[90] THE STONE BENCH. Bedsteads built of stone were not unusual even in private dwellings, as appears from numerous specimens in Pompeian houses. [91] AMPHORA. A jar, usually made of clay, but sometimes of glass, running to a point at the bottom and supplied with a handle on each side. By this point the amphora was fastened into the soft earth, or the holes in the tap-room counters specially intended for them. Here allusion is made to a hole in the stone floor designed to secure the amphora. [92] STREET-PORTERS AND EXECUTIONERS. The profession of executioners (_carnifices_), to whom the execution of slaves and foreigners was committed (condemned citizens were put to death by the lictors), was held in greater obloquy than any other. [93] KISSED THE GALLOWS. Titus Claudius means the cross, which to cultivated Romans was held in no higher esteem than the guillotine is regarded by us. [94] TILL THEN YOU WILL BE A PRISONER, BUT IN MY HOUSE. For accused persons of high rank, an arrangement existed called the _libera custodia_, which consisted of setting a guard over them, but permitting them to remain at large in the house of an aristocratic citizen. CHAPTER XII. The commander of the imperial guard, with a few officers and soldiers, received Quintus as he slowly went out through the heavy stone gate-way into the street, but his silent greeting was not altogether free from embarrassment. During the last few days events had occurred, which had thrown the worthy soldier off his balance. The intrigues of a court, with their underhand and mysterious details, were foreign to his nature. Out in the field, with the Dacian foe in front of him, he could avail himself of the ruses of war and the arts of strategy; but in peace, in the capital of the empire, this mode of action revolted and puzzled him. Such a measure as the wholesale arrest of senators and knights had never been adopted before, even under Domitian. And now this mysterious discovery of Quintus Claudius in the catacomb with the Nazarenes! Norbanus was wholly at a loss how to account for it. The high-priest had given him a very superficial and hasty explanation, and the whole thing might be either the device of some mortal enemy, or the result of some outrageous whim. Norbanus had long known the young man's spirit and daring, though under different circumstances. A man, who could address a love-song to a vestal virgin, would be quite capable of playing the part of an adherent of the Nazarenes, particularly if among them there bloomed some rose of Palestine, whose beauty would suffer no drawback from the superstition of her people. To be sure--as they came out, the father and son together--their faces were too pale and grave for so light a matter. The worthy warrior had a grave feeling