MASCULINE-FEMININE
7
histories: the boywas under twent)Z7'fiveyears of age and theact of his transfer betokened"a newrrelationship between the donor and the recipient. In essence, the speakerwas offered a critical dynastic asset wj,th the hopes that itwould strengthen rus ttiendship with Endymion. Inthis case,.howevt?r, the recordofthe' transaction also inc1udes,.in additipn tpallusions to hostage..,taking, obvipus reference~..tothe prac.., tice ofmarriageallianct?: Endymion specifically saysthat tl1,eboy will be,given;'in;marriage" to th~ ~peaker.4Moreover, the speaker's.ensu.. ing description of thereprodJ,ctlve habits qYthe Moonipeople.seems
ti
MAS CULINE -FEMININE
I
n 1ucian's TrueUistories
-
to inQi.cawthat..tlIe¡.U~ionvwasmeanttoJ:esultin.()ffspring: he explains that. therearer¡,oWornen on thei'mqQn"that,boysreproduee untihthe age oftwenty.,.nve (the top lirnitgiveJ:1'iastheage'ofEndymion'sson), and;th.at ¡::hildreriare born frQ111.thecaJ.f.ófthe"mother's"':deg..~.;Inthe.. end, the. speakex declinesthe.offerand.continues.his vpy:¡,ge.Tdahe modern reader, the story may be strange"evenuby'Lucian's standardsi, but Eor theancient readeri.'althoughthe episod,eis. cle¡trIYitneanMo,be humotous,.jt wouldnot have bee.rii¡unfamiliar;1ucian's,stq.fo/,in infusT ing theisuqmission of a'hostage withJh<:aura of an arrangedmiarriage, spoofs'a cha;racteristic ofhostageptaking thatlwcan>befoundvelsewhere. ¡Repeatedly,in.the literatureleadlng up.'to 1ucian,1!tecord~iQ&hostage subrníssiops r~fer to a.sexualrole,{qFth~ii<hpstage;esp~cially, but!hot onIy,if tlIehostage was female.6 The descriptions.may be literal: fpr example,hostagesare some~imes)said,to be the victirns ofirape: Orthe
the ironica1ly tided parodyofsensationa
h;.'o,;."" whiclliwas encm¡nte¡ed>in <he PrevloUS"h'!',irc-,tI\j author seems to satirize another..of the expectations of hostagesit antiquity. Iman.extended episodethe speaker assigns asexual role;;t( a hostage who is submirted to him during;;one. ofhisescapade~¡IH< tells ofhow he sailed his ship upfromehe sea, trayeledithroughi::h;< air, and put in on. a large "island" which he lateti¡discovered to 1 '. the moon. He soonmade an alliance of sorts with the king thel named Endymion, and helped him inanoutrageous battle with ti people of theSsun, led by Phaethori, (or control oyer thé 1110rriing.st: which both "states"had hopedto colonize. (For the'i~ake of br.~vil we omit summary of the battle waged amonggiant fleas, .men¡ridll three-headed vuítures,and:birds with grass fdi: featp,ers and;letJ leaves forwings
-
the characteristic
untruths
language q1aybefigurativ~: awriterprriayemploy .<t...metaphoJ:'.involv-
of the rrrue.Historie.
ing sex allqgendertQ 90nstn¡,ctthe.iidentity10f ahostage as~nf~tio1:;., to his or hercap~ot. In simplisti.c terms,.it"was<cohsidered,tnasculine to take hostages and feminine to be a hostage, even though in the preponderance of cases hostages were male; hostages ih such scenar.., ios typically, of course, play tliépassive role, just' as in Lucian's comie
After the .conflict wasTesolved with the sun and the moon sharing...1 morning star, Endymion offeredhis .son to the speaker both as a.si ttiendship and as an inducement fol' the speaker tobe among the colonists of the star.3 Although the boy is llOtformally called a hosta the proposal is reminiscent of many hostage transactions in less fanciftÍ
.
p
4 Anderson 1976a, 13 argues that Lucían is alluding to both Herodotus and Plato. Georgiadou and Larmour 1998, 122-123 compare the scene with marriage alliances as told
1
Lucían, Ver.hist. 1.10-26.
2
AncÍerson 1976a, 3 believes Lucian is sending up Aristophanes's Peace;Robinson 1979, 25 compares the passage with Thucydides
and Homer; Bowersock
1994. 20-21 refers
by Homer and with storiesóf Zeus and Ganymede. W
t
to Aristophanes's Birds; on the question of the passage's debt to Arrian, see Anderson 1980 and Macleod 1987; on Lucian's use ofHerodotus, see Avery 1997. Fusillo 1999 discusses Lucian's satiric method, involving "amplification" and "concretization." 3 Lucian, Ver. hist. 1.21.
5 Lucían, Ver. hist. 1.22. That this was the mode of delivery for the god' Dionysus may mean something about the character of the Moon people, as imagined by Lucían, but it is a question not to be taken up here. 6 Walker 1980, 131 notes the ffequency ofthe molestation ofhostages'in other cultures, not Roman.
178
179
,.
HOSTAGES AND HOSTAGE~TAKING IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
treatment, Endymion's son is able toreproduce. As with other notiol1s, ofhostageship described in this bookr.L coercion, hospitality, prestige, "family,." education - the expectation .'of a sexual role for a hostage places the captor in a recognizable position of power. That conquest was considered a manly pursuit comes as little surprise, butthe inclusion of younghostages in the formula, however, implicitlyextends the sexual, 01'genderéd, domination of themoment of the battkinto the' future and into the realm ofthe "overclass," even after, so to speak, the final sword is thrust.' In most, but not all, contexts the sexualiza'"',. tion of the hostageis cast in a negative light..Flying in the face .of the rhetoric ofhospitality 01'[ami1y01' education, sexual vocabulary in hostage episodes at timesallowedWritets to villainize/imy ofthevar~"1i" ous characters in' their narrative: depending onthe historian's' agenda; the hostage recipient could be<,:omea,rapist; the hostagedonoricould" act as a pimp; 01' thehostage herselfcould come off as a slut. Ifthe '. basic syllogism positedin this boak holds true,..., that ,.ahostage l11aY; stand asa representative in Rome of a faraway place-"then thearticus/ lation ofpower oyera hostage in sexual termshelps.us to understam another dimension of the Roman ethic of imperialism: in Rome, t( see a hostage in the street wasto be. remindedof the new exposur' and powerlessness of thathostage's peripheral community aswell, aS.it ability to provide Roman averlords - nefariaus al' llot -.with a kiJ of cruel gratification. That Lucian, through the story of EndymioJ son, holds the nation up for ridicule demonstrates ,llOt only that,%.J readers were aware ofthe phénomenon but also that it was at le~¡ being questioned in his second-century/context.
WOMEN AS HOSTAGES In his biography of Augustus, Suetonius credits the emperor with beirlg' the first to take "a new kind ofhostage - women."7 He explains that,. the decision carne in dealing with Germanic tribes at the mqment when tlie Romans reilized that male hostages held lesssway in securing
MASCULINE~FEMININE.
agreenients. Hé may have developed this idea from the German ethhographyofhiscontempprary;;'Tacitus, whb observed tlIat Germans placed a higher value 'bn female fami1YJ1Jlembersbecause of their role in propagating ailegitimate fami1ylinel',8,Nonetheless, areview of sources on hostage,.-taking would revealthat Sueto}lius waswrong ihlabeling thedeten~ion.ofiw9men by Augustus as a revólutión,in, diplomacy.? Polybius,atid, thoséwh6 [ollowed!.hini répórted' onlberiim wometi wHo.i.wéréheld".and welltreatéd;.&htWo. occasionsbymemQérs"of!he Scipionic'.faItiilY\iduringtheSécoI?-diPunici:~ar;' firstby the:.brothers Griaé4s,atid.~ubliu'~'ih,z 18iBcE;iaridtheI1,by.Sc~pió1\fticahusih'.2o¡9:.~Q As we, havé"'seén,,$cipioAfricahus>gainéda, rt(putatiOlly(pf,hoI1orip protecting,thé', daughtdsiOf théWife'.'of,Mahdorlius'fra,fu;abuse' "and inreturning. an Iberian bridetóher:fianéé' whetihetookycharge óf thelJli¡frdmithe',defeated Carthagihians., .Móreover;i Augu$tus found female hostagesiat thécourtof Antonyand .Qleopatta.:iI1,A!lexanaria ou¡his. árrivalin30/BcE;someiÓfithese...wereparaded:in Rome:in: his tri\.1mph/ayeardater}~ IfSuetonius,were.to raise the:objection:that in"thésecáses the &anians acted.as:.aii,thira'party,;assuining'.control ofsQmeúb.e: else's femalé hostages: rather. thán'taking\thép./:.6nVtheir own/,initiativeione.. could poinftoirecprds .ofPonip~y;s!tfipletril1iñ:ph, inwl:lich:Appiau andPlutarch recorclnot'onlyhostagedaughtersíand w'ivesfr()mrroyahdynasties in the East, butalso AmazÓn,dt\'Scythian,N womérl'¡~?¡iStraboisays(that,twoof:d:l'é\faurfámous.'Parthian,host~g~s of PhraatesIV traveled with th¿ir¡wives:I3, It shouldbeiaddeatha.t:'when th~:detention oft women" is recÓrdéd,.fo11contex:ts:aftériAugustus,!it does nof' dráwsp~cial comment:'.;,Taéitus says,thatbefore1Jirida,tes of i
8 Tac.' Germ. 8.1; c[; 20.4. For,references to,episodes of actíve.'women,in Gaul.inCaesar, Tacitns, and PIutarch, See Rjves 1999,I52-15J.For,the
of societies with powe¡ful women as barbarie, see Saavedra 1999: Benario 1999, 73 discusses the passage in light ofthe Pergamene statue.of the dying Gaul whohas killed his wife. 9 Phillipson 10
19II, 4°1; Aymard 1961, 137~I38.
Gnaeus and Publius: Polyb. 3.98~9; cf. Livy, 22.22.4-21.,Africanus: Polyb. lO.I8; cf. Diod. Sic. 26.21; Livy, 26.49.II-16;
7
Suet. Aug. 21.2: vero novumgenus obsidumfeminas. Cf. Lica 1988, 42 and EIbern 199°, lO8. Kellum 1997, 167~I68 interprets the Caryatíds in Augustus's forumas referring to the Gerrnan female hostages.
App. Hísp. 23.
II
Cass. Dio, 51.16.1-2.
12
App. Mith. lO3, 117; PIut. Pompo 45.4. In Appian detainees ttom the Arnazons are hostages whereas
13 Strabo,
180
...
Germanyand Roman view
in PIutarch 16.1.28,
they
are prisoners.
See Chapter
4. Cf. Walker
1980,
33-34.
C 748.
181
iIiIIIo
..
MASCULINE-FEMININE
HOSTAGES AND HOSTAGE~TAKÍNG IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
Armenia left to go to Rome to réceive his crown from Neroin63 lí1 CE,he gave his daughter as a hostageto<Gnaeus Domitius .Corbulo:1f The Roman reader in the empire'collld also learn of female hostages in other contexts where non-Romans Were the hostage 'recipients.15 The Etruscans led by Lars Porsenna receivéd female hostagesin addition to males; Cloelia;arguably the.most famdus femalehostage'in Roman history, performedher heroic escape and rescue,in this setting.16 Contraryto Suetonius'sunderstandingof Augustaninnovation, many writersdo not seell to thii1kthat thedetentiollofwomen in the Republicand afterwards wasout ofthe otdinary.GJ.ven that a target of dipldmacy ríatur<4!ywould havehad womenas refatives;if is nat odd that theY'couldhave been attractive candidates for hostageship. The Romans believed that when necessary women couldbeusedas hostages ina menacingand coercive fashion, According>td'Dionysiús
of Halicarnassus,. during the firstsecession of the plebsthe patricians in Rome considered threatening thewives who had been léftbehirid in order to. compel the dissenters to return.17 Diopysius alsosays that when the consul Coriolanus was exiled froin ROlle and marched back to lay siege to hisformer home city, some of theRomans trapped inside the walls argued that they should threaten to harm the women oECoriolanus's family.18 The senate votedforthecounterargument, that the same women- Veturia, Coriolanus'smotherrand Volumnia, his wife should persuade Coriolanus to stand down,on the'oasis of duty to' family, as well as to country, but it is interestirig to note that"as tecordéd by Dionysius,the senate's decision to abandon die hostage plan was not made out oEa sense of impropriety concernirig 14 Tac. Ann. 15.3°. 15 For example, Polyb. 1.6S.3 says theCarthaginians ought to have held the wives and children of their mercenaries with whom they were at war. In Curto 7.2.;IS, Alexander the Great held the wives and children of two Arab guides as hostages; ]oseph.' Bl l. lIS and 121 records that Hyrcanus held the wife and childreuofhis brother as hostages in their civil war. Plut. Mor. 215B says that Agesipolis ofSparta was relieved when he'was taken host<¡.ge and not Spartan women, who were evidendy eligible. Cf. Walker 1!180, 13. 16 For the references concerning Cloelia, see Chapter 3. 17 Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 6.62.5, quoted in Chapter 2. 18 Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. S.43.4.'On Plutarch's reliance on and adaptation ofDionysius for his Coriolanus, see Russell 1995. Note that Plutarch gives different names for the women: the mother is Volumnia; the wife is Verginia.
femalehostages but simply becausethecoercive¡ approach was deemed ineffective inthiscase. Bycomparison,in an episodein Appian, when sena~ors'are facéd witha!similar decision 'concerning..a rebellionby one of:their owll"tqey are easily persuaded}to,,~hreaten women:when Octavianjwas,marchingonRome in 43 BCE'to',secure theconsulship, the.;opposing¡faction of senatorsiattempted to: detain hismother and sister;..as!hostages/9 ffihey failed,¡according to:Appian,'orilyibecause
the,v\lom~n:weréí;hidingyin; theTemple,offy:"es:taand.the¡house,of:the.~ Vestal Virgins;,b~t;pf the senátors~determinaticH),;Appianjs certairttN, holding wQll1~,rÜas;coersivehostages ,was nottaboo¡;.especially .:whenit wasiexpediéPit.
.'
,
agaillt~ephataohmet,hisaemands onlydn part,h~ldihg;backthen1ote"!" prized/detáiÜeeseach tiUle.;Fpllowing a plague,of lice, <¡\ccqrdingt(), ]dsephus, die ph:araohagreectto freealbtheHebtews, but!thenretook the wórnenandchildren.. After an' infestatiort;afNbéasts'ofall'waIksóf life;)'die h~lé'asedthe\vofnen, but recaptttted,thechilqteil. 21iGrI1yafte'e anioutbreakbBUlcers,.. a<downpburo('hail;';"and!a,g:\M~tmbf lottists:'did he agreéto releasethéchildren. Josephus's linking ofgroupsofhostages with the sticcessiori of plagues in' a sensé/séts;up"acq.pvement, albéit absurd, scale.ofrheir perceivedvalues. The pharaoh's~deterrn.inati()n~o hold on to me childten trumped hisdesire to d~t~inthe,womeri}.his desire to hold both'women and children trumped his desire'ta hold thé' men. Likewise,Josephus's Moses steppedup his resistal1.cein order not to leave without the youths, the most prized contingent. Admitt~ply this is an account of early, legendary Jewish history, and even if it is
19 App. BCiv 3.91-92. 20 ]oseph. Al 2.300-306. 21 ]oseph. Al3.303.
183
182
.
"iI.
.
. Apassagej}njosephusproyidesslight' evid~nce thafwheh hostages , .."'.". :' ". ."." "'," .." were described;as¡nebulous.family groppings Rf.unnamed ho~tagesiñ; which}V()m~n:ito,o~parti-"thef\ViYe~j apd.slllldren of so'-and,so"-:a.hi~rarc).1Yfexist~din, which:the':YolleJ':':¡;helq,Jess ,.value than,their childrel1..:,In!his a~c9uñt.oEN1oses's .attern.pts:to!free!¡theHebrewsfroUl Egypt,]osephus.reco.rds the obstinacy of the<pharaoh,:which weakened onIyigraduallyinrespbtise to a series' of!falIl6tisplágues:~g: As!Mbses conslstdiHy:Cálled Eortltereleaseofali ,fiostagd!'.(6lit)pa},tIrn.eiahd
,~
iíIo
""
.
