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De la mort des persécuteurs de l'église

XXIII.

Mais le cens[^12] que l'on exigea des villes et des provinces causa une désolation générale. Les commis étaient répandus partout, furetaient partout ; c'était l'image de la guerre et de la captivité. On mesurait les terres, on comptait les vignes et les arbres, on tenait registre des bêtes de toutes sortes d'espèces. Dans les villes, ou ne faisait point de distinction des bourgeois et des paysans; chacun accourait avec ses enfuis et ses esclaves.[^13] On n'entendait que les coups de fouet résonner. On forçait par la violence des supplices les enfants à déposer contre leurs pères, les esclaves contre leurs maîtres, les femmes contre leurs maris; et lorsque les autres preuves manquaient, on donnait là question aux maris, aux pères, aux maîtres, pour les faire déposer contre eux-mêmes ; et quand la douleur avait arraché quelque aveu de leurs bouches, il passait pour véritable. Ni l'âge ni la maladie ne servaient d'excuse; on apportait les malades et les languissants; on fixait l'âge, on donnait des années aux enfants, on en ôtait aux vieillards, tout était rempli de gémissements et de larmes. Le joug que par le droit de la guerre les anciens Romains imposaient aux peuples vaincus, Galérius l'imposa sur les Romains mêmes; peut-être à cause que Trajan avait puni par l'imposition du cens les fréquentes rébellions des Daces, dont Galérius était descendu. On payait encore une certaine taille par tête, et la liberté de respirer s'achetait à prix d'argent. Mais on ne se fiait pas toujours aux mêmes commissaires; on en envoyait de nouveaux pour faire de nouvelles découvertes; mais qu'ils en eussent fait ou non, ils doublaient toujours les taxes, pour montrer que l'on avait eu raison de les employer. Cependant les bêtes périssaient, les hommes mouraient; mais le fisc n'y perdait rien, on exigeait leurs taxes après leur mort. Ainsi l'on ne pouvait ni vivre ni mourir gratuitement. Les seuls mendiants, par le malheur de leur condition, étaient à couvert de ces violences. Mais ce scélérat voulut les rendre à l'égalité de persécution, et trouva un moyen de remédier à leur misère : il les faisait embarquer, et quand ils étaient en pleine mer, on les y jetait par son ordre. Voilà l'expédient que ce bon prince trouva pour bannir la pauvreté de son empire; afin que, sous prétexte de pauvreté, personne ne s'exemptât du cens, il fit périr une infinité de misérables.

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Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died

Chap. XXIII.

But that which gave rise to public and universal calamity, was the tax imposed at once on each province and city. Surveyors having been spread abroad, and occupied in a general and severe scrutiny, horrible scenes were exhibited, like the outrages of victorious enemies, and the wretched state of captives. Each spot of ground was measured, vines and fruit-trees numbered, lists taken of animals of every kind, and a capitation-roll made up. In cities, the common people, whether residing within or without the walls, were assembled, the market-places filled with crowds of families, all attended with their children and slaves, the noise of torture and scourges resounded, sons were hung on the rack to force discovery of the effects of their fathers, the most trusty slaves compelled by pain to bear witness against their masters, and wives to bear witness against their husbands, In default of all other evidence, men were tortured to speak against themselves; and no sooner did agony oblige them to acknowledge what they had not, but those imaginary effects were noted down in the lists. Neither youth, nor old age, nor sickness, afforded any exemption. The diseased and the infirm were carried in; the age of each was estimated; and, that the capitation-tax might be enlarged, years were added to the young and struck off from the old. General lamentation and sorrow prevailed. Whatever, by the laws of war, conquerors had done to the conquered, the like did this man presume to perpetrate against Romans and the subjects of Rome, because his forefathers had been made liable to a like tax imposed by the victorious Trajan, as a penalty on the Dacians for their frequent rebellions. After this, money was levied for each head, as if a price had been paid for liberty to exist; yet full trust was not reposed on the same set of surveyors, but others and others still were sent round to make further discoveries; and thus the tributes were redoubled, not because the new surveyors made any fresh discoveries, but because they added at pleasure to the former rates, lest they should seem to have been employed to no purpose. Meanwhile the number of animals decreased, and men died; nevertheless taxes were paid even for the dead, so that no one could either live or cease to live without being subject to impositions. There remained mendicants alone, from whom nothing could be exacted, and whom their misery and wretchedness secured from ill-treatment. But this pious man had compassion on them, and determining that they should remain no longer in indigence, he caused them all to be assembled, put on board vessels, and sunk in the sea. So merciful was he in making provision that under his administration no man should want! And thus, while he took effectual measures that none, under the reigned pretext of poverty, should elude the tax, he put to death a multitude of real wretches, in violation of every law of humanity.