The Roman Martyrs: Introduction,

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OXFORD EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES

General Editors
Gillian Clark Andrew Louth
THE OXFORD EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES series includes scholarly volumes on
the thought and history of the early Christian centuries. Covering a wide range of
Greek, Latin, and Oriental sources, the books are of interest to theologians, ancient
historians, and specialists in the classical and Jewish worlds.
Titles in the series include:
Debates over the Resurrection of the Dead
Constructing Early Christian Identity
Outi Lehtipuu (2015)
The Role of Death in the Ladder of Divine Ascent and the Greek Ascetic Tradition
Jonathan L. Zecher (2015)
Theophilus of Alexandria and the First Origenist Controversy
Rhetoric and Power
Krastu Banev (2015)
The Consolation of Boethius as Poetic Liturgy
Stephen Blackwood (2015)
The Theological Anthropology of Eustathius of Antioch
Sophie Cartwright (2015)
The Song of Songs and the Fashioning of Identity in Early Latin Christianity
Karl Shuve (2016)
The Greek Historia Monachorum in Aegypto
Monastic Hagiography in the Late Fourth Century
Andrew Cain (2016)
The Demonic in the Political Thought of Eusebius of Caesarea
Hazel Johannessen (2016)
Enchantment and Creed in the Hymns of Ambrose of Milan
Brian P. Dunkle, SJ (2016)
Social Justice and the Legitimacy of Slavery
The Role of Philosophical Asceticism from Ancient Judaism to Late Antiquity
Ilaria L. E. Ramelli (2016)
Making Amulets Christian
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Isaac of Nineveh’s Ascetical Eschatology
Jason Scully (2017)
Liturgy and Byzantinization in Jerusalem
Daniel Galadza (2017)
Gregory of Nyssa’s Doctrinal Works
A Literary Study
Andrew Radde-Gallwitz (2018)
The Roman Martyrs
Introduction, Translations, and Commentary

M I C H A E L LA P I D G E

1
 3
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 Preface

The present volume contains translations of and commentaries on forty

passiones of Roman martyrs, composed between roughly AD 400 and AD 700;
it does not contain the Latin texts of the passiones in question. There are
reasons why, at this stage of our research, it would not be possible to provide
the Latin texts alongside the English translations: of the forty passiones, only
one is available in anything resembling a critical edition; the remainder
exist mostly in fifteenth-, sixteenth- and seventeenth-century editions (see
pp. 40–1). Because most of these early editions are not easily accessible, the
passiones have been neglected as a literary genre. It is my view that annotated
translations represent the first stage in making these texts accessible to a wider
scholarly public.
The passiones are works of fiction. The stories they relate concerning the
martyrdoms of Roman martyrs are wholly invented, and are utterly unreliable
as historical evidence. Nevertheless, the passiones, almost incidentally, cast
fascinating light on many aspects of late antique Rome—its topography, ad-
ministration, social hierarchy, and legal machinery. Above all, they help to
illuminate the many Roman titulus-churches and cemeteries which during the
centuries in question (fifth to seventh) began to attract increasingly large
numbers of pilgrims and visitors. To some extent, the passiones are a literary
response to this upsurge in pilgrim activity. In any case, these aspects of Roman
life can, I think, be studied as well in translation as in the original Latin texts.
My interest in these passiones began when I was teaching at the University
of Notre Dame (1999–2004), where the Hesburgh Library has exceptionally
rich holdings in patristic literature and palaeo-Christian archaeology, and
where I had the privilege of teaching a group of enthusiastic young Latinists
in annual seminars on the passiones of the Roman martyrs. My first debt is to
those Notre Dame students, particularly Leslie Lockett, who as my designated
research assistant assembled a huge collection of photocopies of relevant texts
and studies, and Paul Patterson, who key-boarded the texts of the passiones so
as to constitute a machine-readable database. Since returning to the UK, I have
been able to draw on the advice of Jim Adams and Michael Reeve in matters of
Late Latin philology. I owe a great debt to the Bollandists, who for over four
centuries have been studying and editing these texts, and whose publications
are the indispensable foundation for all work in the field of Late Latin
hagiography. The present-day Bollandists, in particular their Director, Robert
Godding S.J., very kindly placed the resources of the Bollandists’ great library
at my disposal, even on occasion acquiring books for my personal use.
vi Preface
Gillian Clark very kindly offered a warm welcome to this book in the series
Oxford Early Christian Studies, of which she is a general editor. I am especially
grateful to Mark Humphries, who, as the OUP’s referee, produced a meticu-
lously detailed report which enabled me to correct numerous errors, and to
improve the argument in countless ways. Although he acted anonymously as
the OUP’s referee, he kindly waived his anonymity so that we were able to
discuss many of the issues he had raised; and I would like to add that Mark has
been an enthusiastic supporter of this project over many years: indeed, it was
his enthusiasm which prompted me to draw together the many years’ research
and put the work into its final form. Finally, Karen Raith, the desk-editor for
religion at the OUP, has been warmly supportive and splendidly efficient in
every way. So, too, the OUP’s copy-editor, Louise Larchbourne, who worked
meticulously through the typescript and helped to clarify the translations at
many points, and to identify errors which I had overlooked.
Michael Lapidge
15 February 2017
 Contents

