torture
tortureat Athens and under the Roman republic was normally thought inappropriate for citizens. It might be used on slaves (see slavery) and perhaps on foreigners, for example prisoners of war. Slaves might be tortured in order to extract confessions of their own guilt or evidence against other persons (the unreliability of this second kind of evidence seems to have been recognized in practice at Athens). At Rome the investigation by torture was called quaestio; the evidence of the tortured was not testimonium (evidence). Evidence under torture by slaves was not accepted against their own masters, except in matters such as treason and sacrilege, as with the Catilinarian conspirators (see Catiline) (Cicero Part. Or 118). Augustus extended these exceptions to include adultery in certain situations (Dig 48. 5. 28 pref.) but preserved the letter of the principle by...
[The entire page is 371 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Oxford University Press Titles