¡ t
{, ,
22
,: "",',:
+ @,"
:'1, /,i;
:v~,
,,'
",0'\,7'+17,'#1'
"L,: '"
jv",
cliart inWalke~}p~O,~9:of th~ ~1X~::1ll!1~¿~ses::BfI-f~lIéíVstiC"and RO~(Ín hostage-taking tÍiatgivei~ome .c1ue'as tO'th~1 seX'to{ hostaies:~'i)nly' fift~en' (22 perceiii) either specificalIy m~nti<im women, or, in referring to entlre groups in an ambiguous way, alIow the possibiliry that women were der!iim!d, In aII the other cases, the sex iSi identifi~d directly as male, 23
For seeihg,prides
as hostages, see also Lécrivain
1916', u6 and EIbern 199q? 124--'h5.
......
--,_.~,~*
25 ~pr
4.1I\';6., cprnrnentary
see Atkillson 26
,'! pn the
I}¡tture of Dart,us's,offer
1980, 395-396.
,~#zenby 1978,,,84-85
and
the ,;¡¡¡iliility of Cu~~us\.ac2otint, '
,
accepts Livy's figures (22.49.151 over PoIybius's (3.II7.1""'4).
185
18+
--
24 Surto
-
..
..........
HOSTAGES AND HOSTAGE~TA*ING
MASCULINE~FEMININE
IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
Rome. According to Livy, the Capuans at first were re1uctant to switch sides for two reasons: One thing that delayed them from defecting immediately was the ancient rite ofintermarriage, which hadjoined many distinguished and powerful families to the Romans; also, since some men were serving as soldiers among the Romans, the greatest link Wasthe 300 equites,the noblest of the Campanians who had been chosen by the Romans to guard the cities of Sici1y and wh6 had been sent there accordingly:27
of Rome.The sons, as hostages, were thus' initia1lyin a Limbo that differed from thedaughters who.left Capua under marriage contracts, even though both had a (failed) coercive value in keeping Capua in line. Hostage-taking's place in cross-natiqnal family structures, relative to the marriage illiahce, was more flexible arid asa result potentia1ly moreanguished. The Capuans were said tohave triedto retrleve their sons, and'the Roma9-~\:we~esaidto go to~xtraordin¡1ry lengthsto keep them ona permanent basis. As for brides specifica1ly being labe1ed as hostag'es themselves,
As in Curtius's description of Darius's plea, Livy raises the possibility that sons in a kind of hostageship were viewed in a comparable way with daughters in marriage: the c9hcern ofthe elite decision-makers was for both sets of children.28 In theend, Capua dedded to revolt in spite of its worries, andthe youths were detained in Sici1yand the brides forsaken. Neverthe1ess, the Capuans continued to exhibit anxiety over the three hundred: when they were negotiating the terms,of alliance with Hannibal, one of their demands was that the Carthaginians give them three hundred Roman captives, whi¿h they could use for a trade, an exchange that ultimate1y never túok place.29.Mter Capua fell to Rome and Hannibal was forced to leave Italy, the' status of the Capuan youths remained unresolved. Livy says that a proposal was intróducedin the senate that they be given citizenship, but in an unusualcapacity: first they should be ehrolled in Cumae, not their hometown, and second, their citizenship should be rettoactive to the day before the Capuans, declared their indeperidence.30 Accordingto Livy, the reason for reassigning them to Cumae, was that "they themselves said they did not know to which community (quorumhominum) they be1onged, now that they had abandoned theitold fatherland (vetere patria relicta)and hadJnot yet been enrolled in the one to which they had returned."31 The retroactive quality oftheir citizenship essentia1ly proclaimed that when Capua rebelled without them, thereafter the hostages had been deprived of their state and shifted to the population . 27 Livy, 23.4.7-8. 28 29 3° 3'
On known marriages between Livy, 23.7.2. Livy, 23.31. 10. Livy; 23.31.II.
Capuans and Romans,
see Lazenby 19.78, 89..
thaf1si~plY.in t~eiorpit?fsitnu1tal1eo'~~~~e, hostages, ,Jóseph~s reéordnliatSanabanet~s, a' Pei~iansatrap,'gave his da:ughter Nikaso in marriage t6 M~nasses, the brotherhtthe Hign Priest,'thihkfng that she wottld bea hostage wfiotould seéure the goodwill ofthe entir~ Jewish nati<5nY lnone of thé'Cot1troversiaeof S'enecathe Eld~r, the Atheniah lphlcra'tes rrtust defend himself, ih 'part, fOr mal'ryingá daughter óf thé king of Thrace when the twó states wete supposed to be at war; his defense was that the \\Toman doubled' as ahdstage as well as a wife. 33'TWice inPlÚtarch's biographie~ the cdntentiÓus relationships of the last yéars of thé Roh1an Relmblic\\Tere potentilliy reparableby'what he calls hóstage-takiI1gin th¿ disguise ofmarriage alliances. Plutarch saysthat PompeyviewedJulia, thedaughter ofJulius Caesar, as a hostage who could.,secure Caesar's allegiance.34 A simi':' lar motivation led Pompey next to shift ru.Sattention to two nieces of Cató theYdhnger tú be brides%rnimselE andhi~ son, bht Cato rejectedtlie' ptopÓsal,accdrding toplutarcl1;'ou>tne grounds thatit was/an attempt byPómpeyto make Cato b~holdeh to .him;35 ln'his take bn the myth of Phaedia aria TheSeus, Serieca die Younger gives his heroine aláfnent tnat sums up the anxiety of wives who enter a marriage' to satisfy the exigencies of international relatidns: Mere is 32 joseph. AJ 11.3°3. 33 Seno Controv. 6.5. 34 Plut. Pompo 70.4. 35 Plut. Cato, 3°.3-4. Compare Plut. Cam. 33 and Rom. 29 where ~e Latins demand the women of Rome as new wives who could also function as their hostages. It was an obligation that the Romans avoided by dressing up slave women as free born, who then surprised their new Latin husbands as they slept. PIUtarch includes the theme in his Parallel Storíes where the women ofSardis pull the same ruse against the men ofSmyrna after a siege:
186
rather
Mor. 312E-313A.
187
HOSTAGES AND HOSTAGE-TAKING
IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
MASCULINE¿PEI't!ININE
of the perpetratorsof hostage rape vary from case to case. In some episodes thei.rape'of hostages is seen .ilsa right of tl1e recipient, even heroic, while ip.most it is portrayed asa vicious assault. In aU cases, however, thepowerlessness ofthe"hostage is taken for granted; even whenithe;rapeof a hostage.is~'gívena negatíve~ssessment, for"example, it is'notH4e c¡:ime¡ofrape or the,pligJ:tt qfthe yíctimthat clraws commellt, but;.the lack of nJntrol on thcr:partqf ,the assailal1t.37,((Lherape ofhostages.wa~rhoughtto >bef.cqmPeUing:vice;;whishwas. un<:ier." . stabdipyrRomanaudiences,asnatural"btitat.the':siitp.e time rejecteg 'as'
Phaedra, who had been given in'marriag(1to Theseus hom her native Crete so that she. could patch the conflict between the two warririg sides: o Crete, powerful mistres~ of the ~de s~a, whose cou~tless ships hilve taken to wave' along every coast, even as far as' Assyria where
~ ereus
cleared a path "
foryour prows, wh1' do youcompel me to be givenas alhostage'to hated gods (in penatesobsidem irivisosdatam), thewifeto an enerriy,!wást:ihgherlife in unhappy tears?36
W01nen s4ch as the mythica1.Phae4r~an<:i the mort;historic~{~it<a.~9' Julia,and.the rtfst,whq. travde<:iabroad:first as wi~e~and t~~n, s~con-.
uncivilized.
. 111sOllleca~es,the sex~al,assault.ofahosta.geitvparticula.rly wheh:that hqstage;;~as;a~omaIT -was víewed. as a'priyil,~ge ofthe.l1Óstage-,~at<eri The1rape'ofhostages .appears inR.oIhfln',,~pif.!mythology'w~th,~itt{Fby wayofnegative treatmen~, of the pérpe~rat()rs.A.ccordingt() Dionysius ofBalicarnassUs,Herades'l:'<tped a Hyperborean hostagégirl.underhís
darily but simultanyo.usly,as. ho~tag;s, ~~~m~oha~e ll~~a.~g4~Fpr!?flle in the transactions and werec~oser in statu~ ~o conventional.male {
"
""
hqstagesthanto the dqpors' unpamy4/eniwe~elatives whp. 9f~~l1tray:~ eled wjth children andwho were simlHy<:ietainedon a.terppqra.ry;basis. Unaccompanied by childrep, a bride ,alone was the cause for COPCern which sho\lld, ideaUy,keep the two sidesfrom quarreling,¡pJ,d.~h4sSl1y drew more attention. In that she formaUY<rnter~danew f~lllily th~qpgl1 marriage, the t:,ride-hostage had as muchbya.rtpg onthe recipientas on the donor and.therefore may have effe,ctt¡d,a stronger bop<:i.
dn~' \\r~i~~they wete tr~ye1ifigtó.Italy.38J'~é lihióriled t6the, hir;g?f kipg :L.~ti~~~,Aenefls's ¿ril}fipal, aUy in It~x ang, a r~~pected;'~.Ils~st~J;
.
of tl1yRomahpeqple; the' rapeof~'/40s~age.was..thus . . .. ", . . .., ... .ilf!:tstact of sorts in,the foundation ,ofRome. Moreover, ".. '. " . R.omulus'sabduction.of ,'." " ,,"'.' '., the Sabine women falllously eXplainedhow rhe a.ll-ma!ecqmm4nity of early Rome managed,toperpetuate,.itselfintoa.secondgeneration and beyond.,Plutarch's biography.ref<:;.t's.;to,thewomenas'::I}.omulus's hostages, atfirst wielded against~hefSa.Pir¡.f:s,fdr,theirbargainingpoten~ tialand onlylateriricorporated into RomansQ'cietyithrough die proper.' ritual ofmartiagei~~,ln. both of,thesecas!;;s,DiÓnysius.and Plutfl~9h allow. their,readers:~ome anlpunt. ()fisircurn~péCtion'of' their her()~s' actions: Dionysius saysthat Herflc1esatfirStmanaged to,controLhi~~ust and only succumbed to it a.ftera time, and Plutarch gives thMSabine~'a voice inprotesting the violence done",to theabducted women:40
RAPE W°pler¡. and girls,were-certainlyliabl~ foph.ostageshJJ2!ipRQmapanti~ uity?but their role as host~ges differed.frómthat.pfmep or..t:,oysin .QB-1 crucial respect: as women, their value for~.eithe¡:,se~or reprpdy.c~~~ altered the qynamic ofthe negotiatjqn. Viewedas sexuaUy vulne.~ ble as well as politicaUy symbolic, femal~hostagesgenerateq..a. ., ent kind of anxiety among hostagedonors. T4e expectation,4rpq) Roman authors that hostages could be raped during their internmentS was cornmon, especiaUy if they were seized in a haphazard way and were not backed by formal diplomacy. There was a dichotomy, how~ ever, in how such a practice was received and evaluated; judgml'nts 36 Seno Phaedra, 85-91.
Thestrangereferenee
\
37 Reeentseholarship on rape in Roman antiquity diseusses its signifieanee as an expression of power. Por examples, with the rape ofLueretia, see Joplin 1990, Joshe1I992, Arieti 1997; with rape as a theme in Ovid, see. Curran 1978, Rie1\1in 1992, and James 1997. On rape's affirmation of a young man's maseulinity in Roman comedy, see James 1998. 38 Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1.43.1. 39 Plut. Rom. 16.2.
to Nereus clearing a path for Gretan prows
to cut aeross may be an ironie sexual referenee, playing on the rhetorie of gender in hostage-taking: Crete is the one that usuaIly breaks the waves, but now Phaedra is the one who, as a hostage, is "broken" in a sexual sense.
4° Comparing the various aeeounts of the rape of the Sabines in Livy, Dionysius, and others are Hemker 1985; Joplin 1990, 56-57; Miles 1995; and Pox 1996.
188
Ovid,
189
.
w
~
~.
...
¡J
..
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HOSTAGES AND HOSTAGE- TAKING IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
Nevertheless, both heroes ultimately maky the grade for theRoma pantheon; the rapes, after all, were critical in advancing Rome'~, destiny. By contrast, in episodes involving mere mortals ofRome's past, theiV rape of female hostages is often criminalized; in the cases of historical personages and not epic heroes, goodJeadership could be marked by; restraint in the consideration of a hostage's sexuality. As we have seen in Chapter 5, Scipio Africanuswas thought to be exceedingly honorable.. for promising the mother of Iberian hostages in hispossession. that he' would not let his soldiers abuse them, which, we are led toassume~; would have been inevitáble otherwise. Similarly, king.CleonYP1u.s:,of Sparta was vilified by Diodorus and otl\ers in sto.ries about his taking offemalehostages from Metapontumi~ southern Italy in 303 BCE: Entering the city as its ally, he drew off rnore than 600 tale;nts of silver an4 took the 200 rnost beautiful girls as hostages, although they were not SOrnuch.i
guarantees of good faith as objects of lust (WsTfís i5ío:s EVEKEVAO:YYEío:S); Casting off the trappings of Sparta, he continued in his luxury and ,enslaved those who had trusted hirn. Although he had a powerful arrnY and stores or supplies, he did not act in a way worthy of SpartaY
In this case, Cleonymus is accused of ignoring the essence ofhostage-i ship - the articulation of good faith - in favor of sexual gratification Still, rape is not portrayed as something that is condemned by the..signatories of the deal. Inboth this case.and Polybius's story of Scipif in Ibería, neither author denies thatahostagecould be sexually vio latedwithout committing a breachin theletteriofthe contract: Scipio restraint is an exception in hostage policies, which only proves th rule óf the admissibilityof rape; and with Diodotus's Cleonymu~ rape comes across as a subsidiary benefit ofhostage-taking, which was always beneath the surface and only now is wrongfully elevated to thé hostage's primary roleo In Appian's tale of Octavian and the senators who wanted to take his mother and sister hostage, recounted above, it is appropriate, then, that the author places their hiding place atthe temple ofVesta, the protector of chastity and the householdY To be 41 Diod. Sic. 20.104.3-4. 42 App. BCív 3.91.
..
taken hostage as.a woman could beseen as tantamount to rape; even if itwas,abhorred, it was still expected. An episode iti Polybius, which iHollowed by Livy, confirms that for all the repugnance of rape, the rights ofthe victimwere less compelling thari thereáliiation of the contractfor which~he(wasa hostage. Polybius,apparently in aboók that'Ís'nowlost, told théí'story of Chiomara ofthe AsiaticGauls, who wastaken prisoriérbf'aRoman centurion.43 Thecenturionheld her'hostagéforia'ransofuttortiher husband, and dped heí: inthe interim;, 'Eventually a time, pf~6e, and 'price were sel forheí: ,release,'but ¡wherf the centuriori went.to embrace her a firial time,Chiomara n'lotioneato¡hersté'wards<tokill arid behead himi. Wlien she preSentedthehead'to herhusbarid; though, his first reactiori was one ofhorror,árid hereprimanded herfar violating the sworn ransom.iHewas ignorant.of théiapes~iand the story ends w'ith Chiomara justifyirigheract bylreferrillg,tothem. Polybius then reveals"that he metthe woman herself,>añdhe\praisés her"digIlity aria iritelligence,"íbut the husband's<first response ...,reptighanceat Chioniara'ssacrilege - as so recorded,dem:onsirates the 'dileinma df the hostage asapowerless figurewho carries the burden'ofproof.44 The. settinghere:is notan internationalalliancebut, rather,. ari ad hoc transactioti bétWeén two .men; ,nevertheless, Chiófuara's descriptionas the chattéL,that'shiftshands'is remihiscent.of other accou'ntsdealing with'agreements between states; suchsituationslikely did notpreclude rape. ~So far, wehave only seen episodésiriwhich victimswereifemale;a smaller body of evidehcesuggests that a"similarfate could bein<'Store for inalehOstages.lnmost cases, seXual assaults on male hostages come frofu malei'overseers; the onlynearexceptionis themytholdgicarstory told by Parthenius, which was encountered in'Chi1ptel:stin which queen, Cleoboeaattempted to seduce a "boy hostage, Antheus,but failed and drowned him as a.result.45";In examples in which adultmeh 43 Polyb. 21.38, preserved at Plut. Mor. 258E-E Cf. Livy, 38.24. 44 Polyb. 21.38: TÓ TE cppóVI1¡.¡aKai TT¡v aÚVEO'IV.Cf. Livy, 38.24.10
who
refers to
Chiomara's action as a fadnus, or moral crime. For discussion of this episode in the context ofPolybius's historiography, see Chapter 8. 45 Parth. Amat. narr. 14. On sexual aggression among women as abnormal in Roman conceptions of sexuality, see Parker 1997, 58-59.
