The opening of VII. SLAVES
It will have been remarked, that both in town and country, the mean and painful drudgery was chiefly performed by slaves,[1] whose origin, condition, and numbers, in the principal Grecian states, it now becomes necessary to describe. The greatest writers of antiquity[2] were on this subject perplexed and undecided. They appear to have comprehended the full extent of the evil,[3] but to have been too much the slaves themselves of habit and prejudice to discover, that no form or modification of servitude is consistent with human happiness or with justice, without which no happiness can be. This is evident from the conversation in Crete between Plato and his Gnosian and Spartan companions. They do not trouble their minds with inquiries respecting the origin of slavery, which, while some tribes of men are stronger and more civilised than others, could never be difficult to be conjectured; but considering its existence easy to be accounted for, they are concerned to discover by what means may be avoided or mitigated the mischiefs they everywhere saw accompanying it.