DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0084
02 OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF ATHENS.
three ways : First, From poverty, whereby men being unable to subsist
of themselves, and perhaps deeply in debt, were forced to part with their
freedom, and yield themselves slaves to such as were able to maintain
them; or sell their bodies to their creditors, and pay them in service
what they were not able to do in money. Secondly, Vast numbers were
reduced to si tvery by the chance of war, by which the conquered became
wholly at the disposal of their conquerors. Thirdly, By the perfidious-
ness of those that traded in slaves, who often stole persons of ingenuous
birth and education, and sold them. Aristophanes tells us, the Thessa-
lians were notorious for this sort of villainy :
---I1E. TToOsv 6*v 'ifjtic S-£g*OT-ovTa.c ;
Xfl. flvno-o/uiB' igjyvpiov S'lnrov. I1E. Tic <P* srot/ TrgcvTOv o 7ra>\uTv,
Otxv <zpyvpicv x.ctKilvoi Z^ri; XP. Kipfzivav (iatofAtvcii <rtc
F.U/Tc/joc. >ix.a>v in QitrrtLA ctg Trap*. 7rkurw *veP/i*sT3cf/c£tV (1),
Pov. How will you, Sir, get slaves? Chr. I'll buy with coin.
Pov. But where? since all the merchants leave off sale,
Having- got wealth enough. Chr. I'll warrant you,
Slave-mongers will come here from Thessaly,
Driv'n by hopes of getting more.-»- .7, a.
But if any person were convicted of having betrayed a freeman, he was
severely punished by Solon's laws, except it was his daughter, or sister,
whom the laws permitted them to sell for slaves, when convicted of for-
nication (2).
At Athens several places in the forum were appointed for the sale of
slaves, of which 1 have spoken already ; and upon the first day of every
month, the merchants called Av^aTo^axaxjjAoi brought them into the
market, and exposed them to sale the crier standing upon a stone,
erected for that purpose, called II^*<r^ A'cog, and calling the people to-
gether (4) ; whence Cicero opprobriously calls the tribunes, emptos de la-
pide, because they were suspected to have been hired to the management
<&f a certain affair (5).
At Athens, when a slave was first brought home, there was an enter-
tainment provided to welcome him to his new service, and certain sweet-
meats were poured upon his head, which for that reason they called K«-
T«%urff^«Ta (6). But I do not find that this ceremony was practised in other
places ; though, in all countries, slaves were bought and sold like other
commodities. The Thracians are particularly remarkable for purchas-
ing them with salt, and therefore they were called n^o? aXlt vyogarfjxsva.
Eustathius adds, that aa<»'»»,to SxAdgia,, signified those that were bought at
a very low rate. The Chians are reported to have been the first that
gave money for slaves (7), whereas before they had usually been ex-
changed for other commodities, which was the ancient way of trading be-
fore the invention of money. Hou;er's heroes are often said to have ex-
changed their captives for provisions, and particularly at the end of the
seventh Iliad.
Ev6«v «/>' oh £oi"TO x,itpyiiio/Liia>vre! A%ctit>\}
(1) Plut. act. ii. seen. 5. (5) Orat. in Pisonem.
(2) Plutarch. Solone. (6) Anstoph. Pluto, et Pollux, loc.cit.
(3) AristopH. Sx- Equit. (7) Ccel. Rhod. Antiq. lib, xxv, cap. 9.
<A) Pollux, lib. iii. cap. ft.
three ways : First, From poverty, whereby men being unable to subsist
of themselves, and perhaps deeply in debt, were forced to part with their
freedom, and yield themselves slaves to such as were able to maintain
them; or sell their bodies to their creditors, and pay them in service
what they were not able to do in money. Secondly, Vast numbers were
reduced to si tvery by the chance of war, by which the conquered became
wholly at the disposal of their conquerors. Thirdly, By the perfidious-
ness of those that traded in slaves, who often stole persons of ingenuous
birth and education, and sold them. Aristophanes tells us, the Thessa-
lians were notorious for this sort of villainy :
---I1E. TToOsv 6*v 'ifjtic S-£g*OT-ovTa.c ;
Xfl. flvno-o/uiB' igjyvpiov S'lnrov. I1E. Tic <P* srot/ TrgcvTOv o 7ra>\uTv,
Otxv <zpyvpicv x.ctKilvoi Z^ri; XP. Kipfzivav (iatofAtvcii <rtc
F.U/Tc/joc. >ix.a>v in QitrrtLA ctg Trap*. 7rkurw *veP/i*sT3cf/c£tV (1),
Pov. How will you, Sir, get slaves? Chr. I'll buy with coin.
Pov. But where? since all the merchants leave off sale,
Having- got wealth enough. Chr. I'll warrant you,
Slave-mongers will come here from Thessaly,
Driv'n by hopes of getting more.-»- .7, a.
But if any person were convicted of having betrayed a freeman, he was
severely punished by Solon's laws, except it was his daughter, or sister,
whom the laws permitted them to sell for slaves, when convicted of for-
nication (2).
At Athens several places in the forum were appointed for the sale of
slaves, of which 1 have spoken already ; and upon the first day of every
month, the merchants called Av^aTo^axaxjjAoi brought them into the
market, and exposed them to sale the crier standing upon a stone,
erected for that purpose, called II^*<r^ A'cog, and calling the people to-
gether (4) ; whence Cicero opprobriously calls the tribunes, emptos de la-
pide, because they were suspected to have been hired to the management
<&f a certain affair (5).
At Athens, when a slave was first brought home, there was an enter-
tainment provided to welcome him to his new service, and certain sweet-
meats were poured upon his head, which for that reason they called K«-
T«%urff^«Ta (6). But I do not find that this ceremony was practised in other
places ; though, in all countries, slaves were bought and sold like other
commodities. The Thracians are particularly remarkable for purchas-
ing them with salt, and therefore they were called n^o? aXlt vyogarfjxsva.
Eustathius adds, that aa<»'»»,to SxAdgia,, signified those that were bought at
a very low rate. The Chians are reported to have been the first that
gave money for slaves (7), whereas before they had usually been ex-
changed for other commodities, which was the ancient way of trading be-
fore the invention of money. Hou;er's heroes are often said to have ex-
changed their captives for provisions, and particularly at the end of the
seventh Iliad.
Ev6«v «/>' oh £oi"TO x,itpyiiio/Liia>vre! A%ctit>\}
(1) Plut. act. ii. seen. 5. (5) Orat. in Pisonem.
(2) Plutarch. Solone. (6) Anstoph. Pluto, et Pollux, loc.cit.
(3) AristopH. Sx- Equit. (7) Ccel. Rhod. Antiq. lib, xxv, cap. 9.
<A) Pollux, lib. iii. cap. ft.