ake nothing of it. It seems not designed to aid any manufacture of
which I have any knowledge.'

The master looked at me with a slighting expression of countenance as
much as to say 'you are a wise one! You must have just emerged from the
mountains of Helvetia, or the forests of the Danube.' But he did not
content himself with looks.

'This, sir?' said he. 'This, if you would know it, is a rack--a common
instrument of torture--used in all the prisons of the empire, the use
of which is to extract truth from one who is unwilling to speak except
compelled; or, sometimes, when death is thought too slight a punishment,
to give it an edge with, just as salt and pepper are thrown into a fresh
wound. Some crimes, you must know, were too softly dealt with, were a
sharp axe the only instrument employed. Caesar! just bring some wires of
a good thickness, and we will try this. Now shall you see precisely how
it would fare with your own body, were you on this iron frame and Varus
standing where I am. There,--Caesar having in a few moments brought the
wires--the body you perceive is confined in this manner.--You observe
there can be no escape and no motion. Now at the word of the judge, this
crank is turned. Do you see the effect upon the wire? Imagine it your
body and you will have a lively idea of the instrument. Then at another
wink or word from Varus, these are turned, and you see that another part
of the body, the legs or arms as it may be, are subjected to the same
force as this wire, which as the fellow keeps turning you see--strains,
and straightens, and strains, till--crack!--there!--that is what we call
a rack. A most ingenious contrivance and of great use. This is going up
within the hour to the hall of the Prefect.'

'It seems,' I remarked, 'well contrived indeed for its object. And
what,' I asked, 'are these which stand here? Are they for the same or a
similar purpose?'

'Yes--these, sir, are different and yet the same. They are all for
purposes of torture, but they vary infinitely in the ingenuity with
which they severally inflict pain and death. That is esteemed in Rome
the most perfect instrument which, while it inflicts the most exquisite
torments, shall at the same time not early, assail that which is a vital
part, but, you observe, prolong life to the utmost. Some, of an
old-fashioned structure, with a clumsy and bungling machinery--here are
some sent to me as useless--long before the truth could be extracted, o