In Roman comedy, there are basically three ways that slaves are freed:
1) A loyal slave is rewarded with manumission. This slave is always a man.
2) A beautiful woman is bought and manumitted by a young man who is in love with her.
3) A stranger explains that the slave was born a citizen and was enslaved unlawfully.
Plautus, being a clever writer, will sometimes play upon these different expectations. For example, in the Captivi, there is a foolish young man named Philocrates and his loyal slave Tyndarus. The two are captured in battle and then sold to an old man Hegio. Because Tyndarus’ loyalty, he agrees to pretend to be his master so that his master can return home as a messenger in order to collect a ransom.
The Captivi is a fascinating example of how the Romans struggled to differentiate “true” slaves from “happenstance” slaves. The Romans masters owned a lot of slaves but they also faced the rather terrifying prospect of being enslaved themselves because of vicissitudes like war or pirates. While Philocrates and Tyndarus are in Hegio’s captivity, Philocrates maintains his domination over Tyndarus despite their present circumstances. In this context, such insistence is actually a subversion of their current enslavement: by insisting on following his loyalty to his old master, Tyndarus justifies lying and manipulating his current master Hegio. Hegio’s frustration is the result of Philocrates refusing to think of himself as a slave, despite having been captured, sold and ultimately disguised as his own slave Tyndarus. For the Romans, Philocrates’ status as a citizen is secure: he need only wait until the conclusion of the play.
Going back to my initial point about manumission, by stressing Tyndarus’ loyalty, Plautus builds up our expectation that Philocrates will manumit as a reward. But instead Tyndarus turns out to actually be Hegio’s long lost son and therefore “actually” a citizen. Nonetheless, Tyndarus’s identity as a citizen isn’t solely dependent on his lineage: as Philocrates and others recount how he was sold to Philocrates’ family, they note that as a both he received an education similar to Philocrates himself. As a result of this education, Tyndarus has some preparation to live as a citizen, rather than simply as a freedman.
1) A loyal slave is rewarded with manumission. This slave is always a man.
2) A beautiful woman is bought and manumitted by a young man who is in love with her.
3) A stranger explains that the slave was born a citizen and was enslaved unlawfully.
Plautus, being a clever writer, will sometimes play upon these different expectations. For example, in the Captivi, there is a foolish young man named Philocrates and his loyal slave Tyndarus. The two are captured in battle and then sold to an old man Hegio. Because Tyndarus’ loyalty, he agrees to pretend to be his master so that his master can return home as a messenger in order to collect a ransom.
The Captivi is a fascinating example of how the Romans struggled to differentiate “true” slaves from “happenstance” slaves. The Romans masters owned a lot of slaves but they also faced the rather terrifying prospect of being enslaved themselves because of vicissitudes like war or pirates. While Philocrates and Tyndarus are in Hegio’s captivity, Philocrates maintains his domination over Tyndarus despite their present circumstances. In this context, such insistence is actually a subversion of their current enslavement: by insisting on following his loyalty to his old master, Tyndarus justifies lying and manipulating his current master Hegio. Hegio’s frustration is the result of Philocrates refusing to think of himself as a slave, despite having been captured, sold and ultimately disguised as his own slave Tyndarus. For the Romans, Philocrates’ status as a citizen is secure: he need only wait until the conclusion of the play.
Going back to my initial point about manumission, by stressing Tyndarus’ loyalty, Plautus builds up our expectation that Philocrates will manumit as a reward. But instead Tyndarus turns out to actually be Hegio’s long lost son and therefore “actually” a citizen. Nonetheless, Tyndarus’s identity as a citizen isn’t solely dependent on his lineage: as Philocrates and others recount how he was sold to Philocrates’ family, they note that as a both he received an education similar to Philocrates himself. As a result of this education, Tyndarus has some preparation to live as a citizen, rather than simply as a freedman.