Slave Education in the Roman Empire

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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XX.-Slave Education in the Roman Empire

S. L. MOHLER
FRANKLIN AND MARSHALL COLLEGE

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.

I yield to none in my general admiration for the Romans and

in my respect for the familiar authors whose works we interpret to
succeeding generations of students, but when it comes to assessing
the social values of ancient institutions, it is a wise procedure to

subject the judgments of those authors to critical review, and look

for virtues where they find nothing but faults. Pliny the Elder

thought the cooling of lukewarm wine a sure indication of the

approaching downfall of Rome; Juvenal lay awake nights brooding

over the fact that the women of his day could take part in intelligent
discussions of literature. Voluntary exile was to him the only

rational alternative to living in a country where penniless foreigners

had a chance to rise to positions of respect and affluence as doctors,
architects, or college professors. This all makes good reading, but
the education of women and the extension of economic opportunity

to the lowest class of society are phenomena which no American

should view as symptoms of decay. We are proud of our Portias
and our Trimalchios. In the field of education, current discussion

almost completely disregards the needs of students who will live on

inherited incomes, yet they constitute the only class whose training

Roman writers deign to discuss. It is my purpose to go to the

other extreme and extract unwilling testimony from ancient masters
as to how they brought the benefits of education to their great

working class, and if possible secure a confession that they were

both farsighted and humane.

The scope of my subject becomes evident when we remember

that a large proportion of the brain-workers in ancient society

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Vol. lxxij Slave Education in Roman Empire 263

were of servile status: bookkeepers, stenographers, secretaries,
doctors were almost always slaves or freedmen; bankers and

teachers were usually of that class. And in the period of the

Empire an increasing number of these slaves were home-raised,

vernae, who must have received at least their basic training as

slaves. How was it accomplished?

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.

Horace's account of Davus' absorption of pseudo-Stoic doctrine is

perhaps a case in point: he had learned the truth that makes men
free from Crispinus' doorkeeper.' The master, in this case, was a

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

countrymen. When he tells us that he ended a typical day at one

of his villas with a stroll with his educated slaves, we may assume

that the subjects of conversation were literary or rhetorical, directed

to accommodate the interests of young readers or secretaries.3
What a Pliny or a Horace might do on principle, Crassus did
1 Serm. ii.7.45: Dum quae Crispini docuit me ianitor edo.

2 Ibid. ii.6.65-67, 73-76:

0 noctes cenaeque deum! quibus ipse meique

ante Larem proprium vescor vernasque procacis

pasco libatis dapibus.
sed quod magis ad nos

pertinet et nescire malum est, agitamus: utrumne

divitiis homines an sint virtute beati;

quidve ad amicitias, usus rectumne, trahat nos;

et quae sit natura boni summumque quid eius.

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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on policy, as we are told by his biographer: I "And yet one might

well say that all these other sources of wealth amounted to nothing
in comparison with the profit from his slaves, such was their number

and variety, readers, secretaries, silver-assayers, stewards, and

dining-room decorators. He gave his personal attention and
supervision to their education and even taught them himself....
And he was right in his feeling that other matters should be managed

by slaves, but that slaves should be managed by their master."

It was no accident that the man who thus recognized the cash
value of training became the richest man of his time. And we must

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

as the paedagogus of his young master, picked up from the lectures

intended for his ward and perhaps from the practice of re-teaching
what he heard a sufficient knowledge to merit his recognition as
one of Rome's outstanding scholars.5 Two other men whose names
appear in this ancient edition of "Who's Who in Education" had

the good fortune of being slaves of the distinguished teachers,

Orbilius and C. Julius Hyginus (ibid. 19, 20). It would be inter-

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.

