their Gallic ancestors. The reason of this difference may be found, not so much in the relative scarcity or plenty of gold and silver, as in the different state of society in ancient Gaul and in modern France. In a country where personal freedom is the privilege of every subject, the whole mass of taxes, whether they are levied on property or on consumption, may be fairly divided among the whole body of the nation. But the far greater part of the lands of ancient Gaul, as well as of the other provinces of the Roman world, were cultivated by slaves, or by peasants, whose dependent condition was a less rigid servitude." 183 In such a state the poor were maintained at the expense of the masters who enjoyed the fruits of their labour; and as the rolls of tribute were filled only with the names of those citizens who possessed the means of an honourable, or at least of a decent subsistence, the comparative smallness of their numbers explains and justifies the high rate of their capitation. The truth of this assertion may be illustrated by the following example:-The Edui, one of the most powerful and civilized tribes or cities of Gaul, occupied an extent of territory which now contains above five hundred thousand inhabitants, in the two ecclesiastical dioceses of Autun and Nevers ;184 and with the probable accession of those of Châlons and Maçon, 185 the population would amount to eight hundred thousand souls. In the time of Constantine the territory of the Ædui afforded no more than twenty-five thousand heads of capitation, of whom seven thousand were discharged by that prince from the intolerable weight of tribute.186 A just analogy would seem to countenance the opinion of an ingenious historian,187 that the free and tributary citizens did not surpass the 163 Cod. Theod. 1. v. tit. ix. x. xi. Cod. Justinian. 1. xi. tit. lxiii. Coloni appellantur qui conditionem debent genitali solo, propter agriculturam sub dominio possessorum. Augustin. de Civitate Dei, 1. x. c. i. 184 The ancient jurisdiction of (Augustodunum) Autumn in Burgundy, the capital of the Edui, comprehended the adjacent territory of (Noviodunum) Nevers. See d'Anville, Notice de l'Ancienne Gaule, p. 491. The two dioceses of Autun and Nevers are now composed, the former of 610, and the latter of 160 parishes. The registers of births, taken during eleven years, in 476 parishes of the same province of Burgundy, and multiplied by the moderate proportion of 25 (see Messance, Recherches sur la Population, p. 142), may authorise us to assign an average number of 656 persons for each parish, which, being again multiplied by the 770 parishes of the dioceses of Nevers and Autun, will produce the sum of 505,120 persons for the extent of country which was once possessed by the Ædui. 185 We might derive an additional supply of 301,750 inhabitants from the dioceses of Châlons (Cabillonum) and of Maçon (Matisco); since they contain, the one 200, and the other 260 parishes. This accession of territory might be justified by very specious reasons. 1. Châlons and Maçon were undoubtedly within the original jurisdiction of the Edui. (See d'Anville, Notice, p. 187, 443.) 2. In the Notitia of Gaul they are enumerated not as Civitates, but merely as Castra. 3. They do not appear to have been episcopal seats before the fifth and sixth centuries. Yet there is a passage in Eumenius (Panegyr. Vet. viii. [vii.] 7) which very forcibly deters me from extending the territory of the Edui, in the reign of Constantine, along the beautiful banks of the navigable Saône. 186 Eumenius in Panegyr. Vet. viii. [vii.] 11. 187 L'Abbé du Bos, Hist. Critique de la M. F. tom. i. p. 121. number of half a million; and if, in the ordinary administration of government, their annual payments may be computed at about four millions and a half of our money, it would appear that, although the share of each individual was four times as considerable, 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 sterling, which were reduced to two millions by the humanity or the wisdom of Julian." Capitation But this tax or capitation on the proprietors of land would have suffered a rich and numerous class of free citizens to escape. With the view of sharing that species of wealth which is on trade and derived from art or labour, and which exists in money or industry. in merchandise, the emperors imposed a distinct and personal tribute The preceding account of the taxation of Gaul needs correction in several points. The words of Eumenius, to which Gibbon refers in note 186, are," Septem millia capitum remisisti, quintam amplius partem nostrorum censuum .... .... Remissione ista septem millium capitum, viginti quinque millibus dedisti vires, dedisti opem, dedisti salutem," &c. The word capita in this passage means pieces of land; and Gibbon