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{{Italic title}}
[[File:Ara del vilicus felix (detta popolarmente della mente buona), dalla cava di calogio presso colonnata, 50 dc ca. 02.jpg|thumb|upright|A ''vilicus'' named Felix dedicated this altar to [[Mens|Mens Bona]], the goddess of good thinking ''(Castello Malaspina)''<!--probably Bobbio? description at Commons is a little thin--><ref>''MENTI BONAE SACRVM FELIX VILICVS POSVIT'': "The ''vilicus'' Felix has put up this ''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#sacer|sacrum]]'' for Mens Bona"; ''sacrum'' is a general word for a religious act or dedication, here of an altar stone. The use of a single name is usually taken to indicate slave status, and the ability to pay for a stone monument shows the wage-earning power of a slave given [[Slavery in ancient Rome#Business managers and agents|administrative responsibilities]].</ref>]]
In [[ancient  Rome]], the '''''vilicus''''' ({{langx|el|ἐπίτροπος}}, ''epitropos'', or ''[[oikonomos]]''<ref>Kyle Harper, ''Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275–425'' (Cambridge University Press, 2011), p. 123, n. 175.</ref>) was a manager, supervisor, or overseer. [[Ausonius]] in 4th-century [[Bordeaux#History|Bordeaux]] writes that his "pretentious" ''vilicus'' preferred to be called by the Greek title ''epitropos''.<ref>Harper, ''Slavery in the Late Roman World'', p. 123.</ref>
In the rural economy of early Rome, the ''vilicus'' was a [[bailiff]] or farm manager who directly oversaw [[Slavery in ancient Rome#Agriculture|agricultural labor]]<ref>Harper, ''Slavery in the Late Roman World'', p. 123.</ref> on the ''[[villa rustica]]''. As the Roman economy diversified, the title might be specified as ''vilicus rusticus'' for the traditional agricultural role. The ''vilicus hortorum'' ("of the gardens"), a foreman over the crews that maintained private or imperial gardens or parks in and around the city of Rome, may be seen as a transitional figure showing how the role would have evolved in an urban setting. By the turn of the 1st to the 2nd century AD, the ''vilicus urbanus'' can be found in various supervisory capacities; for example, [[building superintendent]] or rent-collector for a landlord, similar to an ''[[Insula (building)|insularius]]'', an apartment manager.<ref>Jesper Carlsen, ''"Vilici" and Roman Estate Managers until AD 284''  (L'Erma di Bretschneider, 1995), pp. 33.</ref>
The ''vilicus'' managed [[Slavery in ancient Rome|slave labor]] and was most often a  slave himself.<ref>"Slavery in Rome," in ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome'' (Oxford University Press, 2010), p. 323.</ref> As a slave, the ''vilicus'' would not have the right to a [[marriage in ancient Rome|legal marriage]], but it was thought appropriate and beneficial for him to enter into an enduring heterosexual union ''([[contubernia]])'' and raise a family.<ref>William V. Harris, "Towards a Study of the Slave Trade," ''Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome'' 36 (1980), p. 120, citing Columella 1.8.4.</ref>
The duties of the ''vilicus'' and those of his female counterpart (the ''vilica'', only sometimes his wife) are described by [[Columella]] (''Res rustica'', I.8, XI.1, and XII.1), and by [[Cato the Elder|Cato]] (''De Agri Cultura'', cxlii–cxliii, focusing on the ''vilica''; v on the ''vilicus''). The ''vilica''  who supervised food preparation and textile production for the estate<ref>Ulrike Roth, "Thinking Tools: Agricultural Slavery between Evidence and Models," ''Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies'' 92 (2007), pp. 3, 17, 36, citing Columella 12.1.5, 12.3.3, and 12.3.8 and Cato, ''De agricultura'' 143.3.</ref> held her position on her own merit and only infrequently was the woman who lived with the ''vilicus'' as his wife.<ref>Roth, "Thinking Tools," p. 49, citing Cato, ''De agricultura'' 143.1.</ref>
The original duties of the ''vilicus'' were to follow the estate owner's instructions, and to govern the slaves with moderation, not to leave the villa except to go to market, to have no dealings with [[Fortune-telling|soothsayers]], to take care of the cattle and the implements of husbandry, and to manage all the operations of the farm.
==See also==
[[Slavery in ancient Rome]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:Ancient Roman titles]]
[[Category:Roman agriculture]]
[[Category:Slavery in ancient Rome]]