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NAMES OF SLAVES

MODES OF FREEING THEM.

Slaves anciently bore the prænomen of their master; thus, Marcipores, Lucipores, Publipõres (quasi Marci, Lucii, Publii pueri, &c.), Quinctilian. i. 4. 26. Afterwards they got various names, either from their country, or from other circumstances; as, Syrus, Davus, Geta, Parmeno, &c. in comic writers; Tiro, Laurea, Dionysius, &c. in Cicero. But slaves are usually distinguished in the classics by their different employments; as Medici, Chirurgi, Pædagogi, Grammatici, Scribæ, Fabri, Coqui, &c.*

Slaves were anciently freed+ by three ways, Censu, Vindicta, et Testamento, Cic. Topic. 2. seu 10.

1. Per CENSUM, when a slave with his master's knowledge, or by his order, got his name inserted in the Censor's roll, Cic. Cacin. 34. s. 99.

2. Per VINDICTAM, when a master going with his slave in his hand to the Prætor or Consul, and in the provinces, to the Proconsul or Proprætor, said, "I desire that this man be free according to the custom of the Romans." HUNC HOMINEM liberum esse volo More vel JURE QUIRITIUM; and the Prætor, if he approved, putting a rod on the head of the slave, Horat. Sat. ii. 7. 76. pronounced, "I say that this man is free after the manner of the Romans." Whereupon the lictor or the master turning him round in a circle, (which was called VERTĪGO, Pers. Sat. v. 75.) and giving him a blow on the cheek, (alapa, Isidor. ix. 4. whence, multo majoris alăpæ mecum veneunt, Liberty is sold, &c. Phædr. ii. 5. 22.) let him go (e manu emittebat), signifying that leave was granted him to go where he pleased. The rod with which the slave was struck, was called VINDICTA, as some think, from Vindicius or Vindex, a slave of the Vitellii, who informed the senate concerning the conspiracy of the sons of Brutus and others, to restore the Tarquins, and who is said to have been first freed in this manner, Liv. ii. 5. whence also, perhaps, Vindicare in libertatem, to free. MULIER, modò quam vindicta redemit, a woman lately freed, Ovid. Art. Am. iii. 615.

3. Per TESTAMENTUM, when a master gives his slaves their liberty by his will. If this was done in express words (verbis directis), as, for example, DAVUS SERVUS MEUS LIBER ESTO, such freed men were called ORCINI or Charonita, because they had no patron but in the infernal regions. In allusion to which, those unworthy persons who got admission into the senate after the death of the extent of moderate castigation. But the coloni appear to have had the full right of regular marriage, independently of his control; and their unions obtained the legal name of matrimony (nuptiæ). Blair, p. 73.

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"Of the Servi there were several denominations: as, Usuarii, Fructuarii, Vicarii, Vicariorum Vicarii, Peculiares, Communes, Dotales, Receptitü, Hæreditarü, Castrenses, Ordinarii, Peculiati, Vulgares, and Publici. These are the denominations mentioned

by Pignorius (de Serv. p. 60.). For a full explanation of these terms, I must refer the reader to Pitisc. Lex. Ant. Rom., or to the author now quoted. I shall only observe, that the Fructuarii were those, in whom the possessor had only a temporary interest, not being the owner of them; that the Dotales were those given to the husband, as the dower of his wife; Receptitii, those whom she retained as her own property; the Ordinarii were the chief servants of the family; the Vicarii, their assistants, or under-servants; the Peculiares, those servants who were charged with the care of the young sons or daughters of the family, and were peculiarly assigned to them for that purpose.". Crombie's G. ii. 200.

+ Manumissio was the only word applied, by the Romans, to the enfranchisement of slaves; emancipatio related solely to the dissolution of the patria potestas.

CONDITION OF THE FREED SLAVES.

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Cæsar, were by the vulgar called SENATORES ORCINI, Suet. Aug. 35. But if the Testator signified his desire by way of request (verbis precativis), thus ROGO HÆREDEM MEUM, UT DAVUM MANUMITTAT, the heir (hæres fiduciarius) retained the rights of patronage.* Liberty procured in any of these methods was called JUSTA LIBERTAS.