supposes that there were 25,000 capita in the land of the Edui, of which 7000 were exempted by Constantine from taxation, thus reducing the number to 18,000. This interpretation has been adopted by all subsequent writers down to Savigny, who, however, has shown that there were originally 32,000 capita, which were reduced to 25,000 by Constantine. The words " quintam amplius partem' would be inadmissible if Gibbon's interpretation were correct, since 7000 is even more than the fourth part of 25,000. Adopting Gibbon's statistics, that the population of France in his time was, in round numbers, 24,000,000 (note 182), and that the ancient district of the Edui contained, in round numbers, half a million of inhabitants (note 184), it follows that this district was about a fortyeighth part of the territory of modern France. Consequently, as Constantine fixed 25,000 capita as the right proportion for the land of the Adui, there were 1,200,000 capita in all France. This is very different from the calculation of Gibbon, who makes the capita only 500,000; but this erroneous calculation arises from two causes: 1. He makes the capita of the Edui 18,000, instead of 25,000. 2. He supposes the territory of the Ædui to have contained in his time 800,000 inhabitants, a thirtieth part of the population of France (18,000 ×50=549,000), although he has himself considered this number as less probable than 500,000. (See notes 184, 185.) Since each caput paid before Julian's administration 12. 10s., and under his administration 37. 10s. (see note, p. 338), and supposing there were 1,200,000 capita in France, it follows that the taxation of the whole country amounted, according to the higher assessment, to 15,000,0007.; according to the lower, to 4,200,000. This calculation, however, is founded on the supposition that the reduction by Constantine of the capita of the Edui to 25,000 only placed the Ædui on a level with their neighbours; but if this reduction was an act of favour, or rested on special circumstances, as Eumenius intimates, the capita of France would have to be calculated according to the 32,000 capita of the Ædui, and would in that case amount to 1,536,000. Hence the higher taxation would be 19,200,0007.; the lower, 5,376,0007. In France, in the year 1818, the landtax proper (contribution foncière en principal) amounted to 172,703,000 francs, or very nearly seven millions sterling, being more than the smaller amount above mentioned, but considerably less than the larger. Gibbon calculates that the capita yielded four millions and a half sterling; and since the revenue of France was in his time 18 millions, he concludes that "a fourth part only of the modern taxes of France was levied on the province of Imperial Gaul;" but in this calculation he makes the great error of cor paring the whole taxes of modern France with a single tax in the Roman empire, since he omits not only the polltax, which he did not recognise, but als all indirect taxes. See Savigny, ut supā. -S. on the trading part of their subjects.188 Some exemptions, very strictly confined both in time and place, were allowed 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 affected 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 obliged to admit the officers 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 industry was collected every fourth year, it was styled the Lustral Contribution: and the historian Zosimus 189 laments that the approach of the fatal period was announced by the tears and terrors of the citizens, who were often compelled by the impending scourge to embrace the most abhorred and unnatural methods or procuring the sum at which their poverty had been assessed. The testimony of Zosimus cannot indeed be justified from the charge of passion and prejudice; but, from the nature of this tribute, it seems reasonable to conclude that it was arbitrary in the distribution, and extremely rigorous in the mode of collecting. The secret wealth of commerce, and the precarious profits of art or labour, are susceptible only of a discretionary valuation, which is seldom disadvantageous to the interest of the treasury; and as the person of the trader supplies the want of a visible and permanent security, the payment of the imposition, which, in the case of a land-tax, may be obtained by the seizure of property, can rarely be extorted by any other means than those of corporal punishments. The cruel treatment of the insolvent debtors of the state is attested, and was perhaps mitigated, by a very humane edict of Constantine, who, disclaiming the use of racks and of scourges, allots a spacious and airy prison for the place of their confinement. 190 18 See Cod. Theod. 1. xiii. tit. i. and iv. 180 Zosimus, 1. ii. [c. 38] p. 115. There is probably as much passion and prejudice 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. 