Citizenship grant to the Adauni, Tulliasses and Sunduni tribes (CIL V, 5050)

Typology: Fasti; Edict

Original Location: Adauni (Cles (Trento), in the locality of Campi Neri.

Current Location: Museo provinciale d'Arte di Trento, Italy. Inventory number: 9660.

Date: 46 CE

Centuries: 1st CE

Material: Bronze

Measurements: Height: 49.9 cm Width: 37.8 cm Depth: 0.61 cm Letter height: 1,6-0,6 cm Weight: 7.14 kg

Languages: Latin

Category: Roman

Publications: CIL V, 5050; EDR137898

Description: Bronze tablet. Small circular holes, 5mm in diameter, at each of its four corners where it was once attached to a wall. The text is enclosed within a rectangular, inverted frame. The Tabula is slightly curved and has two dents.

Diplomatic:
M٠IVNIO٠SILANO٠Q٠SVLPICIO٠CAMERINO٠COS
            IDIBVS٠MARTIS٠   BAIS٠IN٠PRAETORIO٠EDICTVM
            TI٠CLAVDI٠CAESARIS٠AVGVSTI٠GERMANICI٠PROPOSITIVO٠FVIT٠ID
            QVOD٠INFRA٠SCRIPTVM٠EST
5          TI٠CLAVDIVS٠CAESAR٠AVGVSTVS٠GERMANICVS٠PONT
            MAXIM٠TRIB٠POTEST٠VI٠IMP٠XI٠P٠P٠COS٠DESIGNATVS٠IIII٠DICIT
            CVM٠EX٠VETERIBVS٠CONTROVERSIS٠PETENTIBVS٠ALIQVAMDIV٠ETIAM
            TEMPORIBVS٠TI٠CAESARIS٠PATRVI٠MEI٠AD٠QVAS٠ORDINANDAS
            PINARIVM٠APOLLINAREM٠MISERAT٠QVAE٠TANTVM٠MODO
10 INTER٠COMENSES٠ESSENT٠QVANTVM٠MEMORIA٠REFERO٠ET                BERGALEOS٠ISQVE٠PRIMVM٠APSENTIA٠PERTINACI٠PATRVI٠MEI
            DEINDE٠ETIAM٠GAI٠PRINCIPATV٠QVOD٠AB٠EO٠NON٠EXIGEBATVR
            REFERRE٠NON٠STVLTE٠QVIDEM٠NEGLEXSERIT٠ET٠POSTEAC
            DETVLERIT٠CAMVRIVS٠STATVTVS٠AD٠ME٠AGROS٠PLEROSQVE
15 ET٠SALTVS٠MEI٠IVRIS٠ESSE٠IN٠REM٠PRAESENTEM٠MISI                       PLANTAM٠IVLIVM٠AMICVM٠ET٠COMITEM٠MEVM٠QVI
            CVM٠ADHIBITIS٠PROCVRATORIBVS٠MEIS٠QVISQVE٠IN٠ALIA                               REGIONE٠QVIQVE٠IN٠VICINIA٠ERANT٠SVMMA٠CVRA٠INQVI
            SIERIT٠ET٠COGNOVERIT٠CETERA٠QVIDEM٠VT٠MIHI٠DEMONS                 20 TRATA٠COMMENTARIO٠FACTO٠AB٠IPSO٠SVNT٠STATVAT٠PRONVN
            TIETQVE٠IPSI٠PERMITTO
            QVOD٠AD٠CONDICIONEM٠ANAVNORVM٠ET٠TVLLIASSIVM٠ET٠SINDVNO
            RVM٠PERTINET٠QVORUM٠PARTEM٠DELATOR٠ADTRIBVTAM٠TRIDEN
            TINIS٠PARTEM٠NE٠ADTRIBVTAM٠QVIDEM٠ARGVISSE٠DICITVR              25 TAM٠ET٠SI٠ANIMADVERTO٠NON٠NIMIVM٠FIRMAM٠ID٠GENVS٠HOMI                       NVM٠HABERE٠CIVITATIS٠ROMANAE٠ORIGINEM٠TAMEN٠CVM٠LONGA
            VSVRPATIONE٠IN٠POSSESSIONEM٠EIVS٠FVISSE٠DICATVR٠ET٠ITA٠PERMIX
            TVM٠CVM٠TRIDENTINIS٠VT٠DIDVCI٠AB٠IS٠SINE٠GRAVI٠SPLENDI٠MVNICIPI
            INIVRIA٠NON٠POSSIT٠PATIOR٠EOS٠IN٠EO٠IVRE٠IN٠QVO٠ESSE٠SE٠EXISTIMA
30 VERVNT٠PERMANERE٠BENEFICIO٠MEO٠EO٠QVIDEM٠LIBENTIVS٠QVOD               PLERISQVE٠EX٠EO٠GENERE٠HOMINVM٠ETIAM٠MILITARE٠IN٠PRAETORIO
            MEO٠DICVNTVR٠QUIDAM٠VERO٠ORDINES٠QVOQVE٠DVXISSE
            NON٠NVLLI٠COLLECTI٠IN٠DECVRIAS٠ROMAE٠RES٠IVDICARE
            QVOD٠BENEFICIVM٠IS٠ITA٠TRIBVO٠VT٠QVAEQVMQVE٠TANQVAM
35 CIVES٠ROMANI٠GESSERVNT٠EGERVNTQVE٠AVT٠INTER٠SE٠AVT٠CVM
            TRIDETINIS٠ALISVE٠RATAM٠ESSE٠IVBEAT٠NOMINAQVE٠EA
            QVAE٠HABVERVNT٠ANTEA٠TANQVAM٠CIVES٠ROMANI٠ITA٠HABERE٠IS٠PERMITTAM

