Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 1).djvu/180

 3. Port or transit dues, called vectigalia, were levied on all merchandise transported from one province to another for the sake of gain, that is, for resale at a profit; but for purely personal use residents were permitted to pass a limited quantity of goods free of tax. In this category may be included licenses for gold-mining, which cost the venturer about a guinea a year. Taxes of this class were let out by public auction for a term of three years to those who bid highest for the concession of collecting them. Export of gold from the Empire was forbidden, and those who had the opportunity, were exhorted to use every subterfuge in order to obtain it from the barbarians.

4. A tax, peculiar in some respects to the Byzantine Empire, was the lustral collation or chrysargyron, a duty of the most comprehensive character on the profits of all commercial transactions. Trade in every shape and form was subjected to it, not excepting the earnings of public prostitutes, beggars, and probably even of catamites. The chrysargyron was collected every fourth year only, and for this reason, as it

and geometers. I find no relief, however, in the case of lawyers.]
 * [Footnote: given, including professionals, such as physicians, painters, architects,