180 DECLINE OF THE 



CHAP. VII. 



operations. From the earliest history of the 

 world, as soon as mankind had been so far civil- 

 ised as to spare the lives of prisoners of war 

 by converting them into slaves, the system of 

 slavery had formed a* part of the usages of all 

 nations. As navigation extended, slavery had 

 grown with it ; and for a long time, especially 

 with the early Greeks, the profits arising from 

 maritime intercourse may be attributed as much 

 to the stealing of human beings, as to the inter- 

 change of the productions which the several 

 countries of the world exchanged with each other. 



The wars which had immediately preceded 

 the accession of Augustus, and those carried on 

 in the earlier years of his reign, were domestic 

 hostilities in which Romans contended against 

 Romans ; and, whatever miseries might be in- 

 flicted on the sufferers, it was not the custom to 

 treat the citizens of Rome as slaves to those who 

 had defeated them. The legions of Pompey, 

 when beaten by Julius Caesar, did not become 

 slaves, neither were those who fought under 

 Brutus and Cassius at Philippi, nor those who 

 contended under Marc Antony against Octavius, 

 when dispersed as an army, sold for slaves to 

 their fellow-citizens. 



The Romans were at no time attached to 

 naval occupations, and the commerce they pur- 

 sued by sea was far from extensive, assiduous, 

 or enterprising. The vessels of war were chiefly 



