A History of Rome During the Later Republic and Early Principate Part 19

[236] Cf. Arist. _Pol_. i. 8. 12 [Greek: _hae polemikae physei ktaetikae pos estai; hae gar thaereutikae meros autaes, hae dei chraesthai pros te ta thaeria kai ton anthropon hosoi pephykotes archesthai mae thelousin, hos physei dikaion touton onta ton polemon_.]

[237] Mahaffy (l.c.) thinks that the Syrians and Cilicians of the first slave war in Sicily, whom he believes to have been transferred from Carthage, had been secured by that state in a trade with the East--the trade which perhaps took the Southern Mediterranean route from Malta past Crete and Cyprus.

[238] Wallon _Histoire de l'Esclavage_ ii. p, 45.

[239] Strabo xiv, 3. 2 [Greek: _en Sidae goun polei taes Pamphylias ta naupaegia synistato tois Kilixin, hypo kaeruka te epoloun ekei tous halontas eleutherous h.o.m.ologountes_.]

[240] Strabo (xiv. 5. 2), after describing the slave market at Delos, continues [Greek: _hoste kai paroimian genesthai dia touto; hempore, katapleuson, exelou, panta pepratai_.]

[241] Plut. _Cato Maj_. 4.

[242] If we make the denarius a rough equivalent of the drachma, some of the prices given in Plautus are as follows:--A child, 600 denarii, a nurse and two female children, 1800, a young girl, 2000, another 3000.

Here we seem to get the average prices for valuable and refined domestics. Elsewhere special circ.u.mstances might increase the value; a female lyrist fetches 5000 denarii, a girl of remarkable attractions 6000. See Wallon _Hist. de l'Esclavage ii. pp. 160 ff.

[243] Ter. _Andria_ ii. 6. 26.

[244] It is probable, however, that in the case of superintendents (_villici, villicae, procuratores_) experience may have been an element in the prices which they fetched.

[245] Festus p. 332 Sardi venales, alius alio nequior.

[246] Plut. _Cato Maj_. 21.

[247] Cato _R.R_. 56, 57.

[248] Ibid. 2.

[249] At the close of this period a division took place between the functions of _villicus_ and those of _procurator_. The former still controlled the economy of the estate and administered its goods; the latter was the business agent and entered into legal relations with other parties. See Voigt in Iwan-Muller's _Handbuch_ iv. 2 p. 368.

[250] Colum. i. 6.

[251] An inspection of all the _ergastula_ of Italy was ordered by Augustus (Suet. _Aug_. 32) and Tiberius (Suet. _Tib_. 8). Columella (i.

8) recommends inspection by the master.

[252] Kidnapping became very frequent after the civil wars. It was to prevent this evil that inspection was ordered by the Emperors (note 3).

See Thedenat in Daremberg-Saglio _Dict. des Antiq. s.v_. Ergastulum.

[253] Plaut. _Most_. i. 1. 18; Florus iii. 19.

[254] For the distinction between the _vincti_ and _soluti_ see Colum.

i. 7.

[255] Varro _R.R_. ii. 2 10 The proportion is larger than would be demanded in modern times, but Mahaffy (l.c.) remarks that we do not hear of the work of guardians.h.i.+p being shared by trained dogs, and that the danger from wild beasts and lawless cla.s.ses was considerable. As regards the first point, however, we do hear of packs of hounds which followed the Sicilian shepherds (Diod. x.x.xiv. 2), and it is difficult to believe that these had not developed some kind of training.

[256] Varro _R.R_. ii. 10. 7.

[257] Diod, x.x.xiv. 2. 38.

[258] Val. Max. ii. 10. 2.

[259] Livy (x.x.xii. 26) speaks of them as _nationis eius_. He has just mentioned the slaves of the Carthaginian hostages. But it does not follow that either cla.s.s was composed of native Africans. They may have been imported Asiatics, as in Sicily.

[260] Liv. x.x.xii. 26.

[261] Liv. x.x.xiii. 36 Etruriam infestam prope conjuratio servorum fecit.

[262] Liv. x.x.xix. 29.

[263] Bucher _Die Aufstande der unfreien Arbeiter_ p. 34. Cf. Soltau in _Kulturgesch. des kla.s.s. Altertums_ p. 326.

[264] Oros. v. 9 Diodor. x.x.xiv. 2. 19.

[265] Mahaffy l.c.

[266] Cf. Bucher op. cit. p. 79.

[267] Diod. x.x.xiv. 2. 27. For the large number of Roman proprietors in Sicily see Florus ii. 7 (iii. 19) 3--(Sicilia) terra frugum ferax et quodam modo suburbana provincia latifundis civium Romanorum tenebatur.

[268] Diod. x.x.xiv. 2. 32. 36.

[269] Diod. l.c.

[270] Diod. x.x.xiv. 2. 31. This may have been true of the time of which we are speaking; for the influence of the Roman residents in Sicily on the administration of the island must always have been great. But Diodorus a.s.signs an incorrect reason when he states that the Roman knights of Sicily were judges of the governors of the provinces. This is true only of the period preceding the second servile war.

[271] Historians profess to tell the mechanism by which this device was secured. A spark of fire was placed with inflammable material in a hollow nut or some similar small object, which was perforated. The receptacle was placed in the mouth, and judicious breathing did the rest. See Diodorus x.x.xiv, 2. 7; Floras ii. 7 (iii. 19).

[272] Nitzsch _Die Gracchen_ p. 228.

[273] Diod. x.x.xiv. 2. 24 [Greek: _hypo gar taes pepromenaes autois kekyrosthai taen patrida taen Ennan, ousan akropolin holaes taes naesou_.]

[274] Ibid. 2. 12 [Greek: _oud estin eipein ... hosa enybrizon te kai enaeselgainon_.]

[275] [Greek: _planon te apekaloun_] (Diod. x.x.xiv. 2. 14).

[276] Diodor. x.x.xiv. 3. 41.

[277] Ibid. 2. 39.

[278] Ibid., 2, 24.

[279] Liv. _Ep_. lv.; App. _Syr_. 68. Cf. Nitzsch _Die Gracchen_ p. 288.

[280] Diodorus describes him as an Achaean. Mahaffy (l.c.) suspects that he came from Eastern Asia Minor or Syria, where Achaeus occurs as a royal name. But the name also occurs in old Greece. One may instance the tragic poet of Eretria.

[281] [Greek: _kai boulae kai cheiri diapheron_] (Diod. x.x.xiv. 2. 16).

[282] Ibid. 2. 42.

[283] Florus ii. 7 (iii. 19). 6.