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IMPERIAL CHALLENGERS: BULLA FELIX AND MATERNUS
the circumstances which could, during the reign of Septimius Severus, have
led to a drastic worsening of the particular situation of imperial freedmen,
causing members of this otherwise privileged group to become members of
a bandit gang. There is no easy way of answering this question directly. One
can say that Severus is supposed to have closely monitored the conduct of
imperial freedmen. 50 However, this can hardly be seen as enough to drive
them into widespread revolt. The suspicion therefore arises that Dio, the
better to carry his argument, worked up a somewhat minor detail he found
concerning the real Bulla – that his band included some imperial freedmen.
Dio did this, in the first instance not to discredit Bulla’s movement, but
rather to cast a poor light on the court, which conforms with the general
line of criticism to be found in the whole episode.
However this may be, the social composition of Bulla’s men is much
less closely definable than is initially apparent. It is very unlikely that the
imperial freedmen formed the only sizeable group among the supposed 600.
In a broad range of people, brought together from different backgrounds,
room should be allowed for groups other than starving slaves and dissident
imperial freedmen, which directly or indirectly as a result of the civil wars
following the death of Commodus found themselves in the position of outsiders.
There were, for example, cashiered praetorian guardsmen, 51 followers
of failed usurpers and victims of confiscations, all of whom have previously
been proposed as being part of Bulla’s movement. 52 Elsewhere, Dio himself
deplored the fact that Septimius Severus had ruined the youth of Italy
through his reformation of the Praetorian Guard, by which they were excluded
from service in this elite unit, and which turned increasingly to
brigandage and gladiatorial combat. 53
Though a plausible case can be made for saying that slaves and freedmen
played at least a secondary role in Bulla’s organisation, it remains undeniable
that the strong streak of social criticism – as expressed in his message to
representatives of state authority (not to mention, as noted above, his gentlemanly
conduct in the presence of his victims) – was not a characteristic of
him as an authentic historical figure. 54 This conclusion returns us to Dio’s
literary predilections, and his stylisation of Bulla by virtue of his advocacy
of the decent treatment of slaves, as a ‘good’ example – the mirror image of
Severus – and of this emperor, by virtue of the social conditions for which he
was responsible, as a ‘bad’ one.
At the start of the final section of his story of Bulla Felix, 55 Dio says that
when Severus was apprised of Bulla’s various activities he became very angry
with himself for not yet having proved himself a match for a bandit in Italy
while others were winning wars for him in Britain. 56 If, as Dio suggests,
Severus really took an interest in the affair, this would indicate that he saw
the destruction of Bulla as a personal challenge. 57 On the other hand, the
fact that he is able to report the emperor’s inner doubts again indicates the
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