Paying the bureaucrats

[Lothia]

Ave Civitas,

I was looking at some Roman coins and I began wondering. How were Roman bureaucrats paid?
More specifically, I am sure they were not paid "by the hour" but how often was money given them and in what manner?

While I was in the Army, we were paid by the year with monthly installments so that what I received at the end of the month in February was the same I received at the end of March.

I have a hard time imagining the pay being doled out on "pay day" with a long queue outside the finance office.

Soldiers were paid both in coin and kind, I would imagine many farm workers were too. I would guess some were paid in installments (50% now and the rest at completion) but what about the office workers in municipal, provincial and imperial offices, how were they paid?

So, how were Romans paid?

[M. Demetrius]

Sometimes soldiers, for example when dividing up a share of spoils, might be paid simply by an entry on the ledger, and the hard currency kept in their account. When they retired from service, on their feet or feet first, their monies were given to them in coin or land. Leastwise, that's what I've read.

As for civilians, I'm not sure how that was done. But the Roman banking system was very developed, even with compound interest on loans.

[Lothia]

Ave Civitas,

In Ian Hughes' book, Stilicho, he writes:
Although a few of those who had supported the usurpers (Eugenius and Arbogast) had been executed by Theodosius, the survivors were ordered to repay the money they had earned whilst in office.
I can see this if those who had to repay their wages or earnings who were living in Rome or even Italy. They could go to the bank and have them send a note to transfer the out of their bank in Rome to the treasury, but what if someone didn't have a bank in Rome?
And then, what about the lesser administrators? Surely not every clerk and messenger had a bank account.
Again, thanks for your help.
Tom

[Vindex]

I do not think there was the concept of a piece of paper or a note replacing money - the Knights Templar are accredited with introducing this method of moneyless transactions.

It also depends on what you mean by bank account. A strong box kept by a money lender/userer may have been the only option available if the individual did not have their own secure storage space.

Hard currency has alwys been my understanding - particularly if you look at hoards and the vast wealth found in coins at Pompeii/Herculaneum for example.

[Robert Vermaat]

And then, what about the lesser administrators? Surely not every clerk and messenger had a bank account.

For a bank account we have to wait for the Longobards to invade Italy and invent the banking system. :whistle:

[Flavivs Aetivs]

I thought the Romans had a Banking System? I know they had a system of investment (which would become the Stock trade in 15th century Netherlands)

[Michael J. Taylor]

During the Republic and Empire, a notable feature of the Roman administrative system was that there were almost no bureaucrats; by the Early Empire, there were fewer than 300 elite administrators (of senatorial or equestrian status) for an empire of perhaps 50 million people.

Of course, since the Republic there had always been a number of functionaries who aided magistrates, who fell under the general category of apparitores (including scribes, clerks, heralds, messengers, lictors, flute players, etc.) These were paid a salary. From a Caesarian inscription at Urso, in Spain, we learn that municipal apparitores were paid between 300-1200 HS (a legionary in the early empire was paid 900 HS).

One development of the early empire was that when the emperor dispatched legates as his personal representatives in the field, he paid them a salary, often a very high one for senatorial officers. In the Republic, magistrates and pro-magistrates had served without any sort of salary, although they did take a cut of booty, and were known for skimming off the top.

The Late Empire saw a dramatic expansion of Rome's bureaucracy. Unfortunately, it was neither an efficient nor honest apparatus. Indeed, Ramsey MacMullen in Corruption and the Decline of Rome links the rise of Rome's unwieldy bureaucracy with the stultification of the Roman state. The bureaucrats in the Late Empire were as a rule poorly paid, which inspired them to extract rents through corruption: one needed to pay a hefty bribe in the Late Empire if one wanted anything to get done.

[Lothia]

Thank you all,

Mr. Taylor wrote:
"The bureaucrats in the Late Empire were as a rule poorly paid, " But, I ask, does anyone know how and how often were they paid? Did they report to their bureau's paymaster on the last day of the month? That seems like a summons for all theifs and cutthroats to hang around the pay stalls.
I can imagine some hiring bodyguards to escort them home, but surely not most. It must have been a dangerous trek every Friday.
I can appreciate the business of graft. I seen that in action in the former Soviet Republics where a request would sit in the pile marked "I'll get right to it" but it never got the stamp until sufficient dusk was sprinkled on the desk.
Does anyone have a recommended book that would help explain how this was done?
Again, thanks,
Tom

[Michael Kerr]

I think bureaucrats were poorly paid & used other methods like graft & corruption to benefit themselves & their families.

In Cicero's day bureaucrats called decuriae performed menial duties for magistrates, running errands, carrying messages, making announcements, disbursing money & keeping accounts in which they were paid a tiny stipend from the state (paid through the magistrate they served). The stipend amounted from 300 to 1200 sesterces a year depending on their magistate's official duties, where a labourer might earn 3 sesterces a day. Examples of bureaucrats would include lictors, heralds, summoners & clerks so corruption helped supplement their meagre incomes & their magistrates would usually turn a blind eye & probably benefitted themselves. The officials could sell offices or posts, cook the books by falsifying records & figures, downgrade punishments & fines for a price, turn a blind eye in cases of outright embezzlement & using stand over tactics to gain bribes from citizens for various taxation exceptions etc. The Magistrate probably got the bulk but like corruption everywhere there would be a trickle down effect but all parties got a share. I don't know how often they received their stipend though or how it was paid but it was probably the same times as the army as it was one of the bureaucrats tasks to arrange regular payments to the troops. Most of the above information comes from book by Ramsay MacMullen called Corruption and the Decline of Rome. He covers corruption by officials, bureaucrats & especially soldiers & blames the culture of corruption as one of the reasons for the fall of Rome but that is a debate for another thread perhaps.
Regards
Michael Kerr

[Lothia]

Thank you all. I have the book "Corruption and the Decline on Rome" on order. I appreciate your help.

Tom

[Michael Kerr]

My apologies to Michael J. Taylor, I somehow missed your post & I see That I just repeated a lot of information that was already in your post. it seems we read the same book. ad:
Regards
Michael Kerr