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 rued. When an alleged slave claimed his treedom on the plea of unjust detention, be was obliged to have a free protector, to sue for him, until Justinian (' Code, vii., tit. I, 7, • be adsertione tolleuda') 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 contobernium; and even the Christian church for several centuries did not declare the validity of slave marriages. At last the Emperor Basilius allowed slaves to marry and receive the blessing of the priest, and Alexius Cornnenus renewed the permission As slaves had no connulnum, they had not the parental 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 acquiring property, but what they did acquire belonged to their masters. They were allowed to enjoy property as their own, " peculiuni," 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 pnblio danger, such as after the defeat of Canna, slaves were purchased by the state and sent to the army, and if they behaved well they were emancipated. (Livy, xxii. 57, and xxiv. 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 masters, their fellows, or friends, 8011113 of which bear the letters D. M., " Diis Manibue." Slaves were often burial in the family burying-place of their masters. Tito " sepulchre tom " or burial-vault of the slaves and freedmen of Augustus and his wife Livia, discovered in 1726 near the Via Apple, and which has been illustrated by Rianehini and Geri, and another in the same neighbour hood also belonging to the household of the early Cresars, and contain ing at least 3000 urns, with numerous inscriptions, which have been illustrated by Fabretti, throw much light upon the condition and domestic habits of Roman slaves in the service 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. inunieipia, collegia, decurite, fie., or to the emperor in his sovereign capacity, and employed in public duties, awl not attached to his household or private estate. Public slaves were either derived from the share of captives takch 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 con struction and repair of roads and national buildings. Those of a superior description wore employed as keepers of public buildings, prisons, and other property of the state, or to attend magistrates, priests, and other public officers, as watchmen, lictors, executioners, scavengers, &c.
Private slaves were generally distributed 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 Amster. dam, 1674; Popma, 'De Operis Servorum.* ihid, 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 necessities 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. A "morio," or fool, was sometimes sold for 20,000 nummi, or about 160/. Dwarfs and giants were also in great request. Marcus Autouius paid for a pair of hand some youths 200 sestertia, or 160u/. Actors and actresses, and dancers, sold very dear, as well as females of great personal attractions who were likely to bring in great gains to their owners by prostitution. A good cook was -valued at four talents, or 772/. Medical men, gram marians, amanuenses, anagnost.,T, or readers, and short-hand writers, were in considerable request. -With regard to ordinary slaves, the price varied trout 50/. to 201., according to their abilities and other cir cumstances. Atter 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 Poutus (Plutarch,' Lucullua, c. 14) slaves were sold tor four draehnne, or two shillings and sevenpence, a head ; but the same slaves, if brought to the Roman market, would fetch a much higher mice. Home-burn slaves, distinguished by the name of " vernw," in contradistinction to ''servi empti," or " venales," or imported 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 troublesome. The number of slaves born in Roman families appears at all times to have been far inferior to that of the imported slaves.
There was a brisk trade in slaves carried on from the coasts of Africa, the Euxine, Syria, and Asia Minor. The island of Delos was at one time a great, mart, for slaves, who were imported thither by tho cilician pirates. (Strabo, p.668, Casaub.) The illyriane procured uume rous slaves for the Italian market, whom they bought or stole from the barbarous tribes in their neighbourhood. But the chief supply of slaves was derived from Asia and Africa. In most countries it was customary for indigent parents to sell their children to slave-dealers. Criminals were also in certain cases condemned to slavery, like the galley-slaves of our own times.
Both law and custom forbade prisoners taken in civil wars, especially in Italy, to he dealt with as slaves ; and this was perhaps one reason of the wholesale massacres of captives by Suite and the Triumviri. In the war between the party of Otho and Vitellius, Antonius, who coin. mended the army of the latter, having taken Cremona, ordered that none of the captives should be detained, upon which the soldiers began to kill those who were not privately ransomed by their friends.