156 The Imperial Government
beennominal.Onemightwonderhowmanysuchcaseslurkintheinscrip-
tionsof ‘‘careers’’(perhaps,forinstance,thetribunateandthecommandof
anauxiliarycohort,praefectura cohortis,ofTitiniusCapito,Carrières,No.60?).
- Sherwin-White established years ago (PBSR15 [1939]) that careers
stretchingacrossthedifferenttypesofequestrianpostsonlybeganwiththe
reign of Claudius. But even after that there was never a common core of
postsheldbyallequestriansoracommonpointofentrytoequestrianposts.
AmanmightholdhispostsinRome,ornevercometoRomeatall.Nordid
anyformalagelimitsfortheholdingofpostsshapetheequestrian‘‘career.’’
5.Pflaumhimselflaysdown(Procurateurs,pp.165–66)thattheactuallevel
ofpayforprocuratorialpostscouldnothaveexhaustedthepossibleprofitsto
begainedfromthem.Allholdersofsuchpostsalreadypossessedtheeques-
triancensusof400,000sesterces,andmanyhadalreadyoccupiedmagistra-
ciesincities.Themainprofitsofequestrianofficemaywellhavecomefrom
incidental benefits, gifts,or simply bribes.The pay itself was clearly not a
negligiblefactor(Fronto,inrecommendingAppian,iscarefultosaythatheis
notmoved‘‘byambitionorgreedfortheprocurator’ssalary,’’butwehave
noapriorireasonforassumingthatthelevelofpaywasfromthebeginning
theindexbywhichprocuratorsweregraded).
Givensuchconsiderations,Pflaumoughttohaveestablishedthebasisof
histheorybyanexaminationofallthedocumentaryandliteraryusesofduce-
nariusandtheotherterms.Indoingthis,hemightperhapshaveaskedhimself
explicitlywhyitwaspreciselyinthereignofCommodusthattheseterms
cameintocommonsemi-officialuse.Theanswerinfactseemsclearfromhis
ownsurveyinProcurateurs,pp.29–30,ofthegradualmultiplicationofeques-
trianposts.Ducenariateposts(tousePflaum’sclassification)predominatein
thefirstcenturyandintheHadrianicperiodarestillasnumerousascente-
nariateorsexagenariateposts.OnlyinthereignofCommodus,whenthe
totalofattestedpostsreaches136,dowefindatypical‘‘pyramid’’hierarchy
(51‘‘sexagenariate’’posts,48‘‘centenariate,’’and36‘‘ducenariate’’).Thepro-
cesswasperhapsroughlyasfollows.Equestrianofficials,asisbeyonddispute,
receivedayearlysalaryfromtheinceptionofthePrincipate.Uptothemid-
secondcenturythemoreimportantpostswereanidentifiablegroupwitha
commonlevelofpay.Theirholdersmightthus(occasionally)bereferredto
asducenarii.Inthisperiodtherearenodocumentaryusesoftheterm,and
onlytwoliterary:Suet.,Div. Claud.24:‘‘[H]econferredconsularmarksof
honouralsoonprocuratorsholdingaducenariatepost’’(aprocuratorofPon-
tusandBithynia,IuniusCilio,andofGaul,GraeciniusLaco),andApuleius,
Met.7,6:‘‘aprocuratoroftheprincepswhofilledaducenariatepost’’(thedate
oftheMetamorphosesisofcourseuncertain).InthereignofMarcusAurelius