Caput and Colonate: towards a history of late Roman taxation 9780802052896, 0802052894

Citation preview

Caput and Colonate:

PHOENIX JOURNAL OF THE CLASSICAL ASSOCIATION OF CANADA

TOWARDS A HISTORY OF LATE ROMAN TAXATION

RBVUE DE LA SOCIETE CANADIENNE

DES ETUDES CLASSIQUES SUPPLEMBNTARY VOLUME XII TOME SUPPLBMENTAIRE XII

WALTER GOFFART

.^

0^» '^ UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS £*s"--\"^~

) University of Toronto Press 1974 Toronto and Buifalo Printed in Canada ISBN 0-8020-5289-4 LC 73-85096

EX LI^IS UNIVERSiTATIS

NOVIOMAGENSIS .

3 i'1.. 6^

TO VIVIAN AND ANDREA, JOYFUL VOICES OF A DECADE

Contents

ABBREVIATIONS PREFACE

viit iX

INTRODUCTION 3

i Provmcial tribute under the early Empire 6 ii The setting oftaxation in the early fourth century

22

m lugumandcapitatio

31

iv The three meanings ofcaput

41

v From caputto colonate

66

vi Conclusion

91

How was provincial land taxed in the early Empire7

99

The exclusionofthe imperialgovernmentfrom local economies

102

The effect ofiuga. and capita upon the integrity

oflocaleconomies

104

APPENDIX I: THE CENSUS INSCRIPTIONS

113

APPENDIX H: SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES

122

POSTSCRIPT

139

INDEX OF SOURCES

147

SHORT TCTU INDEX OF MODERN AUTHORS

150

GENERAL INDEX AND GLOSSARY

155

ABBREVIATIONS

Pref.ace

CJ Codexjustinianus,ed.P.Krueger,in CorpusIwisCivilis,3 vols. (reprint,

This book was composed in several stages. The first draft ofwhat is now

Berlin, 1954-67), n

CTh Codex Theodosianus,ed. Th. Mommsen (reprint, Berlin, 1962) Dig. Digesta,ed. Th. Mommsen, in Corpus luris Civilis, I FIRA2 FontesiurisRomaniantejustiniani,ed.altera,3 vols. (Florence,1940-3) h.t. hoc titulo, in the title just cited" Nov. Novella {lex), particularly ofjustinian, ed. R. Schoell and W. Kroll, in Corpus luris Civilis, m NAnth, NMaj, NTheod, NValent Novellae of the emperors Anthemius,

chapters n to iv was written in the spring of 1969; chapters i and vi were added in the autumn of 1972. I am still actively engaged in studying late Roman taxes, andtheir impact onthe early Middle Ages, andoffer the present book as a report ofresearch in progress. Three institutions have supported my research: the Institute for Ad-

vanced Study, Princeton, gave me its superb hospitality in 1967-8; the Canada Council a Senior Fellowship in that same year; and the Humanities Research Board, University of Toronto, a grant for clerical assistance. It is

Majorian, Theodosius n, and Valentinianm, in Leges novellae ad Theo-

a pleasureto thankthemfor their generosity.I amalso gratefulto Professor

dosianum pertinentes, edd. Th. Mommsen and P.M. Meyer (reprint, Berlin, 1962) P. papyrus; see Index ofSources

T. D. Barnes, University College, University of Toronto, for his assistance

pr. praefatio,the openinglines ofthe law or legalextractcited

andflawlesslytyped the manuscript. I hope the friendsand colleagueswho have kindly read portions ofthe manuscript at various stages and offered

TLL Thesawus Ungiiae Latinae (Leipzig, 1940- ) In footnotes, an asterisk at the end of a sentence indicates that further dis-

cussion is to befound in Appendix 11(beginning on page 122), andanasterisk immediately following a crossreference to another footnote indicates that the relevant portion of the note may be found in Appendix 11.

The Postscript is indexedin the GeneralIndexand Glossary but not in the Index of Sources or the Short Title Index ofModern Authors.

inreadingGreektexts,aswellasto Mrs. LindaWilding,formersecretaryof the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto, who cheerfully

advice will accept my collective thanks. Publication of this book has been made possible by a grant from the Humanities Research Council of Canada, using funds provided by the

CanadaCouncil, and a grant to the University ofToronto Press from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. W. G.

Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. October 1973

CAPUT AND COLONATE

Introduction

In a footnote to his account of late Roman taxation, Edward Gibbon re-

marked: "The first twenty-eight titles of the eleventh book of the Theo-

dosianCodearefilled with the circumstantialregulations on the important subject of tributes; but they suppose a clearer knowledge of fundamental principles than it is at present in our power to attain. "' New evidence has

sincebeenuncovered;newmethodshavebeenappliedto theanalysisofthe sources;a shelffulofspecialstudieshasaccumulated.2 The subjectneverthelesscontinues to beaselusive asGibbonadmitted it to be. Ourknowledge of 'fundamental principles has made little progress, and our image of late Roman finance is correspondingly vague, especially since repetition has tended to turn assumptions into facts. Several authors have already traced the historiography of late Roman taxation; the story need not again be told. 3 Ifthe knots can be unravelled, it I History ofthe DeclineandFallofthe RomanEmpire,ed. J.B. Bury (London, 1896-1900), n, 191, n. 180.

2 New evidence: many papyri, the Syro-Roman Lawbook, the Brigetio Table, the nine census inscriptions from Asia Minor and the Aegean. The Labour Theory of Value, injected by Rodbertus into the discussion (1864), was long influential in the interpretation

oftheevidence(below,ch.rv, n. 45).A. Deleage,in LaCapitationduBas-Empire(Macon, 1945)1 sought clarity by surveying the regions of the Empire one by one. He realized (p.22)thatoneapproachwasasyetuntried,namelytheanalysisoftheevidenceinchronological order. I endorse the view of P. R. L. Brown, stated in Economic History Review,

2ndser.,20 (1967), 329,"thatthestudyofLateRomansocietybeganinthesixteenthand seventeenth centurieswith the study ofthe Romanlaw codesofTheodosiusn andJustinian, andthat it islikely to endwith them. " On the papyri, which arenot fully taken into account in the present study, see below, ch. in, n. 3. The census inscriptions are surveyed in Appendbc I. In references to the laws, dates followed by the letter s are given in

accordancewiththerevisionsof0. Seeck,RegestenderKaiserundPSpste(Stuttgart, 1919). 3

F. Lot,

L'lmpSt fancier

et

la capitation

personelle

sous

Ie Bas-Empire et

a

t'Spoquefranqi ie,

4

CapU t

AND

INTRODUCTION 5

COLONATB

must be by renewed analysis ofthe sources rather than by a debate with the commentaries that have criss-crossed the same terrain from decade to decade

The fundamental shift in the forms oftax assessment that this investigation reveals will then be shown to have beenparalleled by a changein the legal

since Godefroy and Savigny. 4 In view of this, the present study sets out

status ofpersons, thepassagefrom contractual tenancytotheboundcolonate.

primarily to establish definitions for the main technical terms of late Roman

Finally, the study suggests some directions for rewriting the history oflate

taxation, definitions that will be consistent with all the texts in which they appear. The only methodological novelty introduced into the discussionis thatofkeepingtrackoftime. Existingworksonlateimperialinstitutionsare too often anachronistic in their analyses of legal sources, interpreting early laws in the light oflater ones. 6 The elementary technique ofsetting out the legal evidence in chronological order will be the one applied here.

Roman public finance.

This study begins with an examination of taxation in the earlier

Empire,focusedonthequestionwhethertributumwasa directtax. A second step, also preliminary, will be to reconsider the setting of taxation at the begmning of the fourth century, especially as it is disclosed by the laws granting exemption to various categories ofpersons. Once the air is cleared

of old assumptions, the discussion proceeds to the heart of the problem, namely to define and elucidate the technical terms iugum, capitatio, and caput. Bibliotheque de 1'Ecoledes Hautes-etudes,Scienceshist. et philol. 253 (Paris, 1928), pp. 1-13; Delfage, Capitation, pp. 5-22. Lot brought the historiographical survey up to date in his Nouvelles recherches sur I'impot fancier et la capitation personnelk sous Ie BasEmpire, Bibl. de 1'Ec. des Hautes-etudes 305 (Paris, 1955), pp. 9-24. 4 On Godefroy and Savigny, Lot, ImpStfonder, pp. 3-5; Deleage, Capitation, pp. 6-7. The current state of scholarship on the question is described by Raymond Monier et at.,

Histoire des institutions et desfaits sociaux des origmes a I'aube du Moyen age (Paris, n.d. [l955]). Pp. 276-7: "Lesreformes fiscalesdu Bas-Empire ...presententles plus grandes difficultes pour les historiens modemes qui ne paraissent pas encore etre arrives a un parfait accord."

5 ThemostrecentexamplesareA.H.M.Jones,"Capitatioandlugatio," JournalofRoman Studies, 47 (l95?)> 88-94, whose results are incorporated in Jones's The Later Roman Empire, 284-602: A Social, Economic,and Administrative Survey (Oxford, 1964), hereafter

abbreviated LRE;J. Karayannopoulos, Das Finamwesen desfruhbyzantlnischen Staates, Siidosteuropaische Arbeiten, cd. p. Valjavec, 52 (Munich, 1958), and the same author's

DieTheorieA. Piganiolsiiberdieiugatio-capitatiounddieneuerenAuffassungenuber die Entwicklung der sozialen und finanzwirtschaftlichen Institutionen in Byzanz," Byzantinisch-NeuegriechischeJahrbilcher,19 (1966), 324-49,whereno accountis takenof

the substanceofJones'swork. The latest contribution to this subject is Andre Cerati, Carac&re annonaireet assiettetie I'impStfancier au Bas-Empire (Aix-en-Provence, 1968); reviewedbyA. Chastagnolin Latomus,30(1971),495-501.Cerati's major contribution bears upon the question how long in thefourth century the annonain kind constituted the bulk oftaxation (see below, ch. v, n. 54). His discussionofthe tax baseis somewhatindecisive and more traditional than mine.

PROVINCIALTRIBUTE 7

I

Provincial tribute under

the early Empire A recent author has remarked that "the system devised [under Diocletian] to assess and collect the annona was simplicity itself. "1 Such a view owes moreto modernsummaryaccountsofthe "system"thanto anappreciation ofhow complex taxationalwaysis. Wherever one turns, governments are found to havedeviseda largeand sometimes bewilderingvariety ofmeans by which to raise revenue. Ptolemaic Egypt is a notorious example; the African kingdom of Dahomey in early modern times had a similarly resourceful and inexorable fiscality; and even a state as well run as mid-nineteenth-century Britain drew its revenues from no less than five distinct cate-

gories oftaxes.2 The "singletax," imaginedand advocatedby modern reformers,doesnotappeartohaveeverbeeninstitutedinhistory.Literarymen and administrators sometimes reduce fiscal complexity to simple, straightforwardformulaethatareaccurateenough, but only if theyareunderstood for what they are - not images of underlying simplicity but schematic portrayals ofa situation so complex as often to be beyond our abilities to reconstruct in detail. Even such an ostensibly obvious distinction as that

between "direct" and "indirect" taxes has posed formidable problems of interpretation to the u. s. Supreme Court. 3 In short, taxariqn must be ex-

pectedtQ_be complex. When we encounter simple words relating to it, we are best advised to assume that they denote complex things, whose intri-

caciesshouldnot be forgotten evenifthey cannever beunravelled. As long asschematictextsareunderstoodto embodydrasticSimplifications, there is no harm in utilizing them to gain an impression of early imperialfinance.A usefulpoint ofdepartureisthestatementofTaatusthat Augustus's Breviarium imperii contained anaccount ofthe imperial revenues, tribitta autvectigalia, alongsidethat ofthe imperial expenditures, necessitates qc, largitiones. 4' Portoria and tributa were "the revenues that sustained the Empire."5Ofthese,vectigaliaor portorianeednot detainus; the words refer to a complex oflevies whosenature is comparatively well knownand not subject to dispute. 6 The difficult term is tributa,^ which refersto the^revenues ofthe imperial government fi-om the prpyinces only.

Traditional doctrines on these provincial levies leave one with the impression thatpatchy evidencehasbeenfitted intoaninterpretation inspired by the tax structures of modern states. 7 According to Mommsen, the transition from indirect to direct taxation of the subject population is one of

the organic institutions of the Principate and one of its most profound innovations ... "8 Mommsen's conclusion was based almost entirely upon

the fact that provincial censuses were conducted by imperial officials:9 "If Augustus had, like Caesar, been satisfied to set a fixed tribute upon each community, he would not have needed [to spend] forty years [in conducting

censusesin Gaul]."10 Schwahn'saccount in Pauly-Wissowadoes not assert thatthe tributumoftheearly Empirewas"directtaxation";but theimplicap4 Tacitus Annales 1. 11.4.

5 Jiirf. l3. 50.

6 Fora summaryaccount,F.F. Abbott andA.C.Johnson,MunicipalAdministrationin the Roman Empire (Princeton, 1926), pp. 122-7. The numerous judgments pronounced by the authors, especially on portoria, are inspired by modern economic ideas of dubious relevance. A comprehensive account is given by S.J. de Laet, Portorium: Etude sur

several taxes and schedules.

I'organisationdouanierechezlesRomains,RijksuniversiteitteGent,Werkenuitgegevendoor de Faculteit van de Wijsbegeerte en Letteren, fasc. 10$ (Bruges, 1949), who conjectured that portoria supplied asmuch ashalfofthe imperial revenues in the early Empire (p. 448). 7 This is particularly evident in derivative works; e.g., C.E. Cullen, "The Roman Revenue System, " Washington University Studies, Humanistic Series, 4th. ser., 8 (1920-1), 233, "With the development of the Empire, the centralization peculiar to that form of government tended to establish uniformity m the system of provincial taxes. Not surprisingly, Cullen was unable to discern any substantial change in taxation as between

3 Commentary to u.s. Constitution, art. I, sect. 2, clause 4, in Edw. S. Corwin, cd.,

early and later Empire (p. 237).

The Constitution of the U.S.A.: Analysis and Interpretation, Sznd Congress, 2nd sess., SenateDocument no. 170 (Washington, 1953), pp. 317-20, esp. 319.

9 Cf. ibid., H, 4i6-X7.

i J.L. Teall, The Age of Consfantine: Changeand Continuity in Administration and Economy, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 21 (1967), 33.

2 For Egypt, GabrielArdant, Histoire de I'impot, I, De FAntiquite au xvim siecle (Paris, 1971), pp. 85-106. Dahomey: K. Polanyi, Primitive, Archaic, andModern Economics, ed. G. Dalton (Garden City, N.Y., 1968), pp. 215-25. Britain: Robert Blake, Disraeli (London, 1967), pp. 329-34; these categories, such as excise, were broken down into

8 Th. Mommsen, Romische Staatsrecht(reprint, Graz, 1952), n, part 2, p. 1095. 10 Ibid., a, 1094.

8

CapU t

AND COLONATE

tion that it was is plain: "The main contribution ofthe provinces was the land tax, tributum agri"; moreover, "alongside the land tax, a head tax, tributum capitis,... wasalsolevied in certainprovinces... "n Hetoo attributed great importance to the imperial role in assessment. The two taxes, on land

andon heads, wereraisedin accordance with a censusconducted by imperial

officials;12 this was not all: "The basis for [Augustus's] new ordering [of provincial taxation] was afforded by the general survey {Vermessung} ofthe soil, which finally made possible the preparation ofan adequate cadaster for each individual locality. "13 These conclusions had also been those ofMarquardt:

... the measure by which Augustus laid the basis for a reform of tax conditions thus consisted ofthe introduction ofa provincial census, It differed from the communal census already existing in a part ofthe provinces in that it established the contributive capacity (Leistungsfahigkeit) ofthe whole province divided into great tax districts, and not ofindividual cities, and was carried out by imperial officials for the purpose ofthe tribute levy. 14

PROVINCIALTRIBUTE 9

or change. In Mommsen's view, the scheme discernible under Diocletian is "nothing but the old assessment in its original form extended over the Empire, " while Schwahn stressed the uninterrupted continuity of the two types of tribute on land and on heads. 17 If it were mdeed correct that the Empire, from its beginnings, had directly taxed the provincials, then the only significant novelty attributable to Diocletian in respect to taxes would be the extension, or restoration after many centuries, ofdirect taxation to On closer examination, these doctrines appear to be more firmly asserted than sustained. Marquardt admitted that the evidence on early imperial taxation is sparse. 18 Although the literary sources explicitly refer to the pair tributa and vectigalia, we have no text bearing out the modern contention that the land tax, tributum soli, and the head tax, tributum capitis,

were the most important taxes levied by the imperial government. 19 The government's role in taking censuses was crucial to Mommsen's conclusion that Augustus introduced direct taxation; yet he recognized that there is insufficientproofthattheearlyimperialcensuswascentralizedandperiodic, or that it wasevencentrally organized.20Iftherehadbeena Reichscensus,he said, we would have heard ofit. The lesson he drew, however, was simply

In short, imperial officials gathered personal and property declarations from the provincials, and on the basis ofthe assessment thus compiled the government levied tributa upon the peoples it ruled. A discussion oflate Roman taxation cannot disregard the earlier period because the way the earlier situation is portrayed has considerable relevance to one s conception ofhow matters stood under Diocletianand after. Mar-

quardt, for example, believed that the evidence on earlier taxation is supplemented and clarified by the further development oftax legislation from Diocletian onwards. 15 In other words, he was satisfied to infer earlier conditions

from later evidence. Schwahnexplicitly didsoin hisaccount ofheadtaxes. 16 Another consequence was the approach taken to the question ofcontinuity ll W. Schwahn,art. "Tributum," in Pauly-Wissowa,Real-EncyclopSiSieder classischen Altertumswissenschaft,2. Reihe,vol. 7A (1939), coll. 10, 11.

13 Ibid.,coll. 12-13.Alongthesamelines,A.H.M.Jones,TheGreekCityfrom Alexander to Justinian (Oxford, 1941), pp. 138-9. 13 Schwahn, "Tributum," col. 62.

14 J. Marquardt,Romische Staatsverwaltung,v. (Leipzig,1876),211. I5 Ibid., p. 217.

l6 Schwahn, Tributum, " col. 68, where fourth-century laws are repeatedly cited to

document supposedlyearly imperial conditions.

that the imperial government, unlike that of the Republic, deliberately concealed the vital statistics ofits rule; the data were available to the govern-

ment, but they werenot publicized.21Theargumentis obviously weak;on the other pointsaswell, the discussionis so seriously qualifiedasto put the wholeinterpretationindoubt.Directtaxationleavesmanytraces;thevolume oflate imperiallegislationon tHesubjectbearseloquent witnessto this fact. The sparsity of early imperial evidence is in itselfa reasonto reconsider£< whether the provinces really were directly taxed.

The defects ofCurrent accounts are perhaps epitomizedby the statement that "the two forms oftribute" were the most important taxes levied 17 Mommsen, Staatsrecht, m, 229 n. i; Schwahn, "Tributum, " col. 54. l8 Staatsverwaltung, ll, 217. 19 Trihifta and vectigalia: Tacitus Ann. 1. 11.4, 13. 50; Suetonms Vespasian. 16; S. H. A. Antonin. Pills 7. 8, rationes omnium provinciarum adprime scivit et vectigalium. Modern statements on tributum soli and tributum capitis: Schwahn, as above, n. ll; A. H. M.

Jones,"Capitatio," p. 94; C.E. Stevens,"AgriculturalandRuralLifein the LaterRoman Empire, " in Cambridge Economic History ofEurope, 1, 2nd. cd. by M. M. Postan (Cambridge, 1966), ii3; F. Millar, The Roman Empire and Its Neighbours (London, 1967), p. 92; Ccrati, Carac. annon., p. x. 20 Staatsrecht, n, 1016, cf. n, 417. 21 ftirf., 417.

10

CafU t

AND

COLONATE

PROVINCIAL TRIBUTE II

by the imperial government, and By its corollary that the provincials paid 'land tax" and "head tax" to the emperor. What is at issue here is not whether the provincials paid direct taxes (among others) to some authority or whether the imperial revenues included the proceeds ofsuch taxes Both arebeyond question. But hasthetaxprocess beenaccurately portrayed when only this is said?22Isit correct to state, or evenimply, thatthetaxpayers were directly linked to the imperial government? The indispensable complement thatisoften omittedissomereferenceto therolepflpcal goYernmentasthe intermediarybetweenthetaxpayersandthe emperor. 23 When sufficient attention is paid to the municipalities in the tax process, onecomesto questionwhethertheinterest ofthe imperialgQyernment resided in taxing - that is, in the precise devices by which revenue was raised-or only m the total mmsth^ For example, a benefactor in Tenos established an endowment to pay the tributum capitis of his community. 24 The replacement of a tax by an endowment shows, to begin with,

that the (nfeM (Mm in

qyestion grod^^^^^

that did

indifferent to the replacement oftributum capitis by an endowment. 25Nevertheless, the inscription forces us to qualify and refine our ideas of how the

imperial government looked upon the "two forms oftribute. Instead of defining them as imperial taxes collected from provincials, we are better advised to interpret them as forms of direct assessment that the imperial governmentauthorizedlocalgovernmentsto imposein orderto meetcommunal - not indiYidu^ to Rome.26 The two forms ofdirect assessment weretoo lucrative, andtoo open to abuse, for the imperial government to allow the municipalities a completely free hand with regard to them. 27 Even so, tributum soli and tnbutumcapi tis existed not as taxes that the

imperial government collected but rather as forms of direct taxation by which localities could raise the amounts they owed to the imperial accounts.

Local governments were not simply passive instruments within a general empire-wide tax scheme; they retained a substantial measure of freedom in

thewaystheywentaboutraisingthetotalstheywereresponsiblefor.28The

not

evidence for local and provincial diversity in early imperial taxation is

varyfi-pm year toyear. The effect ofthe benefaction was that the levy on heads in Tenos would cease thenceforth. The imperial authorities had no objection to this - they were not interested in tributum capitis as such - pro-

explained not only by historical circumstances but also by the initiative the

vided the community ofTenos continued to remit the fixed sum that this tax had produced.

Taxation is a historical grocess, subject to changesand fluctuations in forms ofrevenue raisingaswellasin amounts.Thereareobviousrisksin making statements about it that are supposed to be valid for centuries at a time. Thus, it may well be wrong to infer from the Tenos inscription that, at any time in the past, the imperial government would have been equally 22 See the discussion in n. 19*.

23 Incontestingtraditionalaccountsofearlyimperialtaxation,I owemuchto Francesco Grelle, Stipendium vel tributum": L'imposizionefondiaria nelle dottrine giuridiche del II e III secolo, Publicazioni della Facolta giuridica dell'Universita di Napoli 66 (Naples, 1963),

whoseanalysisofthe evidencedownto Diocletianis muchmorethoroughthan mine. Owing to the limited impact of his work up to now (e. g., virtually none on Ccrati, Carac.annon), it is not superfluousto cover some ofthe sameterrain as he, andto insist on the samepoints.

24 Referredto byJones,CreekCity, p. 140withn. 86 (p. 327), alongwiththreemore casesinwhichcommunitiesmadeuptheirquotasoftributefrom sourcesoflocalrevenue other than taxation. Two western instances appear in Grelle, Stipendium, p. 42 n. 47, who commented: I municipes sono obbligati al tribute nei confronti della loro communita, non di Roma."

communities ofthe Empire continued to have in managing even such important affairs as how to discharge their tributary obligations. One arrives at the same conclusions by studying the meaning of

tributum in the best-known literary sources. In Taatus, for example, the 25 Thevariableappearsto bewhetheror not the yield ofthe tax is stable. Onesuspects thatwhena faxis newlyimposed,its yieldremainssomewhatuncertainfor severalyears (e.g., the British situation polemically described in Cassius Dio 62.3.2-3). It would be unwise to allow substitution until one was certain of, or content with, the total that the

tax in question produced. 26 Schwahn's account of taxation in Syria and Judaea ("Tributum, " coll. 44-7) illustrates the undesirability of talking in terms of "land" and "head" taxes while leaving out of account the levies on livestock, businesses, movement of goods, etc. The total revenue

fromtheprovince,inwhichthe imperial government's principal interest resided, depeadedonpersistentcollectionofthem all, andnot only oftheonesthatmayhaveproduced the largest share of the whole.* 27 Hence the judicial opinions of general import in the Digest bearing upon tributum, !, e. g.. Dig. 7. 1.7.2, 7.27. 3, 25. 1. 13, 33. 2.28, 33. 2. 32. 9, 50. l5. 4-2.

28 This is usually seen from the disadvantagepusstandpoint ofcity councils' having to make up the difference between the total owedto the government andthat yielded by taxation (e. g.. Dig. 50. 4. 18. 26; CJ 11. 59. 1). The other side ofthe coin has left virtually no explicit traces. Yet it appears from the silence of the sources that councils were not

strictly regulated in how they went about assessmentandcollection. Werelocal politics expected to restrain abuses in these respects?

