Explanation: At the start of the Roman Empire, the first Emperor, Augustus, implemented a tax (or rather, liability to additional taxation) on Roman citizens who were single instead of DOING THEIR DUTY TO THE REPUBLIC and finding someone to BREED MORE CITIZENS WITH!
The law endured past his reign, but was never really all that effective or rigorously enforced, lmao.
Funny enough, this was a somewhat serious position for the first 200-300 years of the Roman Empire. The Emperor was not a special person, just an official, like any other! Theoretically, the Republic still existed and functioned…
… but practically, the position the Emperors held neutered most of the power of the other institutions of the Republic. Each Emperor held not just one office, but many offices which were supposed to be held by different people, as well as some formidable sounding honorary titles (Father of the Fatherland, First Citizen, First Amongst Equals). It would be like someone claiming to be president, 6 out of 7 Supreme Court justices, the Speaker of the national legislature, and governor of half the regions of the country. At some point, even if your power is not theoretically unlimited, you become politically unopposable.
In addition, the Emperors each held a vast semi-personal estate (which benefitted from legal prohibitions on some forms of competition) that passed from Emperor-to-Emperor which made up a substantial portion of the Empire’s budget. Nothing like puppeteering politics by the purse strings…
Still, the Romans did initially take the distinction somewhat seriously, and numerous Emperors would exhort the troops or the crowds in the name of the Res Publica they all shared! And it was considered a mark of a good Emperor to continue to act like a common citizen, given power in the name of the PEOPLE of Rome! Anything more ostentatious, after all, would be an abuse of that good, honest, REPUBLICAN power!
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Explanation: At the start of the Roman Empire, the first Emperor, Augustus, implemented a tax (or rather, liability to additional taxation) on Roman citizens who were single instead of DOING THEIR DUTY TO THE REPUBLIC and finding someone to BREED MORE CITIZENS WITH!
The law endured past his reign, but was never really all that effective or rigorously enforced, lmao.
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Please! He’s just the First Citizen!
Funny enough, this was a somewhat serious position for the first 200-300 years of the Roman Empire. The Emperor was not a special person, just an official, like any other! Theoretically, the Republic still existed and functioned…
… but practically, the position the Emperors held neutered most of the power of the other institutions of the Republic. Each Emperor held not just one office, but many offices which were supposed to be held by different people, as well as some formidable sounding honorary titles (Father of the Fatherland, First Citizen, First Amongst Equals). It would be like someone claiming to be president, 6 out of 7 Supreme Court justices, the Speaker of the national legislature, and governor of half the regions of the country. At some point, even if your power is not theoretically unlimited, you become politically unopposable.
In addition, the Emperors each held a vast semi-personal estate (which benefitted from legal prohibitions on some forms of competition) that passed from Emperor-to-Emperor which made up a substantial portion of the Empire’s budget. Nothing like puppeteering politics by the purse strings…
Still, the Romans did initially take the distinction somewhat seriously, and numerous Emperors would exhort the troops or the crowds in the name of the Res Publica they all shared! And it was considered a mark of a good Emperor to continue to act like a common citizen, given power in the name of the PEOPLE of Rome! Anything more ostentatious, after all, would be an abuse of that good, honest, REPUBLICAN power!