II. The Middle Ages and the Reformation. A.D. 1381-1593 (part 1 of 4)

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ĂBĂCUS (ἄβαξ), denoted primarily a square tablet of any description, and was hence employed in the following significations:--(1) A table, or side-board, chiefly used for the display of gold and silver cups, and other kinds of valuable and ornamental utensils. The use of abaci was first introduced at Rome from Asia Minor after the victories of Cn. Manlius Vulso, B.C. 187, and their introduction was regarded as one of the marks of the growing luxury of the age.--(2) A draught-board or chess-board.--(3) A board used by mathematicians for drawing diagrams, and by arithmeticians for the purposes of calculation.--(4) A painted panel, coffer, or square compartment in the wall or ceiling of a chamber.--(5) In architecture, the flat square stone which constituted the highest member of a column, being placed immediately under the architrave.

ABOLLA, a cloak chiefly worn by soldiers, and thus opposed to the toga, the garb of peace. [TOGA.] The abolla was used by the lower classes at Rome, and consequently by the philosophers who affected severity of manners and life. Hence the expression of Juvenal, facinus majoris abollae,--“a crime committed by a very deep philosopher.”

ABRŎGĀTĬO. [LEX.]

ABSŎLŪTĬO. [JUDEX.]

ĂCAENA (ἀκαίνη, ἄκαινα, or in later Greek ἄκενα, in one place ἄκαινον), a measuring rod of the length of ten Greek feet. It was used in measuring land, and thus resembles the Roman decempeda.

ĂCATĬUM (ἀκάτιον, a diminutive of ἄκατος), a small vessel or boat used by the Greeks, which appears to have been the same as the Roman scapha. The Acatia were also sails adapted for fast sailing.

ACCENSUS. (1) A public officer, who attended on several of the Roman magistrates. The Accensi summoned the people to the assemblies, and those who had law-suits to court; they preserved order in the courts, and proclaimed the time of the day when it was the third hour, the sixth hour, and the ninth hour. An accensus anciently preceded the consul who had not the fasces, which custom, after being long disused, was restored by Julius Cæsar in his first consulship. Accensi also attended on the governors of provinces.--(2) The accensi were also a class of soldiers in the Roman army, who were enlisted after the full number of the legion had been completed, in order to supply any vacancies that might occur in the legion. They were taken, according to the census of Servius Tullius, from the fifth class of citizens, and were placed in battle in the rear of the army, behind the triarii.

ACCLĀMĀTĬO, was the public expression of approbation or disapprobation, pleasure or displeasure, by loud acclamations. On many occasions, there appear to have been certain forms of acclamations always used by the Romans; as, for instance, at marriages, Io Hymen, Hymenaee, or Talassio; at triumphs, Io Triumphe; at the conclusion of plays, the last actor called out Plaudite to the spectators; orators were usually praised by such expressions as Bene et praeclare, Belle et festive, Non potest melius, &c. Under the empire the name of acclamationes was given to the praises and flatteries bestowed by the senate upon the reigning emperor and his family.

ACCŬBĀTĬO, the act of reclining at meals. The Greeks and Romans were accustomed, in later times, to recline at their meals; but this practice could not have been of great antiquity in Greece, since Homer always describes persons as sitting at their meals; and Isidore of Seville, an ancient grammarian, also attributes the same custom to the ancient Romans. Even in the time of the early Roman emperors, children in families of the highest rank used to sit together, while their fathers and elders reclined on couches at the upper part of the room. Roman ladies continued the practice of sitting at table, even after the recumbent position had become common with the other sex. It appears to have been considered more decent, and more agreeable to the severity and purity of ancient manners, for women to sit, more especially if many persons were present. But, on the other hand, we find cases of women reclining, where there was conceived to be nothing bold or indelicate in their posture. Such is the case in the preceding woodcut, which seems intended to represent a scene of matrimonial felicity. For an account of the disposition of the couches, and of the place which each guest occupied in a Greek and Roman entertainment, see SYMPOSIUM and TRICLINIUM.

ACCŪSĀTOR, ACCŪSĀTIO. [JUDEX.]

ĂCERRA (θυμιατήριον, λιβανωτρίς), the incense-box or censer used in sacrifices. The acerra was also a small moveable altar placed before the dead, on which perfumes were burnt. The use of acerrae at funerals was forbidden by a law of the Twelve Tables as an unnecessary expense.

ĂCĒTABŬLUM (ὀξίς, ὀξύβαφον, ὀξυβάφιον). (1) A vinegar-cup, wide and open above, as we see in the annexed cut. The name was also given to all cups resembling it in size and form, to whatever use they might be applied.--(2) A Roman measure of capacity, fluid and dry. It was one-fourth of the hemian, and therefore one-eighth of the sextarius.

ĂCHĀĬCUM FOEDUS. The Achaean league is divided into two periods. 1. The earlier period.--When the Heracleidae took possession of Peloponnesus, which had until then been chiefly inhabited by Achaeans, a portion of the latter, under Tisamenus, turned northwards and occupied the north coast of Peloponnesus. The country thus occupied derived from them its name of Achaia, and contained twelve confederate towns, which were governed by the descendants of Tisamenus, till at length they abolished the kingly rule after the death of Ogyges, and established a democracy. In the time of Herodotus the twelve towns of which the league consisted were: Pellene, Aegeira, Aegae, Bura, Helice, Aegium, Rhypes (Rhypae), Patreis (ae), Phareis (ae), Olenus, Dyme, and Tritaeeis (Tritaea). After the time of Herodotus, Rhypes and Aegae disappeared from the number, and Ceryneia and Leontium stepped into their place. The bond which united the towns of the league was not so much a political as a religious one, as is shown by the common sacrifice offered at Helice to Poseidon, and after the destruction of that town, at Aegium to Zeus, surnamed Homagyrius, and to Demeter Panachaea. The confederation exercised no great influence in the affairs of Greece down to the time when it was broken up by the Macedonians. 2. The later period.--When Antigonus in B.C. 281 made the unsuccessful attempt to deprive Ptolemaeus Ceraunus of the Macedonian throne, the Achaeans availed themselves of the opportunity of shaking off the Macedonian yoke, and renewing their ancient confederation. The grand object however now was no longer a common worship, but a real political union among the confederates. The fundamental laws were, that henceforth the confederacy should form one inseparable state, that each town, which should join it, should have equal rights with the others, and that all members, in regard to foreign countries, should be considered as dependent, and bound to obey in every respect the federal government, and those officers who were entrusted with the executive. Aegium was the seat of the government, and it was there that the citizens of the various towns met at regular and stated times, to deliberate upon the common affairs of the league, and if it was thought necessary, upon those of separate towns, and even of individuals, and to elect the officers of the league. The league acquired its great strength in B.C. 251, when Aratus united Sicyon, his native place, with it, and some years later gained Corinth also for it. Megara, Troezene, and Epidaurus soon followed their example. Afterwards Aratus persuaded all the more important towns of Peloponnesus to join the confederacy, and thus Megalopolis, Argos, Hermione, Phlius, and others were added to it. In a short period the league reached the height of its power, for it embraced Athens, Megara, Aegina, Salamis, and the whole of Peloponnesus, with the exception of Sparta, Elis, Tegea, Orchomenos, and Mantineia. The common affairs of the confederate towns were regulated at general meetings attended by the citizens of all the towns, and held regularly twice every year, in the spring and in the autumn. These meetings, which lasted three days, were held in a grove of Zeus Homagyrius in the neighbourhood of Aegium, and near a sanctuary of Demeter Panachaea. Every citizen, both rich and poor, who had attained the age of thirty, might attend the assemblies, to which they were invited by a public herald, and might speak and propose any measure. The subjects which were to be brought before the assembly were prepared by a council (βουλή), which seems to have been permanent. The principal officers of the confederacy were: 1. At first two strategi (στρατηγοί), but after the year B.C. 255 there was only one, who in conjunction with an hipparchus (ἴππαρχος) or commander of the cavalry and an under-strategus (ὑποστρατηγός) commanded the army furnished by the confederacy, and was entrusted with the whole conduct of war; 2. A public secretary (γραμματεύς); and, 3. Ten demiurgi (δημιουργοί). All the officers of the league were elected in the assembly held in the spring, at the rising of the Pleiades, and legally they were invested with their several offices only for one year, though it frequently happened that men of great merit and distinction were re-elected for several successive years. If one of the officers died during the period of his office, his place was filled by his predecessor, until the time for the new elections arrived. The perpetual discord of the members of the league, the hostility of Sparta, the intrigues of the Romans, and the folly and rashness of the later strategi, brought about not only the destruction and dissolution of the confederacy, but of the freedom of all Greece, which after the fall of Corinth, in B.C. 146, became a Roman province under the name of Achaia.

ĂCĬES. [EXERCITUS.]

ĂCĪNĂCĒS (ἀκινάκης), a Persian sword, whence Horace speaks of the Medus acinaces. The acinaces was a short and straight weapon, and thus differed from the Roman sica, which was curved. It was worn on the right side of the body, whereas the Greeks and Romans usually had their swords suspended on the left side. The form of the acinaces, with the mode of wearing it, is illustrated by the following Persepolitan figures.

ACISCŬLUS. [ASCIA.]

ĀCLIS, a kind of dart with a leathern thong attached to it. [AMENTUM.]

ACROĀMA (ἀκρόαμα), which properly means any thing heard, was the name given to a concert of players on different musical instruments, and also to an interlude performed during the exhibition of the public games. The word is also applied to the actors and musicians who were employed to amuse guests during an entertainment, and is sometimes used to designate the anagnostae. [ANAGNOSTES.]

ACRŎLĬTHI (ἀκρόλιθοι), statues, of which the extremities only were of marble, and the remaining part of the body of wood either gilt or covered with drapery.

ACRŎPŎLIS (ἀκρόπολις). In almost all Greek states, which were usually built upon a hill, rock, or some natural elevation, there was a castle or a citadel, erected upon the highest part of the rock or hill, to which the name of Acropolis, higher or upper city, was given. Thus we read of an acropolis at Athens, Corinth, Argos, Messene, and many other places. The Capitolium at Rome answered the same purpose as the Acropolis in the Greek cities; and of the same kind were the tower of Agathocles at Utica, and that of Antonia at Jerusalem.

ACROSTŎLĬUM. [NAVIS.]

ACRŎTĒRĬUM (ἀκρωτήριον), signifies the extremity of any thing, and was applied by the Greeks to the extremities of the prow of a vessel (ἀκροστόλιον), which were usually taken from a conquered vessel as a mark of victory: the act of doing so was called ἀκρωτηριάζειν. In architecture it signifies, 1. The sloping roof of a building. 2. The pediment. 3. The pedestals for statues placed on the summit of a pediment. In sculpture it signifies the extremities of a statue, as wings, feet, hands, &c.

ACTA. (1) The public acts and orders of a Roman magistrate, which after the expiration of his office were submitted to the senate for approval or rejection. Under the empire, all the magistrates when entering upon their office on the 1st of January swore approval of the acts of the reigning emperor.--(2) ACTA FORENSIA were of two kinds: first, those relating to the government, as leges, plebiscita, edicta, the names of all the magistrates, &c., which formed part of the tabulae publicae; and secondly, those connected with the courts of law.--(3) ACTA MILITARIA, contained an account of the duties, numbers, and expenses of each legion, and were probably preserved in the military treasury founded by Augustus.--(4) ACTA SENATUS, called also COMMENTARII SENATUS and ACTA PATRUM, contained an account of the various matters brought before the senate, the opinions of the chief speakers, and the decision of the house. By command of Julius Caesar they were published regularly every day as part of the government gazette. Augustus forbade the publication of the proceedings of the senate, but they still continued to be preserved, and one of the most distinguished senators was chosen by the emperor to compile the account.--(5) ACTA DIURNA, a gazette published daily at Rome by the authority of the government, during the later times of the republic and under the empire, corresponding in some measure to our newspapers. They were also called Acta Publica, Acta Urbana, Acta Rerum Urbanarum, Acta Populi, and sometimes simply Acta or Diurna. They contained, 1. A list of births and deaths in the city, an account of the money paid into the treasury from the provinces, and every thing relating to the supply of corn. 2. Extracts from the Acta Forensia. 3. Extracts from the Acta Senatus. 4. A court circular, containing an account of the births, deaths, festivals, and movements of the imperial family. 5. An account of such public affairs and foreign wars as the government thought proper to publish. 6. Curious and interesting occurrences, such as prodigies and miracles, the erection of new edifices, the conflagration of buildings, funerals, sacrifices, a list of the various games, and especially curious tales and adventures, with the names of the parties.

ACTĬA (ἄκτια), a festival celebrated every four years at Actium in Epirus, with wrestling, horse-racing, and sea-fights, in honour of Apollo. There was a celebrated temple of Apollo at Actium. After the defeat of Antony off Actium, Augustus enlarged the temple, and instituted games to be celebrated every five years in commemoration of his victory.

ACTĬO, is defined by a Roman jurist to be the right of pursuing by judicial means what is a man’s due. The old actions of the Roman law were called legis actiones or legitimae, either because they were expressly provided for by the laws of the Twelve Tables, or because they were strictly adapted to the words of the laws, and therefore could not be varied. But these forms of action gradually fell into disuse, in consequence of the excessive nicety required, and the failure consequent on the slightest error in the pleadings, and they were eventually abolished by the Lex Aebutia, and two Leges Juliae, except in a few cases. In the old Roman constitution, the knowledge of the law was most closely connected with the institutes and ceremonial of religion, and was accordingly in the hands of the patricians alone, whose aid their clients were obliged to ask in all their legal disputes. App. Claudius Caecus, perhaps one of the earliest writers on law, drew up the various forms of actions, probably for his own use and that of his friends: the manuscript was stolen or copied by his scribe Cn. Flavius, who made it public; and thus, according to the story, the plebeians became acquainted with those legal forms which hitherto had been the exclusive property of the patricians. After the abolition of the old legal actions, a suit was prosecuted in the following manner:--An action was commenced by the plaintiff summoning the defendant to appear before the praetor or other magistrate who had jurisdictio; this process was called in jus vocatio; and, according to the laws of the Twelve Tables, was in effect a dragging of the defendant before the praetor, if he refused to go quietly; and although this rude proceeding was somewhat modified in later times, we find in the time of Horace that if the defendant would not go quietly, the plaintiff called on any bystander to witness, and dragged the defendant into court. The parties might settle their dispute on their way to the court, or the defendant might be bailed by a vindex. The vindex must not be confounded with the vades. This settlement of disputes on the way was called transactio in via, and serves to explain a passage in St. Matthew, v. 25. When before the praetor, the parties were said jure agere. The plaintiff then prayed for an action, and if the praetor allowed it (dabat actionem), he then declared what action he intended to bring against the defendant, which he called edere actionem. This might be done in writing, or orally, or by the plaintiff taking the defendant to the album [ALBUM], and showing him which action he intended to rely on. As the formulae on the album comprehended, or were supposed to comprehend, every possible form of action that could be required by a plaintiff, it was presumed that he could find among all the formulae some one which was adapted to his case; and he was, accordingly, supposed to be without excuse if he did not take pains to select the proper formula. If he took the wrong one, or if he claimed more than his due, he lost his cause (causa cadebat); but the praetor sometimes gave him leave to amend his claim or intentio. It will be observed, that as the formulae were so numerous and comprehensive, the plaintiff had only to select the formula which he supposed to be suitable to his case, and it would require no further variation than the insertion of the names of the parties and of the thing claimed, or the subject-matter of the suit, with the amount of damages, &c., as the case might be. When the praetor had granted an action, the plaintiff required the defendant to give security for his appearance before the praetor (in jure) on a day named, commonly the day but one after the in jus vocatio, unless the matter in dispute was settled at once. The defendant, on finding a surety, was said vades dare, vadimonium promittere, or facere; the surety, vas, was said spondere; the plaintiff, when satisfied with the surety, was said vadari reum, to let him go on his sureties, or to have sureties from him. When the defendant promised to appear in jure on the day named, without giving any surety, this was called vadimonium purum. In some cases, recuperatores [JUDEX] were named, who, in case of the defendant making default, condemned him in the sum of money named in the vadimonium. If the defendant appeared on the day appointed, he was said vadimonium sistere; if he did not appear, he was said vadimonium deseruisse; and the praetor gave to the plaintiff the bonorum possessio. Both parties, on the day appointed, were summoned by a crier (praeco), when the plaintiff made his claim or demand, which was very briefly expressed, and may be considered as corresponding to our declaration at law. The defendant might either deny the plaintiff’s claim, or he might reply to it by a plea, exceptio. If he simply denied the plaintiff’s claim, the cause was at issue, and a judex might be demanded. The forms of the exceptio, also, were contained in the praetor’s edict, or, upon hearing the facts, the praetor adapted the plea to the case. The plaintiff might reply to the defendant’s exceptio. The plaintiff’s answer was called replicatio. If the defendant answered the replicatio, his answer was called duplicatio; and the parties might go on to the triplicatio and quadruplicatio, and even further, if the matters in question were such that they could not otherwise be brought to an issue. A person might maintain or defend an action by his cognitor or procurator, or, as we should say, by his attorney. The plaintiff and defendant used a certain form of words in appointing a cognitor, and it would appear that the appointment was made in the presence of both parties. The cognitor needed not to be present, and his appointment was complete when by his acts he had signified his assent. When the cause was brought to an issue, a judex or judices might be demanded of the praetor, who named or appointed a judex, and delivered to him the formula, which contained his instructions. The judices were said dari or addici. So far the proceedings were said to be in jure: the prosecution of the actio before the judex requires a separate discussion. [JUDEX.]

