Honorary inscription for an anonymous praet. prefect from Trajan’s Forum
source date: 340/450 AD, possibly 399 AD
edition published: 2020-06-09
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/)

[...] prae[...] mag[...][...] secund[...] et Africae [...] domin- nostr- [...] princip [...] inn[...] senatu[...] met[...] [...][...] [...]

Edition based on CIL.

No translation possible due to the fragmentary condition of the text.

This marble fragment was discovered in the area of Trajan’s Forum in Rome. It preserves a small portion of the front (left-side) of a statue base. A portion of the moulding that delimited the epigraphic field and the beginning of nine lines of text have survived. The beginning of the text and its ending is also missing. Despite its fragmentary condition, the remains of a cursus honorum (ll. 1-4) can still be discerned, followed by references to emperors (ll. 5-6) and the Senate (l. 8). Considering that it was found in one of the most prestigious squares of Rome, the fragment probably belonged to an honorary monument set up for an imperial official (on Trajan’s Forum in Late Antiquity, see Bauer 1996, pp. 93-97, 409-412; Niquet 2000, pp. 18-20; Chenault 2012, pp. 118-124, 130-131; from the same Forum comes also PPRET 46, 48, 51, 54, 62, 93). The text was first published in 1982 by G. Fransoni (Fransoni 1982, pp. 657-658, with pl. XXIII, 2 = AE 1985, 0044; cf. Bauer 1996, p. 411) and re-edited in 2000 as CIL 06, 41380 by F. Mitthof.

From the few surviving letters, we can see that the monument was decreed by two emperors (l. 5: dd(omini) n[n(ostri)]), probably with the approval or at the request of the Senate (l. 6: sena[tu ?; cf. PPRET 46 and 48, adprobante amplissimo senatu; cf. petente senatu in CIL 06, 01710 (cf. p. 4740) = IG 14, 01074 = ILS 2949 = IGUR 01, 0063 = Camodeca, Solin 2000, nr. 48 = LSA 1355 = EDR 111227; testimonio senatus in CIL 06, 01683 = ILS 1221 = LSA 1395 = EDR 130290; petitione senatus in CIL 06, 01715 = CIL 06, 31910 = IG 14, 01075 = IGUR 01, 0065 = ILS 1274 = LSA 1418 = EDR 111228; petitu senatus amplissimi in CIL 06, 01725 = ILS 1284 = LSA 1407 = EDR 136330; adpetitione senatus amplissimi in CIL 06, 01749 = ILS 0809 = LSA 1458 = EDR 122364). In l. 7, inn[- - -] may be part of the sentence that gave the motivation for the setting up of the statue to the official (ob innumerabilia merita / beneficia?). The dedications by two emperors and the evidence from Trajan’s Forum would place the career of the honorand sometime between the reign of Constantius II and Constans (from 340 AD) and the reign of Theodosius II and Valentinianus III (to 450 AD; cf. LSA 0405.) His cursus honorum possibly listed the posts of a provincial governor (l. 1: prae[sidi), magister (l. 2: mag[istro) and another position also involving the administration of Africa (l. 4: et Afr[icae) that could be taken as a praetorian prefecture of Italy and Africa (and maybe Illyricum). At the beginning of l. 3, Mitthof (CIL 06, 41380) suggests to interpret secun[do, as an indication of the iteration of the praetorian prefecture. Giving the sequence “provincial governor, …, magister, …, two times praetorian prefect” (at least the second term over Italy and Africa), the scholar has proposed Flavius Mallius Theodorus as the possible identity of the man being honoured (PLRE I, Theodorus 27, pp. 900-902; cf. Delmaire 1989, pp. 78-84; De Bonfils 1998, pp. 215-259; Olszaniec 2013, pp. 417-424).

