When the Roman emperors of those times had condemned any man of quality, they sent to him by their officers to choose what death he would, and to execute it within such or such a time, which was limited, according to the degree of their indignation, to a shorter or a longer respite, that they might therein have better leisure to dispose their affairs, and sometimes depriving them of the means of doing it by the shortness of the time;
aro hartako enperadore erromatarrek mailako gizon bat kondenatu zutenean, beren ofizialen bidez manatzen zioten haren moldeko heriotza bat hauta zezan, eta har zezan beren haserrearen arabera betearazten zioten halako epe baten buruko, behin hertsatuago, behin luzeago, muga emanez haren egitekoen antolatzeko denbora hartan, eta inoiz horren egiteko bidea kenduz denboraren laburtasunaz;