Abstract:
Fear of just censure and the sense of shame it produced kept Roman citizens from doing wrong
(Cic. Rep. 5.6). Invective functioned socially as a strategy of social sanction. One amongst a
number of commonly identified topics of accusation in the Roman tradition of ridicule was
unusual appearance, clothing or demeanour. Not surprisingly, John the Baptist emerges from
the desert attired distinctly, demoniacs come out of the tombs so fierce that no one would pass
by them (Mt 8:28), a man with an unclean spirit lives amongst the tombs and, even though
adorned with fetters and chains, cannot be controlled (Mk 5:15–20). Herod pretentiously puts
on the royal robes and is eaten by worms and dies (Ac 12:21). A woman uninvited enters a
rich man’s dinner party with an alabaster flask of perfume and anoints the feet of Jesus (Lk
7:38). Clearly, in each case, unusual appearance, clothing, and demeanour suggest a lapse
from the appropriate, socially acceptable style of deportment and clothing. Oddities in dress
and demeanour were equated with oddities in behaviour and provided a powerful rhetorical
means of excluding undesirables from society.