Cf. Ath. 13.605e.
190
~
MASCULINE-FEMININE
191
......
iIIi
...
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HOSTAGES AND HOSTAGE-TAKING
MASPULINE¿FEMININE
IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
,¡
target male youth, hostage-taking couldtintersectwitb,commonly he41 notions in antiquity concerning thé sexual dimensions of mentorÍng relationships between the old and the young. It is in this spirit, and not one of rape, that DioChrysostomreports that Philip n, while serving as botha hostageand a'student in Thebes during his adolescence,was a lover ofPelopidas¡.his mentor.46 Chrysostom; who isthe .only source for an erotic qualitytoPhilip's hostageship,understandsthe felationship to beconsehsual and .even edifying. In otherexahlples,howeverÚthe boys in question are believed toibe injeopardy¡.'['heVmini-biography of Lars Porsennain!the De Viris Illustribusincludesa!unique anecdóte in the otherwiseoft-told story of Cloelia¡ tneiRol11an hostage who escaped fromthe Etruscans in the earlyRepublic. After Clbeliafled across the Tiber and was retJ,lrned bythe Romansto Porsenna in keep'ingwith their contract,. the king offered her a reward forher bravery by alldwing her to return hcmiewith any other hostages ofher chopsing. Although the original hostage(;ontingent included bothiboy~and girls, we are told in this versionthatCloe1,ia thollghtthattht.1ages oftb,~ boys made themparticularly susceptible to sexual assault and soselected. themfor freedom.47 The boys are thus rescued frorn,what is portraye as an inevitable fate, and thegirlsare left behindto suffer it. In.,.a anecdote about Agathocles the tyrant ofSyracuse, Polyaenus. describe a similar deliverance.lnthe story, Agathocles delibetatelysent hissor Heraclides, as a nostage to. Ophelas of Cyrene, wnowas niarchin against him. The reason, we are told, was that Ophelas had a reputatip as a.lover ofboys, and so Heraclides had been instructedby his fat toseduce Ophelaswhile. Agathocles prganized a. counterattack0 The plan allegedly worked, with Agathoclesdefeating.andkilli~ Ophelas and retrieving his son in the nick of time. Given Agathocl¿ instructions for his son to seduce his captor, rape isnot so mucn tI problem here as penetration, generally, which'; of course, already ca ried a negative stigma in Roman attitudes toward male sexuality. BqF Agathocles's strategy, like Cloelia's rationale for rescuing the youths , 46 Dio Chrys. Oro 49.5. 47 De viro m. 13. On the rape ofboth see Williams1999, 104-I07. 48 Polyaenus,
sexes as equivalent horrors in the Roman
Slral. 5.3.4.
mentality,
fromLars Porsenna, counted 'on theifact,,,that young maleehostages would likelydrawithe sexual.attentiono:fitheir.captors. As usual, we are notiicommenting.om;whetnerevents urifolded justas Polyaenus so dramatically relates;!it is the.iway:in which"he describes Agathocles's gamble that¡J)etrays'~I¡generalunderstanding.ot;.a .hostage's...sexuality. The expec~ation oE malerrapdicanalsoibe:'seenitran:episodé in Josephusconcerniiig..the'tense'.relationship""petweend-It1rddthe Great and MarkAntóny ih36..B€E;t~At"the"#mé hIerod's position,jnJudaea wasjnipét~;(!as¡he!!hadtaken tl:le;throge.:i.onlyi~a':yearhefore'.anGiWaS facingúoppositiQJ].ffro¡:nithe'old,¡.J;;Iasmonáéanáristocfacyas. ai~esult of both: his"ielOseritiesi,t~) .~Ron;lt~'!and!hisexe6ution!¡(o:fhtl1eield.~rlYikil'1g Hyr(;anu$c¡on'chárgd oficonspihcy;. He1;pdi\Vasnow at;:oddswith. Alexa.hsita,¡I-IyrbulUs'slormidabledai:tgb:f~ran(fth~ moth~r ÓfHeJ;"pd'sl 4rstBasm6rlaean ~(~:11Mariamme. 'Jpsephus!;tt1ll~usithai:A1exarldra tried to useherfriendship with.Cleopatrato convin(;eAntbny to. support nerison"iAiist~bulus (Merod's br()ther-ih...law), iUia.bid..fót thehigh priesthbód.iJÓsephusi.saysi.th~tA'ntony:was nofinterested in helping.her until>Alexandra Ilsentrhimya paintedportrait' 06the boy;. When h¿sawthe beauty.of Aiiswbulus, .so.the'story igoes, Antony aSkéd/HerodtoisMd'vhimi.'al6ng, thé.álIlplicationbeingicthat,Antony wasniotiv;¡\ted.by<lust¡:AccÜrding to;JosepJ;1u.s,iiHero&sentiaetter~td I Antpny:.explainingth'at he <¿ould11ot\ireleaseAfistdbulus because"the Jewish pedple3wouldisurely instigate.~rebellion¡in orGerto. prQt,~ct him: The entire\.episode.¡.is'..¿()nipli~ated..bY.(á n~p1ber ó:6igaorisisten~ cies..First,..AntonychadahvaysiriianagedvtheEástNery carefi.illy;/and:itis unlikelythathi~.sole dbjd;tive' incalliiig!t\ristb bipUSitOihissigei¡wasiso. that 'helcoú1dihavest:(xwithi¡hiffi¡SeéOnd;:f<lrfrolIlhavingtJ:¡é interests of Aristdbülus:s,safety inmind;'rather,iHerod¡wasjéalous andsu.spi2 cious of theyouth; his contemptfor1 Aiistobulus was unequivocally revealed in the following year when he had Aristobulus drowned iri a palace swimming pool. Third, Josephus notoriou.sly held Cleopatra in low esteem, and the negative impression that arises for her in a stpry where she assists in a plot to rape a youth seems part and parcel of a larger campaign to tar her reputation.50 It seems morelike1y that 49 Joseph. AJ 15.25-3°. 50 Cf. Pelling 2001,298. 193
192
~
lO
"..
1Iii.
~
111.
!!!
HOSTAGES AND HOSTAGE-TAKING
MASCULlNEAFElVI.ININE
IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
Antony had asked for Aristob1.,1lusput;~lyfor the purposes of politi~al maneuvering - according to thecoJ:?,ventions ofhostage-taking and its related institutions of fosterage, Alexandra offered a political alliance, Antony accepted, and Aristobulus was to be the token of the agree";:f mento It is the same type .of submission of sons that would be the; method of choice for Herod himse1f and the various factions .of his
hostage-donoror the hostagehimselB,~ve writers an opportunity'to use sexualvocabularyándiscussing.theiriviewson any given episode. Descriptioris of the gender úf hostages .t'ypically matchthe commonly perceived power discrepancies.betweerfri:1aleand female:hostage-taker equals strengtb,equals male, while hostage'equals weakequals female.52
~b¡fightbackfs tObe ai1Üuí;andif ~mansit¿¡¿tllnbed tohdst.á~t'obli"" gkci~tis .".,.",,his 'gender h ad.to,besnltt¿dbywriters*hoiiñbuedJh'm'Mt: h '
farnily in trying to win overAugustus a few years later,;l.Sone ~onaftert another was sent tq Rome for an "education." Two op~ons exist for the originof the misinterpretation ofAn,toJ:?,Y'§f:. intentions: either ~erod, feeling tl;lepressure.frQm both Alexan,dr~ian~!i Antony,refused to send Aristobulus and instead spread a rumorabou the possibility of Aristobulus's rape at. th~ hand,sQf Antqny, Qr~ls( ]osephus, 'eager'to discredit Cleopatra, included a polemical.versiot of events, either self-created or borrowed"as part of a, larget:'histo. riographicalagendaY In either case,at the centerof the ploy, be;i Herod's attempt tú sutviveagainst the arrayed opposition ofAlexandr, Antony, and Cleopatra, or Josephus's determinatiún tocastCleop~ tra in a negative light, wasthe understandingthat Herod's people"q Josephl1s's,readers, would assume that the rumorwas credible. Therc must have been sQmepopulation in 'B--omanantiquitythat naturall.~ suspected that Antony's request.for Aristobulus wasprimari1y oreVel partially an oppottunity for slaking his libido; Whenan.adult 1l).at sought control over the son of anotl;ler .as part of a political strate a commonplace in.diplomatichostage"'taking.." hisfmotivescould! questioned and .misidentified,in a warof propaganda,. Fears arid a¡ ieties in, geopolitics ;provided .theincentive for scandal mongeri whose weaponcou.ldbe allegationsof hostagerape;,;As Júsephus t< it, thefear of theviolation ofhostages could moye entire populatio:
'"
,
",,
"
'U"
"
',,'
,"'.
',"'."
,
,"
,,
feIninine chara~teristics.For examp!e,,~he,c<?tWcpoet2\;1?-tiphapes,.~s he is quot:ed. by Athenaeus, a Greek writ€f"in the Roman empíre, tnatches'f.the'submis*idhof hostag~s:with~ageridered, quaJ.ity¡~hen 'he connnentsbn'the ',dealineof Spartáf;ir¡:'¡!Inid-foufthcentÜryBGE! .
'",.'
',).,
.' .",,'.
.
The comic playWdghtAntiphanes saidth~ ()llowing [about the Spartans].in hisHarpPlayer:"DIdnot thé Spartans~~y't)idtthe)"w~u1dn:~ver be conqu~r~d? Yet nów they give hostagd ami we~r pbrplehe;idbands."S3""':' The wearing of purple 'hair coyerings,wasa signifier: ,Qf feInininity, and by equating the surrender of):¡,Qstages \yith ,a ;gender.swap for the formerly. manly$partans" Antiphanes (abetted \by,his Il\edium, Athenaeaus).,,f~)Undane:w way of describ~n,gtheir unqualifiedpowerlessness;i1\ssigning gender rol~s tothe characters;,in a s~ory ofhostagetaking was an effective,way of passingju:dgment onthat:episode. Ta<;itus at~,of1.epointvi~wed a,Parthian hostage as being marked by "softness" (moUit~a),an unInis~akable ..markerpf. feIniJ:?,inity.54 , Ca,lling,a,hostage fe1)1Ínitl~,in.addhion to,.orinst~ad()f, spelling o,ut the consequenc~s ofthat.h9stagein.,geppolitical te1;1J1s"con,yeyedanadded dimensipn, to international, relations, which cou~d reson¡tte with a broader.spectrum of readers,..;or,eVQkemore intense' emotions. Reversing the terms, ifa female resistedhostageship, tú Roman eyes she mustreally, be a kind of male; Roman writers made sense of a woman's courage in hostageship by switching her gender. Cloelia,
THE RH,ETORIC OF GENDER ;2 On masculiníty
The language of gender often infuses descriptions of hostage..taking, regardÍess of the sex of the characters involved or sexual events in th~¡ narrative. The hierarchical relationship between a hostage-taker and a
;1 Sicker 200¡, 80-8¡
argues the former.
194
..~
lO
and impe¡1etrability,
see, Edwards
195
..
1993, 73-'75; WalterSI997;
Parker
1997; Kell1.1m 1997, II3;James 1998; and especial1y Williams 1999. Gleason 1990 cusses physiognomy in the second century CEand beliefs in a,state of flux for sex as as geI1der. For a macroscopic view of masculiníty and warfare throughout history, Braudy 2003. 53 Ath. IS.681C. Cf. Aeschin. In Gtes. ¡33; Diod. Sic. 17.73.5. ;4 Tac. Ann. 6.43. On the gendered associations of mollitia, see Edwards 1993, 68-'70 Parker 1997, SI.
diswell see
and
HOSTAGES AND HOSTAGE-TAKING
IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
MASCULINE-FEMININE
the Roman maiden who escaped hostage~hip among the,Etruscans by '111 swimming across the Tiber;,was'repeatédly described as acting beyond the capacity of her gender.55 lDionysius of Halicarnassus. describes the reaction of LarsPorsenna to..Cloelia's.heroism: Referring t,o the girl fi-om the. group of hostages by whom therest had be~!l persuaded to swilll..across the iiver as havi3g great~r wisdom th~3 h~r~~xand age would suggesf~ he honored the city'not only"for producing nOble ~en but also'maidens whó aretheir equa1.56 ,
The preponderance of g~ndered lang]1ag~is obvious: Cloelia:~;lnnot have b~en just a woman if sh.efled a:sta.tus/,that:was:orieofhumiliation and weakness. The same sentim~nt pf Cloelia's"triumph over her sex appears á1so in SenecatheYounger, Whb says h¿r'istatue is'a..foilfor effeminate men in the city; {nPliny'the Elder, who notes she, was' . ¡.' ". '. remembered as wearing a man's toga; in Silius Italicus, who wonders how much more she could haveaccomplished had she actuallybeen a man rather than merely acted like one; ih Polyaehus, whose Cloelia impressed Lars Porserma by her, "maruiness" ;(aiid in Plutarch, Olle of whose characters says that Cloelia's courage was f~greater thah a woman's."57 Cicero, i~ his:De Officiís;>appears to be the earliéstliterary source for this mode of thinking on Cloelia when he quotes a lihe of poetry, which comes as a lesson to Roman men to'fight harder:"for you, young men,betray a womanish soul, but that. maiden displays'a man's." 58This way of reconceiving Cloelia was not;hbwever; litnited to literary commentators.' As seen in Chapter'3, nveisources- LiVy, Dionysius óf Halicarnassus, Seneca; Pliny::,the Elder"andtPlutarch,record that a bronze statue was erected in Romedepieting G:loelia; all butDionysius say it was equestrian, and Pliny adds that she'wore toga. 59Plutarch, presenting the episode in keeping with a host-guest
a
55
Cf. Walker 1980, 263-274.
56 Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 5.34.3. 57 Seno ad Marc. de cons. 16.2; Plin. HN 34.13.28; Sil. Pun. IO.496-500,
cf. 13.828"'83°;
Polyaenu;, Strat. 8.31: TO áv5pElov; Plut. Mor. 25oF: Tt)V TÓAI.laVaVT1lS ros KPEíTTova YVValKOScf. Publícola, 19.4. Compare Livy 38.24.IO, whose Chiomara, in attacking her captor, acts "in a way unlike a wornan" (haudquaquam mulíerís). 58 Cic. Off. 1.61: vos enim, iuvenes, animum gerítis mulíebrem, illa virgo viri. 59 For references,see Chapter 3. On statues ofwomen in Rome and Livia's cornrnissions, see Flory 1993. 196
paradigin, interprets the statue differently from, the, others, especially Livy, bul/in either case, the very people who ser up thestatue had emphasizedheF"<ibility to act in away that was atypical' of }Vomen. The ,statue itself iS1the earliest known"text"of a gendered reading of a hostágei!~pisode¡in Rame: its verycasting in a,duraBle; .yaluable mater~al,:and its placementina,highly:tra~ckeq area inthepose'and dress ofa scíldier-;"statesmaneffectivelyreima.gined Cloelia as ayeritable man;byvirtueof':her resistancéto hostageship. Jtist aSithegéhdered:,qualities ofhostage'Ttakingt(!quired:halfa .dbzen authorstOi,:~~~lainipoeMí1: as anaber¡:ation; the;'iwayofthinking also led1Suétoniús'1,to!discuss ~;dig]1la~satypic;d tre~t1p~ntofhis'hostages as evideH.ceiOfhis monstrosityand of:his subversioniof~hivers¡ilnorms. Ina vituperative anecdbte,<Suetonius alleg~s/rhatGaligul<1¿.played!the passive rolein sexual,reIations wifhhis foreign hostages;justiias he,did with an actor, Mnester, and a youth of thesenatQrial. aristocracy.60 Moreover, asseen in Ghapter4, ratherthan:leading'.hostages in his mocktriumphover the Bay ofNaples,Caligula tboktherhns.ofthe chat'iot himself, playing. the charioteer, or servant,!toDarius, who, despite being aParthian hostage at the time, was dressed as the'conquerod'l Caligula's.slavishdemeanor with this hostage intensifies the sexuakdepravity to.which!the blographer'also alludes.!As the emperor with ov~rarching ímperíum, Calig]1la ultimat:elybor,e the responsibility for takinghostages,and assuch, he should have played a masculine roleo In makinghis'isubjeCtdo pi-eciselytheopposite onh\:'o occasions, Suetoniusdepitts Galig]1laasinhabiting a warped universe;andreaders can!m'oreeasily comprehend his (alleged)¡fvillainy. LikeAntiphalJ.es's (and Athenaeus's) Spartans andtheir purple hair coverings, <:alig]1la here is an ,inversion of a natural order, .as proven by his praCtices in hostage-taking. We have seen so far how being or giving a hostage was c()mparedin antiquity tOiplaying a passive role in sex; this conceit ofhostage-taking was understood and anticipated sufficiently by ancient audiences that the metaphor could be switched. Writers who wanted to portray their characters as craving an immoral sexual role could desc'ribe them with 60 Suet. Calig. 36; cf. Elbern 199°, I06. 61 Suet. Calig. 19; cf. Cass. Dio, 59.17. See Chapter
4.
