Chunk 7 Flashcards
Aderat ianitor carceris, carnifex praetoris, mors terrorque sociorum et civium Romanorum, lictor sextius, cui ex omni gemitu doloreque certa merces comparabatur. ‘Ut adeas, tantum dabis, ut cibum tibi intro ferre liceat, tantum?’ Nemo recusabat. ‘Quid? Ut uno ictu securis adferam mortem filio tuo, quid dabis? Ne diu crucietur, ne saepius feriatur, ne cum sensu doloris aliquo spiritus auferatur? Etiam ob hanc causam pecunia lictori dabatur.
Nearby was the doorkeeper of the prison, the praetor’s executioner, the death-bringer and terror to allies and Roman citizens, the lictor Sextius, for whose benefit a fixed price was arranged for every groan and grief. ‘You will give so much in order to approach, so much to be allowed to bring food inside.’ No one refused. ‘Well, what will you give me to inflict death on your son with one blow of an axe? To avoid him being tortured for too long, beaten too often, for his spirit to be taken away without some feeling of pain? Even for this reason money was given to the lictor.
