Read Online The rule of empires : those who built them, those who endured them, and why they always fall by Timothy H. Parsons - Free Book Online
Authors: Timothy H. Parsons
Ads: Link
the
imperial core. Egypt and the African provinces also provided most
of the free grain for the city of Rome. Plunder aside, Britain and the
other outer provinces actually contributed comparatively little to
the metropolitan treasury, with the bulk of their resources going to
support military garrisons on the frontiers. Over time, Roman rule
gradually transformed the local economies of these outlying territories as revenue demands, military purchases, and free-spending
legionnaires stimulated trade and promoted the development of
provincial markets.
There are no surviving records of general tax rates under the principate, which means historians disagree on whether Roman demands
on their subjects were light or burdensome. At the very least, Roman
subjects paid a personal tax and a land tax. Wealthier men also paid
indirect levies on inheritances, houses, slaves, ships, and other forms
of property and commerce. The republic delegated direct taxation in
Greece and Gaul to private companies that paid for the right to collect
taxes in a given region. In order to extract more revenue than they
had to turn over to the state, these companies were often quite predatory. The principate ended some of the worst tax-farming abuses,
but its improved effi ciency in keeping track of the general population through censuses probably offset savings that taxpayers might
have gained from escaping the clutches of corrupt private collectors.
Romanized urban elites most likely accepted payment in agricultural
36 THE RULE OF EMPIRES
produce that could be sold to generate the coinage demanded by the
imperial treasury.
Aristocrats in Rome and the central provinces were the ultimate
benefi ciaries of this comparatively effi cient extractive system. These
were the senatorial and equestrian classes, which constituted less than
1 percent of the total imperial population. Senators, who numbered
six hundred under the early principate, owned vast rural estates that
made them the wealthiest men in the empire. Some also dabbled in
moneylending, but the equestrian class, which took its name from the
cavalrymen of the early republic, were the empire’s most prominent
fi nanciers and businessmen. Both classes used their status to acquire
substantial wealth and land holdings in the provinces.
These elites took on compliant kings and chiefs in Spain, Gaul, and
Britain as clients, sponsoring their entry into imperial society. Most
of these former chieftains and war leaders gradually became landed
Roman gentlemen. Roman citizenship did not release them from the
obligation of paying direct taxes, but it brought limited immunity
from local laws and an exemption from tribute and forced labor. NonRomans eventually accounted for a signifi cant portion of the imperial
aristocracy of the later principate. Native-born Italians constituted
90 percent of the Senate under Augustus, but by the beginning of
the second century a.d. only 40 percent of all senators were from
the inner provinces. There was a backlash against ennoblement of so
many provincials under the Julio-Claudians, but Tacitus recorded a
potent speech by Claudius defending the admission of Gallic nobles
to the Senate in a.d. 48:
What else was the downfall of Sparta and Athens, than that they held
the conquered in contempt as foreigners? But our founder Romulus’s wisdom made him on several occasions both fi ght against and
naturalize a people on the same day! . . . If you examine the whole
of our wars, none was fi nished in a shorter time than that against
the Gauls; from then on there has been continuous and loyal peace.
Now that customs, culture, and marriage ties have blended them
with us, let them also bring their gold and riches instead of holding
them apart.14
Later empire builders, who found it essential to keep their subjects
at arm’s length, would have found this unthinkable. Identity was far
Roman
Britain 37
more fl exible in the classical era,
imperial core. Egypt and the African provinces also provided most
of the free grain for the city of Rome. Plunder aside, Britain and the
other outer provinces actually contributed comparatively little to
the metropolitan treasury, with the bulk of their resources going to
support military garrisons on the frontiers. Over time, Roman rule
gradually transformed the local economies of these outlying territories as revenue demands, military purchases, and free-spending
legionnaires stimulated trade and promoted the development of
provincial markets.
There are no surviving records of general tax rates under the principate, which means historians disagree on whether Roman demands
on their subjects were light or burdensome. At the very least, Roman
subjects paid a personal tax and a land tax. Wealthier men also paid
indirect levies on inheritances, houses, slaves, ships, and other forms
of property and commerce. The republic delegated direct taxation in
Greece and Gaul to private companies that paid for the right to collect
taxes in a given region. In order to extract more revenue than they
had to turn over to the state, these companies were often quite predatory. The principate ended some of the worst tax-farming abuses,
but its improved effi ciency in keeping track of the general population through censuses probably offset savings that taxpayers might
have gained from escaping the clutches of corrupt private collectors.
Romanized urban elites most likely accepted payment in agricultural
36 THE RULE OF EMPIRES
produce that could be sold to generate the coinage demanded by the
imperial treasury.
Aristocrats in Rome and the central provinces were the ultimate
benefi ciaries of this comparatively effi cient extractive system. These
were the senatorial and equestrian classes, which constituted less than
1 percent of the total imperial population. Senators, who numbered
six hundred under the early principate, owned vast rural estates that
made them the wealthiest men in the empire. Some also dabbled in
moneylending, but the equestrian class, which took its name from the
cavalrymen of the early republic, were the empire’s most prominent
fi nanciers and businessmen. Both classes used their status to acquire
substantial wealth and land holdings in the provinces.
These elites took on compliant kings and chiefs in Spain, Gaul, and
Britain as clients, sponsoring their entry into imperial society. Most
of these former chieftains and war leaders gradually became landed
Roman gentlemen. Roman citizenship did not release them from the
obligation of paying direct taxes, but it brought limited immunity
from local laws and an exemption from tribute and forced labor. NonRomans eventually accounted for a signifi cant portion of the imperial
aristocracy of the later principate. Native-born Italians constituted
90 percent of the Senate under Augustus, but by the beginning of
the second century a.d. only 40 percent of all senators were from
the inner provinces. There was a backlash against ennoblement of so
many provincials under the Julio-Claudians, but Tacitus recorded a
potent speech by Claudius defending the admission of Gallic nobles
to the Senate in a.d. 48:
What else was the downfall of Sparta and Athens, than that they held
the conquered in contempt as foreigners? But our founder Romulus’s wisdom made him on several occasions both fi ght against and
naturalize a people on the same day! . . . If you examine the whole
of our wars, none was fi nished in a shorter time than that against
the Gauls; from then on there has been continuous and loyal peace.
Now that customs, culture, and marriage ties have blended them
with us, let them also bring their gold and riches instead of holding
them apart.14
Later empire builders, who found it essential to keep their subjects
at arm’s length, would have found this unthinkable. Identity was far
Roman
Britain 37
more fl exible in the classical era,
Similar Books
