Fiscus, from which comes the English term "fiscal", was the name of the personal chest of the emperors of Rome. The word is literally translated as "basket" or "purse" and was used to describe those forms of revenue collected from the provinces (specifically the imperial provinces), which were then granted to the emperor. Its existence pointed to the division of power in the early era of the Empire between the imperial court and the Senate. Origins Augustus divided Rome's territory between senatorial provinces, whose tributes ended up in the aerarium (the already existing state's chest), and imperial provinces, whose incomes ended up into the fiscus, the emperor's chest. Upon the latter chest fell the most burdensome costs, namely the ones for army and fleet, bureaucracy and grants to urban plebs (distribution of wheat or moneys). The imperial provinces, under Augustus'reform, were the provinces non pacatae (i.e., the border provinces) who Augustus had advocated under his direct administration. Those provinces, that later started to be called provinciae Caesaris, were entrusted to equites and agents of the emperor with the title of procuratores Augusti. Despite this separation, the emperor had the right to transfer moneys from the aerarium to the fiscus. Several historians believe that there were only ten senatorial provinces, that is one third of the total number of the imperial ones. This fact would prove that the fiscus were much richer and relevant than the aerarium already from its birth. Administration The head of the fiscus in the first years was the a rationibus, 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, any a rationibus hailed from the Equestrian Order (equites) and remained so through the 3rd century and into the age of Diocletian. Under the Flavian dynasty, a new official, rather than the a rationibus, was in charge of the fiscus, called procurator fisci (or procurator a rationibus Augusti). He had some tasks like drawing up a state's financial statement and forecasting empire's incomes and outcomes. He also managed the assets of the emperor (patrimonium principii), the army's expenditures, the allocation of wheat, the restoration of aqueducts, temples and streets. At last he had the crucial role of establishing the