An Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species Part 2

CHAP. II.

The first that will be mentioned, of the _involuntary_, were _prisoners of war_.[007] "It was a law, established from time immemorial among the nations of antiquity, to oblige those to undergo the severities of servitude, whom victory had thrown into their hands."

Conformably with this, we find all the Eastern nations unanimous in the practice. The same custom prevailed among the people of the West; for as the Helots became the slaves of the Spartans, from the right of conquest only, so prisoners of war were reduced to the same situation by the rest of the inhabitants of Greece. By the same principles that actuated these, were the Romans also influenced. Their History will confirm the fact: for how many cities are recorded to have been taken; how many armies to have been vanquished in the field, and the wretched survivors, in both instances, to have been doomed to servitude? It remains only now to observe, in shewing this custom to have been universal, that all those nations which a.s.sisted in overturning the Roman Empire, though many and various, adopted the same measures; for we find it a general maxim in their polity, that whoever should fall into their hands as a prisoner of war, should immediately be reduced to the condition of a slave.

It may here, perhaps, be not unworthy of remark, that the _involuntary_ were of greater antiquity than the _voluntary_ slaves. The latter are first mentioned in the time of Pharaoh: they could have arisen only in a state of society; when property, after its division, had become so unequal, as to multiply the wants of individuals; and when government, after its establishment, had given security to the possessor by the punishment of crimes. Whereas the former seem to be dated with more propriety from the days of Nimrod; who gave rise probably to that inseparable idea of _victory_ and _servitude_, which we find among the nations of antiquity, and which has existed uniformly since, in one country or another, to the present day.[008]

Add to this, that they might have arisen even in a state of nature, and have been coequal with the quarrels of mankind.

FOOTNOTES

[Footnote 007: "Nomos en pasin anthropois aidios esin, otan polemounton polis alo, ton elonton einai kai ta somata ton en te poleis, kai ta chremata." Xenoph. Kyrou Paid. L. 7. fin.]

[Footnote 008:

"Proud Nimrod first the b.l.o.o.d.y chace began, A mighty hunter, and his prey was man."

--POPE.]

CHAP. III.

But it was not victory alone, or any presupposed right, founded in the damages of war, that afforded a pretence for invading the liberties of mankind: the honourable light, in which _piracy_ was considered in the uncivilized ages of the world, contributed not a little to the _slavery_ of the human species. Piracy had a very early beginning.

"The Grecians,"[009] says Thucydides, "in their primitive state, as well as the contemporary barbarians, who inhabited the sea coasts and islands, gave themselves wholly to it; it was, in short, their only profession and support." The writings of Homer are sufficient of themselves to establish this account. They shew it to have been a common practice at so early a period as that of the Trojan war; and abound with many lively descriptions of it; which, had they been as groundless as they are beautiful, would have frequently spared the sigh of the reader of sensibility and reflection.

The piracies, which were thus practised in the early ages, may be considered as _publick_ or _private_. In the former, whole crews embarked for the benefit[010] of their respective tribes. They made descents on the sea coasts, carried off cattle, surprized whole villages, put many of the inhabitants to the sword, and carried others into slavery.

In the latter, individuals only were concerned, and the emolument was their own. These landed from their ships, and, going up into the country, concealed themselves in the woods and thickets; where they waited every opportunity of catching the unfortunate shepherd or husbandman alone. In this situation they sallied out upon him, dragged him on board, conveyed him to a foreign market, and sold him for a slave.

To this kind of piracy Ulysses alludes, in opposition to the former, which he had been just before mentioning, in his question to Eumoeus.

"Did pirates wait, till all thy friends were gone, To catch thee singly with thy flocks alone; Say, did they force thee from thy fleecy care, And from thy fields transport and sell thee here?"[011]

But no picture, perhaps, of this mode of depredation, is equal to that, with which[012] Xenophon presents us in the simple narrative of a dance.

