40

RIGHTS AND BADGES OF FREEDMEN.

are said to have possessed, Athen. Deipnosoph. vi. 20. Hence Seneca speaks of vasta spatia terrarum per vinctos colenda; et familia bellicosis nationibus major, de Benef. viii. 10. and Pliny, of legions of slaves, so that the master needed a person to tell him their names (nomenclator), xxxiii. 1. s. 6. So Petronius Arbiter, 37. 117. Augustus ordained by a law, called Ælia Sentia, that no slave who had ever for the sake of a crime been bound, publicly whipt, tortured, or branded in the face, although freed by his master, should obtain the freedom of the city, but should always remain in the state of the Dedititii, who were indeed free, but could not aspire to the advantages of Roman citizens, Suet. Aug. 40. The reason of this law may be gathered from Dionys. iv. 24.

Afterwards by the law called Junia Norbana, because it was passed in the consulship of L. Junius Norbanus, A. U. 771. those freed per epistolam, inter amicos, or by the other less solemn methods, did not obtain the rights of Roman citizens, but of the Latins who were transplanted into colonies. Hence they were called LATINI JUNIANI, or simply LATINI, Plin. Ep. x. 105.*

Slaves when made free used to shave their heads in the temple of Feronia, and received a cap or hat, as a badge of liberty, Serv. ad Virg. Æn. viii. 564. Liv. xlv. 44. Hence, Ad pileum servum vocare, for ad libertatem, Liv. ibid. † They also were presented with a white robe and a ring by their master. They then assumed a prænomen, and prefixed the name of their patron to their own. Thus, Marcus Tullius Tiro, the freedman of Cicero. In allusion to which, Persius says, Verterit hunc Dominus; momento turbinis [i. e. vertiginis] exit MARCUS Dama, Sat. v. 77. Hence, Tanquam habeas tria nomina, for tanquam liber sis, Juvenal. v. 120. So foreigners, when admitted into the freedom of the city, assumed the name of that person by whose favour they obtained it, Cic. Fam. xiii. 35, 36. ‡

"Freedmen were long deemed ineligible to the consulship, and other high offices, even after they had been made open to plebeians. Nevertheless, they might be appointed judges in the age of Persius (Sat. v. 80.); and a person of this rank was prætor, under Trajan (Plin. iii. Ep. 14.). The valued privilege of wearing a gold ring was, by law or custom, denied to freedmen; but was often accorded by an act of imperial grace. Freedmen were not permitted to use a litter within the city, unless by special licence; and were not considered worthy to exhibit public shows, without authority, previously obtained for the purpose." Blair, p. 179. "The taint of servile blood was in part removed by one descent; but not for those marriages forbidden by law; and, perhaps, not for entrance into the senate; although some offices were certainly given to the sons of freedmen (Liv. ix. 46.). The haughty kept aloof from the company of those whose fathers had been slaves; but not so the majority of society; and the sons of freedmen, if meritorious in themselves, were not excluded from being the guests of the Emperor; and Horace, we know, was a favourite visiter of Augustus, as well as of Mecenas. By the older strict rule, three ingenuous descents were required to qualify for patrician rank." — Blair, p. 181.

+Saturninus, in his sedition, when he had possessed himself of the Capitol, exalted cap on the top of a spear, as a token of liberty to all the slaves who would join

Marius also adopted the same expedient against Sylla. Val. Max. viii. 6. The value of slaves depended upon their qualifications, for either ministering the luxury of their owner, or being a source of his emolument; and the great fusion of the Romans, during the most luxurious times, is conspicuous in the arge sums occasionally paid for slaves, who could not be profitable to their masters. The following are remarkable instances of this extravagance : — A morio, or fool

RIGHTS OF PATRONS OVER FREEDMEN.

41

Patrons retained various rights over their freedmen. If the patron was reduced to poverty, the freedman was bound, in the same manner as a son, to support him, according to his abilities. And if a patron failed to support his freedman when poor, he was deprived of the rights of patronage.

