AMDG

5 Classical Studies 1

This collection of evidence partly overlaps with the handout Slavery at Rome also available in Myrtle, and should be studied together with it. You should throughout bear in mind the similarities and the differences between what this evidence tells us about Rome, Italy and the Empire, and what we have observed in classical Athens.

I Sources of Slaves

1. Prisoners of War (see also Slavery at Rome Section II.1 (a) for additional information)

The Augustan historian Livy tells us of a number of mass-enslavements of prisoners taken in battle. The figures are not necessarily accurate, but in any case it probably reflects general practice near to, or indeed within, our own period. First after the battle of Fidenae in 437 BC:

The city and the camp were plundered. The following day the cavalry and centurions received one prisoner each by lot, as their slave, and those who had shown conspicuous bravery too; the rest were sold off at auction.

4.34

And at Veii in 396BC:

The following day the Dictator sold all the free men who had been spared as slaves.

5.22

And again at New Carthage (Spain) in 209 BC:

As many as 10,000 freemen were made prisoners… The artisans numbered about 2,000: these he made state-slaves of the Roman People.

26.27

These occasions are before our period, but may suggest what was believed to have been common practice, and can be shown to have been from other evidence (see Section on ‘Sources…’ in Slavery at Rome handout. And here is a further item from our proper period:

[Augustus] never punished too severely (!) those who revolted… he sold them as prisoners of war, with the proviso that they should not be slaves in a district close to their homes, and should not be manumitted for 30 years.

2. Capture by Pirates or Brigands

Have you forgotten how Antonius’ own children were kidnapped by the very pirates against whom he had previously fought a war?

Cicero, leg. Manil. 23

The pirates now arrogantly attacked the very coasts of Italy, around Brundisium and Etruria, and seized and carried off some women of noble families who were travelling, and also two praetors with their insignia of office.

Appian, Roman History 12.93

Travellers through the countryside too were indiscriminately seized, both free and slaves.

Suetonius, Life of Augustus 32

3. Enslavement for debt

Gellius here describes a law of the middle Republic (which was evidently ‘milder’ than the law once had been, for the XII Tables refer to defaulting debtors being ‘cut in pieces’):

Unless they had paid the debt, they were summoned before the praetor, and were made over to their creditors ass property.

Aulus Gellius 20.1.44

Livy however implies that this was done away with in 326 BC:

This year was marked by the dawn of a new era of liberty for the plebs: creditors were no longer allowed to attach [i.e. take legal possession of] the persons of their debtors.

6.28

5. Slave-breeding

I have exempted from work and sometimes even set free fertile female slaves after they have borne children… For a woman who has borne three sons the reward is exemption from work, and freedom for a woman who has more.

Columella 1.8.19

Petronius’ Satyricon gives us an entertainingly exaggerated account of the ostentatious wealth and social pretentions of a vulgar, but extremely rich, freedman, including this nugget:

His book-keeper read aloud: July 26, born at the Cumaean estate belonging to Trimalchio, slave boys 30, girls 40.

Sat. 43.1f.

…a crowd of young home-grown slaves, sure proof of a prosperous farmer…

Tibullus 2.1.23f.

6. Slave-dealing

Contract of Sale: it is guaranteed that this boy has been handed over in good health, that he is guiltless of theft or other crimes, and that he is not a vagrant, a runaway or an epileptic… Bellicus, son of Alexander, declared that he had received from Dasius 600 denarii as the price for the said boy.

CIL III.2215 (an inscription)

See to it that the sale ticket of each slave be so written that it can be known exactly what disease or defect each one has, which one is a runaway or a vagabond, or has been convicted of any offence.

Aulus Gellius 4.2.1, citing an aedilician edict

The cheapest sort of chalk is the one we use to whiten the feet of imported slaves at auctions.

Pliny, NH 35.199

The highest price for a person born in slavery was… for a skilled linguist called Daphnis. M. Scaurus bid 700,000 sesterces for him.

