Chrysargyrum

Chrysargyrum

( Χρυσάργυρον ), a tax on trade and commerce under the later Roman emperors, so called because paid in gold and silver; and also Tribuium Lustrale, because paid once in every five years (Lustrum ) . Even the poorest tradesmen were not exempt from it; and it was called an intolerable tax ( Φόρος Ἀφόρητος , Libanius, Orat. 14, cont. Florent.). Yet Constantius freed the lower clergy, who gained their bread by trade or labor, from this tax; and later emperors confirmed the exemption. — Bingham, Orig. Eccles. bk. 5, ch. 3, § 6.