricultural classes the forces which had developed in the course of the principate were still at work. In the fourth century the attachment of the tenant farmers and peasant laborers to the soil was extended to the whole empire. The status of the coloni became hereditary, like that of the corporati. Their condition was half way between that of freedmen and that of slaves, for while they were bound to the estate upon which they resided and passed with it from one owner to another, they were not absolutely under the power of the owner and could not be disposed of by him apart from the land. They had also other rights which slaves lacked, yet as time went on their condition tended to approximate more and more closely to servitude. “Slaves of the soil,” they were called in the sixth century. As this status of serfdom was hitherto unknown in Roman law, a great many imperial enactments had to be issued defining the rights and duties of the coloni.