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

The Equestrian Career 153

triancareerthroughouttheperiodconcerned.Twomajordifficultieshaveto
bedealtwithbeforesuchaviewcouldseemprobable.Firstly,asPflaumisof
coursewellaware,thesetermsdonotappearondocumentsuntilthereignof
Commodus.Thetwopages(Procurateurs,pp.29–30)inwhichPflaumargues
hiscaseforextendingthesegradesbacktothereignofAugustusarehardly
adequateforsomethingsofundamentaltohiswork.Secondly,Pflaumrecog-
nizedhimselfthatthereisnoattestedequivalentinthecaseofequestriansfor
thelawsregulatingminimumagesandintervalsbetweentenureofmagis-
tracieswhichdictatedthestructureofsenatorialcareers(Procurateurs,p.210).
Butwhatthendowemakeofpropositionssuchasthattheorganisationof
thehierarchyofpostsunderTiberiusstillallowedcertainlibertieswiththe
patternofpromotion(‘‘L’organisationdelahiérarchiesousTibèrepermettait
encoreàl’empereurdetelleslibertésavecletableaud’avancement,’’Carrières,
p.4)—orofthemanyotheroccasionsonwhichPflaumspeaksoftherules
(regles)whichgovernedequestrianpromotions?
Takingthesetwopointstogether,onecanadmitthatPflaumhasshown,
firstly, that posts which were in existence throughout the whole period
tendedtoremaininthesamerelationofimportancetoeachotherand,sec-
ondly,thatintheperiodfromtheendofthefirsttothemiddleofthethird
centurytherewasaregularpatternofpromotion,orratheraseriesoflinked
regular patterns. But the distinction between a system which, in the pro-
cessofdevelopmentandexpansion,retainedcertainregularitiesandonein
whichtherewerefromthebeginningexplicitgradesandrulesofpromotion
isfundamental.Pflaumhasnowheregivenaclearandfullstatementof his
reasonsforpreferringthesecondoftheseviews.
Ongeneralgrounds,shouldwebereadytoaccepttheconceptionofan
organized‘‘career’’asfundamentaltothenatureofequestrianoffice-holding
from the beginning? It may be worth detailing here some considerations
relevant to the soundness of Pflaum’s conclusions and their wider impor-
tance.
1.Pflaumalmosttotallyignoresfreedmenprocurators.Even,forinstance,
inhisarticles.v.‘‘procurator’’inPauly-WissowaXXIII(which,lamentably,
ismerelyacondensedandrevisedversionofhisProcurateurs)hedevotesonly
a paragraph to them (cols. 1277–78).There he lays down that there was a
distinctionofprinciplebetweenequestrianandfreedmenprocurators,be-
causethelatterhardlyeverhavethetitleprocurator Augusti.Butthisisanab-
surdity,foramanwhocallshimself,forinstance,Acastus Aug(usti) lib(ertus)
procurator provinciae Mauretaniae(Acastus,Augustus’freedman,procuratorof
theprovinceofMauretania,ILS1483)neednot,andforstylisticreasonswill
not,repeattheAug(usti)afterprocurator.Thiscuriousslipapart,Pflaumdoes,