Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

1184 VECTIGAL1A. VECTIGALIA.
46), vasa Sarnia, that is, made of Samian earthen- been very productive until the Romans had beo
ware (Cic. pro Mur. 36), vasa Murrlinace (Plin. come masters of foreign countries. Until that
H. N. xxxvii. 2. s. 7). [MURRHINA VASA.] The time the mines of Italy appear to have been
word vas was used in a still wider signification, worked, but this was forbidden by the senate after
and was applied to any kind of utensil used in the the conquest of foreign lands. (Plin. H.N.. xxxiii.
kitchen, agriculture, &c. Thus Plautus says (Aulul. 4, xxxvii. 13.) The mines of conquered countries
i. 3. 17):- were treated like the salinae, that is, they were
" Cultrum, securirn, pistil~lum, mortarium, partly left to individuals, companies, or towns on
Qnae utenda vasa semper vicini roganta, condition of a certain rent being paid (Plin. H. N.
Ftures venisse, atque abstulisse dicito." xxxiv. 1; Cic. Philip. ii. 19), or they were worked.
for the direct account of the state, or were farmed
(Comp. Dig. 33. tit. 7. s. 8; 34. tit. 2. s. 20). The by the publicani. In the last case, however, it
utensils of the soldiers were called vasa, and hence appears always to have been fixed by the lex cenvasa colligere and vasa conclInmzae signify to pack soria how many labourers or slaves the publicani
up the baggage, to give the signal for'departure should be allowed to employ in a particular mine,
(Cic. Verr. iv. 19; Liv. xxi. 47, xxvii. 47; Caes. as otherwise they would have been able to derive
B. C. i. 66, iii. 37). the most enormous profits. (Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 4.)
UDO, a sock of goats-hair or felt. (Mart. xiv. Among the most productive mines belonging to
140.) Hesiod (Op. et Dies, 542) advises country- the republic we may mention the rich gold-mines
men to wear brogues (perones, KcapeaTivaL) made near Aquileia (Polyb. xxxiv. 10), the gold-mines
of ox-hide, with socks of the above description of Ictimuli near Vercelli, in which 25,000 men:
within them. Socks of a finer felt were sometimes were constantly employed (Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 4;
worn by the Athenians. (Cratinus, p. 29, ed. Strab. v. p. 151), and lastly the silver-mines in
Runkel.) [J. Y.] Spain in the neighbourhood of Carthago Nova,
VECTIGA'LIA, the general term for all the which yielded every day 25,000 drachmas to the
regular revenues of the Roman state. (Cic. pro Roman aerarium. (Polyb. xxxiv. 9; comp. Liv.
Leg. 3candil. 6.) The word is derived from vedo, xxxiv. 21.) Macedonia, Thrace, Illyricum, Africa,
and is generally believed to have originally signi- Sardinia, and other places also contained very
fled the duties paid upon things imported and ex- productive mines, from which Rome derived conported (quae vehlebantur). If this were true, it siderable income.
would necessarily imply that these duties were 6. The hundredth part of the value of all things
either the most ancient or the most important which were sold (centesinza rerumz venaolia). This
)ranch of the Roman revenues, and that for either tax was not instituted at Rome until the time of
of these reasons the name was subsequently used the civil wars; the persons who collected it were
to designate all the regular revenues in general. called coactores. (Cic. Ep. ad Brut. i. 18, pro RIab.
But neither point is borne out by the history of Post. 11.) Tiberius reduced this tax to a two-,
Rome, and it seems more probable that vectigal hundredth (ducentesimca), and Caligula abolished it
means anything which is brought (vehituor) into for Italy altogether, whence upon several coins of
the public treasury, like the Greek 4pdpos. The this emperor we read a. c. c., that is, Renmissa
earliest regular income of the state was in all pro- Ducentesimca. (Tacit. Annal. i. 78, ii. 42; Suet.
bability the rent paid for the use of the public Calig. 16.) According to Dion Cassius (lviii. 16,
and and pastures. This revenue was called p(asczte, lix. 9) Tiberius restored the centesima, which was
a name which was used as late as the time of afterwards abolished by Caligula. (Comp. Dig. 50.
Pliny (H. N. xviii. 3), in the tables or registers of tit. 16. s. 17. ~ 1.) Respecting the tax raised
the censors for all the revenues of the state in upon the sale of slaves see QUINQUAGESIMA.
general. 7. The vicesima hereditatium et manumissionum.
The senate was the supreme authority in all [VoICESIMA.]
matters of finance, but as the state itself did not 8. The tribute imposed upon foreign countries
occupy itself with collecting the taxes, duties, and was by far the most important branch of the public
tributes, the censors were entrusted with the actual revenue during the time of Rome's greatness. It
business. These officers, who in this respect may was sometimes raised at once, sometimes paid by
not unjustly be compared to modern ministers of instalments, and sometimes changed into a poll-tax,
finance, used to let the various branches of the re- which was in many cases regulated according to
venue to the publicani for a fixed sum, and for a the census. (Cic. c. Verr. ii. 53, 55, &c.; Pans. vii.
certain number of years. [CENsOR; PUBLICANI.] 16.), In regard to Cilicia and Syria we know that
As most of the branches of the public revenues this tax amounted to one per cent, of a person's
of Rome are treated of in separate articles, it is census, to which a tax upon houses and slaves was
only necessary to give a list of them here, and to added. (Cic. ad Fcaos. iii. 8, ad Att. v. 1.6 Appian,
explain those which have not been treated of sepa- de Reb. Syr. 50.) In some cases the tribute was
rately. not paid according to the census, but consisted in
1. The tithes paid to the state by those who oc- a land-tax. (Appian, de Bell. Civil, v. 4; colmp
cupied the ager publicus. [DECUMAE; AGRARIAE Walterj Gesch7. des Rom. Rectls, p. 224, &c.)
IaGE s.] 9. A tax upon bachelors. [AES UxoRIUM.]
2. The sums paid by those who kept their cat- 10. A door-tax. [OSTIARIUM.]
tle on the public pastures. [SCRIPTURA.] 11. The octavae. In the time of Caesar all
3. The harbour duties raised upon imported and liberti living in Italy and possessing property of
exported commodities. [PORTORIUM.] 200 sestertia, and. above it, had to pay a tax con4. The revenue derived from the salt-works. sisting of the eighth part of their property. (Dion
[SALINAE.] - Cass. 1. 10.)
5. The revenues derived from the mines (mzetalla). It would be interesting to ascertain the amount
This branch of the public revenue cannot have of income v which Rome at. various periods derived