Conceptions and Sources
acteristicofthosewhoenteredtheimperialservice.Butthereisacatchhere
whichtypifiesthelimitsofwhatepigraphicalevidencecantellus.Forina
verylargenumberofcasesweoweourknowledgeofthecareers,andindeed
oftheexistence,ofthesemenpreciselytothefactthatalocalcommunity
had some motive to commemorate them on an inscription. If therewere
menwhoroseintheimperialservicebutretainednolocalroots,andneither
keptafamilyconnectionnorservedastowncouncillorsorannualofficials
norheldpriesthoodsnoractedasapatronusofthetown,thechancesoftheir
beingrecordedoninscriptionswillhavebeengreatlyreduced.
A rather similar limitation affects imperial letters, of which one sub-
category,theimperialletterofappointmentaddressedtoamemberofthe
senatorialorequestrianorder,isbestrepresentedbyAurelius’letterinthis
inscription.Nooneeverrecordedinaninscriptionanimperialletterinform-
inghimthathecouldnothaveaparticularpost;andsimilarlycitiesneverput
up inscriptions displaying imperial letters rejecting requests or informing
themthattheyhadlostadisputewithaneighbouringcity.Wehaveasmall
number of documentary texts of such letters only because cities involved
indisputessometimesinscribedunfavourablelettersorrepliesaddressedto
theirneighbours,whichwerethereforeimplicitlyorexplicitlyfavourableto
themselves.^111 Nonetheless,thegenreoftheimperialletter,togetherwith
themoreinformaltypeofimperialreplyknownasasubscriptio,isrepresented
byseveralhundreddocumentarytextsinbothLatinandGreek,preserved
oninscriptionsandpapyriandinlegalandliterarysources,andistherefore
bothasub-literarytype,whichdeservesstudyinitsownright,andaprime
sourceforthenatureoftheRomanEmpireasasystem.
TheMarsianusinscriptionisunusuallyrichinbothgivingthetextofthe
imperialletterandretailingthecircumstancesoftheerectionofthestatue
(whichwillnothavebeenwhollyunlikethefamousoneofMarcusAurelius
from the Capitol). More commonly, such inscriptions concentrate on the
successivestepsoftheman’scareer—ofteninreversechronologicalorderto
bringthemostimportantpoststothebeginning.Inspiteofthemanysevere
limitations on what these inscriptionscanby their nature tell us—limita-
tionsfrequentlynotrecognisedinmodernwork,asweshallsee—thereisno
questionofthescaleandimportanceoftheinformationwhich,byretailing
equestrianandsenatorialcareers,theyhaverevealedabouttheworkingsof
theEmpire.ThetwoeditionsoftheProsopographia Imperii Romani(–
. Forthiscategoryof letter,seeMillar(n.),–;–;–;J.Reynolds,
‘‘Hadrian,AntoninusandtheCyrenaicanCities,’’JRS():;Aphrodisias and Rome
(London,),docs.,,.