Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Mastigophorus

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rich, Anthony (1849). The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary, and Greek lexicon. p. vi. OCLC 894670115. https://archive.org/details/illustratedcompa00rich. 

MASTIGOPH'ORUS (μαστιγοφόρος). A term borrowed from the Greeks, amongst whom it signifies something like a slave driver (Thucyd. iv. 47.); but the Romans, and perhaps the Greeks also, gave the same name to an officer who bore a near resemblance to our policeman, and clerk of the course on a race-ground, whose duty it was to repress disorderly conduct at public places and popular festivals, keep off the populace, and prevent crowding or tumult, for which purpose he was provided with a whip (μάστιξ), whence the name arose. Arcad. Dig. 50. 4. 18. Prud. adv. Symm. ii. 516.