e passing of the Lex Gabinia in 67 BC. Piracy was also restricted later when the piratical Illyrians were defeated at the conclusion at the battle of Actium in 31 BC. Another source of slaves was purchase from over the boundaries of the empire. Roman soldiers involved in frontier wars and rebellions had many opportunities to buy prisoners of war as slaves at disposal auctions. Although this is not mentioned in the contemporary literature, this information can be found in papyrus, which reveals that soldiers did indeed own slaves. There were other ways by which slaves were obtained. The sale of offspring by parents was one of the ways that slaves were obtained. This occurred particularly in hard times when parents attempted to ease their burden. There is evidence that this practice did take place during the first centuries of the empire. However, the practice is unlikely to have been widespread. There are even accounts of how the Frisians in Lower Germany, being subjected to an excessive tribute by the Romans, were forced eventually to sell their wives and children into slavery. This too however, would have been unusual. In general it is unlikely that even the most impoverished parents, once they had initially resolved to bring up a baby, would sell that baby into servitude - unless there was some very special provocation. A few other methods of enslavement should also be mentioned. The first was self-sale. Hermeros, for example, rather than remain a tribute-paying provincial and hoping subsequently to become a Roman citizen, seems to have sold himself into slavery. A second method was for debt. Here a debtor who was unable to pay could be "given up" (addictus) to his creditor. A third method was penal enslavement, slavery arising from conviction in law. Punishment for grave crimes could entail the removal of personal rights. The abandonment of infants was widespread over much of the Roman world, and, no doubt, occurred even more frequen...
