From Sean's words about the
Satyrica, I conclude that carrying a sword was permissable if you were a (former) soldier; and that seems to be corroborated by Robert's remark about Batavian veterans. That non-veterans were also allowed to carry arms, can be deduced from D. 48.6.1 (
Marcian), a comment on Augustan legislation:
Quote:He is liable under the Lex Julia de vi privata aut vi publica who collects arms or darts in his house, or on his land, or in a farm house, in larger quantities than is customary for the purpose of hunting, or travel by land or water.
This raises the interesting question why the heroes of the
Satyrica ran into trouble. Other lines from the
Digests confirm what Marcian wrote about the
Lex Julia. For example, D. 47.10.7.1 (Ulpian) proves that, when you used your sword, it mattered whether you used it to strike (as a club), or cut. This again suggests that it was possible to carry swords.
I have checked several other lines. "Arms" is taken widely, and includes helmets, shields, clubs, and stones. What seems to have been the central issue, was the way in which you used your weapon. This may be the way to solve the
Satyrica problem: perhaps, it was possible to have a sword while traveling, but not inside a city - I do not have a copy of Petronius' masterpiece, but perhaps someone can check where our heroes were caught with a sword & without caligae.
However, Italy, Batavian veterans, and the
Corpus Iuris were part of the system of
Roman law. Until Caracalla, there were other legal traditions, and a lawsuit had to start with an agreement under which law system it was to be held. There is evidence from Syria that this was not merely a theoretical possibility, but that it actually happened that people of, say, Emesa decided to be judged following Emesene laws.
The gospels offer some tantalizing clues about local law. I would read Matthew 26.51 || Mark 14.47 || John 18.10 as evidence that it was possible to obtain swords. Luke 12.46 is evidence that a landlord could use a sword against a slave; Luke 22.36 suggests that travelers carried swords.
In sum, travelers could carry swords and other arms, under both Roman law and at least one local system of law. If, however, you had to use arms, you might have to answer some questions. Excess violence was prohibited, and there were severe sanctions: loss of property, for example. We encounter an example of excess violence in the epistles of good
Synesius: building a catapult was too much. This was
vis publica, and liable to punishment.