Invisible Romans (48 page)

By far the most effective means of dealing with outlaws has always been betrayal. In fact, this is the only means mentioned consistently in the sources. Perhaps Tlepolemus in Apuleius should not count, because he was a ‘mole’ in the outlaw gang in the first place – but it was his actions that laid the groundwork for the annihilation of the bandit gang (The
Golden Ass
7.10–13). Bulla Felix was brought to earth through treachery: the authorities found out that he was having sex with another man’s wife, and got both the wife and the man to help entrap Bulla through promises of immunity from prosecution. Bulla was taken captive while asleep in a cave (Cassius Dio 77.10.7). Maternus noted above was captured through betrayal as well, as was Jesus of Nazareth. Failing betrayal, it is safe to deduce that the success of authorities against outlaws was minimal.

Once an outlaw was caught, condign punishment followed. This was often preceded by the display of the criminals: Servilius Isauricus in the first century
BC
made a habit of parading captured pirates through the towns before execution.

Publius Servilius (Isauricus) all by himself captured more pirate captains alive than all who had gone before him. And was anyone deprived of the pleasure of seeing a pirate in chains? On the contrary, wherever he went, he offered this most pleasing spectacle of conquered and captive to everyone. As a result, not only from the towns where the processions went but also from outlying places a throng came just to see the sight. (Cicero,
2 Verrine
5.26.66)

Pirates obviously held great interest for the lawful population; note the crowd of townsmen who turned out to see the pirate Heracleo ‘celebrate a triumph’ as he tweaked the Romans’ ears by sailing with impunity around the inner harbor of Syracuse (Cicero,
2 Verrine
5.38.100).

The death penalty was normal for outlaws. This meant one of the two most humiliating executions in the Roman world: death by crucifixion or death in the arena, in the jaws of wild beasts. Strabo tells of Selouros, leader of a bandit band headquartered on Mount Etna in Sicily. He was
captured and executed at Rome in the gladiatorial arena. Bulla Felix rescued two of his men from prison, where they awaited death by the beasts; when Felix himself was caught, he was thrown to the beasts as well. Presumably Apuleius is having fun with this punishment when he has the bandit Thrasyleon die
as
a beast (a bear, in this case), not
by
a beast – the irony is heightened by the fact that the bearskin which turns Thrasyleon into a bear comes from a bear kept to mangle criminals in the arena (
The Golden Ass
4.13–24). Often after crucifixion the bodies were left on display, much as the bodies of hanged pirates and other criminals were in early modern times. The jurist Callistratus states that bodies of executed bandits should be left hanging in the place of their depredations to give solace to those they harmed and fear to those contemplating such a life.

The social life of bandits

Although there is no literature or other documentation written directly by outlaws, it is possible to reconstruct their social organization and general outlook. The ancient sources for such a reconstruction are the accounts of outlaw actions and attitudes found in documents written by nonoutlaw authors. As I have noted above, the fictional depictions of outlaws seem to have quite clear notions of the range of experiences and realities of the lives of real live bandits. The same can be said of other notices of outlaws in historians such as Cassius Dio and Herodian, and in New Testament references. As far back as Homer, an author was able to capture at least a verisimilar outlook of a pirate. But how far can these sources be pushed to reflect the actual life and attitudes of outlaws? There are two complementary approaches. First, it is necessary to determine a coherent picture of the outlaw’s life and attitudes from the disparate ancient sources. Second, this picture can be compared with well-documented outlaw life from another time and place.

It is Apuleius who in Books 4 to 7 of
The Golden Ass
gives us the most detailed information about outlaws that appears in any ancient source; thus the following description is based upon his information, with other sources brought in as they prove illuminating.

