But in great empires, such as Rome, the natural balance of money soon establishes itself. The wealth at first attracted to the capital, as the chief place of abode for the aristocracy, by degrees finds its way to the industrial people in the provinces, to be employed in the development of arts and manufactures, and is thus spread throughout the whole kingdom, to find its way back to the capital, through the medium of those who, having by commerce or otherwise accumulated a superabundance, resort thither to spend it. In the reign of Augustus and of his successors, the duties also imposed on every kind of merchandise found their way through numerous channels to Rome, the great centre of opulence and luxury, so that, in whatever manner the law was expressed, the Roman purchaser, rather than the provincial merchant, paid the tax. A higher duty was imposed on articles of luxury than on those of necessity, varying from an eighth to the fortieth part of the value of the commodity; and the productions raised or manufactured by the labour of the people were wisely treated with more indulgence than was shown to the luxurious products of India and Arabia.[302] “There is still extant,” remarks Gibbon,[303] “a long but imperfect catalogue of Eastern commodities which, about the time of Alexander Severus, were subject to the payment of duties: cinnamon, myrrh, pepper, ginger, and the whole tribe of aromatics, a great variety of precious stones, among which the diamond was the most remarkable for its price, and the emerald for its beauty; Parthian and Babylonian leather, ebony, ivory, and eunuchs; and we may observe,” adds this great historian, “that the value of these effeminate slaves gradually rose with the decline of the empire.”
The excise.
Although the excise seldom exceeded one per cent. ad valorem, it embraced whatever was sold by private contract, or in the markets by public auction, from the largest purchase of lands and houses, to those minute objects which have a value only from their infinite number and daily consumption. Against taxes of this description there were, as there have ever been in all countries, loud complaints on the part of the people; but when the emperor endeavoured to substitute for these obnoxious and vexatious imposts a new tax of five per cent. on all legacies and inheritances, the nobles of Rome, who were more tenacious of their property than of their freedom, were, in spite of their indignant murmurs, compelled to acquiesce in the imposition of a land tax.[304]
Bounties on the importation of corn, A.D. 14.
A.D. 41.
The annual tributes, customs, and direct taxation of the provinces, tended still further to produce the balance of values. The farmers were paid with their own money. The Romans laid not only heavy duties upon the natural products of every country subject to their sway, but also an export duty on produce sent away, as well as an import duty on any article brought in for the consumption of the provinces. A transit duty was even levied on goods and produce of British origin during their passage through the Roman province of Gaul. At the other extremity of the empire, on the coasts of the Arabian Gulf, the same system of fixed taxation was enforced; but the high prices we have named as prevailing at Rome for foreign goods of all kinds, especially those of India, Arabia, and Babylonia, rendered this taxation comparatively light. The Portorium[305] or tax on produce or manufactures brought by sea, resembled greatly the custom duties levied at the ports of Great Britain during the present century; they were exacted by officers of the public revenue, at harbours, rivers, and sometimes also at the passages of bridges. On the other hand, besides the relief from municipal taxation, an adequate and regular supply of corn was deemed so essential that shipowners were offered liberal bounties to bring it from abroad. In the reign of Tiberius, it is stated by Tacitus,[306] that, as the people murmured at the oppressive price of grain, the emperor settled its price to the buyer, and undertook to pay two sesterces a measure to the corn-dealers and importers. More than this, the Emperor Claudius, unlike the rulers of some of the nations of our own time, whose systems are too often prohibitory of the importation of the staple article of food for the people, urged the ship-owners to make voyages during the winter, when they usually laid up their vessels, and besides confirming to them the allowances sanctioned by Tiberius, with relief from municipal taxation, took on himself all losses, at the same time securing the importers a certain rate of profit.
System of collecting the taxes.
A.D. 211.
Value of the trade with Alexandria.
Of the several impositions introduced by Augustus the five per cent. on legacies and inheritances was the most fruitful as well as the most comprehensive. Farmed like nearly all other taxes (for in every age the best and wisest of the Roman governors adhered to this pernicious method of collecting the principal customs), the burden was increased by the insolence and cupidity of the collectors; hence, when two centuries afterwards Caracalla doubled the already heavy impost, this act of oppression nearly cost him his throne and his life.[307] Yet, in spite of the extravagant luxury of the wealthier classes, the enormous value of the imperial commerce, together with the extent and wealth of the provinces, enabled the government to maintain for a long time an expenditure which, under other circumstances, could not have been endured; and much, indeed, of this wealth was really due to the possession of Egypt, apart altogether from the large commercial profits derived from Alexandria. Besides corn, Egypt supplied the imperial city with flax and linen of various qualities, cotton goods, costly ointments, marble, alabaster, fine alum, salt, gums, and the papyrus, from which paper was manufactured at Rome. Three hundred thousand of the million inhabitants of Alexandria consisted of Roman citizens, but its merchants and ship-owners were chiefly emigrants from Greece or of Grecian origin.