Edition :

M(arco) Iunio Silano, Q(uinto) Sulpicio Camerino co(n)s(ulibus),

idibus Martis, Bais in praetorio, edictum

Ti(beri) Claudi Caesaris Augusti Germanici propositum fuit id

quod infra scriptum est.

5 Ti(berius) Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, pont(ifex)

maxim(us), trib(unicia) potest(ate)VI, imp(erator) XI, p(ater) p(atriae), co(n)s(ul)

designatus IIII, dicit:

cum ex veteribus controversis petentibus aliquamdiu etiam

temporibus Ti(beri) Caesaris patrui mei, ad quas ordinandas

10 Pinarium Apollinarem miserat, quae tantum modo

inter Comenses essent, quantum memoria refero, et

Bergaleos, isque primum apsentia pertinaci patrui mei,

deinde etiam Gai principatu, quod ab eo non exigebatur

referre, non stulte quidem, neglexserit; et posteac

15 detulerit Camurius Statutus ad me, agros plerosque

et saltus mei iuris esse: in rem praesentem misi

Plantam Iulium amicum et comitem meum, qui

cum, adhibitis procuratoribus meis quisque in alia

regione quique in vicinia erant, summa cura inqui-

20 sierit et cognoverit, cetera quidem, ut mihi demons-

trata commentario facto ab ipso sunt, statuat pronun-

tietque ipsi permitto.

Quod ad condicionem Anaunorum et Tulliassium et Sinduno-

rum pertinet, quorum partem delator adtributam Triden-

25 tinis, partem ne adtributam quidem arguisse dicitur,

tam et si animadverto non nimium firmam id genus homi-

num habere civitatis Romanae originem: tamen, cum longa

usurpatione in possessionem eius fuisse dicatur et ita permix-

tum cum Tridentinis, ut diduci ab is sine gravi splendi[di] municipi

30 iniuria non possit, patior eos in eo iure, in quo esse se existima-

verunt, permanere beneficio meo, eo quidem libentius, quod

plerisque ex eo genere hominum etiam militare in praetorio

meo dicuntur, quidam vero ordines quoque duxisse,

nonnulli collecti in decurias Romae res iudicare.

