Note 1885 — Chapter X · THE PRINCIPATE (continued 2)

For the meaning of the word—the great basket in which money was kept in the state treasuries—see Mommsen Staatsr. ii. p. 998 n. 1. At the beginning of the Principate there were, perhaps, fisci rather than a fiscus (cf. Suet. Aug. 101), although there must always have been a central controlling department.