Dediticii
The lowest of the three classes of freedmen at Rome (
Gaius, i.
26).
The Lex Aelia Sentia (A.D. 4) provided that, if a slave was put in bonds by his master as a
punishment, or branded, or put to the torture on a criminal charge and convicted, or delivered
to fight with men or beasts, or committed to a gladiatorial school (
ludus) or a public prison, and was subsequently manumitted by the same or by another
owner, he should acquire by manumission the status of a
peregrinus
dediticius. The
peregrini dediticii were people who, in former
times, having taken up arms and fought against the people of Rome, had surrendered themselves.
Gaius , from whom this account of the origin of
dediticii is taken
(
Inst. i. 12-16), also informs us of the incapacities to which this
class of freedmen were subject. Dediticii could never under any circumstances acquire Roman
citizenship. They were not allowed to reside in Rome or within the hundredth mile-stone from
it (cf.
Liv.viii. 14.6); if they disobeyed this prohibition they
forfeited their liberty and their goods and were made incapable of subsequent manumission.
They did not participate in any of the rights of citizenship, but only had the status of
peregrini. This class of persons had died out long before the time of
Justinian; it was, however, formally abolished by that emperor (
Cod. vii. 5).
The form of
deditio occurs in Livy (
i. 38).
