Adelais Valerius Posted April 4, 2008 Report Share Posted April 4, 2008 I understand what clientela's purpose was in Roman society, which was to enable Plebs to have "rights" through favors concerning legal, social and even economic matters, which were done by Patricii. Both were beneficial to each other, and in most circumstances, set a person's status higher. What I'm wondering, is by this "big brother" tactic that was formed, why did they even have statuses still? By a Clientela actually being lawful, whats the point of saying Pleb and Patricii? I guess I don't fully understand the need for both if as long as you have a clientela, your going to get what you need anyways? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.Clodius Posted April 5, 2008 Report Share Posted April 5, 2008 (edited) Well that's because a plebian politician could have clients too. I think you're getting confused slightly. Patricians were not the ONLY politicians, plebians were also. The patrician pool got smaller over time till we arrive at the late republic and it consists of an extremely small and select group of people, some of which weren't all that powerful. A certain individual will probably respond to your post and say the system of clients didn't exist at all, but that's just blatant revisionism. Edited April 5, 2008 by P.Clodius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adelais Valerius Posted April 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2008 Well that's because a plebian politician could have clients too. I think you're getting confused slightly. Patricians were the ONLY politicians, plebians were also. The patrician pool got smaller over time till we arrive at the late republic and it consists of an extremely small and select group of people, some of which weren't all that powerful. A certain individual will probably respond to your post and say the system of clients didn't exist at all, but that's just blatant revisionism. so one could say this is the "downfall" of the Patricii. That once plebs were allowed to partipate using the clientela, they eventually moved into the political light? I read that Clientela were legally passed down from generation to generation, so I imagine that eventually it had to have been lost that a person came from plebian background. am I getting this right at all? I thought clientela was simply a quick favor type of system, but i'm finding its not..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaius Paulinus Maximus Posted April 5, 2008 Report Share Posted April 5, 2008 (edited) Basically every client had a patron who he would go to for favours and in return for this he would be indebted to the patron. The patron would take on the role of guardian and protector for his client and help out in all manners such as family matters, helping out to further his career, he'd defend him in court if necessary etc. And for this service the client would be forever indebted to the patron and could be called upon to provide a service or help out his patron in some way or another. The more clients possessed by a patron the higher his status would be, some patrons even had entire foreign cities as his clients, having these kind of distinctions would not only make them very rich but would also make them a serious force in Rome. Edited April 5, 2008 by Gaius Paulinus Maximus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.Clodius Posted April 5, 2008 Report Share Posted April 5, 2008 Basically every client had a patron who he would go to for favours and in return for this he would be indebted to the patron. The patron would take on the role of guardian and protector for his client and help out in all manners such as family matters, helping out to further his career, he'd defend him in court if necessary etc. And for this service the client would be forever indebted to the patron and could be called upon to provide a service or help out his patron in some way or another. The more clients possessed by a patron the higher his status would be, some patrons even had entire foreign cities as his clients, having these kind of distinctions would not only make them very rich but would also make them a serious force in Rome. Yeap, and this was independent of Patrician/Plebian status of the politician/patron. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adelais Valerius Posted April 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2008 Yeap, and this was independent of Patrician/Plebian status of the politician/patron. there, that helps alot...I understood it as they were both connected. That made it confusing on how they worked together, but I guess they don't Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosmo Posted April 5, 2008 Report Share Posted April 5, 2008 Later, the emperor was the highest patron. Everybody else was in a position of client to someone else. Those who were patrons were clients themselves as the political system became a pyramid. Sydonius Apollinarius in the V C was seing the barbarians that had taken part of his domain as his patrons and paid them the traditional morning visit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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