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Between bedroom and courtroom: legal and literary perspectives on slaves and the freed in Augustus’ adultery legislation Amy Bratton PhD Classics The University of Edinburgh 2016. Declaration of Own Work This thesis has been composed by the candidate, the work is the candidate’s own and the work has not been submitted for any degree or professional qualification except as specified. Signed: Date: 1 Acknowledgements This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support of so many people. To my friends who supported and encouraged me in so many ways from the beginning of my Masters (which really was the first step to my PhD) – helping me with essays and translations when I was floundering around trying to figure out how to actually write Classics essays, and quite frankly, write in general because I had almost completely forgotten, and for generally making me feel that I was not completely deluded for wanting to pursue doctoral research in the first place. I do not know where I would be and what I would be doing if I hadn’t met each and every one of you so thank-you. To my supervisors, Dr Ulrike Roth and Dr Paul du Plessis, for their invaluable feedback and input. I always knew when I had managed to write something acceptable, and, occasionally, good, and also when I had fallen short of the mark. I cannot thank both of you enough for this and for even agreeing to be my supervisors in the first place (sorry it took so long!). Your endless encouragement along the way has meant so incredibly much to me and I am incredibly grateful. And to my Mum and Dad, who have both been the inspiration for my academic achievements since I was a child and thought getting a PhD meant getting to wear a cool velvet hat to work every day. You have both always been so supportive and encouraging of my choice to pursue academia and have set such good examples that if I achieve only half of what you have done I will be pleased. Thank-you so, so much. 2 Table of Contents CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................... 7 1.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 7 1.2 CONTEXTUALISING THE LEX IULIA DE ADULTERIIS COERCENDIS ..... 9 1.3 THE SOURCES .......................................................................................................... 15 1.4 THE ‘GRAMMATICAL APPROACH’ .................................................................. 16 1.5 METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................... 18 1.6 MODERN LIMITATIONS: SCHOLARSHIP ON THE ROMAN FAMILIA, THE ADULTERY STATUTE, AND THE INTERACTIONS OF SLAVES AND FREEDMEN BETWEEN THE TWO ............................................................................ 20 1.7 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................... 24 CHAPTER TWO: JUST A LARGER FAMILY? - EXPLORING THE ROMAN MEANING OF FAMILIA ...................................................................... 26 2.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 26 2.2 WHY USING THE ROMAN MEANING OF FAMILIA IS IMPORTANT ........ 28 2.3 ULPIAN’S DESCRIPTION OF FAMILIA .............................................................. 32 2.4 FAMILIA, AN ESTATE OR PLACE OF SIGNIFICANCE ................................. 36 2.5 FAMILIA, A COLLECTION OF SLAVES ............................................................. 39 2.6 FAMILIA: SLAVES ‘UNDER THE SAME ROOF’ ............................................... 41 2.7 FAMILIA, SLAVES IN THE ‘GOVERNMENT HOUSEHOLD’ ......................... 43 2.8 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................... 44 CHAPTER THREE: ADULTERY WITHIN A FAMILIA – THE LEX IULIA DE ADULTERIIS COERCENDIS AND THE FAMILIA ..................................... 50 3.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 50 3.2 THE NATURE OF THE EVIDENCE ...................................................................... 51 3.3 WHAT IS ADULTERY? ........................................................................................... 52 3.4 WHAT IS STUPRUM? ............................................................................................... 55 3.5 ASPECTS OF THE FAMILIA AND SLAVES IN THE ADULTERY LAW ....... 57 3.6 THE ‘CULTURE’ OF THE ADULTERY LAW .................................................... 59 3.7 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................... 81 CHAPTER FOUR: LEGAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE INVOLVEMENT OF SLAVES AND FREEDMEN WITH ADULTERY ............................................... 86 4.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 86 4.2 THE EXPOSED AND HIDDEN ROLES OF SLAVES AND FREEDMEN IN THE LEX IULIA DE ADULTERIIS COERCENDIS .................................................... 86 4.3 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................... 112 CHAPTER FIVE: LITERARY REPRESENTATIONS OF THE INVOLVEMENT OF SLAVES AND FREEDMEN WITH ADULTERY ...... 115 5.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 115 5.2 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................... 118 5.3 SUETONIUS: AN AMBIGUOUS AFFAIR ........................................................... 119 5.4 TACITUS: AN IMPERIAL AFFAIR ..................................................................... 132 5.5 THE ELDER SENECA AND QUINTILIAN: A RHETORICAL AFFAIR? ..... 147 5.6 OVID: A WATCHFUL AFFAIR ............................................................................ 155 5.7 CONCLUSION: THE LITERARY PITCH .......................................................... 174 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................... 177 APPENDIX ............................................................................................................. 189 3 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................. 191 4 ABSTRACT This thesis offers an investigation into the roles of slaves and freedmen and the extent of their involvement in the Romans’ legal and literary discourse on adultery and the legislation introduced to address it – the lex Iulia de adulteriis coercendis. It also seeks to assert their place more firmly within the context of the Roman familia and explore what this means in the context of the adultery statute. This thesis reasserts the position of slaves and freedmen within the Roman familia as a whole and, more specifically, as individuals deserving and requiring of consideration within the context of the analysis of the adultery statute and other social legislation. A multi-disciplinary approach has been adopted in this thesis to address the multiple avenues apparent in the investigation. A detailed analysis of the primary extant source of the statute, found in Justinian’s Digest, was carried out to determine the extent of the inclusion of the servile and freed in adulterous relationships and how much consideration was shown to them by the legal writers, or jurists. As a corollary to this analysis, a range of literary works, from Ovid, the Elder Seneca, Quintilian, Tacitus and Suetonius, was examined to provide a counterpoint to the legal perspective on the inclusion of slaves and freedmen within adulterous relationships, and, subsequently, the familia. Re-assessing the roles of slaves and freedmen within adulterous relationships and the legislation aimed at controlling this crime also necessitates another reassessment – namely, that of the motivations behind the introduction of the statute itself. Notoriously difficult to determine, this thesis posits, in conclusion, that, rather than being an instrument of the moral indignation of the contemporary Roman population, the adultery legislation was instituted as an instrument of economic control to counter the potential dilution of the wealth of the elite of Rome by illegitimate children. Slaves and freedmen were, then, a crucial element of a deceptively complex piece of legislation typically assumed to affect and address members of the Roman elite only. 5 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 INTRODUCTION ‘Slave caught committing