much practice.

OF THEIR SLAVES, AND OF THEIR MARRIAGES.

They do not make slaves of prisoners of war, except those that are taken
in battle; nor of the sons of their slaves, nor of those of other
nations: the slaves among them are only such as are condemned to that
state of life for the commission of some crime, or, which is more
common, such as their merchants find condemned to die in those parts to
which they trade, whom they sometimes redeem at low rates; and in other
places have them for nothing. They are kept at perpetual labour, and are
always chained, but with this difference, that their own natives are
treated much worse than others; they are considered as more profligate
than the rest, and since they could not be restrained by the advantages
of so excellent an education, are judged worthy of harder usage. Another
sort of slaves are the poor of the neighbouring countries, who offer of
their own accord to come and serve them; they treat these better, and
use them in all other respects as well as their own countrymen, except
their imposing more labour upon them, which is no hard task to those
that have been accustomed to it; and if any of these have a mind to go
back to their own country, which indeed falls out but seldom, as they do
not force them to stay, so they do not send them away empty-handed.

I have already told you with what care they look after their sick, so
that nothing is left undone that can contribute either to their ease or
health: and for those who are taken with fixed and incurable diseases,
they use all possible ways to cherish them, and to make their lives as
comfortable as possible. They visit them often, and take great pains to
make their time pass off easily: but when any is taken with a torturing
and lingering pain, so that there is no hope, either of recovery or
ease, the priests and magistrates come and exhort them, that since they
are now unable to go on with the business of life, are become a burden
to themselves and to all about them, and they have really outlived
themselves, they should no longer nourish such a rooted distemper, but
choose rather to die, since they cannot live but in much misery: being
assured, that if they thus deliver themselves from torture, or are
willing that others should do it, they shall be happy after death. Since
by their acting thus, they lose none of the pleasures, but only the
troubles of life; they think they behave not only reasonably, but in a
ma