28 The Imperial Government
(twoofthese,however,repeateachother).TwoaspectsoftheEmperor’sful-
filment of his role stand out in this material: the prominence of replies to
consultationsbyprovincialgovernors(whicharethusexactlyanalogousto,
andcontemporarywith,Trajan’srepliestoPlinyinPontusandBithynia);and
the deliberate expression of the imperial will through the formulation of
themandata(codesofinstructions)giventogovernors(anaspectoftheEm-
peror’srolewhichalsoplaysanimportantpartintheexchangeswithPliny).
InthischapterIwilllookatthreeaspectsof Trajan’scorrespondenceas
avitalaspectofhisroleasEmperor.Thethreeaspectsrelateto,butarenot
quiteidenticalwith,thethreedistinctivefeaturesofthereign,andofour
knowledgeofit,whichIhaveoutlined:Trajan’sveryprolongedabsenceson
the frontier; the two quite distinct bodies of material provided by Pliny’s
Letters;andtheveryimportantevidencefromjuristicsources.
I will deal first with communications with Trajan while on campaign;
thenwiththejuristicmaterial,asabackgroundtothecorrespondencebe-
tweenPliny,aslegatus(thegovernorofanimperialprovince)ofPontusand
Bithynia,andTrajan,whoatthatperiodwasinRome;andfinallywiththe
natureoftheexchangesbetweenPliny,asgovernor,andTrajan.
Trajan’sCorrespondencefromtheFrontier
As is well known,Trajan’s reign as sole emperor began with the death of
hisadoptivefather,Nerva,inJanuary98,whileTrajanhimselfwaslegatusof
GermaniaInferior.Thenewsof Nerva’sdeathwillobviouslyhavereached
GermaniaSuperiorfirst,andwelearnfromtheHistoriaAugustathatHadrian,
who was then in Germania Superior as tribune oflegio XXII,madeevery
efforttobethefirsttocarrythenewsnorthtoTrajan.IuliusServianus,as
legatusof the province, tried to keep him back, apparently unsuccessfully.
Hadrianwasfurtherdelayedbythebreakdownofhisvehiculum(wagon)but
continuedonfoot,anddidsucceedingettingtherebeforethebeneficiarius
sentbyServianus.^15 Thestoryisinfactofsomerealsignificance,firstlyfor
theimpliedrole(whichisotherwiselittleattested)ofbeneficiariiasmessen-
gers,^16 andsecondlyforthehazardsoftravel.Itisnotentirelyclearwhether
15.Hist. Aug.,v. Had.2.5–6.- See most recently J. Ott,Die Beneficiarier: Untersuchungen zu ihrer Stellung innerhalb
der Rangordnung des römischen Heeres und zu ihrer Funktion(Stuttgart,1995),whichhowever
doesnotnotethispassage,andJ.Nelis-Clément,LesBeneficiarii:militaires et administrateurs
au service de l’Empire (Iersiècle a.c.–VIesiècle p.c.)(Paris,2000),71–73.Forcommunications
from emperors, consuls, or Senate to governors and communities in the provinces, and
for the types of messenger employed, see now W. Eck, ‘‘I sistemi di trasmissione delle