Pliny, NH 7.128

Slaves were easily caught, and a large, rich slave-market was not far away, namely on Delos. Delos could ship in and out as many as 10,000 slaves on one day.

Strabo 14.5.2

7. Rent-a-slave: this practice is known to have taken place in Athens (see ‘Athenian Slavery’ handout), and is attested here in Roman Egypt:

Glaukios… has rented out to Achillas for a period of one year his female slave Tapontos to work as a weaver… The rental fee for the year is 420 silver drachmae which I, Achillas, will pay to Glaukios in monthly instalments at the end of each month…

Wisconsin Papyrus 16.5

II Employment and Treatment of Slaves

It is important to distinguish between two main categories of slaves in Rome and Italy: on the one hand, slaves employed in ‘Hard Labour’, usually in large gangs and often in chains, on the great estates owned by the very rich, in mining, ‘factories’, construction-work and the like; and on the other, slaves employed in domestic or personal household service.

1. Hard Labour. Note: Cato, Varro and Columella, from whom the first six extracts in this section are taken, are collectively known as the ‘agronomists’. Observe in these passages not only what the authors say about how slaves should be treated, but what their explicit or implicit reasons for recommending such treatment are:

The instruments by which the soil is tilled: some divide these into three categories: the class of instruments which is articulate, the inarticulate and the mute, the articulate comprising the slaves [cf. Aristotle’s émpsychon órganon], the inarticulate comprising the cattle, and the mute comprising the vehicles.

Varro, RR 1.17.1

It will be best that cubicles for unchained slaves should be built facing south; for those who are chained there should be a prison underground, as wholesome as possible, receiving light through a number of narrow windows built so high from the ground that they cannot be reached with the hand.

Columella 1.6

Slaves become more eager to work when treated generously with respect to food.

Varro, RR 1.17.1

For those who do hard labour, 4 measures of wheat in winter, 4½ in the summer… For slaves working in chains, 4 pounds of bread in the winter, 5 pounds when they begin to dig the vineyard and back to 4 when the figs appear.

Cato, RR 2.56f.

Provide a tunic weighing 3½ pounds and a cloak every other year. Whenever you give a tunic or a cloak to a slave, first get the old one back; from it, patchwork coverings can be made. You ought to give the slaves sturdy wooden clogs every other year.

Cato, RR 2.59

In the care and clothing of the slaves, the foreman should have an eye to usefulness rather than appearance, taking care to keep them protected against wind, cold and rain, all of which are warded off by long-sleeved leather tunics, garments of patchwork or hooded cloaks. If this is done, no weather is so unbearable that no outdoor work can be done.

Columella 6.9

As soon as dinner was over, Cato used to go with leather straps and flog those who had been remiss in preparing or serving it. Those who were thought to have committed an offence worthy of death he had judged by the whole body of slaves, and executed if convicted.

Plutarch, Life of Cato the Elder 21

The slaves [in Spanish silver mines – LGHH] are physically destroyed, their bodies worn down from labouring in the shafts day and night. Many die because of their maltreatment. They are given no rest or break from their toil, but are compelled by the whiplashes of their overseers to endure the most terrible hardships.

[Of slaves in a grain-mill – LGHH] Their skin was everywhere embroidered with purple bruises from their many beatings; their backs were shaded rather than covered by their torn patchwork garments. All carried brands on their foreheads, had their heads half-shaved, and wore chains round their ankles.

2. Domestic Service. In this section, observe the stark contrasts between the ‘best’ and the ‘worst’ attitudes to, and treatment of, slaves on the part of different masters: the main point that these different pieces of evidence demonstrate is that we cannot make valid generalisations, and that it was very much a matter of luck whether a slave was decently treated by his master (or mistress) or not, though on the whole it seems reasonable to assume that domestic slaves had a better deal than those in agriculture, mining or ‘industry’.

Although Crassus had many silver-mines, and valuable land, yet one might consider all this as but nothing compared with the value of his slaves, such a great number did he possess – readers, secretaries, silversmiths, stewards and butlers. He himself directed their training, and took part in teaching them, considering it the chief duty of a master to care for his slaves as the living tools of household management.

