Content area
Full Text
Abstract.
Claudius' edict on sick slaves has so far been interpreted in diverse ways. It has variously been regarded as the first step in the humanisation of slavery, as evidence for the ever-increasing role of the princeps, or as a calculated measure for the maintenance of public order. This article attempts to prove that the aim of Claudius' legal reform was a judicious mixture of the above elements.
In his life of Claudius, Suetonius mentions what appears to be an edict (Claud. 25.2) of the year A.D. 47,' proclaiming that sick and weak slaves marooned by their owners on the Island of Aesculapius in the Tiber should gain their freedom. Furthermore, the charge against those masters who did away with their sick slaves would be murder:
Cum quidam aegra et adfecta mancipia in insulam Aesculapii taedio medendi exponerent, omnes qui exponerentur libéras esse sanxit, née redire in dicionem domini, si convaluissent; quod si quis necare quern mallet quam exponere, caedis crimine teneri.
(Suet. Claud. 25.2)
When certain men were exposing their sick and worn-out slaves on the island of Aesculapius because of the trouble of treating them, he declared that all who were exposed became free, nor were they to revert to the master's control if they recovered. But if anyone wished to kill rather than expose, he would be liable to the charge of murder.
This legal reform has variously been seen as the first step in the humanisation of slavery,2 as evidence for the ever-increasing role of the princeps,3 or as a calculated measure for the preservation of public order.4 It was probably a judicious mixture of these various elements. Only a thorough consideration of all the available factors can help us to evaluate more clearly what Claudius' intentions really were.
As the Aesculapian island is specifically named by the edict, its role in Roman medicine, particularly in relation to slaves, has to be looked at. The cult of the Greek healing-god Asklepios was transferred to Rome in 291 B.C. after repeated plague epidemics in 295 and 293 (Liv. 10.47), and installed in a temple on the Tiber island on a site chosen by the sacred serpent sent to Rome from Epidauros (Ov. Met. 15.622-744).5 For centuries thereafter a type of...
