(Laticlavium), 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, praetors, and chief magistrates of colonies and municipal cities had a right to wear it. The praetexta was always worn over it; but when the praetor pronounced sentence of death, the praetexta was then put off and the laticlave retained. The laticlavium differed from the anguliclavium, but authors do not agree in what this difference consisted; the most general opinion seems to be, that the slips or stripes of purple were narrower in the anguliclave.