Citizenship as a Reward or Punishment? Factoring Language into the Latin Settlement

Abstract

In the Latin Settlement, which was supposedly initiated in 338 BC, Rome organised many of the incorporated communities into either the civitas or civitas sine suffragio. Livy, and those scholars who have accepted his explanation, claim that the use of these two types of citizenship was influenced by the political and military circumstances of each community’s incorporation. Such an argument posits that Rome judged each community on the basis of its past behaviour and ‘rewarded’ or ‘punished’ it accordingly, using these different forms of citizenship. However, Livy’s anachronistic and inconsistent approach to the Roman franchise undermines this explanation – at least in its simplest form. This paper highlights the inconsistencies in Livy’s account of the Latin Settlement and offers an alternative explanation for the differing grants of citizenship. It is argued that the pre-existing languages and cultures of the different communities need to be taken into account, as does the legal significance of the use of Latin at Rome. In sum, this paper argues that the decision to incorporate a community as a civitas or as a civitas sine suffragio was not straightforwardly based on the political or military circumstances of each community’s incorporation, but also (or rather) involved the recognition of cultural and linguistic differences in each community and the consequent practicalities of the inclusion of each in Rome’s legal and political apparatus.

Romans at War

“…On language as a category in the Italian settlement: Oakley (1998, 552); Stewart (2017), each with further references. Stewart (2017, 193) argues that non-Latins were not fluent enough to exercise the franchise or use Roman law, though this suggestion fails to explain why the Romans would deprive them of the vote but not the law.…”

“…41 The proposal in 232 to distribute the ager Gallicus likewise provoked much opposition (See Map 4). Cicero is fond of emphasizing this, and uses Flaminius as an example of a demagogue bent on wooing the people with 37 See Mouritsen (2007, 156-57), who, however, struggles to find an explanation for the creation of this status; Stewart (2017) points to the importance of language in the decision whether to grant civitas optimo iure or sine suffragio. 38 On the wealth of the Italians, see Roselaar (2019).…”

Citizenship’s Insular Cases, from Ancient Greece and Rome to Puerto Rico

“…thus (Stewart 2017), proposing an alternative model. But his text would still at the very least mirror the concerns of the period in which he wrote; for the imprint of Augustan Rome on Livy's work, see the conclusion to Section 4 below.…”

Citizens of the Wor(l)d? Metaphor and the Politics of Roman Language

“…Nicolet 1976; the title of this section is indebted to the English title of Nicolet 1980. Stewart 2017 argues that language may have been the determining factor behind decisions to grant ciuitas or ciuitas sine suffragio to Latin communities in 338 b.c ., as recorded in Livy 8.14.1; he suggests that full citizenship was reserved for communities with knowledge of Latin.…”