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

The Fiscus in the First Two Centuries 51

of PetiliusCerealiscouldsupporttheirdemandforpermissiontosackthe
ColoniaTrevirorumbyofferingtoletallthebootygototheFiscus.^27
MostwarsintheEmpirewerenotprofitable(hencetheincreasingdiffi-
cultyofsupportingthearmy);onlyTrajan,byhisconquestofDacia,madea
substantialgainandwasablenotonlytohave‘‘fromthespoils’’(ex manubiis)
inscribedonbuildingsintheForumTraianum,^28 butalsotoacquiremines
inDacia,whichwefindbeingsupervisedbyaprocuratorwhowasoneof
hisownfreedmen.^29
Buttoreturntoimperialproperties.Thewell-knowninscriptionofan
imperial estate in Africa, the Saltus Burunitanus, shows the peasants com-
plaining of wrongs done to them ‘‘by the contractors of the ‘fiscal’ lands
[a conductorib(us) agrorum fiscalium].’’^30 An equally interesting and important
inscriptionfromSaepinum,^31 oneofthebestexamplesofimperial‘‘bureau-
cracy’’atwork,containsthreelettersconcernedwithimperialflocksinthe
Abruzzi.Thefirst,inchronologicalorder,isfromanimperialslave,Septi-
mianus,toCosmus,thea rationibus(theofficialinchargeoftheaccounts)of
Marcus Aurelius, complaining of interferencewith ‘‘the lord’s sheep’’ (oves
dominicae) by the officials of Saepinum and Bovianum and asking for the
interference to be halted ‘‘lest the lord’s property [res dominica] suffers any
loss.’’ThenCosmuswritestothepraetorianprefectsrequestingmeasures‘‘so
thatbyyourfavourtheinterestofthefiscuswillbesafeguarded,’’andfinally
theprefectswritetothemagistratesofSaepinumwarningthemtoabstain
fromconductwhichwillresultin‘‘agreatlosstothefiscus.’’Apapyrusfrom
theHermopolitenome,datingfrom135,showsadivisionofleaseddomain
land(ousiakon ktēma)withareferencetopaymentstotheFiscus.^32 Overand
abovethesedocumentaryusestherearenumerousreferencesinlegalsources
totheownershiporsaleoflandbytheFiscus.^33
Amongimperialproperties,minesoccupiedaspeciallyimportantplace.
Theymightbegainedbyconquest,likethoseofCyprusandDacia,butthere

27. Tac.,Hist.4,72.


28. AulusGellius,NA13,25.
    29.CILIII,1312,‘‘ToM.UlpiusHermias,freedmanofAugustus,procuratorofthegold
    mines’’(M.Ulpio Aug./lib. Hermiae proc./aurariarum).
    30.ILS6870.
    31.CILIX2438;FIRA^2 I,61.SeeA.Passerini,Le coorti pretorie(Rome,1939),251–52.
    32.P. Ryl.157.ComparethefragmentaryBGU1576,aletterfromanofficialtoapro-
    curatordatingto133–35or147–48,withmentionsof(l.10)o kyriakos logos(thelord’sac-
    count),‘‘therevenuesoftheestate’’(l.16),and(l.23)‘‘thefiscus.’’
    33.Dig.22,1,16,1;39,4,9,8;49,45,13–14;49,14,47,1;49,14,50;50,6,6,10–11;Paulus,
    Sent.1,6a.5,5,12,23.