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potential escape routes open to them as it became aware of the

a b u s e s ;*3 the very large numbers of laws concerning pouXeurar

in the Theodosian Code repeatedly covered such areas such as the army, the civil service, the Senate, the Church, guilds, advocacy and patronage and titles.*^ The restrictions became gradually more severe, which may reflect growing government desperation over the matter; however, at least in the Fourth century, if a pouXevTqs managed to elude recapture for a given number of years in a particular service, his escape was occasionally acknowledged. Other than the usual administrative channels - often the same ones offering patronage to escaping pouXe\)Ta{ - the government did not introduce new methods to enforce the restrictions. Instead, it contented itself with periodic purges of the service groups to try to restore escapees

to their c o u n c i l s .*5 To make councils run more efficiently, new

government officials were assigned to them, reducing further the social status that ordinary membership entailed, and thus its incentives. As the rewards diminished and the burdens increased, those who could escape were inclined evermore towards that option. Those who were left behind were disunited, putting consideration for all else behind that for themselves, and requiring further direct controls.

Performance of all one's civic munera, in the correct order,

allowed progression to equestrian offices of state, bestowing personal immunity to council duties, but the sons of povXeiirar were expected to replace their fathers on the council.* 6 Measures intended to ensure that numbers were maintained supplemented the restrictions on changing disciplines. By AD300 property of povXeurar might be registered as surety against their default (a process called Karoxti); this method does 13 Boak (1955a) saw this as a reaction to reduced manpower to ensure that all the needs of the Empire were adequately staffed.

14 Cod. Theod, 12.1; cf. Libanius, Or. 48.7, 22, Eusebius, Ecc. Hist. 10.7. 15 eg: Cod. Theod. 12.1.38 (AD346).

not always seem to have been successful, since in another papyrus it appears that men under similar constraints had fled anyway, and caution was being exercised by the povXtf in

nominating replacements lest they flee t o o . * 7 Subsequently

laws were passed in order to restrict the transfer of land from pouXevTtté to non-povXevTav,*8 and certainly by the time of Justin ian,*9 duty on a council was a servitude on land owned by the pouXeurai there. This seems to be the case in Egypt, where owners of great estates undertook the liturgie duties imposed on those whose owners had died, apparently without heir s.20 Councillors were bound to serve in their town of origin as well as any other to which they might move^* - another law intended to restrict their movements. These laws were all aimed at bolstering the strength of the councils as a body, but restraining the actions of the individuals within the group. Unfortunately, the Emperors seem to have placed too much faith in the spirit of community, which had been overtaken by self-interest in the Fourth century with the higher expense of liturgies and magistracies, which offered liturgists a diminished return as compensation for their contributions. While men still took considerable pride in their cities, they were less capable, and thus less w illing, to contribute to it freely either independent of or through their civic duties. Without the co­ operation of the councils the central government was forced to greater and greater extremes, until the councils became eclipsed by the measures introduced to help them operate more efficiently.

17 P.Oxy. 3188 (AD300); P.Oxy. 1415 (late 3rd). 18 Cod. Just. 10.19.8 (AD468).

19 Nov. Just. 101; cf. Cod. Theod. 12.1.52 (AD362).

20 P.Oxy. 2780 (AD553), S B. 11079 (AD571), cf. Gascou (1985).

21 Cod. Theod. 12.1.12 (AD325); P.Oxy. 1119 (AD254) Antinoites were exempt from this.

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Guilds, such as the p i stores and the suarii detailed in the

Theodosian Code, also came under more rigid controls;22 their movements were governed, and it was assumed that their

relatives would succeed them - even sons-in-law . The

obligations lay on the property, and purchasers were

responsible for the guild duties that went with it, and their sons after them.23 Less prestigious occupations were also compulsory - such as work in the state factories set up by D io c le tia n .24 As in the case of the guilds mentioned above, anyone buying into the theoretically inalienable property of such people was also liable to the services to which the previous owner had been subjected. The exact status of all eastern guilds is not entirely clear; Cod. Theod. 13.4.2 (AD337) exempts a list of guildsmen from compulsory public services in order that they might have time to teach their sons their trade, so evidently it was expected that sons would follow fathers into their professions even if it was not compulsory. Irregularities occurred; in one case there is a hearing over which guild a trainee weaver should belong to, since he had suddenly been inducted into the builder’s guild. From the papyri in Egypt it is possible to see various classes of people, not just tradesmen, forming groups for mutual benefit; this also served to assist the authorities in keeping a tighter control on them.2 5

Military service seems to have been made hereditary in the Empire by Constantine in about AD313,26 if it was not already the case. Sons of soldiers, who would most likely be brought up in or near the camp, were probably easy enough for the army to lay hands on; those of veterans, retired and living in the

22 Rickman (1980), pp. 226-230.

23 origo, Cod. Theod. 14.3.14 (AD372); relatives, 14.3.2 (AD355), 3

(AD364), 21 (AD403); 14,4.7 (AD397); property (for navicularii), 13.5.3, 17,

19, 20 (AD314-392); 13.6.1, 4, 6-8 (AD326-399). 24 Cod. Theod. 10.22.4 (AD398); cf. Jones (1970).

25 The weaver, P.Ryl. 654 (first half 4th); cf. my section on Guilds. 26 Cod. Theod. 7.22.1 (AD313).

country (though frequently on frontier lands), would be less so. If they declined to follow their father's career, or were in some way physically unfit, then they would be seconded to their local povXYi, and purges were made to remove them from civil office staff s. 27 Military service in Egypt in the Fourth century was not popular - recruits had to be guarded to prevent desertion - and this may have been because there was a real prospect of service abroad, away from domestic interests. WAfer (Winces such as Egypt employed hereditary conscription for

the urbanised numeri in the Sixth century; their reduced (and

localised) military role made the positions less arduous than earlier centuries, and tenure seems to have been regarded as a p r iv ile g e .28 in the Fourth century, in addition to finding the

reluctant recruits, a tax (the aurum tironicum) was levied for

their equipment; by the Sixth century the front-line troops were hired (and armed) without the need for force, some by the owners of great estates.29

The civil service had become a very popular career with men from all classes since it carried the benefit of immunity

from civic munera, and much money could be obtained in the

form of gratuities - the greater the favours one could bestow, the larger the sum of money that would change hands. The increased size of the bureaucracy made it easier to disguise graft, and the Emperor had to resort to the occasional bloodthirsty investigation to intimidate the survivors. Just as among the povXevrav, there were vast social gaps between the

highest and the lowest, not just within each of f i ci u m , but

between the officials themselves, depending on to whom they

were responsible. The palatine ministries were apparently

most popular, while the cohortal es , at the bottom end of the

scale, were supervised more closely, and the status of

27P0VM1 ; Cod. Theod. 7.22.2, 4, 5, 7 (AD326-365); 7.1.5 (AD364). Office staff; 7.22.3 (AD331), 6 (AD349), 7 (AD365), 8 (AD372), 9-10 (AD380).

28 4th Cent.: P.Abinn. 19 (AD340s), P.Lips. Inv. 281, cf. Lallemand (1964), p. 164, n. 3; 6th Cent.: Haldon (1979), p. 21, n. 5, Jones (1964), pp. 669-70.

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