Provenance and location

Ancient city: Roma
Modern city: Rome (Italy)
Province: Urbs
Diocese: Italiciana
Regional prefecture: (not regional before 326 AD)
Provenance: Rome, Roman Forum, found between the Via Sacra and the Palatine
Current location: Roman Forum, between the Via Sacra and the Palatine, inv. 568769
Ancient location: public space, Roman Forum

Type and material of the support and text layout

Text category

Honorary inscription for the emperor Maxentius

Latin text

Critical edition

This edition is based on CIL 06, 36949 with a different reading of dedicant’s name at line 8 suggested by Chastagnol 1972, pp. 226-227 (see critical commentary).

8: Manli(us): AE 1903, 0011, Hüelsen 1902, p. 243, nr. 27, CIL 06, 36949, ILS 8934
9: v(ir) e(minentissimus): Barbera 2013, p. 76, nr. 35

Translations

English

“To our master, the most merciful and most pious Maxentius, unconquered and most foresighted, forever Augustus, Manilius Rusticianus, of eminentissimus rank, praetorian prefect, devoted to his divine spirit and majesty.”

French

“À notre seigneur Maxence, le très miséricordieux et très pieux, invaincu et très providentiel toujours Auguste, Manilius Rusticianus le très éminent préfet du prétoire, dévoué à sa divinité et à sa majesté.”

Italian

“Al nostro signore clementissimo e piissimo Massenzio, invitto e providentissimo, sempre Augusto; il prefetto del pretorio eminentissimo Manilius Rusticianus, devoto al nume e alla maestà sue.”

The inscription and its prefects: critical commentary, updating, overviews

The marble base was found between the Via Sacra and the Palatine, in front of the Basilica Emilia, and is still exhibited in loco today. It is broken into three parts and reduced on the left upper side and also on the lower one (the pedestal), on the top there are visible recesses for the housing of a lost statue of Maxentius (Barbera 2013, pp. 76-77).

The epigraphic field is bordered by an accurate moulded frame and the script appears regular and of homogeneous dimensions.

Vaglieri (1900, p. 65; cf. Vaglieri 1903, p. 25, nt. 1) first published this text at the beginning of the last century and read the dedicant as Manlius Rusticianus. In the PLRE I this official, praetorian prefect of Maxentius (Manli(us) Rusticianus 3, p. 787), is distinguished from Manilius Rusticianus praefectus annonae, agens vices praefectorum praetorio and patron of Ostia (PLRE I, Manilius Rusticianus 2, p. 787). But Chastagnol (1972, pp. 227-231) rightly corrected Vaglieri’s wrong reading of the prefect’s gentilicium and understood that they were not two distinct personalities as was previously thought but only one: Manilius Rusticianus.

Before his praetorian prefecture, Manilius Rusticianus had an important administrative career first as praefectus annonae (see Caldelli 2020, nr. 42) and then as agens vices praefectorum praetorio (298-305 AD, probably in Rome, see Porena 2003, pp. 141-147; Porena 2021). This part of his cursus honorum preceding Maxentius’ usurpation is preserved by an important inscription from Ostia (CIL 14, 04455 = LSA 1661 = EDR 072926). The councillors and people of Ostia dedicated to Manilius Rusticianus this monument and erected to him an equestrian statue in the Forum of the city as curator and patron for his distinguished merits. The position of praefectus annonae, associated to the cura coloniae Ostiensium, is also attested in another inscription from Ostia recently discovered (Gering 2011, pp. 496-497), a dedication to the Caesar Galerius made by Rusticianus himself (for the identification of the Caesar honoured as Galerius, see Porena 2021). Rusticianus probably acquired important administrative skills during these offices that made him one of the trusted praetorian prefects of Maxentius, the others were Rufius Volusianus (his predecessor, PLRE I, Volusianus 4, pp. 976-978; cf. Chastagnol 1962, pp. 52-58; Barnes 1982, pp. 100, 127; Porena 2003, pp. 259-272) and Ruricius Pompeianus (his successor, PLRE I, Pompeianus 8, p. 713; cf. Barnes 1982, p. 127; Porena 2003, pp. 272-275). Rusticianus’ mandate probably ended in 311 AD: the following year is attested in service as praetorian prefect of Maxentius Ruricius Pompeianus, who fought and died during the battle of Verona (Pan. Lat. 09 (12), 08, 01-03; Pan. Lat. 09 (12), 10, 03; Pan. Lat. 10 (04), 25, 04-07; cf. Lact., Pers. 44, 01). His office probably started in the latter half of 310 AD, after the victorious African campaign against Domitius Alexander, led by his predecessor Rufius Volusianus, who due to this victory probably was rewarded with the urban prefecture (Porena 2003, pp. 259-263).

