Chapter XXVIII
Since the death of the last Theodosian, Flavius Iulius Marcianus was the first Augustus of the west to enjoy a smooth succession. The first years of his reign didn’t see any particular threat to his rule and Marcianus knew that he had to thank his father for this situation. He was the first emperor who didn’t have to impose his authority to the provinces by force. The fact that the number of provinces had decreased during the second half of the previous century certainly favoured this.Yet the empire still suffered from several problems, old and new. But before dealing with these problems, Marcianus had to enact an additional measure that he deemed necessary for Gaul. Cities like Tolosa or Arelate were granted two years of tax exemption, in order to allow a quick recovery from the last war and more importantly to win the support of the inhabitants, as some of them had actively collaborated with the goths while others resented the imperial decision of imposing military units inside the cities.
Back to Italy the emperor took some time to think about how he should spend the gothic treasure that had so generously filled the imperial coffers. Part of that treasure had already been spent in order to finance the celebrations in Rome, the gift to the inhabitants of Mediolanum and the new administration in Gaul ( that required money in order to enforce the recent laws, in particular those that involved the recovery/distribution of lands) but Marcianus had something more in mind. Not related to the necessities of the empire was the construction of a new Mausoleum for his family, just outside the city of Rome, where the land for the location was slightly more cheaper, thus allowing to spend more on the monument. This new Mausoleum was built along the Ostiensis way, not only for the amount of land available along the road but also for another reason: the first time that Nepos conquered the throne, it happened after his landing in Ostia in 474 and his march to Rome that took place along the Ostiensis way. In was there that his family had conquered the empire, and it was there that his family should rest.
His father would be the first to enjoy the eternal rest inside the building, quickly joined by the already deceased son of emperor Procopius Anthemius, Romulus ( who had died in 504 AD) and Anthemiolus, who had died about 30 years earlier in Gaul and until that moment was buried in the city of Arelate. Nepos’ uncle, Marcellinus, remained in the city of Salona, after a delegation from the inhabitants reached the emperor with the request to allow the deceased Magister Militum to rest in the city, where the inhabitants now considered him their protector. Thanks to the piety of a Roman priest, the unburied body of Procopius Anthemius, the man considered the founder of this new dynasty, had been preserved and recovered. Ricimer’s act of impiety had finally ceased its effects, after almost 40 years. With the final addition of Marcia Euphemia, the imperial mausoleum now housed the entire “Procopian” dynasty, the successor of the Theodosians and now their political heirs.
After all these expenses, Marcianus still had resources available for more useful projects: he resumed his father’s policy of increasing the proportion of money used for the payment of the army, thus reducing the use of goods for this purpose. This change aimed at improving the economic condition of the Roman soldier while making such position more desirable. However the frontier units of the Limitanei were not affected by this measure. Additionally he implemented another measure that took inspiration from a decree of the eastern Roman emperor, concerning the payment of taxes by the landowners. With some exceptions for certain categories like the Beneficiarii and certain provinces like Raetia and Noricum, the landowners of the empire from now on would be required to pay their taxes in money rather than in goods. These two measure had one precise purpose: the return of the western empire to an economy based on a proper currency rather than continuing with the use of the products of the land for the upkeep of the army and the bureaucracy . The empire had lost almost every province, but what was left was one of the richest land of the Mediterranean, deemed by the emperor as able to sustain this change. Certainly this measure would not be gladly accepted by the ones affected by it, but the emperor finally had the means to impose once again his will upon the inhabitants of the empire. And with an army that was directly and positively affected by the emperor’s will, there wasn’t much that his opponents could do against him, lest they wished to risk their assets and maybe their own lives. Still after these measures, the emperor could count on a substantial part of the gothic treasure, however Marcianus didn’t undertake further expensive projects, except minor reparations of the city’s infrastructures and a partial embellishment of the imperial palace. What was left was spared for future projects or necessities, since Marcianus adopted Anastasius’ attitude toward the economy, in an attempt to increase the resources available to him and so the options available to the empire.