If a freedman died intestate, without heirs, the patron succeeded to his effects. *

Those freedmen who proved ungrateful to their patrons were condemned to the mines (ad lautumias); and the Emperor Claudius, by a law, reduced them to their former slavery (in servitutem revocavit), Suet. Claud. 25. Libertum, qui probatus fuerit patrono delatores summisisse, qui de statu ejus facerent ei quæstionem, servum patroni esse jussit. L. 5. Dig. de jure Patron. †

RIGHTS OF ROMAN CITIZENS,

AND OF THE DIFFERENT INHABITANTS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

WHILE Rome was but small and thinly inhabited, whoever fixed their abode in the city or Roman territory, obtained the rights of citizens, To increase the number of citizens, Romulus opened an asylum or sanctuary for fugitive slaves, insolvent debtors, and malefactors, whither great numbers flocked from the neighbouring states, Liv. i. 8. because no one could be taken from thence to punishment, Id. XXXV. 51. Tac. Ann. iii. 60. Even vanquished enemies were transplanted to Rome, and became citizens. In this manner the freedom

(Mart. viii. 13.), was sometimes sold for 20,000 nummi, or 1617. 9s. 2d.; 100,000 nummi, or 8071. 5s. 10d., were given, by Calvisius Sabinus (Sen. Ep. 4.), for each of a set of learned slaves, who could repeat the whole of celebrated works. Marc Antony (Plin. vii. 12.) paid for a pair of beautiful youths, who resembled each other so strongly, that they were passed off as twins, 200 sestertia, or 1614l. 11s. 8d. At a later period, single handsome boys fetched vast prices; 100,000 nummi, or 8071. 5s. 10d., and even twice that sum. Eunuchs were always very dear; but the amount paid for one who belonged to Sejanus, if not erroneously stated by Pliny (vii. 39.; viz. 3500 sestertia, or 28,255l. 4s. 2d.), is to be regarded as a mere fancy price. Slaves, possessing qualifications which might be turned to profit, were sometimes sold for very large sums. A good cook was valued at 4 talents, or 7721. A vine-dresser was worth 8000 sestertii, or 641. 11s. 8d. An esteemed medical man must have borne a high value, as the annual emoluments of one sometimes amounted to nearly 5000l. (Plin. xxix. 1.) A slave well fitted for the stage was very valuable; as we learn from the lawsuit between Roscius the actor and Fannius, respecting a slave player, in which Cicero was counsel for the former; where it appears, that 16147. 11s. 8d. (200 sestertia) was under the full value of a good performer. Roscius made about 30l. a day, and either 4000l. or 5000l. a year. Dionysia, an actress, who was upon the stage at the same time as Roscius, received that sum as her annual salary (Cic. pro Q. Rosc. 8.). When Horace wrote (Sat. ii. 7. 43.), 500 drachmæ, 16l. 2s. 11d., seems to have been a fair price for a good slave of ordinary qualifications.”— Blair, c. vii.

"By a law passed in the year of Rome 761, if a freedman died worth 100,000 sesterces, or about 8007. sterling, leaving only one child, his former master became entitled to one half; if he left two, to one third; but if more, he was excluded. This, however, was altered by Justinian; and when freedom was conferred by a testamentary act of the master, the slave was exonerated from all compulsory obligation to his heirs."— Sketches of the Institutions, &c. of the Romans, p. 15. ↑ The murder of a patron by his freedman was accounted parricide.

of the city was granted by Romulus to the Caninenses, Camerini, Antemnates, Crustumini, and at last also to the Sabines. This example was imitated by his successors, who transplanted the Albans and other vanquished tribes to Rome, Liv. i. 29. 33. Likewise after the expulsion of the kings, the freedom of the city was given to a great many, especially after the taking and burning of the city by the Gauls; at which time, that it might be rebuilt with more splendour, new citizens were assumed from the Veientes, Capenates, and Falisci,

Liv. vi. 4.

