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distinguish in our language by the appellation of _Slaves_.
As this class of servants was composed of men, who had been reduced to
such a situation by the contingencies of fortune, and not by their own
misconduct; so there was another among the ancients, composed entirely
of those, who had suffered the loss of liberty from their own
imprudence. To this class may be reduced the Grecian _Prodigals_,
who were detained in the service of their creditors, till the fruits of
their labour were equivalent to their debts; the _delinquents_, who
were sentenced to the oar; and the German _enthusiasts_, as
mentioned by Tacitus, who were so immoderately charmed with gaming, as,
when every thing else was gone, to have staked their liberty and their
very selves. "The loser," says he, "goes into a voluntary servitude, and
though younger and stronger than the person with whom he played,
patiently suffers himself to be bound and sold. Their perseverance in
so bad a custom is stiled honour. The slaves, thus obtained, are
immediately exchanged away in commerce, that the winner may get rid of
the scandal of his victory."
To enumerate other instances, would be unnecessary; it will be
sufficient to observe, that the servants of this class were in a far
more wretched situation, than those of the former; their drudgery was
more intense; their treatment more severe; and there was no retreat at
pleasure, from the frowns and lashes of their despotick masters.
Having premised this, we may now proceed to a general division of
slavery, into _voluntary_ and _involuntary_. The _voluntary_
will comprehend the two classes, which we have already mentioned;
for, in the first instance, there was a _contract_, founded
on _consent_; and, in the second, there was a _choice_ of
engaging or not in those practices, the known consequences of which
were servitude. The _involuntary_; on the other hand, will
comprehend those, who were forced, without any such _condition_ or
_choice_, into a situation, which as it tended to degrade a part of
the human species, and to class it with the brutal, must have been, of
all human situations, the most wretched and insupportable. These are
they, whom we shall consider solely in the present work. We shall
therefore take our leave of the former, as they were mentioned only,
that we might state the question with greater accuracy, and, be the
better enabled to reduce it to its proper limits.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES
[Footnote 004: Genesis, Ch. 47. Leviticus XXV. v. 39, 40.]
[Footnote 005: The _Thetes_ appear very early in the Grecian
History.--kai tines auto kouroi epont'Ithakes exairetoi; he eoi autou
thentes te Dmoes(?) te; Od. Homer. D. 642. They were afterwards so much
in use that, "Murioi depou apedidonto eautous ose douleuein kata
sungraphen," till Solon suppressed the custom in Athens.]
[Footnote 006: The mention of these is frequent among the classics; they
were called in general _mercenarii_, from the circumstances of
their _hire_, as "quibus, non male praecipiunt, qui ita jubent uti,
ut _mercenariis_, operam exigendam, justa proebenda. Cicero de
off." But they are sometimes mentioned in the law books by the name of
_liberi_, from the circumstances of their _birth_, to distinguish
them from the _alieni_, or foreigners, as Justinian. D. 7. 8. 4.
--Id. 21. 1. 25. &c. &c. &c.]
* * * * *
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
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