1830.] Ancient and Modern Systems of Slavery. 389 



although none of the classic writers give a distinct description of the 

 treatment of Roman slaves, we find by incidental remarks, that masters 

 had an absolute power over their slaves, whom they might scourge or 

 put to death at pleasure ; and that this right was exercised with so much 

 severity, especially during the most corrupt ages of the republic, that in 

 the end, laws to restrain it became necessary.* Tacitus tells us that 

 (A.D. 57-) a decree of the senate, relative to revenge and security, 

 declared that if any one was slain by his slave, execution should be done 

 on the whole ! And it appears that (A.D. 61,) four hundred slaves in 

 one family, without distinction of age, sex, or undoubted innocence, suffered 

 death, in consequence of the assassination of their master, Pedonius 

 Secundus, by one of their number, from motives of private revenge.* 

 Such were the mild laws of the Romans ! It further appears that some 

 slaves served as door-keepers, attended by a dog both chained. J That 

 slaves were allowed a beggarly quantity of food, and if by presents 

 or otherwise, they became possessed of property, they were obliged to 

 make presents out of their peculium to their masters, when beaten, 

 they were suspended with a weight tied to their feet, and the common 

 capital punishment up to the time of Constantine was crucifixion. 

 Vedius Pollio, a friend of Augustus, used to throw them into a fish- 

 pond, to be devoured by lamprey s.|| At one period, their masters could 

 compel them to fight with wild beastslf and incredible numbers were 

 destroyed as gladiators. 



" The common lot of slaves in general," says Dr. Taylor,** (quoted by 

 Parkhurst,) " was with the ancients, in many circumstances very deplo- 

 rable. They were held pro nullis, pro mortuis, pro quadrupedibus : for 

 no men, for dead men, for beasts ; nay, were in a much worse state than 

 any cattle whatever. They had no head in the state, no name, tribe, or 

 register. They were not capable of being injured; nor could they take 

 by purchase or descent ; had no heirs, and therefore could make no will 

 of course. Exclusive of what was called their peculium, whatever they 

 acquired was their master's. They could not plead, nor be pleaded, but 

 were excluded from all civil concerns whatsoever ; were not entitled to 

 the rights and considerations of matrimony, and therefore had no relief in 

 case of adultery ; nor were the proper objects of cognation, or affinity. 

 They might be tortured for evidence ; punished at the discretion of 

 their lord, and even put to death by his authority ; together with many 

 other civil incapacities which I have not room to enumerate." 



" So truly deplorable/' adds Parkhurst, " was the legal state of these 

 unhappy persons under the Roman government."tt 

 If such was the condition of the domestic slaves, the prcedial were 

 systematically treated with severity the most shocking. They appear 

 to have been habitually worked in chains. Seneca speaks of Vasia 

 spatia terrarum pervinctos colenda, and Lipsius, one of his commen- 

 tators, observes H " the ancients cultivated, for the most part, all their 

 lands by bound (or linked) slaves." Juvencius confirms this distinctly ; 



* Adams' Rom : Antiq. p. 37- 



f Annal XIII. 32. XIV. 42, et Segg. 



% Columel, praef. Senec. de Fras. iii. 37. 



Terent. Phorm. 1. 1. 9. 



|| Juv. ut Sup. Cic. in Verr. v. 3, 64, &c. 

 51 Plin. ix. 23. S. 39. Dio. liv. 23. 

 ** Modestin. ad leg. Cornel, de Sicar. 

 ft Elements of Civil Law, pp.428, 9. 

 : " Allegatus Mancissii rura fere omnia colebant Antiqui." 