In latter times slaves used to be freed by various other methods: by letter (per epistolam); among friends (inter amicos), if before five witnesses a master ordered his slave to be free; or by table (per mensam), if a master bid a slave eat at his table, Plin. Epist. vii. 16.; for it was thought disgraceful to eat with slaves or mean persons, and benches (subsellia) were assigned them, not couches. Hence imi subsellii vir, a person of the lowest rank, Plaut. Stich. iii. 4. 32. [The master designedly calling the slave his son, gave him his freedom. See Blair, p. 166.] There were many other methods of freeing slaves, but these did not confer complete freedom. They only discharged them from servitude, but did not entitle them to the privileges of citizens: unless afterwards the vindicta was superadded, in presence of a magistrate, Plin. Ep. vii. 16. 32. †

Anciently the condition of all freed slaves was the same: they obtained the freedom of the city with their liberty, Cic. pro Balbo, 9. according to the institution of Servius Tullius, Dionys. iv. 22, 23. They were, however, distributed among the four city tribes as being more ignoble, Liv. Epit. xx.‡ But, afterwards, when many worthless and profligate persons, being freed by their masters, thus invaded the rights of citizens, various laws were made to check the licence of manumitting slaves. No master was allowed to free, by his will, above a certain number, in proportion to the number he had; but not above 100 §, if he had even 20,000, which number some individuals

*"If named heir, a slave took up the inheritance, and had liberty by implica tion, if it had not been specially left to him."— Blair, p. 78. "A slave, without being made free in express terms, got liberty and citizenship, if he, by order of either the testator or the heir, attended his master's funeral, wearing the pileus, or fanned his corpse on the bier."— P. 165.

"If slaves rendered any signal service to the state, liberty formed part of the recompence by which the national gratitude was testified. Vindicius (Livy, ii, 5.), the slave who discovered the plot of the sons of Brutus, in favour of Tarquin, was rewarded with liberty; and two slaves (iv. 35.), who divulged a dangerous servile conspiracy, in the 4th century of Rome (A. U. C. 335), received manumission, and a large sum of money (H. S. 100, or 8007.): and the like was offered to any slave who should give information at the time of Catiline's plot.' — Blair, p. 65. 232 "The slave who discovered the murderer of his master was declared free by the prætor, and was subject to no patron." - P. 167.

A. U. 484. A difference happened between the Censors, T. Sempronius Gracchus and C. Claudius Pulcher, with respect to the freedmen. Hitherto they had been confined to the four city tribes, in order that they might have less sway in the elections; but Gracchus proposed to deprive the greatest part of them of their suffrage. But Claudius insisted that this was illegal; and that, though a Censor might remove a man from one tribe to another (which was the full meaning of tribu movere), yet he could remove no man, much less a whole order of men, from all the five and thirty tribes. It was at length agreed that all the freedmen should be incorporated in one of the city tribes; and it fell by lot to the Esquiline tribe to receive them. Liv. xlv. 15. Carbo, during his consulship, A. U. 669, got a law passed to distribute them amongst all the five and thirty tribes.

§ See the Lex Fusia Caninia.

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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 Elia 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 Mecanas. 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 a cap on the top of a spear, as a token of liberty to all the slaves who would join him. Marius also adopted the same expedient against Sylla. - Val. Max. viii. 6.

The value of slaves depended upon their qualifications, for either ministering to the luxury of their owner, or being a source of his emolument; and the great profusion of the Romans, during the most luxurious times, is conspicuous in the large 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.

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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 lautumius); 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 1611. 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 64l. 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 1614l. 11s. 8d. (200 sestertia) was under the full value of a good performer. Roscius made about 301. 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, 161. 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.

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FREEDOM OF THE CITY TO WHOM GRANTED.

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. Thus 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. *

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, Cumæ, 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 tepiodevtal, 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 mansuetudo 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 TabulR A. Gell. xvi. 13.