Slave management. Character and personal qualities are as important as skills

There is not that much difference between managing slaves and subordinates, according to Cambridge lecturer Jerry Toner, who prepared the ancient Roman handbook on working with personnel. In his book How to Manage Slaves, he tells the story from the perspective of the Roman patrician Marcus Sidonius Fulks: the aristocrat tells how to choose the right slaves and take everything from them. “The Secret” selected advice from the book that is suitable for modern leaders.

From the author

Some Western readers react nervously to this book, saying that owning slaves and managing subordinates are completely different things. In a general sense, they are, of course, right. But upon deeper consideration of the issue, we will find many similarities between the two different situations. It's an inconvenient truth, but it doesn't stop being true: both ancient slave owners and today's corporations strive to make the most of their human resources. As much as we might try to mask the harsh realities of wage labor with the pompous rhetoric of mutual cooperation and friendly relationships in a “team effort,” we would do well to listen to the blunt honesty of the ancient Romans.

I expect that the Russian reading public will be able to appreciate the qualities that are inherent in Mark Sidonius Fulks. This is a decisive administrator who does not have the weaknesses of today's Western leaders. He understands well what needs to be done so that his subordinates respect him, how to maintain order in the house and household. If in order to achieve these goals you have to deal harshly with someone, well, that’s a harsh necessity of life.

Don't get carried away with team building

A word of caution: don't buy too many slaves from the same environment or the same nationality. Although at first glance it may seem tempting to have employees who are capable of cooperation and easily get along with each other (since they speak the same language), this can create very big problems in the future. At best, they will encourage each other to take a break, sit and chat, steal something, at worst, they will begin to argue and reason, oppose, conspire: to either escape or even kill you.

Pay attention to character, not just skills

It is worth paying attention to the character of the slave you intend to buy. Doesn't he seem indecisive and weak-willed to you, or, on the contrary, reckless and daring? The ones that are most suitable for work are those that are neither extremely downtrodden nor too bold: you will get tired of both later. Those who are too meek and quiet are unlikely to be able to show activity and perseverance in their work, and those who have no inhibitions and demonstrate their prowess are difficult to manage.

Avoid slaves who are constantly in a state of sadness and melancholy. Being a slave is not the most enviable lot, and those who are prone to depression will only aggravate it.

Remember that there are things you can do yourself

Beware of showing off and boasting. There is nothing more vulgar than a social parvenu using a whole host of completely unnecessary slaves, busy with all sorts of stupid things, simply to demonstrate his exorbitant wealth. A rich freedman I knew kept a slave whose function was to remind his master the names of the people he received.

Make slaves love you

Many new slave owners fall into the trap of thinking they can get by with just a whip. Those of us whose families have owned slaves for generations know that such treatment exhausts and exhausts the slaves, ending in their complete unfitness for further use. If you resort to violence beyond your reasonable responsibilities, you will end up making your charges withdrawn and uncontrollable. Such slaves are not slaves, but the torments of hell. Cruelty is a double-edged sword, and it hits the master the hardest, not the slave.

Hard work should be rewarded. It is very demoralizing for good slaves to see that they are doing all the hard work, and the food has to be divided in half with those who slacked. It is also important that each slave has a clearly defined long-term goal.

Organization of work is important

Each slave must have clear responsibilities. This creates a clear reporting system and ensures that work is stressful because the slaves know that if some part of the job is not completed, a specific worker will be held accountable.

You should divide the slaves into groups of ten (groups of this size are easiest to observe. Larger groups create problems for the overseers). You must distribute these groups throughout the estate, and the work must be organized in such a way that workers do not remain alone or in pairs: it is impossible to keep track of them if they are so scattered. Another problem with large groups is that people do not feel personal responsibility: it dissolves into the general mass of workers. A properly sized team forces you to compete with each other, and also exposes those who work poorly.

Pay attention to training your bosses

I teach my new managers the following things that I believe will help them become more moral. I forbid them to use slaves for matters other than those related to the interests of the owner. Otherwise, you may find that the new managers use their position to force slaves to do their personal tasks when the slaves should be working for the benefit of the estate as a whole. Managers should not eat separately from their subordinates; let them eat the same food as the workers. Nothing irritates a tired slave more than the contemplation of the work manager devouring a delicious and luxurious meal, when the slave himself receives only the usual meager ration.

Relax with slaves

What kind of participation you will take in the festivities depends only on you. I have a friend, a terrible bore and a learned cracker, - so at the height of the celebration he retires to a quiet room so as not to hear the noise of a house party. He says that he finds it delightful to sit out Saturnalia there, wait until everyone gets crazy (everyone else in the house is in a joyful riot, the joyful cries of the celebrating people can be heard from everywhere). He claims that this is best: he does not interfere with their fun and does not limit them in anything. And besides, they do not distract him from his academic studies. What an idiot! No, I think it's better to share their mood with people. You will be surprised how much the slaves' attitude towards you changes for the better if you take part in the holiday. Personally, I get drunk, scream, play games and throw dice, get naked, perform erotic dances, and sometimes even - with a face smeared with soot - throw myself headlong into cold water. The family loves it.