12

CapU t

AND

PROVINCIALTRIBUTE 13

COLONATE

wordmostoftenreferstothe"contributions"oftheprovincialstothecentral government, without implying anything about the nature of the taxes by which these contributions were raised. The deliveries ofhorses to the armies ofGermanicus that "exhausted the Gauls" ranked as tributum: so did some-

thing as humble as the ox hides that constituted the sole contribution ofthe

Frisians, and something as complex as the various taxes, regia tributa, paid by the Cappadocians to their king and then to Rome, when Cappadocia becamea province. 29The same generic senseoitributum appears to bemeant in passages noting a grant to certain localities oftemporary relieffrom "con-

tributions to Rome. When the Sardinians were allowed a five-year remissionof asmuchastheypaidto theaerariumortbejiscus," thewordtributum is avoided but would not have been amiss; tributum is what was remitted to

Apamea for five years after an earthquake, and to the Byzantines for five years after the magnitudo onerum they had been made to bear by the imperial authorities during the Thracian and Bosporan wars. 30 Since the provincial procwatores Caesaris were certainly responsible for seeing that the rentals of

imperialdomainsenteredthefiscus,andsincenoprovisionisotherwisemade for classifyingthis sourceofincome, it appearsto followthat tributumin its widest sense embraced domainial returns aswell. 31In any case, tributum was not confined to meaning imperial or state revenue; the term was broad enough to beapplied to thefixedpayments madeto the temple ofJerusalem by theJewsofthe Diaspora.32 Only rarely does Tacitus present us with tributum in a narrower sense. Whenhe does, thereference isto one or more levies upon individuals in

proportion

to

their declared

resources.

At

one

point in

the crisis ofA. D. 69,

Vitellius forced the imperial freedmen to contribute "pro numero mancipiorum ut tributum. "33A law ofNero provided "ne censibus negotiatorum naves adscriberentur tributumque pro Ulis penderent. "34Tacitus regards this procedure asthecharacteristically Roman wayoflevying contributions from 29 Ann. 2. 5, 4. 72, 2. 56.

subjects: the Cietae rebelled against their king, Archelaus of Cappadocia, because"hecompelled them to makedeclarations {deferrecensus)in ourway and to bear tributes. "35 It was presumably this property declaration, on whose basis the state acquired security for tax debts, that rendered tributes "immortal" and occasionedBoudicca's outburst against the Romans who exacted taxes even from the dead. 36 But the narrower sense of tributum is

certainly not meant in all contexts where the word is used. The ox-hides delivered by the Frisians as tributum were not levied pursuant to a census; neither weretheabusivefees[solitae] thatsoldiershadto payannually to their centurions "at trihutum. "87Whenlooked at in somedetail, whatthe Britons

contributed to the imperial government could be classified as frumentum, tributa, and znwncta imperii muma;sa all three could be collectively called tributain a generalcontext or whenseenfrom the seatofgovernment.39 Tributa, then, means "contributions" or, in a more specific sense,

"levies raised on the basisoftaxgayers' declarations. " Canweever infer that the term designates a specific tax?Thepassagessuggesting this interpretation are those where the distinction between "ordinary" and "extraordinary

taxationneedsto bemade.Speciallevies,occasionedperhapsbynearbywars, had as much right to be called tributa as did annually recurring charges;40 contributions "indicted" upon subjects were not guaranteed to be identical every year. 41On the other hand, certain contexts presuppose that provincial revenues were predictably stable. WhenAugustus listed the total oftributa in his Breviarium, or whenthe(rf6Mtoofthe Gauls were reduced by one quarter, or when Vespasian increased and even doubled the tributa upon the provinces, one is forced to posit a category ofordinary revenues that could eitherbeexpectedannuallyor bescaledup or downbya statedpercentage.42 In the one passage of Tacitus where this sort of distinction is explicitly mentioned, the contrast invoked is not between "ordinary and extra-

ordinary" but between "old" charges and "new": " [Tiberius] saw to it that the provinces not betroubled with new burdens (onera} andthat the old ones

30 Ann. 2. 47. 2, 12. 58. 2, 12. 62-3.

31 For direct evidence of this equivalence (rents of imperial saltus in Africa), Grelle, Stipendium, p. 17 with n. 49; to which might be added Dig. 19. 1. 52. 32 Tacitus Hist. 5. 5.2, wheretributaaredistinguishedasfixedfromstipes,"coMributions"

35 Ann. 6. 41. 1 (my emphasis).

or voluntary supplements.

equated to tributa and offi-cia. 39 Agric. 32.9; Hist. 4.26. 1. 40 As in the case of the Byzantines, Ann. 12. 62-3.

33 Hist. 2. 94. 6.

34 Ann. 13.51.2. Attentionshouldbedrawnto theimportantcontrastmadeherebetween assessment and taxes: the inclusion ofships on the census asdistinct from the payment of tribute on the assessment.The same contrast is made in a number ofthe lawsto be con-

sideredlater andis essentialto their interpretation.

36 Hist. 4. 32. 5; Cassius Dio 62. 3.

37 Ann. 4. 72; Hut. 1. 46. 3.

38 Agricola 13. 1, 19.4, cf. 31. 2. Also Hist. 4. 7X. 3-4, where the muniapacis ofthe Gauls are

41 For this verb, whose ring is particularly familiar in the later Bmpire, Hist. 5.25.4, Ann. 2.60.4.

-^ 42 Hirt. 1.46.3; Suet.Vesp. 16.

14

CapU t

AND COLONATE

PROVINCIAL TRIBUTE 15

be levied without greed or cruelty on the part of the magistrates. "43 This provides valuableconfirmation ofthe view that tributum wasnot onetax or

two but rathera. complex of onera, for the complex of charges could be enlarged by the imposition ofnew burdens without even calling the newtax extraordinary. The passage farther suggests that, from the standpoint of the central government, tribute was classed as "ordinary" only in respect to itsannualyield,andnotinrespectto thespecificonerabywhichthetotalwas attained.In otherwords,imperialtributumwas"ordinary"to theextentthat it approximatedthestipendiaoftheRepublic,whichhadconsistedina fixed, annual total per province. 44

Tributum was not a tax. Singular or plural, the word denoted the 'contributions'' of the gro^^ These contributions were suggosed to be grpgqrt^^^ commodities

pr money

-

to

jyhateach^pj -Qyince^. coyld

pay.

45

The

most

equitable and efficient procedure for determining capacity to pay was to count the provincial population and its wealth, that is to say, to hold a census in the Roman sense ofthe word. "Burdens" were assessed on the basis

of these census records, and the total they produced, whether annually or under special circumstances, was the province's "tribute. " When a locality suffered a disaster, such as an earthquake or a plague, the emperor often remitted its contributionsfor a term ofyears;the samemight be doneafter a period when contributions to the Empire had been soheavy as to damage the local economy. What was forgiven in these cases was not simply the "land tax or the "property tax"; we should understand that the governor and procurator were instructed to impose no onus whatever upon the community in question. 46

The conclusion that tributum did not mean a tax does not dispose of the allegation that Augustus instituted "direct" taxation of the provinces. .

-.-43 Ann. 4. 6. 4.

"» 44 Grelle, Stipenditim, p. 17, pointed out that, in Cicero's usage, stipeniiium is the fixed contribution (total) owed by communities, whereas tributum (other than that paid by Roman citizens) isthe levy by which the stipendium wasshared out among the taxpayers. By Livy s time, stipendium and tributum have become interchangeable, suggesting that tributum has acquired the sense of a total.* ,. 45 Schwahn, "Tributum," col. 11.

, 46 Sincetribute to Romewasprimarily a chargeon the collectivity, thereliefofferedto afflicted communities was from the export ofwealth rather than from taxation. Individual

I citizens might well have been "taxed" as heavily as ever - that is, they might have < contributed asmuch to the community as in ordinary years - but what they paid would be applied to local reconstruction instead of the tribute bill.

For example, one annotator ofTacitus tells us that, unlike the vectigalia, which were farmed by companies ofpublicans, "the direct taxes (tributa) were collected by government ofEcials. "47 But taxes were not "direct"

because collected by agents ofthe state rather than by contractors. "Direct" refers rather to the taxpayers; that is what Mommsen had in mind: the taxes

weredirectly assesseduponindividualregistered taxpayers andcollected from them. This contention, however, is not borne out in respect to collection. A

well-known text proves that imperial officials were not involved: "I paid tribute for that field in PudentiIIa's name; Corvinius,the public quaestor, was present and it was paid to him"; the collecting agent was a local magistrate ofthe city ofOea. 48 A passage from the Digest makes the municipal context oftaxation even more explicit: "He who has a field in another city

mustmakedeclaration inthatcitywherethefieldlies, forhemustdischarge thetributumagriintothatcityinwhoseterritoryitisowned. "49A communityoriented process of this kind would have been superfluous if the imperial government had directly taxed individual provincials. What matter if lands

lay in several cities? Provided they were in the same province, the charges upon them could be paid en bloc to a single collecting agency. That, in fact, is what we begin to find happening in the latter part ofthe fourth century. 60 Thecentrality atanearlier dateofthelocalcommunity inregistration aswell as collection is a crucial obstacle to the idea that provincial taxation in the early Empire was "direct. " Obviously the central government hadno intention of dealing face-to-face with individual provincials; that is what local governments were for.

Mommsen rested his case on the evidence relating to Censuses conducted by imperial officials, notably in Gaul. 61 Augustus personally took a census there in 25^. 0. ; Germanicus is seen "occupied in conducting a census ofthe Gauls in A. D. 14 and detaching two legates for the same purpose in A.D. i6; in A.D. 61, the censusper Gallias was conducted by a board ofthree senators. 62 Epigraphy yields a scattering ofother emissaries who engaged in 47 Tacitus, LoebClassicalLibrary, rv, 88 n. I. 48 Apuleius Apologia 101. ... - 49 Dig. 50. 15.4.2.

50 Thecrucialindicatorofthisdevelopment is CTh 11.7.12 (383),whichspecifiesthat thedomusofpotentiores possessores areto paytheirtaxesto theofficiumofthelocalgovernor, whereascanalsareto paythroughthecuriaandlesserpeoplethroughthedefensorcivitatis. CTh 11.22. i, 2 affirms the old rule, but CTh 11.22. 3 (387) permits translatio with the permission of the Praetorian Prefect.

51 Against Mommsen on this point, Grelle, Stipendiiim, pp. 18-19.

.

52 Cassius Dio 53. 22. 5; Tacitus Ann. i. 31, 2. 6, 14. 46.

l6

CapU t

AND

COLONATE

PROVINCIALTRIBUTE 17

census-taking activities, chiefly in the western provinces. 53 The problem is that we have no information about what precisely these imperial commissioners did. We never find them portrayed receiving the declarations of individuals; neither can we conjecture that they were accompanied by large staffs of underlings who would have done so in their place. There were certainly other things for imperial commissioners to do. The compilation of property declarations was a difficult, delicate, and unpopular business; when the Empire wasalready centuries old, Lactantius still looked upon the process

counterto sucha conception.AsAbbottandjohnsonrightly said,"... in the provinces the unit with whichRome dealt wasrather the community than the individual. In accordance with this principle the tribute was ordinarily paid, not by the homo stipendiarius, but by the civitas stipendiaria. The provincial municipality therefore was made responsible for the payment of a

with horror and revulsion. 54 In lands that had been orgarnz^

'Whenthe publicans, who farmed these collections ... wronged you ...

lines, taking a census p^ concept and law of real property. Close supervision was indispensable if actual registry was delegated to local officials, since the latter were bound to be notables in their own communities and the process ofregistry gave them ample occasions to abuse and enhance their positions. Where property declarations were a long-standing habit, governors could routinely handle the complaints and appeals that registry occasioned. There was ample reason, however, to dispatch commissioners ofhigh rank and authority from Rome to supervise censuses in provinces that were alien or new to the ways ofthe city-state and its ideology. 65Sucha view oftheactivity ofthese officials offers a more satisfactory explanation of the comparative rarity and the regional distribution of the evidence than does the contention of direct imperial assessment ofindividualprovincials. Everyone agrees that the onset of the Principate improved the condition ofthe subject populations, since the early emperors put an end to the nefarious activities ofthe companies that hadfarmed the provincial tributes. 56 But did the reform consist ofreplacing the publicans by imperial administrators dealing directly with individual provincials? The evidence goes entirely

Gaius Caesar remitted to you one-third ofwhat you had paid and ... turned over to you the collection ofthe taxes from the cultivators ofthe soil ... "69

certain amount ... 67 Decentralization of taxation into the hands of the

municipalities was the essence ofthe reform. 58Appian makes this clear in his version ofan address by Mark Antony to the assembly ofthe cities ofAsia:

The municipalities hadnever, in fact, beenabsent from the taxation process, for the tax farmers had dealt with them. 60 Administratively, the reform meant simply that the imperial government became its own banker and entrusted the remaining functions of the farming companies to the cities,

alongwiththosetheyhadalwaysexercised. Onemight ventureto addthat no measure wasbetter designed to promote the economic recovery ofplunderedprovincesthantherestorationtotheirinhabitantsoftheresponsibilities, and the profits, oftax assessment and collection. 61

Theutilization oflocal communities astheintermediaries inprovincial taxation was notjust a reform but rather the long-term policy ofthe early Empire. Egypt is the land where its implementation is most conspicuous. There, as almost nowhere else, Rome came into possession of a complex bureaucratic machine for directly levying a multiplicity of taxes upon a populationthathadno municipalorganization.Overa long periodoftime, theimperialgovernmentdeliberatelydismantledthecentralizedorganization of Egypt and replaced it with municipalities of unpaid magistrates and liturgists. 62

53 Marquardt, Staatsverwaltung, u, 208-9. On the anecdote regarding Caligula and the Gallic census lists, below, n. 67.

54 Lactantius De mortibuspersecutorwn23, quoted anddiscussedbelow, ch. iv. 55 The emperor Claudius refers to the census as "novo turn opere et inadsueto Gallis" (FIS. A11, 284-5); and note the reaction of the Cietae (above, n. 35). In attempting to understand the impact ofa census, it is preferable to consider the disagreeable implications of quantification among peoples unaccustomed to thinking in these terms than to dwell upon the bureaucratic fairness of the process. Paying tribute to one's conqueror was a hardship to be collectively borne more or less patiently; but systematic property declarations had the disturbing effect of invading privacy and laying bare the inequalities of fortune within a community. 56 E. g., Jones, Greek City, p. 138.

57 Abbott andjohnson, Munic. Admin., pp. 120-1. 58 Ibid. p. 185. 59 Appian Bella civilia5.4. 60 Abbott andjohnson, Munic. Admin. p. 183; for the well-documented situation in late Republican Sicily, Schwahn, "Tributum, " coll. 19-21.

61 That there were profits as well as responsibilities in these operations should not be overlooked. Profits, honest or corrupt, from municipal contracts are surely what lay behind the mismanagement detected by Pliny in his famous tour of Bithynia (Epist. IO.I7, 37> 39> 110-11), andwhat inter aliamadeit advisablefor the emperorsto institute supervision in the form of curatores*

62 A.H.M. Jones, The Cities of the Eastern Roman Empire, 2nd cd. (Oxford, 1971), pp. 314-42.The motives ofRomevis-a-visEgyptwerecertainlynot altruistic;neverthe-

l8

CapU t

AND

PROVINCIAL TRIBUTE 19

COLONATB

The fiscal motive ofthis policy has had the result in modern times of depriving Rome of any kind of credit for implementing it. Yet the social benefits oflocal administration in the taxprocess should not belightly valued. It meant that, while the amounts ofmoney and goods siphoned away from the locality were dictated from the outside, the allocation of resources within the local economy to meet thesechargesaswell asto ensure communal

well-beingrested with those best situated to act in fall knowledge oflocal conditions, who also lived too close to the humblest members of the

populationto ignoretheir interests. 63Modernauthorshavebeenregrettably blind to this:

The bias ofthe argument is all too obvious.Jones expects us to share his disdain for local amusements, local amenities, investments in magnificence, contentment, and social comfort, and to condemn them as irrational because

unproductive. It is alsotaken for grantedthat laudableplanningmust be on a wider, more grandiose scale, and especially that wealth must beconstantly reinvested in the expansion ofproduction for the all-important purpose of economic growth. Social welfare is envisaged only in these nineteenth- and twentieth-century terms.

The ways ofClassical Antiquity were not our ways, and it has yet to beproved that the formula we havediscoveredsucceedsin every socioeconomic context. Even if it did, we would still be obliged as historians to

The emperors thus made free use ofthe cities as local agents for executing the business ofthe central government. They left to them,

to a greater or a less extent, the assessment and collection ofdirect taxes,the buildingofroads,themanagementoftheimperialpost, the supply of recruits, remounts, and provisions for the army. It was perhaps unfortunate that they did not see their way to trusting the cities with responsibilities ofa more interesting kind ... The result was that the very genuine civic patriotism which flourished under the principate was directed into futile channels, the celebration of games and the erection of vast and unnecessary public buildings, and the healthy spirit of rivalry between the cities found vent in trivial dis-

indulgeandrespectthe politicalthought ofour distantforebearsin order to understandwhattheyweredoing.65Theremaybegovernmental"responsibilities ofa more interesting kind" than those with which the municipalities ofthe Roman Empirewerevested; but the contentment they showedwith Roman rule might incline us to conclude that, to them at least, these were the

onestheyweremostinterestedin. Infact, fromthestandpointofprivateand communal economy, no tasks were more important. The monuments we rightlyregardastheprincipalevidenceofearlyimperialprosperityowetheir existence far more to the role ofthe provincials in public finance than to their ventures into productive enterprise. 66 While they were denied the choice

ofrefusing the demands ofRome, the freedom they had in executing the

putesovertitles andprecedenceor in competitivedisplaysofmagnifi-

emperor s bidding waswideenough to allow them also to remain the masters

cence which were, owing to the heavy expense which they involved, positively harmful. 64

of their economic fate.

less Jones's slighting comments and consistent deprecation of municipalization seem excessive. For a certain corrective, rf. A. N. Sherwin-White, The Roman Citizenship (Oxford, 1939), pp. 218-20. F. Oertel, Die Niedergang der hellenistische Kultur in Aegypten, " Neuejahrbucherfur die klassische Altertum, 50 (1920), 361-81, presented Bgypt

The somewhat paradoxical conclusion these observations lead to is

that,fromthestandpointoftheimperialgovernmentasreceiveroftaxation, thereallydirecttaxeswerethevectigalia,whoseproceedsenteredthetreasury from the companies farming them, whereas the ostensibly direct tributa flowed to the emperors only after having first been processed through the

asbeingat its heightunderthe exploitationofthe Ptolemaicregimeandassinkingto its

assessing and collecting machinery of the communities of the Empire.

doom under the Romans, especially the later ones. This pitflessly economic standpoint leaves wholly out of account the efflorescence of Greek as well as native culture in Egypt that followed upon its municipalization.

Avoidinginappropriateterminology, we might simplyrecognizethat none

63 The assumption is that, in the generally oligarchic condition of local politics, city governmentsweredominatedbythelocalaristocracies.Theywerefreeto continuebeing paternalisticvis-a-vistheir fellow citizens,sincethe emperors hadneither the means nor the inclination to wrest this function from them.

64 Jones, Creek City, pp. 144-5. In a.similarly negativeway,J. Huizinga, Homo liidens: A Study ofthe Play Elementin Culture (London, 1949), pp. 177-8,envisagedmunificence under the Empire as having been mere play, the potlatch spirit as distinct from public

spirit. Suchjudgmentsappearto arisefrom a failureto recognize,or anoutrightdenialof, the economic utility of munificence.

65 For a stimulating introduction to this mentality, see K. Polanyi, "Aristotle Discovers the Economy, in Trade and Markets in the Early Empi res, ed. K. Polanyi et al. (Glencoe, "

111., 1957), pp. 64-94. Cf. M.I. Finley, "Aristotle and Economic Analysis," Past and Present, no. 47 (1970), 3-25. 66 This statement relates to the circumstances leading to municipal construction, and

not to thecompositionofindividualincomes;asa recentauthorhas put it, "from exploitationoflandandtradewealthpoured into the city aristocracies,andfrom them, by the traditionalchannelsofaristocraticmunificence,into thecities" (E.L. Bowie,"Greeksand their Past in the SecondSophistic," PastandPresent, no. 46 [1970], 39).

20

CapU t

AND

COLONATE

ofthe imperialrevenuescamefrom directtaxesin the sensethat weusethe word, namely payments by individuals to agents of the highest level of government on the basis ofassessments compiled by them. In the provinces, imperial agents played an intermittent role in the process ofregistry by which levies were assessed. This role wasunquestionably important, but for political and legal reasons rather than fiscal ones. The interest ofthe emperors expressed itself, not in keeping track of individual fortunes (except perhaps for those ofRoman senators), 67 but in ensuring that the communities operated smoothly asunits ofpublic economy. That wasthe best guarantee ofimperial finance. The alternative of directly taxing individual subjects was not attempt ed until the later Empire, and even then only long after Diocletian.

Naturally, a systemthatallotted suchweightyresponsibilitiesto local governments was not without its problems. The stronger and more respected the communities became, the more the emperors had to heed their pleasthattheywerecontributingasmuchastheywereable,thatanyfurther exactionwouldbetheir ruin. Thereply ofMarcusAureliusto hissoldiers -

PROVINCIAL TRIBUTE 21

did the amounts locally collected for remission to the imperial government compare with those collected for local purposes? Simple questions like these, however important they are for an economic history ofthe Empire, cannot be answered for lack ofstatistical data ofeven the grossest kind. Weare left to debate such constitutional problems as the relationship between the aerariumand thejiscus, or to inquire into administrativedetails such as the origins ofthe res privata. 70 Nevertheless, narrative histories ofthe ageallow

usto concludethattheimageofprovincial taxationprojected bytheDigest, and indeed by the laws until well into the fourth century, faithfully reflects what, in general, the situation had always been. 71 The emperors made demands upon communities and received from them; their direct contact

with the taxpayers was confined to the channels of legal appeal. From the administrative standpoint, the tax policy ofthe early Empire was a chapter ofitsmunicipal policy - theresolve to govern indirectly, to extendandfoster self-governing communities as the agencies ofindirect rule, to frame what-

ever laws were necessary to make the municipalities work, and to render

that a suppleaient to their pay would be bought by the blood oftheir loved ones in the provinces68 - testifies rather to the success of taxpayers' propaganda than to any fact ofexcessive taxation. The emperors' eventual resort

judgments of such a kind as to promote communal cohesion. Modern his-

to debasement ofthe currency as a means ofcovering their expensesillustrates their reluctanceto respondenergeticallyto communities allegingthat they could contribute no more to imperial needs than they had been. Inflationis the expedientgovernmentsresort to when, for whateverreason,

went sour even ata quite early date. Pliny's mission to Bithynia, theappointment of curatores, the laws offering incentives for curial service and pre-

they feel unable to tax. 69 But considerations ofthis kind, while essential to a historyofRomanpublicfinance,areirrelevantto a discussionofhow tribute was exacted from the provinces. What we can know about early imperial taxation is far less than what we must resign ourselves not to know. Did the total of tributa mount or

diminish in the two centuries after Augustus? Did imperial levies tend towardsa stableannualsumpercommunity, usuallypaidin currency?How 67 The one text cited to illustrate that emperors knew the sizeofindividualprovincial fortunes is CassiusDio 59.22.3-4: so as to get some money for dicing while at Lyons, [Caligula] called for the census lists ofthe Gauls and ordered the wealthiest ofthem to be

putto death." Anisolatedanecdoteofthissorthardlyaffordsa securebasisforestablishing the preciserelationship ofthe imperial government to local censuses. 68 Cassius Dio 71. 3. 3 (ed. Boissevain, m, 251-2). 69 These observations are offered as interpretative hypotheses, not as se.rure conclusions.

The fact of monetary debasement is plain, whereas documentation is inadequate to establishupwardanddownwardtrends in imperialtaxation.

torians, while recognizing Rome's commitment to indirect government

through theimperialmunicipalities, havefelt boundto stressthatthesystem scribing appointment to municipal office in the absence of volunteers, and

much else are all taken to document the breakdown ofa system - artificial remedies for a critical disease. 72Yet, asthenext chapter will show, thegovern-

ment's reliance on themunicipalities at the beginning ofthe fourth century was as great as it had ever been. 70 E. g., A. H. M. Jones, The Aerarium and the Fiscus, " in Studies in Roman Government

andLaw(Oxford,1960),pp. 101-14,192-4;H. Nesselhauf,"PatrimoniumandResprivata desromischenKaisers," Historia-Augiista-Colloquium,iff6j (Bonn, 1964),pp. 73-93. 71 In this sense, Grelle, Stipendwm,p. 44.

72 Fora typicalexpressionofthisdoctrine,seeF.OertelinCambridgeAncientHistory,xil (Cambridge, 1939), 258-9. He andmany others have imposed upon ambiguous evidence

a pattern ofinterpretation according towhosetenets anysignofcompulsion andimperial intervention testifiesto municipaldecline.Accordingly,it appearsimportant to discern precisely when the (hypothetical) Golden Age ofthe municipalities ended andthe decline set in.*

THE SETTING OF TAXATION 23

II

The setting of taxation in the early fourth century

tax.3 Thisispossible,but thereisanalternative. Taxsystemsarealsosubject tochange.Byrequestingimmunityfortheirland,theclergymayhavesought no more thanto redefinetheir long-standingprivilegeswithina systemthat was only just reaching the point oftaxing land apart from the person who owned it.