35 Quod beneficium is ita tribuo, ut quaecumque tanquam

cives Romani gesserunt egeruntque, aut inter se aut cum

Tridentinis alisve, ratam esse iubeat, nominaque ea,

quae habuerunt antea tanquam cives Romani, ita habere is permittam.

English translation:

Taken from Robert K. Sherk (ed.), The Roman Empire: Augustus to Hadrian, (1988), p. 94-6. © Cambridge University Press 1988, reproduced with permission.

Under the consulship of Marcus Iunius Silanus and Quintus Sulpicius Camerinus (AD 46) on the Ides of March (March 15) at Baiae in the imperial quarters, an edict of Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was published, which is recorded below. (5) Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, pontifex maximus, holding the tribunician power for the sixth time (AD 46), imperator for the eleventh time, father of his country, consul designate for the fourth time, declares: Since, because of old and long pending controversies, even in the time of my uncle Tiberius Caesar, (when) he had sent (10) Pinarius Apollinaris to settle them – these controversies were only, if I remember correctly, between Comum and the Bergalei – since he (i.e. Pinarius Apollinaris) at first because of the persistent absence of my uncle and then in the rule of Caius because it was not demanded of him, had neglected to send in a report, not because of foolishness, I may add, and (since) later (15) Camurius Statutus had informed me that several fields and forest-pasturelands were within my jurisdiction, I dealt with this immediate situation by sending Iulius Planta, my friend and companion. Since he has conferred with my procurators who were either in other areas or in the immediate vicinity and since he has with the greatest care (20) investigated the matter and has held a hearing, in regard to these various matters, as they have been brought to my attention by the written report made by him, I grant him permission to decide them and to deliver verdicts. Concerning the status of the Anauni and Tulliassi and Sinduni, some of whom, an informant is said to have proved, are attributed to the (25) Tridentini, while others are not attributed, although I understand that this class of people do not have a strong case for Roman citizenship, nevertheless, since by long usage it is said they are in possession of it, and are so associated with the Tridentini that they cannot be withdrawn from them without serious (30) injury to that splendid municipality, I permit them to remain in that legal status in which they believed they were. I do this as a favour to them, indeed I do it all the more freely because many of this class of people are said to be even soldiers in my Praetorian Guard, some actually line commanders, and some few enrolled in panels at Rome to judge cases at law. (35) I do them this favour so that in regard to whatever things they have done as if they were Roman citizens, or whatever measures they have taken either among themselves or with the Tridentini or with anyone else, I may now order those things or measures to be legally binding. And the names, which they had before, acting as if they were Roman citizens; I now permit them to retain.

Commentary:

This bronze tablet, discovered in 1869 together with some small silver objects and items dedicated to Saturn, contains an edict issued by the emperor Claudius in 46 CE. It is an important source for the light that it sheds on Claudius’s process of awarding citizenship to non-Roman peoples, as well as the uncertain status of certain frontier communities, in this instance three Alpine tribes.

The edict was issued by Claudius on 15 March, 46 CE, from his residence in Baiae, in the Bay of Naples. Some scholars, such as Barbara Levick, have interpreted his actions as a calculated move against the Senate, demonstrating his independence from their control and marginalising their role in his regime (Levick, Claudius, p. 82; 94). The fact that he was intervening in civic affairs in Italy, whose administration usually fell directly to the Senate in Rome, was certainly insensitive, as was his decision to issue the edict from outside of the capital city at the imperial villa at Baiae, which perhaps emphasised the suggestion of his opposition to the House and ability to act outside of their established procedures. In many respects the edict presents the awkward nature of Claudius’s relationship with the Senate and his attempt to work with, and around, them during his principate. However, the tablet also presents an interesting picture of how the communities of Italy, particularly those far from Rome, responded to Roman rule, and particularly in reference to the issues surrounding the legality of citizenship. As the edict reveals, the legal and geographical extent of Roman citizenship was not always easy to precisely define, with certain groups – such as the Alpine tribes of the Adauni, Tulliasses and Sidauni under discussion here – living under the assumption of Roman citizenship when it had not formally been awarded to them.

