As occidentals, slavery themes drags us to a funded shame. But this is not a reason to forget about their main contribution to Humanity culture. Literate slaves were a main component of Roman culture and society. As far Romans used slavery as a war weapon, killing the Kings and bringing to Rome, hands tied-up, the sons. That's how young educated princes from different cultures entered Roman society. Thought at first to be slave preceptors and entertainers, with their lascivious way of life, Roman ended up lazy about culture, as far they had live encyclopedias as slaves. Soon, literate slaves went on charge copying and translating ancient books, that way accumulating even more knowledge. The literate slave system hold on after Rome's destruction, and survived until 18th Century. Manutius, which name means: slave with tied-up hands, invented edition in Venice in 1490. Maybe because he was a descendant of a slave, he's almost unknown in Europe even if we all use its inventions on a dairy basis: Italic character, pocket book, comic, editorial committee. Let's call it a shameful hypocrisy. Let's discover our slave cultural roots.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/283128?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

http://www.grolierclub.org/

Preprint ANTONIO MANUTIUS AS A MODEL FOR DON QUIXOTE: AN UTOPIA TALE