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Aliens, Ambassadors, and the Integrity of the Empire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2010

Clifford Ando
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In 321 B.C.E., a Roman army led by both that year's consuls was trapped near Caudium, in a defile named the Caudine Forks, the result of a clever strategem devised by the Samnite general Gaius Pontius. According to Livy, writing some three hundred years later, the Samnites had made no plan to capitalize on their good fortune, and so they sent to Pontius's father, Herennius Pontius, to seek his advice. “Let them all go unharmed,” he said. The messenger who returned with that advice was promptly sent back. “All right,” said Herennius, “kill every single one of them.” Unable to decide whether his father had lost his mind, the son had his father brought to the camp, where he gave the same two pieces of advice and justified each. But what would happen, he was asked, “if they are sent away unharmed and conditions are imposed upon them as conquered, in accordance with the law of war (ut et dimitterentur incolumes et leges iis ire belli victis imponerentur)?”1 That practice neither makes friends nor removes enemies, replied the father. Their humiliation will rankle them until they avenge it.

Type
Part I. The Conduct of War in the Ancient World and Early Islamic History
Information
Law and History Review , Volume 26 , Issue 3: Law, War, and History: A Special Issue , Fall 2008 , pp. 491 - 519
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Copyright © the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois 2008

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References

1. Livy 9.3.11. I provide the full title of works in Greek and Latin at first citation. Thereafter I employ the abbreviations found in Glare, P. G. W., ed., Oxford Latin Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982)Google Scholar, and Liddell, H. G., Scott, R., and Jones, H. S., eds., A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968)Google Scholar. Other abbreviations employed for collections of ancient sources and reference works include ILS = Dessau, H., ed., Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae (Berlin: Weidman, 1892-1916)Google Scholar ; MRR = Broughton, T. R. S., The Magistrates of the Roman Republic (New York and Atlanta: Scholars' Press, 1951-1986)Google Scholar ; and RS = Crawford, M., ed., Roman Statutes (London: Institute of Classical Studies, 1996)Google Scholar.

2. Livy 9.4.3-4: “alias condiciones pacis aequas uictis ac uictoribus fore: si agro Samnitium decederetur, coloniae abducerentur, suis inde legibus Romanum ac Samnitem aequo foedere uicturum.… ”

3. Cf. Sallust, Catilina 29.2–3Google Scholar, discussing the senatus consultum ultimum: “Itaque, quod plerumque in atroci negotio solet, senatus decrevit, darent operam consules, ne quid res publica detrimenti caperet. Ea potestas per senatum more Romano magistratui maxuma permittitur: exercitum parare, bellum gerere, coercere omnibus modis socios atque civis, domi militiaeque imperium atque iudicium summum habere; aliter sine populi iussu nullius earum rerum consuli ius est.” Consider, too, the extraordinary argument that erupted over the actions of Cnaeus Manlius Vulso in 187, when he sought a triumph for a victory won over the Galatians, but in a campaign not authorized by the “people” (Livy 38.45.3-7): “Cupientem transire Taurum aegre omnium legatorum precibus, ne carminibus Sibyllae praedictam superantibus terminos fatalis cladem experiri uellet, retentum, admovisse tamen exercitum et prope ipsis iugis ad diuortia aquarum castra posuisse. Cum ibi nullam belli causam inueniret quiescentibus regiis, circumegisse exercitum ad Gallograecos, cui nationi non ex senatus auctoritate, non populi iussu bellum inlatum. Quod quem umquam de sua sententia facere ausum? Antiochi, Philippi, Hannibalis et Poenorum recentissima bella esse; de omnibus his consultum senatum, populum iussisse, saepe legatos ante missos, res repetitas, postremo, qui bellum indicerent, missos. ‘Quid eorum, Cn. Manli, factum est, ut istud publicum populi Romani bellum et non tuum priuatum latrocinium ducamus?… “”

4. On the protection of ambassadors in fetial law, seeBroughton, T. R. S., “Mistreatment of Foreign Legates and the Fetial Priests: Three Roman Cases,” Phoenix 41 (1987): 50–62Google Scholar. On fetial law generally, seeSamter, E., “Fetiales,” Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft (Stuttgart 1909), 2.2:2259–65Google Scholar, and Catalano, P., Linee del sistema sovrannazionale romano (Turin: G. Giappichelli, 1965), 3–48Google Scholar. The fetials are most famous for their role in declaring war and striking treaties, on which seeRüpke, J., Domi militiae: die religiöse Konstruktion des Krieges in Rom (Stuttgart: F. Steiner, 1990)Google Scholar, andZack, A., Studien zum “römischen Völkerrecht”: Kriegserklärung, Kriegsbeschluss, Beeidung und Ratifikation zwischenstaatlicher Verträge, internationale Freundschaft und Feindschaft während der römischen Republik bis zum Beginn des Prinzipat (Göttingen: Duehrkohp & Radicke, 2001)Google Scholar.

5. Livy 9.10.9: “‘quandoque hisce homines iniussu populi Romani Quiritium foedus ictum iri spoponderunt atque ob eam rem noxam nocuerunt, ob eam rem quo populus Romanus scelere impio sit solutus hosce homines uobis dedo.’”

