I’ faith, you do describe a miserably stingy wretch.LYCONIDESBut do you think that he does live so very stingily and wretchedly?STROBILUSA kite, the other day, carried off his morsel of food; the fellow went crying to the PraetorTo the Prœtor: The Praetor was a magistrate at Rome, who administered justice, and ranked next to the Consuls. There were eight Praetors in the time of Cicero. Two of them were employed in adjudicating in causis privatis, disputes concerning private property. One of these was called Praetor urbanus, or the city Praetor, who administered justice when the parties were cives, or possessed the rights of Roman citizenship. The other was called Praetor peregrinus, or the foreigners’ Praetor, who administered justice when both the litigating parties, or only one of them, were peregrini, or foreigners, and had not the right of Roman citizenship. The other six Praetors had jurisdiction in criminal cases, such as murder, adultery, and violence. The Praetors committed the examination of causes to subordinate judges, who were called judices selecti, and they published the sentences of the judges so appointed by them. The Praetors wore the toga praetexta, or magisterial robe, sat on the sella curulis, and were preceded by six lictors. Their duties lasted for a year, after which they went as governors to such provinces as had no army, which were assigned to them by lot. There they administered justice in the same way as they had done as Praetors at Rome, and were called by the name of Propraetores; though, as such governors, they were also sometimes called Praetores. The office of Praetor was first instituted at Rome A.U.C. 388, partly because the Consuls, on account of the many wars in which the Romans were engaged, could no longer administer justice; partly that the Patricians might thereby have a compensation for admitting the Plebeians to a share in the Consulate. At first there was only one Praetor; Sylla made their number six; Julius Caesar eight; and Augustus increased them to sixteen. It will not escape observation, that Plautus, as usual, mentions a Roman officer in a Play, the scene of which is supposed to be Athens.; there, weeping and lamenting, he began to request that he might be allowed to compel the kite to give bail.There are innumerable other things that I could mention, if I had the leisure. But which of you two is the sharper? Tell me.LYCONIDESI—as being much the better one. STROBILUSA cook I ask for, not a thief Not a thief: Because celer,sharp or nimble, would especially apply to the requisite qualifications for an expert thief..LYCONIDESAs a cook, I mean. STROBILUS(to ANTHRAX.)What do you say?ANTHRAX I’m just as you see me.