(Latelarium), 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. The more general opinion, however, is, that it was a broad stripe of purple sewed upon the fore part of the tunic, and round the middle of the breast. There were buttons set on the latas clavus or latelariæ, which appeared like the heads of large nails, from which some think it derived its name. The senators, praetors, and chief magistrates of colonies and municipal cities, had a right to wear it. The pretexa was always worn over it; but when the praetor pronounced sentence of death, the pretexa was then put off, and the latelare retained. The latelariæ differed from the angusticlavium; but authors do not agree in what this difference consisted. The most general opinion, however, seems to be, that the slips or stripes of purple were narrower in the angusticlavium.