DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42497#0345
The TErarium.
39
That the yErarium or Public Treasury was a part of the same
building as the Tabularium, or public Record Office, is evident from
the following passage in the “Annals” of Tacitus :—
“This produced a decree by which it was enacted that no sentence of condem-
nation should for the future be sent to the Treasury till the tenth day after
passing itk.”
There are other passages in Caesar1 and Cicero™ to the same
effect. It will be seen at once how exactly this agrees with the
existing building, in which the yErarium is under the Tabularium.
The standards of the army were also kept in the same building,
probably in the third story over the Tabularium, where the lamps
used for illumination are now kept with other lumber, or things used
occasionally only, thus keeping up the old custom. The evidence
of this is again given clearly by Livy :—-
“All these measures were executed with so much expedition, that the standards
were brought out from the Treasury on that day",” &c.
Suetonius 0 calls the EErarium after Saturn, but that does not imply
that it was in the temple, merely that it was connected with it, and
called by that name. Pliny P, in one of his letters to the Emperor
Trajan, gives it the same name; but this merely shews that it was the
usual name for it, and does not at all prove that the Treasury was
in the temple. Plutarch also gives it the same name, but the same
remark applies to this passage as to the others. The care of this
great building was entrusted to the quaestor Urbanus during the
time of the Republic, with whom the tribune of the Treasury, Tribu-
nus TErarii, was associated. In the time of Augustus it was made
over to the praetors, as we learn from Suetoniusq; but Claudius
restored it to the quaestorsr; and Nero again gave it to the praetorss,
as we are told by Tacitus, who also recapitulates what Suetonius
has said of the two previous Emperors :—
“Claudius restored the quaestors, and, to encourage them to act with vigour,
promised to place them above the necessity of soliciting the suffrages of the
people, and, by his own authority, to raise them to the higher magistracies. But
the quaestorship being the first civil office that men could undertake, maturity of
understanding was not to be expected. Nero, for that reason, chose from the
praetorian rank a set of new commissioners, of known experience and tried
abilityl.”
k Taciti Annales, lib. iii. c. 51.
1 Caesar, de Bello Civil., lib. iii.
c. 81.
m Cicero, Pis. 35, Arch..5.
" Livii Hist., lib. iii. c. 69.
0 Suetonii Claudius, c. 24, “ Curam
/Erarii Saturno reddidit.”
p Plinii Epist., lib. x. c. 20.
1 Suetonii Augusti, c. 36.
r Ibid., Claudius, c. 24.
8 Taciti Annales, lib. xiii. c. 9;
Hist., lib. iv. c. 9.
1 Taciti Annales, xiii. 29.
39
That the yErarium or Public Treasury was a part of the same
building as the Tabularium, or public Record Office, is evident from
the following passage in the “Annals” of Tacitus :—
“This produced a decree by which it was enacted that no sentence of condem-
nation should for the future be sent to the Treasury till the tenth day after
passing itk.”
There are other passages in Caesar1 and Cicero™ to the same
effect. It will be seen at once how exactly this agrees with the
existing building, in which the yErarium is under the Tabularium.
The standards of the army were also kept in the same building,
probably in the third story over the Tabularium, where the lamps
used for illumination are now kept with other lumber, or things used
occasionally only, thus keeping up the old custom. The evidence
of this is again given clearly by Livy :—-
“All these measures were executed with so much expedition, that the standards
were brought out from the Treasury on that day",” &c.
Suetonius 0 calls the EErarium after Saturn, but that does not imply
that it was in the temple, merely that it was connected with it, and
called by that name. Pliny P, in one of his letters to the Emperor
Trajan, gives it the same name; but this merely shews that it was the
usual name for it, and does not at all prove that the Treasury was
in the temple. Plutarch also gives it the same name, but the same
remark applies to this passage as to the others. The care of this
great building was entrusted to the quaestor Urbanus during the
time of the Republic, with whom the tribune of the Treasury, Tribu-
nus TErarii, was associated. In the time of Augustus it was made
over to the praetors, as we learn from Suetoniusq; but Claudius
restored it to the quaestorsr; and Nero again gave it to the praetorss,
as we are told by Tacitus, who also recapitulates what Suetonius
has said of the two previous Emperors :—
“Claudius restored the quaestors, and, to encourage them to act with vigour,
promised to place them above the necessity of soliciting the suffrages of the
people, and, by his own authority, to raise them to the higher magistracies. But
the quaestorship being the first civil office that men could undertake, maturity of
understanding was not to be expected. Nero, for that reason, chose from the
praetorian rank a set of new commissioners, of known experience and tried
abilityl.”
k Taciti Annales, lib. iii. c. 51.
1 Caesar, de Bello Civil., lib. iii.
c. 81.
m Cicero, Pis. 35, Arch..5.
" Livii Hist., lib. iii. c. 69.
0 Suetonii Claudius, c. 24, “ Curam
/Erarii Saturno reddidit.”
p Plinii Epist., lib. x. c. 20.
1 Suetonii Augusti, c. 36.
r Ibid., Claudius, c. 24.
8 Taciti Annales, lib. xiii. c. 9;
Hist., lib. iv. c. 9.
1 Taciti Annales, xiii. 29.