But as the notions of men in the less barbarous ages, which followed,
became more corrected and refined, the practice of piracy began
gradually to disappear. It had hitherto been supported on the grand
columns of _emolument_ and _honour_. When the latter therefore
was removed, it received a considerable shock; but, alas! it had still a
pillar for its support! _avarice_, which exists in all states, and
which is ready to turn every invention to its own ends, strained hard
for its preservation. It had been produced in the ages of barbarism; it
had been pointed out in those ages as lucrative, and under this notion
it was continued. People were still stolen; many were intercepted (some,
in their pursuits of pleasure, others, in the discharge of their several
occupations) by their own countrymen; who previously laid in wait for
them, and sold them afterwards for slaves; while others seized by
merchants, who traded on the different coasts, were torn from their
friends and connections, and carried into slavery. The merchants of
Thessaly, if we can credit Aristophanes[014] who never spared the vices
of the times, were particularly infamous for the latter kind of
depredation; the Athenians were notorious for the former; for they had
practised these robberies to such an alarming degree of danger to
individuals, that it was found necessary to enact a law[015], which
punished kidnappers with death.--But this is sufficient for our present
purpose; it will enable us to assert, that there were two classes of
_involuntary_ slaves among the ancients, "of those who were taken
publickly in a state of war, and of those who were privately stolen in
a state of innocence and peace." We may now add, that the children and
descendents of these composed a third.


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