Inscription in honour of the praet. prefect Maternus Cynegius from Alexandria by Theodosius and Arcadius
source date: 384/387 AD
edition published: 2020-05-08
availability: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Domini nostri, Invictissimi et Venerabiles ac perpetui Augusti, Theodosius et Arcadius, toto orbe Victores, Materno Cynegio, omnium virtutum viro et ad insignem laudem gloriamque progenito, per omnes honorum gradus meritorum contemplatione provecto, praefecto praetorio per Orientem, statuam civili habitu, ad petitum primorum nobilissimae Alexandrinae urbis, in eadem splendida urbe, ad perpetuitatis famam, loco celeberrimo constitui collocarique iusserunt, per clarissimos Alexandrinae civitatis.

Edition based on CIL 03, 06587.

“Our masters, Undefeated and Venerable and forever Augusti, Theodosius and Arcadius, Victors of the entire world, to Maternus Cynegius, man with all the virtues and born for remarkable praise and glory, who went through all the honorable grades in the consideration of his merits, praetorian prefect of Oriens, at the petition of the first-ranking (men) of the most noble city of Alexandria, in order to perpetuate his fame, ordered that a statue in civil dress be set up and placed in the most renowned place in that splendid city by the men of clarissimus rank of Alexandria.”

“Nos seigneurs, très Invincibles et Vénérables et perpétuels Augustes, Théodose et Arcadius, Vainqueurs du monde entier, ont ordonné que à Maternus Cynegius, un homme doué de toutes les vertus et né pour une louange illustre et la gloire, promu par tous les grades des honneurs en considération de ses mérites, préfet du prétoire de l’Orient, à la demande des plus importants (hommes) de la très noble ville d'Alexandrie, pour perpétuer sa renommée, une statue en tenue civile soit réalisée et placée dans le lieu le plus renommé de cette ville splendide par les clarissimes citoyens d’Alexandrie.”

“I nostri signori, Invittissimi e Venerabili e perpetui Augusti, Teodosio e Arcadio, Vincitori del mondo intero, hanno ordinato che a Maternus Cynegius, uomo dotato di tutte le virtù e nato per illustre lode e gloria, promosso attraverso tutti i gradi degli onori in considerazione dei suoi meriti, prefetto del pretorio d’Oriente, su richiesta dei più importanti (uomini) della nobilissima città di Alessandria, per perpetrare la sua fama, fosse realizzata una statua in abito civile e fosse collocata nel luogo più rinomato in quella splendida città dai chiarissimi della cittadinanza di Alessandria.”

The inscription was found in Alexandria in 1746 and published in the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum more than a century later (CIL 03, 00019; 06587; cf. ILS 1273). At that time the inscription was probably lost, but was published thanks to the transcription by Claude-Louis Fourmont (nephew of Michel Fourmont, to whom the manuscript “Supplément Grec 301” of the Bibliothèque nationale de France is attributed in the catalogue; the inscription at f. 130/111; cf. CIL 03, p. XXVI). No information survives about the dimensions of the inscription and its present location (see LSA 0872).

The text records the dedication in Alexandria of a statue to the praetorian prefect of the East Maternus Cynegius. The prefect was portrayed in civilian clothing (civili habitu, see PPRET 24 for a similar statue in Berytus for Domitius Leontius) and his statue was probably in bronze since the inscription registers the permission granted by the emperors Theodosius and Arcadius (metal statues, and at least from 398 AD also statues in marble, could only be put up in public places with imperial permission: CI 01, 24, 01; see Feissel 1984, pp. 545-558; for metal statues with imperial permission see PPRET 24; 54; 58). The honour accorded to Cynegius came after a petition of the primores of the city and the statue was set up by the clarissimi of Alexandria. The term primores may refer to the curial class of the city or only to the most eminent members of it, called primates in a law of Theodosius II in 436 AD (CTh 12, 01, 190; numbering five in Alexandria, they formed «an inner ring within the city council»: Jones 1964, p. 731; cf. Laniado 2002, pp. 208-211; Cecconi 2006, pp. 41-43), while the indication of the clarissimi Alexandrinae civitatis has been considered a reference to the group of men of senatorial rank resident in Alexandria (U. Gehn in LSA 0872). They must have constituted a distinct group. Indeed, in the Theodosian Code they are the only senators from a single city to whom an imperial constitution was addressed (Mommsen 1905, pp. CLXII-CLXV; on this constitution, CTh 10, 10, 19, see below).