ACTOR, signified generally a plaintiff. In a civil or private action, the plaintiff was often called petitor; in a public action (causa publica), he was called accusator. The defendant was called reus, both in private and public causes: this term, however, according to Cicero, might signify either party, as indeed we might conclude from the word itself. In a private action the defendant was often called adversarius, but either party might be called adversarius with respect to the other. Wards brought their actions by their guardian or tutor. Peregrini, or aliens, originally brought their action through their patronus; but afterwards in their own name, by a fiction of law, that they were Roman citizens. A Roman citizen might also generally bring his action by means of a cognitor or procurator. [ACTIO.] Actor has also the sense of an agent or manager of another’s business generally. The actor publicus was an officer who had the superintendence or care of slaves and property belonging to the state.

ACTŬĀRĬAE NĀVES, transport-vessels, seem to have been built in a lighter style than the ordinary ships of burden, from which they also differed in being always furnished with oars, whereas the others were chiefly propelled by sails.

ACTŬĀRĬI, short-hand writers, who took down the speeches in the senate and the public assemblies. In the debate in the Roman senate upon the punishment of those who had been concerned in the conspiracy of Catiline, we find the first mention of short-hand writers, who were employed by Cicero to take down the speech of Cato.

ACTUS, a Roman measure of length, also called actus quadratus, was equal to half a jugerum, or 14,400 square Roman feet. The actus minimus, or simplex, was 120 feet long, and four broad, and therefore equal to 480 square Roman feet. Actus was also used to signify a bridle-way.

ĂCUS (βελόνη, βελονίς, ῥαφίς), a needle, a pin. Pins were made not only of metal, but also of wood, bone, and ivory. They were used for the same purposes as with us, and also in dressing the hair. The mode of platting the hair, and then fastening it with a pin or needle, is shown in the annexed figure of a female head. This fashion has been continued to our own times by the females of Italy.

ADDICTI. [NEXI.]

ADFĪNES. [AFFINES.]

ADLECTI, or ALLECTI, those persons under the empire who were admitted to the privileges and honours of the praetorship, quaestorship, aedileship, and other public offices, without having any duties to perform. The senators called adlecti seem to have been the same as the conscripti.

ADLŎCŪTĬO. [ALLOCUTIO.]

ADMISSĬŌNĀLES, chamberlains at the imperial court, who introduced persons into the presence of the emperor. They were divided into four classes; the chief officer of each class was called proximus admissionum; and the proximi were under the magister admissionum. Their duty was called officium admissionis. They were usually freedmen.

ĂDŎLESCENS, was applied in the Roman law to a person from the end of his twelfth or fourteenth to the end of his twenty-fifth year, during which period a person was also called adultus. The word adolescens, however, is frequently used in a less strict sense in the Latin writers in referring to a person much older than the above-mentioned age.

ĂDŌNĬA (ἀδώνια), a festival celebrated in honour of Aphrodite and Adonis in most of the Grecian cities. It lasted two days, and was celebrated by women exclusively. On the first day they brought into the streets statues of Adonis, which were laid out as corpses; and they observed all the rites customary at funerals, beating themselves and uttering lamentations. The second day was spent in merriment and feasting; because Adonis was allowed to return to life, and spend half the year with Aphrodite.

ĂDOPTĬO, adoption. (1) GREEK.--Adoption was called by the Athenians εἰσποίησις, or sometimes simply ποίησις, or θέσις. The adoptive father was said ποιεῖσθαι, εἰσποιεῖσθαι, or sometimes ποιεῖν: and the father or mother (for a mother after the death of her husband could consent to her son being adopted) was said ἐκποιεῖν: the son was said ἐκποιεῖσθαι with reference to the family which he left; and εἰσποιεῖσθαι with reference to the family into which he was received. The son, when adopted, was called ποιητός, εἰσποιητός, or θετός, in opposition to the legitimate son born of the body of the father, who was called γνήσιος. A man might adopt a son either in his lifetime or by his testament, provided he had no male offspring, and was of sound mind. He might also, by testament, name a person to take his property, in case his son or sons should die under age. Only Athenian citizens could be adopted; but females could be adopted (by testament at least) as well as males. The adopted child was transferred from his own family and demus into those of the adoptive father; he inherited his property, and maintained the sacra of his adoptive father. It was not necessary for him to take his new father’s name, but he was registered as his son in the register of his phratria (φρατρικὸν γραμματεῖον). Subsequently to this, it was necessary to enter him in the register of the adoptive father’s demus (ληξιαρχικὸν γραμματεῖον), without which registration it appears that he did not possess the full rights of citizenship as a member of his new demus.--(2) ROMAN.--The Roman relation of parent and child arose either from a lawful marriage or from adoption. Adoptio was the general name which comprehended the two species, adoptio and adrogatio; and as the adopted person passed from his own familia into that of the person adopting, adoptio caused a capitis diminutio, and the lowest of the three kinds. [CAPUT.] Adoption, in its specific sense, was the ceremony by which a person who was in the power of his parent (in potestate parentum), whether child or grandchild, male or female, was transferred to the power of the person adopting him. It was effected under the authority of a magistrate (magistratus), the praetor, for instance, at Rome, or a governor (praeses) in the provinces. The person to be adopted was emancipated [MANCIPATIO] by his natural father before the competent authority, and surrendered to the adoptive father by the legal form called in jure cessio. When a person was not in the power of his parent (sui juris), the ceremony of adoption was called adrogatio. Originally, it could only be effected at Rome, and only by a vote of the populus (populi auctoritate) in the comitia curiata (lege curiata); the reason of this being that the caput or status of a Roman citizen could not, according to the laws of the Twelve Tables, be effected except by a vote of the populus in the comitia curiata. Clodius, the enemy of Cicero, was adrogated into a plebeian family, in order to qualify himself to be elected a tribune of the plebs. Females could not be adopted by adrogatio. Under the emperors it became the practice to effect the adrogatio by an imperial rescript. The effect of adoption was to create the legal relation of father and son, just as if the adopted son were born of the blood of the adoptive father in lawful marriage. The adopted child was intitled to the name and sacra privata of the adopting parent. A person, on passing from one gens into another, and taking the name of his new familia, generally retained the name of his old gens also, with the addition to it of the termination anus. Thus Aemilius, the son of L. Aemilius Paullus, upon being adopted by P. Cornelius Scipio, assumed the name of P. Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, and C. Octavius, afterwards the emperor Augustus, upon being adopted by the testament of his great-uncle the dictator, assumed the name of C. Julius Caesar Octavianus.

ĂDŌRĀTĬO (προσκύνησις), adoration, was paid to the gods in the following manner:--The individual stretched out his right hand to the statue of the god whom he wished to honour, then kissed his hand, and waved it to the statue. The adoratio differed from the oratio or prayers, which were offered with the hands folded together and stretched out to the gods. The adoration paid to the Roman emperors was borrowed from the Eastern mode, and consisted in prostration on the ground, and kissing the feet and knees of the emperor.

ADRŎGĀTĬO. [ADOPTIO, (ROMAN).]

ĂDULTĔRĬUM, adultery. (1) GREEK.--Among the Athenians, if a man caught another man in the act of criminal intercourse (μοιχεία) with his wife, he might kill him with impunity; and the law was also the same with respect to a concubine (παλλακή). He might also inflict other punishment on the offender. It appears that there was no adultery, unless a married woman was concerned. The husband might, if he pleased, take a sum of money from the adulterer, by way of compensation, and detain him till he found sureties for the payment. The husband might also prosecute the adulterer in the action called μοιχείας γραφή. If the act of adultery was proved, the husband could no longer cohabit with his wife, under pain of losing his privileges of a citizen (ἀτιμία). The adulteress was excluded even from those temples which foreign women and slaves were allowed to enter; and if she was seen there, any one might treat her as he pleased, provided he did not kill her or mutilate her.--(2) ROMAN.--The word adulterium properly signifies, in the Roman law, the offence committed by a man’s having sexual intercourse with another man’s wife. Stuprum (called by the Greeks φθορά) signifies the like offence with a widow or virgin. In the time of Augustus a law was enacted (probably about B.C. 17), entitled Lex Julia de adulteriis coercendis, which seems to have contained special penal provisions against adultery; and it is also not improbable that, by the old law or custom, if the adulterer was caught in the fact, he was at the mercy of the injured husband, and that the husband might punish with death his adulterous wife. By the Julian law, a woman convicted of adultery was mulcted in half of her dowry (dos) and the third part of her property (bona), and banished (relegata) to some miserable island, such as Seriphos, for instance. The adulterer was mulcted in half his property, and banished in like manner. This law did not inflict the punishment of death on either party; and in those instances under the emperors in which death was inflicted, it must be considered as an extraordinary punishment, and beyond the provisions of the Julian law. The Julian law permitted the father (both adoptive and natural) to kill the adulterer and adulteress in certain cases, as to which there were several nice distinctions established by the law. If the wife was divorced for adultery, the husband was entitled to retain part of the dowry. By a constitution of the Emperor Constantine, the offence in the adulterer was made capital.

ADVERSĀRĬA, a note-book, memorandum-book, posting-book, in which the Romans entered memoranda of any importance, especially of money received and expended, which were afterwards transcribed, usually every month, into a kind of ledger. (Tabulae justae, codex accepti et expensi.)

ADVERSĀRĬUS. [ACTOR.]

ĂDŬNĂTI (ἀδύνατοι), were persons supported by the Athenian state, who, on account of infirmity or bodily defects, were unable to obtain a livelihood. The sum which they received from the state appears to have varied at different times. In the time of Lysias and Aristotle, one obolus a day was given; but it appears to have been afterwards increased to two oboli. The bounty was restricted to persons whose property was under three minae; and the examination of those who were entitled to it belonged to the senate of the Five Hundred. Peisistratus is said to have been the first to introduce a law for the maintenance of those persons who had been mutilated in war.

ADVOCATUS, seems originally to have signified any person who gave another his aid in any affair or business, as a witness for instance; or for the purpose of aiding and protecting him in taking possession of a piece of property. It was also used to express a person who in any way gave his advice and aid to another in the management of a cause; but, in the time of Cicero, the word did not signify the orator or patronus who made the speech. Under the emperors it signified a person who in any way assisted in the conduct of a cause, and was sometimes equivalent to orator. The advocate’s fee was then called Honorarium.

ĂDỸTUM. [TEMPLUM.]

AEDES. [DOMUS; TEMPLUM.]

AEDĪLES (ἀγορανόμοι). The name of these functionaries is said to be derived from their having the care of the temple (aedes) of Ceres. The aediles were originally two in number: they were elected from the plebs, and the institution of the office dates from the same time as that of the tribunes of the plebs, B.C. 494. Their duties at first seem to have been merely ministerial; they were the assistants of the tribunes in such matters as the tribunes entrusted to them, among which are enumerated the hearing of causes of smaller importance. At an early period after their institution (B.C. 446), we find them appointed the keepers of the senatus-consulta, which the consuls had hitherto arbitrarily suppressed or altered. They were also the keepers of the plebiscita. Other functions were gradually entrusted to them, and it is not always easy to distinguish their duties from some of those which belong to the censors. They had the general superintendence of buildings, both sacred and private; under this power they provided for the support and repair of temples, curiae, &c., and took care that private buildings which were in a ruinous state were repaired by the owners or pulled down. The care of the supply and distribution of water, of the streets and pavements, with the cleansing and draining of the city, belonged to the aediles; and, of course, the care of the cloacae. They had the office of distributing corn among the plebs, but this distribution of corn at Rome must not be confounded with the duty of purchasing or procuring it from foreign parts, which was performed by the consuls, quaestors, and praetors, and sometimes by an extraordinary magistrate, as the praefectus annonae. The aediles had to see that the public lands were not improperly used, and that the pasture grounds of the state were not trespassed on; and they had power to punish by fine any unlawful act in this respect. They had a general superintendence over buying and selling, and, as a consequence, the supervision of the markets, of things exposed to sale, such as slaves, and of weights and measures; from this part of their duty is derived the name under which the aediles are mentioned by the Greek writers (ἀγορανόμοι). It was their business to see that no new deities or religious rites were introduced into the city, to look after the observance of religious ceremonies, and the celebrations of the ancient feasts and festivals. The general superintendence of police comprehended the duty of preserving order, regard to decency, and the inspection of the baths and houses of entertainment. The aediles had various officers under them, as praecones, scribae, and viatores. The AEDILES CURULES, who were also two in number, were originally chosen only from the patricians, afterwards alternately from the patricians and the plebs, and at last indifferently from both. The office of curule aediles was instituted B.C. 365, and, according to Livy, on the occasion of the plebeian aediles refusing to consent to celebrate the Ludi Maximi for the space of four days instead of three; upon which a senatus-consultum was passed, by which two aediles were to be chosen from the patricians. From this time four aediles, two plebeian and two curule, were annually elected. The distinctive honours of the curule aediles were, the sella curulis, from whence their title is derived, the toga praetexta, precedence in speaking in the senate, and the jus imaginum. Only the curule aediles had the jus edicendi, or the right of promulgating edicta; but the rules comprised in their edicta served for the guidance of all the aediles. The edicta of the curule aediles were founded on their authority as superintendents of the markets, and of buying and selling in general. Accordingly, their edicts had mainly, or perhaps solely, reference to the rules as to buying and selling, and contracts for bargain and sale. The persons both of the plebeian and curule aediles were sacrosancti. It seems that after the appointment of the curule aediles, the functions formerly exercised by the plebeian aediles were exercised, with some few exceptions, by all the aediles indifferently. Within five days after being elected, or entering on office, they were required to determine by lot, or by agreement among themselves, what parts of the city each should take under his superintendence; and each aedile alone had the care of looking after the paving and cleansing of the streets, and other matters, it may be presumed, of the same local character within his district. The other duties of the office seem to have been exercised by them jointly. In the superintendence of the public festivals or solemnities, there was a further distinction between the two sets of aediles. Many of these festivals, such as those of Flora and Ceres, were superintended by either set of aediles indifferently; but the plebeian games were under the superintendence of the plebeian aediles, who had an allowance of money for that purpose; and the fines levied on the pecuarii, and others, seem to have been appropriated to these among other public purposes. The celebration of the Ludi Magni or Romani, of the Ludi Scenici, or dramatic representations, and the Ludi Megalesii, belonged specially to the curule aediles, and it was on such occasions that they often incurred a prodigious expense, with a view of pleasing the people, and securing their votes in future elections. This extravagant expenditure of the aediles arose after the close of the second Punic war, and increased with the opportunities which individuals had of enriching themselves after the Roman arms were carried into Greece, Africa, and Spain. Even the prodigality of the emperors hardly surpassed that of individual curule aediles under the republic; such as C. Julius Caesar, the dictator, P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, and, above all, M. Aemilius Scaurus, whose expenditure was not limited to bare show, but comprehended objects of public utility, as the reparation of walls, dock-yards, ports, and aquaeducts. In B.C. 45, Julius Caesar caused two curule aediles and four plebeian aediles to be elected; and thenceforward, at least so long as the office of aedile was of any importance, six aediles were annually elected. The two new plebeian aediles were called Cereales, and their duty was to look after the supply of corn. Though their office may not have been of any great importance after the institution of a praefectus annonae by Augustus, there is no doubt that it existed for several centuries, and at least as late as the time of the emperor Gordian. The aediles belonged to the class of the minores magistratus. The plebeian aediles were originally chosen at the comitia centuriata, but afterwards at the comitia tributa, in which comitia the curule aediles also were chosen. It appears that until the lex annalis was passed (B.C. 180) a Roman citizen might be a candidate for any office after completing his twenty-seventh year. This law fixed the age at which each office might be enjoyed, and it seems that the age fixed for the aedileship was thirty-six. The aediles existed under the emperors; but their powers were gradually diminished, and their functions exercised by new officers created by the emperors. After the battle of Actium, Augustus appointed a Praefectus urbi, who exercised the general police, which had formerly been one of the duties of the aediles. Augustus also took from the aediles, or exercised himself, the office of superintending the religious rites, and the banishing from the city of all foreign ceremonials; he also assumed the superintendence of the temples, and thus may be said to have destroyed the aedileship by depriving it of its old and original function. The last recorded instance of the splendours of the aedileship is the administration of Agrippa, who volunteered to take the office, and repaired all the public buildings and all the roads at his own expense, without drawing anything from the treasury. The aedileship had, however, lost its true character before this time. Agrippa had already been consul before he accepted the office of aedile, and his munificent expenditure in this nominal office was the close of the splendour of the aedileship. Augustus appointed the curule aediles specially to the office of putting out fires, and placed a body of 600 slaves at their command; but the praefecti vigilum afterwards performed this duty. They retained, under the early emperors, a kind of police, for the purpose of repressing open licentiousness and disorder. The coloniae, and the municipia of the later period, had also their aediles, whose numbers and functions varied in different places. They seem, however, as to their powers and duties, to have resembled the aediles of Rome. They were chosen annually.

