returnofthelivingdead:

celticpyro:

captain-price-official:

tilthat:

TIL that Roman Emperor Augustus witnessed a man attempt to feed a slave to lamprey eels as a punishment for breaking a cup. Augustus freed the slave and had the rest of the man’s cups broken.

via reddit.com

Why did the man have lamprey eels on hand.

Rome was just a fucking free-for-all, huh?

He had lampreys on hand because he was Vedius Pollio and was known throughout Rome for keeping a pool of lampreys on his estate for the express purpose of using it to murder slaves that displeased him. Even for the Romans, this was considered horrific.