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  • 8/11/2019 Hadrian and Italica

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    Hadrian and Italica

    Author(s): Ronald SymeReviewed work(s):Source: The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 54, Parts 1 and 2 (1964), pp. 142-149Published by: Society for the Promotion of Roman StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/298660.

    Accessed: 19/02/2012 16:47

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    HADRIAN AND

    ITALICA

    I43

    None the

    less,

    some

    are

    disposed

    to hold

    the HA

    erroneous,

    for all its

    ostensible

    precision of place and date. They prefer to have

    Hadrian born at Italica (and various

    motives are in play).10

    Support comes

    from an

    apparent contradiction

    in

    the narrative.

    After mentioning young

    Hadrian's addiction to

    Greek studies

    the

    HA proceeds,

    '

    quinto

    decimo

    anno

    ad

    patriam

    redit'

    (Hadr.

    2, I).

    The verb 'redit' looks decisive.

    It

    is

    taken

    to

    prove that Hadrian was now at Italica again, for the second time: i.e. he was born there,

    but must have left Italica

    during infancy

    or

    boyhood.

    A

    different

    interpretation may be

    permissible

    -

    that Hadrian

    '

    duly

    went to

    the

    ancestral

    town ', the word

    '

    patria

    '

    entailing

    redeo

    '

    for the verb rather than

    '

    eo

    '.11

    If that interpretation is valid, Hadrian saw his

    '

    patria

    '

    for the first time in the year

    go,

    'quinto

    decimo

    anno '. That

    is,

    after

    assuming

    the

    '

    toga

    virilis

    '

    (for

    which the

    completed

    fifteenth

    year was perhaps more

    customary).

    It

    was

    appropriate

    that

    a

    senator's son

    should

    then

    pay

    a

    visit to

    the

    place of

    his

    fathers.

    He

    might

    not have the

    chance

    to see his

    '

    patria

    '

    again for

    long years

    -

    or

    ever in the sequel. It will not

    be necessary

    to

    import the notion

    that

    Italica was more salubrious than Rome, there

    being

    a

    pestilence at this time.12

    At

    Italica Hadrian

    joined

    the local

    collegium iuvenum

    and

    was

    subjected

    to a kind

    of

    pre-military discipline. He

    also went

    in for

    hunting. His sojourn

    cannot have been long,

    at

    the most two or three years, perhaps much less. Curiosity might ask whether he was still

    there

    when Baebius Massa was

    proconsul (that person was

    prosecuted

    and condemned in

    93),13

    whether

    it

    was now that he made the

    acquaintance

    of Bruttius

    Praesens, quaestor

    of Baetica

    about 92

    or

    93.14

    Hadrian

    departed, 'a

    Traiano abductus

    a

    patria

    et

    pro

    filio

    habitus'

    (Hadr.

    2, 2).

    Trajan was consul

    ordinarius

    in

    9I,

    and his

    young

    ward

    would soon

    be

    ready

    for his

    first

    post

    in the

    official

    career,

    the

    vigintivirate

    -

    which

    happens

    to

    be

    specified

    in

    the

    biography.

    Hadrian's

    inscription

    at

    Athens

    furnishes two further

    posts.15

    That

    he was one of the

    Seviri at

    the

    annual

    parade

    of Roman

    knights

    calls for no

    comment. But

    praefectus

    urbi

    on

    the occasion

    of

    the Feriae

    Latinae,

    that was

    a

    signal honour,

    not

    verifiable

    previously

    for

    anybody except princes of

    the

    dynasty

    or descendants of

    patrician families. It

    is a

    measure

    of the

    influence that had accrued to

    Trajan

    and

    Trajan's friends, loyal

    adherents of the

    Flavian

    emperors.

    Then

    came

    the

    military tribunate,

    which for

    Hadrian

    took an

    unusual turn:

    three

    legions in succession.16

    That lacks parallel,

    save

    for L. Minicius

    Natalis, c.

    I

    I5-8.17 The

    first

    legion was II Adiutrix, province not stated, but

    probably Moesia Superior. Hadrian

    passed at once to

    the

    lower Moesia

    -'

    post

    haec in

    inferiorem Moesiam

    translatus

    '

    (Hadr.

    2,

    3).

    One notices

    the

    position

    of

    the

    adjective.18

    The

    legion

    in

    this

    province

    was

    v

    Macedonica. Finally,

    he

    was transferred to Germania

    Superior, having

    been sent there

    to

    convey

    the

    congratulations

    of

    his

    army

    to Trajan

    (who

    had been

    adopted by

    Nerva

    towards the

    end of

    October, 97):

    the

    legion

    was

    xxii

    Primigenia.

    Hadrian

    took up

    the

    second

    appointment 'extremis iam Domitiani

    temporibus'

    (Hadr.

    2,

    3).

    That

    is, presumably,

    in

    96.

    The first

    should therefore

    fall

    in

    95.

