Slavery was universally recognized by the nations of antiquity. It
is said by Pliny, in bold phrase, that the Lacedæmonians "invented
slavery."[10] If this were so, the glory of Lycurgus and Leonidas would
not compensate for such a blot. It is true that they recognized it, and
gave it a shape of peculiar hardship. But slavery is older than Sparta.
It existed in the tents of Abraham; for the three hundred and eighteen
servants born to him were slaves. We behold it in the story of Joseph,
who was sold by his brothers to the Midianites for twenty pieces of
silver.[11] We find it in the poetry of Homer, who stamps it with a
reprobation which even the Christian Cowper has hardly surpassed, when
he says,--
"Jove fixed it certain that whatever day
Makes man a slave takes half his worth away."[12]
[10] "_Servitium invenere Lacedæmonii._" Nat. Hist., Lib. VII. c.
57.
[11] Genesis xiv. 14; Ibid. xxxvii. 28. By these and other texts
of the Scriptures, slavery, and even the _slave-trade_, have been
vindicated. See Bruce's Travels in Africa, Book II. Ch. 2. Vol. II.
p. 319. After quoting these texts, the complacent traveller says he
"cannot think that purchasing slaves is in itself either cruel or
unnatural."
[12] Odyssey, tr. Pope, Book XVII., 392, 393.
In later days it prevailed extensively in Greece, whose haughty people
deemed themselves justified in enslaving all who were strangers to
their manners and institutions. "It is right for Greeks to rule
barbarians," was the sentiment of Euripides, one of the first of her
poets, echoed by Aristotle, the greatest of her intellects.[13] And
even Plato, in his imaginary Republic, the Utopia of his beautiful
genius, sanctions slavery. But notwithstanding these high names,
we learn from Aristotle himself that there were persons in his
day--pestilent Abolitionists of ancient Athens--who did not hesitate
to maintain that liberty was the great law of Nature, and to deny any
difference between master and slave,--declaring at the same time that
slavery was founded upon violence, and not upon right, and that the
authority of the master was unnatural and unjust.[14] "God sent forth
all persons free; Nature has made no man a slave,"[15] was the protest
of one of these agitating Athenians against this great wrong. I am not
in any way authorized to speak for any Anti-Slavery Society, even if
this were the proper occasion; but I presume that this ancient Greek
morality embodies substantially the principles maintained at their
public meetings,--so far, at least, as they relate to slavery.
[13] Euripid., Iphig. in Taurid., 1400; Aristot., Polit., Lib. I.
c. 1.
[14] Polit., Lib. I. c. 3. In like spirit are the words of the good
Las Casas, when pleading before Charles the Fifth for the Indian
races of America. "The Christian religion," he said, "is equal in
its operation, and is accommodated to every nation on the globe.
_It robs no one of his freedom, violates none of his inherent
rights, on the ground that he is a slave by nature, as pretended_;
and it well becomes your Majesty _to banish_ so monstrous an
oppression from your kingdoms in the beginning of your reign, that
the Almighty may make it long and glorious."--Prescott, Conquest of
Mexico, Vol. I. p. 379.
[15] A saying attributed by the Scholiast on Aristotle's Rhetoric
to Alcidamas, a disciple of Gorgias of Leontini. See Aristotle's
Ethics and Politics, tr. Gillies, Vol. II. p. 26.
It is true, most true, that slavery stands on force and not on right.
It is a hideous result of war, or of that barbarism in which savage
war plays its conspicuous part. To the victor belonged the lives of
his captives, and, by consequence, he might bind them in perpetual
servitude. This principle, which has been the foundation of slavery
in all ages, is adapted only to the rudest conditions of society, and
is wholly inconsistent with a period of refinement, humanity, and
justice. It is sad to confess that it was recognized by Greece; but the
civilization of this famed land, though brilliant to the external view
as the immortal sculptures of the Parthenon, was, like that stately
temple, dark and cheerless within.
Slavery extended, with new rigors, under the military dominion of Rome.
The spirit of freedom which animated the Republic was of that selfish
and intolerant character which accumulated privileges upon the Roman
citizen, while it heeded little the rights of others. But, unlike the
Greeks, the Romans admitted in theory that all men are originally
free by the Law of Nature; and they ascribed the power of masters
over slaves, not to any alleged diversities in the races of men, but
to the will of society.[16] The constant triumphs of their arms were
signalized by reducing to servitude large bodies of subjugated people.
Paulus Æmilius returned from Macedonia with an uncounted train of
slaves, composed of persons in every sphere of life; and the camp of
Lucullus in Pontus witnessed the sale of slaves for four drachmæ, or
seventy-five cents, a head.
[16] Institut., Lib. I. Tit. 2.
Terence and Phædrus, Roman slaves, teach us that genius is not always
quenched even by degrading bondage; while the writings of Cato the
Censor, one of the most virtuous slave-masters in history, show the
hardening influence of a system which treats human beings as cattle.
"Let the husbandman," says Cato, "sell his old oxen, his sickly
cattle, his sickly sheep, his wool, his hides, his old wagon, his old
implements, _his old slave, and his diseased slave_; and if there is
anything else not wanted, let him sell it. _He should be seller, rather
than buyer._"[17]
[17] De Re Rustica, Cap. II.
The cruelty and inhumanity which flourished in the Republic professing
freedom enjoyed a natural home under Emperors who were the high-priests
of despotism. Wealth increased, and with it the multitude of slaves.
Some masters are said to have owned as many as ten thousand, while
extravagant prices were often paid for them, according to fancy or
caprice. Martial mentions handsome boys sold for as much as two hundred
thousand sesterces each, or more than eight thousand dollars.[18] On
the assassination of Pedanius Secundus by one of his slaves, no less
than four hundred were put to death,--an orator in the Senate arguing
that these hecatombs were in accordance with ancient custom.[19]
[18] Epig. III. 62.
[19] Tacitus, Ann., XIV. 43.
It is easy to believe that slavery, which prevailed so largely in
Greece and Rome, must have existed in Africa. Here, indeed, it found a
peculiar home. If we trace the progress of this unfortunate continent
from those distant days of fable when Jupiter did not
"disdain to grace
The feasts of Æthiopia's blameless race,"[20]
the merchandise in slaves will be found to have contributed to the
abolition of two hateful customs, once universal in Africa,--the eating
of captives, and their sacrifice to idols. Thus, in the march of
civilization, even the barbarism of slavery is an important stage of
Human Progress. It is a point in the ascending scale from cannibalism.
[20] Iliad. tr. Pope, Book I., 556, 557.