The first seven lines of the edict contain information pertaining to the consuls in power and Claudius’s imperial titles, which has allowed for such a secure date. Lines 8-14 of the edict reveals that an earlier dispute between the Comenses and Bergalei tribes was the origin of the course of events that led to Claudius’s pronouncement; there were ‘earlier controversies’ (veteribus controversis), although their nature is not made explicit, that were brought before the emperor Tiberius some twenty years earlier in 26 CE. Comum had been made a municipality in 49 BCE and their dispute with the neighbouring Bergalei, who were peregrini, was likely over whether or not they could claim right of ownership to their land (Hardy, Roman Laws, p. 127, n. 10). Tiberius had sent out a delator, (lit. ‘informer’, but rather someone sent by the administration to retrieve information), the named Pinarius Apollinaris, but did not receive his report, and the dispute continued unresolved for the next two decades. The matter came to Claudius’s attention because, as the edict states in lines 14-16, his own delator, Camurius Statutus, informed him that the lands in question in the dispute ‘were within [his] jurisdiction’ (agros plerosque / et saltus mei iuris esse), meaning that they were taxable commodities. Claudius had immediately sent out his ‘amicum et comitem meum’ (‘my friend and companion’), Iulius Planta, to investigate the matter, who discovered that three tribes – the Adauni, Tulliasses and Sinauni – on the border of the territory of Tridentum, close to the area of the earlier dispute, had been acting under the incorrect impression that they all held Roman citizenship.

In terms of municipal status, Tridentum was a municipium under ius Latii, or the Latin right, meaning that its inhabitants were subject to its authority and judicial control. In the second part of the edict, beginning at line 23, deals with Claudius’s response to the problematic situation that has arisen, stating that the people of the three tribes – the Adauni, Tulliasses and Sidauni - are ‘attributed’ (adtributam) to the people of Tridentum, and therefore also subject to her laws and control. Although allowed to retain ownership of their own land, they had to pay taxes to the municipium and did not possess the same full rights as its inhabitants (Hardie, Roman Law, p. 130). This arrangement had its origin in the Lex Pompeia of 89 BCE, which was drawn up following the settlement of Transalpine Gaul and extended the ‘Latin right’ to those towns on the Italian border of the province. Ernest Hardy noted that following the establishment of a new law, the Lex Roscia of 49 BCE, the Latin communities such as Tridentum were awarded the status of municipia, with their ‘attributed’ communities elevated to the status of communities under ius Latii (Roman Law, p. 130-1). The situation of the Adauni, Tulliasses and Sidauni had been complicated by these changes; some of the tribes-people were ‘attributed’ to Tridentum, and so may genuinely have claimed ‘Latin right’ since 49 BCE, but others – according to Claudius – were not, and so were still of ‘peregrine’ legal status and yet, for the last century, all had believed themselves to be, or wanted others to believe that they were full Roman citizens.

