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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 May 2021
The law of the collegium of ivory and citrus-wood merchants is best known for its suspected prohibition against outsiders or non-practitioners. The present study argues that the regulation in question actually prohibits curatores from enrolling outsiders—the text curiously labels such an offense ‘fraud’. Rather than banning outsiders altogether, the law provides that only quinquennales shall have the authority to admit non-practitioners. It is still a rather unusual law, and since it conveys the impression that this collegium is wildly popular even among non-practitioners, and headed by quinquennales who excel in the virtue of orderliness, its audience and function are both scrutinized here.
1 The association's full title is not found on the surviving portions of the text. From what is there, the title can be approximated as collegium negotiantium eborariorum et citriariorum (see lines 4–5; cf. line 21 [corpus]). A. Mau (‘Eborarii’, RE 5.2 [1905], col. 1898) made the case that this is a collegium of artisans: ‘luxury-furniture carpenters’ (‘Luxustichlern’). For elite consumption of furniture made of citrus wood and ivory, see Hor. Epist. 2.2.180–2; Revelation 18:11–19; Plin. HN 13.91–2; Sen. Ben. 7.9.2; Cass. Dio 61.10.3. Mau's suggestion that the collegium included artisans is followed by Tran, N., Les membres des associations romaines. Le rang social des collegiati en Italie et en Gaules, sous le Haut-Empire (Rome, 2006), 338CrossRefGoogle Scholar and by Bäumler, A., ‘Prestigekohärenz bei römischen Festen? Vergemeinschaftung und Distinktion bei Festen von römischen Vereinen am Beispiel der lex collegia eborariorum et citriariorum (CIL 6, 33885)’, in Backes, B. and von Nicolai, C. (edd.), Kulturelle Kohärenz durch Prestige (Munich, 2014), 59–82Google Scholar, at 66 n. 31. However, it seems more likely to me that the group's title was designed to include only dealers who sold ivory, citrus-wood and products made of these materials (this position is implied in Liu, J., Collegia Centonariorum: The Guilds of Textile Dealers in the Roman West [Leiden, 2009], 61 n. 11CrossRefGoogle Scholar). The full expression negotiantes eborarii et citriarii is an adjectival compound that is very common in epigraphic references to single professions, not least in the titles of collegia. Such compounds often consist of a noun or substantive to identify the profession (i.e. ‘merchant/negotians’, ‘baker/pistor’) and an adjective with the -arius suffix, which complements the noun so as to describe what the individual sells, bakes, makes, etc. In these contexts, eborarius can be an adjectival complement (CIL 6.7885 politor eburarius; CIL 6.9397 faber eburar(ius)) but also a substantive complement (CIL 6.7655; CIL 6.9375). citriarius is only attested as part of such a compound in CIL 6.33885. See Olcott, G.N., Studies in the Word Formation of the Latin Inscriptions, Substantives and Adjectives (Rome, 1898), 137–82Google Scholar.
2 In Tran's study of exclusionary practices and antisocial behaviour in associations, the rule is read to mean ‘L'appartenance au college est conditionnée à l'exercice du métier’. No other examples of exclusion on the basis of profession are located in the study. See Tran, N., ‘Les procédures d'exclusion des collèges professionnels et funéraires sous le Haut-Empire: pratiques épigraphiques, norme collective et non-dits’, in Wolff, C. (ed.), Les exclus de l'antiquité. Actes du colloque organisé à Lyon, les 23–24 septembre 2004 (Lyon, 2007), 119–28Google Scholar, at 122–5 (quote from 123). More recently, Bäumler characterized the rule as ‘bemerkenswert’ in that ‘wir daraus schließen können, dass die Mitgliedschaft in diesem Verein exklusiv diesen Berufsgruppen vorbehalten war, was für antike Berufsvereine keineswegs immer die Regel war’; see Bäumler (n. 1), 67. Bollmann and Liu provide a similar reading and treat the rule as an exception to the otherwise seeming openness of Roman professional collegia. See Bollmann, B., Römische Vereinshäuse: Untersuchungen zu den Scholae der römischen Berufs-, Kult- und Augustalen-Kollegien in Italien (Mainz, 1998), 27Google Scholar n. 41 and Liu (n. 1), 61 n. 11. On the presence of non-practitioners in occupational associations, see, among other texts, Dig. 50.6.6.6 (Callistratus); Dig. 50.6.6.12 (Callistratus); CIL 12.1929 (Vienna [Gallia Narbonensis]); CIL 7.11 (Noviomagus Regentium [Britannia]; 41–54 c.e.). See also the discussion in Liu (n. 1), 59–62. There are indications that professional coherence could be seen as desirable in some circumstances by some of the individuals involved in the formation of new collegia. One example may be found in Plin. Ep. 10.33, where Pliny promises Trajan that the proposed Nicomedian collegium fabrum would enrol only fabri (ne quis nisi faber recipiatur).
