of reform would be thwarted. But making himself heard above this war According to the new regime, the From the names returned the lower house selected three; that is, a ballot was taken, and the three names receiving the greatest number of votes were sent up to the house of bishops for them to choose one from these. The favorite of the lower house and the champion of reformation was the ex-patriarch Anthimos. He received twice as many votes as any other candidate. The Porte decided that all the bishops had the right to vote, and an elec tion was held immediately. At this session the synod chose Johannikios, bishop of Cyzicus, to fill the vacant patriarchate. His election was immediately announced to the Porte, and he has since been officially recognized, and he has made his calls upon the sultan, ministers, etc. An indignant remonstrance, signed by many of the most influential But it became plain that he had no Greeks in Turkey, was sent in to the chance in the synod of bishops, if all Porte, but it found no favor there. the bishops were allowed to vote. So We can hardly calculate the reit was proposed in the lower or com-sults of this election. If the new munal assembly to exclude all those patriarch succeeds in maintaining his bishops against whom charges had ground, he will utterly subvert all been preferred by their respective which has been done in the way of dioceses, for ecclesiastical and moral reformation, and place the Greek comdelinquencies. I will quote now from munity in the position it held before the Levant Herald: "A regular Don- the war. nybrook tournament now began. A In this case we may reasonably exstrong muster of bakkals (strong-fist-pect that the Bulgarian church will ed grocer-boys) from all parts of the declare its independence of the Greek city had been prepared, and with a patriarch, and force the Porte to give promptness and energy that would it a new organization. It would not have done credit to a band of New be strange, either, if there should be York rowdies these gentry com- a schism among the Greeks themmenced an indiscriminate and very selves. effective assault on their patrons' op- The hatred between the two parponents. In a few minutes the fight ties is very bitter, and the old regime became general-archdeacons attack- is intolerable to enlightened Greeks. ed bishops-bishops archbishops- It should be understood that this and the whole, each other and every is a political rather than a religious body else, wherever there was a head movement, a seeking after civil rather to be cracked or a beard to be pulled. than spiritual freedom, somewhat The bishop of Decapolis, especially, akin to the present reformation in narrowly escaped strangulation by Italy. It will undoubtedly tend to the archdeacon of Adrianople, who weaken and eventually destroy the in his turn lost three quarters of his Greek church spiritual, but this is beard in the hands of a layman who no part of the programme of the recame to the episcopal rescue. At last formers. THE AMERICAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW. No. XI. JULY, 1861. ART. I.-SLAVERY AMONG THE ANCIENT HEBREWS : FROM BIBLICAL AND TALMUDIC SOURCES. By Dr. M. MIELZINER, of Copenhagen.* II.-SLAVES OF FOREIGN DESCENT. 14. a. Nations from which such Slaves were usually taken. THE actual slaves among the Hebrews, those that could be permanently held in bondage, might, according to the Mosaic law (Levit. xxv, 44-46), be taken in part from the midst of the surrounding nations, in part from the strangers and residents in the conquered lands; but they could not be taken from the midst of the Canaanite nations, to whom the country originally belonged, since these people, sunk in immorality and idolatry, were to be utterly destroyed out of the land * Continued from page 260. (Deut. xx, 16-19), so as to remove all temptation from the immigrating Israelites. But as the total extirpation of these na tions did not in fact take place-many still remaining within the domain of the Israelites (Judges i, 28)-it was a natural consequence, that, in later times, most of the slaves were obtained from among these very Canaanites. And this is the reason why, with the Rabbins, a Canaanitish slave is the usual designation for all slaves not of Hebrew origin.* $ 15. b. The Original Acquisition of these Slaves. A slave of foreign descent might be obtained in a threefold way, viz. 1. By purchase: as when slaves, or prisoners of war, or children sold by their parents on account of poverty, were bought from these neighboring nations. This was doubtless the most common mode of obtaining them, and such slaves, in distinction from those born in the house, are frequently described in the Scriptures as 'bought for money.' 2. By contract: as when individuals, among the strangers dwelling in the land, who could not maintain themselves by free labor, voluntarily sold themselves into slavery for a time or forever, in order to get rid of the necessity of self-support. 