47
The letter then being read, the senate, when all had previously acknowledged their seals,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. Paus. 4, and Adam's Roman Antiquities. The seal of Lentulus had on it a likeness of one of his ancestors; see Cicero, loc. cit. decreed that Lentulus, being deprived of his office, should, as well as the rest, be placed in private custody.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 ὔδεσμον φυλακήν, as also Dion., cap. lviii. 3. See Tacit. Ann. vi. 3. It was adopted in the case of persons of rank and consideration. Lentulus, accordingly, was given in charge to Publius Lentulus Spinther, who was then ædile; Cethegus, to Quintus Cornificius; Statilius, to Caius Cæsar; Gabinius, to Marcus Crassus; and Cæparius, who had just before been arrested in his flight, to Cneius Terentius, a senator.