Latest / Marcus Aurelius: Rome's Philosopher King — Fexingo History / Marcus Aurelius and the Stoic's Secretaries: The ab epistulis
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- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Marcus's inner circle—his tutors, his generals, his family. But there's one group that's almost invisible in the histories, yet absolutely essential to how he ruled: his secretaries, the ab epistulis. Luna: Ab epistulis—that's Latin for 'from the letters,' right? The imperial correspondence office. Lucas: Exactly. And by Marcus's time, the ab epistulis had grown into a full-scale imperial secretariat. They drafted his replies to governors, to foreign kings, to city councils. They managed the flow of information into and out of the palace. And Marcus, being Marcus, took this very seriously. He famously said in the Meditations that a ruler should 'not be listened to because his robes are purple,' but because his words are just. And those words were often written by someone else. Luna: So he delegated the actual writing? That seems… pragmatic, for a Stoic. Lucas: It's exactly that. Stoicism isn't about doing everything yourself—it's about doing your part well. Marcus's part was to decide; the secretary's part was to articulate. And he chose his secretaries carefully. We know of at least two by name: a man named Tarrutenius Paternus, and another named Chariton. They represent two different paths to power in the Roman world. Lucas: Paternus was an equestrian—a knight, not a senator. He was a career soldier and administrator. He served as ab epistulis Latinis, handling Latin correspondence, which involved military reports, legal decisions, and official appointments. Then he rose to become praetorian prefect, one of the highest offices in the empire. He even wrote a military manual called De Re Militari. It's lost now, but later authors like Vegetius used it. Luna: So he went from writing letters to commanding the Praetorian Guard. That's a steep climb. Lucas: It shows how much Marcus trusted him. And Paternus was deeply involved in the Marcomannic Wars. He was probably the one drafting the logistical orders that kept the legions supplied along the Danube. His military expertise made him invaluable. But his rise also made him enemies. After Marcus died, Commodus had him executed, along with several other officials from his father's reign. Power in Rome was never secure. Luna: And Chariton? The other secretary? Lucas: Chariton was a freedman—a former slave. He handled the Greek correspondence, the ab epistulis Graecis. The eastern provinces of the empire were Greek-speaking, and many cities sent petitions in Greek. Chariton, being a Greek-educated scholar, could craft responses in elegant Attic style. That was important: a clumsy letter could offend a city's elite. Marcus, who wrote Meditations in Greek, would have appreciated that. Lucas: We know Chariton from a few inscriptions and from a mention by the historian Cassius Dio. He seems to have served for decades, surviving into Commodus's reign. Freedmen often stayed in post longer than equestrians—they were less politically threatening. But they also had less power. Still, Chariton would have read Marcus's most personal letters, including those to his tutors and to Fronto. He was the gatekeeper of the emperor's voice. Luna: So Marcus had two parallel streams of correspondence—Latin for the west and Greek for the east. And he trusted both to men who weren't from the senatorial elite. Lucas: Exactly. And that's part of the Antonine style of governance. Marcus and his predecessors promoted capable men regardless of birth—equestrians, freedmen, even provincials. It was meritocracy within a hierarchical system. The ab epistulis weren't just scribes; they were policy-shapers. They decided what information reached the emperor and in what form. A good secretary could make a ruler look wise; a bad one could isolate him. Lucas: One example: during the Marcomannic Wars, Marcus received a desperate plea from a town in Pannonia that was under attack. The ab epistulis had to condense the report, summarize the options, and present a draft reply. Marcus would then edit it or approve it. That process, done across hundreds of dispatches a month, kept the empire running. It's not glamorous, but it's the backbone of Roman administration. Luna: It's interesting to think about how much of what we know as Marcus's voice in his letters might actually be Chariton's phrasing. Lucas: That's a really good point. The letters we have from Marcus to Fronto, for example, are in Latin and are very personal—those he likely wrote himself. But official letters, like the one to the Athenians excusing Herodes Atticus from a lawsuit, might have been drafted by Chariton. The content was Marcus's, but the style was the secretary's. And in a world where rhetoric was king, style mattered. Lucas: Speaking of which, before we go deeper into how these secretaries shaped policy, I want to take a quick moment to mention—this kind of deep dive into the machinery of empire is exactly the kind of history we love to explore on Fexingo. And we keep the show free of ads because we think it's a better way to learn. If you appreciate that and want to support the work, there's a simple way: buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, no perks—just a way to help us keep doing what we do. Luna: Yeah, it's a nice model. And honestly, it helps us focus on the details that get overlooked, like the ab epistulis. Lucas: Exactly. So back to the secretaries. Another fascinating figure is a man named Avidius Heliodorus—not to be confused with the usurper Avidius Cassius. Heliodorus was a sophist and a rhetorician who served as ab epistulis Graecis under Hadrian, before Marcus. He was also the father of Cassius, ironically. So the secretary's son almost overthrew Marcus. That's the kind of drama that lurks in the imperial household. Luna: Wait—so Cassius's father was Marcus's secretary? That changes the whole picture of the revolt. It's almost a family betrayal. Lucas: It does. Heliodorus had been a trusted official, and his son turned against the emperor. It shows how close the secretariat was to the center of power—and how that proximity could breed ambition. But Marcus, true to his Stoic principles, did not punish Heliodorus or his family after the revolt. He even burned Cassius's correspondence unread, to avoid dragging others into a purge. That clementia—mercy—was a deliberate choice. Lucas: Now, the ab epistulis also had a darker side: they controlled access to the emperor. If a secretary wanted to bury a petition, he could. If he wanted to inflame a conflict, he could draft a harsh reply. Marcus, being aware of human nature, likely rotated his secretaries and kept personal oversight. But he couldn't read everything. The system relied on trust. Luna: So were there any scandals? Instances where a secretary abused that trust? Lucas: One famous case comes from a bit later, under Commodus. A freedman secretary named Saoterus became so powerful that he was effectively running the palace. That led to resentment and eventually his murder. But under Marcus, the records are mostly clean. He seems to have chosen men of integrity—or at least men who feared him enough to stay honest. Lucas: There's also the question of what happened to the archives. The ab epistulis would have kept copies of every letter sent and received. Those files—on papyrus rolls, stored in the imperial library on the Palatine—were a treasure trove of administrative knowledge. But almost none survive. We have only fragments quoted by later historians or preserved in Egyptian papyri. It's a huge loss. Luna: Imagine if we had Marcus's complete correspondence with his generals during the Marcomannic Wars. Lucas: We would know so much more about strategy, logistics, and his personal thoughts. But even the Meditations barely survived. It's a miracle we have that. The ab epistulis were the invisible librarians of the empire, and their work is mostly gone. Lucas: So to wrap up: Marcus Aurelius is remembered as a philosopher-king, but he was also a CEO of a vast organization. His success depended on the ab epistulis—the men who turned his decisions into words and his words into action. Without them, the Meditations would have remained private musings, and the empire might have crumbled sooner. Luna: It makes you think about all the unseen people behind every great leader. Lucas: Exactly. And that's a very Stoic lesson: focus on your role, whatever it is, and do it well. Whether you're an emperor or a secretary, the task matters. The ab epistulis might not have left statues or columns, but they left their mark on history.