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BANDITS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
enemies’ most secret plans. 125 In a more sober version, Sertorius is supposed
to have obtained the hind from a certain Spanus and quite deliberately made
use of it in the way described. 126 In their appeal to a propinquity with the
divine, there are certain similarities between Sertorius and the Sicilian slave
leaders, Eunous, Salvius (Tryphon) and Athenion. Eunous had made it known
that, inspired by the Syrian goddess Atargatis, he could foretell the future; 127
Salvius was renowned for his skills as a diviner; 128 and Athenion was practised
in interpreting the meaning of the stars. 129 In each one of these instances,
men who wielded arbitrary power exploited supposedly supernatural qualities
to strengthen their charismatic auras, to substantiate a higher legitimation
and thereby secure their positions.
8 Tacfarinas the ‘common bandit’
In a series of chapters scattered through Books 2–4 of his Annales, Tacitus
describes the uprising of a tribal coalition of Musulamii, Numidians and
Moors which shook Africa Proconsularis in the period ad 17–24. 130 The movement
was headed by Tacfarinas, 131 a Musulamian auxiliary and deserter. It
began by Tacfarinas’ gathering supporters from his fellow tribespeople
out of whom he created a small army, organised on Roman lines. The group
was reinforced by men from the neighbouring tribe of the Moors, brought
in by their leader, Mazippa. Somewhat later the movement was joined by
bands from the tribe of the Cinithii. The focus of operations can be located
on the southern frontier of Africa Proconsularis, i.e., in the settlement
areas of the participating tribes. When, after what must have been a long
period of preparation, the uprising burst out there in ad 17, the governor,
M. Furius Camillus, reacted energetically, crushing it with the legion that
was stationed in the province together with auxiliary units. The affair seemed
over. On the surface, at least, everywhere was peaceful. Tacfarinas, however,
had still not given up. Taking a massively reduced core of troops, he trained
these to wage a partisan war, and so succeeded in winning back some of
his fighting power. This the Roman authorities either missed or underestimated.
Then, year after year, Tacfarinas raided deep into Proconsularis –
for so long that the Roman troops in their turn adopted guerrilla tactics. In
ad 23, the proconsul Q. Iunius Blaesius managed to run down and wipe
out most of Tacfarinas’ followers. In the same year, P. Cornelius Dolabella
completed the work of his predecessor when he stormed the rebels’ camp
and so precipitated Tacfarinas’ death. The revolt was over. Seen as a whole,
it never amounted to very much, nor did it ever pose any serious threat to
Roman rule in North Africa.
Notwithstanding, encouraged no doubt by the great attention that Tacitus
gave to the affair, early-twentieth-century scholarship made Tacfarinas’
rebellion out to be a great war of liberation. 132 More recent scholarship
has rightly observed that Suetonius and Cassius Dio completely ignore the
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