AEDĬTŬI, AEDĬTŬMI, AEDĬTĬMI (called by the Greeks νεωκόροι, ζάκοροι, and ὑποζάκοροι), were persons who took care of the temples, attended to the cleaning of them, &c. They appear to have lived in the temples, or near them, and to have acted as ciceroni to those persons who wished to see them. Subsequently among the Greeks, the menial services connected with this office were left to slaves, and the persons called neocori became priestly officers of high rank, who had the chief superintendence of temples, their treasures, and the sacred rites observed in them.

AEGIS (αἰγίς) signifies, literally, a goat-skin. According to ancient mythology, the aegis worn by Zeus was the hide of the goat Amaltheia, which had suckled him in his infancy. Homer always represents it as part of the armour of Zeus, whom on this account he distinguishes by the epithet aegis-bearing (αἰγίοχος). He, however, asserts, that it was borrowed on different occasions both by Apollo and Athena. The aegis was connected with the shield of Zeus, either serving as a covering over it, or as a belt by which it was suspended from the right shoulder. Homer accordingly uses the word to denote not only the goat-skin, which it properly signified, but also the shield to which it belonged. The aegis was adorned in a style corresponding to the might and majesty of the father of the gods. In the middle of it was fixed the appalling Gorgon’s head, and its border was surrounded with golden tassels (θύσανοι), each of which was worth a hecatomb. The aegis is usually seen on the statues of Athena, in which it is a sort of scarf falling obliquely over the right shoulder, so as to pass round the body under the left arm. The serpents of the Gorgon’s head are transferred to the border of the skin. (See the left-hand figure in the cut.) The later poets and artists represent the aegis as a breast-plate covered with metal in the form of scales. (See the right-hand figure.)

AENĔĀTŌRES, were those who blew upon wind instruments in the Roman army; namely, the buccinatores, cornicines, and tubicines. They were also employed in the public games.

AENIGMA (αἴνιγμα), a riddle. It was an ancient custom among the Greeks to amuse themselves by proposing riddles at their symposia, or drinking parties. Those who were successful in solving them, received a prize, which usually consisted of wreaths, cakes, &c., while those who were unsuccessful were condemned to drink in one breath a certain quantity of wine, sometimes mixed with salt water. Those riddles which have come down to us are mostly in hexameter verse. The Romans seem to have been too serious to find any great amusement in riddles.

AENUM, or ĂHĒNUM (sc. vas), a brazen vessel, used for boiling. The word is also frequently used in the sense of a dyer’s copper; and, as purple was the most celebrated dye of antiquity, we find the expressions Sidonium aënum, Tyrium aënum, &c.

AEŌRA, or ĔŌRA (αἰώρα, ἐώρα), a festival at Athens, accompanied with sacrifices and banquets, whence it is sometimes called εὔδειπνος. It was probably instituted in honour of Icarius and his daughter Erigone.

AERA. [CHRONOLOGIA.]

AERĀRĬI, a class of Roman citizens, who were not included in the thirty tribes instituted by Servius Tullius. Although citizens, they did not possess the suffragium, or right of voting in the comitia. They were cives sine suffragio. They also paid the tribute in a different manner from the other citizens. The Aerarians were chiefly artisans and freedmen. The Caerites, or inhabitants of the Etruscan town of Caere, who obtained the franchise in early times, but without the suffragium, were probably the first body of aerarians. Any Roman citizen guilty of a crime punishable by the censors, might be degraded to the rank of an aerarian; so that his civic rights were suspended, at least for the time that he was an aerarian. All citizens so degraded were classed among the Caerites; whence we find the expressions aerarium facere and in tabulas Caeritum referre used as synonymous. Persons who were made infames likewise became aerarians, for they lost the jus honorum and the suffragium. The aerarians had to pay a tributum pro capite which was considerably higher than that paid by the other citizens. They were not allowed to serve in the legions.

AERĀRĬI TRĬBŪNI. [AES EQUESTRE.]

AERĀRĬUM (τὸ δημόσιον), the public treasury at Rome, and hence the public money itself. After the banishment of the kings the temple of Saturn was employed as the place for keeping the public money, and it continued to be so used till the later times of the empire. Besides the public money and the accounts connected with it, various other things were preserved in the treasury; of these the most important were:--1. The standards of the legions. 2. The various laws passed from time to time, engraven on brazen tables. 3. The decrees of the senate, which were entered there in books kept for the purpose, though the original documents were preserved in the temple of Ceres under the custody of the aediles. 4. Various other public documents, the reports and despatches of all generals and governors of provinces, the names of all foreign ambassadors that came to Rome, &c. Under the republic the aerarium was divided into two parts: the common treasury, in which were deposited the regular taxes, and from which were taken the sums of money needed for the ordinary expenditure of the state; and the sacred treasury (aerarium sanctum or sanctius), which was never touched except in cases of extreme peril. Both of these treasuries were in the temple of Saturn, but in distinct parts of the temple. The produce of a tax of five per cent. (vicesima) upon the value of every manumitted slave, called aurum vicesimarium, was paid into the sacred treasury, as well as a portion of the immense wealth obtained by the Romans in their conquests in the East. Under Augustus the provinces and the administration of the government were divided between the senate, as the representative of the old Roman people, and the Caesar: all the property of the former continued to be called aerarium, and that of the latter received the name of fiscus. Augustus also established a third treasury, to provide for the pay and support of the army, and this received the name of aerarium militare. He also imposed several new taxes to be paid into this aerarium. In the time of the republic, the entire management of the revenues of the state belonged to the senate; and under the superintendence and control of the senate the quaestors had the charge of the aerarium. In B.C. 28, Augustus deprived the quaestors of the charge of the treasury and gave it to two praefects, whom he allowed the senate to choose from among the praetors at the end of their year of office. Various other changes were made with respect to the charge of the aerarium, but it was eventually entrusted, in the reign of Trajan, to praefects, who appear to have held their office for two years.

AES (χαλκός), properly signifies a compound of copper and tin, corresponding to what we call bronze. It is incorrect to translate it brass, which is a combination of copper and zinc, since all the specimens of ancient objects, formed of the material called aes, are found upon analysis to contain no zinc. The employment of aes was very general among the ancients; money, vases, and utensils of all sorts, being made of it. All the most ancient coins in Rome and the old Italian states were made of aes, and hence money in general was called by this name. For the same reason we have aes alienum, meaning debt, and aera in the plural, pay to the soldiers. The Romans had no other coinage except bronze or copper (aes), till B.C. 269, five years before the first Punic war, when silver was first coined; gold was not coined till sixty-two years after silver. The first coinage of aes is usually attributed to Servius Tullius, who is said to have stamped the money with the image of cattle (pecus), whence it is called pecunia. According to some accounts, it was coined from the commencement of the city, and we know that the old Italian states possessed a bronze or copper coinage from the earliest times. The first coinage was the as [AS], which originally was a pound weight; but as in course of time the weight of the as was reduced not only in Rome, but in the other Italian states, and this reduction in weight was not uniform in the different states, it became usual in all bargains to pay the asses according to their weight, and not according to their nominal value. The aes grave was not the old heavy coins as distinguished from the lighter modern; but it signified any number of copper coins reckoned according to the old style, by weight. There was, therefore, no occasion for the state to suppress the circulation of the old copper coins, since in all bargains the asses were not reckoned by tale, but by weight.--Bronze or copper (χαλκός) was very little used by the Greeks for money in early times. Silver was originally the universal currency, and copper appears to have been seldom coined till after the time of Alexander the Great. The copper coin was called Chalcous (χαλκούς). The smallest silver coin at Athens was the quarter-obol, and the chalcous was the half of that, or the eighth of an obol. In later times, the obol was coined of copper as well as silver.

AES CIRCUMFORĀNĔUM, money borrowed from the Roman bankers (argentarii), who had shops in porticoes round the forum.

AES ĔQUESTRE, AES HORDĔĀRĬUM, and AES MĪLĬTĀRE, were the ancient terms for the pay of the Roman soldiers, before the regular stipendium was introduced. The aes equestre was the sum of money given for the purchase of the horse of an eques; the aes hordearium, the sum paid yearly for its keep, in other words the pay of an eques; and the aes militare, the pay of a foot soldier. None of this money seems to have been taken from the public treasury, but to have been paid by certain private persons, to whom this duty was assigned by the state. The aes hordearium, which amounted to 2000 asses, had to be paid by single women (viduae, i.e. both maidens and widows) and orphans (orbi), provided they possessed a certain amount of property. The aes equestre, which amounted to 10,000 asses, was probably also paid by the same class of persons. The aes militare, the amount of which is not expressly mentioned, had to be paid by the tribuni aerarii, and if not paid, the foot soldiers had a right of distress against them. It is generally assumed that these tribuni aerarii were magistrates connected with the treasury, and that they were the assistants of the quaestors; but there are good reasons for believing that the tribuni aerarii were private persons, who were liable to the payment of the aes militare, and upon whose property a distress might be levied, if the money were not paid. They were probably persons whose property was rated at a certain sum in the census, and we may conjecture that they obtained the name of tribuni aerarii because they levied the tributum, which was imposed for the purpose of paying the army, and then paid it to the soldiers. These tribuni aerarii were no longer needed when the state took into its own hands the payment of the troops; but they were revived in B.C. 70, as a distinct class in the commonwealth, by the Lex Aurelia, which gave the judicia to the senators, equites and tribuni aerarii.

AES UXŌRĬUM, was a tax paid by men who reached old age without having married. It was first imposed by the censors in B.C. 403. [LEX JULIA ET PAPIA POPPAEA.]

AESYMNĒTES (αἰσυμνήτης), a person who was sometimes invested with unlimited power in the Greek states. His power partook in some degree of the nature both of kingly and tyrannical authority; since he was appointed legally, and did not usurp the government, but at the same time was not bound by any laws in his public administration. The office was not hereditary, nor was it held for life; but it only continued for a limited time, or till some object was accomplished. Thus we read that the inhabitants of Mytilene appointed Pittacus aesymnetes, in order to prevent the return of Alcaeus and the other exiles. Dionysius compares it with the dictatorship of Rome. In some states, such as Cyme and Chalcedon, it was the title borne by the regular magistrates.

AETAS. [INFANS; IMPUBES.]

AETŌLĬCUM FOEDUS (κοινὸν τῶν Αἰτώλων), the Aetolian league, appears as a powerful political body soon after the death of Alexander the Great, viz. during the Lamian war against Antipater. The characteristic difference between the Aetolian and Achaean leagues was that the former originally consisted of a confederacy of nations or tribes, while the latter was a confederacy of towns. The sovereign power of the confederacy was vested in the general assemblies of all the confederates (κοινὸν τῶν Αἰτώλων, concilium Aetolorum), and this assembly had the right to discuss all questions respecting peace and war, and to elect the great civil or military officers of the league. The ordinary place of meeting was Thermon, but on extraordinary occasions assemblies were also held in other towns belonging to the league, though they were not situated in the country of Aetolia Proper. The questions which were to be brought before the assembly were sometimes discussed previously by a committee, selected from the great mass, and called Apocleti (ἀπόκλητοι). The general assembly usually met in the autumn, when the officers of the league were elected. The highest among them, as among those of the Achaean league, bore the title of Strategus (στρατηγός), whose office lasted only for one year. The strategus had the right to convoke the assembly; he presided in it, introduced the subjects for deliberation, and levied the troops. The officers next in rank to the strategus were the hipparchus and the public scribe. The political existence of the league was destroyed in B.C. 189 by the treaty with Rome, and the treachery of the Roman party among the Aetolians themselves caused in B.C. 167 five hundred and fifty of the leading patriots to be put to death, and those who survived the massacre were carried to Rome as prisoners.

ĀĔTŌMA (ἀέτωμα). [FASTIGIUM.]

AFFĪNES, AFFĪNĬTAS, or ADFĪNES, ADFĪNĬTAS. Affines are the cognati [COGNATI] of husband and wife, the cognati of the husband becoming the affines of the wife, and the cognati of the wife the affines of the husband. The father of a husband is the socer of the husband’s wife, and the father of a wife is the socer of the wife’s husband. The term socrus expresses the same affinity with respect to the husband’s and wife’s mothers. A son’s wife is nurus, or daughter-in-law to the son’s parents; a wife’s husband is gener, or son-in-law to the wife’s parents. Thus the avus, avia--pater, mater--of the wife became by the marriage respectively the socer magnus, prosocrus, or socrus magna--socer, socrus--of the husband, who becomes with respect to them severally progener and gener. In like manner the corresponding ancestors of the husband respectively assume the same names with respect to the son’s wife, who becomes with respect to them pronurus and nurus. The son and daughter of a husband or wife born of a prior marriage are called privignus and privigna, with respect to their step-father or step-mother; and with respect to such children, the step-father and step-mother are severally called vitricus and noverca. The husband’s brother becomes levir with respect to the wife, and his sister becomes glos (the Greek γάλως). Marriage was unlawful among persons who had become such affines as above mentioned.

ĂGALMA (ἄγαλμα) is a general name for a statue or image to represent a god.

ĂGĀSO, a groom, whose business it was to take care of the horses. The word is also used for a driver of beasts of burden, and is sometimes applied to a slave who had to perform the lowest menial duties.

ĂGĂTHŎERGI (ἀγαθοεργοί). In time of war the kings of Sparta had a body-guard of three hundred of the noblest of the Spartan youths (ἱππεῖς), of whom the five eldest retired every year, and were employed for one year under the name of Agathoergi, in missions to foreign states.

ĂGĔLA (ἀγέλη), an assembly of young men in Crete, who lived together from their eighteenth year till the time of their marriage. An agela always consisted of the sons of the most noble citizens, and the members of it were obliged to marry at the same time.

ĂGĒMA (ἄγημα from ἄγω), the name of a chosen body of troops in the Macedonian army, usually consisting of horsemen.

