Vilicus

[3] In the rural economy of early Rome, the vilicus was a bailiff or farm manager who directly oversaw agricultural labor[4] on the villa rustica.

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 insularius, an apartment manager.

[6] As a slave, the vilicus would not have the right to a legal marriage, but it was thought appropriate and beneficial for him to enter into an enduring heterosexual union (contubernia) and raise a family.

The vilica who supervised food preparation and textile production for the estate[8] held her position on her own merit and only infrequently was the woman who lived with the vilicus as his wife.

[9] 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 soothsayers, to take care of the cattle and the implements of husbandry, and to manage all the operations of the farm.