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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 February 2013
In 1900 Macé suggested that Suetonius may very well have been procurator of the Greek and Latin libraries before becoming ab epistulis; two of his successors in the latter office passed to it from the former. Macé went on: ‘Si on venait à découvrir une inscription concernant notre secrétaire ab epistulis, il ne serait pas surprenant que le texte en fût ici parallèle à ceux que nous avons conservés sur ses deux collègues.’ These were prophetic words, for in 1952 there was published an inscription concerning Suetonius, discovered in the Forum of Hippo Regius (Bône in Algeria), which reveals that he was indeed a studiis a bybliothecis ab epistulis imp. Caesaris Traiani Hadriani Aug.
This paper has been modified since it was read to the Society, principally in order to take account of Professor Syme's Tacitus, Appendix 76 of which anticipates in print (providing a welcome accession of auctoritas) some points that were then made.
page 18 note 3 Macé, A., Essai sur Suétone, p. 224 Google Scholar.
page 18 note 4 I.G.R.R. 1, 136; I.L.S. 1449. Cf. C.I.L. XIV, 5347.
page 19 note 1 A.E. 1953, 73.
page 19 note 2 The assertion of Pflaum, H.-G. in R.E., procurator (XXIII, 1, 1249)Google Scholar, that the post a studiis a bibliothecis is shown by this inscription to have been ‘already in existence’ under Trajan is, if it implies that Suetonius held the post under Trajan, inexplicably wrong.
page 19 note 3 Syme, op. cit. p. 778, says rightly that this was probably a single post, though one cannot be sure.
page 19 note 4 Ibid. p. 780. One of the few possessors of the rare name Suetonius is an army officer at Theveste, C. Suetonius Ianuarius, C.I.L. VIII, 175 89Google Scholar, and Syme thinks he may well be African-born.
page 19 note 5 Certainly this should be assumed in default of positive evidence to the contrary; and Syme's support (ibid. p. 779) is welcome. The development of a peripatetic court largely composed of imperial officials is likely to have been an important factor in the growth of bureaucracy.
page 20 note 1 Which is not to say that there are not serious defects of method in using dedications to Hadrian and Sabina to prove their presence in particular places at particular times.
page 20 note 2 S.H.A., Had. II, 3 Google Scholar. The principal MS. has uniussu, corrected by a later hand to iniussu; the standard texts emend to in usu.
page 20 note 3 Syme voices the same objection, ibid. p. 779.
page 20 note 4 See especially Dio LXIX, 10, 1.
page 20 note 5 The editorial emendation in usu is grossly tautological, and unnecessary, iniussu eius can be defended, whether it means (as in the Classical Tripos it would) ‘without Sabina's permission’, or (as the author of the Vita may well have intended) ‘without Hadrian's permission’.
page 20 note 6 But not cast-iron, as Syme implies, ibid. p. 779, n. 3. For an important reconsideration of the early part of Hadrian's first tour, which would put the visit to Britain back to 121, see Strack, P., Untersuchungen zur römischen Reichsprägung des zweiten Jahrhunderts, 11, pp. 71 ff.Google Scholar
page 20 note 7 The doubts and the reason for them are implied by Syme, ibid. p. 779: ‘Assuming that the passage has been grafted on to Hadrian's journeys at the right place….’ Once again, his support is welcome.
page 21 note 1 Observe how well this fits on to the beginning of 15.
page 21 note 2 One might well conjecture that Hadrian's autobiography ended when Antinous died.
page 21 note 3 Op. cit. pp. 75–6.
page 21 note 4 S.H.A., Had. 22, 14 Google Scholar. It would be over-bold to attribute this blessing to the good offices of ab epistulis.
page 21 note 5 Ibid. 13, 4.
page 21 note 6 I.L.S. 6779–80.
page 21 note 7 Hippo was an Augustan municipium; in the Antonine Itinerary it is referred to as a colonia (see R.E., Hippo Regius (VIII, 2627)Google Scholar). It would be attractive to conjecture that this was the service for which ab epistulis was honoured by the citizens; but the reticence of the new inscription would in that case be surprising.
page 22 note 1 Or several. Gellius quotes a letter from the ‘epistulae diui Augusti ad Gaium nepotem’, N.A. XV, 7, 3, and this collection is referred to by Quintilian, , Inst. I, 6, 19 Google Scholar.
page 22 note 2 Ibid. I, 7, 22.
page 22 note 3 Indeed, the Lives of the Caesars are usually assumed to have been more or less complete by 119; but see Syme, op. cit. p. 780.
page 22 note 4 Op. cit. pp. 110–16.
page 22 note 5 Following Cuq. Very little is known about the functions of a studiis; see Kübler in R.E., s.v. But nothing that is known is incompatible with his having kept archives. More cannot be said.
page 22 note 6 All that is proved is the honesty of Suetonius. See Macé, op. cit. p. 123.