Ordinary Life For Romans Under Reign of Stoic Emperor Marcus Aurelius

What can we learn from reflecting on the life of ordinary Romans during
the time of Marcus Aurelius?
What was life like for the ordinary Roman? What was life on an ancient
farm like? What was life in Rome like? How many people lived in ancient
Rome?
How much of the population were slaves? What was life as a slave like?
What were the social classes in Rome?
How and why did slavery transition to serfdom in the later Roman
Empire?
What were Roman roads, aqueducts, travel, and banking like?

Please, we welcome interesting questions in the
comments. Let us learn and reflect together!
At the end of our talk, we will discuss the sources
used for this video.
Please feel free to follow along in the PowerPoint
script we uploaded to SlideShare.

Life for Ordinary Romans Under Marcus Aurelius
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The overwhelming majority of ancient people lived on farms in the
country. Often these farmers retreated behind the city walls when an
army marched through the countryside, the best example is how the
Athenian farmers crowded behind the walls of Athens when the Spartans
raided Attica. This led to overcrowding, which often meant that plague
could strike the population during a siege, such as in Athens in the
beginning of the Peloponnesian Wars. Quite often there were no nearby
city walls where they could seek refuge. For example, Sparta had no city
walls, and Plutarch in his sayings of Spartan women reveals that often
Spartan women were seized and forced to be concubines when their city-
states were conquered.

Plague of Athens,
by François
Perrier, circa
1640

Professor Aldrete in his Wondrium lecture on the History of the Ancient
World points out that the ancient historians and sources are silent on
what life was like for the many farmers who labored in obscurity, that
these ancient histories are really histories of political leaders and city
dwellers. For every person who lived in the city in much of the ancient
world, eight or nine lived on a family farm. The ratio differed around
Rome, about a quarter of the people nearby lived in the city. Most people
never traveled more than twenty miles from home, never saw a king,
never read a book, or heard a philosopher speak. Most people living on
farms did not even know the name of the Roman Emperor, and life went
on as before no matter who was emperor.

Agricultural calendar, Pietro de Crescenzi, 1470 / Agricultural scenes, ancient Egypt. Tomb of Nakht, 15th century BC

The infant mortality rate in the ancient world was
incredibly high: between a quarter and a third of infants
died in their first year of life. If you survived to
adolescence, you had a decent chance of surviving until
middle age, though most people died before they were
fifty. The diet of many ordinary people in the ancient world
was just above a starvation diet. So many women died in
childbirth that Roman wives often updated their wills
when they learned they were pregnant.

Even for wealthy families, infant mortality was high. For
example, Marcus Aurelius married Faustina, daughter of
his predecessor, Emperor Antoninus Pius, when he was
twenty-four and she was fourteen, which was typical for
the ancient world. She born him fifteen children, of whom
only six survived to adulthood. In the end, only one son
survived to be in line of succession, the murderous
Commodus. Marcus Aurelius includes in his Meditations
some fatalistic thoughts on how ancient parents can cope
with this high mortality rate:

Statue and bust
of Faustina,
daughter of
Antoninus Pius,
wife of Marcus
Aurelius

Lucilla, daughter to Marcus Aurelius, wife of emperor Lucius Verus / Bust of Lucilla, 180 AD / Lucilla on coin

Meditations on infant mortality by
Marcus Aurelius:
• “Pray not for some way to save your
child, but for a way to lose your fear
of this.
• Your children are like leaves. The wind
scatters some of them on the ground;
such are the children of men.
• As you kiss your son goodnight,
whisper to yourself that he may be
dead in the morning.”

Ordinary Life for Roman Citizens

In the ancient world, over half of the household budget for the lower
classes was spent on food. To keep the citizenry of Rome from rebelling,
the state guaranteed a dole of wheat for all male citizens, enough to feed
an individual, but not enough to feed his entire family. The state owned
the grain plantations in Northern Africa, which were likely slave
plantations, consuming about fifteen percent of the state budget. Far
more wheat was sold on the open market in Rome, about 85% of the
wheat grown in North Africa. The Roman state also provided cheap wine
for the masses, and erected public baths open to all classes of society, in
addition to free entertainment at the arena, such as the famous gladiator
contests.

