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Frumentarii
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We have two main sources of information about the frumentarii, inscriptions on gravestones etc. and anecdotes where the actions of individual frumentarii are mentioned by historians. From these sources modern historians have constructed the notion that the frumentarii were the secret service of the Roman Empire. So far as is known the frumentarii always worked in uniform. The Empire was based on patronage not an ideology (until Theodosius).
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We have two main sources of information about the frumentarii, inscriptions on gravestones etc. and anecdotes where the actions of individual frumentarii are mentioned by historians. From these sources modern historians have constructed the notion that the frumentarii were the secret service of the Roman Empire. So far as is known the frumentarii always worked in uniform. The Empire was based on patronage not an ideology (until Theodosius). Applying the concept of a secret service to the Roman Empire is likely to mislead. From inscriptions one of the few things known about the frumentarii is that they were mostly attached to individual legions except for a few centurion frumentarii. Attachment to individual legions suggests that their main function was, as the name suggests, to service those legions with supplies. Frumentarii appear to have spent a lot of time travelling and had a base in Rome at the Castra Peregrina. Frumentarii were obviously proud of the status if they put the rank on their gravestones. There are a number of inscriptions honouring the genie of the Castra Peregrina. This suggests that the frumentarii had high morale and a high status. For an army under Roman conditions it should be remembered that the most important military intelligence was geographical and mappable. It related to the location of communication routes, population, mills, pasture etc. The Antonine Itinerary might be the product of the frumentarii. We have two inscriptions of "frumentario canaliculario" found at Arles and Cordoba which suggests that some frumentarii had specialist knowledge of inland navigation. Below is the standard view of the frumentarii, it is backed by remarkably little evidence. The story below about Hadrian found in the Augustan History was written 200 years after the event, in a rather dubious source. It is used, as below, as evidence of an intelligence function. But it could just as easily imply that Hadrian wanted to hear gossip about his friends and aquaintances. The frumentarii as couriers picked up gossip and doubtless fed it to the Emperor. But this does not mean that gossip was their function.
It had been long-standing policy of the Roman legions and armies of occupation to utilize informers and spies, but never in an organized fashion, even in the city of Rome, with its whispers and endless conspiracies. Titus used the special messengers and assassins of the Praetorian Guard to carry out executions and liquidations (the Speculatores); however, they belonged to the Guard and were limited in scope and power.
By the 2nd century, the need for an empire-wide intelligence service was clear. But even an emperor could not easily create a new bureau with the express purpose of spying on the citizens of Rome's far-flung domains. A suitable compromise was found by Hadrian. He envisioned a large-scale operation and turned to the frumentarii. The frumentarius was the collector of corn in a province, a position that brought the official into contact with enough locals and natives to acquire considerable intelligence about any given territory. Hadrian put them to use as his spies, and thus had a ready-made service and a large body to act as a courier system.
The following story has been used as evidence of the role of the frumentarii - (Hadrian's) vigilance was not confined to his own household but extended to those of his friends, and by means of his private agents (frumentarios) he even pried into all their secrets, and so skilfully that they were never aware that the Emperor was acquainted with their private lives until he revealed it himself. In this connection, the insertion of an incident will not be unwelcome, showing that he found out much about his friends. The wife of a certain man wrote to her husband, complaining that he was so preoccupied by pleasures and baths that he would not return home to her, and Hadrian found this out through his private agents. And so, when the husband asked for a furlough, Hadrian reproached him with his fondness for his baths and his pleasures. Whereupon the man exclaimed: "What, did my wife write you just what she wrote to me?".
The frumentarii quickly earned the hatred of society. In the 3rd century, association with the heads of the service could produce severe repercussions. In 217, Macrinus appointed Marcus Oclatinus Adventus, the former head of the frumentarii and the prefect of the Praetorian Guard to the Senate. With one decision, Macrinus alienated most of the Roman establishment and made his own political destruction inevitable-- so much were the frumentarii resented. Diocletian terminated the frumentarii because of their abuses and loathsome reputation. The emperor's decision netted him great popularity, but a short time later the equally sinister and far better organized agentes in rebus was created in its stead.
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