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On this page: Freedmen (continued)

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FREEDMEN.

rally be the praetor or governor of the pro­vince. A Roman citizen, usually one of the magistrates' lictors, laid a staff (vin-dicta) on the slave's head and declared him free. The master, who was holding the slave with his hand, thereupon signified his consent, and let him go, as a symbol of

will. Here the master declared his slave free in his will, or bound his heir to eman­cipate him. The heir might adopt the formal or informal process. Constantine added a new form, the manumissio in ecclestt, or emancipation in the church in presence of the congregation. (2) Informal

* PLAN OP THE ROMAN FORA. (From Droyaen's HiVomchev Handatlas, 1886, p. 11, with alight alterations.)

liberation (m&nu mlsU). This formality j was in later times restricted to the simple declaration of the master in the presence of the magistrate. (6) The manumissio censu, in which the master enrolled the slave's name in the list of citizens, (c) The \ manumissio tesMmentd, or manumission by !

emancipation took place in virtue of an oral declaration on the part of the master, in presence of friends (inter dmJcos), or by letter (pir epistulam), or by inviting the slaves to the master's table.

The freedmen were called llberll in rela­tion to the liberator (e.g. liberties Ccesaris)