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

Emperors at Work 9

inthemorning‘‘afterreadinghislettersandthereportsofalltheofficials,he
admittedhisfriends.’’^41 SowiththetwolettersinwhichTrajantellsPlinythat
hehasread(‘‘legi’’)libelli—inoneofwhichhegoeson‘‘havingbeenmoved
byhisprayers’’^42 —wemaybelievewhathesays;thereisnoneedtoimagine
thatachiefsecretarymighthavereadthemandadvisedTrajan.^43 Onemight
noteinpassingsomedifferenttypesofcasesinwhichemperorsaredirectly
orverycloselyinvolvedwithofficialdocuments:intheSententiaeHadrian
saystoapetitioner,‘‘sinevideamcommentarios,’’or‘‘letmelookupthecom-
mentarii(records)—andthencomeback.’’^44 Similarly,Suetoniusrecordsan
anecdotewhenVespasianwasaskedbyadispensator(steward)howtomakean
entryintheaccounts;^45 andtheHistoria AugustasaysthatSeverusAlexander
kept full records of the troops’ payand service in his bedroom and would
studythemconstantly.^46
Withthemorecomplicatedquestionofthecompositionofimperialcor-
respondence, the only thing is to take the matter schematically and start
fromtheextremepossibility:didemperorswritetheirletterswiththeirown
hands?
Firstly,itisworthnotingthattherearecasesofofficialdocumentswritten
byemperors:Augustusleftthe‘‘thearrangementsfortheassemblies’’(ordina-
tiocomitiorum)‘‘writteninhisownhand’’;^47 theaccountsofthefinancesofthe
Empire,‘‘allofwhichhehadwritteninhisownhand’’;^48 andhiswill,‘‘writ-
ten...partlyinhisownhand,partlyinthatofhisfreedmen.’’^49 Tiberiusleft
twocopiesofhiswill,onewrittenoutbyhimself,theotherbyafreedman.^50
Aurelianwasbetrayedbyaslavewhoforgedalistofnamesforexecutionby
imitating his handwritingandthenshowedittothesupposedvictims.^51
Actualofficialletterswrittenbyemperorsarerare(thoughitwascom-
monforthemtowritepersonallettersintheirownhand).^52 Buttherearecases
ofsemi-officialautographletters;TiberiususedtowritesuchtoCossus,the

41. Suet.,Div.Vesp.21;cf.Philost.,Vit. Apoll.Tyan.5,31.


42. Pliny,Ep.10,60,107.


43. SoSherwin-White(n.5),120;The Letters of Pliny,546.
    44.Corpus Gloss. Lat.III,33,line32–33.


44. Suet.,Div.Vesp.22.
    46.HA,Sev. Alex.21,6–8.


45. Vell.Pat.2,124.


46. Tac.,Ann.1,11,7.


47. Suet.,Div. Aug.101.


48. Suet.,Tib.76.


49. Eutrop.9,15,2;ZosimusI,62.


50. E.g., Suet.,Div. Aug. 71, 87;vita Horat., p. 45 Reiff.; Dio 71, 36, 2;HA,Clod. Alb.