Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 2 - Government, Society, and Culture in the Roman Empire

Condemnation to Hard Labour 145

labourforce;^43 convictlabourisattestedonlyinimperialminesandquarries.
Theeconomicobjectiveswhichcouldthushavebeensoughtweretherefore
ofacomparativelylimitedcharacter;theproducts,intheformofstoneor
metal,couldhavebeenputonthemarket,usedformintingor(perhaps)for
thearmy,oremployeddirectlyinimperialbuildingprojects;high-quality
marblefromimperialquarriesmightalso—asseemsclearinsomeattested
cases—havebeengrantedasagifttocitiesfortheirbuildings.^44 Itmaynot
beanaccidentthatourclearestevidencerelatesonceagaintocitiesandtheir
publicworks.
Itremainstoseeiftherewereanyothereconomicfunctionswhichmight
havebeenperformedbyconvictlabour.Sincethetreatmentof long-term
convictscloselyresembledthatofslaves—andthevictimsindeedincluded
existingslaves—itwillbenaturaltolookfirstatformsoflabourwhichwere
byconventionusedasapunishmentforslaves.

Pistrinum

Wesawearlier(textton.8above)Apuleius’graphicdescriptionofmen,tat-
tooedandinshackles,workinginamillorbakery;weretheyslaves,slaves
sentforpunishment,orpossiblyconvictedfreemen?Whatneedsnodemon-
strationisthatbeingsenttolabourinapistrinumhadlongbeenapunishment
whichhungoverslaves(e.g.,Plautus,Pseud.494–95).^45 Similarly,aswealso
saw(textton.9above),afugitiveslaveapprehendedinEphesusmighthave
beendetainedeitherinacustodia publicaorinapistrinum.Theimplicationis
therefore that apistrinumwas a placewhere persons were restrained either
byfettersorbybeinglockedin,orboth,andfromwhichescapewouldbe
difficult.Thiscouldbethecaseevenforsomeonewhohiredouthisservices
topistores(millersorbakers),likeCallidromus(alreadyanescapedslave)who
wasdetailedbytwopistoresinNicomedia,towhomhehadhiredhisoperae
(services),andfledtoastatueofTrajan(Pliny,Ep.10,74).Itisthereforeno
surprisetofindthatCallistus,evenbeforehiscondemnationtometallumin
Sardinia(seeabove),hadbeenpunishedbybeingsenttoapistrinumbyhis
masterinRome,sometimeinthe180s.

43.ERW,185–86;compareD.J.Crawford,‘‘ImperialEstates,’’M.I.Finley,ed.,Studies
in Roman Property(1976),35.
44.ERW,184.

45. SeealsoPlautus,Asinaria708–9,andL.A.Moritz,Grain-Mills and Flour in Classical
    Antiquity(1958),67–68.