24 The Imperial Government
newcoins(orthere-mintingofoldcoins),towhichsomuchattentionhas
beendevoted,isoneaspectofthisempire-wideexchangeofvaluebetween
theRomanstateanditssubjects.Butitisonlyoneaspect.Howwasiten-
suredthatenoughcoinreachedeachofthelegions,andeachoftheauxiliary
units,scatteredveryunevenlyacrosstheEmpire?
I leave that question there, because my topic relates to the second ne-
cessityforthefunctioningoftheEmpire,thegatheringofinformation,its
processing, the formulation of responses to it, and the sending out of the
consequentialinstructionsordecisions.Iwillbeconcernedalmostentirely
with internal communications, that is the flowof information or requests
orproblemsfromprovincialcommunitiesorprovincialgovernors,orother
officials,totheemperor,andhowandinwhatformsheresponded.Theques-
tionofreportsandinformationcomingfromoutsidetheEmpirewillnot
beconsideredhere.^3
In this context too, it seems to me,we have not paid enough attention
to the basic physical realities of communication and travel in the imperial
period.Firstly,alltheevidencewhichwehavetendstoshowthatitwasnor-
malforinformationtotakeseveralweeks,perhapsasmuchastwomonths,
totravelfromthefrontiersoftheEmpiretothecentre.^4 IftheEmpirehad
reallysetupasignallingsystem,capableofcarryingcomplexmessages,along
themainlinesofcommunication,thespeedoftheflowofinformationand
decisionsmighttheoreticallyhavebeenmuchfaster.Butthetruthisthatit
hadnosuchsystem.
Nor,inspiteofoccasionalhintsinthesources,didithaverelaysofmes-
sengerswhowerepermanentlyorganisedandwereabletopassmessagesand
documentsonfromonetoanother.^5 Allourevidenceforthefirstthreecen-
ofvaluethroughtaxationandexpenditure,seeK.Hopkins,‘‘TaxesandTradeintheRoman
Empire(200bc–ad400),’’JRS70(1980):101–25,andC.Howgego,‘‘TheSupplyandUse
ofMoneyintheRomanWorld,200bctoad300,’’JRS82(1992):1–31.
- SeeF.Millar,‘‘Emperors,FrontiersandForeignRelations,31bc–ad378,’’Britannia 13
(1982):1–23(chapter9inthisvolume),and‘‘GovernmentandDiplomacyintheRomanEm-
pireduringtheFirstThreeCenturies,’’InternationalHistoryReview10(1988):345–77(chapter
10inthisvolume),alongwithA.D.Lee,Information and Frontiers: Roman Foreign Relations in
Late Antiquity(Cambridge,1993). - See,e.g.,R.Duncan-Jones,StructureandScaleintheRomanEconomy(Cambridge,1990),
chap.1:‘‘Communication-SpeedandContactbySeaintheRomanEmpire.’’ - ThemostconcretereferencetosuchasystemisprovidedbySuet.,Aug.49.3:‘‘[I]n
orderforhim[Augustus]tobemorespeedilyinformedofwhatwashappeningineachand
everyprovincehehadatfirstrelaysofyoungmenstationedalongmilitaryroadsatshort
intervals,andlateronofvehicles.’’