154 The Imperial Government
however,seemtobelieve(asheindicatesinProcurateurs,p.34,andCarrières,
p.114)thatfreedmenprocuratorsweresystematicallytheassistantsofeques-
trian procurators, even where the posts held are apparently identical. He
mighthavebeenabletoprovethisinhispromisedMémoire sur les sousprocu-
rateurs,butalasthisneversawthelightofday.Ifinditdifficulttoaccept.It
istruethat(asinTac.Ann.13,1,PlinyEp.10,84orCILVIII25902)where
anequestrianandafreedmanprocuratorarementionedtogether,theeques-
trianismentionedfirst;butthereisnothinginsuchcasestoshowthattheir
functionswerenotidentical.Pflaumadmitsofcoursethat,forinstance,the
postofpraefectus classis(prefectofthefleet)couldatfirstbeheldbyfreed-
men.ButindiscussingthecareerofPompeiusMacer(Carrières,No.2),hehas
toassume,gratuitously,thathispostinconnectionwithAugustus’libraries
musthavebeensomehigherfunctionthanthatperformedbythefreedman
Hyginus.Again,hedoesnotmentionthefreedman,Halotus(PIR^2 H11),on
whom Galba ‘‘bestowed an important procuratorship’’ (an expression used
byPlinyEp.7,31,3–4torefer,implicitly,totheprocuratorshipsofthevice-
sima hereditatium[thecollectionofthe5percenttaxoninheritances]andthe
AlpesGraiae;seeNo.54).
Thisconcentrationonequestriansleadstofactualerrors,aswhere(Car-
rières,p.209)hesaysthattheearliestevidencefordistrictsforthecollectionof
thevicesimahereditatiumdatestothereignofHadrian—ignoringCILVI8443,
Ti(berius) Claud(ius) Aug(usti) lib(ertus) Saturninus proc(urator) XX here(ditatium)
prov(inciae)Achaeae.Italsomeansthathisotherwiseinvaluablelistsofholders
of the individual posts are incomplete. They do not give a list of all the
holdersoftheseposts.Butamoreseriousconsiderationisthatthefactthat
someofthecivilianpostsopentoequestrianscouldalsobeheldbyfreed-
menmustberelevanttoaproperviewofthem.Theywerenotinfactsuch
thattheycouldonlybereachedviaa‘‘career.’’
Equestrianandfreedmanoffice-holdingoughttobeconsideredtogether,
and compared. Curiously, Pflaum in theProcurateurs, pp. 198–99, lays con-
siderableemphasisontheletterofFrontoinwhichhesupportsthepetition
ofanimperialfreedman,Aridelus,foraprocuratorship‘‘intherightform,
at the right place and time’’ (petit nunc procurationem ex forma suo loco et iuō
tempore),butgivesnofurtherconsiderationtooffice-holdingbyfreedmen.
- By the mere process of including only men who held two or more
equestrian posts Pflaum has excluded from his view men who held onlya
singlepost.Butitcannotbeassumedthatineverycasewhereonlyonepostis
known,furtherevidencewouldshowafull‘‘career.’’Equestrianpostsmight,
itisinfactclear,beanadjuncttoaman’spersonalstanding.AGreeksophist
mightbecomeadvocatus fisci(alegalrepresentativeoftheimperialemperor’s