statua..

of my proposed undertaking and the settlement of my private concerns, if you will grant me leave of absence for thirty days, as my estate is distant more than 150 miles.

The date of this letter depends on the question whether Caecilius Classicus was accused in 99 or 101. Cf. Ep. iii 4, 2. 'Cum publicum opus pecunia mea inchoaturus in Tuscos excucurrissem accepto, ut praefectus aerari, commeatu, legati, provinciae Baeticae questuri de proconsulatu Caecili Classici advocatum me a senatu petierunt.' See supra note on Ep. 3 § 2 p. 83. If we decide with Mommsen, the letter was written in August 101.

honestissimo exemplo. Instances of Nerva's public munificence are (1) the institution of the alimentationes in Italian towns, testified to by Aurelius Victor, Epit. c. xii, and coins (Eckhel, vi p. 408, and Cohen, No. 121) with legend Tutela Italiae' and figures of a woman and child coming before the emperor. See introduction p. 10; (2) provision for the corn supply (Echkel, vi p. 408, has coins with legend 'Plebei urbanae frumento constituto'); (3) the purchase of land for poor citizens, Dio Cass. 68, 2; (4) the completion of the Forum transitorium begun by Domitian; and of the temple of Minerva. Suet. Dom. 5; Aur. Vict. Epit. xii; Mart. i 3, 10.

The example of Nerva was not only followed by Trajan and his successors, in connection with the 'alimentationes' (see introd. p. 10), and the Tabulae of Veleia and Ligures Baebiani, but also by a number of private individuals. Pliny himself, in addition to the temple mentioned in the present letter, founded (1) a library in Comum, i 8, 2 (though this was under Domitian); (2) an endowment of 500,000 sesterces for the education of boys and girls in Comum, i 8, 10; i5; and vii 18, 2; (3) he offers to pay the third part of the salary of a professor of rhetoric at Comum, if the town will provide the rest, iii 13, 5; (4) repairs a temple of Ceres near one of his estates, ix 39, I; (5) by his will Thermae were to be established at Comum, and a capital sum of 300,000 sesterces set apart as an endowment for their internal maintenance, and 200,000 for repairs, etc., in

scription, p. 16; (6) also by his will he leaves an endowment of 1,866,666 sesterces for an annual alimentation for a hundred of his freedmen, and on their. decease for a public feast, inscrip. p. 16. Nor did Pliny stand alone. A similar bequest for his freedmen is found in the testament of Dasumius. Bruns Fontes Iur. Rom. p. 229, ed. 1879; see also the will of Flavius Syntrophus Henzen, 7321; an honorary inscription to A. Quintitius Priscus by the senate of Ferentinum for charitable bequests to the municipium. Bruns Font. Iur. Rom. p. 227. So too Caninius Rufus, Pliny's fellow - townsman, established an endowment for a public entertainment, Ep. vii 18, 1; and Calpurnius Fabatus built a public porticus, and also promised money for the adornment of the gates, v II, I.

in longinquis agris. This was his Tuscan estate, a villa described at length in v 6, and alluded to, v 18; ix 15; ix 36, 40; iv I; and iii 4.

per plures successiones. Cf. i 12, 4. Nam plerumque morbi quoque per successiones quasdam, ut alia, traduntur.'

in municipium. See iv i, 4, 'oppidum est praediis nostris vicinum; nomen Tiferni Tiberini, quod me paene adhuc puerum patronum cooptavit.' Tifernum Tiberinum was a town in Umbria near the head waters of the Tiber. It was so called to distinguish it from Tifernum Metaurense, also in Umbria, but on the Metaurus: see Plin. Nat. Hist. iii 5.

adiecta sua statua. Nerva was not as fond as some emperors of having statues erected in their honour, and golden statues he altogether forbade. Dio Cass. 68, 2, ' ἀπεῖπε δὲ καὶ ἀνδριάντας αὐτῷ χρυσοῦς γίγνεσθαι.

cum plenissimo testimonio. On another occasion also Nerva had borne witness to Pliny's merits. See vii 33.

In 93, when Baebius Massa had been condemned, and his goods were to be publicly guarded, there seemed some probability that the consuls, possibly with the connivance of Domitian, would execute this part of the sentence somewhat laxly. Senecio and Pliny, therefore, the two accusers, went to the consuls on the subject, when Massa accused Senecio of impiety towards the emperor. Pliny

thereupon said, 'Sed vereor, clarissimi consules, ne mihi Massa silentio suo praevaricationem obiecerit, quod non et me reum postulavit.' Pliny goes on, 'Divus quidem Nerva (nam privatus quoque attendebat his quae recte in publico fierent) missis ad me gravissimis litteris non mihi solum verum etiam saeculo est gratulatus, cui exemplum (sic enim scripsit) simile antiquis contigisset.'

