Les liens sociaux entre les dépendants et le maître/patron dans la Correspondance de Cicéron
This paper will answer these questions: What were the social relationships between Roman masters/ingenui and slaves/freedmen? Were these relationships more often between ingenui and freedmen than ingenui and slaves? Did these relationships influence positively the slaves’ manumission in Cicero’s Letters? This paper will index and analyse the social relationships between ingenui and slaves/freedmen in the Letters. By social relationships, are meant friendships, marriage ties, sexual relations, masters’ and patrons’ estimation of their slaves/freedmen behaviours. Some pages will be devoted to the slaves and freedmen not mentioned in the Letters to explain this absence in the context of Rome in the last century BC. The study of social relationships between slaves/freedmen and masters, patrons and ingenui, in a social approach rather than a purely legal one, permitted the conclusion that friendships and affection often existed between slaves/freedmen and their masters/patrons or other ingenui of the Letters. In addition, this study proves that friendships and affectionate ties were more numerous and lasting between ingenui and freedmen than between ingenui and slaves. Accordingly, I defend the importance of friendships and affections ties in the manumission’s strategies of certain slaves.
slavery slave Cicero Social Relationships marriage Friendships Freedman Manumission Mariage