[1917] p. 364.
[1918] p. 374.
[1919] Suet. Claud. 25 “stipendiaque instituit (Claudius) et imaginariae militiae genus, quod vocatur ‘supra numerum,’ quo absentes et titulo tenus fungerentur.”
[1920] In A.D. 16 a proposal was made in the Senate “ut ... legionum legati, qui ante praeturam ea militia fungebantur, jam tum praetores destinarentur” (Tac. Ann. ii. 36).
[1921] Galba’s is a good instance of a distinguished senatorial career. He obtained office ante legitimum tempus; after the praetorship he governed Aquitania, after the consulship Upper Germany; he was then proconsul of Africa, and finally for eight years legate of Tarraconensis. See Suet. Galba 6, 7, 8.
[1922] Tac. Ann. iv. 6 “(the state contracts) societatibus equitum Romanorum agitabantur.”
[1923] Dio Cass. liii. 30. On Antonius Musa, who had saved Augustus’ life, was conferred τὸ χρυσοῖς δακτυλίοις (ἀπελεύθερος γὰρ ἦν) χρῆσθαι: ib. xlviii. 45 (Augustus, on the reception of Menas the former freedman of Sex. Pompeius) δακτυλίοις τε χρυσοῖς ἐκόσμησε καὶ ἐς τὸ τῶν ἱππέων τέλος ἐσέγραψε. These words may mean that Menas was made an eques equo publico as well.
[1924] A rescript of Hadrian is quoted with reference to the ingenuitas conferred by the gold ring (Ulp. in Dig. 40, 10, 6). For other references to this right see Dig. 38, 2, 3; Justin. Nov. 78.
[1925] The usurpation of the gold ring by freedmen, which was repressed by Claudius (Suet. Claud. 25) and Domitian, and the inspection in the theatre instituted by the latter (Martial v. 8) seem to refer to a civil class; at least there is no evidence that such people claimed to be equites equo publico. When Dio Cassius (lvi. 42) speaks of οἵ τε ἱππεῖς, οἵ τε ἐκ τοῦ τέλους καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι, it is not clear who “the others” are, but the passage shows that persons other than those in the corps were called “equites.”
[1926] Dionys. vi. 13.