Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/144

 132 INSCRIPTIONS [ROMAN, 3 the . A third species of official documents is formed by decrees of senate of Koine, of the analogous corporations in the colonias and municipia, and of the divers collegia and sodalicia, consti tuted, as a rule, after a similar fashion and debating in nearly the same way as the Roman and the municipal senates. The oldest Roman senatus consulta are those translated into the Greek lan guage and containing treaties of alliance, as already mentioned. They are preserved either on monuments or by ancient authors, as Josephus :c.g., the fragment found at Delphi, from the year 568 (186 B.C.), and the so. T/tisbieum, from Thisbe in Bieotia, 584 (170 . B.C.) (Ephcm. epigr., i. p. 278 sq., ii. p. 102, and Joh. Schmidt, Zeit- schrift der Savigny-Stiftung, vol. iii., 1881), those of 616, 619, 621, 619 (138-105 B.C.) (G. I. Graze., 2905, 2908, ii. 2485, 2737; Le Bas and Waddington, vol. iii. p. 195-198 ; Annali dell Institute, vol. xix., 1847, p. 113 ; Ephcm. epigr., iv. p. 213 sq.), and those relating to the Jews, dating from 615, 621, and 710 (139, 133, and 44 B.C.) ( Josephus, Ant., xiii. 9, 2, xiv. 8, 5 and 10, 9). The two oldest senatus consulta written in Latin are also preserved in a more or less complete form only by ancient authors; they are the sc. dc pliilosopliis ct rhetor i- busof 593 (161 B.C.) (Gellius, Noct. Att., xv. 11, 1) and timt de hastis Martiis of 655 (99 B.C.) (Gellius, iv. 6, 2). The only one belong ing to the oldest period preserved in the original Latin form, of which only a part exists, together with the Greek translation, is the sc. Lutatianum, relating to Asclcpiadcs of Clazomente and his companions, dating from 676 (77 B.C.) (G. I. L., i. 203). The rest, belonging to the later epoch from Cicero downwards, about twenty in number, are mostly preserved only in an abridged form by ancient writers, such as Cicero, Frontinus, Macrobius, or in Justinian s Digcsta (see Hiibner, Dc senatus pojmlique Komani actis, Lcipsic, 1859, p. 66 sq.); a few exist, however, in a monumental form, complete or in fragments as the two sc. on the ludi sascu- larcs, dating from 17 B.C. and 47 A.D., preserved on a marble slab found at Rome (G. I. L., vi. 877) ; the fragments of two sc. in honour of Germauicus and the younger Drusus, from Rome, on bronze tablets (0. L L., vi. 911-912 ; Henz. 5381-5282); the two sc. Hosidianum and Volusianum, containing regulations for the demolition and rebuilding of houses in Rome, incised on the same bronze plate, found at Herculaneum, dating from Nero s time, between 41 and 46 and from 56 A.D. (Orel. 3115; Mommsen, Berichte der sacks. OescllscJiaft der IVisscnschaftcn, pMlol.-Jnstor. Classo, 1852, p. 272 sq.); and, of a later period, the sc. Cassianum or Nonianum of 138 A.D., containing a market regulation for the saltus Beguensis in Africa, where it has been found preserved in two examples on stone slabs (Ephem. epigr., ii. p. 271 sq., not com plete in Wil. 2838), and the fragment of that for Cyzicus, belong ing to the reign of Antoninus Pius (Ephem. epigr., iii. p. 156 sq.). There exists, besides, a chapter of a sc. , relating to the collegia, inserted in the decree of a collegium at Lanuvium, to be mentioned below. Of the municipal decrees, of which a greater number is preserved (see Hiibner, DC, sen. populigue Earn, actis, p. 71 sq.), only a few of the more important may be mentioned here: the lex Putcolana do parieti faciundo of 649 (105 B.C.) (G. I. L., i. 577; Orel. 3697; Wil. 697) ; the two decreta](or so-called ccnotaphia) Pisana, in honour of Lucius and Gains Ca?,sar, the grandsons of Augustus, of 3 A.D. (Orel. 642, 643 ; Wil. 883); ihedecretum Lanu- vinum of 133 A.D., containing the regulations of a collegium f uner aticium, styled collegium salutare Dianas ct