Ab epistulis was the chancellor's office in the Roman Empire with responsibility for the emperor's correspondence. [1] The office sent mandata (instructions) to provincial governors and other officials. [2] [3]
Ab epistulis wrote in Latin (ab epistulis latinis) and in Greek (ab epistulis graecis), and composed the short responses to petitions on behalf of the emperor. [4] Holders of the position usually had a particular vocation for literary matters. [5] [4]
Augustus punished his secretary Thallus "for divulging the contents of a letter". [6] Caligula dictated a letter to an ab epistulis. [7] Narcissus apparently worked as ab epistulis, because he was in charge of the grammata of Claudius against Agrippina. [7] Beryllus was the ab epistulis graecis of Nero. [7] The famous biographer Suetonius Tranquillus was ab epistulis to Hadrian, [8] according to the Historia Augusta until he was replaced for too-close relations with Empress Sabina. [9]
One of the leading rhetoricians of this time, Alexander Peloplaton, was Marcus Aurelius's ab epistulis in the 170s. [4] Marcus was impressed by the orator Hadrian of Tyre, so he offered him the job ab epistulis to recognise his excellence. [4] Aspasius of Ravenna was a Greek orator, who between AD 211 and 216 served as ab epistulis. [4] Aelius Antipater was the ab epistulis of the emperor Caracalla, who defined him "my friend and teacher, entrusted with the composition of Greek letters". [4] Marcius Agrippa was a cognitionibus and ab epistulis of Caracalla. [10]