The chief revenues of Rome were derived from this land-tax; but, when combined with other taxes, a large proportion of it was spent in the administration of the province from which it was obtained.  No error could be greater than to suppose that Roman officers simply came and carried off all this money as booty to Rome for the pampering of its emperor and populace.  Naturally the balance which accrued for the feeding of Borne, for Roman enjoyment and Roman buildings was very large; and doubtless this fact was bad for the morale of Rome itself and requires considerable casuistry to defend it.  But it would be a monstrous misconception to imagine that all the “tribute paid to Caesar” was absolutely drained, by an act of sheer oppression, clean out of the province year by year.  No country can be protected, policed, and have its justice administered without taxes, and the provincials were not paying more, and were often paying much less, as well as paying it in a more just and rational way, than when they were being taxed by their own kings, their own oligarchies, or their own socialistic democracies.  The Roman settlements—­the colonies—­unless specially exempted, had to pay the land-tax as much as any other community.  The only land which was exempt from it was Italy, and Italy paid sundry other taxes to make up for it, at least in part.  But though Italy was first and foremost in the imperial regard, the emperor was by no means indifferent to the welfare of the provinces.  If an earthquake, a fire, or other great calamity befell a town, it was by no means rare for the emperor to send a large sum of money in relief.

Besides the land-tax there was also a tax on persons and personal property.  The tax on persons was not precisely a poll-tax, except in places like Britain and Egypt, where it was difficult to make proper estimates otherwise, but a tax on occupations and trades.  This, if we choose, may be put down as a crude form of income-tax, although it was not actually assessed on income.  In another sense it may be regarded as a tax on a license, assuming that we demand a license for every kind of occupation.  Italy again was exempt from this taxation also.  Obviously a census, and a regularly revised census, was necessary to carry out this system; and Rome required a whole army of agents, just as a modern state would require one, for assessing and collecting these dues.

The land-tax and the person-tax were the two chief sources of Roman revenue.  These were regular and direct.  There were others, subject, like our own taxes, to increase or decrease according to circumstances, but for the most part kept at very much the same standards under several consecutive emperors.  For instance there were customs duties, paid on the frontiers of the empire and also on those of provinces or natural groups of provinces, not as part of any protective system, since the empire is all one, but as a means of raising money from commodities.  In Italy there was a duty of 2-1/2 per cent.  Luxuries from India and Arabia via Red Sea ports were specially taxed at 25 per cent.  If you sold a slave, you would pay from 2 to 4 per cent on the purchase-money.  Occasionally there was a tax on bachelors.  In Italy, but not elsewhere, 5 per cent legacy duty was paid when the recipient was not a near relative, and when the legacy was not under L1000.