Slaves receive Freedom after strenuous work
Slaves may have received harsh treatment in Rome, but manumission was much more lenient. When a slave in Rome was manumitted, or given their freedom, they were practically a citizen. They were given the right to vote; however, they could not obtain a position in the government for fear that they may take roles in trying to free the slaves currently existing at that time period. Slaves were also given the choice to buy their freedom, which would many times be impossible because they would be making no income. Some slave owners manumitted slaves just because they had been respectful to their owners and dutifully carried out their jobs flawlessly. This was an incentive for slaves to become better at the job they did, although many times they ended up dying before getting the chance of being manumitted. Many female slaves were often manumitted was because their owner wanted to marry them. It was not uncommon for an owner to marry their female slaves they granted freedom to. Slaves who were manumitted by magistrates was called formal manumission, while those who went through the process yet were not manumitted by these high ranked officials was called informal manumission. Those who had been formally manumitted received more rights rather than those who had not. Informally manumitted slaves did not gain the right to any property or money that their owner had obtained throughout their lifetimes and after their deaths. When a freed or manumitted slave had a child, that child was born free and as a result of that, they would have the full rights of a citizen unlike other societies in which children of previous slaves would not receive full rights. After manumission, slaves could go on to lead prosperous lives, gain jobs that did not require an immense amount of manual work, and eventually become a member of the upper class, although they may not have had the same status as others (pbs.org). Roman slavery may have been harsh for the slaves; however, the promise of freedom gave the slaves hope to continue on with their work and carry out their work well.