Treveri Liberi Antea by H

TREVERI LIBERI ANTEA

H.-J. VAN DAM

In his Geography of Gaul Pliny calls the Treveri liberi antea (N.H. IV 106). Many historians, either or not using Pliny's description as a starting-point, have tried to fix the date of the Treveri's loss of privileges. The common interpretation is that the loss of libertas is in some way connected with the revolt of Florus and Sacrovir in A.D. 21. C. Jullian 1) seems to have been the first to explicitly state this view. He thought that "a la suite du cens de 14-16" tributes were imposed which are to be reckoned among the causes of the revolt. This thesis was developed by A. Grenier, who made use of an article by Tenney Frank 2) ; he combines, as Jullian had already done, the passage from Pliny with Suet. Tib. 49 : Plurimis etiam civitatibus et privatis veteres immunitates et ius metallorum ac vectigalia adempta (sc. a Tiberio), and with Tac. Ann. III 40, 4, where Florus and Sacrovir seditiously disserebant de continuatione tributoyum. Tiberius, he concludes, imposed a purportedly temporary tribute on the civitates liberae and foedeyatae (the passage from Suet.), at the be- ginning of his reign, in order to meet the demands of the German campaigns. This tribute, made necessary by the precarious financial situation, continued to be levied (continuatio tyibutoyum) after the campaigns had been stopped, which caused discontent; probably the old immunities were altogether rescinded after the rebellion of 21 3). G. W. Clarke, in a somewhat indecisive article, covers the 1) Histoire de la Gaule, IV (1913), 154-5. 2) T. Frank, The Financial Crisis of 33 A.D., AJP 56 (1935), 336-41 ; A. Grenier, Tibère et la Gaule, REL 14 (1936), 373-88 and in E.S.A.R. 111 (1937), 499-500; 514-8. 3) It should be noted, however, that Grenier quotes the passage from Pliny to illustrate the libertas of the Treveri at the time, and makes no explicit use of the phrase liberi antea. Nor is Christopherson's "most reasonable alternative" (see below) proposed as such by Grenier. 62 same ground, making much of a passage from Tacitus' Histories (IV 17, 4, already cited by Grenier), where Civilis states in 69 A.D. multos adhuc in Galliis vivere ante tributa genitos. This, he thinks, can only be true if the repeal of immunities, among others for the Treveri, followed on the revolt, and so Libeyi antea must mean "be- fore 21 A.D." 4). Finally, S. L. Dyson in his recent survey of native revolts, seems satisfied with the connection between the insurrec- tion of Florus and Sacrovir and the Treveri's loss of libertas 5). However, the prior opinion is that the Treveri lost their libeytas in consequence of their revolt in 29 B.C. (cf. Dio LI 20, 5 ; 2z,5), either in 29, or with the census of 27 B.C., as Lipsius already argued 6). The earlier date, viz. 29, has recently been advocated by A. J. Christopherson, who rightly criticizes Clarke's article, both for its inner contradictions and the irrelevancy of Histories IV 17, 4') : "Tiberius (was forced) to readjust the tax system either by revoking the tax immunities or by imposing a temporary tribute on all tribal states regardless of their privileges (with the latter alternative ap- pearing to be the most reasonable)". This suffices to explain Hist. IV 17, 4. It demonstrates that this tribute is not connected with a loss of libertas for the Treveri in 29 B.C. Christopherson is wrong, however, in asserting that Clarke is unaware of the theses of Frank and Grenier 8) ; it should also be noted that Christopherson agrees with Grenier on the explanation of continuatio tyibutorum, but dis- agrees fundamentally with Grenier's view that the Treveri lost their libertas after 21 B.C. While I concur with Christopherson that there is no reason to suggest a date for the repeal of tax immunities subsequent to and

4) G. W. Clarke, The Treveri and the Tribute in Tacitus, Historia 14 (1965), 335-41. Cf. Grenier, E.S.A.R., 500 and REL, 386 with n. 5. 5) S. L. Dyson, Native Revolt Patterns in the Roman Empire, in: H. Tem- porini and W. Haase, Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, 11 3, 157. Cf. also F. B. Marsh, The Reign of the Emperor Tiberius (Cambridge 1939), 138-9 ; J. J. Hatt, Histoire de la Gaule romaine (Paris 1959), 123. 6) According to Clarke, op. cit., 337, n. 11. P. A. Brunt, The Revolt of Vindex and the Fall of Nero, Latomus 18 (1959), 551 n. i, merely remarks that the Treveri perhaps forfeited freedom for a revolt in 29 B.C. 7) A. J. Christopherson, Supplementary Note, Historia 18 (1968), 365-6. 8) Cf. Clarke, op. cit., 338 n. 17.