10 THE ' ALIMENT A ' OF NERVA January In the reign of Alexander Severus, some forty years later, the emperor, moved no doubt by the example of the Antonines, made a new enrolment of children, in honour of his mother Mammaea. In thus connecting a. charitable institution with the names of ladies of the imperial household, the later emperors seem to emphasize the philanthropic rather than political purpose of their grants ; and we must distinguish these later endow- ments, which were probably on quite a small scale, from the organized poor relief of Trajan. The ' puellae Faustinianae ' or ' Mammaeanae ' were in very much the same position as those children who benefited by the private alimentary endow- ments, 1 which we know existed in a considerable number of Italian and provincial towns. The ' state-aided ' children were no doubt many more in number, if we may judge from the many inscriptions which tell of ' magistratus alimentarii ' of high official standing. This brings us to the question of the administration. In the inscription from Veleia, we read of two men, C. Cornelius Gallicanus and T. Pomponius Bassus, who were entrusted with the investment of the money. We know from other sources that both Gallicanus 2 and Bassus were men of consular rank, who had already attained to positions of some dignity. Bassus had wide proyincial experiences, having served as legate in Asia, Cappa- docia, and Galatia. An interesting inscription from Ferentinum, 3 a little town in Latium, throws light upon his administration of the ' alimenta ' in that district. Recording his adoption as patron of their town, the Ferentini say : Inasmuch as all have declared that T. Pomponius Bassus, in accor- dance with his generous nature, has carried out the task committed to his charge by our most beneficent emperor . . . (aiming therein at the everlasting prosperity of his country Italy) in such a way that all ages owe thanks to his administration ; and inasmuch as a man of so deservedly high reputation would be of service to our town ... it has pleased the conscript fathers that envoys ... be dispatched to Pomponius Bassus, to beg him to deign to take our municipality into the patronage of his most noble house. . . . 1 The private endowments do not strictly fall within the scope of this paper ; but the inscriptions recording them are of very great interest, both for their own sake and as throwing light upon the imperial scheme. The most important are : Corpus Inscript. Latin, x. 5056, from Atina (in Italy) — this dates from time of Augustus ; ii. 1174, from Hispalis (in Spain) ; viii. 1641, from Sicca (in Africa) ; viii. 980, from Curubis (in Africa) ; x. 6328, from Terracina (in Italy) ; xi. 1602, from Florentia (in Italy) ; xiv. 350, from Ostia (in Italy) ; v. 5262, from Comum (in Italy). * The last records the endowment of Pliny. See above, p. 7, n. 2. 2 Cornelius Gallicanus, legate in Narbonensis, a.d. 83 (Corpus Inscript. Latin. xii. 2602). 3 Pomponius Bassus, adopted as patron of the Ferentini, a.d. 101 or 102 (Corpus Inscript. Latin, vi. 1492).