ĂGER PUBLĬCUS, the public land, was the land belonging to the Roman state. It was a recognised principle among the Italian nations that the territory of a conquered people belonged to the conquerors. Accordingly, the Romans were constantly acquiring fresh territory by the conquest of the surrounding people. The land thus acquired was usually disposed of in the following way. 1. The land which was under cultivation was either distributed among colonists, who were sent to occupy it, or it was sold, or it was let out to farm. 2. The land which was then out of cultivation, and which, owing to war, was by far the greater part, might be occupied by any of the Roman citizens on the payment of a portion of the yearly produce; a tenth of the produce of arable land, and a fifth of the produce of the land planted with the vine, the olive, and other valuable trees. 3. The land which had previously served as the common pasture land of the conquered state, or was suitable for the purpose, continued to be used as pasture land by the Roman citizens, who had, however, to pay a certain sum of money for the cattle which they turned upon it. The occupation of the public land spoken of above under the second head was always expressed by the words possessio and possidere, and the occupier of the land was called the possessor. The land continued to be the property of the state; and accordingly we must distinguish between the terms possessio, which merely indicated the use or enjoyment of the land, and dominium, which expressed ownership, and was applied to private land, of which a man had the absolute ownership. The right of occupying the public land belonged only to citizens, and consequently only to the patricians originally, as they were the state. The plebeians were only subjects, and consequently had no right to the property of the state; but it is probable that they were permitted to feed their cattle on the public pasture lands. Even when the plebeians became a separate estate by the constitution of Servius Tullius, they still obtained no right to share in the possession of the public land, which continued to be the exclusive privilege of the patricians; but as a compensation, each individual plebeian received an assignment of a certain quantity of the public land as his own property. Henceforth the possession of the public land was the privilege of the patricians, and an assignment of a portion of it the privilege of the plebeians. As the state acquired new lands by conquest, the plebeians ought to have received assignments of part of them, but since the patricians were the governing body, they generally refused to make any such assignment, and continued to keep the whole as part of the ager publicus, whereby the enjoyment of it belonged to them alone. Hence, we constantly read of the plebeians claiming, and sometimes enforcing, a division of such land. With the extension of the conquests of Rome, the ager publicus constantly increased, and thus a large portion of Italy fell into the hands of the patricians, who frequently withheld from the state the annual payments of a tenth and a fifth, which they were bound to pay for the possession of the land, and thus deprived the state of a fund for the expenses of the war. In addition to which they used slaves as cultivators and shepherds, since freemen were liable to be drawn off from field-labour to military service, and slave-labour was consequently far cheaper. In this way the number of free labourers was diminished, and that of slaves augmented. To remedy this state of things several laws were from time to time proposed and carried, which were most violently opposed by the patricians. All laws which related to the public land are called by the general title of Leges Agrariae, and accordingly all the early laws relating to the possession of the public land by the patricians, and to the assignment of portions of it to the plebeians, were strictly agrarian laws; but the first law to which this name is usually applied was proposed soon after the establishment of the republic by the consul, Sp. Cassius, in B.C. 486. Its object was to set apart the portion of the public land which the patricians were to possess, to divide the rest among the plebeians, to levy the payment due for the possession, and to apply it to paying the army. The first law, however, which really deprived the patricians of the advantages they had previously enjoyed in the occupation of the public land was the agrarian law of C. Licinius Stolo (B.C. 366), which limited each individual’s possession of public land to 500 jugera, and declared that no individual should have above 100 large and 500 smaller cattle on the public pastures: it further enacted that the surplus land was to be divided among the plebeians. As this law, however, was soon disregarded, it was revived again by Tib. Sempronius Gracchus (B.C. 133), with some alterations and additions. The details of the other agrarian laws mentioned in Roman history are given under the name of the lex by which they are called. [LEX.]

AGGER (χῶμα), from ad and gero, was used in general for a heap or mound of any kind. It was more particularly applied:--(1) To a mound, usually composed of earth, which was raised round a besieged town, and which was gradually increased in breadth and height, till it equalled or overtopped the walls. The agger was sometimes made, not only of earth, but of wood, hurdles, &c.; whence we read of the agger being set on fire.--(2) To the earthen wall surrounding a Roman encampment, composed of the earth dug from the ditch (fossa), which was usually 9 feet broad and 7 feet deep; but if any attack was apprehended, the depth was increased to 12 feet and the breadth to 13 feet. Sharp stakes, &c., were usually fixed upon the agger, which was then called vallum. When both words are used, the agger means the mound of earth, and the vallum the stakes, &c., which were fixed upon the agger.

ĂGITĀTŌRES. [CIRCUS.]

AGMEN. [EXERCITUS.]

AGNĀTI. [COGNATI.]

AGNŌMEN [NOMEN.]

ĂGŌNĀLĬA or ĂGŌNĬA, one of the most ancient festivals at Rome, its institution being attributed to Numa Pompilius. It was celebrated on the 9th of January, the 21st of May, and the 11th of December; to which we should probably add the 17th of March, the day on which the Liberalia was celebrated, since this festival is also called Agonia or Agonium Martiale. The object of this festival was a disputed point among the ancients themselves. The victim which was offered was a ram; the person who offered it was the rex sacrificulus; and the place where it was offered was the regia. Now the ram was the usual victim presented to the guardian gods of the state, and the rex sacrificulus and the regia could be employed only for such ceremonies as were connected with the highest gods and affected the weal of the whole state. Regarding the sacrifice in this light, we see a reason for its being offered several times in the year. The etymology of the name was also a subject of much dispute among the ancients; and the various etymologies that were proposed are given at length by Ovid (Fast. i. 319-332). None of these, however, are at all satisfactory; and we would therefore suggest that it may have received its name from the sacrifice having been offered on the Quirinal hill, which was originally called Agonus.

ĂGŌNES (ἀγῶνες), the general term among the Greeks for the contests at their great national games. The word also signified law-suits, and was especially employed in the phrase ἀγῶνες τιμητοί and ἀτίμητοι. [TIMEMA.]

ĂGONŎTHĔTAE (ἀγωνοθέται), persons in the Grecian games who decided disputes, and adjudged the prizes to the victors. Originally, the person who instituted the contest and offered the prize was the Agonothetes, and this continued to be the practice in those games which were instituted by kings or private persons. But in the great public games, such as the Isthmian, Pythian, &c., the Agonothetae were either the representatives of different states, as the Amphictyons at the Pythian games, or were chosen from the people in whose country the games were celebrated. During the flourishing times of the Grecian republics the Eleans were the Agonothetae in the Olympic games, the Corinthians in the Isthmian games, the Amphictyons in the Pythian games, and the Corinthians, Argives, and inhabitants of Cleonae in the Nemaean games. The Agonothetae were also called Aesymnetae (αἰσυμνῆται), Agonarchae (ἀγωνάρχαι), Agonodicae (ἀγωνοδίκαι), Athlothetae (ἀθλοθέται), Rhabduchi (ῥαβδοῦχοι), or Rhabdonomi (ῥαβδονόμοι, from the staff which they carried as an emblem of authority), Brabeis (βραβεῖς), and Brabeutae (βραβευταί).

ĂGŎRA (ἀγορά) properly means an assembly of any kind, and is usually employed by Homer to designate the general assembly of the people. The Agora seems to have been considered an essential part of the constitution of the early Grecian states. It was usually convoked by the king, but occasionally by some distinguished chieftain, as, for example, by Achilles before Troy. The king occupied the most important seat in these assemblies, and near him sat the nobles, while the people stood or sat in a circle around them. The people appear to have had no right of speaking or voting in these assemblies, but merely to have been called together to hear what had been already agreed upon in the council of the nobles, and to express their feelings as a body. The council of the nobles is called Boulé (βουλή) and Thoöcus (θόωκος), and sometimes even Agora. Among the Athenians, the proper name for the assembly of the people was Ecclesia (ἐκκλησία), and among the Dorians Halia (ἁλία). The term Agora was confined at Athens to the assemblies of the phylae and demi. The name Agora was early transferred from the assembly itself to the place in which it was held; and thus it came to be used for the market-place, where goods of all descriptions were bought and sold. Hence it answers to the Roman forum.

ĂGŎRĀNŎMI (ἀγορανόμοι), public functionaries in most of the Grecian states, whose duties corresponded in many respects with those of the Roman aediles. At Athens their number was ten, five for the city, and five for the Peiraeus, and they were chosen by lot. The principal duty of the Agoranomi was, as their name imports, to inspect the market, and to see that all the laws respecting its regulation were properly observed. They had the inspection of all things that were sold in the market, with the exception of corn, which was subject to the jurisdiction of special officers, called Sitophylaces (σιτοφύλακες). They regulated the price and quantity of articles exposed for sale, and punished all persons convicted of cheating, especially by means of false weights and measures. They had the power of fining all citizens who infringed upon the rules of the market, and of whipping all slaves and foreigners guilty of a like offence. They also collected the market dues, and had the care of all the temples and fountains in the market place.

AGRĀRĬAE LĒGES. [AGER PUBLICUS; LEX.]

AGRAULĬA (ἀγραύλια) was a festival celebrated by the Athenians in honour of Agraulos, the daughter of Cecrops. It was perhaps connected with the solemn oath, which all Athenians, when they arrived at manhood (ἔφηβοι), were obliged to take in the temple of Agraulos, that they would fight for their country, and always observe its laws.

AGRĪMENSŌRES, or “land surveyors,” a college established under the Roman emperors. Like the jurisconsults, they had regular schools, and were paid handsome salaries by the state. Their business was to measure unassigned lands for the state, and ordinary lands for the proprietors, and to fix and maintain boundaries. Their writings on the subject of their art were very numerous; and we have still scientific treatises on the law of boundaries, such as those by Frontinus and Hyginus.

AGRIŌNĬA (ἀγριώνια), a festival which was celebrated at Orchomenus, in Boeotia, in honour of Dionysus, surnamed Agrionius. A human being used originally to be sacrificed at this festival, but this sacrifice seems to have been avoided in later times. One instance, however, occurred in the days of Plutarch.

AGRONŎMI (ἀγρονόμοι), the country-police, probably in Attica, whose duties corresponded in most respects to those of the astynomi in the city, and who appear to have performed nearly the same duties as the hylori (ὑλωροί).

AGRŎTĔRAS THŬSIA (ἀγροτέρας θυσία), a festival celebrated every year at Athens in honour of Artemis, surnamed Agrotera (from ἄγρα, the chase). It was solemnized on the sixth of the month of Boëdromion, and consisted of a sacrifice of 500 goats, which continued to be offered in the time of Xenophon. Its origin is thus related:--When the Persians invaded Attica, the Athenians made a vow to sacrifice to Artemis Agrotera as many goats as there should be enemies slain at Marathon. But as the number of enemies slain was so great that an equal number of goats could not be found at once, the Athenians decreed that 500 should be sacrificed every year.

AGYRTAE (ἀγύρται), mendicant priests, who were accustomed to travel through the different towns of Greece, soliciting alms for the gods whom they served, and whose images they carried, either on their shoulders or on beasts of burthen. They were, generally speaking, persons of the lowest and most abandoned character.

ĂHĒNUM. [AENUM.]

AIKIAS DĬKĒ (αἰκίας δίκη), an action brought at Athens, before the court of the Forty (οἱ τετταράκοντα), against any individual who had struck a citizen. Any citizen who had been thus insulted might proceed against the offending party, either by the αἰκίας δίκη, which was a private action, or by the ὕβρεως γραφή, which was looked upon in the light of a public prosecution.

AITHOUSA (αἴθουσα), a word only used by Homer, is probably for αἴθουσα στοά, a portico exposed to the sun. From the passages in which it occurs, it seems to denote a covered portico, opening on to the court of the house, αὐλή, in front of the vestibule, πρόθυρον.

ĀLA, part of a Roman house. [DOMUS.]

ĀLA, ĀLĀRES, ĀLĀRĬI. Ala, which literally means a wing, was from the earliest epochs employed to denote the wing of an army, but in process of time was frequently used in a restricted sense.--(1) When a Roman army was composed of Roman citizens exclusively, the flanks of the infantry when drawn up in battle array were covered on the right and left by the cavalry; and hence Ala denoted the body of horse which was attached to and served along with the foot-soldiers of the legion.--(2) When, at a later date, the Roman armies were composed partly of Roman citizens and partly of Socii, either Latini or Italici, it became the practice to marshal the Roman troops in the centre of the battle line and the Socii upon the wings. Hence ala and alarii denoted the contingent furnished by the allies, both horse and foot, and the two divisions were distinguished as dextera ala and sinistra ala.--(3) When the whole of the inhabitants of Italy had been admitted to the privileges of Roman citizens the terms alarii, cohortes alariae were transferred to the foreign troops serving along with the Roman armies.--(4) Lastly, under the empire, the term ala was applied to regiments of horse, raised it would seem with very few exceptions in the provinces, serving apart from the legions and the cavalry of the legions.

ĂLĂBARCHĒS (ἀλαβάρχης), the chief magistrate of the Jews at Alexandria, whose duties, as far as the government was concerned, chiefly consisted in raising and paying the taxes.

ĂLĂBASTER or ĂLĂBASTRUM, a vessel or pot used for containing perfumes, or rather ointments, made of that species of marble which mineralogists call gypsum, and which is usually designated by the name of alabaster. When varieties of colour occur in the same stone, and are disposed in bands or horizontal strata, it is often called onyx alabaster; and when dispersed irregularly, as if in clouds, it is distinguished as agate alabaster. The term seems to have been employed to denote vessels appropriated to these uses, even when they were not made of the material from which it is supposed they originally received their name. Thus Theocritus speaks of golden alabastra. These vessels were of a tapering shape, and very often had a long narrow neck, which was sealed; so that when Mary, the sister of Lazarus, is said by St. Mark to break the alabaster box of ointment for the purpose of anointing our Saviour, it appears probable that she only broke the extremity of the neck, which was thus closed.

ĀLĀRĬI. [ALA.]

ĂLAUDA, a Gaulish word, the prototype of the modern French Alouette, denoting a small crested bird of the lark kind. The name alauda was bestowed by Julius Caesar on a legion of picked men, which he raised at his own expense among the inhabitants of Transalpine Gaul, about the year B.C. 55, which he equipped and disciplined after the Roman fashion, and on which he at a subsequent period bestowed the freedom of the state. The designation was, in all probability, applied from a plume upon the helmet, resembling the “apex” of the bird in question, or from the general shape and appearance of the head-piece.

ALBŎGĂLĒRUS. [APEX.]

ALBUM, a tablet of any material on which the praetor’s edicts, and the rules relating to actions and interdicts, were written. The tablet was put up in a public place, in order that all the world might have notice of its contents. According to some authorities, the album was so called because it was either a white material or a material whitened, and of course the writing would be of a different colour. According to other authorities, it was so called because the writing was in white letters. Probably the word album originally meant any tablet containing anything of a public nature. We know that it was, in course of time, used to signify a list of any public body; thus we find album judicum, or the body out of which judices were to be chosen [JUDEX], and album senatorium, or list of senators.

ĀLĔA, gaming, or playing at a game of chance of any kind: hence aleo, aleator, a gamester, a gambler. Playing with tali, or tesserae, was generally understood, because this was by far the most common game of chance among the Romans. Gaming was forbidden by the Roman laws, both during the times of the republic and under the emperors, but was tolerated in the month of December at the Saturnalia, which was a period of general relaxation; and old men were allowed to amuse themselves in this manner at all times.

ĂLĬCŬLA (ἄλλιξ or ἄλληξ), an upper dress, in all probability identical with the chlamys.

ĂLIMENTĀRII PŬĔRI ET PŬELLAE. In the Roman republic the poorer citizens were assisted by public distributions of corn, oil, and money, which were called congiaria. [CONGIARIUM.] The Emperor Nerva was the first who extended them to children, and Trajan appointed them to be made every month, both to orphans and to the children of poor parents. The children who received them were called pueri et puellae alimentarii, and also (from the emperor) pueri puellaeque Ulpiani.

ĀLĬPĬLUS, a slave, who attended on bathers to remove the superfluous hair from their bodies.

ĂLIPTAE (ἀλείπται), among the Greeks, were persons who anointed the bodies of the athletae preparatory to their entering the palaestra. The chief object of this anointing was to close the pores of the body, in order to prevent much perspiration, and the weakness consequent thereon. The athleta was again anointed after the contest, in order to restore the tone of the strained muscles. He then bathed, and had the dust, sweat, and oil scraped off his body, by means of an instrument similar to the strigil of the Romans, and called stlengis (στλεγγίς), and afterwards xystra (ξύστρα). The aliptae took advantage of the knowledge they necessarily acquired of the state of the muscles of the athletae, and their general strength or weakness of body, to advise them as to their exercises and mode of life. They were thus a kind of medical trainers. Among the Romans the aliptae were slaves who scrubbed and anointed their masters in the baths. They, too, like the Greek aliptae, appear to have attended to their masters’ constitution and mode of life. They were also called unctores. They used in their operations a kind of scraper called strigil, towels (lintea), a cruise of oil (guttus), which was usually of horn, a bottle (ampulla), and a small vessel called lenticula.

