Sorry for the rather long break. The end of the semester had brought a lot of papers and exams to grade in addition to the writing deadlines that I am trying to keep for my dissertation. Now that classes are over it should be much easier to continue the daily postings.
I am also desperately trying to finish Yardley’s translation of Livy Books 21-30. You may recall how in previous posts I talked about how most of Livy has been lost. However, Books 1-10 and 21-45 are complete. To give you a sense of the scale of Livy’s project, Yardley’s translation of Books 21-30 takes up 600 pages. Livy had written a total of 142 books.
Today I’m looking at a passage about Gaius Servilius, a man that Livy is clearly not impressed by. The main thing that I’m interested in is how Livy describes being a prisoner of war as the equivalent of slavery. Such conceptions are important for how Romans think about manumission, since if slaves can be the equivalent of prisoners of war, then manumission can easily be conceived as dangerous for the same reason that freeing prisoners of war is dangerous.
“The Consul Gaius Servilius had done nothing worthy of note in his area of responsibility, Etruria, nor in Gaul, into which he had also gone. He did, however, deliver his father Gaius Servilius, along with Gaius Lutatius, after they had been enslaved for fifteen years, both men having been taken prisoner by the Boii near the village of Tannetum. He then returned to Rome, flanked by his father and Catulus, his reputation enhanced by a splendid act that was personal rather than official in nature.” (Livy 30.19 trans. Yardley).
Also important is that Livy does not describe this rescue as a manumission. Again, this is important because he had previously described Gaius Servilius as being enslaved. As a result, this example from Livy shows that leaving slavery does not always require manumission. I would further argue that Livy does not use the language of manumission in this class because he doesn’t see the senior Gaius Servilius’ capture as doing anything that harms his status as a free citizen.
I am also desperately trying to finish Yardley’s translation of Livy Books 21-30. You may recall how in previous posts I talked about how most of Livy has been lost. However, Books 1-10 and 21-45 are complete. To give you a sense of the scale of Livy’s project, Yardley’s translation of Books 21-30 takes up 600 pages. Livy had written a total of 142 books.
Today I’m looking at a passage about Gaius Servilius, a man that Livy is clearly not impressed by. The main thing that I’m interested in is how Livy describes being a prisoner of war as the equivalent of slavery. Such conceptions are important for how Romans think about manumission, since if slaves can be the equivalent of prisoners of war, then manumission can easily be conceived as dangerous for the same reason that freeing prisoners of war is dangerous.
“The Consul Gaius Servilius had done nothing worthy of note in his area of responsibility, Etruria, nor in Gaul, into which he had also gone. He did, however, deliver his father Gaius Servilius, along with Gaius Lutatius, after they had been enslaved for fifteen years, both men having been taken prisoner by the Boii near the village of Tannetum. He then returned to Rome, flanked by his father and Catulus, his reputation enhanced by a splendid act that was personal rather than official in nature.” (Livy 30.19 trans. Yardley).
Also important is that Livy does not describe this rescue as a manumission. Again, this is important because he had previously described Gaius Servilius as being enslaved. As a result, this example from Livy shows that leaving slavery does not always require manumission. I would further argue that Livy does not use the language of manumission in this class because he doesn’t see the senior Gaius Servilius’ capture as doing anything that harms his status as a free citizen.