Governors on the Move

Abstract

M Y PURPOSE in this paper' is to attempt to modify the idea of a typical Roman governor of the later Republic which the sources, with their emphasis on the military expansion of Rome's territory and the fate of her more corrupt provincial magistrates, tend to suggest to us. I refer to the familiar image of an essentially military official who was either campaigning or holding royal court in some settled location chosen to suit his personal taste and convenience. An investigation into the less sensational aspect of his travels may help to restore credit for the routine labours so often eclipsed by glamorous exploits of conquest and rebellion. The Roman governor was in fact responsible for a heavy load of administrative and judicial work which arose from his supervisory control of the native authorities and his responsibility for hearing the suits of resident, native-born Roman citizens. This responsibility, which can be traced in the content of his edictum perpetuum, involved much travel.2 Delegation of judicial work to staff members, the legati, the quaestor, the praefecti or the comites, was possible, but this resort is not known to have been regularly or extensively used in all provinces. Legati iuridici, with settled duties in the judicial sphere, were unknown at this period, while only the governor regularly held the imperium which was necessary for criminal jurisdiction.3 We shall see, moreover, that Cicero, whose provincial time-table in the year 51-50 B.C. is the best documented of the period, planned to cover all