page_title: Otium
section_title: Imperial Rome
hierarchical_section_title: Otium / Roman Republic / Imperial Rome
caption_attribution_description: English: German National Museum ( Nuremberg / Germany ). Model of an ancient Roman villa near Weinbergshof ( Treuchtlingen / Bavaria ). Deutsch: Germanisches Nationalmuseum ( Nürnberg / Deutschland ). Modell einer römoschen Villa bei Weinbergshof ( Treuchtlingen / Bayern ).
context_page_description: Otium, a Latin abstract term, has a variety of meanings, including leisure time in which a person can enjoy eating, playing, resting, contemplation and academic endeavors. It sometimes, but not always, relates to a time in a person's retirement after previous service to the public or private sector, opposing "active public life". Otium can be a temporary time of leisure, that is sporadic. It can have intellectual, virtuous or immoral implications. It originally had the idea of withdrawing from one's daily business or affairs to engage in activities that were considered to be artistically valuable or enlightening. It had particular meaning to businessmen, diplomats, philosophers and poets.
context_section_description: The imperial dictatorship by Augustus during the fall of the Roman Republic put the Roman ruling classes into a state of change as their traditional role as always being in town was no longer needed. They were given much leisure time (otium) because of their wealth. The wives of wealthy men were known to write poetry in special rooms devoted to education of the entire family (except the master of the house as it would have been below his dignity).
  The home of choice (domus) then became the countryside villa as the rise of the Roman Empire made them even wealthier. They could afford almost anything they could dream up in the way of a residence, especially among the large and middle class Roman landowners. Greek-style architecture became their new villa otium outside of town. In ancient Roman times the "otium villa " was a Dionysian idealistic rural home setting that evoked peace, leisure, simplicity and serenity. Often in ancient writings is found the mention of restorative powers due its natural setting (otium) in the rural country home, contrasted to the busy city life with all the businesses (negotium). The "villa with a garden" and "villa by the sea" was associated with otium.
  The life at the Roman villa was associated with Greek culture in rooms which had Greek themes indicating a "superior world" of living.
  The Imperial Roman poet Statius writes of a "otium villa" that he planned to retire to in Naples in his work Silvae: It has secure peace, an idle life of leisure, non-troubled rest and sleep. There is no madness in the market-place, no strict laws in dispute... Pliny the Younger exemplified the philosophy of the Roman elite in otium of the time by the life he lived from his "otium villas". He would dictate letters to his secretary, read Greek and Latin speeches, go on walks on the villa's grounds, dine and socialize with friends, meditate, exercise, bathe, take naps and occasionally hunt.
  Tibullus was an Augustan elegiac poet who offered an alternative lifestyle to the Roman ideal of the military man or the man of action. He preferred the country lifestyle. In his existing first two books of poetry he compares the lifestyle of his chief friend and patron Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus as a commander and soldier to that of a farmer. Tibullus in his poem 1.3 rejects the work style of the rich man, adsiduus labor, and military service (militia). He shows in his poetry that originally otium was a military concept, the disuse of one's weapons. Tibullus prefers the rustic agricultural landscape and a simple life. He indicates that while he would do agricultural work, he would only be interested in doing it sometimes (interdum) and therefore inserts otium (peace and leisure time) into agricultural life. He expresses in his attitude of his poetry that the qualities of the Epicurean resolve to quietism (occultism – religious mysticism) and pacifism (abstention from violence) as the pursuits of ignobile otium (mean leisure) – peace of mind (peace with one's self) and detachment from worldly ambitions.
  Seneca compares the difference in the Epicurean and Stoic choice of otium. He confesses that classic Stoicism urges active public life while Epicurus has a tendency not to advance public life unless forced to. Seneca views Stoicism and Epicureanism as legitimate to inaction in the proper situations. He defends the Stoic philosophy as leaning toward otium. The main responsibility for the Stoic is to benefit the public in some manner. This could be done by the cultivation of virtue or the research of nature in retirement. This would mean a life of meditation and contemplation rather than an active political life. Seneca shows that otium is not really "free time", but a study of other matters (i.e., reading, writing) other than political and career gains.
  The increase of retirees retreating to rural villas became more attractive as writers of the day wrote that Stoic ways included pursuits of reading, writing and philosophy. This meant that the work of public duties was replaced by otium liberale (liberal leisure) and was san
caption: A modern reconstruction of a Roman villa
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