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BANDITS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
superiors. This communication amounted to something of a social criticism.
The centurion was supposed to say to his masters that they should give their
slaves enough to eat, to prevent them turning to brigandage. 42 Previous
recognition that a humane attitude on the part of slave owners was a precondition
for peaceful coexistence between free and unfree may be seen as
the moral of the story of Drimacus, a slave leader from Chios in the Hellenistic
period. 43 However, Bulla’s case is closer to that of Bato, leader of the
Pannonian/Dalmatian rebellion of ad 6–9. Bato applied the same sentiment
to the relationship between the Roman provincial administration and its
peoples when he reproached his conqueror, Tiberius, with the words that it
was the Romans who were solely to blame for his people’s resistance, since
to tend their flocks they sent not dogs or shepherds, but wolves. 44 Again, we
owe Bato’s pronouncement, which is probably just as historically reliable as
that of Bulla, to Dio, which allows us to recognise this form of accentuation
as yet another of his favourite literary devices. In a variation of the ancient
exemplary tradition, Dio formulates incontrovertibly correct propositions in
order to take highly charged situations of conflict over legality and legitimacy
to their point of climax.
It is very likely that the dictum about feeding slaves as it has come down
to us in Bulla’s message was one of Dio’s literary creations. However, it
cannot be ruled out that the malnourishment of slaves was becoming a
pressing problem under the Severans. The jurist, Ulpian, who, as assessor to
the praetorian prefect, Papinian, might well have been directly involved in
hunting down Bulla’s gang, 45 affirmed in his commentary on the Tres libri
iuris civilis of Sabinus that persons who acquired the usufruct of slaves by
right of inheritance had to employ these slaves in the capacities in which
they had been trained, continuing: ‘However, the adequate feeding and
clothing of slaves should depend on their status and rank.’ 46
Dio nuances Bulla’s piece of advice in adding, by way of explanation, that
he had taken a considerable number of Kaisareioi into his band, of whom
some had received too little reward for their former services, and others
nothing at all. It has been repeatedly inferred from this that Bulla recruited
large numbers of imperial slaves. 47 Related to this, it has been further proposed
that at this time there occurred a particular deterioration in the living
conditions of these people, taking them well beyond the point at which they
were prepared to turn to mass flight. Such conclusions are, however, influenced
by Bulla’s explicit exhortation to owners to nourish their slaves (doulous).
Though here Dio has slaves (douloi) specifically in mind, in his gloss he states
that it was Kaisereioi who had joined Bulla. And Kaisereioi were usually not
slaves, but imperial freedmen. 48 This can also be demonstrated very clearly
from his general use of the word. 49 Further, Dio’s explanation, with its
reference to payment for services being low or withheld, is not appropriate
to people of servile status. Given such congruence, it is natural to ask after
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