This strict guarding is to ensure the prompt obedience of the townspeople and the absolute power of the magistrates as well as to observe all disorder and every action. A large militia, commanded by good officer and men of substance, guards the gates of the town. And if he moves he does so at the risk of his life. No one else is permitted to leave his home for it is a crime punishable by death. (314) Only the intendants, syndics and guards are allowed to be on the streets, outside of the homes. To get supplies to each house there are wooden canals set up between the streets and houses to distribute the residents rations of bread and wine thus allowing each person to receive his ration without communicating with the suppliers and other residents. This syndic locks the door to every house on his street from the outside when the quarantine begins and gives the key to his supervisor, the intendant. There is a syndic assigned to each street who keeps the street under surveillance. First there is a strict spatial partitioning which involves the closing of the town and dividing it into quarters. One exceptional disciplinary model is the measures taken by a seventeenth century town when the plague appears.
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