Antinoi (Or. 6086 ; Wil. 319); and the dccretum Tergcstinum, belonging to the time of Antoninus Pius (C. L L., v. 532; Henz. 7167; Wil. 693). There are, however, more than thirty others preserved, some of them, such as those from Naples, written in the Greek language. Of the third speciality, the decrcta collegiorum, only the lex collegii aquas of the first century (Marini, Atti de fratclli Arvali, p. 70 ; Rudorff and Mommsen, Zeitsclirift filr liechtsgeschichte, vol. xv., 1850, p. 203, 345 sq.), and the lex collegii sEsculajrii ct Hygias, of 153 (G. I. L., vi. 10234; Orel. 2417 ; Wil. 320) need be mentioned here ; many more exist. One of them, the lex collegii Jovis Ccrncni, dating from 167 A.D., found at Alburnum major in Dacia, is pre served on the original tabella cerata on which it was written (C. I. L., iii. p. 924; Henz. 6087; Wil. 321). 4. The fourth species of instnimenta are the decrees, sometimes in the form of letters, of Roman and municipal magistrates, and of the emperors and their functionaries, incised, as a rule, on bronze tablets. The oldest decree in the Latin language which has been B reserved is that of L. jEmilius Paulas, when prater in Hispania setica, dating from 189 B.C., for the Turris Lascutana in southern Spain (C. L L., ii. 5041 ; Wil. 2837) ; of the same date is a Greek one of Cn. Manlius, consul of the year 565, for the Heracleenses Carisc (Le Bas and Waddington, n. 588). Then follow the famous epistulft consulum (falsely styled commonly senatus consultum) ad Teuranos dc bacchanal ibils, dated 568 (186 B.C.) (C. I. L., i. 196) ; the sentence of the two Minucii, the delegates of the senate, on a dispute concerning the boundaries between the Genuates and Viturii, 117 B.C. (G. L L., i. 199; Orel. 3121; Wil. 872) ; and the epiatula of the prtetor L. Cornelius (perhaps Siscnna), the praitor of 676 (78 13. C.) ad Tiburtc.v ((f.I.L., i. 201). These belong to the republican age. From the imperial period a great many more have come down to us of varying quality. Some of them are decrees or constitutions of the emperors themselves. Such are the decree of Augustus on the aqueduct of Venafrum (Henz. 6428 ; Wil. 784) ; that of Claudius, found in the Val di Nona, belonging to 46 A.D. (G. I. L., v. 5050; Wil. 2842) ; of Vespasian for Sabora in Spain (G.I.L., ii. 1423), and for the Vanacini in Corsica (Orel. 4031) ; of Domitian for Falerii (Orel. 3118) ; the epistles of Hadrian relating to ^Ezani in Phrygia, added to a Greek decree of Avidius Quietus (G. I. L., iii. 355; Henz. 6955), and relating to Smyrna, in Greek, with a short one of Antoninus Pius, in Latin (C. I. L., iii. 411 ; Orel. 3119) ; the decrees of Commodus relating to the saltus Buruni- tanus in Africa (Mommsen, Hermes, vol. xv. , 1880, p. 358 sq.) ; of Severus and Caracalla for Tyra (Akerman in Mcesia), Latin and Greek (C. I. L., iii. 781; Henz. 6429); of Valerian and Gallienus for Smyrna, also Latin and Greek (C.I.L., iii. 412); of Diocletian* de prctiis rerum vcnalium, containing a long list of prices for all kinds of merchandise, preserved in divers copies more or less com plete, in Latin and Greek (G.I.L., iii. p. 801 517. ; compare Ephcm. epigr., iv. p. 180, and, as similar monuments, the lex portus of Cirta, of 202 A.D., Wil. 2738, and the fragment of a regulation for the importation of wines into Rome, Henz. 5089, Wil. 2739) ; and some of the age of Constantino, as that relating to Hispellum in Umbria (Henz. 5580; Wil. 2843), that of Julian found at Amorgos (Henz. 6431), and some others, of which copies exist also in the juridical collections. Of two imperial rescripts of a still later age (413 A.D. ), fragments of the originals, written on papyri, have been found in Egypt (see Mommsen and Jaffe, Jahrlnich dcs gcmcincn deutschcn Eechts, vol. vi. , 1861, p. 398 ; Hanoi, Corpus legum, p. 281). Imperial