. This state
of matters, however, could not long continue in an old state charged
with the duty, and under the necessity of keeping up, a large
establishment to maintain its dominion over its subject provinces. For
some time, indeed, the wealth brought by the conquest of Asia and Egypt
into the Roman treasury was so considerable, that the necessity of taxes
levied on its own citizens was not felt; and as long as the people had a
direct share in the government, they took care to uphold an exemption in
their own favour. But when one master was given to the whole Roman
world, this invidious system of one class living upon another class was
erelong abandoned. "Augustus," says Gibbon, "had no sooner assumed the
reins of government, than he frequently intimated the insufficiency of
the tributes from the provinces, and the necessity of throwing an
equitable proportion of the public burdens upon Rome and Italy. In the
prosecution of this unpopular design, however, he advanced with slow and
cautious steps. The introduction of customs was followed by the
establishment of an excise; and the scheme of taxation was completed by
an artful assessment of the real and personal property of the Roman
citizens, who had been exempted from every kind of contribution for
above a century and a half."[31]

Customs on foreign goods imported into Italy was the first species of
taxation attempted on the Roman people. "In the reign of Augustus and
his successor," says the same historian, "duties were imposed on every
kind of merchandise, which, through a thousand channels, flowed to the
great centre of opulence and luxury; and in whatever manner the law was
expressed, it was the Roman purchaser, and not the provincial merchant,
who paid the tax. The rate of the customs varied from the eighth to the
fortieth part of the value of the commodity. There is still extant a
long, but imperfect, catalogue of Eastern commodities, which, about the
time of Alexander Severus, were subject to the payment of duties.
Precious stones, Parthian and Babylonian leather, cottons, silks, raw
and manufactured, ebony, ivory, and eunuchs, were among the taxed
articles. An excise also was introduced by Augustus, of one _per cent_
on whatever was sold in the markets or by public auction; and this
extended from the most considerable purchase of lands or houses, to
those minute objects which commonly derive their value from their
infinite multitude and daily consumption."[32]