    The tribunus

    laticlavius often serves in a province governed by a

    kinsman. It would be worth knowing,

    for

    example,

    who was

    legate

    of Moesia

    Superior

    in

    the

    period 94-6.19

    No consular command

    happens to be on record for Trajan before he accedes to Germania Superior in

    97,

    and none

    for

    Julius Servianus

    either,

    until

    he

    takes

    Trajan's place

    there

    in

    the

    winter

    of

    97-8:

    10

    Thus

    E.

    Kornemann,

    Kaiser

    Hadrian und der

    letzte

    grosse Historiker

    von

    Rom

    (1905),

    72 ff.

    ;

    W. Weber,

    Untersuchungen

    zur

    Geschichte des Kaisers

    Hadrianus

    I907), 14.

    Their

    arguments

    have been

    influential;

    and

    Stein

    in his

    registering

    of the

    ancient

    testimonia seems to incline

    that

    way (PIR2,

    A

    I84).

    11

    Otherwise,

    for all that

    one

    could

    know,

    Hadrian,

    born at

    Rome in 76, might

    have been taken

    to Italica

    in

    infancy,

    coming back to

    Rome before 85. The

    biographer

    curtails and

    omits.

    12

    Deduced from Dio

    LXVII, ii,

    6

    (under

    90

    or

    9I).

    For deaths of senators in the years

    90-93

    see Tacitus

    (I958), 69.

    13

    Pliny, Epp, VII, 33,

    4 f.

    14

    Hiscareer

    is revealed

    by

    AE

    1950,

    66

    (Mactar);

    IRT 545 (Lepcis).

    Another quaestor about this

    time

    was T.

    Julius Maximus (ILS

    ioi6), a close coeval of

    Bruttius Praesens.

    15

    ILS 308.

    16

    Hadr. 2, 2 ff., supplemented

    by ILS 308.

    17

    ILS io6i, cf.

    I029.

    18

    cf. JRS XVIII

    (I928), 47 f. It must

    be repeated

    that there is no

    direct and positive evidence

    about

    the

    province to which

    ii

    Adiutrix belonged at this time.

    19

    That

    is, the successor of

    Cn. Pompeius Longinus

    (suff.

    90),

    attested

    for Moesia Superior

    in

    93,

    for

    Pannonia early in 98 (CIL XVI, 39;

    42).

    For Moesia

    Inferior the diploma

    of January, 97

    (4i),

    has

    '

    sub

    Iulio

    Mar['.

    That

    is, L. Julius Marinus,

    presumed

    suffectus

    in

    93. Predecessor not

    known.

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    I44 RONALD SYME

    Servianus

    (suff.

    go)

    was

    married

    to Hadrian's

    sister.

    Speculation

    is

    baffled,

    but must

    keep

    on the alert.

    So far the life

    and

    career

    of Hadrian previous to his

    quaestorship (in

    ioi) twenty-

    five

    years.

    If

    his sole

    acquaintance

    with

    Spain

    and the '

    patria'

    of the Aelii

    was confined

    to

    a

    short

    season, the consequences

    are far from

    negligible. They

    concern his

    education,

    tastes and character. Also larger questions involving the whole class of new families from

    the

    provinces

    of

    the Roman West:

    in

    what

    ways

    was

    origin

    and

    extraction

    a

    determinant

    factor ?

    Like the

    Ulpii, the Aelii belong to the old

    emigration from Italy,

    '

    Hispanienses

    '

    not

    'Hispani ',

    and Italian

    rather

    than

    Roman.

    Hadrian

    in

    his

    autobiography alleged that

    the

    family derived from Hadria in

    Picenum and took

    up

    residence

    at Italica

    '

    Scipionum

    temporibus' (Hadr.

    i, i).

    Whatever

    be made

    of those

    assertions,

    the Aelii

    had

    been

    there

    for

    long ages. Extravagant

    claims

    about

    the

    influence of

    race,

    soil and

    climate have been

    put

    out

    in the

    recent time.20

    Those

    fancies

    are

    firmly

    to

    be

    repulsed.

    The

    young

    Hadrian

    owed

    his education to Rome of the Flavian

    emperors, highly

    Hellenized and

    continuous

    with the Neronian

    epoch.

    Hadrian did

    not

    become a ' Graeculus

    '

    at Italica.

    II

    A

    more modest approach

    may yield

    some

    kind

    of

    answer.

    What was Hadrian's

    comportment towards

    his

    country

    and his

    '

    patria'

    ?

    An

    inscription

    of the

    year

    I35

    commemorates the benefactions which the

    Emperor

    had

    conferred on the

    province Baetica

    from the

    first

    day

    of his rule

    (August

    ii,

    I

    I7).21

    The

    inscription

    was set

    up

    at Tibur

    notorious

    and verifiable

    as

    a

    resort of

    senators

    from

    Spain.22

    For Italica

    that Emperor did great things,

    so

    the

    historian

    Cassius Dio

    briefly reports23.

    The

    magnitude

    of

    his action is

    staggering.

    Italica,

    founded

    by Scipio

    in

    2o6

    B.C.

    and

    given

    the

    status of a

    municipium by Caesar,

    was

    a

    small

    place.