Plut., Life of Crassus 2.6

You say, Rufus, that your rabbit has not been well cooked, and you call for a whip. You prefer to cut up your cook rather than your rabbit.

Martial 3.94

Poor Psecas, whose own hair has been torn out by her mistress… combs and styles her mistress’ hair. ‘Why is this curl so high?’ the mistress screams, and immediately Psecas is given a whipping for this crime…

Juvenal, Sat. 6.490ff.

Vedius Pollio, a Roman knight and friend of the emperor Augustus, found that lamprey eels gave him an opportunity to display his cruelty. He used to throw slaves into ponds of them, not because wild animals on land were not capable of killing slaves, but because with any other type of animal he could not enjoy the sight of a man being torn to pieces completely in one instant.

Pliny, NH 9.77

The illness of my slaves, and the deaths of some of the young men, have upset me. Two thoughts console me… First, my willingness to manumit slaves, for I do not feel that I have lost them to totally untimely death if they die as free men. Secondly, I permit them to draw up documents which resemble wills, and I treat these as if legal wills.

Pliny (the Younger) 8.16

I was pleased to learn that you live on friendly terms with your slaves… Some people say ‘they are just slaves’. But they are fellow human beings… I will not dwell on our cruel and inhuman treatment of slaves, the fact that we abuse them as if they were pack-animals rather than human beings… Let some slaves dine with you because they deserve to, let others so that they may become thus deserving.

Seneca, Ep. Mor. 47.

3. Legislation was introduced at various stages to penalise excessively unjust treatment, but note that most of these sources, and the measures to which they refer, are quite late (Justinian’s Digest dates from the 6th cent. AD), and may not accurately reflect the thinking or the practice of Romans in our main period:

Since the passing of the Petronian Law [ca. AD 19]… masters have been deprived of the power of handing their slaves over to fight against wild beasts.

Justinian, Digest of Roman Law 48.2.2

When certain slave-owners were abandoning their sick and worn-out slaves on the island of Aesculapius, because they did not want to provide them with medical care, Claudius [AD 41-54] decreed that all slaves so abandoned, if they recovered, would be free and would not revert to the ownership of their masters. He also decreed that anyone who chose to kill a slave rather than abandon him would be indictable on a charge of homicide.

Suetonius, Life of Claudius 25.2

Hadrian forbade masters to kill their slaves, ordering that any who deserved such punishment were to be sentenced in the courts… He outlawed private prisons. If a slave-owner was murdered in his own home, not all his slaves were to be tortured for evidence, but only those who were close enough to have had some knowledge of the case.

Historia Augusta, Hadr. 18.7ff.

At the present time [late 2nd cent. AD] neither Roman citizens nor any other persons who are under the rule of the Roman people are permitted to treat their slaves with excessive and baseless cruelty. For by enactment of the Emperor Antoninus [AD 138-61] a man who kills his own slave without cause is as liable as one who kills another’s slave. And even excessive severity of masters is restrained by enactment of the same emperor. He ordained that if a master’s cruelty is found to be intolerable, he is to be compelled to sell his slaves.

Gaius, Institutes 1.53

Slaves are nothing as far as Roman Law [ius civile] is concerned, but not so in natural law [ius naturale], for as regards natural law, all men are equal.

Digest 1.17.32

III Fugitives, Revolts and Murder

The first two passages in this Section give us some insight into individual slaves’ disposition to run away if they had the opportunity, and to the ways in which recaptured fugitives might be treated. Then we read of the mass slave uprisings that took place in Sicily and Italy in the late Republican period; finally, the younger Pliny deplores the murder by his slaves of a particularly unpleasant master.

While Eumolpus was talking privately to Bargates, a herald came into the inn with a municipal slave and a small crowd of others, and…made this announcement: ‘Lost recently, in the public baths, a slave boy about 16 years old, hair curly, good-looking and answers to the name Giton. 1,000 sesterces reward for anyone who brings him back or for information about his whereabouts.’

