Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/313

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 295 payments may be computed at about four millions and ^ "^J.^" a half of our money, it would appear, that although _1 ! — the share of each individual was four times as consi- derable, a fourth part only of the modern taxes of France was levied on the imperial province of Gaul. The exactions of Constantius may be calculated at seven millions sterhng, which were reduced to two mil- , lions by the humanity or the wisdom of Julian. But this tax, or capitation, on the proprietors of Capitation land, would have suffered a rich and numerous class ot industry. free citizens to escape. With the view of sharing that species of wealth which is derived from art or labour, and which exists in money or in merchandize, the em- perors imposed a distinct and personal tribute on the trading part of their subjects'^. Some exemptions, very strictly confined both in time and place, were al- lowed to the proprietors who disposed of the produce of their own estates. Some indulgence was granted to the profession of the liberal arts: but every other branch of commercial industry was af&cted by the severity of the law. The honourable merchant of Alexandria, who imported the gems and spices of India for the use of the western world; the usurer, who derived from the interest of money a silent and ignominious profit ; the ingenious manufacturer, the diligent mechanic, and even the most obscure retailer of a sequestered village, were obhged to admit the offi- cers of the revenue into the partnership of their gain : and the sovereign of the Roman empire, who tolerated the profession, consented to share the infamous salary, of public prostitutes. As this general tax upon indus- try was collected every fourth year, it was styled the ' lustral contribution :' and the historian Zosimus " la- ments, that the approach of the fatal period was an- nounced by the tears and terrors of the citizens, who were often compelled by the impending scourge to em- "• See Cod. Tlieod. 1. xiii. tit. i. and iv. c Zosimus, 1. ii. p. 115. There is probably as mucli passion and preju- dice in the attack of Zosimus, as in the elaborate defence of the memory of Constantine by the zealous Dr. Howell, Hist, of the World, vol. ii. p. 20.
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