No one in the early decades of the fourth century seemed concerned about a land tax. Their worry was nomination to munera and particularly to the curia oftheir city. Let all doctors and ex-doctors be free and immune from all the

Though more abundant than in the early Empire, the evidence about taxation from Diocletian onwards is scanty enough that no single aspect ofit

munera ofcurials, from the munera ofsenators, comites, andperfectissimi, and from the services (obsequia) that are frequently enjoined upon

is richlydocumentedwithina narrowspaceoftime. Ifthesubjectis broken down into narrow topical compartments, one can hardly avoid utilizing

retired imperial officials; and also from all public payments (praestationes). Let them also not be called to any payment (praestatio) of goldandsilver andhorsesthatmightperchancebeimposeduponthe

lawscovering more thantwo hundred years, with all the risks ofanachronism

aforesaidorders and dignities.4

thatsuchanalysisentails.Analternativeisto castone'snetwidely,to embrace as many as possible of the laws bearing on taxation, even if their ostensible relation to taxesisremote, andto study them in chronological groups. Among

theselaws, a specialplace belongs to exemptionsfrom public burdens. Tax privileges containin themselves the imprint ofthe systemfrom whichthey liberate. Their affirmations and silences are an excellent solvent of the preconceptions that pervade the existing literature.

The earliest law granting Christian clergymen some relief from burdensome civic service bearsthe date 313. Many more laws of the same sort were issued in the years to follow, ofwhich several appear intent upon

completely relieving the clergy of civic concerns.1 On the other hand, nothing is heard until 360 on the question whether taxes on clerical land shouldbepaid.2 Whathadchanged?Theacceptedinterpretationisthatonly then didclergymen go sofarasto aspireto liberationfrom the generalland

This elaborate regulation, which also extended to the sons of doctors,

suggestsfreedomfi-omanykindoftaxation,sincetheimmunityfrompublic praestationesmust surely havesufficedto disposeofanydisembodied"land" tax that might havelurked about. This is borne out in the next year: "We commandthatmedia,grammatici, and other professors ofletters be immune together with the property (res] that they own in their cities, and that they be absolved from civic magistracies (honores). 6 They were so far protected that a heavy fine was decreed against those bringing an abusive lawsuit against them. When the government wished to protect certain persons from public expenses in the early fourth century, it absolved them from civic burdens. Acknowledging a message from Constantine, the proconsul of Africa took note that Caedlian and the clerici acting under him were "liberated from

absolutely every munus by the indulgence ofYour Majesty."6 In his own i CTh 16.2. 1 and 2, on whose date,J. Gaudemet, "La legislation religieuse de Constantin," Revued'histoiredeI'Eglisede France,33 (1947), 27-8; C. Dupont, "Lesprivileges descleressousConstantin," Revued'histoireecclesiastique,62 (1967),731-3.Themostnoteworthy ofthe later lawsare CTh 16.2.7 (330), 8 and 10 (343), and 14 (354). 2 CTh 16.2. 15. The answergiven to the question is that, asidefrom "ea iugaet professionem, quae ad ecclesiam pertinet, " there is no immunity for clerical land. For comment

on this phrase, see GofFart, "From Roman Taxation to Mediaeval Seigneurie: Three Notes, " Spewlum, 46 (1972), l7X n. 31.

letter, preserved by Eusebius, Constantine had said that the derid should be 3 Jones, LRE, p. 118. Gaudemet, "Legis. relig., " pp. 29-30, and Dupont, "Privileges," p. 739, both insisted that Constantine refrained from granting tax exemptions to the clergy. For further discussion, below, n. 8*.

4 CTh 13.3.2 (320).

S CTh 13.3. 1 (321).

6 Anullinus to Constantine, quoted in Augustine Epist. 88, Cf. CTh 16. 2.2 (313s): hi, qui clerici appellantur, ab omnibus omnino muneribus excusentur.

24

Capt it

AND COLONATB

kept once for all entirely exempted £rom all public burdens. "7 That the statement embracedtax exemptioncan scarcely be doubted, sinceno court could enforce collection on public account from anyone covered by such a privilege. 8 In October ofthe same year, clerics were being vexed contrary to their privileges "by some nominations or susceptiones demanded by public custom ; Constantineorderedthat in casesofthis sort the governor should see to it "that another be substituted to him" to perform the duty in question.9

Personalperformance(functio)ofmunerato whichonewasnominated within a civic context, with the possibility of naming a substitute more qualified than oneselfto carry out the task- this isthe language in whichthe laws speak ofcostly public burdens early in the century. Municipal burdens were not additional to taxation. On the contrary, they were the heart of public finance. 10

Muchlater,in400,thegovernment hadoccasiontoissuethefollowing law for Africa: "As we have learned, veterans are in possession of lands obligated to the registers {census) for which they disdain to pay tribute. We therefore order that whoever is found to hold lands entered in the registers should beat once compelled to pay tributes. "11Only the possession oflands 7 Eusebius Hist. Eccl. 10.7.

8 Recallingthe measuresofConstantine,a lawof343 addressed"to the clerics" (CTh l6.2.8) says: luxta sanctionem,quam dudum meruisseperhibemini,et vos et mancipia vestra ... vacatione gaudebitis. " In comment, it should be pointed out that, while some

THE SETTING OF TAXATION 2$

booked in the registersimplicatedtheseveterans with tribute. As veterans, they themselves were taxexempt, aswastheir property, provided it wasnot innexus voluminous censualibus. Where had they obtained such immunity? Though privileges for veterans have a long history, one need go no further back than Constantine. In 325, the land or commercial capital he granted to veterans was declared perpetually immune. 12 The next year, Constantine ordered that no veteran was to be summoned to any civil munus, public work, or payment (conlatio) by local magistrates or imperial vectigales - "let them enjoy perpetual quiet after their labours"; furthermore, the fisc was to be ordered by letter not to disturb veterans ifthey engaged in buying and selling. 13 The mesh of restrictions upon local and imperial officials was woven tightly enough to exclude any taxation of veterans. Again, a law was revoked by which cohortales discharged with exemption (yacatio) of

their property had been called to civil munera and curial obligations. 14 There was no distinct land tax waiting in the wings to trouble the persons thus privileged. Veterans were still tax exempt in 400. What had changed by then wasonly that certain landshad becometax burdenedandveterans werenot entitled to liberatethem from suchcharges. Perhaps the most comprehensive ofConstantine's grants ofprivileges was made in 319 in favour ofthe growing corps otpalatini. After specifying thepersonsin question, hedecreed

that neither they nor their sons and grandsons be called to a city

12.1. 1. Thesweepingexemptiongivenby Constantine to the clergyis recalled by the

council (curia) or to magistrades {honores) or municipal munera ... To all ofthem we grant that they not undergo the duty {cwa} oftax collector or ofthe recruit collectors who are called capitularii, nor the service(obsequium)oftemonariiorprototypiae [againrelatedto recruit-

Syro-RomanLawbook, Legessaeculares 117 (FIRASn, 794).*

ing] ... Therefore, let none ofthe sons ofthe aforesaid or their slaves

juristssaythatvacatiodoesnotextendtomunerapatrimoniorum{Dig.so.f.io. pr. andh.t.6, ii; CJ 10.42), the possibility of their inclusion principali beneficio is clear. Cf. Dig. 50.4-l8.29,whereexceptionismadeforsoldiersandveterans;thisleavesopenthepossibility that other categories or individuals would be excepted, as in CJ 7. 62.7 or CTh

9 CTh16.2.2 (3i3s). Di^. 50.4.3. 15 (Ulpian) documentstheresponsibilityofgovernors to oversee the fairness of local apportionment of burdens. For the terminology of nominatio in a.context oftaxation (exactio annonaria), see CTh 11. 30. 12 (323).

acquired from their personal earnings (peculium castrense) be inserted in declarationsto theregisteror besubstitutedto thenumberofthose

10 Superb illustrations ofthe "liturgical" character oftaxation areprovided byP. Beatty Panop. i (A.D. 298): wheneverthe state neededsomething, the strategus called on the

12 CTh 7.20.3 (325s); cf. h.t.4. Also h.t. 8 (364).

president, senate, or nominators ofthe Panopolitan nome to appoint, or nominate, some person or persons to carry out the task. The nominee, who bore personal responsibility

for the amountsthatwere invariably involved (e. g.,Dig.50.4. 1.11,"The collection of tributes is anonuspatrimonii"), fulfilled a more burdensome function than that of a pass sive agent. In the letter book ofthe strategus, the political process of nomination take-

precedenceoverthe amountsto becollected, whicharestatedonly when a payment is ordered.*

ii CTh 11. 1. 28.

13 CTh7.20.2 (326s).Theviewofjones,LRE,p.635,whichseessoldiersasimmuneonly from "poll tax" (his interpretation ofcaput andcapitatio), isirreconcilable with the scale of exemption laid down in theseprivileges, whoseplain intent is to absolveveterans from all public charges. Their military service had earned them complete vacatio from further

munera - a reasonable outlook for a government that did not pigeonhole "taxes" apart

fromotherformsofpublicservice.Jones,amongothers,wasforcedtothisconclusionby his reading ofcaput in the military privileges discussed below, ch. iv. U CTh 7.4. 1 (326s,).*

26

CapU t

AND

COLONATB

(adcrescentes)or in the place of absentees (defi dentes), provided [the son or slave] is not [already] implicated in the register rolls. They [i. e., the palatini] are liberated from personal as well as bodily munera, regardless of whether they still serve in the palace or have been given the rest they desire. 15 on

the

waiting

list

The personal and political character of the law is striking but altogether in keeping with the other texts discussed. By their personal service to the emperor, palatini performed their civic duties and were correspondingly free from the whole range of duties, performances, and obligations forwhich other citizens were liable and accountable to the registers and the courts, The palarines sons had to be included in the privilege; else they would be called or nominated to burdensomefunctionesfor which their fathers would be financially responsible. Were palatines also free from every sort ofpublic conlatio or praestatio, as doctors and veterans were expressly said to be? The point is open to doubt, but need not be pressed. 16 Even if they were, the privilege they enjoyed liberated them from what, by all appearances, constituted the most onerous part ofbeing a citizen ofthe Roman Empire.

THE SETTING OF TAXATION 27

conlatio "indicted" upon the city by the provincial governor at the command ofthe Praetorian Prefect. By the same expedient of beingabsolved from local burdens, doctors and clergymen were exempted from obligations to the

imperial government andpalatineswereliberatedfor the emperors service. Imperial courts enforced nomination to local munerajust as local officials presented recruits for the imperial army. 18 Taxation had never been an imperial sphere distinct from civic honoresandmunera. Becauseofthe way the imperial government organized its finances during the Principate, its

practices look to us as though they were comparable to those ofmodern states;19 only in examining local communities do we find the traditional financial structure ofthe ancient city, in which public expenditures were met

by a combinationoflocaltaxes,returns from endowmentsandmonopolies, compulsorycontributionsbyunpaidmagistratesand"liturgists," and,incase ofdeficit,voluntarycollectionsamongrichcitizensora giftbyoneofthem.20 The emperorswere familiarwith suchpracticesandknewthem to be satisfactory. They hadnever created a mechanism oftaxassessment andcollection

paralleltothatoftheindividualcommunities.Farfromcurtailingtheactivity of the local res publica, their policy had been to integrate the burdens and

Therespublicaservedby a functionaryin the imperialpalace, or by a

obligations ofthe greater res publica with those ofthe communities.21The

soldier on the frontiers, was identical to the res publica served by the citizen in his city. 17 The artisan detailed with his guild by a city magistrate to clean theaqueducts, or the poor villager impressed by animperial officialto convoy a train ofpack animals over a certain distance, performed as much ofa civic functio as the landowner contributing his considerable share to a public

same structures that had once addressed themselves only to the petite patrie served also to sustaina world empire.

15 CTh 6. 35. 3 (3I9S). 16 This loophole was closed by CTh 11. 16.6 (335): palatines ofConstantinople had to

taxes levied to raise it were largely ill cash, imperial revenues are deceptively reminiscent of the taxation imposed by modem governments. Similarly, the imperial budget was

acknowledge pensitatio and obsequia for their capita seu iuga. This law, in which the word iuga makes its first appearance in the Code (see p. 35), is an early witness to the idea of

so structured that cash inflow and outflow largely exceededthe proportion of charges covered by muneraandvoluntary contributions (especially if onediscountsthe contribu-

a "landtax." The statement of Karayannopoulos, "DieTheoriePiganiols," p. 325, that

tions of the emperors out ofdomainial returns). It is a mistake to regard such a structure

iugum, iitgatio^ caput, and capitatio all appear for the first time in the reign of Diocletian is quite mistaken. Of these technical terms, only capitatio first occurs in a text of Diocletian s reign.

ofpublic financein Antiquity otherwisethan as anomalous and atypical. 20 Abbott andjohnson, pp. 138-51, 84-116 (it is symptomatic that their discussion of honores and munera is widely separated from that of municipal finances);Jones, Greek City, pp. 129-46,241-50;J. Gaudemet,InstitutionsdeI'Antiquite(Paris, 1967),pp. 516-17. 2i E. Kornemann, "DasProblem desUntergangsder antikenWelt," Vergangenheitund Gegenwart,12 (1922), 242-3, sawthe processthoughhetook a dimviewofit; for a later period, and even gloomier, J. van Sickle, Diocletian and the Decline of the Roman Municipalities,"JowrWof Roman Studies,28 (1938), 9-18. Against this traditionalview, F. Grelle, Stipendium,ch. 4, hasshownthat the emperorswere at pains, duringthe third century,to preventmunicipalchargesfrom becomingpassivetaxesbypreservingtothem their characterofanactive"performance"(fmctio). I havebeengreatlyinfluencedby his

17 J. Gaudemet, Civilis dans les textes juridiques du Bas-Empire, Festschrift Hans Lewald(Basel, 1953), pp. 49-51, concededthat civilis cannot be contrastedto publicus as "municipal"to "imperial";althoughthecontextoften showspublicusbeingusedto refer to one or the other, the word itselfrefers indiscriminately to both. A good example ofthe useful ambiguity occurs in CJ 10. 53. 1: "Cum te medicum legionis secundae adiutricis esse dicas, munera civilia, quamdiu rei publicae causa afueris, suscipere non cogeris. " The

public service the doctor performed by beingwith the army was surely as much to his city as to the Empire.

l8 Governor's enforcement ofmunera: Dig. 50. 5. 9; h.t. 3, 15; 50. 2. 1; CJ 7. 62. 7; 10. 32. 10.

Presentation of recruits: Acta Maximiliani I, cd. H. Musurillo, The Acts of the Christian Martyrs (Oxford, 1972), p. 244. ip Abbottandjohnson,Munic. Admin.,pp. 39-54, izo-y.Sinceprovincialtributeandthe

28

Capt it

AND COtONATE

Accordingly, and quite unlike what our experience oftaxation leads us to expect, the key questionin matters of"taxation"waswhetheror not one belongedto the college ofcity councillors (curia) or waseligibleto be nominated to its expensive burdens. Who the taxpayers were was determined not by a list arrived at on objective criteria, but by a local political

processwithwhichtheemperorsinterferedonlyto a limiteddegree.By the turn ofthe fourth century, the key group in this respect - the one whose recruitment had to be sustained by imperial laws - consisted of the city councillors. Neither infamy nor old age excused one from curial burdens; the sons of veterans were wafted into canal ranks unless theyjoined the colours in goodtime; palatineswere excusedfrom nomination;thoughno curial could bea notary, notaries could be called to the city council ifquallfied; ifa curial diedwithout heirsandintestate, hisproperty descended upon the college (ordo}; all councils were empowered to callJews into their ranks;

former lessees ofimperial revenue were eligible for the council; men permitted by imperialprivilegetojoin thearmed forceshadfirst to provethat theywereneithernominatedto thecouncilnoreligiblebybirth;mentrying toavoidcurialobligationsinthecityoftheirbirthbymovingto anothercity were to bear curial burdens in both; even provincial governors were not entitled to grant a curial temporary reliefor permanent liberty from his obligations.22 Curials were tax collectors because they were, in effect, the principaltaxpayers.Thatthiswasthenormal situationbecomesevidentfrom

the laws implying that the circle oftaxpayers was widening. Aurelianhad made the ordines responsible for tributes due by lands whose owners could not be found; Constantine recognized that the curials might not be rich enough (fdonei) for such a burden and permitted them, in case ofneed, to argument and have sought to trace the same pattern into the fourth century, later than Grelle himself(whosework stops beforeDiocletian) believed it to extend. 22 CJ 10.32. 13 (m. 300); CTh 7.22.2 (318); 6. 35. 3 (319); 12. 1.3 (316); 5.2. I (318);

THE SETTING OF TAXATION 29

extendthesphereofresponsibility.23Sinceclericswereexempt,accessto the clergy was denied in 329 not only to curials by birth but also to any persons

'whose wealth was ofsuch size as to be most able to bear public charges {functiones}. "2i The ancient polity did not believe in the equality ofcivic burdens. The rich should contribute much, voluntarily or by compulsion, whilethe poor should not pay at all. It is difficult to say where the line was drawn, but we may be certain that between the category of persons bearing public charges and those in receipt ofcivic charity there stood a substantial number of perfectly solvent citizens whose contribution was limited to indirect

taxes.25 Long before the imperial period, in the bygone days when the politicallife ofthe Greekcitieshadbeenfree, democraticregimeshadexercisedtheir power in sucha way as to penalizethe rich for the benefit ofthe

generality.26The lessonwasnot lost on the oligarchiesthat normally ruled thecitiesofHellenisticandRomantimes.Theyunderstoodthatthecondition oftheir pre-eminence was to continue to rechannel their wealth through the city. Magistracy and "liturgy, honor andmunus, were two sides ofthe same expensive coin. One accumulated riches and otherwise exploited fellow

citizensinthewayofprivatebusiness,butinpublicmattersopen-handedness wastherule.27Farfrom evadingtaxesor tryingto passtheburdendownto 23 CJ ll. 59. 1 (312-37)- One might infer from Dig. 50.4. 18.26 that Aurelian's measure itself represented a.a extension of the burden by comparison with earlier conditions. * 24 CTh 16.2.6 (32gs); cf. CJ 11. 68. 1 (325), and above, n. 8. This drastic limitation is a

good indicator of the different face acquired by clerical immunity in the course of Constantine's reign.*

25 B.g. Dig. 50.5. 1.2 (quoted below, ch. m, n. 20) andCJ 11.55.1 (below, ch. m, n. 19), both of which are indicative of the limited burden of public charges weighing upon ordinary cultivators in the third century. 26 U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorfand B. Niese, Staat und Gesellschafl der Criechen und Romer (Berlin-Leipzig, 1910), pp. 110-11, expressed this in tones of pathos. One cannot help discerning anachronism in the regrets ofjones. Creek City, p. 167, that high taxation

16. 8. 3 (321); 6. 22. I (324); I2. 1. 10 (325), 12 (325), and i (326). The law of 318 {CTh

oftherichwasnot practisedasa deviceforsociallevelling.Thiscomesofnot recognizing

5.2. l) is an exceptionally significant departure from previouslegislation.Diocletianforbadecities to claim the intestate successions ofany citizens veluti expermissu (CJ lo. io. x). In 318, however, a tacit distinctionwas made betweenthe city andits council, and the

that liturgies were a perfectly viable form of taxation. Similarly, F. de Visscher, Les edits

council became the automatic heir in intestacy ofits members. Whereas Diocletian's order

In an earlier age, as illustrated by W. S. Ferguson, Hellenistic Athens (London, 1911),

maintained a clear distinction between imperial property {resJisd) and municipal (res publics), Constantines lawclearedthewayfor assertingimperialcontrol over municipal lands (on the strength, e. g., ofCTh 10.8.3), sincethe property ofthe curials couldnow beregardedasthe permanentmunicipalendowment.Cf. CTh 11.27. 1 (3298),wherethe emperor appearsto be shoulderinga municipaldebt.

PP. 55-9, 99-l°°, democraticregimesregardedcostly magistraciesandliturgies precisely asa tax on the rich andchampionedtheir reinstatement after an oligarchicperiodwhen

d'Aiiguste decouverts a Cyreiie (Louvain, 1940), p. 88, observed that municipal liturgies must not beconfusedwith taxes. Perhapsnot, but taxes are in effect whatthey were.

public functions were financed from tax receipts.*

27 While recognizing and documenting the scale of generosity by the rich, Jones, Greek City, pp. 247-50, had some difficulty in explaining the phenomenon. Cf. Gaude-

30

CapU t

AND COLONATE

lower sociallevels, onegloried in one'sscaleofcontributions andpaidheavily for the privilege of a public memorial. 28 Nothing quite like this has ever

Ill

happened again in the history ofpublic finance; it was one of the traditions

of Antiquity that fell once for all with the end of the Roman Empire. But in300thetraditionwasstillverymuchalive.Thenoveltyoftheagewasonly

lugum and capitatlo

that the bearing of public charges had to a considerable extent been

brought under central control, out of the sphere of local politics and into that of imperial law. met. Institutions, p. 516, Ils [i.e., munera}ftaient rendusnccessairespar 1'insuffisancedcs budgets locaux, mais rcpondaient aussia une certaine conception du 'service public' et des devoirs des plus fortunes dans la cite. " This falls short ofrecognizing that munera were

simply a form oftaxation appropriateto prevalent economicconditions. 28 Naturallytherewasevasion.Ulpianobserves (Dig. 50.5. 1.pr.) that, unlessexcusationes were strictly controlled, non erunt, qui munera necessaria in rebus publicis obeant"; cf. Tertullian Apologeticiim 42. 9, quantum publico pereat et fraude et mendacio vestrarum professionum. The prevalent ethos, however, must be inferred from other evidence,

such as the government's unquestioned presupposition that, when expense rather than labour was involved, fairnessconsisted in having the rich contribute first (C'Th 8. 11.1; ll. 15. 2); see also CTh 13. 10. 1; 11. 16. 3; and h. t. 4, with the characteristic sentence, "ea forma servata, ut primo a potioribus, dein a mediocribus adque infimis quae sunt danda praestentur. " Antiquity had nothing to learn from us about the social blessings of the progressive income tax. This quite recent phenomenon in modern taxation looks, by comparison, like a paltry and grudging step backwards to the spirit ofpublic generosity by the rich built into the whole structure of expensive honores and munera. See also my remarks in American Historical Review, 76 (1971), 425-6.

Among the public charges borne by the financially qualified citizens of the late third century, one of the heaviest was the annual indictio, the levy of

commoditiesimposedbytheemperorsto meetthecostsofthearmyandthe civil service, and other expenditures. The character ofthe indictio as a tax in produce was a function ofthe general economic situation, notably the collapse of the currency, and the government's increasing resort to payment in goods as the means of maintaining its pensioners. As far as the imperial administrators were concerned, the indictio was a direct tax on cities; their

responsibility in imposing the charge ended at the point where municipal authorities were handed the bill for the various commodities they were expected to supply in the current fiscal year. 1 The apportionment, collection, and storage of the goods in question were local responsibilities. What the taxpayer paid was the annona, and this same term was applied to the rations issued at the other end of the circuit to the soldiers and the other collective

or individual recipients ofgovernment salaries.2 Outside Egypt, the processes of local apportionment and collection elude us as long as they continue to be political. 3 We learn about them when I The process is stated in simplifiedform in order to indicatethe division ofduties. In reality, imperialofficialscommunicatedwithmunicipalofficialsin manymorewaysthan by presenting bills; see P. Beatty Panop. i (above, ch. n, n. 10). 2 D. van Berchem, L'annone militaire dans 1'Empire romain au me siecle, " Memoires de la Societe nationak des antifiaires de France, 8th ser., 10 (1937), 117-202; Jones, LRE,

pp. 61, 64-5, 449, 455-9; CreekCity, pp. 143-4.* 3 The outstanding discussion of the papyri bearing on fourth-century taxation is by Dcleage, Capitation, pp. 43-147. See also A. C. Johnson and L.C. West, Byzantine Egypt:

Economic Studies (Princeton, 1949), pp. 230-332; A. Segre, "Studies in Byzantine Economy: lugatw and Capitatio, " Traditio, 3 (1945), IOI-26. The attention accorded here to the papyri is small by comparison with earlier studies. None of the papyri, even the

32

CapU t

AND

COLONATE

the emperors interfered to substitute objective legal forms for variable political ones. Cities had considerable autonomy, but what went on in them was subject to the supervision of the provincial governor. His court enforced civic claims against the persons and property of defaulting citizens, and it entertainedappealsby citizensabusivelytreated by their peersin matters of nomination to civic burdens. In many respects, the freedom oflocal politics wasalreadylimitedby law,andthecloserelationshipofthegovernorto the municipalities ensured that irregularities in municipal life would soon occasion imperial intervention.4

Asmattersstoodatthecloseofthethirdcentury, localapportionment oftheannonahadacquired a novel degree offreedom asa result ofthecollapse of money values. Currency had formerly brought a measure of objectivity to local estimates ofindividual wealth. It isreasonable to suppose that, within a narrow confine, a city council was not disarmed in its assessment processes by the Suctuations of money values, particularly since the council itself assembled the richest men of the community and very precise evaluations were not required.8 All the same, the possibility of error and abuse had notably widened, and if an appeal were lodged with the governor, the suit could be dragged on without solution. What was needed in the absence of

lugum AND capitatio 33

cletian to restore a measure of objectivity to assessment procedures The problem is to determinewhatthey wereandhowthey worked. The iugum is comparatively simple to explain, since we happen to have

a source,ratherlateindatebutreliable,thatadequatelydescribesthescheme: The measure ofthe iugumwasdefinedin the days of Emperor Diocletian andwas made statutory: 5 iugerawhich make loplethra ofvine

were equatedto oneiugum,and20 iugeraofsowedland whichmake 40plethragivethe annonaofoneiugum;220perticaeofold olive trees give the annonaof one iugum, 450 perticae ofmountain [olive trees] give [theannonaof] oneiugum.Thusalsothelandthatisoflessvalue, asinthehills:40iugerawhichmakeSoplethragive [theannonaof] one iugum.Ifmoreovertheywereestimatedorbookedas"thirdcategory," 6o iugeramaking 120plethragive [the annonaof] oneiugum.6 The Syro-Roman Lawbook goes on after this to describe the much more approximate modes ofassessment applied to thinly inhabited mountain and waste lands.

hard currency was an objective means of assessing wealth for purposes of

Asit mayherebeseen,theiugumisa schedulefor transformingproperty declarationsstatedintraditionalmeasures(jjlethraor iugeraofarableand

contributing to the annona.

vines, perticae of olive trees) into shares ofcontribution to the annona} To

At this point the modern debate begins. It is generally understood that iugum and caput were the abstractions introduced in the reign of Dio-

givea hypotheticalexample,LuciusTitiusdeclaresfifteeniugeraoffirst-class arable, twelve iugera of third-class arable, thirteen iugera of vineyard, and fifty-fiveperticaeofold olive trees; by applyingthe schedule, one discovers thatheowesthe annonaofthreeandfour-fifthsiuga.To besure,histaxbill was a variable quantity that depended on the level and form ofthe year's

prefect's edict (below, n. 10), appears to me to have made a decisive contribution to clarifying the problems. It may be more useful to begin by making sense ofthe laws and

only then to return to the minutiae ofthe papyri, whoseinvaluableant's eye view of taxationisoftendifficultto reconcilewiththegeneralitiesofthelaws.Foranexampleof

indictio, as communicated to the local authorities. If it is assumed for the

these difficulties, below, ch. iv, n. 22.*

4 B. g., C] 4. 46. 2, anorder from thepraeses isneeded to sell property for non-payment or

arrears of tax; CJ 11.38. 1, the praeseswill assist a muntu-bearer to recover the unpaid shares of those named to the munus with him; CJ 10. 43. 1, the praeses will not suffer the plaintiff to be burdened unreasonably with public expenses while others are relieved.