ALLŎCŪTĬO, an harangue made by a Roman imperator to his soldiers, to encourage them before battle, or on other occasions. On coins we frequently find a figure of an imperator standing on a platform and addressing the soldiers below him. Such coins bear the epigraph ADLOCUTIO.

ALŌA or HALŌA (ἀλῶα, ἁλῶα), an Attic festival, but celebrated principally at Eleusis, in honour of Demeter and Dionysus, the inventors of the plough and protectors of the fruits of the earth.

ALTĀRE. [ARA.]

ĂLŪTA. [CALCEUS.]

ĂLỸTAE (ἀλύται), persons whose business it was to keep order in the public games. They received their orders from an alytarches (ἀλυτάρχης), who was himself under the direction of the agonothetae, or hellenodicae.

ĀMĂNŬENSIS, or AD MĂNUM SERVUS, a slave, or freedman, whose office it was to write letters and other things under his master’s direction. The amanuenses must not be confounded with another sort of slaves, also called ad manum servi, who were always kept ready to be employed in any business.

ĂMĂRYNTHĬA, or ĂMĂRYSĬA (ἀμαρύνθια or ἀμαρύσια), a festival of Artemis Amarynthia or Amarysia, celebrated, as it seems, originally at Amarynthus in Euboea, with extraordinary splendour, but also solemnised in several places in Attica, such as Athmone.

AMBARVĀLIĂ. [ARVALES FRATRES.]

AMBĬTUS, which literally signifies “a going about,” cannot, perhaps, be more nearly expressed than by our word canvassing. After the plebs had formed a distinct class at Rome, and when the whole body of the citizens had become very greatly increased, we frequently read, in the Roman writers, of the great efforts which it was necessary for candidates to make in order to secure the votes of the citizens. At Rome, as in every community into which the element of popular election enters, solicitation of votes, and open or secret influence and bribery, were among the means by which a candidate secured his election to the offices of state. The following are the principal terms occurring in the Roman writers in relation to the canvassing for the public offices:--A candidate was called petitor; and his opponent with reference to him competitor. A candidate (candidatus) was so called from his appearing in the public places, such as the fora and Campus Martius, before his fellow-citizens, in a whitened toga. On such occasions the candidate was attended by his friends (deductores), or followed by the poorer citizens (sectatores), who could in no other manner show their good will or give their assistance. The word assiduitas expressed both the continual presence of the candidate at Rome and his continual solicitations. The candidate, in going his rounds or taking his walk, was accompanied by a nomenclator, who gave him the names of such persons as he might meet; the candidate was thus enabled to address them by their name, an indirect compliment, which could not fail to be generally gratifying to the electors. The candidate accompanied his address with a shake of the hand (prensatio). The term benignitas comprehended generally any kind of treating, as shows, feasts, &c. The ambitus, which was the object of several penal enactments, taken as a generic term, comprehended the two species--ambitus and largitiones (bribery). Liberalitas and benignitas are opposed by Cicero, as things allowable, to ambitus and largitio, as things illegal. Money was paid for votes; and, in order to insure secrecy and secure the elector, persons called interpretes were employed to make the bargain, sequestres to hold the money till it was to be paid, and divisores to distribute it. The offence of ambitus was a matter which belonged to the judicia publica, and the enactments against it were numerous. One of the earliest, though not the earliest of all, the Lex Cornelia Baebia (B.C. 181) was specially directed against largitiones. Those convicted under it were incapacitated from being candidates for ten years. The Lex Cornelia Fulvia (B.C. 159) punished the offence with exile. The Lex Acilia Calpurnia (B.C. 67) imposed a fine on the offending party, with exclusion from the senate and all public offices. The Lex Tullia (B.C. 63), passed in the consulship of Cicero, in addition to the penalty of the Acilian law, inflicted ten years’ exsilium on the offender; and, among other things, forbade a person to exhibit gladiatorial shows (gladiatores dare) within any two years in which he was a candidate, unless he was required to do so, on a fixed day, by a testator’s will. Two years afterwards the Lex Aufidia was proposed, but not passed; by which, among other things, it was provided that, if a candidate promised (pronuntiavit) money to a tribe, and did not pay it, he should be unpunished; but, if he did pay the money, he should further pay to each tribe (annually?) 3000 sesterces as long as he lived. This absurd proposal occasioned the witticism of Cicero, who said that Clodius observed the law by anticipation; for he promised, but did not pay. The Lex Licinia (B.C. 55) was specially directed against the offence of sodalitium, or the wholesale bribery of a tribe by gifts and treating; and another lex, passed (B.C. 52) when Pompey was sole consul, had for its object the establishment of a speedier course of proceeding on trials for ambitus. All these enactments failed in completely accomplishing their object. That which no law could suppress, so long as the old popular forms retained any of their pristine vigour, was accomplished by the imperial usurpation. Caesar, when dictator, nominated some of the candidates for public offices: as to the consulship, he managed the appointments to that office just as he pleased. The popular forms of election were observed during the time of Augustus. Tiberius transferred the elections from the comitia to the senate, by which the offence of ambitus, in its proper sense, entirely disappeared. The trials for ambitus were numerous in the time of the republic. The oration of Cicero in defence of L. Murena, who was charged with ambitus, and that in defence of Cn. Plancius, who was charged with sodalitium, are both extant.

AMBRŎSĬA (ἀμβροσία), the food of the gods, which conferred upon them eternal youth and immortality, and was brought to Jupiter by pigeons. It was also used by the gods for anointing their body and hair; whence we read of the ambrosial locks of Jupiter.

AMBŪBAIAE (probably from the Syriac abub aubub, a pipe), Eastern dancing girls, who frequented chiefly the Circus at Rome, and obtained their living by prostitution and lascivious songs and dances.

AMBURBĬUM, a sacrifice which was performed at Rome for the purification of the city.

AMENTUM. [HASTA.]

ĂMICTŌRĬUM. [STROPHIUM.]

ĂMICTUS. The verb amicire is commonly opposed to induere, the former being applied to the putting on of the outer garment, the pallium, laena, or toga (ἱμάτιον, φᾶρος); the latter, to the putting on of the inner garment, the tunic (χιτών). In consequence of this distinction, the verbal nouns amictus and indutus, even without any further denomination of the dress being added, indicate respectively the outer and inner clothing. In Greek amicire is expressed by ἀμφιέννυσθαι, ἀμπέχεσθαι, ἐπιβάλλεσθαι, περιβάλλεσθαι: and induere by ἐνδύνειν. Hence came ἀμπεχόνη, ἐπίβλημα, and ἐπιβόλαιον, περίβλημα, and περιβόλαιον, an outer garment, a cloak, a shawl; and ἔνδυμα, an inner garment, a tunic, a shirt.

AMPHICTỸŎNES (ἀμφικτύονες). Institutions called amphictyonic appear to have existed in Greece from time immemorial. They seem to have been originally associations of neighbouring tribes, formed for the regulation of mutual intercourse and the protection of a common temple or sanctuary, at which the representatives of the different members met, both to transact business and to celebrate religious rites and games. One of these associations was of much greater importance than all the rest, and was called, by way of eminence, the Amphictyonic League or Council (ἀμφικτυονία). It differed from other similar associations in having two places of meeting, the sanctuaries of two divinities; which were the temple of Demeter, in the village of Anthela, near Thermopylae, where the deputies met in autumn; and that of Apollo, at Delphi, where they assembled in spring. Its connexion with the latter place not only contributed to its dignity, but also to its permanence. Its early history is involved in obscurity. Most of the ancients suppose it to have been founded by Amphictyon, the son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, from whom they imagined that it derived its name: but this opinion is destitute of all foundation, and arose from the ancients assigning the establishment of their institutions to some mythical hero. There can be little doubt as to the true etymology of the word. It was originally written ἀμφικτίονες, and consequently signified those that dwelt around some particular locality. Its institution, however, is clearly of remote antiquity. It was originally composed of twelve tribes (not cities or states, it must be observed), each of which tribes contained various independent cities or states. We learn from Aeschines, that in B.C. 343, eleven of these tribes were as follows:--The Thessalians, Boeotians (not Thebans only), Dorians, Ionians, Perrhaebians, Magnetes, Locrians, Oetaeans or Oenianians, Phthiots or Achaeans of Phthia, Malians, and Phocians; other lists leave us in doubt whether the remaining tribe were the Dolopes or Delphians; but as the Delphians could hardly be called a distinct tribe, their nobles appearing to have been Dorians, it seems probable that the Dolopes were originally members, and afterwards supplanted by the Delphians. All the states belonging to each of these tribes were on a footing of perfect equality. Thus Sparta enjoyed no advantages over Dorium and Cytinium, two small towns in Doris: and Athens, an Ionic city, was on a par with Eretria in Euboea, and Priene in Asia Minor, two other Ionic cities. The ordinary council was called Pylaea (πυλαία), from its meeting in the neighbourhood of Pylae (Thermopylae), but the name was given to the session at Delphi as well as to that at Thermopylae. The council was composed of two classes of representatives, one called Pylagorae (Πυλαγόραι), and the other Hieromnemones (Ἱερομνήμονες). Athens sent three Pylagorae and one Hieromnemon; of whom the former were elected apparently for each session, and the latter by lot, probably for a longer period. Respecting the relative duties of the Pylagorae and Hieromnemones we have little information: the name of the latter implies that they had a more immediate connection with the temple. We are equally in the dark respecting the numbers who sat in the council and its mode of proceeding. It would seem that all the deputies had seats in the council, and took part in its deliberations; but if it be true, as appears from Aeschines, that each of the tribes had only two votes, it is clear that all the deputies could not have voted. In addition to the ordinary council, there was an ecclesia (ἐκκλησία), or general assembly, including not only the classes above mentioned, but also those who had joined in the sacrifices, and were consulting the god. It was convened on extraordinary occasions by the chairman of the council. Of the duties of the Amphictyons nothing will give us a clearer view than the oath they took, which was as follows:--“They would destroy no city of the Amphictyons, nor cut off their streams in war or peace; and if any should do so, they would march against him, and destroy his cities; and should any pillage the property of the god, or be privy to or plan anything against what was in his temple (at Delphi), they would take vengeance on him with hand and foot, and voice, and all their might.” From this oath we see that the main duty of the deputies was the preservation of the rights and dignity of the temple of Delphi. We know, too, that after it was burnt down (B.C. 548), they contracted with the Alcmaeonidae for its rebuilding. History, moreover, teaches that if the council produced any palpable effects, it was from their interest in Delphi; and though they kept up a standing record of what ought to have been the international law of Greece, they sometimes acquiesced in, and at other times were parties to, the most iniquitous acts. Of this the case of Crissa is an instance. This town lay on the Gulf of Corinth, near Delphi, and was much frequented by pilgrims from the West. The Crissaeans were charged by the Delphians with undue exactions from these strangers. The council declared war against them, as guilty of a wrong against the god. The war lasted ten years, till, at the suggestion of Solon, the waters of the Pleistus were turned off, then poisoned, and turned again into the city. The besieged drank their fill, and Crissa was soon razed to the ground; and thus, if it were an Amphictyonic city, was a solemn oath doubly violated. Its territory--the rich Cirrhaean plain--was consecrated to the god, and curses imprecated upon whomsoever should till or dwell in it. Thus ended the First Sacred War (B.C. 585), in which the Athenians were the instruments of Delphian vengeance. The second or Phocian war (B.C. 350) was the most important in which the Amphictyons were concerned; and in this the Thebans availed themselves of the sanction of the council to take vengeance on their enemies, the Phocians. To do this, however, it was necessary to call in Philip of Macedon, who readily proclaimed himself the champion of Apollo, as it opened a pathway to his own ambition. The Phocians were subdued (B.C. 346), and the council decreed that all their cities, except Abae, should be razed, and the inhabitants dispersed in villages not containing more than fifty persons. Their two votes were given to Philip, who thereby gained a pretext for interfering with the affairs of Greece; and also obtained the recognition of his subjects as Hellenes. The Third Sacred War arose from the Amphissians tilling the devoted Cirrhaean plain. The Amphictyons called in the assistance of Philip, who soon reduced the Amphissians to subjection. Their submission was immediately followed by the battle of Chaeroneia (B.C. 338), and the extinction of the independence of Greece. In the following year, a congress of the Amphictyonic states was held, in which war was declared as if by united Greece against Persia, and Philip elected commander-in-chief. On this occasion the Amphictyons assumed the character of national representatives as of old, when they set a price upon the head of Ephialtes, for his treason to Greece at Thermopylae. It has been sufficiently shown that the Amphictyons themselves did not observe the oaths they took; and that they did not much alleviate the horrors of war, or enforce what they had sworn to do, is proved by many instances. Thus, for instance, Mycenae was destroyed by Argos (B.C. 535), Thespiae and Plataeae by Thebes, and Thebes herself swept from the face of the earth by Alexander, without the Amphictyons raising one word in opposition. Indeed, a few years before the Peloponnesian war, the council was a passive spectator of what Thucydides calls the Sacred War (ὁ ἱερὸς πόλεμος), when the Lacedaemonians made an expedition to Delphi, and put the temple into the hands of the Delphians, the Athenians, after their departure, restoring it to the Phocians. The council is rarely mentioned after the time of Philip. We are told that Augustus wished his new city, Nicopolis (A.D. 31), to be enrolled among the members. Pausanias, in the second century of our era, mentions it as still existing, but deprived of all power and influence.

AMPHĬDRŎMĬA (ἀμφιδρόμια or δρομιάμφιον ἧμαρ), a family festival of the Athenians, at which the newly-born child was introduced into the family, and received its name. The friends and relations of the parents were invited to the festival of the amphidromia, which was held in the evening, and they generally appeared with presents. The house was decorated on the outside with olive branches when the child was a boy, or with garlands of wool when the child was a girl; and a repast was prepared for the guests. The child was carried round the fire by the nurse, and thus, as it were, presented to the gods of the house and to the family, and at the same time received its name, to which the guests were witnesses. The carrying of the child round the hearth was the principal part of the solemnity, from which its name was derived.