3 From Borsari, L., ‘Di un importante frammento epigrafico rinvenuto nel Trastevere’, Bull. Com. Arch. 15 (1887), 3–7Google Scholar; cf. Bianchi, C., ‘Strumenti e tecniche di lavorazione dell'avorio e dell'osso’, in David, M. (ed.), Eburnea Diptycha. I dittici d'avorio tra Antichità e Medioevo (Bari, 2007), 349–85Google Scholar, at 381, Fig. 1a.
4 For the usage of ordo in reference to the membership of a collegium, see Tran (n. 1), 336–9 and Tran (n. 2), 125.
5 On [fr]audem in line 5, an analogy (here financial fraus) can be found in CIL 14.2112, col. 1, line 28 (= ILS 7212; Lanuvium, Latium; 136 c.e.). Curatorial fraud is discussed in section 4 below.
6 Very few analogies have been located. See n. 2 above for recent literature.
7 The exception is the banquet on 1 January—the first preserved banquet date. Here food (cake, dates, figs, pears) and cash distributions are provided, but wine is not mentioned (lines 8–9).
8 Hadrian must still be alive as he is not referenced as diuus. Some Trasteverine associations, though, did honour deceased emperors. For instance, a corpus salariorum made a dedication to Constantine after his death (Diuo Constantino in CIL 6.1152 = AE 2000, no. 43, 337–340 c.e.).
9 See the closely related rotation mechanism in CIL 14.2112, col. 2, lines 14–15 (= ILS 7212, Lanuvium, Latium; 136 c.e.).
10 curatores: CIL 6.642 (97 c.e.); quinquennales: CIL 6.39851 (70 c.e.; collegium magistrates or shrine officials); see also CIL 6.338 = ILS 3445 (Rome, Latium; 159 c.e.).
11 See Bäumler (n. 1), 67. I thank one of the anonymous reviewers for pointing out the possibility that the patron is an imperial freedman.
12 For Julius Aelianus as the patron, see J.-P. Waltzing, Étude historique sur les corporations professionnelles chez les romains depuis les origines jusqu’à la chute de l'empire d'occident, vols. 1–4 (Louvain, 1895–1900), 3.316–17. This reconstruction is followed in Tran (n. 2), 122–3. See below for further discussion.
13 For example in lines 10–11: et a curatorib(us) praestari pl[a]c(uit) / [panem et] uin[um et] caldam passiue iis qui ad tetrastylum epulati fuerint (‘and it was agreed that bread, wine and hot fare should be provided evenly by the curatores to those who are present at the tetrastylum for dining’).
