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

The Fiscus in the First Two Centuries 61

somerecentperiod)amandiggingorploughingcandosowithoutthefear
of striking some buried object.^103 Then we have the storyof how Atticus,
thefatherofHerodesAtticus,found‘‘afabuloustreasure’’inahouseofhisin
Athens;hereportedthefindtoNervaandhadtobereassuredtwicebefore
feelingsafetokeepit.^104 Juvenal,inhissatireonDomitian’scouncil,enunci-
atestheprinciple‘‘whateverisrareandbeautiful...belongstothefiscus...
itwillbedonatedthereforelestitbelost.’’^105 Andinthesecondcenturyvari-
ousexplicitregulationsoftheFiscus’claimsweremade.^106 Juvenal’swords
maysuggestthattherightarose,byafamiliarprocess,fromthecustomof
sendingraritiesorvaluablecuriositiesaspresentstotheemperor.^107

Bona Damnatorum

(PropertyofPersonsCondemnedonCriminalCharge)

Withbona damnatorummuchthesamepatternofdevelopmentcanbetraced
—a possible Ptolemaic precedent and then a gradual intrusion of the Fis-
cus on the rights of the Aerarium, followed ultimately by formal recog-
nition.There is some evidence that in the Ptolemaic period the property
ofcondemnedpersonswastakenbytheking,thatisbytheIdiosLogos.^108
The Gnomon of the Idios Logos lays down that the goods of those con-
demned on capital charges, or those who have gone into voluntary exile,
shouldgototheFiscus,withtheexceptionofatenthforeachsonandthe
cash dowries of their wives (plus a twelfth which Antoninus Pius allowed
thecondemnedthemselves).^109 Provisionsforrestoringtheirdowriestothe
wivesofcondemnedmen(or,possibly,debtorstotheFiscus)arealsomen-
tionedintheedictofTiberiusIuliusAlexander:‘‘[D]owries,beingtheprop-

103. Calp.Sic.,Eclogae4,117–21:‘‘Nowadiggerdoesnotfeartowieldhisfatefulspade,
     andiffortuneyieldsit,canusethegoldwhichhefinds;nordoestheploughman,asre-
     cently,fearwhileheturnshisfurrows,lestalumpofmetalmaysoundagainsttheplough
     sharewhichstrikesit.’’


104. Philos.,VS2,1.


105. Juv.,Sat.4,54–56.


106. SeeHA,Had.18,6;Inst.2,1,39,Dig.49,14,1,praef.,3,10–11,andHill(n.102),
     243–44.


107. SeePliny,NH7,74–75;10,84;19,39;Sen.,Ep. Mor.95,42.


108. Préaux (n. 92), 407 and 409–10. Note also that under the Seleucids the property
     ofmenconvictedoftreasonwasconfiscated:E.Bikerman,Institutions des Séleucides(Paris,
     1938),121.


109. Para.36.CompareDio47,14,1,onsimilarprovisionsmadebytheTriumvirsfor
     theproscriptionsof43–42b.c.