197
~
'"
HOSTAGES AND HOSTAGE- TAKING IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
the metaphor ofhostageship. In his Meta~orphoses,Ovld te11sth~storx ti of Scy11a,a daughter of Nisus and princess of Megara.62 When hef city was under siege by Minos, Scy11aconceived a passion forhim as she watched the battle from the walls. As Ovid te11sit, she longed to become Minos's hostage so that she could bring about an affair.63 Hostage~taking, to Ovid's Scy11a,was assumed to be ~ sexuaLopportunity, a stand-in term for intercourse. The completion of Ovid's story demonstrates that the sexual aspect of hostage-taking \Vas open to scorn: Scy11abetrays her father by cutting the lock of hair. that made him invulnerable,but as she is on the verge of realizingherdream. of hostageship, Ovid's Minos reproaches her as wretchedYiand sacri...; legious. Notably, Scy11ais a hypersexual beiggfirst, whosecondari1y seeks hostageship in pursuit of her objective;64 The crimebfsextlal immorality is made moreintense by the criminal motivation oftreason; to long for hostageship is both perverted and treacherous. A similar opprobrium, expressed in the language of b6th sex and hostage-taking, is felt by one character for another in Achilles Tatius's novel, Leucíppeand Clitophon. In the story, Thersander, a pirate and th~ principal vi11ainin the melodrama, is on trial, and a bishopwho knew him as a boy is called to speak against him. The bishop begins to dress down the defendant by pointing out that when he was.a youth, he led the decadent lifestyle of a passive homosexual; morespecifically, the bishop says that Thersander "played the hostage" to a numbe~fi"i older men.65 In this coritext theverb also makes referellce tothe'pec agogical quality of hostage-taking, which was explored il1Chapter' Thersander was not onlyhavingsex with the "hostage..,takers," but,l 6. Ov. Met. 8.1-151. 63 Ov. Met. 8.48: obside (hostage) begins the !ine, followed in apposition by comitem (cOIIJ.7 panion) and pignus (security). On the abmptness and surprise of the word, see Anderson 1972, 338. 64 The fact that Minos is compared ,with Apollo (line 31) and that he justly imposes laws on the defeated (line 102) suggests that he may be yet another stand-in for Augustu~.
MASCULINE~FEMININE
was also said to be learning technique from them,which
enabled. him
to continue his debaúche~ into adulthood. "Playing the hostage" in this context thus meant both having seX and perfecting it. Although the verb, "to play the hostage," is a hapax legomendn, coined in this novel and not used anywhere elsefin,Gre¿k literatut~, it effectively illustrates wh~t rnight be called thte sexualization. of40stage~taking in the secondc~ntury, CE, the time when :CucianalsQ imagined the hostage exchange between Endyrnion andthe speaker of th~. Tru.e.Hís,~ toríes.To,Athenaeus (wh,o .excerpted Antiphart~s, .quotedearlier) and AchiUtes.Tatiy.s,bot,h 9f the second century cE,sexualintercou:t;se an<i thetak,ing o(hostag~s ;could each serve!as explanatory!J1tetaphors for the other; in Antiphanes's e:¡campleof the Spartans and .theirfemi.., nine, purple bandarmas, ametaphor
of gender explaine(f'the
nat,ure
oí
hostage-taking;;in the caseof AchilJ,esTatius's novel, the metaphor of hostage-takingexplairied a chara~ter's sex;life andgenq.eridentity. Achilles Tadus,A.thenaeus, Suetonius, J'acitus, andLucian, a11writ-
ing in thesecond century CE, were precedeq in blending the.peda...; gogieal with the sexual asan equation of decadence in hostage-taking by Juvenal's second satire, written around the early second century. The satire is a catalog of the ,different stereotypes of effeminate men inJuvenal's day: drag queens, prostitutes, cast:t;atedpriests. of Cybele, male-male;"domestic partners," and meri who p,refer weaving to+warfare are all scorchin~y vilifiéd.66 The satire is simultaneously'a diatribe agáinst those who preaéh high morals yet themsely~sengáge~hypocritically; in the same behavior they proscribe: As an exemplum,the poem ends witha passage about anAr!J1enian hostage(probablyfietiónal) namedZalaces who has been buggered by an unnamed.magistrate.67 The speaker of the satire, in reference to the degradation of the hQStage, laments the implications for Rome's place in geopolitics:
compares Ovid's Scylla with Propertius's Tarpeia. 65 Achilles Tatius, Leudppe and Clitophon, 8.9.3: 6~r¡pí~oov. This translation disagrees with other proposals, such as "to do joint work," of the Loeb (Gaselee 1984); and to "specializ[e] in the old Greek lays (Homer, 1 mean)" of Reardon 1989, 276. On Thersander lacking control, see Haynes 2003, 140.
66 "Domestic partners" refers to lines II7-136 about marriage among men. On theemphasis on the "inversion of social relations," with attacks on "passive homosexuality" in a "secondary" role, see Nappa 1998, 91. The reversal of roles yields "a greater portrait of debasement and enervation" (Nappa 1998, 106); Juvenal's treatment ofhostages fits well with Nappa's arguments. On the "visual quality" of the satire, see Walters 1998. For the indusion of women in the shooting gallery in the form ofLaronia's speech, see Braund 1995. 67 Courtney 1980, 149 suggests that the tribune was the hostage's caretaker.
198
199
Minos\rejection of a negative quality ofhostageship could be compared withJUpiter's rejection of Lycaon's cannibalistic feast of a hostage in Met. l. Also, Tissol 1996, 143
l
HOSTAGES
AND HOSTAGE-TAKING
IN THE ROMAN
EMPIRE
8 Look at what happens as a result of such trysts: a hostage had come [to Rome] , for here they are made humano But if a longer stay in the city openshim up to boys, a lover is never wanting. His pants and knives and reins and whips are cast off, and Armenia will become Obscenia.68
POLYBI,US AS A HOSTAGE
The satire effectively deflates the common rhetoric in accóunts of hostage-taking discussed in the previous chapter ~that o(reeducation, the creation of civilized human beings, and the 'pacificatioh of the periphery through hostagel:taking:69 As Juvenal's reader approacnes the end ofthe poem, hefiiids a failedtliché abüUt the glory 'afRome: the trappings of barbarism, such as knives instead of swo'rds'and pánts instead of togas, willindeed be thrown away by the f6rmer',hostage, but that whichhas been taught by theRoman men is a "lifestyle" that will ultirhateIy undo them aIl, both centet and periphery. As a hostage, he willlose his pants and in so doing, drop the phallicknife and the controlling reins and whip, and become feminine; the problem is that another part of the equation of the hostage's expérience is that,igiven his impressionable nature,' he wiIl broadcast his newiirnmorality to the world and transform it.
68 ]uv. 2.166-17°:
aspícequídfacíant commercía:veneratobses,/ hícfiunt homínes..Nam sí mora
longíor urbem / índulsít puerís, non umquam derítamator. / Míttentur bracaeculte/Ufrena flagellum; / sícpraetextatosrqerunt Artaxata mores.The above translatíon of the last line is an attempt to preserve the Latin rhyme andjuxtaposition of the original pra~texta~ and Artaxata - a more literal'translation would be " . . . and the Artaxians would take to wearing the toga praetexta." Not veiy funny 1'0 the modern speakerOfEnglish, but the Romans would understand a pun: Artaxata refers to a place~namein Armenia, probably with an exotic flavor; praetextatos, to the Roman
understanding,
would signifY
youths under the age of sixteen, the period oflife when males wore the toga praetexta. More specifically, in this context
the clothing
of young boys is a metáphor
for their
passive sexuality. For the rhyming "echo" or "mirror" of praetextatosand Artaxata, see Henderson 1999, 315,note 91. For taking Artaxata as a nominative and the subject of riferrunt, see Courtney 1980, 130. On Roman into cínaedí,see Gleason 199°, 397. 69 Cf. Braund and Cloud 1981, 204.
200 /'
be1iefS in methods oftransforming
men
>
~
"",..n theistudy'ofhostage-taking'án the Roman world,Polyqit:fspre1"~en" "" undeniable 'opportun1ty~N oMril1"does he'include,evernl extensive anddetailed commentariesoÜ'episodes óf hostage'-taking, but also he himself wrQte from:theperspectiveJof onedetainedamong theRorhans: So far, we;¡have had only'slight,.. oblique glimpses .of a hostage's .opinion ofhis.own unique statusandidentity,most ofit com~ ingkfrom archaeologicalevidence: JubalI's portraiture, plus his new Cityifat:lol/€aesarea, Antiochus: IV's ,commissions (or lack thereof) at the city of Antioch, in addition to his conductinforeign policy(as reported.by Roman authoJ:'s),and Vonones's coinshave all suggested, albeit iridirectly, varying degrees of accommodation ofRoman cwture on thepart of the hostage. By contrast, Polybiusand his Histories his study ofRoman institutions andhis pseudo~autobiographical,passages about life in Rome - offer a more nuanced and sophisticated under-
-
standing,first~and, ()f the exp~rience ()fbostag~ship and tlJ,ehos~a,g,e's relationship to;RomeandtoiipdividuaJ,;Romans. Comingfrom appligarchy and hot a royal dynasty aÜd arriving inRome in his mid-thirties and nofhisacÍülescence, Polybi\is wasdear1y different fromprinces like Antiochus IV,Juba II, Vonones, andothers1 Buthisexperience with the Romans still overlapped with theirs in critical ways, and. rp-°re important, his writing demonstrates that he was profound1y affected by rus stay.Whether Polybius is called obsesor Q¡J.T)pOS or something else, rus reflections on his experience as an elite outsider in Rome, with access to power and the hope of release, can reveal some ofthe anxieties and pressures confronted by more conventional hostages; equipped with his writings, we are better able to gauge a non-Roman's response \¡t ALA/i:' 201 ~.'"S~~~KO e '4,f;'" ,$,\ ~\ 44;..,q...,' <->.::.y if,.;.~, ti~.-- UPV/EHU.~~ - '-" á~~ $'3.~¡
/
HOSTAGES AND HOSTAGE-TAKING
POLYBIUS,
IN THE ROMAN E¡y1PIRE
to the withering rhetoric that placed him in a position of inferiority. 1 Gn balance, as we shall see, the historian's message is a combination of acceptance of Rome's dorninance, at least on the surface, and a deterrnination, simmering underneath, to maintaip. dignity.2 Before exarnining Polybius's reaction to Rome, it is useful to consider the circumstances and nature ofhis status as a hostage, something
II!
discussed briefly in the Introduction. In the years leading up to the Battle of Pydna, the Achaean League, of which Megalopolis, Polybius's home polis, was a part, was divided into factionsthat were defined by their opinions concerning Achaean autonomy in the,face of Roman expansion. Polybiusand his father, Lycortas, were, associat~s ofPhilopoemen who advocated thein~epend~p.Geof the League froW Roman interference.3 Within this group,;;Po!ybius",atleast by,hisqvJh account, stood out as being: particularly adept at keeping, Rome at bay and preserving Achaea's autonomy. He records that in a meeting of his political allies,concerning the best policy for dealing with Rome during the conflict with Perseus" hisown argument, which carried the day, was that it would be, prudent to give outward pledges of support, but in practice, to act only in ways that benefited their league.4 He was then elected hipparch for 170/169 and,ashe' relates in the Histories, promptly put the strategy into action: the Leag}1.e promised to send troops to help the Roman legate Quintus Marcius Philippus against Perseus, but Polybius held back, as he says, unti~ Roman victory was assured and'he could no longer feasibly avoid,this
obligatipn;;? Di1:est support
AS A, H0ST1I:GE
of~ome!was
giyenonlywhenthere
no altérnative, ,and"rvemthen" dissimulation;;was the orderof\thei day: Tné)pr;incipal,opppsition to this po1icY¡Jo;wa~d;Rome:camefrorn~al.., licratesl'i';who,¿favored.sub.ordination.and. who,is,said;1:ohave ,curried senatOFial fa~pnWith\aq~~()ni~",PolybilJ,sylets;,his opinion be known, about,'@¡tllicr~tes ontmultip!~COGcasioI).s:, heitakes,¡notorioUsly;cheap shots;;ialleging;'i\iniagditipnto:'politi~al!malfeasance,'
,that,JJ.e"was¡pl1ys,;;.
icallyr.,repp.lsive;y;fu,thy,,;a.n4;thei¡Qbjée~/;R~¡ri4ic81ewfbrchildrénipl:¡;,i,~~é street; "i\ti9J;l~0Point,);1~says;.~~tc7le\1t~h~:¡~p;,~/(~sti~alJreflJ,sed .tp "Q,atJJ.é
iI).ith~same b,asihfs~a1li9rat~s;\u~!i~~t,haq¡be~n~rain~d;},~leap¿d;<a.tld
fille9,'i~th;ifresh!}Va;tep'f3~:'~9~YQ~J.lS'S hatr~d fQr;:GalJ,isr;atl\s, of1),COJ.ll'se¡
\y~s.¡jjt:u!eledby¡¡¡thei;fal3t'l!t!1'~bith¿! ,Roma.l1s¡ev~ntual!y;\;woliXatiPydna" ~ame,t(Yiholg!tremendbM:iñfluel1ce<ovefiGreeki'affairs¡'ánd,backed tho~e1~ho "had supporÚ:di:Rorhe;..the'most,i,!!In ..+6q;ePolypius:ianc), his,/(!al!ies,lúJJ.adbeSQmeupwe!corneWQY wittue ofthy,ne'Yséttlement~ apd Callicrate~ event~allyi¡!'Yaslj.successful:':in' accusing' m~l1y.of thyt;ll ofiabetting Perseus and!a,ccordil(lglYlihadthem;~ by most;!accounts;. over a ,th6usand¡;;;:i. rer:noved.toItaly ,;witl'id'utliatriaL8 U ¡j#k~tI;1e:,earlienintern'rnents' ofitheGar;thaginians, Macedonians; and S~leJ.lcidsgJ.lring t!1'epreyioJ.lsgéneptlon,:the:dep9rtatiolliüf1"thé Athaeapsiwas' th,e reSJ.lltioP. politiGaJ.i\1nfigQting;within',the", Leagueahd! was!apparently not stipulateO.ibyi atreaty1,,¡.2\i;li;we:haye, seen, the Achaeanswho were sent, tpRomeare not';categoricall)1',!;gefinedinitJJ.e
5 Polyb. 28.13. On Polybius's careeras hipparch, see Pédech.1964, I
One alsocould considerJosephusandJuba II as "hostagehistorians."Eckstein 1990b has already noted similarities between Polybius and Josephus in styleand method. Cx. Henderson 2001, 43. Juba's writings exist only in f~agments, collected at Roller¡20()3.
2
For a full discussion ofPolybius's method, see the class,icstudies"pfPéd~ch 1964; Petzold 1969; Eckstein 1995; and Champion 2004: which are cited later passím.
3 In general, see Errington 1969;' Derow 1970, 16-17. Eckstein 1985, 278-281 points out that it is ov~rly schematic to say¡Philopoemen's faction was "anti-Roman" or even that he had a "faction" at al!. Notably, Philopoemen had supported Rome in its war against Antiochus IlI. The conduct ofhis allies, however, when juxtaposed with tp.at of Callicratés, was less tolerant ofRoman interference 011a permanent basis. 4 Polyb. 28.6. On Polybius's role in Philopoemen's funeral, see Plut. Phil. 21; on his now lost enconllum, see Henderson 2001, 33. See also Pédech 1964, 517-521 and Champion 2004,16. Walbank 1979, 333-334 argues that Polybius was aliguing himselfwith Archon who, as a statesman, was in ascendancy.
was
6
5-15'
'.,
/!\,
<iik,ii.'i'i!
p3andI¡ckstein,J99S,
..','"'" '.'i'.'!'..'..'.."'.".'.".' ',.
