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XLII [LI]

TRAIANUS PLINIO S..

Potest nos sollicitare lacus iste, ut committere illum mari velimus sed plane explorandum est diligenter ne, si demissus in mare fuerit, totus effluat, certe quantum aquarum et unde accipiat. Poteris a Calpurnio Macro petere libratorem, et ego hinc aliquem tibi peritum eiusmodi operum mittam.

2 demissus, Cat., immissus, B. and Ald.

There is no doubt a temptation to join the lake you speak of to the sea. You must, however, first carefully find out how much water it contains, and whence it derives its supply, lest by letting it run into the sea, it should be completely drained. You will be able to get a librator from Calpurnius Macer, and I will send you some one skilled in such matters from here.

potest sollicitare, may possibly tempt us: this use of the verb followed by 'ut' is by no means confined to post-classical Latin, as Döring asserts. Lewis and Short quote Cicero, ad Fam. 15, 2, 6, 'se sollicitatum esse ut regere vellet'; and Caesar Bell. Gall. iii 8, 'civitates sollicitant ut in libertate permanere vellent.' Cf. also Ovid. Am. iii. 9, 34; 'Sollicitor nullos esse putare deos.'

demissus in mare. This seems the best reading, being Catanaeus' emendation of 'dimissus,' the reading of the prima editio,

dimissus, Avant.

a Calpurnio Macro. The mention of Calpurnius Macer here and in Ep. 61 and 77 is the strongest argument for assigning Pliny's mission to Bithynia to the years 111-113 A.D. Calpurnius Macer is evidently from all these passages the governor of some neighbouring province, probably with a military command, since he has libratores at his disposal; and is ordered by Trajan to send a centurion to Byzantium. The nearest military province to Byzantium was Lower Moesia, and an inscription from this province (C.I.L. iii 777) establishes the fact that in 112 A.D. Calpurnius Macer was legate of the province. His full name, therefore, was P. Calpurnius Macer Caulius Rufus. Pliny addresses Ep. v 18 to him.

et ego mittam. The affair being one of importance, Trajan thinks it better not to leave it to the local 'artifices.'

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XLIII [LII]

De Byzantiorum inpendiis

C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Requirenti mihi Byzantiorum rei publicae inpendia, quae maxima facit, indicatum est, domine, legatum ad te salutan

§ 1. As I was looking into the expenses of the Byzantines, which are very heavy, it was pointed out to me that a legate is sent every year to salute you with an honorary decree, and that an allowance is made him of 12,000 sesterces. § 2. Remembering your instructions I considered it right to send the decree without the legate, in order to diminish the expense

without omitting the compliment. § 3. There is also an annual entry of 3000 sesterces for the travelling expenses of a legate who is sent to salute the governor of Moesia. This, too, I have thought it right to cut down for the future. § 4. I must beg you either to confirm my decision by your rescript or to correct my mistake.

Byzantiorum reipublicae. Byzan

dum annis omnibus cum psephismate mitti eique dari nummorum duodena milia. Memor ergo propositi tui legatum quidem 2

I salutandi, Avant.

tium first came into contact with Rome in the Macedonian wars, when it became, but only temporarily, and because there was at that time no province in its neighbourhood, a 'civitas foederata,' Tac. Ann. xii 62, 'Byzantii. . . orsi a foedere quod nobiscum icerant, qua tempestate bellavimus adversus regem Macedonum, cui ut degeneri Pseudophilippi vocabulum impositum.' Later they helped Rome

...

