probably owing the violent part which Sallust afterwards took against Milo, while the latter was under prosecution for slaying the Tribune Clodius, and the tumult he raised on that occasion, which prevented Cicero from delivering the speech he had prepared. An allusion is made to the above practices in one of Horace’s Satyrs. He supposes in it, that his Slave, availing himself of the opportunity of the _Saturnalia_, to speak his mind freely to him, gives him a lecture on the bad courses in which he thinks him engaged, and uses, among others, the following arguments. ‘When you have stripped off the marks of your dignity, your equestrian ring, and your whole Roman dress, and from a Man invested with the office of Judge, shew yourself at once under the appearance of the Slave Dama; disgraced as you are, and hiding your perfumed head under your cloak, you are not the Man whom you feign to be: you are at least introduced full of terror, and your whole frame shakes through the struggles of two opposite passions. In fact, what advantage is it to you, whether you are cut to pieces with rods, or slaughtered with iron weapons?’ _Tu cum projectis insignibus, annulo Equestri Romanoque habitu, prodis ex judice Dama, Turpis, odoratum caput obscurante lacernâ Non es quod simulas; metuens induceris, atque Altercante libidinibus tremis ossa pavore. Quid refert uri virgis, ferroque necari?_ Lib. II. Sat. 7. The above uncontrouled power of inflicting punishments on their Slaves, enjoyed by Masters in Rome, was at last abused by them to the greatest degree. The smallest faults committed in their families by Slaves, such as breaking glasses, seasoning dishes too much, or the like, exposed them to grievous punishments; and it even was no unusual thing for Masters (as we may judge from the description of _Trimalcion’s_ entertainment in the Satire of Petronius) to order such of their Slaves as had been guilty of faults of the above kind, to be stripped, and whipped in the presence of their guests, when they happened to entertain any at their houses. Women in particular seem to have abused this power of flagellation in a strange manner; which caused express provisions to be made, at different times, in order to restrain them; of which the Canon above-quoted is an instance. It was often sufficient, to induce the Roman Ladies to cause their Slaves to be whipped, that they were dissatisfied with the present state of their own charms; or, as Juvenal expresses it, that their nose displeased them: and when they happened to fancy themselves neglected by their husbands, then indeed their Slaves fared badly. This latter observation of Juvenal, Dryden, in his translation of that Author’s Satires, has expressed by the following lines: ‘For, if over night the husband has been slack, } Or counterfeited sleep, or turn’d his back, } Next day, be sure, the servants go to wrack.’ }