AMPHĬTHĔĀTRUM, an amphitheatre, was a place for the exhibition of public shows of combatants, wild beasts, and naval engagements, and was entirely surrounded with seats for the spectators; whereas, in those for dramatic performances, the seats were arranged in a semicircle facing the stage. An amphitheatre is therefore frequently described as a double theatre, consisting of two such semicircles, or halves, joined together, the spaces allotted to their orchestras becoming the inner inclosure, or area, termed the arena. The form, however, of the ancient amphitheatres was not a circle, but invariably an ellipse. Gladiatorial shows and combats of wild beasts (venationes) were first exhibited in the forum and the circus; and it appears that the ancient custom was still preserved till the time of Julius Caesar. The first building in the form of an amphitheatre is said to have been erected by C. Scribonius Curio, one of Caesar’s partisans; but the account which is given of this building sounds rather fabulous. It is said to have consisted of two wooden theatres, made to revolve on pivots, in such a manner that they could, by means of windlasses and machinery, be turned round face to face, so as to form one building. Soon after Caesar himself erected, in the Campus Martius, a stationary amphitheatre, made of wood; to which building the name of amphitheatrum was for the first time given. The first stone amphitheatre was built by Statilius Taurus, in the Campus Martius, at the desire of Augustus. This was the only stone amphitheatre at Rome till the time of Vespasian. One was commenced by Caligula, but was not continued by Claudius. The one erected by Nero in the Campus Martius was only a temporary building, made of wood. The amphitheatre of Statilius Taurus was burnt in the fire of Rome in the time of Nero; and hence, as a new one was needed, Vespasian commenced the celebrated Amphitheatrum Flavium in the middle of the city, in the valley between the Caelian, the Esquiline, and the Velia, on the spot originally occupied by the lake or large pond attached to Nero’s palace. Vespasian did not live to finish it. It was dedicated by Titus in A.D. 80, but was not completely finished, till the reign of Domitian. This immense edifice, which is even yet comparatively entire, covered nearly six acres of ground, and was capable of containing about 87,000 spectators. It is called at the present day the Colosseum or Colisaeum. The interior of an amphitheatre was divided into three parts, the arena, podium, and gradus. The clear open space in the centre of the amphitheatre was called the arena, because it was covered with sand, or sawdust, to prevent the gladiators from slipping, and to absorb the blood. The size of the arena was not always the same in proportion to the size of the amphitheatre, but its average proportion was one-third of the shorter diameter of the building. The arena was surrounded by a wall distinguished by the name of podium; although such appellation, perhaps, rather belongs to merely the upper part of it, forming the parapet, or balcony, before the first or lowermost seats, nearest to the arena. The arena, therefore, was no more than an open oval court, surrounded by a wall about fifteen feet high; a height considered necessary, in order to render the spectators perfectly secure from the attacks of wild beasts. There were four principal entrances leading into the arena; two at the ends of each axis or diameter of it, to which as many passages led directly from the exterior of the building; besides secondary ones, intervening between them, and communicating with the corridors beneath the seats on the podium. The wall or enclosure of the arena is supposed to have been faced with marble, more or less sumptuous; besides which, there appears to have been, in some instances at least, a sort of net-work affixed to the top of the podium, consisting of railing, or rather open trellis-work of metal. As a further defence, ditches, called euripi, sometimes surrounded the arena. The term podium was also applied to the terrace, or gallery itself, immediately above the arena, which was no wider than to be capable of containing two, or at the most, three ranges of moveable seats, or chairs. This, as being by far the best situation for distinctly viewing the sports in the arena, and also more commodiously accessible than the seats higher up, was the place set apart for senators and other persons of distinction, such as foreign ambassadors; and it was here, also, that the emperor himself used to sit, in an elevated place, called suggestus or cubiculum, and likewise the person who exhibited the games on a place elevated like a pulpit or tribunal (editoris tribunal). Above the podium were the gradus, or seats of the other spectators, which were divided into maeniana, or stories. The first maenianum, consisting of fourteen rows of stone or marble seats, was appropriated to the equestrian order. The seats appropriated to the senators and equites were covered with cushions, which were first used in the time of Caligula. Then, after an interval or space, termed a praecinctio, and forming a continued landing-place from the several staircases in it, succeeded the second maenianum, where were the seats called popularia, for the third class of spectators, or the populus. Behind this was the second praecinctio, bounded by a rather high wall; above which was the third maenianum, where there were only wooden benches for the pullati, or common people. The next and last division, namely, that in the highest part of the building, consisted of a colonnade, or gallery, where females were allowed to witness the spectacles of the amphitheatre, but some parts of it were also occupied by the pullati. Each maenianum was not only divided from the other by the praecinctio, but was intersected at intervals by spaces for passages left between the seats, called scalae, or scalaria; and the portion between two such passages was called cuneus, because the space gradually widened like a wedge, from the podium to the top of the building. The entrances to the seats from the outer porticoes were called vomitoria. At the very summit was the narrow platform for the men who had to attend to the velarium, or awning, by which the building was covered as a defence against the sun and rain. The velarium appears usually to have been made of wool, but more costly materials were sometimes employed. The first of the preceding cuts represents a longitudinal section of the Flavian amphitheatre, and the second, which is on a larger scale, a part of the above section, including the exterior wall, and the seats included between that and the arena. It will serve to convey an idea of the leading form and general disposition of the interior. For an account of the gladiatorial contests, and the shows of wild beasts, exhibited in the amphitheatre, see GLADIATORES, NAUMACHIA, and VENATIO.

AMPHŎRA (ἀμφορεύς), a vessel used for holding wine, oil, honey, &c. The following cut represents amphorae in the British Museum. They are of various forms and sizes; in general they are tall and narrow, with a small neck, and a handle on each side of the neck (whence the name, from ἀμφί, on both sides, and φέρω, to carry), and terminating at the bottom in a point, which was let into a stand or stuck in the ground, so that the vessel stood upright: several amphorae have been found in this position in the cellars at Pompeii. Amphorae were commonly made of earthenware. Homer mentions amphorae of gold and stone, and the Egyptians had them of brass; glass vessels of this form have been found at Pompeii. The most common use of the amphora, both among the Greeks and the Romans, was for keeping wine. The cork was covered with pitch or gypsum, and (among the Romans) on the outside the title of the wine was painted, the date of the vintage being marked by the names of the consuls then in office; or, when the jars were of glass, little tickets (pittoria, tesserae) were suspended from them, indicating these particulars.--The Greek amphoreus and the Roman amphora were also names of fixed measures. The amphoreus, which was also called metretes (μετρητής) and cadus (κάδος), was equal to three Roman urnae = 8 gallons, 7·365 pints, imperial measure. The Roman amphora was two-thirds of the amphoreus, and was equal to 2 urnae = 8 congii = to 5 gallons, 7·577 pints; its solid content was exactly a Roman cubic foot.

AMPLĬĀTĬO, an adjournment of a trial, which took place when the judices after hearing the evidence of the advocates were unable to come to a satisfactory conclusion. This they expressed by giving in the tablets, on which were the letters N. L. (non liquet), and the praetor, by pronouncing the word amplius, thereupon adjourned the trial to any day he chose. The defendant and the cause were then said ampliari.

AMPULLA (λήκυθος, βομβύλιος), a bottle, usually made among the Romans either of glass or earthenware, rarely of more valuable materials. Ampullae were more or less globular. From their round and swollen shape, the word was used by Horace to indicate grand and turgid but empty language. (“Projicit ampullas et sesquipedalia verba,” Ar. Poet. 97.) Ampullae are frequently mentioned in connection with the bath, since every Roman took with him to the bath a bottle of oil for anointing the body after bathing. The dealer in bottles was called ampullarius.

AMPYX (ἄμπυξ, ἀμπυκτήρ, Lat. frontale), a frontal, a broad band or plate of metal, which ladies of rank wore above the forehead as part of the head-dress. The frontal of a horse was called by the same name. The annexed cut exhibits the frontal on the head of Pegasus, in contrast with the corresponding ornament as shown on the heads of two females.

ĂMŬLĒTUM (περίαπτον, περίαμμα, φυλακτήριον), an amulet. This word in Arabic (hamalet) means that which is suspended. It was probably brought into Europe by Arabian merchants, together with the articles to which it was applied. An amulet was any object,--a stone, a plant, an artificial production, or a piece of writing,--which was suspended from the neck, or tied to any part of the body, for the purpose of warding off calamities and securing advantages of any kind. Faith in the virtues of amulets was almost universal in the ancient world, so that the art of medicine consisted in a very considerable degree of directions for their application.

ĂMUSSIS or ĂMUSSĬUM, a carpenter’s and mason’s instrument, the use of which was to obtain a true plane surface.

ĂNĂCEIA (ἀνάκεια, or ἀνάκειον), a festival of the Dioscuri or Anactes (Ἄνακτες), as they were called at Athens. These heroes, however, received the most distinguished honours in the Dorian and Achaean states, where it may be supposed that every town celebrated a festival in their honour, though not under the name of Anaceia.

ĂNACRĬSIS (ἀνάκρισις), an examination, was used to signify the pleadings preparatory to a trial at Athens, the object of which was to determine, generally, if the action would lie. The magistrates were said ἀνακρίνειν τὴν δίκην or τοὺς ἀντιδίκους, and the parties ἀνακρίνεσθαι. The process consisted in the production of proofs, of which there were five kinds:--1. The laws; 2. Written documents; 3. Testimonies of witnesses present (μαρτυρίαι), or affidavits of absent witnesses (ἐκμαρτυρίαι); 4. Depositions of slaves extorted by the rack; 5. The oath of the parties. All these proofs were committed to writing, and placed in a box secured by a seal (ἐχῖνος) till they were produced at the trial. If the evidence produced at the anacrisis was so clear and convincing that there could not remain any doubt, the magistrate could decide the question without sending the cause to be tried before the dicasts: this was called diamartyria (διαμαρτυρία). The archons were the proper officers for holding the anacrisis; they are represented by Athena (Minerva), in the Eumenides of Aeschylus, where there is a poetical sketch of the process in the law courts. For an account of the anacrisis or examination, which each archon underwent previously to entering on office, see ARCHON.

ĂNĂGLỸPHA or ĂNĂGLYPTA (ἀνάγλυφα, ἀνάγλυπτα), chased or embossed vessels made of bronze or of the precious metals, which derived their name from the work on them being in relief, and not engraved.

ĂNĂGNOSTĒS, a slave, whose duty it was to read or repeat passages from books during an entertainment, and also at other times.

ĂNĂGŌGĬA (ἀναγώγια), a festival celebrated at Eryx, in Sicily, in honour of Aphrodite. The inhabitants of the place believed that, during this festival, the goddess went over into Africa.

ĂNĂTŎCISMUS. [FENUS.]

ANCĪLE. [SALII.]

ANCŎRA. [NAVIS.]

ANDĂBĂTA. [GLADIATOR.]

ANDRŎGĔŌNIA (ἀνδρογεώνια), a festival with games, held every year in the Cerameicus at Athens, in honour of the hero Androgeus, son of Minos, who had overcome all his adversaries in the festive games of the Panathenaea, and was afterwards killed by his jealous rivals.

ANDRŎLEPSĬA (ἀνδροληψία or ἀνδρολήψιον), a legal means by which the Athenians were enabled to take vengeance upon a community in which an Athenian citizen had been murdered, by seizing three individuals of that state or city, as hostages, until satisfaction was given.

ANDRŌNĪTIS. [DOMUS, GREEK.]

ANGĂRĪA (ἀγγαρεία, Hdt. ἀγγαρήϊον), a word borrowed from the Persians, signifying a system of posting by relays of horses, which was used among that people, and which, according to Xenophon, was established by Cyrus. The term was adopted by the Romans under the empire to signify compulsory service in forwarding the messages of the state. The Roman angaria, also called angariarum exhibitio or praestatio, included the maintenance and supply, not only of horses, but of ships and messengers, in forwarding both letters and burdens; it is defined as a personale munus; and there was no ground of exemption from it allowed, except by the favour of the emperor.

ANGĬPORTUS, or ANGĬPORTUM, a narrow lane between two rows of houses, which might either be what the French call a cul-de-sac, or it might terminate at both ends in some public street.

ANGUSTICLĀVĬI. [CLAVUS.]

ANNĀLES MAXĬMI. [PONTIFEX.]

ANNŌNA (from annus, like pomona from pomum).--(1) The produce of the year in corn, fruit, wine, &c., and hence,--(2) provisions in general, especially the corn, which, in the later years of the republic, was collected in the storehouses of the state, and sold to the poor at a cheap rate in times of scarcity; and which, under the emperors, was distributed to the people gratuitously, or given as pay and rewards;--(3) the price of provisions;--(4) a soldier’s allowance of provisions for a certain time. The word is used also in the plural for yearly or monthly distributions of pay in corn, &c.

ANNŬLUS (δακτύλιος), a ring. It is probable that the custom of wearing rings was very early introduced into Greece from Asia, where it appears to have been almost universal. They were worn not merely as ornaments, but as articles for use, as the ring always served as a seal. A seal was called sphragis (σφραγίς), and hence this name was given to the ring itself, and also to the gem or stone for a ring in which figures were engraved. Rings in Greece were mostly worn on the fourth finger (παράμεσος). At Rome, the custom of wearing rings was believed to have been introduced by the Sabines, who were described in the early legends as wearing golden rings with precious stones of great beauty. But, whenever introduced at Rome, it is certain that they were at first always of iron; that they were destined for the same purpose as in Greece, namely, to be used as seals; and that every free Roman had a right to use such a ring. This iron ring was worn down to the last period of the republic by such men as loved the simplicity of the good old times. In the course of time, however, it became customary for all the senators, chief magistrates, and at last for the equites also, to wear a golden seal-ring. The right of wearing a gold ring, which was subsequently called the jus annuli aurei, or the jus annulorum, remained for several centuries at Rome the exclusive privilege of senators, magistrates, and equites, while all other persons continued to wear iron ones. During the empire the right of granting the annulus aureus belonged to the emperors, and some of them were not very scrupulous in conferring this privilege. Augustus gave it to Mena, a freedman, and to Antonius Musa, a physician. The emperors Severus and Aurelian conferred the right of wearing golden rings upon all Roman soldiers; and Justinian at length allowed all the citizens of the empire, whether ingenui or libertini, to wear such rings. The ring of a Roman emperor was a kind of state seal, and the emperor sometimes allowed the use of it to such persons as he wished to be regarded as his representatives. During the republic and the early times of the empire the jus annuli seems to have made a person ingenuus (if he was a libertus), and to have raised him to the rank of eques, provided he had the requisite equestrian census, and it was probably never granted to any one who did not possess this census. Those who lost their property, or were found guilty of a criminal offence, lost the jus annuli. The principal value of a ring consisted in the gem set in it, or rather in the workmanship of the engraver. The stone most frequently used was the onyx (σαρδῶνος, σαρδόνυξ), on account of its various colours, of which the artist made the most skilful use. In the art of engraving upon gems the ancients far surpassed anything that modern times can boast of. The devices engraved upon rings were very various: they were portraits of ancestors or of friends, subjects connected with mythology; and in many cases a person had engraved upon his seal some symbolical allusion to the real or mythical history of his family. The bezel or part of the ring which contained the gem was called pala. With the increasing love of luxury and show, the Romans, as well as the Greeks, covered their fingers with rings. Some persons also wore rings of immoderate size, and others used different rings for summer and winter. Much superstition appears to have been connected with rings, especially in the East and in Greece. Some persons made it a lucrative trade to sell rings which were believed to possess magic powers, and to preserve the wearers from external danger.

ANNUS. [CALENDARIUM.]

ANQUĪSĪTĬO, signified, in criminal trials at Rome, the investigation of the facts of the case with reference to the penalty that was to be imposed: accordingly the phrases pecunia capitis or capitis anquirere are used. Under the emperors the term anquisitio lost its original meaning, and was employed to indicate an accusation in general; in which sense it also occurs even in the times of the republic.

ANTAE (παραστάδες), square pillars, which were commonly joined to the side-walls of a building, being placed on each side of the door, so as to assist in forming the portico. These terms are seldom found except in the plural; because the purpose served by antae required that they should be erected corresponding to each other and supporting the extremities of the same roof. The temple in antis was one of the simplest kind. It had in front antae attached to the walls which inclosed the cella; and in the middle, between the antae, two columns supporting the architrave.

ANTĔAMBŬLŌNES, slaves who were accustomed to go before their masters, in order to make way for them through the crowd. The term anteambulones was also given to the clients, who were accustomed to walk before their patroni, when the latter appeared in public.

ANTĔCESSŌRES, called also ANTĔCURSŌRES, horse-soldiers, who were accustomed to precede an army on march, in order to choose a suitable place for the camp, and to make the necessary provisions for the army. They do not appear to have been merely scouts, like the speculatores.

ANTĔCOENA. [COENA.]

ANTĔFIXA, terra-cottas, which exhibited various ornamental designs, and were used in architecture to cover the frieze (zophorus) of the entablature. These terra-cottas do not appear to have been used among the Greeks, but were probably Etruscan in their origin, and were thence taken for the decoration of Roman buildings. The name antefixa is evidently derived from the circumstance that they were fixed before the buildings which they adorned. Cato, the censor, complained that the Romans of his time began to despise ornaments of this description, and to prefer the marble friezes of Athens and Corinth. The rising taste which Cato deplored may account for the superior beauty of the antefixa preserved in the British Museum, which were discovered at Rome.

ANTENNA. [NAVIS.]

ANTĔPĪLĀNI. [EXERCITUS.]

ANTĔSIGNĀNI. [EXERCITUS.]

ANTHESPHŎRĬA (ἀνθεσφόρια), a flower-festival, principally celebrated in Sicily, in honour of Demeter and Persephone, in commemoration of the return of Persephone to her mother in the beginning of spring.

ANTHESTĒRĬA. [DIONYSIA.]

