The word _Slave_, suggesting now so much of human abasement, has an origin which speaks of human grandeur. Its parent term, _Slava_, signifying _glory_, in the Slavonian dialect, where it first appears, was proudly assumed as the national designation of races in the northeastern part of the European continent, who, in the vicissitudes of war, were afterwards degraded from the condition of conquerors to that of servitude. The Slavonian bondman, retaining his national name, was known as _Slave_; and this term, passing from a _race_ to a _class_, was afterwards applied, in the languages of modern Europe, to all in his unhappy lot, without distinction of country or color.[8] It would be difficult to mention any word which has played such opposite parts in history,--beneath the garb of servitude concealing its early robe of pride. And yet, startling as it seems, this word may be received in its primitive character, by those among us who consider slavery essential to democratic institutions, and therefore part of the true _glory_ of the country. Lexicography, going beyond this historical illustration, announces that "most probably the original meaning was _independent_, _free_,"[9] thus making the slave distinctively the freeman. In the revolutions of society, and among the compensations of Providence for long-continued degradation, the slave might yet regain this original ascendency, if, in an era of justice, the highest condition were not where all are equal in rights. [8] Gibbon, Roman Empire, Chap. LV. Vol. X. p. 190. [9] Webster, Dictionary, word _Slave_. SLAVERY IN ANTIQUITY. 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.