Abbreviations xi
Maps xv
1. The intra-urban churches dedicated to Roman martyrs xv
2. Suburban cemeteries housing shrines to Roman martyrs xvi

Introduction 1
Who were the Roman martyrs? 2
Martyrdom at Rome: the historical context 7
Literary representations of martyrdom: the ‘epic passio’ 18
Dating the Latin texts 35
The Latin texts 39
The translations 42

T E X T S AN D C O M M E NT A R I E S
I. St Felicitas and Her Seven Sons 45
II. SS. Anastasia, Chrysogonus, and Companions 54
III. St Sebastian and Companions 88
IV. St Caecilia and Companions 138
V. Pope Clement 165
VI. SS. Sixtus, Laurence, and Hippolytus (Passio Vetus) 180
VII. Pope Cornelius 195
VIII. SS. Nereus and Achilleus and Companions 201
IX. SS. Eugenia, Protus, and Hyacinthus 228
X. SS. Chrysanthus and Daria 250
XI. St Susanna 270
XII. Pope Callistus 287
XIII. St Eusebius the Priest 297
XIV. Pope Felix II 303
XV. SS. Pudentiana and Praxedis 307
viii Contents

XVI. SS. Polychronius and Parmenius, Abdon and Sennes,

Pope Sixtus II, Laurence, and Hippolytus 316
XVII. SS. Agnes and Emerentiana 348
XVIII. SS. Gallicanus, John, and Paul 363
XIX. SS. Processus and Martinianus 381
XX. Pope Marcellus and Companions 390
XXI. SS. Primus and Felicianus 411
XXII. SS. Marius, Martha, Audifax, and Abacuc 420
XXIII. SS. Marcellinus and Peter 436
XXIV. The Four Crowned Martyrs 448
XXV. St Pancratius 468
XXVI. Pope Stephen I 477
XXVII. SS. Gordianus and Epimachus 494
XXVIII. The Greek Martyrs 500
XXIX. SS. Eusebius and Pontianus 517
XXX. Pope Urban 526
XXXI. SS. Rufina and Secunda 551
XXXII. SS. Alexander, Eventius, and Theodulus 557
XXXIII. SS. Calogerus and Parthenius 573
XXXIV. SS. Serapia and Sabina 582
XXXV. SS. Felix and Adauctus 593
XXXVI. SS. Simplicius, Faustinus, and Beatrix 598
XXXVII. St Symphorosa and Her Seven Sons 603
XXXVIII. St Pigmenius 608
XXXIX. St Getulius 617
XL. St Basilides 625

Appendix I: The Depositio martyrum (AD 354) 633

Appendix II: The Epigrammata of Damasus 637
Appendix III: Roman Martyrs in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum 649
 Contents ix

Appendix IV: Seventh-century Pilgrim Itineraries to Roman

Churches and Cemeteries 659
Appendix V: The Commemoration of Roman Martyrs in Early
Roman Liturgical Books 667

Glossary 675
Bibliography 681
Index of Names 705
Index of Places 713
General Index 716
 Abbreviations

