is a Latin saying that means "money does not stink". The phrase is ascribed to the Roman emperor

Vespasian Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Emp ...

(ruled AD 69–79).

History

A tax on the disposal of urine was first imposed by

Emperor Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...

under the name of in the 1st century AD. The tax was removed after a while, but it was re-enacted by

around 70 AD in order to fill the treasury.

imposed a urine tax on the distribution of urine from Rome's public

urinal A urinal (, ) is a sanitary plumbing fixture for urination only. Urinals are often provided in public toilets for male users in Western countries (less so in Muslim countries). They are usually used in a standing position. Urinals can be wit ...

s (the Roman lower classes urinated into pots, which were later emptied into cesspools). The urine collected from these public urinals was sold as an ingredient for several chemical processes. It was used in

tanning Tanning may refer to: * Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather * Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun **Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye ...

, wool production, and also by launderers as a source of

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous w ...

to clean and whiten

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. A ...

len

toga The toga (, ), a distinctive garment of ancient Rome, was a roughly semicircular cloth, between in length, draped over the shoulders and around the body. It was usually woven from white wool, and was worn over a tunic. In Roman historical tra ...

s. The buyers of the urine paid the tax. The Roman historian

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is a set of biographi ...

reports A report is a document that presents information in an organized format for a specific audience and purpose. Although summaries of reports may be delivered orally, complete reports are almost always in the form of written documents. Usage In ...

that when Vespasian's son

Titus Titus Caesar Vespasianus ( ; 30 December 39 – 13 September 81 AD) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death. Before becoming emperor, Titus gained renown as a mi ...

complained about the disgusting nature of the tax, his father held up a gold coin and asked whether he felt offended by its smell (). When Titus said "No", Vespasian replied, "Yet it comes from urine" (). The phrase is still used today to say that the value of money is not tainted by its origins. Vespasian's name still attaches to public urinals in Italy () and France ().

In literature

"Vespasian's axiom" is also referred to in passing in the Balzac short story '' Sarrasine'' in connection with the mysterious origins of the wealth of a

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

ian family. The proverb receives some attention in

Roland Barthes Roland Gérard Barthes (; ; 12 November 1915 – 26 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western popular ...

's detailed analysis of the Balzac story in his critical study '' S/Z''. It is possible that

F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...

alludes to Vespasian's jest in ''

The Great Gatsby ''The Great Gatsby'' is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby ...

'' with the phrase "non-olfactory money". In ''

That Hideous Strength ''That Hideous Strength: A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups'' is a 1945 novel by C. S. Lewis, the final book in Lewis's theological science fiction Space Trilogy. The events of this novel follow those of '' Out of the Silent Planet'' and ''Per ...

'' by

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University ( Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Unive ...

, the Warden of Bracton College is given the nickname "Non-Olet" for having written "a monumental report on National Sanitation. The subject had, if anything, rather recommended him to the Progressive Element. They regarded it as a slap in the face for the dilettanti and Die-hards, who replied by christening their new Warden Non-Olet."''That Hideous Strength'', p. 32 (paperback p. 34)
/ref> In the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel ''

All The King's Men ''All the King's Men'' is a 1946 novel by Robert Penn Warren. The novel tells the story of charismatic populist governor Willie Stark and his political machinations in the Depression-era Deep South. It was inspired by the real-life story of U.S. ...

'', by

Robert Penn Warren Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989) was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the lite ...

(1946), protagonist Jack Burden muses that perhaps Vespasian had been right. At the time, Jack is beset with doubts about the source of his inheritance. In ''

London Fields London Fields is a park in Hackney, London, although the name also refers to the immediate area in Hackney surrounding it and London Fields station. It is common land adjoining the Hackney Central area of the London Borough of Hackney. The ...

'' by

Martin Amis Martin Louis Amis (born 25 August 1949) is a British novelist, essayist, memoirist, and screenwriter. He is best known for his novels '' Money'' (1984) and ''London Fields'' (1989). He received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his memoir ' ...

, while smelling a wad of used £50 notes, foil Guy Clinch observes, " was dead wrong. ." In '' The Surgeon's Mate'' by

Patrick O'Brian Patrick O'Brian, CBE (12 December 1914 – 2 January 2000), born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of sea novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, and c ...

, when

James Saumarez, 1st Baron de Saumarez Admiral of the Red James Saumarez, 1st Baron de Saumarez (or Sausmarez), GCB (11 March 1757 – 9 October 1836) was an admiral of the British Royal Navy, known for his victory at the Second Battle of Algeciras. Early life Saumarez was bo ...

is speaking of "glory to be picked up in the Baltic ... and in any case, who cares about filthy lucre?", one of the assembled captains murmurs "". In '' Tono-Bungay'' by

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

References

Sources

* Lissner, Ivar. ''Power and Folly: the story of the Caesars'' * Suetonius. ''De Vita Caesarum--Divus Vespasianus'' * Laporte, Dominique. '' History of Shit''

External links

Translation of ''De vita Caesarum—Divus Vespasianus''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pecunia Non Olent Economy of ancient Rome Urine Latin words and phrases History of taxation Vespasian