14 See Bollmann (n. 2), 270–1.
15 CIL 6.31014.
16 collegium titles should be understood as communicative strategies designed to affirm togetherness and unity. On the whole, these titles are merely—as remarked by Gabrielsen, V., ‘Be faithful and prosper: associations, trust and the economy of security’, in Droß-Krüpe, K., Föllinger, S. and Ruffing, K. (edd.), Wirtschaft und ihre Kulturelle Prägung (Wiesbaden, 2016), 87–111Google Scholar, at 90—‘pretty good indicators of how [the groups] wished to be perceived by outsiders’. On the point of why such a self-representation would be useful, Gabrielsen observes that orderliness (eunomia) was a virtue that could be associated with trust (pistis), a linkage documented as early as the fourth century b.c.e. (Gabrielsen [this note], 97–8). For a discussion of these titles and their functions, see Last, R., ‘Ekklēsia outside the Septuagint and the dēmos: the titles of Greco-Roman associations and Christ-followers’ groups’, Journal of Biblical Literature 137 (2018), 959–81CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
17 Tran (n. 2), 123–4, on the basis of the verb employed for the entrance of a new member (adlectus esset, line 5; cf. line 23), suggests that entrance was prefaced by the meeting of a deliberative body accompanied by a vote; cf. Waltzing (n. 12), 1.356 n. 5. On the verb, Tran (n. 2) takes it to be from adlectio; however, it might be from allego as suspected in OLD s.v. allego (on page 103).
18 See SEG 31.122 [1981], lines 38–42 = GRA 1.50 (Liopesi, Attica; c.100 c.e.). Unfortunately, the leges collegiorum from Italy and the western provinces are not very illuminating in this regard. See CIL 14.4548 = AE 2010, no. 242 (Ostia, Latium; 121 c.e.); CIL 6.10298 (Rome, Latium; first century b.c.e. / first century c.e.); AE 1929, no. 161 (Trebula Mutuesca, Samnium; 60 c.e.); CIL 14.2112 (Lanuvium, Latium; 136 c.e.); CIL 6.10234 (Rome, Latium; 153 c.e.); CIL 8.14683 (Ed Dekir, Africa Proconsularis; 184 c.e.). Some of these inscriptions are understood (by some) as being produced from different kinds of groupings, including curiae.
19 For ordinary members having a say over the entrance of new members in Greek associations, see IG II2 1368, lines 32–7 = GRA 1.51 (Athens, Attica; 164/5 c.e.); IG II.2 1362, lines 20–5 = GRA 1.4 (Athens, Attica; 330–324/3 b.c.e.)
20 IG II2 1369, lines 32–4 (Liopesi, Attica; second century c.e.).
21 The latter interpretation is proposed by Meiggs, R., ‘Sea-borne timber supplies to Rome’, in D'Arms, J. and Kopff, E. (edd.), The Seaborne Commerce of Ancient Rome: Studies in Archaeology and History (Rome, 1980), 185–96, at 186Google Scholar. Processed timber, for example beams of wood, are materia. Carpenters can be plausibly placed around the Porta Trigemina on the basis of a nearby Vicus Materiarius named on the Capitoline base (CIL 6.975 [136 c.e.]); cf. Almeida, E. Rodríquez, Il Monte Testaccio (Rome, 1984), 33Google Scholar.
22 Lanciani, R., Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries (Boston, 1898), 250Google Scholar.
23 Holleran, C., Shopping in Ancient Rome. The Retail Trade in the Late Republic and the Principate (Oxford, 2012), 67CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
24 It cannot be found in any of the print collections of epigraphy, but is available through the multiple digital databases, including EDR (record number 150987). The stone was discovered under St Peter's basilica and dates to the late second/early third century c.e. on the basis of prosopography. See now the text with commentary in W. Eck, ‘Zur Topographie des Mons Vaticanus in Rom: eine schola für argentarii und exceptores und zwei unerkannte curatores aedium sacrarum et operum locorumque publicorum’, in M. Aufleger and P. Tutlies (edd.), Das Ganze ist mehr als die Summe seiner Teile: Festschrift für Jürgen Kunow anlässlich seines Eintritts in den Ruhestand (Bonn, 2018), 499–507.
25 Text from Eck (n. 24), 503.
26 Eck (n. 24), 505–6.
27 Eck (n. 24), 502–6.
28 This has led some interpreters to see cohesion in the decision-making process behind the scenes. Bäumler (n. 1), 69, for instance, asks ‘Why were the association members so highly concerned about exclusivity?’ (‘Warum waren die Vereinsmitglieder so sehr auf Exklusivität bedacht?’) See also the attribution of agreement to all members over this supposed exclusion of non-practitioners in Tran (n. 2), 122.