AB Analecta Bollandiana
Acta SS. Acta Sanctorum quotquot orbe coluntur, ed. Bollandists, 68 vols.
(Antwerp, Tongerloo, and Brussels, 1643–1925)
BHG F. Halkin, Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca, 3rd ed. (Brussels,
1957)
BHL [Bollandists], Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina, 2 vols.
(Brussels, 1898–1901; with Supplementum (1986))
Blaise A. Blaise, Dictionnaire latin–français des auteurs chrétiens
(Turnhout, 1954)
BSS Bibliotheca Sanctorum, 13 vols. (Rome, 1961–70, with three
volumes of appendices, 1987, 2000, 2013)
CCSL Corpus Christianorum Series Latina (Turnhout)
CGL Corpus Glossariorum Latinorum, ed. G. Goetz, 7 vols. (Leipzig,
1888–1923)
CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (Berlin, 1863–)
CPG Clavis Patrum Graecorum, ed. M. Geerard, 5 vols. and
Supplementum (Turnhout, 1983–98)
CPL Clavis Patrum Latinorum, ed. E. Dekkers, 3rd ed. (Steenbrugge,
1995)
CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (Vienna)
DACL Dictionnaire d’archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, ed. F. Cabrol
and H. Leclercq, 15 vols. in 30 (Paris, 1907–53)
Du Cange C. Du Fresne Du Cange, Glossarium ad scriptores mediae et
infimae latinitatis, 3 vols. (Paris, 1678)
Dufourcq, Gesta A. Dufourcq, Étude sur les “Gesta martyrum” romains, 5 vols.
(Paris, 1900–7; 2nd ed., Paris, 1988)
EEC Encyclopedia of the Early Church, ed. A. Di Berardino, trans.
A. Walford, 2 vols. (Cambridge, 1992)
EP Enciclopedia dei papi, 3 vols. (Rome, 2000)
Ferrua and Carletti Ferrua, A. and C. Carletti, Damaso e i martiri di Roma (Vatican
City, 1985)
GCS Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten drei
Jahrhunderte (Leipzig and Berlin, 1897–)
ICUR Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae septimo saeculo
antiquiores, ed. G. B. de Rossi, 2 vols. (Rome, 1857–88); and
Nova Series, 10 vols. (Rome, 1922–92)
xii Abbreviations
Jones, LRE A. H. M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire, 284–602, 4 vols.
(Oxford, 1964)
Krautheimer, CBCR R. Krautheimer et al., Corpus Basilicarum Christianarum
Romae, 5 vols. (Vatican City and New York, 1937–77)
Lanéry, C. Lanéry, ‘Hagiographie d’Italie (300–550). I. Les Passions
‘Hagiographie’ latines composées en Italie’, in Hagiographies V, ed. G. Philippart,
Corpus Christianorum (Turnhout, 2010), pp. 15–369
LP the Liber pontificalis: ed. T. Mommsen, Liber pontificalis (pars
prior), MGH, Gesta Pontificum Romanorum (Berlin, 1898); ed.
L. Duchesne, Le Liber pontificalis: texte, introduction et
commentaire, 3 vols. (Paris, 1886–1957); trans. R. Davis, The
Book of Pontiffs (Liber Pontificalis). The Ancient Biographies of
the First Ninety Roman Bishops to AD 715, 2nd ed., TTH 6
(Liverpool, 2000)
LTUR Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae, ed. M. Steinby, 6 vols.
(Rome, 1993–2000)
LTUR. Suburbium Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae. Suburbium, ed. A. La
Regina, 5 vols. (Rome, 2000–8)
MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica
MGH, AA Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi
MGH, Epistolae Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Epistolae (in quarto)
Mombritius B. Mombritius, Sanctuarium (Milan, 1478; ed. monachi
Solesmenses, 2 vols. (Paris, 1910))
Niermeyer J. F. Niermeyer, Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus (Leiden,
1976)
PG Patrologiae Graecae cursus completus, ed. J. P. Migne, 162 vols.
(Paris, 1857–66)
PIR1 Prosopographia Imperii Romani saec. I. II. III., ed. E. Klebs,
H. Dessau, and P. Von Rohden, 3 vols. (Berlin 1897–8)
PIR2 Prosopographia Imperii Romani saec. I. II. III, ed. E. Groag,
A. Stein et al., 2nd ed., 8 vols. (Berlin and Leipzig, 1933–2015)
PL Patrologiae Latinae cursus completus, ed. J. P. Migne, 221 vols.
(Paris, 1844–64)
Platner–Ashby S. B. Platner, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, rev.
T. Ashby (Oxford, 1926)
PLRE The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, I. A.D. 260–395,
ed. A. H. M. Jones, J. R. Martindale and J. Morris (Cambridge,
1971)
RACr Rivista di archeologia cristiana
Richardson L. Richardson, jr, A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient
Rome (Baltimore and London, 1992)
 Abbreviations xiii
SHA Scriptores [rectius Scriptor] Historiae Augustae, ed. and trans.
D. Magie, 3 vols. (Cambridge, MA, 1932)
Souter A. Souter, A Glossary of Later Latin to 600 AD (Oxford, 1949)
Stotz, Handbuch P. Stotz, Handbuch zur lateinischen Sprache des Mittelalters,
5 vols. (Munich, 1996–2004)
TLL Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (Munich, 1896–)
TTH Translated Texts for Historians (Liverpool)
 Maps

Via Salaria
Nuova na
N ta
en
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Sallustian No

Via
Vi

a
Palace Vi
aT

Lata
riu

Gardens )
m

Naumachia tra (old

ph

of Sallust rtina
r T i be r

Cas toria

chia
(Co
Tibu
al

e
Pra
is

St Susanna Via

Via Salaria Vec

rso)
Mausoleum ita
iv e

of Hadrian m Baths
Se of Dio-
R

Via Cornelia ta
Al
AL
St Laurentius cletian
N
RI
St Agnes in Lucina
UI
St Peter in agone
VATICAN Q (new
)
Campus L
INA
Circus of St Pudentiana r tina
Martius Tibu
VIM
Domitian St Eusebius Via
St Marcellus
St Praxedis
Circus CAPITOLINE Forum St Bibiana
Flaminius of Trajan Urban prefecture Via
Arx Baths of Lab
Temple of Carcer ican
Jupiter Mamertinus Trajan a
Capitolinus
Fo Temple of Tellus ESQUILINE
rum
St Chrysogonus Flavian Amphitheatre
Tiber
Via Au Island St Clement
reli
a PALATINE
St CAELIAN
St Caecilia Anastasia SS. Quattuor Coronati
Urbs SS. John and Paul
Ravennatium Transfevere Circus
Maximus
St Sabina
AVENTINE
SS. Nereus and Achilleus
n se

