AERĀRĬUM

( τὸ δημόσιον ), the public treasury at Rome, and hence the public money itself. After the banishment of the kings the temple of Saturn was employed as the place for keeping the public money, and it continued to be so used till the later times of the empire. Besides the public money and the accounts connected with it, various other things were preserved in the treasury; of these the most important were:—1. The standards of the legions. 2. The various laws pa ed from time to time, engraven on brazen tables. 3. The decrees of the senate, which were entered there in books kept for the purpose, though the original documents were preserved in the temple of Ceres under the custody of the aediles. 4. Various other public documents, the reports and despatches of all generals and governors of provinces, the names of all foreign amba adors that came to Rome, . Under the republic the aerarium was divided into two parts: the common treasury, in which were deposited the regular taxes, and from which were taken the sums of money needed for the ordinary expenditure of the state; and the sacred treasury ( aerarium sanctum or sanctius ), which was never touched except in cases of extreme peril. Both of these treasuries were in the temple of Saturn, but in distinct parts of the temple. The produce of a tax of five per cent. ( vicesima ) upon the value of every manumitted slave, called aurum vicesimarium , was paid into the sacred treasury, as well as a portion of the immense wealth obtained by the Romans in their conquests in the East. Under August us the provinces and the administration of the government were divided between the senate, as the representative of the old Roman people, and the Caesar: all the property of the former continued to be called aerarium , and that of the latter received the name of fisc us . August us also established a third treasury, to provide for the pay and support of the army, and this received the name of aerarium mil it are . He also imposed several new taxes to be paid into this aerarium. In the time of the republic, the entire management of the revenues of the state belonged to the senate; and under the superintendence and control of the senate the quaestors had the charge of the aerarium. In B.C. 28, August us deprived the quaestors of the charge of the treasury and gave it to two praefects, whom he allowed the senate to choose from among the praetors at the end of their year of office. Various other changes were made with respect to the charge of the aerarium, but it was eventually entrusted, in the reign of Trajan, to praefects, who appear to have held their office for two years.