I am charged by the Prince of
the Republic to see to it, that the majesty of the law, the sacredness of
the lives of Roman noblemen, and the security of their property be
publicly vindicated: I am here to undo all that Lollius Corbulo supinely
allowed to be done. You shall perceive that I am wholly unlike any such
trifler. Of one feature only of his procedure do I approve. I highly
acclaim his notions as to the right kind of torture. Slaves like you,
however pampered, are property, like horses or cattle. Their value lies in
their usefulness. Any slave, after torture, should be as useful to his
owners as before. If a slave is placed upon the horse and weights hung to
his feet, his legs are often made helpless, he cannot ever walk again, he
is a cripple. Still oftener does the rack leave a slave utterly useless.
Our courts have always desired some form of torture by which the
recalcitrant could be made to suffer acute pain, but not in any way
injured. Lollius has introduced a torture which never injures anyone
subjected to it, but which causes extreme agony while in use. Only stretch
a hard-yarn Spanish blanket over a thigh, draw it tight and hold the thigh
at just the right distance from just the right size of brazier with its
coals properly tended, and the subject can be made to tell the truth; but
not broiled alive, for the blanket will singe before the flesh under it
cooks.
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