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BANDITS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
felix, an imperial title, and the calling of himself Sulla, a name only recently
unpleasantly and deliberately recalled to memory, could be seen as acts of
provocation by the bandit which the emperor must – and, indeed, as events
were to show, did – interpret as a direct challenge. One other detail points
in this direction: according to Cassius Dio, Bulla’s band consisted of 600
men. Is it possible that this figure, too, had a symbolic content? 18 In circumstances
where a bandit uses his name to signal that he wants to be seen as
the antitype of the Roman emperor, it is not implausible to see in his 600strong
gang a reflection of the Roman Senate, the nominal strength of which
was also 600. Emperor and Senate represented the political leadership and
social elite of the Empire. In the mirror image offered by Bulla and his men,
he played the part of the emperor and they that of the Senate.
All further discussion should be prefaced by the following consideration.
Even if only part of what Cassius Dio says about Bulla Felix corresponds with
what actually occurred, we must constantly bear in mind that the former
was an intelligent man, close to the centre of the imperial government, who
knew his way around the corridors of power, civil and military, high and
low: someone with a precise understanding of court psychology.
3 The bandit and his opponent
Bulla and his band terrorised Italy for over two years, under the very noses
of the emperor and his army. Severus, we are told, was tireless in tracking
down Bulla, using a large force of troops specially detailed for the task;
however, thanks to his cunning, whenever the bandit was believed to have
been sighted, located or captured this never turned out to be the case. 19
Cassius Dio more than once reports on such breathtakingly audacious bandits
– the Spaniard, Corocotta, under Augustus, 20 and Claudius, active only a few
years before Bulla, also under Severus, in Judaea. 21 This pair, too, in spite
of every effort, evaded capture. Claudius (concerning whom more will be
said below) disappeared from history. It can have been no accident that the
infamous Corocotta shared his name with an exotic predator, well known to
circus audiences as a terrifying beast. 22 Augustus had put a price of 1,000,000
sesterces on his head – a huge sum, equivalent to the minimum property
requirement for membership of the Senate. In the end, Corocotta gave himself
up to the emperor. In view of his daring, Augustus is supposed not only
to have let this dangerous ‘predator’ go unpunished, but also to have given
him in full the bounty payable to his captor. Dio uses Corocotta to illustrate
aspects of Augustus’ personality: 23 the emperor’s right royal response to the
bandit, which he had pat, manifests a strong sense of humour and unshakeable
self-confidence. In dealings with desperate villains, the first princeps
set his successors high standards. The extent to which Septimius Severus
came up to these standards will be seen in the history of Bulla Felix. In this
respect, any optimistic expectations will be disappointed.
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