Crime & Punishment
Without this, history would be boring: peaceful but boring. Also the French would have lost the one thing that made them so feared–the Guillotine.
The following passage is not for the weak minded or for those sensitive to gore. You are about to embark on a journey into Crime and Punishment. Warning: Reader discretion is advised. The Romans: They had many primitive, gruesome, creative, and entertaining ways of execution and torture. When they were feeling innovative they created special tools for digging out people’s eyes, cutting off limbs and appendages, slicing off ears, and (worst of all) skinning people alive.
When the Romans were in a less creative state they used more primitive ways such as simply throwing people off of cliffs, or stoning them, which is a method in which the victim has rocks thrown at him or her until they die. The Romans had a sick sense of humor. Their idea of a show was purchasing exotic and expensive animals and starving them so that whoever got in their way got trampled, beaten, flattened, bitten, or got their thoughts torn out. These exotic animals at the time consisted of: lions, bulls, elephants, tigers, leopards, and bears. Centuries later, the French became the crazed savages of the world.
As stated earlier, the Guillotine was the symbol of fear. You might be wondering why this is so. This is because 40,594 people were executed by use of the Guillotine, one of which was the French king at the time, King Louis XVI. The real barbarism of the French Revolution was shown during the public executions. They took the decapitated persons head, rammed it on a stick, and paraded it through town.
They of course found this entertaining. If we move a little further into time, we come upon the time of the gallows. This typically wooden structure with a rope noose was used to hang people until half or completely dead. The French word for gallows is “potence” and “potence” means “power.” There were three different variations of Gallows, one of which was the portable Gallows.
As the name suggests, it is portable and can be moved by means of a horse. Another kind is the permanent Gallows, which cannot be moved, and is in the same spot forever. And the final kind is the temporary Gallows which can be built quickly when needed and torn down after use. As we move to more civilized and less time consuming methods of execution, we find the firing squad. The firing squad has been used throughout the ages, because of its effectiveness. In the process several military personnel are given the same kind of firearm but only one has an actual bullet; all of the others have blanks.
None are told who actually has a real bullet; this is so nobody knows who killed the victim. Also, the victim is blindfolded or hooded, condemned sitting or standing, and back to or facing the squad. Finally, the victim is shot at dawn. Now that you have seen the error of some people’s ways, I would assume that you would not lead a life of crime, but that is your decision to make. Keep in mind the various ways of torturing: the Iron Maiden, “The Rack”, the torture wheel, ear nailing, whipping, being thrown into a pit of starving eels, and many, many more.
I hope you enjoyed my essay on Crime and Punishment.
