136 The Imperial Government
publicumcouldexpecteventualrelease.SoDiocletianandMaximianreplied
tooneVitalis(CJ9,47,14):‘‘Ifthedayfixedinadvancebyasentencelaying
downafixed-termpenaltyofopuspublicumhasnotyetpassed,itisrightforit
tobeawaited,sinceitisinthepublicinterestthatapenaltyshouldnotlightly
beremitted,lestanyonerushrecklesslyintowrongdoing’’(arelativelyrare
referencetothedeterrentpurposeofpenalties).
OpuspublicumisformallyattestedfromPliny’scorrespondencewithTrajan
untilthefirsthalfofthefourthcentury,whenFirmicusMaternusreferstoit
(Math.7,24,2);anditwasamongthepenaltiessufferedbyChristiansinthe
EastunderLicinius.^24 Asinglelaterimperialletter,ofuncertaindate(383or
391)andinsecuretext,seemstorefertoopus publicum,andatanyratemakes
thelinkbetweensocialstatus,beating,andphysicallabour:thosewhohar-
bourdeserters‘‘willencounterthelawinproportiontotheirrankandper-
son.Ifindeedheisliabletobesubjecttophysicalpunishment...,hewillbe
beatenwithfustesor[and?]directedtometallum[or?]toopus publicum’’(CTh
7, 18, 8).
The place ofopus publicumin the scale of habitual punishments is thus
fairlyclear: in theSententiae Pauli(5, 17, 2) it is classed, along withvincula
(seeabove),amongtheminimaepoenae(thelightestpunishments).Antoninus
Piusdescribedthecondicio(situation)ofapersoncondemnedtoopuspublicum
asbeingcomparablewiththatofadeportatus(CJ9,47,1).Ifso,thatmeant
confiscationofpropertyandlossofallrightsoftestamentandinheritance.
In other respects the parallel is surely misleading; fordeportatio,which in-
volvednophysicalinjuryorrestraint,wasthemostseverepenaltytowhich
(formostcrimes)theupperclassescouldbecondemned,whileopus publicum
wasreservedforthelowerclasses.
Ifwecanlocateit(moreorless)asalegalpenalty,thesameisbarelytrue
ofitseconomicandsocialaspects.Giventhevaluesattachedintheimperial
period to city life and its physical manifestations, it must have some sig-
nificancethatoneofthefewattestedformsof long-termpenaltyinvolved
physicallabourintheserviceofurbanutilities.Tothelistoffunctionsmen-
tionedbyPlinynothingcanbeaddedexcept(probably)thatofworkinga
treadmill(antlia):ArtemidorusintheOneirocritica(1,48)reportsonedream
whichinvolvedwalkingwithoutadvancingandoneofwaterflowingfrom
a man’s feet, both of which turned out to have foretold condemnation to
the treadmill. As with most of Artemidorus’ cases, it would be reasonable
toassumethattheseincidentsreflectthetownlifeoftheGreekEastinthe
secondcentury.
- Eusebius,VC2,20,3;Sozomenus,HE1,7,3.