CLĬENS is said to contain the same element as the verb _cluere_,
to “hear” or “obey,” and may be accordingly compared with the
German word _höriger_, “a dependant,” from _hören_, “to hear.” In
the earliest times of the Roman state we find a class of persons
called _clientes_, who must not be confounded with the plebeians,
from whom they were distinct. The clients were not slaves: they had
property of their own and freedom, and appear to have had votes in
the comitia centuriata, but they did not possess the full rights of
Roman citizens; and the peculiarity of their condition consisted in
every client being in a state of dependence upon or subjection to
some patrician, who was called his _patronus_, and to whom he owed
certain rights and duties. The patronus, on the other hand, likewise
incurred certain obligations towards his client. This relationship
between patronus and cliens was expressed by the word _clientela_,
which also expressed the whole body of a man’s clients. The relative
rights and duties of the patrons and the clients were, according
to Dionysius, as follows:--The patron was the legal adviser of
the cliens; he was the client’s guardian and protector, as he was
the guardian and protector of his own children; he maintained the
client’s suit when he was wronged, and defended him when another
complained of being wronged by him: in a word, the patron was the
guardian of the client’s interests, both private and public. The
client contributed to the marriage portion of the patron’s daughter,
if the patron was poor; and to his ransom, or that of his children,
if they were taken prisoners; he paid the costs and damages of a suit
which the patron lost, and of any penalty in which he was condemned;
he bore a part of the patron’s expenses incurred by his discharging
public duties, or filling the honourable places in the state. Neither
party could accuse the other, or bear testimony against the other,
or give his vote against the other. This relationship between patron
and client subsisted for many generations, and resembled in all
respects the relationship by blood. The relation of a master to his
liberated slave (_libertus_) was expressed by the word _patronus_,
and the libertus was the cliens of his patronus. Distinguished
Romans were also the protectors of states and cities, which were in
a certain relation of subjection or dependence to Rome. In the time
of Cicero we also find _patronus_ in the sense of adviser, advocate,
or defender, opposed to _cliens_ in the sense of the person defended
or the consultor,--a use of the word which must be referred to the
original character of the patronus.