6 Leges saeculares 121 (FIRAS n, 795-6). Callu, Polit. monet., pp. 415-16, pushed tbe authority ofthe Lawbook too far in relating to Diocletianthe tax in gold on pastures that it mentions.*

All these date from the reign of Diocletian. *

7 The traditional view is that the iugum was an "area ofcultivable land" that the schedule

5 Ulpian s description ofproperty declarations (Di^. 50. 15. 4; below, ch. w, n. 2) specifies that everything must be evaluated in money. No doubt the inflation made this difficult but G. Mickwitz, CeU undWirtschaft im rSmischen Reiches deswte Jahrhunderts (Helsinki, 1932), has reminded us that persons are perfectly capable of counting in inflated values

of the Lawbook allows one to measure (Ensslin in Cambridge Ancient History, xn, 400; A. Segre, Studies, pp. 106-7; Deleage, Capitation, pp. 157-61). Thus, it would follow

been incapable of translating the elements of declaration into fiscal units that could be

that a vineyard of five iugera, cultivated land oftwenty iugera, or a certain number of olivetrees madeup a iugum" (Abbott andjohnson, Munic. Admin.,p. 130).The temptation to compute a concretesizefor the iugumhasobscuredits natureasa pure unit oftax accountancy.The key phrasein the Lawbookis "give(s) the annonaofone iu^um." Area assuchcontinuedto be expressedin traditionalunits ofmeasure; the late Roman iugum

used for a proportional distribution [of the tax burden]."

was never a survey unit imprinted on land, and no source states that it was.*

whentheneedarises.Callu,Polit.monet.,p.317,musthaveforgottentheroleofmoneyin assessment when he said that, until Diocletian, "the administrative machine seems to have

34

CapU t

AND

COI. ONATB

moment that assessment was based solely on iuga, it then follows that the local council had to break down the government's demand into its constituent parts and divide each ofthem by the city's total ofiuga in order to determine the amount of. annonain each type ofcommodity to be paid that yearperiugum.8 Thefinalresultwasa billpresentedto LuciusTitiusforwhat he owed m respect to histhree andfour-fifths iuga. The bill washispersonal debtto the state, securedby his property.9 Theinventionoftheiugumimplementeda reformaboutwhichweare best informed

by an edict of the prefect of Egypt, Aristius Opt atus (297) We learn from him. that, as matters stood, local assessment was unfair; some taxpayers were undercharged and others overburdened. A measure was

needed that would restore some objectivity to the process. 10Sincethe iugum wasanabstraction, it could beintroduced everywhere in spite ofthediversity ofland measures in the various regions ofthe Empire. The essence ofthe reform wastheinstitution ofascheduleinwhoseterms property declarations, expressed in the ordinary local terms of survey and inventory, could be converted into shares ofassessment. The precise way in which the schedule was calculated could vary aslocal conditions required. 11 8 A usefuldocumentforacquiringanimpressionofthisprocessisP.Oxy.1905,analysed by Deleage, Capitation, pp. 73-4. *

9 His positionwouldappearto havebeenthat ofa debtorto the fisc, whose property was pledged to the statefor hisdebt, with the state having priority in its claim over any other debtor: Dig. 49. 14. 28; h. t.2l; h.t. 47. pr. ; 2. 14. 42; Fragm. de iwejisci 5 {FIRAS n, 628); CJ 4. 9. 1 (294). The idea that property was a pledge for tax debts is clear in CTh 11.9, De distrahendis pignoribus, quae tributorum causa tenentur. " This title was changed in the sixth-century code, CJ 4. 46, "Si propter publicas pensitationes venditio

fuerit celebrata. " Inthefirstcase,thedebtwaspersonalwhileproperty wasonlya pledge; later on, the property was supposedto pay andwas soldwhen it failedto do so. 10 P. Cair. Isidor. I, in A.E.R. Boak and H.C. Youtie, The Archive of Awelius Isidorus (Ann Arbor, 1960), p. 29: "Our most provident Emperors ... having learned that the levies ofthe public taxes were being made capriciously so that some persons were let off lightly while others were overburdened, decided in the interest of their provincials to root out this most evil and ruinous practice and to issue a salutary rule to which the taxes would have to conform.

Thus it is possible for all to know the amount levied on each aroura in accordance with the character of the land, and the amount levied on each head of the rural

population, andthe minimum andmaximum agesofliability, from the imperial edict which has been published and the schedule attached thereto, to which I have prefixed for public display the copies of this edict of mine ... The magistrates and presidents of the councils ofeach city have been ordered to dispatch to eachvillage or place whatsoever a

copy both oftheimperial edicttogether withtheschedule andalsoofthis (edict ofmine) as well ... "*

ll Not surprisingly,thepapyrialwaysspeakofarouras;theonetext relatingthewgum

lugwn AND capitatio 35

Although the Syro-RomanLawbookattributes the invention ofthe iugumto Diocletian's reign, andthere is no reason to reject its testimony, the worddoesnotin factoccurintheCodesuntiltheyear335;"andonehasto wait another generation to find its cognate wgatw in the sense o£professio, a property declaration presumably expressed in iuga. la But the prominence that iugum lacks at the beginning ofits course is more than made up at the other end. Caput and capitatio drop out of the Codes; the Syro-Roman Lawbook is silent about the caput. All the while, the iugum continues to figure prominently in the laws, rightinto thereign ofjustinian. 14The iugum is more than an accountant's invention; it is also one index by which the historian may trace the devolution of tax liability from persons to land. Before turning to this side of the problem, we should consider the more

elusiveterms ostensiblyreferringto "heads"or persons. From its first appearancein the early 2905 to its last in the pages of Salvian, capitatio almost invariably means "tax liability," regardless of whethersuchliabilitywasincurred in respectto one'sperson or one'sland. Capitatio is never to be interpreted as a. tax, much less as a head or poll or capitationtax. 15The earliest datedtext speaksof "thetax liability ofa sold field, " and equates it to "the weight or burden of performance (Junctio)" (293); contemporaneously, we hear of. rustid living outside city walls "who to Bgypt is CTh 7.6. 3 (377). * On the caputin referenceto Egyptianland, below, ch. iv, n. 38. 12 CTh 11. 16.6, discussed above, ch. n, n. 16.

13 CTh 8. ll. I (364). In the more general sense of property, " iugatio appears in CTh 5. 13.2 (341); this acception is akin to professio, used in the sense of "property" in CTh 10. 14. 2 (348s). Both laws, however, rather than referring to concrete property, may illustrate a governmental practice ofselling or giving "deserted" tax liability; translating the purchased or donated assessment into actual property would have to be done subsequently at a lower level of the administrative chain. 14 For some aspects of the later history of the iugum, see From Rom. Taxat. to Med. Seign., "pp. 165-75.*

15 The sole possible exception to this occurs in Dig. 50.4. 18.29 (Arcadius Charisius): Sive autem personalium dumtaxat sive etiam civilium munerum immunitas alicui

concedatur, neque ab annonanequeab angariisnequea veredo nequeab hospiterecipiendo neque a nave neque capitatione, exceptis militibus et veteranis, excusari possunt." One might argue that, since this list consists of specific burdens (or "taxes"), capitatio

must refer to a head tax. Cf. Dig. 50.4. 18. 8, "exactores pecuniae pro capitibus" (discussed below, ch. ry, n. 11). On the other hand, the word oddly appears at the end of the passage without a preposition, hence may be an interpolation; besides, the rationale of the passage is that the taxes in question are miwera patrimoniorum. Cerati, Carac. annon.,

pp. 62-3, wastroubled by the extract andraisedthe possibility of a hay levy {capitus} without liking it. The passageis difficult to build upon.*

36

CapU t

AND

COLONATB

lugumANDcapitatio 37

have declared their tax liability and pay a corresponding tax-m-kind" {ca.290). 16Capitatio makesitslastappearanceintheCodesin430. " Not long afterwards, Salvian writes vehemently of the miseries of small farmers in

clearly implicating landed property make it self-evident that a restrictive interpretation ofthewordisinappropriate. 21Whenqualificationwasneeded, the legislator supplied it, as in census humanae capitationis, "the register of

Gaul: they lose ownership (possessio) of their fields but do not lose the tax

human tax liability, " or capitatio humana atque animaUum, "tax liability in

liabilityofthefields.In theflowofhissentences,capitatiojostles otherterms that he regards as its synonyms: rerum tributa, vectigalia, agrorum munia.ls Nothingcouldmore clearly indicatethat, in hisview, capitatiois not a head

respect to human beings and animals. "22 Otherwise, capitatio remains a general word that tells us nothing about the element in respect to which

tax."

laws relating to capitatio plebeia and to those where capitatio appears alongside

Most of the twenty-odd laws in which capitatio appears after 293 may be disposed ofwithout commentary. In some ofthem, one might be tempted to translate capitatio as "head tax" or as "tax liability in respect to heads";20 but the many other uses of the term in an unquali£ed sense and

iugatio, or some such word.

16 CJ 4. 49. 9 (293): Si minor a venditore ... dicebatur capitatio praediivenditi et maior inventa sit ... Sin vero huiusmodi onus et gravamen functionis cognovisset ... " Jones, Capitatio" p. 91, stated that this lawmay refer only to the poll tax ofpersons registered

ontheestate.Theinterpretationisunconvincingm thefaceoftheplainimplicationthat praediahadcapitatio(seealsobelow,n. 36).Thereislittle basisatthisdateforspeakingof persons registered on the estate (below, ch. v, n. 14). Karayannopoulos, "DieTheorie Piganiols, p. 326 with n. 6, claimed that whenever caput and capitatio refer to land they

'naturallyhavethesenseoi'wgumandwgatio." Thisisincorrectandmisleading. CJ ll. 55. 1 (290?),cf. CJ9.41.9. Forthetextofthislaw,andits interpretation,below, ch. iv, n. 20. 17 CTh 11. 20. 6. Discussed in ch. iv.

liability was incurred. Close scrutiny should nevertheless be given to the We hear of something called capitatio plebeia from three laws issued

between 343 and 368. Although this compound has often been interpreted as a head tax, perhaps having regional implications, 23 the laws in question do not require that the definition be modified. For twenty-five years or so, legislators choseto specify "thetax liability ofcommoners" whenthat was

the class ofthe population whose taxes were meant. The compound may have been a useful way to distinguish such liability from the glebahs collatio

of senators, the aurum coronarium levied upon curials, the collatio equorum imposed upon honorati, and other impositions upon special groups of the population. 24 The chiefproblem raised by the compound is its implication that commoners hada tax liability oftheir own different from that ofcurials;

it derogates from the widespread modern idea ofa "general land tax" that

18 Degub.Dei5.42-3;"quodpleriquepauperculorumatquemiserorumspoliatiresculis suis et exterminati agellis suis, cum rem amiserint, amissarum tamen rerum tributa

patiuntur; cum possessio ab his recesserit, capitatio non recedit: proprietatibus carent et

vectigalibus obruuntur! ... rebus eorum incubant pervasores et tributa miseri pro pervasoribus solvunt. post mortem patris nati obsequiis iuris sui agellos non habent et agrorum muniis enecantur (cd. P. Pauly, Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Latinortim, vm, 115).

ip The modem equation ofcapitatio with a tax is illustrated by the titles ofseveral books

andbyinnumerablestatements;e.g., M. Bloch, Melangeshistoriques(Paris,1963), I,447; Segre, Studies, p. 101. Diocletian imposed ... two new taxes, the iugatio ... and the

capitatio ; H. Bott, Die Grundzugeder diodetianischeSteuerverfassung (Darmstadt, 1928), pp. 32-7, read twenty-two instances of capitatio as all meaning Grundsteuer. Yet the limitation ofcapitatio (as well as iugatio} to assessment is abundantly clear from the evi-

dence. The sources yield the names ofmany taxes (annona, vestis, awumcormarium, follis senatorius, auri lustralis collatio - to mention only the bestknown) but capitatio isnot oneof

them, except in the questionable extract citedabove, n. 15. Cerati, Carac. annon., p. 428, statedthatcapitatiowasnot "1'impot lui-meme maissonmoded'evaluation, " addingthat almost everyonenowacceptedthis; cf. Deleage,Capitation,p. 255,not "un impot particulier, maisunemethoded evaluationdela fortuneruraleen vue dela repartitionde touteslestaxes..." Thisiscloseto thedefinitionI offer; butDeleageandCeratididnot avoid confusing capitatio with a tax.

20 CJ II.55. I (290?); CTh 13. 10. 2 (313); 5. 17. 1 (332); 8. I.3 (333). Also the laws about plebeiacapitatioto be discussedshortly.

2i CJ 4.49. 9 (293)- CTA 11. 12.2 (362): those who have received immunity ofcapitatia areexemptednotonlyfromwnonabutalsofromothercommoditiesandpaymentstothe largitiones.CTh 1.28.2 (364): senatorsareauthorizedto establishrepresentativesin each province to watch over their collective patrimonia"by also keeping track ofpaid tax liability (depensaequoque capitationisrelevatione}." CTh 5. 13.4 (368): "quidquidmancipiorum vel pecoris adcreverit, capitationis aut canonis augmenta non patiatur" (the increased capital value ofthe estate isnot to result in anincrease in tax liability or fixed payment). CTh 7. 13. 7 (.375)'- let each person, includiag senators, honorati, and canals, as

well asplebei, pay gold in lieu ofrecruits "according to the amount ofhis tax liability (promodocapitatiomssuae}." CTh11.3.5 (391):theacquirerofpropertyisatoncetomake a declaration to this effect to the census so that "tax liability" may betransferred to him.

CTh 7. 5.2 (404): absentees who knowingly attempt to avoid certain charges are fined "fourtimeswhatisdemandedfor [their]tax.liability." CTh11.24.6.6 (415):thechurches ofAlexandria andConstantinople may retain whattheyhave "oncondition that they

bearall thefunctiones ..in accordancewiththedeclarationoftheoldtaxliability(pro antiquaecapitationisprofessione}. " CTh 11. 1. 33 (424):thechurchofThessalonica isexcepted withtheunderstandingthat it isrelievedof"onlythe amountofitstaxliability." 22 CJ ii. 52. 1 (393); CTA 11.20. 6 (430). Special attention is paid to these laws in ch. IV.

23 Forexample,Lot, Impst fancier,pp. 15-16;Jones,"Capitatio," p. 92.* 24 On the levies upon special groups, in general, Karayannopoulos, Finamwesen, pp. 126-38, I4I-7.

38 CapU t

AND

COLONATE

lugum AND capitatw 39

everyone hadto pay. Ashasbeenseen,however, capitatiowasliability, not a tax. There was no contradiction in implying a difference in the liabilities ofcommoners andcurials, fortheliability ofcommoners wasinfactnarrower thanthat ofcurials, whoweresubjectto aurumcoronariumand curialmunera over and above their contributions to the annona, vestis, etc.

The earliest instance ofcapitatio plebeia occurs in the renewal ofa law

of 324 according to which a man who has secured dignities by corrupt solicitation {suffragium) is reiectus in plebem, "thrust back among commoners. 26While the earlier lawdoesnot specifythe consequences ofbeing thus repelled, that of 343 spells them out: the men in question return to being subject to municipal munera, and they are also to bearplebeia capitatio; that is to say, like other propertied men ofthe locality, they areto betaxed

there was a universal land tax, from which exemption was only rarely and reluctantly given. 30 Exemption is altogether plausible when one understands

that tax liabilitywasincurredprimarily by personsandonly secondarilyby land, as the security for individual functio. If, in the eyes of the authorities, the person could not "perform - owing to youth or sex or vocation - then he was exempt. In 331, Constantine had laid down that youths were not

subject to nomination to curial munera or forced to undergo the obsequia

fore useful to add what happened to the tax status ofpersons stripped of

functionum until they entered their eighteenth year. Apparently, "minors to whom public guardianship (tutda) was due" and even children ofseven or eight had been nominated. 31 The obvious reason for nominations of this sort was to get at the property ofminors; public charges tended to devolve from persons to land. But Constantine resisted the process and so, it seems, did Valentinian in the laws of368 and 370. The latter may in fact beregarded as renewals ofthe law of 331, modified to include additional categories and in general to apply to a world in which the circle oflocal taxpayers extended

dignities, "let them also bear the tax liability ofcommoners."

wellbeyondthemembersofthecitycouncil.32It wouldbehastyto conclude

in proportion to their declared resources. 26Dignities did not necessarily free

onefrom taxation, butthey changedone'scategory ofliability. It wasthereThesamereading isapplicable toa lawofjulian: "Itishardly doubtful that prototypiae and collections in respect to capitatio plebeia are munera of law was not to describe the duties ofcurials but to absolve senators from them. Under Julian as before, curials were the chiefcollectors of taxation, their own and that ofthe local non-curials registered on the tax rolls. On this interpretation ofplebeia capitatio, the law in which the term

that the exemption ofwidows, wards, and virgins necessarily withdrew the^ whole oftheir property from contribution to public charges. To the extent that these persons - wards, in particular - required representatives at law, responsibility for functiones would have devolved upon the administrators of their property. 33 Although capitatio means"taxliability"even inthetechnical compound capitatio plebeia, three laws remain to be discussed in which its definition is more restrictive and points towards the most difficult ofthese terms, namely

last occurs prescribes immunity from taxation for widows, wards, and per-

caput.

curials and indeed ofthe lower kind [ofsuchmunera}. Accordingly [these munera] should be withdrawn from senatorial houses. "27 The intent of the

petual virgins. Widows and dedicated virgins are to be "liberated from. the

damage ofthe general tax liability"; male wards are "immune fiomfunctio of that kind until age twenty, and women also, until each one obtains a

husband. "28 The law was reissued two years later, differently worded but identical in substance; the same persons arenot to "acknowledge the exactly plebis, and the immunity ofwards continues "until those years in which they do not require guardians or caretakers. "29The tax exemption ofthese persons is subject to doubt only on the assumption that, since Diocletian, 25 CTh6.22.1. Onthislawanditsrenewal,seemycommentin ClassicalPhilobgy,65 (l97°), 146 with n. 9.

26 CTh12.1.36.Lot,ImpStfancier,p.71,understoodthislawto applyto curialswhohad

acquireddignities;butthetextneithersaysnorimpliesthis.Beinga curialwasnota prerequisite for benefiting from suffragwm.

27 CTh 11.23. 2 (362).

28 CTh 13. 10.4 (368).

29 CT/I 13. 10.6 (370).

The public enemy and ours gave various persons immunity by cancelling the capitationes and declarations (frofessiones) ofiuga. We therefore order that these privileges be altogether cancelled for everyone. When the beginning ofthe year is announced by the inauguration of specified consuls, the requirement (necessitas) of a contribution ... is kept from the humble (tenuiores), lest indeed an assessment should

be made in proportion to capitatio or iugatio and everyone should be 30 As maintained by A. Piganiol, L'impot fancier des clarissimes et des curiales au Bas-Empire romain, Ecole frangaise de Rome, M'elanges d'archeohgie et d'histoire, 37 (1907), I25-36. 31 CTh 12. 1. 19. 32 Cf. above, pp. 28-9.

33 Cf. CJ11.62.2 (32l), onthepersonalresponsibilityofthetutor velcuratorto acquitthe charges on the imperial lands leased to their wards.

40

CapU tAND

COIONATB

squeezed as though by a legitimate [i. e., obligatory] munus...

IV

Everyone who is to supply annonarian commodities in proportion with his capitatio and sortes [is to pay them in three instalments]. 34 In these contexts, capitatio ceases to mean "tax liability (however incurred)" because set alongside the words professio, iugatio, and sortes, which specifically designate tax liability incurred in respect to landed property. 36 One might interpret capitatio as "the tax liability of heads {capita), " but that is

The three meanings of caput

clearly incorrect: sincethe law of340 speaks of capitationes (et professiones) wgorum,thewordcapitatiomustrefernotto "heads"somuchasto a form of assessment that may embrace landed property but is different from a profession A more succinct way to say the same thing would have been to

Caput is the most difficult of the technical terms of late Roman taxation.

use the common phrase capita seu wga, iuga vel capita: "by cancelling the

None other hasaroused greater inventiveness on the part of modern commentators or occasioned them greater distress. We have nothing on the

capita or iuga,

caputcomparable to the schedule for the wgum. Moreover, the texts in whicll

in proportion with capita or i'(^a. " The general definition of

capitatio as "tax liability" is secure. 37It remains to discover what caput meant

and,inthelight ofit, to establishhowcapitatiocouldhavetheall-embracing sense in which we see it used from 293 to Salvian. 34 CTh II.I2. I (340); 8. 11. 1(364); 11. 1. 15(367). Inaddition, CrA 11.7. 11(365) orders thecomesreriimprivatarum to"admonishtheaccountants andprocurators [oftheresprivata] that they should strive to exceed one another in zeal to pay up whatever is demanded pro iugationevel capitatione," i.e., in respectto securedandunsecuredsharesofassessment (== iuga vel capita). Cf. n. 36.

35 C&ati, Carac. annon., pp. 437-8, 441-4, was very troubled by sortes and ofFered a

complicated explanation, which seems superfluous. As he noted (p. 438), the emperor Julianusedtheliteraryterm kleroi (i.e., sortes) in orderto referto iuga;sodidthedrafter ofthislaw.Cf.Cerati'sownobservations(p. 3)ontheproblemoflanguageintheCodes. 36 In discussingthe law of340,Jones, "Capitatlo," p. 92, assertedthat it cannot mean thecapitaoftheiuga"sinceiugacouldnotbeassessedincapita;thelinemustthereforebe read cutting down the assessmentsof capitaand the declarations (ofland) for landed property. " His presupposition is disproved by the law of 293, above, n. 16. Since iuga

the term appearsdiffer widely in dateand in context. The difficulty is real because the evidence is intractable.

It will be argued in the pages to follow that caput in a context of taxation had three different but compatible meanings, and that the texts documenting the term may be satisfactorily interpreted by distinguishing which senseofcaput is used in each. First, caputwasan individual "heading" in the tax registers, consisting ofthe name ofa declarant and his declaration of taxable property. It was chiefly in this accept ion that caput was the root of capitatio, tax liability. Secondly, caput was an "unsecured share ofassessment, equivalent to the iugum in its contribution to taxation but different from it inasmuch as the iugum was a "secured share of assessment. " The caputin this sensewasthe "heading" ofsomeone who had sufficient resources to be a contributor to taxation to the amount of one or more assessment

couldbeprofessionesofcapita.TheoutstandingexampleoccursintheAutunPanegyric,

shares, but who did not own enough real property to be worth assessing through a detailed professio converted into iuga. Third, and most elusively,

to be discussedshortly. *

the caputwas a "human or animal component in the formula ofassessment,"

37 C&ati,Carac.annon.,p. 431,concludedthatthetextsjust discussed"semble[nt] bieu

as specified by a schedule (of which no example has survived) detailing

werenot landbut "sharesofassessment," therecould becapitationesofiugajustasthere

infirmer1 extensiondutermeuniquecapitatiocommerecouvranta lafoisladetermination des capita

et

des iuga.