6. Livy 9.10.10.

7. Livy 9.11.7. See also Lactantius Divinae Institutiones 6.9.2-4 (drawing on Cicero De re publica 3.20a): “Vel si iustitiam sequi volet, divini tamen iuris ignarus gentis suae leges tamquam verum ius amplectetur, quas non utique iustitia, sed utilitas reperit. cur enim per omnes populos diversa et varia iura sunt condita, nisi quod una quaeque gens id sibi sanxit quod putavit rebus suis utile? quantum autem ab iustitia recedat utilitas, populus ipse Romanus docet, qui per fetiales bella indicendo et legitime iniurias faciendo semperque aliena cupiendo atque rapiendo possessionem sibi totius orbis comparavit. verum hi iustos se putant, si contra leges suas nihil faciant.… ”

8. Livy 9.11.9-12.

9. Mattingly, G., Renaissance Diplomacy (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1955), 15–29Google Scholar; Bederman, David J., International Law in Antiquity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001),Google Scholar 18. Consider, e.g., Servius on Aeneid 4.682, quoting Cato Origines bk. 4 fr. 80 Peter: “POPULUMQUE PATRESQUE URBEMQUE TUAM ‘patres’ id est senatum; ‘urbem tuam’ quam tu extruxisti. et quidam hoc loco volunt tres partes politiae conprehensas, populi, optimatium, regiae potestatis: Cato enim ait de tribus istis partibus ordinatam fuisse Carthaginem”; and cf. Cicero Rep. 2.42.

10. Gaius, Institutiones 3.94 (translation after Zulueta): “Unde dicitur uno casu hoc uerbo peregrinum quoque obligari posse, uelut si imperator noster principem alicuius peregrini populi de pace ita interroget: pacem futuram spondes? uel ipse eodem modo interrogetur. quod nimium subtiliter dictum est, quia si quid aduersus pactionem fiat, non ex stipulatu agitur, sed iure belli res uindicatur.”Google Scholar

11. Cicero, Topica 37Google Scholar; see also Cicero, Pro Caecina 98Google Scholar(“Quem pater patratus dedidit aut suus pater populusve vendidit, quo is iure amittit civitatem? Ut religione civitas solvatur civis Romanus deditur; qui cum est acceptus, est eorum quibus est deditus; si non accipiunt, ut Mancinum Numantini, retinet integram causam et ius civitatis”) and De oratore 1.181 (“P. Rutilius, M. filius, tribunus plebis, iussit educi, quod eum civem negaret esse, quia memoria sic esset proditum, quem pater suus aut populus vendidisset aut pater patratus dedidisset, ei nullum esse postliminium”).

12. Pomponius Ad Q. Mucium bk. 37 frr. 319-320 = Dig. 49.15.5 and 50.7.18. The general in question is Hostilius Mancinus: in addition to the sources already cited, seeLivy, Periochae 55Google Scholar; Appian, Iberika 79–80Google Scholar; Florus 1.34.5-7; Velleius 2.1.3-5; and further MRR 1:484.

13. See, e.g., Varro De vita populi Romani bk. 2 fr. 91 Semi, quoted below note 19 and cf. Cicero, De legibus 2.21Google Scholar(“Foederum pacis belli indutiarum <iniuriarum> oratorum fetiales ius noscunto; bella denuntianto”) with commentary at 2.34 (“sequitur enim de iure belli; in quo et suscipiendo et gerendo et deponendo ius ut plurimum valeret et fides, eorumque ut publici interpretes essent, lege sanximus”). (For the emendations adopted in Leg. 2.21, seeFerrary, J.-L., “Ius fetiale et diplomatie,” in Les relations internationales. Actes du Colloque de Strasbourg 15-17 juin 1993, ed. Ed. Frézouls, and Jacquemin, A. [Paris: De Boccard, 1995], 415Google Scholar.) See also Cicero, De officiis 1.34–36Google Scholar(“Atque in republica maxime conservanda sunt iura belli.… Quare suscipienda quidem bella sunt ob eam causam, ut sine iniuria in pace vivatur; parta autem victoria conservandi ii qui non crudeles in bello.… Ac belli quidem aequitas sanctissime fetiali populi Romani iure perscripta est, ex quo intellegi potest nullum bellum esse iustum nisi quod aut rebus repetitis geratur aut denuntiatum ante sit et indictum”) and Rep. 2.31 (“constituitque ius quo bella indicerentur, quod per se iustissime inventum sanxit fetiali religione, ut omne bellum quod denuntiatum indictumque non esset, id iniustum esse atque impium iudicaretur”) and 3.35a. Further literature is cited in Drexler, H., “Iustum bellum,” Rheinisches Museum 102 (1959): 97–140Google Scholar; cf. Brunt, P., Roman Imperial Themes (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990), 305–8Google Scholar. A related problem is the Roman desire that the gods should favor their actions in war, a concern expressed with particular clarity in the supplicationes undertaken when wars were declared: see Livy 21.17.4 (“Latum inde ad populum uellent iuberent populo Carthaginiensi bellum indici; eiusque belli causa supplicatio per urbem habita atque adorati di, ut bene ac feliciter eueniret quod bellum populus Romanus iussisset”) and 31.8.1 (“supplicatio inde a consulibus in triduum ex senatus consulto indicta est, obsecratique circa omnia puluinaria di ut quod bellum cum Philippo populus iussisset, id bene ac feliciter eueniret”).

14. See, e.g, Sallust, Historiae 4.69Google Scholar, especially 16-21 = Epistula ad Mithridatem, Tacitus, De vita Agricolae 30.3–5Google Scholar. For some discussion of this topic and further citations, seeFuchs, H., Die geistige Widerstand gegen Rom in der antiken Welt (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1938), 15-17 and 44–47Google Scholar, and Gelzer, M., Kleine Schriften (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1963), 2:7Google Scholar.

15. See Livy, Per. 52Google Scholar(“Qui [Lucius Mummius] omni Achaia in deditionem accepta Corinthon ex senatus consulto diruit, quia ibi legati Romani violati erant”) andCicero, De lege Manilia 11Google Scholar(“Legati quod erant appellati superbius, Corinthum patres vestri, totius Graeciae lumen, exstinctum esse voluerunt: vos eum regem inultum esse patiemini, qui legatum populi Romani consularem vinculis ac verberibus atque omni supplicio excruciatum necavit?”). On the “freedom” of the Greeks, seeGruen, E., The Hellenistic World and the Coming of Rome (Berkeley: The University of California Press, 1984), 132–56Google Scholar; Ferrary, J.-L., Philhellénisme et impérialisme: aspects idéologiques de la conquête romaine du monde hellénistique, de la seconde guerre de Macédoine a la guerre contre Mithridate (Rome: École française de Rome, 1988), 5–218Google Scholar.

