But in great empires, such as Rome, the natural balance of money soon establishes itself. The wealth at first attracted to the capital, as the chief place of abode for the aristocracy, by degrees finds its way to the industrial people in the provinces, to be employed in the development of arts and manufactures, and is thus spread throughout the whole kingdom, to find its way back to the capital, through the medium of those who, having by commerce or otherwise accumulated a superabundance, resort thither to spend it. In the reign of Augustus and of his successors, the duties also imposed on every kind of merchandise found their way through numerous channels to Rome, the great centre of opulence and luxury, so that, in whatever manner the law was expressed, the Roman purchaser, rather than the provincial merchant, paid the tax. A higher duty was imposed on articles of luxury than on those of necessity, varying from an eighth to the fortieth part of the value of the commodity; and the productions raised or manufactured by the labour of the people were wisely treated with more indulgence than was shown to the luxurious products of India and Arabia.[302] “There is still extant,” remarks Gibbon,[303] “a long but imperfect catalogue of Eastern commodities which, about the time of Alexander Severus, were subject to the payment of duties: cinnamon, myrrh, pepper, ginger, and the whole tribe of aromatics, a great variety of precious stones, among which the diamond was the most remarkable for its price, and the emerald for its beauty; Parthian and Babylonian leather, ebony, ivory, and eunuchs; and we may observe,” adds this great historian, “that the value of these effeminate slaves gradually rose with the decline of the empire.” [Sidenote: The excise.] Although the excise seldom exceeded one per cent. _ad valorem_, it embraced whatever was sold by private contract, or in the markets by public auction, from the largest purchase of lands and houses, to those minute objects which have a value only from their infinite number and daily consumption. Against taxes of this description there were, as there have ever been in all countries, loud complaints on the part of the people; but when the emperor endeavoured to substitute for these obnoxious and vexatious imposts a new tax of five per cent. on all legacies and inheritances, the nobles of Rome, who were more tenacious of their property than of their freedom, were, in spite of their indignant murmurs, compelled to acquiesce in the imposition of a land tax.[304] [Sidenote: Bounties on the importation of corn, A.D. 14.] [Sidenote: A.D. 41.]