| EDICT
OF NERO ON GREEK FREEDOM ( November 28, AD 67 ) |
| ( Johnson, Coleman-Norton & Bourne, Ancient Roman Statutes, Austin, 1961, p. 147, n. 180 ). |
| On
his visit to Greece, Nero assembled the Greeks at Corinth and proclaimed
their liberty. The Senate was given Sardinia, as a senatorial province,
to compensate for their loss of revenue from Achaea. Vespasian ( 69-79
A.D. ) withdrew the grant. The inscription containing this edict was found at Karditza, Greece, in 1887. |
ENGLISH TRANSLATION. |
Emperor
Caesar proclaims : Since it is my desire to requite most glorious Greece for its loyalty and respect toward me, I bid all persons of this province, so far as possible, to assemble at Corinth on November 29. When the people had gathered in an assembly, he delivered the following oration. I bestow upon you, men of Hellas, a gift such as you never hoped for, even though my generosity knows no bounds, a gift so great that it never occurred to you to ask for it. All Greeks living in Achaea and what until now has been known as the Peloponnesus, receive your liberty and freedom from taxation, a freedom which you never had even in your most glorious days, for you were subject either to foreigners or to one another. Would that I could have conferred this boon when Hellas was in her prime, that greater numbers might enjoy this favor ; and for that reason I find fault with the age, in that it already has minimized the extent of my grant. And now I bestow this boon not from pity, but from good will, and I am requiting your gods, whose constant care for me I have experienced both by land and by sea, that they have granted to me to confer such benefits. Other princes have given cities their freedom ; Nero alone has set free an entire province. |