76 The Imperial Government
magistratesarecommittedtothetrustofthesepeople,’’^21 whilePlutarchde-
scribeshowCatotheYounger,asquaestor,haddifficultyinestablishinghis
authoritywiththemandgettingtwoofthemdismissed.^22 Thescribes,who,
likethelowerofficials,wereorganizedinthreepanels(decuriae)whichserved
inannualrotation,wereofrelativelyhighsocialstatusandmightclaimto
beequestrians.Somewentontoholdequestrianposts.^23
Non-FinancialDocuments
Themostimportantnon-financialdocumentsintheAerariumwerecopies
of laws(leges)anddecreesoftheSenate,whichdidnotbecomevaliduntil
thecopiesweredeposited.^24 OneofthesenatorialdecreesgivenbyJosephus
providessomeevidence,noteasytointerpret,ofthefilingsystemused—‘‘a
decreeofthesenate,copiedfromthetreasury[to tameion],fromthepublic
recordsofthequaestors...secondtablet,firstcolumn.’’^25 Somedocuments
werealsoinscribedonthewallofthetemple.^26 Theproblemofthefalsifi-
cationevenofimportantdocumentsclearlycausedconsiderabledifficulties;
duringhisquaestorshipin64Catohadtoresistattemptstogetbogussena-
torialdecreesrecorded,andononeoccasionrefusedtoacceptoneuntilthe
consulssworetoit.^27 TheLexIuniaetLiciniaof62laiddownthat‘‘itwould
notbeallowedtodepositsecretlyalawintheAerarium.’’^28 Thedepositionof
alaworadecreeoftheSenatewasaformalact,andtheeffectofasenatorial
decreecouldbeannullediftheprocessof‘‘depositionintheAerarium’’(dela-
tioadaerarium)couldbehaltedintime.^29 Thusafterthehastycondemnation
21.Verr.II.3,183.- Plut.,Cato Minor16.
- SeeA.H.M.Jones,‘‘TheRomanCivilService(ClericalandSub-ClericalGrades),’’
JRS39(1949):38Jones,Studies in Roman Government and Law(Oxford,1960),151.Cf.E.
Fraenkel,Horace(Oxford,1957),14–15. - Livy39,4,8;SisennaFr.117Peter;Suet.,Div. Jul.28;Cic.,ad. fam.12,1,1;Serv.,on
Aen.8,322,andonGeorg.2,502.Cf.Cic.,De leg.3,20/46. - Jos.,AJ14,10,10(219).
26.CILI^2 587Riccobono,FIRA^2 I10ad fin.;Dio45,17,3.Cf.(?)Varro,LL5,42.See
Lugli(n.8),38. - Plut.,Cato Minor17.
- Schol. Bob. Sest. p. 310 Or. 140 Stangl.Theview, argued by Mommsen,Staats-
rechtII^3 ,546,n.2,andnormallyacceptedsince,thatthelawmadeitobligatorytodeposit
copiesofproposedlegislationintheAerariumseemstomeunsound.Itrestsineffectonly
onCic.,De leg.3,4/11.Foraconclusivedisproofof Mommsen,seeF.vonSchwind,Zur
Frage der Publikation im römischen Recht(1940),26–27. - Suet.,Div. Aug.94,3.