CHAP. XVII .
fession of the finances[1]. Twenty-nine provincial receivers, of whom eighteen were honoured with the title of count, corresponded with the treasurer; and he extended his jurisdiction over the mines from whence the precious metals were extracted, over the mints in which they were converted into the current coin, and over the public treasuries of the most important cities, where they were deposited for the service of the state. The foreign trade of the empire was regulated by this minister; who directed likewise all the linen and woollen manufactures, in which the successive operations of spinning, weaving, and dying were executed, chiefly by women of a servile condition, for the use of the palace and army. Twenty-six of these institutions are enumerated in the west, where the arts had been more recently introduced, and a still larger proportion may be allowed for the industrious provinces of the east[2]. The private treasurer. 5. Besides the public revenue, which an absolute monarch might levy and expend according to his pleasure, the emperors, in the capacity of opulent citizens, possessed a very extensive property, which was administered by the 'count' or treasurer of 'the private estate.' Some part had perhaps been the ancient demesnes of kings and republics; some accessions might be derived from the families which were successively invested with the purple; but the most considerable portion flowed from the impure source of confiscations and forfeitures. The imperial estates were scattered through the provinces, from Mauritania to Britain; but the rich and fertile soil of Cappadocia tempted the monarch to acquire in that country his fairest possessions[3], and either Constantino or his successors embraced the occasion of justifying avarice by religious zeal. They suppressed the rich temple of
- ↑ Cod. Theod. 1. vi. tit. xxx ; Cod. Justinian. 1. xii. tit. xxiv.
- ↑ In the departments of the two counts of the treasury, the eastern part of the Notitia happens to be very defective. It may be observed, that we had a treasury chest in London, and a gyneceum or manufacture at Winchester. But Britain was not thought worthy either of a mint or of an arsenal. Gaul alone possessed three of the former and eight of the latter.
- ↑ Cod. Theod. 1. vi. tit. xxx. leg. 2, and Godefroy ad loc.
