to the fiscus. The fiscus actually took shape after the reign of Augustus and Tiberius. It began as a private fund (fiscus meaning purse or basket) but grew to include all imperial monies, not only the private estates but also all public lands and finances under the imperial eye. The property of the rulers grew to such an extent that changes had to be made starting sometime in the 3rd century, most certainly under Septimius Severus. Henceforth, the imperial treasury was divided. The fiscus was retained to handle actual government revenue, while a patrimonium was created to hold the private fortune, which was inherited by the Emperors successor. There is a considerable question as to the exact nature of this evaluation, involving possibly a res privata so common in the Late Empire. Just as the Senate had its own finance officers, so did the emperors. The head of the fiscus in the first years was the rationalis, originally a freedman due to Augustus' desire to place the office in the hands of a servant free of the class demands of the traditional society. In succeeding years the corruption and reputation of the freedman forced new and more reliable administrators. From the time of Hadrian (117–138), any rationalis hailed from the Equestrian Order (equites) and remained so through the chaos of the 3rd century and into the age of Diocletian. With Diocletian came a series of massive reforms, and total control over the finances of the Empire fell to the now stronger central government. Tax reforms made possible a real budget in the modern sense for the first time. Previously it had issued the tax demands to the cities and allowed them to allocate the burden. From now on the imperial government driven by fiscal needs dictated the entire process down to the civic level. Under Constantine the Great this aggrandizement continued with the emergence of an appointed minister of finance, the comes sacrarum largitionum ("Count of the Sacred Largesses"). He maintained the general treasury and the intake of all revenue until Constantine divided the treasury into three, giving the prefect, count, and the manager of the res privata their own treasuries. The treasury of the prefect was called the arca. His powers were directed toward control of the new sacrum aerarium, the result of the combination of the aerarium and the fiscus. The comes sacrarum largitionum was a figure of