“The chiefe captaine commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that hee should be examined by scourging: that he might know wherfore they cried so against him.”
1611 King James Version (KJV)
Ac 22:24 Bade that he should be examined by scourging. Probably ignorant of the Hebrew tongue, unable to understand what had caused the fury of the people, thinking that it might be due to the commission of some horrible crime by the speaker, the chief captain, drawing him into the castle, ordered that he be put to the torture to compel him to make a confession. Until recent times, it was common to torture prisoners under the belief that thus they could be compelled to speak the truth. Scourging was the usual method of torture among the Romans. The prisoner's back was bared, he was bound, and the rods borne by the lictors were usually employed.