12 The Imperial Government
prisemaybelessenedwhenitisrealizedthatthesubscriptio(orrescriptum)very
often consisted of the address and a single brief sentence—as does that of
AntoninusPiustoSmyrna,^69 ofCommodustothecoloniofthesaltusBuru-
nitanus,^70 orof PhilipandhissontotheAragueni.^71 Commodus’subscriptio
is followed by thewords, ‘‘and in a different hand: ‘I havewritten, I have
checked [scripsi,recognovi].’’’ The evidence on the procedurewith imperial
letterscitedbelow,inparticularthatofSalviusJulianus,mightsuggestthat
thesubscriptiowasinfactdictated,andthenscripsi,recognoviwrittenonbythe
Emperor.
Forordinaryimperialletters,tocitiesorofficials,dictationwasnormal.
Caligula,afterreadingtheletterofPetronius,dictatedhisreplytoanabepistu-
lis.^72 Titus, according to Suetonius, used to dictate letters forVespasian in
hisoldage,^73 andSuetoniusalsodescribesDomitiandictatinganofficiallet-
ter,‘‘whendictatingamodelletterinthenameofhisprocurators,hebegan
thus:‘OurLordandGodordersthatthisbedone.’’’^74 Onemayalsomention
MarcusAurelius’letterwrittenwhile‘‘Caesar’’inthe140sorearly150s,in
whichhetellsFronto:‘‘Atlastthemessengerisoff,andatlastIcansendyou
areportofwhatIhavedoneinthelastthreedays.Icannotsayanything;to
suchanextentIhaveexhaustedmyspiritsbydictatingnearlythirtyletters.’’^75
Thesemightofcoursehavebeenprivateletters.
Butevenwhenanofficialletterwasdictated,anemperormightaddsome-
thing, possibly in his own hand: later in Philo’s narrative Caligula orders
another letter to bewritten to Petronius and then adds a threatening final
sentence.^76 Iwouldsuggestthatthismeansthathewrotethelastsentence
ontotheletter.
The notion of dictation followed, if necessary, byadditions in the em-
peror’s own hand is clearly expressed in theHistoria Augusta’s account of
Severus Alexander’s method of dealing with paper work: ‘‘The afternoon
69.CILIII,411ILS338FIRA^2 I,82.
70.ILS6870AbbottandJohnson,no.111FIRA^2 I,103.
71.OGIS519 IGRIV,598CILIII, 14191 Abbott and Johnson, no. 141. See in
generalU.Wilcken,‘‘ZudenKaiserreskripten,’’Hermes55(1920):1.
- Philo,Leg.258–60.Smallwoodtranslateshypebale‘‘dictated.’’TheLoebtranslation
gives,‘‘gaveoneofhissecretariesinstructionsaboutansweringPetronius.’’ - Suet.,Div.Tit.6.
- Suet.,Dom.13.Forimperialdictationofaletter,cf.HA,Max.12,5.Lact.,de mort.
pers.46,5,recordsLiciniusdictatingtoanotarius(stenographer). - Fronto,Ad. M. Caes.4,7(Naber70;LoebI,184;VanDenHout64).
76.Legatio333–34.