16. Caesar, De bello Gallico 3.7–16Google Scholar, especially 7.3 (“praefectos tribunosque militum… frumenti commeatusque petendi causa”), 9.3 (“simul quod quantum in se facinus admisissent intellegebant-legatos, quod nomen apud omnes nationes sanctum inviolatumque semper fuisset, retentos ab se et in vincula coniecto”), and 16.4 (“in quos eo gravius Caesar vindicandum statuit quo diligentius in reliquum tempus a barbaris ius legatorum conservaretur. itque omni senatu necato reliquos sub corona vendidit”). See also ibid. 4.12-15, where Caesar describes his massacre of three hundred thousand Usipetes and Tenctheri; his report earned a public thanksgiving at Rome, despite Cato's proposal in the Senate that Caesar be surrendered “to those whom he had wronged,” insofar as the massacre commenced during a truce (Plutarch, Cato minor 51.1Google Scholarand cf. Plutarch, Caesar 22)Google Scholar.

17. Diodorus 1.83.8, who was an eyewitness (1.83.9).

18. In addition to Caesar, Gall. 3.9.3 (cited above note 16), seeGoogle ScholarNepos, Pelopidas 5.1Google Scholar: “Pelopidas… legationisque iure satis tectum se arbitraretur, quod apud omnes gentes sanctum esse conseusset.… ” For a recent treatment on just-war theory in late Republican Rome, with specific reference to Caesar, seeRiggsby, A., Caesar in Gaul and Rome: War in Words (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2006), 157-89 and 215–16Google Scholar.

19. Observe the terminology used by Cicero, Caec. 98Google Scholar: “ut religione civitas solvatur civis Romanus deditur”; Livy 9.10.9: “scelere impio solutus”; and Plutarch, Cato minor 51.1: μ τρπειν εἰς αὑτοὺς μηδ ναδχεσθαι τ ἂγος εις τν πόλιν. See also Nonius Marcellius s.v. faetiales (p. 850L), quoting Varro, De vita populi Romani (frr. 91 and 111 Semi): “apud veteres Romanos erant, qui sancto legatorum officio ab his, qui adversum populum Romanum vi aut rapinis aut iniuriis hostili mente conmoverant, pignera facto foedere iure repetebant; nec bella indicebantur, quae tamen pia vocabant, priusquam quid fuisset faetialibus denuntiatumGoogle Scholar. Varro de vita populi Romani lib. II: ‘itaque bella et tarde et magna diligentia suscipiebant, quod bellum nullum nisi pium putabant geri oportere: priusquam indicerent bellum is, a quibus iniurias factas sciebant, faetiales legatos res repetitum mittebant quattuor, quos oratores vocabant.’ idem lib. III: ‘si cuius [civitatis] legati violati essent, qui id fecissent, quamvis nobiles essent, uti dederentur civitati statuerunt faetialesque viginti, qui de his rebus cognoscerent, iudicarent, constituterunt’” (for the text, see Mommsen, T., Römisches Staatsrecht [Leipzig: S. Hirzel, 1887], 1:113 n. 3)Google Scholar; and Dionysius of Halicarnassus …

20. See G. Grosso, , “Riflessioni su ‘ius civile’, ‘ius gentium’, ‘ius honorarium’ nella dialettica fra tecnicismo-tradizionalismo giuridico e adeguazione allo svilippo economico e sociale in Roma,” in Studi in memoria di Guido Donatuti (Milan: La Goliardica, 1973), 1:439–53Google Scholar; Moatti, C., La raison de Rome (Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1997), 163-65 and 287–98Google Scholar; as well asKaser, M., Ius gentium (Cologne: Böhlau, 1993), 14–20Google Scholar.

21. On the local, Latin origin of fetiales, see Dionysius 2.72.1-2, suggesting that Numa instituted them in imitation of Aequicoli or Ardea; he attributes the latter suggestion to Gnaeus Gellius (fr. 16 Peter). See also Livy 1.32.6 ([Ancus Marcius] “ius ab antiqua gente Aequiculis quod nunc fetiales habent descripsit”) and 14 (“Hoc tum modo ab Latinis repetitae res ac bellum indictum, moremque eum posteri acceperunt”). The currency of this legend in late-Republican Rome, in multiple forms, is further confirmed by the elogium to Fertor Erresius, an inscription found in the Roman Forum: “Fert. Erresius, rex Aequeicolus. Is preimus ius fetiale paravit; inde p. R. discipleinam excepit (Fertor Erresius, Aequicolan king. He first crafted the fetial law; thence the Roman people received that science)” (ILS 61). See also Cicero, Rep. 2.31Google Scholar; Plutarch, Numa 12.4–5Google Scholar; and Servius, Aen. 7.695Google Scholar. Note also how Livy sums up his account of the fetial ritual (1.32.14): “Hoc tum modo ab Latinis repetitae res ac bellum indictum, moremque eum posteri acceperunt.” For a late attempt to construe foreign behavior as analogous to fetial practice, see Ammianus 19.2.4-6, describing the assault on Amida of Grumbates and the Persians (where Ammianus himself was present): “(4) Cernentes populos tam indimensos ad orbis Romani incendium diu quaesitos in nostrum conversos exitium, salutis rata desperatione gloriosos vitae exitus deinde curabamus, iamque omnibus nobis optatos. (5) a sole itaque orto usque diei ultimum acies immobiles stabant ut fixae nullo variato vestigio nec sonitu vel equorum audito hinnitu, eademque figura digressi qua venerant, cibo recreati et somno, cum superesset exiguum noctis, aeneatorum clangore ductante urbem ut mox casuram terribili corona cinxerunt. (6) vixque ubi Grumbates hastam infectam sanguine ritu patrio nostrique more coniecerat fetialis, armis exercitus concrepans involat muros confestimque lacrimabilis belli turbo crudescit, rapido turmarum processu in procinctum alacritate omni tendentium, et contra acri intentaque occursatione nostrorum.”

