15.14. 14. The same Subject continued.
When a whole nation is of a martial
temper, the slaves in arms are less to be feared.
By a law of the Alemans, a slave who had committed a clandestine
theft
[20]
was liable to the same punishment as a freedman in the like
case; but if he was found guilty of an open robbery,
[21]
he was only bound to restore the things so taken. Among the Alemans, courage and
intrepidity extenuated the guilt of an action. They employed their
slaves in their wars. Most republics have been attentive to dispirit
their slaves; but the Alemans, relying on themselves and being always
armed, were so far from fearing theirs that they were rather for
augmenting their courage; they were the instruments either of their
depredations or of their glory.
Footnotes
[20]
"Law of the Alemans," cap. 5, section 3.
[21]
Ibid., section 5, per virtutem.
