Bulla Felix
Bulla Felix was a legendary
The story of Bulla Felix is told by the Greek historian and Roman senator Cassius Dio. Dio's story has several similarities to later legends of "good" bandits: Bulla "combined the attributes of Zorro and the Scarlet Pimpernel (he could never be caught) with a Robin Hood-like concern for social justice."[3] Dio describes him as "never really seen when seen, never found when found, never caught when caught."[4] The Latin name Bulla Felix means roughly "Lucky Charm", and he is likely to be a composite or historical fiction.[5]
Modus operandi
According to Dio, Bulla Felix operated an extensive intelligence network tracking travel and transport into the port at
Though engaging in
Disguises and deceptions
In Dio's anecdotes, Bulla Felix is a master of deception, though he was also known to bribe his way out of a situation.
In another incident, he approached a
Challenging authority
Dio presents the activities of Bulla Felix as a personal affront to the emperor with a tactical ability as an orator.[10] Septimius Severus expresses indignation that while he was winning wars in Britain, one outlaw in Italy had eluded him.[14] Bulla is portrayed as opposing unjust authority and social inequality, and administering his own brand of justice. He was regarded as a natural leader, with a strong ability to orate and rally people, known for being able to instill a sense of heroism into his men to achieve their missions despite being overpowered.[10]
His band was constituted as an alternative state to Rome, like that of the
The possible meanings of the name Bulla Felix contribute to the fictional or symbolic qualities of the bandit leader. Felix was a cognomen adopted by Roman generals and heads of state from at least the time of the dictator Sulla, and had been used most recently by Severus's predecessor, Commodus. Felix advertised a leader as endowed with felicitas, good fortune that brings success not only for himself, but for those around him.[18] "Bulla" recalls the bulbous amulet (bulla) worn by children and triumphing generals as a protective charm.[19]
Dio, a Roman senator, may have intended the name to be a further allusion to an intimidating speech recently made by Severus to the senate. Just after he had defeated the usurper
Capture
After two years, Bulla Felix was finally captured through a dishonorable betrayal rather than direct confrontation. A military tribune was given command of a substantial force of cavalry and ordered by the outraged emperor to bring Bulla Felix back alive or to face punishment in extremis himself. The tribune learned that Bulla was having an affair with a married woman, and had the wronged husband put pressure on his wife, promising immunity from prosecution in exchange for information. With the help of these informants, the tribune was able to catch Bulla while he was sleeping in a sea cave he used as a hideout.[21]
Bulla was brought before the praetorian prefect
A public announcement was made that Bulla Felix had been condemned to death in the arena by wild beasts (damnatio ad bestias). Without their charismatic[25] leader, his robber band simply broke up.[26]
Banditry in the later Roman Empire
Roman Imperial historians use the Latin word latro (plural latrones) or Greek leistes (plural leistai) for more than 80 individuals, in a range of roles wider than English "bandit" or "robber" would indicate, including "rebel, rival, avenger".[27] The Imperial bureaucracy kept records on crime, and while none of these local archives has survived except for one from Egypt,[28] brigandage had occurred throughout Roman history, and became acute among the social disturbances that characterized the Crisis of the Third Century.[29] The noble-sounding fiction that Bulla Felix preyed only on the rich, and not those of humble means, reflects the practical reality that there is no reason to rob from those who have little of value.[30]
Bandits appear frequently in the fiction of late antiquity, such as
See also
References
- ^ Thomas Grünewald, Bandits in the Roman Empire: Myth and Reality (Routledge, 2004, originally published 1999 in German), p. 208.
- ^ Brent D. Shaw, "Bandits in the Roman Empire," in Studies in Ancient Greek and Roman Society (Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 366.
- ^ Frank McLynn, Marcus Aurelius: A Life (Da Capo Press, 2009), p. 482.
- ^ a b Cassius Dio 77.10.2.
