t Gaul,
as well as of the other provinces of the Roman world, were cultivated
by slaves, or by peasants, whose dependent condition was a less rigid
servitude. In such a state the poor were maintained at the expense of
the masters who enjoyed the fruits of their labor; and as the rolls of
tribute were filled only with the names of those citizens who possessed
the means of an honorable, or at least of a decent subsistence, the
comparative smallness of their numbers explains and justifies the high
rate of their capitation. The truth of this assertion may be illustrated
by the following example: The AEdui, one of the most powerful and
civilized tribes or cities of Gaul, occupied an extent of territory,
which now contains about five hundred thousand inhabitants, in the
two ecclesiastical dioceses of Autun and Nevers; and with the probable
accession of those of Chalons and Macon, the population would amount to
eight hundred thousand souls. In the time of Constantine, the territory
of the AEdui afforded no more than twenty-five thousand heads of
capitation, of whom seven thousand were discharged by that prince
from the intolerable weight of tribute. A just analogy would seem to
countenance the opinion of an ingenious historian, that the free and
tributary citizens did not surpass the number of half a million; and if,
in the ordinary administration of government, their annual payments may
be computed at about four millions and a half of our money, it would
appear, that although the share of each individual was four times as
considerable, a fourth part only of the modern taxes of France was
levied on the Imperial province of Gaul. The exactions of Constantius
may be calculated at seven millions sterling, which were reduced to two
millions by the humanity or the wisdom of Julian.

But this tax, or capitation, on the proprietors of land, would have
suffered a rich and numerous class of free citizens to escape. With
the view of sharing that species of wealth which is derived from art or
labor, and which exists in money or in merchandise, the emperors imposed
a distinct and personal tribute on the trading part of their subjects.
Some exemptions, very strictly confined both in time and place, were
allowed to the proprietors who disposed of the produce of their own
estates. Some indulgence was granted to the profession of the liberal
arts: but every other branch of commercial industry was affected by the
severity of the law. The honor