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 12 THE 'ALIMENT A ' OF NEBVA January come the ■ procuratores alimentorum ',* who either took the place of the prefects in districts where there was no important road, or, in the case of the Flaminian and Aemilian districts, were appointed in addition to the prefect. The names and titles recorded are quite enough to prove that we are dealing not with a small or localized effort at poor relief, but rather with a widely extended scheme, based upon deliberate policy, such as could be applied to all parts of Italy, and yet could be controlled by central authorities. Among municipal offices, as distinct from imperial, the ' quaestura alimentorum ' ranks unexpectedly high. In many cases it was the last stage in a man's municipal career before reaching the highest office, that of the ' duumviratus iuridicundo ' ; in other cases the alimentary quaestorship and the duumvirate were held together, and in some instances this quaestorship was held last of all. A certain diversity in title appears, and it seems probable that the emperor permitted the local authorities to administer the funds in whatever way seemed best, either by combining the new functions with those of an office already existing, or by appointing a separate official. 2 The existence of these officials has been definitely proved in about forty towns scattered over every part of Italy. Their high place in municipal administration shows that the alimentary fund was no insigni- ficant department of the city treasury, but affected a considerable number of the families on the city register. Our evidence as to the number of children assisted is very meagre. This is unfortunate, for it is difficult to appreciate the real significance of the institution unless we know whether the assistance reached a large proportion of the population, or was limited to a few of the very poor. Among the inscriptions recording public grants, 3 the Tabula Veleias alone gives definite information. There we find that 264 boys and 36 girls were Marcus Aurelius of the magistrates known as ' iuridici ', who apparently formed a sort of supervisory board over Italian administration, and may have added the ' cura alimentorum ' to their other duties. Their powers were reduced by Macrinus. This whole theory is attacked by Mommsen, Staatsrecht, ii. 2. 1080. 1 See Corpus Inscript. Latin, iii. 6753, viii. 822. The title sometimes varied : ii. 4238 ' procurator Augusti ab alimentis ' ; vi. 1633 and 1634 ' procurator ad alimenta '. 2 (a) Officials appointed separately : The title ' quaestor alimentorum ' appears twenty times. Other titles are : ' quaestor alimentorum Caesaris ' ; ' quaestor sacrae pecuniae alimentariae ' ; ' quaestor pecuniae alimentorum publicorum ' ; 1 curator pecuniae alimentariae '. An example of a subordinate is given in Corpus Inscript. Latin, ix. 699 ' servus arkarius, qui et ante egit rationem alimentariam sub cura praefectorum annis xxxii '. (b) Magistrates who combined two or more offices : ibid. x. 20 ' quaestor pecuniae publicae et alimentariae ' ; ibid. x. 5920 ' quaestor aerarii et alimentorum '. Other titles are ' duovir et curator alimentorum distribuendorum ' and ' duovir alimentorum quaestor curator sacrae pecuniae '. 3 Among the private endowments, at Sicca probably 300 of each sex were assisted ; at Terracina, 100 of each ; at Hispalis perhaps 50 of each.