a.d. IV Id. Dec.
December 10 in Ancient Rome
Stilicho branded a public enemy
politicsAD 408
Julian date · ≈ Dec 11 on our calendar
Months after Stilicho's execution, Honorius called him a 'public enemy' and lifted the guards he had placed on the coasts and ports, so travel and trade with the East could resume.
Honorius
Background
Stilicho, a general of Vandal descent, dominated the Western government for over a decade as guardian of the young emperor Honorius. He fought off Alaric's Goths and other invaders, but enemies at court accused him of plotting to put his own son on the throne. In August 408 he was executed at Ravenna. Soldiers then massacred the families of barbarian troops in Italian cities, and many of those soldiers went over to Alaric per Zosimus, writing about a century later.
This law of 10 December 408 called Stilicho a "public enemy" (praedo publicus). It removed the guards he had posted on the coasts and harbours to block contact with the East, so that people could travel and trade freely again.
For merchants, sailors and families with links across the Mediterranean, this reopened routes. But the larger result of Stilicho's fall was disaster: Alaric besieged Rome three times, causing famine in the city, and sacked it in August 410.
Ancient source: Theodosian Code 7.16.1 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 13°/5°C (55°/41°F) · rain 35% of days
Rome in DecemberDecember's highlight was the Saturnalia (from 17 December).
Fields & crops
Olive picking and pressing, wood-cutting, and indoor work on rainy days; sowing ideally finished by the Kalends per Columella 11.2.
Courts & law
Courts closed for the Saturnalia; quaestors gave gladiatorial shows in December in late antiquity per the Chronography of 354.
Senate & politics
New tribunes of the plebs entered office on 10 December; outgoing magistrates closed their accounts before the year ended Republic.
Military
Winter quarters. Soldiers too kept the Saturnalia, choosing a mock 'king' per the Acts of Dasius, a late and disputed martyr text.
Festivals & religion
Faunalia (5 Dec.), Agonalia and Septimontium (11 Dec.), Consualia (15 Dec.), Saturnalia (from 17 Dec.), Opalia (19 Dec.), Divalia (21 Dec.), Larentalia (23 Dec.), and later the birthday of Sol Invictus (25 Dec.).
Daily life
December's highlight was the Saturnalia (from 17 December). Business stopped, people wore the casual pilleus cap and gave small gifts, and households let enslaved people eat with, or even be served by, their owners per Macrobius 1.7, Seneca Ep. 47. Seneca, though, notes that the inversion lasted only days; the rest of the year enslaved people stood silent and hungry while masters dined, and could be beaten for a cough per Seneca, Ep. 47. Seneca himself grumbled that the whole city "sweats" with feasting Seneca, Ep. 18.
On farms, olives were picked and pressed, and enslaved workers repaired tools and baskets on rainy days per Columella 11.2.
Sources: Varro, De Lingua Latina 6 · Chronography of 354 · Seneca, Epistles 18 and 47 · Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.7–10
All days in December →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Hominem pagina nostra sapit.
“My page tastes of humanity.”
Martial, Epigrams 10.4 · translation ours (literal)
