Like a Roman proconsul, he was to pay himself out of the pockets of his subjects; and, like that class of persons, he took care to pay himself highly.

It has been calculated that one satrap of Babylon drew from his province annually in actual coin a sum equal to L100,000.

of our money.

We can scarcely doubt that the claims made by the provincial governors were, on the average, at least equal to those of the crown; and they had the disadvantage of being irregular, uncertain, and purely arbitrary.
Thus, what was gained by the new system was not so much the relief of the subject from uncertain taxation as the advantage to the crown of knowing beforehand what the revenue would be, and being able to regulate its expenditure accordingly.

Still a certain amount of benefit did undoubtedly accrue to the provincials from the system; since it gave them the crown for their protector.