Bureaucrats, though often vilified as inefficient time servers, run the state machine. Both autocratic and elected rulers need managers to write reports, count coins and take care of tiresome details. Often bureaucrats have something that sets them apart as a caste: they might be freed slaves in imperial Rome, clerics (p. 92) in Medieval Europe or eunuchs (p. 82) in Asia. Unless his superior chooses a hands-on approach, a bureaucrat can unofficially wield considerable power.