Besides those who had settled in the Roman territory, and who were divided into city and country tribes, the freedom of the city was granted to several foreign towns, which were called MUNICIPIA, and the inhabitants MUNICIPES, because they might enjoy offices at Rome (munia v. munera capere poterant). When any of these fixed their abode at Rome, they became CIVES INGENUI, Cic. Brut. 75. de Legg. ii. 2. Hence it happened that the same person might enjoy the highest honours both at Rome and in his own free town. Milo, while he stood candidate for the Consulship at Rome, was Dictator in his own native city Lanuvium, Cic. pro. Mil. 37. The free town in which one was born was called patria GERMANA, naturæ vel loci. Rome, (qua exceptus est,) patria COMMUNIS, civitatis vel juris. Cic. de Legg. ii. 2. *

Thus

But when the Roman empire was more widely extended, and the dignity of a Roman citizen of course began to be more valued, the freedom of the city (jus civitatis) was more sparingly conferred, and in different degrees, according to the different merits of the allies towards the republic. To some the right of voting (jus suffragii) was given, and to others not. The people of Care were the first who obtained the freedom of the city without the right of voting, for having received the sacred things of the Roman people, the Vestal Virgins and priests, when they fled from the Gauls, A. Gell. xvi. 13.† The freedom of the city was soon after given in this manner to the people of Capua, Fundi, Formiæ, Cuma, and Sinuessa, Liv. viii. 14. to the inhabitants of Acerra, ibid. 17. and of Anagnia, &c.

The inhabitants of Lanuvium, Aricia, Nomentum, Pedum, re

According to the Roman law, no person could be invested with the Jus civitatis, without relinquishing the right of citizenship in any other state or country: "duarum civitatum civis esse nostro jure civili nemo potest (Cic. pro Balbo, xi.). The custom in the Greek states was different (pro Archiâ, v.). The most numerous honours of this kind were obtained by grammarians, sophists, rhetoricians, physicians, &c., who, from their migratory species of life, were called πepiodevral, i. e. circulatores. Thus we meet with an Athleta amongst the Inscr. Athlet. p. 60., who is entitled, "Sorilianus, Alexandrinus, Antinoensis, Atheniensis, Ephesius, Smyrnæus, Pergamenus, Nicomediensis, Milesius, Lacedæmonius."

There appears to have been some difference, in after-times, betwixt the condition of the novi and the veteres cives. Under the emperors, the novi cives were excluded from the inheritances of their parents and agnati (if they did not obtain this benefit by a special rescript and favour of the emperor), unless they paid a tax amounting to a twentieth part (vicesima hæreditatum), from which the veteres cives were exempt, who enjoyed the jura cognationum in their integrity: "Hæc mansuetude legis, says Pliny, veteribus civibus servabatur." Panegy. c. 36.

+ Hence the Censor's tables, where they entered the names of such persons who had forfeited, by some misdemeanour, the ius suffragii, were termed Cæritum Tabule A. Gell. xvi. 13.

ceived the freedom of the city with the right of voting, Liv. viii. 14. and Privernum (Privernates), c. 21. But several cities of the Hernici preferred their own laws, Liv. ix. 43. In process of time, this right was granted to all the allies of the Latin name; and after the Social or Italian war, it was communicated to all the Italians south of the river Rubicon on the upper sea, and of the city Luca on the lower sea.* Afterwards the same right was granted to Cisalpine Gaul, which hence began to be called Gallia Togata. Augustus was very sparing in conferring the freedom of the city; but the succeeding emperors were more liberal, and at different times granted it to different cities and nations. At last Caracalla granted the freedom of Roman citizens to all the inhabitants of the Roman world.

Those who did not enjoy the right of citizens were anciently called HOSTES, and afterwards PEREGRINI, Cic. Off. i. 12. After Rome had extended her empire, first over Latium, then over Italy, and lastly over great part of the world, the rights which the subjects of that empire enjoyed came to be divided into four kinds; which may be called Jus Quiritium, Jus Latii, Jus Italicum, Jus Provinciarum vel Provinciale.

JUS QUIRITIUM comprehended all the rights of Roman citizens, which were different at different times. The rights of Roman citizens were either private or public: the former were properly called Jus Quiritium, and the latter Jus Civitatis, Plin. Ep. x. 4. 6. 22. Cic. in Rull. ii. 19. as with us there is a distinction between denisation and naturalisation. +

1. PRIVATE RIGHTS OF ROMAN CITIZENS.

THE private rights of Roman citizens were, 1. Jus Libertatis, the right of liberty; 2. Jus Gentilitatis et Familiæ, the right of family; 3. Jus Connubii, the right of marriage; 4. Jus Patrium, the right of a father; 5. Jus Dominii Legitimi, the right of legal property; 6. Jus Testamenti et Hæreditatis, the right of making a will, and of succeeding to an inheritance; 7. Jus Tutela, the right of tutelage or wardship.

