Chapter 2 - Slavery between Two Phenomena: Empire and Christianity

Summary

In his second-century compilation of legal “institutes” the Roman jurist Gaius classified the different statuses of men as follows: “The main classification in the law of persons (Latin: jus personarum) is this: all men are either free (liberi) or slaves (servi). Again, among free men (liberi homines), some are free-born (ingenui) while others are freed (libertini). Free-born are those who were born free; freedmen, those who have been manumitted from lawful slavery. There are three kinds of freedmen: for they are either Roman citizens, or Latins or in the category of capitulated aliens (dediticii, i.e. who have in the past taken up arms and fought against the Roman people and then surrendered after defeat)” (The Institutes of Gaius, bk. 1, tit. 3–5).

This text goes on to describe in length the circumstances pertaining to each. It elaborates on the social states of the enslaved referring to slaves who were chained as a form of punishment, interrogated under torture, handed over to fight in gladiatorial combats with swords or with beasts. It refers to the legal forms by which slaves were manumitted (freed as legally freed persons). A manumitted male slave could become agent (procurator) of his owner and so act on his behalf. Female slaves (anchillae) could be manumitted for the purpose of marriage (since Roman marriage only existed between two free persons). Slaves could be also manumitted in the owner's will. They could become Roman citizens and inherit from their enslavers.

Unlike the different circumstances of slaves, the different types of freedmen entailed different legal statuses. There were those who were given the status of Latins (“assimilated to the Latins of the colonies”) who could not make a will for themselves, inherit, or be appointed as guardians in a will. There were “capitulated aliens” (dediticii) who could not be granted Roman citizenship and their presence in the city of Rome was forbidden. Gaius’ first Institute made clear that slavery was part of a large array of legal statuses that made up Roman society.

In comparison to this elaborated definition of legal categories and the social states and the distinct statuses that they constituted, the biblical New Testament offers a contrasting definition: “For when all of you were baptized into Christ, you put on Christ as though he were your clothing.