8 THE ' ALIMENT A ' OF NERVA January the new measures in Italy were carried into effect. The main significance of the passage lies in the motive which it emphasizes ; for Pliny plainly tells the emperor that his generous policy towards the children will lead to an increase in the number of children born ; he speaks strongly in favour of such a policy : ' nullum est enim magno principe . . . impendii genus dignius quam quod erogatur in posteros ; ' 1 and again : ' bonus princeps . . . fiducia sui procreatos nisi larga manu fovet . . . occasum imperii, occasum reipublicae accelerat.' 2 Later, in the same connexion, Pliny touches upon the constant need of recruits for the army, saying : ' Hi subsidium bellorum, ornamentum pacis, publicis sumptibus aluntur. . . . Ex his castra, ex his tribus replebuntur.' 3 Thus it is clear that the establishment of maintenance grants was not merely a philanthropic measure, but formed part of a deliberate attempt to increase the population of Italy. 4 To return to the evidence of inscriptions. Further records of alimentary grants have been found at Ameria in Central Italy, Auximum in Umbria, and Terracina on the Latin coast. 5 Although these give little more than the names and titles of the emperor, and are a mere formal record of the gratitude of the townspeople, they are important as proving how widely the grants extended. Two coins, 6 belonging to the years 104 and 112, and similar in type to that struck in the time of Nerva, bear the words ' Alim[enta] Ital[iae] '. Since all such dates as can be fixed fall between 100 and 112, it is generally assumed that most of the endowments were made during this period. Such later endowments as are mentioned by the historians were apparently made on exceptional occasions and intended to commemorate some special event. Of the alimentary measures of Hadrian, Trajan's successor, very little is known. There is only one literary reference. The historian Spartianus, writing about a century and a half later, records that the emperor ' pueris ac puellis, quibus etiam Traianus alimenta detulerat, incrementum adiecit '. 7 The exact interpretation of these words is doubtful. The jurist Ulpian, who died in 228, tells us that Hadrian ordained that boys should receive grants until they reached the age of eighteen, and girls 1 Panegyricus, 26. 3. 2 26. 5. 3 28. 2. Pliny elsewhere uses the phrase 'alimenta de tuo', i.e. from the fiscus, which was the emperor's "private treasury, although derived from public sources. This is not inconsistent with the phrase ' publicis sumptibus ', or the ' sumptu publico ' of Aurelius Victor — see above, p. 5. 4 Cf. Corpus Inscript. Latin, vi. 1492, an inscription in which the people of Ferentum refer to the ' cura alimentaria ' as a means by which Trajan ' aeternitati Italiae suae prospexit '. 6 Ibid. x. 4351, ix. 5825, and x. 6310. 6 Cohen, ii. 2. 18, and ii. 35, 51. 7 Hadrian, 7.
