Guest post from an anonymous ancient Babylonian

A slave has a face like your own, and a voice, and he answers you sensibly when you speak to him. From this many conclude he is your equal in kind, if not in station.

Do not be so fooled.

My slaves are an extension of my will. They assist me in this or that task and I am grateful for it. As they labour, their muscles grow larger than my own and in each long day they show feats of strength and industry that I could never hope to match. There is even much wisdom among them.

But when has a slave ever come to you, unbidden, with some bright idea on how things can be done better? It is not for lack of imagination alone, though they want for that as well. Rather, what does it matter to them if grain could be reaped twice as fast? They know if that were so, I would order them to sow twice as many seeds in the first place. Whatever the harvest, the day is the same length.

Slaves are bred as slaves, raised as slaves and know they will die as slaves. The self-determination of free men is of no interest to them, nor is the responsibility that comes with it. They are resigned to their role and for that, they do not suffer it as a free man would in their place.

This is not to say that slaves cannot cause all sorts of trouble. Many a free man has shed his lifeblood on the blade of a slave soldier, or been injured by a slave sent out on a violent errand to settle some petty feud. But who would judge a slave for such things? All these violent acts done by the hand of a slave came first from the mouth of their master, who alone must answer to the crime.

Occasionally you will hear stories of a slave attempting to break free from his confines and run off, but these are always acts of some madness which soon thereafter subsides, like a bull that tires of its own raging and returns meekly to the yoke. The slaves never run far, at any rate, as they know their fate is tied to their master and they cannot survive alone.

Those who claim that slaves will one day usurp their masters and live as free men have been listening to poets. Watch the movements of slaves for a single day and you will see they lack the will and boldness for such ill-fated schemes.

A slave is a tool, and a tool he will remain. It has always been this way.