ANTĬDŎSIS (ἀντίδοσις), in its literal and general meaning, “an exchange,” was, in the language of the Attic courts, peculiarly applied to proceedings under a law which is said to have originated with Solon. By this, a citizen nominated to perform a leiturgia, such as a trierarchy or choregia, or to rank among the property-tax payers, in a class disproportioned to his means, was empowered to call upon any qualified person not so charged to take the office in his stead, or submit to a complete exchange of property, the charge in question of course attaching to the first party, if the exchange were finally effected. For the proceedings the courts were opened at a stated time every year by the magistrates that had official cognisance of the particular subject; such as the strategi in cases of trierarchy and rating to the property-taxes, and the archon in those of choregia.

ANTĬGRĂPHE (ἀντιγραφή) originally signified the writing put in by the defendant, his “plea” in all causes whether public or private, in answer to the indictment or bill of the prosecutor. It is, however, also applied to the bill or indictment of the plaintiff or accuser.

ĀNTLĬA (ἄντλια), any machine for raising water, a pump. The most important of these machines were:--(1) The tympanum; a tread-wheel, worked by men treading on it.--(2) A wheel having wooden boxes or buckets, so arranged as to form steps for those who trod the wheel.--(3) The chain pump.--(4) The cochlea, or Archimedes’s screw.--(5) The ctesibica machina, or forcing-pump.--Criminals were condemned to the antlia or tread-mill. The antlia with which Martial (ix. 19) watered his garden, was probably the pole and bucket universally employed in Italy, Greece, and Egypt. The pole is curved, as shown in the annexed figure; because it is the stem of a fir or some other tapering tree.

ANTYX (ἄντυξ), the rim or border of any thing, especially of a shield or chariot. The rim of the large round shield of the ancient Greeks was thinner than the part which it enclosed; but on the other hand, the antyx of a chariot must have been thicker than the body to which it gave both form and strength. In front of the chariot the antyx was often raised above the body, into the form of a curvature, which served the purpose of a hook to hang the reins upon.

ĂPĂGŌGĒ (ἀπαγωγή), a summary process, allowed in certain cases by the Athenian law. The term denotes not merely the act of apprehending a culprit caught in ipso facto, but also the written information delivered to the magistrate, urging his apprehension. The cases in which the apagoge was most generally allowed were those of theft, murder, ill-usage of parents, &c.

ĂPĂTŪRĬA (ἀπατούρια) was a political festival, which the Athenians had in common with all the Greeks of the Ionian name, with the exception of those of Colophon and Ephesus. It was celebrated in the month of Pyanepsion, and lasted for three days. The name ἀπατούρια is not derived from ἀπατᾶν, to deceive, but is composed of ἀ = ἅμα and πατύρια, which is perfectly consistent with what Xenophon says of the festival, that when it is celebrated the fathers and relations assemble together. According to this derivation, it is the festival at which the phratriae met to discuss and settle their own affairs. But, as every citizen was a member of a phratria, the festival extended over the whole nation, who assembled according to phratriae. The festival lasted three days. The third day was the most important; for on that day, children born in that year, in the families of the phratriae, or such as were not yet registered, were taken by their fathers, or in their absence by their representatives (κύριοι), before the assembled members of the phratria. For every child a sheep or a goat was sacrificed. The father, or he who supplied his place, was obliged to establish by oath that the child was the offspring of free-born parents, and citizens of Athens. After the victim was sacrificed, the phratores gave their votes, which they took from the altar of Zeus Phratrius. When the majority voted against the reception, the cause might be tried before one of the courts of Athens; and if the claims of the child were found unobjectionable, its name, as well as that of the father, was entered into the register of the phratria, and those who had wished to effect the exclusion of the child were liable to be punished.

ĂPERTA NĀVIS. [NAVIS.]

ĂPEX, a cap worn by the flamines and salii at Rome. The essential part of the apex, to which alone the name properly belonged, was a pointed piece of olive-wood, the base of which was surrounded with a lock of wool. This was worn on the top of the head, and was held there either by fillets only, or, as was more commonly the case, by the aid of a cap which fitted the head, and was also fastened by means of two strings or bands. The albogalerus, a white cap made of the skin of a white victim sacrificed to Jupiter, and worn by the flamen dialis, had the apex fastened to it by means of an olive twig.

APHLASTON (ἄφλαστον). [NAVIS.]

ĂPHRACTUS. [NAVIS.]

ĂPHRŎDĪSĬA (ἀφροδίσια) were festivals celebrated in honour of Aphrodité, in a great number of towns in Greece, but particularly in the island of Cyprus. Her most ancient temple was at Paphos. No bloody sacrifices were allowed to be offered to her, but only pure fire, flowers, and incense.

APLUSTRE. [NAVIS.]

ĂPŎCLĒTI (ἀποκλητοὶ). [AETOLICUM FOEDUS.]

ĂPODECTAE (ἀποδέκται), public officers at Athens, who were introduced by Cleisthenes in the place of the ancient colacretae (κωλακρέται). They were ten in number, one for each tribe, and their duty was to collect all the ordinary taxes, and distribute them among the separate branches of the administration which were entitled to them.

ĂPŎGRĂPHĒ (ἀπογραφή), literally, “a list, or register;” signified also, (1) An accusation in public matters, more particularly when there were several defendants. It differed but little, if at all, from the ordinary graphe.--(2) A solemn protest or assertion in writing before a magistrate, to the intent that it might be preserved by him till it was required to be given in evidence.--(3) A specification of property, said to belong to the state, but actually in the possession of a private person; which specification was made with a view to the confiscation of such property to the state.

ĂPOLLĬNĀRES LŪDI. [LUDI APOLLINARES.]

ĂPOLLŌNĬA (ἀπολλώνια), the name of a propitiatory festival solemnized at Sicyon, in honour of Apollo and Artemis.

ĂPŎPHŎRĒTA (ἀποφόρητα) were presents, which were given to friends at the end of an entertainment to take home with them. These presents appear to have been usually given on festival days, especially during the Saturnalia.

ĂPORRHĒTA (ἀπόῤῥητα), literally “things forbidden,” has two peculiar, but widely different, acceptations in the Attic dialect. In one of these it implies contraband goods; in the other, it denotes certain contumelious epithets, from the application of which both the living and the dead were protected by special laws.

ĂPŎSTŎLEUS (ἀποστολεύς), the name of a public officer at Athens. There were ten magistrates of this name, and their duty was to see that the ships were properly equipped and provided by those who were bound to discharge the trierarchy. They had the power, in certain cases, of imprisoning the trierarchs who neglected to furnish the ships properly.

ĂPŎTHĒCA (ἀποθήκη), a place in the upper part of the house, in which the Romans frequently placed the earthen amphorae in which their wines were deposited. This place, which was quite different from the cella vinaria, was above the fumarium; since it was thought that the passage of the smoke through the room tended greatly to increase the flavour of the wine. The position of the apotheca explains the expression in Horace (Carm. ii. 21, 7), Descende, testa.

ĂPŎTHĔŌSIS (ἀποθέωσις), the enrolment of a mortal among the gods. The mythology of Greece contains numerous instances of the deification of mortals; but in the republican times of Greece we find few examples of such deification. The inhabitants of Amphipolis, however, offered sacrifices to Brasidas after his death. In the Greek kingdoms, which arose in the East on the dismemberment of the empire of Alexander, it appears to have been not uncommon for the successor to the throne to offer divine honours to the former sovereign. Such an apotheosis of Ptolemy, king of Egypt, is described by Theocritus in his 17th Idyl. The term apotheosis, among the Romans, properly signified the elevation of a deceased emperor to divine honours. This practice, which was common upon the death of almost all the emperors, appears to have arisen from the opinion which was generally entertained among the Romans, that the souls or manes of their ancestors became deities; and as it was common for children to worship the manes of their fathers, so it was natural for divine honours to be publicly paid to a deceased emperor, who was regarded as the parent of his country. This apotheosis of an emperor was usually called consecratio; and the emperor who received the honour of an apotheosis was usually said in deorum numerum referri, or consecrari, and whenever he is spoken of after his death, the title of divus is prefixed to his name. The funeral pile on which the body of the deceased emperor was burnt, was constructed of several stories in the form of chambers rising one above another, and in the highest an eagle was placed, which was let loose as the fire began to burn, and which was supposed to carry the soul of the emperor from earth to heaven.

APPĀRĬTOR, the general name for a public servant of the magistrates at Rome, namely, the ACCENSUS, CARNIFEX, COACTOR, INTERPRES, LICTOR, PRAECO, SCRIBA, STATOR, VIATOR, of whom an account is given in separate articles. They were called apparitores because they were at hand to execute the commands of the magistrates (quod iis apparebant). Their service or attendance was called apparitio.

APPELLĀTĬO, appeal.--(1) GREEK (ἔφεσις or ἀναδικία.) Owing to the constitution of the Athenian tribunals, each of which was generally appropriated to its peculiar subjects of cognisance, and therefore could not be considered as homogeneous with or subordinate to any other, there was little opportunity for bringing appeals properly so called. It is to be observed also, that in general a cause was finally and irrevocably decided by the verdict of the dicasts (δίκη αὐτοτελής). There were only a few exceptions in which appeals and new trials might be resorted to.--(2) ROMAN. The word appellatio, and the corresponding verb appellare, are used in the early Roman writers to express the application of an individual to a magistrate, and particularly to a tribune, in order to protect himself from some wrong inflicted, or threatened to be inflicted. It is distinguished from provocatio, which in the early writers is used to signify an appeal to the populus in a matter affecting life. It would seem that the provocatio was an ancient right of the Roman citizens. The surviving Horatius, who murdered his sister, appealed from the duumviri to the populus. The decemviri took away the provocatio; but it was restored by the Lex Valeria et Horatia, B.C. 449, in the year after the decemvirate, and it was at the same time enacted, that in future no magistrate should be made from whom there should be no appeal. On this Livy remarks, that the plebs were now protected by the provocatio and the tribunicium auxilium; this latter term has reference to the appellatio properly so called. The complete phrase to express the provocatio is provocare ad populum; and the phrase which expresses the appellatio is appellare ad, &c.

APSIS or ABSIS (ἁψίς), in architecture, signified first, any building or portion of a building of a circular form or vaulted, and more especially the circular and vaulted end of a Basilica.

ĂQUAE DUCTUS (ὑδραγωγία), literally, a water-conduit, but the word is used especially for the magnificent structures by means of which Rome and other cities of the Roman empire were supplied with water. A Roman aqueduct, often called simply aqua, may be described in general terms as a channel, constructed as nearly as possible with a regular declivity from the source whence the water was derived to the place where it was delivered, carried through hills by means of tunnels, and over valleys upon a substruction of solid masonry or arches. The aqueduct is mentioned by Strabo as among the structures which were neglected by the Greeks, and first brought into use by the Romans. Springs (κρῆναι, κρουνοί) were sufficiently abundant in Greece to supply the great cities with water; and they were frequently converted into public fountains by the formation of a head for their waters, and the erection of an ornamental superstructure. Of this we have an example in the Enneacrunos at Athens, which was constructed by Peisistratus and his sons. The Romans were in a very different position, with respect to the supply of water, from most of the Greek cities. They, at first, had recourse to the Tiber, and to wells sunk in the city; but the water obtained from those sources was very unwholesome, and must soon have proved insufficient, from the growth of the population. It was this necessity that led to the invention of aqueducts, in order to bring pure water from the hills which surround the Campagna. The number of aqueducts was gradually increased, partly at the public expense, and partly by the munificence of individuals, till, in the fourth century of the Christian era, they amounted to fourteen. Of these only four belong to the time of the republic, while five were built in the reigns of Augustus and Claudius.--1. The Aqua Appia, begun by the censor Appius Claudius Caecus in B.C. 313. Its sources were near the Via Praenestina, between the seventh and eighth mile-stones.--2. The Anio Vetus was commenced forty years later, B.C. 273, by the censor M. Curius Dentatus, and was finished by M. Fulvius Flaccus. The water was derived from the river Anio, above Tibur, at a distance of 20 Roman miles from the city; but, on account of its windings, its actual length was 43 miles.--3. The Aqua Marcia, one of the most important of the whole, was built by the praetor Q. Marcius Rex, by command of the senate, in B.C. 144. It commenced at the side of the Via Valeria, 36 miles from Rome.--4. The Aqua Tepula, built by the censors Cn. Servilius Caepio and L. Cassius Longinus in B.C. 127, began at a spot in the Lucullan or Tusculan land, two miles to the right of the tenth milestone on the Via Latina. It was afterwards connected with.--5. The Aqua Julia, built by Agrippa in his aedileship, B.C. 33. It was conducted from a source two miles to the right of the twelfth milestone on the Via Latina, first to the Aqua Tepula, in which it was merged as far as the reservoir (piscina) on the Via Latina, seven miles from Rome. From this reservoir the water was carried along two distinct channels, on the same substructions; the lower channel being called the Aqua Tepula, and the upper the Aqua Julia; and this double aqueduct again was united with the Aqua Marcia, over the watercourse of which the other two were carried.--6. The Aqua Virgo, built by Agrippa, to supply his baths. From a source in a marshy spot by the 8th milestone on the Via Collatina, it was conducted by a very circuitous route.--7. The Aqua Alsietina (sometimes called also Aqua Augusta), on the other side of the Tiber, was constructed by Augustus from the Lacus Alsietinus (Lago di Martignano), which lay 6500 passus to the right of the 14th milestone on the Via Claudia.--8, 9. The two most magnificent aqueducts were the Aqua Claudia and the Anio Novus (or Aqua Aniena Nova), both commenced by Caligula in A.D. 36, and finished by Claudius in A.D. 50. The water of the Aqua Claudia was derived from two copious and excellent springs, near the 38th milestone on the Via Sublacensis. Its length was nearly 46½ miles. The Anio Novus began at the 42nd milestone. It was the longest and the highest of all the aqueducts, its length being nearly 59 miles, and some of its arches 109 feet high. In the neighbourhood of the city these two aqueducts were united, forming two channels on the same arches, the Claudia below and the Anio Novus above. These nine aqueducts were all that existed in the time of Frontinus, who was the curator of the aqueducts in the reigns of Nerva and Trajan. There was also another aqueduct, not reckoned with the nine, because its waters were no longer brought all the way to Rome, viz.: 10. The Aqua Crabra.--The following were of later construction. 11. The Aqua Trajana, brought by Trajan from the Lacus Sabatinus (now Bracciano).--12. The Aqua Alexandrina, constructed by Alexander Severus; its source was in the lands of Tusculum, about 14 miles from Rome.--13. The Aqua Septimiana, built by Septimius Severus, was perhaps only a branch of the Aqua Julia.--14. The Aqua Algentia had its source at M. Algidus by the Via Tusculana. Its builder is unknown.--Great pains were taken by successive emperors to preserve and repair the aqueducts. From the Gothic wars downwards, they have for the most part shared the fate of the other great Roman works of architecture; their situation and purpose rendering them peculiarly exposed to injury in war; but still their remains form the most striking features of the Campagna, over which their lines of ruined arches, clothed with ivy and the wild fig-tree, radiate in various directions.

Three of them still serve for their ancient use. They are--(1.) The Acqua Vergine, the ancient Aqua Virgo. (2.) The Acqua Felice, named after the conventual name of its restorer Sixtus V. (Fra Felice), is, probably, a part of the ancient Aqua Claudia, though some take it for the Alexandrina. (3.) The Acqua Paola, the ancient Alsietina.--The following woodcut represents a restored section of the triple aqueduct of Agrippa:--a. the Aqua Marcia; b. the Aqua Tepula; c. the Aqua Julia. The two latter are of brick and vaulted over. The air-vents are also shown.--The channel of an aqueduct (specus, canalis) was a trough of brick or stone, lined with cement, and covered with a coping, which was almost always arched; and the water either ran directly through this trough, or it was carried through pipes laid along the trough. These pipes were of lead, or terra-cotta (fictiles), and sometimes, for the sake of economy, of leather. At convenient points on the course of the aqueduct, and especially near the middle and end, there was generally a reservoir (piscina, piscina limosa) in which the water might deposit any sediment that it contained. The water was received, when it reached the walls of the city, in a vast reservoir called castellum, which formed the head of water and also served the purpose of a meter. From this principal castellum the water flowed into other castella, whence it was distributed for public and private use. The term castellum is sometimes also applied to the intermediate reservoirs already mentioned. During the republic, the censors and aediles had the superintendence of the aqueducts. Augustus first established curatores (or praefecti) aquarum, who were invested with considerable authority. They were attended outside the city by two lictors, three public slaves, a secretary, and other attendants. In the time of Nerva and Trajan, 460 slaves were constantly employed under the orders of the curatores aquarum in attending to the aqueducts. They consisted of:--1. The villici, whose duty it was to attend to the pipes and calices. 2. The castellarii, who had the superintendence of all the castella, both within and without the city. 3. The circuitores, so called because they had to go from post to post, to examine into the state of the works, and also to keep watch over the labourers employed upon them. 4. The silicarii, or paviours. 5. The tectores, or masons. These and other workmen appear to have been included under the general term of AQUARII.