22. See, e.g., Cicero, 2 In Verrem 2.2.Google Scholar

23. On maiestas see Thomas, Yan, “L'institution de la majesté,” Revue de synthèse, 4th ser., nos. 3-4 (July–December 1991): 331–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

24. I have argued elsewhere that the first two centuries C.E. witnessed a revolution in conceptions of cultural and political identity under the empire, in which subject populations first and Romans later broke down the citizen-alien distinction in favor of one that divided the world between those who lived inside and outside the empire (Ando, C., Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire [Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000], 277–335)Google Scholar; and I take up these issues again in two studies charting the intertwined histories of the law of persons and of political subjectivity at Rome and in the provinces:“From Republic to Empire,” in The Oxford Handbook of Roman Social Relations, ed. Peachin, Michael (Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming); andGoogle Scholar“Imperial Identities,” in Local Knowledge and Microidentities in the Roman Empire, ed. Whitmarsh, Tim (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming)Google Scholar.

25. This is true in spite of the remarkable evidence preserved in ancient sources regarding the practice of diplomacy not only within the Mediterranean world (on which see, e.g., Ma, J., Antiochus III and the Cities of Western Asia Minor [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999]Google Scholar, and Ma, , “Peer Polity Interaction in the Hellenistic Age,” Past & Present 180 [2003]: 9–39)Google Scholar, but also between speakers of Greek and Latin and those of other languages (on which seeSnellman, W. I., De interpretibus Romanorum deque linguae Latinae cum aliis nationibus commercio [Leipzig: Dieterich 1914-1919]Google Scholar, whose collection of testimonia in vol. 2 includes much evidence not particularly germane to the role of interpreters).

26. Ulpian Institutiones bk. 1 fr. 1908 Lenel = Dig. 1.1.1.2: “Huius studii duae sunt positiones, publicum et privatum. publicum ius est, quod ad statum rei Romanae spectat, privatum, quod ad singulorum utilitatem: sunt enim quaedam publice utilia, quaedam privatim. publicum ius in sacris, in sacerdotibus, in magistratibus constitit. privatum ius tripertitum est: collectum etenim est ex naturalibus praeceptis aut gentium aut civilibus.” On the development of the category ius publicum in the late Republic and its later history, seeAndo, C., “Religion and ius publicum,” in Religion and Law in Classical and Christian Rome, ed. Ando, C. and Rüpke, J. (Stuttgart: F. Steiner, 2006), 126–45Google Scholar, especially 134-40 = Ando, , The Matter of the Gods (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008), 72–83Google Scholar.

27. Cicero, De reditu ad populum 14Google Scholar: “Itaque, dum ego absum, eam rem publicam habuistis, ut aeque me atque illam restituendam putaretis. ego autem, in qua civitate nihil valeret senatus, omnis esset impunitas, nulla iudicia, vis et ferrum in foro versaretur, cum privati parietum se praesidio, non legum tuerentur, tribuni plebis vobis inspectantibus vulnerarentur, ad magistratuum domos cum ferro et facibus iretur, consulis fasces frangerentur, deorum immortalium templa incenderentur, rem publicam esse nullam putavi.” On the failure of the res publica in 58, seeRiggsby, A. M., “The Post Reditum speeches,” in Brill's Companion to Cicero: Oratory and Rhetoric, ed. May, J. M. (Leiden: Brill, 2002), 168–70Google Scholar.

28. Cicero Rep. 1.39.1 (“‘Est igitur’ inquit Africanus ‘res publica res populi, populus autem non omnis hominum coetus quoquo modo congregatus, sed coetus multitudinis iuris consensu et utilitatis communione sociatus’”) and cf. Rep. 6.13.2, Leg. Man. 41, Off. 1.124, and Pro Cluentio 146.

29. Pomponius Ad Quntium Mucium bk. 37 fr. 319 = Dig. 49.15.5.2: “In pace quoque postliminium datum est: nam si cum gente aliqua neque amicitiam neque hospitium neque foedus amicitiae causa factum habemus, hi hostes quidem non sunt, quod autem ex nostro ad eos pervenit, illorum fit, et liber homo noster ab eis captus servus fit et eorum: idemque est, si ab illis ad nos aliquid perveniat. hoc quoque igitur casu postliminium datum est.”

30. Paulus Ad Sabinum bk. 16 fr. 1893 = Dig. 49.15.19. pr.: “Postliminium est ius amissae rei recipiendae ab extraneo et in statum pristinum restituendae inter nos ac liberos populos regesque moribus legibus constitutum. nam quod bello amissimus aut etiam citra bellum, hoc si rursus recipiamus, dicimur postliminio recipere. idque naturali aequitate introductum est, ut qui per iniuriam ab extraneis detinebatur, is, ubi in fines suos redisset, pristinum ius suum reciperet.”

31. Cf. Kaser, , Ius gentium, 12-13, 23–32.Google Scholar

32. Paulus Ad Sabinum bk. 16 fr. 1893 = Dig. 49.15.19.2 (“a pirates aut latronibus capti liberi permanent”); Ulpian Inst. bk. 1 fr. 1911 = Dig. 49.15.24 (“hostes sunt, quibus bellum publice populus romanus decrevit vel ipse populo romano: ceteri latrunculi vel praedones appellantur. et ideo qui a latronibus captus est, servus latronum non est, nec postliminium illi necessarium est: ab hostibus autem captus, ut puta a germanis et parthis, et servus est hostium et postliminio statum pristinum recuperat”). On the Ciceronian roots of the distinction they draw between a “people” and “bandits,” seeMacrobius, Comm. 1.8.13Google Scholar.

