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An Epigraphic Survey of Costs in Roman Italy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2013

Richard Duncan-Jones
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Extract

The present survey, like its African predecessor, is an attempt to collect all the epigraphic evidence for costs that has survived from a single area of the Roman Empire; Sicily has been included here as well as Italy, but its contribution to the present survey is negligible (9 out of 875 costs). As before, the only chronological limit imposed is the omission of the few post-Diocletianic costs, on the grounds that price-levels and the nature of the currency had changed so much by the fourth century that costs from that period cannot meaningfully be correlated with those from the earlier Empire. But it has also been necessary to adopt two geographical restrictions, because of the profusion of cost evidence from Italy. Costs from the city of Rome (which survive in some numbers among the 40,000 inscriptions from the capital), together with costs mentioned in the wax tablets and graffiti of Pompeii and neighbouring Campanian cities have been omitted from the survey. A minor generic omission has also been made: the financial penalties for rifling tombs, which have already been recorded in some detail by Liebenam and are of doubtful economic significance. The total number of costs and numerate gifts included in the survey approaches 900 nevertheless.

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Research Article
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Papers of the British School at Rome , Volume 33 , November 1965 , pp. 189 - 306
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Copyright © British School at Rome 1965

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References

1 Duncan-Jones, R. ‘Costs, outlays and summae honoranae from Roman Africa’, PBSR xxx, 1962, pp. 47–115Google Scholar, referred to hereafter as CSRA. In order to avoid ambiguity, the numbering of the Itahan costs has been made to continue the sequence begun by the African serw. The gap of 12 numbers between the end of the African series and the present list is due to the addition of further African material since the completion of the published version. The statement made in CSRA, p. 50 to the effect that Africa probably provides an absolute majority of the epigraphic costs surviving from the West is now seen to be quite untrue, since the number from Italy alone (without taking Rome into account), is considerably larger than the total from Africa.

2 Liebenam, pp. 49–53.

3 The numbering of the list suggests 1,000 items, but a large number of costs appear in the list twice under different headings. In all such cases, a cross-reference to the first appearance of the item in the list is given under the second heading in place of a direct reference to the inscription.

4 The inde x volume XI is unfinished but the; indices to the other volumes, though nominally complete, reveal few of the costs that the volumes contain.

5 Although roughly one-third of the costs in the present survey appear in ILS, very few of them are to be found in the lndex to that work.

6 Laum, II, pp. 166–186, nos. 10–93; M. Bang in L. Friedlaender, Darstellungen aus der Sittengeschichte roms 10, 1922, Appendix 25. A miscellaneous cross-section of Italian costs appears in Frank, V, pp. 94–106.

7 For discussions of munificence under the Empire in the West see J. C. Rockwell, Private Baustiftungen für die Stadtgemeinde auf Inschriften der Kaiserzeit im Westen des römischen Reiches, 1909; and Lussana, A. in Epigraphica, xii, 1950, pp. 116–123Google Scholar xiv, 1952, pp. 100–113; and xviii, 1956, pp. 77–93.

8 Records of the amounts of 12 outlays by local collectivities (usually the city), 2 outlays by the Roman Republic, and 4 outlays by the Emperor or in his name appear in the present sample: nos. 452, 459, 460, 464, 465, 466, 480a, 481, 484, 485, 490, 496; 455, 457; 439, 454, 639a, 645a. Cf. nos. 440, 443, outlays financed partly by cities and partly by private individuals.

9 The African total has been revised to include some finds made since CSRA was written.

10 See CSRA, Table IV, p. 78.

11 Statistics for the distribution of towns in Italy are drawn from the account given in Beloch, p. 391 (which is largely derived from the elder Pliny). For the regional distribution of costs, see Table p. 233 below.

12 For the number of prices from Lambaesis, which exceeds 50, see CSRA, p. 58 and n. 30. Meiggs estimates Ostia's population at 50,000/60,000 (Meiggs, p. 533).

13 Nos. 439; 511; 517; 521; 527; 528; 532; 533; 534; 535; 536; 538; 539; 540; 541; 543; 544; 545; 546; 547; 548; 557; 563; 600; 641; 672; 674; 675; 698; 703; 710; 715; 723; 724; 725; 726–728a; 772; 863; 893; 895; 896; 937; 1006; 1007; 1008; 1009; 1010; 1011; 1076; 1311; 1319; 1334; 1364 (a small number of these headings each includes several costs).