against Antiochus and Perseus, and furnished assistance to the elder Antonius against the pirates, to Sulla, Lucullus, and Pompeius. After Macedonia was organised as a province, Byzantium seems to have been subject to its proconsul, not, however, any longer as a 'civitas foederata.' It was now a 'civitas libera,' i.e. its freedom did not depend on a definite foedus, and might be revoked and restored at pleasure (Marquadt, Staatsverw. i p. 77) Cic. in Pis. iii 6, with reference to Byzantium, 'omitto iurisdictionem in libera civitate contra leges senatusque consulta,' and again, 'ipsam vero urbem Byzantiorum fuisse refertissimam atque ornatissimam signis, quis ignorat? quae illi exhausti sumptibus bellisque maximis, quum Mithridaticos impetus totumque Pontum armatum aegre repulsum et cervicibus interclusum suis sustinerent; te imperatore infelicissimo et taeterrimo, civitas libera et proximis suis beneficiis a senatu et a populo Romano liberata, sic spoliata et nudata est ut,' etc. At what date Byzantium was assigned to Bithynia is uncertain. Probably when Macedonia, under Augustus, ceased to be a frontier province, the military protection over Byzantium passed to Moesia, while as far as administration was concerned it formed part of Bithynia. In 53 A.D. the Byzantines were a tributary city, and were certainly in a senatorial province, and therefore not in Thrace; Tac. Ann. xii 62, 'Byzantii . . . cum magnitudinem onerum apud senatum deprecarentur, cuncta repetivere. Ita tributa in quinquennium remissa?" Pliny, h.n. iv II, speaks of Byzantium as oppidum liberae conditionis,' but we know from Suetonius, Vespas. 8, that its 'libertas' was taken away by Vespasian. It had, however, regained this before the time of Severus, who again took it away as well as its

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separate town-existence, for its adhesion to Pescennius Niger; Dio Cass. 74, 14, · ἔπαυσε δὲ τὴν πόλιν τῆς τε ἐλευθερίας καὶ τοῦ ἀξιώματος τοῦ πολιτικοῦ. Another example of the vicissitudes of a free town is Cyzicus, which became 'libera' after the Mithridatic wars; lost its freedom 20 B.C., Dio Cass. 54, 7; gained it again 15 B.C., Dio Cass. 54, 23; and again lost it under Tiberius, Tac. Ann. iv 36; Suet. Tib. 57.

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rei publicae inpendia. Cf. Ep. 17, 3. Reipublicae Prusensium inpendia excutio,' and note ad loc.

cum psephismate. The assembly at Byzantium was called ǹ åλía, and the preliminary decree of the ẞwλá was apparently pýrpa, see Demosth. Cor. § 112.

legatum ad te salutandum. Legati were sent to Rome on various missions both by the provinces and by the municipal towns. In the former case they were elected by the 'concilium provinciae,' in the latter by the decuriones'; cf. Plin. Ep. vii 6, ' adest provinciae legatus, attulit decretum concilii ad Caesarem. The votes of thanks, 'laudationes,' which had formerly been conveyed to Rome on the departure of the governor, Cic. Verr. ii 4, 5, and ad Fam. iii 8, were put an end to by Nero; Tac. Ann. xv 22, 'Mox auctore principe sanxere ne quis ad concilium sociorum referret agendas apud senatum propraetoribus pro ve consulibus grates, neu quis ea legatione fungeretur.' For these legationes there was as a rule no direct remuneration, and they were looked upon as burdens. Those who had the 'ius trium liberorum' were exempt. Vespasian limited the number sent by any state to three; Dig. 58, 5, 'Praecipitur autem edicto divi Vespasiani omnibus civitatibus ne plures quam ternos legatos mittant.' A legatus, from the time of his appointment (legato tempus prodest ex quo legatus creatus est, non ex quo Romam venit) could undertake no private business (‘qui legationis officio fungitur, suum negotium curare non potest'), Dig. 50, 7. Cf. Tac. Ann. xvi 5, 'quique per longinquas provincias officio legationum advenerant.'

nummorum duodena milia. This was the legativum or legatorum viaticum, which was no doubt calculated on a ruinously extravagant scale; Dig. 50,

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retinendum, psephisma autem mittendum putavi, ut simul et 3 sumptus levaretur et inpleretur publicum officium. Eidem civitati inputata sunt terna milia, quaé viatici nomine annua dabantur legato eunti ad eum qui Moesiae praeest publice salu4 tandum. Haec ego in posterum circumcidenda existimavi. Te, domine, rogo ut quid sentias rescribendo aut consilium meum confirmare aut errorem emendare digneris.

5 Haec ego, B. and Ald.

4, legati quoque qui ad sacrarium principis mittuntur, viaticum quod legativum dicitur interdum solent accipere,' and 59, 7, ‘His qui non gratuitam legationem susceperunt, legativum ex forma restituatur.' They were also for two years freed from all other public offices.

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§ 2. propositi tui. Ep. 18, 3, tiones autem in primis tibi rerum publicarum excutiendae sunt'; also Ep. 38.

ut sumptus levaretur. Cf. Cic. ad Fam., iii 8, 2, 'nam, quod ad legatos attinet, quid a me fieri potuit aut elegantius aut iustius quam ut sumptus egentissimarum civitatum minuerem. Apameae quum essem multarum civitatum principes ad me detulerunt, sumptus decerni legatis nimis magnos, quum sol

vendo civitates non essent.'

