Condemnation to Hard Labour 137NosuchcontextcanbesuppliedforSuetonius’twoisolatedreports,that
Tiberius condemned an equestrianin antliam(Tib. 51), and that Gaius had
manymenofhonourablerank(senatorsandequestrians)tattooed(deforma-
tos...stigmatum notis) and sent to themetalla(see below) and road build-
ing (munitiones viarum)orad bestias(Cal. 27). The implication might well
be that condemnation to hard labour was alreadycustomary in that early
periodforpersonsoflowerrank.Butthereisnothingwhatevertosuggest
thesocialcontextinwhichthelabourwasperformed.TheallusionsinPliny
(Ep.10,31–32)andSuetoniusappearinanycasetoprovideouronlyevidence
that roads might be built byconvict labour.^25 To complete ourconfusion,
roadbuildingisherelinkeddirectlywithmetalla(evidentlymeaningquar-
riesratherthanmines).Butintheperiodforwhichwehavesomeevidence,
metallumwasaquitedistinctpenaltyfromopus publicum,farmoresevere—
andperhapsofgreatereconomicsignificance.
CondemnationtotheMinesorQuarries:
Metallum,Opus Metalli,andMinisterium Metallicorum
Christian evidence alonewould be enough to indicate the significance of
metalluminthemindsofthosesubjectsoftheRomanEmpirewhofacedthe
possibilityofcondemnation.Butneitheraninstitutionalnoraneconomic
norageographicallyorientatedhistoryoftheexploitationofconvictlabour
intheminesandquarriescanbewritten.Allthatcanbedoneistopickout
somesuggestivefeaturesofourevidence,whichisoverwhelminglylegalin
characterandconcernedwiththeconsequencesforthepropertyandpersonal
statusofthecondemned.
Thereisnothingtosuggestthatthecondemnationoffreementometallum
was a feature of republican jurisdiction. But Strabo records that the con-
tractors(Romanpublicani?)whoformerlyoperatedthered-sulphidemineat
PimoliseneinPontushadusedslaveswhohadbeensoldoffforevil-doing,
andwhometaquickdeaththere(Geog.562).Thiscannotbebroughtintoany
relationwiththelaterevidence;butitmayremindus,firstly,thatthepat-
ternsofexploitationofnaturalresourceswithintheEmpiredidnotalways
oweanythingtoRome;secondly,that,aswithotherhard-labourpenalties,
condemnationtometallumappliedtoslavesaswellaslow-statusfreemen;
and,thirdly,thatuseofconvictsdidnotnecessarilyimplydirectexploitation
byemployees of the state. Equally, the famous description,which Diodo-
rus(3,12–14)tookfromAgatharchides,ofconvictsworkingthegoldmines
- SeeT.Pekáry,Untersuchungen zu den römischen Reichsstrassen(1968),120.