The career of Theodorus is mainly known from the panegyric that Claudian delivered in his honour, when he was awarded the consulate in 399 AD (Claud., Paneg. dictus Manlio Theodoro cos.). The poet gives a lengthy description of the virtues displayed by this official during his time in office. Probably of humble origin and a native of Northern Italy, he started his career as an advocate in the court of the praetorian prefecture (Claud., Paneg. dictus Manlio Theodoro cos., 21-23). The first honour conferred upon Theodorus was the administration of an African province (Claud., Paneg. dictus Manlio Theodoro cos., 24-27.) His identification as the honorand in Trajan’s Forum, allows to narrow down his governorship to one of the three provinces of the diocese ruled by praesides, that is to say Tripolitania, Mauretania Sitifensis and Mauretania Caesariensis (Mitthof suggests Tripolitania, but cf. Tantillo, Bigi 2010, p. 30, nr. 28). After his service in Africa, Theodorus was entrusted with the provincial governorship of Macedonia (Claud., Paneg. dictus Manlio Theodoro cos., 28-32), this time of consular rank. Theodorus was then summoned to the court: Claudian’s words suggest that he was appointed imperial quaestor before being made count of the sacred largesses (Claud., Paneg. dictus Manlio Theodoro cos., 33-41). However this sequence seems unlikely, since the office of quaestor ranked higher than that of a count. Moreover, a constitution of the emperor Gratian attests to Theodorus working in 380 AD as a count of the privy purse and not a count of the sacred largesses (CTh 11, 16, 12). It has therefore been proposed that Theodorus was first nominated to the lower position of master of the memory before being elevated to the office of count of the privy purse (PLRE I, p. 901; Delmaire 1989, pp. 80-82; Olszaniec 2013, pp. 418-419; but cf. Harries 1988, pp. 181-182). In 382 AD Theodorus was probably promoted to the praetorian prefecture of Gauls (Claud., Paneg. dictus Manlio Theodoro cos., 42-57). According to Claudian (Claud., Paneg. dictus Manlio Theodoro cos., 58-60), all the offices, with the exception of one, were held by Theodorus continuously and this means that the first part of his career was entirely spent under the reign of the emperor Gratian (cf. Matthews 1975, p. 74). The praetorian prefecture of Gauls was followed by a long retirement from public office, during which time Theodorus devoted himself to literature and philosophy. His short treatise De Metris (Romanini 2007) has survived, but Claudian also refers to other interests, such as Greek philosophy, physics and astronomy (see Cameron 1970, pp. 323-327). After a fifteen-year gap, Theodorus was recalled by Honorius and made the praetorian prefect of Italy, Africa and Illyricum (Matthews 1975, pp. 262-263). This tenure, that lasted from January 397 AD to the beginning of 399 AD, is also attested by a large number of constitutions in the Theodosian and Justinian Codes (a list is in PLRE I, p. 901; Theodorus was replaced by Messalla, who is first attested in service on February 16th 399 AD: see PLRE II, Messalla 3, pp. 760-761). Finally, in 399 AD Theodorus received the supreme honour of the consulate (CLRE, pp. 332-333).

Retaining the partially attested offices of praeses (l. 1) and magister memoriae (l. 2), Mitthof (CIL 06, 41380) has proposed to integrate in the second part of the first two lines the other positions of consularis Macedoniae (l. 1) and comes rerum privatarum (l. 2). The praetorian prefectures would have been registered in ll. 3-4 of the inscription, with the reference to the office introduced by secundo to indicate the iteration and followed by the list of the four areas that Theodorus administered (for the epigraphic attestations of secundo, sometimes recorded before the office that was held twice, see PPRET 96). Mitthof also integrates on l. 4 the consulate of 399 AD and suggests that the statue in Trajan’s Forum might have been set up during that year. If this chronology is right, the imperial pair might be identified as Arcadius and Honorius. Here is Mitthof’s proposal of integration of ll. 1-6: prae[sidi Tripolitanae?, consulari Macedoniae], | magi[stro memoriae, comiti rerum privatarum], | secun[do praef(ecto) praet(orio) Galliarum Illyrici Italiae] | et Afr[icae, consuli ordinario (vac.)?]. | dd(omini) n[n(ostri) FFll(avii) Arcadius et Honorius - - -] | prin[cipes semper Augusti - - -] | inn[umerabil- - -] | sena[tu- - -] | MET[- - -] |+++[- - -] | - - - - - -.

