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The Freedmen of Cicero

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

Susan Treggiari
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Extract

The private life of one of the great figures of history, indeed, as a discerning judge has recently put it, ‘perhaps the most civilized man who ever lived, attracts and deserves attention. A considerable, though subordinate, part in the life of a Roman of the upper classes was played by his servants, who ministered to his comfort, supported his dignitas, and were essential agents in his political work. In the case of Cicero these servants are known to us from his letters, while the staffs of other republican magistrates are much less completely revealed. An investigation of his more trusted and important servants, that is his freedmen, should cast light both on Cicero's private character and on the extent to which he relied, in his political and private life, on his subordinates.

Type
Research Article
Information
Greece & Rome , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , October 1969 , pp. 195 - 204
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1969

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References

page 195 note 1 Balsdon, J. P. V. D. in ‘Cicero the Man’ in Cicero, ed. Dorey, T. A. (London, 1964), 205.Google Scholar

page 195 note 2 Plut. Cic. 67. 6Google Scholar. All references are to Cicero's works unless otherwise stated.

page 195 note 3 Att. i. 12. 4Google Scholar. The idea that one's feelings about slaves should not be too warm recurs with reference to a freedman and not quite seriously in Att. vii. 4. I.Google Scholar

page 195 note 4 e.g. Rosc. Am. 140Google Scholar; Dom. 89Google Scholar; Prov. Cons. 10Google Scholar; cf. Acad. Pr. ii. 144.Google Scholar

page 195 note 5 Paradox, v. 33 ff.Google Scholar

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page 196 note 1 Att. i. 12. 4.Google Scholar

page 196 note 2 Fam. xiii. 77. 3; v. 9–11.Google Scholar

page 196 note 3 Att. viii. 5. 1.Google Scholar

page 196 note 4 Att. vi. 9. 1.Google Scholar

page 196 note 5 Att. xiii. 25. 3.Google Scholar

page 196 note 6 Fam. xiv. 3. 1, 3. 4 (58 B.c.).Google Scholar

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page 196 note 11 Fam. vii. 23. 3.Google Scholar

page 196 note 12 Att. vii. 2. 8.Google Scholar

page 196 note 13 Carcopino, arguing from an inaccurate but grander total of twenty-six, makes this charge.

page 197 note 1 Freedmen normally swore an oath on manumission to do a certain amount of work (which varied widely) for their patrons. Some remained in their patrons' service after the obligatory operae had been completed. Others worked independently.

page 197 note 2 Att. i. 12. 4.Google Scholar

page 197 note 3 Fam. xiii. 77. 3.Google Scholar

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page 197 note 5 Cf. Fam. xvi. 16. 2.Google Scholar

page 197 note 6 Cf. the slaves of Atticus, every one of whom was qualified to act as a copyist or reader, Nep. Att. xiii. 3.Google Scholar

page 197 note 7 A familiar example is Marathus, the a memoria of Augustus (Suet. Aug. 79)Google Scholar, or the two freedmen who helped him to copy his will (ibid. 101).

page 197 note 8 As did Philotimus for Cicero, (Att. vi. 3. 1Google Scholar; ix. 5. 1; x. 7. 2; etc.), Cilix and Phamea for Ap. Claudius, (Fam. iii. 1. 1 f.)Google Scholar, or Diochares for Caesar, (Att. xi. 6. 7).Google Scholar

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page 198 note 1 ‘nec inhumanus’ in this context may well bear both senses.

page 198 note 2 Plut. Apophth. Cic. 21.Google Scholar

page 198 note 3 A fairly common relationship for a freedman and a Roman other than the patronus who had freed him.

page 198 note 4 Att. i. 12. 2.Google Scholar

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page 198 note 6 Carcopino, J., op. cit. 131 f.Google Scholar

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page 199 note 4 It would have been hard for Cicero to enforce this at law.

page 199 note 5 Att. xi. 2. 3Google Scholar refers in all likelihood to Vettius Chrysippus the architect.

page 199 note 6 He is commonly identified with M. Tullius the scribe, but there is no evidence for this.

page 199 note 7 NH xxxi. 7.Google Scholar

page 200 note 1 It was possible for Cicero to have freedmen not named Marcus, but we hear of none.

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page 201 note 2 A homosexual link was alleged, but may be dismissed as the usual slander.

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page 203 note 2 Att. iv. 4. 3Google Scholar; vi. 1. 19, etc.; xii. 19. 4; 51. 3; xvi. 15. 3; etc.

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page 204 note 3 QF i. 2. 1 ff.Google Scholar