... This legacy of ambiguity continued into the Greco-Roman era. Ben Sira’s instructions during the early second-century BCE evince a decided cynicism toward slaves that is consistent with scriptural proverbs, which state that slaves do not respond to verbal discipline (Proverbs 29:19) and that pampered slaves will become ungrateful (29:21). For Ben Sira, there exists no tension between his advice to treat slaves well and to torture recalcitrant slaves. Further, a slave should be treated ‘like a brother,’ not for the sake of altruism, but because of the cost and productivity of a slave – and the difficulty of tracking down a runaway (Sirach 33:25–33). Nor do Greek and Roman thinkers provide the logic of liberation ...