decrees, granting divers privileges to soldiers, are the diplomata militaria also, mentioned above, incised on two com bined bronze tablets in the form of diptycha, of which about seventy examples have been brought together in the Corpus (vol. iii. p. 842 sq.) ; some specimens arc given. in Wil. 2862-2869, and in the Eplicm. epigr. (vol. ii. p. 452, and vol. iv. p. 181 sq. ), belonging to nearly all emperors from Claudius down to Diocletian. Though not a decree, yet as a publication going back directly to the emperor, and as being preserved in the monumental form, the speech of the emperor Claudius, delivered in the senate, relating to the Roman citizenship of the Gauls, of which Tacitus gives an abstract (Ann. xi. 23), ought also to be mentioned here ; it was engraved on large bronze slabs by the public authority of Lugudunum (Lyons), where a large fragment of it is still preserved (Boissieu, Inscriptions antiques de Lyon, p. 132 sq. ). Another sort of decrees, relating to a great variety of subjects, has to be mentioned, emanating, not directly from the emperors, but from their functionaries. Such are the decree of the proconsul L. Helvius Agrippa. of the year 68 A.D., on the boundaries of some tribes on the island of Sardinia (Wil. 872 a) ; that of the prefect of Egypt, Tiberius Julius Alexander, written in Greek, of the same year (G. I. Grsec., 4957) ; that of C. Helvidius Priscus, on a similar question relating to Histonium, belonging perhaps to the end of the first century (Wil. 873) ; that of the legate of Trajan, C. Avidius Quietus, one of the friends of Plutarch, found at Delphi, in Greek and Latin (G. I. L., iii. 567; Orel. 3671 ; Wil. 874) ; a rescript of Claudius Quartinus, perhaps the imperial legate of the Tarraconcnsis, of the year 119 A.D., found at Pampluna (C.I.L., ii. 2959; Orel. 4032) ; the epistle of the^rs;- fecti pr&torio to the magistrates of Sfepinum, of about 166-169 A.D. (Mommsen, I.N., 4916 ; Wil. 2841) ; the decree of L. NoviusRufus, another legate of the Tarraconcnsis, who ex tilia rccitavit, of 193 A.D. (G.I.L., ii. 4125; Orel. 897; Wil. 876); the sentence of Alfenius Senecio, then subprefect of the classis preetoria Misencnsis, belonging to the beginning of the third century, formerly existing at Naples (Mommsen, /. N., 2646) ; and some others of the fourth and fifth centuries, not requiring specific mention here. Quite a collection of epistles of high Roman functionaries is found in the celebrated inscription of Thorigny (Mommsen, Bericlite der siichs. Gcsellschaft der Wisscnschaftcn, 1852, p. 235 sq. ). The letter of a provincial functionary, a priest of Gallia Narbonnensis, to ihefabri sulxdiani of Narbonne, of the year 149, may also be mentioned (Henz. 7215 ; Wil. 696). To these must be added the tabulee ali- mentarise, relating to the well-known provision made by Trajan for the relief of distress among his subjects, such as that of the Ligures Bsebiani (Mommsen, I.N., 1354; Wil. 2844) and that of Velcianear Parma (Wil. 2845) ; while evidence of similar institutions is fur nished by inscriptions at Tarracina, at Sicca in Africa, and at Hispalis in Spain (Wil. 2846-48 ; C.I.L., ii. 1174). At the close of this long list of official documents may be mentioned the libcllusof the procurator operum publicorum a columna divi Marci of the year 193 (G. I. L., vi. 1585; Orel. 39; Wil. 2840) and the interlocutioncs of the prscfecti vigilum on a lawsuit of the fulloncs of Rome, of 244 A.D., inscribed on an altar of Hercules (C.I.L., vi. 266; Wil. 100). These documents form a most instructive class of instruments. 5. Many documents, as may be supposed, were connected with religious worship, public and private. The oldest lex tcmpli, which continued in force until a comparatively late period, was the regu lation given by Servius Tullius to the temple of Diana on the