BASTONADE, a punishment in use among the Greeks and Romans, some instances whereof we find too among the Hebrews2 Macc. vi. 19.. It is said, that the holy old man Eleazar was led to the torture, and being upon the point of expiring with the blows which he received, he said with groans, It is manifest unto the Lord, that I now endure sore pains in body, by being beaten. This punishment was called Tympanum, because the patient was beat with sticks like a Heb. xi. 35.drum. S. Paul says, that some of the Saints suffered the torture of the Tympanum hoping for a better Resurrection.
This penalty is in use at this day in the East. The criminal is laid upon his belly; his feet are raised and tied to a stake, which is held fast by soldiers: in this posture he is beaten with a cudgel on the soles of the feet, the chin and back, and sometimes receives five hundred blows; the common stint is an hundred. They who receive a thousand seldom survive this punishment.