Author(s): S. L. Mohler
Source: Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 71
(1940), pp. 262-280
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/283128
Accessed: 09-01-2017 09:38 UTC
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262
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L.
Mohler
[1940
The large number of educated slaves in Roman society received their training
in ways varying from self-education to instruction in formally organized schools
within the larger households, which were called paedagogia. The boys enrolled
in these schools served as ornamental " pages," but that work was only on a part
time basis. The imperial school ad Caput Africae employed twenty-four paedagogi
at one time. Pupils were proud of their attendance, called each other "brothers"
and boasted of their "graduation." The positions held by these youths in after
life included the highest procuratorships open to freedmen.
over the fact that the women of his day could take part in intelligent
discussions of literature. Voluntary exile was to him the only
inherited incomes, yet they constitute the only class whose training
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Though it is my purpose to speak primarily of formal, systematic education, the informal exchange of knowledge between
master and slave or slave and slave should not be overlooked.
fanatical, opinionated evangelist who would certainly have subjected his slaves to instruction whether they liked it or not. Indeed
man is characteristically a teaching animal, a creature who instinctively seeks an opportunity to share his knowledge with his fellows.
Horace himself illustrates the point in the didactic character of a
large part of his poetry. And as he dined with his slaves before the
Sabine hearth, discussing the nature of the summum bonum, we may
assume that some of the world's finest teaching was taking place.2
Pliny was more typically pedagogical in his tastes, deprived of the
pleasure of classroom instruction by the silly prejudice of his
The word meique, 65, I interpret as imaning "my household," including freedmen and
probably coloni as well as slaves. (C. Pliny Epist. ix.36.4 (see note 3); ii.17.7 (see
note 33); viii.16.1. For Horae 's; 6taves, see also note 67.
3 Epist. ix.36.4: mox curm nieis abl)ulo, quorum in numero sunt eruditi.
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264
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[1940
bear in mind through all this discussion that any slave with the least
spark of intelligence would appreciate the chance for advancement
through education even more than his owner.
Striking illustrations of the possibility of slaves' obtaining the
highest "freeman's" education (liberal education) are contained in
Suetonius' Lives of the Grammatici. One of the most interesting of
the careers he outlines shows what could be accomplished by an
ambitious slave in the way of self-education. Quintus Remmius
Palaemon, who was trained as a weaver and then assigned to act
esting to know just what status these men enjoyed in the best
Plutarch Crassus 2: o`yos iav TLs ?7+yflaLTo IA776v e'val rai-a irivra wpds Tr)v
OLKeTP T/I?V- roaovrovs eKeKTfTO KaL TOOUTOVS, &vayva o-ras, ro paoe6s, apyvpoYvc
&OLKrlTas, TpamretoKoIiovs, airs e1rLoTaT- p /IavaOvovoL KaL lrpooexwV KaL 6a0UGKWV Ka'
6Xwoos VoyItcV rCo 8eaor6r 7rpoo'KKeLv IA Xtara Tr,p 7rep' ro'S oLKeras I cqXeLav S oppyava
EIA4lvXa ris oLKovoIALKis. Kal ToVro AeP pOC,os o Kpaaoos, Etirep, Cs 9Xe-yev, 'ryeZro ra IAuv
aXXa &a Tvp OLKerTp XpfpatL robs 8e OLKETras &' abrov KvO3epvaP
Crassus, like other farsighted slave-owners, was concerned with the development
of manual skills even more than intellectual ones. While manual training as such
does not come within the scope of this paper, the motives which inspired it were the
same as those which prompted masters to gi-e their slaves the benefit of general
education. The basic value of the three " R's" was probably recognized for all classes
of slaves.
primo, ut ferunt, textrinum, deinde herilem filium dum comitatur in scholam, litteras
didicit. Postea manumissus docuit Romae ac principem locum inter grammaticos
tenuit.
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of teaching both Caesar and Cicero, was born of free Gallic parents,
who abandoned him as a foundling, and that later he was "freed
and educated" by his master (ibid. 7: a nutritore suo manumissus
institutusque). The order of these participles seems to indicate
that he was not a slave but a freedman when he received his higher
It will readily be seen that the cases I have cited were excep-
young men whose social position prevented them from ever putting
into practice the knowledge imparted. If my interpretation of the
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266
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[1940
fore, working for the common profit of teachers, owners and slaves.
Perhaps it was not education in the sense in which we like to use
the word; we feel very strongly that our stenographers and accountants are entitled to more than the technical training which a Roman
Notarii were among the most intimate of personal servants, so it is not surprising
none but slaves or freedmen are included in the indices of Dessau's Inscriptiones La
Selectae. The calculator's services were presumably in more general demand, as some
knowledge of his subject was requisite for any business career. Cf. Petronius Sat. 29.4
(note 29).
