Pallas

Marcus Antonius Pallas (died AD 62) was a prominent Greek freedman and secretary during the reigns of the Roman Emperors Claudius and Nero. His younger brother was Marcus Antonius Felix, a procurator of Iudaea Province. According to Tacitus, Pallas and Felix descended from the Greek Kings of Arcadia. Pallas was originally a slave of Antonia Minor, a daughter of Mark Antony and niece of Emperor Augustus. In accordance with Roman custom, Pallas took the name of her father when freed. Josephus mentions him as the slave sent by Antonia to deliver evidence to the emperor Tiberius concerning the murder of his son Drusus Julius Caesar by Sejanus. Antonia probably manumitted Pallas between the years of 31 and 37, when he would have passed the minimum age for freedom. He is listed as owning land in Egypt during that period, possibly as a reward for his servitude. When Antonia died in 37, he became the client of her son, Claudius, as tradition dictated at the death of a former master and patron. As a freedman, Pallas rose to great heights in the imperial government. From the beginning of Claudius' reign, the Senate was openly hostile to him, which forced him to centralize powers. The daily maintenance of the empire was too much for one man, so Claudius divided it up among his trusted freedmen. Pallas was made secretary of the treasury. He did this job with such efficiency that Cornelius Scipio proposed before the Senate that he be rewarded. The position apparently enabled Pallas to reward himself as well, and was rewarded by the Senate of 15 million sesterces; he is cited by Tacitus to have a personal fortune of 300 million sesterces as he is later listed as one of the richest men of the time by Pliny the Elder. Historians acknowledge that he never embezzled directly from the imperial account, and his wealth may have come from his financial acumen. Some ancient historians claim he was able to control the emperor through his high-ranking position, but this is probably not the case. This is shown when he could not prevent his fellow freedman-administrator Polybius from being executed for treason. In the second half of Claudius' reign, Pallas chose to support Agrippina the Younger as the new empress after the fall of Empress Messalina. Tacitus notes his intent to reunite the Julian and Claudian families through the marriage, and prevent either a future husband of Agrippina, or Agrippina herself, from claiming the throne.