The text shows many similarities with another inscription for an honorary statue, the one set up in Berytus for the praetorian prefect Domitius Leontius in 344 AD (PPRET 24). Here we find the same references to imperial permission, to civilian garb, to the connection between the merits of the men being honoured and the advancements in their careers, even to the steps of the administrative hierarchy. Although we know nothing of the posts occupied by Domitius Leontius prior to his attaining praetorian prefecture, more evidence survives for Maternus Cynegius (PLRE I, Cynegius 3, pp. 235-236; cf. Chastagnol 1965 = 1994, p. 40; Petit 1994, pp. 73-74; Olszaniec 2013, pp. 97-110). Probably a Spaniard who followed Theodosius I to the East, Cynegius soon emerged as a prominent member of the new court at Constantinople (Marique 1963, pp. 43-59; Matthews 1967, pp. 438-446). Attested as count of the sacred largesses in March 383 AD (Delmaire 1989, pp. 96-98), he was promoted after few months to the office of quaestor sacri palatii, a position that he held until the end of 383 AD (the succession between these two posts was not uncommon, see Harries 1988, p. 157; Olszaniec 2013, pp. 98-99). According to Honoré, the appointment of Cynegius to the quaestorship resulted in a clear change of style in the Theodosian legislation (now «grandiloquent, sonorous, repetitive») something that can be ascribed to the new office holder himself (Honoré 1998, pp. 48-52; Honoré 1986, pp. 151-154, 200; cf. Escribano Paño 2013, pp. 3-5; Olszaniec 2013, pp. 99-100).

At the very beginning of 384 AD, Cynegius was promoted to the praetorian prefecture of the East (Laniado 2018, pp. 419-422). His tenure lasted until his death in March 388 AD and throughout the central years of Theodosius’ I reign, his activities made a deep impression. The ancient sources focus mainly on two issues that he appears to have made a priority: the restoring of the city councils and the repression of pagan cults and heresies in the eastern provinces (cf. Lib., Or. 30, with Petit 1951, and Lib., Or. 49; MGH AA 09, Chron. Min. 01, p. 244 = Cons. Const. s.a. 388; Zos. 04, 37, 03; see Matthews 1975, pp. 140-142; Fowden 1978, pp. 62-67; Gassowska 1982, pp. 107-123; but cf. the revisionist view of McLynn 2005, pp. 108-120; see also Jones 2013, pp. 860-865). The relevance of these topics is confirmed by the impressive dossier of imperial legislation that was addressed to Cynegius throughout his prefecture, much of which has been preserved in the Theodosian and Justinian Codes (more than sixty fragments, a score unmatched by any other official: see the list in PLRE I, pp. 235-236; on the contents cf. Errington 2006, pp. 233-237; Olszaniec 2013, pp. 100-103; Escribano Paño 2013, pp. 5-7; now, Rendina 2020, pp. 20-22). In 388 AD Cynegius reached the peak of his career with his designation to the consulate as colleague of the emperor (CLRE, pp. 310-311). About to move westwards for the final confrontation with Magnus Maximus, Theodosius decided to grant this supreme mark of imperial favour to his praetorian prefect, who was left in control of the eastern part of the empire. However, only a few weeks after his appointment, Cynegius died. Initially, his body was placed in the Church of the Apostles in Constantinople (connections between the families of Theodosius and Cynegius are suggested by Matthews 1967, pp. 444-445), only to be conveyed to Spain a year later by his widow Achantia (MGH AA 09, Chron. Min. 01, p. 244 = Cons. Const. s.a. 388: on Cynegius’ entry in the consular list and his unusually «lengthy and tendentious eulogy», see Burgess 1993, pp. 197-198; cf. CLRE, p. 55; this is the main evidence for the prefect’s Spanish provenance, contested by García Moreno 2002, pp. 179-186; but cf. McLynn 2005, pp. 96-97 and pp. 117-119 on the possibility that the villa discovered at Carranque was the final destination of Cynegius).

The honorary statue of Cynegius was set up in Alexandria during his praetorian prefecture, that is to say after early 384 AD (in December 383 AD his predecessor Postumianus was still in office, see PPRET 74, while the first constitutions addressed to Cynegius, CTh 12, 13, 05 and CTh 15, 01, 23, were issued on January 18th, 384 AD). Conversely, the missing reference to the consulate suggests a chronology earlier than 388 AD.

