*

Cruel masters sometimes hired torturers by profession, or had such persons in their establishments, to assist them in punishing their slaves, or in extorting confessions from them, and many horrible torments were employed for those purposes. The noses, ears, teeth, or even eyes were in great danger from an enraged master.† Crucifixion was frequently made the fate of a wretched slave, for trifling misconduct, or for mere caprice. ‡ Cato, the Censor, used after supper to seize a thong, and flog such of his slaves as had not attended properly, or had dressed any dish ill. Insulting appellations were given to slaves who had been often subjected to punishment. One who had frequently been beaten was called mastigia, or verbero; he who had been branded was termed stigmatias, or stigmatius, or inscriptus, or literatus, and he who had borne the furca was named furcifer. No distinction whatever seems to have been maintained between the modes of punishing male and female slaves. The laws, which abolished the master's power of life and death, appear to have been obeyed with great reluc

Quid suadet juveni lætus stridore catenæ,

Quem mire afficiunt inscripta ergastula, carcer
Rusticus?" - XIV. 21.

- sunt, quæ tortoribus annua præstent." - Juv. VI. 480.

"Trunci naribus auribusque vultus."— Mart. II. 83. "Peccantis famuli pugno ne percute dentes." Id. XIV. 68.

"Pone crucem servo; meruit quo crimine servus
Supplicium? Quis testis adest? Quis detulit? Audi.
Nulla unquam de morte hominis cunctatio longa est.

O demens, ita servus homo est? Nil fecerit, esto;

Hoc volo, sic jubeo, sit pro ratione voluntas.” - Juv. VI. 218. The following law was passed A. C. 58. "Si quis a suis servis interfectus esset, ii quoque, qui testamento manumissi sub eodem tecto mansissent, inter servos supplicia penderent." - Tac. Ann. XIII. 32.

tance, and frequently virtually defeated by an increase in the amount of an inferior punishment.

Slaves had various rewards for good conduct held out to them by their masters. The chief of these were manumission, or promotion to a better situation in their owner's service, as to the place of steward, or superintendent. They were sometimes allowed to keep a share of the profits of their business, or money was given them in acknowledgment of special services. Slaves had generally a separate fund called peculium, though this was strictly the property of the master. At the Saturnalia, slaves were treated like masters, feasting at their owner's tables, having license to say what they pleased without fear of chastisement. Their other principal holidays were the Matronalia, in March, Populifugia, 7th of July, and Competalia, 7th of May.*

*The writings of M. Seneca are full of tender sympathy and of exalted sentiments in behalf of slaves. "Servis," he says, "imperare moderate, laus est; et in mancipio cogitandum est, non quantum illud impune pati possit, sed quantum tibi permittat æqui bonique natura.” In the same place, the conduct of Vedius Pollio, who fed his fish with the flesh of his slaves, is reprobated in the severest manner. De Clem. I. 18. In the essay De Beneficiis, I. iii. Cap. 19, 20, 21, etc., many instances are recorded of grateful conduct on the part of slaves. "Errat, si quis existimat servitutem in totum hominem descendere; pars melior ejus excepta est. Corpora obnoxia sunt, et adscripta dominis; mens quidem sui juris; quæ adeo libera et vaga est, ut ne ab hoc quidem carcere cui inclusa est, teneri queat." One of the examples quoted is where the servant of C. Vettius, "ejus gladium militi ipsi, a quo trahebatur, eduxit, et primum dominum occidit; deinde, Tempus est, inquit, me et mihi consulere, jam dominum manumisi ; atque ita se uno ictu transjecit" (Cap. 23). In the civil wars another slave habited himself like his master, and was slain, while his master escaped. A third, by wise counsel, saved the life of his master, who had spoken treasonable things against Cæsar. The 47th epistle is taken up in describing

The proportion between the sexes of the slaves, has not been ascertained. There were few female agriculturists, and the men who lived in ergastula would rarely have wives. Women alone were employed in spinning; but men were, as often as they, engaged in weaving. The sepulchre of the freedmen and slaves of Livia, the daughter of Augustus, as described by Gori, has 150 female names to 400 names of men.

