CONGIA´RIUM
CONGIA´RIUM (sc.
vas, from
CONGIUS), a vessel
containing that liquid measure (Paulus, in
Dig. 33,
8,
13).
In the early times of the Roman republic, the
congius was the usual measure of oil or wine which was, on
certain occasions, distributed among the people; and thus
congiarium, as Quintilian says, became a name for the gift as
well as for the measure (
congiarium commune liberalitatis
atque mensurae, 6.3.52). It does not follow that all the
citizens or even heads of families received a
congius apiece. The earliest mention of a distribution of oil is
in B.C. 213, when two Cornelii, Scipio afterwards called Africanus and
Cethegus, in their aedileship gave a certain number of
congii (the numeral has dropped out) to the inhabitants of
each street (
Liv. 25.2, with Madvig's note).
Lucullus on his return from his Eastern victories distributed more than
100,000
cadi of wine to te people (
Plin. Nat. 14.96). The name
congiarium was also applied, less accurately, to
presents of corn or other provisions. Thus Pliny speaks of king Ancus
Marcius giving 6000
modii of salt as a
congiarium to the people (
H. N.
31.89). In the later republic such
congiaria,
like the giving of games and shows, were the regular passport to high office
(
Liv. 25.2;
37.57).
Under the empire the tranquillity of the capital was ensured by a gigantic
system of out-door relief (
FRUMENTARIAE LEGES), supplemented by frequent doles. The general
term for these imperial presents is
LARGITIO sometimes (especially on coins)
LIBERALITAS Distributions to
the soldiers were called DONATIVA, to the people
congiaria (
Suet.
Aug. 41,
Tib. 20 and 54,
Ner. 7;
Tac. Ann. 12.41,
13.31; Plin.
Paneg. 25; Hist.
Aug.
Hadr. 7,
Comm. 16,
Al.
Sev. 26,
Aurelian. 48); but sometimes the former also
are called
congiaria (
Cic. Att. 16.8;
Curt. 6.2). The sums
thus spent were enormous. Hadrian's
congiarium
was three
aurei per head on his proclamation as
emperor, double that amount on his arrival in Rome; Commodus gave 725
denarii to each citizen (cf. Casaubon's
note
l.c.). Marquardt has computed the imperial
congiaria at an average of
£90,000 a year from Julius Caesar to Claudius, £300,000
a year from Nero to Sept. Severus; it must have been, however, a periodical
emptying of the treasury rather than a continuous drain.
 |
|
Congiarium. (Coin of Trajan: British Museum.)
|
Congiarium was moreover used to designate
presents or pensions given by men of rank to their friends, clients, or
dependents
[p. 1.529](Caelius to Cicero,
Cic. Fam. 8.1;
Suet.
Jul. 27,
Vesp. 18; and often in Seneca, e.g.
de Brev. Vit. 8.2, “Annua congiaria homines
clarissimi accipiunt” ; cf.
Cons. ad Marc. 22.4,
where the sacrifice of a political victim is Seianus'
congiarium to a client). Fabius Maximus called the presents
which Augustus made to his friends, on account of their smallness,
heminaria instead of
congiaria, because a
hemina was only
the twelfth part of a
congius (Quintil.
l.c.). (Marquardt,
Staatsverw.
2.132-136.)
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