§ 3. inputata sunt, have been entered in the accounts. Cf. Col. i 7, quoted by Lewis and Short, 'villici servi longe

nec ego, Avant.

plus inputant seminis iacti quam quod severint.'

The

ad eum qui Moesiae praeest. term praeses after the first century and anterior to Diocletian was applied indiscriminately to all provincial governors, whether of imperial, senatorial, or procuratorial provinces. Thus we find a 'praeses Moesiae superioris,' Wilm. 662; a 'praeses Sardiniae,' Wilm. 1023; and a 'praeses Raetiae,' Wilm. 1058. Cf. also Tac. Ann. vi 41; Suet. Aug. 23; Tib. 32; Otho. 7, etc. The object of sending this annual salutation to the legate of lower Moesia was probably twofold: (1) Byzantium seems to have been under the military protection of the Danube legions, and (2) there was a considerable trade between Byzantium and such coast-towns of Moesia as Odessus, Callatis and Tomi. Mommsen, Rom. Gesch. v, p. 280.

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Optime fecisti, Secunde carissime, duodena ista Byzantiis quae ad salutandum me in legatum inpendebantur remittendo. Fungetur his partibus, etsi solum psephisma per te missum fuerit. Ignoscet illis et Moesiae praeses, si minus illum sumptuose coluerint.

3 Fungetur, B. and Ald. Perpetuo, Avant.

You have done well, my Pliny, in remitting the 12,000 sesterces which the Byzantines have granted to the legate who conveys their salutations to me.

Fungetur his partibus. The reading of Avantius is 'Perpetuo his partibus.' The Bodleian copy, however, has 'fungetur' in the margin from the collation of Iucundus, and this Aldus followed.

Moesiae praeses. At this time it was Calpurnius Macer who was 'legatus Moesiae inferioris.' Moesia was divided into an upper and a lower province_at least as early as Domitian's reign. See Spart. Hadr. 2, 3, 'post hoc in inferiorem Moesiam translatus extremis iam Domitiani temporibus.'

XLV [LIII]

De diplomatibus

C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Diplomata, domine, quorum dies praeteriit an omnino observari et quam diu velis rogo scribas meque haesitatione liberes. 33 praeteriit an omnino, Or. praeterita omnino, Avant. and Ald.

I should be glad to know, sire, whether orders to use the imperial post are valid after their date has expired, and if so, for how long. I am anxious on the one hand not to sanction an illegal use of them, and on the other not to impede necessary despatches.

This letter was probably written early in January 112, as the diplomata were no doubt made out for the current year only.

diplomata quorum dies praeteriit. Under the republic there were no systematic arrangements for the conveyance of despatches between the senate and the provincial governors. Augustus, in order to bring the whole empire into closer communication with Rome, not only very largely developed the military and commercial roads, but also established an imperial postal system. All the main roads were lined with stations, where couriers, relays of horses, and carriages, were kept; Suet. Aug. 42, 'quo celerius ac sub manum adnuntiari cognoscique posset quod in provincia quaque gereretur, iuvenes primo modicis intervallis per militares vias, dehinc vehicula disposuit: commodius id visum est, ut qui a loco perferunt litteras, interrogari quoque, si quid res exigat, possint.' The institution was called the 'cursus publicus,' and when it was fully developed, restingplaces for the night were established at intervals mostly in towns or villages, and between these about six mutationes or places to change horses. At each mutatio were kept horses (veredi : cf. Mart. xii 14, 'Parcius utaris, moneo, rapiente veredo'), mules, vehicula, and a number of servi publici. The couriers were called veredarii, or earlier 'speculatores'; Suet. Calig. 44, 'monitis speculatoribus ut vehiculo ad forum usque et curiam pertenderent'; and Tac. Hist. ii 73, 'postquam speculatores e Syria Iudaeaque adactum in verba eius Örientem nuntiavere.' The post was used (1) for the conveyance of public despatches carried

