POLIS,Revistadeideas yformaspolticas delaAntigedadClsica8,1996,pp.275-293. SERV SENES: THE ROLEOF OLD SLAVES AT ROME' ThomasWiedemann Universityof Nottingham, U.K. Itseemsparadoxicalthatsolittleattentionshouldhavebeen paid by ancient historiaos to the question of how od people caredfor themselves andwerecaredforin theRomn world,when afifthof thepopulationisnowoverretirementageinmostindustrialised societies,andpredictionssuggestthatwithin twoorthreedecades it will rise to t^^'ice ihat proportionin some countries such as Germany. Yeteveninitialstudiesarefewandfarbetween.MosesFinley's articleinGreeceARome,developedfromalecturehegaveat Nottinghamin1981,isonly16pageslong,andGeorgesMinois' bookis hardl)lo be taken as a serious academicstudy.Valuable and 'Thispaperasfirstgi\cnattheCatholicUniversity,Leuven,Belgium,in March1995. as pan of a colloquium on "Oud zijn in de Oudheid". My thanks to the organiser,ProEnuclE>ben.andotherparticipantsatthatcolloquiumfortheir comments,andtoProfJurgenMalitzoftheCatholicUniversity,Eichstatt, Germany,forbibliographicaladvice. 275 respectedexceptionsare the workofEmielEybenin the context of the"InterdisciplinaryCentrefortheStudyoftheLife-Cyclein Antiquity",ofChristianGnilkaonearlyChristianatttitudesto od age, and Wieclaw Sudor,mainly on medical altitudes towards ageing in antiquity^. But the comparative dearth of analyses of od age in antiquity cannotsimply be ascribedto a lackof intereston the part of modem scholars:thereisaremarkableshortageofprimaryevidence.This applies particularly to one numericallysubstantial group of od people in ancientsociety:od slaves. One possibleexplanation for this must bedismissedimmediately.Whiletheextentofmanumissionin the Romnworldwasexceptional,itwas notthecasethatslaves had normallybecomefreedpersonsbythetimetheyreachedod age. Therewascertainlyafeelingthatslavesbelongingtotheurban familiadeservedto be giventheirfreedom,assumingthatthey had served their owners competently and faithfuUy;but Alfldy'sattempt toshowthat the epigraphicalevidencesupportsthe viewthatactual practicecorrespondedtothisidealcannotbesustained,since inscriptionsare so heavilyslantedtowards thosewhose manumission needed to be recorded,by themselvesor their heirs. In any case - as Alfldyhimselfaccepted - there is no evidence that manumission was ie norm for the vastmajorityofruralslaves^ With regardto the literaryevidence,what little there is, as so 'M. I. Finley,"The Elderly in Classical Antiquity",GreeceRome 28,1981, 156-171;G.Minois,Histoire delaVieillesse,Paris1987; Englishtranslation, HistoryofOd Age,Cambridge1989;E.Eyben,"OdAgeinGreco-Roman Antiquity and Early Christianity: an annotated select bibliography", T. M. Falkner & J.de Luce edd., Od Age in Greekand Latin Literature, New York1989,230-251;Ch. Gnilka, Aetas Spiritualis,Bonn1972, and article on "Altersversorgung", RAC12,1983, 995ff.; cf. RACSuppl. 1/2,1985, 266ff.; W. Suder, Geras.Od Age in Greco-RomanAntiquity. A Classified Bibliography,Wroclaw 1991. 'G.Alfbldy,"Die Freilassungvon Sklaven und die Strukturder Sklaverei in derromischenKaiserzeit",Rivista Storica dell'Antichita 2,1972, 97-128= Die rmische Gesellschaft,Stuttgart 1986, 286-331, with addenda; T. E. J. Wiedemann, "The Regularity of Manumission at Rome", Classical Quarterly 35, 1985,162-175, surveyingthe legal and literarymaterial. 