Ba ara
stie
T i ber

C
th ca
s lla
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Via
of
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Map 1. The intra-urban churches dedicated to Roman martyrs

 N

alaria Nuova
tana
en
N om
Via Fl V ia
ad Clivum Priscilla

aS
Cucumeris
Via Giordani
amin
Via Tr ionfal

Vi
Sa Hilaria
St la Coemeterium maius
ia

Valentine

ria
Thrason St Agnes
Bassilla

Vecc
r T iber
e

Maximus

hia
a
Rive

n
St Nicomedes Via Tibur ti
St Hippolytus
elia
V i a Corn St Laurence
St Peter

Calepodius ROME
Via Aurelia Via
ad duos La
Felices bic
an
a
St Pancratius
SS. Processus
and Martinianus SS. Gordianus
and Epimachus inter duas
Pontianus lauros

Apronianus
Vi
a
La

SS. Marcus and Callistus

tin

Marcellianus
se

a
en

Praetextatus
r tu Commodilla
Po St Paul Domitilla St Sebastian
a
Vi
Vi
aA

Vi
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a
Ap
ie n

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st
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ibe

O
a
T

Vi
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Riv

Generosa

Map 2. Suburban cemeteries housing shrines to Roman martyrs

 Introduction

The present volume contains translations, with individual introductions and

commentaries, of forty passiones of Roman martyrs, composed for the
most part at Rome itself, during a span of some 250 years, between AD
c.425 and c.675. In sum these passiones constitute a substantial body of
literature produced at a period when the literature of Rome itself—apart
from the great figures of Boethius, Cassiodorus, and Gregory the Great—is
not well represented; yet as a corpus they are poorly understood. They usually
do not merit even a passing mention in literary histories of the period, such as
Schanz–Hosius,1 Wright–Sinclair,2 or Conte.3 As Walter Berschin observed,
the Latin passiones composed in Italy—and a fortiori in Rome—are largely a
question mark.4 No attempt has ever been made to compile a reliable list of
the passiones in question.5 There are, of course, valid reasons for the silence
of literary historians. With very few exceptions, the texts are available only
in editions dating from the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. No
attempt has ever been made to gather them together as a corpus, and only
sporadic efforts have been made during the past two centuries to produce
reliable scholarly editions. Furthermore, since they were composed centuries

1
M. Schanz, Geschichte der römischen Litteratur bis zum Gesetzgebungswerk des Kaisers
Justinian, IV/2: Die römische Litteratur von Constantin bis zum Gesetzgebungswerk Justinians,
rev. C. Hosius and G. Krüger (Munich, 1920).
2
F. A. Wright and T. A. Sinclair, A History of Later Latin Literature from the Middle of the
Fourth Century to the End of the Seventeenth Century (London, 1931). Wright and Sinclair treat
named authors only, and provide no discussion of the substantial amount of anonymous
literature from the Late Latin period.
3
G. B. Conte, Latin Literature: A History, trans. J. B. Solodow, rev. D. Fowler and G. W. Most
(Baltimore, MD, 1999). Conte briefly mentions the proconsular acta, and such early texts as the
Passio S. Perpetuae (pp. 599–600), but provides no discussion of the fictional passiones which are
the subject of the present volume.
4
Biographie und Epochenstil, II, p. 173: ‘Das große Fragezeichen der italienischen Biographie
des frühen Mittelalters ist die Passionsliteratur. Wieviele Passionen sind in diesem Land . . .
geschrieben worden?’
5
A point made forcibly by Claudio Leonardi, ‘L’agiografia romana nel secolo IX’, in Hagiographie,
culture et sociétés IVe–XIIe siècle (Paris, 1981), pp. 471–90, at 472. The list in CPL (nos. 2156–247) is a
helpful beginning, but is far from complete.
2 The Roman Martyrs
after the ending of persecution of Christians, they are worthless as witnesses to
the actual trial and execution of Christians in earlier times, and are vitiated by
such outrageous errors of chronology that they have earned the contempt of
modern historians of the later Roman empire. With few exceptions—the pas-
siones of St Sebastian (III) and St Caecilia (IV), both of which were composed at
Rome by Arnobius the Younger—they are the work of anonymous clerics who
show little sign of advanced training in Latin and who were seldom capable of
anything more than pedestrian prose. Yet scholars have long realized that, in
spite of their obvious historical and stylistic deficiencies, passiones could help to
throw light on the concerns and anxieties of the average Roman Christian
during the 250 years during which they were being composed—if only they
could be reliably dated. In recent years, however, great progress has been
made in understanding the chronology of these passiones, notably by virtue of
the pioneering labours of Cécile Lanéry,6 and it is hoped that the present
volume will contribute to a further stage in our understanding of what was a
very popular and very influential, if grossly neglected, genre of Christian–Latin
literature.

