Patronato e clientelismo sob o olhar crítico de Juvenal

Abstract

After an overview of selected aspects of the relationship of patronage and clientele since the origins of Rome up to the republican period, this article focuses on the daily experience of clients in imperial Rome, as presented by Juvenal’s critical eye. It is with deep and unashamed irony that the author satirises several aspects concerning the obligations and privileges implied by the status of client: on the one hand, the extenuating wandering through the streets of Rome in order to pay the morning salutatio and the fierce competition for the tip at the patron’s door involving poorer clients, wealthy freedmen and even magistrates; on the other, the benefits conquered which comprised both the tip and a scarce and poor quality occasional meal at the patron’s house. These are some of the aspects which, according to Juvenal, bring about attitudes of despair, indignation and rebellion from those who, from a social standpoint, are dependent on another.