175a: The proprietors were not charged with the expense of
this transport in the provinces situated on the sea-shore or near
the great rivers, there were companies of boatmen, and of masters of
vessels, who had this commission, and furnished the means of transport
at their own expense. In return, they were themselves exempt,
altogether, or in part, from the indiction and other imposts. They had
certain privileges; particular regulations determined their rights and
obligations. (Cod. Theod. l. xiii. tit. v. ix.) The transports by
land were made in the same manner, by the intervention of a privileged
company called Bastaga; the members were called Bastagarii Cod. Theod.
l. viii. tit. v.--G.]

[Footnote 176: Some precautions were taken (see Cod. Theod. l. xi. tit.
ii. and Cod. Justinian. l. x. tit. xxvii. leg. 1, 2, 3) to restrain the
magistrates from the abuse of their authority, either in the exaction or
in the purchase of corn: but those who had learning enough to read the
orations of Cicero against Verres, (iii. de Frumento,) might instruct
themselves in all the various arts of oppression, with regard to the
weight, the price, the quality, and the carriage. The avarice of an
unlettered governor would supply the ignorance of precept or precedent.]

[Footnote 177: Cod. Theod. l. xi. tit. xxviii. leg. 2, published the
24th of March, A. D. 395, by the emperor Honorius, only two months after
the death of his father, Theodosius. He speaks of 528,042 Roman jugera,
which I have reduced to the English measure. The jugerum contained
28,800 square Roman feet.]

Either from design or from accident, the mode of assessment seemed to
unite the substance of a land tax with the forms of a capitation. [178]
The returns which were sent of every province or district, expressed the
number of tributary subjects, and the amount of the public impositions.
The latter of these sums was divided by the former; and the estimate,
that such a province contained so many capita, or heads of tribute; and
that each head was rated at such a price, was universally received, not
only in the popular, but even in the legal computation. The value of
a tributary head must have varied, according to many accidental, or at
least fluctuating circumstances; but some knowledge has been preserved
of a very curious fact, the more important, since it relates to one of
the richest provinces of the Roman empire, and which now flourishes as
the most splendid of the Eur