5 Suetonius Grammatici 23: Q. Remmius Palaemon, Vicetinus, mulieris verna,

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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Vol. lxxi] Slave Education in Roman Empire 265

schools of the time, whether they were accepted as members of
classes which normally contained both slaves and patricians, or
attended simply as the personal attendants of their masters. At

all events, Hyginus, a freedman of Augustus, zealously attended

the lectures of one of the great scholars of his day (ibid. 20):
studiose et audiit et imitatus est Cornelium Alexandrum grammaticum Graecum, quem propter antiquitatis notitiam Polyhis-

torem multi . . . vocabant. Another of these thumbnail sketches

informs us that Marcus Antonius Gnipho, who had the distinction

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

education: a slave who showed scholastic ability might win the

boon of exceptionally early manumission as well as that of preparation for a professional career.6

It will readily be seen that the cases I have cited were excep-

tional, but the more I observe of Roman higher education the

more I am convinced that its administration was as democratic

as its curriculum was snobbish. For, as applied to education,

liberalis means not that which is appropriate for any free individual,
but that which is appropriate for a member of an aristocracy whose
only serious occupation was the practice of law. But the experience
of Horace is in itself proof that the highest schools were open to

young men whose social position prevented them from ever putting
into practice the knowledge imparted. If my interpretation of the

significance of the iuvenes is correct, we must conclude that freedmen

and their sons were welcomed in schools throughout the empire.7

As for slaves, Seneca refers to the gift of a liberal education as a

beneficium which a master might bestow on them; and Varro con-

sidered a certain amount of culture, humanitas, desirable in a farm

overseer.8
6 This was noticeably true in the medical profession: practicing physicians were
almost always freedmen, whereas the boys in training-whether as pupils in classes or
as "apprentices" attending clinics-were presumably slaves. For the early manumission of an imperial secretary see C.I.L. vi.8613 (page 276).
7 "The Iuvenes and Roman Education," T.A.P.A. LXVIII (1937), 462, 479.
8 Seneca De Ben. iii.21.2: Est aliquid, quod dominus praestare debeat, ut cibaria,
ut vestiarium. Nemo hoc dixit beneficium; at indulsit liberalius, educavit, artes
quibus erudiuntur ingenui tradidit: beneficium est. For Varro see note 66.

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If slaves occasionally found their way into the schools of the

upper classes, conditions were reversed in the field of medicine,
where a few free-born youths would mingle with a larger number of
slaves. Still other schools, supplying training in occupations ill
which slaves had a monoply, must necessarily have depended en-

tirely on slave patronage. Such were the schools of stenography;

and Martial indicates clearly that in his day they were the most
flourishing in the city. In an appeal to an ordinary ludi magister to
give his pupils a summer vacation he uses these words: "so may no
teacher of shorthand or bookkeeping be surrounded by a larger
circle." Here we see the practical element in education to the

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

would have described as servile. But it was a step forward when

the ancient world extended an opportunity for any sort of mental
training to its underprivileged children.

The most unique and significant development came in the larger

households, where we may well imagine that the number of slavechildren was such as to present acute problems of discipline. To
get them out of the way-and incidentally make them more valuable
pieces of property-older slaves were set the task of teaching the
young ones. Since tutors or child-attendants were best fitted by
experience for this function, paedagogi were assigned to it, and we
shall see that the title was retained when the slave-teacher had
never performed the duties usually associated with the word. The
combination of functions is illustrated in these inscriptions: C.I.L.
vi.9449 Pudens M. Lepidi l., grammaticus. i Procurator eram

Lepidae moresque regebam; I dum vixi, mansit Caesaris illa nur

Philologus discipulus; 10 8972, . . . s Aug. lib. Narcissus I nat
9 Martial x.62.4, 5:

nec calculator nec notarius velox

maiore quisquam circulo coronetur.

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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Vol. lxxi] Slave Education in Roman Empire 267

Parthus, paedagogus I puerorum imp. et papas Galeriae I Aug.

libertae Lysistrates, concubinae I divi Pii ( ). Paedagogus puero-

rum, incidentally, is the commonest title of these slave teachers,"

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 their paedagogus.1' The relation, however, was not always one

of antagonism, since we find slaves or freedmen erecting tombs for
their teachers 14 and vice versa.15 The fact that practically all the
imperial paedagogi were freedmen shows the importance of their
either Pudens was transferred to duty in the imperial slave-school (see note 36), or
Philologus was sold to the emperor. In either case the inscription gives striking proof

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."