33. Proculus Epistulae bk. 8 fr. 30 = Dig. 49.15.7. pr. -1: “Non dubito, quin foederati et liberi nobis externi sint, nec inter nos atque eos postliminium esse: etenim quid inter nos atque eos postliminio opus est, cum et illi apud nos et libertatem suam et dominium rerum suarum aeque atque apud se retineant et eadem nobis apud eos contingant? (1) Liber autem populus est is, qui nullius alterius populi potestati est subiectus: sive is foederatus est item, sive aequo foedere in amicitiam venit sive foedere comprehensum est, ut is populus alterius populi maiestatem comiter conservaret. hoc enim adicitur, ut intellegatur alterum populum superiorem esse, non ut intellegatur alterum non esse liberum: et quemadmodum clientes nostros intellegimus liberos esse, etiamsi neque auctoritate neque dignitate neque viri boni nobis praesunt, sic eos, qui maiestatem nostram comiter conservare debent, liberos esse intellegendum est.”

34. Labeo Πιθανν bk. 8 fr. 226 = Dig. 49.15.30: “Si id, quod nostrum hostes ceperunt, eius generis est, ut postliminio redire possit: simul atque ad nos redeundi causa profugit ab hostibus et intra fines imperii nostri esse coepit, postliminio redisse existimandum est.”

35. Paulus Ad Sabinum bk. 16 fr. 1893 = Dig. 49.15.19.3: “Postliminio redisse videtur, cum in fines nostros intraverit, sicuti amittitur, ubi fines nostros excessit. sed et si in civitatem sociam amicamve aut ad regem socium vel amicum venerit, statim postliminio redisse videtur, quia ibi primum nomine publico tutus esse incipiat.”

36. I set aside for now the specification of borders-especially shared borders-in treaties. For examples, see Livy 21.2.7 (“Cum hoc Hasdrubale, quia mirae artis in sollicitandis gentibus imperioque suo iungendis fuerat, foedus renouauerat populus Romanus ut finis utriusque imperii esset amnis Hiberus Saguntinisque mediis inter imperia duorum populorum libertas seruaretur”) and 34.58.2-3 (describing negotiations between Flamininus and Antiochus, to be contrasted with the conditions imposed after Antiochus's defeat: 38.38.2-4). For a skeptical position regarding the concept of the border in the debates leading up to the Second Punic War, seeBrunt, , Roman Imperial Themes, 300Google Scholar.

37. I know of no treatment of this problem under the empire to compare withChrysos, E. K., “The Title Basileuw in Early Byzantine International Relations,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 32 (1978): 31–75CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

38. Ammianus 29.5.46; on this passage and the geopolitical claims inherent in it, see Ando, C., Imperial Ideology, 320–35.Google Scholar

39. Ammianus 29.6.2: “Valentinianus enim studio muniendorum limitum glorioso quidem sed nimio ab ipso principatus initio flagrans, trans flumen Histrum in ipsis Quadorum terris quasi Romano iuri iam vindicatis aedificari praesidiaria castra mandavit: quod accolae ferentes indigne, suique cautiores, legatione tenus interim et susurris arcebant.”

40. Caesar, Gall. 1.43.1: “Planities erat magna et in ea tumulus terrenus satis grandis. Hic locus aequum fere spatium a castris Ariovisti et Caesaris aberat. Eo, ut erat dictum, ad conloquium venerunt.”Google Scholar

41. Caesar, Gall. 1.44.7–8: “Se prius in Galliam venisse quam populum Romanum. Numquam ante hoc tempus exercitum populi Romani Galliae provinciae finibus egressum. Quid sibi vellet? Cur in suas possessiones veniret? Provinciam suam hanc esse Galliam, sicut illam nostram. Ut ipsi concedi non oporteret, si in nostros fines impetum faceret, sic item nos esse iniquos, quod in suo iure se interpellaremus.”Google Scholar

42. See Josephus, Antiquitates Iudaicae 18.101–2Google Scholar (); Suetonius, Gaius 14.3Google Scholar(Namque Artabanus Parthorum res, odium semper contemptumque Tiberi prae se ferens, amicitiam huius ultro petiit venitque ad colloquium legati consularis et transgressus Euphraten aquilas et signa Romana Caesarumque imagines adoravit); Suetonius Vitellius 2.4 (Lucius ex consulatu Syriae praepositus, Artabanum Parthorum regem summis artibus non modo ad conloquium suum, ().

43. Ma, , Antiochus III, 30Google Scholar, writing of the world of Hellenistic city-states prior to contact with Rome.

44. ILS 986: “…ignotos ante aut infensos p. R. reges signa Romana adoraturos in ripam, quam tuebatur, perduxit.”

45. Hamdoune, C., “Frontières théoriques et réalité administrative: le cas de la Maurétanie Tingitane,” in Frontières terrestres, frontières célestes dans l'antiquité, ed. Rousselle, A. (Perpignan: Presses Universitaires de Perpignan, 1995), 237–53Google Scholar; Rebuffat, R., “Mobilité des personnes dans l'Afrique romaine,” in La mobilité des personnes en Méditerannée de l'antiquité à l'époque moderne. Procédures de contrôle et documents d'indentification, ed. Moatti, C. (CÉFR 341; Rome: École française de Rome, 2004), 155–203Google Scholar.

