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BANDITS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
For references and discussion see D. Kienast, Augustus. Prinzeps und Monarch,
Darmstadt 1982, 39 and n. 169.
82 For more on this see below, pp. 122–3.
83 App. Civ. 1.119.553.
84 Flor. 2.8.7: decus iusti exercitus.
85 App. Civ. 1.116.542. Flor. 2.8.6.
86 Flor. 2.8.6: ferrum ergastulorum.
87 App. Civ. 1.117.547.
88 Ibid.
89 Dumont, Servus 269; 290 (quotation).
90 Plin. Nat. 33.49 (after Timaeus): Cum sciamus interdixisse castris suis Spartacum nequis
aurum haberet aut argentum, tanto plus fuit animi fugitivis nostris.
91 Athen. 233 A. Plat. Leg. 742 A. Xen. Lak. pol. 7.6. See Dumont, Servus 291.
92 So already Vogt, ‘Zur Struktur’ (n. 13), 36.
93 App. Civ. 1.116.541. Bradley, Slavery and Rebellion 93, considers this an authentic
quality of Spartacus, ‘a special inducement for encouraging discontented agricultural
workers to join the growing movement’. In my opinion, here we have one
element of the robber theme: Spartacus’ characteristics, already noted, are suspiciously
similar to those of other latrones of the same type.
94 App. Ib. 75.318. Cf. Diod. 33.1.3, 5; 33.21a. Cic. Off. 2.40. See above, pp. 42–3.
95 App. Civ. 1.119.554–120.555.
96 Flor. 2.8.12: pudoremque Romanum Licinius Crassus adseruit.
97 Sall. Hist. 4.22 Maurenbrecher. App. Civ. 1.119.552. Plut. Crass. 10.2.
98 Tac. Ann. 3.21.1. Cf. above, p. 51, n. 152.
99 Plut. Crass. 11.7. App. Civ. 1.120.557. Several discrete units of Spartacus’ army
survived the defeat (App. Civ. 1.120.559). They hid away in the wilds of Lucania
and Bruttium and lived by banditry. Verres was asked to provide help to pursue
them (Cic. Verr. 2.5.15[34]; 19[40]), and remnants of them were still in existence
at the time of the Catilinarian conspiracy (Suet. Aug. 3.7. Sall. Cat. 30.2; 42.1;
46.6; 56.5. Oros. 5.24.8. Cf. Maróti, ‘De suppliciis’ [n. 60], 53f.).
100 Flor. 2.8.14: Spartacus ipse, in primo agmine fortissime dimicans, quasi imperator occisus
est. (Trans. Forster, Loeb)
101 Strab. 6.2.6 p. 273. Stein, s.v. Seluros, RE II A, 1921, 1323f.
102 Cf. Dumont, Servus 291f.: ‘La leçon tirée par les Romains’.
103 Strab. 6.2.6 p. 273.
104 It is generally accepted that Selourus was a runaway slave: see K.M. Coleman, ‘Fatal
Charades: Roman Executions Staged as Mythological Enactments’, JRS 80, 1990,
(44–73) 53. In his case, however, the manner of his execution cannot be taken as an
indicator of his unfree status: freeborn convicts ( perditi homines: Cic. Tusc. 2.41)
were also occasionally thrown to the beasts (Coleman, art. cit. 54). Selourus’ single
name and its likely Greek derivation may be taken as indicating servile status and
an eastern Mediterranean origin, but should not be regarded as definite proof of
this.
105 For Strabo’s life see: R. Syme, ‘When did Strabo Write?’ in idem, Anatolica. Studies
in Strabo, ed. Anthony Birley, Oxford 1995, 356–67. K. Clarke, ‘In Search of the
Author of Strabo’s Geography’, JRS 87, 1997, (92–110) 99ff.
106 Strab. 12.6.1–2 p. 567/8.
107 Strab. 10.5.3 p. 486. Strabo says that the execution took place in the Forum.
Coleman, ‘Fatal Charades’ (n. 104), 53, notes that the amphitheatre of Statilius
Taurus was dedicated in 29 bc, and would surely have been chosen as the venue for
the spectacle if it had been available at the time.
108 Aug. Res Gestae 25.1.
190