What is important is to prevent it from continuing the day after the holiday. I advise you to put on the sternest expression on your face in the morning. This is the time to put the slacker in his place - perhaps just the one who was too carried away by the benefits of the freedom provided by the holiday and somehow offended you. However, once things have returned to normal, it is useful to remain on friendly terms with your slaves - as much as possible, of course, within the limits required to maintain authority and respect.

Don't become a slave to your slaves

There are a number of things your slaves can do to gain small victories over you in everyday life. It is this kind of petty disobedience that you will encounter all the time. They will lie to you about how much food they ate, or deceive you over small things, claiming that something costs ten sesterces when in fact it costs eight. They will pretend to be sick to avoid work, moaning so loudly that you'll worry if they'll even survive, and they're just putting on a show to get out of difficult assignments. They will stand in the kitchen by the stove to sweat, and then show you these beads of sweat as a sign of a severe fever. And if you believe this lie, soon every job will take twice as long as it actually takes. This is how slaves act. They constantly test you, looking closely at what and where they can snatch. And you will have to constantly reduce your power until it is completely eaten up by slaves who will begin to treat you with more and more contempt.

Don't think that all this doesn't concern you

No one today argues, as Fulks did, that slavery is acceptable or justified. But before we congratulate ourselves on how far we have come, we must recognize the tragic fact that although slavery is illegal in all countries of the world, it is still widespread. The non-governmental organization Free the Slaves estimates that 27 million people today are forced to work under the threat of violence, without pay and without hope of escape. There are more slaves in the world today than there were in the Roman Empire at any time during its existence.

Jerry Toner, Mark Fulks

How to manage slaves

Preface to the Russian edition

Vedius Pollio, a wealthy Roman, decided to impress Emperor Augustus and gave the order to punish a young slave for some offense by throwing him into a pond with moray eels. However, Augustus was not impressed. Moreover, he was outraged by the inexplicable cruelty and ordered Vedia to release the boy.

Most Romans, like Augustus, considered excessive cruelty towards slaves unacceptable and shocking. They understood that intimidating slaves does not mean forcing them to work well. Slaves were an expensive investment for the owner, and cruelty to them meant damage to his own assets. The Romans preferred to use other methods to encourage slaves to work better and more willingly, from small rewards and long-term incentives to actions aimed at improving morale in the household and developing team spirit. From this experience, we are able to glean more than may seem at first glance, ideas about how to successfully manage people in the modern world, in companies and corporations.

Additionally, How to Manage Slaves shows how the Romans viewed management and leadership. They understood that there was a huge difference between having the organizational skills to create a structure and the ability to effectively lead it. One of the problems of modern managers is that they often feel uncomfortable in a leadership position. They strive to maintain friendly relations with everyone. In Rome such weakness would have been a subject of ridicule. Did Julius Caesar lead his legions, convincing them to understand the need to conquer Gaul? Successful leaders must stand out from the crowd and use their extraordinary abilities to inspire, persuade, and sometimes simply force people to do what needs to be done.

Some Western readers react nervously to this book, saying that owning slaves and managing subordinates are completely different things. In a general sense, they are, of course, right. But upon deeper consideration of the issue, we will find many similarities between the two different situations. It's an inconvenient truth, but it doesn't stop being true: both ancient slave owners and today's corporations strive to make the most of their human resources. More deeply, managing other people always involves finding solutions to age-old problems: evaluating employees in conditions of limited information, motivating them, rewarding them, maintaining discipline and imposing penalties, and, finally, ways to part with them. As much as we might try to mask the harsh realities of wage labor with the pompous rhetoric of mutual cooperation and friendly relationships in a “team effort,” we would do well to listen to the blunt honesty of the ancient Romans. In those days, everyone was clearly aware of their place, even if sometimes, no matter how terrible, their place was in line for execution.

I think that Russian readers are much more aware of the mores of unbridled capitalism than their British contemporaries. The ups and downs of the past two decades have demonstrated to them both the benefits and the challenges that economic liberalism can bring. I also expect that the Russian reading public will be able to appreciate the qualities that are inherent in Mark Sidonius Fulks. This is a decisive administrator who does not have the weaknesses of today's Western leaders. He understands well what needs to be done so that his subordinates respect him, how to maintain order in the house and household. If in order to achieve these goals you have to deal harshly with someone, well, that’s a harsh necessity of life.

