CONVEYANCE OF MONEY CHAP. VIII. 



from the capital, such as Lusitania and Asturia 

 on the one hand, and of Media on the other, 

 are so distant, that a space of one hundred days 

 would be required for a horse to accomplish a 

 journey from them to* Rome. Other provinces 

 are certainly much nearer ; but even from Thrace 

 or Illyricum the treasure would not arrive in 

 less than thirty days. If the average number of 

 days requisite be estimated at forty, the horses 

 employed in this single labour of transmitting 

 silver money to the seat of government must 

 have reached a number very far exceeding the 

 whole cavalry force of the empire ! 



We may then safely conclude that the money 

 collected as tribute in the provinces was not 

 remitted to Rome; but whatever the amount of 

 it might be, the greater part was expended in 

 the several provincial governments, and was thus 

 dispersed in the possession of individuals, creat- 

 ing a capital in money, increased by reproduc- 

 tion, so as to form a source from which future 

 imposts, or, as it would be called, tribute, might 

 be regularly extracted. A constant drain upon 

 the provinces would naturally destroy their pro- 

 ductiveness ; but we know that under the first 

 Roman emperors many of the provinces had 

 advanced to a flourishing condition. Africa with 

 Carthage had so far retrieved their circum- 

 stances as to present almost the picture of their 

 pristine power and magnificence. Gaul and 



