History is interesting.

I think it was at church just recently, but I discovered t'other day why the romans had the habit of giving people 39 lashes, the 40 minus one. As it turns out, most people would die at 40 lashes. So what the romans liked to do was to lay off on the killing lash. When they say beaten within an inch of one's life, that's about it. I'm always amazed at the ingenuity of the roman civilization. So amazingly full of kindness and humanity they were. Pay no attention to the dripping sarcasm.