He informs us that the Grecian army had concluded a peace with the Paphlagonians, and that they entertained their emba.s.sadors in consequence with a banquet, and the exhibition of various feats of activity. "When the Thracians," says he, "had performed the parts allotted them in this entertainment, some Aenianian and Magnetian soldiers rose up, and, accoutred in their proper arms, exhibited that dance, which is called _Karpoea_. The figure of it is thus. One of them, in the character of an husbandman, is seen to till his land, and is observed, as he drives his plough, to look frequently behind him, as if apprehensive of danger. Another immediately appears in fight, in the character of a robber. The husbandman, having seen him previously advancing, s.n.a.t.c.hes up his arms. A battle ensues before the plough. The whole of this performance is kept in perfect time with the musick of the flute. At length the robber, having got the better of the husbandman, binds him, and drives him off with his team. Sometimes it happens that the husbandman subdues the robber: in this case the scene is only reversed, as the latter is then bound and driven, off by the former."

It is scarcely necessary to observe, that this dance was a representation of the general manners of men, in the more uncivilized ages of the world; shewing that the husbandman and shepherd lived in continual alarm, and that there were people in those ages, who derived their pleasures and fortunes from _kidnapping_ and _enslaving_ their fellow creatures.

We may now take notice of a circ.u.mstance in this narration, which will lead us to a review of our first a.s.sertion on this point, "that the honourable light, in which _piracy_ was considered in the times of barbarism, contributed not a little to the _slavery_ of the human species." The robber is represented here as frequently defeated in his attempts, and as reduced to that deplorable situation, to which he was endeavouring to bring another. This shews the frequent difficulty and danger of his undertakings: people would not tamely resign their lives or liberties, without a struggle. They were sometimes prepared; were superior often, in many points of view, to these invaders of their liberty; there were an hundred accidental circ.u.mstances frequently in their favour. These adventures therefore required all the skill, strength, agility, valour, and every thing, in short, that may be supposed to const.i.tute heroism, to conduct them with success. Upon this idea piratical expeditions first came into repute, and their frequency afterwards, together with the danger and fort.i.tude, that were inseparably connected with them, brought them into such credit among the barbarous nations of antiquity, that of all human professions, piracy was the most honourable.[013]

The notions then, which were thus annexed to piratical expeditions, did not fail to produce those consequences, which we have mentioned before.

They afforded an opportunity to the views of avarice and ambition, to conceal themselves under the mask of virtue. They excited a spirit of enterprize, of all others the most irresistible, as it subsisted on the strongest principles of action, emolument and honour. Thus could the vilest of pa.s.sions be gratified with impunity. People were robbed, stolen, murdered, under the pretended idea that these were reputable adventures: every enormity in short was committed, and dressed up in the habiliments of honour.

But as the notions of men in the less barbarous ages, which followed, became more corrected and refined, the practice of piracy began gradually to disappear. It had hitherto been supported on the grand columns of _emolument_ and _honour_. When the latter therefore was removed, it received a considerable shock; but, alas! it had still a pillar for its support! _avarice_, which exists in all states, and which is ready to turn every invention to its own ends, strained hard for its preservation. It had been produced in the ages of barbarism; it had been pointed out in those ages as lucrative, and under this notion it was continued. People were still stolen; many were intercepted (some, in their pursuits of pleasure, others, in the discharge of their several occupations) by their own countrymen; who previously laid in wait for them, and sold them afterwards for slaves; while others seized by merchants, who traded on the different coasts, were torn from their friends and connections, and carried into slavery. The merchants of Thessaly, if we can credit Aristophanes[014] who never spared the vices of the times, were particularly infamous for the latter kind of depredation; the Athenians were notorious for the former; for they had practised these robberies to such an alarming degree of danger to individuals, that it was found necessary to enact a law[015], which punished kidnappers with death.--But this is sufficient for our present purpose; it will enable us to a.s.sert, that there were two cla.s.ses of _involuntary_ slaves among the ancients, "of those who were taken publickly in a state of war, and of those who were privately stolen in a state of innocence and peace." We may now add, that the children and descendents of these composed a third.

