11:00 am – 1:00 pm
The Italian Academy, 5th floor seminar room
Jinyu Liu
Emory University and IAS, Princeton
Imperial Correspondence as a Site of the Principal-Agent Problem: Rethinking the Epistolary Exchanges between Pliny the Younger and the Emperor Trajan from a Comparative Perspective
Abstract
This talk presents a comparative analysis of direct correspondence between rulers and provincial officials in the early Roman Empire and High Qing China, focusing on the letters of Pliny the Younger to Emperor Trajan and the Qing zouzhe (secret palace memorials). Moving beyond scholarly debates that often discount Pliny’s letters as mere literary self-representation, this study demonstrates how a comparison with the Qing system yields fresh interpretations. It reveals that certain aspects of Pliny’s correspondence with Trajan that Roman historians have deemed surprising, leading them to propose ingenious explanations, may, in fact, not be surprising at all. For example, the thematic diversity (varietas) in both empires—encompassing administrative reports, expressions of gratitude, and ceremonial greetings—may not need to be interpreted as an editorial choice but a natural reflection of their patrimonial political structures, where the blurring of public and private domains made such communication essential for maintaining political and social bonds. More importantly, the direct correspondence in both empires can be approached as a site of principal-agent problem. The interests and priorities of the agents, such as provincial governors, did not always align with those of the emperor. This often led to different kinds of information manipulation in their correspondence. Comparing such manipulation across both empires and analyzing the rulers’ methods of monitoring or controlling their agents opens new ways to interpret Pliny the Younger’s letters to Emperor Trajan.
