E arly in the Roman Monarchy, Rome gathered slaves primarily through wartime victories. This was the main method for most civilizations at the time. The defeated peoples were brought back to the Italian peninsula and sold into slavery.

Conquered people continued to keep the ranks of slaves filled, yet this method could not keep the numbers up to the levels that Rome desired. Therefore, offspring to these conquered slaves became slaves as well. The status of the mother became the determining factor. The child of a female slave would be born into slavery, regardless of the status of the father. Heredity provided the most number of slaves, especially during peace time.

Poverty also provided many slaves. Parents often sold children into slavery when they no longer had the funds to support their family. Men would sometimes even sell their wives into slavery when faced with poverty.