Jerry TonerCambridge, January 2015

Preface

I have never encountered such a character as Marcus Sidonius Fulks before, but this type of person is familiar to me. In Roman times there were many who owned a huge number of slaves and hardly gave themselves the trouble to think about it. Slavery was an absolutely normal, natural part of the social order. No, the Romans, of course, thought about their slaves, but in their own way: how to manage them, how to appear in a favorable light before their friends at their expense. And those who are smarter (it is possible that Falks is one of them) could sometimes experience fear. They were worried about what the slaves were talking about behind their backs, and how long the culture of Ancient Rome was. The Roman slogan “How many slaves - so many enemies” is known to Fulks. As did the notorious incident that took place during the reign of Emperor Nero, when a Roman plutocrat was killed by one of his four hundred slaves. As we will see later, Fulks would not have slept in his bed if all the slaves of that household had not been executed to intimidate him.

I'm a little surprised that Fulks and Toner got along so well with each other. Fulks is an aristocrat, while Toner's family - in his words - traces its roots back to the oppressed (British elite) classes ("from the plow", so to speak). It is, I think, to the credit of both of them that they found a common language despite their political differences. Of course, there were slave owners who were not at all like Falx: thousands of small traders and artisans who owned one or two slaves. And many of them themselves recently received freedom and started families with those who were once owners - this applies to both men and women. Even in Falx's circle there were several favored slaves and private secretaries who lived better than the poor free Romans trying to make a living by doing day labor at the dock or selling cheap flowers in the square. Interestingly, some of the free poor took to the streets, protesting - albeit unsuccessfully - against the (legal) punishment of all the four hundred slaves mentioned. However, Fulks talks about the massive use of slave labor.

It is now difficult for us to understand all the nuances of the relationship between a free person, a slave and a former slave (and it was not easy even then). But we do have some idea of ​​what the wealthy Romans thought of their common slave workers, and Fulks is one of the most reliable guides on our journey into the reality that the Romans viewed as a glorious tradition - "slave management." He tries to help everyone by sharing his wealth of experience, and there is a lot to learn from him.

A chain of events - not random, but unrelated - prompted a Roman patrician named Marcus Sidonius Fulks to compile this manual for an ancient top manager. In all centuries (and more than two thousand years separate us from the times described in the book), the main thing in the art of management is managing people. Fulks's work is dedicated to precisely this, and the wisdom of the Roman is very useful to us, although the relationship of most workers with most employers has undergone significant changes. A modern leader is unlikely to find it useful to know where to buy eunuch employees in the capital of Italy and how, when hiring, to distinguish an applicant who has been starved for a long time from a well-fed and healthy one who was captured after a defeat in battle. Every word, every detail in the author’s narrative (the famous British historian Jerry Toner wrote the book on behalf of the Roman Fulks) is verified according to dozens of historical sources - from Aristotle to Cato.

All lessons from Mark Sidonius Fulks are important and relevant today. For example: “...the life of a slave is not only about hard work and sweat. There should be time for relaxation and simple entertainment. This is reasonable provided that the slaves behave decently and do their hard work. After all, a satisfied slave will work well in the future, and vice versa: slaves mired in poverty, exhausted by hardships and suffering, are not at all inclined to work enthusiasm, and always try to evade and wriggle out of any task.”

The book “How to Manage Slaves” is intended for managers of commercial organizations of various legal forms and state unitary enterprises; students and teachers of higher and special educational institutions; administrators of government and non-profit organizations; officers of all branches of the military, as well as lovers of the history of Ancient Rome and connoisseurs of wise advice, presented in an excellent translation into Russian.

Jerry Toner, DSc, Professor, Director of Research in Ancient Philology at the University of Cambridge, Lecturer in the Department of Ancient Literature. His scientific activity is devoted to the history and culture of the society of Ancient Rome. Currently working on a number of projects exploring the social relations of the lower strata of the Roman population. Together with Mary Beard he teaches the course “Mass Culture in the Roman Empire.” After completing a PhD in ancient literature at Cambridge University, Toner spent 10 years as an investment manager at a London fund of funds, managing $15 billion in assets. Jerry Toner uses his business experience to supervise the studies of MBA and EMBA students, and also chairs the Investment Strategy Committee.

Preface to the Russian edition

Vedius Pollio, a wealthy Roman, decided to impress Emperor Augustus and gave the order to punish a young slave for some offense by throwing him into a pond with moray eels. However, Augustus was not impressed. Moreover, he was outraged by the inexplicable cruelty and ordered Vedia to release the boy.

Most Romans, like Augustus, considered excessive cruelty towards slaves unacceptable and shocking. They understood that intimidating slaves does not mean forcing them to work well. Slaves were an expensive investment for the owner, and cruelty to them meant damage to his own assets. The Romans preferred to use other methods to encourage slaves to work better and more willingly, from small rewards and long-term incentives to actions aimed at improving morale in the household and developing team spirit. From this experience, we are able to glean more than may seem at first glance, ideas about how to successfully manage people in the modern world, in companies and corporations.

