proscription

proscription, in ancient Rome, a posted notice listing Roman citizens who had been declared outlaws and whose goods were confiscated. Rewards were offered to anyone killing or betraying the proscribed, and severe penalties were inflicted on anyone harbouring them. Their properties were confiscated, and their sons and grandsons were forever barred from public office and from the Senate.

The process was first used by the dictator Sulla in 82 or 81 bc. To avenge massacres by Gaius Marius and his son, some 520 wealthy opponents of Sulla were proscribed and their property given to Sulla’s veterans. (Modern historians view the ancient estimate of 4,700 opponents as a gross exaggeration.) Julius Caesar in 49 bc emphasized his own clemency after his victory in the Roman civil wars by avoiding proscriptions and restoring the sons and grandsons of those proscribed by Sulla to full citizen rights. After Caesar’s assassination, his clemency was used as an excuse for the proscriptions of the triumvirs, Mark Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus (43–42 bc). They used proscriptions to rid themselves of their enemies and to acquire land for their legions and funds for themselves. About 300 senators and knights were proscribed, including Cicero. Many of the proscribed escaped, and more than a few were later restored to their privileges.