IV. Under the Kf/yptian and Syrian Ihif/s the taxes paid by the Jews became yet heavier. The "farming" system of finance was adopted in its worst form. The Persian governors had been obliged to pay a fixed sum into the treasury. Now the taxes were put up to auc- tion. The contract sum for those of Phoenicia, Judsa, and Samaria had been estimated at about 8000 talents. An unscrupulous adventurer (e. g. Joseph, under Ptole- my Euergetes) would bid double tliat sum, and would then go down to the province, and by vi(jlence and cru- elty, like that of Turkish or Hindu collectors, squeeze out a large margin of profit for himself (Josephus, A7it. xii, 4, 1-5).
Under the Syrian kings we meet with an ingenious variety of taxation. Direct tribute ((pupoi), an excise duty on salt, crown-taxes {a-itpavoi, golden crowns, or their value, sent yearly to the king), one half the prod- uce of fruit-trees, one third that of corn land, a tax of some kind on cattle: these, as the heaviest burdens, are ostentatiously enumerated in the decrees of the two De- metriuses remitting them (I Mace, x, 29, 30; xi, 35). Even after this, however, the golden crown and scarlet robe continue to be sent (xiii, 39). The proposal of the apostate Jason to farm the revenues at a rate above the average (460 talents, while Jonathan [xi, 28] pays 300 only), and to pay 150 talents more for a license to open a circus (2 Mace, iv, 9), gives us a glim|)se of another source of revenue. The exemption given by Antiochus to the priests and other ministers, with the deduction of one third for all the residents in Jerusalem, was ap- parently only temporary (.Josephus, Anf. xii, 3, 3).
Y. Roman taxation, in its pressure, if not absolutely heavier, was probably more galling, as being more thor- ough and systematic, more distinctively a mark of bond- age. The capture of Jerusalem by Pompey was follow- ed immediately by the imposition of a tribute, and with- in a short time the sum thus taken from the resources of the country amounted to 10,000 talents (.losephus, A nt. xiv, 4, 4, 5). The decrees of Julius Casar showed a characteristic desire to lighten the burdens that pressed upon the subjects of the republic. The trilnite was not to be farmed. It was not to be levied at all in the sab- batic year. One fourth only was demanded in the year that followed (ibid, xiv, 10, 5, 6). The people, still un- der the government of Ilyrcanus, were thus [irotcctcd
against their own rulers. The struggle of the republi- can part)' after the death of the dictator brought fresh burdens u|)()n tlie whole of Syria, and Cassius levied not less than 700 talents from Jud;ea alone. Under Herod, as miglit be expected from his lavish expenditure in public buildings, the taxation became heavier. Even in years of famine a portion of the produce of the soil was seized for the royal revenue {ihid. xv, 9, 1), and it was not till the discontent of the people became formi- dable that he ostentatiously diminished this by one third {ibid. XV, 10, 4). It was no wonder that when Herod wished to foinid a new city in Trachonitis, and to at- tract a population of residents, he found that the most effective bait was to promise immunity from taxes (ibid. xvii, 2, 1), or that on his death the people should be loud in their demands that Archelaus should release them from their burdens, complaining specially of the duty levied on all sales (ihid. xvii, 8, 4).
When Jud»a became formally a Koman province, the whole financial system of the empire came as a natural consequence. The taxes were systematically farmed, and the publicans appeared as a new curse to the country. See Publican. The /)o?-to?e« were levied at harbors, piers, and the gates of cities. These were the TfXi] of Matt, xvii, 24; Rom. xiii, 7. In addition to this, there was the /o/i'ffoc, or poll-tax (Cod. D gives tTnKe(t>d\cuov in iMark xii, 15), paid by every Jew, and looked upon, for that reason, as tlie special badge of ser- vitude. It was about the lawfulness of this payment that the rabbins disputed, while they were content to acquiesce in the payment of the customs (Matt, xxii, 17; Mark xii, 13; Luke xx, 20). It was against this apparently thai the struggles of Judas of Galilee and his followers were chiefly directed (Josephus, Ant, xviii, 1, 6; War, ii, 8, 1). United with this, as part of the same system, there was also, in all probability, a prop- erty-tax of some kind. Quirinns. after the deposition of Archelaus, was sent to Syria to complete the work — begun, probably, at the time of our Lord's birth — of valuing and registering property, and this would hardly have been necessary for a mere poll-tax. See Cyrk- Nius. The influence of Joazar, the high-priest, led the people generally (the followers of Judas and the Phari- see Sadduc were the onlj' marked exceptions) to ac- quiesce in this measure and to make the required returns (^Ant. xviii, 1,1); but their discontent still con- tinued, and, under Tiberius, they applied for some alle- viation (Tacitus, A mi. ii, 42). In addition to these gen- eral taxes, the inhabitants of Jerusalem were subject to a special house-duty al)out tliis period ; Agrippa, in his desire to reward the good-will of the people, remitted it (Josephus, A nt. xix, 6, 3).