10 This Lepida was the wife of Drusus, son of Germanicus, and died A.D. 36.
Dessau, in a note on this inscription (= 1848), suggests identification of the pupil
with Ti. Claudius Augusti lib. Philologus ab epistulis (C.I.L. vi.8601). If this is true,
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used in private families as well as the imperial household.'2 Suggestion that they were stern taskmasters is contained in a statement
of Martial that slave children taken to the country for a " vacation "
gleefully took orders from a vilicus when freed from the authority
of the high quality of instruction offered in family schools and of the competence of
"graduates." If the identification is not justified, it is still worth noting that a hometrained slave might deserve the name "Scholar."
12 vi.7290 (from the monument of the Volusii, first half of the first century after
Marquardt sees nothing in this but the reference to the boys' pretty hair, Privatleben2
(Leipzig, S. Hirzel, 1886), 159, note 7. See page 268, note 25.
14 C.I.L. vi.8969 (see note 11); 8989: Q. Lollio Philargyro I paedagogo suo, Eu
vi.9748: Hilario I paed. I Celeris (paed. may be a simple descriptive epithet, not showing
his relation to Celeris).
11 vi.9449 (see page 266); iii.556 (see note 18); vi.8980 (see note 11); 8613 (cf.
note 16).
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268
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[1940
counsel. "
Other services performed for these slave-boys indicate that they
LX. I Slave paedagogi in the imperial household are mentioned in vi.8973 (Flavian,
above, note 11), 8984 (see note 40), vi.8980, viii S 12649 (both above, note 11). These
last two were probably personal attendants. In one exceptional case we find a paedagogus who was freed by his ward, vi.8613 (see page 276).
Sotacus (sic) Aug. I lib. fratri I incomparabili I et sibi; iii.556: Dis Manibus I Q. Turranio Maximo I praeceptori et I amico bonorum i consiliorum, I Sagaris Alcimi Aug.
ser. I vernae arcari provinc. I Achaiae vicar. I merenti memoria.
19 vi.8981: D. M. I P. Aelio Aug. lib. Epaphrodito I magistro iatroliptae puerorum
gerit? Quare paedagogium pretiosa veste succingitur? De Tranq. An. 1.8; Pliny
N.H. xxxiii.3.12.40. Cf. also Ammianus xxvi.6.15, though in this period the paedagogiani were no longer slaves (Cod. Theod. viii.7.5 [A.D. 354]).
24 Seneca Epist. 123.7: Omnium paedagogia oblita facie vehuntur, ne sol, ne frigus
teneram cutem laedat; turpe est neminem esse in comitatu tuo puerorum, cuius sana
facies medicamentum desideret.
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dismiss them with the title of "pages" ,26 leaving us to assume that
the six to eight years spent in their schools were devoted to constant
drill in the pouring of wine. It is true that they served as ornamental domestics, but the clearest statement of this use poses
directly a question of common sense economy in the employment
of slaves' time. Digest xxxiII.7.12.32: Si instructum fundum
legasset, ea paedagogia, quae ibi habebat, ut, quum ibi venisset,
praesto essent in triclinio,27 legato continentur. Since we may
allusion is made by ancient authors was all too serious. From their
number were recruited victims of the revolting sexual immorality
of the age.28 But even here we must remember that the victims
were favorites, and that favoritism could best be shown by giving
gogiani, at least, were protected from this last form of temptation by infibulation;
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270
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[1940
and the rooms below constituted the school. Certain facts about
his Laurentine villa suggest that Pliny's paedagogium (or his largest
one) was located there, and that the number of boys in attendance
was greater than such a conservative gentleman could have used in
the way suggested in the Digest, namely as waiters.32 We read that
the villa possessed a pleasantly located gymnasium for slaveswhich certainly means for young slaves.33 And the special virtue
of his private retreat was that it protected him from the noise of his
school; 8613 (below, page 276) an alumnus of nineteen, adiutor ab epistulis Latinis.
31 Epist. vii.27.13: Puer in paedagogio mixtus pluribus dormiebat: venerunt per
fenestras (ita narrat) in tunicis albis duo cubantemque detonderunt, et qua venerant
recesserunt. Hunc quoque tonsum sparsosque circa capillos dies ostendit.
32 Cf. Digest xxxiii.7.12.32 (page 269, note 27).
33Epist. ii.17.7: Huius cubiculi et triclinii illius obiectu includitur angulus, qui
purissimum solem continet et accendit. Hoc hibernaculum, hoc etiam gymnasium
meorum est. . ..
34 Ibid. 22: Non illud voces servulorum, non maris murmur . . . sentit. 24: In
hanc ego diaetam cum me recepi, abesse mihi etiam a villa mea videor, magnamque
eius voluptatem praecipue Saturnalibus capio, cum reliqua pars tecti licentia dierum
festisque clamoribus personat; nam nec ipse meorum lusibus nec illi studiis meis
obstrepunt.
