Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/26

 slaves at any price, rather than maintain what he deemed a useless burden. The dungeons, where slaves in chains were forced to work, were common all over Italy. Columella advises that they be built under ground; and recommends the duty of having a careful overseer to call over the names of the slaves, in order to know when any of them had deserted. Sicily was full of these dungeons, and the soil was cultivated by laborers in chains. Eunus and Athenio excited the servile war, by breaking up these' monstrous prisons, and giving liberty to 60,000 slaves.

In the ancient and uncivilized ages of the world, "Piracy" was regarded as an honorable profession; and this was supposed to give a right of making slaves."The Grecians," says Thucydides,"in their primitive state, as well as the cotemporary barbarians who inhabited the sea coast and islands, addicted themselves wholly to it; it was, in short, their only profession and support." The writings of Homer establish this account, as they show that this was a common practice at so early a period as that of the Trojan war. The reputation which piracy seems to have acquired among the ancients, was owing to the skill, strength, agility and valor which were necessary for conducting it with success; and these erroneous notions led to other consequences immediately connected with the slavery of the human species. Avarice and ambition availed themselves of these mistaken notions; and people were robbed, stolen, and even murdered, under the pretended idea that these were reputable adventures. But in proportion as men's sentiments and manners became more refined, the practice of piracy lost its reputation, and began gradually to disappear. The practice, however, was found to be lucrative; and it was continued with a view to the emolument attending it, long after it ceased to be thought honoraable, and when it was sinking into disgrace. The profits arising from the sale of slaves presented a temptation which avarice could not resist; many were stolen by their own countrymen and sold for slaves; and merchants traded on the different coasts in order to facilitate the disposal of this article of commerce. The merchants of Thessaly, — according to Aristophanes, who never spared the vices of the times, — were particularly infamous for this latter kind of depredation; the Athenians were notorious for the former; for they had practiced these robberies to such an extent, that it was found necessary to enact a law to punish kidnappers with death.

From the above statement it appears that there were among the ancients two classes of involuntary slaves: captives taken in war, and those who were privately stolen in peace; to which might be added, a third class, comprehending the children and descendants of the two former.

The condition of slaves and their personal treatment were sufficiently humiliating and grievous, and may well excite our pity and abhorrence. They were beaten, starved, tortured, and murdered at discretion; they were dead in a civil sense; they had neither name nor tribe; they were incapable of judicial process; and they were, in short, without appeal. To this cruel treatment, however, there were some exceptions. The Egyptian slave, though perhaps a