[222] On the security of the public faith--_Fide publicá._ "Cicero pledged to him the public faith, with the consent of the senate; or engaged, in the name of the republic, that his life should be spared, if he would but speak the truth." _Bernouf._ [223] That Cinna and Sylla had ruled already--_Cinnam atque Syllam antea._ "Had ruled," or something similar, must be supplied. Cinna had been the means of recalling Marius from Africa, in conjunction with whom he domineered over the city, and made it a scene of bloodshed and desolation. [224] Their seals--_Signa sua_. "Leurs cachets, leurs sceaux." Bernouf. The Romans tied their letters round with a string, the knot of which they covered with wax, and impressed with a seal. To open the letter it was necessary to cut the string: "_nos linum incidimus_." Cic. Or. in Cat. iii. 5. See also C. Nep. Panc. 4, and Adam's _Roman Antiquities_. The seal of Lentulus had on it a likeness of one of his ancestors; see Cicero, _loc. cit._ [225] In private custody--_In liberis custodiis._ Literally, in "free custody," but "private custody" conveys a better notion of the arrangement to the mind of the English reader. It was called _free_ because the persons in custody were not confined in prison. Plutarch calls it [Greek: _adeomon phylakin_] as also Dion., cap. lviii. 3. See Tacit. Ann. vi. 8. It was adopted in the case of persons of rank and consideration. [226] XLVIII. If the public faith were pledged to him--_Si fides publica data, esset_. See c. 47. [227] And to facilitate the escape of those in custody--_Et illi facilius è periculo eriperentur_. [228] A man of such power--_Tanta vis hominis_. So great power of the man. [229] Liberty of speaking--_Potestatem_. "Potestatem loquendi." _Cyprianus Popma_. As it did not appear that he spoke the truth, the pledge which the senate had given him, _on condition that he spoke the truth_, went for nothing; he was not allowed to continue his evidence, and was sent to prison. [230] As was his custom--_More suo_. Plutarch, in his Life of Crassus, relates that frequently when Pompey, Caesar, and Cicero, had refused to undertake the defense of certain persons, as being unworthy of their support, Crassus would plead in their behalf; and that he thus gained great popularity among the common people.