THE SCENE: Roman emperors were renowned for the cruelty of their punishments. The emperor Macrinus’ punishment for adultery, though, seems more surreal than truly horrifying.
THE TEXT: Some soldiers had intercourse with the maidservant of their host, although she had already a low reputation for a long time. He learned of this through a commissary agent, ordered them to be brought before him and questioned them as to whether this was true.
When the facts had been established, he ordered two oxen of extraordinary size to be cut open suddenly, while still alive, and the soldiers to be thrust one into each, with their heads protruding so that they could talk to each other. Thus did he inflict a penalty on them, although punishments like this were not decreed even for adulteries by our ancestors in his day.
– The Augustan History, Julius Capitolinus, 4th Century AD
