DelatorSTEVEN H. RUTLEDGE

Delatores (singular = delator) were the notori-

ous prosecutors and informants who helped

implement the imperial tyranny under the

principate. Most vividly portrayed in TACITUS’

historical works, they are depicted as over-

zealous advocates and enforcers of the

emperor’s will, who simultaneously curried

his favor and obtained for themselves author-

ity, position, and wealth. In the opening of

his Historiae, Tacitus counts them as among

the most destructive forces of the time. The

delator as an archetype is starkly delineated in

Tacitus’ character sketch of Romanus Hispo,

who flourished under Tiberius (Annales 1.74).

Tacitus calls him restless, ambitious, destructive

to the best men, and finally to himself. Some of

the most notorious delatores include Cn.

Domitius Afer (under Tiberius), P. Suillius

Rufus (under Claudius), M. Aquilius Regulus,

Cossutianus Capito, and P. Egnatius Celer

(under Nero), and Catullus Messalinus,

Mettius Carus, and Baebius Massa (under

Domitian). The more infamous cases they

prosecuted under the empire include the

entrapment of Titius Sabinus (in 28), the

prosecution against Barea Soranus followed

by that against the Stoic senator, Thrasea

Paetus (in 66), and the various prosecutions

that took place from 93 on under Domitian

against Herennius Senecio, Helvidius Priscus

the Younger, and Aurulenus Rusticus. As

Tacitus’ depiction of Hispo indicates, the

delator’s position at court was precarious, and

his power under one emperor could be broken

under another, something driven home in

the senatorial deliberations of 69, when the

notorious Neronian delatores Eprius Marcellus

and Vibius Crispus were challenged, albeit

unsuccessfully, in the Senate. Delatores also

came to be associated with a particularly

savage style of speaking, although that may

simply stem from their activities as prose-

cutors, a role that was understood even

by Cicero to necessitate a violent style of speak-

ing (Brutus 168, 278, and 304). Despite the

negative press of Tacitus and others, they occa-

sionally served the important function of

redressing genuine grievances, such as

instances of provincial maladministration.

SEE ALSO: Claudius; Domitian; Law, Roman;

Nero; Pliny the Younger; Tiberius.

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Rutledge, S. H. (1999) “Delatores and the tradition

of violence in Roman oratory.” American

Journal of Philology 120: 555–73.

Rutledge, S. H. (2001) Imperial inquisitions.

Prosecutors and informants from Tiberius to

Domitian. London.

Sinclair, P. (1995) Tacitus the sententious historian:

a sociology of rhetoric in Annales: 1–6.

University Park.

The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, First Edition. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine,

and Sabine R. Huebner, print pages 1975–1976.

© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah13070

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