138 OPERATIONS IN T THE MINES. CHAP. iv. 



stances scarcely if at all less distressing to them 

 than those inflicted by the slavery derived from 

 piracy. The condition of such persons would 

 resemble in some measure that of the agricul- 

 tural villains under the feudal system of a suc- 

 ceeding period, or that of the serfs of the crown 

 in the Russian empire. This too appears to 

 have been the manner in which the mines in 

 Macedonia were worked when that country was 

 conquered by the Romans ; for we learn from 

 Livy 1 9 that after their general, Paulus ^Emilius, 

 had obtained possession of the province, he re- 

 leased the peasants from the obligations they 

 were previously under of labouring in the mines 

 at the command of the farmer of the finances. 



The working of mines either by serfs or by 

 slaves could neither be the most appropriate 

 nor the most beneficial mode of operating. By 

 the first method a great degree of oppression 

 must be practised, and by the latter a great ex- 

 pense in purchasing slaves must be incurred, 

 and by both only so much labour, and of the 

 worst kind, would be performed as could be 

 extorted by terror. 



The Romans, where they gained a province, 

 wished speedily to simplify, or, to use a modern 

 phrase, to centralise their administration ; and 

 hence were induced to let the mines to farm, 



1 Livy, lib. xlv. cap. 18. 



