Roman Slavery

Slaves in ancient Rome were subject to a brutal life and were expected to be perfect. There is no denying the torture and excessive labor they had to endure.

"First, there is the indignity of slavery- the kind of indignity that came from having to work as a body-slave to a wealthy owner or from being bought and sold like a commodity. For Epicterus the slace was a permanent symbol of subjection, ignorance and cowardice, connoting 'sorrows and fears and turmoils' in a positive sense a token only of the slaveowners prosperity. Second, the violence of being reduced from freedom to slavery...or the violence of being forever exposed, in the run of everyday life, to beating after beating, so that the owner could make sure the slave turned out right. Thirdly, the caprice to which the life of the slave was subject: if a slave who was asked to bring warm water brought water that was not warm enough or if he were not there to perform the service at once, it was inevitable that he should face the slaveowners wrath." (Bradley)

However, the slaveowners in ancient Rome did not have as much control over their slaves as their brutality may suggest. The morale of Roman slaves seemed to be higher than those of more modern slaves, as "collusion among three or four slaves in the household could infuriate the owner and his torment was worth the risk of flogging." (Bradley). To me, this suggests that the Roman slaves were very tough, to even dare angering their owner and risk harsh physical abuse such as a branding iron or a whip. But this suggests that these slaves did not fear their owner. As Bradley mentions, "perhaps one might pause and wonder. Wonder if the slaves of Roman Egypt or of any other place or period for which a relative insignificance of slavery is claimed would have agreed that slavery was unimportant, when it exposed them to a form of social discrimination that shaped and adversely affected every aspect of their lives, every minute of the day...It is a historical, objective reality that slavery was an evil, violent and brutalising institution that the Romans themselves, across a vast interval of time and space..whose justificiation thay never seriously questioned and for which no apology or exoneration can now be offered. For the sake of historical understanding as a whole, therefore, it is a matter of considerable importance to make the attempt to understand what it was to be a slave at Rome, to capture something of the slave mentality and the servile point of view. And the results need not always be gloomy." (Bradley)

What I can conclude about Roman slavery, is that the slave owners were brutal, but a majority of the slaves were so strong, not afraid, and most importantly, these slaves led lifes as if they were humans, and not merely property of the owner.