Deipnosophistae

Athenaeus of Naucratis

Athenaeus. The Deipnosophists or Banquet Of The Learned Of Athenaeus. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854.

And since among the different questions proposed by Ulpian, there is this one about the slaves, let us now ourselves recapitulate a few things which we have to say on the subject, remembering what we have in former times read about it. For Pherecrates, in his Boors, says—

For no one then had any Manes,[*](A slave's name.) no,
Nor home-born slaves; but the free women themselves
Did work at everything within the house.
And so at morn they ground the corn for bread,
Till all the streets resounded with the mills.

And Anaxandrides, in his Anchises, says—

There is not anywhere, my friend, a state
Of none but slaves; but fortune regulates
And changes at its will th' estates of men.
Many there are who are not free to day,
But will to-morrow free-men be of Sunium,
And the day after public orators;
For so the deity guides each man's helm.

And Posidonius, the stoic philosopher, says in the eleventh book of his History, "That many men, who are unable to govern themselves, by reason of the weakness of their intellect, give themselves up to the guidance of those who are wiser than themselves, in order that receiving from them care and advice, and assistance in necessary matters, they may in their turn requite them with such services as they are able to render. And in this manner the Mariandyni became subject to the people of Heraclea, promising to act as their subjects for ever, if they would supply them with what they stood in need of; having made an agreement beforehand, that none of them would sell anything out of the territory of Heraclea, but that they would sell in that district alone. And perhaps it is on this account that Euphorion the epic poet called the Mariandyni Bringers of Gifts, saying—

And they may well be call'd Bringers of Gifts,
Fearing the stern dominion of their kings.

And Callistratus the Aristophanean says that "they called the Mariandyni δωροφόροι, by that appellation tang away whatever there is bitter in the name of servants, just as the

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Spartans did in respect of the Helots, the Thessalians in the case of the Penestæ, and the Cretans with the Clarotæ. But the Cretans call those servants who are in their houses Chrysoneti,[*](Chrysoneti means bought with gold, from χρυσὸς, gold, and ὠνέομαι, to buy. Clarotœ means allotted, from κληρόω, to cast lots. It is not known what the derivation or meaning of Aphamiotœ is.) and those whose work lies in the fields Amphamiotæ, being natives of the country, but people who have been enslaved by the chance of war; but they also call the same people Clarotæ, because they have been distributed among their masters by lot.

And Ephorus, in the third book of his Histories,

The Cretans call their slaves Clarotæ, because lots have been drawn for them; and these slaves have some regularly recurring festivals in Cydonia, during which no freemen enter the city, but the slaves are the masters of everything, and have the right even to scourge the freemen.

But Sosicrates, in the second book of his History of Cretan Affairs, says, "The Cretans call public servitude μνοία, but the private slaves they call aphamiotæ; and the periœci, or people who live in the adjacent districts, they call subjects. And Dosiadas gives a very similar account in the fourth book of his history of Cretan Affairs.

But the Thessalians call those Penestæ who were not born slaves, but who have been taken prisoners in war. And Theopompus the comic poet, misapplying the word, says—

The wrinkled counsellors of a Penestan master.

And Philocrates, in the second book of his history of the Affairs of Thessaly, if at least the work attributed to him is genuine, says that the Penestæ are also called Thessalœcetæ, or servants of the Thessalians. And Archemachus, in the third book of his history of the Affairs of Eubœa, says, "When the Bœotians had founded Arnæa, those of them who did not return to Bœotia, but who took a fancy to their new country, gave themselves up to the Thessalians by agreement, to be their slaves; on condition that they should not take them out of the country, nor put them to death, but that they should cultivate the country for them, and pay them a yearly revenue for it. These men, therefore, abiding by their agreement, and giving themselves up to the Thessalians, were called at that time Menestæ; but now they are called Penestæ;

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and many of them are richer than their masters. And Euri- pides, in his Phrixus, calls them latriæ,[*](From λατρείω, to serve.) in these words—

λάτρις πενέστης ἁμὸς ἀρχαίων δόμων.

And Timæus of Tauromenium, in the ninth book of his Histories, says,

It was not a national custom among the Greeks in former times to be waited on by purchased slaves;

and he proceeds to say,

And altogether they accused totle of having departed from the Locrian customs; said that it was not customary among the Locrians, nor among the Phocians, touse either maid-servants or house- servants till very lately. But the wife of Philomelus, who took Delphi, was the first woman who had two maids to follow her. And in a similar manner Mnason, the com- panion of Aristotle, was much reproached among the Pho- cians, for having purchased a thousand slaves; for they said that he was depriving that number of citizens of their neces- sary subsistence: for that it was a custom in their houses for the younger men to minister to the elder.

And Plato, in the sixth book of the Laws, says,—"The whole question about servants is full of difficulty; for of all the Greeks, the system of the Helots among the Lacedæ- monians causes the greatest perplexity and dispute, some people affirming that it is a wise institution, and some con- sidering it as of a very opposite character. But the system of slavery among the people of Heraclea would cause less dis- pute than the subject condition of the Mariandyni; and so too would the condition of the Thessalian Penestæ. And if we con- sider all these things, what ought we to do with respect to the acquisition of servants? For there is nothing sound in the feelings of slaves; nor ought a prudent man to trust them in anything of importance. And the wisest of all poets says—

Jove fix'd it certain that whatever day
Makes man a slave, takes half his worth away.

