MAYNOOTH UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF ANCIENT CLASSICS

GREEK AND ROMAN CIVILIZATION
GC319 ROMAN LAW AND SOCIETY
Dr Cosetta Cadau
Lecture 7
Rich and poor in Roman society
 Roman aristocracy
What situation can be more splendid than the government of the state by excellence and virtue? When the man who rules
others is not himself a slave to any base emotions, when he himself cherishes all those things in which he instructs and to
which he beckons his fellow citizens, then he does not impose on the people laws which he does not himself obey, but rather
offers to his fellow citizens his own life as a model of lawful behavior. If a single individual could accomplish all these
things satisfactorily, we would have no need of more than one ruler. Or if all the citizens as a whole could see the best course
of action and agree upon it, no one would prefer a small group of rulers. However, the difficulty of devising policy has
caused the transfer of power from a king to a group, and the ignorance and rashness of the masses have caused its transfer
from the many to the few. Thus, between the weakness of a single ruler and the rashness of the masses, the aristocrats have
occupied a middle position, and there is no position more moderate than theirs. When such men watch over the state, the
citizens must necessarily be very happy and blessed, since they are free of anxiety and care and have entrusted their security
to others whose duty it is to guard this security and never to act in such a way that the people think their best interests are
being neglected by their rulers. Indeed, equality under the law, a right which free people cherish, cannot in fact be
maintained, for although the people themselves are unrestricted and unrestrained, they give, for example, many positions of
honor to many men, and thus create a great hierarchy of men and honors. And therefore what we now call equality is really
very inequitable. On the other hand, if equal honor and rank are held by the highest and the lowest men (for both groups
must exist in every state), this so called equality is also very inequitable. However, this latter type of inequity cannot occur
in those states which are ruled by their "best" citizens. Cicero, About the Republic 1.34.52-53
Justice and Law
a. True Law is, in fact, unerring Reason, consistent with Nature, applicable to all, unchanging and eternal,
which demands that people fulfill their obligations, which deters 1and prohibits them from wrongdoing .... There
will not be one law at Rome, another at Athens, or one law now and another later. Rather, all people, at all time,
will be bound by one everlasting and immutable law.

Cicero, About the Republic 3.22.33

b. Justice is the constant and unceasing determination to grant to every man his legal rights. The precepts of the
law are these: live honestly, injure no one, grant to each man his rights.
The Digest of Laws 1.1.10 (Ulpian)
Double standards
• Those who break into a temple at night in order to pillage or plunder it are thrown to wild animals. But if they steal
some minor object from the temple during the day, if they are honestiores they are exiled; if they are humiliores they
are condemned to the mines. In the case of people accused of violating sepulchers, if they actually drag out the
bodies or remove the bones, if they are humiliores they are punished with the ultimate torture; if they are honestiores
they are exiled to an island. For other violations, honestiores are expelled and humiliores are condemned to the
mines.
FIRA 2, p. 405 (Paulus, Opinions 5.19-19a)

• People who plot sedition and riot or who stir up the masses are, according to the nature of their social rank, either
crucified, or thrown to wild animals, or exiled to an island. Those who dig up or plough up boundary markers, or
who cut down boundary trees: (1) if they are slaves acting on their own, they are condemned to the mines; (2) if they
are humiliores, they are sentenced to work on public construction projects; (3) if they are honestiores, they are fined
one third of their property and expelled to an island or driven into exile.

FIRA 2, p. 407 (Paulus, Opinions 5.22.1-2)

The poor
• Funerary relief from outside
Rome, early 3rd century AD
An ordinary day at Rome
I live over a bathing establishment. Picture to yourself now the assortment of voices, the sound of
which is enough to sicken one. When the stronger fellows are exercising and swinging heavy leaden
weights in their hands, when they are working hard, or pretending to be working hard, I hear their
groans… When I have only a lazy fellow, who is content with a cheap rubdown, I hear the slap of the
hand on his shoulders…If a serious ball player comes along and begins to keep score, I am done for.
Add to this the arrest of a brawler or thief, and the fellow who loves the sound of his own voice in the
bath, and those who jump into the pool with a mighty splash as they strike the water. Besides those
men, whose voices are at least natural, imagine the thin, high-pitched chatter of the hair plucker, who
only shuts up when he’s plucking armpits and making the customer scream instead. It disgusts me
even more to list the varied cries of the sausage dealer and the pastry seller and all the others
peddling their wares from the food shops, each with his own peculiar style and tone of voice.

Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Moral Letters, 56

Hardship of urban life
It’s hard for people to rise in the world when their talents are thwarted by living conditions of cramping poverty. At Rome,
however, their task is especially hard; dingy lodgings are costly, a meagre supper is expensive, slaves’ stomachs cost even
more to feed. Here we live in a city that is mostly supported by rickety props; that’s all the landlord’s agent employs to stop
an old building collapsing as he covers over the cracks, then says, “Sleep easy!” as the ruin is poised to collapse.
I’d prefer to live where fires don’t happen, where alarms at night are unknown. Ucalegon’s shouting “Fire!” and moving
his belongings to safety, while your third floor is already smoking, but you’re oblivious to the danger. If the panic starts at
the foot of the staircase, the last to burn is the man who has only the tiles to keep off the rain, up where eggs are laid by the
gentle doves. Here most people die from lack of sleep, because their undigested food gives them a bad stomach. But
whoever got a good night’s sleep in rented lodgings? The problem is that it costs a fortune to find somewhere quiet to sleep
in this city. The wagon traffic in the narrow winding streets, the yells at halted herds of cattle would keep even a seal or an
emperor awake. Consider now other nocturnal perils: how far is it up to those towering floors from which a broken pot
descends to smash your brains? How often do leaky and broken fragments fall from the windows, striking the pavement so
hard it chips and shatters?

You may well be regarded as lazy and heedless of danger if you fail to make a will before going out to dinner. There’s a
different form of nocturnal death watching as you pass beneath each window. So mutter pathetic prayers and hope that as
you walk along they’re only willing to pour the contents of their chamber pots on you.
Juvenal, Satires 3
Corporal punishment of slaves
a. I do not agree that students should be flogged. First, because flogging is disgraceful and is therefore suitable
only for slaves and is certainly an insult, a fact which is indisputable if you substitute an older age group.
Second, because if a boy has a disposition so intractable that he cannot be corrected by scolding, he will become
hardened even to your blows, just as the worst slaves are.

Quintilian, The Elements of Oratory 1.3 .13 and 14

b. You say, Rufus, that your rabbit has not been cooked well, and you call for a whip. You prefer to cut up your
cook, rather than your rabbit.

Martial, Epigrams 3.94

Slave abuse
If her husband turns his back on her in bed at night, his secretary suffers! . . Some women hire a torturer on a
yearly salary. He whips, while she puts on her makeup, talks to her friends, and examines the gold thread of an
embroidered dress. He lashes, while she looks over the columns of the account book. He lashes, and is
exhausted by lashing -until she bellows out, "Go away."

… Poor Psecas, whose own hair has been torn out by her mistress, and whose clothing has been ripped from her
shoulders and breasts by her mistress, combs and styles her mistress's hair. ''Why is this curl so high?'' the
mistress screams, and at once a whipping punishes Psecas for this crime of the curling iron and sin of a hairstyle.

Juvenal, Satires 6A75-476, 480-484, 490-493

 Slaves and lawcourts
One of his own slaves killed Pedanius Secundus, the city prefect. The slave committed the murder either (1) because Pedanius Secundus refused him his freedom after
agreeing to the ''purchase price,' or (2) because the slave was in love with some young man and could not tolerate his master as his rival. Now, according to ancient
custom, every single slave living under the same roof was supposed to be executed. However, a crowd of protesters, trying to protect so many innocent lives, gathered
and even began to riot. They besieged the Senate house. Within the Senate house, some senators were anxious to eliminate excessive cruelty, but the majority were of
the opinion that nothing should be changed. Among the latter was Gaius Cassius who, when asked his opinion, spoke as follows: "I have often, senators, been present
in this chamber when we discussed senatorial decrees which were innovative and contrary to the laws and customs of our ancestors. Nor did I oppose them, although I
had no doubts that the ancient provisions were in every case superior and more correct and that the innovations were changes for the worse. . But now a man who was
once a consul has been murdered in his own home by a treacherous slave whom no fellow slave thwarted or betrayed, even though the senatorial decree which
threatens every household slave with execution has never been repealed. By Hercules, go ahead and vote for impunity then. But if reverence for rank could not protect
the city prefect from murder, whom will it protect? How many slaves will we need to protect us if 400 slaves could not protect Pedanius Secundus? What owner will
household slaves ever help, if not even fear motivates them to an interest in plots against us? Do you really think that a slave who had taken the notion to murder his
master did not let slip to his fellow slaves one hint of a threat? Did not utter one rash word? But supposing he did conceal the plot and did obtain a murder weapon
without anyone's noticing. Could he have passed the guards, opened the bedroom door, carried in a lamp, and killed his master~with every other slave blissfully
ignorant? There are many clues which presage a crime. If our slaves tell us when they notice these clues, we can live, though one among many, safely and securely
because they are afraid. Or, if we must die, we will not be unavenged nor will the guilty survive. "Our ancestors were suspicious of their slaves, even though the slaves
were born right on their own farms and in their own homes, and from birth received the affection of their masters. But nowadays our household slaves represent many
different nations, with a variety of customs, with strange religions.....-----or no religion at all. You cannot control these dregs of society except through fear. Yes, it's
true that innocent people will suffer. But remember that when every tenth man in a defeated army is beaten to death, even the bravest soldier must draw a lot. Every
punishment that is used to provide a negative example contains some element of injustice, but the individual injustices are outweighed by the advantages to the
community as a whole.'' No one dared to oppose Cassius's statements, although some people voiced their disagreement by reminding him of the large number of the
female slaves or of the young slaves or of the majority who had protested their undoubted innocence. However, the senators who favored execution prevailed. A large
angry mob, with rocks and torches, at first prevented the carrying out of the execution order. Then Nero chastised the people in an official edict and lined with troops
the whole route along which those condemned to death were taken for execution. Tacitus, Annals 14.42-45
Roman collared
slaves.
Marble relief
from Smyrna
(Izmir, Turkey),
200 CE.
Collection of the
Ashmolean
Museum,
Oxford, England.
Slaves as property
I have run away. Capture me. When you have returned me to my master, Zoninus,
you will receive a reward.
CIL 15.7194 (/LS 8731)

