of the analogy between the patristic treatment of slavery and of property appears forcibly in the following passage of Lactantius:  ’God who created man willed that all should be equal.  He has imposed on all the same condition of living; He has produced all in wisdom; He has promised immortality to all; no one is cut off from His heavenly benefits.  In His sight no one is a slave, no one a master; for if we have all the same Father, by an equal right we are all His children; no one is poor in the sight of God but he who is without justice, no one rich but he who is full of virtue....  Some one will say, Are there not among you some poor and others rich; some servants and others masters?  Is there not some difference between individuals?  There is none, nor is there any other cause why we mutually bestow on each other the name of brethren except that we believe ourselves to be equal.  For since we measure all human things not by the body but by the spirit, although the condition of bodies is different, yet we have no servants, but we both regard them, and speak of them as brothers in spirit, in religion as fellow-servants.’[3] Slavery was declared to be a blessing, because, like poverty, it afforded the opportunity of practising the virtues of humility and patience.[4] The treatment of the institution of slavery underwent a striking and important development in the hands of St. Augustine, who justified it as one of the penalties incurred by man as a result of the sin of Adam and Eve.  ‘The first holy men,’ writes the Saint, ’were rather shepherds than kings, God showing herein what both the order of the creation desired, and what the deserts of sin exacted.  For justly was the burden of servitude laid upon the back of transgression.  And therefore in all the Scriptures we never read the word servus until Noah laid it as a curse upon his offending son.  So that it was guilt, and not nature, that gave origin to that name....  Sin is the mother of servitude and the first cause of man’s subjection to man.’[5] St. Augustine also justifies the enslavement of those conquered in war—­’It is God’s decree to humble the conquered, either reforming their sins herein or punishing them.’[6]

[Footnote 1:  Op. cit., p. 318.]

[Footnote 2:  Ibid., p. 321.]

[Footnote 3:  Div.  Inst., v. 15-16.]

[Footnote 4:  Chryst., Genes., serm. v. i.; Ep. ad Cor., hom. xix. 4.]

[Footnote 5:  De Civ.  Dei, xix. 14-15.]

[Footnote 6:  Ibid.]

Janet ably analyses and expounds the advance which St. Augustine made in the treatment of slavery:  ’In this theory we must note the following points:  (1) Slavery is unjust according to the law of nature.  This is what is contrary to the teaching of Aristotle, but conformable to that of the Stoics. (2) Slavery is just as a consequence of sin.  This is the new principle peculiar to St. Augustine.  He has found a principle of slavery, which is neither natural inequality, nor war, nor agreement, but sin.  Slavery is no more a transitory fact which we accept provisionally, so as not to precipitate a social revolution:  it is an institution which has become natural as a result of the corruption of our nature. (3) It must not be said that slavery, resulting from sin, is destroyed by Christ who destroyed sin....  Slavery, according to St. Augustine, must last as long as society.’[1]