276 oftenin classicalliterature,survivespreciseiybecauseitis atypical. A much-quoted example is Cato's notorious injunction that a landlord shouldgetridofodandsickslaves:"servumsenem,servum morbosum, et siquid aliut supersit, vendat". As Alan Astin pointed out inhisCatotheCensor,thisishardlytobetakenseriouslyas economicadvice.ThecontextmakesitclearthatCatoismakinga moralstatementabouttheneedforaproperty-ownertobe parsimonious,andismakingthatstatementinaconsciously provocativeway.Itis obviousthatCato'scommentcan provideno answertothequestion"WhatdidtheRomansdowithodandsick slaves?", for if a slave-owner managed to sell such slaves, we are left withthequestionwhatthenextownerthendidwiththem.Inany case,we have enough evidence to show that Cato's provocative view wasnotthestandardoneamongtheRomnlite.Plutarchwas certainlypromptedtoexpresshishorroratwhatCatosaid;butwe maychoosetoset thataside,on thegroundthatitrepresentsGreek philosophicalhumanitarianismratherthan Romn practicalmorality. We may fmda more typical expression of that Romn moralityin an epigram of Martial's,in which the satirist purports to be shocked that aslave-ownershouldhavesoldhiscatamites.Ratherthanthat, Martialironicallysuggests,hemighthavesoldtheslaveshehad inheritedfromhisfather,ortheodslavesinhishousehold;they wouldbe morelikelyto forgivehim than thedelicati: vendesenesservos- ignoscent- vende paternos; ne pueros vendas,omniavende miser. Theclearimplicationis thatfora responsiblemaster,selling odslaves was imthinkable- or at any ratea last resort^. The absence of discussion of odand sick slaves in the Greek and Romn sources requires explanation.It cannotsimply be that the incapacityresultingfiromodage and/orill health was an unpleasant anduncomfortablesubject(nodoubtoneofthereasonswhyitis * Cato, De agricultura 2. 7; A. Astin, Cato the Censor,Oxford1978, Appendix 12;Plutarch,Cato Maior 5. 2; Martial11, 70.9f. 277 under-discussedinourownculture):classicalwritershadno hesitationindealingwithassociatedunpleasantanduncomfortable subjects,mostobviouslywithdying,includingsuicide^.Dyingwas frequenydescrbedanddiscussedbecauseitwas,sotospeak,a publicact.Physicalincapacitywasnotdiscussed,becauseonlyin exceptional circumstances was it perceived as impinging on the public arena.One instance was when a physical or mental infirmityaffected aperson'slegalcapacity,theirrightsanddutiesasacitizen,andin thatrespectwefindnotsurprisinglythatthejuristsexpresstheir views^. Orderingthe worldwith referenceto therightsandduties of citizenship,that peculiarityof the classicalGreekandRomn world, may give us a clue to whyso little discussionwas thoughtnecessary ofsicknessandodage,andafortioriofsicknessandodagewith regardtoslaves.Ishouldliketotakeasmystarting-pointHendrik Bolkestein's suggestion that there were major differencesbetween the treatment of the needy,including the sick and the od,in the Ancient Near East on the one hand, and in classical (pre-Christian) Greece and Romeon theother^.Whilehe may haveexplainedthis differencein termsofadistinctionbetweentheEuropeanandtheOrientalmind whichisunacceptabletomodemscholarship,healsomadesome interestingobservationsaboutthedifferencesbetweentheliterary source material produced by the respective cultures.In the Greek and Romnworld,thewriterswerewealthylandownerswhosaw themselvesascitizensoftheircommimities;intheNearEastthey weretheprofessionalintellectualsassociatedwithtemples. ConsequenyEgyptianandespeciallyOdTestamenttextshavea greatdealtosayaboutthepracticalitiesoftheredistributionof * A. J.L.van Hooff,From Autothanasiato Suicide, Lx)ndon 1990. * J.Gardner, Being a Romn Citizen, Lx)ndon1993, ch.6:"The Handicapped Citizen". ^ H.Bolkestein,Wohlttigkeitund ArmenpflegeimvorchrislichenAltertum, Utrecht1939(reprintGroningen1967).Thethemewastakenupby,amongst others,W.DenBoer,Privte Morality inGreece andRome.SomeHistorical Aspeas,Leyden1978. A differentview was taken by A. R.Hands,Charities and Social Aid in Greeceand Rome,London1968. 