,,)'
E .g.~ Polyb ' 24.8; 3°,29. bn .Polybius's antipathy fo~Catlicrites,s~e , ,,' "<"1'.,'", 'i " '.. ",
,,
,
s~einJQ85,27 8-;S8 1;~c~t~inJ99 156. Arguing th~t C~crateswas
"
Derow l<no;Eck. <. 5,204-;205; G91anIgQ~, 7S~4i and C~amp¡p~ ~PO.4, ~ot as strong politicallya~ Polybius ldd o~)~ Ci:fuen ,
1976, 49.' . '", , ,..' , . . 7 Polyb. 30.13.9 discusses false accusatioIJ,s leveled by CallicraW;I>~!yb.30.2Q sugge~tsthe popular attitude toward hfm was a~ !9 atrait9r. On the)2~th, see Polyh'.30.29+ ,'. 8 Polyb. JO.13.1-1Fc3°.32.1-I2; Livy, 45.31.9; Paus. 7,10.10. The, d~tain~es also,induded Thessalians and Perrh~t;bians (I"iry, 30.7.5); Boeotians, Acarnanians, and Epir;otes (Livy; 45.31.9,45.34.9); andAetolians (Livy, 4S.3I.I). Shimron 1979-19~oviews the dete~tion as a "brutal and unjust" decision by the Romans, but the diplomati~ nbn.ns,ofhostag~ship and the agency of Callicrates rnight argue against such a reading. Gruen 1976, 49 argues that Polybius exaggerated Greek despair over the loss of the thou~and., On the nature and purpose of the detention, see also Pédech 1964, 360-367 and Edlund 1977, 129.
203
202
..
~
POLYBIUS AS 'A HOSTAGB
HOSTAGES AND HOSTAGE~TAKING IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
, ancient sources as hostages;ratherth~Y are usua1ly referred to with a periphrastic description, such as ~'th'osedetained in Rome, ';Por '\th~se accused of conspiring against Rome."10 In onecase"they are ca1led exiles(<pvyéxoes).¡¡ In parfthe latter designationtÍsm()tunexpected~ to the Callicrateanfaction in power, which supportedRome, the asser;.. tion of Achaean autonomy on thepart oÜhethousand constituteda form, of treason,'arid exile would ,have been an appropriate response. Nevettheless, thelabel, ofexile obscures,the c()ercivematur~,of,the Achaeans' detentiomPolybius;implies that,spme,ofhis allies remained in Greece", despite the large purge of"the;thousand;arid to' them, the,Roman possessionofPolybiusandhis' <?ompanionswouldihayé a force difIerent. :trom:punishment. Thedétention of thethousand insteadcould be wielded asa device to "silence thepeoplein'Greece and to niake them obey Ca1licrates.'''r~Apart, froID coercion; a nUnl., ber of other features of conventioríal hostage...taking are presentiri accounts of the Achaeans) For.exarnple; although Polybius stayed, in .. Rome, the rest of the thousand Achaeans were scattered throughout towns in Rome's environsl!3 As with"otherhostage groups, occasional attempts to secure their release Were made..by their countrymenin the formof embassies to the senate.14,Móreover, Polybiusspenttimewith other Gr:eek-speakinghostages in Rome, mostnotably[)emetrius,th<:} young hostage of the Seleucids. 15In a1l,the Achaeans were held for seventeenyears, fina11yreleasedin ISOBCEwhen, accordingto Plu~c'
Cato the Elderpersonallygranted,Scipio Aernilianus's request that Polybius,and, his.fe11ow Achaeans"be allowed toreturn to,Greece.16 Pausanias saysthat of th~original thousand;" approxima.tely three;hundred,were stillliving in .Italy,at the,time;, sorne,had,managed toescape, butmost .of.the remainder had.died"whilein cust()dY';t~', Gertainmileston~ inPolybius's life asahoStagefand afterward,can be,recovered:tiomautobiographi¿aly;wgnettes inms'extant ,historyas wellfag from,.other,.!sOurées,','which themselvMv!propably,,',drew:tiom th()se¡,pattsfpf,his ."history,ifthatcial'e '!missing/t~day. He,kept.ifrequent c()mpa~~WithiStipióAe~~anu~,i,whoywasyt4efglJlldson,"bYYa.d()Ption o~.Scipio"iA:fricanus'~ridtHe('Son\o~iiA:emilius!,Paullus,the,;vict()rious general at'By'dna.17heymetat,the,statto(iPol}t.1;)11:\s7s,detention!,when SCipio:Aemiliarius,wasiaboutf,seventeen" years+úld'"~1fd,Polybius .inhis mid*thirties}8Polybirls..says,ithat they shared a fondnessifot.,huntmg and greWiincreasinglyclosei,.over the,years:ii\:wasiperhaps,ínScipio's company that Polybius visited Gaul,..Spain,and¡Africa:wl1ile,sti11a hostage}~ iPolybiusappearsto haveheena dose.,6bserver,of,evéntsih GreectMollowinghis.l'elease,', hutiitis .uncleatt:what:¡hisfO'limaluposition was, or ifhe had one at a1l.2oiPliny the Elder implies that whilethe Third Punic War was being wagedScipioJent Polybius aship . " sothat he ' ' Cou ld V1.',sit tl:tetes\;ofnorthern A'fir1ta)as W"''e11 asthe 'Atl ántIc"eO ast'dft he '
'
"
.
'
"
,
,
,",
, """ ,,
"
",
,
"
,
,
,
"
,., ,
,
,
,
,
"
,
"
,
"
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,
,
,
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,
,
"
,
",, .,
' "
,
,
Ib~l/ian.:pe@nsula beyondthe'.Stdits,6f.qibral¿r,ib;t,~~~hY9as~,tpey weretogether. at Catthage whereyPolybius,withes'sedithe.:sack"o€the ci\;yin I~6.4IA.fterthe!,~a2kcifCofinth
9 Polyb. 31.23.5; 32.6.4; 33.1.3. 10
P?lyb.30.5-7;
II
hostages (17), political prisoners (18; cf. Derow ¡ino, 18), and political exiles (28). Henderson2001, 37 captures the essential ambiguity iti' saying' that they were "in Kafkaesque lirobo of indeternrin,ate status and shape." Polyb. 35.6 Plut. Cato,9.2-3. .
12
30.32.1-9;
32.3.14; Livy, 45.35.2; Pa,us. 7.1().I?-U.
Cicero once refers:io,
Polybiusas "our guest" (nosterhospes): Rep. 4.3.3. Champion20o4callsthero politi¿~
=
Polyb. 3°.32.8: Iva O"\JjJjJVQCXVTeS. 1T€I$apXOOQ¡YÉv ¡.IEVAxaíq. ToiS mpi 76'1, KaAAIKpáTTjV. Walbank 1979, 461 argues that the line refers to an atteropt to force the detaineeste obey Callicrates. 'Gruen 1976, 5°-53 points out that roany otiPolybius's
facrion were still in power and argues that the Romims did not seek to influence Achaean policy direcdy. IJ Polyb. 31.23.5; Paus. 7.JO.u. 14 In 164: Polyb. 30.32.1-9; in 159: Pelyb. 32.3.14-17; in 155: Polyb.33.1.3-8 and 33.3.1-2; in 153: Polyb. 33.14. 15 Polyb. 31.U-15.
16 Plut. Cato, 9.2-3 ,= Polyb. 35.6. 17 Paus. 7.10.12. tf. Polyb.:p.'3.15. 18 The date ofPolybius's birthis nót known. Walbank1972, 7 sugge$tsapproximately 202 to 200, which is generally accepted. 19 Huntillg: Polyh. 31.29.8.. Polyb. 10.11.4 says that he hadvisitedNew Carthage;Polyb. 3.48.12 refers to a visit.to the'Alps. Pédech 1964; 560 discusses Polybi\1s's,roleinan embassy to Masinissa with Scipio Aernilianus. 20 Polybius expresses disgust at .the, radical government'in Achaea on severa! occasions, seemingly as an outsider and not as one holding anykind'ofofficial power:,.,Polyb. 38.3.8-13; 38.11.7-11; 38.13.8-9.Walbank 1965, 4argues t,hat the"change in Polybius's staIuS fi:om detainee to tteed representative of Rome was reflected in his work. Cf. Henderson 2001,41. 21
Plin. HN 5.9. Pédech 1964, 560 and Eckstein 1995, 14 date the expedition to the Third Punic War, whereas Walbank 1972, 10 suggests it happened after the sack of Corinth in the same year because reIurning to Greece would have been "awkward." Polybius
204
~
205
...
~
..
.
lO'
..
POLYBIUS
HOSTAGES AND HOSTAGE~TAKING IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
many ways,. a!!closeteading of Polybius's Histories demons~rates that he was conscious of the, variousi,expectations oLhostages and'"was aI1?'iousto"réfute them, either>hydenyingexplicitlYiithat the types of binary "power relationslllps+described. in this bopk, appliedto his own.' situation, or.'by; reversing,,~he .roles'¡an<Leffective1y iredeploy"'" ing, ,Jhy:,rhetoric;;to. ;:'articulateh;the'extént .of hisi independenúe,of
role is better defined as he seems t()have be en a kind of representati~,of Rome's interests in Greece: again;ifaccording to hisown account,afte~¡ the Roman commissioners departed Achaea, they asked Polybius,t<5 visit various cities, explain Rome's new lawsand constitution totheni, and oversee theirenactment?2 The latest datewhen we can tentatively>, locate thehistorian-"wedo not ~ow whenhedied-,iis 133, when it appears thathe wasagain \\(ith SCipio'Aemilianus, this timeatthe siege ofNumantia, wheu' he would have béenapproximatefy sevehty years 01d.23Some have argued based on thesecontacts that.5cipio: Polybius's literary<patron, although theevidenceishbt'icconclusiv In any Case;!'atone point Polybius himself admits,thatihisclosen, to Scipio waswellknowh,evenwidely'idiscusséd,'iandthat peop beyond Italy and'Greece were aware of itd5 As aidetainee'!índltal and companionof the weU,connected consular, Polybiusihad, clase access to Roman power at home and abroad, 'andhe dearly developed important friendships; Itis important to note that Polybius'sexposu,re ta Roman politid andculturedid notspellanunquestioning l~yalty or dependence: In
mind' aIld;hltima,~Yr:\his,itri~tJ1Ph, ~ve,i)hisca~tors.Bolybius's"'atti~ tudetowardhostageshlp'andltsrelat1ony,~o emplre ycan:bebest reco\¡;'" eréd1¡ttom the'¡'passages.wheie;¡he:¡tellsi.J:¡.is<6WnXlife;story'!i;during his tiniein,Rqnie'; alidf:thereafter. H8st\l:geftakingccle~r1Yiwas:!j,mportant tOihim: in:¡n1ost:!<ifi.¡hiS r~ferencés)to!hiihself;(usua11y recqqntesi in the;thifdtpersOg),'hOst~gesJ andihostage-'takilIgrfigu.rey,promirientlyhis,introguctión.tüStipio¡..A'emilianus,his friendship with. IDenietrius of$yria;,hisi.acquaintance¡with the¡Galatian,.;woman ,Chiomara, and his"r61e,án..theorigins;.ofthe'FhirdPunicWir,. among. other' eVeri~s; In:,evety.. case; thei/ihbstages'in question oi their q.onOrs'iov.ercome Roman, qaptors;!ándPolybius, as,theruarrator, "departs fromhis ,typ..: i¿a11yclinical¡,repoEtage.i;to offer!.,hisQwn ¡opinioll,iexpressing either approval for the stereotype-defyinghostagesor disfWst at Roman abuse.~:?< When viewed ir the lig~t oL~h~. resfu()f bis Hist()ries,his
appears to have publish?~ a vv;ork on geography an4 n~~ural history, vv:Nch ~.~.. ~llOrOUg\1l')¡
account 9g~is owneJPerience 9rh9S1:a8~§~1i?.iJl dleSe c~ses seems tq!gOrg.ey()n~i"merep#ge ~rBersm?-a1i')~bjtio,p;i if itcan,be a,rgued thati .the.Rmp¡}l1s kieweg hostages~.asi~yihb!,*,' of,the periphery by their, understa.nding;submissi"e,'iin;a,y¡¡.riéty pf..ways¡"to':Roman p()wer."",'thenP.olybius'sredefln:ition. ofhis'b~teieE,¡ásia.!l1ostage;'syihbolic.
mo~~ed by~trab~\Pljny .~he E1per, and 1\t~enaeus f~r its in~~curacies (S~F~~g~?'2: C222; IO.3.'i:C465; PlinY, HN 4.121; 31.131; Áthen. 7, p. 302e). Onthe'sign.ifica of thegeography
to Polybius'slarger
history, see:Pédech'
1964, 95-597
,!Fm!~lyl
,~dScipio at!theisa~k of Carthf¡¡;e, see Plut. Mor.2go and A~p~lun. 132; b8th also coilYentionally fotmd at Poly¡;; 38.21,1-22.3. See also Dio¡r Sic., 32.24 and Ar Marc. 24.2.16. Many scholars discuss Polybius's famous account ofhis conversati¿m Wil Scipio as they overlooked the burning city: Pédech 1964, 195; Henderson 2001, 4 Champion 20°4,159. 22
aSjif\\T~s,!,iCO~Ü~i~ates~'~~~gerfuessa~e;Of~esiSfatlc'ei:to hegemony; elevating his!b~s~~uggle to 'that of greater,geopálitics~'"
Polyb.39.5.
2) Numantia:
Walbank
1972, 12, notes 59-66, 63:The
year ofhis
AS AiHOSTAGE
death is notkno'Wn
despite [Lucian], Macr. 22, who says that he died after a fall &om a hode. Ghampiol 2°°4, Ir sees Polybius's description of a road through Gaul at 3.39.8 asestabllshirigá!i¡ terminus post quem for his death of lI8 (after the Via'Dornitiahad been completed). Fo!' a thorough discussion, see Eckstein 1992. 24 Foulon 1992, 16 argues Polybius was a kind of client, pointing out the &equency with whiyh Polybius compares Scipio with Alexander the Great. See also Pédech 1964, 352353 and Edlund 1977. Astin 1967, 3 suggests Polybius adrnired Scipio. Walbank 1965 sees an equitable relationship between the two, although Walbank 1979,499 notes that the reader would expect the patron-client relationship. Eckstein 1995, 9 argues that Polybius's ties to Scipio should not be exaggerated. 25 Polyb. 31.23.3. The &iendship is also attested at,Diod. Sic. 31.26.5; Vello Pat. 1.13.3; Plut. Mor. 659F.
REDEFINING
THE HOSTAGE
'l.
.... ~
.
.
"
Polybius's first reported.éontact with a Romah following the Battle of Pydna was with Aemilius Paullus, the victorious general. The text describing the meeting is no longer extant, b~t Polybius, at the start of a later, abrupt digression on his detention, reminds.his readers that 26 Notably, as will be"seen, these criticisms are delivered in oblique and subde ways and may be described as the "politics of cultural alienation," to use the term of Champion 2004, 3 and passim. 207
206
.....
..
í{¡
...
lO
POLYBIUS AS A HOSTAGEi
HOSTAGES AND HOSTAGE~TAKING IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
he had alreadymentionedhow heand ltemiliusPaullus had happenel todiscuss literature.27 As Polybius d~scribes. it, oneof them lent th other some books; the direction..ofthe loanis not!'stated, althoug] it seems likely thatPolybius, theliterary figurewho wasiat home iJ Greece, providediservices to the. general who was farfi:omltaly.ari¡ any library he mayhave had. A fi:iendship reportedly grewfi:om there and Polybiussays that Paullus's sonsbegge.d!the praetordn charge óftl1 detainees to let Polybius stay in Romewhile the others were'setibit other towns in ltaly. In a long and peculiarlypersonal asiae;'¿Polybh discusses howhe first grew close to ScipioAemilianu~n HeYsays!th; Scipio approachéd him shyly once hisolder brotherFabius hadde thefualone and"in elmildandgentlevoice;,blushing slightlYi!'!!aske why Polybius spoke!more fi:equently with Fabius' than with him..:. Polybius, referring tohÍ1nselfinthe thirdperson; says heresponde¡ delicately, that hehad done soorily because Fabius~ olderand th he.would be happy tohelp Scipio with his "studies"andto train hi! "to speak and act in a:way worthy ofhis ar¡,cestors;"29Scipiothen said to have interrupted PolybiusandexcitedlyacceptedihisoH'er:
Before Polybius finishe~ speaking,Scipio, taking Polybius's righthand both of bis. and holding itwith affeGtion (sf.,lq>0:3OOs), said, "1 hope Isee 1 day when you, viewing áll útl1eftbii).gs as secoridary,turn áll yc,>utthoughts me and share youdife with me (f.,lS1" Ef.,lOOa\Jf.,ll3lwO'el~), for&omthat mame 1 will feel 1 am wc,>rthyofmy hotJse and my ancestors." Polybiuswas pl~¡.t~ atthis, noting the.passior¡,¡.tI1drespeGt ofthe; yo~ng J:P;tn¡but!pewasat when he Go.nsidered the; etninen~e .pfN~. houseallg.thepPPPrtut1iti~~. able for its members. Having addres~ed hisser¡timeI1t, th~ YP\-Jtp~;lSne;' removed from Polybius and deemed all else' secondary tú Ills companior¡s) (m:xv'TO: S T¡v 0:\1700 Se\mpo:
'T11SEKeívov O'\Jf.,l1TEplq>Op&S);ttom
that mome
they constandy soughtto please!iéach other'with their deeds of mut affection (q>lAOa'Topyío:v),thinking of each other as!a father and a son.30 t. 27 Polyb. 31.23.4. 28 Polyb. 31.23.8: 1Ícrvxfj KC.d'ITpC¡Xoos Tfj cp6)vfj q>.gey~álJevos Kal T4> XpoolJaTlyev6lJevo':(s evepev.9t'¡s. . 29
Polyb.
