amongst the Romans, were free-born persons who had been reduced to a state of slavery for debt. By the laws of the twelve tables it was ordained, that insolvent debtors should be given up to their creditors, to be bound in fetters and cords; and though they did not entirely lose the rights of freemen, yet they were often treated more harshly than the slaves themselves. If any one was indebted to several persons, and could not within sixty days find a surety, his body according to some, but according to others his effects, might be cut in pieces, and divided amongst his creditors. The latter opinion seems the more probable, as Livy mentions a law by which creditors had a right to attach the goods but not the persons of their debtors.