I'm leaving, but where to?
Togatus
Roman
75–50 BC, reworked in modern times
white, travertine-bearing limestone
Sculpture Collection up to 1800, Dresden State Art Collections, Inv. No. ZV 3393
Paul says: "But I was born a Roman" (Acts 22:28). He does not mean that he was born in Rome itself. Paul is referring to the Roman citizenship that his family possesses. How they obtained Roman citizenship remains a subject of questions to this day. This came with privileges — including the right to wear a toga.
Citizenship provided protection against arbitrary judgments and corporal punishment, even outside Rome. Holders of citizenship were presumably recorded in centralized lists within the Roman Empire.
The ancient author Cicero addresses the subject of citizenship in his speech against Verres in 70 BC:
“Now take away this hope from them; deprive Roman citizens of this saving safeguard; decree that the phrase ‘I am a Roman citizen’ no longer affords any aid, and that a praetor or anyone else may inflict any corporal punishment whatsoever upon a man claiming to be a Roman citizen with impunity […]: by doing so, you will forthwith close off—forever—all provinces, all kingdoms, all free states, indeed all the lands of the world (which until now have always been open to our people without restriction) to the citizens of Rome.”
