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XXVI [XI]

Pro Rosiano Gemino

C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Rosianum Geminum, domine, artissimo vinculo mecum tua I in me beneficia iunxerunt. Habui enim illum quaestorem in consulatu; mei sum observantissimum expertus. Tantam mihi post consulatum reverentiam praestat et publicae necessitudinis 3 summe, Avant. and Ald.

§ 1. Your kindness, sire, has united Rosianus Geminus to me by the closest bonds. As quaestor he was most respectful to me in my consulship: and he has since then tightened our public connection by private acts of friendship. § 2. I beg therefore that you will, in answer to my request grant him your special favour. I am more sparing in my praise of him because I feel sure that you are well acquainted with his honesty and zeal, both from the offices he has held in the city, and from the campaigns in which he has served under you. 3. I fear that my recommendation is inadequate to my affection for him, but I again beseech you by advancing my quaestor to increase my dignity in his person.

His full

§ I. Rosianum Geminum. title is given Wilm. 1174 and 1175 T. Prifernius Sex. fil. Paetus Rosianus Geminus, where he is mentioned as one of the patroni lenunculariorum Ostiensium (boatmen of Ostia); see also Wilm. 1180.

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tores urbani twelve were the provincial quaestores, and the remaining four were the consular or Italian quaestores. Previous to 38 B. C. the consuls had had one quaestor each, but Dio Cassius 48, 43, says “ ἐπὶ δ ̓ ̓Αππίου τε Κλαυδίου καὶ Γαϊοὺ Νωρβάνου ὑπάτων, οἷς πρώτοις δύο ἑκατέροις ταμιεῖαι συνεγένοντο κ.τ.λ. While the provincial quaestors were assigned to their provinces by sortitio Vell. Paterc. 2, III; Dio Cass. 53, 28, the consuls had the right of selecting theirs for themselves. See Plin. Ep. iv 15, 'optamus enim tibi (i.e., Fundanus) ominamurque in proximum annum consulatum . concurrit autem ut sit eodem anno quaestor, maximus ex liberis Rufi. . . hoc solum dico, dignum esse iuvenem quem more maiorum in filii locum adsumas.' For consular quaestors see also Tac. Ann. xvi 34, quaestor consulis,' and Plin. Ep. viii 23 5, qua modestia quaestor consulibus suis (et plures habuit). As in some respects the consuls were in Italy what the proconsuls were in the provinces, their quaestors had certain functions in the administration of Italy. They were at one time stationed (1) at Cales, Tac. Ann.

iv vincia vetere ex more Cales evenerant : (2) at Ostia, Vell. Paterc. 2, 94, Suet. Claud. 24, (3) in Padane Gaul, Suet. 1. c. 'Collegio quaestorum pro stratura viarum gladiatorum munus iniunxit, et detracta Ostiensi et Gallica provincia, curam aerarii Saturni reddidit.' Plut. Sert. 4 “ταμιάς ἀποδείκνυται τῆς περὶ Iládov Taλarías;' (4) possibly at Lilybaeum. See also Dio Cass. 35, 4, 'of Augustus ‘καὶ ταμίας ἐν τε τῇ παραλίᾳ τῇ τρὸς τῇ πόλει καὶ ἐν ἑτέροις τισὶ τῆς Ἰταλίας χωρίοις ἄρχειν ἐποίησε. Their Italian administration was put an end to by Claudius, Suet. Claud. 24, and Dio

27 'Curtius Lupus quaestor, cui pro

2 pignera privatis cumulat officiis. Rogo ergo ut ipse apud te pro dignitate eius precibus meis faveas, cui et, si quid mihi credis, indulgentiam tuam dabis. Dabit ipse operam ut in iis quae ei mandaveris maiora mereatur. Parciorem me in laudando facit quod spero tibi et integritatem eius et probitatem et industriam non solum ex eius honoribus, quos in urbe sub oculis tuis gessit, 3 verum etiam ex commilitio esse notissimam. Illud unum, quod propter caritatem eius nondum mihi videor satis plene fecisse, etiam atque etiam facio teque, domine, rogo gaudere me exornata quaestoris mei dignitate, id est per illum mea, quam maturissime velis.

10 meum B. and Ald.

