We have considered the case of the wife, the son and the daughter[323], as far as can be done until we come to deal with the family relations; and we have examined the position of one peculiar class of the unfree, namely the comites or gesíðas of the kingly leaders. Another, but less favoured, class remain to be noticed, those namely whom the Latin authors designate by the terms Libertus and Servus, and who, among all the nations of Germanic origin, are found under the corresponding denominations of Lazzi or Dió, Læt or Ðeów, Lýsingr or þræl. These have no honourable, no profitable service to compensate for the loss of independence, but form the large body of hired cultivators, the artizans and handicraftsmen in various branches of industry, the prædial, even the domestic or menial servants of the free landowner. ----- Footnote 323: Page 129. ----- The grounds as well as the degrees of slavery (by which term I mean dependence, the being in the mund of another, and represented by him in the folcmót) are various; one, viz. poverty arising from over-population, has been noticed in the last chapter; but I agree with Eichhorn[324] and Grimm[325], in attributing the principal and original cause of slavery in all its branches to war and subsequent conquest. Another and important cause is forfeiture of liberty for crime; and the amount of dependence, the gentler or harsher condition of the serf, depends to a great extent upon the original ground of servitude. If the victor has a right to the life of the vanquished, which by the law of nature is unquestionably the case, he possesses _à fortiori_ a perfect claim to the person, the property and the services of his prisoner, if his self-interest or the dictates of humanity induce him to waive that right[326]. These remarks apply no doubt, in their full force, only to our pagan forefathers; but even Christianity itself did not at once succeed in rooting out habits which its divine precepts of justice and mercy emphatically condemn. Beda, in his desire to prove the efficacy of the mass for the dead[327], tells an interesting story of a young noble who was left severely wounded on the field, after a battle between Ecgfrið of Northumberland and Æðelred of Mercia, in the year 679. Fearful of the consequences should his rank be discovered, he disguised himself in the habit of a peasant, and assumed that character, at the castle of the earl into whose hands he fell; declaring that he was a poor, and married man[328], who had been compelled to attend the army with supplies of provisions. But his language and manners betrayed him, and at length, under a solemn promise of immunity, he revealed his name and station. The reply of the earl is characteristic; he said: “I knew well enough from thy answers that thou wert no rustic; and now indeed thou art worthy of death, seeing that all my brothers and relations were slain in that battle: yet I will not kill thee, lest I should break the