The first and second hours cause those involved in the salutatio
to rub shoulders,
The third sees lawyers active,
Rome extends its labors into the fifth hour,
The sixth will be a respite for the weary, the seventh, the end
of labor.
The eighth and part of the ninth hour is sufficient for the sleek
exercise rooms,
The ninth commands people to wear out couches piled up with pillows...
The Roman day began with dawn. The first activity of the day in the first two hours after dawn brought upper and lower classes together in the early morning greeting ritual called the salutatio. This ritual was the outward sign of the close bond that worked for the benefit of both the lower class client and his upper class patron (derived from pater, "father"). When a client went to visit his patron at his house early every morning, he was acknowledging his dependency on the patron and in turn received a basket of food called a sportula or in its place. a small payment of money. An invitation to dinner was another typical gift. For many poor unemployed Romans, this was their only income, although some clients did have jobs. Another favor that a patron could perform for a client would be to give him legal advice or to defend him in court (cf. the modern meaning of "client"). In return, the client owed his patron political support such as his vote and if possible, to be a member of an entourage for the patron in his movements in the city, especially in the Roman Forum, the center of political activity in Rome. With the empire, when elections had disappeared and emperors chose magistrates, about all that a client could do for his patron was to bolster the ego of his patron by flattering him.
The next activity for a Roman noble after the salutatio was to go to the Forum and either plead cases in court or engage in political activity (not mentioned by Martial). Martial doesn’t specify any of the activities of lower class Romans, because they would just be too varied to mention. The readings in your course pack give you a good idea of the myriad of jobs held by lower class Romans, but you can take a closer look at one common Roman occupation, the bakery business, by clicking here.
A Roman aristocrat who wanted to reach the highest level of society (senatorial aristocracy) did not have a great variety of choice for a career; he was for the most part limited to unpaid public service in different magistracies, in the Senate, and in the courts. There was another class of aristocratic Romans called the equites, who did not participate in politics at all, but were primarily businessmen. They were not held in the same esteem as the senatorial aristocracy because, like lower class Romans, they worked for a living. The equites, however, still managed to maintain retain a high level of respect in Roman society, because they conducted business on a large scale and made large amounts of money.
As Martial tells us, the Roman workday was over by the end of the
seventh hour. Romans of both the lower and upper classes then headed
to the baths houses to bathe and to exercise. In the poem, Martial
only mentions exercise. He applies the adjective "sleek" to
the exercise rooms, because Romans covered themselves in oil before exercising.
The final line in this selection refers to dinner, at which Romans reclined
on couches.
According to Martial's schedule, dinner would probably have been
over around (our time) six p.m. at the summer solstice when daylight lasted
the longest and around three p.m. at the winter solstice, the shortest
day of the year.