11 C.I.L. vi.8968: D. M. I T. Aelio Aug. lib. I Peregrino paedalgogo puerorum.

Fec. Aelia Nice patrono I b. m.; 8969: Ti. Claudio Aug. 1. Eutycho I paedag. puerorum,
Ti. Claudius Aug. 1. Eunetes I fratri suo, et T. Flavius Aug. 1. I Venustus, ab auro
potorio, I paedagogo suo fecerunt; 8970: D. M. T. Flavio Aug. lib. Ganymedi I paedagogo puerorum I Caes. n., fec. Ulpia Helpis I coniugi optimo b.m. et I lib. libertabusque
suis; 8971: D. M. I Flavi Stephani I paedagog. pueror. I Imp. Titi Caesaris; 8973:
D. M. I Onesati Caes. I n. ser., paedagolgo puerorum, I fecit Annia I Stratonice I coniugi
b.m. 11 D. M. I T. F. Hermes I Aug. lib. I a superlectille p. Cae. n., I f. Fortunata I lib.
pat. b.m.; 8974, 9875 (fragmentary). Cf. Spart. Hadr. 2 (note 39).
An alternative title is paedagogus domini, vi.9753 (see note 17). Regis paedagogus

occurs in an Augustan inscription, vi.8980: C. Iulius Epaphra I divi Augusti 1. I vixit

ann LX. I Carus alumno suo I regis paedagogus. Use of the word alumnus, coupled
with the fact that the man was a slave, suggests that he may have been a child attendant
or tutor rather than a teacher. Cf. note 16. A similar interpretation may be given
to the use of the single word paedagogus applied to a ninety-five year old slave of

Carthage, viii S 12649: D. M. S. I Fortunatus I Caes. n. ser. paeldagogus, pius

annis xcv I h.s.e.

12 vi.7290 (from the monument of the Volusii, first half of the first century after

Christ): Dis manibus sacrum I Primigenius L. Volusi I Saturnini ser. ab hospitis I et

paedagog. pueror. Charidi cont. s. b. m. I ( ); 9740 M. Allecinius Philocalus I M.

libertus I Allecinia Clara I Allecini Philocali I liberta, beneficio I Laleti Paedagogo

puerorum.

13 Martial iii.58.30, 31:

et paedagogo non iubente lascivi

parere gaudent vilico capillati.

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

Ti. Caesaris Augusti et I Iuliae Augustae servos. I Euenus ollam et locum

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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position; even a subpaedagogus was a freedman.'6 The occurrence

of the title decanus paedagogorum shows that the organization
attained some size.'7 Praeceptor puerorum Caesaris may be taken
as a simple alternative to paedagogus, proving the educational
character of the whole institution.'8 It is peculiarly significant to
find a vicarius erecting a tomb for his "teacher and friend of good

counsel. "
Other services performed for these slave-boys indicate that they

constituted a distinct group within the household. We find a

"chief doctor of distinguished children," 1' a man in charge of

furnishings,20 an anointer,2' and a beautician, ornatrix, wife of a

praeceptor.A2 All of these were attached to the imperial household,
and their records create a general impression that these home-

trained slaves were well enough cared for to constitute a sort of

aristocracy. This was so strikingly true in private life as well that

it is almost the only feature of the institution that ancient authors

deign to mention. We are told that paedagogiani were well dressed,23

were careful of their complexions,24 and had neatly combed hair25

16 vi.8976: D. M. I T. Flavio Aniceto sublpaedagogo I puerorum I Caes. n., v. a-

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).

17 vI.9753: P. Statio P.1. Bioni I dec. I paedag. domini vi.a.xcvi I P. Stat

Anteros posuit. For the status of this man as having been outside the imperial
familia cf. note 36; for the longevity of these teachers cf. note 11, fin.