31.24.5:-6:
TO: lJa.9t'¡lJaTa
3° Polyb. 3L24.!}-25.L
. . . Te) Kal AÉyeIV
TI Kal
'ITpáTTelv
&~IOV TOOV 'ITpoy6voov.
lri ,this ipassagejo,Polybius¡admesses;'.':o'"'.and reverses;- several. of the commorlunderstandings of thewmerability of hostages; contrary to cOmrr1on .expectationsofihostagesjiEolybius.says.that /ie Will.be the teach~rj,.theifather,even theA'male.'1Jria role reversal,!he!speaksdf the boy's nal\reté',andseems to gortOlgréatlengths!to convincev.is readers ofhis pedagogical.role,i.fii.$Cipio's,lif7.3~,Thevery reason fot Polybius's priVi17ge ofi~laYiIigin Rome was,atttibuteditOhis litetary'Jacumen, whishdréwi:~aUllus's.eye;:U:ithéfitst,plac~when they:¡met'aftetiPydna¡. nOV\o";!th7!!llostage,will ir<?rtically";he!Nthei...qilPtd~lmhis¡studies"'añd,;gai1il hi~r,inioratPty¡i.&ÚCP. la.teriiiir¡,¡h1sl,narr;ttive;.POlybi1is;.seemsiito¡¡haye refu~riedt6'ithis;.;them.b:":Appiqn,!.iri¡des€ribing¡.the" sa9kiófGart~age;of I46ii,¡is.ássured1Y1'paraphrasitÍgithe.l()stiitexü, ofjPolybius:whe~ +1ie;sa.ys that .'SCipidturned td/Po1ybiUs .astOi'!á'i{'teached:;in;Order0toinqUire apÓut¡the.tole' ofFottut1é:cinwarfa1'eTand.to contemplate"ith~imeaniríg andifÍatUrei'of ~om~'ssúccess;~t "Scipioisl:húsrepeatedly:portrayed 'as' theone/iirii need óFinst:ructlqri;eagerlyleart;ling'fromrtherman. who should haYeh.ee1l.his,\inderling~.' Moreovet,'il1Y,the,passage'quotedabove polybitis expliCitlYj,.c6rllpares¡:)theiritelattonship'f'as' itiensuediwith that. oLa fatherand. sOn, orilyi;inthis.cas.ei~dth thei.hostige iIithe,pater+ nal.rOle. iEhe:relationshili is portra.yedási.espeCi;illyoddh.ecause Iiot orilYii,~,thedefeated!Greek thefatherfigure,to his conqueroJ!;!but he alsÓtakes thepláce.of ancestors who are.hyperbolically illustiious:on
fiveioccasions!dnthisisingle "anecdote;Polybiu¿refers¡tD Seipio1s!lin-' eage;f,..t\sdesyriped¡it1arlietiniChapteri$! once Scipio's;lnd hisbrotherls adpptiOnsHate.accoúntéq..for, Scipio .was,.itelated,to,A;ernilius,.Paullus, Scipi6'!A:fi:iqánUs.and;Fabius ,'MaximUSiCunctator;33" By'¡endirigithe digressiOn;then~' witlfhimselfas. Scipio'snewiirole!irllodel;Polybius subtlyputsnear1y allof'Romebeheath,him. Einally, there may. alsO
31 Astin 1967,298 and Walbank 1979, 498 believe the anecdote dist.orts Polybius's influ<;nce over Scipio. But s<;eEckstein 1995, 79-82. Here, of course, o~r concern is more with the representation than with the reality. 32 App. Pun. 132: 1)¡6á01<aAOS.Cf. Paus. 8.30.9 who. on describing a monument to Polybius at Megalopolis, says that "whenever the Romans obeyed the advice ofPolybius. things went well with them." 33 Five times: Polyb. 31.23.1; 31.23.12; 31.24.5; 31.24.10; 31.24.II. the brothers. see Chapter 5.
On the adoptions
of
209
..
...
...
....
'lit.
'"
HOSTAGES
AND,HOSTAGEJTAKINGTN
THE ROMAN
EMPIRE
. PO,LYBIUSA~,'A
be a slight reference to afeminine!q~ahty in theadolesceritfScipio,in that his voice is described as mild:r1ULd,gentle,hei.bhishes; andheitakes
Polybiusby the right hand-agesturealsousedinRomarweddings
--;
and;longs for a ~'sharedlife;??3~W;h~reveJ;sal ofthemasculine"feminine metaphorfor hostage-takerand hostage may beitheleastf;0bvi~msirl this case, but, overall, ,Polybius's cbimof utter;mas~erY ov:erScipio Aemilianusis remarkable. Polybius's statemeht ofindependerlce in his relai:iohship{'Mth.Scipio in spite of his 'suborqinatt), stat\ls#s.a hostí!-geiicomes.':shortl'y:iafter::a much longer digression ouiBemetriusSoter,ithe'hostagey¡¡fro1J1!"itI Seleucids. of' Syria, inwhich.. Polybius!pres.~nts.i.íal siilliláHy¡i~rrev:etej attitude ,towarddé'tention among ..thei~pmans.,By';~héYtimeil?oly.l5i1 arrived imRome, Demetrius had alreadYPeériservÍJ;lg.as:áhostagéf&t about eight yearsandwas now in his late.teens;I(.Polybiussays;.tha.t,the two became fuiendsover the nextseveraliyears. duringboarhunting expeditions,.justas heandSéipio Aeriiiliamis'had)5 At;one,point¡ dIe hostage/historian desctibes Demetrius's detentioriasf.'unjust;"'con::1 sidering that both Demettius's.father'Seleucus IVand hisunde:Aritif ochus IV were deceased; as quoted in'Ch~pter 5,' Polybius says that Demetrius asked .to be released ard'pleaded with thesenaté~y bo~~ citirgthejustice ofhis'case;md, accordin.g tOPolybius,par~~ti~gw~.' he believt)d.tlie Rornahs~anted tQ'hear,:namelytb,at:the seQatPrs.p'a'5 become like fathers tO',him and theirsons likehis.brothers. 3~RolYl?id takes pains tO' point outthat none of these'ernotions \,were>sin~~ inBemetrius:despite a,life'spent al1J.lostentirelyamongtheRoj Demetrius had .grown irito"his"own.n1an and lóngedto return.'to'S; Deméthus 's'reqúest,lofcourse, w'aSrejected iRa lie rema1nedla'h,os' Laterr he was eager ~o try agaip.;believing(~I1a;t the!s~riatewót11 more amenable to a change of regime after a Roman legate ha,clb~.~ assassinated during " mission to Syria. Polybius now reports that' himselfbegan to playa greater role il1'events: he urged Demetrius no to appear before the senate again lmt "to have faith in hirn~elf ,an(r,! , 34 Polyb. 31.24.9. 35 Polyb. 31.24.3. Cf. Champion 2004, 17. 36 Polyb. 31.1.2-5: Trapa TO 5íKalOV KaTÉXEO".9a¡.See Chapter
210
~
'iIII"
Iií
5.
HOSTAqE:
attémpt,a bolel action,wprthy ,óf í!-,moparch."37 Bl).tPolybius;' aS.¡pe portrays hirp.self, isplaw.9g.,a .qa~sandra: D~rp.etriusJdO,esnot ,heed his advice; goes, beforethe,. sen,ate a se~,~mdti~e tp make.¡1 f?rmal,~lea, and ag¡lln,is ~ejected.38Polyb~us th~n,say,s\that Demetriuswfshed"that, h~had,ilistene~t~'\him and. sOOQd~cides,,~Q."attempt the: bold.action" by~escapiJ:;lg;fu9m.captivity.f, i:;' " T\1e story ofnerne~iius's.,fligh~.is'}yéllknown, but{or,pur,.puwoses iti~irrip9itan,t toqote¡d>;e,.extérlt to~hifh ~o~ybÍ1Js,~self\t~kes the credie:\froro:' the,start"P9ly~ius "isinstrumei:ital, ini,hatching th~,,;p,~ot. , By',hi$,as~o~J:;lt;¡¡Dc::,J;l1etriu~ b~gs¡hÍ1!1.:to~elp,and\:golybAus¡'9~ligin,~y; convim:;c::sari:,ap1~assadqnfro,m:ggyp~:,¡~. ¡m ~ld\:fr:ierldfuo~his¡;4:t~s.as, a,hipparch:.in iAchaea~,to provid.e,a ship>for Demetrius¡ and to,¿over, foi hinrby,fals,ely. ~laiming, t,hat.thyship'Yasl.l,Us.own.t,ra~sp9rF
1;>;J,ck;~ó;
Alexandria. 39,eDni the I~PP9,inted day ,oí the(~S~apei)DemetÜl1swas':~o ptétenq to bevisiting ~ friynd's hous,t; fop dinner,;¡with (false) :elans to:,gq.
to ,:Cerc~ii yvhereh~" an~,Polybius use~t6hpl)t ,togethyr." As ititu~ri~d ' otrt, ,:polybius;happéJ;1~4,to"be sick:,,.j.n,b,ed}J\.;heJ;l\Demetriusma~e.'.ihis mpve" ,ancl,so ;coulg;not accomp~ny"hilIlxtO:;itl;1~,{ banquet, iIIRt'rI~Oip. there to, the, port at Qstia, ~Ut,as ~~;:teUs,lit,,::hestillwasrespoi,lsible for:th~ success of the ¡.escape:,; he, says,'that h~ feared lest Dem~tdus,' J
being young;:,woul~ drink¡too rnuohl,~~ds~11lehow ,botchthe p1ans;' and so, although .h;e"was,ill; h~"wrot~\,a¡ ,icnote to ,DemétrÍ1.ls reminding.hiJ;l1 t(f ~ft quickly'and,t,q.:t~k ¡1J;1tage,ofthe cover',6f cight.'~~,We are'toldtpap;tht),nressage:i1rriYe:li\in.th~J¡1Íckof time, and/ :Demettiusjust,managedtoi.,~S, ; , tected"stÍcqythati,ti:, , \re, ., . " . ',' ',' """ ' 'I! dayslbeforeh.is,~bsehce
was no '.
' ,~~nate:~Although
I;>.em" ntl~i
sucfeed~din. his flight; i:t;would.se~m::thatthis "ísreallY"astory ,aQout 37 Pol)1b':JI. tI .i~i:S~"Ái ~y;~&vie;,\&S~X1Tí5d~¡~*~¡J:Kd¡~.bXii~ fl¡i~d&lA~¡dS'á~\gV., Pqlybi),ls 's disapln"QVa}:of: the prolon~(tdde~enti9n;
38 Cf. Henderson)2,00I,;33"noting~<1;~
.note'~han1piori'i\P04.i
161(
S"
'~81ybiJl~..\Y<I;s a/':-v,\rI1;errfigu.re" il} his .accqJa!l.~ of
hi~ own foreignpolicy before hisdete,nti~l}. ..' ...," "". .. " 39 Polyb. 3I.I2.8-13. For PolybiJls's participátion in an embassy to Egypt in 181/0: Poly&. 24.6.1-7. Polyb. 34.14 reveals that he had visited Alexandria. Walbank 1979, 479 sJlggests PolybiJls met MenyllJls in Rome. 4° Polyb. 31. 13.7-'-14. The note appears to be a ,series of lines of poetry stitched toget1;ier fÍ'om different sources. Walbank 1979, 482 identifies one as coming from Eur. PhQen. 726.
2II
HOSTAGES AND HOSTAGE?TAKING
IN THE ROMAN.EMPIRE
Polybius: the historian inserts hims~lf'fíhto thenarrative' five tim~\i Advising Bemetrius ontWooccasions, finding theEgyptian,choo~ing; the decoy of a hunting trip at Cerceii, andwriting the hote.sen.ding Demetrius on his: way, Polybius comes off as the very sou1;,of!rthei operation. The obvious ironyafter all of,this -thatPolybius is the.one who remained a hostage - serves to reyeal tohis readers th~tjhis °'Yil hostageship is atypicaland thathefeels'nd allegiance H)!RomeYefI'hé way in whichhe remihds hisreaders thatthe .Egy¡ptian,~ho ab~tted hisplans wasi;an. ássociatefi:orn hi~.,days a&.;an10pponeht;'of",R::Óme before.Pydnahearken~ backto thevdays of;AchaeaninHependénceándi intensifies the level.ofihi~inner!resi~t¡mce.Polybius:!~,. by ~cessity;. stay in tRome, Yet'asih~ <alw~ysdid in the pa5tf.hewill:¡h~lpY ~hose\ whoare justifiedinfleeing.and who,like Dernetrius;'might¡qenythé' comrnon expectat:iQns'of hos'tage-taking;¡ndrefuse to playthe son tci newfathers. .
Polybius also inserts himself, albeit obliquely, into .anether' hostage episode that went a\vry.for Rome":" thatofChiomara,.ofGalatia in1\sia Minor, whichswasenco!.llltered in. Chapter 7. Wei dOlnot have Polybius'sown words on..this event, but, rather,aparaphraseby Plutarch, whoiricluded theanecdote irihis collection,of"thevirtt.to¡.¡,s deeds ofwomen," ,citing jPolybiusashis so.urcePItwilLbet;e:rnethf bered thatChiomara was,takenhostage by aRoman;cenfutionam:i( held for ransom,¡duringiwhich,time sh.e.was raped bYh.~nca'R!°r. Chiomara did notpassivelyacceptthe!crime:! sheh.adrthecen.turi9n killedand behead.ed on.theday,when;~heransomarrivedand.presented.. the head to,herhusband: polybius!!¡hirnselfwasnot'involvediitl,!thé'¡ hostage-taking¡pr,in theactof defianÚ,iashewas withDemetrius;th~ important part oQhe passage for our purposes comes in how Plutard ends hissurnrnary:"polYbius sayshe spo~e at lengt~ lwith Chi9ma~a] at Sardis and was amazedat her prideand intelligence. "43 Onelongs. to have Polybius's own. account ofthis story. Editors have placed it iri, Polybius's Book 21, because. that is where Rome's carnpaigns in,(}alatia , ,.
POtYBIU~: AS 'A HOST AGE
are¡.re'c<)roed,'¡but 'itis possiblethat.!the'story carne in a later book, when PolYbimmay' have deScribed;his. Owll travels to :Sardisafter his release}tI;Wl1en,,,' Polybius retords.tliatihe met a!ch~racter in his history ", and'shiftS>intdthe fust!persPÍl ino~de'r to declarehis approvalfor her actihhs" the larget::,history becómesi iagaÍíí,' at least in part, a history of Pólybius hirnself:'by;iriserting¡\his!riwn~'voice ID'orderto cornment .on tlie:,episbdeind!itsprohigói:rist; l~olybitls in\effect makes lilins'elf a pkrtiCit>antin;€hiofuarn~s;'ii.~siStance't6'Rofue; as well.as,in .h~rrdrii.ritnceitoJthe: expecrittions bf detentioiLTI::i~~message .is. t:hat .ene ,:Who
..appró~s!bEGhio~ara~s:'bólaness"and even'of ,her masculinity.him\
se1f\v:ouldJnot fallÜ1tOjdl~ 'trap\ofk.h~stage;s ideÍltificationwithhis captOr::' ',: . . Like the story ofChiomara; P91ybius's'origmahccouht ofthe release oftfte¡:~chaeansirí150 BCEislost:y.et presérve& as a 'surnmaiy.in Plutarch~\andlPolybius agaín seems.itohave emphasized.his oWn primary role m' conttavening. détention.. In his biography of Cato; ,the Elder,' Blutarchsays that itwas..at Polybius's'.mJ,tiga'tion that Scipio Aemilianus :came tÚ Cato to. .plead ror the'teleáS.eoLthe .Achaeans. Readers '.or the original passage; 'w,herever, it:oc~ned in: Polybius's nar.ratiV'e,would ,have beenremindedof\Scipio~s,:devotiowto Polybius,:and.thUs the yeats ofScipio's <~edudition" und~r polybius would j'
seem to have :paid dividends. .iAsi:.Ph1tareh' te'lls it;:the
use of Polybius. 43 Conventionally cited as Polyb. 21.38.7.