WHO WERE THE ROMAN MARTYRS?

Many of the passiones translated in the present volume concern ‘martyrs’

whose claims to authenticity are dubious in the extreme. One might consider
as ‘authentic’ martyrs those whose martyrdoms are recorded in the Depositio
martyrum, hence before c.336 (Appendix I, below) or were commemorated by
a metrical titulus composed by Pope Damasus, hence before 384 (Appendix II,
below). On this criterion, those passiones devoted to what may be ‘authentic’
martyrs are the following: the seven sons of St Felicitas, though not St Felicitas
herself (I); St Sebastian (III), St Tiburtius (III), SS. Abdon and Sennes (VI and
XVI), Pope Sixtus II (VI and XVI), St Laurence (VI and XVI), St Hippolytus
(VI and XVI), Pope Cornelius (VII), SS. Nereus and Achilleus (VIII), SS. Protus
and Hyacinthus (IX), St Bassilla (IX), Pope Callistus (XII), SS. Agapitus and
Felicissimus (XVI), St Agnes (XVII), Pope Marcellus (XX), the Four Crowned
Martyrs (XXIV), SS. Marcellinus and Peter (XXIII), St Hermes (XXXII),
SS. Calogerus and Parthenius (XXXIII), SS. Felix and Adauctus (XXXV),
and SS. Simplicius, Faustinus and Beatrix (XXXVI). Note, however, that the

6
Lanéry, ‘Hagiographie’, as well as her two important studies of Arnobius the Younger:
‘Arnobe le Jeune’ and ‘Nouvelles recherches’. There is a helpful assessment of the importance of
Lanéry’s work, and of the ways in which the passiones martyrum were reflected in the construc-
tion and decoration of fifth-century Roman churches, by Heid, ‘Roms Selbstfindung in barbar-
ischer Zeit’.
 Introduction 3
statement that these passiones treat what may be ‘authentic’ martyrs does not
imply that the narratives which describe their martyrdoms are anything other
than pure fiction: although someone named Sebastian may well have been
martyred before or during the ‘Great Persecution’, there is no way of proving
that he was chief of staff of Diocletian’s palace guard, as he is described in the
passio bearing his name, let alone that he was martyred in the absurd way that is
described in this text.
However, many, perhaps all, of the remaining passiones treat martyrs whose
martyrdoms are patent fabrications by the authors of passiones. The passiones
were confected to commemorate or publicize the founders either of intra-urban
titulus-churches, such as St Chrysogonus (II), St Anastasia (II), St Caecilia (IV),
Pope Clement (V), St Susanna (XI), St Eusebius the priest (XIII), St Pudentiana
(XV), St Praxedis (XV), SS. John and Paul (XVIII), St Sabina (XXXIV), and
St Bibiana (XXXVIII), or of sanctuaries or hypogean basilicas in suburban
cemeteries, such as St Eugenia (IX), Pope Felix II (XIV), SS. Processus and
Martinianus (XIX), SS. Marius and Martha (XXII), St Pancratius (XXV), SS.
Rufina and Secunda (XXXI), SS. Alexander, Eventius, and Theodulus (XXXII),
St Getulius (XXXIX), and St Basilides (XL).
What factors guided the Christian–Latin authors in their choice of subjects
for treatment in a passio? Why, for example, was no passio ever composed for
St Ignatius, a genuine Roman martyr who was executed at Rome c. AD 140?7 Or
for Pope Fabian (236–50), who was executed during the persecution of Decius
in AD 250?8 Instead of these genuine Roman martyrs, we are provided with
passiones of many martyrs who were fictitious creations and in many cases cannot
be proved ever to have existed. The answer seems to be that passiones were only
composed to commemorate those martyrs who were venerated in intra-urban,
titulus-churches, or whose remains could be visited in a prominent tomb or crypt
in a suburban cemetery; in other words, that there is a clear link between the
composition of passiones and the explosion of pilgrim interest in visiting martyr-
ial sites from the late fourth century onwards. This much emerges clearly from a
survey of the martyrs commemorated in surviving passiones:
St Felicitas (I): commemorated in an above-ground basilica in her name
in the cemetery of Maximus, off the Via Salaria Nuova; her seven sons were
commemorated in tombs in the various cemeteries which housed them:
Felix and Philip in the cemetery of Priscilla (Via Salaria Nuova); Martial,
Vitalis and Alexander in the cemetery of the Giordani (Via Salaria Nuova);

