Note 713 — LIFE OF CATO.

Plutarch explains in a general way what is meant. The Roman word "pignus," which Plutarch translates by ἐνέχυρα, means a thing pawned and delivered as a security to the pawnee. To take pledges, "pignora capere," was to seize something that belonged to a man in order to compel the discharge of a duty. It was like a distress for a service. Instances occur in Livy (3. c. 38, 37. c. 51; Cicero, De Oratore, 3. c. 1).