THE SOCIAL HIERARCHY 143reasoned decision, but this inscription more than anything makes me realize
what a ridiculous farce it is when they can be thrown away on such dirt and
fi lth, and that rascal could presume to accept and refuse them’ ( Ep. 7.29).
Aristocrats tried to justify their sense of outrage on some grounds other
than the accident of servile birth. Freedom, citizenship and wealth, it was
claimed, could not change the uncultured, servile spirit of a former slave.
Petronius’ portrayal of Trimalchio is the classic expression of this stereotype
of the boorish freedman.^45 Seneca described a real- life counterpart: ‘Within
our own time there was a certain rich man named Calvisius Sabinus; he had
the wealth and spirit of a freedman. I never saw a man whose good fortune
was a greater offence against propriety’ ( Ep. 27.5). Sabinus, we are told,
paid great sums for slaves who had memorized all the works of Homer and
Hesiod. At dinner parties he bored guests by repeating half- forgotten lines
learned from these slaves. To judge by the tirade of Hermeros, one of
Trimalchio’s fellow ex- slaves in the Satyricon (57–8), successful freedmen
were sensitive to the insults implicit in this elitist ideology and responded by
emphasizing their personal accomplishments in buying their freedom and
accumulating wealth.
The ideological confl ict provoked by the careers of successful freedmen
was never fully resolved, but an institutional compromise was developed in
the cities of Italy and the western provinces from the reign of Augustus.
Freedmen were barred from the local council, but could be honoured with
the offi ce of Augustalis. Like decurions and local magistrates, Augustales
during their term of offi ce enjoyed special seats at public events and the
symbols of authority, such as attendants ( lictores ), rods ( fasces ) and
distinctive clothing (the toga praetexta ). In return, they paid a fee in respect
of their offi ce, and were exposed to the same pressure as decurions to
provide voluntary, public benefactions. Thus the college of Augustales served
the dual purpose of recognizing the superiority of these wealthy freedmen
over the mass of the plebs and at the same time maintaining the most basic
criterion of status, birth.^46 Their existence can be taken as evidence that no
group of free men in Roman society was excluded from honours. It is,
however, an exaggeration to compare their position as a ‘second order’ in
the cities to that of equestrians in Rome. Unlike equestrians, they could
move no higher. Freedmen’s sons were the true arrivistes , not the freedmen
themselves, since their servile birth ensured they would never ‘arrive’.
Like rank, status was advertised in standard ways. Since status was linked
with wealth, it could be demonstrated through conspicuous consumption.
Apuleius’ miser who wished to keep the size of his fortune secret by living in
a small house with only one servant was an exception ( Met. 1.21). For
Seneca, a fi ne mansion and numerous beautiful slaves were among the
foremost symbols commonly associated with wealth and status ( Ep. 41.7).
A century later Apuleius also took this for granted in his defence of the
philosopher Crates against suspicions that the latter held the anti- social
views associated with philosophers; the orator pointed out that Crates