¹ Pirke Abot I, 3. Editions, translations and commentaries of this treatise of the Mishna are indicated in Strack, H. L., Introduction to the Talmud (1931)Google Scholar, and in Mielzner, M., Introduction to the Talmud (1925)Google Scholar. I have used Kahn, M., Pirke Aboth (1875)Google Scholar and Taylor, Ch., Sayings of the Jewish Fathers (1897), II (1900)Google Scholar. Both works give the text, with critical notes, translation and commentary. On the treatise Abot cf. Finkelstein, L., JBL, LVII (1938), 13–50Google Scholar and Id. Introduction to the Treatises Abot and Abot of Rabbi Nathan, N.Y., (1950)Google Scholar; (in Hebrew, with Engl. summary).

² The variant reading: “not in expectation to receive.”

³ G. Dalman, Arbeit und Sitte in Palästina II, 155, following Lewy's strange etymology from Greek phoros, thinks that the term peras here refers to the part of the crops received by the slave-tenant. See also Moore, G. F., Judaism (1927), III, p. 14Google Scholar.

⁴ Maimonides ad. 1. (Latin translation in Surenhusius, G., Mishna IV, 1702, p. 441)Google Scholar.

⁵ Plaut., Casin. 705. Cf. Plaut., Epid. 725; Stich., 420; Athen. VI, 274 d.

⁶ Terent., Andr. 676: hoc tibi pro servitio debeo, conari manibus pedibus, noctisque et dies, capitis periculum adire dum prosiem tibi. Sen. de benef. III, 18; Ev., Luc. 17, 9.

⁷ Panammu Inscription: Cooke, G. A., A Text-Book of North-Semitic Inscriptions (1903)Google Scholar, #62, 6; prs is a “half” of the homer in Wilbur Papyri (I owe the reference to the future editor, Prof. E. G. Kraeling); Dan., 5, 25. Cf. Ginsberg, H. L., Studies in Daniel (1948), p. 24Google Scholar and Kraeling, E. G., JBL 63 (1944), 11–18Google Scholar. For Talmudic references see e.g. M. Erub., 8, 2 and other passages quoted in Jacob Levy's Dictionary s.v.

⁸ Is., 58.7; Cowley, A., Aramaic Papyri (1923)Google Scholar, 2, 16; 11, 6; 45, 8.

⁹ Plaut. Stich. 60: vos meministis quot calendis petere demensum cibum. Cf. Terent. Phorm. 43: quod ille unciatim vix de demenso suo suam defraudans genium compersit miser, id illa univorsum abripet. A similar term was diurnum: Sen., Ep. 80, 8; cf. Petron., Sat. 75.

¹⁰ Ev. Luc. 12, 42; C. Brockelmann, Lexicon Syriacum (2nd ed. 1928), p. 600a. (I owe the latter reference to Prof. H. L. Ginsberg.)

¹¹ Having written this paper, I discovered, not without shame, that M. Jastrow, Dictionary of the Targumim, etc. p. 1035 (Berlin reprint of 1926) has already suggested the translation “fare (reward).” My sole excuse is that, although his work was published in 1903, no later commentator or translator took up Jastrow's hint. The correct translation has also been given by N. Perepherkovitch in his Russian version of the Mishna (vol. IV, published in 1901). Further, Professor Saul Lieberman informs me that I have a more ancient predecessor. R. Menachem Meʼ iri (who flourished in Provence in the second half of the 13th c.) in his commentary on Abot gives “daily meal” as the meaning of the term peras. Cf. also below n. 1.

¹² Dt., 12,12 and 18. Even a runaway slave of a priest may eat the priestly terumah according to M. Gitt. I, 6 (Tos. Gitt. I, 3).

¹³ Hor., Sat. II, 6, 65. Cf. Sen., Ep. 47, 2 and 15.

¹⁴ Herodes VI, 5. Cf. Menand., Hero, 31 and already Theopomp. ap. Athen. IV, 31, p. 149 d (FrGrH 115 fr. 215).

¹⁵ Luc. 17, 8. R. Johanan (died 279 A.D.) gave to his slaves a portion of the meat and of the wine which were served to him. (P. Bab. Qamm. 8, p. 6 c; B. Keth. 61 a). In the former passage (quoted S. Rubin, Das talmudische Recht I, 1920, p. 73) it is expressly stated that the rabbi did it not by right but by compassion. On the other hand, it was the duty of the patron to furnish his Hebrew bondman the same kind of food of which he partook. See B. Cohen in Louis Ginzberg Jubilee Volume, 1945, p. 130.

¹⁶ P. Taan. I, p. 63 c; B. Taan. 19 b; 25b; B. Baba Bathra 25 a. My warmest thanks are due to Professor Boaz Cohen, who here and elsewhere helped me in understanding Talmudic passages.

¹⁷ Sen., de benef. III, 21, 2: quodque est quod servili officii formulam excedit, quod non ex imperio sed ex voluntate praestatur, beneficium est.

