Imperial Freedmen

• Claudius (41-54 CE) consolidated the use of Freedmen instead of Senators to run the Roman Empire, as he could not trust the Senators who had become hostile to him.
• The Freedmen could act as personal representatives of the Roman Emperor.

The Imperial Secretariat

• Claudius created four separate Departments within the Imperial Secretariat with a Freedman in charge of each one:
  1. Secretary of the Treasury:
     • Pallas
  2. Secretary of Justice and Law:
     • Callistus
  3. Secretary of Miscellaneous Affairs:
     • Polybius. He was executed for Treason by Messalina, the third wife of Claudius, possibly after they ceased to be lovers.
  4. Secretary of Correspondence (Praepositus ab Epistulis):
     •  Narcissus. He was sent to resolve a Mutiny of the Legions prior to the Invasion of Britannia where he succeeded in restoring order by personally addressing the Legions. These Freedmen became the wealthiest men in Rome.