lictor

Reading notes

• Ad Atticum 7.10 §1 given especially the laurelled lictors

  As a proconsul still hoping for a triumph, Cicero retained imperium and so was attended by lictors whose fasces were wreathed in laurel to mark his Cilician victory; the conspicuous escort made a quiet departure impossible, hence his leaving before dawn.

• Ad Atticum 7.12 §4 but the lictors not least

  Cicero still held proconsular imperium from his Cilician command and so was attended by lictors bearing the fasces; pending the triumph he hoped for, this kept him technically outside the city and constrained his movements.

• Ad Atticum 9.1 §3 with the lictors set aside

  As a proconsul still awaiting a triumph after his Cilician command, Cicero retained lictors, the attendants who bore the fasces and advertised his rank. Their presence made discreet travel impossible, so he contemplates dismissing them to slip away unnoticed.

• Ad Atticum 10.4 §9 those six fasces of yours? If they are from the Senate, why are they laurelled?

  The fasces were the bundled rods carried by lictors that signified a magistrate's authority; six denoted a propraetor, twelve a consul or proconsul. Laurel-wreathed fasces marked a commander hailed for a victory, so Cicero teases Curio that his insignia do not match any lawful grant.

• Ad Atticum 10.10 §1 run about with lictors against my will

  Lictors were the attendants who carried the fasces before a magistrate or promagistrate; Cicero, still holding imperium from his Cilician command and awaiting a triumph, was obliged to keep them, which made discreet movement impossible.

• Ad Atticum 11.6 §2 without the lictors the people granted me

  Lictors were attendants who carried the fasces and escorted a magistrate; Cicero still held the imperium of his Cilician proconsulship of 51 BC, with its escort, and could not legally be stripped of it while uncondemned. Their presence made his movements conspicuous and dangerous.

• Ad Atticum 11.7 §1 approve of my keeping these lictors

  Lictors were the attendants who carried the fasces before a magistrate with imperium; Cicero still had the ones due to him as a returning proconsul. Keeping them was politically awkward, since they advertised a Pompeian command at a moment when he needed to seem harmless to Caesar.

• Ad Quintum Fratrem 1.1 §13 lictor

  Lictors were the official attendants who walked before a magistrate with imperium, carrying the fasces and clearing his path; their conduct reflected directly on the governor.