"

Rather, they prove that mpi'torio could be used narrowly

as well

as,

more commonly, in a broadersense.The difficulty, ifany, isto showthat capitatiocan referto landedassessmentin iuga;oncethisisdone,theconclusioneasilyfollowsthatthe wordhasa restrictedsensereferringmorespecificallytoassessmentincapita.Theobserva-

tionofGrelle(abovech.n,n.21)thatthethird-centurygovernmentpreferredtoenvisage taxationasactivefunctio,ratherthanpassivepraestatio,helpsto explainwhythepersonal term capitatio was chosen as the widest expression of "tax liability."

variations by age, sex, and category of livestock. Even if citizens' headswere

not taxed, a schedule ofthis sort was an indispensablecomplement to the schedule of iuga, for slaves and animals held a large place in individual fortunes. A governmental method for converting wealth into non-monetary sharesofassessmentrequiredthat a scheduleof"animate"property accompany the schedule of "real" property. The three meanings are stated here

42

CapU t

AND COLONATE

THE THREE MEANINGS OF CORUt 43

as hypotheses that the discussion to follow will articulate and support by

with pride in the public records since it was at the same time a pillar of

reference to the texts.

public burdensandthusa directbenefittothecommunity. 6 Thedeclaration

The term caput is not novel to the law of the later Empire; in the concept of capitis deminutio, it had long been current to designate civil capacity, which could be changed as a result of loss of liberty (e. g., by enskvement), losso£civitas (e.g., by deportatio),or alterationoffamilyposition (e.g., by adoption).1 The caput of private law displays a man in motion, changing his relations to his community. By contrast, the caput of late imperial tax law is at rest; it shows us the citizen participating in public charges, as a contributor to civic needs rather than a recipient of civic

on which the rich man s capitatio, "tax liability, was based normally went under the name ofprofessio; it might also have been called his caput, his civic capacity as viewed from the standpoint ofproperty rather than of status at law. The same sense is given by translating caput as "heading, " in the sense ofan entry in the local registers.

bounty. As was noted before, direct financial contribution to one's munici-

pality was above all an obligation ofthe rich. Men of substance had long been entered in the civic registers (census), whose forma, as described by Ulpian, survives in the Digest. 2 This declaration {professio) entailed a very elaboratelistingofproperty:arableland,vines,olivetrees,meadows,woods, fish ponds, landing stages, and salt pans, as the case might be, along with slaves, their ages, and their special skills. The extract includes a much-discussed sentence. If anyone should not have declared a house-tenant or

tenant-farmer, he is held [personally] responsible to the registers (St quis inquilinum vel colonum non fuerit professus, vinculis censualibus tenetur}. " In other words, the owner may addto his declaration the statement that so-and-

so, histenant, is responsible for answering to public charges in respect to the property in question;3 if the declarant has chosen not to do so, then the responsibility falls directly on him.4

Such a declaration of property is what appeared in the tax rolls opposite the name ofa man ofsubstance. One's wealth could be advertised I W. Buckland, A Text-book of Roman Law, 2nd cd. (Cambridge, 1932), pp. 134-41. Naturally, caput could mean many other things; see TLL s.v. I draw attention to capitis deminutiobecausethe tax caputappearsto havea genuineanalogyto caputin that other

The secondmeaningofcaput- the onemost frequently encountered in the laws - was merely a modification ofthe first. In this acception, caput wasalsoa "heading but onewhoseliability to taxation wasprecisely defined; the term served to designate the tax-paying, or burden-bearing, capacity ofa citizen who had not made a detailed professio. Within the forms of the indictio and its collection, a taxpayer who had made a declaration supplied the annona commensurate with his property. 6 As we saw in the hypothetical caseofLucius Titius, the amount of liability to paying annonawas established

by applying to the declaration a conversion schedule laid down by the government, as, for example, five iugera of vine give the annona. of one iugum. On the other hand, a person entered in the rolls without detailed professio appeared simply as a caput, and on this basis he owed the same amount of annona as someone who had declared the precise equivalent of one iugum oflanded property. 7 It is wrong to infer that the person entered simply as a caput was without property. 8 The category was worth inventing as a short cut in assessment procedure, to cover the small landowners, richer in the sizeoftheir familiesthanin that oftheir acres, whosesources ofincome

5 The closestthe preservedevidencecomesto suchdeclarations,prominently displayed, are the census inscriptions discussed in Appendix I. Not surprisingly, all the declarations are by men of substance, except in the inscription from Hypaepa. 6 His declared property was also subject to other charges; see CTh 11. 9. 2 (337); ll. 12.2 (362); 13. 5. 14 (371): excusandis videlicet ... in annonario praestatione dumtaxat, ita ut vestes adque equi ceteraeque canonicae species ab indictione eadem non negentur. The

sense.

annonaismentioned here simply becauseit wasthe heaviestchargeandthe typical term

2 Dig. 50. 15.4.

for "tax, " as illustrated inter alia by C] 11. 55. 1, and the Brigetio Table (below, n. 40). 7 The equal tax liability ofcaput and iugum is implicit in the texts mentioning these units as though they were interchangeable {iuga sive, or seu, or vel, or et, capita), of which the earliest dates from 335 (above, ch. n, n. 16). The law explicitly proving the equivalence is CTh 7.6. 3 (377)- Like iuga, capita could be expressed asfractions aswell aswhole numbers. 8 There could be capitationes iugorum alongside professiones of the same (as above, ch. m, n. 36). It is obvious, in any case, that owning property is not synonymous with wealth. The image of a tenant richer in goods than his landlord (at least temporarily) is not alien to literature; see Seneca De beneficiis 7. 5. 2.

3 Cf. CTh 11. 7. 2 (319), which portrays a landowner (as it happens, a decwio) answering to public charges either in person or by the agency of a tenant-farmer (colonus) or a tributarius (presumably a settled barbarian, in line with Frag. Vat. 34; the law applies to Britain).

4 The passage is one of two in the Digest that were long regarded as documenting the existence ofthe bound colonate prior to the fourth century: R. Clausing, The Roman Colonate: The Theories ofIts Origins (N.Y., 1926), p. 279n. 5; A. Segre, "TheByzantine Colonate, Traditio, 5 (1947), loj.*

44

Capl lt

AND

COLONATE

THE THREE MEANINGS

OF

Capt lt 45

- for example, from the profits ofcultivating rented land - were ample to qualifythemascontributorsto thetax-in-kind,but whosepropertywastoo

The censustakers spreadeverywhere, overturning everything: it was an image ofthe tumult ofwar and ofhideous captivity. The fields

insignificant to be worth a detailed survey. The result ofassessment rolls drawn up in this manner was a collection

were measured clod by clod, the vines andtrees were counted, animals

of professiones and capitationes adequately representing the capacity of the "active citizens" ofa district to bear public charges. By applying the conversion scale to the professiones, the authorities discovered how many iuga, with fractions, the substantial landowners were responsible for. By counting the raw capita, they established the number of additional contributors, responsible for one caput or several. (How someone might be assessed at more

of all kinds were registered, the heads (capita) of men were noted down;in eachcity the urbanandrural commonerswere assembled, allthepublicsquareswerefull offamiliesinflocks,everyonewasthere withtheirchildrenandslaves. [Hegoesonto describethecrueltyand arbitrariness of the registry procedure. ] What the ancients had done

by right of war to the vanquished, [Galerius] dared to do against Romans and Roman subjects ... After this, money was paid for heads

(capita), and wageswere given for one's life. 10

thana singlecaputwillbeseena little later. ) Thecapitawerethenaddedto the iuga, and the resultant sum indicated the total ofassessment shares, iuga vel capita, of the district, into which the government's variable demand for

A linefromArcadiusCharisiusintheDigestalmostechoesthefinalsentence:

annona was divided.

"He who receives or collects or issues annona, and collectors ofmoney for

It remains tojustify this reconstruction ofthe scheme by reference to

heads,sustainthecareofa munuspersonale [i.e., supplytheirtimeandtrouble

the evidence. The key texts bearing upon capita fall into two groups. The firstcentresuponthereignofGalerius,andincludestwolaws,a passagefrom

but bear no financial charge]. u

Lactantius, and a Gallic panegyric addressed to Constantine. The second

initiative ofGalerius in this matter, the censusreferredto also extendedto the

group, whichillustratesthecaputasa "heading," consistsofa set ofmilitary privileges. Thesesourcesextendin time from thereign ofDiocletianto that ofConstantine, with the exception oftwo laws ofValens. After they have

westernlandsgovernedbyConstantius,thefatherofConstantine.ThePanegyric pronounced before Constantine in 311 or 312 on behalfofthe city of Autunrefersspecificallyto aneventoffiveyearsbefore,"theseverityofthe new registry (novi censusacerbitas)," whichsome cities ofGaul, like Reims,

been examined and explicated, attention will turn to the remaining evidence about the caput, from around the turn ofthe fifth century, which leads us to the third meaning ofthe term. Contrary to what has often been said, the sources do not ascribe to

Diocletian the institution of large-scale census activities. 9 In the pages of Lactantius, the role ofa merciless registrant oftaxpayers isplayed by Galerius, after Diocletian had retired. The passage glows with indignation:

But whatbecamea public calamityand plungedthe wholeworld in commonmourningwasthecensusimposeduponprovincesandcities. 9 JohnLydusDemagistratibuspopuliRoman!1.4 makesa sweepingstatementto thiseffect but scarcely deserves credit over the silence of Lactantius De mortibus persecutorum 7. Jones, LRE, p. 62, To provide a basisfor thenew assessments [i.e., theonesmentioned in the prefects edict of 297] a series of censuses were held throughout the empire"; Johnson and West, Byzantine Egypt, p. 230, " [Diocletian] called for a complete census of

the land and people of Egypt. The logic ofthese statements is that the schedulespublishedin 297 required newcensuses (Boak andYoutie, Arch. of Am. Isid., pp. 25-6); but

Regardless of what Lactantius might suggest regarding the personal

could sustain with ease but which for Autun had been an economic disaster.

ConstantineacknowledgedthejusticeofAutun'scomplaintbycancellingthe this by no means follows. It sufficed that the new schedules be applied to the existing censuses.*

10 Demart. pers. 23. A tradition existsofreferringthiscensusto thereignofDiocletian. A. Piganiol, L'impot de capitation sous Ie Bas-Empire romain (Chambery, 1916), p. 20, explicitly cited this chapter of Lactantius to document Diocletians supposed activity; so didvan Berchem, "Annonemilit., " p. 191; Bott, Grundzuge,p. 23; andothers. More moderately, }. Moreau (Sources chretiennes 39 [Paris, 1954], p. 333 n. 2) called this a renewal ofDiocletian's census (so also Callu, PoUt. mon'et., p. 322 n. 3). It is plain, however,

that Lactantius, who is indignant at the level and scope of Diocletians indictions (De mart. pers. 7), doesnot ascribeto him the imposition ofa newcensus.Thisstrangeoversight or misinterpretation ofLactantius's testimony may result from a circumstance noted by Moreau, pp. 7 and73, with regardto other parts ofthe tract, namelythat historical tradition was fixed (e. g., on the basisofLydus, n. 9) beforethe De mart. pers was first published (1679) andthat, as a result, its testimony has had a hard time being credited. ll Dig. 50. 4. 18. 8. 1 understand this "headtax" asa short-lived levy upon the urban poor who could not supply commodities- the people subsequentlystruck from the tax rolls (below, nn. 16-17).*

4. 6

Capt lt

AND

COLONATB

recently accumulatedarrearsand grantinga reductioninassessmentofmore thantwenty per cent. 12Therehadevenbeenquestion, Lactantiustells us, of registering the commoners in Rome, and this, together with a plan to shut down the Praetorian camp, had provided the fuel for the successful usurpation ofMaxentius (October 306). 13 When, at the death ofGalerius (311), MaximinusDajatried to seizetheterritory ofLicinius,"heenteredBithynia... and, to the greatjoy ofeveryone, cancelled the census. "14 This is best interpreted to mean that Maximinus cancelled the new assessment and restored the previous one. " A little later, after Licinius recovered his lands, we find

him issuing a law for Lycia-Pamphylia: "Just as is the practice in the provinces [of the diocese] ofOriens, the urban commoners are not held re-

sponsible to the registers on account oftheir tax liability. Inaccordancewith the present command, let them rather be immune,just as the same urban commoners were immune under our lord andrelative Diocletian, the retired

Augustus. 16 The immunity enjoyed by the urban plebs under Diocletian had not been granted by special privilege. Under him, as before, they had simply not been registered and saddled with capitatio. That had been the doing ofGalerius, andnow the statusquo antewasrestored, much as it had been by Maximinus in Bithynia. 17 12 Panegyriques latins, ed. E. Galletier (Paris, 1952), 8(5). 5. 1, 6. 1, lo. s, Il. l, 13. 1; to be

discussedshortly.Thefactthatthenewregistrywasa recentoccurrencefollowsfrom the remission of five years' arrears; they had accumulated ever since the burden for Autun had

sharplyrisen. Presumablythe reduction of capitabrought down the level of assessment to what hadprevailed underthe older registry (cf. below, n. 15). 13 De mart. pers. 26.

THE

THREE MEANINGS

OF

COpUt 47

What had Diocletian done? He made the indictio an annual charge andthusgaveItalythesamestatusasthetributaryprovinces. 18Heinstituted the iugum. 19The term capitatio is first found in his reign, and it is reasonable to suppose that caput in the novel sense in which we have defined it, a form

of rough tax assessment, was also a novelty attributable to his time. The presumptive evidence for it is in a law that has alreadybeenencountered: 'Fromthe rural populationwhich, living outsidethe walls, hasdeclaredits

taxliability andpaysa corresponding tax-in-kind, letnoonebecalledtoany other service; neither ishe to be forced by our financial officerto undertake the service of [escorting] imperial mules or horses."20The law disclosesan attempt to widen the body ofcontributors to expensive public burdens, by including persons from whom such sacrifices had not previously been expected. Members of the plebs rustica were offered an incentive for voluntarily entering themselves on the tax rolls. By doing so, they liberated themselves from arbitrary but not necessarily costly requisitions oftheir time andlabour l8 Aurelius Victor Liber de Caesanbiis 39. 31-32; cf. Lactant. De mart. pers. 7. Eutropius Breviarium9.23,statesvaguelythat,afterputtingdowna usurperinEgypt," [Diocletian] carefully laid down and organized many things that survive to our time" (i. e., the mid36os). The expanded Greek paraphrase ofEutropius [ca. 380) reads: "... he killed some Egyptians and imposed as heavy taxes (phoroi) as possible on the rest. And from this

cause [i.e., therebellion], heimposed thetaxes (eisphora) ofthewholeempire, measuring outthelandandforcing it to beregistered, andallthishasremainedinforceto thepresent day. Inmyview(contraBoakandYoutie, Arch.ofAurel. Isid.,p. 24), theparaphraser's additionswerebasedontheconditionsofhisowntime,withoutindependentinformation about Diocletian's doings. He bears witness to the same tradition later found in more elaborate form in John Lydus.

19 On the evidence ofthe Syro-Roman Lawbook, asabove, p. 33. Cf.John Lydus De

14 ttid. 36. On the date, J. Moreau, Sources chretiennes 39, pp. 398-400.

mag. 1.4, whosereferenceto Diocletian's activities is best understoodto echo a statement

15 Since Moreau, op. cit., p. 399, understood this to mean that Maximinus ended taxation,

such asthat ofthe Lawbook, rather than asevidence for a general census (above, n. 9). Littlewouldbelost ifnewevidenceprovedtheexistenceoftheassessmentwgumearlier

he concludedthat the measurewas "transitory." The principle that the older assessment was the standard of fairness is clearly expressed in CTh 13. 10. 1 (313), andCassiodorus Variae 4. 38. It is one precursor of the medieval idea of the "nouvelle (et mauvaise) coQtume. For another, below, ch. v, n. 11. Segre's interpretation of sustulit census ("Studies, " p. 121) is arbitrary. 16 CTh 13. 10. 2 (313).

17 Moreau, op. d(., p. 399, regarded Licinius as returning to the "errements de Diocletien in restoring the exemption. He overlooked the likelihood (suggested by C] ll. 55-l) that theplebs urbana had never been registered before the census ofGalerius. The

reference isnot to a specificmeasure byDiocletian butto hisreignasa standard ofequitable treatment. On my interpretation, Licinius eliminated the most objectionable feature of

the new census, whereas Maximinus in Bithynia attained roughly the same objective by reinstituting the old registry.

in the third century than Diocletian'sreign.

20 CJll.55.i (above, ch. m,n. l6): "Nequisexrusticanaplebe,quaeextramurosposita capitationem suam detulit et annonam congruam praestat, ad ullum aliud obsequium devocetur neque a ratiooali nostro mularum fiscalium vel equorum ministerium subire cogatur. " W. Seston, Diocletien et la Tetrarchie (Paris, 1946), p. 262, had no basis for

questioning thedateofthislaw. I fully endorsethemanner inwhichthislawwasreadby A.Piganiol, LacapitationdeDiocletien,"Keyue?iu(ori'^»e,176(1935),3-4,againstJones, LRE,p. 64,whoenvisioneda distinctionbetweenheadtaxpaidin money (capitatio)and land tax paid in kind {annona), asdidLot, Impotfancier, p. 15. Note also the readings of Deleage andSeston discussed by P. Lemerle, in Revue deseludes anciennes, 50 (1948), 401 n. I. For the evidenceconfirmingthe distinctionbetweenassessment{capitatio]andtax {annona}, see below, n. 41.

48

CapU t

AND COLONATE

at the hands of local magistrates and imperial officials - the same sort of requisitions to which the plebs urbana was also subject. 21The nature oftaxa-

tion, the annona in common goods readily available in the countryside, rather than a tax in money, is what made possible this widening ofthe base

for civicburdens.Ifrusticichosetojoin thewell-to-dointakingsharesofthe annual indictio, they acquired capita, headings, " of their own in the local register, with corresponding advantages. We remain in the dark, however,

as to whether the headings in question were in the form ofdetailed professiones, requiring land surveys, or ofrough evaluations ofcontributive capacity, capita in the second sense ofthe term. 22

The course of events after Diocletian's retirement is quite clear. Voluntary enrolment encouraged by an incentive was replaced by simple compulsion: everyone wasmustered to the cities for registry and evaluated for contributionsto theannona,up to andincludingtheurbancommoners. 23 Though the measure may not have been enforced everywhere with the same comprehensiveness andseverity asLactantius observed in the dominions ofGalerius, the Panegyric makes it plain that the West also experienced a

THE THREE MEANINGS OF Caput 49

trates could requisition for various munera, but it also struck persons whose economic circumstances were such that they could contribute only money out of their miserable earnings, rather than goods that they actually produced; "post hoc pecuniae pro capitibus pendebantur et merces pro vita dabatur."24 Not surprisingly, the stay ofthe urban commoners on the tax rolls was ofshort duration. Otherwise, however, the great census ofGaIerius had enduring results. In its wake, the local tax lists of the Empire bulged with unprecedented numbers ofindividual contributors to public burdens, enrolled together with professiones or simply as capita. The lists probably attained the widest extent they were destined ever to reach.

Whatever the situation under Diocletian may have been, the Autun Panegyric bears witness that the new census of306had entailed the use ofthe

caputasa distinctivemeans ofassessment,ratherthan only asa referenceto personal headings. In the languageofthe orator, caputis the term for a share of assessment by contributors to the annona^ Gaul was where this

enrolment ofthe city plebs typified the objectionable nature ofthe new cen-

usageofcaput survived longest; we see it still in a poem of459, in which Sidonius asks the emperor to grant him reliefofthree capita. 29 Although the Panegyric contains by farthemost explicit evidence for caputin this sense, its passagesbearing on the form ofassessmentare com-

sus. Not only didtheir inclusioneliminatethe labourpool that local magis-

paratively few. They make it apparent that persons apart from property

largeand, in somecases,excessiveextensionoftax liability. In the East,the

21 I read devocetur as being addressed to municipal magistrates - the normal agents for imposing obsequia - by contrast with the imperial official mentioned next. Moreover, I interpret mularum fiscalium vel equorum ministerium" as escort service on the basis

of laterevidence, CTh 11. 10. 1-2 (369-70), wheretherule isstatedthat city peopleareto be used for this, not peasants dragged from field labour. It makes little difference if it were

understoodinsteadto referto thesupply ofanimals,asangariae.Naturally,the law is expressed in general terms that would haveto be interpreted in practice. * 22 The prefect s edict of 297 (above, ch. m, n. 10) might be pointed to in lieu of CJ ll. 55. 1 to document that Diocletian instituted the caputas well as the iugum.I havenot done so as a result ofthe puzzle presented in this respect by the papyri.* 23 Lactantius specifies (De mart. pers. 23. 7-8) that only beggars were excepted and that

Galerius had these rounded up and drowned. It is apparent that long-standing rules excludedvarious categoriesfrom registryfor taxation;e. g., CTh 7.20.4 (325), "inbecilli et debilescensibusnon dedicantur." Seemy comments onp. 29. At therisk ofanachronism, I am tempted to discernthe samerules in the statement ofGregory ofTours (Historiamm libri 9. 30) that, in a long outdatedcensus, "viduisorfanisqueacdebilibustributi pondusinsiderat";the inspectorsreleasedthepauperesandinfirmiandreplacedthem with those whom iiisticiae condicio made tributaries (cf. Hist. 4.2, "pauperes, quos tuo debes alerehorreo, addressedto a king). It seemsasthoughfull registry ofthe populationhad never been sought; the difference ca. 300 was that the line was drawn at a lower social

level thanin the past,whenthoseregisteredmayhavebeenveryfewby comparisonwith the total population. The question deseryesfurther study.

were an element in establishing the liability ofthe city to taxation. In two parallelsentencestheorator explainsthatthesevereeffectsofthenewcensus uponAutunwerenot dueto unfairnessonanyone'spart: wehavethefields thatwereassessed,andwewereestimatedby thecommonrule oftheGallican census; again, we have the number of men and the quantity of fields thatweredeclared.Ifthereisdoubtaboutthereality ofthesedeclaredmen, it vanishes with the sequel. 27 Constantine, in addition to cancelling five 24 De mart. pers. 23.6.

25 Pan'eg.lat. 8(5). ll. Thepointisbestillustratedbythesentences"septemmiliacapitum remisisti, quintam amplius partem nostromm censuum ... Remissione ista septem milium capitum viginti quinque milibus dedisti vires, dedisti opem, dedisti salutem ... " (the gain

instrengthbytheremainderexceedstheunitslostbyremission).Capitaaretheonlyunits mentionedinthePanegyric.Onthedateandcircumstances,Galletier, Panegyriqueslatins, ll, 77-8. 26 Carmen 13. Cf. Jones, Capitatio, p. standardized shares of assessment. * "

12.

Sidonius's irapM f, however, may

not

refer to

27 Paneg. 8(5). 5. 5, 6. 1, Nec tamen iuste queri poterat, cum et agros qui descripti fuerant

haberemusetGallicanicensuscommuniformulateneremur,quifortunisneminipossumus aequari ... Habemus enim, ut dbd et hominum numerum qui delati sunt et agrorum modum. Theformula census in the first sentence is parallel to hominumnumerum in the

50

Capl lt

AND

COLONATB

THE THREE

years' arrears, hasprovided for future reliefby eliminating 7, 000capitafrom the city's existing total of 32,000 capita. As a result, the orator says, all families are again drawn together by bonds oflove; aged parents, wives, and

adult children are respectively dearer to their offspring, husbands, and parents. 28

Heads of real persons are unquestionably included in these standard-

sizedcapita, but the crucialpoint for an interpretation ofthe passageis that agri are included as well. The capita knocked off by Constantine represent more than one-fifth nostrorum censuum, "ofour (tax) registers, " without the

slightest qualification about a register of "heads" as distinct from one of "fields. " From now on, the indictio for Autun got divided on a basisof25, 000 sharesrather than 32,ooo.29That, in effect, is the most important conclusion to draw from the Panegyric: the capita referred to are a total ofprofessiones

("agrorum modus") and of capitationes ("hommum numerus"), the whole reduced by the application ofa schedule, communisformula Gallicani census, to uniform shares ofcontribution to the annona, collectively called capita rather than wga.w second (in agreementwithCerati, Carac.annon., p. 528,andothers). I understandthisto mean

that the for mula contained

a

schedule, similar

to

the Syrian

one

for the iugum, for

converting "humannumbers" into sharesofassessment. On the other hand, the passage

MEANINGS OF

CafUt 51

Thefinalquestionto askishowthiscensusoperationwascarriedout. The fields present no problem; presumably they were declared by substantial landownersaccordingto the usual form ofprofessio.31The "heads" aresomethingelseagain.Theoratorsuggeststhatwhatmadelifehardinthe hillyAutunnoiswasa figureofcapitaswollenbytheinclusionofagedparents, wives, andadult children. But none ofthesewere, strictly speaking, useless bodiesor evenunqualifiedto haveproperty oftheirown.32Asappearsinthe law of 340 mentioning capitationes iugorum, the caput was not unrelated to property, iuga. The rusticani ofAutun had been reduced to despair by the newcensusbecausethefieldsno longer met thechargesofcultivation;they had to go into debt and labour without return; with the cultores driven to

flight, the fields were deserted and reverted to swamp and brush. All this would beput to rights by the cancellation ofarrearsand the excision of7,000

capita.Thefugitiveswouldreturnto theirpatria,ceaseto hatethesterility of their fields, takeheart, setto work, reopentheir houses,andrenewvowsin the temples. 33

Comingto termswithcaputin thePanegyricrequiresforminganidea ofthe social and economic complexion ofAutun. Should we suppose, for instance, that the modus agrorum was declared by the urban rich whereas the

bare capita represented only the inhabitants of little or no property, who earneda livelihoodas tenants (co/oni) oflandowners? Suchan imageis too

should not be so restrictively construed as to limit descriptio to the fields and theformula census to persons. There is every reason to suppose that persons as well as fields were

"assessed"(descripti), andthat, like the persons,the fieldswere siftedthroughtheformula census. In other words, the assessment (descriptio) was conducted with the help of a formula census that contained a schedule for agri and one for homines (cf. the edict of297, above, ch. ill, n. 10).

