“It is my wish,
Though born a slave, among the generous slaves
To be accounted, bearing a free mind,
If not the name; for better this I deem,
Than two bad things, to harbour a base mind,
And hear from those around the name of slave.”
We deem this translation defective, because it makes no distinction
between the ideas conveyed by the words λάτρις and δουλος. True, at this
late day, the passage is somewhat obscure. But the speaker was not a
slave: he says he was born a λάτρις—a character far less elevated than
the δοῦλος, yet a freeman, but possessing a greater servility of mind
than even the _doulos_, and his condition often far more abject. The
slave possessed the protection of his master; but the _latris_, with all
the destitution and degradation incident to the lowest conditions of the
freeman, often coveted the happier condition of the _doulos_. The idea
conveyed by this messenger is literally this: “Although born a _latris_,
I had rather be considered among the home-born slaves, not having the
name of freedom, than to have merely the name; for I consider this a
good choice between the two evils—the being supposed to have the base
mind of the _latris_, and the being truly called a slave by those near
us.” The substance is, he had rather be a _doulos_ than a _latris_.
That he was not a slave is evident from what follows in the 797th line,
where Menelaus calls him emphatically his _prospolon_, merely an
attendant.
1630.——ἀλλὰ δεσποτῶν κρατήσεις, _δοῦλος_ ὤν;
Potter—“Slave as thou art, wilt thou control thy lord?”
Idem, 1640.
πρὸ δεσποτῶν
τοῖσι γενναίοισι _δούλοις_ εὐκλεέστατον θανεῖν.
“To home-born slaves, it is glory to die for their masters.”
Ion, line 132.——θεοῖσι _δούλαν_ χέρ’ ἔχειν.
“To be a slave to the gods.”
182.——Φοίβῷ _δουλεύσω_, &c.
327.——τοῖς τοῦ θεοῦ κοσμούμεθ’, ᾧ _δουλεύομεν_.
556.——ἐκπεφεύγαμεν τὸ _δοῦλον_.
761.——_δούλευμα_ πιστόν, &c.
837.——εκ _δούλης_ τινός, &c.
854.——ἕν γάρ τι τοῖς _δούλοισιν_, &c.
855.——τοὒνομα· τὰ δ’ ἀλλα πάντα τῶν ἐλευθέρων οὐδεὶς κακίων _δοῦλος_,
ὅστις ἐσθλὸς ᾖ.