46. See, e.g., lex agraria (RS 2) l. 31;Heracleensis, Tabula (RS 24) ll. 83–86Google Scholar.

47. On these texts, see Shaw, B. D., “Autonomy and Tribute: Mountain and Plain in Mauretania Tingitana,” in Desert et montagne: hommage à Jean Dresch = Revue de l'Occident Musulman et de la Méditeranée, ed. Baduel, P., 41-42 (1986), 66–89.Google Scholar

48. IAM 360: I. O. M | Genio et Bonae Fortun. | Imp. Caes. M. Aur. Probi | Invicti Aug. N. | Clementius Val. Marcellinus | v. p. praeses p. M. T. conloquio | habito cum Iul. Nuffuzi Filio Iul. Matif. | regis g. Baq. foederata pac[e] | aram statuit et dedicavit die viiii | kal. Novembr. d. n. Probo aug. et Paulino cos. The other altars are IAM 348, 349, 350, 356, 357, 358, 359, 361, 384, and 402.

49. The language is heavily indebted to Shaw, , “Autonomy and Tribute,” 74–75.Google Scholar

50. On the tribes north of the Danube, see especially Dio 72.15-20 and Dexippus fr. 24 Müller, (FHG 3:682–686).Google Scholar

51. For general treatments of the sending and receiving of embassies, seeThurm, A. A., De Romanorum legatis reipublicae liberae temporibus ad exteras nationes missis (Leipzig: Engelhardt, 1883)Google Scholar; Millar, F., The Emperor in the Roman World (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1977 [1992]), 410–20Google Scholarand passim; andMillar, F., “State and Subject: The Impact of Monarchy,” in Caesar Augustus: Seven Aspects, ed. Millar, F. and Segal, E. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984)Google Scholar. On the legal and other principles underlying diplomatic negotiations, seeGruen, , Hellenistic World, 13–157Google Scholar.

52. For embassies from colonies under the Republic, see Livy 32.2.6-7, 33.24.9, and 37.46.9; on the legal status of colonies, see Gellius 16.13 and cf.Pliny, Epistulae 10.47.1: “Cum vellem, domine, Apameae cognoscere publicos debitores et reditum et impendia, responsum est mihi cupere quidem universos, ut a me rationes coloniae legerentur, numquam tamen esse lectas ab ullo proconsulum; habuisse privilegium et vetustissimum morem arbitrio suo rem publicam administrare.” On embassies from colonies under the Republic, seeGoogle ScholarBonnefond-Coudry, M., Le Sénat de la République Romaine de la guerre d'Hannibal à Auguste: pratiques délibératives et prise de décision (BÉFAR 263; Rome: École française de Rome, 1989), 275–76Google Scholar; and for those under the empire, seeMillar, F., “Government and Diplomacy in the Roman Empire during the First Three Centuries,” International History Review 10 (1988): 355Google Scholar.

53. On this topic, see Bonnefond-Coudry, , Sénat, 137–51Google Scholar; Linderski, J., “Ambassadors Go to Rome,” in Relations internationales, ed. Frézouls, and Jacquemin, , 476–77Google Scholar; andCoudry, M., “Contrôle et traitement des ambassadeurs étrangers sous la République romaine,” in Mobilité, ed. Moatti, , 529–65Google Scholar.

54. Festus s.v. senacula (470L): “Senacula tria fuisse Romae, in quibus senatus haberi solitus sit, memoriae rodidit Nicostratus in libro, qui inscribitur de Senatu habendo. Unum, ubi nunc est aedis Concordiae inter Capitolium et Forum, in quo solebant magistratus dumtaxat cum senioribus deliberare; alterum, ad portam Capenam; tertium, citra aedem Bellonae, in quo exterarum nationum legatis, quos in Urbem admittere nolebant, senatus dabatur.”

55. Livy 30.40.2 and 43.5.

56. Ulpian Ad Sabinum bk. 8 fr. 2493 = Dig. 50.7.1.

57. See Q. Cervidius Scaevola Dig. bk. 1 fr. 1 = Dig. 50.7.13 (“Legatus creatus a patria sua suscepta legatione in urbem Romam venit…”); Paulus Sententiae bk. 1 fr. 1951 = Dig. 50.7.11 (“Si quis in munere legationis, antequam ad patriam revertetur, decessit, sumptus, qui proficiscenti sunt dati, non restituuntur”).

58. Cicero Leg. 2.5.

59. See Ando, C., “Vergil's Italy: Ethnography and Politics in First-Century Rome,” in Clio and the Poets: Augustan Poetry and the Traditions of Ancient Historiography, ed. Levene, D. S. and Nelis, D. (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2002), 123–42Google Scholar; cf.Thomas, Y., “L'institution de l'origine. Sacra Principiorum Populi Romani,” in Tracés de fondation, ed. Detienne, M. (Louvain: Peeters, 1990), 143–70Google Scholar; Thomas, , “Origine” et “commune patrie.” Étude de droit public romain (89 av. J.C.-212 ap. J.C.) (CÉFR 221; Rome: École Française de Rome, 1996)Google Scholar; andScheid, J., “Cultes, mythes et politique au début de l'Empire,” in Mythos in mythenloser Gesellschaft: das Paradigma Roms, ed. Graf, F. (Stuttgart: Teubner, 1993), 109–27 =Google Scholar“Cults, Myths and Politics at the Beginning of the Empire,” trans. Purchase, P., in Roman Religion, ed. Ando, C. (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2003), 117–38Google Scholar.

60. Festus s.v. municipalia sacra (146L): “Municipalia sacra vocantur, quae ab initio habuerunt ante civitatem Romanam acceptam; quae observare eos voluerunt pontifices, et eo more facere, quo adsuessent antiquitus.” See also Festus s.v. peregrina sacra (268L) (“Peregrina sacra appellantur, quae aut evocatis dis in oppugnandis urbibus Romam sunt †conata†, aut quae ob quasdam religiones per pacem sunt petita, ut ex Phrygia Matris Magae, ex Graecia Cereris, Epidauro Aesculapi: quae coluntur eorum more, a quibus sunt accepta”) and s.v. peregrinus ager (284L) (“Peregrinus ager est, quae neque Romanus, neque †hostilius†habetur”).

