Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/217

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OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

193

CHAP. VI.
_____tieth part of the value of the commodity : and we have a right to suppose that the variation was directed by the unalterable maxims of policy ; that a higher duty was fixed on the articles of luxury than on those of necessity, and that the productions raised or manufactured by the labour of the subjects of the empire, were treated with more indulgence than was shown to the pernicious, or at least the unpopular commerce of Arabia and India^[1]. There is still extant 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^[2]; Parthian and Babylonian leather, cottons, silks, both raw and manufactured, ebony, ivory, and eunuchs^[3]. We may observe, that the use and value of those effeminate slaves gradually rose with the decline of the empire.

The excise.II. The excise, introduced by Augustus after the civil wars, was extremely moderate, but it was general. It seldom exceeded one per cent. ; but it comprehended whatever was sold in the markets or by public auction, from the most considerable purchases of lands and houses, to those minute objects which can only derive a value from their infinite multitude and daily consumption. Such a tax, as it affects the body of the people, has ever been the occasion of clamour and discontent. An emperor well acquainted with the wants and resources of the state, was obliged to declare, by a public edict, that the support of the army depended in a great measure on the produce of the excise^[4].

↑ See Pliny, Hist. Natur. 1. vi. c. 23. 1. xii. c. 18. His observation, that the Indian commodities were sold at Rome at an hundred times their original price, may give us some notion of the produce of the customs, since that original price amounted to more than eight hundred thousand pounds.
↑ The ancients were unacquainted with the art of cutting diamonds.
↑ M. Bouchaud, in his treatise de I'lmpot chez les Romains, has transcribed this catalogue from the Digest, and attempts to illustrate it by a very prolix commentary.
↑ Tacit. Annal. i. 78. Two years afterwards, the reduction of the poor kingdom of Cappadocia gave Tiberius a pretence for diminishing the excise to one half; but the relief was of very short duration.

[1] See Pliny, Hist. Natur. 1. vi. c. 23. 1. xii. c. 18. His observation, that the Indian commodities were sold at Rome at an hundred times their original price, may give us some notion of the produce of the customs, since that original price amounted to more than eight hundred thousand pounds.

[2] The ancients were unacquainted with the art of cutting diamonds.

[3] M. Bouchaud, in his treatise de I'lmpot chez les Romains, has transcribed this catalogue from the Digest, and attempts to illustrate it by a very prolix commentary.

[4] Tacit. Annal. i. 78. Two years afterwards, the reduction of the poor kingdom of Cappadocia gave Tiberius a pretence for diminishing the excise to one half; but the relief was of very short duration.

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