But wherever men are base-minded there will be slaves; and accordingly we find that, in all other parts of Greece, no less than at Sparta, this miserable class existed for the performance of servile drudgery. Posidonios, the Stoic,[239] observes, that persons lacking sense to provide for themselves, voluntarily became the slaves of any who would take care of them. Thus the Maryandinians submitted to the citizens of Heraclea,[240] to be their perpetual serfs, stipulating only that they should always be furnished with the necessaries of life, and on no account be sold out of the country. They were in fact simply tributaries, as is implied in the verse of Euphorion, the epic poet, “Gift-bearers called, who cower before their chiefs.”[241] ----- Footnote 239: Ποσειδώνιος δέ φησιν ὁ ἀπὸ τῆς Στοᾶς, πολλούς τινας, ἑαυτῶν οὐ δυναμένους προΐστασθαι διὰ τὸ τῆς διανοίας ἀσθενὲς, ἐπιδουναι ἑαυτους εἰς τὴν τῶν συνετωτέρων ὑπηρεσίαν, ὅπως, παρ’ ἐκείνων τυγχάνοντες τῆς εἰς τὰ ἀναγκαῖα ἐπιμελείας, αὐτοὶ πάλιν ἀποδιδῶσιν ἐκείνοις δι’ αὐτῶν ἅπερ ἂν ὦσιν ὑπηρετεῖν δυνατοί. Athen vi. 84. Cf. Grot. de Jur. Bell. et Pac. ii. v. 27. Footnote 240: Eustath. ad Il. β. t. i. p. 223. 38. Footnote 241: Δωροφόροι καλεοίαθ᾽ ὑποφρίσσοντες ἄνακτας. Athen. vi. 84. ----- This appellation of Gift-bearers—though their gifts, like the royal benevolences of our ancestors, were extorted from them—was no doubt however invented, as Callicratos[242] observes, to disguise the true nature of their condition. Besides engaging in agricultural labours, they likewise served on board ship, and consequently contributed greatly to increase the commerce and naval power of Heraclea.[243] ----- Footnote 242: Athen. vi. 84. Footnote 243: Aristot. Polit. vii. 5. 7. Müller, ii. 62. -----