Читать книгу Greek and Roman Slaveries - Eftychia Bathrellou - Страница 36

A little before the sack of Rome by the Visigoths in 410 CE, the extremely wealthy Roman aristocrats Melania the Younger and her husband Pinianus are planning to liquidate their property to donate the money to the Church. Cf. 11.14.c, on the reaction of some slaves to the Visigothic invasion.

Literature: Roth 2005; Harper 2011: 192–5; Vlassopoulos 2018a.

And while Melania and Pinianus were making these plans, the enemy of truth, the devil, raised a most challenging trial for them. He felt envy at the young couple’s godly fervor and suborned Severus, the brother of the blessed Pinianus, and he convinced the slaves of Melania and Pinianus to say: “By no means are we being put up for sale! If we are forced, rather than being put on the market, we will have your brother Severus as our master, and he will buy us himself.” This disturbed them greatly, seeing their slaves in their estates around Rome revolting.

 How do the slaves react to the news of their being put on the market? Why? What difference would it make to them?

 What proposal do they make? Why?

 How do the wishes of Severus and the slaves fit in together?

 What does the intervention of Severus tell us about the factors that shape slavery as a negotiation?