Manlius' Mandata: Sallust Bellum Catilinae 33

Abstract

T HE ENVOY PLAYED A CRUCIAL ROLE in ancient diplomacy. Roman historians relate many instances where the wishes of a people or person are relayed to an opposing party through legati (envoys or ambassadors). Usually the envoys deliver an address detailing the demands or requests of those they represent. Chapters 32.3 through 34.1 of Sallust's Bellum Catilinae present one such delegation of legati sent by Gaius Manlius to Marcius Rex, a Roman general dispatched by the senate to confront the disturbances in Faesulae. Sallust introduces the passage in the following manner (32.3): C. Manlius ex suo numero legatos ad Marcium Regem mittit cum mandatis huiusce modi. The quoted demands follow, in which the claim is made that the Manlian forces are not striving for power or wealth, but seek protection befitting free Roman citizens. After the direct quotation, Sallust records in indirect discourse the response of Marcius Rex. Ronald Syme identified the quoted mandata as the words of a letter delivered to the Roman general.' More recently, Patrick McGushin also has noted, in what is now the standard English-language commentary on Sallust's Bellum Catilinae, that the message is a letter.2 Many scholars have agreed.3 There are two scholars, however, who have claimed that the message is presented not in the form of a letter but by way of a speech. Hans Schnorr von Carolsfeld states: Zu ihm [Marcius Rex] sendet Manlius eine Gesandtschaft, die in seinem Namen spricht.4 Karl Vretska remarks emphatically that the ambassadorial report has been (z)u Unrecht als Brief aufgefal3t.5 The assertions of Schnorr and Vretska are correct. Yet, since neither defends his claim, uncertainty about the passage remains: of more recent scholars, some still