AI: Roman Slaves, Russian Serfs, and American Slaves Compared: Human Tragedy
“Sell your old oxen, your blemished cattle, your blemished sheep, your wool, your hides, your old wagon, your old tools, your old slave, and your sick slave, and if anything else is superfluous, sell it. The head of a family should be a seller, not a buyer.” – Cato the Elder, De Agri Cultura (Illustrating the view of slaves as disposable assets).
“I looked around me – my soul was tormented by the российского пространства (vastness/suffering of Russia).” – Alexander Radishchev, Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow (1790). Radishchev’s book was a scathing early critique of serfdom, detailing the abuses and hardships faced by serfs, for which he was exiled.
“The worst punishment, in my opinion, was having to be a witness to a whipping… the sight of an old man being whipped so badly that the blood ran was something that could not be forgotten.” – Fountain Hughes (WPA Slave Narratives)