Accusation of slaves came to the Romans by their conquering of other nations. Roman territorial conquest yielded most of the conquered nations citizens and forced them to become slaves. “To enslave an enemy rather than to slay him was a device to reap his labour, but it was also a way of enjoying a perpetual triumph over him; it was at once a humiliation to him and a punishment for his presumption in taking up arms” (Barrow p 2). As new land was acquired, the population of the area became the property of the Roman Empire as well. Within this accusation the fallen captives gave slavery its believed legitimacy. “There was, for instance, a pervasive set of oppositions inherited from Athenian thought of things: thus, slavery is to fr

The Roman slaves were treated as members of the family unit in the earlier days of slavery; their punishments were mild, and they were given holidays from their regular duties on certain occasions and festivals. “On the Festival of Saturn, the slaves were allowed to wear the badge of freedom for the day, they were given freedom of speech, a banquet where their masters served them, and they were given the clothes of their masters to wear” (Barrow p 53). Slaves were often buried in the familial plots of their masters, and masters would be punished severely for the murder of their slaves. Families of slaves could not be separated, but there was no legal relation between a father and his son. “The children born to a slave mother were also slaves, and slaves could hold no property as all their acquisitions belonged to their master” (Barrow 41). It was beneficial for the masters to treat their slaves well. According to Varro, a prolific Roman author and an elite land owner, “They are made to take more interest in their work by being treated more liberally in respect either of food, or of more clothing, or punishment inflicted on them in some way, their loyalty and kindly feeling to the master may be restored by the consolation derived from such measures” (Bailkey, Lim p 437).

Even though a slave was freed it didn’t necessarily guarantee them any less hardships. Freed slaves found it very difficult to find the idealistic opportunities that came with Roman citizenship. “In reality the ex-slave forfeited upon manumission the economic support of his former master and henceforward had to rely on his own efforts in order to provide basic necessities; it was possible, therefore, that hardship in the former slave’s life could replace a certain material security” (Bradley p 82). Despite of these uncertainties slaves still wanted to gain their freedom and rid themselves of their slavery.

All urban slaves, however, did not experience the surroundings of luxury that the fortuitous were able to enjoy. Many slaves that lived in urban areas were property of the government, kept to aid in the erection of public buildings and roads. The atmosphere in which these slaves were kept rivaled that of rural slaves in work expectancy and living conditions.

Secondly, rural slaves were forced to do work that was both physically and emotionally straining. Field hands were given a life expectancy of about 15 to 20 years due to the physical exhaustion they encountered on a daily basis. Among the jobs they were expected to perform were as ploughmen, hunters, ditchers and forester. Slaves were expected to work all day on very little food and water, and were whipped or beaten when they did not. The extreme nature of the environment in which rural slaves lived is best exemplified by the number of slave revolts which resulted from rural area as opposed to urban areas. Urban slaves had very little to complain about and revolt would have only led to their execution, whereas for rural slaves death was the outcome no

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