Untitled - African American History

IXXXIV HISTORICAL SKETCH OF SLAVERY.
chairs, by stout Mesian slaves ;
while the wealthy made
an ostentatious display of their means, by multiplying
1
the number of their bearers (lecticarii).
In addition to the common employments of slaves,
they were frequently used in other spheres, where the
labor was more or less intellectual. The literary slaves,
those used as librarians and amanuenses, were of this
class. So all the professions, now termed " learned,"
were not free from slave competition. "Physic" certainly
was not. In every branch of trade and commerce
slaves were employed by their masters as agents, and in
many cases, sole 3
managers and controllers.
The Roman sports, corresponding to their tastes, were
always rough and violent. The combat of the gladiators
was more exciting and attractive than the pathos of
tragedy, or the wit of the comic muse, though Terence
and Plautus catered to their caste. To rear and prepare
slaves for these dangerous and murderous conflicts, as
well as for the fighting of wild beasts, became a common
practice, especially under the emperors who ; encouraged
these sports in the people, in order to disengage their
thoughts from their own bondage. "We should not,
however, judge them too harshly for this cruelty, as
frequently freemen, knights, senators, and even emperors,
descended into the arena, and engaged in the fatal
encounter. 3 Sometimes even women joined in the con-
flict. 4 Juvenal gives a graphic idea of the passion for
this cruel sport, in the description of the horrid-looking
1
Juv. Sat. vii, ix, 190, 200.
8 Wallon, ii, 124; Plautus, Mensechmi, Act V, Sc. iiij C. Nep. Pomp.
Att. 13 ; So. Quart. Rev. xiv, 398-9. See Becker's Gallus, Exc. Ill to
Sc. i, for a full and learned disquisition upon the various classes of slaves,
their names, and occupation. It would seem as if, in the earlier days,
medicine was not considered an honorable avocation with the Romans.
Plautus does not hesitate to ridicule the whole fraternity (Menaechmi,
Act V, Sc. i).
3 Wallon, ii, 126-139 j Smith's Diet. " Gladiatores ;" Livy, xxviii, 21 ;
Suet. Jul. Cses. xxxix.
4 Suet. Dom. iv.