Petronius, Satyricon 97

I am Asellus, slave of Praeiectus, administrative officer of the Dept. of the Grain Supply. I have run away from my post. Capture me, for I have run away. Return me to the barber’s shop near the temple of Flora.

Inscription on an iron slave-collar, CIL 15.7172

Athenaeus, Philosophers at Dinner, 6.272

While things were unexpectedly quiet in Gaul this year [205 BC], the districts round the City nearly became the scene of a rising among the slaves. The Carthaginian hostages were under guard at Setia. As children of the nobility they were attended by a large number of slaves, a number swollen by many whom the Setians themselves had purchased from among the prisoners taken in the recent war in Africa. When they had set their conspiracy on foot, they sent round some of their number to win over the slaves in the country round Setia and in the districts of Norba and Cerceii… they arranged to seize the opportunity of the Games which were soon to take place in Setia and attack the people while their attention was absorbed in the spectacle; then in the midst of the bloodshed the slaves were to seize Setia and then Norba and Cerceii. Information about this monstrous affair was brought to Rome and laid before L. Cornelius, the Urban Praetor… he seized the ringleaders, and this led to a general flight of the slaves from the town. Troops were sent through the countryside to hunt them down… Not long afterwards, news arrived that some slaves, the remains of the conspiracy, were intending to seize Praeneste. Cornelius made his way there and inflicted punishment on [i.e. executed] nearly 2,000 who had been complicit in the plot.

Livy 32.26

The revolt [the First Sicilian Slave War, 134-131 BC] began like this: there was a man in Enna [in Sicily] named Damophilus… he was excessively cruel to his slaves, and his wife, Megallis, strove to outdo her husband in torture and other inhumane treatment of the slaves. As a result, the slaves who had been so savagely abused turned into wild animals and plotted an uprising and the murder of their master and mistress… they collected 400 of their fellow-slaves and, when the opportunity offered, they burst fully armed into the city of Enna… they added to their number a multitude of city-slaves who first murdered their own masters and then turned to the slaughter of others. They chose as their king Eunus… he summoned an assembly and executed all the inhabitants of Enna who had been taken prisoner… In three days he armed over 6,000 men… he went about plundering the whole country, attracting innumerable slaves and even daring to do battle with Roman generals, whom he defeated many times by force of numbers, for he had over 10,000 fighting men… Many armies were cut to pieces by the rebels, until the Roman general Rupilius laid siege to Tauromenium and recaptured it by reducing to such indescribable famine and suffering that they began to eat the children, then the women, and finally each other.

Diodoros 34.2

The pestilence of the Slave War that had broken out in Sicily infected many provinces far and wide. At Minturnae the Romans crucified 500 slaves, at Sinuessa Q. Metellus and Cn. Servilius Caepio overwhelmed about 4,000.

