SPQR X: A Point of Law

by John Maddox Roberts

  GLOSSARY

  (Definitions apply to the year 703 of the Republic.)

  Arms Like everything else in Roman society, weapons were strictly regulated by class. The straight, double-edged sword and dagger of the legions were classed as “honorable.”

  The gladius was a short, broad, double-edged sword borne by Roman soldiers. It was designed primarily for stabbing. The pugio was also a dagger used by soldiers.

  The caestus was a boxing glove, made of leather straps and reinforced by bands, plates, or spikes of bronze. The curved, single-edged sword or knife called a sica was “infamous.” Sicas were used in the arena by Thracian gladiators and were carried by street thugs. One ancient writer says that its curved shape made it convenient to carry sheathed beneath the armpit, showing that gangsters and shoulder holsters go back a long way.

  Carrying of arms within the pomerium (the ancient city boundary marked out by Romulus) was forbidden, but the law was ignored in troubled times. Slaves were forbidden to carry weapons within the City, but those used as bodyguards could carry staves or clubs. When street fighting or assassinations were common, even senators went heavily armed, and even Cicero wore armor beneath his toga from time to time.

  Shields were not common except as gladiatorial equipment. The large shield (scutum) of the legions was unwieldy in narrow streets, but bodyguards might carry the small shield (parma) of the light-armed auxiliary troops. These came in handy when the opposition took to throwing rocks and roof tiles.

  Balnea Roman bathhouses were public and were favored meeting places for all classes. Customs differed with time and locale. In some places there were separate bathhouses for men and women. Pompeii had a bathhouse with a dividing wall between men’s and women’s sides. At some times women used the baths in the mornings, men in the afternoon. At others, mixed bathing was permitted. The balnea of the republican era were far more modest than the tremendous structures of the later Empire, but some imposing facilities were built during the last years of the Republic.

  Basilica A meeting place of merchants and for the administration of justice. Among them were the Basilica Aemilia (aka Basilica Fulvia and Basilica Julia), the Basilica Opimia, the Basilica Portia, and the Basilica Sempronia (the latter devoted solely for business purposes).

  Campus Martius A field outside the old city wall, formerly the assembly area and drill field for the legions of old, named after its altar to Mars, now a prosperous suburb growing full of expensive businesses and fine houses.

  Centuriate Assembly The Centuriate Assembly (comitia centuriata) was a voting unit made up of all male citizens in military service. It seemingly dealt with major policy decisions, but by the Roman historical period the votes were largely symbolic and almost always positive, usually taken when decisions had, not already only been made, but sometimes even acted upon. The body was divided into five different parts based on wealth; the result was that the highest level or two always won, and the lowest classes were not even called upon to vote.

  Centuries Literally, “one hundred men.” From greatest antiquity, Rome’s citizens had been organized into centuries for military purposes. They assembled by their centuries for the yearly muster to be assigned to their legions. Since this was a convenient time to hold elections and vote upon important issues, they voted by centuries as well. Each man could cast a vote, but the century voted as a whole. By the late Republic, it was strictly a voting distinction. The legions had centuries as well, though they usually numbered sixty to eighty men.

  Cerialia The annual festival in honor of the goddess Ceres, the Greek Demeter, who was imported to Rome in accordance with an interpretation of the Sybilline Books.

  College of Augurs Augurs had the task of interpreting omens sent by the gods, usually thunder and lightening and the flights of birds. An augurate was for life, and new augurs were co-opted by the serving priests. The augurate was largely a political appointment and was a mark of great prestige. Augurs could call an end to official business by interpreting unfavorable omens, and this became a potent political tool. The lituus, a crook-topped staff, was a symbol of this sacred office.

  Curia The meetinghouse of the Senate, located in the Forum, also applied to a meeting place in general. They included the Curia Hostilia, Curia Pompey, and Curia Julia. By tradition they were prominently located with position to the sky to observe omens.

  Curule A curule office conferred magisterial dignity. Those holding it were privileged to sit in a curule chair—a folding camp chair that became a symbol of Roman officials sitting in judgment.

