Letter 6018: VARIAE, BOOK 6, FORMULA 18

XVIII. FORMULA OF THE PREFECTURE OF THE ANNONA [the office overseeing Rome's food supply]. [1] If dignities are to be assessed by this measure, that a man is held honorable in proportion as he is known to have benefited the citizens, then surely he ought to be glorious who is approved as chosen for the provisioning of the Roman people. For it belongs to your diligence that the food supply be prepared for the most sacred City, that an abundance of bread overflow everywhere, and that so great a populace be satisfied as though at a single table. You run through the bakers' workshops and their foodstuffs; you exact the proper weight and cleanliness of the bread, and you do not judge it a base thing that Rome should be able to praise you for it: rightly so, since the singular glory of that city is its devotion. [2] And lest anything you do be thought a lowly task, you mount the carriage of the Prefect of the City with a shared show of favor. You are found most closely joined to him at the public spectacles, so that the common people, whom your industry satisfies, may recognize that you have been honored to their own reverence. For if a complaint about bread is stirred up, as is wont to happen, you, the promiser of plenty, dissolve the civic seditions by a timely satisfaction, and through you it is provided that nothing be exceeded by the complaining peoples. [3] Not undeservedly is Pompey said, by the supply of plenty he provided, to have risen even to the summit of affairs; for rightly is the love of the people singular, when it has been able to be freed from want. From this he earned favor and the applause of the populace; from this he was always uniquely loved, and in the goodwill of all the citizens he surpassed the deeds of his elders: and lest he should at any time be called without honor, he was summoned, with an appraisal of his name, also as the Great. [4] Let this example invite you to prosperous deeds, since he is known to have filled the place of your office, he whom happy Rome admired. But lest anyone think that you rule over abject men, the rights of the bakers too have been subservient to your dignity, rights which were extended through the various parts of the world by the most ample possession, so that, with want bringing it about, that should not become cheap which served the Roman supply with praiseworthy attendance. The swine-dealers also, found out for the sake of the Roman supply, are seen to be assigned to your examination. [5] Glory in the privileges you have acquired. Your tribunal is not among the least of dignities, since you both enjoy the favor of Rome and transmit commands to the provinces. But that we may scrutinize in full the merits of the office itself: the praetorian prefecture indeed procures the supplies of wheat, but it is no lesser praise to make a commendable dispensation than to gather the grain, since amid any abundance whatsoever the complaint is not removed, if no elegance of bread be preserved. [6] Thus Ceres is said to have discovered the grains, while Pan is reported to have first cooked the moistened crops, whence bread is also called by his name [panis]. So both she was extolled who discovered it, and he was praised who fittingly applied to human uses the things to be eaten. [7] And therefore, recognizing your industry, which is ever the friend of wisdom, we confer upon you, by our choice, the prefecture of the annona for that indiction. Consider now that it is not permitted to steal anything from the people: for what is committed to the harm of the city is not concealed by silence. The common people do not know how to keep silent, since at times they speak even of that which is perpetrated by no one. Be strict against the fraudulent; as a fair examiner, attend to the weights of the bread: let that be weighed more carefully than gold by which the Quirites [the Roman citizens] live, because the gladness of a favoring Roman people is more pleasing to us than an abundance of the most precious metal. Consider, surely, what we say. What better thing do you have that you might wish for than to seek the favor of that people, which it is agreed that we too desire?

XVIII. FORMULA PRAEFECTURAE ANNONAE. [1] Si ad hanc mensuram censendae sunt dignitates, ut tanto quis honorabilis habeatur, quanto civibus profuisse cognoscitur, is certe debet esse gloriosus, qui ad copiam Romani populi probatur electus. tui siquidem studii est, ut sacratissimae urbi praeparetur annona, ubique redundet panis copia et tam magnus populus tamquam una mensa satietur. per officinas pistorum cibosque discurris, pensum et munditiam panis exigis nec vile iudicas esse, unde te possit Roma laudare: merito, quando gloria singularis est illius civitatis affectus. [2] Et ne quod agis aliquid putetur extremum, carpentum praefecti urbis mixta gratificatione conscendis. tu illi in spectaculis coniunctissimus inveniris, ut plebs, quam industria tua satiat, in suam reverentiam te honoratum esse cognoscat. nam si querela panis, ut assolet, concitetur, tu promissor ubertatis seditiones civicas momentanea satisfactione dissolvis et per te prospicitur, ne quid a populis conquerentibus excedatur. [3] Non immerito Pompeius fertur copiae quantitate provisa usque ad rerum pervenisse fastigia, quia merito singularis amor est populi, cum potuerit a penuria liberari. hinc ille gratificationem meruit plausumque popularem: hinc unice semper amatus est et in gratia civium omnium vicit facta maiorum: qui ne aliquando inhonore diceretur, cum nominis taxatione vocabatur et Magnus. [4] Hoc te exemplum invitet ad prospera, quando ille honoris tui locum egisse cognoscitur, quem felix Roma mirabatur. ne quis autem putet abiectis te hominibus imperare, dignitati quoque tuae pistorum iura famulata sunt, quae per diversas mundi partes possessione latissima tendebantur, ne inopia faciente vilesceret, quod Romanae copiae laudabili famulatione serviret. suarii quoque, Romanae copiae causa reperti, tuo deputati videntur examini. [5] Gloriare privilegiis adquisitis. tribunal tuum non est inter minimas dignitates, quando et Romana gratia frueris et provinciis iussa transmittis. sed ut actionis ipsius in totum merita perscrutemur, triticeas quidem copias praefectura praetoriana procurat, sed non minor laus est dispensationem probabilem facere quam frumenta colligere, quando in quavis abundantia querela non tollitur, si panis elegantia nulla servetur. [6] Sic Ceres frumenta dicitur invenisse, Pan, autem primus consparsas fruges coxisse perhibetur, unde et nomine eius panis est appellatus. ita et illa praedicata est quae repperit et iste laudatus est, qui decenter edenda humanis usibus applicavit. [7] Atque ideo cognoscentes industriam tuam, quae semper est amica sapientiae, praefecturam annonae per illam indictionem nostra tibi electione deferimus. considera nunc, quia non licet aliquid furari de populo: nam quod in civitatis damno committitur, silentio non celatur. nescit plebs tacere, quando interdum et hoc loquitur, quod a nemine perpetratur. in fraudulentos distringe, panis pondera aequus examinator intende: sollicitius auro pensetur, unde a Quiritibus vivitur, quia gratior nobis est laetitia faventis populi Romani quam copia pretiosissimi metalli. intuere certe quod loquimur. quid habes melius quod optes quam illius populi gratiam quaerere, quam nos etiam constat optare?