94 The Imperial Government
atonemoment,itwouldhavebeennecessary,followingthecalculationsof
A.H.M.Jones,toassemble1,610wagons,eachdrawnby4oxen,thus6,440
animalsinall.^17
Naturally, these calculations are purely theoretical. In reality what was
involved was thousands of separate journeys by land or voyages by sea,of
whichmanywillobviouslyhaveamountedtonomorethanlocalorregional
movements. But it is essential to insist on the fact that these journeys or
voyages,servingthefunctionofdistributingtheirpaytothesoldiers,were
absolutelyessentialtothefunctioningoftheEmpire.Wecan,forinstance,
gainanimpressionofsuchavoyagebyreadingArrian’sPeriplus.ForArrian
recordshow,aslegatus(imperialgovernor)ofCappadocia,hesailedeastwards
fromTrapezusalongthecoastoftheBlackSea,tovisitandinspecttheauxil-
iaryforts.Attwopointsinhisnarrativehedescribeshowhedistributedpay
tothesoldiers.^18 Onthefirstoftheseoccasionsfivecohortswereinvolved,
thusamountinginprincipletosome2,500men.Giventhedifficultyofcal-
culatingthepaylevelsofthehigherranks,anyestimateofthesuminvolved
mustbehypothetical.But,inordertotrytoenvisageconcretelywhatwas
involved,letussupposethatatthispointArrianhadtopayout100,000dena-
rii,or 375 kilograms of silver. Such a sum could have been carried in one
heavywagon;onthisoccasion,ofcourse,itwascarriedonship.
Tocatchaglimpseofthetransportationbylandofmilitarypay,weneed
onlyhaverecoursetothelastlettercontainedinthesecondofthetwovery
importantpapyrifromPanopolis,datingtoa.d.300.Inthisletterthepro-
curatoroftheLowerThebaidgivesinstructionsfortheprovisionofasum
of military pay as follows: ‘‘to Valerianus, the commander [praepositus]of
themostnoblespearmen[lancearii]oflegio III Diocletianastationedwithyou,
50lbs.ofsilverand4purses[folles]ofmoney,whichmakes33talentsand500
denarii, together with a team of four mules and a carriage and a driver.’’^19
- SeeA.H.M.Jones,TheLaterRomanEmpire(1964),830–31.Theheaviestwagon(anga-
ria)usedonthecursus publicus(thestatetransportsystem)ofthelateEmpirewassupposed
tocarryamaximumloadof1,500Romanpounds,eachof321grams,henceatotalof481.5
kilograms.This figurewill be used here on the assumption that therewas no systematic
changeinthemaximumsizeofthewagonbetweentheearlyEmpireandthelate. - Arrian,Periplus Mari Euxini6;10.
19.T.C.Skeat,PapyrifromPanopolisintheChesterBeattyLibrary,Dublin(1964),105–7.On
thelevelofmilitarypayanddonativainthisperiod,seeR.Duncan-Jones,‘‘PayandNum-
bersinDiocletian’sArmy,’’Chiron8(1978):541–60,revisedinStructureandScaleintheRoman
Economy(1990),105–17;J.Jahn,‘‘ZurEntwicklungrömischerSoldzahlungenvonAugustus
bisaufDiocletian,’’Studien zu Fundmünzen der Antike2(1984):53–74.