lictor, member of an ancient Roman class of magisterial attendants, probably Etruscan in origin and dating in Rome from the regal period. Lictors carried the fasces for their magistrate and were constantly in his attendance in public; they cleared his way in crowds and summoned and punished offenders for him. They also served as their magistrate’s house guard. In Rome the lictors wore togas; during a consul’s triumph or while outside Rome they wore scarlet coats.
Emperors originally had 12 lictors, but after Domitian (reigned ad 81–96) they had 24; dictators, 24; consuls, 12; praetors, 6; legates, 5; and priests, 1.
Lictors were mostly freedmen, exempt from military duties. They held annual, regularly renewed appointments at fixed salaries. The Comitia Curiata (a popular assembly) was summoned by the lictors until the late republic, when the Comitia met less frequently and the 30 divisions of the people, or curiae, delegated 30 lictors as their representatives.