Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

1,038 SERVUS. SERV US.
withotut the knowledge and consent of his master malster's honse was VTerlna. 13ut it was also a
or father, there might be an action against the principle of Roman Law that the status of a person
master or father in respect of such dealings, so far who was begotten in Justae Nuptiae was reckoned
as it could be proved that he had derived advan- from the time of conception. At a later period the
fage from them. This was called the Actio de in rule of law was established, that though a woman
rem Verso (Dig. 15. tit. 3), and it was in fact the at the time of the birth might be a slave, still her
same actio as that De Peculio. That was said child was free, if the mother had been fiee at any
"' in remn patris dominiie versmn," which turned time reckoning backwards from the time of the
out for his advantage. For instance if a slave bor- birth to the time of the conception. (Patius, S. R.
rowed ten sestertia and paid them to the master's ii. tit. 24; Dig. 1. tit. 5. s. 5.) There were various
creditors, the master was bound to pay the loan, cases of children the offspring of a free parent and
and the lender had an actio against him De in rem a slave as to which positive law provided whether
verso. If the slave paid any part of the borrowed the children should be free or slaves. (Gaius, i.
sum to his master's creditors, the master was liable 83, &c.) [SENATvUSCONSULTUJI CLAUDJ'ANUM.]
to the lender for the amount so applied. and if the A person became a slave by capture in war, also
slave had wasted the other part, the master was Jure Gentium. [PRADnA.] Captives in war were
bound to make that good to the amount of the sold as belonging to the Aerarium or distributed
slave's peculium; but still with this provision, among the soldiers by lot. (Walter, Geschic/te
that the amount of the slave's peculium could only &c. p. 50. note 35, 1st ed.) In reference to the
be ascertained by first deducting from it what he practice of selling prisoners with a crown on their
owved to the master. The case was the same with heads, we find the expression " sub corona venire,
the peculium of a son and a slave. Thus, as vendere." (Gell. vii. 4; Liv. v. 22; Caesar,
Gains observes (iv. 73), the Actio De peculio and B. G. iii. 16.)
De in rein verso was one actio, but contained two A free person might become.a slave in various
condemnationes. ways in consequence of positive law, Jure Ciili.
It is a consequence of the relation of Slave and This was the case with Incensi [CAPUTr], and
5A{laster, that the lMaster acquired no rights against those who evaded military service. (Cic. pro
the slave in consequence of his Delicts. Other Caecina, 34.) In certain cases, a man became a
persons might obtain rights against a slave in con- slave, if he allowed himself to be sold as a slave in
sequence of his delicts, but their right could not be order to defraud the purchaser; and a free woman
prosecuted by action until the slave was manu- who cohabited with a slave niaght be reduced to
mitted. (Gaiuas iv. 77.) They had however a the same condition. [SENATUSCONSULTUM CIAUright of action against the slave's master for DIANn r.] Under the empire the rule was esdamages, and if the master would not pay the tablished that persons condemned to death, to the
damages, he must give up the slave. [NoxA.] nmines, and to fight with wild beasts, lost their
The slave was protected against injury from other freedom, and their property was confiscated, whelice,
persons. If the slave was killed, the master might concludes Gaius, it appears that they lose the
either prosecute the killer for a capital offence, or Testamenti factio. (Dig. 28. tit. 1. s. 8.) But this
sue for dalmages under the Lex Aquillia. (Gains, was not the earlier law. A person so condemned,
iii. 213.) [AQurLLIA LENx; INJUpIA.] The though he lost his freedom, had no master, and
master had also a praetoria actio in duplum against consequently the hereditates and legacies which
those who corrupted his slave (ser'vS, serva) and were left to him, were simply void; for such a
led him into bad practices (Dig. 11. tit. 3. s. 1. person was " poenae servus, non Caesaris." (Dig.
where the words of the Edict are given): the in 34. tit. 8. s. 3.) A man never lost his freedom
duplum was to twice the amount of the estimated by usucapion. (Gains, ii. 48.) According to the
damage. He had also an action against a person old law a manifestus fur was liable to a capitalis
who committed stuprunm with his female slave. poena and was addicted (addfcebatzcr) to the person
(Dig. 47. tit. 10. s. 25.) whose property he had stolen; but it was doubted
A runaway slave (fugitivus) could not lawfully whether the effect of the addictio was to make Ihim
be received or harboured; to conceal him was a servus or to put him in the condition of an adjlFurtum. The master was entitled to pursue him dicatus. (Gains, iii. 189.)
wherever he pleased; and it was the duty of all By a Constitutio or Senatusconssultum of Clhinauthorities to give him aid in recovering the slave. dius (Sueton. Claude. 25) a freedman who misconIt was the object of various laws to check the ducted himself towards his patron, was reduced to
running away of slaves in every way, and ac- his former state of slavery. But this was not the
cordingly a runaway slave could not legally be an rule of law in the time of Nero. (Tacit. Ann. xiii.
object of sale. A class of persons called Fugitivarii 27; see the notes of Ernesti and Lipsins on this
made it their business to recover runaway slaves. passage: and PATRONUS, LmIBRTUS.)
The rights of the master over the slave were in The State of Slavery was terminated by MANYno way affected by his running away. (Dig. 11. MIssIO. It was also terminated by various positive
tit. 4. De fegitivis: there was a Lex Fabia on enactments5 either by way of reward to the slave
this subject, and apparently two Senatusconsulta or punishment to the master. The S-NwATt9sco'Nat least; see also Varro, de Re RAzst. iii. 14; Florus, STLTU a SILANIANUse is an example of the former;
iii. 19, and the note in Duker's edition.) and various subsequent Constitutions gave fieedom
A person was a slave either Jure Gentium or to slaves who discovered the perpetrators of certain
Jure Civili. A person was born a slave Jure Gen- crimes. (Cod. Theod. tit. 21. s. 2.) Liberty might
tiuni whose mother was a slave when she gave also be acquired by the Praescriptio Temporis.
him birth (Gains, i. 82); for it was a legal prin- After the establishment of Christianity, it might
ciple that the condition of those who were not be- be acquired subject to certain linmitations by begotten in Justae Nuptiae was to be reckoned from coming a monk or a spiritual person (Nov. 5. c. 2.
the moment of the birth. A slave born in the and 123. c. 17. 35); but if the person left his