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There's a definite reference to slaves being dressed like citizens and everyone else, for fear that they may see just how numerous they are.
One amusing incident took place in a public bath when a slave bumped into an upper class snob. Instead of striking the slave, the man struck the slave's master on the face instead.
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In Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Hugh Elton says that although soldiers could be used as prison guards, it was preferrable for slaves to fulfill that role. Perhaps slave re-enactors could do so at events, which gives them more than a passive role?
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I actually like this idea a lot.
So long as slaves are not also prisoners, which might maintain some of the same problems I've already argued. But slaves having authority over Romans, particularly Legionaries in trouble, is a delightful juxta-position, that goes a long way to illustrating the different nature of slavery in Rome.
Bravo.
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Would striking the slave of a Governor who is employed in State business be the same as striking the Governor himself? Ironic, if so.
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It would certainly be damaging the property of the governor if not his extended person. I wouldn't want to be the poor legionary who took a swing.
Quote:Would striking the slave of a Governor who is employed in State business be the same as striking the Governor himself? Ironic, if so.
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Here's another interesting reference that could well be to a centurion's slaves from the Vindolanda tablets:
Clodius Super to his Cerialis
In it he requests clothing for his boys
(puerorum). Initially I thought he meant the soldiers under his command, which would have been interesting as a modern comparison, but on reading the notes it is believed he could also mean his slaves. (Click on 'open notes viewer' near the bottom of the page).
The clothing looks to have been needed in preparation for a transfer.
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Sadly lacking a paper on Roman slaves, this may be of interest to the thread:
[url:1lfm1dte]http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2006/2006-07-28.html[/url]
Christopher Leslie Brown, Philip D. Morgan (edd.), Arming Slaves: From
Classical Times to the Modern Age. New Haven: Yale University Press,
2006. Pp. xvi, 368. ISBN 0-300-10900-8. $35.00 (pb).
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