Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 73-74. (Budapest, 1975)
ELŐADÁSOK — KISEBB KÖZLEMÉNYEK - Davies, R. W.: Medicus Duplicarius (angol és magyar nyelven)
drawing on the military writers of the Principate, notes in his 'Epitome of Military Matters' (II 7) : duplares, sesquiplares : duplares duas, sesquiplares unam semis consequebantur ; "duplares, sesquiplares —duplares received double rations, sesquiplares one-and-a-half rations." In the armed forces of the principate a duplicarius was a specialist (principalis ), who, because of his training and expertise, was given twice the basic rate of pay; a less important man received oneand-a-half times the basic rate; other men with useful skills were classed as immunes, and although they received no extra pay, were instead exempted from fatigues. There are abundant examples in inscriptions 16 and papyri 17 of the use of the term duplicarius as a pay grade. There is no evidence to support the idea that the term duplicarius means that the medicus was equally a harbourand fleetdoctor; as the term is also used for the specialist personnel of the infantry and cavalry forces 18 Dr. Watermann's interpretation is impossible. In the fleets other specialists who received double pay, included the carpenters (fabri) and the men who attended to the sails (velarii) w . The military medical personnel all possessed training, and so were put in these special categories. The Roman legal writers quote 'The First Book on Military Matters' of Tarruntenus Paternus, the former commander of the Imperial Guard (Digesta L 6, 7); he includes among the immunes the ranks optio valetudinarii (sergeant in charge of the hospital), medici (medical technicians), capsarii (dressers), qui aegris praesto sunt (medical assistants), veterinarii (veterinary assistants). 20 The medici of the Ravenna and Misenum Fleets, with one exception, are always described as duplicarii. This rank is not attested for any medicus of the land forces; over 70 examples are attested for the Italian and provincial infantry and cavalry units 21 . It is possible that special arrangements were made to upgrade temporarily the status of a medicus, if he were assigned to a special detachment or expedition 22 . The medical personnel were, according to Roman military law, classed as immunes, though it is possible that the optio valetudinarii, who supervised the hospital and the staff, was a principalis. 23 The reason why the fleet medici alone receive twice the basic rate of pay, unlike their colleagues on land, is probably because there was only one medicus to each vessel. In each legionary fortress there was a large number of medical personnel to assist the medical officer; a fragmentary inscription from Lambaesis, the base of legio III Augusta, mentions two optiones valetudinarii, pequari (cattle attendants), a librarius (clerk), and discentes capsariorum (trainee dressers) 21 . lfi Domaszewski, A. von: Die Rangordnung des römischen Heeres, second edition revised by B. Dobson, Cologne 19(57, 315. 17 Fink, R. O. : Roman Military Records on Papyrus, Cleveland 1971, 512, 540. 18 Breeze, D. J. : 'Pay Grades and Ranks below the Centurionate', Journal of Roman Studies 1971, 61, 130—135. Domaszewski, op. cit. Fink, op. cit. 19 De Ruggiero, op. cit. Thesaurus Linguae Latinae, sv duplicarius. 2U Davies (1970), op. cit., 86. 21 Davies (1969), op. cit., 95—99. Davies (1972), op. cit., 11. 22 Davies (1972), op. cit., 9—10. 23 Breeze, op. cit., 134. Davies (1972), op. cit., 9—10. 21 Dessau, H.: Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, Berlin 1892—1916, number 2348 and addenda.
