ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

, the ''scriba'' (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

; : ''scribae'') was a public notary or

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...

(see also

scrivener A scrivener (or scribe) was a person who, before the advent of compulsory education, could literacy, read and write or who wrote letters as well as court and legal documents. Scriveners were people who made their living by writing or copying w ...

). The public scribes were the highest in rank of the four prestigious occupational grades (''decuriae'') among the '' apparitores'', the attendants of the

magistrates The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a ''magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

who were paid from the state treasury. The word ''scriba'' might also refer to a man who was a private secretary, but should be distinguished from a copyist (who might be called a "

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of Printing press, automatic printing. The work of scribes can involve copying manuscripts and other texts as well as ...

" in English) or bookseller (''librarius''). In Rome the ''scribae'' worked out of the ''

aerarium ''Aerarium'', from ''aes'' ("bronze, money") + -''ārium'' ("place for"), was the name given in Ancient Rome to the public treasury, and in a secondary sense to the public finances. ''Aerarium populi Romani'' The main ''aerarium'', that of ...

'', the state treasury and government archive. They received a good salary, but could earn additional commissions for collecting and recording state revenues, and making official copies of government documents and decrees. The Roman posting was such a lucrative assignment that the ''scribae'' worked in rotations, serving one year in Rome and two in the

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

. Those who became scribes might be freedmen (''libertini'') and their sons; literary or educated men who advanced to the job through

patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

; or even men of the

equestrian order The (; , though sometimes referred to as " knights" in English) constituted the second of the property/social-based classes of ancient Rome, ranking below the senatorial class. A member of the equestrian order was known as an (). Descript ...

. Among the scribe's duties was the recording of sworn oaths on public tablets. As a magistrate's attendant, he might also assist in religious rituals; for instance, since the exact wording of a prescribed prayer was considered vital to its success, a scribe might prompt the presiding magistrate by reading it out as recorded on official tablets. By the end of the 4th century BC, the office evidently afforded several advantages, including a knowledge of

Roman law Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (), to the (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I. Roman law also den ...

that was traditionally the privilege of the elite, and the ability to trade favors that could be translated into political capital. In 305 BC, the public scribe

Gnaeus Flavius Gnaeus Flavius (''fl.'' 4th century BC) was the son of a freedman (''libertinus'') and rose to the office of aedile in the Roman Republic. Flavius was secretary ('' scriba'') to the consul Appius Claudius, a civil service job paid from the publi ...

, the son of a freedman, shocked the Roman upper classes by winning election as

curule aedile Aedile ( , , from , "temple edifice") was an elected office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings () and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enforce public orde ...

for the following year. Though not the first

pleb In ancient Rome, the plebeians or plebs were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words "commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins of the grou ...

eian to hold the office, his victory, made possible by the growing number of freedmen and those of libertine descent among the urban population, prompted the censors of 304 BC to adopt

voter registration In electoral systems, voter registration (or enrollment) is the requirement that a person otherwise Suffrage, eligible to Voting, vote must register (or enroll) on an electoral roll, which is usually a prerequisite for being entitled or permitted ...

policies that curtailed the political power of the lower orders. Gaius Cicereius, a former ''scriba'' of

Scipio Africanus Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (, , ; 236/235–) was a Roman general and statesman who was one of the main architects of Rome's victory against Ancient Carthage, Carthage in the Second Punic War. Often regarded as one of the greatest milit ...

, was elected

praetor ''Praetor'' ( , ), also ''pretor'', was the title granted by the government of ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected ''magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to disch ...

in 173 BC, and enjoyed greater popularity than Scipio's own son. Certainly by the late Republic, the ''scribae'' had become a well-organized group who had achieved or were near to equestrian status. The ''scriba'' Sextus Cloelius kept a high profile as an agent of the popularist Clodius Pulcher. At the beginning of Clodius's year in office as

tribune of the plebs Tribune of the plebs, tribune of the people or plebeian tribune () was the first office of the Roman Republic, Roman state that was open to the plebs, plebeians, and was, throughout the history of the Republic, the most important check on the pow ...

in 58 BC, Cloelius organized '' ludi compitalicii'', neighborhood new-year festivities that had been banned as promoting unrest and political subversion. Cloelius also led the people in riots when Clodius was murdered a few years later, taking his body to the senate house and turning it into the popular leader's funeral pyre. The Augustan poet

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...

introduced himself in his first published book as the son of a freedman and as a civil servant, specifically a ''scriba quaestorius'', or clerk to the

quaestor A quaestor ( , ; ; "investigator") was a public official in ancient Rome. There were various types of quaestors, with the title used to describe greatly different offices at different times. In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officia ...

s who were in charge of the public treasury. Emily Gowers, "The Restless Companion: Horace, ''Satires'' 1 and 2," in ''The Cambridge Companion to Roman Satire'' (Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 48.

References

{{Reflist Ancient Roman government Notary

Further reading

References