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

Condemnation to Hard Labour 149

enduring a penal form of labour, inflicted as a punishment (cf. alsoΣJuv.

6,151),thenthereisastrikingresemblancetotheconditionstowhichthe
freepoorweresoontobecondemned.Butwestillhavenoproofoftheem-
ploymentofformerlyfreeconvictsinagriculture,evenontheevergrowing
imperialestates.Ifthequestionoftheshortageofslaveshadindeedbeenof
fundamentalimportance,thenthemeansexistedwithinagriculture,byfar
thelargestsectionoftheeconomy,fordeployingconvictlabourunderstrict
surveillance.
Infact,itmaybesuggested,wearenotdealingwithaphenomenonof
that level of economic importance.Though there is absolutely no way of
computingthenumericalscaleofconvictlabour,itisclearthatbythesec-
ondcenturyitwasafamiliarandacceptedfact(notethecasualreferenceto
condemnationtometalluminArtemidorus1,59).Butitwasdeployed,asit
seems, simply where degrading or intensely laborious work was available,
in‘‘public’’(i.e.,city)workandintheminesandquarriesofCaesar.Con-
victlabour,whichwasinanycaseinpartthelabourofconvictedslaves,thus
contributedtotheutilitiesofthecities,tothequarryingofstonesforbuild-
ing,andtotheproductionofpreciousmetalsandrareminerals;perhapsalso
(though this is not specificallyattested) to that of common metals such as
iron or tin; it would also be interesting to know how widely it was em-
ployedinsalt-works.Itwasonlyinthelaterthirdandfourthcenturiesthat
thestateconsignedconvictlabourtothepistrinaofRome,orcametopossess
factorieswhereconvictlabourassisted(atleast)intheproductionofcloth-
ingforthearmyandthecourt.Thenarrowcontoursofthedeploymentof
convictlabourthusrepresentaquitesignificantexpressionofthelimitsof
‘‘economic’’thinkinginimperialsociety.
Whatisfarmoreclearlydefinedandfarmoresignificantisthereservation
ofthesepenaltiestolower-classpersons.Theterm‘‘lower-class’’hereneces-
sarilyreferstothevastmajorityoftheinhabitantsoftheEmpire(thosebelow
thestatusoftowncouncillororveteran).Wearenotthereforedealingwith
penalties reserved for a ‘‘criminal class’’ or specific groups who were con-
ceivedofassubversiveordangerous.Such‘‘badmen’’(malihomines)—temple
robbers,bandits,kidnappers,thieves—areindeedreferredtobyUlpianasre-
quiringagovernor’sspecialattention(Dig.1,18,13pr.);buttheseverepenal-
tieswhichappearedintheEmpirethreatenedafarwidergroupandreflect
socialratherthanspecificallycriminologicalideas.Thesignificantfactisthe
closeassociationmadebetweensocialclassandeitherexemptionfromorex-
posuretobeating,shackling,beingconfinedinprison,painfulandprolonged
formsofdeath,andemploymentonformsoflabourwhichwereeitherde-
gradingorphysicallydestructive,orboth.Inthiscontextlabourwasseen,
andused,asaformofviolencetothebodywhichwascloselycomparable