e Latin language.

It was by such institutions that the nations of the empire insensibly
melted away into the Roman name and people. But there still remained, in
the centre of every province and of every family, an unhappy condition
of men who endured the weight, without sharing the benefits, 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, * taken in thousands by the chance
of war, purchased at a vile price, 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, the most severe
regulations, 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. * In their numerous families, and particularly in their
country estates, they encouraged the marriage of their slaves. The
sentiments of nature, the habits of education, and the possession of a
dependent species of property, contributed to alleviate the hardships of
servitude. 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.

Hope, the best comfort of our imperfect condition, was not denied to the
Roman slave; and if he had any opportunity of rendering himself either
useful or agreeabl