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'Rex in foro, senator in curiâ, captivus in aulâ, was a current phrase which expressed the contrast between their dignity of parade and real servitude. They had no personal freedom, and were always ruined by office. It was necessary to pass a law compelling the Doge elect to accept the onerous distinction thrust upon him.
He wrote this modest Epitaph for himself : Grotius hîc Hugo est, Batavûm captivus et exul, Legatus regni, Suecia magna, tui. Grotius had the precaution to make his will at Paris on the 27th of March, 1645, a little before his departure. He had a very agreeable person, a good complexion, an aquiline nose, sparkling eyes, a serene and smiling countenance.
Both these pairs of words have kept fairly close to the original meaning; but caitiff and captive, another pair of doublets, have quite different meanings from each other. Both come from the Latin word captivus, "captive," the one indirectly and the other directly.
Quorum multitudo in me congregata me deduxit ad Regem suum. Fussit is, ut Captivus detinerer; & inquandam Caveæ speciem conjectus sum; eos autem aliquando ad bellum instrui cum viderem, dixerunt Hostem imminere, & fore ut propediem ingrueret. Nec multò post Gruum exercitus in eos insurrexit. Atque ideo erant Coclites, quod eorum oculos hæ confodissent.
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