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of M. Lepidus, and the only other one named was apparently a freeman, vI.8989 (see
note 14). All later paedagogi and praeceptores of whom we have knowledge were
either slaves or freedmen of emperors. A decanus paedagogorum domini (note 17) was
a non-imperial freedman. Since there is some indication that the paedagogi were later
organized as a collegium within the emperor's famitlia, I am inclined to assign this
inscription a date in the first century. See page 272.
37 See vi.8973, a superlectile p. Cae. n. (note 11). Martial's reference to the
flourishing condition of schools of notarii in this period (see note 13) may indicate a
general stimulation of slave-education.
8986: paedagog. a Caput Africae I Messalla et Sabino cos. (A.D. 214). There is obviously
a margin of uncertainty in dating inscriptions by nomina: an Ulpius may well have
done his work in a later reign. See Gatti, loc. cit. (see note 38), 194. However, the
probability of Trajan's having organized this school is increased by our knowledge
that he took such a personal interest in his "boys" that their paedagogi exerted appreciable influence at court, Spart. Hadr. 2: fuitque in amore Traiani, nec tamen ei per
paedagogos puerorum quos Traianus impensius diligebat t t Gallo favente defuit.
Africae ( ), (Gatti, loc. cit. [see note 38], 194, identifies the Augusti with Marcus
Aurelius and Verus); 8985, 8986 (both in note 39); 8982: M. Aur. Aminjnes F.P.A.
Amazon I ti fratri I paedagogi puer. Kap. Afr.; 8983: D. M. I P. Aelius Aug. lib. I Lycu
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272
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[1940
degree of respect.42 As to the boys in the school and their life, the
presence of an anointer in their midst tempts us to infer that they
M. AVRELIO ANTONINO
AVG.
Observe that six of these men advertise the fact that they were vernae. The frequency
with which this term is used in the period of the Empire evidences a decided feeling
of pride: see R. H. Barrow, Slavery in the Roman Empire (London, Methuen and Co.,
1924), 50, 51. The primary basis of that pride may well have been the superior
opportunity for education which the home-raised slave enjoyed. Cf. Suet. Gramm. 23
(note 5); C.I.L. iii.556 (arcarius provinciae Achaiae, [note 18]); vi.8966 (ex paedagogio,
[note 30]); v.1039 (ex kap. Africaes [note 43]); note 54.
42 One slave paedagogus was associated with the institution (vi.8984 [note 40]),
and it is possible that a number of slaves on the staff in A.D. 198 did not take part in
the dedication.
ann. xxii mens. viii I dieb. xxv, Heliodolrus unctor ad I Kaput Africaes I beneme-
renti I fecit. Cf. the gymnasium at Pliny's villa (above, note 33).
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he was leaving the structure where the words were found.48 Huelsen
maintains that the expression does not refer to a real paedagogium
at all, but that the term is used humorously for jail, Strafzellen.49
His argument is based on the fact that the names are scratched on
the lower part of the wall, as would be natural if the writers were in
stocks. The deduction seems to me quite unnecessary when we
consider the number of graffiti observable on our school-room walls,
45 The letters in small capitals are unintelligible. The date of the inscription
cannot be earlier than that of vI.8984 (cf. note 40).
46 Cf. above, pages 270, 271, note 35, below, pages 274, 275.
47 Christian Huelsen, The Forum and the Palatine, translated by Helen H. Tanzer
(New York, A. Bruderhausen, 1928), 72, pl. 56; L. Correra, " Graffiti di Roma,"
Bulletino della Commissione Archeologica Communale di Roma xxi (1893), 248-260,
xxii (1894), 89-94. He gives a diagram of the structure (page 248), and publishes the
graffiti. Among them are: 29, Narbonensis exit de paedagogio; 36, Corinthus exit de
pedagogio; 46, Verna exit de pe... gogio. I employ his numbering in my citations.
48 Gatti, loc. cit. (see note 38), 219, 220. Cf. Correra, loc. cit. (see note 47),
(1894), 92.
Melanges Boissier, edited by Albert Fontemoing (Paris, Librairie des Ecoles frangaises
d'Athenes et de Rome, 1903), 304.
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274
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[1940
chirography in question. Much more positive is Huelsen's identification of one of the chambers as a wardrobe-room, from the names
or that, if they do, the different forms of the records do not represent
a difference of status. A strong probability, however, exists that
numbers 22 and 11 refer to the same individual, and that the second
one was written only after his "graduation." More striking evi-
Epitynchanus
et Asiaticus
frat.
52 Variant readings have been proposed for the proper names in the last two,
Marinus for Marianus, Marianus for Marinus; cf. Correra, loc. cit. (see note 47), 251,
note 2, 253, note 1.