Although highly ingenious, Mitthof’s identification still leaves doubts, which is normal given the fragmentary condition of the text. The main problem is the hypothetical width of the epigraphic field. The cursus honorum that he has proposed requests the chiselling of 37-41 letters on each of the first three lines of the inscription which is much more than that normally encountered in similar monuments in Trajan’s Forum: 25-30 letters in the cursus of Saturninius Secundus Salutius, whose statue base, now lost, was one of the highest counts found in public spaces in Rome (PPRET 51, ll. 2-6); an average of 30 letters in the inscriptions dedicated to Eugenius (PPRET 48, ll. 2-5) and Flavius Taurus (PPRET 46, ll. 4-6), only 15-20 letters per line in the cursus of Flavius Sallustius (PPRET 54, ll. 2-7; but letters have a larger size on this inscription). The identification of the honorand as Theodorus thus implies exceptional dimensions for the statue base or an abundant use of abbreviations, which, however, are rarely attested in these monuments (only the prefecture in PPRET 46 and 51, praef(ecto) praet(orio) / praetorio, the prefecture and the consulate in PPRET 54, cons(uli) ordinario, praef(ecto) praet(orio); no abbreviation for any office in PPRET 48). Highly problematic is l. 3, where secun[do (or secundi, see below), was probably recorded in full on the inscription. Following the integration of Mitthof, this would imply the abbreviation of any reference to the exceptional honour of a praetorian prefecture over Gauls, Italy, Illyricum and Africa that Theodorus held in two appointments (in his proposal, above, Mitthof only registers the office in its abbreviated form; cf. the occurrence of the same sequence, praetorian prefecture and four areas, in PPRET 65 and 66, that were however displayed in private spaces).

The identification of the offices that are preserved, albeit only partially, are also troublesome: prae[… (l.1) may also refer to a prefecture, perhaps of the annona considering its position in the cursus; secun… (l.3) to a comitiva of the second order (comiti ordinis] | secun[di; for the few epigraphical attestations of this honour, see Scharf 1994, pp. 62-65; cf. Fransoni 1982, pp. 657-658). Any one of these alternatives would be more convincing if they actually allowed us to identify the man being honoured, but they do not. Only the integration magister officiorum at the beginning of l. 2, instead of the lower position of magister memoriae, may suggest another candidate: Hadrianus (PLRE I, Hadrianus 2, p. 406; Delmaire 1989, pp. 137-141). A native of Alexandria, he too saw service in the West under Honorius and was master of the offices in 397-399 AD and then praetorian prefect of Italy and Africa in 401-405 AD and a second time in 413-414 AD. Secundo may be related to this double praetorian prefecture and the chronology would fit the dedication of the monument by an imperial college made up of two emperors (on this occasion Honorius and Theodosius II). However, Hadrianus was count of the sacred largesses before being nominated master of the offices (no information survives on his previous career). The registration of that position on l. 1 would again pose the problem of the width of the epigraphic field (because prae… at beginning of the line must refer to another tenure), without giving any solution for the filling of l. 2 after the office of magister officiorum.

In spite of these problems, Mitthof’s reading still deserves credit for suggesting a longer career of the honorand before his appointment to the praetorian prefecture, that would otherwise be unlikely after only a low-ranking provincial governorship and another, presumably palatine, office. His proposal has also the merit of providing a suitable candidate, Fl. Manlius Theodorus, whose cursus honorum would fit the indications of our fragment.

Fransoni 1982, pp. 657-658, nr. 37, with photo (Pl. XXIII, nr. 2) = AE 1985, 0044 CIL 06, 41380

EDCS 01000514 EDR 079521 EDH 002231 LSA 405 TM 265800

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