When Nero committed suicide in ad 68, he left Rome deep in debt after military campaigns, building himself a fabulous ‘Golden House’, and the great fire of Rome (AD 64). His successor Vespasian, who fought his way to power in late ad 69, set to work at once.

A hard-working man of humble origins and simple tastes, Vespasian was well suited to the task: ‘He got up early, even when it was still dark, and read the letters and the official breviaria’ (‘reports’; Latin brevis, ‘brief’).

He sold off some imperial estates and nearly doubled provincial taxes, while extending Roman citizenship. He made himself censor, which gave him power to get the best deal from juicy revenue-raising options: leasing out public property, selling off the right to collect taxes in the provinces and letting out contracts for public works. He revoked tax immunities abroad and reclaimed public land in Italy.

He knew where to make the pips squeak. He promoted greedy provincial governors to encourage them to become even greedier and then hit them with charges for extortion. His ‘sponges’, they were called: ‘He put them in to soak, then squeezed them dry later.’ Romans indeed expected emperors to have a sense of humour. Vespasian ‘cracked jokes with the best of them and was happy to be on the receiving end as well. When anonymous graffiti commonly aimed at autocrats were posted vilifying him, he did not turn a hair and re-posted in kind.’

He was aware of the needs of the poor. He encouraged people to take over and rebuild ruined houses if the owner did not come forward. When an engineer offered to haul some huge columns uphill mechanically, Vespasian declined, saying: ‘I must always ensure the working classes earn enough to buy food.’ And he started work on the Colosseum too.

Perhaps his most striking revenue-raising ploy was to tax urine (used to clean woollens) from the city urinals. When his son Titus complained, Vespasian handed him a coin from the day’s proceeds and said ‘Does this smell bad, son?’ ‘No, father,’ said Titus. ‘Strange,’ said Vespasian, ‘it comes straight from the urinal!’ Money should not be just leaking away.

Do any of our lot show such inventiveness and determination?