II.

intereft. The progrefs of manners was acce- c H A P. lerated by the virtue or policy of the emperors; and by the edicts of Hadrian and the Antonines, the protection of the laws was extended to the most abject part of mankind. The jurif diction of life and death over the flaves, a power long exercised and often abused, was taken out of private hands, and referved to the magiftrates alone. The fubterraneous prifons were abolished; and, upon a juft complaint of intolerable treatment, the injured flave obtained either his deliverance, or a lefs cruel mafters.

chisement.

Hope, the best comfort of our imperfect con- Enfrandition, was not denied to the Roman flave; and if he had any opportunity of rendering himself either useful or agreeable, he might very naturally expect that the diligence and fidelity of a few years would be rewarded with the ineftimable gift of freedom. The benevolence of the mafter was fo frequently prompted by the meaner fuggeftions of vanity and avarice, that the laws found it more neceffary to reftrain than to encourage a profufe and undiftinguishing liberality, which might degenerate into a very dangerous abufe ". It was a maxim of ancient jurisprudence, that a flave had not any country of his own, he acquired with his liberty an admiffion into the political society of which his patron was a member. The confequences

5° See the Auguftan Hiftory, and a Differtation of M. de Burigny, in the xxxvth volume of the Academy of Infcriptions, upon the Roman flaves.

5 See another Differtation of M. de Burigny, in the xxxviith volume, on the Roman freedmen.

VOL. I.

F

of

II.

CHAP. of this maxim would have prostituted the privileges of the Roman city to a mean and promifcuous multitude. Some feafonable exceptions were therefore provided; and the honourable distinction was confined to fuch flaves only, as, for juft caufes, and with the aprobation of the magiftrate, fhould receive a folemn and legal manumiffion. Even thefe chofen freedmen obtained no more than the private rights of citizens, and were rigorously excluded from civil or military honours. Whatever might be the merit or fortune of their fons, they likewife were esteemed unworthy of a feat in the fenate; nor were the traces of a fervile origin allowed to be completely obliterated till the third or fourth generations. Without deftroying the diftinction of ranks, a diftant profpect of freedom and honours was prefented, even to those whom pride and prejudice almoft difdained to number among the human species.

Numbers.

It was once propofed to difcriminate the flaves by a peculiar habit; but it was justly apprehended that there might be fome danger in acquainting them with their own numbers $3. Without interpreting, in their utmost strictness, the liberal appellations of legions and myriads";

52 Spanheim, Orbis Roman. 1. i. c. 16. p. 124, &c.

53

53 Seneca de Clementiâ, 1.i. c. 24. The original is much ftronger, "Quantum periculum immineret si servi nostri numerare nos cœpiffent."

54 See Pliny (Hift. Natur. 1. xxxiii.) and Athenæus (Deipnofophift. 1. vi. p. 272.). The latter boldly afferts, that he knew very many (auλ) Romans who poffeffed, not for ufe, but oftentation, ten and even twenty thousand laves.

we

55

II.

we may venture to pronounce, that the propor- СНАР. tion of flaves, who were valued as property, was more confiderable than that of fervants, who can be computed only as an expence ". The youths of a promifing genius were inftructed in the arts and sciences, and their price was afcertained by the degree of their skill and talents 56. Almost every profeffion, either liberal" or mechanical, might be found in the houfhold of an opulent fenator. The minifters of pomp and fenfuality were multiplied beyond the conception of modern luxury s8. It was more for the intereft of the merchant or manufacturer to purchase, than to hire his workmen ; and in the country, flaves were employed as the cheapest and moft laborious inftruments of agriculture. To confirm the general obfervation, and to dif play the multitude of flaves, we might allege a variety of particular inftances. It was difcovered, on a very melancholy occafion, that four hundred flaves were maintained in a fingle palace of Rome 59. The fame number of four hundred belonged to an eftate which an African widow, of a very private condition, refigned to

55 In Paris there are not more than 43,700 domeftics of every sort, and not a twelfth part of the inhabitants. Meffange Recherches fur la Population, p.186.

56 A learned flave fold for many hundred pounds fterling: Atti cus always bred and taught them himself. Cornel. Nepos in Vit, C. 13.

57 Many of the Roman phyficians were flaves. See Dr. Middle ton's Differtation and Defence.

58 Their ranks and offices are very copiously enumerated by Pignorius de Servis.

59 Tacit. Annal. xiv. 43. They were all executed for not preventing their master's murder.

F 2

her

CHAP. her fon, whilft fhe referved for herfelf a much II. larger fhare of her property. A freedman, under the reign of Auguftus, though his fortune had fuffered great loffes in the civil wars, left behind him three thoufand fix hundred yoke of oxen, two hundred and fifty thousand head of fmaller cattle, and, what was almost included in the defcription of cattle, four thoufand one hundred and fixteen flaves",

Roman

Populotif- The number of fubjects who acknowledged ness of the the laws of Rome, of citizens, of provincials, empire. and of flaves, cannot now be fixed with fuch a degree of accuracy as the importance of the object would deferve. We are informed, that when the Emperor Claudius exercifed the office of cenfor, he took an account of fix millions nine hundred and forty five thoufand Roman citizens, who, with the proportion of women and children, muft have amounted to about twenty millions of fouls. The multitude of fubjects of an inferior rank, was uncertain and fluctuating. But, after weighing with attention every circumftance, which could influence the balance, it feems probable, that there existed, in the time of Claudius, about twice as many provincials as there were citizens, of either fex, and of every age; and that the flaves were at least equal in number to the free inhabitants of the Roman world. The total amount of this imperfect calculation would rife to about one hundred and twenty millions of perfons: a degree of popu

69 Apuleius in Apolog. p. 548. Edit. Delphin.

61 Plin. Hift. Natur. 1. xxxiii. 47.

II.

lation which poffibly exceeds that of modern CHAP. Europe, and forms the most numerous fociety that has ever been united under the fame fyftem

of government.

and union.

Domestic peace and union were the natural Obedience confequences of the moderate and comprehenfive policy embraced by the Romans. If we turn our eyes towards the monarchies of Afia, we fhall, behold defpotifm in the centre, and weakness in the extremities; the collection of the revenue, or the adminiftration of juftice, enforced by the prefence of an army; hoftile barbarians established in the heart of the country, hereditary fatraps ufurping the dominion of the provinces, and fubjects inclined to rebellion, though incapable of freedom. But the obedience of the Roman world was uniform, voluntary, and permanent. The vanquished nations, blended into one great people, refigned the hope, nay even the wifh, of refuming their independence, and fcarcely confidered their own existence as diftinct from the existence of Rome. The established authority of the emperors pervaded without an effort the wide extent of their dominions, and was exercised with the fame facility on the banks of the Thames, or of the Nile, as on thofe of the Ty

62 Compute twenty millions in France, twenty-two in Germany, four in Hungary, ten in Italy with its islands, eight in Great Britain and Ireland, eight in Spain and Portugal, ten or twelve in the European Ruffia, fix in Poland, fix in Greece and Turkey, four in Sweden, three in Denmark and Norway, four in the Low Countries. The whole would amount to one hundred and five, or one hundred and feven millions. See Voltaire, de Hiftoire Generale.