Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

Documents

Trajan to Pliny

It is harsh to impose on provincials the need to apply to the pontiffs, if they want to transfer the remains of their family members from one place to another for some just cause. Instead, you should follow the example of those previously in charge of your province and grant or deny permission as each individual case demands. How general is this ruling? Trajan refers to the practice • of Pliny’s predecessors in Bithynia, but does that mean he would give different general instructions to the governor of another province, or just that each governor should adopt the (varying) local practices? Does Trajan offer some respect for the substance of local religious practice? If so, a similar ruling might be made in many similar cases. Or does he just want to avoid the procedural problem of having provincials appeal to the pontiffs in Rome? If so, then this might be a very narrow ruling. Whatever the details, this decision seems to move practi- • cal authority from religious authorities to secular ones. This is less a matter of growing separation between church and state than of putting all authority in the hands of men who answer directly to the emperor, himself the chief pontiff.

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