Our inscription has thus to be placed in this time frame: half/end of 310 and 311 AD. This dating is confirmed by Panciera (1992, p. 260) and Porena (2003, pp. 280-283) through the analysis of some textual elements of another Maxentian inscription (see PPRET 05). Chronologically they place these monuments no later than 311 AD, in particular Porena suggested that they might have been decreed in occasion of the Quinquennalia of Maxentius (October 28^th 310 AD).

Both these inscriptions were erected by the only praetorian prefect Maxentius had: the political isolation of the usurper (Maxentius was never accepted as Augustus by Galerius and by the other rulers) prevented the formation of a unitary prefectural college.

Our inscription, found in the eastern part of the Via Sacra, had been placed opposite the Basilica of Maxentius: the location complies with a clear expository purpose to associate the Basilica with the emperor’s monuments and statues.

During his reign, Maxentius continued the great building programs of his father, Maximianus, that involved the Curia, the Temple of Concordia, the Temple of Saturn and the Basilica Giulia. The usurper completed the restoration of the Temple of Venus (in 307 AD, after a fire), finished the construction of the Basilica that he named after himself (probably in the spring-summer of 307 AD) along with that of the Temple of Romulus (Corcoran 2017, pp. 67-69).

Bibliography

Barbera M., in Sena Chiesa G. (a cura di), Costantino 313 d. C.: l’editto di Milano e il tempo della tolleranza. Catalogo della mostra, Milano 2013.

Barnes T.D., The New Empire of Diocletian and Constantine, Cambridge 1982.

Caldelli M.L., I prefetti dell'annona da Augusto a Costantino, Roma 2020.

Chastagnol A., Les fastes de la préfecture de Rome au Bas-Empire, Paris 1962.

Chastagnol A., Deux chevaliers de l’époque de la tétrarchie, AncSoc, 3, 1972, 223-231.

Corcoran S., Maxentius: a Roman Emperor in Rome, AntTard, 25, 2017, 59-74.

Hüelsen C., Neue Inschriften vom Forum Romanum, Klio, 2, 1902, 227-283.

Panciera S., Un prefetto del pretorio di Massenzio: Manilius Rusticianus, in Institutions, société et vie politique dans l'Empire romain au IVe siècle ap. J.-C. Actes de la table ronde autour de l'oeuvre d'André Chastagnol (Paris, 20-21 janvier 1989), Rome 1992, 249-263 (= Id., Epigrafi, epigrafia, epigrafisti. Scritti vari editi e inediti (1956-2005) con note complementari e indici, Roma 2006, 1137-1146).

Porena P., Le origini della prefettura del pretorio tardoantica, Roma 2003.

Porena P., Sulla nuova iscrizione ostiense del cavaliere Manilius Rusticianus in onore di Galerio Cesare, ZPE, 218, 2021, 302-306.

Roncaioli Lamberti C., L’appellativo "sacrosanctus" su un nuovo miliario massenziano della Valeria, Epigraphica, 52, 1990, 77-84.

Vaglieri D., Nuove scoperte al Foro Romano, BCAR, 28, 1900, 57-74.

Vaglieri D., Gli scavi recenti del Foro Romano, BCAR, 31, 1903, 3-239.

Praetorian prefects and epigraphic habit