fits, of society.
In the free states of antiquity, the domestic slaves were exposed to the
wanton rigor of despotism. The perfect settlement of the Roman empire
was preceded by ages of violence and rapine. The slaves consisted,
for the most part, of barbarian captives, [451] taken in thousands by the
chance of war, purchased at a vile price, [46] accustomed to a life
of independence, and impatient to break and to revenge their fetters.
Against such internal enemies, whose desperate insurrections had more
than once reduced the republic to the brink of destruction, [47] the most
severe [471] regulations, [48] and the most cruel treatment, seemed almost
justified by the great law of self-preservation. But when the principal
nations of Europe, Asia, and Africa were united under the laws of
one sovereign, the source of foreign supplies flowed with much less
abundance, and the Romans were reduced to the milder but more tedious
method of propagation. [481] In their numerous families, and particularly
in their country estates, they encouraged the marriage of their slaves.
[482] The sentiments of nature, the habits of education, and the possession
of a dependent species of property, contributed to alleviate the
hardships of servitude. [49] The existence of a slave became an object of
greater value, and though his happiness still depended on the temper
and circumstances of the master, the humanity of the latter, instead
of being restrained by fear, was encouraged by the sense of his own
interest. The progress of manners was accelerated by the virtue or
policy of the emperors; and by the edicts of Hadrian and the Antonines,
the protection of the laws was extended to the most abject part of
mankind. The jurisdiction of life and death over the slaves, a power
long exercised and often abused, was taken out of private hands, and
reserved to the magistrates alone. The subterraneous prisons were
abolished; and, upon a just complaint of intolerable treatment, the
injured slave obtained either his deliverance, or a less cruel master.
[50]

[Footnote 451: It was this which rendered the wars so sanguinary,
and the battles so obstinate. The immortal Robertson, in an excellent
discourse on the state of the world at the period of the establishment
of Christianity, has traced a picture of the melancholy effects of
slavery, in which we find all the depth of his views and the strength of
his mind. I shall oppose successively some passages to the