论罗马帝国的元首私库

与古代世界其他国家不同,罗马帝国的财政体系分为国库和元首私库两种。前者属于国有,元首不能继承;后者为私有,元首可以继承。作为罗马帝国元首制的经济基础,元首私库在奥古斯都创立之后,随着元首对它不断进行扩充,其财力日益强大,而国库则逐渐衰落。从弗拉维王朝时期起,随着国家财经大权悉归元首,国库和元首私库的差别不断缩小,到公元3世纪时二者差别消失。

On the Fiscus of the Roman Empire

Different from other countries in the ancient times,the financial system of the Roman Empire was divided into the aerarium saturni and the fiscus.The former,as it belonged to the country,could not be inherited by the emperors,while the latter was private and could be inherited.Being the economic basis of the Principate of Roman Empire,the fiscus,after its establishment by Augustus,began to be financially strong with the continuous expansion by different emperors.On the contrary,the aerarium saturni was gradually weakened.From the Flavian Dynasty on,with the financial power of the country turning into the hand of the emperor,the distinction between the aerarium saturni and the fiscus became less and less.In the 3rd century,the difference between the two disappeared.