a.d. XII Kal. Apr.
March 21 in Ancient Rome
Constantine forbids branding convicts on the face
Not on the face
politicsAD 315 or 316
Julian date · ≈ Mar 22 on our calendar
A law of Constantine ordered that people condemned to the gladiatorial schools or the mines be marked on the hands or calves, not on the face.
quo facies, quae ad similitudinem pulchritudinis caelestis est figurata, minime maculetur
so that the face, which is fashioned in the likeness of heavenly beauty, may not be disfigured
Constantine
Background
Roman criminal law punished people very differently by status. Free citizens of rank could expect exile or a fine; the poor and the enslaved faced flogging, forced labour or death. Two harsh sentences were condemnation to the ludus, a training school for gladiators and arena fighters, and to the metalla, the state mines and quarries, where conditions were brutal. The condemned were often marked by tattooing or branding so that they could be identified if they escaped.
This short law of Constantine, addressed to an official named Eumelius and issued at Cavillunum (modern Chalon-sur-Saône in Gaul), changes one detail. Whoever is condemned to the ludus or the mines for crimes, it says, must not be marked on the face. The penalty can be written on the hands and calves instead, "so that the face, which is fashioned in the likeness of heavenly beauty, may not be disfigured".
The law did not abolish the punishments themselves, which remained severe. But it is one of the first Roman laws to justify a limit on punishment by appeal to human dignity, a phrase many readers have linked to Constantine's new Christian outlook modern interpretation. The year is uncertain between 315 and 316.
⚠ Uncertain date: Year 315 or 316.
Ancient source: Codex Theodosianus 9.40.2 · Reference
Sources
Read moreQuinquatrus: Minerva’s festival of crafts
Quinquatrus: Minerva’s festival of crafts
A holiday for everyone who works
festivalRepublic & Empire (annual)
Roman calendar date
The five-day Quinquatrus of Minerva began, a holiday for the goddess of crafts, wisdom and war, honoured by weavers, fullers, shoemakers, doctors and schoolchildren.
Background
The name Quinquatrus originally meant the fifth day after the Ides, but by Ovid's time Romans understood it as a five-day festival of Minerva, running from 19 to 23 March. Minerva was the goddess of wisdom and of skilled work, as well as of war, and her festival belonged to everyone who worked with hands or head.
Ovid sets out the program. The first day was bloodless and sword fights were forbidden, because it was Minerva's birthday. The other four were celebrated with gladiatorial shows, since "the warlike goddess delights in naked swords". He then calls on the people whose livelihoods depended on her: boys and girls should pray to Pallas, because whoever pleases her becomes learned; girls should learn from her to card wool and work the loom; fullers, who cleaned stained clothes, and dyers who heated bronze cauldrons should worship her; even the best shoemaker would fail if she frowned, and doctors should bring her gifts per Ovid.
The list is a snapshot of a working city: textile production, laundries and workshops were everywhere in Rome. The festival was still in the official calendar in AD 354, which lists QVINQVATRIA on this day.
Ancient source: Ovid, Fasti 3.809–848; Calendar of 354 (XIV Kal. Apr.: QVINQVATRIA) · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 16°/6°C (61°/43°F) · rain 23% of days
Rome in MarchMarch, once the first month of the year, reopened the seasons of war and…
Columella
North winds. (De Re Rust. 11.2)
Fields & crops
Columella calls March the best time for pruning vines and the first digging of vineyards; spring crops like millet were readied per Columella 11.2.
Courts & law
Legal and public business resumed in full after winter. At the Liberalia (17 Mar.) many boys put on the plain toga of manhood and were enrolled as adult citizens, with a family procession to the Forum per Ovid, Fasti 3.771–88.
Senate & politics
From c. 222 to 153 BC the consuls entered office on the Ides of March; Livy records it for 217 BC, and the starting year is a modern reconstruction per Livy 22.1.4. From 153 BC they took office on the Kalends of January per Livy, Per. 47. Caesar was killed at a Senate meeting on the Ides of March 44 BC per Suetonius, Velleius.
Military
The month of Mars opened the campaign season. The Salii carried the sacred shields, and the Tubilustrium (23 Mar.) purified the war trumpets per Varro and Ovid.
Festivals & religion
Matronalia (1 Mar.), Liberalia (17 Mar.), when boys often took the man's toga, and the Quinquatrus of Minerva (19–23 Mar.), a holiday for craftsmen, teachers and doctors per Ovid, Fasti 3.
Daily life
March, once the first month of the year, reopened the seasons of war and sailing. The Salii, Mars' leaping priests, danced through the city. On the Kalends (Matronalia), married women received gifts and in turn served a meal to the household's enslaved people per Macrobius 1.12.7; Ovid, Fasti 3. Columella treats March as prime time for pruning vines and digging per Columella 11.2.
For soldiers, the campaign season began; for traders, sea routes reopened and grain ships from Egypt and Africa could sail again, easing city food supplies.
Sources: Ovid, Fasti 3 · Varro, De Lingua Latina 6 · Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.12 · Livy 22.1.4 (Latin) · Livy, Periochae 47 (Latin) · Livy, Periochae 116 (Latin) · Suetonius, Divus Iulius 80–81 (Latin) · Velleius Paterculus 2.56 (Latin)
All days in March →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Quod sis esse velis nihilque malis.
“Wish to be what you are, and prefer nothing else.”
Martial, Epigrams 10.47 · translation ours (literal)
