Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 2 - Government, Society, and Culture in the Roman Empire

chapterthree

The Fiscus in the First Two Centuries

*

TheearlyPrincipatetendstobeinterpretedintermsoftheconstitutional
formsinwhichitwasclothedandtheadministrativeinnovationswhichit
brought,totheneglectofthose,largelyunchanged,socialandeconomicfac-
torswhichshapedtheactualworkingofRomanpolitics.Innoareahasthis
tendencybeenmoreobviousthaninworksdealingwiththeFiscus,which
hasthusbeenseenasanalternative‘‘statetreasury’’createdatagivenmo-
ment,byAugustus,perhapsin21or20b.c.,^1 byTiberius,^2 orbyClaudius,^3
whichabsorbedtherevenuesoftheimperialprovinces,^4 andsomeindirect
taxes.^5 Itisalsoseenasanadministrativeunit(likeatreasury,orauniversity
chest)concernedwiththehandlingofanareaofpublicfinance.^6
Noneoftheseviewsisfullysupportedbytheevidence.Theproperhistori-

*FirstpublishedinJRS53(1963):29–42.IshouldliketothankMr.P.M.FraserandDr.

W. A. J.Watson for their help in the preparation of this chapterand Professor A. H. M.
Jones,Mr.P.A.Brunt,andMr.A.J.Holladayfordiscussingadraftofitwithme.Noneof
themisresponsiblefortheviewsexpressed.

1. S. Bolla,Die Entwicklung des Fiskus zum privatrechtssubjekt mit Beiträgen zur Lehre vom
   Aerarium(Prague,1938),19–20.


2. S.J.deLaet,Portorium(Bruges,1949),364–65.
   3.CAHX,687esp.;H.Last,‘‘TheFiscus:ANote,’’JRS34(1944):51,onp.59;A.Garzetti,
   ‘‘AerariumeFiscussottoAugusto;storiadiunaquestioneinpartedinomi,’’Athenaeum 31
   (1953):298,esp.p.327.


3. E.g.,Last(n.3)52;A.Berger,EncyclopedicDictionaryofRomanLaw(TAPhA43,2,1953),
   472–73;H.F.Jolowicz,An Historical Introduction to the Study of Roman Law^2 (Cambridge,
   1952),339.
   5.E.g.,O.Hirschfeld,DiekaiserlichenVerwaltungsbeamten^2 (Berlin,1905),82;deLaet(n.2).


4. Last(n.3),51;A.H.M.Jones,‘‘TheAerariumandtheFiscus,’’JRS40(1950):22,esp.
   onp.25.

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