14 Capua: nos. 586; 603; 608a; 618a; ?637; 640; 838; 853; 1183; 1331. Puteoli: nos. 480a; 526; 549; 576; 757; 788; 1185a; 1348.

15 For Comum, see V, p. 565; for Brixia, V, pp. 439, 2–440; and for Pisaurum, XI, pp. 940, 2–941.

16 See pp. 177–188 above, ‘The finances of the younger Pliny’. For Pliny's gifts to Comum, see nos. 441, 469a, 638, 644, 655 and 661. Other costs from Comum: nos. 668, 676; 677; 720; 737; 738; 1317a; 1341a; 1343a; 1345a; 1350a; 1354a; 1356a.

17 Costs from Brixia: nos. 470a; 496a; 554; 690; 717; 719; 733; 734; 735; 736; 746; 748.

18 Nos. 760; 776; 830; 833; and 1044. For other costs from Pisaurum, see nos. 643; 648; 682; 1358a.

19 Cf. A. Calderini, Aquileia romana, 1930. Other costs from Aquileia: nos. 566; 632; 714; 1363; 1366; cf. no. 537a.

20 Cf. POA, p. 130 and n. 40.

21 For other figures from Lanuvium, see nos. 479; 506; 685.

22 Aeclanum: nos. 467a; 779; 1075; 1318; 1335; 1346; 1353; 1362; 1374.

23 Ameria: nos. 553; 583; 601; 629; 700; 823; 831; 837; 845; 1340; 1356; 1375.

24 CSRA, p. 59.

25 op. cit. pp. 52–53 and Table II, p. 77.

26 Nos. 482 + 1079 + 1364a, Augustus; 647, Gaius; 640, (Julio-Claudian); 650, Nero; 658, 1318, Domitian.

27 Cf. CSRA, pp. 52–53 and Table II, p. 77.

28 In terms of outlays on buildings and statues whose cost is specified, the figures from Africa are: 4 under Severus Alexander; 1 under Pupienus and Balbinus (unpublished temple inscription from Mustis); 4 under Gallienus; 1 under Tacitus; 1 under Probus; 2 under Diocletian; 2 from the late third century (CSRA, Table I, pp. 76–77).

29 There seems to be no evidence from Africa for expenditure on roads by private individuals: cf. Haywood in Frank, IV, pp. 65–69.

30 Cf. Rockwell and Lussana cited in n. 7 above.

31 Meiggs, p. 410.

32 Cf. ILS 6282.

33 VII, 180. The statuette, which is 10 inches high, is dated to the second or third century by J. M. C. Toynbee, Art in Roman Britain, 1962, p. 131, no. 16.

34 Jacobsthal, P. and Jones, A. H. M., ‘A silver from south-west Asia Minor’, JRS xxx, 1940, at p. 29Google Scholar.

35 From Nero onwards, the price of gold was even higher, HS4,500 per pound; Mattingly, pp. 121–123.

36 Mattingly, pp. 122–123.

37 M. Bang, ‘Preise vonGrabdenkmälern’, Appendix 25 in L. Friedlaender, Darstellungen aus der Sittengeschichte roms 10, 1922.

38 An unpublished survey of African knights by the present writer shows that epigraphic record of more than 300 knights has survived from Africa. For senators, see CSRA, p. 69 and n. 61.

39 Brunt, p. 71.

40 Cf. ILS III, p. 495.

41 Domaszewski, p. 141. Brunt has pointed out that there is very little direct evidence for the range of salaries for the equestres militiae inferred by Domaszewski (Brunt, p. 69). But it would seem almost inevitable on hierarchical grounds that holders of these posts would generally have been paid at a level intermediate between the salary of centurions (HS20,000–40,000 in the second century) and the salary of the lower procurators (HS60,000). The point made by Brunt to clinch his case against these conjectures is itself doubtful, involving the supposition that the salary of the proconsul of Africa (known to have been HS 1 million under Macrinus) would have been no more than HS400,000 in the second century (Brunt, p. 69). This was one of the two highest public offices that crowned the conventional senatorial career, and would always appropriately have been rewarded by a salary several times larger than that given to the highest procurators, HS300,000 (cf. Duncan-Jones, , PBSR xxxi, 1963, p. 166, n. 46Google Scholar). For evidence of the government's extreme slowness in raising the salaries of its civil employees, cf. Jones, A. H. M. in Econ. Hist. Rev. 2nd ser., v, 1952–1953, p. 306Google Scholar, citing instances where money salaries were still being paid at ‘second century’ rates in the early fourth century A.D.

