DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4680#0037
4. HISTORY AND MONUMENTS OF EUMEN EI A. 369
we find the apyjuov mentioned, no. 220, 234, 35/)- Before a copy
of any such deed of sale or gift was accepted and stored in the Office,
its legality and validity were verified; and thus the Y.peco</wAa£ played
an important part in the business of the city. The existence of
a certified copy of a deed in the Record Office was accepted as full
proof of legal right to the property in question; and this simple
guarantee of right greatly facilitated the borrowing of money on the
security of property, besides making the transfer of property and the
verification of titles very simple. On the other hand the burning
of the apyjiia. at Jerusalem in a.d. 66 paralysed business by destroy-
ing the evidence of loans and preventing recovery (Josephus Bell.
Jud. II 427 [17, 6]).
§ 6. Encroachment of the Central Government : Logistat.
The office of Auditor (eyXoyicrr-qs) is mentioned in inscr. 197 (probably
of the third century). We assume that it corresponds to the commoner
logistes or curator1. During the second century, the logistes was
not a mere municipal official: he was a financial overseer, appointed
in special circumstances by the central government (i.e. by the emperor)
to regulate expenditure, to prevent extravagance and misappropria-
tion of funds, and to put the finances of the city on a sound basis.
The appointment of these logistai is one of the earliest signs of that
tendency to centralize government2, which increased steadily, until
all municipal self-government disappeared. At the same time the
need for extra-municipal logistai shows that municipal government
was proving a failure in the Empire. The officials of the cities evi-
dently were found to be corrupt or incompetent or extravagant; no
sufficient check on them was exercised by public opinion; and they
had too little experience and training. The Imperial government
abandoned all attempt to improve and educate the municipal govern-
ment, and step by step degraded it from all real power, until at last
there was nothing left except a gigantic bureaucracy of the central
government and its representatives or instruments in the cities.
At first the logistai were regularly selected from a different city:
commonly they were Roman citizens; often they belonged to the
equestrian or the senatorial order; they were men of experience, who
ranked far above the mere municipal magistrates ; they did not take
up residence in the cities where they acted, though doubtless they
occasionally visited them. For example, the citizens of Aphrodisias
1
Curator rei publicae qui Graeco roca- 2 No proof of their existence earlier
halo logista mmcupatur (Cod Just. I than Nerva is known.
54, 3)-
VOL. I. PT. H. C
we find the apyjuov mentioned, no. 220, 234, 35/)- Before a copy
of any such deed of sale or gift was accepted and stored in the Office,
its legality and validity were verified; and thus the Y.peco</wAa£ played
an important part in the business of the city. The existence of
a certified copy of a deed in the Record Office was accepted as full
proof of legal right to the property in question; and this simple
guarantee of right greatly facilitated the borrowing of money on the
security of property, besides making the transfer of property and the
verification of titles very simple. On the other hand the burning
of the apyjiia. at Jerusalem in a.d. 66 paralysed business by destroy-
ing the evidence of loans and preventing recovery (Josephus Bell.
Jud. II 427 [17, 6]).
§ 6. Encroachment of the Central Government : Logistat.
The office of Auditor (eyXoyicrr-qs) is mentioned in inscr. 197 (probably
of the third century). We assume that it corresponds to the commoner
logistes or curator1. During the second century, the logistes was
not a mere municipal official: he was a financial overseer, appointed
in special circumstances by the central government (i.e. by the emperor)
to regulate expenditure, to prevent extravagance and misappropria-
tion of funds, and to put the finances of the city on a sound basis.
The appointment of these logistai is one of the earliest signs of that
tendency to centralize government2, which increased steadily, until
all municipal self-government disappeared. At the same time the
need for extra-municipal logistai shows that municipal government
was proving a failure in the Empire. The officials of the cities evi-
dently were found to be corrupt or incompetent or extravagant; no
sufficient check on them was exercised by public opinion; and they
had too little experience and training. The Imperial government
abandoned all attempt to improve and educate the municipal govern-
ment, and step by step degraded it from all real power, until at last
there was nothing left except a gigantic bureaucracy of the central
government and its representatives or instruments in the cities.
At first the logistai were regularly selected from a different city:
commonly they were Roman citizens; often they belonged to the
equestrian or the senatorial order; they were men of experience, who
ranked far above the mere municipal magistrates ; they did not take
up residence in the cities where they acted, though doubtless they
occasionally visited them. For example, the citizens of Aphrodisias
1
Curator rei publicae qui Graeco roca- 2 No proof of their existence earlier
halo logista mmcupatur (Cod Just. I than Nerva is known.
54, 3)-
VOL. I. PT. H. C