In Apuleius, the outlaw community is composed entirely of males. The nakedness of the men at their banquet emphasizes the maleness of
the group, especially as the nakedness of the gymnasium comes immediately to mind; the general horseplay, uproarious songs, and smutty jokes also emphasize an all-male camaraderie. Indeed, women are excluded from the community; the old crone in the cave does not count as female, and the woman Charite is a prisoner and a source of profit, not a sexual object. The social origins of Apuleius’ outlaws go unstated, but they most likely began as the type of person the bandit leader Haemus notes as potential recruits: the poor and desperate. Outlaws live in a place apart from lawful society, in this case a cave rather than a pirate ship or island base. It is in the mountains, a favorite haunt of outlaws in any age because of their ruggedness and low population. Hippothous’ gang lives in a cave in Cilicia (Xenophon,
An Ephesian Tale
3.3), and any similarly isolated spot will do; the
boukoloi
of the Delta in Egypt used islands in the marshes: ‘… it is almost impossible to run them to ground, as they retreat into their dens and lairs in the marsh’ (An
Ethiopian Story
2.24). Pirates, of course, used the sea as well as coves and islands as this sort of base – which made them harder to track down:

While the bandits’ plunderings on the land, being under the very eyes of the locals, who could discover the injury nearby and apprehend them without much difficulty, were easily stopped, the plundering by sea had increased dramatically. (Cassius Dio 36.20.3–4)

At their base, outlaws live in an egalitarian community. In Heliodorus, an incidental event emphasizes this egalitarianism: The first band of pirates takes the loot from the ship and divides it into equal-weighted piles so that all ten will have an equal burden (An
Ethiopian Story
1.3). They bind themselves by an oath, specifically to save a comrade in trouble; in external comradeship they do not fight against each other’s bands. There is a secret, ritual greeting that identifies a person as a member of the outlaws. While there is no explicit mention of a set of rules governing the band, Cicero (noted above) refers to such a contract in his
On Duties:
‘There even exist, it is said, bandit laws
(leges latronum)
that must be paid attention to and obeyed’ (2.11.40). A reference to a similar contract among outlaws appears in Achilles Tatius’
Leucippe and Clitophon
(Leucippe is speaking):

‘It was [Chaireas] who urged them to kill the woman and throw her overboard in my [Leucippe’s] stead. The rest of the bandit band then refused to hand me over to him alone; he had now used up another body that might have been sold and brought them an initial profit. In place of the dead woman I was to be sold to benefit the common purse and not just Chaireas alone. When he objected, bringing up legal points and referring to their contractual obligations, how they were commissioned to kidnap me for his passion, not their profit, and even ventured to use some strong language …’ [one of the bandits cut off his head].
(Leucippe and Clitophon
8.16/Winkler)

The bandit ‘laws’ were also to some extent merely traditional. A narrative given by Heliodorus is illustrative of these traditional ‘rules’
(An Ethiopian Story
4.3.1–32/Morgan): Peloros the pirate, now in love with Charikleia, demands her as his reward for being the first into the Phoenician vessel; when he asks for it, Trichinos the chief refuses. Peloros says, ‘Then you are overturning the pirate law that allows whoever is the first aboard an enemy vessel and the first to brave the danger of combat on behalf of all his comrades to choose whatever he pleases from the spoils.’ Trichinos responds, ‘I am not overturning that law, but I base my claim on another rule which says that subordinates must give way to their superiors.’ Peloros turns to the band and says, ‘Do you see how hard work is rewarded? One day each one of you will have his prize taken from him like this; one day you all will be the victims of this arbitrary and autocratic law.’ A brawl then ensues. This passage illustrates well both the role of rules outlaws lived by and of the outlaw assembly in levelling the band.

Duties are chosen by lot among Apuleius’ outlaws as, for example, sentinel duty and serving at table. They elect their leader: Haemus is so elected when their previous captain is killed in action. In Heliodorus’
An Ethiopian Story
the outlaw chief Thyamis makes a speech that sets out all the best traits of a leader: fairness in distribution of booty, not taking more than the rank and file, careful keeping of the common money fund, good recruitment, and proper treatment of women:

