LATICLAVE, (Laticlavum), in Roman antiquity, was an honourable distinction, peculiar, in the times of the republic, to the senators; but whether it was a particular kind of garment, or only an ornament upon it, the critics are not agreed: But the more general opinion is, that it was a broad stripe of purple sewed upon the fore-part of their tunic, and round the middle of the breast. There were buttons set on the latus clavus or laticlave, which appeared like the heads of large nails, whence some think it derived its name. — The senators, pretors, and chief magistrates of colonies and municipal cities, had a right to wear it. The prætexta was always worn over it; but when the pretor pronounced sentence of death, the prætexta was then put off, and the laticlave retained. The laticlavum differed from the angusticlavum, but authors do not agree in what respect this difference consisted; the most general opinion seems to be, that the slips or stripes of purple were narrower in the angusticlave.