18 vI.8977: D. M. I Hermeti Aulg. lib. praeptlori puerorum I Caes. n. Aelia

Ceruola I coniugi b. m. II D. M. I Aelia Celruola Aug. I lib. ornatrix I puerorum Caes

qu...; 8978: Dis Manibus I Pieri Aug. 1. praec. I puerr. Caesaris n., I Flavia Nice

coniunx I b. m. titulum cum valvis I aeneis d. s. p., permissu Hermae I Aug. 1.

Domitiae Aug.; 8979: D. M. I Ulpio Sotacto I Aug. lib. praeclptori (sic) puer. C. n.
Chrysippus lib. I patrono optimo I et bene merenti 11 D. M. I Polyclito I Aug. pedis. I

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

eminentium Caesaris n. I qui vix. annis xxx....

20 8973 (Flavius, above note 11).

21 v.1039 (see note 43).

22 vI.8977 (see note 18).

23 Seneca De Vita Beata 17.2: Quare uxor tua locupletis domus censum auribus

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.

25 Ibid. 95.24; Martial III.58.30, 31 (see note 13).

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Vol. lxxi] Slave Education in Roman Empire 269

with never a word as to the training given these boys who were

destined to become managers of huge estates or agents of the

imperial treasury. Modern commentators are generally content to

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

assume that there was a sharp line of distinction between elaborately

groomed paedagogiani and farm hands, and since a wealthy master
would spend only a fraction of the year at any one villa, it becomes
apparent that the boys were only partially employed. Waiting on
table may have been as incidental in their lives as it is in those of
our present day college students who accept that kind of employment in their summer vacations. We shall see reason to compare
city paedagogiani with students who do such work through the
school year.

Unfortunately the other feature of the paedagogium to which

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

the youths the special training required for advancement.29 Or

rather, if admission to the paedagogium was as early as we have
reason to believe, it would be more accurate to say that the victims
were chosen from boys who had been previously picked out for
special training. (There is a close correlation between intelligence
26 E.g. Marquardt, op. cit. (see note 13), 158, 159.

27 The insertion of this clause implies that paedagogia might be maintained at

villas for some purpose other than the one specified. See page 270.
28 Suetonius Nero 28: Super ingenuorum paedagogia et nuptarum concubinatus
Vestali virgini Rubriae vim intulit . . .; Seneca Epist. 95.24.
29 Cf. Petronius Sat. 29.4: Hinc quemadmodum ratiocinari didicisset, dein dispensator factus esset, omnia diligenter curiosus pictor cum inscriptione reddiderat;
75.11: Tamen ad delicias ipsimi domini annos quattuordecim fui. Nec turpe est quod
dominus iubet. Ego tamen et ipsimae dominae satisfaciebam. Some of our paeda-

gogiani, at least, were protected from this last form of temptation by infibulation;

Pliny N.H. xxxiii.12.54: . . . iam vero paedagogia in transitu virilitatis custodiantur

argento.... Cf. S. Reinach, in Daremberg-Saglio, Dictionnaire, s.v. "Fibula," ii.2.1 1,
note 19.

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and attractiveness in young children.) Inscriptions give ages of

twelve to eighteen years for boys in the imperial school.30

The word paedagogium is also used in a concrete sense to describe

the place where these boys lived and received their instruction.
Pliny the Younger had one, which he mentions in connection with a
ghost story. While one of his slave boys was sleeping in the
paedagogium "with a number of others", two white-clad figures
entered a window and cut off his hair, then left by the same route31.
I visualize this hazing stunt as having taken place in a second story

dormitory; the window mentioned faced on a court with a roofed

porticus perfectly adapted to such juvenile pranks. The portico

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

slaves even during the Saturnalia.4 Acceptance of the hypothesis

that this villa housed a slave boarding school relieves us of the
necessity of attributing the holiday hubbub to a corps of faithful
old gardeners and domestics.
Other paedagogia of which we have definite notices are con-

nected with the imperial household at Rome. The earliest is a

mere name, C.I.L. vi.8967: Hyblaeus et Ismenus Ifratres de

paedagog. Rami i Ti. Caesaris. No suggestion is offered as to the
30 C.I.L. vI.4353: Philonicus I Ti. Caesaris Germ. I de paedagogio vixit ann.

