Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 1 - The Roman Republic and the Augustan Revolution

The Emperor, the Senate, and the Provinces 

peror in occasional ‘‘interventions,’’ becomes entirely untenable.The Em-
perordidnotgoverntheImperialprovinceseitherasawholeorindividually
‘‘through’’hislegates;likeproconsuls,thelegatesgovernedtheirprovinces
themselves.InnosensewhatsoeverdidtheSenate‘‘control’’thesenatorial
provinces, and the proconsuls were not ‘‘responsible to’’ it. Both the Em-
perorandtheSenate,predominantlyofcoursetheformer,maderegulations
(sometimesjointly)affectingalltheprovinces.TheEmperorcoulddealdi-
rectlywithprovincesofbothtypesorwithcommunitieswithinthem.The
Senateisnotattestedasdealingwithanyimperialprovinceasawhole,but
is found dealing with individual places in these provinces. The sole con-
cretedistinctionsareinthedirectrelationsbetweentheEmperorandlegates
andproconsuls.TheEmperor,invariablyitseemswhenstimulatedbysome
othersourceof information,pressure,orcomplaintfromwithintheprov-
ince,mightinitiatecorrespondencewitheithertypeofgovernor.Butlegates
areattestedinitiatingsuchcorrespondencequitecommonlyinthefirstcen-
tury—tomakereportsoraskadvice—whileproconsulsbegantodosounder
Hadrian.
The practical consequences of the division of the provinces were thus
two,thedifferentmethodsofappointmentandlengthoftenureofthetwo
types of governor, and the extent and nature of the communications be-
tweenthemandtheEmperor—andofthesetheseconddisappearedaftera
centuryandahalf.Therewasnotevenaconstitutionalprinciplebywhich
theSenatekeptto‘‘its’’halfoftheEmpire.Tiberius,endeavouringtoobserve
the strictest propriety, rebuked his legates for not sending reports of their
achievementstotheSenate,^121 andchosetoconsulttheSenateontaxation,
therecruitmentanddischargeofsoldiers,thedispositionofthelegions,and
the prolongation of commands.^122 Then we haveTacitus’ account of what
happenedwhendelegationsfromtheGreekcitiesofAsiaandCyprusarrived
in..tomaketheirclaimsforrightsofasylumfortheirtemples:‘‘[Tibe-
rius]vouchsafedtotheSenateashadowofthepastbysubmittingtheclaims
oftheprovincestothediscussionof itsmembers.’’^123 Theimplicationthat
thedelegationshadoriginallycometoTiberiusseemstobeconfirmedby
aninscriptionfromDidyma,whichwasoneofthetemplesinvolved,hon-
ouringamanwhohadgoneasambassadortotheEmperorabouttheright
ofasylum.^124 OronecancomparethecasementionedbySuetonius,when
some ambassadors from Africa came to the consuls to complain that they

. Suet.,Tib..

. Suet.,Tib.;Dio,.

. Tac.,Ann.,,.

.Ins. Didyma.