2.20 Menander, Hero, 15–44:35 Greek Comedy (Late Fourth/Early Third Century BCE)
Daos and Getas, two male slaves, are friends.
Literature: Harris 2002.
Getas: What are you saying? Are you in love?!
Daos: I am.
Getas: Your master is giving you a double share of grain. That’s bad, Daos. You probably eat too much.
Daos: My heart aches when I see this girl who lives with us. A very good girl, of my own station, Getas.
Getas: Is she a slave?
Daos: Just so … to some extent, in a way. There was a shepherd, his name was Tibeios, and he lived here, in Ptelea.36 He had been a slave at some point when young. He had these twin children, as he himself used to say: Plangon, the girl I love –
Getas: Now I see.
Daos: And the lad, Gorgias.
Getas: He who is now looking after the sheep here, at your place?
Daos: That’s the one. Already an old man, Tibeios, their father, took one mina from my master to feed them, and then another (for there was a famine). Then he … withered away.
Getas: Possibly because your master would not give him a third mina.
Daos: Perhaps. When he died, Gorgias took a little more cash, buried him, performed the usual rites, and came here to us, bringing his sister along. He is staying on here, working off the debt.
Getas: And what of Plangon?
Daos: She works the wool together with my mistress and does some housework too. A girl so … – Getas! Are you laughing at me?!
Getas: No! By Apollo!
Daos: Getas, she is so much like a free girl; really decent.
Getas: And you? What are you doing for your case?
Daos: I’ve attempted nothing in secret, by Herakles! But I’ve spoken to my master, and he’s promised to let her l[ive with me], after he discusses it with [her brother].
What is the family history of Plangon and Gorgias? Are they slaves?
How do the children of Tibeios try to pay back their debt obligations?
How does Daos try to sort out his love life?
How credible is this fictional source for understanding the lives of slaves and their descendants?
2.21 Plautus, Persian, 251–71:37 Latin Comedy (Second Century BCE)
Toxilus, a slave, has asked his good friend Sagaristio, another slave, for a loan. With the money, he wants to buy off from her master, a pimp, the slave girl he is in love with.
Literature: Segal 1968: 102–36; Parker 1989; McCarthy 2000: 122–66; Richlin 2014.
Sagaristio: To splendid and glorious Jupiter, the son of Ops, the highest, the strong, the powerful, who bestows wealth, good hopes, abundance *** I joyously bring a thank-offering. Deservedly so, because they give this abundance of convenience to my friend in a friendly manner, so that I can bring him plenty of money on loan when he needs it. What I couldn’t even dream of or think of or believe in, namely, that I would have this opportunity, has now fallen down from heaven, as it were. For my master (erus) sent me off to Eretria, to buy trained oxen for him. And he gave me money because, he said, there would be a market there in a week from now. He’s stupid; he gave this money to me, whose mind he did know. I will put all this money to another use: “There were no oxen which I could buy.” Now, I will both make my friend happy and bring much good to myself. What will be of benefit for a long time, I will use up in a single day. There will be whipping on my back. I don’t care. Now I will lavish from my purse these trained oxen upon a friend. This is indeed a charming thing to do, to get a good bite out of super-stingy old men, greedy ones, tight-fisted ones, who seal up the salt-cellar with the salt, so that the slave might not get it. It is a virtue to see clearly when occasion suggests so. What will he do to me? He will order that I be beaten with whips, that I be chained in shackles. He can go hang! He shouldn’t think that I will entreat him! To hell with him! He can’t do anything new anymore to me, anything that I haven’t experienced.
How does Sagaristio treat his master’s orders?
How will Sagaristio use his master’s money? Why?
What punishment does Sagaristio expect? Does he fear it?
Can we use this comic passage to understand slave mentality?
2.22 I.P hilippi 416: Latin Funerary Inscription, Philippi, Macedonia (First–Third Century CE)
Literature: Aubert 1993; Gardner 1993: 59–60; Martin 2003: 226–7.
Here lies Vitalis, slave of Gaius Lavus Faustus, also his son, a home-born slave (verna), born in the household. He lived 16 years. Manager (institor) of the Apriana tavern, well received by the people but snatched away by the gods. “I ask you, travelers, if I ever sold somewhat less than the correct measure, in order to add to my father’s gains, forgive (me). I ask the gods above and those below that you preserve my father and mother. And farewell!”
What is the relationship between the slave and his master?
What do we learn about the slave’s professional activities?
How does the slave describe himself?
In whose voice does the text speak? Does this imply that it was composed by the slave himself? Compare with 7.39.
How useful is this inscription for understanding slavery?
2.23 Phaedrus, Fables, 3, Prologue, ll. 33–7: Latin Verse Fable (First Century CE)
Literature: Bradley 1984: 150–3; Hopkins 1993; Rothwell 1995; Champlin 2005.
I will now explain briefly why the genre of fables was invented. Because slavery, being at the mercy of everyone and everything, did not dare to say what it wanted, it transferred its true sentiments into fables and avoided censure by jesting with made-up stories.
Why does the passage present fable as servile discourse?
Compare with 4.21, 5.18, 7.8, 7.34, 9.19. Do these fables represent a slave point of view?
2.24