xIix; 8965: Halotus I ex paedagogio Caesaris, v. a. xii J Phlegon I ex paedagogio

Caesaris, v. a. xIix; 8966: D. M. I Heleno Aug. I vernae ex I paedagogio p.v.a. XVI.
Cf. 8987 (below, page 273) a vestitor of eighteen, but still probably attached to the

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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Vol. lxxi] Slave Education in Roman Empire 271

meaning of the letters RAmI, and I am even uncertain as to the
connotation of the word fratres in this context.35 Tiberius appears
to have had a well established paedagogium, so well established,
indeed, that it is difficult to trace any development in the imperial

slave-school in the two succeeding centuries.36 Though no other

specific structure is mentioned in inscriptions assignable to the
first century, the number of references to the institution in the
Flavian period would indicate that it reached its most important

development at that time, and it is almost necessary to assume that

the boys were housed in a special structure.37

The paedagogium most frequently named was one on, the

Caelian hill, ad Caput Africae.38 Names and dates indicate that
it flourished from the time of Trajan or Hadrian till A.D. 214.39

The bulk of our evidence comes from the epitaphs of paedagogi

who worked there, known as paedagogi a Kapite Africaes and

paedagogi puerorum Kap. Afr.40 The most important of our

35 Whether it means "brothers" or "fellow students.'' See page 273.
36 Boys remained in attendance till the age of eighteen, vi.4353 (see note 30), the
highest age of which we have definite record. The quality of the training imparted is
indicated by the fact that one of the students later rose to the important secretariat,
ab epistulis (see page 266, note 10). A significant difference may be observed in the
personnel of Tiberius' staff. The teacher of the man just mentioned was a freedman

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.

- 38 G. Gatti, "Del Caput Africae Nella Seconda Regione Di Roma," Annali

dell'Instit. di Corrispondenza Archeologica LIV (1882), 191-220; S. B. Platner and
Thomas Ashby, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome (London, Oxford University Press, 1929), 98, 99.

39 C.I.L. vI.8985: D. M. I M. Ulpio I Agathonico I paedagogo I a Caput Afri

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.

40 C.I.L. vi.8984: D. M. I Niceratus Augustorum n. ser. I paedagogus a Caput

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

paedagog. I puerorum a Caput Africas. ...

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records is a dedication of the year 198 containing the names of

twenty-four paedagogi.41 The form of the inscription indicates
collegiate organization, and the fact that all the men were imperial
freedmen shows that their profession was regarded with a certain

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

had an athletic program,43 and, if this was the paedagogium of the

41 Ibid. vi.1052:
IMPERATORI CAESARI

M. AVRELIO ANTONINO
AVG.

L. SEPTIMI SEVERI PII

PERTINACIS AVG. FILIO
domino indulgentissimo

paedagogi puerorum a Capite

Africae quorum nomina infra
scripta sunt

Trypherus ver. lib. Petizace s lib.

Euperilemptu s lib. Zoillu s lib.
Eutyfro n lib. Frequen s lib.
Trophimus ver. lib. Modestu s lib.
Pollux ver. lib. Patroclu s lib.

Chrysomallu s lib. Herme s lib.

Philoterus ver. lib. Nichomachus ver. lib.
Eutyche s lib. Paedicu s lib.
Spendo n lib. Hermogene s lib.
Perseu s lib. Neon ver. lib.
Herme s lib. Anemuriu s lib.

Felix s lib. Eutyche s lib.

Procurantibus Saturnino et Eumeniano

dedic. Idib. Oct. Saturnino et Gallo

COS. (A.D. 198)

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.

43 v.1039 (Aquileia): D. M. Philagrypno I Aug. vern. ex Kap. I Africaes, qui vix.

