Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

186 7. government and administration
debts became private debts’. 99 The eastern empire achieved this stability, at
least until Justinian’s reign: the tax burden was heavy, but in most places for
most of the time it continued to be met and was probably even increased
during the seventh century in the provinces under Arab control. 100 By contrast,
the western empire suffered a spiralling financial crisis during the fifth
century as its fiscal base was drastically reduced, especially by the loss of
Africa, while special levies greatly increased the tax burden on surviving
territories. Constant warfare required money, and may also have facilitated
tax evasion: Ostrogothic Italy achieved a reputation for prosperity partly
because Theoderic did not indulge in regular major campaigning, but the
return to insecurity during and after the Justinianic reconquest ensured that
Italy in the late sixth century mirrored the state of Salvian’s Gaul: as the
inhabitants complained to Justin II and Sophia in 566/7, ‘It would be better
for the Romans to serve the Goths than the Greeks when the eunuch
Narses is a ruler who subjects us to slavery and our most pious prince does
not know it. Either deliver us from his hand or we and the Roman citizenry
will serve the barbarians.’ 101
After the provincial and administrative reforms of the tetrarchy, the
number of imperial employees engaged in administrative duties far
exceeded those of the early empire, when many tasks were handled centrally
by the imperial household and in the provinces by the curial élite and
by governors attended by their small staffs. 102 Thus the official salary bill
will have grown substantially, though whether the overall cost of administration
had grown in proportion is a much harder question to answer, since
the hidden costs of maintaining the imperial household and the whole
curial class during the principate cannot be quantified. A few figures are
available for the size and salary costs of late Roman offices. When Justinian
reconstituted the office of the praetorian prefect of Africa, he was allocated
396 staff, of whom three-quarters were paid at the modest level of an
ordinary soldier (nine solidi per year); admittedly, this office will have been
smaller than the other prefectures, but the pay scale is likely to have been
representative. 103 A standard size for the staff of provincial governors was
100, with average rates of pay substantially lower, at a ‘miserable’
three–four solidi, than for the more privileged praetorian staff. 104 Such levels
of pay meant that staff depended heavily for their overall income on the
fees and perquisites to which their positions gave them access, so that, in
certain respects, those who made use of the imperial administration had to
pay for the privilege of doing so. Whereas it might seem reasonable for
those with judicial business to have to contribute to the costs of their
99 Basil, Letter 104; C.Th. xi.28.10; cf. Amm. Marc. xvi.5.14–15; xvi.2.10 on Julian’s financial administration
in Gaul. 100 Reinink (1988); Drijvers (1992) 204–8. 101 Lib. Pont. John III.
102 For an estimate of numbers, see Heather (1994) 18–20.
103 Jones, LRE 590–1; Hendy Studies 164–73. 104 Jones, LRE 592–4.
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