78 The Imperial Government
Aerarium.TheansweristhatformerlytheAerariumofficialshadsentthem
gifts,lookedafterthosememberswhofellillandprovidedapublicfuneral
forthosewhodied.CiceromentionsthatthreeambassadorsfromAsiatried
to cheat the Aerarium—‘‘They wanted to falsifyour records; for theyde-
claredhavingnineslaves,wheninfacttheyhadcomewithnocompanions
at all.’’^40 But by Plutarch’s time the Aerarium officials had ceased to make
anyactualprovisionforembassies,forthenumberhadbecometoogreat.^41
FarmingOut(Locatio)ofPublicContracts
InthefirstpartoftheTabulaHeracleensis,whichreferstotheupkeepofroads
inRome,wehavetheprovisionthatthefarmingoutshouldbecarriedout
bytheaedileconcernedthroughthequaestor,orotherofficial,oftheAera-
rium,whoshouldalsopayoutthecash.^42 Similarly,Cicerosaysthatprovin-
ciallandcouldnot‘‘subsignariapudaerarium,’’thatis,begivenasapledgein
thefarmingoutofcontracts.^43 Suchlocationesarepresumablybeingreferred
towhenDiosaysthatin42Claudiuscorrectedirregularitiesonthepartof
thepraetorsoftheAerarium‘‘whowereconductingsalesandleases.’’^44 The
documentsofcontractswerekeptintheAerarium—Plutarchasks,‘‘whydo
they use the temple of Saturn as the treasuryof public monies and at the
sametimeasthesafeguardofcontracts’’?^45 TheLexMalacitana(thecharter
oftheSpanishcityofMalaca)laysdownthatthe‘‘pledgingoflandedprop-
erty’’ (obligatio praediorum) in the farming of municipal revenues should be
carriedoutonthemodeloftheprocedureinRome—‘‘...thatthepeople
and the property will be put under legal obligation to the Roman people
asiftheyhadbecomesuretiesandguarantors,andthelandedpropertyhad
beensubmittedandregisteredassecuritybeforethosewhoareinchargeof
theAerariuminRome’’(... uti ii e[a]ve p.R. obligati obligatave essent, si aput
eos, qui Romae aerario praessent ii praedes i[i]que cognitores facti eaque praedia subdita
subsignanda obligatave essent).^46
40.Pro Flacco18/43.- Plut.,QR43(Mor.275B–C).Forfurtherreferences,Mommsen,StaatsrechtII^3 ,553–
54,III^3 ,1151–53.
42.CILI^2 593ILS6085Riccobono,FIRA^2 I13,ll.46–49.
43.Pro Flacco32/80. - Dio60,10,3.
- Plut.,Q. R.42(Mor.275A).
46.CILII1964ILS6089Riccobono,FIRAI^2 24,col.4,ll.34–35.Comparethe
fragmentary provision of the Lex Agraria of 3b.c.,CILI^2 585 Bruns,Fontes^7 ,no.II,
l.46.