Final answer:
Slaveholders used various forms of punishment to discipline slaves, including whipping, branding, maiming, and killing.
Option A is correct.
Step-by-step explanation:
In answering the question of what Titus did to punish a male slave, historical references to punishments for slaves in ancient Rome and during the periods of slavery in the Americas are crucial. Lingering effects of slavery and the brutality inflicted upon the enslaved people have been widely recorded. It is clear from historical records that slaveholders used various methods of punishment including whipping, branding, maiming, and even killing.
In particular, for Roman times, there was a decree that punished those who castrated a slave by fining them half of their property. The Emperor Hadrian stopped masters from killing their slaves, preferring to have them sentenced by courts for any deserved punishment.
In more recent slavery times in America, whipping was a commonly used form of punishment, which often left slaves seriously injured or resulted in death. The photograph and narrative of an enslaved individual's scarred back underscores the inhumanity of the lash as a disciplinary measure. The psychological and physical toll of such punishments was immense and intended to maintain the coercive system of slavery.