Gaius: Excerpts on Slavery from Institutes

In the second century C.E., an otherwise unknown jurist named Gaius wrote a textbook of Roman law for students. In it, he set out clearly the different legal statuses of slaves, citizens, and the different categories of freedmen, and he mentioned the various pieces of legislation that affected slaves, particularly the Lex Aelia Sentia of 4 C.E.

Here are some of the selections from Gaius’ textbook dealing with slavery. The numbers in parentheses are item numbers from the original text.

Link to the source: Gaius, excerpts from Institutes