31 Note, however, that this form calledfor the declarationofslaves and livestock (i.e. perishable components) as well as real estate. This is borne out by all the evidence: Ulpian(asabove,n. 2); Lactant. Demart.pers.23; theAsianinscriptions(seeAppendbcl); slaves only, CTh 6.35.3; ii.3.2; 7. 1.3 (319-49). Since sheep are counted in the Asiatic

28 Paneg. 8(5). 12. 3, "Certe et nunc liberi parentes suos cariores habentet mariti coniuges non gravate tuentur et parentes adultorum non paenitet filiorum, quorum onera sibi

in view oftheir "labourpower," asstill maintainedby Karayannopoulos,"DieTheorie

remissa laetantur. Ita omnium pietas olim fessa respirat et suos quemque iuvat numerare securum, cum plures acliuvant obsequia paucorum.

inscriptions, it follows that these perishable components were assessed as wealth, and not Piganiols, " p. 325.

29 Jones, LRE, p. 1409 n. 15, insisted against the French commentators that, because onlycapitaarementioned,alongwitha scheduleofpersons,thePanegyricrefersexclusively

32 One might infer from thePanegyricthat these persons were useless burdens to the headoffamily whopaidtaxes,buttheyobviouslywerenot, orneednot be.Theorator's argumentwasspecious- a plausibleandcolourfulwayto express gratitude for a remi»-

to homines. This overlooks the finality with which the orator says quintam amplius

sion of "heads."

partem nostrorum censuum" (ll. l). AlthoughJones, "Capitatio, " p. 90, maintained that separateregisterswerekeptfor iugaandcapita,theevidencedoesnot substantiatethepoint unless deliberately interpreted in this sense. Only if such distinct registers were conclusively documentedcouldone entertain the possibilitythat the censuswhosetotal was

33 Paneg. 8(5). 14. 3, Quam multi ... quos inopia latitare per saltus aut etiam in exilium

reduced by a fifth was restricted to human "heads.

30 The essentiallinks in thisargumentarethelawof340, CTh 11.12. 1, andtheinference (above, n. 27) that theformula censuslaid downconversionsfor land aswell as persons. There was a personal (or perishable) component in the professiones as well as a landed component in the capitatianes:neither categorywas pure. *

ire compulerat, ista remissione reliquorum m lucem exeunt, in patriam revertuntur, desinunt pristinam accusare pauperiem, desinunt odisse agrorum suorum sterilitatein, resumunt animos, open praeparantur, culturam melioribus adnituntur auspiciis, revisunt domos, referunt vota templis. " In short, the orator's main point is that the assessment has been too heavy a charge on the total economy (land as well as people) of the Autunnois. Teall, Age of Constantine, p. 33, was on shaky ground when he related the orators

pathetic image to "the disasters of the third century. " The orator alludes to no other disaster than the novi census acerbitas.

52

CapU t

AND

COLONATB

simplifiedand schematica view ofthe matter. The words ofthe Panegyric cannot be read in this way without being forced.34 Even the easternplebs urbana pitied by Lactantius and liberated from taxation by Licinius should not be regarded as having necessarily been destitute of property. 38 For the imperial and local census officials, the essence of the problem was to assess persons who had resources and contributive capacity but whose property

wasnot preciselysurveyedin themannerofmenfacedwiththeeventuality ofbequeathinga complex estate. Enteringthe tax lists wasan upward step in the social scale; as much is apparent from Diocletian's law about the plebsrustica. What mattered to both the registry ofEcial and the taxpayer was not so much the property in question as the declarant s personal capacity, together with his family, to contribute to the annona. Land and other assets were secondary to this; their role, even in the case ofrich men, was merely to guarantee payment to the state, something to distrain in case ofdefault.

The smaller the property, the more illusory to supposethat anythingcould be obtained from it by instituting a lawsuit for recovery ofdebt. 36

Unless a substantial estate was involved, the caput on the census, contributing annona from whatever income, completely outweighed the

capital worth that this "heading might stand for. Precisely how the caput without professio was estimated cannot be known. Apparently the formula census said something about it, but much was bound to be left for discussion between censitor and declarant. From the sum of house, land, slaves, livestock,

and members of the family, and by reference to the official schedule, a number of shares, capita, could be calculated to define the declarant's

THE THREE

MEANINGS

OP

CapUt 53

The caputasa shareofassessment equivalent to thewgwnisnot quite exhausted by these explanations. In laws oflater date, and some undated Asiatic inscriptions, theterm appears to havea slightly different but analogous meaning. Like the words previously discussed, caput had a future, one that in its case tended towards its being superseded by references to land and dropping out of usage. But before we consider this aspect of the subject, our attention should turn to the group oflaws where the senseofcaput as a heading" in the tax lists is most clearly marked. Among the tax exemptions discussed in chapter n, there were several

lawsofConstantine statingtheprivileges ofveteransinrather generalterms, aswell asa much later text implying that, in400, veterans were still personally exempt from taxation, though limited in the manner in which they could enjoy their privilege. 39Four laws, one ofthem transmitted by aninscription, specify the modalities of this in the reign ofValens.

exempt ion

early in

the fourth century and again

By the terms of the Brigetio Table (311), "our soldiers excuse five

capita from the register {census) and from. the obligatory deliveries {praestationes solemnes} of annonarian payments, and they have the same [capita} immune when, after completing their full term of service, they obtain an honourable discharge. " The soldier honourably discharged after completing twenty years, or discharged for wounds in battle in less than twenty years, excusedtwo capitafrom the titulus annonarius, namely his own and that of his wife. 40Although this inscription should not be considered apart from its

sequelintheCode,itisworthpointing outtheaffinityofitsphraseologywith

capitatio." In landsofintensivesurveying, notablyEgypt or the centuriated parts ofAfrica, the device was superfluous and never struck roots. Elsewhere,

it wasa valuable supplement to existingregistration procedures, subject to over-enthusiasric enforcement by the officials of a harsh emperor but well designed, when applied with moderation, to accommodate a broad extension in the number ofcontributors to taxation.88

text rarely cited in discussions of this subject, namely the letter ofConstantine to Arius

andhisfollowers (333), ed. H.-G. Opitz, Athanasius Werkeni, part I (Berlin-Leipzig, 1934), 74, no- 34; also in Gelasius Kirchenyschichte3. 19.39 and41, ed. G. Loeschckeand

M. Heinemann (Berlin, 1918), pp. 191-2; cf. H. Domes, Die SelktzeugnisKaiserKoristantins,Abbhandl.derAkad.derWiss.zuGottingen,philol.-hist.Klasse,3.p., 34 (1954), lo8.*

39 Above, pp. 24-5. 34 The Panegyric does not even hint at a social differentiation ofthis kind, which modern historians are tempted to inject. 35 Since a portion of them would soon be subjected to taxation in the form of the ami lustralis coHatio, on which Karayannopoulos, Finamwesen, pp. 129-34. 36 Above, p. 34.

40 FIRASI, 457:"ut idemmilitesnostrimilitiaequidemsuaetemporequinquemcapita

37 Fordiscussion between cen^itor anddeclarant, Lactant. Demort. pers.23. 2-4. Onemight assumethat, undera lessruthlessemperor,thecensitoreswouldhavebeenmoresympathetic than Lactantius would have us believe those of Galerius to have been.

excusent, id est tam suum quam etiam uxoris suae; si quis forte ex preli uulnere causarius fueritefFectus,etiamsi intra uigintistipendiaexeacausarerumsuarumuacationemfuerit consecutus, adbeneficiumeiusdem indulgeatiaenostiaepert(i)niat ita, ut suum et uxoris

38 A perfect illustration ofthe caput asan unsecured share ofassessment is supplied by a

suae kaput excuset."

iuxta statutum nostrum ex censu adque a praestationibus sollemnibus annonaiiae

pensitarionis excusent; eademque immunia habeant adque cum completis stipendiis

legitimis honestam missionem idem fuerint consecuti; sedet hii qu(i) licet post uiginti stipendia adeque honestam missionem adepti fuerint, ab anaonario titulo duo kapita

54

CapU t

AND

COIONATE

THE THREE

that of Diocletian's law about the rusticus "who has declared his capitatio and pays a corresponding annona" - the expressed distinction between declaration and payment. 41

Constantines law of 325 contains a somewhat confusing set ofprescriptions,distinguishingfivecategoriesofsoldiersandthreeor fourtypesof discharges; depending on thesevariables, it grants exemptions ofone or two capitafor veterans and, ifapplicable, for their wives. 42The most noteworthy clausesrelate to comitatenses, ripenses, andprotectores on actual service. As in the

Brigedo Table,

their exempt ion is

appreciably larger

than after dis-

charge. Soldiers on active service

MEANINGS OF

CdfUt 55

ofthree ofthese units in addition to his own (one less than in 311), and ifhe

lackedparentsanda wife,or ifanyofthesewerenotcensibusinditi,hemight apply the three exemptions or less to his own slaves and land, whichwere presumably subject to taxation apart from the exemption of the soldierowner.Inthiswayoneattainsa definitionofcaputthatsomehistorianshave balkedat but that hasnevertheless hada remarkable fortune: the contributive

capacity ofan unadornedhuman caput becomes interchangeablewith that ofa iugumofland.48Several considerationsargueagainstsucha reading. The accepted interpretation ofthese military exemptions takes caput to referto a human "head"andequatestheassessmentvalueofthatheadto the value ofa iugum. The great difficulties that this interpretation encounters

excuse the caput ofthemselves, their father, mother, and wife, if they are alive and entered in the registers. Ifthey do not have one or all of these persons, they may excuse as much in respect to their peculium asthey could excusein respect to thesepersons ifthey werenot wanting, provided, however, that they excuse property {facilitates) that is truly their own and not someone else's property (res) by pretended ownership, on the basisofa secretagreement.43 At first sight, the law implies a very different meaning for caput than hasbeen

havehitherto beenoverlooked. To beginwith, it wouldappearthat one of the advantages offered to soldiers on active service wasa personal tax exemption, immunity for his caput. Is this a reasonable inference? That soldiers on

activeduty weretax-exemptfortheir ownpersonalheadsissoself-evident a privilege that no emperor could possibly have regarded himself as doing them a favour by granting it. Soldiers in some modern armies pay income tax, but the idea that a soldier in Antiquity should have paid a head tax goes

countertoeverythingweknowabouttheancienttheoryofobligationstothe state.It ispointlessto objectthatthesoldierwasprivilegedformorethanone

argued in these pages.

Evenmore clearly thanthe BrigetioTable, the lawof325 allows one to infer the existence ofa standard fiscal caput, composed ofinterchangeable units.It appearsasthoughthefiscal"head"stoodvery closeto thefiscalunit ofland, the iugum, since soldiers lacking "heads" offamily enjoyed a correspending immunity of res, presumably land. 44Every soldier got indulgence

text in the influential theory of integrated and inseparable iugatio-capitatio developed by Piganiol,Impotdecapitation(1916). Seston,Diocletien,p. 271,maintainedthattheBrigetio Table implied the existence of a "caput fancier" (i.e., a caput interchangeable with a iugum), sincethe five capita exceeded the four possible persons in question (soldier, wife, father, mother); but the immunity of an extra caputcouldhavebeen appliedto a slave, provided the capitawere indeed human. Onthe other hand,the close oftheBrigetio Table appears to correlate rerum siiarum vacatio with the capitaofthe discharged wounded soldier and his wife, and the law of 325 unmistakably implies the conversion of human into in-

41 Above, n. 20. Cf. Tacit. Ann. 13. 51.2: "Ne censibus negotiatorum naves adscriberentur tributumque pro illis penderent" (above, p. 12). The same distinction is made in CTh 11. 12. 2 (362); "Omnes omnino, quicumque capitationis indulgentiam immunitatemque meruerunt, non solum ex annonario titulo, verum etiam ex speciebus ceteris atque largitionibus except! sunt immunesque erunt; neque enim praestanda dividimus"; also in Constantine's letter of 333 (n. 38*). 42 CTh 7.20.4. Thesemilitary detailsneednot detain us.* 43 Comitatenses et ripenses milites atque protectores suum caput, patris ac matris et uxoris, si tamen eos superstites habeant, omnes excusent, si censibus inditi habeantur.

Quad si aliquam ex his personis non habuerint vel nullam habuerint, tantum pro suo debent peculio excusare, quantum pro iisdem, si non deessent, excusare potuissent, ita

animate assessment.

45 This is virtually the crux ofthe historiographyofthe problem, for whichseeabove, Introduction, n. 3. Add:Jones, "Capitatio," pp. 93-4; M. Pallasse, La capitation et Ie probleme du Bas-Empire, " Revue historique deiSroitfranfais et etranger, 4th ser., 36 (1958), 67-77; Faure, "Etudede la capitation," pp. 105-6;Lemerle, rev. ofDeleage,Capitation, in Revuedesetudesanciennes,50 (1948), 399-403;andabove,n. 44.It wasdifficultto avoid theconclusion that capitabecame equivalent to wga. Generally speaking, those who balked maintained that the equivalence had eventually resulted, withthe old tributum capitis as its starting point. The more ambitious thesis (stimulated by Rodbertus andthe Labour Theory of Value, and comprehensively argued by Seeck) was that the equivalence was the key element ofDiocletian's

reform; thus, "A capiit

was

the

working power

of a

man

tamen, ut non pactione cum alteris facta simulato dominio rem alienam excusent, sed vere proprias facilitates."

in good health" (Abbott andjohnson, Munic. Admin., p. 130). The principal element of confusion, which passed unobserved, was that no one distinguished assessment from

44 Karayannopoulos, DieTheorie Piganiols, " pp. 328-9, stressed the importance ofthis

taxation.

56

CapU t

AND COLONATB

THE THREE MEANINGS OF CdfUt 57

caput. Thefactthat oneofthecapitawasinvariably thesoldier's ownsuffices to prove thatcaputinthesetextsmustreferto something more valuablethan

militaryexemptionsweresodevisedthattheimmunityofonesoldiervaried

a tax exemption for the soldier's ownperson, for on no accountcould that person s head have been subject to taxation. 46 The soldiers' exemptions for other persons lead into further diffi-

Thevariationsvanishifthecapitaoftheselawsareinterpretedto refer not to human heads but to "headings" in the registers - headings opposite

culties. It must be stressed at the outset that a caput, if human, had to be variably evaluated. Women, children, andtheagedcannot beassessedatthe same figure asanadult male; even the savage census described by Lactantius

incurred for. The

did not do so. 47 If caput in the law of 325 really refers to a human head

(variably assessed), then the son of able-bodied parents enjoyed greater immunity than one whose parents were aged. Even worse, how could one

estimatetheamountofa soldier'specuUumthatcouldbeexcusedinplaceof a

wifeandparentswhomhedidnot have,whosevariablevaluecouldnot be

estimated? Besides, a bachelor orphan would appear to obtain greater

personal advantages than a soldier burdened by parents, for the parents benefitedfrom halftheson'sexemption, whilehe,presumably, wastaxable onproperty acquiredfromhispeculium. Againonthisinterpretation, thelaw wasofgreatest benefitto landlesssonsoflandless parents. Suchfamilieswere totally exempted, whereas the immunity acquired by propertied families through their soldier-sons left them fully liable to taxes onany land that the father, mother, and wife might own. Yet enough laws forbid curials to enter armed service, especially at this date, to suggest that the army wasnot recruited exclusively fi-om the destitute. 48 Curials joined because of the

advantages to begained, andoneisinclined to suppose thattheseadvantages were more substantial than exemption j&om liability for personal "heads." Finally, how could such a reading ofcaput be reconciled with the custom,

still lively in 400 that veterans with all their property were exempt from

tribute?49 Even if this problem is disregarded, it still appears as though 46Theexemptionofsoldiersisclearlyspelledoutin Dig.50.4.3.1 (Ulpian):"His,qui castris operam permilitiam dant, nullum municipale munus iniungipotest. Ceteriautem privati, quamvismilitumcognatisunt,legibuspatriaeet provinciaeoboediredebent."

47 As above,n. 10.Galerius'scensustakersregisteredpersonsat thehighestpossible assessment figure provided by the schedule, even though this meant adding years to

capriciously from that ofthe next.

which the capitatio, "tax liability, " ofthe soldier, his father, mother, andwife

was enrolled, no matter what element of assessment such liability was guiding principle

of exempt ion would have been the

just

and reasonable one ofallowing each soldier to benefit from an immunity as large or small as the resources ofhis immediate family. Some soldiers had rich parents, othersrich wives, others still camefrom poor familiesor were destitute orphans. Thelawsdidnothing to effaceexistingdisparities ofwealth, andthey necessarilyoffereda larger scaleofbenefitsto therich thanto the poor; but the same form ofexemption was allotted to all. Allowancewas made for soldiers without families by granting them the privilege ofliberating or withdrawing a "heading" from the tax lists by purchase, anddoing soasoften asthey hadcapitato spare; naturally, this wasa tempting privilege, open to misuse by subterfuge. 50In any case, sincerecruits werelikely tojoin the forces at too early an age to be entered on their local tax lists asa heading distinct from their fathers', they could haverealizedtheir personal exemption only by similarly applying their military earnings to the purchase ofsome estateandwithdrawingit fromthetaxregisters.Moreover, themoreextensive privilege of withdrawal available to the soldiers without family compensated them for the fact that their fellow-soldiers with families would fall

heir, in part or in whole, to their parents' property. Upon discharge the number of exemptions shrank, but in most cases there had already been a reduction in the number ofheadings to be exempted. The orphan bachelor who had "liberated" four capita with his military savings would declare a single, consolidated (and exempt) "heading" once he wascalled upon by the authorities to account for himself as a veteran. 61Tbejiliusfamihas had presumably inherited his parents' property, in part or in whole, and his wife 50 The possibility offraud hinged on the fact that the caputasa "heading"wasflexible in

size.Theamountoftaxableassessment"liberated"bythesoldierwaslimitedbythesize

childrenanddeductingthemfromtheaged- anobviousindicationthat,onpaperat

ofhis savings (peculitim). Ifhe dealt honestly, the government stood to lose no more than

(386).

if hehadhada familyofaveragewealth. Ontheotherhand,theprivilegewouldentail

least,a differentiationwasmade.AlsoDig.50. 15. 3 (notinglocaldifferences); CTh13. 11.2 48_Crft I2. I. IO-II (325), 13 (326); 6.21.2 (326S), 13. 1 (3265); I2.I.22 (336). Gaudemet,

Constantin et les curies, " pp. 58-9, readmilitae praesidiain CTh 12.1.11 as"bureau des

gouverneurs"; this is an error.

49 Above, ch. n, n. 11.

severe losses unless the soldier wasprevented from entermg into agreements with vendors to buy and thus "liberate" much more property than he could actually afford, on the secret understandingthat hewouldsharethe profits ofthe taxfraudwith thevendor. 51 As illustrated in CTh 6. 35. 10 (380). For clarification of the conventio, CTh 12. 1. 19

(331).

58

CapU t

AND

COLONATE

had had a similar opportunity to inherit; the exemption of two capita available to them sufficed to secure immunity for their wealth. Partial confirmation for such a reading ofthe laws of311 and 325 is

offered by a pair ofstatutes issued by Valens in 370 and 375, where caput alternates with capitatio in references to the soldiers' exemption. One notes

that considerable attention is now paid to the effect upon the raxpaying community of the withdrawal of these capita (the text of the laws is not given verbatim):

From the time of taking the military oath, the recruit entered upon the register is absolved from the caput ofhis own registry; and, after five years of active service, he obtains immunity for the tax liability of his wife. This indulgence does not apply to a repudiated wife, who continues to endure the burden ofthe register. Since this immunity is offered to those affixed to the register or on the waiting list, suppliers of recruits are not to present vagrants, veterans, fugitives, or veterans' sons. The immunity exists as an incentiveto the latter categoriesto enlist voluntarily. The community obtains an abatement ofassessment only to the extent that the loss occasioned by the recruits cannot bereplaced in the public records from the waiting list. 62 After detailed rules regarding the modalities ofrecruit supply,

the law expands upon the exemptions ofsoldiers in the field army. After five years' active service, these soldiers, who enjoyed immunity 52 CTh7. 13.6 (370): "Sioblatusiuniorfuerit, quicensibusteneturinsertus, excotempore, quo militiae sacramenta susceperit, proprii census caput excuset ac, si quinquennii tempus fida obsequii devotione conpleverit, uxoriam quoque capitationem merito laborum praestetinmunem,eascilicetservandaratione,ut,quamsibiuxoremcopulaverataffectu et in priore lare derelictam memorarit, inprobata census sarcinam sustineat. Nullus vero

tironem vagumautveteranumpossitofierre,cumadspontaneamsingulimilitiampropositaeinmunitatiscommodisinvitentur.Circacosenimlegisiubemusvalerebeneficium,qui indigenas atque ipsius provinciae finibus innutritos vel adfixos censibus vel adcrescentibus

suisobtulerint iuniores;nequeenim convenitillum inmunitategaudere,quivanaoblatione vagi atque fugitivi vel veterani filii statum futurae conventionis inviserit. Quod

THE THREE

MEANINGS

OF

CapU t 59

since taking the oath, also excuse the tax liability of their father, mother, and wife. This withdrawalofliability entered in the lists is to be made up by the enrolment ofpersons not formerly entered. 63 Though, in substance, these laws closely resemble the earlier pair, caput only rarely appears; rather, we hear of capitatio and especially of the tax register [census) ofthe locality that the recruit comes from. In the light ofthe common usageofcapitatio,it is hardlyconceivablethat thereference is to a single unit of assessment composed ofa whole or fractional fiscal caput. The caput ofa recruit's own census is his "heading" in a tax list, consisting ofhisnametogether with the property hehasdeclared or will declare. The enlistment incentive offered to vagrants and other suchtypes isthe same immunity for their "heading" in the lists, that is, chiefly, the property they mighthaveor acquire.Thecaseofthewifeandparentsisevenclearer,since the term capitatio is used; the soldier obtains immunity not only for their persons but also for whatever property oftheirs causesthesarcinacensus to weigh upon them. Naturally, such exemption meant that the community's assessment was diminished, but the government intended that there be little

or no loss to taxation. The liability withdrawn wasto bemade up by entering into the tax records incensiti and adcrescentes, that is to say, persons not yet registered and those already registered but not yet subject to contributing. Here again, there is no reason to suppose that only "heads" ofpersons were called to the active tax rolls. Rather, as many adcrescentesand incensitiwere entered as were necessary to make up for the losses in contributive capacity represented by the exempted soldier andhis family. The system had acquired a degree ofclarity such that any community could directly and mathematicallyrealizewhatit lostin thewayoftaxableassessmentwheneveroneofits citizensbecamea soldier.Thereadyavailabilityofthisinformationwaswell 53 CTh 7. 13. 7. 3 (375): ... universi, qui militaria sacramenta susceperint, co anno, quo

fuerint numeris adgregati, si tamen in suscepto labore permanserint, inmunes propriis capitibus mox futuri sint. Conpletis vero quinque annorum stipendiis qui comitatensibus numeris fuerit sociatus, patris quoque et matris necnonet uxoris suaecapitationem meritis

suffragantibusexcusabit.li vero, quiinripapercuneosauxiliaquefuerintconstituti,cum propno capita

uxorem suam tantum

post

quinque

annos,

ut

dictum est, praestent in-

munem, si tamen eos censibus constiterit adtineri. Et quia publica utilitas quoque cogi-

hactenusdecernimuscustodiri,ut oblatusnumerusexadcrescentibusprimitusreparetur

tanda est, ne sub hac mdulgentia insertae capitationis numerus minuatur, ex incensitis

ac, si conpensatio non potuent convenire neque ex minoribus modus, qui oblatus fuerit,

adque adcrescentibus in eorum locum, qui defensi militia fuerint, alias praecipimus

quiverit reparari, itademum depublicis fascibus hi, quiexsuperfluo veniunt, eximantur."

subrogari."

