(urth) BotNS in German

[Matthew Malthouse]

At 22:59 05/12/2004, you wrote:
>'lictor'

Dictionary.com : A Roman functionary who carried fasces when attending a 
magistrate in public appearances.

Fasces; A bundle of rods bound together around an ax with the blade 
projecting, carried before ancient Roman magistrates as an emblem of 
authority.

So Severian being what the mob might term an official enforcer is quite 
reasonably termed a lictor; most especially when he describes attending the 
Archon in court because of the the magisterial nature of that duty.


For cacogen there is no direct reference but the adjectival form cacogenic 
means pertaining to or causing degeneration in the offspring produced.

Now as the servants of the servants (of the servants?) of the Increate, 
each are created and with each creation each is debased from their creators.

Interestingly Severian knows them by that name long before he has any 
inkling of their nature.  A very erudite reader (more clever than I) might 
from that word and other hints have divined that facet of their nature 
before it is made clear to Severian.

Matthew