The Role of the Peace-makers (Caduceatores) in Roman Attitudes to War and Peace

This paper examines the ways in which the roles and possible relationships between the fetiales and caduceatores can be used to understand some aspects of how the Romans conceptualised the making and breaking of war and peace, and aims to locate the caduceatores within a picture of Roman diplomatic practices and war-mongering. The caduceatores, it will be argued, should not be understood primarily as Roman officials, unlike the fetiales and legati, but rather as a Roman conceptualisation of non-Roman diplomacy. Indeed, the uses of the term caduceatores in Latin Literature present us with an insight into how Romans conceptualised peace, as not something they themselves sought, but rather imposed.