In 384 AD Symmachus wrote:

1. Urbium populorumque luctamina, quoniam sunt maiora privatis, iudicio augustiori cedenda sunt, ddd. imppp. merito Puteolanorum ac Tarracinensium causam, quae post Campani moderatoris examen ad sacrum auditorium ex provocatione migravit, cum perspicerem pari lance libratam, maiestatis vestrae arbitrio reservavi. 2. Est autem, de quo agitur, eiusmodi: Puteolanis municipibus divus Constantinus centum quinquaginta milia modiorum in alimoniam civitatis indulsit, quae summa a divo Constante regente rem publicam media parte mutilata est. Post Constantius aeque relatus in caelum supplicatione deposita annonam Puteolani populi viginti et quinque milium adiectione cumulavit, atque ita factum est, ut centum milia eiusdem populi victus acciperet. 3. Sed divo Iuliano moderante rem publicam, cum Lupus consulari iure Campaniae praesideret et Tarracinensium contemplaretur angustias, quod nihil subsidii decreta dudum oppida conferebant, ne commoda populo Romano civitas, quae lavacris publicis ligna et calcem reparandis moenibus subministrat, defectu subito exhausta succumberet, quinque milia et septingentos modios Puteolanis municipibus derogatos Tarracinensium usui deputavit et amplissimae praetorianae sedi statuta et definita suggessit. Mamertinus id temporis praefecturae honore pollebat. Is cum disposita roborasset, nihilominus arbitrium imperiale consuluit neque ullum responsum, quod eo tempore bello Persico rector imperii tenebatur, accepit. 4. Exhinc per aliquot annos cucurrit ista praebitio, donec Capuana legatio apud divum atque inclytum Gratianum germanum numinis vestri sua tantum damna deplorans eum frumenti numerum, quem Cerealis ex multis urbibus Romano populo vindicarat, restitui omnibus impetraret. Sed occasione rescripti cum sola triginta et octo milia modium, quae horreis aeternae urbis accesserant, provincialium recuperasset alimoniae, etiam quinque milia et septingentos modios Puteolani municipes Tarracinensibus abnuerunt. 5. Cum igitur haec causa in iudicium provinciale venisset, v.c. consularis non considerata summa, quae rescripto divi principis tenebatur, iudicatione generali omnia Puteolanis reddenda decrevit. Verum post appellationem cognitio auditorii sacri, cum illum frumenti modum, qui Campanis fuerat restitutus a quinque milibus et septingentis modiis, quos ob necessitates urbis aeternae civitas Tarracinensis accepit, secretum esse perspiceret, manente decreto divalis oraculi ea subsidia, quae Tarracinenses iudicio Lupi et Mamertini praefecti confirmatione capiebant, nec roborare potuit, cum responsi sacri nulla extaret auctoritas, nec demere civitati, ne populus utilitatibus aeternae urbis obnoxius iustis commodis indigeret. 6. Ergo ut in rebus dubiis fieri amat, ad clementiae vestrae salubre iudicium convolamus, licet defensio Puteolana post promissam relationem in cassum crediderit provocandum. Praesto est gestorum fides, quae perennitatem vestram possit instruere. Quaeso atque obsecro, ut negotio multa aetate nutanti tandem stabile remedium deferatur.

1. The warngles of cities and peoples are more important than those of individuals and therefore must be referred to a judgement more august than mine, my Lords Emperors. With good reason therefore I have reserved for your Majesties' decision the case of the peoples of Puteoli and Tarracina which, after being tried by the governor of Campania, was transferred on appeal to the sacred tribunal; for I saw that the issues were very evenly balanced. 2. The dispute is as follows. The late Emperor Constantine made a grant of 150,000 modii of corn to the people of Puteoli for the maintenance of the city; this figure was cut down to a half by the late Constans when he ruled the state. After that, Constantius, now too transported to his place in heaven, in response to an appeal lodged with him raised the supply of corn to the people of Puteoli by 25,000 modii, with the result that this people now received 100,000 modii for maintenance. 3. But, while the late Emperor Julian ruled the state, Lupus, with consular power, was in charge of Campania, and he watched the plight the people of Tarracina were in because the designated towns for a long time had contributed nothing by way of subvention. He was afraid that a city of such service to the Roman people - it provided wood for [the furnaces of] the wash-places and lime for repairing the city walls - would be exhausted by any sudden scarcity and would collapse. And so he assigned for the use of the people of Tarracina 5,700 modii which had been earmarked for the townsmen of Puteoli, and he proposed to the most noble praetorian department regulations and specifications. At that time Mamertinus held sway as praetorian prefect; he confirmed the arrangements made, but all the same he consulted the judgement of the Emperor. He received no reply because the ruler of the Empire was at the moment detained by the war with Persia. 4. For some years the payment ran on until a deputation from Capua, obtaining audience with the late Emperor, your Divinities' distinguished brother Gratian, bewailed its own losses (but only its own) and obtained the answer that the amount of corn which Cerealis had appropriated from any cities for the use of the people of Rome should be restored to all the cities. However, since as a result of the rescript he recovered only 38,000 modii - which had [in the interval] accrued to the granaries of the Eternal City - for the support of the provincial cities, the townsmen of Puteoli refused to give even 5,700 modii to the people of Tarracina. 5. The case went to the provincial court; there the consular, of the distinguished order of senators, disregarding the amount covered by the rescript of the late Emperor, in a general judgement decreed that everything should be paid to the people of Puteoli. But appeal was made and the judge of the sacred tribunal realized that the amount of corn restored to the Campanians was distinct from the 5,700 modii which the city of Tarracina received to meet the needs of the Eternal City; the decree, enshrined in a divine pronouncement, still stood, but he was unable to confirm the subvention which the citizens of Tarracina received by the judgement of Lupus endorsed by Mamertinus the prefect, since the authority of a divine reply was not in existence; nor on the other could he withhold the sum from the city [Tarracina] for fear that its people, which was responsible for supplying the amenities of the Eternal City, should find itself short of the bare necessities of life. 6. And so, as is our habit in these contradictory cases, we fly to your Clemencies' judgement which will put things right, though after we had promised reference to you, defence for the city of Puteoli believed that appeal would be in vain. A faithful account of the proceedings is submitted to you and it will instruct your Majesties. I beg and beseech you that at long last a firm remedy may be applied to a business which over a long period has been in a shaky condition.

