All’s Well that Ends Well? A Reflection

The Greek and Latin novels of the Roman Imperial age mirror the reality that throughout the Mediterranean world in which their melodramatic stories are set slavery was a ubiquitous institution. Every extant novel takes for granted that the slave is a form of property over which rights of ownership are absolute, and that obedience to the will of the slave-owner is a normative expectation. Slave characters are seen accordingly filling an array of occupations, from the managerial to the menial; they are frequently bought and sold, and they receive rewards for meritorious behaviour and punishments for disobedience (often brutally inflicted). Slavery does not emerge consequently as an enviable condition but as the antithesis of a privileged freedom to which there is no universal claim. It is an unquestioned element of social and economic organization whose associations are entirely shameful. Given the novels’ fanciful plots, however, this summary might be said to overstate real-life circumstances, with authors exaggerating the misfortunes of slavery for the sake of the sensationalism their chosen form of literary creativity demanded. Yet as far as I can tell, it is largely borne out by historical evidence, especially the evidence of Roman law. The capital penalties of crucifixion, exposure to wild beasts, and burning alive once reserved for slaves alone were extended in the Imperial age to free persons of low status convicted of capital