What would the Romans have made of the Budget?

Accounting systems have apparently existed since the Mesopotamian period (c. 5000 bc). But what about ‘budgets’?

Early Romans had no such concept because, in the absence of a welfare state, self-reliance was the order of the day. They did however pay an annual tax, fixed by the Senate and collected locally, to refund (for days lost on the farm) every Roman who was either fighting to defend Rome (and so his own property) or growing Roman power on campaign, conquering others for their land, their resources and their manpower.

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Alexander Larman

Beware the middle of Lidl

That is what they did from the late 3rd century bc onwards, conquering Carthage, its Spanish holdings, Sicily and the Greek world, and in the process bringing in wealth beyond the dreams of avarice from indemnities, booty and the gold and silver in Spanish mines. Most of this was either ploughed back into the military or vanished into the pockets of the elite.