A Fragment of a Diploma from Cirencester

A Fragment of a Diploma from CirencesterAuthor(s): Donald AtkinsonSource: The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 47, No. 1/2 (1957), pp. 196-197Published by: Society for the Promotion of Roman StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/298585 .

Accessed: 30/09/2013 04:25

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extendaccess to The Journal of Roman Studies.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 132.177.228.65 on Mon, 30 Sep 2013 04:25:30 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=sprs

http://www.jstor.org/stable/298585?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


A FRAGMENT OF A DIPLOMA FROM CIRENCESTER

By DONALD ATKINSON

Among a group of ten mirrors Bz864 found together at the corner of Church Street and Watermoor Road in i926 is a bronze disca o-53 m. in diameter (fig. 7). During recent treatment of these at the Ashmolean Museum, traces of letters became visible on both sides of it. From these it was evident that the disc had been cut. from the second of the two bronze plates forming the certificate of honourable discharge and grant of privileges to a tirme-expired soldier of an auxiliary regiment. It may be recalled that these tabulae honestae missionis contained on the first of their four pages a memorandum repeating the certified copy of the decree, on the second and third pages this certified copy, ending with the name of the recipient and on the fourth page the names and seals of the seven witnesses which made the document a legal instrument.1

What is preserved of the Cirencester diploma is the name (incomplete) of the recipient on one side and the names also incomplete of the first three of the seven witnesses. During the reign of Vespasian these diplomas, which had previously been prepared in the province in which the recipient had served, began to be made in Rome,

presumably by firms which specialized in them. For the names of witnesses frequently recur over a considerable period, and it is at some periods possible to recognize a gradual rise in seniority, as it were, among groups of witnesses. In this way it is in some cases possible to fix with some probability the date of an incomplete diploma within narrow limits.

In the preserved example engraved marginal lines, such as frequently occur on the outside pages, make it evident that the three names preserved are the first three of the seven witnesses. The names are, as always, in the genitive; (P.)ATTI, L. PULLI, and M. SERVILI. The three cognomina, normally placed beyond the seals and so wanting, are SEVERI, DAPHNI, and GETAE.

P. ATTIUS SEVERUS. The tria nomina are thrice preserved on diplomas of I34 (CIL XVI, 79) and of 140 and I46 (CIL xvi, Suppl. I77 and I78). In diplomas of I38 (XVI, 83) and I39 (XVI, 87) a second P. ATTIUS appears and in that of I33 (XVI, 76 when only the cognomina survive) there are two FESTI, of whom one is perhaps P. ATTIUS FESTUS. During the decade I30-I40 several diplomas begin with the names recognizable by their nomina or cognomina as T. CLAUDIUS MENANDER, P. ATTIUS SEVERUS, L. PULLIUS DAPHNUS, in this order.

MENANDER first appears as seventh in I03 (XVI, 48), first in I22 (xvi, 69), sixth in I27 (XVI, 72), third in I29 (XVI, 74), but sixth later in that year (XVI, 75), first in I33

(XVI, 76), I34 (XVI, 79), I38 (XVI, 83), I39 (XVI, 87), I30-I40 (xvi, 89), his last appearance.

IF FIG. 7. CIRENCESTER: BRONZE DIPLOMA RE-USED FOR A MIRROR, NOW IN CORINIUM MUSEUM. J.

' For a description of diplomas see YRS xx (I930), i 6 ff.



A FRAGMENT OF A DIPLOMA FROM CIRENCESTER I97

P. ATTIUS SEVERUS. A SEVERUS appears as third in I24 (XVI, 70) and in I33 (XVI, 76) as second. In I34 (XVI, 79) P. ATTIUS SEVERUS is second to MENANDER and in I38 (xvi, 83) and I39 (xvi, 87) P. ATTIUS is second to T. CLAUDIUS (MENANDER) and again in I30-I40 (xvi, 89). In I46 (xvi, Suppl. I78) the order is as on the Cirencester fragment with P. ATTIUS first, L. PULLIUS second, and M. SERVILIUS third. This is the last appearance of P. ATTIUS SEVERUS.

L. PULLIUS DAPHNUS appears fourth in I22 (xvi, 69), third in I29 (XVI, 75), I33

(XVI, 76), I34 (XVI, 78 and 79), I38 (xvI, 83), I39 (xvi, 87), I30-I40 (xvi, 89); second in I46 (xvi, Suppl. I78); first in I48 (xvi, 96; XVI, Suppl. I79, i8o), his last appearance.

M. SERVILIUS GETA appears as third in I46 (xvi, Suppl. I78), second in I48 (xvi, 96; xvi, Suppl. I79, i8o); first in I49 (XVI, 97), I50 (XVI, 99), I52 (XVI, IOO), I49-I53 (XVI, IO2), I54 (XVI, I04), I56-7 (XVI, I07), I58 (XVI, io8) ; i65 (XVI, I20) ; first again in i66 (XVI, I 2 I), his last appearance.

Thus, up to I39 P. ATTIUS SEVERUS is never first though regularly second, and next above L. PULLIUS DAPHNUS, then MENANDER disappears and ATTIUS is first in I 46. In I48 DAPHNUS is first and again as in I46 immediately followed by M. SERVILIUs GETA, who becomes first for a number of years from I49. It seems evident, therefore, that our list comes after I39 when MENANDER is first, and before I48 when DAPHNUS is first, and is presumably very near to I46 when the order is the same.

There is little to be said of the recipient's name. MARCIUs or LARCIUS suggest them- selves, in either case presumably a nomen. The recipient would therefore appear to be already a Roman citizen with the regular tria nomina and this accords with the date suggested above when the later formula is already in use with its implication that Roman citizens are commonly serving in the auxilia.



A Fragment of a Diploma from Cirencester

Documents

Transcript of A Fragment of a Diploma from Cirencester