60

CapU t

AND COIONATE

THE THREE

MEANINGS

OF

COpUt 6l

designed to encourage the government and taxpayers alike to look with favour on recruiting the army from among barbarians.54 Caput is a complex and difficult term becausethe laws portray it in

abolishes "the register ofhuman tax liability. "56Moreover, the samelaw of 430 initially mentioned refers to "the tax liability ofhuman beings and animals. "67 The only comparable element of assessment strictly limited to

three closely related but nevertheless differing senses. Up to now, in laws and other texts ofthe early fourth century, we have encountered two meanings. The caputwas a "share ofassessment" equivalent to the iugum in its contribu-

persons - pure "human liability" - that earlier laws contain is confined to

tion to the tax bill but different from the iugum in not being secured by property; both denoted a "share" in general, with the caput being specifically "unsecured" while the wgwn was "secured. " Another sense of caput was

closely linkedto the cognatecapitatio, "taxliability. " In thisacception,caput meant a heading in the local assessment register, regardless ofits value and constitution. It wasuseful in laws on exemption, since it allowed limitations to besetupon exemptions without prejudice to the sizeofindividual fortunes. The third meaning ofcaput, which we are now coming to, begins to appear in the laws only in the later fourth century. Our sole contact with it hitherto

hasbeento suspectits existencein theformula Gallicanicensusmentioned by the Autun Panegyric. The caputin this third sense was "a perishable component in the assessment schedule, " comparable to the "fields" we find in the Syro-Romaa schedule for the wgum. The schedule of capita as "perishable components was applied to professiones to estimate the additional assessment represented by slaves and livestock; it was also a device for estimating the contributive capacity of taxpayers declaring "unsecured shares" instead of wga.

servi censibus adscripti, "slaves entered in the (tax) registers. " They ars first mentionedin 319and, accordingto lawsof327and 349, cannotbemoved from the province where they are registered. 68By 386, and certainly in the humana capitatio of 393 and 430, the reference is by no means restricted to slaves. The evidence here assembled, which is supplemented by undated inscriptions fi-om the diocese ofAsiana, 69 raises several questions. Were the slaves declared to the registers entered as capita, and if so as whole capita? And what relationship does capitatio humana vel animalium have to the caput aswehavedefinedit for the early fourth century? Nosoonerisa systemsetin placethanit beginsto evolve. Diocletiaa, in his reform law of 297, worried about unfairness on the part of local politicians in apportioning tax liability. 60In the wake ofhis and succeeding efforts, the focus ofattention tended to pass from the living apportioners and payersto the objective register (census)that determinedapportionmentand liability. Where Diocletian had spoken ofthetax liability borne by someone in respectto anestate(capitatiopraediivenditi}, Constantineakeadyspokeof the registered liability ofproperty [censusreicomparatae). 61As the yearswear

A law of 430 attests that wga sive capita are equivalent to terrena seu animarum descriptio, "the assessment of land or souls"; it therefore justifies a

interesting to observe that this fifth-century law wasthe key text in hisreconstruction of

gloss for caputas "the assessment ofa soul. "56Two other laws oflate date

57 Bxceptis his etc., as above, n. 55. The exception is absolute; the law never again

fall within the same order ofideas. A regulation for Pontus in 386 replaces

mentions such liability.

theoldnormacensa,bywhichtwowomenequalledoneman,witha newone, bywhichfourwomenequaltwoanda halfmen;anda lawforThracein 393 54 One recalls what Ammianus has to say (Rer. gest. 31. 4. 4) ofValens's motives for ad-

the scheme.

56 CTh 13. 11. 2; CJ 12. 52. 1.

58 CTh 6. 35. 3 (above, ch. n, n. 15); ii.3. 2 (327); 7. 1. 3 (349). Seealso CTh ll. 1. 12 (365), where the recipient of servi veluti my (the human equivalent of agri desert!) becomes liable to fiscales pensitationes "ad integram glebae professionem, ex qua videlicet servi videantur manere. Doesthis mean the slaves' individual plots (supposing they hadthem)

ortheentireestateonwhichtheywereregistered?Inanyevent,thelawof365isimportant testimony of the devolution of liability towards the land. 59 Discussed in Appendix I.

miningtheGothsin 376;Valensmightalsohaveregardedthisasrelieffortheprovincials (31. 14.2).

6o Above, ch. m, n. 10.

55 CTh 11. 20. 6: Eorum iugorum sive capitum sive quo alio nomine nuncupantur ...

61 CTh 3. 1.2; cf. Fragmenta Vaticana 35 (the full text summarized in the Code): "ut

Exceptishis, quae in capitationehumanaatque animalium diversis qualitercumque concessasunt, ita ut omnium, quae praedicto tempore atque etiam sub inclytae recordationis avo nostro in terrena sive arumarum discribtione relevata sunt usque ad quadringentorum

iugorum sivecapitum quantitatem ..." lugaandcapitaareclearlydistinguishedfrom capitatio humana atque animaliiim, with the latter being excluded from the application of the

law.Inviewofthe greatinfluenceofGodefroyon the studyoflate Romantaxation,it is

omnmo qui comparat rei comparatae ius cognoscat et censum, neque liceat alicui rem

sine censu vel comparare vel vendere (with severe penaltiesfor infraction). Note also censusfundi comparati in CTh 11. 3. 1 (3135). It is interesting that additional legislation requiring that land transfers be officiallyregistereddid not come until 391, CTh 11.3. 5. It follows from CTh 11. 3. 1 that selling land while retaining liability hadnot only beenlegal but hadoften been done (cf. Dig. 2. 14. 42). The theme continues to run through the laws

62

CapU t

AND

COLONATB

on, the word census leads one to many more laws about taxation than caput, capitatio, iugum, or iugatlo do. 62 When registers were locally compiled, responsibility for defending the capacity ofthe locality to bear public charges lay chiefly with the community ; its political processes, backed by the provincial governor if needed, moderated private inclinations towards tax evasion. Once the activities of 306 had made registration comprehensive,

egalitarian,andnon-political,theimperialgovernmentacquireda largeshare ofresponsibility for guaranteeingthe stability ofthe register - this in spite of its awesome remoteness from local realities. We see the results in the laws

of Constantine that limit the free sale ofregistered slaves and enforce the

THE THREE

MEANINGS

OF

CapU t 63

mination ofthat one or several capita. Property had certainly been involved in the calculation together with persons. 64The same applied in reverse when the rich man s professio ofhis assets wasreduced to uniform shares (i. e., iuga), since wealth was measurable in slaves and animals as well as land. Lactantius

bears this out. 66Thus, in the local details ofestablishing the census, the caput was not only a "heading or an "unsecured share ofassessment but also a "perishable" (human and animal) component in the formula ofassessment.

By contrast withthe iugum, whosesubstanceis analysedin the SyroRomanLawbook,weknownexttonothingaboutthecaputinthisacception;

publicity of land sales, and many years later in the laws that regulate the

we do not even hear ofit with any clarity until the late fourth century. The slave adscriptus censibus cannot be sold or moved outside the province of

normaofcapita,abolishthe censushumanaecapitationis,andspeakofthe caput

enrolment, but that does not mean he is worth one fall share oftax assess-

as if it were the liability of "a soul.' inscript ions, stands closer to physical reality than the abstractshareofassessmentmentionedin the documentswith which

ment. Our only information comes from the law for Pontus in 386, which gives usvirtually nothing to go on; it would berashto assume that the superseded norma was itself very old, since we learn from St. Basil that a new assessment affected the dominions ofValens at the opening of the 3 70S. 66

the discussionbegan. By dint ofits direct implication in enforcement, the

As for capitatiohumana,it invariablyappearsin negativecontexts. Itsregister

imperial government had come to legislate at a more intimate level than in its lofty earlier pronouncements. 63The caputwithout professio, asit had stood

was abolished in Thrace in 393; and in addressing itself to iuga sive capita, understood to be terrena, the law of430 specifically exempts capitatio humana vel animalium. To be sure, negative references disclose existing things, but what is their condition? The abolition in Thrace suggests that a residual portion ofthe registers was being discarded asa useless anachronism, already moribund for years; and the disregarded capitatio of 430 bears witness to a tax system that was by now rooted exclusively in land and looked upon the residue of other forms of assessment merely as a nuisance. 67 As Salvian

Accordingly, the definitionofcaputto which we attain in the documents

referred to,

as

well

as

the

in the register, say, of Autun, had been a share of assessment equal to a iugum, but, as was earlier pointed out, we do not know the prdcesses of evaluation, guided by theformula Gallicani census, that had led to the deterinto the sixth century (JustinianNov. 17. 8). In the Fragmenta,Constantine'slaw on land sales ostensibly dates from 313; for a discussionofthe date, Seeck, Reysten, pp. 23-4. On the point at issue here, it is obvious that the difference between capitatio and

censuswasfaint;capitatiowasno lessregisteredthancensus.Nevertheless,theargumentof Grelle, Stipendium (above, ch. 11, n. 21), suggests the importance ofthe distinction between. personal functio and passive praestatio. The two may boil down m practice to the same

thing, but it was no small matter whether the administration strove to encourage the former viewpoint or, instead, turned to treating land as though it "paid." 62 Census as tax liability" is clearly illustrated by Symmachus Epist. 7. 126, "Res... non tam reditu ampla quam censu. Haec nisi bonorum iudicum fulciatur auxUio, publicis oneribus fessa subcumbet. " Cf. Cassiodorus Variae 7. 45.

63 Thistrait isreadilyvisiblewhenthelawsarereadin chronologicalorder.Forexample, several papyri (ca. 300) concern registered fruit trees and the illegality of cutting them

64 B. g., in the case of the rusticus who declared his capitatio (ca. 290); also capitationes tt professiones {ugorum. (340). 65 De mart. pers. 23. 2: the city squares were filled with families, complete with children and slaves; livestock was counted along with the fields and trees. Also as above, n. 47. 66 Epist. 104 (372), which indicates that the censitores severely altered the old registry.

There was nothing to prevent the old schedulesfrom being revised. Karayannopoulos, "DieTheoriePiganiols," pp. 325-6,treatedthelawof386asthoughit markeda bound-

trative trivia. CTh 11. 28. 2 (395), excising iugera from the tax liability of Campania;

ary line between the Diocletianic assessment of heads and later practice; though this is not impossible, Basil's letter makes the inference risky. What renders useless the figures on several ofthe Asian inscriptions (see Appendix i), aswell asthe 32, 000 ofAutun, is that we lack these schedules. Regrettable though it is, we must resign ourselves to the fact that our ignorance of late Roman taxation is going to continue to be very great, especially in

h.t. l3 (422), doingthesamefor resprivataein Africa; andNVaknt13 (445), declaringthe

matters of detail.

precise tax totals expected from two African provinces, are further instances of how some

67 Cf. NTheod. 22. 2. 12 (443); an assessment of four siliquae quas lucratlvis iugationibus tantum, non humanis vel animalium censibus neque mobilibus rebus iubemus indici. *

down (Piganiol, Capitation, " p. 4 with n. 2). It is one thing to have papyri on this sub-

ject andquiteanotherto encountera law, CTh 13. 11. 1 (381), dealingwithsuchadminis-

later laws attain a proximity to the soil unknown to those of the early fourth century.

64

CapU t

AND COLONATB

illustrates forcontemporary Gaul,capitatlowasnowcommonly understood

asagrorummunia,the tax liability ofthe fields. 68

As the share ofassessment called a caput^ came to rest on the tax rolls

oftheearly fourth century, it represented a complex ofelements ofliability

that consisted chiefly oflanded property but also took into account other

formsofwealth,suchasslaves,livestock, andworkingmembers ofa family.

Astimewentonandtheregistersunderwentsmallmodifications, thecap'ut

began^to dissociate its hard, enduring, and inanimate elements fromitssoft,

mortal, andpersonal ones.Thecaput,inotherwords, slippedawayfromthe

declaring person and towards the real property declared, which could be

measuredandelaborateduponintheyearsfollowingtheoriginal,roughly

THE THREE

MEANINGS OF
I06> II4-2I piissim, 13 in,

I33n; tax on lin; acquisition 109. See also horses, schedule

annona (tax-in-kind): institution 6, 31-4, i26n; significance 67-8; other contributions in kind 14, 105, l24n; as rations 31, ioi, i3on; mentioned 411, 36-54 passim, 8l, 84, 94-5, IOI, 106, llin, 12711, 1360.

See also adaeratio, annonocaput, praestatio, tax

annomcaput (assessment unit in Byzantine Italy) ll6n, l28n Antiquity, Classical: and taxation 29-30, 55> 9I-3> !45; and social welfare 19;

money in, compared to modern 10511; and accounting 14311. See also finance Antony, Mark 17 Anullinus, proconsul of Africa 230 Apamea. 12

appeal, legal 21, 32, 88, 8911, 94, 103, 1230 Appian 17 apportionment: of public charges 31, 32, 6i, 94, 96, loyn, i23n; ofannona by mga 34, 94 Arabia 1290

Arcadius Charisius (jurist) 45

Archelaus, king ofCappadocia13 Aristius Optatus, prefect of Egypt 34, l28n, i3on. See also Edict aristocracy: local l8n, ipn, 1230; official 86n. See also potentior Arius (heresiarch) 53n, 1320

156 GENERAL INDEX AND GLOSSARY army. See soldiers and veterans

iugum, kapnikon, kephale, law, "Maurice,"

aroura (Egyptian unit ofsurface) 340, i27n,

Nicephorus,paroikos, stichos, taxation

37", 52; oflandlords 73, 92; Byzantine

casarius. See cottager, inquiUnus censibus adscriptus, adfixus (enrolled in public record): citizen 58n; slave 61, 63, 79, l36n. See also adscripticius censitor (assessor): role described 52; mentioned 45, 56n, 63n, l29n, 143 census', registry of persons and property for public purposes: provincial 7-9, l5-l6, 20; city as focus 12-15, l3on; unpopularity i6n; of persons on estates 3611, 71,

tax on i04n; book and market value of

8l, 84, 8511, 88-9, 120; ofGalerius 44-6,

l28n, l30n, l32n

Arrian (author on tactics) 139, 140, 145 Asclepiodotus (author on tactics) 14011

cadaster 8, iiyn, 120-1. Seealsocensus,survey CaecilianofCarthage, bishop23

Asia Minor: cities of 17; inscriptions from 53, 6l, 113-21, i43n

Caesar,Julius 7, ij Caligula, emperor i6n, 200 Campania 62n capital: commercial, of veterans 25; value

assessment: devolution from persons to land 5, 35, 39. 6in, 64-7, ?6-7, »3. 84, 90-1, 95, 99, l°4, III, 144; by city council 8, 9, 32, 94; distinct from taxes 11, i2n, 4?n, 53-4, 55n, l27n, 144-5; proportional 39-40, 95, l26n; revisions 48n, 63n, 88-9, 102, io8-9, izgn, 1430. See also abstrac-

tion, census, descriptio, schedule

10511. See also money capitalis illatio. See head tax capitatio: main discussion 3 5-40; earliest use

26n, 47; problem passages35n, 4on, l42n;

assessor. See censitor

as munia agrorum 36, 64; as a tax 36n,

Astypalea, inscription from 11411, ii8, ll9n, Athalaric, Ostrogothic king ill

14311;plebeia 360, 37-9, izyn; humanaet animalium 37, 6on, 61-4, 65n, 66, 8l, 86-7, 95-6, I29a, I34"; of iuga 39-40,

Athens, inscription from ii4n Augustus, emperor 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 20,

43", 5on, 51, 6311, i2pn, 143; relation to caput 39-40, 41, 44; as formation of clubs

l2l. See also Index of Sources

lo6, 12511

Aurelian, emperor 28, 2pn, 1250 Aurelius, M., emperor 20 Autun: Panegyric in behalf of 400, 44, 45, 48, 49-52, 6o, 104-5, I42n; register of 62, 6311; mentioned 460, 68, 97i 98",

lign. See also Index of Sources

barbarian: settled 42n; recruitment 60; assessed 13611. See also Athalaric, Boudicca, Cietae, Goths

belongings. Seepeculium birthplace. Seeorigo Bithynia 170, 21, 46 Boudicca, British queen 13

boundarystone (oros) l3on, 14311 bread, baking of 99, 13711

breviarium imperii (summary of imperial resources) 7, 13, io6

bridge. Seerepairs Britain: modem 6; Roman iin, 13, 42n, l04n

Brown, Peter 141 burdens. See apportionment, munus, onus, sarcma, tax

business:tax on i in; private 29, 102, log, ll2; "Big" 86n. See also wealth Byzantium 12, i3n, 144. See also annono-

caput, capital, Constantinople,geikon,

GENERAL INDEX AND GLOSSARY 157

oftaxpayers 50, 141-4; mentioned4, 32, 62, 88. See also abstraction, assessment, census, schedule capitation tax 35, 12711, izgn, 13011, See also head tax

capitulariiis: recruiting official 25, 14211; tax register 13 in

capitulum (club oftaxpayers) 142-3 capitus (levy or issue ofhay) 35n Cappadocia 12, 13, loin caput: definition 41-4, 6o; unsecured share of assessment 44-53, 59, 64, 68, 94, 97-8, ill, 119, i29n, i32n; heading in census

48-9, 52, 53-9, 95, I33", 142, 145; equivalent andaddedto iugum4311,44, 50,

48-9, 52, 56, 62, 68, 13311; ofCon-

stantiusI 45, 48, 5i; persons exempted 48n; object ofioi, 1220, i43n. See also assessment, conventio, Diocletian, schedule

- assessment register: Reichcensus 9, 107; lands booked in 24-5; objectivity 33, 61-2; humanae capitationis 37, 6l-2, 86-8, 98; includes personal capita 43, 44, 50; cohnus on 77n, 81, 85, 93, 103, 109, iia; mentioned 38, 54, 58, Sja. See also adscriptidus, censibus adscriptus, professh - tax liability: 61-2, 96n, 105, l28n, l3in. See also capitatio centralization. See government centuria (unit of survey) 52, p6n, iz8n, l42n, 144"

charity: civic 29, 42; royal 480; Christian I25U

Charlemagne, empire of 144 chevay (medieval due) l34n Chios, inscription from 117, l2l Cicero 140

clergy (cferici): exemption from burdens 22-4, 27, 29, I23n> I32n> 1360; denial of enrollment among 29, l24n; French IQjIl

Codes ofTheodosius n andjustinian:

languageof40n, 53, 7in; mentioned 3, 35, 36. 90", 9I. 95> II2i I44- See also Digest, law, and Index of Sources cohortalis (type of civil servant) 25 collatio. See conlatio collection, of taxes: administration 15, 17,

31, 94i 98, 106, ill, 112, l24n, i26n; by curiales 28, 45, I3?n; from tenant-farmers 64, ?2, 74. 76-7, 8o, 82, 83, 86, 87; obstacles to 108

colonate, bound: historiography of 420, 66, 70, 75, 85-6, 89n, i2gn, l34"> l35n> 13611;

not in question 68, 70, 72, 74~5; birth of 77, 8o-4, 89-90, i36n; mentioned 5, 65, 71, Sf-6. See also colonus, fugitive, receiver, tenant-farmer cohnatus, ius 66, 84, 1340 colonus: tenant-farmer 68n, 70-3, 75n, 76n,

77-9> II4> I20> I29", l3on; imperial 7on, I34D; only a legal category 7in, 75; iuris alien! 71-2; bound tenant 74, 77n, 79", 8o-I, 83n, 85, 8p, 95, 98-9, 135n;

stability of 7911, 80. See also adscripticius, cottager, inqi iilinus, landlord, tenantfarmer

Columella (agronomist) 69, 1350 commoner (plehs): rural (rustica) 35, 45, 47~8, 51-2, 54, 6311, 68, 7in, 84, 88-9,

Cietae (barbarian people) 13, l6n

l3on; tax liability of 37-9; urban (urbana)

Cinamura 115 cities: and taxation 8, IQ-II, 15, 17, 31,

45~6, 48-9, 52, 54, 68 communities. See cities

54-6, 62, 83U, 88, 95-6, 98, III, 114",

91-8 passim, 101-2, ill, 112; in the

commutation.

ii6n, 118-20, l3on, i34n, 142; perishable element of assessment 60-3, Sga, 95, izo; unrelated to taxation 42n, 13011, i3in; in Gaul 49, 84, Sgn, 9811, iipn, 13111, l32n, i42n; relation to colonate 65-6, 77, 8i, 83, 86-7; in Bgypt and Palestine 84, l3on, l32n; future of the term 53, 65, 84,

Empire, 18-19, 21, 32, 93, 107, i23n;

condicio (legal circumstance): of birth 710;

88, 90, 94, 95, 97, l33", l34"; economic

effects 104-10;comparedto column capital 14211; mentioned 4, 26n, 35, 39, 40, 45i 114, 119, 120

structure of finance 27; Uturgical policy of Greek 29; retention of taxpayers 58, 59, 6o, 73, 850; response to iuga and capita 104-10. See also council, curiales, honor, munificence, munus, patria, politics, res publica citizen, Roman: "active" 42, 44, 68, 71, 97,

lOj, l33"; loss of to army 59; of "front rank" 142; mentioned l^n, 26, 12311 civilis, definition 26n

Caria 12 in

civitas stipendiana 17

casa 13811

Claudius, emperor l6n

See adaeratio

various 7711, Sin, 870

conlatio (payment): in general 25, 26, 27, l26n, 14511; lustralis auri 36n, 52n;

flebalis 37; nova 12411. See also horses, money, praestatio, tax

consilium (consent) 1070 consortes (partners) 75n, T2pn Constantine I, emperor 23-5, 28, 2gn, 39, 44-5i 49> 53~4>

61-2, 64, 68, 690, 70,

I23U, I25U, I32U

Constantinople: city 26n, 95D; church 37n. See also Byzantium

158 GENERAL INDEX AND GLOSSARY ConstantiusI, emperor 45. Seealso census Constantiusn, emperor 64 contract: municipal iyn; oftenancy 67, 72, Son, 81; breachof68; pactio 78n; commentum jgn; emphyteusis lopn conventio (summons) 5yn

deminutio capitis (changein personal status at law) 42, 72 demography ilpn, i32n, i36n

descriptio (assessment): ofsouls {ammarum) 6o, 90, 95; terrena 6o; mentioned, 4pn.

