15.  The Roman system of finance was at first very simple, the public revenue being derived from a land-tax on Quiritary property,[4] and the tithes of the public lands; but after the conquest of Macedon, the revenues from other sources were so abundant, that tribute was no longer demanded from Roman citizens.  These sources were:—­

1.  The tribute of the allies, which was a property tax, differing in different places according to the terms of their league.

2.  The tribute of the provinces, which was both a property and poll-tax.

3.  Revenue of the national domains leased out by the censors.

4.  Revenue from the mines, especially from the Spanish silver-mines.

5.  Duties on imports and exports.  And,

6.  A duty on enfranchised slaves.

The receipts were all paid into the national treasury, and the senate had the uncontrolled direction of the general expenditure, as well as the regulation of the amount of imposts.  The officers employed to manage the affairs of the revenue, were the quaestors, chosen annually, and under them the scribes, who held their situations for life.  Those who farmed the public revenue were called-publicans, and were generally persons of equestrian dignity; but in the remote provinces they frequently sublet to other collectors, who were guilty of great extortion.  The latter are the publicans mentioned in the New Testament.

Questions for Examination.

1.  When did the Romans first appoint judges?

2.  How were the decisions of the praetors regulated?

3.  How are trials divided?

4.  In what manner were offences against the classes of patricians and plebeians tried?

5.  How was disobedience to the chief magistrate punished?

6.  What was the penalty for usurpation?

7.  How was mal-administration punished?

8.  When did the praetors impannel a jury?

9.  What was the form of a trial?

10.  Were there any other forms used, in trials before the people?

11.  Had the criminal any chances of escape?

12.  What were the usual punishments?

13.  How was parricide punished?

14.  In what respect alone was the criminal law of the Romans severe?

15.  What were the sources of the Roman revenue?

16.  To whom was the management of the finances entrusted?

FOOTNOTES: 

[1] Niebuhr, however, is of opinion, that judicial officers were elected by the “comitia curiata,” from the earliest ages.

[2] This privilege was conceded to the plebeians by the Valerian law, but must have been possessed by the patricians from the earliest times; for Horatius, when condemned for the murder of his sister, in the reign of Tullus Hostilius, escaped by appealing to the comitia curiata.  The Valerian law had no sanction, that is, no penalty was annexed to its transgression; and during the two centuries of patrician usurpation and tyranny, was frequently and flagrantly violated.  On this account the law, though never repealed, was frequently re-enacted.