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

Government and Diplomacy 223

everlearnedtospeakanyoftheGermanic,Celtic,Thracian,orIranianlan-
guagesusedbeyondthefrontierintheEurasianland-masscanbesafelydis-
missed,ascananysimilarnotionrelatingtothelanguagesofNorthAfrica.
TheonepossibleexceptionhereisPunic,attestedasaspokenandwritten
languagethroughouttheperiodconcerned.^35 Butthereisnothingtoshow
that it actually was employed as a vehicle of diplomatic communication,
spokenorwritten.InMauretania,atleast,itiscertain,asawholeseriesof
(Latin)inscriptionsfromVolubilisattests,thatthird-centurygovernorsheld
repeated negotiations (colloquia) with chiefs of the Baquates. One such in-
scriptionwhichdatesfroma.d.245recordsthataprocuratorofMauretania
TingitanahadconductedaconloquiumwithSeptemazinis,chief(princeps)of
thegens(tribe)oftheBaquates‘‘forthesakeofestablishingpeace.’’^36 Noth-
ingissaidaboutthelanguageofthe‘‘colloquium’’;wecanhoweversafely
assumeeitherthataninterpreterwasemployedorthat,liketheprincepsof
theZegrensessomedecadesearlier,Septemazinishadmovedintotheorbit
oftheLatin-usingMediterraneanworld.
SomethingcomparableisclearlyattestedontheRhinefrontierintheearly
firstcenturya.d.;chiefsofCherusci,andindeedanordinaryrank-and-file
soldier,aredescribedashavinglearntLatinasaresultofmilitaryservicewith
Rome (Tacitus,Annals2, 9–10; 13). Although it is difficult to imagine that
somemechanismsformutuallinguisticunderstandingwerenotemployed
alongRome’sfrontiers,theavailableevidenceisextraordinarilyslight:asol-
dieroflegioIAdiutrixatBrigetiointheearlythirdcentury,describedasinter-
prex Dacorum,‘‘interpreterof[with?]theDacians’’(Ann. Épig.1947,no.35);
oran‘‘interpreterof[for?]’’theprocuratorsinthebilingual(GreekandAra-
maic,orevenArabic)regionsouthof DamascusontheedgeoftheSyrian
desert.^37 Such veryenigmatic fragments of documentaryevidence may be
compared with the ‘‘chief-interpreterof [with?] the Alani’’ attested in the
Bosporankingdom,^38 withoutgivingusanyclearnotionofhowsignificant
afunctioninterpretation,ontheRomanside,wasconceivedtobe.Itwould
bearelativelysafeassumptionthattheentireRomansystemreliedonthe
cultural dominance of the Graeco-Roman world to ensure that words ad-
dressedtoRomanrulersorgovernorswereinLatinor,failingthat,inGreek.
Intheelaboratelystagedsceneina.d.66whenTiridates,amemberofthe

35. F.Millar,‘‘LocalCulturesintheRomanEmpire:Latin,LibyanandPunicinRoman
    Africa,’’Journal of Roman Studies58(1968):126–51(chapter12inthisvolume).
    36.Inscriptions antiques du MarocII,no.359.


36. R.Cagnat,Inscriptiones Graecae ad Res Romanas PertinentesIII(Paris,1896),no.1191.


37. Struve,Corpus Inscriptionum,no.1053.