whom he has forfeited it, may (when he has him in his power) delay to
take it, and make use of him to his own service, and he does him no
injury by it: for, whenever he finds the hardship of his slavery outweigh
the value of his life, it is in his power, by resisting the will of his
master, to draw on himself the death he desires.
Sec. 24. This is the perfect condition of slavery, which is nothing
else, but the state of war continued, between a lawful conqueror and a
captive: for, if once compact enter between them, and make an agreement
for a limited power on the one side, and obedience on the other, the
state of war and slavery ceases, as long as the compact endures: for, as
has been said, no man can, by agreement, pass over to another that which
he hath not in himself, a power over his own life. I confess, we find
among the Jews, as well as other nations, that men did sell themselves;
but, it is plain, this was only to drudgery, not to slavery: for, it is
evident, the person sold was not under an absolute, arbitrary, despotical
power: for the master could not have power to kill him, at any time,
whom, at a certain time, he was obliged to let go free out of his
service; and the master of such a servant was so far from having an
arbitrary power over his life, that he could not, at pleasure, so much as
maim him, but the loss of an eye, or tooth, set him free, Exod. xxi.


CHAP. V.

Of PROPERTY.

Sec. 25. Whether we consider natural reason, which tells us, that
men, being once born, have a right to their preservation, and
consequently to meat and drink, and such other things as nature affords
for their subsistence: or revelation, which gives us an account of those