42 Cf. Brunt, p. 69 and n. 121.

43 Domaszewski, p. 140.

44 Brunt, p. 71.

45 ibid.

46 Brunt, pp. 67 and 71.

47 For a range of possibilities, see ILS III, pp. 247–248.

48 For the financial rewards of medical practice, cf. Pliny, , NH XXIX, 7–8Google Scholar.

49 Pliny, , NH XXXIII, 135Google Scholar, ‘funerari se iussit HS ∣ X ∣ ’.

50 Laum, II, pp. 166–186.

51 ILS 3546; 3775; 6271; 6328a; 6469; 6663; 6664; 8370; 8376; Pliny, , Ep. VII, 18Google Scholar. Cf. IX, 1455, and XI, 1147, and POA, p. 128.

52 The possibility of very large profits from trade is implied by Petronius, Satyricon, 76, and by the rapid rise to great affluence of many members of the freedman class, who are typified by Trimalchio. Cf. Veyne, P., ‘Vie de Trimalcion’, Annales. Économies. Sociétés. Civilisations., xvi, 1961, pp. 213–247CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The fact that great Roman families often thought it worthwhile to maintain interests in brick factories despite social pressures against forms of investment other than land suggests high profitability for this type of industry (cf. H. Bloch, I bolli laterizi e la storia edilizia romana [Studi e materiali del Museo dell'Impero Romano, no. 4], 1947, p. 337). For industry and commerce under the Empire, cf. also SEHRE 2, pp. 566, n. 29; 578–579; 616, n. 36.

53 ILS 5595, a gift made under Augustus.

54 Cf. Pliny, , Ep. X, 70, 2Google Scholar; Laum I, pp. 135–136.

55 Cf. ILS 23; 5366; 5367; 5368; Tacitus, , Ann. XII, 65, 1Google Scholar; Pliny, , NH XXXIII, 135Google Scholar; Martial IV, 37; V, 13; SEHRE 2, p. 550, n. 25.

56 Digesta XIII, 4, 3; XVII, 1, 10, 3; XXII, 1, 1; 1, 37; XXVI, 7, 7, 10; XXVII, 4, 3, 1; XXX, 39, 1; XXXIII, 1, 21. Cf. Billeter, pp. 103–109 and 179–181.

57 Cf. Billeter, pp. 103–109; 181.

58 II, 4511; ILS 6957.

59 Pliny's alimentary gift was nominally worth HS500,000 (no. 644), but in fact bore interest at considerably less than 6%, since Pliny underwrote it by making over to the city estates worth much more than the sum promised, in order to ensure the continuance of his gift in perpetuity (cf. POA, pp. 129–130 and Le Bras, p. 38, n. 105).

60 Cf. Billeter, p. 374.

61 SEHRE, p. 473; Billeter, pp. 211–219.

62 See, in addition to the western evidence cited above, the still wider range of interest-rates from Egypt assembled by Johnson in Frank, II, p. 450, n. 58.

63 Cod. Theod. II, 33, 1; ILS 9420, a foundation of HS2 million set up in A.D. 323 at Feltria, regio X.

64 Cf. Frank, V, pp. 107–114.

65 There are a number of analogous appointments in other Italian cities: a curator pecuniae Ocranianae at Aricia (XIV 2171); a curator templi et arcae Vitrasianae at Gales (X 4873); a curator muner(is) Tulliani at Ticinum (ILS 6472); a curator muneris gladiatori Villiani at Dea Augusta Vocontiorum (ILS 6992); a curator muneris peq(uniae) Aquillianae at Grumentum (ILS 6451); and a curator ark(ae) Titianae coll(egii) (fabrum et centonariorum) at Mediolanium (ILS 6730).

66 Mancini in Ruggiero II, 1346–1349.

67 Pliny, , Ep. IV, 13, 6Google Scholar; VII, 18, 1; cf. bk. X passim & POA, p. 133.

68 His appointment to Comum by Hadrian appears to have followed directly on his appointment to Bergomum, which had been made by Trajan (ILS 6725). For the continued existence of this circumscription at a later date, see V, 8921: cur. r. p. Comens. et Berg.

