Say there's an educated slave living in a relatively rich household in Rome. What would prevent the slave from fleeing and go to some distant smaller town to live there as a free person? Was everyone's name put on a list and/or given some sort of identification? I attempted to look around for information, but didn't succeed in doing so.
I have read that during Domitian reign there was a law that stipulated that slaves should not wear any item (clothes, but also metal restraints and collars) that could distinguish them from the rest of the population, so that their numbers would'nt be immediately evident. this way, not knowing who was a slave and who was a free man, the free population would'nt feel threatened and the slaves would find it more difficult to assemble and organise a large-scale revolt. I think there is also a mention to this in Plauto's play "The prisoners".