FOOTNOTES

[Footnote 009: Thucydides. L. 1. sub initio.]

[Footnote 010: Idem.--"the strongest," says he, "engaging in these adventures, Kerdous tou spheterou auton eneka kai tois asthenesi trophes."]

[Footnote 011: Homer. Odyss. L. 15. 385.]

[Footnote 012: Xenoph. Kyrou Anab. L. 6. sub initio.]

[Footnote 013: ouk echontos po Aischynen toutou tou ergou pherontos de ti kai Doxes mallon. Thucydides, L. 1. sub initio. kai euklees touto oi Kilikes enomizon. s.e.xtus Empiricus. ouk adoxon all'endoxon touto.

Schol. &c. &c.]

[Footnote 014: Aristoph. Plut. Act. 2. Scene 5.]

[Footnote 015: Zenoph. Apomnemon, L. 1.]

CHAP. IV.

It will be proper to say something here concerning the situation of the unfortunate men, who were thus doomed to a life of servitude. To enumerate their various employments, and to describe the miseries which they endured in consequence, either from the severity, or the long and constant application of their labour, would exceed the bounds we have proposed to the present work. We shall confine ourselves to their _personal treatment_, as depending on the power of their masters, and the protection of the law. Their treatment, if considered in this light, will equally excite our pity and abhorrence. They were beaten, starved, tortured, murdered at discretion: they were dead in a civil sense; they had neither name nor tribe; were incapable of a judicial process; were in short without appeal. Poor unfortunate men! to be deprived of all possible protection! to suffer the bitterest of injuries without the possibility of redress! to be condemned unheard! to be murdered with impunity! to be considered as dead in that state, the very members of which they were supporting by their labours!

Yet such was their general situation: there were two places however, where their condition, if considered in this point of view, was more tolerable. The aegyptian slave, though perhaps of all others the greatest drudge, yet if he had time to reach the temple[016] of Hercules, found a certain retreat from the persecution of his master; and he received additional comfort from the reflection, that his life, whether he could reach it or not, could not be taken with impunity. Wise and salutary law![017] how often must it have curbed the insolence of power, and stopped those pa.s.sions in their progress, which had otherwise been destructive to the slave!

But though the persons of slaves were thus greatly secured in aegypt, yet there was no place so favourable to them as Athens. They were allowed a greater liberty of speech;[018] they had their convivial meetings, their amours, their hours of relaxation, pleasantry, and mirth; they were treated, in short, with so much humanity in general, as to occasion that observation of Demosthenes, in his second Philippick, "that the condition of a slave, at Athens, was preferable to that of a free citizen, in many other countries." But if any exception happened (which was sometimes the case) from the general treatment described; if persecution took the place of lenity, and made the fangs of servitude more pointed than before,[019] they had then their temple, like the aegyptian, for refuge; where the legislature was so attentive, as to examine their complaints, and to order them, if they were founded in justice, to be sold to another master. Nor was this all: they had a privilege infinitely greater than the whole of these. They were allowed an opportunity of working for themselves, and if their diligence had procured them a sum equivalent with their ransom, they could immediately, on paying it down,[020] demand their freedom for ever. This law was, of all others, the most important; as the prospect of liberty, which it afforded, must have been a continual source of the most pleasing reflections, and have greatly sweetened the draught, even of the most bitter slavery.

Thus then, to the eternal honour of aegypt and Athens, they were the only places that we can find, where slaves were considered with any humanity at all. The rest of the world seemed to vie with each other, in the debas.e.m.e.nt and oppression of these unfortunate people. They used them with as much severity as they chose; they measured their treatment only by their own pa.s.sion and caprice; and, by leaving them on every occasion, without the possibility of an appeal, they rendered their situation the most melancholy and intolerable, that can possibly be conceived.