The slaves on their side were full of consideration for masters such as these. Pliny the Younger was stupefied by the news of the attack made on the senator Larcius Macedo by a party of his household slaves. His amazement is an index of the rarity of such a crime. And the care- unfortunately useless- lavished on the victim by those of his slaves who had remained faithful proves that even in houses where they were most severely handled, slaves could feel that their masters treated them like men. Indeed, a Greek who lived in Rome in the middle of the second century was struck by the levelling which had taken place between slaves and freemen, which to his amazement extended even to their clothes. Appian of Alexandria, writing under Antoninus Pius, remarks that even in externals the slave is in no way distinguished from his master, and unless his master donned the toga praetexta of the magistrate, the two were dressed alike. Appian supplements this by recording a thing which astonished him even more: after a slave had regained his liberty he lived on terms of absolute equality with the Roman citizen.
from page 59, Daily Life in Ancient Rome
from page 59, Daily Life in Ancient Rome