Acts 16:35

Serjeants [ρ α β δ ο υ χ ο υ ς]. Lit., those who hold the rod. The Roman lictors. They were the attendants of the chief Roman magistrates.

"Ho, trumpets, sound a war - note! Ho, lictors, clear the way! The knights will ride, in all their pride, Along the streets today." MACAULAY, Lays of Ancient Rome.

They preceded the magistrates one by one in a line. They had to inflict punishment on the condemned, especially; on Roman citizens. They also commanded the people to pay proper respect to a passing magistrate, by uncovering, dismounting from horseback, and standing out of the way. The badge of their office was the fasces, an ax bound up in a bundle of rods; but in the colonies they carried staves.

Those men. Contemptuous