Sometimes the flagellations of Slaves, or the fear they entertained of incurring them, served Plautus as incidents for the conduct of his plots; thus, in his _Epidicus_, a Slave who is the principal character in the Play, concludes upon a certain occasion, that his Master has discovered his whole scheme, because he has spied him, in the morning, purchasing a new scourge at the shop in which they were sold. The same flagellations in general, have moreover been an inexhaustible fund of pleasantry for Plautus. In one place, for instance, a Slave, intending to laugh at a fellow-slave, asks him how much he thinks he weighs, when he is suspended naked, by his hands, to the beam, with an hundred weight (_centupondium_) tied to his feet; which was a precaution taken, as Commentators inform us, in order to prevent the Slave who was flagellated from kicking the Man (_Virgator_) whose office it was to perform the operation. And in another place, Plautus, alluding to the thongs of ox-leather with which whips were commonly made, introduces a Slave engaged in deep reflection on the surprizing circumstance of “dead bullocks, that make incursions upon living Men.” _Vivos homines mortui incursant boves!_ But it was not always upon their Slaves only that Masters, among the Romans, inflicted the punishment of flagellation: they sometimes found means to serve in the same manner the young Men of free condition, who insinuated themselves into their houses, with a design to court their Wives. As the most favourable disguise on such occasions, was to be dressed in Slaves clothes, because a Man thus habited was enabled to get into the house, and go up and down without being noticed, Rakes engaged in amorous pursuits, usually chose to make use of it; but, when the Husband either happened to discover them, or had had previous information of the appointment given by his faithful Spouse, he feigned to mistake the Man for a run-away Slave, or some strange Slave who had got into his house to commit theft, and treated him accordingly. Indeed the opportunity was a most favourable one for revenge; and if to this consideration we add that of the severe temper of the Romans, and the jealous disposition that has always prevailed in that country, we shall easily conclude that such an opportunity, when obtained, was seldom suffered to escape, and that many a Roman Spark, caught in the above disguise, and engaged in the laudable pursuit of seducing his neighbour’s wife, has, with a _centupondium_ to his feet, been sadly rewarded for his ingenuity. A misfortune of that kind actually befell Sallust the Historian. He was caught in a familiar intercourse with Faustina, wife to Milo, and daughter of the Dictator Sylla. The husband caused him to be soundly lashed (_loris bene cæsum_); nor did he release him till he had made him pay a considerable sum of money. The fact is related by Aulus Gellius, who had extracted it from Varro. To it was very