  Duumvir A duumvirate was a board of two men. Many Italian towns were governed by duumviri. A duumvir was also a Roman admiral, probably dating from a time when the Roman navy was commanded by two senators.

  Eagles The eagle was sacred to Jupiter, and from the time of Caius Marius gilded eagles were the standards of the legions. Thus, a soldier served “with the eagles.”

  Extortion court A court presided over by a praetor that dealt only in cases of extortion, blackmail, and protection rackets, a plague of the time.

  Families and Names Roman citizens usually had three names. The given name (praenomen) was individual, but there were only about eighteen of them: Marcus, Lucius, etc. Certain praenomens were used only in a single family: Appius was used only by the Claudians, Mamercus only by the Aemilians, and so forth. Only males had praenomens. Daughters were given the feminine form of the father’s name: Aemilia for Aemilius, Julia for Julius, Valeria for Valerius, etc.

  Next came the nomen. This was the name of the clan (gens). All members of a gens traced their descent from a common ancestor, whose name they bore: Julius, Furius, Licinius, Junius, Tullius, to name a few. Patrician names always ended in ius. Plebeian names often had different endings. The name of the clan collectively was always in the feminine form, e.g., Aemilii.

  A subfamily of a gens is the stirps. Stirps is an anthropological term. It is similar to the Scottish clan system, where the family name “Ritchie” for instance, is a stirps of the Clan MacIntosh. The cognomen gave the name of the stirps, i.e., Caius Julius Caesar. Caius of the stirps Caesar of gens Julia.

  The name of the family branch (cognomen) was frequently anatomical: Naso (nose), Ahenobarbus (bronzebeard), Sulla (splotchy), Niger (dark), Rufus (red), Caesar (curly), and many others. Some families did not use cognomens. Mark Antony was just Marcus Antonius, no cognomen.

  Other names were honorifics conferred by the Senate for outstanding service or virtue: Germanicus (conqueror of the Germans), Africanus (conqueror of the Africans), Pius (extraordinary filial piety).

  Freed slaves became citizens and took the family name of their master. Thus the vast majority of Romans named, for instance, Cornelius would not be patricians of that name, but the descendants of that family’s freed slaves. There was no stigma attached to slave ancestry.

  Adoption was frequent among noble families. An adopted son took the name of his adoptive father and added the genetive form of his former nomen. Thus when Caius Julius Caesar adopted his great-nephew Caius Octavius, the latter became Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus.

  All these names were used for formal purposes such as official documents and monuments. In practice, nearly every Roman went by a nickname, usually descriptive and rarely complimentary. Usually it was the Latin equivalent of Gimpy, Humpy, Lefty, Squint-eye, Big Ears, Baldy, or something of the sort. Romans were merciless when it came to physical peculiarities.

  Fasces A bundle of rods bound around with an ax projecting from the middle. They symbolized a Roman magistrate’s power of corporal and capital punishment and were carried by the lictors who accompanied the curule magistrates, the Flamen Dialis, and the proconsuls and propraetors who governed provinces.

  First Citizen In Latin: Princeps. Originally the most prestigious senator, permitted to speak first on all important issues and set the order of debate. Augustus, the first emperor, usurped the title in perpetuity. Decius detests him so much that he will not use either his
name (by the time of the writing it was Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus) or the honorific Augustus, voted by the toadying Senate. Instead he will refer to him only as the First Citizen. Princeps is the origin of the modern word “prince.”

  Flamines (See priesthoods.)

  Floralia Festival of the goddess Flora.

  Forum An open meeting and market area. The premier forum was the Forum Romanum, located on the low ground surrounded by the Capitoline, Palatine, and Caelian Hills. It was surrounded by the most important temples and public buildings. Roman citizens spent much of their day there. The courts met outdoors in the Forum when the weather was good. When it was paved and devoted solely to public business, the Forum Romanum’s market functions were transferred to the Forum Boarium, the Cattle Market near the Circus Maximus. Small shops and stalls remained along the northern and southern peripheries, however.

