e of
count, corresponded with the treasurer; and he extended his jurisdiction
over the mines from whence the precious metals were extracted, over the
mints, in which they were converted into the current coin, and over
the public treasuries of the most important cities, where they were
deposited for the service of the state. The foreign trade of the empire
was regulated by this minister, who directed likewise all the linen and
woollen manufactures, in which the successive operations of spinning,
weaving, and dyeing were executed, chiefly by women of a servile
condition, for the use of the palace and army. Twenty-six of these
institutions are enumerated in the West, where the arts had been more
recently introduced, and a still larger proportion may be allowed for
the industrious provinces of the East. [152] 5. Besides the public
revenue, which an absolute monarch might levy and expend according
to his pleasure, the emperors, in the capacity of opulent citizens,
possessed a very extensive property, which was administered by the
count or treasurer of the private estate. Some part had perhaps been
the ancient demesnes of kings and republics; some accessions might be
derived from the families which were successively invested with the
purple; but the most considerable portion flowed from the impure source
of confiscations and forfeitures. The Imperial estates were scattered
through the provinces, from Mauritania to Britain; but the rich and
fertile soil of Cappadocia tempted the monarch to acquire in that
country his fairest possessions, [153] and either Constantine or his
successors embraced the occasion of justifying avarice by religious
zeal. They suppressed the rich temple of Comana, where the high priest
of the goddess of war supported the dignity of a sovereign prince; and
they applied to their private use the consecrated lands, which were
inhabited by six thousand subjects or slaves of the deity and her
ministers. [154] But these were not the valuable inhabitants: the plains
that stretch from the foot of Mount Argaeus to the banks of the Sarus,
bred a generous race of horses, renowned above all others in the ancient
world for their majestic shape and incomparable swiftness. These sacred
animals, destined for the service of the palace and the Imperial games,
were protected by the laws from the profanation of a vulgar master.
[155] The demesnes of Cappadocia were important enough to require the
inspection of a count; [156]