We know from Zosimus and Libanius that Cynegius visited Alexandria at the very beginning of his praetorian prefecture. Zosimus (Zos. 04, 37, 02) says that the prefect was sent to Egypt in order to clamp down on pagan cults and while in Alexandria, he displayed the portrait of Magnus Maximus as a new member of the imperial college; however, according to Libanius (Lib., Or. 49, 03), the initial purpose of Cynegius’ journey was the restoring of the city councils (on the chronology of this visit to Alexandria, around January 384 AD, see Vera 1975, pp. 277-282; cf. PLRE I, p. 231; different proposals in Petit 1951, pp. 298-301; Matthews 1974, pp. 100-101; cf. also Olszaniec 2013, pp. 102-107). As for our inscription and the honorary statue, it would appear that they were put up to celebrate the re-establishment of the councils. In 387 AD the emperor Theodosius received a delegation of senators from Alexandria, who had come to denounce the activity of informers (delatores) within the city. Then, in a constitution issued on March 2nd (CTh 10, 10, 19), Theodosius communicated to the senators that he had sent letters to the prefect Cynegius instructing him to investigate the allegations, adding that the same official had already addressed the problem of criminal delation earlier. This probably happened in 384 AD during the prefect's visit to Alexandria. His work on the reorganisation of the city council may also have involved patrimonial matters, with first dispositions being made against the informers. Three years later, the problem of the delatores resurfaced and the Alexandrian senators were urging the prefect to deal with it. Whether this required Cynegius to make another journey to Alexandria is unclear (see now McLynn 2005, pp. 115-116); what is clear is Cynegius’ participation in the affairs of the city in 384 AD and in 387 AD. His statue must have been set up after one of these two episodes. Given that the Alexandrian senators had requested his intervention for a second time and that they had put up a statue in his honour (l. 13: per clarissimos Alexandrinae civitatis), 387 AD seems the most likely date. This solution is supported by the imperial permission granted by Theodosius and Arcadius. In it, the reference to the eastern emperors alone, instead of the whole imperial college, as was usual in these honorary inscriptions (see PPRET 24; cf. also CIL 08, 07013 = ILS 1236 = LSA 2327; CIL 06, 01736 (cf. p. 4747) = ILS 1256 = LSA 1439 = EDR 130289; CIL 06, 01698 (cf. p. 4737) = ILS 1257 = LSA 0342 = EDR 123515 and Feissel 1984, pp. 549-550), would appear to indicate a later date. Considering the growing tension among the co-rulers this date makes more sense than 384 AD when an agreement between the usurper and the eastern court had been reached and when, according to the passage of Zosimus mentioned above, the prefect Cynegius displayed a portrait of Magnus Maximus as a new member of the imperial college in Alexandria itself.

A last remark on the titulature of Cynegius: the inscription exceptionally records the regional competence of the prefect (per Orientem). This indication does not occurs in any of the other 4th Century inscriptions that refer to praetorian prefects of the East and have been found within the boundaries of the eastern prefecture (only Olybrius is styled praefectus praetorio Orientis but on a statue base that was displayed in Rome, probably in the house of the prefect: PPRET 70). The indication of the regional competence on our document might be related to the last period of the clash with Magnus Maximus, when Theodosius I extended his authority first over the Illyrian prefecture and, after the defeat of the usurper, also over the prefecture of Italy. The need to distinguish between praetorian prefects serving in different prefectures may have prompted the chancellery of Theodosius to add this specification, that occurs also in some laws preserved in the Theodosian Code that were issued in the same period (CTh 08, 04, 17 adressed to Cynegius p.p.o per Orientem in late 387-early 388 AD, with Porena 2020, pp. 146-147 for the chronology; cf. CTh 15, 01, 26; CTh 11, 16, 19; CTh 05, 11, 12; CTh 15, 01, 28; CTh 01, 01, 02; CTh 03, 01, 06).

CIL 03, 00019 CIL 03, 06587 ILS 1273 Delmaire 1989, pp. 97-98

EDCS 21200079 LSA 872 TM 106277

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statuam civili habitu

omnium virtutum viro et ad insignem laudem gloriamque progenito, per omnes honorum gradus meritorum contemplatione provecto

omnium virtutum viro et ad insignem laudem gloriamque progenito, per omnes honorum gradus meritorum contemplatione provecto

praefecto praetorio per Orientem