7
On the martyrdom of St Ignatius, see Bowersock, Martyrdom and Rome, pp. 6 and 77–81,
and Barnes, Early Christian Hagiography, pp. 15–19 (demonstrating that the conventionally
accepted date of 117 for the martyrdom of Ignatius is too early).
8
Fabian was commemorated together with other martyred popes in the famous ‘Papal Crypt’
in the cemetery of Callistus; but no church or individual shrine in Rome was ever dedicated
to him.
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 T h e P r o j e c t G u t e n b e r g
e B o o k o f O p i n i o n p a r
D e f r a n c e , s u r l e s p o s t e s
e t m e s s a g e r i e s : S é a n c e d u
2 8 F r u c t i d o r, a n I V
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Title: Opinion par Defrance, sur les postes et messageries: Séance

du 28 Fructidor, an IV

Author: Jean Claude Defrance

Release date: August 11, 2022 [eBook #68728]

Language: French

Original publication: France: de l'Impr. Nationale, 1796

Credits: Adrian Mastronardi, Claudine Corbasson and the Online

Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
(This file was produced from images generously made
available by The Internet Archive)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OPINION

PAR DEFRANCE, SUR LES POSTES ET MESSAGERIES:
SÉANCE DU 28 FRUCTIDOR, AN IV ***
Au lecteur

CORPS LÉGISLATIF.
CONSEIL DES CINQ-CENTS.
 OP IN ION
Pa r D E F R A N C E .
Sur les postes & messageries.

Séance du 28 Fructidor, an IV.