Orosius 5.9

The rising of the gladiators… commonly called the War of Spartacus [73-71 BC] began as follows. A certain Lentulus Batiates trained large numbers of gladiators in Capua, most of them Gauls and Thracians, who… through the cruelty of their master were kept in confinement. 200 of these formed a plan to escape… they chose three captains, of whom Spartacus was chief, a Thracian… They routed those [local Romans] who came out against them, and seized a quantity of regular army weapons. Then the praetor Clodius took command against them with a force of 3,000 men from Rome, and besieged them on a mountain [but] the slaves attacked them from the rear and took their camp… the praetor P. Varinius was next sent against them, whose lieutenant Furius with his 2,000 men they fought and routed. Then Cossinius was sent with considerable forces… Spartacus stormed his camp and captured it, and Cossinius himself was killed…
Realising that he could not match the entire force of the Empire, Spartacus marched his army towards the Alps, intending that all his men should go home either to Thrace or Gaul. But, over-confident in their numbers and their success so far, they disobeyed him and went about ravaging Italy.
The Senate sent out both consuls [a desperate measure – in theory one of the coss. was normally supposed to remain in Rome at all times – LGHH]; but when Lentulus with a large army besieged him, Spartacus defeated his captains and captured all his baggage… Cassius confronted him with 10,000 men, but in battle was overcome with heavy losses.
When the Senate heard this they were displeased with the consuls, and appointed Crassus as general for this war [there follows a grim account of Crassus imposing severe discipline on the failed units – decimating them - LGHH]… Spartacus retreated… and established his army on the Calabrian peninsula [extreme south-west mainland Italy, opposite Sicily – LGHH], where Crassus came upon him… Of 12,300 whom he killed, two only were found wounded in their backs, the rest having all died standing to fight bravely in their ranks. After this defeat, Spartacus retreated to the mountains of Petelia, but Quintus, one of Crassus’ officers, and the quaestor Scrofa pursued and overtook him. Spartacus rallied and faced them, and they were utterly routed and fled…
This success, however, was Spartacus’ ruin, for it encouraged the slaves to demand that he march them back north… Eager to fight a decisive battle, Crassus encamped near the enemy, and Spartacus, seeing that battle was unavoidable, drew up his army… directly attacking Crassus himself, though in the midst of arms and wounds… [but] at last deserted by those around him, he stood his ground and, surrounded by the enemy, he was cut to pieces.

Plut. Crass. 8-11

The horrid barbarity which the slaves of Larcius Macedo, a man of praetorian rank, lately exercised against their master is so extremely tragical that it deserves to be the subject of something more than a private letter; though at the same time it must be admitted that he treated them arrogantly and cruelly, which showed that he scarcely remembered – or rather remembered all too well that his own father had once been a slave.
They suddenly surrounded him as he was bathing at his villa near Formiae: one seized him by the throat, another punched him in the face, yet others trampled on his chest, his belly, and, most shockingly, on other parts which I will not name. When they thought he was unconscious, they threw him on the boiling-hot slabs of the floor, to see if there was any remaining life in him. He lay there spreadeagled and motionless, either as being in fact unconscious or pretending to be, and they carried him out as if dead, making out that he had been overcome by the heat of the bath. Some of his more trusty slaves then revived him, and the alarm being raised through the household his mistresses ran to him shrieking. The din, together with the fresh air, brought him some way back to his senses, and he gave signs and gestures that he was not dead. The slaves scattered in flight, but most of them have been captured, and the rest are still being pursued. With great difficulty he was kept alive for some days, but then he died – not however before having the consolation of seeing his own murder punished while yet he lived.

Pliny, Ep. 3.14

(See also Slavery at Rome pp. 7-8, for the tale of the murder of Pedanius Secundus and its aftermath.)

IV Numbers and Occupations

With this Section, compare remarks in Slavery at Rome pp. 4f.

On one occasion a proposal was made in the Senate to distinguish slaves from free men by their dress; it then became apparent how great would be the impending danger if our slaves began to count our number.

Seneca, De Clementia 1.24

C. Caecilius Isidorus, the freedman of Caius… declared in his will that, though he had suffered great losses during the civil war, he was still able to leave behind him 4,116 slaves.

Pliny, NH 33.135

My slave who carries my books handed me my wax tablets, writing box and styli.

CGL 3

I would give the same advice about the slaves who will help raise the boy as I gave about nannies. About the choice of paedagogus I will say more. He should be either really well educated… or know that he is not well educated.

Quintilian 1.1.8

M. Agrippa… served [Augustus] as a permanent commissioner of public works and services, keeping his own private gang of slaves for maintenance of aqueducts, reservoirs and collection basins. The gang was given to the State as its property by Augustus, who had inherited it from Agrippa.

Frontinus, On Aqueducts 2.98

After the procession had finished, a signal was given and public slaves came in and collected the hymn books.

The priests [in charge of the Sibylline Oracles]… have public slaves assigned to them.

Dionysius of Hal., Antiquitates Romanae 4.62.5

The slaves who work in the mines produce for their masters revenues in sums defying belief.