    Hadrian

    rebuilt Italica in the

    dimensions of

    an

    imperial city, comparable

    to

    the

    capital

    of

    a

    whole

    province.

    In the

    Spains, only

    Corduba,

    Tarraco and Emerita

    surpass Italica,

    and

    it is more

    than

    twice as

    large as

    Barcino.24

    Italica was duly equipped with public buildings-baths, theatre, amphitheatre. The

    whole

    plan

    was

    lavish,

    the main avenue

    being

    nearly

    50

    feet wide.

    Other

    streets,

    of

    half

    that

    width,

    were flanked

    by footpaths

    of

    I2

    feet.

    The

    drainage

    was

    superb,

    and the houses

    were

    like

    palaces.

    Yet Italica

    probably had

    a

    restricted

    territorium.

    The

    site lies

    only six miles northwest

    from

    Hispalis

    across the river Baetis.

    To

    the northeast

    was

    Ilipa,

    to the south

    Osset,

    which

    according

    to

    Pliny the Elder faced

    Hispalis.25

    One asks for

    whose residence

    were designed

    the

    sumptuous dwellings

    at Italica.

    The

    city may, among

    other

    things,

    have

    served as

    a

    summer resort

    for

    magnates

    from

    opulent Hispalis.

    Seated

    upon

    a

    hill,

    Italica

    enjoys

    fresh

    air and a

    markedly

    lower

    temperature

    than

    stifling

    sun-baked

    Hispalis

    beside the

    river.

    A

    small

    territorium

    normally

    connotes

    few

    senatorial

    families.

    One compares

    the

    dearth

    of senators from

    Lugdunum,

    an

    administrative

    centre-and,

    in

    sharp

    contrast

    thereto,

    Vienna and Nemausus which began as the capitals of large peoples, with an aristocracy of

    landed

    proprietors,

    hence

    a

    whole

    crop

    of senators.26 From

    Italica

    only

    the

    Ulpii

    and the

    Aelii are

    certifiable-unless there be admitted

    P.

    Coelius

    Balbinus

    (cos.

    I37).27

    A

    small town, be it

    repeated.

    The

    Ulpii and

    Aelii

    were

    ambitious-and very lucky.

    Perhaps they

    needed to

    derive

    potency

    from extraneous

    support.28

    First,

    connections

    of

    blood or

    marriage

    elsewhere

    in

    Baetica. Hadrian's mother was

    Gaditane;

    there

    was

    a link

    20

    W.

    Weber,

    CAHXI (I936), 325: 'the

    ocean,

    the

    plain,

    now

    luxuriant, now

    sunstricken,

    and

    the

    sluggish river

    of the

    south-western

    edge of

    the

    empire

    left their mark

    on

    his

    family

    and

    his childhood.'

    21

    ILS

    3I8.

    22

    Tacitus

    (I958),

    602.

    23

    Dio

    LXIX, I0, I.

    He accepted

    an

    honorary

    magistracy there-as in so many cities

    throughout

    the world

    (Hadr. I9, I).

    24 For

    these and other

    details see

    the model work

    of

    A.

    Garcia

    y

    Bellido,

    Colonia

    Aelia

    Augusta

    Italica

    (I960),

    77

    if-

    25

    Pliny,

    NH iII,

    i

    i.

    26

    Tacitus

    (I958), 620.

    27

    As

    suggested

    by

    Groag,

    PIR2,

    C

    I24I.

    But

    there

    is

    a

    chance that

    his

    '

    patria' is

    Dalmatian,

    cf.

    Gnomon

    xxxi

    (I959), 5I3.

    Observe also Hadrian's

    friend A.

    Platorius Nepos

    (suff.

    ii9),

    who has

    the

    tribe

    '

    Sergia'

    (ILS

    I052).

    Perhaps

    from Italica or

    Corduba,

    cf.

    Tacitus

    (1958), 785.

    28

    Tacitus

    (1958),

    603

    ff.

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    HADRIAN AND ITALICA

    145

    with the Annii of

    Ucubi, perhaps

    also with the

    Dasumii

    of

    Corduba. Second, but not

    to

    be

    established

    before

    the

    reign of Trajan, alliance

    with families from Tarraconensis. Third,

    the Narbonensian

    connection, conveyed

    in

    the first instance by

    Pompeia Plotina, the wife

    of Trajan. Many of these ties

    (it

    will

    not need to be said) were

    contracted at

    Rome,

    not

    in

    Spain.

    Their effects

    become manifest in

    the emergence of the

    Hispano-Narbonensian

    dynasty-otherwise the ' Antonines'.

    Hadrian's

    Italica

    stood

    as

    a

    memorial

    of gratitude

    towards

    '

    patria parentesque '. Its

    splendour

    was

    a blow in the

    eye

    for commercial

    Hispalis. More than

    that,

    a

    challenge to

    historic cities

    of the

    old world. Yet the

    Emperor refrained from visiting his

    home town.29

    They may

    have been

    expecting him towards the

    end of I22, when, after Britain, he passed

    through

    Gaul

    and

    came to Tarraco.