Roman bath in Bath, England / Mosaic
bath sign from Sabratha, Libya, showing
bathing sandals, and the slogan SALVOM
LAVISSE, "A bath is good for you"

Gladiator:
Pollice Verso
("With a
Turned
Thumb"), by
Jean-Léon
Gérôme, 1872

There were both large and small farms in Italy, mostly
raising vines, olives, and cereals, known as the
Mediterranean triad, though some also grew dry legumes,
such as broad beans, peas, chickpeas and lentils. Many
farms raised livestock such as goats, sheep, cows, and pigs,
particularly if they were near a town. Italy was arid, raining
only sporadically the summer months, which meant that
North Africa was the breadbasket of the Roman Empire,
raising most of its grains.

Roman mosaic depicting slaves performing agricultural tasks

What was farming like in ancient Rome? The historian Will Durant says that “the
modes and tools of tillage were essentially as they had been for centuries. Plow,
spade, hoe, pick, pitchfork, scythe, rake, had scarcely changed in three thousand
years. Corn was ground in mills turned by water or by beasts. Screw pumps and
water wheels raised water out of mines or into irrigation canals. Soils were
protected by crop rotation, and fertilized by manure, alfalfa, clover, rye, or beans.”
Olive orchards and grape vines were numerous, and fruit and nut trees of every sort
from all over the empire were grown.
Roman
harvester,
Trier

Will Durant continues, “a large part of
Italy was given over to grazing. The
cheapest soils and slaves could be used
for the raising of cattle, sheep, and swine.
Careful attention was paid to scientific
breeding. Horses were bred chiefly for
war, hunting, and sport, seldom as draft
animals; oxen drew the plow and the cart,
mules bore burdens on their backs. Cows,
sheep, and goats gave three kinds of milk,
from which the Italians made delectable
cheeses.” There were small manufactures,
about one in twenty were involved in the
textile trade, plus there were also small
brick, marble, pottery, and glass works.

Roman
Empire at
117 AD,
beginning of
rule of
Hadrian
Free & Enslaved Population: Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was at its zenith when Trajan was emperor, it was
about half the size of the United States, stretching from Iberian Spain to
Parthian Persia, and from Egypt to England. During the reign of Emperor
Marcus Aurelius, about twenty percent of the world’s population lived in
the Roman Empire, about eighty million people, roughly the size of the
Han Empire in distant China.
The city of Rome grew in size during the Roman Empire. Under Julius
Caesar, Rome’s population was about 750,000; under Trajan, about a
million; and under Emperor Antoninus Pius, predecessor of Marcus
Aurelius, about 1,250,000. The slave population of the empire was
between seven and ten million at the time of Marcus Aurelius, and about
half a million, or about forty percent of the population of Rome were
slaves. Many had been enslaved in conquests.

We had previously discussed the types of slaves in the
ancient world, now we will discuss the types of slaves in
Roman society around the time of Marcus Aurelius, from
the least oppressive to slaves facing near-certain death.
Were household slaves, and slaves on small country farms,
sometimes treated as part of the family, as they were in
ancient Greece? Perhaps, we know they included educated
Greek slaves who served as tutors for the aristocrats.

Epitaphs on tombstones
reveal that there could be
affectionate relations
between masters and
slaves, Will Durant
provides examples: “one
owner says a dead servant
was as dear to him as a
son; a young noble mourns
the death of his nurse; a
learned lady raises an
elegant memorial to her
librarian.”
Mosaic from Roman villa at Sidi Ghrib: depicting two female
slaves attending their mistress.

Slave Market Ancient Rome, Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1884
These were the general categories of slaves in all slave
societies, both ancient and modern :
• Household servants, and small farm slaves. This was
often a milder form of slavery, sometimes servants were
treated like a part of the family.
• Concubines, both consenting and unwilling, often
captured in war.
• Least numerous: Independent city slaves who were
tradesmen. Often, they were allowed to retain some of
proceeds from their trade and buy their freedom. This
type of slave was less common in the Deep South, more
common in ancient Greece and Rome.
• Slaves who worked for the city or state, or in factories.
• Most numerous: Field hands for large plantations. Since
the slaveowner had minimal contact with these slaves,
their lives could be quite harsh. McGuckin mentions
that many POWs were enslaved to work the large
ancient Roman plantations.
• Often a death sentence: Slaves who worked in mines.

