Untitled - African American History

l;xxii HISTORICAL SKETCH OF SLAVERY.
tioners, watermen, &C. 1 There were also convict- slaves
(servi pcenae), whose servitude was the penalty of some
crime. These were treated with great rigor ; and it is
probable, much of the recorded cruelty to slaves was to
this class. 2
The private slaves were again distinguished into two
classes, the rustic and the city slaves ; any number of
them, owned by the same master, were called familia.
Hence, every master had the familia rustica, and the
familia urbana. The private
slaves wr ere still farther
subdivided, according to their occupations,
and from
these occupations they derived their names : such as
ordinarii^ vulgar'es, mediastini, and quales quales. The
literati, were 3
literary slaves.
The number of Roman slaves, at any period, cannot
be accurately ascertained. That they were very numer-
ous, and more numerous than the free population, is
indisputable, and that the numbers increased rapidly
during the latter days of the republic and under the
emperors. The numbers owned by a single individual
are almost incredible. 4
agricultural pursuits,
ever, were, in
'
They were chiefly employed in
or the mechanic arts. 5
Many, how-
these days, used as personal attendants ;
it being considered discreditable for a person of rank to
be seen without a train of them. 6 From the moment a
stranger entered the vestibule of a Roman house, through
the hall, in the reception-room, at the table, everywhere
1
Smith's Diet. " Servus ;" So. Quart. Rev. xiv, 427 see ; Livy, xxvi, 47 ;
Copley's Hist, of Slav. 45 ; Wallon, ii, 89, et seq.
2 For a full inquiry into the penal slavery of the Romans, see Ste-
phens's W. I. Slavery, i, 337, et seq.
3
Wallon, ii, 95 ; Smith's Diet. " Servus ;" Becker's Gallus, Exc. Ill to
Sc. I.
4 So. Quart. Rev. xiv, 396-7 ; Wallon, ii, 72, et seq. ; Becker's Gallus,
Exc. Ill, Sc. I ; Athenaeus says as many as 20,000, vi, p. 272 ; see Pliny,
xxxiii, vi, 9-10 ; Juvenal, xiv, 305 ; Hor. Sat. Bk. I, iii, 11.
5 Cic. de Off. i, 42 ; Liv. vi, 12.
6 Cic. in Piso, 27; Hor. Sat. i, 3, 12.