Comrades, you know how I have always felt towards you. As you know, I was born the son of the high priest at Memphis, but I did not succeed to the priesthood after my father’s disappearance, since my younger brother illegally usurped the office. I took refuge with you in the hope of gaining revenge and regaining my position. You chose me to be your leader, and to this day I have made a practice of not giving myself a larger share than the rest of you. If it has been a case of sharing money, then I have been content with an equal portion, and if it has been a matter of selling prisoners, I have contributed the proceeds to the common fund in the belief that a leader as good as I hope I am should undertake the largest share of the work but receive only an equal share of the profits. As for prisoners, I have enrolled into our number those men whose physical strength was likely to be of use to use, and sold the weaker ones; I have never misused a woman, but I have set free the wellborn, either for ransom or from simple pity at their misfortune, while those of humble extraction, for whom slavery was a normal way of life rather than a condition imposed on them by their capture, I have distributed among you all as servants.
(An Ethiopian Story
1.19/Morgan)

In
The Golden Ass
the bandits come to agreements by mutual consent, with all the outlaws in a council: They decide to kill Lucius by vote of the council; and they agree to Haemus’ plan to sell the girl Charite after some deliberation and differing points of view. In Chariton’s
Chaereas and Callirhoe
the pirates discuss what to do with Callirhoe; it is not exactly a council, but different ideas are expressed before the chief has his way. But in Heliodorus’
An Ethiopian Story
Thyamis, the chief of the outlaws, calls an assembly. ‘By this time, they had reached the meeting place, and the rest of the [bandit] company had assembled. Thyamis took his seat on the mound and declared the island to be a parliament’ (1.19/Morgan). When they accumulate booty, one of their number acts as a ‘protector of the treasury’ and advises regarding the best disposition of that booty; while Apuleius uses this term lightheartedly, the function is real. Equal distribution is essential to the maintenance of the band, as Cicero notes with reference to the gang leadership: ‘Unless the pirate captain divides booty equitably, he is either murdered by his fellows, or deserted by them’ (
On Duties
2.11.40).

The egalitarian mode of life must have appealed to some; it is noted in lawful sources and even esteemed, as giving a true venue for merit.
A story in Lucian illustrates this attitude as Samippus reveals his wish of what he would be/have, if he could be/have anything:

The gods can do anything, even what seems to be quite stupendous, and the rule which Timolaus laid down was not to hesitate to ask for anything, on the assumption that they will not say no. Well, I ask to be made a king, but not a king like Alexander, Philip’s son, or Ptolemy or Mithridates or any of those who inherited their kingdom from a father. No, let me begin as a brigand with about thirty sworn companions, men absolutely trustworthy and full of spirit. Then let them grow by degrees to three hundred, a thousand, and soon ten thousand, until the total is some fifty thousand heavy infantry and about five thousand horse. I shall be elected chief by all, because they think me the most able leader and administrator. This very fact is sweet – to be greater than other kings, because I’ve been elected commander by the army on merit, and not inherited the kingdom after someone else has done the work – that would be like Adimantus’s treasure and not so gratifying as when you see that you have won power by your own effort. (
The Ship
28–9/Harmon)

On the other hand, the very hardness of the outlaw life put strains on ‘normal’ bonds between men. Heliodorus in
An Ethiopian Story
stresses how wealth acquisition is the preeminent characteristic of outlaws, surpassing both friendship and kinship in importance:

Although they had lost so many of their friends, they [the winners] felt more joy in forming a respectful escort for the man who had slain them and yet lived than pity at the death of their comrades. So much more precious, evidently, do brigands consider money than life itself: friendship and kinship are defined solely in terms of financial gain. This was certainly the case here.
(Ethiopian Story
1.32/Morgan)

Cicero also alludes to at least one source of friction among outlaws, and how it was resolved: ‘For if anyone of the outlaw gang steals or sequesters anything, he loses his standing in the band’
(On Duties
2.11.40). In fact, in Achilles Tatius’
Leucippe and Clitophon
an outlaw leader who does not distribute the booty evenly is killed by his crew.
In
An Ethiopian Story
the promise of equal distribution of booty is a prime motivator for an outlaw band. Since there is no internal division among outlaws in Apuleius, there is no picture of how conflict resolution was conducted. But in Achilles Tatius’
Leucippe and Clitophon,
cited just above, the contention between the leader and his men over the distribution of booty ends in the leader’s beheading.