- ^ Grünewald, Bandits in the Roman Empire: Myth and Reality, p. 111 (emphatically regarding Bulla Felix as a fiction); Christopher J. Fuhrmann, Policing the Roman Empire: Soldiers, Administration, and Public Order (Oxford University Press, 2012), p. 135; Shaw, "Bandits in the Roman Empire," p. 366.
- ^ Cassius Dio 77.10.2, as cited by Shaw, "Bandits in the Roman Empire," p. 366.
- ^ Cassius Dio 77.10.5; Grünewald, Bandits in the Roman Empire, pp. 116–117.
- ^ a b Grünewald, Bandits in the Roman Empire, p. 117.
- ^ Cassius Dio 77.10.3; Grünewald, Bandits in the Roman Empire, pp. 113–114.
- ^ a b c Shaw, "Bandits in the Roman Empire," p. 366.
- ^ Cassius Dio 77.10.3.
- ^ Cassius Dio 77.10.4–5.
- ^ Grünewald, Bandits in the Roman Empire, p. 116.
- ^ Cassius Dio 77.10.6.
- ^ Grünewald, Bandits in the Roman Empire, p. 63.
- ^ Augustine of Hippo, City of God 3.26, 4.4–5, 19.2; Oliver O'Donovan and Joan Lockwood O'Donovan, Bonds of Imperfection: Christian Politics, Past and Present (William B. Eerdmans, 2004), pp. 61–62.
- ^ Grünewald, Bandits in the Roman Empire, pp. 112–114.
- ^ Grünewald, Bandits in the Roman Empire, p. 111; Mireille Corbier, L'aerarium saturni et l'aerarium militare. Administration et prosopographie sénatoriale (Publications de l'École française de Rome, 1974), p. 425. On felicitas as a quality, see also H.S. Versnel, Triumphus: An Inquiry into the Origin, Development and Meaning of the Roman Triumph (Brill, 1970), pp. 343, 348, 361ff.; and J. Rufus Fears, "The Theology of Victory at Rome: Approaches and Problem," Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt II.17.2 (1981), p. 746.
- ^ a b Grünewald, Bandits in the Roman Empire, pp. 111–112.
- ^ Cassius Dio 76.15.2; Grünewald, Bandits in the Roman Empire, pp. 114, 138.
- ^ Cassius Dio 77.10.1, 6–7, as cited by Grünewald, Bandits in the Roman Empire, p. 118.
- ^ Thomas N. Habinek, The Politics of Latin Literature: Writing, Identity, and Empire in Ancient Rome (Princeton University Press, 1998), p. 69; Jill Harries, Law and Crime in the Roman World (Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 10.
- ^ Augustine, City of God 4.4, elaborating on a passage from Cicero, as cited by Habinek, The Politics of Latin Literature, p. 69.
- ^ Tacitus, Annales 2.40; Cassius Dio, 57.16.4; Habinek, The Politics of Latin Literature, p. 69.
- ^ Fuhrmann, Policing the Roman Empire, p. 135.
- ^ Cassius Dio 77.10.7.
- ^ Grünewald, Bandits in the Roman Empire, pp. 1–3.
- ^ Grünewald, Bandits in the Roman Empire, p. 8.
- ^ Oliver Hekster, Rome and Its Empire, AD 193–284 (Edinburgh University Press, 2008), pp. 17–18.
- ^ Grünewald, Bandits in the Roman Empire, p. 113.
- ^ Grünewald, Bandits in the Roman Empire, pp. 3, 7.
- ^ Grünewald, Bandits in the Roman Empire, p. 108.
- ^ Grünewald, Bandits in the Roman Empire, p. 112.
- ^ Richard A. Horsley, "Jesus and the Spiral of Violence: Popular Jewish Resistance in Roman Palestine" (Fortress Press, 1993), p. 37 (with comparison to Bulla Felix).
- ^ Grünewald, Bandits in the Roman Empire, pp. 8–9.
- ^ Grünewald, Bandits in the Roman Empire, pp. 9, 117, 136.
External links
- The story of Bulla Felix, English translation of Cassius Dio, Roman History 77.10, at LacusCurtius