New-York daily tribune., 1854-03-27
FACTS FROM HISTORY.

.l.ves: and POI 900 slaves Some authors give the
number of slaves as much larger than this. We take
the lowest computation Of any authority Among the
class of .ayebodng foreigners at Athens was the ora
tor Lyisas, who owned l2O slaves Demosthene'
whose hsraDgues against tyranny every school boy ana
quotes and prates about owned o3 slaves
a. white a. himself Of the same blood, fashioned by
God in the same Caucasian mold In Sparta the popu
ot;on WAS onethird free and twothirds slaves, being
the same proportion exactly as at Athens.
In the early days of the Roman Republic, the mum
her Of slaves we're very limited In the year 4'O b
C.. they formed only sixteenth part OF tae popuia
ton; but 20 rapidly did the curse extend that two
hundred and fifty years thereafter, when on the break
ing out of the second Punic War, census OF Roman
Italy was taken 70 determine how many were OF suta
ble age 10 bear arms there were found to be over
eeht millions of inhabitants, of whom one-nat were
slaves The vast private fortunes OF Roman gen.
temen at this and later periods may be inferred from
the number of their slaves. OF these individual
owned ten thousand others owned FIVE 10 eight thols-
and each. We believe the largest number of human
beucs low in this country in the hands Of one man as
cbattess less than five thousandthe property fWade
HAMPTON. Esq The education and refinement OF the
Roman masters and missiresses equalng that OF our
own times-msy be judged by the employment Of the
slaves as we already showed in previous article
published on Friday and by such facts as these: sue
topius. Cato Seneca, Putarch and Pliny all tell us
that every rich nan owned Family Ply sican among
his household chattels. The great painter, Fab.us-
surnamed Pictor who, 303 b. c decorated at Rome
the Temple of Health was slave. SO, too, was Vi
truyus the immoral architect of the Pantheon, aud
author of great work on architecture, which has
been during this century, translated and published IN
Enclsh and in German for the use OF modern archl-
teetspot yet slaves. There were also save-shopAeep
ers. agents brokers and merchants of all degrees 10
show what sort of stuff household slaves were some
times made of among these enlightened Romans, we
find 10 Cornelius Nepos that the fOomen OF Atticus
could maryelousy well act readers and copyists Tor
their master.
The prices current of the human flesh aud blood
market of Rome presented ordinarily much higher
quotations than that OF Greece Of which we have al
ready adduced few examples. The Roman slave
dealers were called Laaiss literally feshsserS Pu-
tarch quotes field hands having brought $3.50 each
in Cato's time. But the Roman, like the Grecian aud
ike our own southern prices for feminine beauty were
infinitely higher than for merely able bodied working
people For luxurious articles of this sOr the e was
10 fixed market value. Martial speaks OF young lady
fetching 100 OO0 sesterces S500O) Plny relates that
one Toranius sold to Auionus pair of very lovely
twin sisters at the same enormous rate-2OO,OOO ses
terces for the pair (5,O00 apiece). The price OF
very charming girl bought by harot is mentioned by
Plautus being very low at 1000 sesterces (P2OO)
This certainly deg cheap compared with orr own
southern market where it would be considered great
bargain at ten times the sum-
We can arrive az the price of a Roman fisherman
by quotation from Juyena describing banquet
where there was turbot which cost 90 sssterces
$500; he says:
Potuit ortasse minores
PGcatcr guam pisces emi
That is the fisherman would have cost less than the
fish So, too, we eau find how much common soldier
was worth froM Pliny who says that nightngales cost
more than common sOldes in his time, one of these
birds beire sold for 900 seserces $780, curious
estimate of value this, ard one which makes in COM
parson to the luser of life gained, the funerel
bearse pleasant aud the family vault ocund-for there
at least the oppressors hand stayed and the tears of
poor humanity dried in the common dust. Pity thy
brother, o, son of Adam Wheigh these in the scale
classic colleges, turbOt and fisherman, nightn-
Il
waters of perdiiion itself for antecedents to keep
in countenance modern Slavery-for, is not
the chief argument OF It's supporters that
il has 0lrays existed even in classic Greece and heroic
Rome we shall soon examination ofantique
bonors as they too repsve to be long dwelt upon
But for few more examples Of the system which
must always exist, and is destined to compass the
North" The Roman auctions were, it seems, con
ducted in the manner with those of our south
ern brethren" for Suetonius relates joke, played
upon saturninus who falling asleep at sae the nod
dngs of bis head were taken by the auctioneer bids
on choice lot Of thirteen gadiatOrs who knocked
down TO him at 5000 900 seserces $4,000. But to
their credit be it spoken the Roman price for literary
and learned men above tue Grecian for instead of
one of this class being worth at Athens, more
than good horse we find him in Rome as valuable
a Seneca the moralis" gives the price of
literary bought by sabinus at 100000 sesterces
(s50o0) This is higher figure than Northern
doughiaced editor even The best bra9ler for Kansas
Nebraska and Slavery would fetch if brought to the
auction block az Charleston or New Orleans.
To show the downward course OF people once sc-
customed 10 Slavery have only to instance the blood
hounds advertised in the South to catch slaves under
make the stars shrink into their halo we'd DOME afraid
to lock upon cruelty so awful and hypocrisy so enor.
nous IN this land Of the free and home of the brave
IS the 10 sbame il headlong in the South where
morals of enssDguined pirates taking the place Of
the mild dialeccs of Washington or the fersid inVo.
cations of Jefferson a favor OF abolition 50 was Rome