The wealthier Romans had more
household slaves than positions,
sometimes they had literally
hundreds of slaves, and as the
historian McLynn notes: “a
ludicrous division of labor arose:
one slave would buy groceries,
another would cook, another put
on his master’s shoes, another
dress him, another massage him,
and others follow him to attend
to his every need.”
Slave Market Ancient Rome, Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1886

McLynn notes, “Roman slaves were
often talented, clever and educated,
occupying positions of responsibility
and with a real prospect of freedom.
Some slaves in large households had
de facto control of great wealth,
supervised other workers, both free
and slave, and sometimes were
themselves served by other slaves.”
“Yet despite their managerial powers
and often sumptuous lifestyle, they
owned nothing legally and were
subject to the arbitrary whim of their
masters.” Slave Market, by Gustave Boulanger, 1886

Other sources say that Roman slaves could own property, and if they
were craftsmen, they were permitted to keep a small share of their
revenues, and from that they could save up to eventually purchase
their freedom.
The Roman slaves who had it worst were those who worked on the
great plantations, or latifundiae, and those slaves who worked in the
mines. These slaves were often kept in chains at night. The Romans
typically did not slay the military age men in their conquests, as was
done by many of the Greek city=states, they often sent them to work
on these plantations. Mining was so dangerous in the ancient world
that the slave who worked the mines were living under a virtual death
sentence.

What were the other sources of slaves? Pirates historically
sold their captives into slavery, but the early Roman
Emperors vigorously opposed the pirate fleets, ridding the
Mediterranean of the scourge of piracy. McLynn reports
that foundlings, or children abandoned in the marketplace
by those too poor to properly raise them, were a major
source of Roman slaves. This custom was not abandoned
until 374 AD, during the reign of the Christian Emperors.
Plus, many slaves were born into slavery.

Julius Caesar was captured by pirates, but hunted them down after he was ransomed.

Childhood of King Cyrus, by Antonio Maria Vasallo, late 1600's
There are ancient
stories of future kings
and other notables
being exposed, who
were discovered and
raised by shepherds,
or sometimes servants
of kings. This includes
Cyrus the Great of
Persian, and of course,
baby Moses, floating
in a basket on the
River Nile.

Manumission, or freeing of slaves, was common in the
Roman Empire. One Stoic Philosopher, Epictetus, who
inspired Marcus Aurelius, was himself a former slave of a
former slave. Some former slaves, or freedmen, became
quite wealthy in the early years of the Roman Empire.
But the Roman class distinctions never forgot that you
were a former slave, or freedman. As a freedman, you still
had residual obligations to your former master, as your
former master was now your patron, and as a freedmen
you were often part of his entourage.

The Old Testament prophets, the Jewish rabbis, the
Stoic Philosophers, including Seneca, and the
Christian Apostles and Church Fathers over the
centuries gradually improved the lot of slaves and
those in the lower classes. They urge us to ensure
that we treat the poor and immigrants with fairness,
ensuring they can live their lives with security and
dignity.

Social Classes in Rome of Marcus Aurelius

Roman society was a traditional society where wealth was tied up in
farms and land, and like the Greeks, the Roman aristocrats lived the lives
of country gentlemen, disdaining having to work for a living, especially
avoiding working as merchants. The senatorial class was drawn from the
Roman aristocracy. Those Romans who were modestly wealthy were
eligible to enter the equestrian class, who were also eligible to attend the
senatorial sessions. Below them came the wealthy landowners, who were
eligible to serve as jurymen. Below them were the professional classes,
which included the freedmen, “the shop-owners, retail traders, money-
changers, artisans, doctors, teachers,” and other professions and minor
municipal officials. At the bottom are the wage earners earning very little,
many of them may have lived lives more miserable life than many slaves.

Marcus Aurelius distributing bread to the people, by Joseph-Marie Vien, 1765
Germans submit to Marcus Aurelius, Capitoline Museum, 176 AD

There was a dramatic chasm between the wealthy aristocrats and the
lower classes of laborers. The incomes of the landed aristocracy doubled
or trebled in the first century, under the rule of the early Emperors, and
increased about four times from 100 AD to 400 AD. Roman aristocrats
were expected to live large, flouting their wealth. By the time of Marcus
Aurelius, the fortune of the modestly wealthy averaged about twenty
million sesterces, while the average wages were just four sesterces a day.
This gap between rich and poor was much greater than even the gap in
Victorian England.
Taxation was not heavy. There were no property taxes in Italy until the
end of the third century, death duties were levied at five percent until the
third century, and tribute was collected in the provinces at five or ten
percent.

