The History of the Manners and Customs of Ancient Greece, Volume 3 (of 3)St. John, James Augustus
History
The History of the Manners and Customs of Ancient Greece, Volume 3 (of 3)
St. John, James Augustus
Greece -- Social life and customs
cases of incorrigible perverseness, slaves were, on the contrary,
encouraged to marry, it being supposed they would thus become more
attached to their masters.[86] The same bold and ingenious writer
endeavours to give a reason for what has been quoted above, by saying,
“it was cheaper to purchase than to bring up slaves.” This was not the
opinion of the ancients, “we,” say they, “prefer and put more trust in
slaves born and brought up in the house, than in such as are
purchased.”[87]
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Footnote 74:
Schol. Arist. Vesp. 444. In rainy weather they wore dog-skin caps, id.
ib. δοῦλος ὤν κόμην, ἔχεις, was a proverb applied to persons acting
irrationally. Suid. Port. t. i. p. 769.
Footnote 75:
Etymol. Mag. 90. 55.
Footnote 76:
Meurs. Them. Att. ii. 11. 85, seq. with the authors there cited.
Footnote 77:
Athen. vi. 81.
Footnote 78:
Aristoph. Plut. 21.
Footnote 79:
The thongs of whips used in scourging slaves, had sometimes we find
small pieces of bronze fastened at the end. Caylus, Rec. D’Antiq. ii.
p. 334. Among the Tyrrhenians, slaves were absurdly beaten to the
sound of music. Plut. De Cohibend. Irâ. § 11.
Footnote 80:
Meurs. Them. Att. ii. 11.
Footnote 81:
Xenophon, in fact, complains that they could not be struck:—οὔτε
πατάξαι ἔξεστιν αὐτόθι. De Rep. Athen. i. 10. Cf. Muret. in Arist.
Ethic. v. p. 434, sqq. Elsewhere in Greece the beating of slaves would
appear to have been a matter of every day occurrence. Plut. De
Cohibend. Irâ. § 15.
Footnote 82:
Aristoph. Nub. 6, et Schol. When a slave once ran away from Diogenes
he would not pursue him, but observed, that it would be a frightful
thing if Diogenes could not do without the slave, since the slave
could do without Diogenes. Stob. Florileg. Tit. 62. 47.
Footnote 83:
They would appear to have made every slave who joined them a citizen
of Sunium, whence the proverb, “Slaves to-day, and Sunians to-morrow.”
Athen. vi. 83. On one occasion certain slaves took possession of a
number of galleys, and infested the coast of Italy as pirates. 87.
Footnote 84:
Athen. vi. 104.
Footnote 85:
Müll. Dor. ii. 37. Among the Romans, slaves were thought to be
incapable of contracting marriage, properly so called. Porrò ad
militaris contubernii similitudinem quandam factum est ut, cùm inter
servos jure Romano veræ nuptiæ dici nequeant, servile connubium non
matrimonium, ut inter liberos, sed, uti mera cohabitatio, contubernium
diceretur. Torrent. in Suet. Vesp. p. 362.
Footnote 86:
Xen. Œcon. ix. 5. Aristot. Œcon. i. 5, (who says that slaves were to
be bound by the pledge of children.) Columell. i. 8. 5.
Footnote 87:
Πεφύκαμεν γὰρ καὶ τῶν οἰκετῶν μᾶλλον πιστεύειν τοῖς οἴκοι γεννηθεῖσι
καὶ τραφεῖσιν ἤ οὕς ἄν κτησώμεθα πριάμενοι. Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 2.
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