Answer:
It means the overseers offered not reason for beating the slaves with the whip. They just beat them at will.
hope this helps :)
Read the lines from Act I, scene v of Romeo and Juliet.
The correct answer is EXTENDED METAPHOR.
Extended metaphor refers to a comparison between two things that are not alike, which continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph or in lines of poem. It is also called sustained metaphor and authors usually use it in order to create a clear comparison between two things.