The number of slaves In Palestine at any time down to the lat cent. a.d. was probably small in coinpririson uilh that which was to be found in ancient Greece or in Konie in the later days of the Itepublic. From the report of a census made in B.C. a(i», the male citizens of Athens numbered 45,0(X», and the slaves V.o.fXjo. It must be confessed, however, that the accuracy of this computation mi|,'ht be questioned. That the number was very oofuiderable cannot be denied. For even the poorest citizen had a slave for his household, and a (rrcat number were employed in the occupations of bakintf. cookinj;, tailoring, etc. The father of Demosthenes possessed 60 slaves. Others owned many more (cf. Xenoph. Vect. t. 88 14, 15). They were em- ployed in workshops or mines.— In ancient Rome large portions of the a^rr publiciu began to be held by patricians as the Roman .State extended its confines. These land-possessions were cultivated to a large e.\tent by slaves (cf. Liv. vi. 12). Thus slaves increased in number, displaced the poorer class of freemen and peasant proprietors, and in the Licinian Rogations (B.C. 3C7) a provision became neccssarj' that a certain nu[nl)er of freemen should Ije employed on every estate. In the later days of the Republic, and under the first emperors, the number of household slaves increased greatly (cf. Juv. Sat. iii. 141). Horace seeuis to regard ten slaves as a moderate number for t, person in comfortable circumstatices to keep iSat. l. iii. 12, ri. 7X These would l>e largely sui>plied from the vast number of captives token in war. From Cms. BO iii. IB we gather that slave-dealers followed in the track of an anny, and after a victory, when a sale nf slaves took place {ntb corona veiididit), purehued at a cheap rale.
The treatment of slaves ttecame more inhuman both in Greece and Ilome as their nuntber increased. In some respects their position in Athens was worse than it was in Rome. For in Athens the_ manumission of slaves did not take place so fre- quentlyas in Rome. .Mnn-over, their position as manumitted •laves (iriXn>'i(>«,) was inferior to that which they enjoyed in Rome I for instead of becoming citizens thev paiied into the condition of mere ;^i>><u., and were otiligcd to honour tlieir tomier master as their patron (r^rTciTt), and, if thev neglecteil ctrtain iluties which they owed towards him, might even forfeit their moiilied condition of freedom. Even Aristotle regurfls a •lave a> a mere possession or iluitlel (Knu.t), or an i^i%ti,x". •*»«•». an Instrument endowed with lite (i'tA. iVio. vliL 13,
Pol. i. 4). The bad treatment of Greek slaves (■ evidenced by the fact that they often mutinied (Plato, Leqij. vi. 777 C). Tile insurrections under the Republic in Ital^ and Sicily attained formidable proportions. The two ser\ile revolts in Sicily in B.C. 13.^ and 102 taxed all the resources of Itome, and were with ditftculty suppressed, while the rebellion under Sjjartacus carried devastation throui;h the Italian peninsula (B.C. 7;i-71). Nor are we in any degret- sur}>rised when we take account of the harsh penalties intlicted on slaves by their Roman masters, e.g. working in chains and fetters (Plautus, Stout. I. i. 18 ; Terence, J'horm, il i. 10), suspension by the hands while heavy weights were tied to the feet (Plautus, Asin, u. ii. 31). We read also of hard labour in the ergas- ttUum, and of such harsh penalties as the /urea, crux, and notatio (or branding inflicted on runaway slaves). Even ladies treated their slave attendants harshly in the days of the Empire, as .Martial and Juvenal testify (Juven. Sat. vi. 219£r., 492 ; Mart. Epiij. ii. 66 ; cf. Ovid, Am. i. 14, 15). Varro, in his de lie Ku.itica (i. 71), expressly classes slaves with beasts of burden : and even the gentle and refined Cicero feels constrained to apologize to his friend Atticus for feeling 'more than a )>ecoiiiiiig grief* for the death of hia slave iSosithcus * (i:.'p. ad Attic. I 12).
But as we enter Jewish society we pass into a new and happier world. In the first place, the number of slaves was far smaller in relative pro- portion. At the return of the exiles there were 42,360 Hebrew freemen, and only 7337 slaves, or one slave to 5"72 freemen. The teachers of the Talmtid looked with disfavour on the ownership of many slaves. The more slaves, so much the more thieving ; the more female slaves, so much the more uncliastity (cf. Babd meztd 606>. The Essenes and Therapeutie did not tolerate slavery, OS being contrary to man's dignity (Philo, ii. 4.58, 482). The later literature of the OT reveals the humane attitude of Judaism towards the slave, and the religious ba-sis on which it rested, The latter is vividly expressed in Job 31'^"". Humane and gentle treatment of a slave from liis early youth will engender a lilial feeling in him towards his master (Fr 29'"--'). On the other hand, it wae clearly realized that there were dangers from undue laxity.
' Set thy servant to work, and thou shalt And rest ; Leave his hands idle, and he will seek liberty . . . Send him to labour, that he be not idle ; For idleness teachetb much mischief ' (Sir 33*- *7).
And the same writer advises even severe disciplin- ary measures —