61. See, e.g, Cicero Leg. 2.47 (“de sacris, credo, de votis, de feriis et de sepulcris, et si quid eiusmodi est”).

62. Tacitus, Annales 3.71.1Google Scholar. On the role of legal argument in the evolution of Roman religion in the Principate, see Ando, C., “Diana on the Aventine,” in Die Religion des Imperium Romanum, ed. Rüpke, J. (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008), 99–113Google Scholar.

63. Pliny Ep. 10.68 (“Petentibus quibusdam, ut sibi reliquias suorum aut propter iniuriam vetustatis aut propter fluminis incursum aliaque his similia quocumque secundum exemplum proconsulum transferre permitterem, quia sciebam in urbe nostra ex eius modi causa collegium pontificum adiri solere, te, domine, maximum pontificem consulendum putavi, quid observare me velis”) and 10.69 (“Durum est iniungere necessitatem provincialibus pontificum adeundorum, si reliquias suorum propter aliquas iustas causas transferre ex loco in alium locum velint”).

64. Pliny, Ep. 10.49 (“Ego cum quaererem, num esset aliqua lex dicta templo, cognovi alium hic, alium apud nos esse morem dedicationis”) and 10.50 (“Potes, mi Secunde carissime, sine sollicitudine religionis, si loci positio videtur hoc desiderare, aedem Matris Deum transferre in eam quae est accommodatior; nec te moveat, quod lex dedicationis nulla reperitur, cum solum peregrinae civitatis capax non sit dedicationis, quae fit nostro iure”).Google Scholar

65. Varro, De lingua latina 5.33Google Scholar: “Ut nostri augures publici disserunt, agrorum sunt genera quinque: Romanus, Gabinus, peregrinus, hosticus, incertus.”

66. Mommsen, , Staatsrecht, 3.2:1157–58.Google Scholar

67. On adaptations of fetial practice, see especiallyMcDonald, A. H. and Walbank, F. W., “The Origins of the Second Macedonian War,” Journal of Roman Studies 27 (1937): 192–97Google Scholar; Walbank, F. W., “A Note on the Embassy of Q. Marcius Philippus, 172 B.C.,” Journal of Roman Studies 31 (1941): 87–88Google Scholar; Rich, J. W., Declaring War in the Roman Republic in the Period of Transmarine Expansion, Collection Latomus, 149 (Brussels: Latomus, 1976)Google Scholar; andcf. Rawson, E., “Religion and Politics in the Late Second Century B.C. at Rome,” Phoenix 28 (1974): 193–212Google Scholar= Rawson, , Roman Culture and Society (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991), especially 89–93Google Scholar, expressing deep skepticism.

68. Livy 1.32.5-14, on which seeOgilvie, R. M., A Commentary on Livy Books 1-5 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965), 110-12 and 127–35Google Scholar. On the throwing of the spear, see also Cincius De re militari bk. 3 (fr. 2 Bremer = Gellius 16.4.1): “Cincius in libro tertio De Re Militari fetialem populi Romani bellum indicentem hostibus telumque in agrum eorum iacientem hisce verbis uti scripsit.… ”

69. The debates in 200 and 192 over the proper procedure for notifying Nicanor and Antiochus that Rome had declared war against them reveal the status of the law to have remained in flux: see Livy 31.8.1-4 (“Ab hac oratione in suffragium missi, uti rogaret, bellum iusserunt. supplicatio inde a consulibus in triduum ex senatus consulto indicta est, obsecratique circa omnia puluinaria di ut quod bellum cum Philippo populus iussisset, id bene ac feliciter eueniret; consultique fetiales ab consule Sulpicio, bellum quod indiceretur regi Philippo utrum ipsi utique nuntiari iuberent an satis esset in finibus regni quod proximum praesidium esset, eo nuntiari. fetiales decreuerunt utrum eorum fecisset recte facturum. consuli a patribus permissum ut quem uideretur ex iis qui extra senatum essent legatum mitteret ad bellum regi indicendum”) and 36.3.7-12 (“consul deinde M'. Acilius ex senatus consulto ad collegium fetialium rettulit, ipsine utique regi Antiocho indiceretur bellum, an satis esset ad praesidium aliquod eius nuntiari; et num Aetolis quoque separatim indici iuberent bellum, et num prius societas et amicitia eis renuntianda esset quam bellum indicendum. fetiales responderunt, iam ante sese, cum de Philippo consulerentur, decreuisse nihil referre, ipsi coram an ad praesidium nuntiaretur; amicitiam renuntiatam uideri, cum legatis totiens repetentibus res nec reddi nec satisfieri aequum censuissent; Aetolos ultro sibi bellum indixisse, cum Demetriadem, sociorum urbem, per uim occupassent, Chalcidem terra marique oppugnatum issent, regem Antiochum in Europam ad bellum populo Romano inferendum traduxissent”), together with McDonald, and Walbank, , “Origins,” 192–95.Google Scholar

70. Servius Aen. 9.52: “denique cum Pyrrhi temporibus adversum transmarinum hostem bellum Romani gesturi essent nec invenirent locum, ubi hanc sollmenitatem per fetiales indicendi belli celebrarent, dederunt operam, ut unus de Pyrrhi militibus caperetur, quem fecerunt in circo Flaminio locum emere, ut quasi in hostili loco ius belli indicendi implerent.” See also Ovid, Fasti 6.203–208Google Scholar; Suetonius, Claudius 25.5Google Scholar; and Festus, s.v. Vellona (30L)Google Scholar.

