What did wealthy ancient Romans do with their time?

[basemetal]

Just as as a discussion topic.
The ancient wealthy romans had.....a lot of free time.
Up until that problematical time when aka: Gladiator: the movie, when the Praetorians came to the villa to carry them off to prison (rarely happened), and set fire to their villa and killed or re-enslaved their household. What exactly did they do with all that free time?
They must have had an appreciation of nature that we would have envied. Tempered by the fact that they were surrounded by nature in a fashion that we cannot conceive of.   The island of Capri is beautiful to modern eyes.  But pollution has rendered the view from the premier villa of Tiberius less than dramatic, though beautiful to our eyes. He must have seen clearer and farther.  Reading, good food, a by our standards, leisurely existence, must have had a calmnative effect, whether or not the future  was troubled.  Without mentioning the numerous modern distractions, what would they have done to amuse and stimulate themselves?  Family matters meant a lot.  My daughter is with child. Lots to talk about there, but in a  slower fashion, not about how to have the relatives fly in after adjusting their work schedules.
Comes to mind:  Good food.  We eat on the run a lot.  Good sex:  Hey. we like sex too, but the orgasm must have been an even bigger highlight for the ancients, as was mild to medium intoxication from drinking.
Lack of chemicals:  No coffee, no perscription drugs, no odd drug interactions that we are often unaware of that make us crazy.
Awareness of beauty on a different scale:  The beauty of a ruby, the clear red color so seldom seen in nature.  Or, in a more leisurely fashon:  The spring blooming of trees, in a more oriental fashion.
Lack of day to day fear:  no fear of mugging, no fear of plane or car crash, no anxiety over changing jobs, wife leaving you(or husband).
Continuity:  Your father may have been poorer, but lived much as you.  Both you and he did not have to adjust from the typewriter to the computer keyboard.
Serenity: News traveled slowly. Even bad news.  A new emperor?  That happened 3 months ago. You just found out about it.
Communication: A new emperor.  We will talk of it at supper tonight.  Meanwhile I'll take a walk through my gardens.
You get the idea.
Any discussion?
Bruce
Basemetal

[John K]

What might wealthy Romans do?  Two things come to mind...

Philosophy:  They would have time to talk about topics like - life, truth, ethics, the universe and the soul. I would guess they would have access to some Greek philosophers so they may read their writings and discuss them.

Astrology/Astronomy: I mean a step up from fortune-telling. I think they would discuss and observe the heavens, the planets and the stars. We find so many of these symbols even on the coins so it was on their mind a lot.

[slokind]

Talk and gossip, on the whole.  Keeping tabs of others' wealth.  Using the Loebs, one could go through Cicero's letters and pick up a lot of hints, I think.  Pat L.

[wandigeaux (1940 - 2010)]

Talk and gossip certainly.  Scholarly pursuits (is "otium" the word?).  Also, career anxieties, keeping one's patrons happy, paying and receiving obligatory "social" visits, and general politicking, scheming, and conniving. Wondering what that look from the emperor meant, wondering what that look you caught on the face of your hairdresser in the mirror meant.  Toothache, digestive problems, difficulties in stooping to stool.  Wine and opiates.  The joys of one's own garden, ignorance and the despoiling of nature in the wild.  Frequent exposure to horrible smells and stinks while out on the town.  Gambling and fornicating.    Something like the life of a Mafia don (as seen by Hollywood).  Not much fun, IMO (well, most of it).  Cheers, George Spradling

[Steve Minnoch]

And hobbies... famously some very prominent Romans, at least of the late Republican period raised fish in grossly expensive and complex fish ponds.  (notably Hortensius, the advocate whose place Cicero took at the top of the oratorical tree, and Lucullus, whose conquests in the east were usurped by Pompey.

Steve

[monty]

And of course, they induldged in the hobby of kings, they collected coins

[Robert_Brenchley]

Sex, gossip, admin, entertainment, interests, I don't suppose it changes too much except in detail.

[museumguy]

I actually see some parallels with some of America's founding fathers like George Washington, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, George Mason and John Adams.  What did they do with their time?  Talked and/or engaged in politics, entertained at home or were entertained in the local tavern, oversaw their lands and other business interests, engaged in or watched sporting events, read, wrote letters, attended theatrical and musical performances, etc.  Sounds like a full day to me!

Steve

[Wolfpack]

I wonder what were the impacts of lead and mercury on the desire for scholarly activities.

[Robert_Brenchley]

They can't have had much impact on anyone but the slaves working with them; there's no evidence that the Romans were affected overall.

[basemetal]

One thing they must have cultivated was the storyteller's art.  Not just "official" stories of the past, but I suspect that they were quite talented at telling a joke, or better than many moderns in just "telling about my youth" and similar type stories.  One of the wonders of reading is that one can "listen" to someone far away or long dead.  So many could not read, that good narrative skills must have been "naturally selected for".
Also, the romans have been described as living for their position in society (at least the wealthy and to some extent the free).
I thought about it, and I realized that I may be projecting once again, modern/age-related values on the romans.   That magnificent view from Capri may indeed have been magnificent, but being born to that and similar environmental backgrounds, would have to some extent dulled the romans to what they had.  The young, and the ambitious would have certainly craved the excitement of travel and the "big city".  How many modern folk have become famous and/or noted because as youths, they wanted nothing more than to "get away from that damned farm(or villa)".
I know that when I was young, growing up in a beautiful rural environment, I wanted to live in a city, preferably on the top floor of  the center building in the center of that town or  city.
With each passing year, my preferences have been to live 5 miles farther out from that same city.
At 54, you may imagine my preferences do now encompass a "little spread" on a sparsely populated  island off the coast of you name it.
Again that magic time travel machine:  "How I envy you living here on a beautiful island in the Roman Lake, young noble".
The reply might well be:  "Why?  There's NOTHING TO DO HERE".