    A

    suspicion

    arises.

    Perhaps

    Hadrian

    felt not

    altogether

    at ease

    with the

    Italicenses.30

    In

    his brief sojourn there

    he

    may

    have failed

    to win the affection

    of his coevals

    in

    the

    collegium

    iuvenum

    or the

    approbation

    of older men

    who

    had

    not been able

    to

    escape

    from a

    municipal

    existence and

    enjoy

    the wider

    world. The small

    community

    does

    not

    always

    forgive,

    as Martial discovered when he went

    back to Bilbilis.31

    It was Hadrian's

    pertinacious

    habit

    to

    parade

    and

    enforce

    superior knowledge-

    'professores omnium artium

    semper ut doctior risit contempsit

    obtrivit' (Hadr.

    15, IO).

    On

    one

    occasion

    the

    Italicenses themselves

    were

    his

    victims.32

    They

    asked that

    Italica

    be

    elevated to the rank of

    a

    colonia.

    Hadrian in an

    oration

    before

    the Senate

    pointed

    out

    that

    they

    did

    not know

    the facts of

    history.

    The

    status of

    mrunicipium,

    e

    asserted, is in

    reality superior

    and

    preferable-' cum suis moribus

    legibusque

    uti

    possent'.

    The

    expert

    adduced

    parallels

    from the

    past (Utica

    and

    Praeneste);

    he

    argued

    '

    peritissime

    ;

    and he

    professed

    to

    be

    surprised

    at Italica's

    petition.

    That

    was

    not said to

    reject

    the

    petition.

    Italica

    duly required

    the title

    '

    colonia Aelia'.

    Rather,

    Hadrian

    was

    eager (as often)

    to

    go

    against

    conventional

    assumptions.

    In

    this

    instance and

    at

    this

    late date

    perhaps

    a little

    perversely-and

    with an

    especial edge against

    his fellow

    townsmen.

    III

    Another

    specimen of

    Hadrian's attitude

    can be discovered. There is a

    passage

    in the

    HA

    (Hadr.

    I2,

    4)

    which tends to be

    evoked

    when

    legionary recruiting

    is under discussion.

    (It is

    generally

    linked to

    Marcus

    II,

    7,

    on

    which see

    below.)

    The item is

    peculiar indeed.

    Though often

    cited

    with

    confidence,

    it has never

    been satisfactorily eludicated.

    In

    the

    latest text the passage is presented as follows

    :-33

    Omnibus

    Hispanis

    Tarraconem

    in conventum

    vocatis

    dilectumque ioculariter,

    ut verba

    ipsa

    ponit Marius

    Maximus, retractantibus

    Italicis,

    vehementissime ceteris

    prudenter caute

    consuluit.

    The

    scene

    is at

    Tarraco,

    a

    meeting

    of the

    provincial concilium

    in the

    winter of

    I22-3.

    The

    delegates

    take

    the

    opportunity

    to

    object

    to

    the

    military levy.

    They pitched

    their

    com-

    plaints,

    so it

    appears,

    on a

    low

    key (that

    was

    sensible),

    in

    humorous

    language-'

    ioculariter '.

    Hadrian's reaction

    was not

    of one

    piece.

    Two classes of

    person

    are

    clearly distinguished,

    the

    '

    Italici

    '

    and

    the

    '

    ceteri '.

    Who

    then are

    the Italici

    ?

    To take

    two

    renderings.

    For one

    scholar

    they

    are

    the Roman citizens of Italian

    stock contrasted with

    Spaniards

    in

    possession

    of Latin

    rights.34

    For

    another,

    they

    are

    persons having

    'the

    rights

    of

    Roman or

    Italian

    citizenship

    '.

    35

    Neither

    helps.

    It is at once evident that loose

    language

    has

    been

    employed

    in

    each

    case.

    First,

    '

    Roman

    citizens

    of

    Italian

    stock'. Between Roman

    citizens

    of Italian and of

    29

    Dio LXIX, I0, I.

    30

    W.

    Weber, Untersuchungen, etc. (I907),

    I

    I6:

    'aus Abneigung gegen die spiessbhirgerlichen

    Lands-

    leute.'

    31

    Martial

    xii, praef:

    '

    accedit

    his

    municipalium

    robigo dentium et iudici loco livor, et unus et alter

    mali:

    in

    pusillo loco multi.'

    32 Gellius XVI, 13,

    4.

    33

    E. Hohl (Teubner, I927). The only

    change from

    H. Peter's text (I884) was to

    print

    '

    prudenter caute

    '

    instead of

    '

    prudenter

    caute '. D. Magie

    (Loeb, I930), retained

    Peter's

    reading.

    34 Ch.

    L6crivain,

    Melanges

    Boissier

    (I903),

    334:

    'Hadrien donna pleine satisfaction aux Italici (c'est

    a dire aux citoyens d'origine italienne) et pourvut

    prudemment et soigneusement

    aux interets des autres

    (des Espagnols

    de

    droit latin).'

