person
Sextius lictor
also: lictor Sextius, Sextius carnifex, Sextius, your executioner, executioner Sextius
Sextius, the chief lictor of Verres (the so-called carnifex), the executioner in the Helorus-fleet trial and in the cruel punishments of Roman citizens at Lilybaeum and Syracuse (Verr. 2.5.113-117; 2.3.156). His name is held up by Cicero as a byword for the misuse of the fasces.
Reading notes
- Against Verres, Second Hearing, Book V §118 executioner Sextius
Verres's lictor; demanded a cash payment from each parent of the captains executed at the Achradina column, with a sliding scale: that the parent might approach his son, that food and clothing be brought, that the stroke be quick, that the body be released for burial. The exaction-of-fees-for-mercies is the crowning detail of the Achradina narrative.