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BANDITS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
Septimius Severus learned that Bulla Felix was still undefeated, he too
reacted angrily. He sent out an officer of his guard with a force of cavalry
to arrest the robber. They were also threatened with punishment if they
failed to bag Maternus. 178 Both passages follow the same pattern and both
have the same function: to show that the situation had become intolerable,
that it had to be resolved without delay, and that it was now being given
top priority. In both cases the change is brought about by imperial fury
related to emperors’ feelings of impotence given the blatant incompetence of
their policing authorities. In particular, the entrusting of these authorities
with the running down and safe custody of bandits is a blunder of which
Dio makes various criticisms. The Bukoloi were able to free their comrades
from prison because Roman troops were taken by surprise. Corocotta and
Claudius could not at first be captured. The Roman army hunted Bulla Felix
and Maternus for a long time in vain.
We come to our second example. Both Bulla Felix and Maternus perished
through treachery. Bulla was betrayed by his mistress, Maternus by a number
of his own men. In both cases those responsible belonged to the innermost
circle of the bandits’ acquaintances. That the bandit challenger is invincible
other than by treachery is, of course, a literary convention. In this respect,
Viriatus may be seen as the prototype. 179 However, within the repertoire
of the challenger model there are alternatives to fall through betrayal. Consider
the case of Tacfarinas, who, faced by inevitable defeat, threw himself
into the hail of Roman weaponry and in this way escaped capture. 180 In Dio,
however, all the challengers are invincible. Corocotta gave himself up and
was richly rewarded for his daring with immunity from prosecution and
payment of the price which had been put on his head. Claudius chaffed
Septimius Severus then vanished for ever. 181 Bulla and Maternus remained
unvanquished until they were betrayed.
We reach our third and final example. Maternus plans the end of
Commodus, a scenario judged by scholars as a fiction ‘particularly typical
of Herodian’. 182 For this, Maternus chooses a bizarre backdrop – the festival
of Hilaria, celebrated on 25 March and the high point of which was a fancy
dress parade. 183 Maternus appears as a praetorian guardsman in order to get
near to Commodus. Fancy dress is not just a characteristic of the Hilaria but,
as we have already experienced on several occasions, it is one of Dio’s favourite
motifs in his accounts of bandits. We saw it first in the revolt of the
Bukoloi, who freed their comrades dressed as women, and we saw it again in
the story of the bandit Claudius, who made a fool of Septimius Severus while
dressed as a Roman soldier. Bulla Felix impersonated others on no fewer
than three occasions: first as a Roman magistrate, when he released his own
men from capture; next as one of his own men, making out that he wanted
to betray himself; and finally as a senior official, who gave a hoodwinked
centurion the message about feeding the slaves. Finally, there was Maternus,
who disguised himself to kill Commodus.
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