In ancient Rome, the vilicus (, epitropos, or oikonomosKyle Harper, Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275–425 (Cambridge University Press, 2011), p. 123, n. 175.) was a manager, supervisor, or overseer. Ausonius in 4th-century Bordeaux writes that his "pretentious" vilicus preferred to be called by the Greek title epitropos.Harper, Slavery in the Late Roman World, p. 123.
In the rural economy of early Rome, the vilicus was a bailiff or farm manager who directly oversaw agricultural labourHarper, Slavery in the Late Roman World, p. 123. on the villa rustica. As the Roman economy diversified, the title might be specified as vilicus rusticus for the traditional agricultural role. The vilicus hortorum ("of the gardens"), a foreman over the crews that maintained private or imperial gardens or parks in and around the city of Rome, may be seen as a transitional figure showing how the role would have evolved in an urban setting. By the turn of the 1st to the 2nd century AD, the vilicus urbanus can be found in various supervisory capacities; for example, building superintendent or rent-collector for a landlord, similar to an insularius, an apartment manager.Jesper Carlsen, "Vilici" and Roman Estate Managers until AD 284 (L'Erma di Bretschneider, 1995), pp. 33.
The vilicus managed slave labour and was most often a slave himself."Slavery in Rome," in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome (Oxford University Press, 2010), p. 323. As a slave, the vilicus would not have the right to a legal marriage, but it was thought appropriate and beneficial for him to enter into an enduring heterosexual union (contubernium) and raise a family.William V. Harris, "Towards a Study of the Slave Trade," Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 36 (1980), p. 120, citing Columella 1.8.4.
The duties of the vilicus and those of his female counterpart (the vilica, only sometimes his wife) are described by Columella (Res rustica, I.8, XI.1, and XII.1), and by Cato (De Agri Cultura, cxlii–cxliii, focusing on the vilica; v on the vilicus). The vilica who supervised food preparation and textile production for the estateUlrike Roth, "Thinking Tools: Agricultural Slavery between Evidence and Models," Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 92 (2007), pp. 3, 17, 36, citing Columella 12.1.5, 12.3.3, and 12.3.8 and Cato, De agricultura 143.3. held her position on her own merit and only infrequently was the woman who lived with the vilicus as his wife.Roth, "Thinking Tools," p. 49, citing Cato, De agricultura 143.1.
The original duties of the vilicus were to follow the estate owner's instructions, and to govern the slaves with moderation, not to leave the villa except to go to market, to have no dealings with soothsayers, to take care of the cattle and the implements of husbandry, and to manage all the operations of the farm.
See also Slavery in ancient Rome
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