- Urine tax
Urine Tax (
Latin : "vectigal urinae") was atax levied by the Roman emperorNero in the1st century upon the collection ofurine . The lower classes of Roman society urinated into pots which were emptied intocesspool s. The liquid was then collected from public latrines, where it served as the raw material for a number of chemical processes: it was used intanning , and also by Roman launderers as a source ofammonia to clean and whitenwool entoga s.The tax was eventually discontinued, but it was re-enacted by Nero's successor
Vespasian and applied to all public toilets. The Roman historians Suetonius andDio Cassius report that when Vespasian's sonTitus complained to him about the disgusting nature of the tax, his father held up a gold coin and told him, "Non olet!" ("It doesn't stink!"). This phrase is still used today to show that money is all equally filthy (or clean), regardless of its source. Vespasian's name still attaches to publicurinal s in France ("vespasiennes"), Italy ("vespasiani"), and Romania ("vespasiene").References
* Ivar Lissner, "Power and Folly: the story of the Caesars".
* Dio Cassius, lxvi, 14.
* Suetonius, "De Vita Caesarum--Divus Vespasianus"
* Dominique Laporte, "History of Shit"External links
* Translation of "De Vita Caesarum--Divus Vespasianus" [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/suetonius-vespasian.html]
* Translation of "History" by Dio Cassius [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/home.html]
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