Nor was it allowed, among the Jews, for a stranger to possess the land. Hence, the argument that the bondage of these was determined by the year of Jubilee, fails, for they had no "possession" to which they could return. Their descendants also were slaves, following the condition of the mother. Thus Solomon says, "I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house."

The value of slaves doubtless varied with their qualities and other circumstances. In the event of a slave being killed by a vicious ox, the price was fixed by the law, without regard to the circumstances, at 30 shekels." In the case of releasing a person from a vow, a more discriminating scale of value was affixed, which we may safely take as the customary value of the times. A child under a month was valued at nothing. From 1 month to 5 years, males were valued at 5 shekels, females at 3. From 5 years to 20, males were valued at 20 shekels, females at 10. From 20 to 60 years, males at 50 shekels, females at 30. Upwards of 60 years, males at 15 shekels, females at 10.3

There were public slaves as well as private, among the Jews. These were attached to the sanctuary, and performed the menial labors for the priests and Levites. Thus the Gibeonites, for their deceit, were condemned to be "hewers of wood and drawers of water." Their posterity were called nethinims (meaning presented as gifts), and are mentioned on several occasions. Samuel was a public servant, attached to the sanctuary, being so devoted from his mother's womb.7

6

Manumission was allowed among the Jews. The
Ex. 23:12;

1 Eccles. 2: 7. See also Gen. 17:13, 23; 15:3; 14: 14; Psalm 86: 16.

2 Ex. 21:32.

3 Lev. 27: 1-8; Michaelis's Comm. vol. ii, art. 124; see also Hosea 3:2.

4 Lev. 31: 40, 47; Michaelis's Comm. vol. ii, art. 126.

5 Josh. 9:27.

6 1 Chron. 9:2; Ezra 8: 17,

20.

71 Sam. 1: 11.

effect of it, however, was not to confer any political privileges upon the freed man. His very name signified

"uncleanness."

At the Jewish feasts, the Mosaic law required the 'slaves to be invited, and, for a time, to enjoy them equally with their masters. The Sabbath was also, expressly, a day of rest for them."

Slavery continued among the Jews so long as they were an independent nation. Even in their captivity they did not lose them; for we find, upon their return under Nehemiah, one-sixth of the people that came up from their captivity were "men-servants and maid-servants," exclusive of the children of Solomon's servants.3 In the days of the Saviour, they still retained them.◄ Nor did he hesitate to avow the rightful superiority of the master, and to illustrate his precepts by this relation.5 The kindly feeling existing towards the slave, is exemplified in the centurion whose sick slave was "dear unto him."

When Nebuchadnezzar and his hosts came and "pitched against Jerusalem," the Jews, alarmed at their situation, made a covenant with Zedekiah, their king, to manumit all their Hebrew servants. After the immediate danger was removed, however, they reduced them again to servitude. It seems that the provision of the law, requiring them to be released on the seventh year, after six years of bondage, had been disregarded, and it was for this, among other sins, that Jeremiah prophesied that captivity which soon overtook them."

'Michaelis's Comm. vol. ii, art. 126.

2 Deut. 12: 17, 18; 16: 11. Michaelis conceives that the provision prohibiting the muzzling of the ox while threshing the corn, Deut. 25 : 4, was extended to the slaves eating of the provisions they prepared for their masters. Vol. ii, art. 130. 3 Neh. 7: 57, 66.

4 Mark 14: 66.

5 John 13:16; 8: 35, 36; Luke 17: 7, 8, 9; 22: 27.

6 Luke 7: 2.

72 Kings 25: 1; Jer. 34: 8-20.

CHAPTER II.

SLAVERY IN EGYPT.

NEXT to the Jews, the Egyptians have the earliest authentic history; and as Ancient Egypt was not only the cradle of the arts and sciences, but has been justly said to be "the first that found out the rules of government, and the art of making life easy and a people happy,' our attention seems to be properly called next to the history of her system of slavery.

