The Roman Civil Service (Clerical and Sub-Clerical Grades)

Abstract

The first and indeed the only Roman clerical officer to achieve historic fame was Gnaeus Flavius, a scriba of the aediles, who published the secrets of the ius civile and of the calendar and was himself elected aedile in 304 B.C. From this incident some interesting facts emerge on the status and organization of the early Roman civil service. Scribae, if one may generalize from Gnaeus Flavius' case, were, unlike the public γραμματεĩς of the Greek cities, professional clerks who normally made the civil service their life's career, and were therefore experts at their job—sometimes considerably more expert than their annually changing masters. On the other hand, they were not, like the δημóσιοι who often performed similar work in Greek cities, public slaves, but citizens, though of rather humble standing. Flavius was the son of a freedman and, when he stood as aedile, the returning officer refused to accept his name until he formally renounced his profession. Servi publici were not unknown at Rome, particularly in the service of the priestly colleges, but the greater and more important part of the civil service consisted of salaried citizens.