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L'ab Epistulis E L'a Libellis Nel Ii Secolo D

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L'ab Epistulis E L'a Libellis Nel Ii Secolo D Università degli Studi di Cagliari DOTTORATO DI RICERCA Fonti scritte della Civiltà mediterranea Ciclo XXVII LA PAROLA SCRITTA AL SERVIZIO DELL'IMPERATORE E DELL'IMPERO: L'AB EPISTULIS E L'A LIBELLIS NEL II SECOLO D.C. Settore scientifico disciplinare di afferenza L-ANT/03 Presentata da: Tiziana Carboni Coordinatore Dottorato Prof. ssa Giovanna Granata Tutor Prof. Antonio M. Corda Esame finale anno accademico 2014 – 2015 INDICE Premessa ....……………………………………………………......................... 3 I. L'amministrazione equestre ..............................……………........................... 7 I. 1. Domande .......................................................................................... 15 II. Le Persone …………………………………….............................................. 19 IIa. Adriano …………………………………............................. 21 IIb. Antonino Pio …………………………................................. 35 IIc. Marco Aurelio …………………………............................... 48 IId. Commodo ……………………………................................. 68 IIe. I Severi .................................................................................. 84 II.1. Sommario ......................................................................................... 112 III. I Documenti ………………………………….............................................. 113 IIIa. Adriano …………………………........................................ 117 IIIb. Antonino Pio …………………………………................... 136 IIIc. Marco Aurelio ………………………………..................... 160 IIId. Commodo …………………………………........................ 179 IIIe. I Severi ………………………………................................ 190 III.1. Sommario ....................................................................................... 211 IV. Ab epistulis e a libellis, un profilo ...………………..................................... 212 Cronologia a libellis ……………………………………................................... 228 Cronologia ab epistulis …………………………………………....................... 231 Bibliografia ………………………………………………………..................... 236 Indice delle fonti .………………………………………………….................... 271 Indice delle persone .……………………………………………....................... 285 Abstract ............................................................................................................... 291 2 Premessa Ogni organizzazione statale, antica o moderna, per sopravvivere deve curare il corretto funzionamento delle attività e dei servizi necessari alla popolazione e al territorio che la compongono1. Gli Stati moderni delegano questa cura alla pubblica amministrazione, un insieme di funzionari variamente organizzati in una gerarchia di uffici, dei quali ognuno è preposto alla cura di un servizio. In tutti gli Stati moderni il sistema della pubblica amministrazione si è sviluppato e complicato al punto tale da diventare burocrazia, che, alla lettera, significa "dominio del pubblico ufficio". Questo vuol dire che in un sistema burocratico l'amministrazione pubblica può non essere funzionale alla sopravvivenza dello Stato, ma, in maniera paradossale, ostacolarla, esercitando un controllo quasi tirannico sulla vita dei cittadini2. Per l'Impero romano è problematico utilizzare il termine "burocrazia" perché l'intero sistema amministrativo è ancora molto personalistico: le funzioni amministrative hanno il volto di un determinato funzionario e difficilmente possono essere riconosciute come realtà oggettive che esistono a prescindere dalla persona che le esercita, come avviene invece nei nostri Stati moderni. Inoltre è molto forte il ruolo che possiede la persona dell'Imperatore come detentore del potere supremo. Si può, al massimo, accettare la definizione di "personale Bürokratie"3. Questo carattere personalistico dell'amministrazione romana, tuttavia, che è innegabile, non deve nemmeno essere ingigantito al punto tale da falsare la stessa realtà antica. Una certa consuetudine della critica sembra interpretare gli studi sull'amministrazione romana in senso prosopografico, concentrando l'attenzione soprattutto sulle persone che sono state titolari di ogni funzione. Dalla conoscenza che le fonti oggi ci permettono sul sistema amministrativo romano possiamo affermare che ogni funzionario, il prefetto del pretorio come il prefetto dell'annona, come ogni governatore provinciale, aveva intorno a sé del personale subalterno, che forse consentiva un'embrionale divisione dei compiti, 1 In termini simili si esprimeva già Max Weber: Weber 2012, 14. 2 Cfr. la lettura di Herzfeld 1992 sul ruolo della burocrazia nel mondo occidentale. 3 Eich 2005, 33 spiega con quale accezione utilizza questo termine, che rimane presente in tutto il lavoro per rappresentare il carattere fondante dell'amministrazione romana, la cui funzione principale era la cura degli interessi del princeps. 