however, the tumult broke out afresh, and Titinius, who was sent by the prætor against the slaves, was worsted. Their number increased in a few days to more than 6,000. Having chosen a certain Salvius leader, they ravaged various parts of the island. In a battle with the Romans, Salvius took 4,000 prisoners. The whole island was soon in a sad condition. Salvius collected an army of 30,000 men, and assumed all the ensigns of royalty. In this manner the war was protracted for several years, and the disturbances were not fully quelled till after the most vigorous and persevering exertions of the Roman army.*

The famous servile war in Italy, which occurred in the time of Crassus and Pompey, lasted nearly three years, and was not brought to a close without the greatest difficulty. It seems that the slaves lost 105,000 men, exclusive of those who fell in their victories over Lentulus, and other generals; besides, after their main overthrow by Crassus, a body of 5,000 men were vanquished by Pompey.

In A. D. 24, T. Curtisius, a soldier of the pretorian cohort, at Brundusium in Italy, and the neighboring towns, fixed placards on conspicuous places, in which he called on the slaves to assert their rights. His designs were, however, soon crushed, by the unexpected appearance of a fleet. Cinna, Marius, Catiline, and the barbarian invaders of Italy, augmented their forces by promising general freedom to the slaves.†

* We have drawn the preceding facts about the servile war from Diodorus Siculus, Lib. XXXVI., where a detailed and impartial statement may be seen. This second rebellion in Sicily lasted three years.

+ Plut. Vit. C. Marius; Cicero in Cat. IV. 2; Sallust, Cat. 56. “ Servi te reliquerunt. Alium compilaverunt, alium accusaverunt, alium occiderunt, alium prodiderunt, alium calcaverunt, alium veneno, alium criminatione, petierunt." Seneca, Ep. CVII.

Besides the political troubles to which we have alluded, slavery was the fruitful cause of many other evils. The slaves were much addicted to lying, which Plutarch calls the vice of slaves. They were so great thieves, that fur was once synonymous with slave.* It came to be said almost proverbially, that slaves were foes.† Female slaves were exposed to so many seductions, and were, at the same time, guarded by so few better influences, that we cannot wonder at their extremely licentious conduct. Slavery fearfully increased dissoluteness in the high ranks of Romans, idleness in the lower ranks, and cruelty in both. The horrid butcheries of the amphitheatre are a sufficient proof of the sanguinary disposition of the Romans. The number of foreign slaves imported from various countries, at too advanced an age to learn the language of their lords, must have tended greatly to corrupt the Latin language. The crowds. of slaves, assembled in the houses of the rich, were the means of propagating fatal diseases, which frequently ravaged the Roman world.||

* "Exilis domus est, ubi non et multa supersunt,

Et dominum fallunt, et prosunt furibus."

Hor. Ep. Lib. I. vi. 45, 46.

↑ "Totidem esse hostes, quot servos.”

Sen. Ep. XLVII.

"Quam hujus amentiæ causam detineam nisi fidei imbecillitatem, pronam semper concupiscentiam secularium gaudiorum ?" — Tertul. ad Uxorem, Lib. II. Cap. 8. Also De Spectac. XXII.

§ "At nunc natus infans delegatur græculæ, ancillæ, cui adjungitur unus aut alter ex omnibus servis, plerumque vilissimus, nec cuiquam serio ministerio accommodatus." - Tac. de Caus. Corrup. XXIX. In Heyne's Opuscula, Vol. III. Prol. 7, is an account of the various pestes which desolated Rome. The number mentioned is 33. The sixth, which happened A. U. C. 292, cut off almost all the slaves, and nearly one half of the free population. Liv. XXXVI. Dio

Such, in brief, was the condition of the Roman world in respect to slavery when our Saviour appeared. Under the first Cæsars, domestic servitude had reached its height of enormity. No part of the immense empire was free from the evil. The Sicilian dungeons were full. Medians, Mœsians, Bithynians, were driven in crowds to the Roman metropolis. Men-stealers were on the alert in the fastnesses of the African Troglodytes. The voice of the slave-auctioneer was heard early and late at Corinth and Delos. From Britain to Parthia, and from the woods of Sweden to the great African desert, the cries of the bondman went up to Heaven. In Judea alone, there seems to have been some alleviation to the picture. Yet there the Romans doubtless transported their slaves as an indispensable part of their domestic arrangement.*

