[56] Almost every profession, either liberal [57] or mechanical, might be found in the household of an opulent senator.

The ministers of pomp and sensuality were multiplied beyond the conception of modern luxury.

[58] It was more for the interest of the merchant or manufacturer to purchase, than to hire his workmen; and in the country, slaves were employed as the cheapest and most laborious instruments of agriculture.

To confirm the general observation, and to display the multitude of slaves, we might allege a variety of particular instances.

It was discovered, on a very melancholy occasion, that four hundred slaves were maintained in a single palace of Rome.