I am Asellus, slave of Praeiectus, who is an administrative officer in the Department

of the Grain Supply. I have escaped from my post. Capture me, for I have run away.
Return me to the barbers' shop near the temple of Flora.

CIL 15.7172 (ILS 8727)

Roman stereotypes about slaves
Look at ‘em, not one of them has any idea of how to behave. If I didn’t keep them up to the
mark with this (brandishes whip), I should never get a day’s work out of them.

Asses, more like asses than any men I ever saw – with hides tanned till they can’t feel it any
more. Beating them hurts you more than it does them. Just wasters of whip leather, that’s
what they are. They’ve only one rule of life: watch your chance to steal, rob, plunder, loot,
eat and drink, and do a bunk. That’s all they think they’re here for. You might as well leave
wolves in charge of sheep as let these chaps look after your house.

Plautus, Pseudolus 130-41

An ideal slave
It’s the mark of a good slave, I always say – one who can be trusted to look out for his master’s
welfare, plan and organize his affairs – that he attends to his master’s business just as well in his
master’s absence as he does in his presence, or better. Every right-thinking slave ought to value his
own back more than his own appetite, look after his legs rather than his belly. He’ll remember, if he
has any sense, the floggings, the chains, the treadmill, sweating, starving, freezing stiff – that’s what
you get for laziness. I’d rather take care to keep out of that sort of trouble. That’s why I’ve decided to
be a good slave, not a bad one. I can bear a lash of the whip, and I’d much rather eat corn than grind
it. So I do as my master tells me, carry out his orders in an efficient and orderly manner, and I find it
works for me. Others can do as they think best.

• Plautus, The Brothers Menaechmus 966-80

Gladiators
In the gladiatorial show put on by the Flacci was a certain Aeserninus, a Samnite, a
vile man, worthy of that life and status. He was matched against Pacideianus, best
by far of all gladiators since the birth of mankind “Indeed I’ll kill him and win, if
that’s what you want,” said Pacideianus. But I think it will go like this: first I’ll take
one in the face, then I’ll fix my sword in that fool’s stomach and lungs. I hate the
man, I’ll fight mad, and we’ll wait only as long as it takes each of us to grip our
swords in our right hands, so furiously am I carried away by my passion, anger and
hatred of him.

Lucilius Satires 4.2.172-81 (2nd c. CE)

Slave revolt: Spartacus
It is hard to estimate the huge numbers of the slaves that were cut down,
although the Romans lost about 1,000 men. Spartacus’ body was never
found. As a large number of the runaways survived the battle and fled to
the mountains Crassus pursued them. Four groups kept on fighting until
only 6,000 were left. They were all taken prisoner and crucified along
the road from Capua to Rome.
Appian, Civil Wars 1.120
Funerary relief of Aurelius Hermia
and his wife, Aurelia Philematium,
British Museum (originally from
Rome, on a tomb along the Via
Nomentana, 50-80 BC).

"Lucius Aurelius Hermia, freedman of

Lucius, a butcher on the Viminal Hill.
She who preceded me in death was
my one and only wife. Chaste in body,
with a loving spirit, she lived faithful
to her faithful husband, with an
affection equal to mine. Completely
selfless, she never shirked her
duties."

"While I lived, I was called Aurelia

Philematium, a woman chaste and
modest, unknown to the common
crowd, faithful to her husband. My
husband, whom, alas, I have now left,
was a fellow freedman. He was truly
like a father to me. When I was seven
years old he cared for me. Now I am
forty and in the power of death. My
husband flourished through my
constant care."
Reading
• Alföldy, G. The Social History of Rome (1988), chs. 5-6.
• Bradley, K. R. Discovering the Roman Family (1991).
• Crook, J.A., Law and Life of Rome, 90 B.C. - A.D. 212 (Ithaca 1967),
chapter 6: Labour’.
• Du Plessis, P. J. Borkowski's textbook on Roman law (OUP 2015), pp. 89-
100.
• Nicholas, B: Introduction to Roman Law (OUP 1975), pp. 69-76.