71. Servius, Aen. 2.178Google Scholar: “et respexit Romanum morem: nam si egressi male pugnassent, revertebantur ad captanda rursus auguria. item in constituendo tabernaculo si primum vitio captum essent, secundum eligebatur; quod si et secumdum vitio captum esset, ad primum reverti mos erat. tabernacula autem eligebantur ad captanda auspicia. sed hoc servatum a ducibus Romanis, donec ab his in Italia pugnatum est, propter vicinitatem; postquam vero imperium longius prolatum est, ne dux ab exercitu diutius abesset, si Romana ad renovanda auspicia de longinquo revertisset, constitutum, ut unus locus de captivo agro Romanus fieret in ea provincia, in qua bellabatur, ad quem, si renovari opus esset auspicia, dux rediret.” See also Servius Aen. 9.52, citing Varro Calenus (Logistorici fr. 2 Semi): “Varro in Caleno ita ait duces cum primum hostilem agrum introituri erant, ominis causa prius hastam in eum agrum mittebant, ut castris locum caperent.”

72. Livy 30.43.9: “Fetiales cum in Africam ad foedus feriundum ire iuberentur, ipsis postulantibus senatus consultum in haec verba factum est ut privos lapides silices privasque verbenas secum ferrent ut, ubi praetor Romanus imperaret ut foedus ferirent, illi praetorem sagmina poscerent. Herbae id genus ex arce sumptum fetialibus dari solet.”

73. Festus, s.v. sagmina (424–426 L)Google Scholar: “Sagmina vocantur verbenae, id est herbae purae, quia ex loco sancto arcebantur a consule praetoreve, legatis proficiscentibus ad foedus faciendum bellumque indicendum; vel a sanciendo, id est confirmando. Naevius (Bell. Pun. 33) <‘scopas atque ver[benas sagmina sumpserunt…’>] [(trag. inc. 219) ‘ius sacratum Iovis] iurandum sagmine.’” Pliny, Naturalis historia 22.5Google Scholar: “… siquidem auctores imperii Romani conditoresque immensum quiddam et hic sumpsere, quoniam non aliunde sagmina in remediis publicis fuere et in sacris legationibusque verbenae. certe utroque nomine idem significatur, hoc est gramen ex arce cum sua terra evolsum, ac semper e legatis, cum ad hostes clarigatumque mitterentur, id est res raptas care repetitum, unus utique verbenarius vocabatur.” On the role of the fetials in striking treaties in the late Republic, see Varro, Ling 5.86 andGoogle ScholarReynolds, J., Aphrodisias and Rome, Journal of Roman Studies Monographs, 1 (London: Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, 1982), no. 8, l. 85Google Scholar. Regarding their role in the settlement of the second Punic war in particular, seeGiovannini, A., “Le droit fécial et la déclaration de guerre de Rome à Carthage en 218 avant J.C.,” Athenaeum 88 (2000): 69–116Google Scholar.

74. Gaius Inst. 1.1: “quod vero naturalis ratio inter omnes homines constituit, id apud omnes populos peraeque custoditur vocaturque ius gentium, quasi quo iure omnes gentes utuntur.”

75. On the edict of the peregrine praetor, see Labeo Ad edictum praetoris peregrini fr. 4 = Dig. 4.3.9.4; on the provincial edict, see Gaius Ad edictum provinciale frr. 53-388. In modern literature, seeDaube, D., “The Peregrine Praetor,” Journal of Roman Studies 41 (1951): 66–70Google Scholar; consult with caution Serrao, F., La “iurisdictio” del pretore peregrino (Milan: Dott. Antonino Giuffrè, 1954)Google Scholar.

76. On this topic, see especially C. Ando, “Religion and ius publicum”; on religion and law as related and mutually implicated ways in thinking about social theory at Rome, seeHumbert, M., “Droit et religion dans la Rome antique,” Archives de philosophie du droit 38 (1993): 35–47Google Scholar.

77. On the use of religious institutions and religious thought in coping with the seeming instability of political life in the high empire, seeAndo, , Matter, 95–148Google Scholar, as well as the literature cited in note 59, above. For an example of fetial ritual being used to strike treaties under the empire, see Suetonius, Claudius 25.5Google Scholar: “Cum regibus foedus in foro icit porca caesa ac vetere fetialium praefatione adhibita.” For an example in declarations of war, see …

78. Gaius Inst. 2.5-7: “(5) Sed sacrum quidem hoc solum existimatur, quod ex auctoritate populi Romani consecratum est, ueluti lege de ea re lata aut senatusconsulto facto. (6) Religiosum vero nostra voluntate facimus mortuum inferentes in locum nostrum.… (7) Sed in prouinciali solo placet plerisque solum religiosum non fieri, quia in eo solo dominium populi Romani est uel Caesaris, nos autem possessionem tantum vel usumfructum habere uidemur. utique tamen, etiamsi non sit religiosum, pro religioso habetur. (7a) Item quod in prouinciis non ex auctoritate populi Romani consecratum est, proprie sacrum non est, tamen pro sacro habetur.”

79. Ulpian Ad edictum bk. 25 fr. 741 = Dig. 47.12.5: “quid tamen, si lex municipalis permittat in civitate sepeliri? post rescripta principalia an ab hoc discessum sit, videbimus, quia generalia sunt rescripta et oportet imperialia statuta suam vim optinere et in omni loco valere.”

80. On this aspect of nineteenthth-century Roman historiography, see especially Thomas, Y., Mommsen et ‘l'isolierung’ du droit (Paris: De Boccard, 1984).Google Scholar

81. Nicolet, C., “L'empire romain est-il un ‘état moderne’?” in L'État moderne: le droit, l'espace et les formes de l'état, ed. Coulet, N. and Genet, J.-P. (Paris: Editions du CNRS, 1990), 111–27.Google Scholar

82. Ando, Imperial Ideology, citing earlier literature.