278 material goods by or through temples from the well-off(not of course the temple clergyso much as local worshippers and visiting pilgrims) totheneedy,sometimesintheformofinstitutionalisedbegging. BolkesteinwaspreparedtobelievethattheRomansthrew improductive slaves out onto the streets to beg; but he noted that there wasnoactualevidenceforthis,andinparticularthattherewasa strikingabsenceoflegislationonbegginginclassicalRomnlegal sources^Suchreferencesdoappearinthefourth-cenmryAD,in legislation andin Christian texts'. Latintextsdonotapproveofsuchbegging.Therareearlier referencesplaceitin non- or marginallyRomn contextssuch as the cultofIsis,orJudaism.Juvenalassociatesbeggingwithamultiply-marginalagedfemaleJewishinterpreterof dreams: Cum dedit Ule locum, cophino fenoque relicto arcanam ludaea tremens mendicatinaurem, interpreslegumSolymarumet magnasacerdos arboris ac summifidaintemuntia caeli. implet et illa manum, sed parcius; aereminuto qualiacumquevoles ludaei somniavendunt^. Prose texts may not exelude the beggar from Romn normality inquitesostrikingaway,butwemaynoteAulusGellius'report (XIV,1.2)thatFavorinus'attackonChaldaeanastrologersincludes theaccusationthattheywere"hominesaeruscatoresetcibum quaestumque exmendaciis captantes". Therewasofcoursealong Romntraditionthatcertainkindsofsoothsayerswerenottobe tnisted,and that their position at Rome was that of tolerated outsiders: haruspices,drawnfromthatquintessentiallymarginalpeople,the H.Bolkestein,op. cit.,340, 379. 'Codex Theodosiams 14,18.1=CodexJustinianus 11, 26.25(AD 382); Ambrose,DeofficiisMinistrorum 2,76f.{'importunitasvociferantium"). On beggars,seeH.Kloft,"GedankenzumPtochos",I.Weilered.,Soziale Randgruppenund AussenseiterimAltertum,Graz1988,81ff. ' Juvenal,Satires 6, 542-547. 279 Etmscans,werecharacteristicrecipientsofthesuspicionthatthey weremakingmoneyoutofthe(albeitauthentic)religiousneedsof honest Romans. It is thereforeinteresting that one of the few reported incidents whichthrowlightonthetreatmentofsickorinfinnslavesshould indeed concern care providedin the context of a temple precinct, that of Aesculapius on the isola Tiberna.Both Suetonius and Cassius Dio repOTt that Claudius intervenedin favourofsick slaves who were not receivingpropertreatmentfiromtheirmasters;the juristModestinus confirmsthelegalprincipieestablishedbyClaudius".InDio's account,"sincemanypeopledidnotbothertogivetheirslavesany treatment when they were sick, and even threw them out of the house, hedecreedthatanywhosurvivedafterbeingtreatedinthisway shouldbefree".AnumberofconclusionsfoUow.Claudius' disapproval - and its survival to be codifiedin the Digest - only makes senseiftheassumptionsharedbyRomnsocietyatlargewasthat slaveswereindeednormallylookedafterattheirmasters'expense within thehousehold.Of course,theincidentalsoimpliesthatthere wereoccasionson whichslave-ownersconsideredthemselves unable to filfil thisobligation(we mayrecallthat manyslave-ownerswere notwealthy,andindeedwerethemselvesformerslaves,andthatit might not be lack of will,but a genuine lack of means that prevented them fromproviding forsuch sick members of their households). But airtherconclusinisthatthetempleofAesculapiusprovidedan instimtional frameworkwithin which some sick slaves could be looked after,and even receive effectivecare, similar to that provided by Near Eastem temples such as that at Jerusalem (and again it is worth noting that Aesculapius was perceived as "marginal" to Rome, importedfrom abroad'^).Theepisodefirthersuggeststhatsuchslaves-or "Suetonius, Claudius 25.2; Cassius Dio 60 (61), 29. 7; Modestnus, Digest 40, 8.2. '^ The cult of Aesculapius was said to have been imported to Rome in 293 BC: Livy10, 47. 7; Valerius Maximus1, 8.Vitruvius notes that the temple's position, surroundedby the nmning water of the Tiber,contributedto the recoveryof those who tookreftigethere:1, 2.7. 