And it has been frequently shown by facts, that a slave in an objectionable and perilous possession; especially in the fre- quent revolts of the Messenians, and in the case of those cities which have many slaves, speaking different languages, in which many evils arise from that circumstance. And also we may come to the same conclusion from the exploits and sufferings of all sorts of robbers, who infest the Italian coasts

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as piratical vagabonds. And if any one considers all these cir- cumstances, he may well doubt what course ought to be pursued with respect to all these people. Two remedies now are left to us—either never to allow, for the future, any person's slaves to be one another's fellow-countrymen, and, as far as possible, to prevent their even speaking the same language: and he should also keep them well, not only for their sake, but still more for his own; and he should behave towards them with as little insolence as possible. But it is right to chastise them with justice; not admonishing them as if they were free men, so as to make them arrogant: and every word which we address to slaves ought to be, in some sort, a command. And a man ought never to play at all with his slaves, or jest with them, whether they be male or female. And as to the very foolish way in which many people treat their slaves, allowing them great indulgence and great licence, they only make everything more difficult for both parties: they make obedience harder for the one to practise, and authority harder for the others to exercise.

Now of all the Greeks, I conceive that the Chians were the first people who used slaves purchased with money, as is related by Theopompus, in the seventeenth book of his Histories; where he says,—

The Chians were the first of the Greeks, after the Thessalians and Lacedæmonians, who used slaves. But they did not acquire them in the same manner as those others did; for the Lacedæmonians and the Thessalians will be found to have derived their slaves from Greek tribes, who formerly inhabited the country which they now possess: the one having Achean slaves, but the Thessalians having Perrhæbian and Magnesian slaves; and the one nation called their slaves Helots, and the others called them Penestæ. But the Chians have barbarian slaves, and they have bought them at a price.

Theopompus, then, has given this account. But I think that, on this account, the Deity was angry with the Chians; for at a subsequent period they were subdued by their slaves. Accordingly, Nymphodorus the Syracusan, in his Voyage along the Coast of Asia, gives this account of them:—"The slaves of the Chians deserted them, and escaped to the mountains; and then, collecting in great numbers, ravaged the country-houses about; for the island is very rugged, and much overgrown with trees. But, a little before

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our time, the Chians themselves relate, that one of their slaves deserted, and took up his habitation in the mountains; and, being a man of great courage and very prosperus in his warlike undertakings, he assumed the command o the runaway slaves, as a king would take the command of an army; and though the Chians often made expeditions against him, they were able to effect nothing. And when Drimacus (for that was the name of this runaway slave) found that they were being destroyed, without being able to effect anything, he addressed them in this language: 'O Chians! you who are the masters, this treatment which you are now receiving from your servants will never cease; for how should it cease, when it is God who causes it, in accordance with the prediction of the oracle? But if you will be guided by me, and if you will leave us in peace, then I will be the originator of much good fortune to you.'

"Accordingly, the Chians, having entered into a treaty with him, and having made a truce for a certain time, Drimacus prepares measures and weights, and a private seal for himself; and, throwing it to the Chians, he said, Whatever I take from any one of you, I shall take according to these measures and these weights; and when I have taken enough, I will then leave the storehouses, having sealed them up with this seal. And as to all the slaves who desert from you, I will inquire what cause of complaint they have; and if they seem to me to have been really subject to any incurable oppression, which has been the reason of their running away, I will retain them with me; but if they have no sufficient or reasonable ground to allege, I will send them back to their masters.' Accordingly, the rest of the slaves, seeing that the Chians agreed to this state of things, very good-humouredly did not desert nearly so much for the future, fearing the judgment which Drimacus might pass upon them And the runaways who were with him feared him a great deal more than they did their own masters, and did everything that he required, obeying him as their general; for he punished the refractory with great severity: and he permitted no one to ravage the land, nor to commit any other crime of any sort, without his consent. And at the time of festivals, he went about, and took from the fields wine, and such animals for victims as were in good condition, and whatever else the

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masters were inclined or able to give him; and if he per- ceived that any one was intriguing against him, or laying any plot to injure him or overthrow his power, he chastised him.

Then (for the city had made a proclamation, that it would give a great reward to any one who took him prisoner, or who brought in his head,) this Drimacus, as he became older, calling one of his most intimate friends into a certain place, says to him, 'You know that I have loved you above all men, and you are to me as my child and my son, and as everything else. I now have lived long enough, but you are young and just in the prime of life. What, then, are we to do? You must show yourself a wise and brave man; for, since the city of the Chians offers a great reward to any one who shall kill me, and also promises him his freedom, you must cut off my head, and carry it to Chios, and receive the money which they offer, and so be prosperous.' But when the young man refused, he at last persuaded him to do so; and so he cut off his head, and took it to the Chians, and received from them the rewards which they had offered by proclamation: and, having buried the corpse of Drimacus, he departed to his own country. And the Chians, being again injured and plundered by their slaves, remembering the moderation of him who was dead, erected a Heroum in their country, and called it the shrine of the GENTLE HERO. And even now the runaway slaves bring to that shrine the first-fruits of all the plunder they get; and they say that Drimacus still appears to many of the Chians in their sleep, and informs them beforehand of the stratagems of their slaves who are plotting against them: and to whomsoever he appears, they come to that place, and sacrifice to him, where this shrine is.

Nymphodorus, then, has given this account; but in many copies of his history, I have found that Drimachus is not mentioned by name. But I do not imagine that any one of you is ignorant, either of what the prince of all historians, Herodotus, has related of the Chian Panionium, and of what he justly suffered who castrated free boys and sold them. But Nicolaus the Peripatetic, and Posidonius the Stoic, in their Histories, both state that the Chians were enslaved by Mithridates, the tyrant of Cappadocia; and were given up by him, bound, to their own slaves, for the purpose of being

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transported into the land of the Colchians,—so really angry with them was the Deity, as being the first people who used purchased slaves, while most other nations provided for themselves by their own industry. And, perhaps, this s what the proverb originated in,

A Chian bought a master,

which is used by Eupolis, in his Friends.