Editing Roman censor (section)

===Lustrum===
After the censors had performed their various duties and taken the five-yearly census, the ''[[lustrum]]'', a solemn purification of the people, followed. When the censors entered upon their office, they drew lots to see which of them should perform this purification;<ref>''lustrum facere'' or ''condere'', Varro ''De lingua Latina'' vi.86; Livy xxix.37, xxxv.9, xxxviii.36, xlii.10.</ref> but both censors were of course obliged to be present at the ceremony.

Long after the Roman census was no longer taken, the Latin word ''lustrum'' has survived, and been adopted in some modern languages, in the derived sense of a period of five years, i.e., half a decennium.