Occupations Sources

Question 1

Describe what “The Golden Ass” is about

Answer 1

Lucius has been turned into donkey and is forced to work in a flour mill. The source describes the bad conditions the “wretched creatures” at the mill were forced to work in.

Question 2

Who wrote “The Golden Ass”?

Answer 2

Apuleius

Question 3

What is the significance of “The Golden Ass”

Answer 3

It’s one of the first sources that criticises slavery.

Question 4

Who wrote a source about gladiator games put on by an emperor?

Answer 4

Augustus

Question 5

In Cicero’s opinion, what were the worst jobs for a free man?

Answer 5

Occupations that arouse hatred: money-lenders and tax collectors

Occupations of all hired workers who are paid for manual labour and not skill.

Merchants, craftsmen,

Occupations that provide bodily pleasures:

Question 6

Why didn’t Cicero like merchants and craftsmen?

Answer 6

Merchants make no profit unless they lie and there is nothing more disgraceful than deception.

All craftsmen are involved in a base trade

Question 7

Why didn’t Cicero like hired workers paid for manual work?

Answer 7

The payment was the same as the wage of the slavery

Question 8

What trades “provide bodily pleasures”?

Answer 8

Fishmongers, butchers, cooks, poulterers, fishermen.

add perfume sellers, dancers and the whole dice game

Question 9

What is acceptable in Cicero’s opinion?

Answer 9

Professions in which a greater degree of intelligence can be found

Question 10

Give an example of a respectable career

Answer 10

Medicine, architecture, teaching respectable subjects

Question 11

What kind of trading is good according to Cicero and what kind is not?

Answer 11

Small-scale = base (bad)

Large-scale + brings in lots of money + imports lots of goods = fine/justifiable

Question 12

What was the best occupation for a free man?

Answer 12

Working in agriculture

Question 13

What is Cato’s opinion about occupations and what source does it come from?

Answer 13

Comes from a different Cicero source.

Cato thinks money-lending and murder go hand in hand

Question 14

Give a summary of Cicero’s opinion on gladiators?

Answer 14

Gladiators = desperate men or foreigners
Their training, control etc is admirable
Most effective training against pain and death

Question 15

Where are the rooms of the herdsmen and shepherds + what source?

Answer 15

Next to their herds and flocks so they can easily go out and look after them. The rooms should also be close together so the foreman isn’t overstretched and so they can see each other’s hard work and carelessness.

Columella

Question 16

Who shouldn’t be a foreman?

Answer 16

Columella says that he should not be a physically attractive slave, or one who’s worked in the city because these slaves are used to idleness and are lazy and sleepy.

Question 17

Who should be a foreman?

Answer 17

A man hardened to farm-work from childhood and proved by experienced

Question 18

What should be given to a foreman?

Answer 18

A woman to live with to keep him settled and to help him

Question 19

What things shouldn’t a foreman do?

Answer 19

• sacrifices
• admit soothsayers or witches
• have anything to do with the city or market-days

Question 20

What should the foreman be like/do?

Answer 20

• skilled in farm-work and mental abilities

- he should give orders neither casually nor brutally

Question 21

What should an owner do to/for his slaves?

Answer 21

• make sure they’re carefully protected from wind, cold, rain
• landowners should check up on slaves in the prison to make sure the foreman hasn’t loosened anyone etc
• test the quality of food and drink
• check clothing
• reward and punish

Question 22

How were women who were more fertile treated?

Answer 22

3 sons = exemption from work

More than that got freedom

Question 23

What is the housekeeper concerned with?

Answer 23

• locking up and guarding things brought into the house

- take account of these things and inspect them

Question 24

When it’s rainy/cold/frosty, what does the housekeeper do?

Answer 24

Wool-work (clothes for herself, foreman, privileged slaves)

Question 25

List the things the housekeeper does

Answer 25

• visit the loom and teach whatever skill she has
• learn skills
• see those who prepare food for the family
• make sure the kitchen and cowsheds and mangers are cleaned
• open the sickbays from time to time
• take things that need mending to the craftsmen
• make slaves take furniture outside for airing
• make sure metal objects get polished and rubbed

Question 26

When should the housekeeper be present?

Answer 26

• when stewards and cellar men weigh something
• be with shepherds when their milking or settling lambs or calves
• during the shearing of the sheep,

Question 27

What does Source 36 by Vegetius say?

Answer 27

It lists the various equipment the legion would carry all the time to ensure they were prepared for everything, like grappling hooks, iron scythes, spades, shovels etc

Question 28

What sources list the skills and preparations of the military?

Answer 28

Sources 31-36, Vegetius

Question 29

Source 30 - Vegetius

Answer 29

Superiority of the Roman military:

• Germans are taller, Spanish are stronger, Africans craftier, Greeks wiser and better at arts, lots of Gauls
• Romans are trained better

Question 30

Source 31 - Vegetius

Answer 30

Training of the Recruits:

• marching, running, jumping, swimming, crossing rivers,
• ancestors trained recruits like this
• morning and afternoon

Question 31

Source 32 - Vegetius

Answer 31

Recruits are trained with weapons that are heavier than real weapons so that they’re stronger

Question 32

Source 33 - Vegetius

Answer 32

Trained to jump on and off horses and to be able to carry lots of weight

Question 33

Source 34 - Vegetius

Answer 33

Need to be able to build a camp

Question 34

Source 35 - Vegetius

Answer 34

Continual training

Question 35

Which source states the difference in wages for different occupations?

Answer 35

Diocletian’s Edict on Maximum Prices