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

Emperors at Work 17

lawcourtaGreekandanAtticstyle’’hecontinues,‘‘FortheRomanemper-
ors,deemingyouworthyofthegreatestthings,laiduponyouthemanage-
mentofalltheaffairsoftheGreeks,settingyouupasaguardtothemselves,
ostensiblyappointingyouab epistulis(epistulae),butintruthtakingyouasa
partnerinkingship.’’^98 Phrynichuscertainlyimplies,thoughhereonemust
makeallowanceforflatteryoftheaddressee,thatCornelianusinfluencedthe
contentaswellastheworkingofimperialletters.
Morespecificevidenceisnotavailable.Theinterpretationofthesepas-
sages,furthermore,ismademoredifficultbythefactthatthenumerousim-
periallettersinGreekknownfrominscriptionsshownotraceofa‘‘literary’’
style.Thecontradictioncannotasyetberesolved.^99
Wehaveevenlessevidenceontheab epistulis latinis.Indeedtheonlyone
wecatchaglimpseofatworkisTarruttienusPaternusunderMarcusAure-
lius—he was sent on a mission to a tribe across the Danube. He was later
praetorianprefectandalsoleftalegalwork,de re militari.^100 Hislegalknowl-
edge (if he acquired it first) may have helped him to obtain the post; but
theroleoflawyersasassistantstotheemperorbelongstothenextsubject,
thefunctionsofthea libellis.Beforethatonemaynotetheequallyunhelp-
ful evidence of Dio that Marcius Agrippa,a cognitionibusandab epistulisof
Caracalla,wasdismissedfordrafting‘‘immaturelads’’intothearmy.^101
Thequestionofthefunctionsofthea libellispresentsamajordifficulty.
ThestandardpassagequotedisSeneca,adPolybium6,5:‘‘Youmustgiveaudi-
encetocountlessnumberofmen,countlesspetitions[libelli]mustbedealt
with; so great is the pile of business, accumulated from every part of the
world, that must be carefully weighed in order that it may be brought to
theattentionofthemostillustriousprincepsintheproperorder.You,Isay,
arenotallowedtoweep;inorderthatyoumaybeabletolistentothemany
whoweep—inorderthatyoumaydrythetearsofthosewhoareinperiland
desiretoobtainmercyfromCaesar’sclemency,itisyourowntearsthatyou

98. Phrynichus,Ecloga379(Lobeckccclvi;Rutherford).


99. Thereare,however,significantindicationsthatthestyleofimperiallettersbecame
    morediscursiveand‘‘literary’’fromaboutthemiddleofthethirdcentury.Evenifonedis-
    regardsthelongletterofDeciustoPhilippopolis‘‘quoted’’byDexippus(FGrH100F26),
    onemaynotethesentimentsdiscursivelyairedbyValerianandGallienuswritingtoPhila-
    delphiain255,Anz. öst. Akad.Phil.-hist.Kl.93(1956):226,no.8,andfurtherdevelopments
    inlaterLatinletters,theimperiallettertoTymanda(AbbottandJohnson,no.151),theletter
    ofConstantinetoAblabiusaboutOrcistus(no.154)orhisrescripttotheUmbri(no.155).


100. See W. Kunkel,Herkunft und soziale Stellung der römischen Juristen(1952), 219–20;
     Pflaum,Carrières,no.172.


101. Dio78,13,4.