Vincent Word Studies - Acts 16:35 - 16:35

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Vincent Word Studies - Acts 16:35 - 16:35


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

Serjeants (ῥαβδούχους)

Lit., those who hold the rod. The Roman lictors. They were the attendants of the chief Roman magistrates.

“Ho, trumpets, sound a war-note !

He, lictors, clear the way!

The knights will ride, in all their pride,

Along the streets to day.”

Macaulay, Lays of Ancient Rome.

They preceded the magistrates one by one in a line. They had to inflict punishment on the condemned, especially on Roman citizens. They also commanded the people to pay proper respect to a passing magistrate, by uncovering, dismounting from horseback, and standing out of the way. The badge of their office was the fasces, an axe bound up in a bundle of rods; but in the colonies they carried staves.

Those men

Contemptuous.