Claudius’s response to this was to award citizenship to all, even though he was aware ‘that this class of people do not have a strong case for Roman citizenship’ (tam et si animadverto non nimium firmam id genus homi/num habere civitatis Romanae originem). This might appear to be an unusually generous grant, especially from an emperor who was known to have executed those who ‘usurped’ citizenship illegally, and who forbade non-citizens from using the Roman tria nomina naming system (Millar, Emperor in the Roman World, p. 481). There was, however, a practical motivation for Claudius’s actions; in lines 27-9 he states that their belief in holding Roman citizenship had endured for so long, that to separate them (legally) from the Tridenti would cause significant damage to the reputation of Tridentum, which was legitimately a Latin municipium (tamen, cum longa / usurpatione in possessionem eius fuisse dicatur et ita permix/tum cum Tridentinis, ut diduci ab is sine gravi splendi[di] municipi / iniuria non possit). Although appearing to protect the Tridenti from undue negativity, from an administrative perspective this was a necessary statement; to separate the legal status of the Adauni, Tulliasses and Sidauni would be enormously problematic, given the interactions of inheritance, property exchange and intermarriage that almost certainly occurred between the municipium and its ‘attributed’ territories over the last one hundred years (Hardy, Roman Law, p. 131, n. 22; Reinhold ‘Usurpation of Status…’, p. 289). Even more worryingly for Claudius, some of the members of these three tribes had served as soldiers in his Praetorian Guard (quod / plerisque ex eo genere hominum etiam militare in praetorio / meo dicuntur), a privilege reserved for only Roman citizens and usually domiciled in Italian towns (see Tacitus, Annals IV.5), others had served as generals (quidam vero ordines quoque duxisse), and others even seem to have acted as judges in their local councils (nonnulli collecti in decurias Romae res iudicare). The legal and administrative ramifications of their lacking Roman citizenship were therefore immeasurable; in line 35 he states that he bestows upon them the ‘favour’ of citizenship (quod beneficium is ita tribuo) retrospectively, to include all acts taken by them under the erroneous impression of holding Roman citizenship, and he makes them legally binding (ratam esse iubeat). His final act of beneficium, or ‘favour’ to the three tribes, is to permit them to keep their names, the tria nomina used to illustrate citizenship, even though they legally had not had the right to them (nominaque ea / quae habuerunt antea tanquam cives Romani). This was an issue about which Claudius was particularly strict about enforcing, and so represents the extent to which the edict attempted to maintain a fluid and stable transfer of status, without upsetting the local communities or leading to civil unrest (for Claudius’s strict application of Roman names, see Suetonius, Claudius, XXV).

There is much that is interesting in this inscription; not only does it illustrate the benefits and privileges of citizenship and how these might be shared by the emperor with the communities within the empire, but it also demonstrates the difficulty of maintaining the different legal ‘barriers’ between the various groups under Roman control (Reid, Municipalities of the Roman Empire, p. 167). The territory controlled by the municipality of the Tridenti clearly covered a large area, large enough that it was not possible to distinguish between the legitimate claims to status of the different groups that inhabited it. At a considerable distance from Rome, and already complicated by the different statuses of these groups, it is entirely conceivable that the laws passed to elevate the legal standing of Tridentum and its ‘attributed’ territories was not fully understood or, as Ernest Hardy suggested, that the ‘legal bearings of the change were not appreciated’, hence the length of time for which the confusion endured (Roman Laws, p. 122).

Claudius’s edict also makes an interesting statement about the ‘elaborate hierarchical order’ of the Roman ‘class’ system (Reinhold, ‘Usurpation of Status’, p. 275). The preoccupation of the edict with the legal position of these different groups might be misunderstood as indicative of a lack of social mobility in the Roman empire, but the text of the inscription reveals the exact opposite; in spite of the precise order and ranking of Roman society, and the associated privileges, Claudius’s edict demonstrates that ‘the Roman World was always in some measure an “open society”’, in which manoeuvrability between ‘ranks’ was entirely possible (Reinhold, ‘Usurpation of Status’, p. 275). Although Claudius’s decision to award the Adauni, Tulliasses and Sidauni tribes citizenship was based on retrospective necessity, to preserve order, avoid legal disputes and protect the reputation of a successful Roman municipium, it also reveals the ease with which Rome was able to remove certain social barriers ‘for the benefit of groups and individuals…a well-known phenomenon in Roman political and social history’ (Reinhold, ‘Usurpation of Status’, p. 275).

Keywords in the Original Language: