History.--kai tines auto kouroi epont'Ithakes exairetoi; he eoi autou
thentes te Dmoes(?) te; Od. Homer. D. 642. They were afterwards so much
in use that, "Murioi depou apedidonto eautous ose douleuein kata
sungraphen," till Solon suppressed the custom in Athens.]


[Footnote 006: The mention of these is frequent among the classics; they
were called in general _mercenarii_, from the circumstances of
their _hire_, as "quibus, non malè præcipiunt, qui ita jubent uti,
ut _mercenariis_, operam exigendam, justa proebenda. Cicero de
off." But they are sometimes mentioned in the law books by the name of
_liberi_, from the circumstances of their _birth_, to distinguish
them from the _alieni_, or foreigners, as Justinian. D. 7. 8. 4.
--Id. 21. 1. 25. &c. &c. &c.]


* * * * *



CHAP. II.

The first that will be mentioned, of the _involuntary_, were
_prisoners of war_.[007] "It was a law, established from time
immemorial among the nations of antiquity, to oblige those to undergo
the severities of servitude, whom victory had thrown into their hands."
Conformably with this, we find all the Eastern nations unanimous in the
practice. The same custom prevailed among the people of the West; for as
the Helots became the slaves of the Spartans, from the right of conquest
only, so prisoners of war were reduced to the same situation by the rest