by the couriers, cf. Tac. Hist. ii 73; (2) for the convenience of magistrates and provincial governors in their official journeys, cf. Ep. 17; and for journeys of the emperors themselves, Plin. Panegyr. 20, 'nullus in exigendis vehiculis tumultus, nullum circa hospitia fastidium: quam dissimilis nuper alterius principis transitus'; and Suet. Tib. 38; (3) for those individuals travelling with few exceptions on public business, who were furnished with the diplomata, or passports. These like the military diplomata consisted of two folding tablets. They had inscribed the name of the reigning emperor; Tac. Hist. ii 6, tanquam audito Vitellii et Othonis principatu propriam ipse potentiam et possessionem Hispaniarum temptasset, eoque diplomatibus nullum principem praescripsisset,' the name of the person authorised to use the post, and the period for which it was available ('quorum dies praeteriit'). These diplomata at a later time were granted only by the emperors, but at this period apparently the provincial governors were provided with blank forms which they could fill in and assign. On the emperor's death his diplomata became useless; cf. Tac. Hist. ii 54, 'causa fingendi fuit ut diplomata Othonis quae neglegebantur, laetiore nuntio, revalescerent. Pliny grants a diploma to the tabellarius of King Sauromates, Ep. 64, and in an exceptional case to his own wife, Ep. 120, ' usque in hoc tempus, neque cuiquam diplomata commodavi neque in rem ullam nisi tuam misi.' Originally the expenses of the post system were borne by the several localities themselves, and were probably a considerable burden. Nerva remitted them in the case of Italy, and transferred them to the fiscus, Eckhel, vi 408, ' vehiculatione Italiae remissa.' Trajan made considerable use of the institution Aur. Vict. Caes. 13, 5, 'noscendis ocius quae ubique e republica gerebantur admota media publici cursus.' Hadrian seems to

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Vereor enim ne in alterutram partem ignorantia lapsus aut inlicita confirmem aut necessaria inpediam.

have extended Nerva's remission to the provinces; Spart. Hadr. 7, 'statim cursum fiscalem instituit ne magistratus hoc onere gravarentur'; but as similar statements are made by Capitolinus of Antoninus Pius, c. 12, 'vehicularium cursum summa diligentia sublevavit,' and by Spartian of Severus, c. 14, 'vehicularium munus a privatis ad fiscum traduxit,' we must suppose that the remissions were either temporary or partial only. See Mommsen, Staatsrecht, vol. ii 987-989; Marquadt, Staatsverw. vol. i 559-561;

Pauly, Real Encyclop. vol. v, s.v. 'Post

wesen.

praeteriit an. This is Orelli's emendation of the original reading 'praeterita an.'

meque haesitatione liberes. Cf. Ep. 25, 'meque longae expectationis sollicitudine liberavit.'

aut inlicita confirmem. A limitation of time was necessary, or the diplomata might have been used like the liberae legationes' in republican times.

XLVI [LV]

TRAIANUS PLINIO S.

Diplomata quorum praeteritus est dies non debent esse in usu ideo inter prima iniungo mihi ut per omnes provincias ante mittam nova diplomata quam desiderari possint.

Passports the date of which has expired ought not to be used, and so I' make it a strict rule always to send out fresh ones before they can possibly be required.

iniungo mihi. Cf. Plin. Ep. ii 18, 1, 'quid a te mihi iucundius potuit iniungi quam ut,'; iv 9, 4, 'nam Bassus mihi iniunxerat ut,' and iv 13, II, and iii 18, 1.

XLVII [LVI]

De privilegio Apameorum

C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Cum vellem, domine, Apameae cognoscere publicos debitores et reditum et inpendia, responsum est mihi cupere quidem 2 redditum, Avant.

§ 1. When I wished, sire, to inspect the financial condition of Apamea, I was informed that though there was a general wish that the accounts of the colony should come under my scrutiny, yet they had never yet been laid before any of the proconsuls, as they had the privilege, dating from very ancient times, of managing their own affairs in their own way. § 2. I required them to draw up their statements and the documents in which they were founded in a memorial, which I send to you, just as I received it, though I am aware that many of its contents are

not to the point. § 3. I should be glad if you would deign to instruct me how to act; since I am anxious not to exceed or fall short of my duty.

Apameae. This town, not far from Prusa ad Olympum, had been originally founded under the name of Myrlea by the Colophonii; it was enlarged and improved by Prusias, the protector of Hannibal, who gave it the name of Apamea, after his wife; Strabo, 12, p. 564. It was made a Roman colony probably by Iulius Caesar after the civil war, though a second body of colonists

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