280 foUowingClaudius'decree,freedpersons-couldsurvive independentiyinRomeiftheywereluckyenoughtorecovertheir health. "Begging"is one of the categories used to come to terms with thetransferofmaterialresourcestotheneedyfromthosewho have asurplustodistribute.Butitisbynomeansastraightforward category.Not only do differentcultures have differentaltitudes to the circiraistances under which begging is tolerated (or even approved of), but definitionsof what kinds ofactivities and relationships constitute "begging" are themselves culturally relative. In contemporary Britain, forexample, attimdes towards requests fromstrangers in the street to handoversparemoney("change")forcauses humanordivinevary fromconsideringitacrime("demandingmoneywithmenaces":in someplaces,suchasBath,politiciansmadeaggressivebeggingan electionissueinthe1992GeneralElection)toacclaimingitasa highlyapprovedliteactivity,wherethemoneyiscoUectedfor charitablepurposes.InmanynorthemEuropeancultureswhere begging is disapproved of in principie, it is tolerated in practice where thebeggarclaimstobesellingsomething(flowers,matchesetc.): "buskers", claiming to provide musical entertainment, are in a similar ambivalentcategory.In manyEuropeancountries thereare formsof beggingwhichare unknownin Britain:forexample,thatassociated (bythosewhodonotlikethem)withGypsyfamilies,orthatstill permittedtodaytowidowsandorphansinGreeceonconditionthat theyholda licencefromtheir village priest. The invisibilityof beggingin classical literamreis afunction of the fact that the needy play much less of a symbolic role in Graeco-Roman thoughtthan theydo in the temple-centredwritingsofEgypt orancientIsrael-orindeedinpre-ClassicalGreekthoughtand mythology,wherebeggarsare givena recognisedsocialrole^^. This tells US less about the actual place of begging and of how the needs of the poor and disabled were looked afterthan about political and social thinidng:classicalGreeksandRomansfrequentlyusedslavesas symbolisingthe polaroppositeof thefree(adult,male)citizen.One Beggarsin theOdyssey:6.207f.,14.57f. 281 implication of the quite extraordinary emphasis on slavery in classical thought was its effecton the needy: the polarity between poor and rich was in generalnot needed as a mechanismforstructuringideas about society and morality. In first-century AD Palestine, a religious teacher couldsaythatthe poorwouldalwaysbe with us;inGraeco-Roman literature,theyhave no essentialrole to play**. TheodaremorevisiblethanthepoorinLatinliterature. There are similar injunctionsabout respecting the aged as there are in EgyptianandJewishwriting:ValeriusMaximusII,1.9isan interestingexample,sinceitcomesundertheheading"deinstitutis antiquis":byimplication,itwasonlyinthedistant pastthatyoimg Romansbehavedproperlybystandingupinthepresenceoftheir elders and so on. But because Greek and Latin literature was produced bypeoplewhosawthemselvesaslandownersandcitizens,not primarilyas responsibleforthe fimctioning oftemples, referencesto the ways in which od people were given practical support lcate such support not within the context of temples, but that of the household on theonehand,and(exceptionally)ofthecitizencommunityonthe other.Thatyoungermembersofthehousehold-children,wives, slaves-arethemechanismsforlookingafterincapacitatedolder membersis takenforgranted'^.Referencestothe communityacting tosupporttheneedyarelessrarefortheGreekworldthanthe '* Matthew 26.11, Mark 14. 7, John12. 8: Jess was quoting Deuteronomy15. 11.Thech/poorpolar^was ofcourseused,andfeared,in classicalliterature, particularlyGreekphilosophicalthought-anddrama:A.H.Sommerstein, "Aristophanes and the demon Poverty",Classical Quanerly 34,1984, 314-333. But it is interesting that the category frequently occurs within the context of institutions whoseimportanceisprimary:theGreekpolis,Romnancitia.WhenPliny advocates liberality towards the poor rather than the rich, it is poor rather than rich arrd he has in mind:"tribuere...amids,sed amicis dico pauperibus,non ut isti qui iis potissimum donant, qui donare mxime possunt" {Letters9,31. 1). "Note for example Columella's referenceto marriage as'adiutoria senectutis, necnnus propugnacula" (12,pr.1:citingCicero'stranslationofXenophon's Oeconomicus7,19ff.):he means, of course,that a younger woman willlookafter anolderman.Statiusaddressesanalumnus withthewords'tudominoregules portusque senectae" {Silvae2,1. 