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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Vol. lxxi] Slave Education in Roman Empire 273

second century, they also had manicure service and a corps of
doctors to look out for their health.44 But to me by far the most
significant of their records is one which employs the word Caputafricensis, like "West Pointer" or "Cambridgeman ", C.I.L. vi.8987:

Alexander I Augg. ser. fecit I se bibo Marco filio I dulcissimo Cap

fricesi qui deputa I batur inter bestito I res, qui vixit annis i x
mesibu viiII I diebu v. Peto a bobis, I fratres boni, per I unum d
ne quis I VII TITE LO molestat I pos mo(rtem meam).45 These "

tinguished boys" were "brothers ",46 united by a bond of common

experience comparable with nothing in the world except that of

life in a boarding school.

Two other structures, both on the Palatine, have been tenta-

tively associated with the imperial paedagogium. One, in the

domus Gelotiana, contains a famous collection of graffiti, among
which are a number in the form: exit de paedagogio.47 Gatti very
reasonably argues that the expression means that the individual
had graduated from the school at Caput Africae, rather than that

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,

especially in the space below the blackboard. Boys sitting on

ordinary benches could easily have performed the feats of art and
44 vi.8977 (see note 18); 8981 (see note 19). Gatti, loc. cit. (see note 38), 214, 215,
upholds the view that the institution at Caput Africae was the only imperial paedagogium in the city.

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.

49 Christian Huelsen, "Das Sogennante Paedagogium auf dem Palatin," in

Melanges Boissier, edited by Albert Fontemoing (Paris, Librairie des Ecoles frangaises
d'Athenes et de Rome, 1903), 304.

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chirography in question. Much more positive is Huelsen's identification of one of the chambers as a wardrobe-room, from the names

of types of clothing inscribed on the walls.50 This supplies a direct

link with our Caputafricensis who was detailed to that service,
presumably before his "graduation." 51

I am tempted to go a little further in my interpretation of

these records and propose the hypothesis that school boys and
alumni were on duty together in this suite of rooms (presumably
with others who were in no way associated with the paedagogium).
To begin with, we find names with and without the expression,
exit de paedagogio: 10, 22, Eutyches; 11, Eutyches exit de paedagogio; 88, Marianus; 51, Marinus Afer exiit de pedagogiu (sic).52
It is possible that these names do not represent the same person,

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-

dence appears in a use of the word "brothers" in a way which

suggests its application to students in the school at Caput
Africae,53 8:

Epitynchanus
et Asiaticus
frat.

Inasmuch as Asiaticus was presumably born in Asia Minor and

Epitynchanus is twice designated as a verna, "home born ",54 it
is beyond the realm of probability that they were true brothers.

The same names are also linked in a triple inscription, 63:

Epitynchanus
Asiaticus
Felicissimus A
puei (- Augusti pueri)
50 Ibid., 305. From the use of the word Dalmatica he also assigns it a date not
earlier than the Antonines.
51 C.I.L. vi.8987 (see page 273).

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.

53 C.I.L. vI.8987 (see page 273).

64 Cf. number 64, EPITYNCHANUS VERNA; 192, EHITYNXAN(O)C P. V.D.N.

Correra interprets these last letters as verna domini nostri, loc. cit. (see note 47), (1894),
89-94.

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Vol. lxxi] Slave Education in Roman Empire 275

This may not have great significance, but the expression suggests
the title of the paedagogi, and gives a further hint that the bond
between Epitynchanus and Asiaticus was something other than
common parentage.

Identification of the other "paedagogium" rests on much more

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

one of them, at least, was associated with the work of paedagogiani

in a manner which might almost have been assumed from their dual

status in the household as decorative pages and students preparing

themselves for high administrative responsibilities.
In private families the training of city slaves was conducted
with less segregation than is indicated for our Caputafricenses, but

sufficient distinction still attached to that training to inspire the

use of the word compedagogitae for those who received it.56 Correlation of study with practical service as waiters was presumably

closer, and economy in employment might even be carried over

into the staff, as we see in the record of a man who combined the

functions of paedagogus and ab hospitiis.57 When guests arrived at

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.

