It is difficult to find solutions in conflicts in which emotions run high, and it requires insight on either side of such conflicts that presumably not all demands can be met. At the same time, it requires a desire to reach out with genuine respect for certain red lines that have been drawn – as well as for a sense of basic dignity that allows either party to leave the conflict with their heads held (relatively) high.

Reaching out. (Image source: https://static.arenalokaal.nl/uploads/66/43/6643eec33da697a0ea76c1888609d0bc.jpg)

In Egypt, in A. D. 153 or 154, there was a violent revolt in the context of which the prefect, Lucius Munatius Felix, was killed.

Subsequently, the riots were suppressed, but many had fled and abandoned their accustomed lives and jobs in fear of retribution – a chaotic walkout, so to speak, effectively leading to a standstill in the economy as well as in the everyday running of the province.

In A. D. 154, most likely, on the 29th of August, Munatius’ successor, a man called Marcus Sempronius Liberalis, from Acholla in North Africa originally, issued the following edict (BGU II 372; translation A. C. Johnson – P. R. Coleman-Norton – F. C. Bourne):

Marcus Sempronius Liberalis, prefect of Egypt, proclaims:

I learn that, because of the recent unpleasantness, some persons have abandoned their homes and provided for themselves a living elsewhere, and that others, avoiding their compulsory public duties because of their impoverishment at the time, are still living away from home through fear of the proscriptions made at that time. Accordingly, I urge all persons to return to their homes, to reap the first and greatest fruit of prosperity and of the care which our lord the emperor displays to all men, and not to wander without hearth or home in an alien land. That they may do so with greater zeal and pleasure, they shall know that anyone who is still held back for these reasons will experience the good will and generosity of our greatest emperor in permitting no inquiry against them nor even against others who were proscribed by the strategi for any cause whatsoever. For these persons also are urged to return to their home . . .

. . . those persons who voluntarily unite with fugitives who have chosen a life of criminal brigandage. That they may realize that I exhort not only these persons but also others to return and that I am taking steps to this effect, they shall know that I have issued orders to the most excellent epistrategi, to the strategi, and also to the troops sent by me for the security and peace of the countryside, to check their raids at their inception by taking the aggressive with careful planning, to pursue at once the raiders: and the criminals caught in the act need no further examination beyond their participation in the raid, but they are not to trouble those persons who were once proscribed but who are living quietly and attending to their own farming. Accordingly, all persons shall return without fear, and the time limit shall be within three months of the posting of this edict in each nome. If anyone after this great manifestation of my clemency is found wandering away from home he shall be arrested and shall be sent to me no longer as a suspect, but as an acknowledged criminal.

Year 18 of our Lord Antoninus, Thoth 1.

The message – and its associated red lines – are perfectly clear: go home and get on with your previous lives and jobs, you have three months!

But language matters.

There are incentives, to sweeten the deal (‘that they may do so with greater zeal and pleasure’, ἵ]να δὲ τοῦ̣το προθυμ[ότ]ε|ρ̣ο̣[ν κ]α̣ὶ̣ ἥδιο[ν π]ο[ιή]σ̣ω̣[σιν), the promise to experience ‘the good will and generosity of our greatest emperor’ (α[ἰσ-]|θ[ή]σεσθαι τῆ[ς] τοῦ μ[εγίσ]του Αὐτο̣κ̣ράτορος εὐ[μ]ε|ν[εί]ας καὶ χρη[σ]τότητος ἐ[πι]τρεπούσης):

• the prospect of reaping the fruits of prosperity vs. a life on the run (π]ρῶτον καὶ μέγιστ[ον] | κ[α]ρπὸν τῆς εὐετ[ηρίας)
• benefitting from imperial protection (τῆς τοῦ κυρίο[υ] ἡμ[ῶ]ν |Α[ὐτο]κράτορος περὶ πά[ντας] ἀνθρώπους κη[δε]|μ̣ονίας ἀποφέρεσθαι)
• a general amnesty (μ[ηδ]ε|μίαν πρὸς α[ὐ]τοὺς ζήτησιν ἔσεσθαι), resulting in a life free from fear of further prosecution

The prefect, a successful, seasoned, and well-connected Roman knight, chose to put a time limit of three months on his offer.

Similar to the unknown official who dealt with the building workers’ strike at Pergamon (discussed here), Liberalis asserts philanthropia, ‘the love of humankind’, as the theme of his offer: με]τὰ τὴν τοσαύτην μου φιλαν|θρωπίαν, ‘if anyone after this great manifestation of my clemency...’, as the translation has it.

What is different in the present case, however, is that this ‘philanthropy’ does not seem to have come with a catch: this offer genuinely appears to reach out with a wish to make peace. It offers impunity, protection, reward, and a desire to move – elements designed to sweeten the deal that the prefect was hoping to make, without entirely removing the pressure to revert to law and order following the upheaval.

Those who decided to walk away have a choice, and their choice does not only have implications for their own future lives, but – crucially – for that of the future prosperity of their entire community.

Leaders with an understanding of this, like Liberalis, will be mindful of their people’s collective power and thus avoid pettiness and retaliation without being seen as weak, paving the way to move forward.