reflections
of Gibbon. The reader will see, not without interest, the truths which
Gibbon appears to have mistaken or voluntarily neglected, developed by
one of the best of modern historians. It is important to call them to
mind here, in order to establish the facts and their consequences with
accuracy. I shall more than once have occasion to employ, for this
purpose, the discourse of Robertson. "Captives taken in war were, in all
probability, the first persons subjected to perpetual servitude; and,
when the necessities or luxury of mankind increased the demand for
slaves, every new war recruited their number, by reducing the vanquished
to that wretched condition. Hence proceeded the fierce and desperate
spirit with which wars were carried on among ancient nations. While
chains and slavery were the certain lot of the conquered, battles were
fought, and towns defended with a rage and obstinacy which nothing but
horror at such a fate could have inspired; but, putting an end to the
cruel institution of slavery, Christianity extended its mild influences
to the practice of war, and that barbarous art, softened by its humane
spirit, ceased to be so destructive. Secure, in every event, of personal
liberty, the resistance of the vanquished became less obstinate, and the
triumph of the victor less cruel. Thus humanity was introduced into the
exercise of war, with which it appears to be almost incompatible; and it
is to the merciful maxims of Christianity, much more than to any other
cause, that we must ascribe the little ferocity and bloodshed which
accompany modern victories."--G.]

[Footnote 46: In the camp of Lucullus, an ox sold for a drachma, and a
slave for four drachmae, or about three shillings. Plutarch. in Lucull.
p. 580. * Note: Above 100,000 prisoners were taken in the Jewish
war.--G. Hist. of Jews, iii. 71. According to a tradition preserved by S.
Jerom, after the insurrection in the time of Hadrian, they were sold as
cheap as horse. Ibid. 124. Compare Blair on Roman Slavery, p. 19.--M.,
and Dureau de la blalle, Economie Politique des Romains, l. i. c. 15.
But I cannot think that this writer has made out his case as to the
common price of an agricultural slave being from 2000 to 2500 francs,
(80l. to 100l.) He has overlooked the passages which show the ordinary
prices, (i. e. Hor. Sat. ii. vii. 45,) and argued from extraordinary and
exceptional cases.--M. 1845.]

[Footnote 47: Diodorus Siculus in Eclog. Hist. l. xx