Latin Inscription

[Nathan Ross]

I'm trying to decipher the following latin inscription, which gives the career of an equestrian officer who went on into civil administration. Not knowing latin, however, makes for some difficulties! Perhaps somebody might be able to help me out?

Here's the inscription, from Lambaesis in Numidia, dated c170AD:

TI CL PROCULO / CORNELIANO / PRAEF COH II BRA / TRIB COH MIL AEL DACOR PRAEF AL / SULPICIAE PROC / PROVINC SYRIAE / AD RATIONES PUTANDAS / PROC METAL PANNONIC / ET DALMATICORUM PROC / KALENDI VEGETIANI IN HISP / ITEM AD DILECTUM CUM IULIO VERO PER ITALIAM TIRONUM II LEG ITALICAE / PROC REGIONIS / THEUESTINAE / PROC III P A / INVENTUS / AUG LIB TABUL / LEO T AUG

And here's my attempt so far at translating it:

Titus Claudius Proculus Cornelianus
Praefect of Cohort II Bracaraugusta
Tribune of the Aelian Dacian Milliary Cohort
Praefect of the Ala Sulpicia
Procurator of the province of Syria ad Rationes Putandas (can't figure that out - something to do with accounting?)
Procurator of the mines in Pannonia and Dalmatia
Procurator Kalendi Vegetiani (??) in Hispania
And also, with Julius Verus, of the levy of recruits for Legion II Italica in Italy
Procurator of the region of Theveste
Procurator III P A (??)
Inventus, Aug Lib Tabul, Leo T Aug (??)

The last part is a complete mystery - at a guess I'd say Aug Lib stands for Augustale and Libertus, but that would make Cornelianus a freedman and not eligible for equestrian offices!

I also can't work out why the procuratorship of the 'region of Theveste' is rated so highly - above that of the whole of Syria! Was there something special about Theveste or its 'region'?

Any help would be most appreciated!

Thanks - Nathan

[D B Campbell]

A brave attempt for a non-Latinist, Nathan!

I cannot claim to be an expert in equestrian careers, but I do know that Procurators were simply finance officers appointed by the emperor to fulfil various duties.

Proculus' first procuratorial posting is as a finance officer in Syria (literally, "procurator of the province of Syria for the reckoning of accounts"). This is apparently known to have been a "sexagenarian" appointment (meaning that the salary was 60,000 sesterces).

The promotion to "procurator of the mines in Pannonia and Dalmatia" took him to "centenarian" status (i.e., earning 100,000 sesterces).
And the control of the regio Thevestina was also centenarian, raising the suspicion that his final post, as procurator of the IV publica Africae, was "ducenarian" (i.e., worth 200,000 sesterces).

I owe this information to Michael Jarrett's paper on north African equestrians (Epigraphische Studien 9, 1972). I'm afraid I can't think of any publication on the procuratorial career in English; it seems to have been the preserve of French scholars.
Perhaps if anyone has access to Pflaum, they could look up Carrières no. 164 bis (which is this man).

(And note that his name will have been Tiberius Claudius Proculus Cornelianus -- his ancestors will have received the citizenship from the emperor Claudius.)

[Nathan Ross]

Thanks Mr Campbell - a laudation for your trouble!

The position of procurator is a rather interesting one - ostensibly it's a financial officer, as you say, but I can't help thinking that there must have been more to the job than that - so many of them had years of military experience, for instance, that would be quite wasted on accountancy! There were cases - Minicius Italus in Asia c88, for instance, of equestrian procurators taking over from senatorial governors in times of crisis: could it be, I wonder, that the 'financial' aspect of the job was often something of an excuse for having a skilled and experienced equestrian officer placed highly in the administration of 'senatorial' provinces? But that is, I suppose, a different question...

There's a handy site here (in German!) giving a list of equestrian civil positions in the various grades sexagenarii etc:

Table of Equestrian positions

Anyway - thanks again. Now - anybody know what 'Kalendi Vegetiani' might mean? :?

(And I should have remembered that Titus would just be T rather than TI!)

- Nathan

[Praefectusclassis]

I have access to Pflaum at University. If you remind me Nathan, I'll make a copy.

[P. Lilius Frugius Simius]

ad rationes putandas

could be translated as "according to the accounts to be estimated" or "according to the plans to be reckoned/supposed"

which, in this context would be:

"Procurator of the province of Syria according with the estipulated plan" or something in that line, I'd guess (maybe related to the cursus honorum or similar in the Imperial bureaucracy?)...

As for Kalendi Vegetiani, it could be translated as "by the urging of Vegetius/Vegetianus", meaning he was made procurator in Hispania by Vegetianus's order... Vegetianus is a name attested in archaeological findings in Hispania, but who this one could have been, I dunno.

BTW, the translation effort is really cool, I'm lost at half the abbreviations the Romans used, congrats!