1921 AND HIS SUCCESSORS 7 in 1747 at Veleia near Placentia, and the ' Tabula Ligurum Baebianorum ', * discovered in 1832 near Beneventum. Both these inscriptions are lists of estates on which mortgages had been arranged, the capital being provided by Trajan, and the interest going to the maintenance of children in the vicinity. The emperor's purpose was clearly to invest money in such a way that a steady and permanent income should be forth- coming, for the assistance both of present and future generations. 2 No mention is made of any term of years ; and it has, therefore, been concluded that Trajan did not intend even to call in the principal. If this was the case, and if, as seems probable, 3 only a low rate of interest was charged, the arrangement would benefit the landowners hardly less than the families assisted. Probably, therefore, among the other motives of the emperor, we must reckon a desire to help small landowners. 4 . The fullest literary reference to Trajan's policy of assisting poor children is found in the famous Panegyricus, 5 pronounced in his honour by Pliny in a.d. 100. In this address, which is marked by rhetorical adulation rather than clearness of state- ment, Pliny describes the throngs of children brought by their parents to greet Trajan on his first entry into Rome. The word ' alimenta ' is used again and again, but as there is no mention of children living outside Rome, it is now generally held 6 that Pliny is referring to gifts made by the emperor in Rome before sum will provide alimenta for eighteen boys, at 16 sesterces a month, and one girl, at 12 sesterces. 1 Corpys Inscript. Latin, ix. 1455. 2 Pliny the Younger (Epistula, vii. 18), describing his own alimentary endowment at Comum, says : ' In order to raise 500,000 sesterces, which I had promised for the maintenance of free-born children, I put into the hands of the public agent a piece of land worth a far larger sum ; this same property I received back again, after the imposition of a rent, engaging myself to pay 30,000 sesterces a year.' 8 The rate was only 5 per cent., instead of the 12 per cent, which was usual ; and as the interest was reckoned on a sum only one-tenth or one-twelfth of the value of the property, the amount paid each year was trifling in proportion to the real value of the land. Pliny evidently thought his property would be only lightly burdened, for he says (loc. cit), ' the land, greatly exceeding in value the rent-charge, will always find a tenant to cultivate it '. The rate of interest, in this instance, was 6 per cent.
- Careful examination has shown that the emperor made at least three assignments
of money at Veleia, and at least ten among the Ligures. Certain early critics assumed that alimentary funds were instituted in all the municipalities in one year. In this they were clearly wrong. See Henzen's article on the ' alimenta ' in Annali del- Vlnstit., 1844. Mommsen (on the Tabula Baebiana, Corpus Inscript. Latin, ix. 1455, and Staatsrecht, ii. 3. 1079) suggests that Trajan made assignments of money at frequent intervals, perhaps of six months, during the first part of his reign. Mommsen is followed by Henzen and Marquardt, Staatsverwaltung, ii. 2. 141. 5 Pliny, Panegyricus, 26-8. 6 See Hirschfeld's article on ' Die Getreideverwaltung in der romischen Kaiserzeit ' in Philologus, xxx, 1870. Sauppe, on the other hand (Philologus, xxx), argues that the Panegyric does refer to the Italian alimentary grants, and is proof of their early date.
