100 The Imperial Government
(militarytreasury),outofwhichlegionarypraemiawerepaid,wasanactual
building,orstructure,situatedontheCapitol:^34 ‘‘Copieddownandchecked
fromthebronzetabletwhichhasbeenputupinRomeinfrontoftheaerarium
militare,onthestatuebaseoftheClaudiiMarcelli.’’
EvenifthevaluablediscussionofthistextbyMireilleCorbierdoesnot
succeedinpointingtoanexactlocalisationfortheaerarium militare,^35 itsim-
portanceisnonethelessclear.Asregardstheolder‘‘treasury,’’theAerarium
Saturni, situated (in some way which is not clear), in the ancient temple
of Saturn, it is certain that it retained until the imperial period its archaic
functionasastorehouseofvaluablesandasanarchiveofofficialdocuments.
Butalthoughwehavesomeevidenceonthispoint,forinstancealetterof
PlinytheYounger,^36 itremainsdifficulttoconceptualisethefunctioningof
the Aerarium Saturni as a government ‘‘office,’’ or to understand the role
oftheprefectsoftheAerariumSaturni.SofarasIknow,sincemyarticleof
1964,^37 thestudyofthetwotreasurieshasbeenpursuedsystematicallyonly
byMireilleCorbier,andeventhenprimarilyasregardstheprosopography
oftherelevantofficials.^38 Thecontinuedexistence,atthecentreofavastem-
pire,of an institution whose fundamental character was strikinglyarchaic
servestoraiseonceagainthequestionoftheroleofthecityofRomewithin
theimperialfinancialsystem.Wasitthecase,ornot,thatvastnumbersof
coinswereregularlytransportedtoRome,andthenre-exportedtotheprov-
inces?ThequestionappliestotheancientAerariumSaturni.But,nowthat
we know that theaerarium militarewas also some sort of physical structure
situatedontheCapitol,wehavetoaskourselveswhetherweshouldconceive
ofittooasasortofgovernment‘‘office,’’concernedwithpapertransactions;
orwasittooaphysical‘‘treasury’’orstorehouse,towhichcoinwasbrought
fromtheprovincesandthenre-exported,tobepaidoutaspraemiatodis-
chargedlegionaries?Whatdoesseeminconceivableisthateachdischarged
legionarywouldhavehadtocometoRomefromtheprovincewherehehad
beenstationedinordertoreceivehispraemium.
At any rate, forall the complex questions relating to the stockpiling at
- PublishedbyS.Dušanic,‘‘AMilitaryDiplomaofad65,’’Germania56(1978):461–65;
AE1978,no.658;M.M.Roxan,Roman Military Diplomas, 1978–1984(1985),no.79. - M.Corbier,‘‘L’aerariummilitairesurleCapitole,’’Cahiers du groupe de recherches sur
armée romaine et les provinces3(1984):147–60. - Pliny,Epp.1,10.
- F.Millar,‘‘TheAerariumandItsOfficialsundertheEmpire,’’JRS54(1964):33–40
(chapter4inthisvolume). - M.Corbier,L’aerariumSaturnietl’aerariummilitare:administrationetprosopographieséna-
toriale(1974).