The Freeing of Slave

The greatest love a master could show for his slave was to set them free. Manumission, as the freeing of slaves was called, became much in vogue by the second century. The freedman enjoyed limited rights within the empire and was never mistaken for a full citizen. But aside from casual sneers directed at their servile origins, freedmen could reasonably hope to become fully functional and often prominent members of society. And juve remarked that if a defendant showed up for trial with fewer than eight slaves in tow, he could be pretty well assured that he was going to lose the case.