Suetonius, Life of Domitian 12:2: The Jewish Tax and Hidden Jews

Suetonius (ca. 70-ca. 130), known for his biographies of the caesars, testifies to the Fiscus Judaicus, the Jewish tax that replaced the voluntary tax paid by Jews throughout the Roman Empire for the Temple. After the destruction, this tax was paid to the Roman imperial treasury.

Besides other taxes, that on the Jews was levied with the utmost rigor, and those were prosecuted who without publicly acknowledging that faith yet lived as Jews, as well as those who concealed their origin and did not pay the tribute levied upon their people. I recall being present in my youth when the person of a man ninety years old was examined before the procurator and a very crowded court, to see whether he was circumcised.

64. Trans. J. C. Rolfe, Suetonius II (Loeb Classical Library; Cambridge- Harvard University Press, 1979).