🔘 WHY DO THE AMBASSADORS TO ROME, FROM WHATEVER COUNTRY THEY COME, PROCEED TO THE TEMPLE OF SATURN, AND REGISTER WITH THE PREFECTS OF THE TREASURY?
“Is it because Saturn was a foreigner, and consequently takes pleasure in foreigners, or is the solution of this question also to be found in history? For it seems that in early days the treasurers used to send gifts to the ambassadors, which were called lautia, and they cared for the ambassadors when they were sick, and buried them at public expense if they died; but now, owing to the great number of embassies that come, this expensive practice has been discontinued; yet there still remains the preliminary meeting with the prefects of the treasury in the guise of registration.”
Plutarch, Roman Questions
