Occupations Sources Flashcards
Describe what “The Golden Ass” is about
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.
Who wrote “The Golden Ass”?
Apuleius
What is the significance of “The Golden Ass”
It’s one of the first sources that criticises slavery.
Who wrote a source about gladiator games put on by an emperor?
Augustus
In Cicero’s opinion, what were the worst jobs for a free man?
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:
Why didn’t Cicero like merchants and craftsmen?
Merchants make no profit unless they lie and there is nothing more disgraceful than deception.
All craftsmen are involved in a base trade
Why didn’t Cicero like hired workers paid for manual work?
The payment was the same as the wage of the slavery
What trades “provide bodily pleasures”?
Fishmongers, butchers, cooks, poulterers, fishermen.
add perfume sellers, dancers and the whole dice game
What is acceptable in Cicero’s opinion?
Professions in which a greater degree of intelligence can be found
Give an example of a respectable career
Medicine, architecture, teaching respectable subjects
What kind of trading is good according to Cicero and what kind is not?
Small-scale = base (bad)
Large-scale + brings in lots of money + imports lots of goods = fine/justifiable
What was the best occupation for a free man?
Working in agriculture
What is Cato’s opinion about occupations and what source does it come from?
Comes from a different Cicero source.
Cato thinks money-lending and murder go hand in hand
Give a summary of Cicero’s opinion on gladiators?
Gladiators = desperate men or foreigners
Their training, control etc is admirable
Most effective training against pain and death
Where are the rooms of the herdsmen and shepherds + what source?
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
Who shouldn’t be a foreman?
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.
Who should be a foreman?
A man hardened to farm-work from childhood and proved by experienced
What should be given to a foreman?
A woman to live with to keep him settled and to help him
What things shouldn’t a foreman do?
- sacrifices
- admit soothsayers or witches
- have anything to do with the city or market-days
What should the foreman be like/do?
- skilled in farm-work and mental abilities
- he should give orders neither casually nor brutally
What should an owner do to/for his slaves?
- 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
How were women who were more fertile treated?
3 sons = exemption from work
More than that got freedom
What is the housekeeper concerned with?
- locking up and guarding things brought into the house
- take account of these things and inspect them
When it’s rainy/cold/frosty, what does the housekeeper do?
Wool-work (clothes for herself, foreman, privileged slaves)