  Freedman A manumitted slave. Formal emancipation conferred full rights of citizenship except for the right to hold office. Informal emancipation conferred freedom without voting rights. In the second or at least third generation, a freedman’s descendants became full citizens.

  Games Ludus, pl. Ludi Public religious festivals put on by the state. There were a number of long-established ludi, the earliest being the Roman Games (ludi Romani) in honor of Jupiter Optimus Maximus and held in September. The ludi Megalenses were held in April, as were the ludi Cereri in honor of Ceres, the grain goddess and the ludi Floriae in honor of Flora, the goddess of flowers. The ludi Apollinares were celebrated in July. In October were celebrated the ludi Capitolini, and the final games of the year were the Plebeian Games (ludi Plebeii) in November. Games usually ran for several days except for the Capitoline games, which ran for a single day. Games featured theatrical performances, processions, sacrifices, public banquets, and chariot races. They did not feature gladiatorial combats. The gladiator games, called munera, were put on by individuals as funeral rites.

  Imperium The ancient power of kings to summon and lead armies, to order and forbid, and to inflict corporal and capital punishment. Under the Republic, the imperium was divided among the consuls and praetors, but they were subject to appeal and intervention by the tribunes in their civil decisions and were answerable for their acts after leaving office. Only a dictator had unlimited imperium.

  Insula Literally, “island.” A detached house or block of flats let out to poor families. Fire was their deadliest enemy.

  Iudex An investigating official appointed by a praetor.

  Iugerum, pl. iugera An iugerum was a Roman area measurement equivalent to about 5/8 of an acre, where an acre is a square of four sides of 208.71 feet or 63.61 meters, thus an iugarum was 130.44 feet or 39.75 meters per side of a square. It traditionally was the amount of land that a yoke of oxen could plow in a day. A plebeian family could subsist on the annual income from 7 to 10 iugera. Publius Manilius Scrofa’s estate of 200 iugera would be about 125 acres or nearly 5 miles square.

  Janitor A slave doorkeeper, so called for Janus, god of gateways. In some houses they were chained to the door.

  Legion They formed the fighting force of the Roman army. Through its soldiers, the Empire was able to control vast stretches of territory and people. They were known for their discipline, training, ability, and military prowess.

  Lictor Bodyguards, usually freedmen, who accompanied magistrates and the Flamen Dialis, bearing the fasces. They summoned assemblies, attended public sacrifices, and carried out sentences of punishment. Lupanar A brothel.

  Lustrum A ceremony of purification performed every five years by the census.

  Master of Horse (Magister Equitum) When the Senate named a dictator, the dictator immediately named a Master of Horse, who was his second in command, charged with carrying out his decrees. Essentially, the enforcer and hatchetman. Marc Antony was Caesar’s Magister Equitum.

  Military Terms The Roman legionary system was quite unlike any military organization in existence today. The regimental system used by all modern armies date from the Wars of Religion of the sixteenth century. These began with companies under captains that grouped into regiments under colonels, then regiments grouped into divisions under generals, and by the Napoleonic wars they had acquired higher organizations such as corps, army groups, and so forth, with an orderly chain of command from the marshal down through the varying degrees of generals, colonels, majors, captains, sergeants, corporals, and finally the privates in the ranks.

  The Roman legions had nothing resembling such an organization. At the time of the SPQR novels the strength of a legion was theoretically 6,000 men, but the usual strength was around 4,800. These were divided into sixty centuries. Originally, a century had included one hundred men, but during that time there were about eighty. Each century was commanded by a centurion, making sixty centurions to the legion. Six centuries made a cohort. Each centurion had a optio as his second in command. The centurionate was not a single rank, but a complex of hierarchy and seniority, many details of which are obscure. We know that there were first-rank and second-rank centurions. The senior centurion of the legion was primus pilus, the “first spear.” He was centurion of the first century of the first cohort and outranked all others. Centurions were promoted from the ranks for ability and they were the nearest thing a legion had to permanent officers. All others were elected or appointed politicians.

