Answer : To keep them as helpless as possible.
Explanation:
As slaves outnumbered the owners, the owners became afraid of the resistance. Slave overseers often punished them, but sometimes the owners themselves did so. They punished the slaves by whipping, beating, and imprisonment. Punishment sometimes ensued as a result of disobedience, but more often as an attempt to intimidate the slaves. The owners wanted to make them physically and morally weak, to keep them in low spirits.