Diodoros 5.36

The mine used to be worked by publicani, who employed as miners the slaves sold in the market because of their crimes.

Strabo 12.3.40

Male non-citizens and able-bodied slaves [Scipio] sent to the fleet as oarsmen [on the prisoners taken at Nova Carthago in 209 BC].

Livy 26.47

I advise you not to appoint a foreman [vilicus] from the type of slave who has been employed in the city… this lazy and dozy type of slave is accustomed to having too much time on his hands, to kicking his heels in the Campus Martius, the Circus, the theatres, gambling dens and brothels… you should choose someone who has been habituated to hard farm labour from childhood.

Columella 1.8.1

It is very important that the foreman be experienced in farming operations, for he must not only give orders but also perform the work, so that the other slaves may imitate him.

Varro, RR 1.17.1

The rich man will be carried above the heads of the crowd by his tall Ligurian litter-bearers.

Juvenal 3.239f.

Prospective lessees please apply to Primus, slave of Gn. Allius Nigidius Maius.

Advert from Pompeii, CIL 4.138

V Manumission

1. Three main methods: (a) by testament; (b) ‘by the rod’; (c) ‘inter amicos’ or private treaty.

(a) by testament (this is a Republican period inscription):

Antonius Silvanus, cavalryman of the First Mauretanian Company of Thracians made this last will and testament… As for my slave Cronio, after my death, if he has carried out all his duties properly… then I desire him to be free, and I desire that the 5% manumission tax be paid out of my estate.

FIRA 3.47

(b) by the rod (per vindictam):

…the informer [who had disclosed a plot to restore the exiled Tarquins to Rome] was given his liberty and the rights of citizenship. He is said to have been the first to have been made free by the vindicta.

Livy 2.5

(c) inter amicos (= ‘among friends’) – here is another inscription:

M. Aurelius Ammonio… manumitted in the presence of his friends his house-born slave Helene, about 34 years old, and ordered her to be free.

FIRA 3.11

2. Reasons for Manumission:

In ancient Rome, most of the slaves who were manumitted received their liberty as a reward because of their hard work and excellent service. This type of manumission was considered the most desirable. A few however paid a fee which they had saved up from their labour [peculium or ‘pocket-money’].

Dion. Hal., AR 4.24.4ff.

Sell off the old oxen… old tools, old slaves, sick slaves and whatever else is superfluous.

Cato the Elder, RR 2.56

L. Voltacilius Pilutus… was manumitted because of his intelligence and interest in education. Then he became an instructor in rhetoric.

Suetomius, de Grammaticis 27

My dear Marcus, as regards Tiro… you gave me the greatest pleasure when you decided that he should be our friend rather than our slave… his literary skills, conversational abilities and breadth of knowledge are qualities which are more important than his ability to perform personal services for us… [on Tiro, compare Slavery at Rome p. 6 - LGHH].

Q. Cicero, ad fam. 16.16

Why then did Milo manumit his slaves? You suggest that he was afraid that their evidence [under torture – LGHH] might incriminate him, that they might be forced to confess that Clodius was murdered by Milo’s slaves.

Cicero, pro Milone 57f.

3. Resentment of Freedmen and Criticism of Manumission (see also Slavery at Rome pp. 12ff.).

Things have reached such a stage of confusion… that men who have made a fortune by robbery, housebreaking, prostitution and every other base means buy their freedom with the money so acquired and immediately become Roman citizens. Others who are witnesses and accomplices of their masters in poisonings, murders and crimes against the gods receive from them their freedom as a reward… Others are set free because of their masters whom or thirst for popularity. I know of some of some men who have allowed all their slaves to be freed after their deaths, so that they might be called ‘good men’ and their funerals be attended by crowds of mourners wearing liberty-caps on their heads… Most people bitterly dislike and condemn this practice.

Dion. Hal. AR 4.24.4ff.

Is this situation fair? Maevius, a native [free-born] descendant of Romulus and Numa… shivers in a cheap grey cloak, while the freedman Incitatus, a former mule-driver, struts about in scarlet.

