If the manumitted slave was above thirty years of age, if he was the Quiritarian property of his manumittor, and if he was manumitted in due form, he became a Roman citizen. (Gains, i. 17.) At Athens, on the contrary, emancipation from the dominion of the muter was sel dom followed by the privileges of citizen ship even to a limited extent, and these privileges could only be conferred by public authority. It is true, that at Rome, under the empire, from the enactment of the Lex Aelia Sentia, passed in the time of Augustus, there were restrictions, in point of number, upon the master's power of freeing his hondmen and raising them to the rank of Roman citizens ; still in every age there was a prospect to the slave of being able to obtain his freedom.
Slaves were not considered members of the community : they had no rights, and were in most respects considered as things or chattels. They could neither sue nor be sued. When an alleged slave claimed his freedom on the plea of unjust deten tion, he was obliged to have a free pro tector to sue for him, until Justinian (Code, vii., tit. 1. 7, " De adsertione tol lenda ") dispensed with that formality. Slaves had no connubium, that is, they could not contract a Roman marriage; their union with a person of their own rank was styled contubernium ; and even the Christian church for several centuries did not declare the validity of slave mar riages. At last the emperor Basilius al lowed slaves to marry and receive the blessing of the priest, and Alexius Coro nenus renewed the permission. As slaves had no connubium, they had not the pa rental power (patria potestas) over their offspring, no ties of blood were recognised among them, except with respect to incest and parricide, which were considered as crimes by the law of nature. Though slaves were incapable of holding property they were not incapacitated from acquir ing property, but what they did acquire belonged to their masters. They were allowed to enjoy property as their own, " peculium," consisting sometimes of other slaves, but they held it only by permission, and any legal proceedings connected with it could only be conducted in the name of the master, who was the only legal proprietor. Until the latter period of the .republic, slaves and even freedmen were not admitted into the ranks of the army. In cases of urgent public danger, such as after the defeat of Canute, slaves were purchased by the state and sent to the army, and if they behaved well, they were emancipated. (Livy, xxii. 57, and Italy. 14-16.) They were not, however, denied the rites of burial, and numerous.inscriptions attest that monuments were often erected to the memory of deceased slaves by their mas ters, their fellows, or friends, some of which bear the letters D. M., "Diis Manibus." Slaves were often buried in the family burying-place of their mas ters. The " sepulchretum " or burial vault of the slaves and freedmen of Au gustus and his wife Livia, discovered in 1726 near the Via Appia, and which has been illustrated by Bianchini and Gori, and another in the same neighbourhood also belonging to the household of the early Caesars, and containing at least 3000 urns with numerous inscriptions, which have been illustrated by Fabretti, throw much light upon the condition and do mestic habits of Roman slaves in the ser vice of great families.
With regard to the classification and occupations of slaves, the first division was into public and private. Public slaves were those which belonged to the state or to public bodies, such as provinces, mu nicipia, collegia, decuriae, &c., or to the
emperor in his sovereign capacity, and employed in public duties, and not at tached to his household or private estate. Public slaves were either derived from the share of captives taken in war which was reserved for the community or state, or were acquired by purchase and other civil process. Public slaves of an inferior description were engaged as rowers on board the fleet, or in the construction and repair of roads and national buildings. Those of a superior description were em ployed as keepers of public buildings, prisons, and other property of the state, or to attend magistrates, priests, and other public officers, as watchmen. lictors, exe cutioners, watermen, scavengers, &c.
Private slaves were generally distri buted into urban and rustic; the former served in the town houses, and the others in the country. Long lists of the different duties performed by slaves of each class are given by Pignorius, De Servis et eorum spud Veteres Ministeriis,' Amster dam, 1674; Popma, ' De Operis Servo rum,' ibid., 1672; and Blair, An Inquiry into the State of Slavery amongst the Romans,' Edinburgh, 1833, which is a very useful little book. For all the ne cessities of domestic life, agriculture, and handicraft, and for all the imaginable luxuries of a refined and licentious people, there was a corresponding denomination of slaves. Large sums were occasionally paid for slaves of certain peculiar kinds, some of which we should consider the least usefuL Eunuchs were always very dear; the practice of emasculating boys was borrowed by the Romans from the Asiatics, among whom it was a trade as early as the time of Herodotus (viii. 105) : it continued to the time of Domitian, who forbade it; but eunuchs continued to be imported from the East. A " morio," or fool, was sometimes sold for 20,000 num mi, or about 160 pounds. Dwarfs and giants were also in great request. Marcus Antonius paid for a pair of handsome youths 200 sestertia, or 1600 pounds. Actors and actresses and dancers sold very dear, as well as females of great per sonal attractions, who were likely to bring in great gains to their owners by prosti tution. A good cook was valued at four talents, or 772 pounds. Medical men, grammarians, amanuenses, anagnosta, or readers, and short-hand writers, were in considerable request. With regard to ordinary slaves, the price varied from fifty to twenty pounds, according to their abilities and other circumstances. After a victorious campaign, when thousands of captives were sold at once on the spot for the purpose of prize-money, to the slave dealers who followed the armies, the price sank very low. Thus in the camp of Lucullus in Pontus (Plutarch, Lucullus, e. 14) slaves were sold for four drachmae, or two shillings and sevenpence, a head ; but the same slaves, if brought to the Ro man market, would fetch a much higher price. [tome-born slaves, distinguished by the name of" vernie," in contradistinction to " servi empti," or " venales," or , ported slaves, were generally treated with greater indulgence by their masters in whose families they had been brought up ; and they generally were considered of inferior value to the imported slaves, being considered as spoilt and trouble some. The number of slaves born in Roman families appears at all times to have been far inferior to that of the im ported slaves. In general the propagation of slaves was not much encouraged by masters, many of whom considered slaves born at home to cost more than those who were imported.