Judges 1:6

and cut off A barbarity frequently practised in ancient warfare to mark the humiliation of the captives and prevent them from further mischief. Thus the Athenians are said to have decreed that the right thumb of every Aeginetan taken prisoner should be cut off -that they may be incapable of carrying a spear, but not incapable of working an oar," Aelian, Var. Hist.ii. 9.