It was one of the things that made the difference between servant and slave.
"Perhaps there could be a little tenderness between slaves," she said.
The law though does include systems of mediation between slaves and masters as a necessary first step in the process.
In practice, there was little division of labour between slave and free.
Who teaches him that the difference between slave and king is not so great, after all.
"That is a secret between masters and slaves," I smiled.
The Bible says there shall be a proper difference between master and slave.
Masters might free their slaves for a variety of reasons, but the most common was family relationship between master and slave.
They won't make any distinctions between rebellious slaves and free humans.
Among them was the prevalence of sexual relationships between slave owners and their women slaves.