29 Waltzing (n. 12), 3.316–17 n. 1347. Waltzing gave equal weight to the possibility that the members of this collegium voted in agreement on the membership restriction, which is what is claimed in the text itself. From what little can be made out of the title, it would appear that the regulations were formulated on the occasion of the patron's grant of permission (ius, line 1) to the collegium to use the tetrastyle building as their schola. These fragmentary lines read as follows: Iulius] Aelianus ius scholae tetrastyli | [---] Aug(usti) quo conueniretur a negotiantibus | ] eborari(i)s dedit. The translation of Bäumler (n. 1), 65 is a readable reconstruction of what may have been the basic sense: ‘Iulius Aelianus hat das Nutzungsrecht des Tetrastyls des Vereinshauses […] wo man von Seiten der Händler zusammenkommt […] den Elfenbeinhändlern gestiftet.’
30 I am grateful to an anonymous reviewer for this interpretation.
31 For evidence that some associations provided the same quantity of wine for dinners no matter the number of participants, see R. Last, The Pauline Church and the Corinthian Ekklēsia: Greco-Roman Associations in Comparative Context (SNTSMS 164) (Cambridge, 2016), 131–3.
32 See Perry, J.S., ‘Sub-elites’, in Cooley, A.E. (ed.), A Companion to Roman Italy (Malden, MA, 2016), 498–512CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
33 See Perry (n. 32), 507–9. For the location of the Porta Ioviae in Verona, see Franzoni, L., ‘Collegium iumentariorum portae Iouiae in una nuova iscrizione veronese’, Aquileia nostra 57 (1986), 617–32Google Scholar. There is also evidence from the city of Mediolanum (Milan) of a [c]ollegium [iu]mentario(rum) Portae [Ve]rcellinae [e]t Iouiae (CIL 5.5872). Perry (n. 32), 508 asks whether ‘the iumentarii of the Milan gate “franchised” their operation in Verona, along the lines of a Western Union or SouthEastern Van Lines, that is, entities notionally associated with one geographic entity that acted in a professional capacity elsewhere?)’.
34 In addition, some columbaria inscriptions highlight when special permission for burial in the structures was granted. In the columbarium of the Statilii, two individuals without the Statilian nomen are granted permission by decrees of the decurions: ex d(ecreto) d(ecurionum). See CIL 6.6213 (Rome, Latium; 1–50 c.e.) and CIL 6.6222 (Rome, Latium; 1–50 c.e.). Several similar permissions can be found in the columbarium of Livia (e.g. CIL 6.4306). In the columbarium of the Volusii, many such permissions were granted by the decurions (e.g. permissu decurion[num] in CIL 6.9423). And others were provided by Volusian patrons of the columbarium: permissu L(uci) n(ostri) (e.g. CIL 6.7368).
35 On the mancipes, see the discussion in Perry (n. 32), 507–8; Franzoni (n. 33); and Ramilli, G., ‘Un'iscrizione veronese sul “cursus publicus”’, Archivio Veneto 88 (1969), 5–13Google Scholar.
36 For the dating, see the discussion in Perry (n. 32), 507; Ramilli (n. 35), 5–6; and Mennella, G. and Apicella, G., Le corporazioni professionali nell'Italia romana. Un aggiornamento al Waltzing (Naples, 2000), 69Google Scholar.
37 Perry (n. 32), 508.
38 For this dating of the inscription, see Adrados, J.V. Rodriguez, ‘Genna aera … citrariorum (CIL, VI, 9258)’, Cuadernos de filología clásica 22 (1989), 149–60, at 159Google Scholar.
39 Bäumler (n. 1), 67–8 n. 39.
40 The multiple levels of imagined financial fraud, including acts committed by a series of officials, in the testament of Epikteta on Thera represents one analogy (IG XII.3 330 [210–195 b.c.e.]).
41 For discussion of some of these attributes, see Kloppenborg, J.S., ‘The moralizing of discourse in Greco-Roman associations’, in Hodge, C. Johnson et al. (edd.), ‘The One Who Sows Bountifully’: Essays in Honor of Stanley K. Stowers (Providence, RI, 2013), 215–28Google Scholar.