The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-10-20
Tie Agonies Of Crucifxion.

| tnaC lie 10 be SacrlHceu Slldil NC oaS
riGced swiftly and without needles
pain: True, various nations hav'
different opinions as to how this ma!
best be accomplished ; but the Amer
lean and English Governments hay'
decided that hanging is the mos
merciful. AS compared with th'
Spanish instrument of fdeath-theg gar
rote-it is questionable whether o.
not hanging is the most merciful. A
bungling executioner may, In elthel
case cause unnecessary tOrtureS. VIII
these subjects, however, this papel
has nothing to do. The writer de
sires simply to set forth the various
modes of cruciflxion as adopted bS
the ancients, and to show what Ter
rible suffering the wretched male
factor had to Undergo before death
came to his relief. Hours and days
ofunmitigated torture; a thirst which
was unquenchablej prolonged suffo-
cation /; horrible gasping for breath,
intensified only by moments re-
spite; the bites of the VultureS OF the
air, and the stings and burfowings OF
insects, the burning of the rays of the
monday sun, and the cold, clammy
dews at midnight-tell us, in awful
language, of that dies jrg from re-
petition of which the present day is
happily delivered. In comparison,
our present capital punishments are
most merciful, and the vindication of
Justice most humane.
The primitive form seems to have
been an upright tree, to which the
victim was either bound or nailed.
In Ezra vi. u it is ordered that "who-
soever shall alter his word, let tim
Der be pulled down from his home,
and being set'up, let him be hanged
thereon, and let his Eouse be made a
dunghill for tits" Titus had no time
to add a horizontal beam when cruci-
flying 500 Jews day for months. He
simply drove pole into the ground
to which the victim was lashed, ard
he was left to die.
Slaves were generally punished by
having "furca" (forkJ slipped over
their necks, to which their arms were
tied, and this was hoisted to the top
of a pole, and secured there by rope
fitting into a groove. The device
evidently suggested the recent cross,
to save time, and as being more artis-
tic.
1t was usual to nail the hands; but
to bind the feet. 1t is erroneous to
suppose that single spike secured
both feet to the cross, one foot in front
of the other. A spike was driven
through each foot, sometimes to a
support fixed on the cross just be-
meath the plantar surface of the feet.
Additional cruelty was sometimes
practiced by the victim being seated
on spike or "horn" Justin Martyr,
though at times a piece of wood was
so placed that he might rest on it.
The nails, aided by intense heat,
soon produced gangrene. Although
the culprit writhed in agony for some
time, it is doubtful whether any long
continued activity Of the body could
be maintained. The weight of the in
testines, gravitating downward, pros
dhced intussdsception. The circula-
tion was impeded, the yiscera press
ing on the veins. The lungs could not
be emptied. Insects got into the eyes
nose, ears and wounds. At night
fall the bones of the legs of those still
living was broken, ostensibly to has
ten death, but in reality to crafty
the spectators, who were becoming
sated.
Death generally resulted from gam
creme of wounds, displacement of Wis.,
cera. regurgitation of blood through
the valves of the heart, pericarditis
and paralysis of heart and lungs. I'm
many cases death was accelerated by
hunger and thirst, the vicissitudes of
heat and cold, or the attacks of raven
GUS birds and beasts, and in others
designedly accelerated by burning,
stoning, suffocation, breaking the
bones or piercing the vital organs.'
Adam Clarke, commentary on
Matthews" chap. xxi, v. 35.)
According to Origen, Timotheus
and Maura, married pair who suf-
fered about the year 2S6, under Dio-
cletian. remained for nine days and
nights on the cross, exhorting each
other, and expired on the tenth day.
BY order of the Emperor Maximain,
in the year 297, seven Christians at
Samosata were subjected to long and
varied tortures three of them were
taken down from the cross while yet
alive and the Emperor, hearing of
this, ordered huge nails to be driven
into their heads. DR.. Cooper in Neao