See also caput, head tax

conversion scale. See schedule

detentator. See receiver

convicani. See villager Corvinius, quaestor 15 Cos, inscription from 114, iiy

devotio (prompt performance ofpublic duty) Dideiphyta 115

cottager 80, 120, 12911. See also inqt iilinus,

Digest(Justiniancollectionofjurisprudence):

tenant-farmer

council, city {curia):role in taxation 28-9, 32, 34. 39, lo8, II2; mentioned iin, 23, 25, l32n, i34n. See dfco cities, curiales

court, oflaw: u. s. Supreme 6; enforcing public contributions 24, 27, 32

cultivation, agricultural: costs 51, 99; undertaking of 72, 85; when land sold

78; legal obligation 67, 8i, 87, 95, 99, 134". See also economy, land, tenantfarmer

cultivator (cultor}:ratio offreeto slave 11711;

64, 75n

imageoftaxationin 21, 144;mentioned I in, 15, 42, 45, 72. See also Index of Sources

Diocletian, emperor: reforms 9, 32-3, 35, 38, 47, 49, 55", 61, 6311, 66, 93, 9 I37"; treasury in

general 19, ill; privilege in debt collection 25, 34n, 76n; accounts payable to (Jiscalia) 64, 76. 5ee a/so land, revenue fiscal year. See mdktw flight. See fugitive forma censualis (model for declaration of assets) 42 formula census. See schedule foundations. See endowment freedmen 12, 8in, l02n

ofl23n; mentioned i5n, 23, 28, 29, Spn,

dominus (owner, master) 7911, 8on, Sin,

loyn, i43n. See also cities, council,

expenditure, public: imperial 7, 31, 103, lay, I27n; local 93

8zn, 85n, »7n, i35n duumvir. See honor

exploitation, private 29, 8o, 92, i36n. See

Frisians 12, 13 frwnentum (levy of grain) 13. See also aiinona fugitive: not to be supplied as recruit 58; tenant-farmer as 64, 70-7 passim, 79, 8o, 82, 87; slave 82. See also receiver flinctio (personal performance): contrasted to payment {praestatio) 2711, 4on, 63, 97, 144; public 28, 8on, 105, 12411; of a field 35, 36n> lion; of churches 370; of minors etc. 38-9; mnua. 82; of Italy 101; mentioned 24, 26, 1230. Seealso conlatw, land tax, munus, praestatio

dux (military official) 750

also business extraordinaria. See munus, taxation

Galerius, emperor 44-6, 48-9, 52ti, 5611.

earnings. See peculium economy: ideas about 7n, 19; local 14, l8-

fairness, in taxation: standard of in census

mentioned 51, 8o, Sin, 82, 87. See also colonus

cura (official obligation) 25 curatores: municipal i-jn, 21; private 38, 3pn curial seryice 21, 23, 25, i23n curiales (city councillors): restrictions on changing status 30, 56, 74; contributions

of 37; wider liability 38, 13211;decurions 42n, io2n, 119, i37n;origo ofyin; abuses

munus, nominatio

currency. See money

custom: public 24; "nouvelle (et mauvaise)" 46n, yon; tenancy by 69. Seealsoportoria, vectigalia

damni (damages) 80, 82 debt: ofcities 28n; ofcultivators 51, 82, i34n; to fields, 82-3. See also security decurion. See cwiales

defensorcivitatis (municipal official) i5n tleficientes (citizens enrolled but absent) 26 Deleage, Andre 113-21 passirn, l^jn. See also Index of Modern Authors

delegatio: imperial tax order 106, i27n; money tax ison. See also indictio

Autun 5 in

discriptio. Seedescriptio doctor (medicus):exemption 23, 27; public service 26n

domains. See land

Domesday Book 1430

domimum (ownership, overlordship); pretended 54n; over coloni 8in; extravagant ill. See also landlord

55n, i24n; excusatio 300, i3on; tax

immunity 3yn, 38, 39, 46, 108, l23n

l34"; personal 1300. See also clergy, doctor, soldiers and veterans

20, 5i-2> 102-10;recoveryby 17; history

46n, 7on; lack of6i, 88, 95, l28n; imperial concern for 69; mentioned 24n,

21, 67-8, pl, 99, 112, 136"; conditions 31, 45> 5I", 84, lio; and colonate 75;

3on, 3211, 34, 8311, 107

Dutch 9in; primitive 92-3; agricultural 99, ioi-2, iio, 139; heterogeneity of

107. Seealso capital, money, society Edict, ofprefect ofEgypt (297) 34, 6l, 141. See also Index of Sources

Egypt: Ptolemaic 6, i8n; Roman policy toward 17-18; taxation in 31, l3on; alleged census in 4.4x1, l2pn; rebellion in

family: members: sons ofvarious professionals23, 25-6, 28; various members 38, 39. 45> 50-1; jilius familias (son in patria potestas) 57 - generally: of soldiers and veterans 28, 53-9; guardianship 38-9; and deminutio capitis 42; size 43; census of 45, 50, 51, 52, 63n, 64, II5-l6, iip, l3on, I36n; of

slaves 79; ofcoloni 80-2, 8y, 1360; farms

See also census Gaul: census in 7, 15, l6n, 2on; contributions 12, 13, i22n, 143; small farmers in

36; laws addressedto 8311, 84, 88-9; vicarius, 88. See also Autun, caput geikon (Byzantine assessment unit) i26n. See also abstraction

generosity. See munificence georgos (Lat. colonus) 114. See also tenantfarmer germanicus 12, 15

Godefroy, Jacques 4, 6oa, 13911, 14511 gods, pagan: temples of 51; priest of 119; mentioned 6jn, 100

l60 GENERAL INDEX AND GLOSSARY gold. See money, tax Goths 6on

government, Roman: imperial: centralization 7n, 9, 8pn, 93, 107-8, ill; central 15, l8, 96, 103-4, 107, lo8, ill; remote

from localities 62, 107; as absentee landlord 76n; and tributary land 101-2, i22n;

GENERAL INDEX AND GLOSSARY l6l

Illyricum: prefecture 77, 80, Sin, 830, 143"; province i22n

Immunity. See exemption

incensitus, defined 59 indictio: imperial tax order 13, 27, 31, 33, 43, 47-8, 5°, 6311, 92, 109, l26n; fiscal year 31

infimiis (citizen oflow stratum) 30n, 141

13, l4> 17, 19, 20, 6o, 64, 68-9, 76, yyn, 78-9, 82, 84, 89, 92, 93. 98, 102, 110, ii2, l23n, l34n, l3fin. See also financial administration, soldiers and veterans

inflation. See money inqwlinus (house-tenant): defined l2gn;

l22ti, l2}n. See also cities

governor, provincial (praeses): cannot exempt curiales 28; superyision of cities

mentioned 42, 72n, 7711, 8in, 82, 8gn, 115, 117, 120. 134"

inscriptions. See Africa, Asia Minor, Athens, Tenos, Volcei

inspection, tax: agents of 8911, 99; mentioned 4811, 88-9

yammaticus (elementary teacher) 23

institutions: history of late Roman 4, jfn, 83, 85, 94; ofPrmcipate 7, i3In; interference with l23n Icmian islands 113

grapevme 33, 42-3, 45, 109, 114, 115

Italy: tribute in 9, 47, 101; landmeasures

32, 94> I03> I07> l26n; conflict of interest

76; mentioned 14, 24, 27, 56n, 62, 77ti, i3on, 13211

Greece: culture l8n; cities 29; ancient 142. See also Athens, tactics

Grelle, Francesco 144. See also Index of Modern Authors

ll3, l28n. See also Sanction

wgatw:asprofessio 35; as itigum40; lucrative 63n; as iugavel capita64-5; mentioned 26n, 62, 87ti, 95, 109, 12911, 13311, 141

lugerum (measure of surface) 33, 43, fi2n,

Hadrian, emperor 139 head. Seecaput, deminutio capitis head tax 8, 9, ID, 35, 36, 37, 41, 45, 4711, 55-6, 6o, S^n, 93, 100, l22n, l2jn, i2Sn, l30n, 13211, l33n, l36n

Henry n, Angevin empire of 144 historiography. See colonate, taxation homo stipendiarius (individual taxpayer) 17 honestior (citizen of higher stratum) 141. See also potentior

Honor (civic magistracy) 69, lean (diitimvir) i24n, 13311. See also council, curiales, munus, taxation

honoratus (imperial dignitary) 37, 7511 horses: contributions of 12, 23, 37, 43"; of imperial post (yeredus) 35n; escorting of mules and 47, 48n. See also animals

l26n, l28n, 1370

iugwm: meaning 32-5; shareofassessment 39, 5°, 53, 65"> 66, pSn, 114, il7> 142; secured share of assessment 41, 60, 63, Ssn, 86-7, 88, 89, 94. 95. 97. l°4, "I> II.S, ll9>

I20> l27ni

l29n,

1330,

l37n;

shareofproceeds 106, 1130; yoke of oxen 139, l45n; "front rank" 141-2, 144;

vation, custom. Digest, Edict, ius, tenant-farmer, and individual legal terms Lesbos, inscription from 114-15, i2o-i Licinius, emperor 46, 52

K(epha!o) Z(ugon) 116 kapnikon (Byzantine tax) 13411 kephale: captit 115, 117-19, l32n; as

bureaus of 105, lo8; mentioned 10, ll,

- local, 10, ii, 15, 20, 75, 93i 101-4, 112,

Julian, emperor 38, 4on, 143 Julius Sabinus, censitor 1290 Justinian, emperor 35, Sgn, 113

liturgy" (Lat. munus):person performing i7, 27; and taxation 2411, 2jn; mentioned in

Byzantium l26n Kyrene, l22n

arable 33, 42, log, 113-15, i28n; mountain and waste 33, 51, 109; rented or

leased 44, 68, y6n, 100-2, 1350; management 7611, 78, icon, 13511; development 8o, 109; abundant supply 8911, l36n; urban 117. See also agri deserti, assessment, cultivation, economy, property, survey land tax: definition 12511; early instance 36n; modern idea 37-8; presuppositions

Jews:contributionsto Temple 12; andcity

jdoneus (solvent person) 28, 76n

Judaea I in

council 28

Jones, A.H.M. 19, 66, 88, 114-20 passim. See also Index of Modern Authors

Macedonia l22n

magistrate: imperial 14; local and unpaid 15, I?. 25, 26, 27, 105. See also honor Magnesia on the Meander, inscription from 118-19, 121

mancipium (slave) 12, ia,n, 370 mansus (medieval unit of assessment) l32n, 145" master. See dominus, landlord

matiere imposable (taxable assets) 99, 101-2

izyn

measure. See survey

landlord: as taxpayer 26-7, 44, 67, 6p, 76, 8l, 98; absentee 37n, 73, 76, 119, l24n, i35"; registry by 42, 51, 114-18 passim, I29U; small 43, 64, 83-4; poorer than

il2; right to recover fugitives 70, 74-5,

hospitem redpere (quartering) 3511 house-tenant. See inquilinus humilior (citizen of lower stratum) 64, 68, 73, l4l. See also mediocer, teiiuior Hypaepa, inscription from 43, 114-15, i2l

Lyons 2011

of 67-8; relation to rent 100-2; mentioned 8-11, 14, 79, 88, 93, i22n, 12411,

survey 33, iz6n, l3on; origin 34-5, 47,

ment, caput, census, iugatio, survey

Lycia-Pamphylia46 Lydia l2in

Maurice" (author on tactics) 1400 Maxentius, usurper 46 Maximinus Daja, emperor 46

tenant 43n; greater 64-5, S3, 121, l2gn; restrictions on 68-9, 74, 78-9. 86, 107-8,

ius: agrorum 81, 84, 85, 87; alienum 71-2. See also colonatus, law, security

Livy 1411

lochos (file of soldiers) 140, 145 Lucius Titius. See Titius

labour: public 3on, 48, 92; forced 73; supply 79; price 80, 99; on estates izon Labour Theory of Value 311, 5 in, 55 land: imperial 12, 3pn, yon, 7111, ySn, 82, 86n, 92, ioi, 103, ill, l34n; municipal 28n, 100; qualitative categories 33, 340, ll4, 120, l26n;and mgum 33, 83, 98;

first appearancein laws26n; andland 48n, 139; fractional 43n, 44, 117, ll8; economic effects 104-10; assigned to the crown 105, l37ti; in Egypt and Byzantium i28n; eleutherica, tamiaca, chrysotela l37n; mentioned 4, 22n. See also assess-

29, 93> I05> i23n, l25n, 1320

85; potestas over tenants 71-2, 77n, 87;

ofPalestine 85; ofGaul 88-9; imperial loan to 103-4; mentioned 80, lop, 13411. See also possessor hrgitiones. See financial administration law: imperial: dating of 3n; general on taxation 9, 83n, 107-8; interpretation i2n;

loophole in 26n; on curiales 28; contrast to politics 30, 32; objectivity 33, ii2; and real life 75; Byzantine Farmers' 8911; criminal 141

~ private: of persons 5, yo-l; sense of capitt in 42; lease by 68, 78, i35n. See also appeal, codes, contract, court, culti-

mediciis. See doctor

mediocer (citizen of middle stratum) 3011, l4l

merchant. See negotiator millena (Italian unit of assessment) 113, il4n, l28n, 1370

modius (measure of volume and surface) II3-I4. l38n

money: contributions in 14, 105, 12411, l26n, 1300; currency fluctuations 20, 31-2, 6gn, 9311, 94, 104; payments in gold and silver 23, 82, 87; as a language 32, 94, I05-6, il2; siliqua 6311; solidus 82n, 13in, 143. See also adaeratio, tax

munia (obligations to the state): iniuncta imperil 13; agrorum 36, 95. See also munus municipalities. See cities munificence: municipal 10, 18, 102, l26n; potlatch spirit ofi8n; as standard practice ipn, 27, 29-30, 92. &e also finance munus (obligation to the state): includes

l62 GENERAL INDEX AND GLOSSARY taxation 24, 25n, 27, 29, 3on, l23n, 12511; patrimoniorum

2411, 3511, p2 n, 12411, i2pn;

modern misconceptions about 2jn, 92-3 ; shares of 3211; Digest text on 3511; municipal38-9, 48-9, 92-3, 102, i36n; personak 4$, l24n, l33n; of rural commoners 47, 67~S, 75n, 77n; prestige 69; sordidumet extraordinarium 92, l37n. See afeo angariae, exemption,functio, honor, nominatio, ohsequium, onus Mylasa, inscription from 115

navicularii (shippers) 1240 necessitas: expenditure 7, i24n, 12511; requirement 39, 76n

negotiator (merchant) 12, ill Nero, emperor 12

Nicephorus, emperor 1450 nome (Bgyptian territorial district) 24n nominatio 28, io2n, 12311, i34n. See also taxation

norms censa (assessment coefficient) 60, 62-3,

87 Numidia ill

obligath praediorum (pledge of lands as security) ll4n obsequium (synonym for munus): of recruiting 25; contrasted to pensitatio 26n; offunctiones 39; local 48n, 9211; military 58n

Oea (Tripoli) 15 officwm: public duty 1311, 70-1, 73; staff of an imperial official i5n olive trees. See trees

onus (burden): collective 12, 13, 14; complex of 14, l22n; ofpatrimonia 24x1, 92n; of a.praedium 36n, 88n; of navicularii l24n; greater i30n. See also munus ordo (college of curiaks} 28. See also council originarius: meaning ypn; mentioned yin, gpn

origo (city of birth registry): of curiales 28; of tenant-farmers 70, yin, 72, 73, 74, 7?n, 7pn, 8in, 83n, 84, 85n, 86n

ownership. See dominium, dominus, landlord, possessio

painter. See Africa

palatini (emperor's staff): privileges of25,

GENERAL INDEX AND GLOSSARY 163

76-7; and city council 28 Palestine 83-5, 1360.

See also capiit

praedium (landedproperty) 3611, 6l, 78, 88n, 11411, l3on, l34n

Panegyric. See Autun papyri 3n, 3 in, 34n, 4»n, 62n, 73n, 113,

praescriptio temporis (time limit for lawsuit)

l28n, i3on, l32n. See also Index of

praestatio (payment) 23, 2411, 26, 53, 54n, 97-8» 106. See alsofunctio, translatio

Sources

paroikos: Byzantine Sgn; as mquiUnus 115, patria (municipality): as petite patrie 27, synonym for

Prefect, Praetorian (chiefcivil official) i5n, 27, 97", i°7n, l3°n, l3?n, l43n. See also

Il6, 117

93;

77"

res

piiblica 5611, 7in,

i23n; place of registry 70; mentioned 51 patrimonium, of senators 37n. See also mimtis, onus

patrocinium (patronage) 75n, lion, 1350

Anatolius, Aristius Optatus, Edict prefecture, praetorian 105, io6, 107, lljn principaUs (front-ranker) 141, 144 Principate 7, 16, l8, i3in privilege. See exemption, financial adminis(ration, tax evasion

peasant 4811, 75, 99, i2pn, l32n, l35n, 1360. See also commoner, tenant-farmer

production, taxing of 67, i04n, 13611 professio censualis (declaration): meaning 43;

peculium (personal property): of soldiers and civil servants (castrense) 25, 54, 56, 57n;

special definitions35; ofproperty 13, i6,

of tenant-farmers Son, 82, 87

penates (home) 7in, 7711, 8411 pensio. See rent pensitafio (periodic payment) 26n, 34n, 530, 6in, 760

peraequator. See inspection

perfectissimus (grade of rank) 23 pertica (measure of length) 3 3 phoros (Lat. tributum) 470 phylakes (custodian) 14011 pignus. See security

plebs. See capitatio, commoner plethra (measure of surface) 33, l28n politics, municipal: and taxation iin, i8a, 26, 28, 3&~2, 61-2, 83n, 94

poll tax 2511, 35, 3 120-1; and caplit 41, 43, 52, 62; cannot be transferred 74; mentioned 3on, 48, 6o, 63, 64, 76, 95, 105, l43n. See ako census

property, real: as security for taxation 32n, 34, 41, 52, 102, I26n; defence ofland-

lord s against tenant jjn; size 115, l2l. See also census, land, possessio, professio,

rent: imperial revenue from 12, ioi-2, 104; increase 68-9, 86; in relation to taxes 82, 100-2, l3in, 13411, l35n, l36n; men-

tioned 67. See also superexactio repairs, of roads and bridges 18, 1370 Republic, Roman 9, 14 resjisd. See res publica res privata. See financial administration res publica (state): univocity of the term 267; as city 3on, 7in, 101; distinct from res Jisci 28n. See also cities, patria retentator. See receiver

revenue, imperial: from land 12; stable 13; in money 270; lessees of 28; acquired by officials 106; mentioned 6-7, TO, 12, 20, 93, 103-5

rich, the: public obligations 0^29, 3on, 423, 48, 63, QI-2, 145; in city council 32; as social category 57, 69; abuses by i28n; mentioned 51. See also fairness, potentior, society

Rodbertus, C. See Labour Theory of Value Rome: capital 13, 16; Praetorian camp in 46; Senate 74; church l25n; mentioned ion, 11, 12, 14, 17, l8, 19, loi, 146. See

also Empire rus (countryside) 81 rusticanus, rusticus. See commoner

wealth

prototypiae. See soldiers and veterans provinces, of the Roman Empire: contributions and taxes from 7-9, 13-14, io6, i22n; no movement of slaves from 61,

79; uniformity among 85; enrichment of 103. Seealsocensus. Empire, governor,

sacramentum (military oath), 58, 59

sale: for tax debt 3411;andtax liability 61, 78, 86, 88, 89n, 107; of slaves and land

62, 79> 108; by tenant 77n, i34n; of tenanted land 78-9; of imperial land 103; mentioned 320, 360, 5yn, 77

and names of individual provinces publicans (tax farmers) 15, i6, 17, ig publiws, definition 2611

saltus (undeveloped land) i2n, 5in, 92 Sanction, Pragmatic (law of 554 for Italy)

Pudentilla 15

sarcina (burden), oftax liability 58n, 59, 82n

querimonia. See appeal

schedule: converting assets into shares of assessment (formula census) 33-4, 4.1, 43-4,

ll3 Sardinians 12

rank and file 139-45

49-50. 52, 60, 62-3, 96-7, 98n, 116-20

rate. See tax rate

passim, i26n, l27n, 1300, i34n, 141-2; for adaeratio i26n

receiver {detentator, retentator), of fugitives 70, 74. 7 77, 79-89 passim

reform: fiscal411; at onset ofPrincipate 1617; of assessment 34; ofTurgot 92; spirit of i33n. See also Diocletian Reims 45

security: for tax debt 13, 34, 39, 52, 76-7, i25n, l2pn; for residence by tenant 73; ius pignoris 770; for a loan 103. See also debt, security seigneurie, medieval 67n, 750

164 GENERAL INDEX AND GLOSSARY

GENERAL INDEX AND GLOSSARY l6$ 71, 73-7, 8o-2, 89, 95, 98, 107-8, I34">

servitium (service) 7411

also aroura, boundary stone, cadaster, centuria, iugerum, modius, pertica, plethra susceptio (duty of receiver) 24 symmory (club of taxpayers) 142

also landlord, Titius, tributarius temonarius. See soldiers and veterans

servus. Seecensibiisadscriptus.slave

Syria i in, i22n, i28n, i2pn, 1440

tenant, ofa house. Seeinquilinus

share of assessment. See abstraction, caput, iugum, schedule Sicily l7n, 13in Sidonius Apollinaris 49, l42n. See also

Syro-Roman Lawbook 33, 35, 6o, 63, li6, ll7, l4i> 142. See also iugum, schedule,

tenant-farmer: income of 43-4, 67-9; two categories of 64, ^6, 77; binding of6j,

senators, Roman: as census officials 15; for-

tunes of 19; taxes of 37, 38, 64, 75; mentioned iifin, 119

Index of Sources

siliqua. See money slave (servus): as element of wealth 41-2, 45, 5in, 52, 55, 6o, 63-4; entered in census 26, 6l, 114-17, 119-20; enslave-

ment 42, 7in, 73-4; sale of registered 62, 79, 86, SQn, 108; chaining of 70-1, 73-4; kinship of colonus to 71-4, 77n, 79, 87, 8pn; productivity ofl35n; mentioned 8in, 109

society: welfare 18-19, ill; role ofmtinera in ancient 29-30, 92-3; mobility in 52; affected by tax law 66-8, 79, 90, ii2; concord 92, 145-6. See also economy, potentior

soldiers and veterans: recruitment 18, 25,

and Index of Sources

14, 15. 18, ip, 20, 29, 3I> 93> I02> I°S.

ill, 112; "single" 6; total proceeds 10, II, 13, 14, I?' I02> IC16; old and new 13; local 27; in gold 33n, 3611, 37n, 38, 84, l29n, i36n; on special groups 37n. See also adaeratio, annona, head tax, land,

land tax, money, publican, rent, vectigalia, vestis

tax base 4n, 67, 97, 143 tax evasion 29, 30n, 54, 57, 62, 72, 760, 79", 88-9, 92, 102, lion, l3on, l37n- See

8-ll passim, 5511, i3in; salt 8-9, 15, i22n;

regium 12, loin; total of 20, lo6, l22n, ijin; pledge by reason of34n; of res 36, 95; as rent 82, loi; mentioned 3, 4, 7-ii passim. Son, 950, loo, 103, 104, 1220, i3in, 1360, l3yn. See also munus, taxa-

tion, vectigalia

about 70-77, 79-84passim;law of 371

Turcius (name ofan inscription) i i4n

about 77-84; law for Palestine about 846; law for Thrace about 86-8, gSn. See

Turgot, A. R.J. 92

also colonate, colonus, contract, fugitive,

vacatio. See exemption Valens, emperor 44, 53, 58, 6on, 63, 77 Valentinian I, emperor 39 Valentinian m, emperor ill, 11411 vectigaks (imperial revenue officials) 25 vectigalia^. indirect taxes 7, 9, 15, 19, icon; land tax 36

receiver, taxpayer

Tenos, inscription from 10-11

teniiior (citizen ofeconomically weaker stratum) 39, 141, 142, 144, 146

tenure (plot): of slaves 6in; of a peasant i2gn

territory: of a city 15, 129, l44n; as tax

district 95, 97, io8, 121; as homogeneous state 107-8

veredus. See horses

Vespasian, emperor 13 vestis (late Roman tax) 36n, 38

tetrarchy (imperial college) 90, 141

veteran. See soldiers and veterans

Themistius 12711

tax policy 17, 20

Theodosian Code. See Codes ofTheodosius

village (yicus) 34n, ?in, 7811, 103, ll5 villager 73, 75, I30n

also abuse, exemption, fairness, inspection

tax process 10, 17, 3 in, 34, 93, 107, ll^n tax rate l22n, l27n

I24n, 12511, l33n; prototypiae 25, 38;

tax scheme 11, 95, 97, l3in, 139

stichos

nexus Sin; solum tributanum 110

tributum (tribute): defined 11-14; capitis

tax level 104, l24n

94, loi; privileges 24, 25, 35"i44. 53-60,

suffragium (solicitation) 38 superexactio (collection of rent or tax above fixed level) 68-9, 13511 survey, of land: for tax purposes 8, 45, 47, i22n, 13111; irrelevant to iugum 3311; units of 33. 34> 95. T.T.3-1J passim; needed for professio 44, 48, 52, 64; surveyor 144. See

69, 72, 76, 77, 8o-l, 8311, 84, 86-7, 9°, 97,

l34n> l35n; customary 69; law of 332 tactics, Greek authors on 139-41, 144-5 tax: direct and indirect 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, II,

27. 37", 38, 57, 58-9, I29"; pay 20, 31,

service compared to civilian 26; discharge 53-4; comitatenses, ripenses, andprotectores 54, 59"; social origins 56; mentioned 12, 13. See also barbarian, family, rank and file solidus. See money sors (allotment) 40 Spain l22n Spalato, Diocletian's palace at 14111 stichos, defined 145 stipendium: tribute 14, loan, i22n; years of military service 53, 5pn stipes (voluntary contributions) l2n stoichein (to be in line) 140-1, 145. See also

l36n; modern 91; "clubs" of 142-4. See

tax system 22-3, 27, 63, lio, 112, l28n taxation: historiography 3-4, 6, y, 8, 9i ion,

22, 28, 32, 36n, 4°> 45n, 47n> 5°n> 52n, 54n> 55, 6on, 66, 9I-5, 99, 106-7, III-I2, ll4n, l2on, l25n, l26n, izyn, 1310,

l32n, l37n, 139; early imperial 4, 7, 8, 9, II, l6-l7, 67, 93> 102-4, ill; comparative

6, 7, 27-8, 2gn, 3on, 55> 9:t~~3i 99.

103, l22n; ordinary and extraordinary 13-14, 107, 110, III, I24", 132"; ofindividuals 1411, i5-l6, 20, 94, 107-10, II2,

ii andjustinian

TheodosiusI, emperor 85 Theophanes 14511 Thera, inscription from 114, 115-17, i2o Thessalonica, church of 3 yn Thrace 12, 6o, 63, 66, 83, 86, 87 Tiberius, emperor 13

Titius, Lucius (fictitious taxpayer) 33-4, 43 titulus (heading in a record): annonarius 53, 54n; cobnorum 81; of taxation 13in Trajan, emperor 139 Tralles, inscription from 119, I20-I, 1310 translatio (transfer): of pmestatio 150, 84, l36n, l3yn; ofprofessio 74 trees: olive 33, 42, log, 114-15; assessment

l27n; profit from managing 17, 12311; relation to nominatio. functio, munera, and honores 23-32 passim, 39, 92-3, 102, 105,

of 45, 6an, 630 tribune (imperial dignitary) 119

i23n, 12411, i25n, l3on; ethics of 29-30,

trihHtariiis:as non-citizentaxpayer 4211, 82;

92; of minors etc. 39; abatement 45-6, 50, 58, 62I1, 6711, 86-7, 97> 98, I22n;

Byzantine tract on 145

taxpayer: early imperial 10; relation to government 20-1, 31, 6o, 91-2, 104-10;

widening circle 28-9, 39, 47-8, 52, 67, 89, 94*> poorer 64; tenant-farmer as 67-

vine. See grapevine

Vitellius, emperor X2 Volcei, inscription from 113-14 volumen (roll) 24 wealth: export of 1411, 102; individual ipn, 20, 60, 100, 102-3, 105, io8; qualification for public obligations 29; assessment of 32, 41, 5In> 58> 93> i27n; advertised in census 42, i2i; disparities of 57, 6o; from agriculture 99; new 102; of localities lo8-9; of church 12511. See also rich, society

zugokephale (share of assessment) 87, 95, 96, 9§, ll6n, 118, l34n, 142

zugon: as Lit. iugMm 98, ll6n, 117, ii8, ll9, l45"; as front rank" 139-41