The Journal of Juristic Papyrology Vol. XXIV, 1994, pp. 105-107
Adam Łukaszewicz
Τ Α Η Ε Ω Τ Η Σ ON T H E M O V E (GLOSSA A D P. GISS. 56)
Ταξεώτης is a generic name, applied in Later Antiquity to a large cate-gory of lower functionaries. Their usual role of apparitores or officiales in the service of the prefect is the reason of their appellation of ε τ τ α ρ χ ι κ ο ί1. Distinction must be made between those officials and the milites praesidiarii also called τ α £ ε ώ τ α ι2.
In the papyri there are some instances of their activities. As low ranking public servants who were certainly sometimes entrusted also with compel-ling the observance of law, they were certainly not very popular with the common people.
The τ α ^ ε ώ τ α ι played the part of assistants of higher officers in various official business circumstances. Their typical function is the role of mes-sengers3.
Their mobility on business purposes is attested on papyrus. In P. Giss. 564 we have a testimony to a service journey of an officer of the r a £ i s rjye-μουική. In the case recorded in the much damaged Giessen text which dates to IVth century A.D. an officialis had to make a rather long travel f r o m the Thebaid to Alexandria.
1 Instances in DUCANGE, Gloss, med. inf. Graec.,s.v. τα^εώται 1529; cf. Palla-dius, Hist. Lausiaca, 63.
2 DUCANGE, S.V., 1 5 3 0 .
3 E.g., P. Grenf. I 64.3.
4 A. ŁUKASZEWICZ, TWO Papyri from Giessen (P. Giss. inv. 56 and 147)', JJP 22, 1 9 9 2 , p p . 3 7 - 4 2 .
106 A . Ł U K A S Z E W I C Z
T h e travelling of low ranking officiales in the bureaucratic e m p i r e most certainly involved, not unlike the j o u r n e y s of higher officials, a burden to the p o p u l a t i o n .
T h e f o l l o w i n g note concerns a piece of literary evidence to the reputa-tion of the τ α £ ε ώ τ α ι contained in the Philogelos (no 145)5:
Ευτράπελος κάπηλος eϋρων ταζίώτην èirl тг/ γυναικί αύτοΰ €17rev Ε ΰρον, ο ουκ (.ζητούν.
A n d r e a s Thierfelder translates:
'Ein witziger Krämer fand einen Polizisten (?) auf seiner Frau und sagte: "Ich habe g e f u n d e n , w a s ich nicht s u c h t e ' " .
T h a t translation j u s t i f i e s T h i e r f e l d e r ' s o w n remark: "das ergibt keinen
Witz, da die Unerwünschheit des Vorfalls selbstverständlich ist"6.
If in fact the Statement of the κάπηλος meant only "I f o u n d an undesir-able situation", it would not be a joke, but a simple matter of fact constata-tion and a c o n c i s e repeticonstata-tion of the c o n t e n t s of the earlier w o r d s of the anecdote: κάπηλος ΐϋρων ταζβώτην ètrl ττ) γυναικϊ αύτοϋ eitrev Ε ΰρον κ τ λ . A résumé of a previously described situation may in s o m e cases be the gist of a j o k e . That, however, necessitates a surprising paradox.
T h i e r f e l d e r in his c o m m e n t a r y m e n t i o n s the m e a n i n g of ζητίω in the c o m m e r c i a l l a n g u a g e : " N u n b e d e u t e t in der K a u f m a n n s s p r a c h e ζητβΐν 'einen Preis f o r d e r n ' (no. 1247), das k o m p l e m e n t ä r e ί ύ ρ ί σ κ ί ΐ ν ' e i n e n Preis e r z i e l e n ' . . . Hiernach könnte die Phrase wohl bedeuten: 'ich habe Geld ein-g e n o m m e n , das ich (oder soviel Geld wie ich) nicht ein-g e f o r d e r t h a t t e ' . Sie würde also auf ein günstiges (ϋρημα gehen, und ihre hiesige e n t g e g e n g e -setzte A n w e n d u n g wäre witzig"8.
T h e " s a l v e l u c r u m " attitude of the κάττηλος is — under the c i r c u m -stances — a paradoxical joke.
It s e e m s that the situation described in the a n e c d o t e is an intentional mixture of the typical with the surprising. T h e κάπηλος appears here in his typical quality. Otherwise the fact of giving the name of his trade w o u l d be senseless. In the c o m m o n opinion a tavern-keeper was certainly also a kind
5 Philogelos. Der Lachfreund von Hierokles und Philagrios, griechisch-deutsch,
hrsg. von Andreas T H I E R F E L D E R , München 1968 (Tusculum), pp. 80-81.
6 Philogelos, ed. T H I E R F E L D E R , p. 244.
7 Philogelos no. 124: 'Αβδηρίτη? кат' övap χοιρίδιο ν Ιπωλίΐ και ίζήτίΐ δηνάρια
ίκατόν, ed. T H I E R F E L D E R , p. 74. 8 T H I E R F E L D E R , op. cit., p . 2 4 4 .
Τ Α Η Ε Ω Τ Η Σ O N T H E M O V E 107
of procurer, the inn being often a fornix. Procuring w o m e n for gratification of his g u e s t s ' lust is therefore a part of the i n n - k e e p e r ' s normal trade. H e earns a part of his money (= ευρίσκω) in that way.
W h e n he finds his own wife with a taxeotes, he meets the unpleasant sur-prise in cold blood and gives a cynical (or self-ironical) c o m m e n t in which he interprets the o b v i o u s nuisance as an unexpected advantage. That kind of h u m o u r is not beside the mark in a j o k e belonging to a series of sayings or deeds of witty persons ( ε υ τ ρ ά π ε λ ο ι ) .
S i n c e the t a v e r n - k e e p e r ' s " B e r u f s a n g a b e " is o b v i o u s l y not " o h n e Funktion", why should τ α £ ε ώ τ η ? be only a casually mentioned profession or rank? Thierfelder, aware of the low rank of the ταζίώτης, takes nevertheless very seriously the official quality of that lower " S t a a t s b e a m t e " ( " G e -richtsdiener" or "Polizist"). He says: " J e d e n f a l l s soll das A m t in erstaun-lichem G e g e n s a t z zu der illegalen H a n d l u n g s t e h e n "9. His opinion s e e m s to be entirely erroneous. In actual fact it is the opposite that is true: τ α £ ε ώ -τη9 is exactly the one who is expected to appear in such a situation. There-f o r e his p r o There-f e s s i o n is m e n t i o n e d without any There-f u r t h e r e x p l a n a t i o n . It w a s probably c o m m o n k n o w l e d g e that τ α £ ε ώ τ α ι travelled to and fro, were fre-quently c u s t o m e r s of inns and consefre-quently also beneficiaries of services of all kind o f f e r e d there. A functionary of a τ ά ξ ι ς w a s probably a w e l c o m e customer, whose readiness to spend some money on little pleasures could be taken f o r granted.
[Warszawa] Adam ŁUKASZEWICZ