190 Cod. Theod. 1. xi. tit. vii. leg. 3. a The emperor Theodosius put an end, by a law, to this disgraceful source of revenue. (Godefroy ad Cod. Theod. xiii. tit. i. c. 1.) But before he deprived himself of it, he made sure of some way of replacing this deficit. A rich patrician, Florentins, indignant at this legalised li centiousness, had made representations on the subject to the emperor. To induce him to tolerate it no longer, he offered his own property, to supply the diminution of the revenue. The emperor had the baseness to accept his offer.-G. Free gifts. These general taxes were imposed and levied by the absolute authority of the monarch; but the occasional offerings of the coronary gold still retained the name and semblance of popular consent. It was an ancient custom that the allies of the republic, who ascribed their safety or deliverance to the success of the Roman arms, and even the cities of Italy, who admired the virtues of their victorious general, adorned the pomp of his triumph by their voluntary gifts of crowns of gold, which, after the ceremony, were consecrated in the temple of Jupiter, to remain a lasting monument of his glory to future ages. The progress of zeal and flattery soon multiplied the number, and increased the size, of these popular donations; and the triumph of Cæsar was enriched with two thousand eight hundred and twenty-two massy crowns, whose weight amounted to twenty thousand four hundred and fourteen pounds of gold. This treasure was immediately melted down by the prudent dictator, who was satisfied that it would be more serviceable to his soldiers than to the gods his example was imitated by his successors; and the custom was introduced of exchanging these splendid ornaments for the more acceptable present of the current gold coin of the empire. 191 The spontaneous offering was at length exacted as the debt of duty; and, instead of being confined to the occasion of a triumph, it was supposed to be granted by the several cities and provinces of the monarchy as often as the emperor condescended to announce his accession, his consulship, the birth of a son, the creation of a Cæsar, a victory over the barbarians, or any other real or imaginary event which graced the annals of his reign. The peculiar free gift of the senate of Rome was fixed by custom at sixteen hundred pounds of gold, or about sixty-four thousand pounds sterling. The oppressed subjects celebrated their own felicity that their sovereign should graciously consent to accept this feeble but voluntary testimony of their loyalty and gratitude,192 Conclusion. A people elated by pride, or soured by discontent, is seldom qualified to form a just estimate of their actual situation. The subjects of Constantine were incapable of discerning the decline of genius and manly virtue, which so far degraded them below the dignity of their ancestors; but they could feel and lament the rage of tyranny, the relaxation of discipline, and the increase of taxes. The impartial historian, who acknowledges the justice of their See Lipsius de Magnitud. Romanâ, 1. ii. c. 9. The Tarragonese Spain presenteu the emperor Claudius with a crown of gold of seven, and Gaul with another of nine, hundred pounds weight. I have followed the rational emendation of Lipsius. 192 Cod. Theod. I. xii. tit. xiii. The senators were supposed to be exempt from the Aurum Coronarium; but the Auri Oblatio, which was required at their hands, was precisely of the same nature. complaints, will observe some favourable circumstances which tended to alleviate the misery of their condition. The threatening tempest of barbarians, which so soon subverted the foundations of Roman greatness, was still repelled, or suspended, on the frontiers. The arts of luxury and literature were cultivated, and the elegant pleasures of society were enjoyed, by the inhabitants of a considerable portion of the globe. The forms, the pomp, and the expense of the civil administration contributed to restrain the irregular licence of the soldiers, and although the laws were violated by power, or perverted by subtlety, the sage principles of the Roman jurisprudence preserved a sense of order and equity unknown to the despotic governments of the East. The rights of mankind might derive some protection from religion and philosophy; and the name of freedom, which could no longer alarm, might sometimes admonish, the successors of Augustus, that they did not reign over a nation of Slaves or Barbarians, 193 193 The great Theodosius, in his judicious advice to his son (Claudian. in iv. Consulat. Honorii, 214, &c.), distinguishes the station of a Roman prince from that of a Parthian monarch. Virtue was necessary for the one; birth might suffice for the other, |