    35

    Rostovtzeff, SEHR2

    (I957),

    574. cf. 59i

    and

    694.

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    I46 RONALD

    SYME

    non-Italian origin, there

    obtains no

    juridical distinction, there

    could

    be none. The contrary

    notion has bedevilled more than once the understanding of another transaction,

    obscuring

    the point

    at issue when Claudius Caesar

    admitted Gallic '

    principes

    '

    into the Roman

    Senate. Of alien extraction,

    but

    unimpaired

    and

    unimpeachable

    in

    their status of

    '

    cives

    Romani'. Second, the phrase

    '

    Roman or Italian

    citizenship'.

    To

    quote it is enough.

    What is 'Italian citizenship ' ?

    Let

    there be a new

    approach.

    Two sorts

    of

    person

    are

    in

    cause,

    differently treated by

    the Emperor.

    The solution is to

    suppose

    that

    by

    '

    Italici

    '

    the

    HA

    meant

    '

    Italicenses

    '.36

    The word may have stood

    in

    the source

    of

    the HA,

    but it

    is not imperative

    to replace it in

    a text of HA. That would

    be an undeserved

    compliment

    to the

    compiler.

    That is not enough.

    The

    text is patently corrupt. First, with

    a

    comma

    after

    '

    Italicis

    ',

    it is not intelligible. Second, there is

    no verb to

    govern

    '

    Italicis

    '

    and

    stand

    in the requisite

    antithesis to

    '

    ceteris .

    .

    . consuluit'.

    Those defects

    should

    have

    been pounced upon long

    ago. Emendation

    is the

    necessary

    recourse. Let

    the

    passage

    be

    improved

    as

    follows:

    Omnibus

    Hispanis

    ...

    retractantibus,

    talicis vehementissime

    ,

    ceteris

    prudenter

    caute

    consuluit.

    Thus is provided the

    antithesis. Hadrian was

    '

    exceedingly

    wroth

    '

    with

    the Italicenses,

    his fellow-townsmen, and with them alone. The verb here submitted by conjecture is

    appropriate

    to the

    comportment

    of one

    who

    holds

    authority.

    Two

    examples

    from Cicero

    are

    instructive.37

    First,

    Caesar's attitude

    towards Deiotarus-' non enim

    iam metuo ne

    illi

    tu

    suscenseas

    '.

    Second,

    the

    proconsul Philippus

    and the

    dynast Antipater

    of Derbe-' ei te

    vehementer

    suscensuisse

    audivi

    '.

    This verb happens

    to be eschewed

    in

    the narrative

    style

    of the historian Tacitus.

    He

    has it once only, in an oration.

    The

    Emperor

    asseverates his

    righteous anger

    at

    the excessive

    zeal

    of

    Germanicus'

    friends-'

    quorum ego

    nimiis studiis iure suscenseo

    .38

    IV

    So

    far the

    HA

    in

    relation

    to Hadrian's

    '

    patria

    '.

    Other

    questions

    obtrude. The passage

    gets cited in support of sundry notions about legionary recruiting. Perhaps that was

    premature.

    The facts must first be

    inspected

    and

    assessed. Statistics can be

    adduced,

    though scanty

    and

    subject

    to a

    variety

    of hazards.39

    First,

    recruitment

    in

    Spain.

    Of soldiers enrolled under the

    Flavians and

    under

    Trajan,

    sixteen can

    be

    established

    as

    coming

    from

    Spain,

    three of whom

    from

    Baetica;

    under

    Hadrian

    and

    onwards

    seventeen,

    one

    of

    them

    from

    Baetica.40

    That

    soldier,

    an

    anomalous

    person

    of the Severan

    age, happens

    to derive

    from

    Italica.4'

    From the

    beginning,

    Italica

    cannot

    have furnished

    many legionaries.

    In

    the

    provinces

    of the West

    and

    in

    Italia

    Transpadana

    the

    government

    tends

    to draw

    upon

    civitates

    with

    large territoria-which

    is

    indicative of

    the

    social state of

    the

    average

    recruit. One

    piece

    of

    evidence

    is of

    special

    value. The

    legion

    IV

    Macedonica,

    taken from

    Spain

    to

    Germania

    Superior by Caligula

    or

    by Claudius,

    did not

    survive after 68. It has

    left at

    or

    near

    Moguntiacum about twenty-eight gravestones with indication of the soldiers' domicilia.

    Five

    come

    from

    Nertobriga-clearly products

    of the

    levy.42

    From the

    early years

    of

    Vespasian, only

    one

    legion

    was

    in

    garrison

    in

    Spain,

    vii

    Gemina.

    Of its

    recruits enlisted

    under

    Hadrian,

    and

    later,

    seventeen out

    of

    twenty-one

    come from

    Spain.43

    A

    valid conclusion

    emerges. Spain

    is

    normally

    called

    upon

    to aliment

    that

    legion

    only.