The Romans first gave the freedom of the city to those towns which continued firm in their allegiance; and, afterwards, for the sake of quiet, to all the rest. "From this time," says Middleton, quoting from Montesquieu, "all affairs were decided by faction and violence, and the influence of the great, who could bring whole towns into the forum from the remote parts of Italy, so that it was scarcely possible to know whether any act had passed regularly, by the genuine suffrage of the people."

It ought to be observed, that the jus civitatis was little more than an honorary title, except to those who removed to Rome, settled there, and conformed to the laws and religion of the Romans. Such only had the right of suffrage, and the other substantial privileges of the proper citizens. But the liberal manner in which the Romans communicated the right of citizenship, was very advantageous to the growth of the republic. The single battle of Chæronea, as Dionysius observes (Antiq. iii.) ruined the Athenians and Thebans; but the Romans, in the second Punic war, survived the most disastrous defeats, as they were enabled to draw upon the citizens, from their number, to an almost unlimited extent,

THIS comprehended LIBERTY, not only from the power of masters (dominorum), but also from the dominion of tyrants, the severity of magistrates, the cruelty of creditors, and the insolence of more powerful citizens.

After the expulsion of Tarquin, a law was made by Brutus, that no one should be king at Rome, and that whoever should form a design of making himself king, might be slain with impunity. At the same time the people were bound by an oath, that they would never suffer a king to be created.

Roman citizens were secured against the tyrannical treatment of magistrates, first, by the right of appealing from them to the people, [provocatio] and that the person who appealed should in no manner be punished, till the people determined the matter; but chiefly, by the assistance of their Tribunes.*

None but the whole Roman people in the Comitia Centuriata, could pass sentence on the life of a Roman Citizen. No magistrate was allowed to punish him by stripes or capitally. The single expression, "I AM A ROMAN CITIZEN," checked their severest decrees, Cic. in Verr. v. 54. 57. &c. Hence, QUIRITARE dicitur, qui Quiritium fidem clamans implorat. Varro de Lat. Ling. v. 7. Cic. ad Fam. x. 32. Liv. xxix. 8. Acts xxii. 25.

By the laws of the twelve tables it was ordained, that insolvent debtors should be given up (addicerentur) to their creditors to be bound in fetters and cords (compedibus et nervis), whence they were called NEXI, OBERATI, et ADDICTI. And although they did

Some have denied this right of appeal to the people; but Cicero expressly mentions, among the regal institutions "provocationes," (along with Cæremonia, Comitia), as being coeval with the foundation of the city, Tusc. Quæst. 4. 1. ; to which purpose, Seneca has quoted a passage from his treatise de Republica; and intimates that the same right was likewise declared in the Pontifical Books, Ep. 108. An instance is given in Valerius Maximus, i. 8. 1. vid. Liv. i. 26. This fundamental right of appeal to the people, in all cases, was confirmed, by a new law, brought forward, A. U. 244, by P. Valerius Poplicola, one of their first consuls, who also made it capital to exercise any magistracy at Rome without their special appointment. It was renewed by individuals of the same family, A. U. 304 and 453.

An exception, however, to these general observations must be made in those critical conjunctures, when the senate required the consuls to take care that the state should not receive any detriment; and then the formalities of trial, with respect to traitorous individuals, were frequently dispensed with. This, however, was always considered a stretch of arbitrary power, and could only be justified in the greatest emergency. Thus, Cicero was banished, through the tribune Clodius, principally on the charge of having put to death, in an illegal manner, the accomplices of Catiline, though this had been done, not by him individually, but in consequence of a general vote of the senate.

ti. e. Plebeians only. See Nieb. i. p. 505. were equally liable.

Their children and grandchildren

$ "Whoever, after the prætor's sentence (in a question of debt), failed to discharge it within the limited term, was consigned, by the law, to the creditor as his bondman: but he was addictus, and not nexus. A person was nexus, when, by a regular quiritary bargain, in the presence of witnesses, for money weighed out to him, he had disposed of himself, and consequently of all that belonged to him,