  Legionaries were Roman citizens. They fought as heavy infantry fully armored and armed with the heavy javelin (pilum), the short Spanish sword (gladius Hispaniensis), and the straight, double-edged dagger (pugio). They carried a very large shield (scutum) that at that time was usually oval and curved to fit around the body. Besides holding the center of the battle line, legionaries were engineers and operated the siege weapons: catapults, team-operated crossbows, and so forth.

  Attached to each legion were usually an equal number of auxilia, noncitizen troops often supplied by allies. These were lightly armed troops, skirmishers, archers, slingers, and other missile troops, and cavalry. The legion had a small citizen cavalry force but depended upon the auxilia for the bulk of the cavalry. Through long service an auxiliary could earn citizen status, which was hereditary and his sons could serve in the legions. Auxilia received lower pay and had lower status, but they were essential when operating in broken terrain or heavy forest, where the legions could not be used to advantage. In battle they often held the flanks and usually, with the cavalry, were charged with pursuing a broken and fleeing enemy, preventing them from reforming or counterattacking.

  There were other formations within a legion, some of them obscure. One was the antesignani, “those who fight before the standards.” Already nearly obsolete, they were apparently an elite strike force, though how it was manned and used is uncertain. Apparently exceptional bravery was required for assignment to the antesignani.

  There were awards for valor. Greatest of these were the crowns. The Civic Crown (corona civica) was awarded for saving the life of a fellow citizen in battle. The Wall Crown (corona muralis) was awarded to the first man atop an enemy wall or battlement. The Grass Crown (corona graminea) was awarded by the centurions to a general who had won a great victory. It was braided from grass growing on the battlefield. There was great competition among officers for the crowns, because they made election to higher office a near certainty. The citizens loved them. For the rankers there were bracelets awarded for valor. Among Roman men only soldiers wore bracelets, and these only as decorations for bravery. Torques, twisted Gallic neck-rings in miniature form, were also awarded in pairs, slung over the neck on a scarf. Centurions might be awarded phalerae: seven or nine massive silver discs worn on a harness atop the armor. Apparently these were for exceptional service rather than a single feat.

  In Decius’s time the legions were still formed as a unit, served for a number of years, then discharged collectively. Even when on many years’ service, they were ceremonially disbanded, then reformed every year, with the soldier’s oath renewed each time. This archaic practice
was extremely troublesome, and when a few years later Augustus reformed the military system, legions became permanent institutions, their strength kept up by continuous enlistment of new soldiers as old ones retired or died. Many of the Augustan legions remained in service continuously for centuries.

  The commander of a legion might be a consul or praetor, but more often he was a proconsul or propraetor who, having served his year in Rome, went out to govern a province. Within his province he was commander of its legions. He might appoint a legate (legatus) as his assistant. The legate was subject to approval by the Senate. He might choose a more experienced military man to handle the army work while the promagistrate concentrated upon civil affairs, but a successful war was important to a political career, while enriching the commander. For an extraordinary command, such as Caesar’s in Gaul, or Pompey’s against the pirates, the promagistrate might be permitted a number of legates.

  Under the commander were Tribunes of the Soldiers, usually young men embarking upon their political careers. Their duties were entirely at the discretion of the commander. Caesar usually told his tribunes to sit back, keep their mouths shut, and watch the experienced men work. But a military tribune might be given a responsible position, even command of a legion. The young Cassius Longinus as tribune prosecuted a successful war in Syria after his commander was dead.

  Munera Special games, not part of the official calendar, at which gladiators were exhibited. They were originally funeral games and were always dedicated to the dead.

  Offices The political system of the Roman Republic was completely different from any today. The terms we have borrowed from the Romans have very different meanings in the modern context. “Senators” were not elected and did not represent a particular district. “Dictator” was a temporary office conferred by the Senate in times of emergency. “Republic” simply meant a governmental system that was not a hereditary monarchy. By the time of the SPQR series the power of former Roman kings was shared among a number of citizen assemblies.