44 Walbd
197'9, 151-152 discusses rtbe pO!temialdates í{)r 'Pdlybms1s wlsTttó 'Sardis,Mguing
¿¡tibor before bis ~ in 1:'68 m: ¡p,edu¡ps m [4'01~9 whom !be may havea=om,panied S:cipio Aemilianus onannssiO'll .there.Wdlb;mkpolnts ,¡)ut:tihat Chromara would have íbeen. very o.ldat :tihatp!!>1nt,an<lt'har Po1y!bius's lan:gtil~ge ,()ou1d it toO'K place
imply ~ct 45 Pol)'b. 35.6= 1995, 2.81.
fur:m duer. Phtt. Cato mal. 9. On ¡P0lybiuS~s¡genera1interestm
212
1:,
~
H
:rmany
like0dysseus,retuming to,the'Cydops's cavelo reti-iev~bisdo:th.es. Plutarch'sintent as¡abiographerwast?$howcase€aro~s wit; Polfhius, however,UláyJiave sóught fue :reHeXivep~e of bein,g'oomp~ wiili Greece'sarchetyp:al:'f;'wily1'hero:il:sMoireover;by means of thre
tbat
41 Eckstein 1995, 12 notes Polybius's independence in arranging Demetrius's escape: 42 Plut. Mor. 258 E~F == Polyb.2.I :38. cf. LiVY,J8.24.2. See Eckstein 1995, 151on Plutarch's
sehate
voted. rorthéi¡;' release;..but'Pol~bi:us¡;had mOfe.:to .say:'he 'visitedi Cato ¡agaln'to malee the additionál demahd that'the. Adiaeans berestored theÍf honorable statUst¡pon.their~~uini:Cato's response, iccordirlgto Plutiírch!and probably¡Polybius"ás,>W¿Il;;was.:to'quip:~Í\t Polybius wa's
Odysseus, :see iEdkste:in
2[3
_."'.".~"...
.
~ .-
11'
...~
,.......
~,./""'.IIIiLj¡¡",,~
"
HOSTAGES AND HOSTAGE-TAKING
POLYBIUS AS A HOSTAGE
IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
i'
anecdote,once'Polybiusireturried to*:~\;éecewith Ronie's Backing,1\i~ could assert that he was not now\a puppet of the Romans,as might be expected of a hostage, but had won bis restitution in his own way, even in a gesture of defiance: Again, one wishes to have Polybius's ownr'account, but, the credit that,Plutarch giveSitQ:,hisfsourceíaele<ist ,i communicates Polybius's understanding'of hisown heroíc 'Status'; After he was released, Polybius had another brush with significaht hostages, this time from Carthage, which he discusses at length. We have already seen iri Chapter2¡that when the Carthaginians"fought '" againstMasinissa, Rome'sallyihJN umidia:¡,thetR.onia'ns'!o'rdered!"tn;~Jh to desist and threatened to declare war otherwise.'iPolybius says'that Manius Manilius, the consul at the time, sent a letterto the Achaeans asking them to send Polybius to Sicily to act as a kind ofbroker in the conflict,and the Achaeansvoted accordingly.46 Polybius gOgson<tb,S'ay that while on his way to Sícily, he read a letter from the consulitoiih~ peopleof Corcyrain which the news was delivered that the Carthaginians had surrendered hostages. Polybius saysthat he ,ássumed that thismeant that both sides had thus backed away from thebrink
of waI' - hbstages",,;
afterall;were a sign ofpeace';.;.: and he returned home}Z(SontempQ'¡w ¡;ary readers of Polybius would have knownwithout readingmrtlier that the war certainly was not over, and that the Romans (amously dis:" regarded the spirit of the hostage-based deal, broke their own word, and forced Carthage into a finál,confrontation. ThejustificatI1\rii~fo,r Rome's action was much discussed inPolybius's day;Polybius goesiJt~ some detail about the various arguments in the debate: a signifiÓ.nt ,1;1; number of people believed the Romans nad betrayed Carthage and manipulated,the"hostages to their advantage, in oppositionto int~r~ nacional justice.i lJltimately, his,accouriti'of'the'debateends with 1M~; siding with Rome, noting that the Romans did not disobey the letter of the treaty.48 Yet in subde ways, in describing his own conduct in events leading up to war, he condemns the Romans for their deceit.49
46 47 48 49
"
Polyb. 36.II.I. Polyb. 36.11.4. Polyb. 36.9.16-17. Cf. Champion 2004, 164-166.
In retu.rni~g"t9Greecewhenhe"readthe)letter at;Cqrcyra, Polybius, guilelessly assumes the RoffiahS'}Vill keep their word; when,they do not, he has thus absolved himself,of all guilt. Polybius's history of this prelude to theThird Punic War makes two points about hostage-taking in, R()JDehJ¡)~rs~\(;<>:ne"notes, fYppter'¡JhatPdlybius ,repeatedly,'points out th:at'he'"wasrho~jin:volvep.'in,,~y¡of,thekcorrespo,ndence ,in this ¡,affair: it was the Romans, the Achaeans, andth:e Corcyraeans 'who are said to be exchanging'letters; thusthe Achaeans .sent him 'on"their OVlUl, not ,his"jpitiative; ~n oth.er yvq;t;,d.s, Po~ypiu~,(ells,his reade~~ implicjdy that4he?i~tnot""i~ctiY~iii~,1E;;o~~c~~~S~K,};a~cl,thati~c"'W;l&" not[h.js¡'d~sire
stageinjf~~j episo~e coulclE!o,t,fjnt~Yllicit~~it!1~~~" 'Angimme~~\ ately following this statement, P?lyb?\1Sre~ords that aft,er the" aff~ of the Punic hostages, where 'he displa~edpatent indifferepce to the Romans, ,the Achaeans removed public statues"'"of Callicrates in the (" '", \ .. i,j';"'" ,'" 'J,' " ,,',"/' q~ájd"pf rygh~ii,an,d,~~~I,\~e~¡\F~jBj~.,~~~;~.~ages:
()f ~xcortas.50
~ol~p~ys
says this ~as the stuff ofreyoluti,on:past supporf,ers of Rome were replaced by an Achaean champion, not coincidentally Polybius's own father. Again, the string'of events is chiefly concerned with Polybius, and the emphasis ison his distance &om Rome. On a number of occasions, Polybius thus reaefines hostage'...ta1dngas it relates to his own career and experiences. This chapter is focusing on so Polyb.36.12-13.
214
'
to becomeFinvolved in this war:;Second, as Polybius¡-describes ir, the Punic hostáges' sole purpose was as collateral; all that they were rneant to do, to Polybius's understmding,iwas ,to stop the war. Polybius thus indif~cdY;jass\rJ:ts;'i,~lJ,íltany, of,the '.othe,r resipl1al benefits of.hostílg~takirigii}habnúghtb,e,' exp~ctedtsuch, as a cultural',transforn:1ation¡Ó~i;-ái, shift in loyalty, are-unattainable' for the Romans. In thisway, Polybius, who was,himselfihostage fot soJong, moves further,from any possible, accusation of collabora\ion,~th, Rome, and reveals his °vvn resolv,e., Itis,in~ep~stil1gto¡fin(i; fupth~J¡l11Qr~,;!¡P9at"\;PQlybit1~?SjílCGpuntio~;,:his role (or,lack thereof) in the Romans' brutal behavior concerning the Carthaginian hostages is follo~ed immediate1y by his famous defense of his decision as a historian to highligllt his own presence in events tb,roughout his,.,:w'ork. .EviclelltJy¡(Poly~iq'sfe\¡!¡"thatbis place,at center
215
HOSTAGES AND HOSTAGE-TAKING
POL YBIUS AS!>.HOSTAGE
IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
'1
Polybius's dírect fashioning ofhis pWllFharacter,but it is importan~ tq¡ note briefly that in other episodesofhostage-taking concerningpr~""", vious generations, Polybiusalso interprets hostages inuniqueways. 'fo, take two prominentexamples, with Demetrius of1Macedon; polybius, compared with Livy,describes Flarnininus as11l0redeterminedtowield influence ,against Philip and meddle in Greek affairsibymeans of his hostageY Moreover"withAntiochus IV;,Polybiusfall~ shprt oÜLivyin describing the king's Romanization: whilehe d()essay thatAntiochus wore the togaandcanvassed,Roman-style, forNotes, hedoesnotmeP''"''f)t tion gladíators or, a temple to ]upiterin Ap.tiocl:t;hisdísdain forAnti-:,' ochus's Roman vestiges' is apparentinhisreporting,thatAptiochds's; subjects called him epímanes(crazy) as aresultY In bot4 thesecases¡(, we still find determiped Romans;J,ndresistantnon...Romans, but in reference to himself, the redefinition ofhostageship i~especially c1ear. He says that from the start, when he first metScipioAemiliapus, he, was neither son nor student, butoccupied the opposing positions, andr whenever he was\personallyinvolved withRoman hostage-taking,oFY had'the opportunity tocornment on it dírecdy,he praised:and assisteq those who sought theirfreedom andrevealed, however subdy, Rome's, abuses. Ó
TRAITORS
"
ANH RECONCILlATION
Polybius's Hístoriessee'Ills an oddproject for in associate ofP4ilopo~.!.! men to have undertaken: at the start of4is work, he says 1:ha1:h1S objé< tive is to explain'howRome gre~ as qui2kly as it did to become tn¿:!' dominant powerin Medi1:erranean g¿opólitics. In áddition tobbs~rl vation, the work aÍso hasá strorig persuasive quálity.53 As' he tells hi~'i readers wha.t die Romanshave done Üithe past, he is also suggeSting'
51 Polyb. 23.3.7-8: Flamininus tells Demetrius that Rome would he1p to secure the throne for him, an aspect of their re1ationship not present inLivy, except in Perseus's páranoia
what wouldhe the bestcourse of,action for the Greeks in the future. Hismarrativeisfrequendydísrupted by asides on R:oman culture that serve asbothmodels for the Greeks to follow and proofthat they must respect Rome'sauthority. His Book6 is particularly famous with its longdescriptionoftheRoman rnilitary dunpand its expert designand díscipline"the Roman political coIÍstitution in relation to other, Greek systems, arid theinspirational quálityiofthe, Roman funeral; Perhaps mostleffectively, Polybius's theory'oftbe,cydeof constitutionsand¡he systemofchecks and palancesintheRomafi Republicdemonstrated thatRóme was uniqueih itsiability'to prosper,éndlesslywithou(expe... riencing a period1of dedine;,tThe. historian;sjudgmentin, everycase isthatithe Romanshave' developed a culturethatsets them ápart and makes: themdíffi<;ult ,¡,toresist;54 In"light ófthese superb institutions, Polybius. repeatedly decries Greek.attemptsat rebellion as inherently foolishiand Ifutile.~?Inthatl Polybius's.obj.ective is to persuade, lárge parts/of the Histories.presupposea target\audíence of dissenters, .or, the .faction w:i,thwhich,Polybius.was formerly asso(iiated. Rather than adheringt.oassertions ofindepehdence,which, Pólybiusargues, .canbe self-destructi~e, Polybius rec()mmendsbehavior that may have .characterizedhist;~vals, the1Qallicrateans; Polybius'sreadersinGreece thus may have beensurprised to fihd Lycortas's veryson arguing againstre-hellion andwould have wondered about'thereasoh forithe shift.Sea;ching.fo~ cIues, they1might blame the/voltaJate ontheí.factthat'Polypjusiwrotehis initial work'}'vith Scipio's suppott; 'fhe:Scipionic.danháda l()ng'reputationas especially effective hóstage"':takers;casseen in Ghapterq:,fIllany;membersofthe "
54 Foi á fuller discusslondt.th'e
ambigúities
ofthe
"jJOliti¿s
of Polybius's attitude toward social movements, see Mendels 1982, who distinguishes between radical and moderate revolutions in Polybius's histories. On the Roman side, Derow 1979argues that Polybius's record ofRome's the Holleaux thesis of defensive maneuvering.
history that has a practical application. Walbank 1964, 245 says that Polybius was "driven by didacticism." On Polybius's audience, see Eckstein 1995, II8-II9. 216
..
from the standpoint
43 notes the irony ofPolybius's arguments against rebellion. Note Henderson 2001, 38 that a "lesson of[polybius's] lifetime is the incomensurabili~ ofRoman power"; his past heroes, such as Phi1opoemen, thus become "dinosaur species." For the related question
(cf. Livy, 39.46.6). 52 Polyb. 26.1.5-'7; cf. Livy, 41.20.9-13. See also the earlier discussion in Chapter 6 concerning the problerns ofinterpreting the various accounts of the so-called Day ofEleusis. 53 Petzold 1969 discusses the comparative method ofPolybius and his interest in writing
..
ot:Book6
ofindeterminacy," see Champion 2004,84"""98. , 55 A famous example is Polybius's record ofCritolaus's resistance ofRome leading up the Achaean war (38.10.6-8; 38.11.7-II; 38.12.6-'7). On Polybius's criticism of Achaean statesmenduring the war, see Pédech 1964, 293-295; .Gruen 1976, 62-65; Shimron 1979,-1980,100; Eckstein 1995,142-146; andChampion 2004, 166-167. Petzoldl969,
imperiáI ambition
is at odds with
217
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...
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HOSTAGESAND
POLYBIUS ASA'HOSTAGE'
HOSTAGEL.cTAWINGIN THE ROMAN,EMPIRE
, family weretaking hostages betWeeh218.~hd I88,iandaninscripti'bn , in the tomb of the Scipios cast h~wligf¡'tt'on similar;ác('¡omplishrneJ;Íts oftheir long-dead ancestor ofthe. early third centuty.fiWlienPolybius wrotewhat niight be consideied'at first inspectiontdbe'aflatteting history ofRorne and when he. served as a Roina:nrepre~eritative;¡after being released,he would seemto:be just likea SOn;¡¡just14.ke a student; ",typital hostage,". they'fuighfcómphlin;'~?§f)olybiusdesctib~s justsl1~h a .reception.i:iri,hisaccount.. of his;ias~odate;,Stratius~s:l'()st.,hostageship careerin4.~reeGe'to.,bé dischssed'shortly;lt. rnayhave seemed:itnatuhe Aemiliari(and Scipioqic<famil~esj;hadikept, close:tabs,;on, theiaÜthor, hadconvinced him oyertimeo[ R:\)'me'sfisuperi'2)rit)',apd hacbisup'" ported"hirn ihhis project ofT.wriiing!'álong;,tteátise onthe'fuorality of Roman, rUle and, mote iniporcintlYioU!fhexfutilityiiOf condriu.ed resistance. '.
'of uhmariliness¡: and second'to y.V,VO:~lql~90!<O:I/<O(-o:kEío:S).
llo.:.on:einwdtnanishness'
and seivility(Ko:i
5~,
Polybius says that the rest ofPrusi¡¡.s,'s,behaviorvy,astoo shameful,e,;:en to men.tion, even though the s~nate 100ked kindly on him' ~sa result.5,8 Th~;\rev;tjrsa)¡p~Prusias:~.ge~q~,r!,~~~,':use"pfth~:,s~e,,~onreNlons, pf hostage4talclng. i~xplor~d\ inChapt~f;'~;
in; th'
a;nd..se);Yes¡.todep,osit
Prusia~
abje . nbseryíenc~;.PQlyhius'di~~~IiCesfÜs,pWn~cce~~ante'of. from:th~ti'of his HelleniC contemp,6r;Ü:ies;:,arid,th.l1ss~eks.t9{de ,
'
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In the.face;of such,challeIlges"Polybius;~orked hárd,torclaiifyhis pl1rpose and to .salvage his reputation;' Mis long;tcot;1Íplek story,:of Rame's rise iriclud~s;sevéral cautioriaryasidesan~,occasionally:~ega"" tive assessments ofRome's methods¡.ariditdefies':easYicategol1ization. Polybius repeatedly showsthatalthough hewasa~tudetÚ¡ of;~ome, he was not necessarily its disciple.,Forexample, 'altllough,he.ibelieved some .resistance movementSWere foolish; Polybius:alsoclearlyrderiteq thosewhobowed to. Romaniauthorityas a.rnatter of()ours~:Displáy's ' ía{'¿ :Mi We 'te t ! he ad '~d ~e. tú be ofsla~~hb ehaviorand sycop~a~ ~y i~e a: , . .. . . . . .., been'lU!R;ome and had met Scrpio';he:W1tnessed:the!árnvatof .anot~~#:1 . "'
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Gr:ek'ifrorn theF~ast, Prl1sias,ofBithyn~a, .whd.:bto~g9F.his!~pn'~0.;b( presentedform~Y'l?~fore the,senate --a?- ~pisode,that)Polybius 'trc&ats, as anexample ?fwq~tnot to dowhen qeati~p with~9~e. The,~pg; he: ~~ys,was dJ:~ssedin!thedot,hingof¡l.freedman,andhi~,entrancetp the curia was appalling: . Standing in the doorway opposite thesenateand laying both his hands onthe ground, he fell dow'ri'in adoration¡'(}[the threshold'and,the sea:ted senators calling out,~'Bless Y()U,mysaVior g<?(fs,''''h6t'at all ., .. " ab~hdoning .. his extrenies
56 Henderson
2001. 39 nQtes,that Polybius worked against the image that he was "a Graecu-
lus, r~-educated
in the house ofRop:¡,¡¡n generals." ~ote ~o
218
Champion
20°4, 228-232.
