Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 1).djvu/177

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of the new census.^[1] Their record showed the amount of the possessions of each landowner; the quality of the land; to what extent it was cultivated or lay waste; in what proportions it was laid out in vineyards and olive-grounds; in woods, pastures, and arable land. The number and magnitude of the farm and residential buildings were carefully noted, and even the geniality of the climate, and the apparent fecundity of the fruit-bearing trees, which were separately counted and disposed in classes, exercised the judgement of the Censitor in furnishing materials for a just estimate as to the value of an estate. Essential also to the cataster, or assessment, was a list of the flocks and herds possessed by the owner.^[2] The particulars supplied by the Censitor passed into the hands of another official named a Peraequator. He divided the district into "heads" of property, each computed to be of the value of 1,000 solidi,^[3] and assigned to each landowner his census, that is, the number of heads for which in future he would be taxed. This assessment was not based on a mere valuation of the property of each person; it was complicated by the principle of Byzantine finance that all land should pay to the Imperial exchequer. It was the duty,

↑ Hyginus, de Limitibus, etc., is our chief source of knowledge as to Roman land-surveying. Permanent maps were engraved on brass plates and copies were made on linen, etc. See Godefroy ad Cod. Theod., XI, xxvii.
↑ Pand., L, xv, 4; Cod. Theod., IX, xlii, 7; Cod., IX, xlix, 7.
↑ From a Syriac MS. in the British Museum, it appears that to every caput or jugum of 1,000 solidi (£560) were reckoned 5 jugera (about 5/8 acre) of vineyard, 20, 40, or 60 of arable land, according to quality, 250 olive trees, 1st cl., and 450 2nd cl.; see Mommsen on this document, Hermes, iii, 1868, p. 429; cf. Nov. Majorian, i. The amount exacted for each head varied with time and place. When Julian was in Gaul (c. 356), the inhabitants were paying 25 solidi (£14) per caput or jugum, which he managed to reduce to 7 solidi (£4); Ammianus, xvi, 5.

[1] Hyginus, de Limitibus, etc., is our chief source of knowledge as to Roman land-surveying. Permanent maps were engraved on brass plates and copies were made on linen, etc. See Godefroy ad Cod. Theod., XI, xxvii.

[2] Pand., L, xv, 4; Cod. Theod., IX, xlii, 7; Cod., IX, xlix, 7.

[3] From a Syriac MS. in the British Museum, it appears that to every caput or jugum of 1,000 solidi (£560) were reckoned 5 jugera (about 5/8 acre) of vineyard, 20, 40, or 60 of arable land, according to quality, 250 olive trees, 1st cl., and 450 2nd cl.; see Mommsen on this document, Hermes, iii, 1868, p. 429; cf. Nov. Majorian, i. The amount exacted for each head varied with time and place. When Julian was in Gaul (c. 356), the inhabitants were paying 25 solidi (£14) per caput or jugum, which he managed to reduce to 7 solidi (£4); Ammianus, xvi, 5.

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