Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/306

 XV] I. 288 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, siiries. But as the account between the monarch and the subject was perpetually open, and as the renewal of the demand anticipated the perfect discharge of the preceding obligation, the weighty machine of the fi- nances was moved by the same hands round the circle of its yearly revolution. Whatever was honourable or important in the administration of the revenue, was committed to the wisdom of the prefects, and their provincial representatives ; the lucrative functions were claimed by a crowd of subordinate officers, some of whom depended on the treasurer, others on the go- vernor of the province ; and who, in the inevitable conflicts of a perplexed jurisdiction, had frequent op- portunities of disputing with each other the spoils of the people. The laborious offices, which could be productive only of envy and reproach, of expense and danger, were imposed on the ' decurions,' who formed the corporations of the cities, and whom the severity of the imperial laws had condemned to sustain the bur- dens of civil society The whole landed property of the empire (without excepting the patrimonial estates of the monarch) was the object of ordinary taxation ; and every new purchaser contracted the obligations of the former proprietor. An accurate census"", or sur- vey, was the only equitable mode of ascertaining the proportion which every citizen should be obliged to contribute for the public service; and from the well known period of the indictions, there is reason to be- lieve that this difficult and expensive operation was repeated at the regular distance of fifteen years. The lands were measured by surveyors, who were sent into the provinces ; their nature, whether arable or pasture, or vineyards or woods, was distinctly reported ; and an estimate was made of their common value from the • 'I'he title concerning the decurions, (1. xii. tit, i.) is the most ample in the whole Theodosian Code ; since it contains not less than one hundred and ninety-two distinct laws to ascertain the duties and privileges of that useful order of citizens. "' Habemus enim et hominum numerum qui delati sunt, et agium modum. Eumenius in Panegyr. Vet. viii. 6. See Cod. Theod. 1. xiii. tit. x. xi. with Godefroy's Commentary.