Claudius gave even his ex-slaves placed in control of his personal estates, equal authority with himself and the law.

Tacitus, Ann. 12.60

4. The Augustan Legislation restricting Manumission (the lex Fufia Caninia of 2 BC and the lex Aelia Sentia of AD 4; for the manumission councils mentioned in the second passage, see Slavery at Rome p. 14 n. 2):

By the Fufian-Caninian law, a limitation on manumitting slaves by testament was established. A person who has more than two but not more than ten slaves is permitted to manumit up to one half of them. A person who has more than 10 but not more than 30 may manumit up to one third of them. A person with more than 30 but not more than 100 may manumit up to one fourth. Finally a person who has more than one hundred may manumit not more than one fifth.
Various legal sources

By the Aelian-Sentian Law a master under twenty years of age is not permitted to manumit a slave in any other manner except by the rod, and after proof of adequate reason before a council… The same Law provides that a slave under 30 years of age who has been manumitted by the rod shall not become a Roman citizen unless cause has been proven before a council.
Various legal sources

5. Relationships with ex-masters: the following three passages are inscribed epitaphs.

M. Aurelius Zosimus, freedman of M. Aurelius Cotta Maximus… my patron Cotta gave me the equivalent of an equestrian’s fortune [HS 400,000 – LGHH], he helped to support my children and he was always generous. He provided dowries for my daughters, as if he were their natural father. He obtained for my son Cottanus the rank of military tribune. What did Cotta not do for us? And now he has with sadness paid for this message on my tombstone.

CIL 14.2298

C. Calpenius Hermes built this tomb for himself and his children and his freedmen and freedwomen and their children, and for his wife Antistia Coetonis.

CIL 14.4827

To the spirits of the departed. T. Veturius Florus, veteran… lived for 55 years. Erected by T. Veturius Pothinus, his freedman, to his well-deserving patron.

CIL 11.108

6. Wealthy freedmen. Rich Romans might be very rich indeed, and this applied to freedmen too (cf. Aurelius Zosimus in the previous section). Here are two more examples – in the first a freedman proudly catalogues his philanthropic expenditure on local community projects, emulating on a modest scale the public expenditures of the great and the good in Roman politics (Pompey’s Theatre, Caesar’s forum, Augustus’ building programme &c.). The second is another extract from Petronius’ comic novel sending up the type of the extravagant and ostentatious vulgarities of the freedman Trimalchio (a guest is being introduced to a dinner-party).

P. Decimus Eros Merula, freedman of Publius, physician, surgeon, oculist, member of the Board of Six. For his freedom he paid HS 50,000. For his membership of the Board he contributed to the community HS 2,000. He gave HS 30,000 for the erection of statues in the temple of Hercules. For paving the streets he contributed to the municipal treasury HS 37,000.

CIL 11.5400

‘Trimalchio himself has estates as far as a falcon can fly in a day, and millions and millions in coined silver. There is more silver lying in his doorman’s reception-room than other people have as their entire fortune… And don’t look down on the rest of the freedmen here: they are dripping with money. That guy you see lying at the bottom of the sofa is worth 800,000.’

Satyricon 37f.

7. Libertine occupations. The evidence here comes once again mainly from inscribed funerary epitaphs.

P. Marcius Philodamus, construction worker, freedman of Publius, built this tomb for himself and his family.

CIL 9.1721

Here lie the bones of A. Granius, auctioneer and herald… freedman of Marcus.

CIL 1.2.1210

Here lie the bones of Q. Tiburtius Menolavus, freedman of Quintus, sacrificial slaughterman.

CIL 1.2.1604

Here lies Plotia, a maid, freedwoman of Lucius and Fufia. This memorial attests her behaviour toward her patron, her patroness, her father and her husband.

CIL 1.2.2273

Oceanus, freedman, winner of 13 gladiatorial matches.

CIL 4.8055

Staberius Eros was a Thracian, who was captured and sold at a slave auction. He was manumitted because of his interest in education. He became a teacher.