Correra interprets these last letters as verna domini nostri, loc. cit. (see note 47), (1894),
89-94.
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slender support, namely a series of wall-paintings showing a diningroom scene, with waiters and attendants as the only human figures.55
These pictures occur in three rooms facing a small court. Comparison of this unusual decorative motif with the most familiar
activity of the paedagogiani suggests that these rooms may have
had a use like that of the suite attached to the wardrobe which we
have just been considering. Neither was a true paedagogium, but
the house, school was dismissed, and the teacher became the director
of the neatly dressed attendants.58 In the country we have a
55 Mrs. Arthur Strong, "Forgotten Fragments of Ancient Wall Painting in Rome,"
in Papers of the British School at Rome (London, Macmillan and Co., Limited), VIII
(1916), 91-103, especially 94 and note 1. She assigns a date to the structure in the
age of the Antonines or Septimius Severus.
Lyco fortis I simis viris I C. Valerius Myrismus I //// conpedago I gita bene meren
fec///t. If the Ti. Claudius Euangelus of 9762 was an imperial freedman, the common
character of the institution in public and private life is very strikingly illustrated.
57 vi.7290 (see note 12).
pars lateris huius servorum libertorumque usibus detinetur, plerisque tam mundis ut
accipere hospites possint. The expression usibus detinetur must refer to something
more than sleeping quarters, since the occasion of the arrival of numerous guests would
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276
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[1940
seen that a slave-pupil might earn the name Philologus, and that it
was probably this same slave who rose to the position of ab epistulis.60
Our most striking record of achievement is that of a lad of nineteen,
age at which he was promoted to the position is noteworthy primarily because it indicates that he may have skipped the usual
service as a page-possibly because he had the advantage of a
homely face. The unique feature of the inscription is the implication it contains that the boy was the patron of his paedagogus (eius
should be understood after lib[ertus]). The simplest way to explain
the relationship would be to suppose that the slave Artemisius
was assigned as a personal attendant to Faustus, and was given
to him with his freedom. Shortly afterwards the young secretary
60 C.I.L. vI.9449 (see note 10). Ancient standards of excellence in writing were
so high that it is not surprising that his teacher was a grammaticus.
61 See pages 267, 268, note 16.
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To ask the question what these men had been doing in their
teens is to answer it. They had been learning to write perfect
Latin and Greek, and had mastered the mathematical knowledge
necessary to administer the finances of rich provinces. The skills
required for these operations had not been picked up at odd moments
63 For this functionary cf. Mrs. Strong, loc. cit. (see note 55), fig. 3, page 97.
64 See Dessau, Insc. 1567 note 2, for identification of his name on a lead pipe of the
reign of Domitian. He probably knew little more about plumbing than the average
college professor.
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278
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[1940
of the Roman boys is matched by that of the waiters and bell boys
in our hotels.
With reference to the actual processes of instruction and the
methods by which literary skill was imparted, we may assert with
some confidence that Roman masters would have had little patience
with specialized courses in business correspondence. The standard
limited fields. To give the Romans their full due, we must recognize
their consistency in applying similar principles in the management
of their estates. The promotion of slaves seems to have been based
more on recognition of general abilities than on specialized training
66 Re Rustica i.17.4: Qui praesint esse oportere, qui litteris atque aliqua sint
humanitate imbuti, frugi, aetate maiore quam operarios, quos dixi. . . . Praeterea
potissimum eos praeesse oportere, qui periti sint rerum rusticarum. Non solum enim
debere imperare, sed etiam facere. . . . His prescription as to the education of a
vilicus in the first sentence involves a significant use of the word humanitas. Varro
and his fellow countrymen saw no inconsistency in the use of the word in the two senses
of "human sympathy or understanding" and "culture." (See Oscar E. Nybakken,
"Humanitas Romana," T.A.P.A. LXX [1939], 406, 407.) He evidently felt that a
slave who had had some contact with classical literature would understand his men
better, secure more cooperation, and so prove a more efficient foreman. Certainly
Varro had no idea of giving a prospective vilicus a type of education different from
that of freeborn children.
67Epist. i.14.14, 15. I can see no way to interpret this except as a real letter,
aniswering a letter. The vilicus of Horace's farm was a definite individual known to all
his friends, not an abstraction invented to point a moral. Verses 19-30 I take as a
commentary on the vilicus' report, which included an account of a freshet, verses 29, 30.
Horace may have been reading between the lines, in his rehearsal of the features of
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This custom of assigning duties on the basis of general qualifications rather than specific ones produced still more interesting
sees in them support for a belief that the more favored Roman
city-life which his friend missed, but verse 23 sounds like a quotation:
et quod
We therefore reach the conclusion that promotion in Horace's familia was based on
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280
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[1940
his master's son, more liberal than that of American youth today.
Its primary purpose was selfishly utilitarian, but its effect was to
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