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Content (Issue 6)
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"WHAT THE PAPERS SAID" Mutatus notoriously keeps a low profile, preferring that comments and complaints about the Gazette should be fielded by whichever Senator has official responsibility for content. (He has worked with a lot, and was noncommittal about their talents.) M Didius Falco, the informer, described this legendary press mogul recently as 'about fifty, worn out by years of deploring modern life' and said Holconius last smiled when news came in that the Empress Messalina had plied her trade in a brothel. We met at his office, where I found he was indeed a professional scribe of the wary, senior type; he is affable and yet always gives the impression that he is holding back His CV provides a very bare catalogue. From the usual background as imperial slave then freedman, he worked his way through the administrative tasks that keep the Gazette humming, serving as a scribe then a roving reporter, until he reached the pinnacle as head of the political section, in charge of the record-takers who report on the Senate. He started his career humbly, collating data on births and deaths in Rome, notes on the corn supply, and the routine lists of money sent to the Treasury from provinces – soul-destroying on the face of it but, he says now, vital training for a rookie reporter. 'You have to be completely accurate or it causes repercussions; provincial governors are furious if their payments are reported wrongly. Even the births and deaths are important – the Emperor needs to know the size of the population for tax reasons. As for the corn supply, it's highly sensitive, in fact. It is vital we maintain public confidence that the people will be fed; suggesting that there may be a famine can cause a riot.' Progressing, he attended funerals and drew up the wills section, learning which famous men – or their formidable widows - would expect to be featured. 'There is an art to describing a will, so you don't offend the family but you let readers notice any shocks and surprises – they can draw their own conclusions. The recent Rubirius Metellus will is an example.' In the Metellus drama, there was a series of court cases too, of course; court reports were another area Holconius covered at this period of his career. 'The apprenticeship comes when you draw up the edicts passed annually by magistrates; that gives you a legal grounding – plus you know who they are, because part of the job is to list newly elected magistrates. Trials are covered fairly simply in the Gazette, just details of the acquitted and condemned, normally, though when a particularly famous barrister is speaking, we may give advance notice.' I asked whether that was because the particularly famous barristers liked to be advertised. Holconius merely smiled. He is endlessly discreet. Although as editor in chief he has a watching brief over the court circular, he clearly felt relieved that he had never been called upon to write that section. Nor does his taste run to what are usually called curious and interesting occurrences: he is happy to have missed out on reporting prodigies and miracles, new building works and city fires, the games, sacrifices, and worst of all, the amatory adventures of celebrities. I asked if he thought these sensational features should be omitted. 'Not at all. I defend the public interest argument. We name names. The public has a right to know how their rulers and so-called betters are behaving: when troubles at home may affect a magistrate's judgement, for instance, or when someone in a public position is behaving corruptly or hypocritically.' Did he think there was an unhealthy salacious element in telling such tales – I cited the senator's wife who ran away with a clapped-out gladiator and the Vestal Virgin found in a compromising situation (allegedly). 'Absolutely not. Citizens need to know such things go on.' I asked, and Holconius acknowledged, that a special scribe gathers material for the scandal tablet. However, he squashed recent rumours that Infamia, the nom-de-stylus of this reporter at large, had vanished without trace. 'That sounds like one of his own articles! No, he is taking a well-earned sabbatical.' It was not true, then, that an informer had been brought in to trace the missing man? Not at all; the scribe had left for his annual holiday in the normal way. 'Plenty of people would like him to stop reporting, I admit!' Holconius joked in a relaxed manner. And, I suggested slyly, it was also good for circulation of the Daily Gazette? 'Our duty is to report the facts,' Holconius maintained. To demonstrate the point, he said that many people volunteered family information, inviting the editor to include news of good marriages, deceased relatives, or honours received. Was there an element of boasting? 'Well, occasionally, perhaps. I am sure there have been brides who hoped to receive more engagement presents if their fathers arranged betrothal notices. But really I see it as people recognising that this is the best and quickest way to pass on news to friends and family, who might otherwise miss out. And among the public there is a huge interest in the doings of the great.' We turned to his main interest, the political reportage. For some years he took notes of Senate edicts, and he still supervises the extracts from senatorial Acts. 'This is where the Gazette began; we have an honourable history back to Julius Caesar's day. Through us, events of note are written up in simple, concise language and exposed in the Forum where anyone can have access; the tablets are copied widely, then after a due period taken down and deposited in public libraries as a permanent record of all that is important to Rome.' It was clear he takes his responsibility seriously and is even in awe of Gazette traditions. 'Our role in Roman life cannot be underestimated. What appears in the Gazette will be the subject of conversation at the baths, in the theatres, in the provinces. Every Roman who plays his part in the Empire must keep up to date – and we give him what he needs. Only on very rare occasions does the Senate meet in closed session, with our scribes sent out of the Curia for some especially sensitive debate. Frankly, I regard it as a tragedy when that happens.' So he did not see the Gazette simply as a mouthpiece of the state?' Certainly not. We provide a true record of Senate decrees, and it is our duty to mention acclamations and honours awarded by the Senate to the Emperor. Within those parameters we have always been known for our honesty, complete neutrality, and fair-mindedness.' So was he able to comment on rumours that pirates, once cleared out by Pompey, may have become operational again? Holconius gave me that senior scribe's smile again. 'Rumour,' he assured me, 'plays absolutely no part in the work of the Daily Gazette.' |
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