From no personhood to manumitted man…
by Michael Lambert
October 2022
From no personhood to manumitted man…
by Michael Lambert
October 2022
Being a mango, variously translated as either a dealer or a slave-monger, is testing
There are expenses, and expenses, and even more expenses. You need an import-export license and on sale of the slave,
you pay a sales tax. And of course, the prospective slave could always sicken and die before market day
A note for our era, racism does not exist in the Empire; there is no colour discrimination. Yet, there is social differentiation
based on status: whether you are a civis, citizen or; peregrinus, foreigner or; servus or serva, male slave or female slave
The State does not intervene in the master-slave relationship. The relationship is a closed world. The dominus, the master alone decides the nature of the relationship. Did anyone protest?
Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger, a philosopher and statesman, was advisor to the emperor Nero. He spoke about the state of slavery. Seneca asserted the proposition that slaves were human beings, not chattels; and should be treated accordingly. Slaves, however were critical to the economy such that nobody believed it was possible to do without them. What occurs over time is a gradual improvement of the slave’s personal state
During the Republic, the slave’s circumstance was harsh. Under the Empire the slave gained permissions, not rights
If a slave earned money, he could retain it with a view to purchasing own freedom. He could marry. The marriage was a form of servile matrimony. A child or children born of such a union was or were the property of the dominus. Mistreatment declined. The dominus no longer had the prerogative to slay a slave
Slaves regained their freedom through manumission. A slave had no personhood. The slave’s only legal protection was under his master’s property law. There are several routes to acquiring manumission. One course of action, the dominus can grant manumission through his Will. The formal approach was to go to the Forum Trajanus, to the Basilica Ulpia which housed the Atrium Libertatus, the House of Liberty. The Atrium Libertatus held the census roll, which recorded the names of all citizens. A manumitted man was libertus, a woman liberta
Atrium Libertatus
The Formal Act of manumissio vindicta, Freedom by the Rod
On the day of liberty, the slave shaved his head. He wore the pileus, the cap of liberty. The cap was made from soft, undyed wool, pressed into felt. The ceremony began with the slave being called forward, the servos ad pileum vocare, a summons to liberty. These words invoked the ancient promise to take up arms to defend liberty. The dominus now presented the slave to the magistratus. The dominus spoke and stated the causa, the grounds on which the manumission is to be granted. The lictor, an officer of the court touched the slave’s head with the festuca, a rod and declared the slave a freeman, saying, ex iure quintium that is vindicavit in libertatem, freedom by the rod. The lictor then turned the new free man around to face the assembled court, this is the act of letting go, emisit e manu or misit manu. The magistratus declared the former slave: free
The free man’s name is entered in the census
The libertus customarily took the former owner’s family name, nomen and clan name, gens. By example, Marcus is a personal name, with Tullius Cicero respectively the nomen and gens
Not all citizens held the same freedoms and privileges. A liberta could become a citizen; but tradition, custom, and conservatism circumscribed behaviour. Social codes dictated conduct in the public and private spheres. There were also legal restrictions, such as; a woman was neither permitted to vote nor to hold public office
A libertus could not be a sacerdos, priest to the emperor or hold similar high offices. A libertus however could become an apparitor, civil servant or scriba, with the sense of being either a public clerk or secretary. The libertus could accumulate as much wealth as he wanted. His sons and daughters held full citizenship
liber et erectus