From the fact that the slaves of this era were of the same colour and
other physical qualities of their masters; from their great number, and
consequently little value, their condition became attended with
extremely diverse circumstances; so various were, therefore, the
relations between them and the master, that it would now be impossible,
perhaps, to give an accurate history of their various castes. These
facts should be kept in mind, lest we mistake, and find confusion, where
distinction was sufficiently clear and obvious.
Muratori, treating of the Roman slaves and freedmen, acknowledges that
he is unable accurately to state the conditions on which they manumitted
their slaves. In his treatise, “_Sopra i Servi e Liberti Antichi_,” he
has a passage thus:
Noi non sappiamo se con patti, e con quai patti una vulta si
manomettessero que’ Servi, che poi continuavano come Liberti a servire
in Casa de’ loro Padroni, con essere alzati a piu onorati impieghi.
Sappiamo bensi dal Tit. _ne Operis Libertorum_, e dall’ altro _de bonis
Libertorum_ ne’ Digesti, che moltissimi acquistavano la Liberta con
obbligarsi di fare ai Padroni de’ Regaii, o delle Fatture, se erano
Artefici, _Operas, vel Donum_. Questo si praticava verisimilmente dai
soli Mercatanti, ed altri Signori dati all’ interarse, ma non gia dalle
Nobili Case. Per conto di questo, le antiche Iscrizioni ci fanno vedere,
che moltissimi furono coloro, che anche dopo la conseguita Liberta
seguitavano a convivere, e servire in quelle medesime Case, non piu come
Servi, ma come Liberti, perche probabilmente tornava il conto agli uni e
agli altri. I Padroni si servivano di Persone loro confidenti, e gia
innestate nella propria Famiglia; ei Liberti cresciuti di onore, e di
guadagno poteano cumulare roba per se e per li Figli. Non ho io potuto
scoprire se i Romani tenessero Servi Mercenarj come oggidi. O di veri
Servi, o di Liberti allora si servivano. Cio posto, maraviglia e, che il
Pignoria, in trattando degli Ufizj de’ Servi antichi, imbrogliasse tanto
le carte, senza distinguere i Servi dai Liberti, e con attribuir molti
impieghi ai primi, che pure erano riserbati agli ultimi. E piu da
stupire e, citarsi da lui Marmi, che parlano di Liberti, e pure sono
presi da esso, come se parlassero di Servi.
_We know not whether they manumitted upon condition, or, if so, upon
what conditions they manumitted formerly those servants who continued
thenceforth as freed persons, but elevated to more honourable
employments, to serve in the houses of their masters. We do indeed know
in the Tit._ de Operis Libertorum, _and in another_ de bonis Libertorum
_of the Digests, that very many acquired their liberty with the
obligation of giving to their masters presents, or doing work if they
were artists_, Operas vel donum. _This was in all likelihood practised
only by merchants or other masters given to making profit, but not by
noble houses. As to these the ancient inscriptions exhibit to us that
very many who obtained their freedom, yet continued to live and to do
service in those same houses, no longer as slaves, but as freed persons,
because probably each party found it beneficial. The patrons kept about
them persons in whom they had confidence, and who had already been
engrafted on their families; the freed persons, grown to honour and
making profit could create property for themselves and for their
children. I cannot discover whether the Romans had hireling servants, as
is now the case. They had then true slaves and sometimes freed persons.
This being the case, it is matter of surprise that Pignoria, in treating
of the employment of the ancient slaves, should have been so perplexed
as not to be able clearly to distinguish slaves from freed persons, and
should have attributed to the former many employments which were
specially reserved for the latter: and it is more to be wondered at,
that marbles which speak of freed persons are referred to by him and
explained as treating of slaves._
It is clear that even in the days of the Emperor Claudius, to whose
reign, A.D. 45, the marble of which he treats refers, and probably long
before that period, many of the freedmen of the Roman empire were bound
to do certain services for the patrons who had been their masters, and
that this obligation descended to their progeny. Hence this would still
be a species of servitude.
The barbarians who overran the empire came chiefly from Scythia and
Germany, as that vast region was then called which stretches from the
Alps to the Northern Ocean. When they settled in the conquered provinces
of Gaul and in Italy, they introduced many of their customs as well of
government as of policy. Most of their slaves were what the writers of
the second, third, and fourth centuries describe as _coloni_ and
_conditionibus obligati_. As Tacitus describes, in xxv. _De Moribus
Germanorum_:
“The slaves in general are not arranged at their several employments in
the household affairs, as is the practice at Rome. Each has his separate
habitation, and his own establishment to manage. The master considers
him as an agrarian dependant, who is obliged to furnish a certain
quantity of grain, cattle, or wearing-apparel. The slave obeys, and the
state of servitude extends no further. All domestic affairs are managed
by the master’s wife and children. To punish a slave with stripes; to
load him with chains, or condemn him to hard labour, is unusual. It is
true that slaves are sometimes put to death, not under colour of
justice, or of any authority vested in the master; but in a transport of
passion, in a fit of rage, as is often the case in a sudden affray but
it is also true that this species of homicide passes with impunity. The
freedmen are not of much higher consideration than the actual slaves;
they obtain no rank in their master’s family, and, if we except the
parts of Germany where monarchy is established, they never figure on the
stage of public business. In despotic governments they often rise above
the men of ingenuous birth, and even eclipse the whole body of the
nobles. In other states the subordination of the freedmen is a proof of
public liberty.”
At all ages, slaves who belonged to the absolute monarch, sometimes
became elevated above the native nobility: witness the case of Joseph in
Egypt; of Ebed Melech, who was black, in Judea; of Haman, also a black,
an Amalekite; of Mordecai, his successor; of Esther the queen; of Daniel
the prophet, and Felix, governor of Judea, a Greek slave to the Roman
emperor. But such things can never occur in a republic. To a political
misfortune of this kind the prophet alludes—“Servants (slaves) have
ruled over us”—than which nothing can be more expressive of the loss of
liberty.