person
Gaius Julius Callistus
Callistus
also: Callistus
An imperial freedman who rose from slavery to be one of the most powerful palace secretaries under Caligula and Claudius. Seneca cites him in Letter 47 as the emblem of fortune's reversals: his former owner reduced to dancing attendance at the freedman's door.
Reading notes
- Moral Letters to Lucilius §5.47.9 Callistus
Gaius Julius Callistus, a slave who rose to be one of the immensely powerful freedmen-secretaries of the emperor Caligula and Claudius; Seneca recalls seeing Callistus's former owner shut out from the great man's door — the reversal of fortunes between master and slave.