3. By conquest in war:t as when prisoners of war, taken It is also possible that the Rabbins intended by this name to designate the actual slave, in contrast with the Hebrew slave, who was not really such; so that Canaanite here contains an allusion to Genesis ix, 25 sq., where Canaan is accursed as "the slave of slaves," that is, as the lowest of slaves. (See Rashi on Kiduschin, 22, b. In the Mishna, Kiduschin, i, 3, a threefold mode of acquiring slaves is denoted which may correspond with the above three ; בכסק בשטר ובחזקה,by the words by purchase, compact, and the fortunes of war. But the passage in the Mishna strictly refers, not to the original acquisition of slaves, but only to the mode in which, when property was transferred, the master's right to slaves (as to other property) was defined, viz. by money, document, or actual possession (the latter, so far as they were actually served by the slaves). on the field, or in plundering the cities of the enemy, forfeited their freedom, and became the slaves of the victors. Among the Hebrews, however, the number of slaves, especially males, could not have been much increased in this way, since the most ancient laws of war (Deut. xx, 10-19) imposed strict limits upon sparing the lives of men taken in a just war. Man-stealing, by stealth or violence, which was an ordinary mode of acquiring slaves among the ancient nations, was held in such abhorrence, that, when it occurred in the case of a Hebrew, it was, like murder, punished with death (Exod. xxi, 16; Dent. xxiv, 7). The number of slaves was largely increased by the children of bondwomen, born of slave-marriages, who, as "children of the maid-servant," or as "born in the house," belonged to the master. They were always regarded as the best and most trustworthy servants, because they had grown up in the family, and were acquainted with all its circumstances, and hence their faith and attachment could be more relied upon (Gen. xiv, 14). 16. c. Number and Value of Slaves. From the lack of accurate data, the number of all these slaves among the Hebrews at different times cannot be definitely ascertained. Many circumstances, however, lead to the conclusion, that it was small in comparison with the huge masses of slaves held by the Greeks and Romans. A superfluity of slaves implies an extensive slave-traffic and special slave marts. Of neither of these is there a trace among the Hebrews.t * According to Athenæus, the number of slaves in Attica alone was 400,000, in Corinth, 460,000, in the small island of Egina, 470,000. In Rome, in the times of the emperors, many wealthy citizens had from 10,000 to 20,000 slaves. The Mishna speaks first of the public sale of slaves in the market; compare but this does not imply an extensive : עבד חנמכד בשוק,,Bala Kama, viii slave-traffic, in markets established for this purpose. The phrase пn 7x, It is only at the time of the return from the Babylonian Captivity, that we have any data from which we can estimate the probable proportion of slaves to freemen. According to Ezra, ii, 64, 65, and Nehemiah, vii, 67, there were 7337 slaves in the train of the 42,360 returning exiles. Hence the average was, one slave to five or six free persons; or, one slave to a family, since the average number of the family was from five to six. This proportion was probably the normal one at different periods. In the more wealthy and powerful families there may, indeed, have sometimes been a larger number of slaves, for the care of herds, for husbandage, or for different domestic services; but, on the other hand, many of the poorer families often had none at all (Prov. xii, 9); and several families sometimes held one slave together, who performed service for them on different days.* In the time of the second temple, we know that no slaves were held by the Essenes, or by the Therapeuta; for those sects rejected all slavery, as in contravention with the natural equality of men. The Pharisees, too, were on moral grounds opposed to the holding of many slaves, and recommended instead for household service the employment of indigent Hebrews.t The price of a slave was naturally different at different times; it was also determined by age, sex, health, strength, as well as capacity and skill. From Exodus xxi, 32, defining the sum to be paid for a slave killed by an ox, it appears that the average price of a common slave (male or female) was thirty shekels. If, as many conjecture in respect to the valuation of persons in Levit. xxvii, 1-8, the legal price of slaves is made the basis, then this price varied, according to age and sex, from three to fifty shekels; slaves from twenty to sixty years of age bore the highest price, and female slaves were of less which occurs in the Siphra to Levit. xxv, 42 (see, also, Maimonides, Abad. i, 5), to designate the elevation of stone, on which slaves were exposed for public sale, refers probably only to the well-known Roman custom at the sale of slaves. Compare the expression, "de lapide emtus," in Cic. in Pis. 15. * A case frequently recognised in the Talmudic law; e. g. Baba Kama, 90. Philo, Opera, ed. Mangez, ii, 458, 482. See Mishna, Aboth, ii, 8, and i, 5. Compare also Baba Mezia, 60, b. |