    Not an excessive burden

    for

    the Peninsula:

    perhaps

    on

    average

    about three

    hundred

    36

    There is perhaps

    a

    hint

    of this notion

    in

    W.

    Weber, Untersuchungen,tc. (1907), 115:

    '

    die Rolle,

    welche die Italici spielen,

    ist nicht frei erfunden.

    Sie entspricht

    der

    Gesinnung

    Hadrians gegen seine

    Geburtsstadt.'

    See also Tacitus (I958), 247, where

    the

    passage is described as corrupt.

    3

    Pro Deiotaro 35 ; Adfam.

    XIII, 73, 2.

    38

    Ann. iII,

    12,

    4. Compare

    Claudius threatening to

    exhibit 6pyhv8IKaiav (P. Lond.

    I912, Col. 4, 79 ff.).

    39

    G. Forni, II Reclutamento

    delle Legioni da

    Augusto

    a

    Diocleziano

    (I953).

    40

    G.

    Forni,

    o.c.

    I79

    f.;

    i88

    f.

    The

    figures

    cited

    in

    the

    present paper admit

    only legionaries

    certified

    by

    domicilium.

    That is not

    the whole

    picture.

    41

    ILS 3469

    (Tarraco.)

    42

    CIL

    xiiI,

    6853 f.;

    6858;

    6865 ; 7506.

    It is not

    certain

    whether

    this

    Nertobriga

    is the

    town near

    Bilbilis in Tarraconensis or its

    homonym

    in

    the back

    country of

    Baetica towards the Lusitanian

    border.

    43

    G.

    Fomi,

    o.c. 226 f.

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    I47

    recruits

    a

    year, allowing

    for

    wastage.

    On this

    showing

    the

    complaints

    of

    the

    delegates

    at

    Tarraco

    appear

    frivolous indeed.

    And

    Italica more than most cities deserved

    a

    rebuke.

    The date,

    I22,

    may be relevant and even decisive. Britain had been vexed

    by

    warfare

    in the first

    years

    of

    Hadrian's

    reign.

    One

    consequence

    was the

    transfer

    of the

    legion

    vi

    Victrix from Germania Inferior. With

    it

    went the tribunus laticlavius Pontius

    Laelianus

    (suff.?

    I44).44

    The legion was conducted (it might be conjectured) by P. Tullius Varro

    (SUff.

    I27),

    who before that had commanded

    another

    legion,

    xii

    Fulminata,

    in

    Cappadocia.45

    VI Victrix

    (it

    has

    been a

    common

    assumption)

    was sent to

    Britain

    to

    fill

    a

    gap,

    ix

    Hispana

    having been

    destroyed

    or disbanded.

    At least, that

    legion

    has left

    no

    trace

    in Britain

    that

    can

    be

    dated after

    I22.46

    The transference of the legion

    vi

    Victrix might plausibly be

    assigned to

    I2I

    or

    I22.

    That

    fits neatly the careers of laticlavius and

    legate.

    A

    slightly

    earlier

    reinforcement

    may

    be

    surmised, perhaps

    in

    i

    i9:

    vexillationes of

    VII

    Gemina

    (from Spain),

    viii

    Augusta

    and xxii

    Primigenia (from Germania

    Superior).

    This

    corps was under the command of a

    primipilaris,

    T. Pontius Sabinus,

    '

    expeditione Britannica

    '.47

    There may have been more

    emergencies than one

    in

    the period

    II7-I22.

    And,

    as

    concerning

    the

    detachments of three

    legions

    taken

    to Britain,

    two

    items deserve

    brief

    comment in passing-the transference of a laticlavius from one legion to another. L. Neratius

    Proculus

    (suff.

    ?

    c.

    I42)

    is in

    succession

    tribune

    in

    vii

    Gemina and

    in

    viii

    Augusta.48

    Again,

    L. Aemilius Carus

    (suff.

    I43

    or

    I44)

    passes

    from

    VIII

    Augusta

    to

    IX

    Hispana.49

    Let

    it suffice in this

    place

    to have

    registered

    these

    anomalies,

    with no

    essay

    of

    precise

    explanation.

    Whatever

    the

    course

    and

    outcome

    of the

    fighting

    in

    Britain,

    the

    Spanish legion

    VII

    Gemina had

    given up

    a

    thousand

    men for

    service in the

    island. When

    a

    vexillatio

    departed,

    it

    might

    be

    away

    for a

    space

    of

    years, returning

    in

    sorry depletion or else

    (and

    more

    likely)

    filled

    up by

    drafts

    from

    sister

    regiments

    at

    the seat of war or

    by levies

    from

    other

    lands.

    Two lists of soldiers

    in

    the African

    legion

    III

    Augusta in the late years of

    Hadrian or early in

    the

    reign

    of

    Pius are

    instructive.

    The

    one has a mass

    of men from the eastern

    lands, the

    other

    no fewer than

    nineteen

    with

    the domicilium

    Napoca,

    in

    Dacia.

