PRŌSCRIPTĬO. The verb _proscribere_ properly signifies to exhibit a
thing for sale by means of a bill or advertisement. But in the time
of Sulla it assumed a very different meaning, for he applied it to
a measure of his own invention (B.C. 82), namely, the sale of the
property of those who were put to death at his command, and who were
themselves called _proscripti_. After this example of a proscription
had once been set, it was readily adopted by those in power during
the civil commotions of subsequent years. In the proscription of
Antonius, Caesar, and Lepidus (B.C. 43), Cicero and some of the most
distinguished Romans were put to death.