Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

182 7. government and administration
architecture and coinage, but, within the context of administration and
government, the primary form of communication from centre to subject
was imperial legislation, usually circulated to provincial officials and then,
as appropriate, conveyed to the upper classes in provincial assemblies and
to the populace by the display of laws on boards in public areas, such as the
market-place or at the doors of churches 79 – though officials might sometimes
prove obstructive in their implementation. 80 The system worked
partly through exhortation and persuasion, partly also through the fear
induced by the prospect of savage punishment, something of which loyal
officials like Malalas thoroughly approved. 81
The emperor’s subjects in turn communicated their views and grievances
to the centre by a variety of methods. At the individual level, those with the
resources might travel to Constantinople to seek legal redress from the
emperor or senior officials, or they might send written petitions.
Communities sent similar embassies: at Aphrodisias the pater civitatis and the
possessores bypassed the governor of Caria to approach Justinian directly
about the regulation of civic funds. 82 An individual willing to undertake
such communal business might well also have private matters to transact, as,
for example, Dioscorus of Aphrodito. In spite of the danger that orchestrated
chanting might present unrepresentative opinions, acclamations were
an important form of administrative feedback; although the term has positive
connotations in English, acclamations in the late Roman empire were
often negative in import. Constantine had actually urged gatherings of provincials
to express approval or criticism of governors, and later in the fourth
century the public post was made available for their transmission to the
emperor. 83 An inscription from Ephesus, recording a letter from the praetorian
prefects in response to acclamations in favour of the proconsul of
Asia, shows that the system was continuing to function in the mid fifth
century; Constantine’s law was retained in Justinian’s Code, and it has been
argued that acclamations became increasingly prominent and important as
expressions of popular opinion during the fifth and sixth centuries. The
grievances of Thracian farmers were not submitted to Justinian in an official
report, but may well have been brought to his attention by chanting. 84
79 Assemblies: Sid. Ap. Ep. viii.6.5. Display: e.g. Malalas pp. 470–1; Justinian, Nov. 8 (preface to the
edict: p. 79.15–17 (Schöll-Kroll)), 128.1; Cass. Variae viii.33.8; ix.16.2, 20.2. This practice raises important
questions with respect to the issue of literacy, which cannot, however, be pursued here.
80 ACO 1.4, 155 (432/3: the praetorian prefect Flavius Taurus advises against publication of an
imperial letter which he believes will result in disorder in Cilicia and interrupt the flow of taxes); Theod.
II Nov. 3.8–9 (438: inaction of officials with regard to legislation against heretics, Jews and pagans).
81 Scott (1985) 103–4.
82 Justinian, Nov. 160; cf. also Liebeschuetz (1985) 150–8 discussing Syn. Ep. 95.
83 C.Th. i.16.6 (331); viii.5.32 (371).
84 Inscr. Ephes. 44 (439/42); CJ i.40.3; Roueché (1984), who also argues that the dangers of manipulation
of acclamations have been overemphasized. Nov. 32, 34; cf. also Cass. Variae iv.10 (contrast ii.24
for a report by a governor).
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