Additionally, How to Manage Slaves shows how the Romans viewed management and leadership. They understood that there was a huge difference between having the organizational skills to create a structure and the ability to effectively lead it. One of the problems of modern managers is that they often feel uncomfortable in a leadership position. They strive to maintain friendly relations with everyone. In Rome such weakness would have been a subject of ridicule. Did Julius Caesar lead his legions, convincing them to understand the need to conquer Gaul? Successful leaders must stand out from the crowd and use their extraordinary abilities to inspire, persuade, and sometimes simply force people to do what needs to be done.

Some Western readers react nervously to this book, saying that owning slaves and managing subordinates are completely different things. In a general sense, they are, of course, right. But upon deeper consideration of the issue, we will find many similarities between the two different situations. It's an inconvenient truth, but it doesn't stop being true: both ancient slave owners and today's corporations strive to make the most of their human resources. More deeply, managing other people always involves finding solutions to age-old problems: evaluating employees in conditions of limited information, motivating them, rewarding them, maintaining discipline and imposing penalties, and, finally, ways to part with them. As much as we might try to mask the harsh realities of wage labor with the pompous rhetoric of mutual cooperation and friendly relationships in a “team effort,” we would do well to listen to the blunt honesty of the ancient Romans. In those days, everyone was clearly aware of their place, even if sometimes, no matter how terrible, their place was in line for execution.

I think that Russian readers are much more aware of the mores of unbridled capitalism than their British contemporaries. The ups and downs of the past two decades have demonstrated to them both the benefits and the challenges that economic liberalism can bring. I also expect that the Russian reading public will be able to appreciate the qualities that are inherent in Mark Sidonius Fulks. This is a decisive administrator who does not have the weaknesses of today's Western leaders. He understands well what needs to be done so that his subordinates respect him, how to maintain order in the house and household. If in order to achieve these goals you have to deal harshly with someone, well, that’s a harsh necessity of life.

Jerry Toner

Cambridge, January 2015

Preface

I have never encountered such a character as Marcus Sidonius Fulks before, but this type of person is familiar to me. In Roman times there were many who owned a huge number of slaves and hardly gave themselves the trouble to think about it. Slavery was an absolutely normal, natural part of the social order. No, the Romans, of course, thought about their slaves, but in their own way: how to manage them, how to appear in a favorable light before their friends at their expense. And those who are smarter (it is possible that Falks is one of them) could sometimes experience fear. They were worried about what the slaves were talking about behind their backs, and how long the culture of Ancient Rome was. The Roman slogan “How many slaves - so many enemies” is known to Fulks. As did the notorious incident that took place during the reign of Emperor Nero, when a Roman plutocrat was killed by one of his four hundred slaves. As we will see later, Fulks would not have slept in his bed if all the slaves of that household had not been executed to intimidate him.

I'm a little surprised that Fulks and Toner got along so well with each other. Fulks is an aristocrat, while Toner's family - in his words - traces its roots back to the oppressed (British elite) classes ("from the plow", so to speak). It is, I think, to the credit of both of them that they found a common language despite their political differences. Of course, there were slave owners who were not at all like Falx: thousands of small traders and artisans who owned one or two slaves. And many of them themselves recently received freedom and started families with those who were once owners - this applies to both men and women. Even in Falx's circle there were several favored slaves and private secretaries who lived better than the poor free Romans trying to make a living by doing day labor at the dock or selling cheap flowers in the square. Interestingly, some of the free poor took to the streets, protesting - albeit unsuccessfully - against the (legal) punishment of all the four hundred slaves mentioned. However, Fulks talks about the massive use of slave labor.

It is now difficult for us to understand all the nuances of the relationship between a free person, a slave and a former slave (and it was not easy even then). But we do have some idea of ​​what the wealthy Romans thought of their common slave workers, and Fulks is one of the most reliable guides on our journey into the reality that the Romans viewed as a glorious tradition - "slave management." He tries to help everyone by sharing his wealth of experience, and there is a lot to learn from him.

Fortunately, the world has changed since then. But this text offers us reliable (documented) information about the most important aspect of the life of Rome and the Roman Empire. If it had been published 2000 years ago, it would have long since taken a leading place in the list of the most popular books on management. A modern reader may have problems with the perception of such material: the mentality has not been the same for a long time; However, behind the usual rhetoric, he may be able to discern not “just a scoundrel” (Falks), but a person corresponding to the standards of the time.

And Fulks points his finger at us. After all, some of his ideas still help us manage our subordinates today. Are we sure that today's "wage slaves" are so different from the real ones? Are we that far from the Romans?

Mary Beard

Cambridge, April 2014