Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Crux

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

CRUX. One of the machines or contrivances employed by the ancients for inflicting capital punishment upon criminals and slaves. It was made and applied in two different ways. Originally, it was an upright pole with a sharp point at the top (Greek σταυρός, σκόλοψ), upon which the victim was impaled, as still practised in the East; a mode of punishment indicated by the expression in crucem suffigere (Justin. xviii. 7. Hirt. B. Afr. 66.), or in crucem sedere (Maecen. ap. Senec. Ep. 101.); but, subsequently, it was fitted with a transverse piece of wood, like our cross, upon which the condemned was fastened with nails, or bound with ropes, and then left to perish, a mode of execution expressed by such phrases as cruci figere, or affigere, and the like. (Tac. Ann. xv. 44. Pet. Sat. iii. 5.) It would also appear from other passages (Plin. H. N. xiv. 3. pendere in cruce, Pet. Sat. 112. 5.), that criminals were likewise hung upon it, as upon a gibbet, or gallows.