Venuleius, Actions, Book V. It is a mental rather than a physical defect, for a slave to wish to constantly be present at exhibitions, or to carefully examine paintings, or even to be untruthful, or to have similar faults. 1Whenever a chronic disease is mentioned, Cassius says this means one which is harmful. The word, however, should be understood to signify an affection which is constant, and not ended by time. A chronic disease is held to be one which attacks a man after his birth, for the word chronic means continuous. 2A slave can be styled experienced, or a novice. Cælius says that an experienced slave should be valued, not on account of the time he has been in servitude, but because of his ability and qualifications; for where anyone, at a sale, purchases a slave who is a novice and employs him in some service, he is immediately included in the number of those who are experienced, since inexperience is understood to be dependent, not upon the undeveloped state of the mind, but upon the condition of servitude. It makes no difference whether he understands Latin or not, for a slave is not held to be experienced merely because he happens to be learned in the liberal arts and sciences.