69 Nos. 638, 644, 655, 661; Pliny, , Ep. V, 7, 4Google Scholar; no. 676; Pliny, , Ep. VII, 18Google Scholar.

70 ‘Curator operis thermarum datus ab imp. Caesare Hadriano Aug.’, 7L5 6489; cf. no. 467c.

71 Cf. ILS 5186; 5878.

72 Pliny, , Ep. IV, 22Google Scholar; IX, 6; also I, 8, 10. On the other hand, Pliny also found himself able to commend the propriety of a friend's celebration of a gladiatorium munus at Verona in memory of his wife, and to commiserate with him on the late arrival of African beasts intended for the occasion (Ep. VI, 34). Cf. also Tac., Ann. XIV, 20Google Scholar.

73 Cassius Dio LII, 30, 3 & 7–8. Cf. F. Millar, A study of Cassius Dio, 1964, p. 109.

74 Le Bras, G., ‘Les fondations privées du Haut Empire’, Studi in onore at S. Riccobono III, 1936, pp. 23–67, esp. p. 28Google Scholar.

75 For Africa, cf. CSRA, p. 63 and n. 45.

76 Pliny, , Ep. VII, 11, 1, etcGoogle Scholar.

77 Dated to the second century by Le Bras, p. 26, n. 8.

78 Pliny, , Ep. X, 116Google Scholar; Apuleius, Apol. 87.

79 Friedlaender, L., Darstellungen cuts der Sittengeschichte roms10, I, pp. 225–235Google Scholar. J. Carcopino, Daily life in ancient Rome, 1962 ed., pp. 191–192. DS and RE s.v. ‘sportula’. Modern discussions have tended to concentrate almost entirely on the sportula of the client at Rome, to the exclusion of the municipal sportula.

80 Nos. 834, 841, 862, 879, 923, 960, 976, 992, 994, 1000, 1036 appear to be cash gifts made on the occasion of a feast; nos. 1079b–1079h, though very similar in amount, appear to be provisions for feasts, and have been classified accordingly. For the same ambiguity at an African city, cf. CSRA no. 293, ‘et epulationis nomine decurionibus sport-(ulas)’.

81 Res Gestae XV; Ruggiero II, 2142, 2. Cf. Fasti Ostienses XXII, 11.37–38 for a feast given to the Senate and equites in A.D. 112 by Trajan, (IIt XIII, i, pp. 200–201)Google Scholar.

82 XIV, 375. For dating, Meiggs, pp. 493–500.

83 Petronius, Satyricon, 71.

84 Nos. 830, 836, 837, 858, 859, 860, 874, 897, 900, 904, 907, 912, 913, 929, 934, 941, 945, 964, 973, 974, 985, 987, 1008, 1026, 1044.

85 CSRA nos. 296 + 300; II, 2011, 4511; XIII, 1921.

86 Liebenam, p. 229; CSRA, pp. 70–71.

87 See Appendix on dating.

88 Asculum Picenum, no. 761, Ruggiero I, 865, 1; Firmum Picenum, no. 765 (ibid.); Pisaurum, no. 776, Ruggiero I, 866, 1; Forum Flaminiae Fulginiae, no. 781, XI, p. 755, 2; Auximum, nos. 792 & 803, cf. no. 791, where Augustales were included; Atina Latii, no. 794, Ruggiero I, 857, 2; Lupiae?, nos. 795 and 805, Ruggiero I, 862, 1; Perusia, nos. 806 and 816, Ruggiero I, 867, 1; Sestinum, no. 807, XI, p. 884, 2.

89 Cf. for example note to no. 461; Petronius, Sat. 71.

90 An inscription from Corfinium has ‘plebs universa“ but such explicitness is very unusual (no. 931, cf. CSRA nos. 298 and 305).

91 Cf. Hisloria, xiii, 1964, pp. 200–201Google Scholar. For the cost of feasts, see nos. 1079b–1079h, which show the maximum cost of HS20 assumed in the Historia paper. Beloch's inference from this foundation of a population of 6,000–7,000 citizens was by inadvertence overlooked when that paper was written (Beloch, p. 441).