decurionibus. The decurions or conscripti (lex Iul. Municip., line 85), less frequently senatores (Tac. Hist. v 19), or collectively ordo decurionum, or ordo alone (Tac. Hist. ii 52 ordo Mutinensis) and in later times curiales (Orelli, 3729), were the senate in all towns of Italian constitution not only in Italy itself, but in the provinces. Cf. infra Ep. 113 and 115; and Orelli 4980, 'decurio civium Romanorum Mogontiaci.' They were usually 100 in number (Cic. de leg. agrar. 2, 35, 96), and are sometimes called centumviri. Orelli, 3448, 3739. See also the album of Canusium referred to below. Under the empire election to the 'ordo' took place every five years under the authority of the quinquennales, whose duty it was to prepare the album' (lex Iulia Mun. ad init.). Election to any vacancies was made (1) from those who were qualified through having held the quaestorship or any of the higher magistracies; (2) from those who, though not yet elected magistrates, have the necessary qualifications, and also the senatorial census. latter when elected were called 'pedani.' The others were arranged in the album according to the dignity of the offices they had held, as, e.g. quinquennalicii, duoviralicii, aedilicii, quaestoricii. In addition to these ordinary classes, persons without any of these qualifications, but who had performed some special service to the community, were sometimes added to the ordo either by the decuriones themselves, or even by the emperor. These were called adlecti (Cf. Suet. Claud. 24 and Vespas. 9, for this use of the word adlego), and they might be ranked in any of the classes already mentioned. Thus 'adlecti inter duoviralicios, etc.' So Pliny, speaking of the Roman senate, Ep. i 14, 5, says, 'Minucius Macrinus equestris ordinis princeps adlectus a divo Vespasiano inter praetorios.' To these various classes

These

who all voted and were included in the hundred, there were two other classes, who are added to the album, and who might be present at meetings of the ordo, but were only honorary or formal members. There were (1) the patroni, i.e. Roman senators or equites appointed patroni by the local senate. These were placed first in the album, Dig. 50, 3, 2. 'In albo decurionum in municipio nomina ante-scribi oportet eorum qui dignitates principis iudicio consecuti sunt, postea eorum, qui tantum municipalibus honoribus functi sunt;' (2) the praetextati or sons of the senators who were allowed to be present, but had no vote. Thus in the Album Canusinum (Orelli, 3721) there are thirty-one patroni c.c.v.v. (clarissimi viri), eight patroni e.e.q.q.R.R. (equites Romani), seven quinquennalicii, four adlecti inter quinquen., twentynine duoviralicii, nineteen aedilicii, nine quaestoricii, thirty-two pedani, twentyfive praetextati, i.e. 164 in all, but exactly 100 when the patroni and praetextati are subtracted. Pliny was himself a patronus of Tifernum, probably an hereditary one, as he was appointed when a boy, 'quod me paene adhuc puerum patronum cooptavit,' and was therefore on the album decurionum of the town. For the change in the position of the decuriones in later times see note on Ep. 113.

ut adsignarent solum in quo templum pecunia mea extruerem. The abbreviations L. D. D.D. loco dato decreto decurionum, and D.S.P. de sua pecunia are very common on dedicatory inscriptions. The following is an interesting one, and bears a close resemblance to what Pliny's dedication may have been at Tifernum. Wilmann, 307.

'Veneri Verae felici Gabinae A. Plutius Epaphroditus, accensus velatorum, negociator sericarius, templum cum signo aereo effigie Veneris, item signis aereis numero IIII dispositis, in Zothecis et balbis aereis, et aram aeream et omni cultu a solo sua pecunia fecit cuius ob dedicationem divisit decurionibus singulis denarios quinos, item seviris Augustalibus singulis denarios binos, item tabernaris intra murum negotiantibus denarios singulos, et HS. decem millia nummum reipublicae Gabinorum intulit, ita ut ex usuris ejusdem summae quod annis iv Kal. Octobr. die natali Plutiae Verae

3 locatio cum, Cat.

Cf. also Orelli 4323: 'locantur

ex idibus Aug. primis in Idus Aug. sextas, annos continuos quinque;' and the locatio was frequently made on 1st July. See Suet. Tib. 35; Mart. xii 32; sometimes on 1st March; or on the Ides of August. This was the latest regular time, as the 'novus colonus' would then have both the vindematio and the putatio, whereas if it were left too late, the vindematio would be over, and his first task would be the putatio. The contract between the locator and the conductor was the 'lex locationis.' The conductor was usually called 'colonus' and the rent pensio or merces.

cum alioqui cccc excedat, since, moreover, the sum total is more than 400,000 sesterces. This is probably the annual rent estimated for average seasons. We do not know for certain how many estates Pliny had, but we know that nearly all his property was in land (iii 19, 8): 'sum quidem prope totus in praediis'; but he found his Laurentine property the only one profitable: 'nihil quidem ibi habeo praeter tectum et hortum statimque harenas.' The attempt made by Augustus and his successors to restore the former prosperity of Italian husbandry, had been very partially successful. Even the vine culture, which Domitian had discouraged as encroaching too much on the growing of corn (Suet. Dom. 7), appears from this passage-from viii 2, and ix 16, 1-to have been a losing concern. Landowners with large latifundia, worked by gangs of slaves, might perhaps make some profit, but Pliny says expressly (iii 19, 7): 'nec ipse vinctos usquam habeo.' The fact that all provincials who entered on the senatorial cursus honorum were compelled by Trajan to invest one-third of their property in Italian land hardly points to this being a good investment. With regard to the price of land, Pliny talks of buying an estate conterminous with one of his own for 3,000,000 sesterces, iii 19, 7, and adds, 'non quia non aliquando

On the general

de remissionibus. depression, see ii 4, 3: 'sunt quidem omnino nobis modicae facultates, dignitas sumptuosa, reditus propter conditionem agellorum nescio minor an incertior; iv 6, 1; vi 3, 2; 'postea decrescente reditu, etiam pretium minuit.' viii 2, 1: 'Alii in praedia sua proficiscuntur ut locupletiores revertantur, ego ut pauperior.' In ix 37 he complains that 'quamquam post magnas remissiones' the arrears of rent still increase. 'Occurendum ergo augescentibus vitiis et medendum est. Medendi una ratio, si non nummo sed partibus (i.e. a proportion of the proceeds) locem, ac deinde ex meis aliquos operis exactores custodes fructibus ponam: et alioqui nullum iustius genus reditus quam quod terra caelum annus refert.'