56 C.I.L. vi.9759: D. M. I Erasti i vix. ann. i xxii con I pedagoglitae b.me.; 97

D. M. I Carpioni I amico I b.m. I fecit Helius I conpedagogita; 9761: Dis. Man

Neriti I Pomponi I Materni I pueri con I pedagogit. I merenti; 9762: D. M. I Noeto

Claudius I Euangelus conpedagogi I iae suo f.; 9764: D. M. I C. Valerio I Leonae

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).

58 A similar alternation of activities at Pliny's villa may almost be assumed, and

it helps us to appreciate the economy of its arrangement. Pliny Epist. ii. 17.9: Reliqua

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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picture of seasonal employment for waiters. In the long months

when the master was away, it would have been inhumane as well

as wasteful to let them sit around cherishing their complexions.59

It was the paedagogi, who were proverbially severe, who saw to it
that the boys were purposefully employed. All told, the relation

of practical service and brain-work in the lives of these slave-boys

presents an analogy with our ultra-modern Antioch plan.
For knowledge of what actually went on within a paedagogium
we must resort to inference as to the training which was prerequisite
for the positions these " pages " held in later life, and general deductions as to educational practice in the Roman world. \Ve have

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,

adiutor ab epistulis Latinis, C.I.L. vi.8613: D. M. I Faustus Aug.

lib. I adiutor ab epis|tulis Lat. Vixit I an. xvIIII m. IIII I dieb.
xvi. Fecit I Artemisius paedlagogus et lib. I puero rarissimo. The

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

freed his paedagogus. He was indeed a "most unusual boy", but a

society which gave such recognition to literary talent in its young

slaves was somewhat unusual too. We must resist a temptation

to infer that many of our paedagogi puerorum played the role of

personal attendant implied in this inscription, if for no other

reason because of the high proportion of freedmen among paedagogi
whose records we possess.6call for the presence of a maximum staff of slaves. If we suppose that at such times
space usually employed in slave-education was made available for other uses by the
students' becoming "pages," we get a more favorable impression of the utility of the
whole structure.
59 Cf. page 268, note 24.

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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Vol. lxxi] Slave Education in Roman Empire 277

One other inscription informs us that an imperial freedman,
age unmentioned, in charge of gold drinking vessels, joined in
erecting an epitaph to his paedagogus.62 This gives us little more
than confirmation of our observation that our boys were employed
in the dining room, but it happens to supply a link in the chain of
evidence as to the work for which they were prepared. For our
next task is to determine what happened to these boys after they
had served their terms as pages. Information on this point may
be secured directly from a few epitaphs and honorary inscriptions
which fortunately trace the steps of freedmen's careers. The first
is one of a cupbearer, a crystalinis, comparable with our paeda-

gogianus ab auro potorio, C.I.L. iii.536 (Corinth): Theoprepen I

Aug. lib. proc. I domini n. M. Aur. I Severi Alexandri I Pii Fel.

Aug. I provinciae Achaiae I et Epiri et Thessaliae I rat. purpurarum, proc. ab ephemeride, I proc. a mandatis, proc. I at praedia
Galliana, I proc. saltus Domitiani, I tricliniarcham,63 praelpositum
a fiblis, I praepositum a crylstallinis, hominem I incomparabilem, I

Lysander Aug. lib. officilalis I 4,(-01aou-yrL) f(o*X-s); xi.3612

(Caere): Ti. Claudius Aug. lib. Bucolas praegustator, tricliniarc.

proc. a munerib., proc. aquar.,64 proc. castrensis, cum Q. Claudio I

Flaviano filio et Sulpicia Cantabra matre d. d.; vI.9005: Genio I
Coeti Herodian. I praegustator. I divii Augusti, I idem postea vilicus

in I hortis Sallustianis ( ) (He died A.D. 45); vi.1884: M. Ulpio

Aug. lib. I Phaedimo divi Traiani Aug. a potione I item a laguna et

tricliniarch., lictori proximo et a comment. I beneficiorum, vixit
ann. xxviii ( ) (He died A.D. 117).