92 Cf. my conclusions in JRS, liii, 1963, pp. 85–91Google Scholar.

93 Histoira, xiii, 1964, pp. 199–200Google Scholar.

94 See Broughton in Frank, IV, p. 754.

95 J. Marquardt, Das Privatleben der Römer, 1879, pp. 293–297; cf. especially lex col. Gen. Iuliae, c. 132, ILS 6087.

96 IX, 338. For distributions that included the sons of decurions, see nos. 822, 839, 860, 934, 949, 950. 963.

97 A. von Premerstein in Rueeiero I, 824–877. For more recent work on the Augustales, see Oliver, J. H. in Historia, vii, 1958, pp. 481–482Google Scholar.

98 XIV, 4560–4563.

99 Cf. IX, 4957, 4970, 4977, 4978.

100 IX, 4971 = ILS 6560.

101 See n. 95 above.

102 For 100 decurions at Cures, see IX, 4952, 4957, 4959, 4970, 4973, 4976, 4978.

103 II, 4511; see Historia, xiii, 1964, P. 205Google Scholar.

104 Cf. Billeter, p. 204 and n. 2.

105 Nos. 675, 674, laid down in A.D. 182 and 230/240. HS20 is the only sportula attested for the Augustales at Ostia (nos. 863, 864a).

106 IX, 4896= ILS 6553: ‘adlecto supra numer(urn) sevirum Augustalium’. Cf. IX 4901.

107 Historia, xiii, 1964, p. 204Google Scholar. For very large collegiate sizes in Italy, compare the total of roughly 1200 in the collegium fabrum et tignuariorum at Rome implied by the 60 decurions indicated in VI, 148, 1060, 10300 and the decuria size of 20 or more in VI, 9405 (Waltzing, IV, p. 293).

108 No. 642.

109 Seen 107 above.

110 Ruggiero II, 1696, 2–1697, 1 (Aungemma).

111 XIV, 2408.

112 FIRA I, no. 21, 62.

113 Cf. Historia, xiii, 1964, pp. 200–201Google Scholar and n. 12.

114 The plebs urbana is also found as a specific unit at Alba Fucens, Amiternum, Ancona, Falerii, Reate (IX, p. 788, 2) and at Albingaunum, Augusta Taurinorum, Bergomum, Comum, Eporedia, Industria, Libarna, Tergeste, Vercellae and Verona (V, p. 1196, 2). Cf. Liebenam, p. 211, n. 2.

115 IX 338.

116 The victoriatus was another name for the quinarius, or half-denarius, Mattingly, p. 140. Quinarii were still being struck by the Antonines, Mattingly, H., Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, IV, 1940, p. xiiiGoogle Scholar.

117 The decurions of Ostia received HS20 per head in two distributions in the late second century (no. 863, dated to 182, no. 864, dated to 160/200), and HS12 in two third century distributions (no. 893 dated to 251, no. 894 dated to 230/240). The decurions at Tuficum received HS8 in a distribution dated to the reign of Commodus, and HS6 in a distribution dated after 200 (nos. 953, 969).

118 The decurions and people of Perusia received rates of HS4 and HS2 in 166, and HS8 and HS4 in 205 (nos. 1013, 1042; 938, 1012). The people at Auximum received HS4 per head in a distribution dated to 161/169, and HS8 in a distribution dated to 169/190 (nos. 979, 927).

119 The sportulae given to the Augustales as a percentage of those given to the decurions: Anagnia, 66%, 40%, 40% (nos. 789, 774, 775); Antinum Marsorum, 75%, 40% (nos. 787, 778); Carsulae, 100%, 50%, 33% (nos. 802, 801, 786); Puteoli, 66%, 4%? (nos. 788, 757); Volcei, 66%, 66% (sic) (nos. 762, 790).

120 X, p. 15, cf. Historia, xiii, 1964, pp. 199–200Google Scholar; XI, p. 829.

121 129 of the 431 cities in Italy listed by the elder Pliny, or 30%, were in regiones I and VI (Beloch, p. 391).

122 Cf. Frank, V, pp. 107–120. These circumstances throw some light on why sportula-giving appeared somewhat foreign to the younger Pliny (who came from Comum, regio XI), when he encountered it in Bithynia, though the municipal sportula was also still in its infancy in Italy at larg in Trajan's time (Pliny, , Ep. X, 116Google Scholar).

123 Patrons: nos. 766, 767, 771, 774, 778, 781, 784, 790, 794, 806, 827, 833, 841, 977, 1014, 1040; curatores r.p./curatores kalendarii, nos. 763, 778, 784, 790, 793, 806, 822, 828, 831, 977, 980, 1040; knights, nos. 764, 767, 783, 790, 793, 794, 800, 806, 827, 977. The various duplications of rôle here have been allowed for in calculating the total.