"
Vile categorY~asoccpple,d:by;Callicqtes. 'BYeicondeml;1ihg..
57 Polyb. 3°.18.5. Cf. Diod. Sic. 3U5; Livy, 45.44.4-21;
Val. Max. 5.U;
, App. Mithr, 2.
5~ Cf., Eckstein 1995. 155-156 ,and222-;225. Walb¡¡nk 1979. 442 a~9lles that the refe~ence to the senatprs as "savior gQc!s" referS,to Flamininus's deification following the Batt}e of Cynoscephalae. 59 Eckstein 1995, 89~q7. by contrast, notes cases in which Polybius condemns acts of deception in geopolitics.
219
HOSTAGES ANDHOSTAGE-TAK.ING INTHE
POL~BIUS':AS A H()STAGB
ROMAN EMPIRE
','
in the interest of their state's survival: !ti'a passage tMt has come to, be called Polybius's treatise "On Traito'i:s," thehistorian suggests that what, has the appearance of treason is often in reality thebeS't policy available: It is evident
that one muSt 110t. . . irnmediately
(1Tpo5óTas)who, exchange
,¡because.roL.
consider
Ínen tobe
traitors
circllnistan'des;, ihducey,their,;collntt,"ies, to
,.theirestablished,re1ations¡.fo):"9~l:1er
from it, .siI),cC;;:~uchmen ,h¡we 9ftenrJ:>eeI1;~e for their c()u;ntry.~o'
.frien<;lsl:1ips alÍd .all,ia¡:¡.q~s:.par sottfse! oÜl-tegrea~@~~iJ:>.eI),ef\ts ,
,
The "treatise'~ goes oQ,~o, identify theiIePercHssiHI1;~jRfrejes:~mgfl,ris prescription;;,by recogf;lting. the desn;u~~.on ,6fMhen~!¡.t4atV\T,flSrRt\?ggb.t on by Demosthef;l.eS's"resistance. ofPl1i1ip¡II¡J4ererwas,no.rhon()l" in ruining thest~te entirely fOl"tb.e, sak$k9f~Pe Pl"e(e~+eci,\V\T,ay,.lp~ life".l.1» ~ckstein. has put it, ~olyl?ills ".lh(l~¡r~~~tthed.el?ate aw:(lYfroWrfree07 dom versus slll?rpission andJepl'li.:edit ~~h;l~S91SS!()I1; of!r(l!!op.aJ}ty.l versus irrationality.61 For the Ac4aeaQ,s. o.f.his'Rw:J;J, day; ~;g~~ssiop. , was, for.lnow, ontpeside,qfratiqnality, blltit i.:pW-d.i.:4angeap.d.,qne should beprepared for change".l.lThe ciefeJ;1sei.()fy.:1;¡mocip~li~e'Rr;lp.d. of tt:easonisc,aP:ied out repeate91y il:'\the Ilis.lfQr(es,notlea~riQ,Poty., bius's s~ory of this °w:t! trick o(.offering¡t()sUppqr~~qmeAuriI1;g tge wal"whl1 Perseus,' bJ.lt t4en,w:itPl1ol~I1;ghis~t:()()pS as,l<.\.te;lspo~sipt;e$ Especia1ly Pe¡;tinent here is,Pqlybigs:~ acc()qm"o.fJPe,deb.ate ;Pe1;Wee! Pl1ilopoerpen and,AristaeI1;usaboqtthe¡yallle O(.~Sel"tiqQ,~ o«(ll1t()J oroy in t4eJace.qf
oYeI"V\'.he1~g power"Ji~q~YRiu~.,u1~maretY'I.:QmRJ
ments l?otl1 Aristaenus~s strategy qfd,<?l1ple.79$a4J;1gaI1;~.ghilopo,erne~ bolder statements ofiJ;1dependence, b1J,~,P9iQ,~M;>~t~l1a~~hepeoptemis,." took Arist<.\.enu~) ptil:n fqr pro-Rpm<.\.nsentiwend2 Mpn;qver, Hi<;¡t;"() ofSyracuse is f¡;st.praisedfor his acknowledgem,ent ofRoman SUp~T'''! riority at the start of.the First Punic War in 263, but then for his
.
,
60 Polyb. 18.13.4-5. Eckstein 1987b and 1990a are convincing in arguing (contra Ayrnard 1940) that the fragment refers to Aristaenus. Compare the debate betweenPhilopoemen and Aristaenus at Polyb. 24. u -13. In any case, the tone of the passage implies its universal application:Pédech 1964, 200-201; WalbankI979, '564-565; and Piatkowski 1991, 400. 61 Eckstein 1995, 195-197 and 233-235. 62 Polyb. 24.U-13,
especially 24.13.8-10.
assist(lUce!ofJCarthage la~ér!in24~ withitheir meJ;cenaries..63Hiero's conduct .~san .example .of h()W tp hand.lelifeunder another state's hégernony;.'as,Ec!ateiÍlsummarizesPol1bius'sview; :'awéak state,ifit carF,avoiciit';should.not by.its.own l?ehavionabet.thé strengthening..of tha.ti4egemony~", .l.mp<l;~att'lei.kinq of conduGt w~ ascribe&J¡>y..Polybius tol,ris c()lleague Stratius~Kq~rrfitaea,\whois,th¿,broy:';othet.qetainee' bf,the !housand A:chaeans',iknOWl1!! by/nal11e./P()lybius!,reports .lthat.j.n,¡fhe.!discussidn among"l,ris feJlow sta.~esmenbefore th~ wai<~ithPerseuscbncernlt1g howtodealwitlI.~bnie,"'Strátius' heldLthe most eXtreme.positioJ;l in itguingthatitl1ey;sB'btdd'J;1ot.send.ithe'o.Rbmanarrny!help.and;'''o/hat'is mor~;the1'!s4ould,coI1;&ont.l'aJ:1yorteAwno..opero1;¿ourts.Roman¡lead* erS;.~4..!Stratiu~was4etainéd b)mtb!~ Rdmans 'afte¡; pYdha."ndseemsto ha~Freniained;alongwith!Polybius;'oneofthernost soughtafter'ofthe détaineeswlH~nthe'Achaeans'isen~>at1embassy! to "win .theinreleaSe.Ps Yet!onceStratius.was~eleased, he,.like ~olybius~maneuvered prudendy. in..thenew Realpolitik between GreeceandRorne:at!on.e pbintafter ti1e restoration, .lacrowd ofAchaeans;;furiousiwith Rome's encroachment; targ~tedStra~l1s asaJspy,butas!Polybiusrecords it, .Straiius was resolutely. pr04Athaean;'despiteappeari!-ncestO+thé contrary: ,.lo'
.. ,!
. ".l:'.l
"
Stntills ;¡,dmitted that he had communed ~th [the Romans], an~ he declared that he would'stiu. associat~ with them as frÚ:nds and allies in the future. But he álso' s~or~ thathe had never i~f9r~~d) tliem rif'the, pi~ce<rdin~'~f their migistratés. Afew ~ebple'believedhim: ", " .l,"
~út iU~stl1élie~d o"¡') the. accpsations:66 ..'
Stratiq$!thps,ac~s)in acc()rdant~)with)the,behaviorlpr<:~cribedin 'Polyt-' bit¡s.'s"On Traitors, "¡icioingjust¡bare1y what:yvasnecessary:.to sur:vive under!R!ome's .l:,hegemónyand keepinghisownland, f01.'emostin;his mirid., As Pol1bius tells'it,¡mostpeopledidiuothelieve Stratius;by extension, we might,reasqnably'assume that most people also did not trust Polybius. By characterizing Stratius (and himself) as something different from the expected quisling and instead as a kind of double 63 Polyb. 1.16.4 and 1.83.2-4.
See Eckstein
1985, 271-272.
64 Polyb. 28.6.6. On Stratius's background and the other Achaeans who may have been taken hostage, see Pédech 1964, 360 and note 33. 65 Polyb. 32.3.14. 66 Polyb. 38.13.5. 221
220
g,
~
HOSTAGES AND HOSTAGE~TAJHNG IN/THE ROMANEMPlRE
POL YBIUS AS:!A HbsT
"i
:\
"
,','
AGE
,{;1¡
seeks"to put,~~em all intlr~,same"compahY.. asheroes. His conduct aSeahcistageis.,riíadeto watch,his\record as1dhip,~ parchof the Achaean!League:Polybiuslwasalready"rev~aledasa:mo,del practitioner of self..serving dissimulation,and his' ir:rev~r~Ilcdtoward hostage-takIng then is just an extension of previously ackpoyy:Jedged acts of resistance. Byincludinghimselfasaplayer in a'gamt¿y,of4~~~it
tlie"pei(;!7P~ionoE,hostages as'hotR.l\iittual sons and students, but also 'suggestsit~~eKthe:pOwerrelatiortSliip1oftlie I11etaphors¿ould hedenied on thbr own>terIns. The surestifidicatÍon \that a brando[.rhetoric
and accoII1Irlodation",Polybius'
denfea~i~g;1
agent like Hiero;Polybius
effectively!defendshimselfasa'ihist()~ian;:
,
\,'
w~~~fféé~~é'aIJ.q;~despr~~~i~"[ott~.9s~~~oaretar~etf,d", 01'vi~timize3,By.ittorddeploy it'again~'tth~}P9~~rfui.\Notably, Polybius never , \ ,,' ,,(.,," '.."'\C,,' '1 ",;' ,: callshirnself'iJópr¡pos,wInC11; <ilthoughapphjpriate~ wouldhave been ¡'
wh:ile alsoserving as anexemplum dfth¿!pehaYior'tnat:h!epiesqriq~sifii
other parts ofhi~Histl1iieS.
'
'
,
In.."conclusidn; Polybius seeI11stoihave,peen\aW"areiofJ.the;,co~nec; tionbetWeenreeHucation,ihostagyship¡,an&a a6bili~litingsrirteJ:ídyr¡,~ power and,personal identity. Ini:órderto.tehia¡niinfluentia1:~~i;h0:I' native"'cÓlleagues,hehad!todeelare'tl-latitt'.fhi~k~s:e,:it was, thei(5ree w'ho were the teachers, the fatlJers,and,thehnaJ.~s;'e:V~n as'hostages An imporfanfkey tú undei$tat1dingPol)rl';ius'si~el(-presentatibn,'Wit} respectto the ,expectations 'oí hostages'is,itha.ttnei:unusual:laps:e iifit< meinoir:in discussirig'his assistanceof DetnetriusYangilJis'firstVmeet ing with Scipio,Aerinilianus.Com,es,!inBoo'k "3i,nearithebéginni ofPolybius's final books; whichsomehive suggésiedXweJ;¡¡;~ritt after his releaseand liftefthe "publí~ation oE the, fidÍi!¡!fnirty!pooks . ' it x a ed 1n' "SOIne 1 na~j POl iUS s fir st t ir ~' i~ ' ' y~ : '' '~:ty '~~o~~' ,,U~d '/:~S e' / '!:i" ' ~ . " , nary mdictment, . 'present Rome..as mvmC1bI~.s1mplyBeca~sePolyp1t '
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~o~~ir~'s~:s~~r~s~::~t?c~~h~l17nt~~i~~~~:~~j~~J~~ rti~nts óf'the"'e~pÓ\\7ered'n~~sÚ~rir~~iIig¡Y0S~b~e~ted(to'l~he'pú~~tle: ItlS a compelluig.message,!this lúrmng;o(,tlle tables, W41Chmust.h~: helped to défendPolybius frÓrnch.a:tgts>ofébllaborátibn withRsd:n in bothhispoliticsand hiswritirig...rrhá.theditl sowith'th:e vodlbff lary of faInily anH education notonly démOnst!á.testhe prevalence,df\
67 Polyb. ~..4, 12-13 discusses his decision to extend the work to 146, See Walbank 1977 and~ Eckstein 1995, 10-11, Cf,Henderson 2001, 41: "in his last.ten books, world history even metamorphosed, progressively,into autopiography!' Champion 2004, 9-11 isArighdy' suspicious of theevidence for any, "chronological map" ofPolybius'scomposition;irbut notably, he points out that two of these episodes - Demetrius's'flight and Chiomara's escape - were later additions to the work (although !}e suggests the Chiomara story was plotted before even his own detention), 222
223
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HOSTAGES AND HOSTAGE~TAKING IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
POL YBlUS AS' A. HbSTAGE
agent like Hiero, Polybius seeks to put ther11all in the.same company asheroes. His conduct asa hostageismade to matchhis record asa hip~ parchofthe Achaean'League:Polybius.wasalreadyrevealedasamodel practitioner of self..,serving dissimulation, and his ii'revere.ncetoward hostage-taking then is just an extension of previously acknowledged acts of resistance. By inc1uding himself as a player in a game;p[ qC;;ceit
and accommodation,Polybius effectivelydefenMhimselfas a histotian,
theperception of hostages as botl1'rvirtual sans and studeri.ts, but also suggests that:ithepower relationship df the metaphors could be denied on their own terms. The surest iridicationthat, a brand of rhetoric w~~effect~veiaI?-dwidespreadis fpr fhgse"'j9oare~ar~etpg, or viCtimizéd, by it to redeploy it against thé pO"";c;;rfril'. Notably, Polybius never calls himselfa:(o~T)poS,whi¿h, ~thpugháppropriate, would havebeen demeatÜng;
while alsoserving as anexemplum of the behavior diathe prescribes in other parts of his Histories. In, conclusion, Polybius seemstohave. ,been aware o:ftheconnec.,;' tionbetween reeducation;hostageship, anda debilita~ingsurreqderof\ power andpersonal identity. Inorder to remaindn.fluentia).with:his¡. nativecolleagues, he had to declaré that in lhig case,'it wastheGr'éék:s': who were the teachers,the, fathers,. and.th~imaleS;. eveh as;.hQstages;: An iinportant key to understandingpolybius's se1f-preseritation with¡ respect to the expectations ofhostages. isthat 'theunusúallapse intO memoir in discussing his assistance of Denietrius.ánd his firstrlneet-;i': ing with Scipio Aer'nilianus com,es inB60k 31, nearrhe beginning: of Polybius's final books, whichsome have suggested werewrittelli. after his release and arter the publi~ation of the firstthirty pooks;-' Polybius's first thirty books, it would be eXplainedin some imaginary indictment, preseht Rome ,.as invincib17 simplyh~causéPolypi~ was worlcipg~nder a new po}Ver..Confront~dwith'.'suc~~;relJU~a~~¿ Polybius's task8fsalvag~ng ~ispwn dign~ty;w~s',BEgen~I..indhe;;ca~r:~i¡ it out in his later historical installment'withnew rhetorical arran; ments ofthe'empówered now surprisinglysubjected tO the powerl It is a compelling message"thisturning o(the tables,which mu.st hai helped to defendPolybius from chargesof collaboratiÓn with Roni: in both his politics and his writing. Tharheidid so witHthe vocabu lary bf family and education not on1y denionstrates the prevalenceiofli
67 Polyb. 3.4. P-13 discusses his decision to extend the work to 146. See Walbank 1977 and Eckstein 1995, IO-Il. Cf. Henderson 2001, 41: "in his last ten books, world history even metamorphosed, progressively, into autobiography." Champion 2004, 9-Il is rightly suspicious ofthe evidence for any "chronological map" ofPolybius's composition,but' notably, he points out that two of these episodes - Demetrius's flight and Chiomara's escape - were later additions to the work (although he suggests the Chiomara story was plotted before even his own detention). 222
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