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AVENGERS IN DYNASTIC CONFLICTS
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AVENGERS IN DYNASTIC
CONFLICTS
1 Introduction
‘Just are the pricks of revenge as they are sharp, when people are excited
by provocation, desiring to balance pain received with pain.’ 1 When Valerius
Maximus, a collector of ‘memorable deeds and sayings’, pronounced this
statement under the early Principate, the Biblical rigour of the principle of
‘an eye for eye’, which was also firmly rooted in Roman law (‘force may
legitimately be met with force’: vim vi repellere licet) 2 , had long been contained
and diluted by measures of the state. However, the concept of vengeance
as an act of satisfaction remained basically unquestioned. It was only
that revenge ceased to be the direct and arbitrary responsibility of the injured
party and was transferred to the state as the judicial authority. 3 The
Roman state was, of course, never able fittingly to punish every injustice, in
particular in the political field. This encouraged many to act for themselves.
If they were unlucky they could find themselves called latrones, legally or
colloquially.
Within the framework of his theory of social banditry Eric Hobsbawm
categorised the avenger as a distinct bandit type. 4 Yet all ‘bandits’ fight to
right some wrong and, therefore, in the case of other types, even that of the
‘noble’ bandit, vengeance also plays some part in impelling them towards
rebellion. 5 This is confirmed by our sources. As we have seen in the case of
Viriatus, vengeance for the wrong done by Roman generals to the people of
Lusitania was the prime motive for his war of resistance. 6 The Roman slave
wars were fought basically to win freedom for the rebels, but many slaves
joined in not just because they were unfree but also because they wished to
avenge themselves on their masters for their poor treatment. 7 In this, as in
other revolts, the cruellest atrocities were motivated by hatred and should be
understood as acts of revenge. In provincial rebellions, alongside other factors,
explicit or implicit, vengeance was always involved, whether directed
against both Rome and a native aristocracy, as in the Jewish War, 8 or solely
against Rome as an alien oppressor, as in Tacfarinas’ North African uprising.
Maternus’ bellum desertorum must have been joined by many nameless soldiers
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