Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 2 - Government, Society, and Culture in the Roman Empire

Introduction xiii

describedasa‘‘trueclassic,’’liesattheveryheartofThe Emperor in the Roman
Worldand was in fact the most complete statement of Millar’s new inter-
pretation of the nature of imperial rule before the book’s publication. Its
cogent,andattimesbelligerent,toneistobeexplainedbythefactthat‘‘the
hardestthingispreciselytodropanachronisticpresuppositionsandbelieve
what one reads.’’^3 On a much smaller scale thanThe Emperor in the Roman
World,‘‘EmperorsatWork’’describesandinterpretstheroleoftheemperor
intheRomanworldthrough‘‘wordsissuedby,orinthenameof,theEm-
peror,inresponsetowordsaddressedtohimbyothers.’’^4 Itsmessagecould
besummedupinwhatisoftenregardedasMillar’spersonalcredo:‘‘Theem-
perorwaswhattheemperordid,’’^5 thatis,theimpactof imperialrulewas
felttotheextentthatitwasexercised,and‘‘itsessentialpassivity’’meantthat
itwasexercised‘‘inresponsetoaninitiativefrombelow.’’^6 Thecluetowhat
theemperordidliesfirstandforemostintheimperialcorrespondencewhose
characteristicsarebestillustratedintheYoungerPliny’scorrespondencewith
theemperorTrajan,thesubjectofchapter2:‘‘Trajan:GovernmentbyCor-
respondence’’(1998).
ThefactthatRomeremainedarepublicintheory,andsovereigntywas
retained by the Senate and People of Rome (senatus populusque Romanus),
meant that the public treasury, theaerarium, like other republican institu-
tions,continuedtooperateasbefore(chapter4:‘‘TheAerariumandItsOffi-
cialsundertheEmpire,’’1964)alongsidetheimperialprivatetreasury(better
called ‘‘estate’’), thefiscus, which slowly and gradually came to absorb the
mainfunctionsoftheformer,therebylosingitsprivatecharacter(chapter3:
‘‘The Fiscus in the First Two Centuries,’’ 1963). Millar’s later discussion of
theimperialfinancialandmonetarysystem,chapter5:‘‘CashDistributions
inRomeandImperialMinting’’(translatedherefromtheFrench‘‘Lescon-
giairesàRomeetlamonnaie,’’1991),isperhapsthebestexampleofwhatI
referredtobeforeasMillar’saporia:innootherarticledoweencounterso
manyunansweredquestions,butthesheervalueofposingthemcannotbe
overestimated.
We are told in the postscript of chapter 6, ‘‘Epictetus and the Imperial
Court’’(1965),thatitsgenesislayin‘‘thecollectionofmaterialforabookon
theimperialcourtfromAugustustoConstantine,’’butitsuniquetheme,a

3. ‘‘EmperorsatWork,’’textfollowingn.6.


4. Afterword,ERW^2 ,637.
   5.ERW,6.


5. Thislastquotationistakenfromchapter11,‘‘TheEmperor,theSenate,andtheProv-
   inces,’’ in Fergus Millar,Rome, the Greek World, and the EastI:The Roman Republic and the
   Augustan Revolution,ed.H.M.CottonandG.M.Rogers(NorthCarolina,2002),291.