Cass 60, 24 ‘τοῖς μὲν οὖν ταμιείαις τὴν διοίκησιν ἀντὶ τῶν ἀρχῶν τῶν ἐν τῇ Ἰταλίᾳ ἔξω τῆς πόλεως ἀντέδωκε, and since that time they seem to have assisted the consuls in the urban business. The quaestors were always regarded as in a semi-filial relation to their consuls or proconsuls, see Plin. Ep. iv 15, quoted above, and Cic. ad fam. xiii 10' hanc quaestura coniunctionem liberorum necessitudini proximam esse.'

tantam=tantamdem, quite as much. privatis cumulat officiis. Pliny's letters show that they were on intimate terms. Geminus tells Pliny that his books are sold in Lugdunum, somewhat to his surprise bibliopolas Lugduni esse non putabam' Ep. ix II.

§2. ut ipse apud te... indulgentiam tuam dabis. There are several difficulties in this passage, and probably the reading may be partly corrupt. Apud te' and 'cui et' are especially hard to explain. Döring supposes a strong antithesis between 'ipse apud te precibus meis faveas' and 'cui et indulgentiam tuam dabis,' the former being a request for Trajan's good opinion of Rosianus, the latter for some positive promotion, the 'et' having a heightening force. But 'ipse apud te' is a very awkward expression for 'in your own mind' and the 'preces' are certainly not for Trajan's good opinion, but for his 'indulgentia'; 'pro dignitate' again does not mean as his worth deserves,' but 'in a manner commensurate with his station.' Precibus meis faveas, and indulgentiam tuam dare, must be taken as synonymous expressions, the latter serving somewhat clearly to define the former. I should prefer to take 'ipse apud te' as by your personal intervention'; the 'et' I should

join to 'tuam'; and translate 'I beg you therefore personally to attend to my petition, and if you attach any weight to my recommendation, you will also grant him the favour as your own.'

ut maiora mereatur to deserve still higher promotion.

...

ex eius honoribus, quos in urbe gessit. Rosianus was quaestor 100-101; he would then be either tribune or aedile, in either case after a full year's interval; he may also possibly have been praetor during the interval before the date of this letter, and Pliny may be asking for some praetorian appointment for him such as 'legatio legionis.'

verum etiam ex commilitio. Mommsen supposes that Rosianus was tribunus militum in the Dacian wars; but the military tribuneship was held before and not after the quaestorship, cf. the case of Trajan himself and Pliny. See also Plin. Ep. vi 31, 4, and therefore it seems best to refer the commilitium to Trajan's command in Upper Germany. Or Rosianus may have served in the Dacian wars as praefect of an auxiliary cohort.

3. illud unum, explained by rogo. propter caritatem eius qualifies nondum videor.

etiam atque etiam, not 'again and again,' but 'most urgently;' cf. Cic. Verr. ii 5, 72, 'haec quamquam nihilo meliora sunt nunc etiam atque etiam multo desperatiora,' and Lucret. I, 295, quare etiam atque etiam sunt venti corpora caeca.'

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XXVII [XXXVI]

De militibus Maximo procuratori adsignandis

C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Maximus, libertus et procurator tuus, domine, praeter decem beneficiarios, quos adsignari a me Gemellino, optimo viro, iussisti, sibi quoque confirmat necessarios esse milites sex. Tres interim, sicut inveneram, in ministerio eius relinquendos ex

4 Ex his interim sicut inveneram, B. and Ald.

Your procurator Maximus declares that in addition to the ten beneficiarii, whom by your orders I assigned to Gemellinus, he also must have six. Meanwhile I have left the three he already had in his service, especially as he is going to procure corn in Paphlagonia. Indeed I have added two horsemen as an escort. I beg you to send out word what your wishes are for the future.

Maximus. M. Ulpius Maximus was sub-procurator to Gemellinus; see Ep. 28; he is mentioned Ep. 89.

libertus. The more important procurators were usually taken from the equestrian order, but the inferior and less important posts were filled by freedmen ; see Friedländer, vol. i p, 98.

procurator tuus. One class of pro

curators was concerned with the collection and settlement of all money paid into the fiscus, both in the imperial and senatorial provinces; cf. Tac. Ann. iv 6; res suas Caesar spectatissimo cuique, quibusdam ignotis ex fama mandabat; cf. also Tac. Ann. xiii 1, 'Ministri fuere P. Celer, eques Romanus, et Helius libertus, rei familiari principis in Asia impositi.' Of procurators in senatorial provinces we have examples in Tac. Ann. iv 15, 'procurator Asiae,' Tac. Hist. iv 50; 'Baebius Massa e procuratoribus Africae.' Orell. 3570, proc. prov. Baeticae. Henz. 5456 proc. prov. Narbonensis Orell. 485, proc. Ciliciae, etc., etc. In Bithynia there was a procurator since the province became senatorial, in 27 B.C., to manage the royal domains which had passed into the emperor's possession. See Dio Cass. 50, 33, and Tac. Ann. xii 21, for Iunius Cilo, who was for four years procurator Bithyniae, or as Tacitus says, 'proc. Ponti.' Other procurators of the pro

