Reference > Brewer’s Dictionary > Pontiff   Pontefract
Cakes.Pontius Pilate’s Body-Guard.  means one who has charge of
the bridges. According to Varro, the highest class of the Roman
priesthood had to superintend the construction of the bridges
(pontes) (See Ramsay: Roman Antiquities, p. 51.)   1 “Well has
the name of Pontifex been given Unto the church’s head, as the
chief builder And architect of the invisible bridge That leads
from earth to heaven.” Longfellow: Golden Legend, v.    Here
Longfellow follows the general notion that “pontiff” is from
pons-facio, and refers to the tradition that a Roman priest
threw over the Tiber, in the time of Numa, a sublician, or
wooden bridge.   2        Sablicius means made of timber or
piles. There were subsequently eight stone bridges, and Æmilius
converted the sublician bridge into a stone one. There were
fifteen pontiffs in the time of Sylla.   Pontefract
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