Plate X
A large platform, resembling a stern, invades the foreground in Plate X. On the platform, a group of five human figures in swirled poses suggests strain and defeat. In this unusually explicit scene of torture in the Carceri series, Piranesi depicted a method called veglia, or enforced wakefulness. With legs and hands tied, the victim was seated in precarious balance on a tall pointed stool and remained in this position for eight to twelve hours to collapse and get injured. In the rare cases in which the victim managed to keep his or her balance, the position was very painful nonetheless. Piranesi depicted three fallen men and two other figures checking on them.