Luke

Hey, I'm currently reading through caesars commentaries on the conquest of Gaul. I must say its great reading. I've got a question though on some of the logistics. Throughout the campaigns Ceaser manages to sell absolutely stunning numbers of defeated people into slavery. How did it all work? Who got rich? I can imagine a few possibilities. Were the slaves awarded to individual solders as the spoils of battle? I imagine then it would be up to the solder to care for their slaves for the rest of the campaign. I imagine this would get quickly get tiresome given the amount of marching around Gaul that went on. How could a solder be expected to keep an eye on a few slaves and still see to his duty? Did solders even try to 'bring a slave home for the wife and kids' or did they just try and convert them into cash at the first opportunity? I imagine that following the camp around would be a very lucrative prospect for slave traders. But the problem would then become how to get these vast numbers of people back to the slave markets in Italy. Transporting that many people in captivity would be a burden even today - I cannot comprehend how they managed it 2000 years ago. Given all the problems, the rates of escape must have been very high. When I read that 10,000 of such and such a tribe were sold into slavery, would it mean that literally 10,000 people would be shackled up, then shipped under guard back to Rome? Or would it be more the case that they could expect to be bullied around by a legionary for a few days, before running off at the first opportunity?