The Romans in their Decadence, by Thomas Couture, 1847

Transition From Slavery to Serfdom
Men harvesting wheat, Queen Mary's Psalter, 1310

Professor Kenneth Harl of Wondrium and Teaching Company notes that sometime
between the decline of the Western Roman Empire and the Middle Ages that the
primary labor system transitioned from slavery to serfdom, a process that is poorly
documented for many regions of the Roman Empire.
This process is better documented for Rome and Italy. After Hadrian and his
successors consolidated the Empire, this meant that the Roman army would enslave
far fewer conquered, though Marcus Aurelius did enslave many particularly hostile
German tribesman. Marcus Aurelius had another more practical solution: he
inducted defeated Germanic tribesmen into the Roman legions serving in other
theaters of war, some of these soldiers served Rome faithfully. There was not a
serious drop in the number of slaves in Rome until the reign of Marcus Aurelius,
which was due to the severe manpower shortage caused by an outbreak of the
plague.

One consequence of the abandonment of wars of
conquest meant that far fewer foreign captives were
forced into slavery. Some owners of large estates
responded by breaking some of them up into small
holdings that they leased to free tenants who paid in
rent and labor, this included many government
estates.

Hadrian returns from Tivoli, by Ettore Forti, before 1897
Roman Roads, Aqueducts, Travel & Banking

Will Durant discusses many amazing observations about Roman
technology. The Romans are famous for their roads, their
durability was because they are built in layers like today’s roads,
with a base layer of sand, overlaid with four strata of masonry,
including stones and concretes, topped by closely fitting stone
slabs, with local variations in construction. But properly
engineered modern roads are far superior, Roman roads lasted
longer because ancient vehicles much lighter and much slower
than modern vehicles. Roman bridges were often build on piles
driven into the riverbed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_roads
Road construction shown on
Trajan's Column in Rome

Roman auxiliary
infantry crossing a
river, probably
the Danube, on a
pontoon bridge
during the
emperor Trajan's
Dacian Wars
(101–106)

The road system was extensive, Italy alone had twelve thousand
miles of paved roads, there were over fifty thousand miles of
roads throughout the empire. Ships were numerous, powered by
both sails and oars, some ships had three decks, some cargo
ships could hold a thousand tons of freight, some passenger ships
could carry six hundred passengers. But sailing was safest closest
to shore, shipwrecks were common, we know St Paul was
shipwrecked in Acts, sailing between November and March was
especially hazardous. But piracy was eliminated early in the
history of the Roman Empire.

A reconstructed navis lusoria at the Museum of
Ancient Seafaring, Mainz / Roman naval bireme, 120
BC, Pio-Clementino Museum of the Vatican

Pliny thought that the Roman aqueducts were
Rome’s greatest achievement, they carried water to
homes and public buildings and gardens, with
enough left over to fill artificial lakes to host staged
water battles in the Coliseum. But they needed
constant maintenance, they used lead pipes, and
were out of service by the end of the Western
Empire.

The multiple arches of the Pont du Gard in Roman Gaul (modern-day southern France). The
upper tier encloses an aqueduct that carried water to Nimes in Roman times; its lower tier was
expanded in the 1740s to carry a wide road across the river.

As trade was extensive, so was
the banking system. As Will
Durant tells us, “bankers were
everywhere. They served as
money-changers, accepted
checking and savings accounts,
issued traveler’s checks and
bills of exchange, bought and
sold real estate, placed
investment and collected
debts, and lent money to
individuals and partnerships.”

Interest rates varied from four percent under Augustus to twelve percent
under Constantine. There were financial panics as today. But Dr
Wikipedia posits that Roman bankers disappear from the historical record
sometime after 260 AD, possibly due to currency debasement.
Also, in succeeding videos, we will reflect on the Roman Emperors
through the time of Marcus Aurelius, and beyond. We also reflect further
on the biographies of Marcus Aurelius after our video some time ago on
whether Marcus Aurelius was the friend or foe of Christians. We reflected
on his Meditations, which paradoxically have troublesome references to
Christians, as well extolling virtues which Christians find admirable. We
are also going to reflect on the biography of Marcus Aurelius, and the
Emperor Commodus, and we will also reflect on the history of Christian
persecutions under these early Roman emperors.

https://youtu.be/-uQxq1O9xSY https://youtu.be/0qHpReZYhv4

The modern historian Frank McLynn’s biography of
Marcus Aurelius is over five hundred pages, about
half of the pages are background information,
including what life was like for ordinary Romans in
the time of Marcus Aurelius. Although it is dated,
written in 1944, Will Durant’s history, Caesar and
Christ, has a chapter on what life was like for
ordinary Romans, plus he is very quotable, an
excellent writer.

To find the source of any direct
quotes in this blog, please type in
the phrase to the search box in
my blog to see the referenced
footnote.
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