3 e, soprattutto, ogni funzionario emetteva dei documenti, che erano gli strumenti attraverso cui concretamente si realizzavano gli stessi processi amministrativi. Questa documentazione nella maggior parte dei casi è andata perduta, ma non possiamo ignorare che sia esistita. Sulla base di queste considerazioni, è lecito chiedersi fino a che punto gli officia romani possano essere equiparati ai nostri moderni uffici, fino a che punto, cioè, l'organizzazione interna dell'attività sia in grado di attenuare il carattere personalistico di ogni officium. Dare una risposta netta a questa domanda non è possibile, ma si può provare a studiare nel concreto l'assetto e il funzionamento di due officia come l'ab epistulis e l'a libellis per i quali, oltre alle fonti prosopografiche, ci è rimasta una cospicua attestazione dei documenti che hanno prodotto. Disponiamo, infatti, delle lettere e delle subscriptiones che diversi imperatori hanno emesso in risposta alle richieste ricevute da varie parti dell'Impero: non si deve infatti dimenticare che tutti, in una realtà statale sorretta in definitiva da un'unica persona, cercavano il più possibile un contatto diretto proprio con questa persona4. L'ab epistulis e l'a libellis, sotto quest'aspetto, giocano un ruolo molto significativo perché sono proprio gli officia che consentono la comunicazione tra l'Imperatore, detentore del potere, e tutti coloro che nell'Impero sono a questo potere sottoposti. Studiare l'ab epistulis e l'a libellis significa, dunque, studiare la parola imperiale, che ha valore di legge: in questo consiste l'interesse principale della ricerca affrontata. Finora anche l'ab epistulis e l'a libellis sono stati esaminati secondo un'ottica prosopografica e, separatamente, sono state analizzate epistulae e subscriptiones. La novità dello studio proposto in questo lavoro consiste nel superare questa dicotomia, compenetrando l'indagine prosopografica con quella sui documenti prodotti, in maniera tale che i nomi ab epistulis e a libellis non richiamino alla mente solo la persona titolare della funzione, ma l'intera realtà amministrativa che attuava queste funzioni, tramite determinati procedimenti, e produceva come risultato specifici documenti. La finalità generale di questo lavoro è proprio quella di ricostruire il concreto funzionamento di questi due officia, che ancora rimane nebuloso, contestualizzandolo 4 In questo consiste una gran parte del "lavoro" dell'Imperatore: Millar 1967. 4 nella realtà storico-politica del II secolo d.C 5 . Si è scelto, infatti, di concentrare l'indagine nel periodo compreso tra il regno di Adriano e quello dei Severi perché per questo range cronologico il numero complessivo e la tipologia delle fonti che possediamo sono tali da consentire di mettere agevolmente in relazione i direttori ab epistulis e a libellis con i documenti prodotti. Il lavoro è organizzato in quattro capitoli principali. Il primo è un'introduzione che inquadra i due officia nell'ambito dell'amministrazione equestre e delle sue problematiche: viene delineato uno status quaestionis che può essere ricavato solo sovrapponendo le diverse sensibilità di indagine, così come emergono dagli studi di coloro che finora hanno affrontato l'argomento. Al termine di questo primo capitolo è stato inserito un paragrafo che è un prospetto delle domande che hanno guidato l'indagine e per le quali si è cercato di proporre una risposta alla fine del lavoro. I due capitoli centrali sono dedicati uno allo studio prosopografico, l'altro allo studio sui documenti. Ognuno è organizzato in cinque sottocapitoli, che, in maniera speculare, analizzano il regno di Adriano, Antonino Pio, Marco Aurelio, Commodo e i Severi. Nella parte iniziale di ognuno di questi due capitoli vengono discussi i problemi metodologici sollevati sia dall'indagine sulle persone che da quella sui documenti. Nella parte finale sono stati inseriti due sommari che contengono i risultati analitici emersi dalla discussione delle fonti, come ad esempio la risoluzione di specifici problemi relativi alla carriera dei personaggi considerati o la nuova attribuzione di un documento. Le conclusioni generali, quelle che delineano un profilo generale dei due officia, proponendo una lettura in merito alle diverse problematiche sollevate, sono contenute nel quarto capitolo. Le fonti utilizzate sono naturalmente di vario genere, oltre alle epistulae e alle subscriptiones, sono state prese in considerazione tutte quelle fonti letterarie, epigrafiche, giuridiche che potessero consentire non solo di ricavare notizie dirette sul funzionamento degli officia 6 , ma anche di contestualizzare queste due realtà 5 Per un elenco dettagliato degli obiettivi specifici si rimanda a I. 1. Domande, 15. 6 Sotto questo profilo risulta di un notevole interesse ad esempio
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