Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers

Seneca:
His Character and Environment
knowing what is before him. The best thought of
the age clearly proves that Greek philosophy had, in
a sense, prepared a few noble minds for the reception
of the ethical and altruistic precepts of the Gospel;
but it was in no sense the harbinger of its spiritual
doctrines.
It remains yet to consider briefly an institution
which, while not peculiar to Rome, was, nevertheless,
here characterized by some features that were unique
in their influences for evil. Slavery rested like a
horrible incubus upon the ancient world, though few
persons seem to have been aware of it. It placed a
curse upon labor and almost prevented the develop
ment of the mechanic arts. It seriously impeded the
growth of the moral sentiments by the hindrances it
placed in the way of
portunities it afforded the basely
free discussion, and by the op
inclined for the
gratification of carnal lusts. It placed a large part
of the population virtually beyond the range of hu
man sympathy by branding the expression of such
sympathy as a symptom of treason. While it did
these things everywhere, in Rome it made a people
that were naturally coarse and brutal still more so,
by placing within the easy reach of every slave-owner
helpless objects upon which he could vent his rage,
and whose services lie could exploit in the most un
feeling manner. A lurid light is thrown on the bar
barity of the Romans toward their slaves by an oc
currence that took place in the later years of Seneca.
A plain statement of the facts is more impressive
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