124 Quinquennales: nos. 758, 760, 783, 784, 786, 798, 803, 989, 991, 991a; IIIIviri and IIviri: nos. 787, 813, 816, 837, 892, 893, 924, 972, 992, 1004, 1047.

125 Cf. Ruggiero I, p. 1007.

126 Biselliarii: nos. 796, 815, 858; recipients of omamenta decurionalia, etc.: nos. 776, 788, 809, 830, 858, 872, 898, 942; Augustales: nos. 791, 801–802, 808, 812, 863, 880.

127 Patroni collegiorum: nos. 936, 1041; veterani: nos. 761, 999, 1026; women: nos. 775 (‘Marcia, stolata femina’ who may have been the celebrated concubine of Commodus, Mommsen, ad ILS 406, 4Google Scholar, n. 1); 777; 799; 805; 807; 978; servus: no. 849 (a dispensator arcae summarum, or civic financial official, who was also chief contributor to the cost of a temple whose dedication this distribution celebrated; cf. Liebenam, pp. 66–67).

128 Jones, A. H. M., Econ. Hist. Rev. ser. II, v, 1952–1953, pp. 295–296Google Scholar. For Palestine, Heichelheim in Frank IV, pp. 181, 183. Egypt provides a sizeable number of instances of wheat at lower prices: HS1 per modius in 18 B.C; HS1–2 in 13B.C.; HSO·75 in 10 and 9 B.C; HSO·58 in 5 B.C; HS1 in 30, 4 B.C; HSO·9 in A.D. 3; HS1·3 in A.D. 45/6 and in A.D. 56; HSO·65 in A.D. 65; HS1·8 in A.D. 138/161 (Johnson in Frank II, pp. 310–311; I have translated from drachmae per artaba into sesterces permodius for convenient comparison).

129 Cf. Rostovtseff, in RE VII, 143–150Google Scholar; two famine prices from the West are found in CSRA no. 389 (HS40) and no. 1177 (HS50?).

129a AE 1925, 126b.

130 Klio, iv, 1904, pp. 90–91Google Scholar. Cf. no. 1176b.

131 D. van Berchem, Les distributions de blé et d'argent a la plébe romaine sous l'Empire, 1939.

132 Res Gestae, XV, 4.

133 RE VII, 148.

134 Cato, de agri cultura, 57–58.

135 7 and 10 quadrantals, op. cit., 57; RE s.v. quadrantal.

136 One modius of wheat cost 100 denarii and a sextanus of vinum rusticum costo denarii in Diocletian's Edict (Frank V, pp. 318, 322). For parity between the castrensis modius and the normal modius: see Jones (cited in n. 128), p. 299, n. 4.

137 Cf. XIV 4450 (= no. 641, Ostia) ‘[ut ex eius] summae usu[ris p]uellae [alime]ntar[iae] centum alerentu[r]’; Ulpian, in Digesta XXXIV, 1, 1Google Scholar, ‘Si alimenta fuerint legata, dici potest etiam aquam legato inesse, si in ea regione fuerint legata, ubi venumdari aqua solet’; it would thus appear that the gift of alimenta was to be taken to include financial provision for all the necessities of life. See also the quotation from Iavolenus in the next note.

138 No. 638. Iavolenus Priscus, a Trajanic iurisconsultus (cf. Syme, pp. 52 and 91) in Digesta XXXIV, 1, 6; ‘Legatis alimentis cibaria et vestitus et habitatio debebitur, quia sine his ali corpus non potest’.

139 ILS 8379.

140 ILS 2267.

141 This appears to be the correct interpretation of Polybius, VI, 39, 13; cf. Walbank, F. W., A Commentary on Polybius I, 1957, p. 722Google Scholar.

142 Johnson in Frank II, p. 301 and n. 10; pp. 670–671; Brunt, p. 59.

143 NH XVIII, 66–68. See L. A. Moritz, Grainmills and flour in classical antiquity, 1958, pp. 186, 202–207. The Roman pound is conventionally interpreted as 327.45 gms (cf. Ruggiero s.v. libra). The calorific value of modern bread ranges from about 3.03 to about 2.47 calories per gram (R. Hutchison & V. H. Mottram, Food and the Principles of Dietetics 11, 1956, p. 24). These co-ordinates suggest a Parity between 5 modii per month and 3,700–4,300 calories per day; but the calorific value of Roman bread was probably somewhat lower than that of modern bread.

