Michael Pacher (1435-1498)  Altarpiece, St. Augustine (ca. 1483)  Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Quid cum in sua causa quisque torquetur et, cum quaeritur utrum sit nocens, cruciatur et innocens luit pro incerto scelere certissimas poenas, non quia illud commisisse detegitur, sed quia non commisisse nescitur?  Ac per hoc ignorantia iudicis plerumque est calamitas innocentis.  .  .  .  hoc enim nefas esse non ducit, quod testes innocentes in causis torquentur alienis; quod hi, qui arguuntur, ui doloris plerumque superati et de se falsa confessi etiam puniuntur innocentes, cum iam torti fuerint innocentes; quod, etsi non morte puniantur, in ipsis uel ex ipsis tormentis plerumque moriuntur. 

What shall I say of torture applied to the accused himself? He is tortured to discover whether he is guilty, so that, though innocent, he suffers a severe punishment for crime that is still doubtful, not because it is proved that he committed it, but because it is not known that he did not commit it. And through this ignorance of the judge, the innocent man suffers .  .  . And the judge thinks it not contrary to divine law that innocent witnesses are tortured in cases dealing with the crimes of others.  .  . or that the accused are put to the torture and, though innocent, make false confessions regarding themselves, and are punished; or that, though they be not condemned to die, they often die during the torture.