In the Gospels, there is no marked and prominent mention of slavery, though the allusions and incidental notices are not unfrequent. Thus in Matt. viii. 9, doûλos in the mouth of the Roman centurion unquestionably means a slave. The military slaves of the Romans were the armiger, armorbearer, galearius, helmet-bearer, clavator, club-bearer, calo and cacula, soldier's drudge. In Matt. xiii. 27, 28, perhaps it is the most natural to understand doûλos as a slave, though a higher meaning of the word r. ay be included. Also compare Matt. vi. 24; Luke xvi. 13; John viii. 33; xiii. 16 ; xv. 20. The punishment of the cross, which was inflicted on slaves and the lowest malefactors, was introduced among

nys. IX. 67. In the one which occurred A. D. 69, which lasted only for an autumn, 30,000 funerals were registered, "triginta funerum millia in rationem Libitinæ venerunt.". Suet. Vit. Nero, XXXIX.

* King Agrippa exhibited at one time in Judea 700 pairs of gladiators, slaves.-Jos. Hist. XIX.

the Jews by the Romans. See also Acts vii. 6. In Rom. vii. 14, we find the expression πεπραμένος ὑπὸ ἁμαρτίαν, sold under sin, the bond-slave of sin, referring to the general practice of selling prisoners of war as slaves. They were considered as having lost their title to freedom. Corinth was long the chief slave-mart of Greece, and, from its situation, was likely to have much communication with Brundusium, and the other ports on the eastern side of Italy. Timæus, perhaps with some exaggeration, asserts that Corinth had, in early times, before Athens had reached her supremacy, 460,000 slaves. They were distinguished by the name chanix-measurers. Many of them doubtless embraced the Gospel, when preached by Paul, Apollos, and others. From the language employed by Paul in describing the social condition of the Corinthian converts,* as well as from the development of the particular vices to which they were. exposed, we reasonably infer that many slaves were converted. In 1 Cor. vii. 20-24 are the following words: "Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Art thou called being a servant? care not for it; but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman; likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant. Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men. Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God." The meaning of this passage clearly is, Be not unduly solicitous about being in a state of bondage. If you have a favorable opportunity for gaining

* Βλέπετε γὰρ τὴν κλῆσιν ὑμῶν, ἀδελφοὶ, ὅτι οὐ πολλοὶ σοφοὶ κατὰ σάρκα, οὐ πολλοὶ δυνατοὶ, οὐ πολλοὶ εὐγενεῖς. 1 Cor. i. 26. Also the terms μωρά, ἀσθενῆ, ἀγενῆ, ἐξουθενημένα, τὰ μὴ ὄντα, etc.

your freedom, embrace it; it is the preferable state; nevertheless, to be a freeman of Christ is infinitely more important. Your spiritual redemption is purchased at a great price; yield not a servile assent to the authority and opinions of men.

Eph. vi. 5-9, "Servants! be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with good-will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men ; knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And, ye masters! do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him." That slaves are here referred to is unquestionable, — from the contrast, in v. 8, between δοῦλος and ἐλεύθερος. Both masters and slaves are charged to perform their respective duties faithfully and kindly, as accountable alike to God. Col. iii. 22, 25, and iv. 1, are of similar import. Slaves were numerous in Colosse, in Ephesus, and in all the principal cities of Asia Minor. A principal fault in the slaves seems to have been, a faithless performance of duty in the absence of their masters. Col. iv. 1 prescribes rò díkalov Thy loórnтa, kind treatment, such as is

* That doûλos, v. 22, means a slave, one in actual bondage, is made altogether certain by its being in contrast with ἐλεύθερος γενέσθαι, as well as by the whole spirit of the passage. There would be no sense in directing hired servants to change their condition, if they could. After χρῆσαι, ν. 21, understand ἐλευθερίᾳ, not δουλείᾳ, as the old commentators think. V. 23, Tμns is used in a spiritual sense, with reference to the price which is paid for human freedom.