1890-91. J CHRISTIANITY ON LEGISLATION. 173 



slaves, but in some instances even Roman citizens had been so put to 

 death. Brandini^ in the face was also a cruel punishment for a crime 

 that did not merit death. The victim throughout life carried on his face 

 the record and the punishment of his crime, and it would be impossible 

 for him to recover the position he had held among honest men, no matter 

 how great his penitence. Constantine also abolished the practice of 

 throwing criminals to wild beasts. He also prohibited the bloody- 

 spectacles of gladiatorial combats (325). In the time of the republic 

 the most usual punishment for Roman citizens was the aquae et ignis 

 interdictio, which practically amounted to banishment, since it prohibited 

 the use of those things without which life could not be preserved. 

 Sometimes a person was excluded from a specific place but the rest of 

 the world was open to him ; in other cases he was excluded from all the 

 world except one specified place. 



SLAVES. 



Slavery was a part of the civil constitution of most countries when 

 Christianity appeared ; yet no passage is to be found in the Christian 

 scriptures by which it is condemned or prohibited. This is true, for 

 Christianity, soliciting admission into all nations of the world, abstained 

 from meddling with their civil institutions. But it is not consistent with 

 many principles and precepts, which cannot have their full effect while 

 slavery exists. Slaves had no rights. They were not so much persons 

 as things, while Christianity teaches the equality of all men before God, 

 recognises slaves as brethren, and inculcates the duty of kindness and 

 benevolence towards them. The Roman world was full of slaves. The 

 Roman jurists scorned the idea of any inequality of race as justifying 

 it, but maintained the right of making slaves of captives taken in war> 

 who might have been killed by the victors, — and following out their legal 

 principles, the child of a female slave must also be a slave. Criminals 

 guilty of heinous offences might be sentenced to slavery ; and a debtor 

 unable to pay might sell himself or his children as slaves. The condition 

 of slaves was a very degraded and sad one. Their masters could kill 

 them without apprehending any punishment. In the course of time the 

 extreme severity of the masters was gradually restrained. They were 

 prohibited to kill them, and their cruelty was checked by judges appointed 

 for the purpose. They were not permitted at their pleasure to order 

 them to be cast to the wild beasts. The emperor Hadrian forbade to kill 

 them, and Marcus allowed them to bring accusations against their masters. 

 The prefect of Rome and the presidents of the provinces, took cognizance 

 of the crimes of slaves. Yet, if from immoderate chastisement only, a 

 slave died under the blows, or oppressed with illness was unable to resist 



