A Consequential Appeal: An Occasion for Testimony

by William Dunnam

The Pax Romana was a sustained period of peace and stability that was unparalleled in world history. It was roughly a 200 year timespan of Roman history considered the golden age of sustained Roman imperialism and prosperity, along with relative peace and order. Traditionally, it coincided with the ascension of Caesar Augustus in 27 BC as first citizen . But as time passed by, the Pax Romana, in the guise of world peace, was bringing oppression, suffering, and exploitation to the very people it aimed at empowering. So, roughly two decades before the much-heralded birth of Christ, a popular assembly in Rome passed a law known as the lex lulia de VI publica . Contained in this decree was the prohibition of violence against citizens in a public capacity, specifically that ‘no government official could kill, scourge, chain, torture, or sentence a Roman citizen who has announced his intention to appeal to Caesar, to present his case within a specified period of time.’ This law forms the springboard of this story, and one of the most consequential appeals in history.

333 pages, Paperback

Published April 18, 2023