Relegatio

Relegatio under Roman law was the mildest form of exile, involving banishment from Rome, but not loss of citizenship, or confiscation of property.

A notable victim of relegatio was Ovid.

Origins

Under the early Republic, citizens could be cut off from the community – fire and water – by the ‘interdictio aquae et ignis’; and to forestall this sometimes went into voluntary exile (exilium), where citizenship might be maintained or lost, but property would normally be retained.[1]:233 By contrast relegatio was mainly employed to expel foreigners from Rome: only under the late Republic did it begin to be applied to political figures within Rome.[2]:65

Under the empire

The emperors made relegatio one of their main weapons of banishment, alongside deportatio. Relegatio might be for a specific period or for life;[2]:67 it might be to a fixed spot, or simply outside Rome/Italy: thus Tacitus describes how one senator “chose the famous and agreeable island of Lesbos for his exile”.[3]:196 In any case it remained a softer penalty than the alternative of deportatio, which generally entailed loss of citizenship and property as well as banishment to a specific spot.[1]:182–3:535–6

Ovid in his exile made play of the fact that he remained a citizen in charge of his property in Rome, though he was unable either to have his relegatio rescinded, or his exile switched to a pleasanter spot.[4]:27:74 By contrast, Juvenal (at least in Gilbert Highet’s reconstruction) was subjected to deportatio; and though his sentence was eventually repealed he returned to Rome a ruined man.[5]:19–20

Under the later empire, jurists set up a hierarchy of banishments: temporary relegatio/permanent relegatio/relegation to an island or fixed spot/deportatio.[6]:22

Cultural echoes

Epictetus praised a stoic senator who heard he had been condemned in his absence: “ ‘To exile’, says he, ‘or to death?’ - ‘To exile’ - ‘What about my property?’ - ‘It has not been confiscated’ - ‘Well then, let us go to Arica [first stop outside Rome] and take our lunch there’”.[7]:15

See also

References
  1. Nettleship, H, ed. (1892). A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. London.
  2. Kelly, G (2006). A History of Exile in the Roman Republic.
  3. Tacitus (1966). Annals. Penguin.
  4. Evans, H (1983). Publica Carmina. London.
  5. Green, P (1982). Juvenal: The Sixteen Satires. Penguin.
  6. Washburn, D (2012). Banishment in the Later Empire.
  7. Epictetus (1979). The Discourses. London.

Exsilium

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