Chapter 2

Cultural Notes: Clients and Freedmen

A client was originally a free man who entrusted himself to another and received protection in return. Being a client was essentially a matter of social, hereditary status. As a client, you might receive food or assistance in court. In return, you helped your patron in his political and private life, and greeted him in the morning. Thus, another name for a client was a salutator.

Freed slaves were clients who owed deference and service to their former master, now their patron. They were not eligible for certain positions, such as magistrate. If a freedman died without an heir, his property reverted to his former master. His son, if born after manumission, was a full citizen, though.

Generally freedmen were artisans, traders, shopkeepers, copyists, bailiffs, secretaries, and teachers. Some won fortune and influence, and gained a reputation for vulgarity. On the whole, however, they were benefactors of their townships who spent money on public works or were priests of Augustus (seviri Augustales). Trimalchio, as we shall see, illustrates both the good and bad aspects of the freedman.