Henry C. Lea: Superstition and Force (Philad. 1866), p. 281–391. Paul Lacroix: Manners, Customs,
and Dress of the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance Period (transl. from the French, N.
York 1874), p. 407–434. Brace. Gesta Christi, ch. XV.
The torture rests on the same idea as the ordeal.^365 It is an attempt to prove innocence or guilt
by imposing a physical pain which no man can bear without special aid from God. When the ordeal
had fulfilled its mission, the torture was substituted as a more convenient mode and better fitted
for an age less superstitious and more sceptical, but quite as despotic and intolerant. It forms one
of the darkest chapters in history. For centuries this atrocious system, opposed to the Mosaic
legislation and utterly revolting to every Christian and humane feeling, was employed in civilized
Christian countries, and sacrificed thousands of human beings, innocent as well as guilty, to torments
worse than death.
The torture was unknown among the Hindoos and the Semitic nations, but recognized by
the ancient Greeks and Romans, as a regular legal proceeding. It was originally confined to slaves
who were deemed unfit to bear voluntary testimony, and to require force to tell the truth.^366 Despotic
emperors extended it to freemen, first in cases of crimen laesae majestatis. Pontius Pilate employed
the scourge and the crown of thorns in the trial of our Saviour. Tiberius exhausted his ingenuity in
inventing tortures for persons suspected of conspiracy, and took delight in their agony. The
half-insane Caligula enjoyed the cruel spectacle at his dinner-table. Nero resorted to this cruelty to
extort from the Christians the confession of the crime of incendiarism, as a pretext of his persecution,
which he intensified by the diabolical invention of covering the innocent victims with pitch and
burning them as torches in his gardens. The younger Pliny employed the torture against the Christians
in Bithynia as imperial governor. Diocletian, in a formal edict, submitted all professors of the hated
religion to this degrading test. The torture was gradually developed into a regular system and
embodied in the Justinian Code. Certain rules were prescribed, and exemptions made in favor of
the learned professions, especially the clergy, nobles, children below fourteen, women during
pregnancy, etc. The system was thus sanctioned by the highest legal authorities. But opinions as
to its efficiency differed. Augustus pronounced the torture the best form of proof. Cicero alternately
praises and discredits it. Ulpian, with more wisdom, thought it unsafe, dangerous, and deceitful.
Among the Northern barbarians the torture was at first unknown except for slaves. The
common law of England does not recognize it. Crimes were regarded only as injuries to individuals,
not to society, and the chief resource for punishment was the private vengeance of the injured party.
But if a slave, who was a mere piece of property, was suspected of a theft, his master would flog
him till he confessed. All doubtful questions among freemen were decided by sacramental purgation
and the various forms of ordeal. But in Southern Europe, where the Roman population gave laws
(^365) Torturafromtorqueo, to twist, to torment. Ital. and Spanish:tortura; French:torture; Germ.:Folter.
(^366) "Their evidence was inadmissible, except when given under torture, and then by a singular confusion of logic, it was
estimated as the most convincing kind of testimony." Lea, 283. "The modes of torture sanctioned by the Greeks were the wheel
(τρόχος), the ladder or rack (κλίμαξ), the comb with sharp teeth (κυάφος), the low vault (κύφων) in which the unfortunate
witness was thrust and bent double, the burning tiles (πλίνθοι) the heavy hog-skin whip (ὑστριχίς),nd the injection of vinegar
into the nostrils." Lea, p. 284. The Romans used chiefly the scourge. The instruments of torture employed during the middle
ages were the rack, the thumbscrew, the Spanish boot, iron gauntlets, heated iron stools, fire, the wheel, the strappado, enforced
sleeplessness, and various mutilations. Brace says (p. 182) that " nine hundred(?) different instruments for inflicting pain were
invented and used." One tenth of the number would be bad enough. Collections of these devilish instruments may be seen in
the London Tower, and in antiquarian museums on the Continent.