﻿THE AGE OF PETRONIUS ARBITER. 93 



the reasons for manumitting slaves given above by Dionysius, for the purpose of re- 

 cei^"ing from theu- freedmen the grain or other gifts which might be distributed among 

 the people, is confirmed by Dio Cassius (39. 2-4) : Kai 6 no/j,7rr]l'o<; eo-j^e fiev ev rrj tov airov 

 SiaSocrec rpi^jjv riva ' ttoWcov yap •7rpo<; ra? att avrov eXTrtSa? ekevOepaiO svrutv, a-rroypacpi^v 

 a-cf>wv, 07r&)? ev re KO(Tfia> Kai ev ra^ei rivi a-iToBoT-qOtocnv, eOeXrjaai, TroiricraaOai. 



It Avas to check these abuses of manumission that the consuls of the year 4 A. D. 

 (757 U. C), Sextus Aelius Cato and C. Sentius Saturninus, at the instance of Augustus, 

 enacted the " lex Aelia Sentia." The leading provisions of the law were that the master, 

 if under twenty years of age, could not manumit, except " nndicta " and after having 

 shown a sufficient cause ("justa causa manumissionis") before a board (" consOiimi") 

 appointed for this purpose ; the slave, if under thirty years of age, could not, in conse- 

 quence of his manumission, become a citizen, unless he had been manumitted " "sin- 

 dicta" and Avith the consent of the "consilium." Soon after, or at the time of, the 

 "lex Aelia Sentia," — for the precise time of its passage is not known, — the "lex Furia 

 Caninia" was enacted, which was a supplement to the "lex Aelia Sentia." For as this 

 regulated more especially, although not exclusively, the power of the master as regards 

 manumission during his lifetime, so the former related to the exercise of the same power 

 by testament. A master who had three slaves could free two by testament ; he who 

 had from four to ten, one half; from eleven to thirty, one third; from thirty-one to one 

 hundred, one fourth ; from one hundred to five hundred, one fifth ; and under no cir- 

 cumstances could a master manumit more than one hundred, whatever might be the 

 number of his slaves.* The "lex Junia Norbana," enacted 19 A. D. (772 U. C), may 

 be mentioned in connection mth these laws, especially the "lex Aelia Sentia," because 

 it regulated the political condition of those who had been manumitted without " "\in- 

 dicta " and without the consent of the " consHiimi," indirectly exercising, therefore, 

 some influence upon the action of the master. 



It is at once apparent that the "lex Furia Caninia" is the one which would have 

 applied to the case of Trimalchio, because he freed the slaves, not in his lifetime, but 

 by his testament : " omnes iUos in testamento meo manumitto." It is further evident, 



* Gaii Instit. (edit. Lachmanni) 1. 42, 43 : " Praeterea lege Furia Caninia certus modus constitutus est in 

 servis testamento manumittendis. Nam ei, qui plures quam duos, neque plures quam decern servos habebit, 

 usque ad partem dimidiam ejus numeri manumittere permittitur ; ei vero, qui plures quam X, neque plures 

 quam XXX servos habebit, usque ad tertiam partem ejus numeri manumittere permittitur ; at ei, qui plures 

 quam XXX neque plures quam centum habebit, usque ad partem quartam .... datur ; novissime ei, qui 

 plures quam C habebit, nee plures quam D . . . . permittitur, quam ut quintam partem neque plures 

 .... sed praescribit lex, ne cui plures manumittere liceat quam C." 

 VOL. VI. NEW SERIES. 13 