The bondage of the Israelites shows that the Egyptians were not only slaveholders at an early day, but hard taskmasters. That they had slaves, not only agrestic, but domestic, attached to the person of the master, is abundantly shown by the inscriptions upon the numerous monuments of their ancient grandeur. It is, moreover, well agreed from these monuments, that many of these domestic slaves were of pure negro blood.1 In one of them, a large number of negroes are represented as prisoners of war. Herodotus confirms this conclusion,

1 Rees's Cyclopædia, Article "Egypt."

3

2 Slaves constituted a part of the present the King of Egypt gave to Abraham. Gen. 12: 16.

3 Egypt and its Monuments. By Dr. Hawks. 2d ed. p. 144.

4 The curious on this point are referred to Nott and Gliddon's Types of Mankind, p. 248, et seq. These monuments show negro slaves in Egypt at least 1600 years before Christ, p. 255, 262, 268, 307. That they were the same happy negroes of this day is proven by their being represented in a dance 1300 years before Christ, p. 263. The negro mummy, described on page 267, puts their existence beyond cavil.

5 Wallon, Histoire de l'Esclavage, tom. i, p. 24, 27, n. Sir G. Wilkinson

and informs us that Ethiopia furnished Egypt with gold, ivory, and slaves.1 Slave-markets undoubtedly there were, as the history of Joseph exemplifies; and it is said, that a city founded by fugitive slaves was one of the principal slave-markets.

4

Upon one of the monuments at Thebes, an Egyptian scribe is represented as registering negroes as slaves, both men, women, and children. Upon another, the victorious Egyptian king is represented as putting to flight a troop of negroes. In still another, they are represented as indulging in their favorite amusement of this day, the dance. These representations are so perfect, that the most unpractised eye would recognize them at a glance. A negro skull was exhumed in the Island of Malta, among the ruins of Hadjerkem."

Purchase and conquests seem to be the principal sources of Egyptian slavery. A law abolishing slavery for debt, and referred to by Diodorus, shows that prior to that time this was another prolific source. He also notices the substitution, by one of the emperors, of slavery, for the penalty of death. Such commutation made the recipients public slaves, of which there was a vast number. These were engaged upon the public

8

says, "It is evident that both white and black slaves were employed as servants." Egypt and its Monuments, p. 169. A picture of this inscription may be found in Types of Mankind, p. 250. See also Pulszky's contribution to Indigenous Races of Man, for other and farther proofs on this point, pp. 150, 189.

1 Herod. 3: 97.

See re

2 Plin. Hist. Nat. vi, 34, cited by Wallon, tom. i, p. 25, n. marks of Sir Gardner Wilkinson, quoted by Dr. Hawks, Egypt and its Monuments, p. 168.

* See representation of this in Types of Mankind, 252.

4 Types of Mankind, 269.

6 Wilkes's Exp. Exp. vol. ix, 186.

5 Ibid. 263.

7 Wallon, tom. i, p. 23; Odyssey, Bk. XIV, 260; Egypt and its Monuments, by Dr. Hawks, p. 164, 168.

8 Diod. i, 75, 79.

works, and it was the boast of the Pharaohs, that the hand of no Egyptian labored in their erection.1

Though the negroes in Egypt were generally slaves, "prejudice of color" does not seem to have been so great as at this day, as we find in one of their inscriptions, the representation of the negro queen of one of the emperors receiving equal homage with himself."

Among the Egyptians we first find an account of eunuchs, exhibiting a feature of ancient slavery, perhaps the most cruel and barbarous.3 Moses sought, by every means, to deter the Jews from such a custom, yet we find eunuchs among the king's household,' and the prophet offering such consolation."

The treatment of slaves by the Egyptians was very rigorous. Homicide was punished in every one except the master, but as to him there seems to have been no penalty. In the whole kingdom there was but one temple (that of the Egyptian Hercules, near Canope) in which fugitives might take refuge from cruel treatment. "From the monuments," says Taylor, "we find that the mistress of a mansion was very rigid in enforcing her authority over her female domestics. We see these unfortunate beings trembling and cringing before their superiors, beaten with rods by the overseers, and sometimes threatened with a formidable whip, wielded by the lady of the mansion herself." Other scenes upon these monuments indicate kinder treatment. "In a tomb at Thebes," says Dr. Hawks, "is a representation, copied by Wilkinson, of a lady enjoying the bath, who is waited on by four female servants, where nothing

'Wallon, Hist. de l'Esclavage, tom. i, p. 28; Egypt and its Monuments, p. 168.

2 Wallon, tom. i, p. 29, n.; Types of Mankind, 262.

Gen. 37: 36. The word here translated "officer" means literally "eunuch." See Egypt and its Monuments, p. 169. 42 Kings 9:32.

5 Is. 56:3.

6 Wallon, Hist. de l'Esclavage, &c., tom. i, p. 30.