usually adjourned, or sometimes the accusation withdrawn; and up to
the very moment of the commencement of the trial, the criminal had the
option of escaping a heavier penalty by going into voluntary exile.

12. The punishments to which state criminals were sentenced, were
usually, in capital cases, precipitation from the Tarpeian rock,
beheading, or strangulation in prison; when life was spared, the
penalties were either exile or fine. Under the emperors severer
punishments were introduced, such as exposure to wild beasts, or
burning alive; and torture, which, under the republic, could not be
inflicted on free citizens, was exercised unsparingly.

13. The punishment of parricides was curious; the criminal having
been beaten with rods, was sown up in a sack together with a serpent,
an ape and a cock, and thrown either into the sea or a river, as if
even the inanimate carcase of such a wretch would pollute the earth.

14. Masters had an absolute, authority over their slaves, extending to
life or limb; and in the earlier ages patrons had similar power over
their clients. The condition of slaves in Rome was most miserable,
especially in the later ages; they were subject to the most
excruciating tortures, and when capitally punished, were generally
crucified. Except in this single particular, the Roman criminal code,
was very lenient and sparing of human life. This was chiefly owing to
the exertions of the plebeians, for the patricians always patronized a
more sanguinary policy; and could do so the more easily, as the
aristocracy retained their monopoly of the administration of justice
much longer than that of civil government.

15. The Roman system of finance was at first very simple, the public