Slavery

Slaves in Rome could gain freedom. The owner could grant manumission, or freedom. The slave could also pay for their manumission if they could raise the sufficient funds. Typically town slaves had the ability to raise the funds, while country slaves had less opportunity to produce funds.

Freed slaves now had citizenship. They often would remain working for their former owners. Their past only limited them from holding public office. This class of citizens became quite powerful in Roman society. They held professional positions that gave them wealth after their manumission. An example of the prominence former slaves could attain is Narcissus. He was the secretary to Emperor Claudius. Incidentally, his manumission was 40,000,000 sesterces.

This class of freed slaves became powerful. They did not handle this power well, at least the leaders were not comfortable with the growth. The Emperor Augustus instituted laws to control the number of slaves that could be freed. Certainly, the existence of manumission did not completely solve the problems and degrading nature of slavery.