Gratitude for Freedom: Men, Women, and the Looming Possibility of Re-Enslavement in Ancient Rome

According to the Roman jurist Gaius, the foundational divide (summa divisio) in the law of persons was that all individuals were either free or enslaved. From a legal perspective, there was no greater distinction in status for human beings. Nonetheless, this clear-cut division was traversable, as individuals regularly moved between these conditions. This lecture explores the permeable boundary between freedom and enslavement through the lens of gratitude and obligation, particularly through the figure of the 'ungrateful freed person.' There was a prevalent cultural assumption that manumitted individuals were perpetually indebted to their former enslavers, making the release from slavery something less than a full ascension to complete autonomy. Roman law granted patrons the ability to bring a formal charge of ingratitude against any of their freed persons who violated prescribed standards of respectful conduct, potentially resulting in a range of penalties, including re-enslavement. Ultimately, the intertwined notions of gratitude, debt, and liberty help to explain the enduring modes of both citizenship and slavery in the Roman world.