Note 26 — INTRODUCTION. (continued 2)
Reading edition
“Are they Slaves? No, they are men; they are comrades; they are humble friends. Are they Slaves? Nay, rather fellow servants; if you reflect on the equal power of fortune over both you and them.”
“Were you to consider, that he, whom you call your Slave, is sprung from the same origin, enjoys the same climate, breathes the same air, and is subject to the same condition of life and death, you might as well think it possible for you to see him a Gentleman, as he to see you a Slave. In the fall of Varus, how many born of the most splendid parentage, and not unjustly expecting, for their exploits in war, a senatorial degree, hath fortune cast down! She hath made of one a shepherd, of another a cottager. And can you now despise the man, whose fortune is such, into which, while you despise it, you may chance to fall?”—Seneca, Epistle 47, p. 158.