    50

    In the

    meantime, however,

    to

    keep up

    the

    strength

    of

    VII

    Gemina a reason

    or

    pretext

    offered

    for

    the

    Emperor

    to

    ordain

    a

    special levy

    in

    Spain.

    Hence also an

    excuse for the

    delegates

    at

    Tarraco to voice

    dissatisfaction, albeit in

    humorous deprecation-' ioculariter',

    in the

    peculiar phrase of Marius

    Maximus,

    a

    source of the HA.51

    V

    The

    enigmatic and corrupt

    passage

    in

    the HA can therefore be

    made to disclose a

    meaning-and

    even to reflect an

    intelligible

    situation in the

    winter of

    I22-3. But it tells

    nothing

    about

    any

    normal

    imperial

    policy touching the recruitment of

    the legions.

    The

    other

    passage (Marcus

    I

    I,

    7)

    has

    so

    far

    been

    segregated, for convenience and

    clarity.

    Inspection cannot

    be deferred

    any

    longer. It runs:

    HispanisexhaustisItalica allectionecontra

    t

    Tranique

    praeceptaverecunde consuluit.

    First of

    all,

    the

    text. It is

    clearly

    mutilated. It

    carries a reference

    to injunctions of

    two

    earlier

    rulers.

    Perhaps

    '

    Nervae

    Traianique

    ;

    perhaps

    rather

    '

    Traiani

    Hadrianique

    '.52

    That

    need

    not matter much-the

    corruption may

    be

    deeper.

    441

    ILS

    II

    00 (cf. 1094).

    41

    ILS 1057. Iteration in

    the legionary command

    is not normal.

    46

    For a

    longer survival of

    ix

    Hispana,

    however,

    observe the vigorous arguments of E.

    Ritterling,

    P-W

    xii,

    i668 f

    ;

    E. Birley, Roman

    Britain and the

    Roman

    Army

    (I953),

    20

    ff. The latter

    scholar

    suggests

    that

    there

    was

    severe

    fighting

    in

    Britain c. 130.

    47

    ILS 2726.

    48

    ILS 1076. It

    is

    here supposed that Neratius'

    command 'ad

    d[e]ducendas vex[i]llationes

    in

    Syriam

    ob/[b]ellurn

    [Par]thicumn'

    falls at

    the

    beginning

    of

    Pius'

    reign, not near

    the end.

    The latter

    date was

    assumed

    by

    Ritterling, P-W xiI,

    1296;

    1766.

    49

    ILS I064.

    50

    CIL

    VIII, I8084 f., cf.

    Rev. et. anc.

    xxxviii

    (I936),

    I85.

    51

    The

    citations of

    Marius Maximus in

    the

    HA are

    generally trivial and

    anecdotal-and do not

    lend

    support to

    the view that

    he was the

    main source of

    the earlier Vitae.

    52

    Unger:

    '

    Tra

    nique'

    * Baehrens:

    'Tranique'.

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    What of the interpretation ? The measure of Marcus

    was an alleviation for Spain. The

    words are held to refer to legionary

    recruiting.53 Marcus (so scholars assume) relieved Spain

    by imposing the levy on Italy,

    which was contrary to the practice of certain earlier emperors.

    Hence support for the notion that Italy had been spared

    the levy-and further, that earlier

    emperors, not merely Trajan but even Vespasian,

    had expressly forbidden the recruitment

    of Italians.54 That is a large item, commonly misconceived.

    This piece of ostensibly

    precise testimony demands cautious and delicate treatment,

    proceeding by stages. In

    the first place, the belief that

    a

    country might be drained

    and

    exhausted

    by levies for the

    army is in no way alien to Roman ways of thinking. It crops

    up in the rumour that Caesar the Dictator

    had a mind to transfer the capital of the Empire

    to

    a

    new

    Troy

    in

    the vicinity of the Hellespont-' migraturum

    Ilium vel Alexandream,

    translatis

    simul

    opibus

    imperii, exhaustaque

    Italia

    dilectibus

    '.5

    Again,

    in a

    general

    and

    indirect fashion: the historian Tacitus refers to

    the way in which a tired empire was

    strengthened by

    the

    association

    of natives in the veteran

    colonies-'

    specie deductarum per

    orbem

    terrae

    legionum

    fesso

    imperio

    subventum

    est

    '.56

    And facts

    might

    be added-Italian

    recruiting

    in the

    reign

    of Marcus. Under

    the threat

    of the Marcomannic War the government

    enrolled two

    new

    legions

    in

    I65.

    The

    evidence

    is clear. It comes from two inscriptions. M. Claudius Fronto (suff. ?

    I65)

    was active in this

    task,

    also an

    equestrian

    subordinate

    of the consular Cn.

    Julius

    Verus.57

    Facts, but

    in

    this

    instance not relevant. When

    new

    legions

    are called

    for, they

    are

    raised in

    Italy.

    That was the convention

    and

    practice-perhaps

    a

    surprise,

    but

    abundantly

    confirmed. 58

    The context of the

    passage

    must be scrutinized.

