Matheson Collection > Cornelli Taciti annalium

BOOK XIII. CH. 26, § 3 — CH. 28, §§ 1-2
(vindicta), and a formal declaration of his freedom was pro-
nounced. Full freedom could also be granted by will, and, till
the censorship lost its Republican functions, by enrolment of the
slave on the citizen list by the censor. Partial manumission was
a private affair, effected either (i) 'inter amicos,' by a declaration
before five witnesses, or (2) ' per epistolam,' by a letter countersigned
by five persons, or (3) ' convivio,' by reception of the slave as a
guest at his master's table. These forms were often followed by
the ' iusta manumissio ' ; cf Plin. Epp. 7. 16, ' si voles vindicta libe-
rare quos proxime inter amicos manumisisti.'
paenitentiae, ' change of mind' : not that partial manumission
was revocable, but it remained in the power of the patronus to
refuse the further concession (novum beneficium) of the ' iusta
manumissio.'
velut vinclo, &c. : those who had received 'iusta manumissio'
became Roman citizens ; those otherwise manumitted were by an
act of Tiberius given ' Latin rights,' such as ' ius commercii,' but
were still of servile condition, in so far that they were unable
to contract a legal marriage, to make a will, or inherit property
under a will.
§ 6. privatim, ' that they should deal with the case individually,
as often as a frcedman was blamed by his patron, without inflicting
any disability on the whole class.'
§ 7. amitae : Uomitia, see ch. 19, 4.
quasi, ' by an abuse of civil justice, which brought disgrace on
the emperor, by whose order a decision that he was free-born had
been effected.' Paris had bought his freedom, and then claimed
to recover the sum paid, on the ground that he was free born ; the
court, to please Nero, decided in his favour.
Ch. 28, § I. nihilo minus: in spite of Nero's terrorism over
the senate and the courts.
rei publicae, ' a commonwealth.'
VibuUium : presiding praetor at the 'ludi.'
Antistium : Antistius Sosianus, praetor in 62 A. D., and exiled
for libel {Ann. xiv 48-49); recalled (xvi 14, i); described as
'pravitate morum multis exitiosus' {Hist, iv 44, 3).
inmodestos, ' disorderly.'
§ 2. conprobavere, 'approved the order of the praetor.' The
tribune was acting within the old lines of his official right, so that
the power here assumed by the senate to annul his interference
and censure him is noticeable.
ius praetorum, &c. : this does not mean that the tribunes lost
their right of ' interpellatio' against a magistrate's decree, but they
were forbidden to intervene in a case coming on before other
magistrates by transferring its cognizance to themselves.
vocare, &c., 'to summon from Italy (to Rome) persons liable
to a suit at law.' This is a check on another usurpation on the
part of the tribunes, whose power did not properly extend beyond
the city. Varro (ap. Geh. 13. 12) distinguishes the right of sum-
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