The Sad Lot of the Slave

Herodotus,  3.36 (tr. Aubrey de Sélincourt)

He was just reaching for his bow to shoot him down, when Croesus leaped from his seat and ran from the room.  Robbed of his shot, Cambyses sent his servants to catch him and kill him; but they knew their master’s moods and  hid him instead, so that if Cambyses changed his mind and asked for Croesus, they would be able to produce him and get a reward for saving his life; for they knew they could kill him later, if the king kept to his purpose and showed no signs of regret.  And it did in fact happen that quite soon afterwards Cambyses missed Croesus, and his servants, as soon as they noticed it, let him know that he was still alive.  Cambyses said that he rejoiced to hear it, but the men who saved him would not get off so lightly: he would punish them with death – which he did.

ταῦτα δὲ εἴπας ἐλάμβανε τὸ τόξον ὡς κατατοξεύσων αὐτόν, Κροῖσος δὲ
ἀναδραμὼν ἔθεε ἔξω. ὁ δὲ ἐπείτε τοξεῦσαι οὐκ εἶχε, ἐνετείλατο τοῖσι
θεράπουσι λαβόντας μιν ἀποκτεῖναι.  οἱ δὲ θεράποντες ἐπιστάμενοι τὸν
τρόπον αὐτοῦ κατακρύπτουσι τὸν Κροῖσον ἐπὶ τῷδε τῷ λόγῳ ὥστε, εἰ μὲν
μεταμελήσῃ τῷ Καμβύσῃ καὶ ἐπιζητέῃ τὸν Κροῖσον, οἳ δὲ ἐκφήναντες αὐτὸν
δῶρα λάμψονται ζωάγρια Κροίσου, ἢν δὲ μὴ μεταμέληται μηδὲ ποθέῃ μιν,
τότε καταχρᾶσθαι.  ἐπόθησέ τε δὴ ὁ Καμβύσης τὸν Κροῖσον οὐ πολλῷ
μετέπειτα χρόνῳ ὕστερον, καὶ οἱ θεράποντες μαθόντες τοῦτο ἐπηγγέλλοντο
αὐτῷ ὡς περιείη. Καμβύσης δὲ Κροίσῳ μὲν συνήδεσθαι ἔφη περιεόντι,
ἐκείνους μέντοι τοὺς περιποιήσαντας οὐ καταπροΐξεσθαι ἀλλ᾽
ἀποκτενέειν: καὶ ἐποίησε ταῦτα.

I'd supplement this with a passage or two of Trimalchio's dinner from the Satyricon, but I can't find my copy anywhere.  Here are some lazy snippets instead:

Euripides, Hecuba, 332-3 (tr. James Morwood)

Alas!  What a terrible thing it is to
be a slave!  This always holds true.
What indignities we endure under the
tyranny of force!


αἰαῖ: τὸ δοῦλον ὡς κακὸν πέφυκ᾽ ἀεὶ
τολμᾷ θ᾽ ἃ μὴ χρή, τῇ βίᾳ νικώμενον.

Philip J. Fry, Futurama, A Pharaoh to Remember

You know what the worst thing about being a slave is? They make you work all day but they don't pay you or let you go.