Symmachus, Relatio 40 (384 AD). Translation R.H. Barrow.

Reginald Barrow explains: "This dispatch reveals the complicated system of payments and subventions in kind which had grown up among the cities surrounding Rome. They were compelled to supply goods and produce to the capital city and received compensation in various ways; when the balance was upset discontent followed. Tarracina had to provide wood for the thermae at Rome and lime for making mortar to repair walls. For this service she received subventions of corn from other cities. Puteoli was given an annual allowance of 150,000 modii of corn from the quantity allocated to Rome. This arrangement held good under Constantine, but Constans halved the allowance. Constantius brought it up to 100,000 modii. Capua and other cities also received some of Rome's corn. In Julian's reign Tarracina complained that it did not get its subvention and therefore could not supply the goods to Rome. The praetorian prefect ordered Puteoli to give Tarracina 5,700 modii. Julian was in the East, and so this order never received imperial ratification. Capua complained that the city prefect Cerealis had cut the grant of corn to herself and other Campanian cities by 38,000 modii. Gratian then restored the grant to its old figure. Puteoli then refused to pay 5,700 modii to Tarracina."

A procurator portus Puteolanorum is documented around 300 AD. The glass flasks are proof that in this period the city was quite alive. On the other hand, an inscription from 324 AD documents the restoration of the aqueduct (the Aqua Augusta, serving many cities) that had not emerged well from the crisis of the 3rd century: aquaeductum longa incuria et vetustate conruptum (EDR073395).

Remains of the aqueduct. Photo: Wikimedia.

Between 325 and 330 AD Naples and Puteoli sent columns to Constantinople to be used in colonnades. These must have been taken from existing buildings.

It is said that Campanians constructed them [the colonnades] in gratitude to Constantinus after their advent to Byzantium from Parthenope, the Neapolis of our day, and from the city formerly called Dicaearchia but now Puteoli, as gratitude to the emperor, as I have said.

John the Lydian, The Magistracies of the Roman State III,70. Translation A.C. Bandy.

A group of inscriptions from the fourth century that stands out is formed by dedications of statues of Quintus Flavius Maesius Egnatius Lollianus Mavortius and his son. These men have the typical long names of late antiquity, and in their names use the archaic form of Mars, Mavors. The dedications are dated to around 340 AD and were the work of regions, and of the enigmatic Decatrenses and collegium Decatressium.

Two inscriptions document repairs of a basilica that was apparently called Alexandriana in the years 393-395 AD (EDR126598 and EDR127300). Three inscriptions document work on the shore near the macellum in 394 AD: the ripa to the left and right of the building was repaired and protected against storms through dikes.

	PRO BEATITVDINE TEMPORVM FELICITATEMQUE PVBLICI STATVS IMP(eratorum) DDD NNN THEODOSI ARCADI ET HONORI PERENNIVM AVGVSTORVM RIPAM MACELLI DEXTRA LEBAQVE AD GRATIAM SPLENDOREMQVE CIVITATIS PVTEOLANAE INSTRVCTVM DEDICAVIT FABIVS PASIPHILVS V(ir) C(larissimus) AGIS VICEM PRAEFECTORVM PRAETORIO ET VRBI
	PRO FELICITATE DOMINORVM AVGVSTORVMQVE NOSTRORVM RIPAM A PARTE SINISTRA MACELLI IACTIS MOLIBVS PROPTER INCVRSIONE INGRVENTIVM PROCELLARVM VALERIVS HERMONIVS MAXIMVS V(ir) C(larissimus) CONS(ularis) CAMP(aniae) INCOAVIT ADQVE PERFECIT
Two of the inscriptions about the repairs and protection of the ripa. Museo Archeologico dei Campi Flegrei. EDR112143 and EDR112150. Photos: Zevi et al. 2008, p. 159.

The aqueduct is again referred to in a law from 399 AD.

Ex forma, cui nomen Augusta est, quae in Campania sumptu publico reparata est, nihil privatim singulorum usurpatio praesumat neque cuiquam posthac derivandae aquae copia tribuatur. Si quis autem meatum aquae ausus fuerit avertere, quinque libras auri aerario nostro inferre cogatur. Quidquid etiam ob eam fraudem ex rescripto fuerit elicitum vel qualibet arte temptatum, irritum habeatur.

No person shall presume to appropriate for private use any water out of the aqueduct named Augusta, which has been repaired at public expense in Campania, and to no person hereafter shall the right be granted to divert water therefrom. If, moreoever, any person should dare to divert the channel of water, he shall be compelled to pay five pounds of gold to Our treasury. Also if anything for the sake of such a fraud should be elicited by rescript or attempted by any trickery, it shall be held void.

Codex Theodosianus XV.2.8. Given at Milan, December 28, 399 AD. Translation C. Pharr.

After this there is only silence. Puteoli does not feature in the accounts of the wars that brought down Rome, and the city was not fortified.