CLAS/HIST 4091/5091 The
Lecture 16. A Study in Contrasts? Aristocrats and Freedmen
I. Social
Order
A. Multiple Divisions: Free v.
Slave / Freeborn v. Freed / Urban v. Rural / Citizen v. Non-Citizen / Men v.
Woman / Adult v. Children
B. Social Strata defined by law: Honestiores (senators, knights, decurions
and veterans) v. Humiliores
(everyone else)
-Different punishments; legal privileges; public
distributions
II. Aristocrats
A.
Ordo Senatorius
(Senatorial Order):
1. Qualifications:
Augustus = 600; 1,000,000 HS; hereditary
2. Old Functions Continue: magistracies of the cursus honorum = quaestor,
praetor, consul (suffect), governor
3. Imperial bureaucratic functions: Urban prefects; legionary legates, etc...
B.
Ordo Equester (Equestrian
Order):
1. Qualifications:
Eques
= knight (pl. equites);
400,000 HS; c. 20,000 in number
2. Not hereditary; Social variation / lack of
cohesion
3. Imperial bureaucratic functions: Pretorian Prefects;
Prefect of night watch etc...
Tiny
Ruling bureaucracy! c. 1,000 at a
time
C.
Ordo Decurionum (Decurial or Curial order)
1. Qualifications:
decurio
/ curialis
= town counsellor; 100 - 150,000; HS 100,000
2. Functions:
Local control; philanthropy (liturgies); intermediary between ruler and
ruled
III. Freedmen
A.
Libertus / Liberta (freedman / freedwoman): private rights
B.
Advantages for all freedmen: skill; peculium; Trimalchio (LR 48)
C.
Imperial Freedmen: Wealth / Scorn
IV. Sociological Factors
A. Patronage:
patron / client; cf. master / freedman relationship; money, protection, meals,
artistic support v. entourage, support in local politics
Apparent relationship of superiority / inferiority:
Pliny Ep. 2.6
B. Social signification: Clothing / rings; Seating privileges; Marriage
laws; titles (vir
clarissimus;
vir egregius; vir honestus)
V. Social Mobility
A. Failure of senators to reproduce: 75% tunover; provincialization
-New
Men: Pliny, Tacitus
B. Avenues for Advancement: Town
Councils; Army (Centurions); Sons of freedmen >> Decurions
C.
Emperors: Vespasian; Vitellius;
Pertinax