Stick to the Formula

We leave Solinus behind to take a look at the tablet you see here. As far as we know, the inscription reads as follows: May he who has stolen Vilbia from me become as liquid as water … … who has stolen it Velvinna, Exsuspereus, Verianus, Severinus, Augustalis, Comitianus, Miniamus, Catus, Germanilla, Jovina. Tabula Sulis 4. Translated by Roger Tomlin.

This curse is clearly about a theft. In this case we do not know the name of the person who issued this curse, but they were clearly upset that someone robbed them, and wished for the culprit to become liquid as water as punishment. The second line consists of a list of names, possibly of the suspects. What is interesting is that the two lines of the text seem to have been written in two different hands. According to Roger Tomlin in B. Cunliffe, The Temple of Sulis Minerva at Bath. Vol. 2. (Oxford 1988), though different hands are of course very hard to distinguish. It is assumed that the curse text was written by a professional, a scribe or a priest, but that the list of names was added as a personal touch by the person who issued the curse. Maybe they had a hunch who might have been the thief, and so decided to help the goddess a little by adding a list of possible suspects.

Something else to be noted about this particular curse text is that a few phrases are actually missing. A curse text usually contains standard elements and phrases called formulae. A common phrase found on the tablets from Aquae Sulis states that the thief should be punished ‘whether man or woman, whether boy or girl, whether slave or free’ (and once even ‘whether heathen or Christian’). Such a phrase was probably meant to make sure no one could escape the goddess’ wrath. Another important phrase that is missing on this tablet is one in which the stolen object is ‘given’ to the goddess. The goddess was not prone to punishing injustices on her own accord, unless it was somehow her business. Versnel, ‘Writing Mortals and Reading Gods. Appeal to the Gods as Dual Strategy in Social Control’, in: D. Cohen, E. Müller-Lucker (ed.), Demokratie, Recht und Sociale Kontrolle im Klassischen Athens (Munich 2002) 37-76. To that end, the curse would transfer ownership of the stolen object to her. Because the object was then rightfully hers, she needed to get it back or punish the thief who was keeping it from her. She had in a way been manipulated to take revenge on the thief.

Neither of these constructions are apparent in the curse text we have here. That might have something to do with the nature of the stolen object… But what is ‘vilbia’?