 Représentans du peuple,

J’ai demandé la parole moins pour combattre les lois

réglementaires, extraites de l’ancien code des postes &
messageries, que votre commission vous présente comme un
moyen de les régénérer, que pour appuyer les projets de résolution
qui vous ont été présentés par Delaunay (d’Angers); je releverai
cependant quelques erreurs dans lesquelles est tombé le rapporteur
de la commission.
Personne n’ignore que le service des postes & messageries est
un grand moyen d’action du gouvernement & du commerce, un des
liens du corps social, & un revenu du fisc; mais on ne convient pas
que ce soit un moyen de contre-révolution que de les confier à
d’autres hommes qu’à ceux qui les régissent aujourd’hui.
Certes, je suis loin de penser aussi qu’il faille confier ce ressort
puissant à des intrigans ou à des ignorans qui finiroient par le briser.
La première question qui se présente est de savoir s’il est plus
avantageux pour le trésor public & pour l’intérêt national de faire
régir les postes & messageries, que de les affermer.
Votre commission a pensé qu’il falloit les maintenir en régie.
Ce régime a toujours été désastreux pour les finances de la
République, & c’est un prétexte bien frivole pour solliciter son
maintien que d’avancer qu’il est plus propre à découvrir ou
empêcher les trames des factions.
J’aurois desiré que le rapporteur citât quelques traits à l’appui de
son assertion; l’expérience nous a prouvé le contraire.
 Au lieu de discuter cette grande question: les postes &
messageries seront-elles continuées en régie ou mises en ferme?
Votre commission ne s’est occupée qu’à faire retomber sur les
lois, nécessitées par les circonstances, les inculpations graves,
faites à l’administration des postes & messageries relativement aux
fonds immenses que le trésor public à été obligé de prodiguer pour
soutenir ses services, & desquels fonds les anciennes
administrations n’ont point rendu compte, quoiqu’il ait été nommé
des commissaires pour les recevoir.
Les lois que votre commission vous propose ne sont qu’un
règlement purement administratif, & qui ne doit être présenté que
par ceux que le Directoire exécutif choisira d’après le mode
d’exploitation que vous aurez adopté.
Je ne m’appesentirai point sur plusieurs autres erreurs dans
lesquelles est tombé le rapporteur de la commission; elles se
réfutent d’elles mêmes.
La régie qu’on vous propose est une continuation des abus que
vous voulez faire disparoître. Toujours une nuée de commis, toujours
huit ou dix administrateurs, dont le zèle & l’amour pour la chose
publique seront mesurés sur leur intérêt particulier, qui pallieront
plutôt les désordres que d’y remédier, dans la crainte de se
compromettre.
Nous n’entendons inculper personne en particulier; nous tirerons
même le rideau sur tous les vices de l’administration actuelle: il s’agit
de régénérer nos finances & notre crédit, & de proposer des vues
simples & d’une facile exécution.
Votre commission ne peut pas nier que les régies ont toujours été
ruineuses pour l’État, & qu’à diverses époques elles ont été établies
& abandonnées tour à tour; & qu’en dernier résultat; on les donnoit à
l’entreprise ou en ferme.
Il n’y a qu’une insigne prévention ou un aveuglement bien
coupable qui puisse se dissimuler que toutes les régies, depuis la
révolution, ont été la source des dilapidations, des rapines, des vols
& du brigandage. Elles étoient devenues le patrimoine des
désorganisateurs qui se les étoient appropriées pour élever leur
fortune, & qu’aujourd’hui même ces abus existent encore sous un
autre masque.
Je demande à tout homme de bonne foi, & qui veut augmenter
ou consolider sa fortune, s’il ne préférera pas affermer ses domaines
pour en tirer un revenu fixe, plutôt que de les confier à des
régisseurs.
Il est inutile d’étendre plus loin les motifs qui doivent déterminer
le Conseil à rejeter le système des régies; mais si quelque doute
encore pouvoit subsister dans l’esprit des membres de cette
assemblée, je demanderois aux partisans du système des régies
quel bénéfice le trésor public en a jamais tiré? je leur prouverois que
le gouvernement a presque toujours été forcé de venir à leur
secours, ou que le produit qu’il en a tiré est presque nul.
Quelques hommes peu instruits révoquent en doute que le
gouvernement ait le droit d’affermer les postes & messageries; ils
prétendent que ce n’est point une propriété nationale. Ignorent-ils
donc que leur invention en France est due à l’Université de Paris, qui
pendant plusieurs siècles en a été seule propriétaire, & qu’elle a
transmis tous ses droits au gouvernement sous la monarchie,
moyennant le seizième effectif du revenu net des postes, lequel étoit
affecté au paiement de l’instruction publique dans cette immense
commune.
Les postes & les messageries sont donc devenues une propriété
nationale. La sûreté des personnes & de leurs propriétés mobilières
est attachée à ce précieux établissement. S’il n’étoit point formé
depuis plusieurs siècles, je le proposerois à l’Assemblée pour le bien
général.
La loi du 25 vendémiaire, qui donnoit à chaque individu la faculté
d’établir des messageries libres, a produit des maux incalculables,
tant à la fortune publique, qu’à celle des particuliers; c’est sur-tout
vers les frontières que les désordres se sont fait sentir. La rentrée
des émigrés, le transport des poudres & autres objets prohibés ont
été les suites de cette loi désastreuse. Ces voitures n’étaient
sujettes à aucune surveillance active de la part des préposés du
gouvernement, vous vous empresserez donc de la rapporter.
Les partisans des régies objectent que, dans le système du
fermage, il faudra céder aux entrepreneurs un mobilier évalué au
moins trois millions; qu’il sera impossible de la rétablir pour le même
prix, s’il arrive que les fermiers demandent la résiliation de leurs
baux.
Cette objection disparoîtra lorsqu’on fera réflexion que les
entrepreneurs s’obligeront, par leur bail, de rétablir à son expiration,
ou dans le cas de la résiliation, les choses au même état où ils les
auront prises lors de la passation dudit bail. Dans l’un & l’autre cas
l’estimation sera contradictoire & par experts.
Combien rapportent aujourd’hui les postes et messageries? rien.
Jusqu’à ce jour le gouvernement a été obligé de fournir à leur déficit.
Votre commission des finances, dans l’apperçu qu’elle vous a donné
des revenus annuels de l’Etat, y fait entrer celui des postes &
messageries pour une somme de douze millions; sans doute que cet
apperçu n’étoit pas fondé sur un système de régie même intéressée,
mais bien sur leur fermage qui, seul, peut donner un produit net à la
République, & des ressources dans ses besoins pressans.
Dans le plan de l’entreprise en ferme, vous n’avez plus besoin de
ces administrations nombreuses, à charge au trésor public, & dont la
responsabilité devient nulle à raison de la multiplicité des
