Читать книгу Greek and Roman Slaveries - Eftychia Bathrellou - Страница 38

Literature: Annequin 1987, 2005; Kudlien 1991; Pomeroy 1991; Vlassopoulos 2018a; Thonemann 2020.

1.48: To dream that one’s own feet are on fire is a bad sign for everyone equally and signifies loss and destruction of what one has, including one’s children and slaves. For, similar to slaves, children submit to their parents and serve them like slaves. This point is missed by many dream interpreters, who hold that feet signify only slaves.

1.62: If a slave competes in a sacred contest, wins, and receives a garland, he will be proclaimed free. For these achievements are characteristic of free men.

1.78: Having sex with one’s own slave, male or female, is good. For slaves are the possessions of the person who has had the dream. They thus signify that he will get pleasure from his possessions, which naturally happens when they increase in quantity and value. To be penetrated by a slave is not a good sign for it signifies that one will be harmed by the slave and become the object of the slave’s contempt.

2.8: Rain, hurricane, and stormy weather bring on dangers and harm. Only to slaves, poor men, and those who are in difficulty do they foretell relief from their present troubles. For great storms are followed by fair weather.

2.9: Being struck by lightning will result in the manumission of those slaves who are not in a position of trust, but slaves who are trusted and honored by their masters or who own many possessions will lose the trust, the honor, and the possessions.

2.12: Seeing a tame lion wagging its tail and approaching harmlessly could be a good sign and bring benefits: to a soldier from his king, to an athlete from his bodily vigor, to a citizen from a magistrate, to a slave from his master. For the lion resembles them in power and strength.

3.28: A mouse signifies a slave. For mice too live with us, are fed on the same food as us, and are cowardly. It is therefore good to see many mice inside one’s house, especially if they are joyful and having fun. For they foretell much merriment and further acquisition of slaves.

4.30: Together with their other effects, slaves (in dreams) can also be references to the body of their masters. One who sees in his dream his slave suffering from fever will probably fall ill himself. For the relationship of the slave to the man who has the dream is analogous to that of the body to the soul.

 With what other categories of people are slaves associated in each passage? Are they different or the same?

 What conceptions of slavery are present in these various passages?

 Are these various conceptions of slavery compatible with each other?