Note 337 — Chapter VIII · THE UNFREE. THE SERF.

This is the obvious meaning of the passage, which has however been disputed, in defiance of sense and Latin: see Walther’s edition, vol. iv. 58. The general rule in the text is true, but where there were slaves they were used in the house, under the superintendence of the family. This of course applies more strongly to later historical periods, when the slaves (domestics) had become much more numerous, and the ladies much less domestic.