responsables. Il ne vous faut qu’un administrateur chargé de
l’exécution des lois & des conditions du fermage, de la surveillance
& de la direction des postes aux lettres, des relais, des messageries
& de la navigation intérieure; j’ai presque dit du roulage.
Il y a long-temps qu’on a senti son importance & la nécessité de
lui donner une forme plus stable & plus indépendante de l’arbitraire.
Les rouliers épars sur la surface de la République sont, pour ainsi
dire, un peuple à part au milieu d’un grand peuple. Ces êtres isolés,
la plupart sans morale, ont fait des grandes routes leur patrimoine
exclusif; ils se mettent au dessus des lois de police que le
gouvernement avoit sagement établies sur les routes: il n’y a
personne qui n’ait été témoin ou victime de leur insolente infidélité; la
lenteur de leur service, l’irrégularité de leurs marches, le prix
excessif & arbitraire de leurs transports, les avaries, auxquelles leurs
négligences ou leur insigne mauvaise foi donnent lieu, nécessitent
une augmentation considérable dans le prix des objets qui leur sont
confiés. Le poids énorme de leurs chargemens achève la destruction
des routes, que le malheurs des circonstances n’a pas permis de
réparer.
La sollicitude du gouvernement doit donc s’étendre sur cette
branche d’administration.
Je ne dirai qu’un mot des routes; elles sont dans un état tel, qu’il
sera impossible cet hiver de les pratiquer.
Il a été proposé au gouvernement d’employer les bras oisifs des
prisonniers de guerre pour les réparer, moyennant une double ration
qui leur seroit donnée: les matériaux sont tous prêts.
Mais revenons aux fermes.
Je voudrois que les soumissions des entrepreneurs fussent faites
pour six années.
Dans les temps orageux de la révolution, cette sage mesure ne
vous eût pas réussi; on en vouloit aux fortunes & aux talens; les
seuls intrigans se seroient présentés: mais aujourd’hui que vous
avez un gouvernement qui veut mettre l’ordre, l’économie & la
justice dans toutes les parties qui lui sont confiées, des compagnies
accepteront avec confiance & sécurité les conditions qui leur seront
imposées, & rempliront avec zèle celles de leurs marchés.
Mais, Citoyens représentans, n’oubliez pas que les tempêtes de
la révolution ont laissé des traces bien profondes, & que le
gouvernement doit signaler sa bonne foi, en assurant aux
actionnaires une hypothèque invariable pour la sûreté de leurs
marchés, comme ils en fourniront pour assurer l’exécution de leur
entreprise.
 Permettez-moi, Citoyens représentans, de vous soumettre mes
vues sur la simplification des services.
Les diligences sont à-peu-près supprimées dans toute l’étendue
de la République: on doit attribuer cette cessation de service à
plusieurs causes qui tiennent aux finances & au papier-monnoie, ou
bien au vice de l’administration elle-même: c’est moins pour le
transport des effets & marchandises que cet établissement est à
regretter, que pour la célérité du déplacement des individus.
Toute l’attention du gouvernement doit donc se porter à rétablir, à
faciliter les transports des citoyens d’un bout de la France à l’autre,
sans avoir recours à ces masses énormes qu’on appeloit diligences:
il est de l’intérêt le plus grand pour la République, de trouver un
mode qui réunisse la légèreté, la célérité, la sûreté & l’économie;
l’établissement des malles-postes paroît atteindre ce but.
Elles seront à quatre roues & pourront contenir six personnes,
outre le courier de la malle; une vache qui formera l’impériale de la
voiture, recevra les dépêches à destination fixe, & les dépêches de
route seront placées à côté du courier, en avant de ladite caisse.
Chaque voyageur ne pourra porter pour son usage, plus de dix livres
pesant. Les entrepreneurs pourront traiter de gré à gré avec les
maîtres de postes, pour la conduite de ces voitures. L’administrateur
général fixera l’heure à laquelle les dépêches devront être rendues à
leur destination, & la quotité de l’amende encourue par les
entrepreneurs, pour un retard notoire & non occasionné par force
majeure.
Le transport des personnes ainsi effectué, il est nécessaire que
leurs effets & bagages les suivent de près; en conséquence, il sera
établi des fourgons (les diligences actuelles pourront en tenir lieu, &
les suppléer jusqu’à ce que les nouveaux fourgons soient
construits). La caisse ne pourra contenir plus de six personnes, & la
voiture ne pourra être chargée de plus de vingt quintaux. Il sera payé
par personne dans le fourgon, la moitié du prix des places dans les
malles-postes. Ces fourgons seront conduits en relais & au pas. Les
maîtres de postes feront volontiers ces services.
 Quant aux lettres & aux journaux, les liaisons du commerce si
nécessaire au soutien de la chose publique, exigent sans doute le
rétablissement du départ journalier des couriers.
Nous avons regardé comme une calamité publique, la mesure
prise depuis six mois pour le transport des dépêches: les
correspondances ne pouvant avoir lieu que de deux jours l’un,
paralysent l’activité du commerce, & diminuent de moitié le revenu
des postes.
Dans notre plan, le service des principales routes de France se
fait tous les jours; chaque jour, six personnes peuvent être
transportées par la malle-poste dans les villes principales de
commerce; chaque jour, les fourgons chargés d’effets & de
marchandises, partent pour les mêmes destinations. De là, plus
d’activité pour le commerce; plus de fréquence dans les relations;
plus d’ensemble dans les communications, & un revenu plus fixe
pour le trésor public.
L’abus des franchises & des contre-seings ne doit point être
oublié, quand il s’agit de la restauration des finances: cette question
intéressante & délicate mérite une discussion approfondie: je
proposerai donc de renvoyer à une commission la question si les
franchises & les contre-seings peuvent être abolis.
Je pense donc, d’après ces considérations & d’après les
mesures que j’ai proposées, qu’il est plus avantageux pour le trésor
public & pour l’intérêt national d’affermer les postes aux lettres, les
messageries & la navigation intérieure, que de les conserver en
régie, même intéressées.
J’appuie donc les projets présentés par Delaunay (d’Angers);
Et je demande qu’il soit formé une commission pour examiner la
question de savoir 1o. si les franchises & contre-seings seront
supprimés ou conservés.

2o. s’il ne seroit pas avantageux de donner une forme

administrative au roulage.
 3o. S’il ne seroit pas avantageux de rétablir les cautionnemens
de tous les comptables dans les divers services des postes &
messageries.
DE L’IMPRIMERIE NATIONALE.
Fructidor, an IV.
 A u l e c t e u r

Cette version numérisée reproduit dans

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*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OPINION PAR
DEFRANCE, SUR LES POSTES ET MESSAGERIES: SÉANCE DU
28 FRUCTIDOR, AN IV ***

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