ABSTRACT
The occasion of a severe drought and consequent famine in Egypt, c. 99, gave Trajan an early chance to demonstrate his concern for provincial matters, which he did by dispensing a beneficium in the form of a grain subsidy to those affected. Pliny applauded the act. To him it proved that the provinces had not become the indispensable servants of Rome; rather, Rome had become indispensable to the provinces, thanks to the existence of a well-managed polity whose chief executive, the princeps, was able to divert supplies from one place to another as occasion and necessity demanded.2 If the truth be known, the converse was probably correct. Aside from the matter of external security, the generally accepted motive for conquering new territories was economic, to provide for the demands of Rome, although personal prestige did play its own part on occasion.3
