: consulted on all matters of state1, as in former times; even the restoration of exiles was submitted to its approval, and the allowance of a small guard of honour to the emperor within its precincts was asked as a favour and not only at the outset, but throughout his rule, he shows himself desirous to keep up the dignity of that body, by purging it of unworthy members, and by infusing into it new and healthier blood" from the ranks below, and even from provincial sources. A similar recruiting, later in the course of his rule, of the ranks of the patriciate 8, would make it easier to fill the few priestly offices still confined to that body. Other acts, extending to all ranks alike, were probably in effect an especial boon to the upper classes. The law of 'maiestas,' by which Tiberius had decimated the senatorial and equestrian aristocracy, was allowed to sink into oblivion 10, and the princeps solemnly swore that no Roman citizen should be put to torture". It was no doubt by these and other similar measures that Claudius won a permanent place among constitutional 'principes 12, and earned the title of 'libertatis vindex 13, while he compensated the lower orders for the curtailment of the great shows and largesses of Gaius 14 by the gradual abolition of his imposts 15, and by this and other means gained no slight popularity 16. Important regulations were also made in the administration of the finances of the empire, which must have become altogether disorganised. In respect of the 'aerarium publicum,' it was perhaps a mere stroke of antiquarianism to transfer the charge from praetors to quaestors; nor was the change beneficial, except so far as it substituted selection for the haphazard of the lot, and allowed time to gain experience by prolonging the tenure of office 17. Far more permanent and more important changes were intro 11 Dio, 60. 15, 6. This had never been, strictly speaking, legal, but had been often practised by Tiberius and Gaius. 12 In the 'lex de imperio Vespasiani,' the only precedents cited for the powers to be conferred on that prince are those of Augustus, Tiberius, and Claudius. 13 This title seems only found on an inscription of Cyzicus (C. I. L. vi. 1. p. 841), but is in agreement with the words 'Libertas Augusta,' and with the 'pileus' found on coins (Eckh. vi. 229, 246; Cohen, i. 254, 47, 48. 1 See Suet. Cal. 18; Jos. Ant. 19. I, II. 15 Dio, 60. 4, I. 16 Suet. Cl. 12. 17 See 13. 29, 2 (and notes), where the further change made by Nero is mentioned. duced in respect of the vast revenues under the direct control of the princeps 1. On the division of the empire made by Augustus, the income of the Caesarian provinces had been as matter of course received by him, no doubt with some such understanding as existed with regard to the 'manubiae' of a general, that it should be expended on the public service, and possibly subject to a formal liability to render account, had any of his fictions of surrendering his imperium become a reality. As a fact, some statement of accounts was made from time to time by Augustus and his immediate successors 2, nor can it be doubted that he and they observed a careful distinction between their 'patrimonium' and the income received in virtue of their office, though both alike were designated as 'res suae,' 'res familiaris,' &c., and though there is no sufficient trace of any central department of imperial finance, which, so far as it was centralised at all, must have been administered by the princeps personally. 6 It is apparently from the time of Claudius that we begin to find used in contrast to 'aerarium' the term 'fiscus,' or 'fiscus Caesaris'; and, as the choice of this name would seem to have been determined by its use under the Republic to denote the public store kept in the treasury or sent from it to a magistrate, and under the early Empire name for the exchequer of this or that separate province or department, it had attached to it, notwithstanding its distinction from the aerarium, the associations of a public fund of some sort. 1 On this whole subject, see Hirschfeld, Unters. pp. 1-10 and 285-287: Momms. Staatsr. ii. 998, foll. The various points in dispute between these eminent writers cannot here be discussed. 2 Suet. says of Gaius (Cal. 76), 'rationes imperii, ab Augusto proponi solitas, set a Tiberio intermissas, publicavit.' Tiberius had probably not dropped the practice until his retirement to Capreae. It does not seem to be traceable later (Momms. Staatsr. ii. 1025). 3 This is clearly shown in the account given by Suet. (Aug. 101) of the will of Augustus, and of the statement with which he accompanied it: see note on I. 8, 3. See 4. 6, 5; 12. 60, 6, etc., and the expression of Augustus (Mon. Anc. 3. 34), 'quater pecunia mea iuvi aerarium." 5 The fisci' of separate provinces are noticed below (note 8). 6 Tacitus uses this contrast in speaking of affairs under Tiberius (2. 47, 3; 48, 1; It is also from this date that the great department 'a rationibus,' with its presiding freedman'1 and its staff, appears to originate, or at least to attain its importance, still indeed, and for some time to come, in form and in the rank of its functionaries, a mere department of the household of the princeps, but not, as it would seem, without some quasi-magisterial accountability on the part of its chief 3. It is impossible here to trace the consequences of the change thus initiated, or to show how the 'fiscus,' though still in a juristic sense quasi-private property, became more and more distinct from the 'res privata principis,' and gradually gathered into itself all the revenues of the empire". In foreign affairs the most pressing question was that of the Jewish race, both in their own land and elsewhere. In Judaea, jealous at all times of even the ordinary incidents of Roman sovereignty, the desperate struggle provoked by the insane command of Gaius to erect his statue in the temple had indeed collapsed together with its cause; but the recollection of the intended outrage survived, recalling dangerous memories of Antiochus Epiphanes and the Maccabees, and ready on any pretext to burst into a flame. By withdrawing the insignia of Roman rule from the country, and placing Agrippa over the whole dominion which his grandfather had held under Augustus 10, the double end was gained of rewarding a valuable ally, and of securing the temporary tranquillity of the country, under the rule of one who, though personally dissolute and worthless, had the popularity " which a native prince alone could win. The Jews of the 'Diaspora' were dealt with by two edicts in similar terms, the one relating to those of Alexandria, the other to those of the empire generally 12; in both of which the exceptional privileges allowed 1 Pallas (see 11. 