The reading in the text is Mommsen's conjecture.

vince are C. Iulius Aquila under Nero, C. I. Gr. 3743. L. Antonius Naso under Vespasian Eckhel 11. 404 and Terentius Maximus under Domitian Plin. ad Trai. 58. After Bithynia became an imperial province (see Introd.) there were several procurators in the province; (1) the procurator Ponti et Bithyniae who took the place of the proconsul's quaestor; (2) a procurator of the emperor's estates. Henz. 5530, proc. tam patrimonii quam rationum privatarum;' (3) a proc. ad vectig. xx hered. per Pontum et Bithyniam,' i.e. of the vicesima hereditatum; (4) a proc. xx lib. C. I. L. iii 249 (vicesima libertatis); and (5) a procurator for the import duty of 24 per cent. Henz. 5530. Pliny had at least three procurators under him, Gemellinus, Maximus, his adjutor, and Epimachus; see Ep. 84. These 'procuratores rei privatae,' etc., must be distinguished from (1) the procurators who had the sole financial administration of the imperial provinces and who on occcasions even had some military power, Tac. Ann. iv 32; and (2) those procurators who were placed by the emperors over the smaller imperial provinces which had no legions quartered in them, such as Judaea, Thrace, etc., see Tac. Hist. i 11; 'duae Mauretaniae, Raetia, Noricum, Thracia, et quae aliae procuratoribus cohibentur,' Ann. xv 44. See Mommsen Staatsrecht ii 235; Marquadt Staatsverw i p. 555.

beneficiarios. See supra on Ep. 21. Gemellino. Virdius Gemellinus was a procurator of Bithynia; see infra, Ep. 28 and 84.

optimo viro. Gemellinus was probably not a freedman, as is also implied in Ep. 84, adhibitis Virdio Gemellino et Epimacho liberto meo procuratoribus.

istimavi, praesertim cum ad frumentum comparandum iret Quin etiam tutelae causa, quia ita desideraIn futurum quid servari velis rogo

in Paphlagoniam.

bat, addidi duos equites.

rescribas.

necessarios esse milites sex. Tres interim sicut inveneram. This is Mommsen's emendation for the reading of the Aldine ed., 'milites, ex his interim sicut inveneram?' Keil supposes that a numeral has dropped out both after milites and after interim; but 'ex his' would still be very awkward, and may well represent 'sex. tris' of the M.S. The previous arrangement, therefore, had been that Gemellinus had ten soldiers, and Maximus three, which Pliny, awaiting Trajan's instructions made up to five from his own cohorts. After Trajan's rescript in Ep. 28, 'cum ad pristinum actum reversus fuerit,' he was to keep the duo equites,' and to have two of the ten soldiers of Gemellinus, while the other three which Maximus had had when Pliny arrived were restored to their headquarters.

ad frumentum comparandum. Trajan had from the very beginning of his reign laid special stress on facilitating the corn trade throughout the empire. He established corn factories in various places; and thus guarded against the possibility of famine, not only in Rome, but in every part of the empire, Plin. Panegyr. 29 Instar ego perpetui congiarii reor affluentiam annonae;' so that Egypt itself was on one occasion assisted by the capital, Panegyr. 30. The magistrate who had the supreme direction of the corn supply of Rome was the 'praefectus annonae; Tac. Ann. i. 7, 13, 22. See Wilm. 691, 1271, 1252, 641, etc. He was the representative of the emperor, and it was his special duty to provide the Roman market with corn, and in later times with the necessaries of life, Henz. 6522; adiutori Ulpii Saturnini praef. annon. ad oleum Afrum et Hispanum recensendum,' etc. The praefectus had agents and assistants in the various provinces, see Orell. 3655, 6 procurator Augg. ad annonam provinciae Narbonen

sis et Liguriae,' and Henz. 6522 quoted above. Wilm. 1063. In many of the provinces, however, and especially those which were not especially corn - growing countries, the governors themselves had to attend to the corn-supply both for their own armies, the provincials, and Rome. Thus Orell. 750 'we hear of Ti. Plautius Silvanus leg. Aug. prov. Moesiae,' that he 'primus ex ea provincia magno tritici modo populum Romanum adlevavit'; and similarly here Pliny sends one of his procurators to collect corn from Paphlagonia. All payments for corn to supply the capital or the army were made from the fiscus; Plin. Panegyr. 29, 'Emit fiscus quidquid videtur emere, inde copiae, inde annona.' For the abuses and oppression in connection with the exaction of corn in the provinces, see Cic. Verr. iii 82; Tac. Agric. 19.

