Flagrum
dim.
Flagellum (
μάστιξ). A
“cat” or scourge, made with a great number of knotted and twisted tails,
like the numerous feelers of the polypus, which are consequently designated by the same name
(Ovid,
Met. iv. 367). It was chiefly employed for the punishment of slaves
(
Juv. vi. 478;
Hor. Sat. i.
2, 41), but also as a driving whip, in threshing grain, for self-punishment by the
priests of Cybelé, and in the contests of gladiators, as in the illustration below.
It is characterized
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Flagellum.
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by the epithet
horribile, in some cases even produced death,
and the nature of the wound caused by it is always specified by words which are descriptive of
cutting, such as
caedere, secare, scindere, etc. The flagrum was
frequently knotted with bones or heavy bits of bronze (
ἀστραγαλωτή), or even furnished with hooks, in which case it was called
scorpio. A whip with a single lash was known as
scutica.
A scourged slave was styled
flagrio. During the
Saturnalia (q.v.) the scourge was
put away under the seal of the master. See
Servus.