29, 1, and note) had probably no real predecessor, though earlier traces of the term 'a rationibus' are found: see Friedl. i. 152, foll.; Hirschfeld, 132; 286; and C. I. L. vi. 8409. 2 Adiutores a rationibus' and other subordinate titles are found from this date (Hirschf. 33, foll.). 3 Cp. the stipulation of Pallas in 13. 14, 2 (pares rationes cum republica haberet'), and note there. 4 Cp. Ulp. Dig. 43. 8, 2, 4 ('res fiscales quasi propriae et privatae principis sunt'): also the language of Nero (15. 18, 4) 'se annuum sexcentiens sestertium reipublicae largiri.' 5 Hirschf. 9, foll.; Momms. ii. 962, 1. by previous emperors to the Jews are fully guaranteed', and insults to themselves and their religion, such as a subsequent edict of Petronius, legate of Syria, shows to have been even afterwards prevalent, were forbidden. The warning added in one of these edicts to the Jews themselves shows that they also had similarly transgressed, and throws light on another act of opposite spirit, whereby the Jews in Rome itself (their only considerable settlement in the west 3) were punished for some act of turbulence by expulsion *, or at least by inhibition from exercise of their worship. This edict of intolerance would however seem to have been (as in a former case under Tiberius) only temporarily or partially carried out". In Armenia, the position held under Tiberius was reestablished by releasing and sending back Mithridates, the king originally chosen by him, who was enabled by the temporary weakness of Parthia to recover and maintain his authority 10. The appointment of another Mithridates to the kingdom of Bosporus was less successful 11. In Commagene, the wiser arrangement of Tiberius, who had constituted it as a province 12, was not reestablished, but Antiochus, whom Gaius had made king of the country but afterwards deposed and detained at Rome, was sent back 13. The other vassal kings whom it had pleased Gaius to set up, such as Cotys of Lesser Armenia1, Sohaemus of Ituraea 15, were left in possession. In another corner of Asia, the small free state of Lycia paid the penalty of its turbulence and anarchy in the loss of its independence, a change which resulted in its complete Hellenization". The Rhodians soon afterwards suffered a similar penalty, but only temporarily 18. In Mauretania, a restoration of the former state was impossible. 1 These included not only the toleration of their religion, but also considerable self-government (Momms. v. 491, E. T. ii. 165, etc.), and freedom from military service (Id. 510, 723, E. T. ii. 186, 200). 2 Jos. Ant. 19. 6, 3. 3 Momms. 499; E. T. ii. 173. Acts 18. 2; Suet. Cl. 25, whose words ('inpulsore Chresto tumultuantes') have given rise to much discussion. The case of Aquila shows that Christian Jews shared the fate of their brethren. 5 This version (Dio, 60. 6, 6) may be reconciled with the former by supposing either (with Mommsen) that the one sentence was tantamount in effect to the other, or that it preceded and led to the other. Ptolemaeus had been summoned to Rome, and afterwards executed by Gaius', and had apparently left no heirs. His freedman Aedemon had raised the standard of national independence, and had led into the fastnesses of Mount Atlas the wild tribesmen 2, many of whose fathers had troubled the Romans already under Tacfarinas 3. Roman forces appear to have been already sent against them by Gaius ; but it was not till the second year of Claudius that their subjugation was accomplished by the able generals Suetonius Paulinus and Hosidius Geta"; after which the country was divided into two provinces under procurators, with considerable military force", and the process of civilization and Romanization begun under Augustus received a further impulse 8. It is, however, rather in the history of the European than of the Asiatic or African provinces that the government of this prince constitutes an era. It was probably from an exaggerated deference for the constitution of Augustus, coupled with the desire to show respect to the senate, that Macedonia and Achaia were given back to the rule of senatorial proconsuls and the change made by Tiberius in the interest of the provincials themselves was reversed. A far more considerable and beneficial change was that by which the large dependent kingdom of Thrace was reduced in 799, A.D. 46, to a province 1o. The circumstances which led to the change are unknown to us; but we have sufficient evidence in past history that the kings set up by Rome were here, as elsewhere, unable to command the obedience of their subjects", and were only kept on their thrones by frequent interference of their protectors 12 and that the direct government of part of the country, under the form of wardship, had shared the usual fate of half measures 13; while the great value of the country as a recruiting ground was only to be turned to account at the cost of insurrection 14. The change appears not to have been accomplished without bloodshed 15, but to have been thoroughly successful. Order was maintained by a procurator 16, and a garrison of two thousand troops 17; and 'hardly any province furnished so 1 Dio, 59. 25, I. 2 Romana arma primum Claudio principe in Mauretania bellavere, Ptolomaeum regem ulciscente liberto Aedemone, refugientibusque barbaris ventum constat ad montem Atlantem' (Plin. N. H. 5. I, I, II). 3 4. 23, I. It is stated in Dio, 60. 8, 6, that Claudius accepted the title of imperator for successes gained here before he was princeps. This fact may have misled Pliny (see note above) into the belief that the war began in his rule. 5 Dio, 60. 9, I: see above, p. 11. 12 H. 2. 58, 2. 8 See Momms. v. 648; E. T. ii. 333. See 1. 76, 4, and note. 10 Jerome, Chron.: see 2. 64, 3, and |