Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 2 - Government, Society, and Culture in the Roman Empire

chaptersix

Epictetus and the Imperial Court

*

WhatweknowofRomanpoliticallifeundertheearlyEmpireweowemostly
tosenatorialwriters,andtoanequestrian,Suetonius;asingleimperialfreed-
man,PhlegonofTralles,hasleftsomescrapsofinformationaboutthecourt
in his own time and before.^1 It is therefore worth paying some attention
whenwehavealengthytextwhichreproducestheobservationsonhuman
lifeandfortuneofamanwhowashimselftheslaveofanimperialfreedman.
Epictetushasbeenlittleusedasahistoricalsource;itistheaimofthischap-
ter to bring out both the extent and thevalue of his references to Roman
societyandpoliticsinhisowntime.
Beforewecanassessthevalueofthesereferences,wemustexamineboth
theexperienceonwhichtheyarebasedandtheauthenticityofthetextin
whichtheyoccur.EpictetusoriginatedfromHierapolisinPhrygia;accord-
ingtoaninscriptionhewasbornaslave.^2 Eitherbybirthorsale,hebelonged
toEpaphroditus,thefreedmanandalibellis(theofficialinchargeofpetitions)
ofNero,whoafterNero’sdeathsurvivedunharmeduntilrelegated,andthen
(in 95) executed, by Domitian.^3 Whether Epaphroditus remaineda libellis
undertheFlaviansisnotclear,thoughthelikelihoodisthathedidnot.This

*FirstpublishedinJRS55(1965):141–48.Anearlierversionofthischapterwasreadtothe

OxfordBranchoftheClassicalAssociationon12November1964.Ishouldliketothank
thosepresentforthehelpfuldiscussionwhichfollowed,andalsoProfessorSirRonaldSyme
forhisadviceandassistance,especiallyonpointsofprosopography.Myquotationsofpas-
sagesinEnglishowemuchtotheLoebEpictetusbyW.A.Oldfather(1925,1928).

1. Jacoby,FGrH257,F36,XIV;F,IV.


2. Forthefulltestimony,seetheTeubnered.H.Schenkl(1894),XIV–XXIII,andPIR^2
   E74.
   3.PIR^2 E69.Dio67,14,4–5,datestheexecutionto95.

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