And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them. . . . Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh.

— GENESIS, XLVII., 20, 23.

A landless man is an unfree man.

— Ancient Saxon Proverb, quoted by Sharon Turner