¹⁸ I owe this reference to Professor Saul Lieberman, who quotes Edels' Novellae to the Aggadoth of the Babylonian Talmud ad ʼAb. Zara 19 a.

¹⁹ Arist. Eth. Nic. 1161 b 4.

²⁰ There is, so far as I know, no morphological study of the institution of slavery. For this reason, I can give only some instances noted at random.

²¹ Boyer-Peyreleau, , Les Antilles Françaises I (1823), p. 132Google Scholar: the owner let slaves cultivate their own food, “pour se dispenser tout à fait de les nourrir.” Cf. Peytraud, L., L'esclavage aux Antilles Françaises avant 1789 (1897), p. 219Google Scholar; Godwin, H., Lectures on Slavery (Boston, 1836), pp. 41–42Google Scholar; Putnam, F. W., Journ. of Negro History XI (1926), p. 605Google Scholar; Tannenbaum, F., Slave and Citizen (1947), p. 61Google Scholar.

²² So far as I know, in the classical lands the owner only gave the right of pasture on his ground to the live stock of a meritorious slave. Varro, rer. rust. I, 17, 7: ut peculium aliquid in fundo pascere liceat. Sometimes the slaves (in a city) received rations plus money (Sen. Ep. 80, 7). For a similar practice in modern slavery cf. Sells, W., Remarks on the Condition of the Slaves in the Island of Jamaica (London, 1823), p. 11Google Scholar.

²³ Teles, ap. Stob. Flor. 95, 21. Cf. e.g. Theophr., Char. 22, 10; Menand., Epit. 162; Alexis, fr. 257 Kock (Ath. IV, 463 f); Plaut., Stich. 550; Vidul. 20. Cf. Beauchet, L., Histoire du droit privé de la république athénienne II (1897), pp. 444–448Google Scholar; Westermann, W. L., Journ. of Near Eastern Stud. V (1946), p. 102Google Scholar. But the vocable αὐτοσῖτος does not mean the slave who supports himself but the guest who brings his own food to a banquet. Crobylus, fr. 1 Kock (Ath. VI, 248).

²⁴ S. Krauss, Talmudische Archäologie II (1911), p. 90. Note that these hired out slaves were supplied with meals by their employer. M. Baba Mezia 7, 6. Cf. Mendelsohn, Is., Slavery in the Ancient Near East (1948), pp. 67–70Google Scholar. Modern parallels: Tannenbaum, o.c. (n. 21), pp. 59–61.

²⁵ On the peculium in Jewish law see Cohen's, B. forthcoming paper in Proceed. Amer. Acad. for Jewish Research XX (1951)Google Scholar.

²⁶ Cf. generally the admirable paper of Marc Bloch, in Annales, 1947, p. 32. For the Ancient Near East cf. Mendelsohn, o.c, pp. 66–74. P. Rutilius Rufus, cos. 105 B.C., bought fish from fishermen who were his own slaves (Athen. VI, 374 d.).

²⁷ Plaut. Rud. 112.

²⁸ Chrysipp., ap. H. v. Arnim, Stoic. Veter. Fragm. III, 354. Cf. Philo, de spec, leg. II, 18, 82. Arist., Oec. I, 5, p. 1334. On modern polemic concerning this alleged advantage of a slave over the free worker see my note Pouchkine, Marx et l'Internationale esclavagiste in La Nouvelle Clio, no. 8, Sept. 1950, pp. 416–431.

²⁹ Ter., Heautontim. 142. On servi derelicti cf. Suet., Claud. 25; Dig. XL, 8, 2; Cod. Just. VI, 1, 3; I Sam. 30, 13; Plut., Cato mai. 5, 2; Cato, de agr. 2. Cf. Blake, W. O., The History of Slavery (1857), P. 155Google Scholar (West Indies). Plato, Leg. VIII, 848 a–b shows that a third of production by an agricultural slave had to be set apart for his feeding. The proportion was the same on sugar plantations of Barbados in 1788. See Putnam (n. 21), p. 624 and cf. Hawk, E. Q., Economic History of the South (1934), p. 88Google Scholar and p. 257.

³⁰ Hurd, J. C., The Law of Freedom and Bondage (1862), p. 296Google Scholar, cf. ib. p. 302 and 307 (laws of South Carolina of 1735 and 1740). Prof. W. L. Westermann kindly referred me to this collection. Other modern parallels: M'Queen, J., The British Colonies in Blackwood's Edinborough Magazine XXV (1829), p. 652Google Scholar; Barber, T. H., Account of the Slave Population in the Western Peninsula of India (Lond. 1833), pp. 14–15Google Scholar; Putnam (n. 21), p. 606 and 624. As late as 1831 an Order in Council dealt with the problem of slave sustenance. Schuyler, R. L., Parliament and the British Empire (1929) p. 171Google Scholar.