On the whole, we may regard the condition of the slaves in the later days of the Republic, and during the Empire previously to the reign of Constantine, as one of great hardship. Their lot was dependent on the disposition of particular masters, not on the laws, nor on a humane and enlightened public opinion. On a cursory reading of the classical authors, we may form the opinion that slaves in general enjoyed great liberties. But we must recollect that the authors in question were conversant mainly with the verna, with the house slaves, with the smart, precocious slaves, children brought from Alexandria, with the educated slaves, etc. The groans from the ergastula do not reach our ears. We cannot gather up the tears which were shed on the Appian

what the treatment of slaves ought to be. Unhappily, he furnishes evidence enough that his compassionate advice was but little heeded. After saying that he will pass over the instances of inhuman men, who treated their slaves more cruelly than beasts, he says: "Alius vini minister in muliebrem modum ornatus, cum ætate luctatur. Non potest effugere pueritiam, sed retrahitur. Jamque militari habitu glaber, destrictis pilis, aut penitus evulsis, tota nocte pervigilat; quam inter ebrietatem domini ac libidinem dividit, et in cubiculo vir, et in convivio puer est." The younger Pliny was a humane master. Dio Cassius, I. 47 of his Roman. Hist., mentions three slaves in the time of Antony's proscription, who saved their masters at the loss of their own lives. One of them was a stigmaticus.

Way, around the mausoleum of Augustus, in the countless farms of Italy. There were griefs which we know not of, -sorrows, heart-rending cruelties, which will not be revealed till the day of doom. Slaves were valued only so far as they represented money. Hortensius cared less for the health of his slaves than for that of his fish. It was a question put for ingenious disputation, whether, in order to lighten a vessel in a storm, one should sacrifice a valuable horse or a worthless slave. So late as the reign of Adrian, we find that indications of insanity were not uncommon among slaves, which must generally be attributed to their misery.

The slaves not unfrequently rose in rebellion against their masters. At one time, A. C. 458, Appius Herdonius summoned the slaves from the Capitol with the inspiring words, "Se miserrimi cujusque suscepisse causam, ut servitiis grave jugum demeret." In the city the terror was extreme, as no one knew whom to trust. His foes were they of his own household. A little later, A. C. 415, (Livy, IV. 45,) it was announced that "Servitia, urbem ut incenderent distantibus locis, conjurarunt." At another time, A. C. 271, (Livy, XXII. 33,) twenty-five slaves were affixed to the cross, because they had entered into a conspiracy in the Campus Martius. Etruria, A. C. 196, (Livy, XXXIII. 36,) was threatened with a fearful insurrection. The mournful result was, "Multi occisi, multi capti, alios verberatos crucibus affixit, qui principes conjurationis fuerant; alios dominis restituit." Again, A. C. 184, (Livy, XXXIX. 29,) we read, "Magnus motus servilis eo anno in Apulia fuit." Seven thousand men were condemned. In the brief language of the historian, "de multis sumptum est supplicium."

In A. C. 135, an insurrection of the slaves in Sicily happened, which, says Diodorus, was the most dreadful which

ever occurred. Many towns were plundered; multitudes of persons of both sexes (åvapíðμnto) were visited with the direst calamities, and the slaves gained possession of almost the whole island. The insurgents under Eunus amounted to 70,000 men, of whom 20,000 are said to have fallen in the last defeat; and the rest to have been taken and crucified; but they had kept the field for six years, in the face of considerable forces.

In Italy there were vast numbers of slaves, and frequent and dangerous commotions. The first happened at Nuceria, where thirty slaves were taken and executed. In the second insurrection at Capua, 200 slaves rebelled; they were immediately destroyed. The third took place in consequence of the disgraceful conduct of a rich Roman, Titus Minutius by name. Having proclaimed himself king, 3,500 slaves flocked to his standard. Lucius Lucullus was charged with the business of dealing with the insurgents. Minutius, having been betrayed, killed himself, and his associates perished. This was, however, but a prelude to greater troubles in Sicily. The Senate having passed a decree that no freedman among the allies of the Roman people should be reduced to slavery, more than 800 in Sicily, who had been unlawfully deprived of freedom, were liberated. This excited the hopes of the slaves throughout the island. Remonstrances having been made to the prætor, he ordered those who had assembled about him, for the purpose of recovering their liberty, to return to their masters. This was the signal for a general insurrection. The insurgents, having strongly fortified themselves, bade defiance to the efforts of the prætor. A certain Titinius, an outlaw, was their leader. He having at length proved treacherous to his cause, the designs of the conspirators were crushed. Soon,