69). 282 Romn:onethinksofthesupportgiventoinvalidsinfifth-century Athens, or the provisin of buildingswhere elderlymen might spend thedayinmanyHellenisticcities.Includingtheannonaorthe provisinoflandforveteransatRomein thesamecategoryofhelp totheneedyismoreproblemtica*.Butsuchprovisionswereseen ratherasmeanstoenhancethegloryofthecitythanrelievingthe sufferingoftheneedy''. Theprincipieaccordingtowhichassistanceisgivenisnot need,butstatus.Manyreferencesinliteraturewhichatfirstappear tobetosupportfortheweakandtheelderly-forexample,the obligation to visit od andsick amici - emerge on closer examination as the veryopposite,symbolic tokens ofrespect forthewealthy and privileged.Forexample,Martialsatirisessomeoneforgiving substantial presents to od people and widows,"muera quod senibus viduisqueingentiamittis"'*.Thismmsouttobenotcharity,but legacy-hunting. The relationship between the od and terminally ill and therestofRomnsocietyisperceivednotwithinthecontextof religious organisation (as charityor almsgiving),and very rarely that of the State, but of the relations associated with the householdand the sociallinkscenteredonitwhichtheRomanscalledamicitiae, and whichwewouldcalipatronageasoftenasfriendship.Andinthat contextthereisnlackofdiscussionofthemoralissuesand ambiguitiesinvolved:discussions of the moralityof beggingmay be lacking, but not of legacy-hunting^'.And discussion of begging itself '* Athens: Lysias 24; for buildings'aetatis otio seniorumcollegio"such as the "Croesidomus'at Sardis: Vitruvius 2,8.10;PlinyinformsTrajanthatat Amisus therewasacoUection"adsustinendamtenuioruminopiam"(Lettefs10.93):the "tenues"wouldhavebeenpoorcitizens,notanypoor.TheRomncom-dole (annona) and distbutions of money (congiaria),too, were privileges granted to all city-dwellingcitizens,rather than just the needy. '' Paulus, Digest 30,122: 'hos amplium quod in alimenta infirmae aetatis, puta senioribus vel pueris puellisque,relictum fuerit,adhonorem civitatispertinere responder". "Martial,4,56.1; cf.Pliny'sremarks on giving presents to richfriends,n. 14 above. "See the discussion by E. Champlin, Final Judgments,Berkeley1991, ch. 5. 283 mayappearinthecontextoftheobligationsofpatronage:Aulus Gelliustellsofhow''AdHerodemAtticumconsularemvirum ingenioqueamoenoetGraecafacundiacelebremadiitnobis praesentibus palliatus quispiam et crinitus barbaque propeadpubem usque porrectaacpetitaessibidarieisartous"^^.TTiemanwas dismissedwithmoneytobuyfoodforthirtydays-notbecausehe wasabeggar,butbecauseHeredes'humanityrequiredhimtobe friendlyto philosophers. Claudius'sedictsuggeststhatthecareofodandsickslaves wasexpectedtotakeplacewithinthissamedomesticandfamily framework,andthatiswhatisassumedbymostofthesparse evidence that there is about the care of such slaves. Pliny boasts of his humanitarianconcernforthoseofhisslaveswhofellill,notallof them(hesays)old^*.Columella'sinjunctionthatavilica shouldtry tofindoutwhichslaveswereill,orclaimedtobeill,andshould ensure that the sick-room was ready even at times when there was no-onewhowasill,shows thatsuchhealth-careappliedtotheruralas wellastheurban/(2m/7ifl.Sinceslavesareavaluableresource,the provisin ofsuch health-careshouldnot surprise us; the largerslave estatesintheWestIndiesandontheNorthAmericancontinent frequentlyhadsuchhospitals".Wemightaddanotherrelevanttext tothesparsecoUectionofwhatinGermnhasbeencategorisedas "Hausvterliteratur",namely the early medieval Latin monastic rules. Chapter37 of the Rule of St Benedict gives us an idea of the ways in which od and infirmmembers of the household conmiunitymight be given speciai care, forinstance in the times and contents of the meis theyreceived". Freedmenand-womenwerenotunconditionallythe ^Aulus Gellius10,2.1. 2'Pliny, Utters8,16. ^Columella,12, 3.7;