³¹ Dio Cass. LXXVI, 10, 5; Sen., de ben. III, 22, 3: praetor urbis in praebendis ad victum necessariis avaritiam compescat. Cf. Ulp., Dig. VII, 1, 15, 1: the legatee sufficienter autem alere et vestire decet secundum ordinem et dignitatem manciporum. Plato, Leg. VI, 776 b–778 a. Cf. Morrow, G. R., Plato's Law of Slavery (1939) pp. 32–35Google Scholar. The stoic controversy sit ne boni viri in maxima caritate annonae familiam non alere is recorded in Cic, de off. III, 23, 89. On the standard maintenance of slaves cf. Westennann, W. L., Cl. Ph. XL (1945), pp. 3–8Google Scholar.

³² M. Gitt. I, 6; P. Gitt. 1, 6; B. Gitt. 12 a (R. Simeon). On R. Johanan, etc. see P. Bab. Kamm. 8, 5, p. 6. Text and German translation ap. Rubin (supra n. 15) p. 73. n. 66. On the injury done to another's slave cf. Rubin, ib. p. 50; R. Taubenschlag, The Law of Graeco-Roman Egypt I (1944), pp. 329–335. A related problem was already discussed in Jerusalem before 70 A.D.: whether the owner is bound to maintain the slave whose work he has dedicated to the Temple. See M. Arach. 8, 4; Tos. Arach. 3, 8; B. Gitt. 12 b. The question is essentially the same as whether the owner of the slave apprentice or his master-craftsman has to feed him. Cf. Westermann, W. L., Cl. Ph. XL (1945), pp. 4–5Google Scholar; Taubenschlag, R., in Studi Riccobono I (1936), p. 512Google Scholar. Cf. also Mth. 15, 6.

³³ B. Gitt. 12 a; Bab. Mez. 93 a; Bab. Qamm. 87 b; Keth. 43 a and 58 b.

³⁴ B. Bab. Qamm. 87 a. Cf. for instance the opinion, already discussed in Hillel's School that the slave of two owners, if manumitted by one of them, is required to work three days weekly for the other master. (M. Gitt. 4, 5.)

³⁵ Arist, Oec. I, 5, p. 1344 b. Cf. Ben Sira 30 (33) 25. Cf. Sen., de ben. III, 21, 2: Est aliquid quod dominus praestare servo debeat, ut cibaria, ut vestiarium. Eccles. 19, 21 (the verse is interpolated but the glossator wrote in the 1st. c. B.C. or A.D.). On slave revolt W. L. Westermann (n. 31) p. 8. The Negro slave in Jamaica regarded his allowance as counterpart of his work and considered that the master ought to support him. Alex, . Barclay, A Practical View of the Present State of Slavery in the West Indies (Lond., 1827), p. 52Google Scholar.

³⁶ Epict. IV, 1, 37; Plaut., Cas. 293. Cf. Theoph., in Comic. Attic. Frag. II, p. 473.

³⁷ Fagius (1504–49) quoted in Sureshensius (n. 4) ad l. On Jewish and Christian theories of rewards for virtue now see Morton Smith, Tannaitic Parallels to the Gospels (1951). pp. 49–71.

³⁸ Maimonides, ad. l. B. Ab. Zara 19 a. Abot R. Nathan 5, 1. On the latter passage cf. Moore (n. 3) I, 69 and particularly L. Finkelstein, The Pharisees and the Men of the Great Synagogue (1950) pp. xi and 42. Note that in the paraphrase given in Abot free workers are substituted for slaves of Antigonus' maxim and that in Abot as well as in the sermon of R. Eliezer the term šokar (wages) is substituted for peras.

³⁹ Kohel. 9, 2. On the book and its date now see Ginsberg, H. L., Studies in Kohelet (1950)Google Scholar. For Sirach cf. Pfeiffer, R. H., History of the New Testament Times (1949), pp. 377–378Google Scholar.

⁴⁰ Luc. 17, 10: δοῦλοι ἀχρεῖοί ἐσμεν, δ ὠϕείλομεν ποιῆσαι πεποιήκαμεν. Cf. the observation made in a roughly contemporary text about τοὺς ἀχρείονς δοὐλους that they take part in every tumult in Alexandria. Premerstein, A. v., Alexandrinische und Jüdische Gesandte Hermes LVII (1922), p. 271Google Scholar. On the character and date of this document now cf. Bell, H. I., Journ. of Juristic Papyrology IV (1950), p. 37Google Scholar. The Syriac palimpsest codex Sinaiticus omits the word “useless” (slaves) in the evangelical parable.

⁴¹ Cyrill., P. G. LXXII, 836; Ambros., Expos, in Luc. VIII, 31; Hermas, Sim. V, 2.

⁴² Epict. III. 26, 29 (in my rendering I borrowed some expressions from W. Oldfather's translation in his edition).

⁴³ Sen., Ep. 107, 10. Cf. Greene, W. Ch., Moira (1944), p. 341Google Scholar; Festugière, A-J., La révelation d'Hermès Trismégiste II (1949), pp. 325–333Google Scholar.

⁴⁴ Finkelstein (n. 1) p. XIII. Bonsirven, J., Le Judaisme Palestinien II (1935), pp. 43–47Google Scholar.

⁴⁵ Sirach 2, 8.