﻿98 THE AGE OF PETRONIUS ARBITER. 



a fourth, " ex infimo censu." * Caligula added a fifth, and the addition of a sixth was 

 rejected by Galba.' From the passage of the "lex Aurelia," the term "decuria" des- 

 ignates the three or more classes or orders of citizens from -nhom the " judices" were 

 chosen. The important point here to be noticed is, that the whole arrangement im- 

 plied a scale of rank chiefly, if not entirely, based upon the census or property- qualifi- 

 cation. "NMien, therefore, Trimalchio says that he might serve in any of the "decuriae," 

 he, in the proud consciousness of his wealth, means that his property entitles him to be 

 chosen into any of the " decuriae judicum." He neither says that he actually is a mem- 

 ber of a " decuria judicum," nor that he covdd be,t except on the ground of property. 

 It is another illustration of his unlimited vanity. Since Trimalchio does not mention 

 the number of the " decuriae," we are unable to determine, from this passage, whether 

 he speaks of the state of the courts before or after the addition made by Augustus. 

 Besides, I have not been able to ascertain the time when Augustus made that addition 

 to the number of the " decuriae judicum," although it is highly probable that it was 

 one of the series of reformatory measures which distinguished his sixth consulship 

 (28 B. C, 726 U. C). So much is certain, however, that there is nothing in the pas- 

 sage which can prevent us from placing the book in the reign of Augustus, if other 

 considerations should favor such a decision. 



22. C. 71. 12: "Sestertium reliquit trecenties"; thirty million sesterces, or, accord- 

 ing to American money, about seven hundred thousand dollars ; not a very large estate. 

 There is, so far as I know, no other instance of a testator causing the amount of his 

 property to be inscribed on his sepulchral monument, except that mentioned by Horace 



(Sat. 2. 3. 84): J 



" Heredes Staberi summam incidere sepulcro." 



If the inscription in Horace, as well as in Petronius, be nothing but a satirical exaggera- 

 tion, introduced for the purpose of painting in strong colors the prevailing vice of their 

 times, may we not infer that it was, in both instances, suggested by similar or the same 

 circumstances, — that Horace and Petronius were either contemporaries, or that the 



* Cf. Sueton. Aug. 32: "Ad tres judicum decurias quartam addidit ex inferiore censu, quae ducenariorum 

 vocaretur, judicaretque de levioribus summis." 



t Cf. Plin. Nat. Hist. 33. 1. 7. 30 : " Servatumque iu hodiernum est, ne quis e novis civibus in iis [sc. 

 decuriis] judicaret." 



t Karl Franke, in his " Fasti Horatiani," places this satire in 33 B. C. (721 U. C.) ; W. E. Weber, in his 

 " Quintus Horatius Flaccus als Mensch und Dichter," places it in December of the same year, 33 B. C. 

 Heindorf, in his edition of the Satires of Horace, agrees with the above-named scholars, while Orelli is 

 inclined to place this Satire two years later, in 31 B. C. (723 U. C). 