in Paphlagoniam. Paphlagonia was originally a district intermediate between Bithynia and Pontus. It was bounded on the north by the Euxine, on the south by the mountain-chain of Olgassys, on the east by the Halys, and on the west by the Parthenius. After the conquest of Mithridates, Pompeius joined the seacoast of Paphlagonia to the new province of Pontus, while the interior of the country he gave back to native dynasts, Strabo. xii p. 541. The strip of coast land belonged permanently to PontusBithynia, but the interior was, during the first century, made a part of Galatia; see Henz. 6912 and Marquadt i p. 358. Paphlagonia was generally a mountainous district, and it was only in the plains along the coast, i.e. in the part belonging to Bithynia, and so under Pliny's command, that any corn was grown. Amastris, Aboniteichos and Sinope (see Ep. 98, 99, 90, 91) were all in the coast-strip of Paphlagonia.

duos equites. See supra on Ep. 21.

XXVIII [XXXVII]

TRAIANUS PLINIO S.

Nunc quidem proficiscentem ad conparationem frumento

rum Maximum, libertum meum, recte militibus instruxisti. Fungebatur enim et ipse extraordinario munere. Cum ad pris

tinum actum reversus fuerit, sufficient illi duo a te dati milites et totidem a Virdio Gemellino, procuratore meo, quem adiuvat.

You were right to supply Maximus with a military escort while he is engaged in procuring corn. But when he returns to his usual duties, your two soldiers and two more from Virdius Gemellinus will be quite sufficient.

frumentorum. This is especially used of standing corn; cf. Caes. Bell. Gall. i 16, 2. Sall. Hist. iii 67, 20. Hor. Ep. i 16, 72. It cannot, however, have this meaning here, as the letter must have been written at least as late as November; cf. Ep. 25.

et ipse, i.e., as well as Gemellinus, to whom he was usually an adjutor.

extraordinario munere. A special mission'; here almost 'an independent command,' as, the procurators being concerned with the fiscus, there was nothing extraordinary in their being sent to procure corn; see supra.

ad pristinum actum. On'actus' in the sense of 'munus, see Suet. Claud. 15 and 23; and the phrase in the Digest ab actu removeri.'

duo a te dati milites. Cf. supra, 'addidi duos equites.

XXVIIII [XXXVIII]

De servis inter tirones inventis

C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Sempronius Caelianus, egregius iuvenis, repertos inter I tirones duos servos misit ad me; quorum ego supplicium distuli, ut te conditorem disciplinae militaris firmatoremque con

§ 1. Sempronius Caelianus reports that two slaves have been discovered among the enlisted soldiers. I have postponed their punishment until I have consulted you; § 2. and the more so, as though they have taken the military oath, they have not yet been assigned to any legion. As the matter is important as a precedent, I should be glad of your guidance.

§ 1. Sempronius Caelianus, egregius iuvenis. Probably a military tribune, or a praefect of some military cohort.

repertos inter tirones duos serVOS. Slaves were never allowed to serve in the army. The rule was: 'ab omni militia servi prohibentur: alioquin capite puniuntur'; cf. Livy xxii, 33; 'servi quinque et viginti in crucem acti quod in campo Martio coniurassent,' where 'coniurare' means to take the military oath. On occasions of necessity, however, slaves were sometimes enlisted, as after the battle of Cannae, Livy xxii 56, 11. In the civil wars, too, slaves were enlisted: by Marius, Plut. Mar. 41 and 43: by Pompeius, Caes., Bell. Civ.

i 24, 2 by Labienus, Caes. Bell. Afri. 19, 3, by Cn. Pompeius App. Bell. Civ. ii, 103, etc. Even libertini were properly excluded from military service, for which ingenuitas was a necessary condition. The emperor, however, could always in particular cases evade this by the fictitious 'natalium restitutio,' and in serious crises freedmen were enrolled in considerable numbers. Suet. Aug. 25, 'libertino milite bis usus est: semel ad praesidium coloniarum Illyricum contingentium: iterum ad tutelam ripae Rheni fluminis.' With regard to the recruiting system generally Mommsen has shown in Hermes xix; (1) that in imperial provinces recruits were enrolled both for the legions and for the auxilliary forces; (2) that in senatorial provinces only legionaries were recruited; and (3) that the oriental legions were usually supplied from the oriental provinces, and the western from Gaul, Spain, Italy, and Germany. With regard to Bithynia we know that in the time of Trajan a large number of its recruits were sent to the African legion, III Au

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