144 op. cit., pp. 48 and 53.

145 Mommsen's suggestion elsewhere that a cost per iugerum of HS2,200 was the land valuation underlying the property classes of the early fifth century B.C. is extremely speculative, and seems implausible in view of the strong probability that liquidity was much lower under the earlier Republic than several centuries later (Staatsrecht 3 III, i, pp. 248–249).

146 Eusebius, , Hist. eccl. III, 20,3Google Scholar cited by Heichelheim in Frank, IV, p. 151. Parity between the plethron and the iugerum is suggested by Heichelheim, but the Syro-Roman Law Book states that 5 iugera = 10 plethra (FIRA II, p. 795, c. 121; cf. also RE IX, 2507).

147 Johnson in Frank, II, p. 147.

148 Cf. Johnson, loc. cit., p. 301 ff.

149 Cf. examples collected by Johnson loc. cit., p. 450, n. 58; Historia, xiii, 1964, p. 203 and n. 29Google Scholar.

150 Columella, III, 3, 10–13.

151 Cic, ., ad Att. XIII, 31, 4Google Scholar. Frank, T. in Amer. Journ. Phil., 1, 1929, p. 184Google Scholar.

152 Cf. Varro, III, 2, 15.

153 Cf. Dubois, pp. 83–97.

154 Meiggs, pp. 283–287.

155 III, 607, ‘qui in comparat(ionem) soli oper(i) byblio[th(ecae)H]S CLXX f(aciundo) rem p(ublicam) impend(ium) levavit’.

156 E. Boeswillwald, R. Cagnat, A. Ballu, Timgad, une cité africaine sous l'empire romain, 1905, p. 298, fig. 141.

157 Cagnat, R., ‘Les bibliothèques municipales dans l'Empire romain’, Mémoires de l'Institut National de France: Académie des Inscriptions et des Belles Lettres, xxxviii, 1909, pp. 1–26, esp. p. 7CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

158 Pliny, , NH XXXVI, 103Google Scholar; Suetonius, , Iul. 26, 2Google Scholar. Frank, I, pp. 369–370 misrepresents and misinterprets the figure. The dimensions of the Forum Iulium are given by S. B. Platner and T. Ashby, A topographical dictionary of ancient Rome, 1929, p. 227.

159 Pliny, , NH XXXVI, 103Google Scholar; Cicero, , ad fam. V, 6, 2Google Scholar; ad Att. I, 14, 7. Cf. Marquardt, J., Römische Staatsverwaltung 2 II, 1884, pp. 54–55Google Scholar.

160 Suetonius, , Iul. 38, 2Google Scholar: ‘Annuam etiam habitationem Romae usque ad bina milia nummum, in Italia non ultra quingenos sestertios remisit’.

161 PBSR, xxxi, 1963, pp. 159–177Google Scholar.

162 Pliny, , Ep. IV, 1, 4–5Google Scholar; II, 17; III, 21, 5; VII, 11, 5; I, 4, 1; VI, 10, 1; V, 11; VIII, 20, 3; VI, 30, 2–4. POA, pp. 129, 134–135.

163 Marquardt, J., Römische Staatsverwaltung 2 I, 1881, pp. 180–183Google Scholar; DS s.v. summa honoraria; Liebenam, pp. 54–65; Ruggiero, III, pp. 949–959. Cf. also CSRA, p. 66, n. 49.

164 Pliny, , Ep. I, 19, 2Google Scholar.

165 Liebenam, p. 56, n. 4 cites X, 5348 (Interamna Lirenas), XIV, 362, etc. (Ostia), X, 1132 (Abellinum). There are also examples from Volcei, Puteoli, Suessa Aurunca, Pompeii, and Capena (ILS 2071; 2748; 6296; 6367; AE 1954, 162).