    It has

    nothing

    to

    do

    with

    troops

    or

    war or military policy.

    The preceding

    sentence

    registers

    the

    appointment

    of

    iuridici

    in

    Italy;

    and

    what follows

    goes

    on to discuss

    civilian matters such as

    the

    vicesima hereditatium

    and tutela,

    and

    so

    on.

    And

    further, precisely

    the vital

    phrase

    '

    Italica allectione '. It is

    interpreted

    to mean the recruitment of

    soldiers.59

    That cannot be.60 Where is

    '

    adlectio

    to

    be found

    in

    that sense ?

    The word ought

    to have been investigated.

    That was not done.

    The

    results of brief

    enquiry are

    not a

    little disconcerting.

    '

    Adlectio

    ',

    it should

    seem,

    has a clear

    meaning.

    Men were

    taken into the

    Senate

    and

    given

    a definite rank. For

    example

    '

    adlectus inter

    praetorios'.

    Hence a technical

    term,

    'adlectio'.

    It is familiar in modern

    manuals,

    and

    unexceptionable.

    What

    is its attestation ?

    It

    might

    have been

    expected

    to occur

    somewhere

    in

    Tacitus, Pliny

    or Suetonius.

    It

    is not there.

    The

    only

    other

    instance in the

    literary

    sources

    for the

    Empire

    is

    also in the HA-'

    eos

    qui praeturas

    non

    gessissent

    sed

    allectione

    accepissent

    '

    (Pertinax 6,

    IO).61

    However

    it

    be,

    '

    adlectio

    '

    ought

    to have

    something

    to

    do

    with

    senators,

    not with

    recruiting.

    The notion that

    a

    region might

    be weakened

    by

    the loss of

    '

    boni

    viri

    et

    locu-

    pletes

    '

    who were taken away to

    be senators

    is not

    in

    itself

    silly.

    The

    thing happened.

    The

    energetic escaped

    from their

    municipia

    as

    soon as

    they

    could. Aelii and

    Ulpii,

    Annii

    and

    Dasumii

    did

    not revert to

    Baetica.

    Yet

    the

    phenomenon

    seems

    nowhere

    to be

    registered

    or

    deprecated

    in the ancient

    sources,

    still

    less is there

    any

    hint of measures to

    counteract

    it.

    This

    passage (Marcus II,

    7)

    is best thrown

    over

    and

    abandoned.62 A modest and

    useful

    conclusion

    emerges.

    No

    written

    source

    avails to

    supply

    evidence about the

    recruiting

    of

    53

    Supported by the same verb, 'consuluit ',

    as in

    Hadr.

    12, 4.

    5

    Rostovtzeff,

    SEHR2

    (i957),

    89.

    55

    Suetonius, Divus

    Julius 79, 3.

    56

    Ann. XI,

    24,

    3.

    5

    7ILS

    Io98

    ; AE 1956, 123.

    58

    J.

    G. Mann, Hermes

    xci

    (i963), 483 ff.

    59

    Rostovtzeff,

    SEHR

    2

    (1957),

    591:

    'I

    must

    how-

    ever insist that Italica adlectio means compulsory

    enlistment

    of

    those who

    had

    the

    status of Italians

    not only in North

    Italy but especially

    in

    Gaul

    and

    Spain.'

    cf. also

    694.

    60

    Ritterling,

    P-W xiI, 1300. Followed by

    G. Forni

    Oc. 56.

    61

    There is another, and

    peculiar, meaning

    of

    'adlectio

    '

    in

    the Late Empire, namely

    exemption

    from holding the

    praetorship. See J.

    Schmidt,

    P-W I,

    368;

    A. H. M. Jones, The Later

    Roman

    Empire 284-6o2

    (I964), 541.

    62

    Thus

    G. Forni, condemning also

    Hadr. 12, 4,

    says ' mi pare che nessun senso si possa ricavare

    dagli oscuri e

    mal compendiati passi della

    Hist. Aug.

    '

    (o.c.

    55

    f.). He goes on to

    register the names of

    a

    number of

    scholars who were not so

    prudent.

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    the Roman legions

    in the time of the Antonine

    Caesars. Nor is

    any

    one

    emperor's supposed

    decree,

    decision

    or

    policy

    admissible.

    A

    process

    can be

    traced,

    and normal

    practices

    established. One

    must use the statistics, however meagre

    and deficient. Also general

    conceptions

    about

    regions

    and

    towns

    and

    civilization

    which, depending

    on

    facts,

    are

    not

    wholly

    fallacious.

    For amicable

    and helpful discussion about the HA passages I am grateful

    to A. Alf6ldi

    and

    J.

    F. Gilliam. There is also the

    'colloque'

    on 'Les

    empereurs

    romains d'Espagne'

    organized

    at Madrid in

    April, I964, by

    the Centre National de

    la

    Recherche Scientifique.

    To that

    body

    and to the

    participants

    the

    present paper

    owes not

    a little of its

    inspiration.

    Brasenose

    College, Oxford.