The Pier with Chains

The inscriptions on the tablets are based on the ancient writer Livy’s History of Rome (27-9 BCE). In part, the ominous phrases read “to terrify . . ., ” “infamous wickedness . . ., ” and “thus to treason and evil conduct.” Whether or not these allusions to classical texts are meant to locate the Prisons in antiquity, they address the darkest recesses of the viewer’s consciousness.