166 Fronto, II, 7, 6, ed. van den Hout, 1954, I, p. 182.

167 For example, at Alpa Fucens, and at Pompeii under Nero (AE 1951, 19, ILS 5145).

168 AE 1909, 59 (Ferentinum Etrunae); cf. also NS 1948, p. 258 (Tarquinu) and ILS 5653a–5653e (Pompeii).

169 FIRA I, no. 21, 70–71. There were evidently two separate series of games, since the duoviri were charged with giving a four-day munus, whereas the aediles were to give a three-day munus, followed by one day's entertainment in the circus or the forum. The practice about charges for office appears to have been the same at the Julian colony at Cnossus: ‘In hoc munere (HS2,000) sunt, quos e legecoloniae Pro ludis dar debuit’, ILS 7210; cf. Ruggiero II, 1274, 2.

170 ILS 5706 = X, 829. The requirements for Pubblic functionaries low down the scale at Pompeii were evidently more restricted: ‘L. Statius Faustus pro signo quod e lege Fortunae Augustae minist(r)orum ponere debebat, referente Q, Pompeio Amethysto quaestore basis (sic) duas marmorias (sic) decrever[u]nt pro signo poniret (sic)’ (A.D. 45, ILS 6385).

171 X, p. 89.

172 VIII, pars, v, pp. 334, 1–337, 1; for the expenditure of summae honorariae upon monuments Africa, see CSRAI p. 69, n. 60; cf. also CSRA, no. 21 and ILS 6820.

173 For guilds, cf. Haywood, in Frank IV, p. 72; for Augustales, Charles-Picard, Civilisation, p 147 (to which add AE 1958, 144, Hippo Regius, and possibly ILAf 607 and VIII, 21822, mentions of the sevirate at Banasa and Volubilis).

174 Liebenam, p. 57.

175 IX, 3314 = ILS 5056.

176 100 feet, no. 467j. A normal cost of roadbuilding vary close to HS20 per foot is suggested by three Italian inscriptions (nos. 454, 463, 466; cf. no. 456, HS13.33 per foot).

177 Although no figures are known, there was also a summa honoraria for the VIIIvirate which was the chief magistracy at a few Italian cities, IX, 4889, etc. (cf. RE s.v. octoviri [Rudolph]).

178 IX, 1645, ‘pro honore Ilviratus’.

179 IX, 2235, ’Pr(aetores) duovir(i) pro ludeis turr(e)s duas … faciundas coerarunt’.

180 X, 7004, ‘pro honore Ilviraftus]’.

181 X, 3704 = ILS 5054.

182 The Julia referred to was probably the daughter of Titus (ILS 6487, n. 2).

183 II, 1934.

184 Meiggs, p. 218 and XIV, pp. 672–673.

185 Ruggiero I, 1007.

186 For the amount of evidence, cf. Thes. ling. Lat. II, 2012–2013.

187 Cf. IX, p. 237.

188 Beloch ranked Pompeii among the dozen or so largest towns of Roman Italy (Beloch, J., ‘Le città dell'Italia antica’, Atene e Roma, i, 1898, pp. 257–278Google Scholar). Cf. also Meiggs, pp. 12–13.

189 Cf. also V, 5278 = ILS 6729, ‘qui universam substantiam suam ad rem publ(icam) pertinere voluit’ (Comum).

190 Ulpian XXIV, 28, ‘Civitatibus omnibus, quae sub imperio populi Romani sunt, legari potest: idque a divo Nerva introductum, postea a senatu auctore Hadriano diligentius constitutum est’. Compare, however, the difficulties encountered under Trajan by an unwary testator who attempted to leave money to Comum without proper knowledge of the legal position (Pliny, , Ep. V, 7Google Scholar).

191 Le Bras, p. 34, n. 68.

192 The archetype of public contributions towards expenses undertaken by magistrates is already seen in the Caesarian Lex Ursonensis, where the city added subventions of its own to the sums paid by magistrates towards the cost of games in fulfilment of their statutory obligations (FIRA I, no. 21, 70–71).

193 Some fall in the amount as well as in the frequency of gifts is evident in Italy in the early third century, see pp. 209–210.

194 See Jones, A. H. M., ‘Inflation under the, Roman Empire’, Econ. Hist. Rev. ser. 2, vol. v, 1952–1953, pp. 293–318Google Scholar; RE Supp. VI, 127–133.

195 A project which involves extensive measurement and assessment of archaeological remains.

196 See pp. 196–199.

197 Cf. Pekáry, T., ‘Studien zur römischen Währungs- und Finanzgeschichte von 161 bis 235 n. Chr.’, Historia, viii, 1959, pp. 443–489, at pp. 456–457Google Scholar.