Acts 16:35

The serjeants

(τους ραβδουχους). Fasces-bearers, regular Greek word (ραβδοσ, εχω) for Latin lictores though Cicero says that they should carry baculi, not fasces. Was this message because of the earthquake, the influence of Lydia, or a belated sense of justice on the part of the magistrates (praetors)? Perhaps a bit of all three may be true. The Codex Bezae expressly says that the magistrates "assembled together in the market place and recollecting the earthquake that had happened they were afraid."