Influence and official favours 407 



letting the fairness of his decision appear 1 in the distinction made. 

 This proposition introduces a request on behalf of his sister. Some 

 farms of hers are overburdened with the dues exacted by the state, and 

 are now empty for lack of tenants. Only the governor's sanction can 

 give them the relief needed to restore them to solvency; and Sym- 

 machus trusts that his friend will do the right thing by the lady. In 

 another case 2 he asks favour for a dependant, significantly adding a 

 request that his friend will see to it that the case does not come before 

 another judge. Now, what chance of asserting their own rights had 

 humble folk in general, and poor working farmers in particular, when 

 governors and judges of all sorts were solicited like this by men whose 

 goodwill was worth securing, men for the most part unscrupulous 

 greedy and prone to bear grudges, not such as the virtuous and kindly 

 Symmachus ? Perhaps nothing shews the selfishness of the rich more 

 than their attempts to shirk the duty of furnishing recruits for the 

 army. Yet we find in one letter 3 a request to a provincial governor 

 to check the activities of the recruiting agents. That the writer accuses 

 these latter of overstepping their legal powers can only be viewed with 

 some suspicion, considering his readiness to use private influence. Early 

 in 398, when a force was being raised to operate against Gildo, it was 

 thought necessary to enlist slaves from the city households. The pro- 

 tests 4 of their owners, in which Symmachus shared, were loud: the 

 compensation allowance was too low, and so forth. Yet, if any one 

 was interested in suppressing the rebel, it was surely these wealthy 

 men. 



That the obligation of providing for the sustenance of the idle 

 populace of Rome was not only a worry to officials but a heavy burden 

 on farmers in the Provinces whence the supplies were drawn, needs no 

 detailed proof. But they were used to the burden, and bore it quietly 

 in average years. A very bad season might produce dearth even in 

 Africa, and call for exceptional measures 5 of relief on the part of em- 

 perors. So Trajan had relieved Egypt. It was however an extreme 

 step to ease the pressure in Rome by expelling 6 all temporary residents, 

 as was actually done during the famine of 383. These would be nearly 

 all from the Provinces, and Symmachus uneasily refers 7 to the resent- 

 ment that the expulsion was certain to provoke. But in this age a 

 rebellion of provincials to gain redress of their own particular grievances 

 was not a conceivable policy. * When discontent expressed itself in 

 something more than a local riot, it needed a head in the form of a 

 pretender making a bid for imperial power. But we are not to suppose 



2 ut perspiciatur in discretione indicium. 2 episi IX 47 (50). 



3 epist IX 10. 4 epist vi 59 (58), 65 (64). 5 epist IV 74. 6 epist n 7. 

 7 quanta nobis odio provindarum constat ilia securitas. 



