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

Trajan 27

thereignopenedwithhislettertotheSenate,written(soDiosays)‘‘inhis
own hand’’ from Germania Inferior;^11 while it ended, or came near to its
end,withastreamoflettersin116,somewrittenfromBabylonia,inwhich
hereportedtotheSenateontheconquestofpeoplesofwhomthoseback
inRomehadhardlyheard.Dionarratesthisasfollows,justafterhehasre-
cordedthefamousmomentatwhichtheEmperorhadreachedtheshoreof
thePersianGulf:^12

YethewoulddeclarethathehimselfhadadvancedfurtherthanAlex-

ander, and would sowrite to the Senate, although hewas unable to

preserve even the territory which he had subdued. For this achieve-

mentheobtainedamongotherhonourstheprivilegeofcelebratinga

triumphforasmanynationsashepleased;forbyreasonofthelarge

numberof the peoples of whom hewas constantly writing to them

theywereunableinsomecasestofollowhimintelligentlyorevento

usethenamescorrectly.

DiostatesclearlythatasuccessionoflettersreachedtheSenatefromTrajanin
theEast.Oneofthem,presumablyannouncingvictoriesgainedintheprevi-
ouscampaigningseason,arrivedinRomeinFebruary116.Foritisrecorded
intheFasti OstiensesthatnineortendaysbeforetheKalendsofMarch‘‘lau-
relledletters’’(laureatae)weresenttotheSenate,causingTrajantobevoted
thenameParthicus,thankgivingsandofferingstothegods(supplicationes)to
bevoted,andpublicgames(ludi)tobeheld.InearlyMay,thefragmentary
textrecordsthearrivalofanotherletterfromTrajan.^13
Thethirdsignificantelementinourconceptionofgovernmentbycorre-
spondenceisthatTrajan’sreignistheearliestforwhichourlegalsourcespro-
videasubstantialnumberofquotationsof,orreferencesto,legalpronounce-
mentsbytheemperor.ThankstothemagnificentcollectionbyG.Gualandi,
Legislazione imperiale e giurisprudenza,whichdeservestobemuchmorefully
used than it has been,^14 these quotations and allusions are easilyaccessible.
ThoughtheyareofcourselessnumerousthanthosepreservedforHadrian,
theAntonines,ortheSeveri,theystillrepresentasignificantbodyoftext:
to be precise forty-four individual citations (amounting to seven pages in
Gualandi),ofwhichfourcontainwhatarepresentedasverbatimquotations

11. Dio68,5,2.


12. Dio68,29,2–3.


13. SeeL.Vidman,ed.,Fasti Ostienses^2 (Prague,1982),48.


14. G.Gualandi,LegislazioneimperialeegiurisprudenzaI–II(Milan,1963).Thepronounce-
    mentsofTrajanpreservedinlegalsourcesaretobefoundinvol.I,17–23.