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

while they were seriously concerned with the etiquette of pouring

wine or holding cloaks. Waiting on tables was almost as secondary
in their lives as it is in the lives of our college students who find it
necessary to earn their board in that way. The excessive grooming
62 vi.8969 (cf. note 11).

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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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

literary-grammatical course of the grammaticus was trusted to

produce success not only in writing and speaking, but in almost any
normal human enterprise. Their faith in the principle of transfer
of training was so complete that they assumed that boys who had

distinguished themselves in classroom rhetoric would make first

rate treasury officials or admirals.65 Whether a liberal education
was thought of as producing intelligence or merely proving its
existence, specialization of training was accorded scant respect in

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

or experience. This appears in Varro's reasonable suggestion that

the slave chosen to manage a farm should be one who was used to
farm operations.66 The modern reader instinctively criticizes this

injunction as a laboring of the obvious, but it so happens that the

two ancient gentlemen farmers we know best disregarded his admonition: Horace's vilicus was promoted from his city staff,67 and
65 For the relation of school-room success to political advancement see the author's
article (cited note 7), 479.

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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Vol. lxxi] Slave Education in Roman Empire 279

Pliny tells us that at vintage time his city slaves took charge,
Epist. ix.20.2: Ipse cum maxime vindemias graciles quidem,
uberiores tamen quam expectaveram, colligo, si colligere est non
numquam decerpere uvam, torculum invisere, degustare de lacu
mustum, obrepere urbanis, qui nunc rusticis praesunt meque notariis
et lectoribus reliquerunt. This makes sense only if we suppose
that these city slaves had had previous experience in vineyards,
possibly in a succession of duties as varied as those of Roman
senators. Such generalized careers presuppose general education
rather than specialized manual training. All of the more important
functions in a city household, be it remarked, would require a high
degree of literacy and a practical knowledge of arithmetic. The
elite of Pliny's household, exempt from all menial labor, consisted
of those who had the most thorough literary training, his readers
and secretaries.

This custom of assigning duties on the basis of general qualifications rather than specific ones produced still more interesting

results in the imperial service. C.I.L. vi.8382: D. M. I M. Aur. Aug

lib. Philetus I prepositus unctor. I et proc. fari Alexanldriae

Hegyptum ( ); 8583: D. M. Ti. Claudio Speclatori I Aug. lib.,

procurator. Formis, Fundis, Caietae, I procurator. Laurento ad I

elephantos, I Cornelia Bellica coniugi l b. m. The benighted old

Romans failed to recognize pachyderm dietetics as a proper classroom study; lighthouse keeping and pipe making were also omitted
from their curricula. I have a grave suspicion that these keepers
of lighthouses and elephants had never progressed beyond the
subjects Varro prescribed for a farm manager, Greek and Latin
classics.68 Varro is perhaps intentionally vague as to the amount
of education a trusted slave should have, but I think he is specific
as to its quality. A slave received the same kind of education as
a free boy, whether it lasted for two years or twelve.
In these facts a twentieth century educator should find the
long sought explanation of the fall of Rome. A mere Latin teacher

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

angulus iste feret piper et tus ocius uva, . . .

We therefore reach the conclusion that promotion in Horace's familia was based on

the possession of a good sense of humor.

68 I.e. humanilas (cf. note 66).

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slave boy was given an education roughly comparable with that of

his master's son, more liberal than that of American youth today.
Its primary purpose was selfishly utilitarian, but its effect was to

make the slave a self-respecting human being, and prepare him

for the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship, which came to
him with manumission. The strength of Roman society lay precisely in its ability to absorb foreign elements, and writers like Livy
appreciated the fact when they could view it in the hazy perspective

of a traditional past, as in the story of the incorporation of the

Albans into the body politic. The continuation of that process for
nearly a thousand years, and its extension to include the diverse
elements which "mingled their waters with the Tiber" was decried

by the men who made it possible, but it constitutes the great

achievement of Rome. And in that achievement no small part was
played by the despised institution of the paedagogium.

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