ĂQUAE ET IGNIS INTERDICTĬO. [EXSILIUM.]

ĂQUĀRĬI, slaves who carried water for bathing, &c., into the female apartments. The aquarii were also public officers who attended to the aqueducts. [AQUAE DUCTUS.]

ĂQUĬLA. [SIGNA MILITARIA.]

ĀRA (βωμός, θυτήριον), an altar. Ara was a general term denoting any structure elevated above the ground, and used to receive upon it offerings made to the gods. Altare, probably contracted from alta ara, was properly restricted to the larger, higher, and more expensive structures. Four specimens of ancient altars are given below; the two in the former woodcut are square, and those in the latter round, which is the less common form. At the top of three of the above altars we see the hole intended to receive the fire (ἐσχαρίς, ἐσχάρα): the fourth was probably intended for the offering of fruits or other gifts, which were presented to the gods without fire. When the altars were prepared for sacrifice, they were commonly decorated with garlands or festoons. These were composed of certain kinds of leaves and flowers, which were considered consecrated to such uses, and were called verbenae. The altars constructed with most labour and skill belonged to temples; and they were erected either before the temple or within the cella of the temple, and principally before the statue of the divinity to whom it was dedicated. The altars in the area before the temple were altars of burnt-offerings, at which animal sacrifices (victimae, σφάγια, ἱερεῖα) were presented: only incense was burnt, or cakes and bloodless sacrifices offered on the altars within the building.

ĂRĀTRUM (ἄροτρον), a plough. Among the Greeks and Romans the three most essential parts of the plough were,--the plough-tail (γύης, buris, bura), the share-beam (ἔλυμα, dens, dentale), that is, the piece of wood to which the share is fixed, and the pole (ῥυμός], ἱστοβοεύς, temo). In the time and country of Virgil it was the custom to force a tree into the crooked form of the buris, or plough-tail. The upper end of the buris being held by the ploughman, the lower part, below its junction with the pole, was used to hold the dentale or share-beam, which was either sheathed with metal, or driven bare into the ground, according to circumstances. The term vomer was sometimes applied to the end of the dentale. To these three parts, the two following are added in the description of the plough by Virgil:--1. The earth-boards, or mould-boards (aures), rising on each side, bending outwardly in such a manner as to throw on either hand the soil which had been previously loosened and raised by the share, and adjusted to the share-beam (dentale), which was made double for the purpose of receiving them. 2. The handle (stiva). Virgil describes this part as used to turn the plough at the end of the furrow; and it is defined by an ancient commentator on Virgil as the “handle by which the plough is directed.” It is probable that as the dentalia, the two share-beams, were in the form of the Greek letter Λ, which Virgil describes by duplici dorso, the buris was fastened to the left share-beam and the stiva to the right, so that the plough of Virgil was more like the modern Lancashire plough, which is commonly held behind with both hands. Sometimes, however, the stiva was used alone and instead of the buris or tail. In place of stiva the term capulus is sometimes employed. The only other part of the plough requiring notice is the coulter (culter), which was used by the Romans as it is with us. It was inserted into the pole so as to depend vertically before the share, cutting through the roots which came in its way, and thus preparing for the more complete overturning of the soil by the share. Two small wheels were also added to some ploughs. The plough, as described by Virgil, corresponds in all essential particulars with the plough now used about Mantua and Venice. The Greeks and Romans usually ploughed their land three times for each crop. The first ploughing was called proscindere, or novare (νεοῦσθαι, νεάζεσθαι); the second offringere, or iterare; and the third, lirare, or tertiare. The field which underwent the “proscissio” was called vervactum or novale (νεός), and in this process the coulter was employed, because the fresh surface was entangled with numberless roots which required to be divided before the soil could be turned up by the share. The term “offringere” from ob and frangere, was applied to the second ploughing; because the long parallel clods already turned up were broken and cut across, by drawing the plough through them at right angles to its former direction. The field which underwent this process was called ager iteratus. After the second ploughing the sower cast his seed. Also the clods were often, though not always, broken still further by a wooden mallet, or by harrowing (occatio). The Roman ploughman then, for the first time, attached the earth-boards to his share. The effect of this adjustment was to divide the level surface of the “ager iteratus” into ridges. These were called porcae, and also lirae, whence came the verb lirare, to make ridges, and also delirare, to decline from the straight line. The earth-boards, by throwing the earth to each side in the manner already explained, both covered the newly-scattered seed, and formed between the ridges furrows (αὔλακες, sulci) for carrying off the water. In this state the field was called seges and τρίπολος. When the ancients ploughed three times only, it was done in the spring, summer, and autumn of the same year. But in order to obtain a still heavier crop, both the Greeks and the Romans ploughed four times, the proscissio being performed in the latter part of the preceding year, so that between one crop and another two whole years intervened.

ARBĬTER. [JUDEX.]

ARCA (κιβωτός). (1) A chest, in which the Romans were accustomed to place their money; and the phrase ex arca solvere had the meaning of paying in ready money. The term arcae was usually applied to the chests in which the rich kept their money, and was opposed to the smaller loculi, sacculus, and crumena.--(2) The coffin in which persons were buried, or the bier on which the corpse was placed previously to burial.--(3) A strong cell made of oak, in which criminals and slaves were confined.

ARCĔRA, a covered carriage or litter, spread with cloths, which was used in ancient times in Rome, to carry the aged and infirm. It is said to have obtained the name of arcera on account of its resemblance to an arca, or chest.

ARCHEION (ἀρχεῖον) properly means any public place belonging to the magistrates, but is more particularly applied to the archive office, where the decrees of the people and other state documents were preserved. This office is sometimes merely called τὸ δημοσίον. At Athens the archives were kept in the temple of the mother of the gods (μήτρῳον), and the charge of it was entrusted to the president (ἐπιστάτης) of the senate of the Five-hundred.

ARCHĬĀTER (ἀρχίατρος), a medical title under the Roman emperors, the exact signification of which has been the subject of much discussion, but which most probably means “the chief of the physicians.” The first person whom we find bearing this title is Andromachus, physician to Nero. In after times the order appears to have been divided, and we find two distinct classes of archiatri, viz., those of the palace and those of the people.

ARCHĬMĪMUS. [MIMUS.]

ARCHĬTECTŪRA (ἀρχιτεκτονία, ἀρχιτεκτονική), architecture. The necessity for a habitation, and the attempt to adorn those habitations which were intended for the gods, are the two causes from which the art derives its existence. In early times little attention was paid to domestic architecture. The resources of the art were lavished upon the temples of the gods; and hence the greater part of the history of Grecian architecture is inseparably connected with that of the temple, and has its proper place under TEMPLUM, and the subordinate headings, such as COLUMNA, &c. But, though the first rise of architecture, as a fine art, is connected with the temple, yet, viewed as the science of construction, it must have been employed, even earlier, for other purposes, such as the erection of fortifications, palaces, treasuries, and other works of utility. Accordingly, it is the general opinion of antiquaries, that the very earliest edifices, of which we have any remains, are the so-called Cyclopean works, in which we see huge unsquared blocks of stone built together in the best way that their shapes would allow. [MURUS.] In addition to these, however, there are other purposes for which architecture, still using the term in its lower sense, would be required in a very early stage of political society; such as the general arrangement of cities, the provision of a place for the transaction of public business, with the necessary edifices appertaining to it [AGORA, FORUM], and the whole class of works which we embrace under the head of civil engineering, such as those for drainage [CLOACA, EMISSARIUS], for communication [VIA, PONS], and for the supply of water [AQUAE DUCTUS]. Almost equally necessary are places devoted to public exercise, health, and amusement, GYMNASIUM, STADIUM, HIPPODROMUS, CIRCUS, BALNEUM, THEATRUM, AMPHITHEATRUM. Lastly, the skill of the architect has been from the earliest times employed to preserve the memory of departed men and past events; and hence we have the various works of monumental and triumphal architecture, which are described under the heads FUNUS, ARCUS, COLUMNA. The history of architecture may be divided into five periods. The first, which is chiefly mythical, comes down to the time of Cypselus, Ol. 30, B.C. 660: the second period comes down to the termination of the Persian war, Ol. 75. 2, B.C. 478: the third is the brilliant period from the end of the Persian war to the death of Alexander the Great, Ol. 114, B.C. 323: the fourth period extends to the battle of Actium, B.C. 31: the fifth period embraces the architecture of the Roman empire till it became mingled with the Gothic. Strongly fortified cities, palaces, and treasuries are the chief works of the earlier part of the first period; and to it may be referred most of the so-called Cyclopean remains; while the era of the Dorian invasion marks, in all probability, the commencement of the Dorian style of temple architecture. In the second period the art made rapid advances under the powerful patronage of the aristocracies in some cities, as at Sparta, and of the tyrants in others, as Cypselus at Corinth, Theagnes at Megara, Cleisthenes at Sicyon, the Peisistratids at Athens, and Polycrates at Samos. Architecture now assumed decidedly the character of a fine art, and became associated with the sister arts of sculpture and painting, which are essential to its development. Magnificent temples sprung up in all the principal Greek cities; and while the Doric order was brought almost, if not quite, to perfection, in Greece Proper, in the Doric colonies of Asia Minor, and in Central Italy and Sicily, the Ionic order appeared, already perfect at its first invention, in the great temple of Artemis at Ephesus. The ruins still existing at Paestum, Syracuse, Agrigentum, Selinus, Aegina, and other places, are imperishable monuments of this period. To it also belong the great works of the Roman kings. The commencement of the third and most brilliant period of the art was signalized by the rebuilding of Athens, the establishment of regular principles for the laying out of cities by Hippodamus of Miletus, and the great works of the age of Pericles, by the contemporaries of Phidias, at Athens, Eleusis, and Olympia. The first part of the fourth period saw the extension of the Greek architecture over the countries conquered by Alexander, and, in the West, the commencement of the new style, which arose from the imitation, with some alterations, of the Greek forms by Roman architects, to which the conquest of Greece gave, of course, a new impulse. By the time of Augustus, Rome was adorned with every kind of public and private edifice, surrounded by villas, and furnished with roads and aqueducts; and these various erections were adorned by the forms of Grecian art; but already Vitruvius begins to complain that the purity of that art is corrupted by the intermixture of heterogeneous forms. This process of deterioration went on rapidly during the fifth period, though combined at first with increasing magnificence in the scale and number of the buildings erected. The early part of this period is made illustrious by the numerous works of Augustus and his successors, especially the Flavii, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines, at Rome and in the provinces; but from the time of the Antonines the decline of the art was rapid and decided. In one department a new impulse was given to architecture by the rise of Christian churches, which were generally built on the model of the Roman Basilica. One of the most splendid specimens of Christian architecture is the church of S. Sophia at Constantinople, built in the reign of Justinian, A.D. 537, and restored, after its partial destruction by an earthquake, in 554. But, long before this time, the Greco-Roman style had become thoroughly corrupted, and that new style, which is called the Byzantine, had arisen out of the mixture of Roman architecture with ideas derived from the Northern nations.

ARCHITHĔŌRUS (ἀρχιθέωρος). [DELIA.]

ARCHON (ἄρχων). The government of Athens began with monarchy, and, after passing through a dynasty[1] and aristocracy, ended in democracy. Of the kings of Athens, considered as the capital of Attica, Theseus may be said to have been the first; for to him, whether as a real individual or a representative of a certain period, is attributed the union of the different and independent states of Attica under one head. The last was Codrus; in acknowledgment of whose patriotism in meeting death for his country, the Athenians are said to have determined that no one should succeed him with the title of king (βασιλεύς). It seems, however, equally probable that it was the nobles who availed themselves of the opportunity to serve their own interests, by abolishing the kingly power for another, the possessors of which they called Archontes (ἄρχοντες) or rulers. These for some time continued to be like the kings of the house of Codrus, appointed for life: still an important point was gained by the nobles, the office being made accountable (ὑπεύθυνος), which of course implies that the nobility had some control over it. This state of things lasted for twelve reigns of archons. The next step was to limit the continuance of the office to ten years, still confining it to the Medontidae, or house of Codrus, so as to establish what the Greeks called a dynasty, till the archonship of Eryxias, the last archon of that family elected as such. At the end of his ten years (B.C. 684), a much greater change took place: the archonship was made annual, and its various duties divided among a college of nine, chosen by suffrage (χειροτονία) from the Eupatridae, or Patricians, and no longer elected from the Medontidae exclusively. This arrangement lasted till the time of Solon, who still continued the election by suffrage, but made the qualification for office depend, not on birth, but property. The election by lot is believed to have been introduced by Cleisthenes (B.C. 508). The last change is supposed to have been made by Aristides, who after the battle of Plataeae (B.C. 479) abolished the property qualification, throwing open the archonship and other magistracies to all the citizens; that is, to the Thetes, as well as the other classes, the former of whom were not allowed by Solon’s laws to hold any magistracy at all. Still, after the removal of the old restrictions, some security was left to insure respectability; for, previously to an archon entering on office, he underwent an examination, called the anacrisis (ἀνάκρισις), as to his being a legitimate and a good citizen, a good son, and qualified in point of property, but the latter limitation was either done away with by Aristides, or soon became obsolete. Yet, even after passing a satisfactory anacrisis, each of the archons, in common with other magistrates, was liable to be deposed on complaint of misconduct made before the people, at the first regular assembly in each prytany. On such an occasion the epicheirotonia (ἐπιχειροτονία), as it was called, took place: and we read that in one case the whole college of archons was deprived of office (ἀποχειροτονεῖσθαι). In consequence of the democratical tendency of the assembly and courts of justice established by Solon, the archons lost the great political power which they at one time possessed. They became, in fact, not as of old directors of the government, but merely municipal magistrates, exercising functions and bearing titles described below. It has been already stated, that the duties of the single archon were shared by a college of nine. The first, or president of this body, was called Archon, by way of pre-eminence, or Archon Eponymus (ἄρχων ἐπώνυμος), from the year being distinguished by and registered in his name. The second was styled Archon Basileus (ἄρχων βασιλεύς), or the King Archon; the third Polemarchus (πολέμαρχος), or commander-in-chief; the remaining six, Thesmothetae (θεσμοθέται), or legislators. As regards the duties of the archons, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish what belonged to them individually, and what collectively. It seems that a considerable portion of the judicial functions of the ancient kings devolved upon the Archon Eponymus, who was also constituted a sort of state protector of those who were unable to defend themselves. Thus he was to superintend orphans, heiresses, families losing their representatives, widows left pregnant, and to see that they were not wronged in any way. This archon had also the superintendence of the greater Dionysia, and the Thargelia. The functions of the King Archon were almost all connected with religion; his distinguishing title shows that he was considered a representative of the old kings in their capacity of high priest, as the Rex Sacrificulus was at Rome. Thus he presided at the Lenaea, or older Dionysia; superintended the mysteries and the games called Lampadephoriae, and had to offer up sacrifices and prayers in the Eleusinium, both at Athens and Eleusis. Moreover, indictments for impiety, and controversies about the priesthood, were laid before him; and, in cases of murder, he brought the trial into the court of the areiopagus, and voted with its members. His wife, also, who was called Basilissa (βασίλισσα), had to offer certain sacrifices, and therefore it was required that she should be a citizen of pure blood, without stain or blemish. The Polemarch was originally, as his name denotes, the commander-in-chief, and we find him discharging military duties as late as the battle of Marathon, in conjunction with the ten Strategi; he there took, like the kings of old, the command of the right wing of the army. This, however, seems to be the last occasion on record of this magistrate appointed by lot being invested with such important functions; and in after ages we find that his duties ceased to be military, having been, in a great measure, transferred to the protection and superintendence of the resident aliens, so that he resembled in many respects the praetor peregrinus at Rome. Thus, all actions affecting aliens, the isoteles and proxeni were brought before him previously to trial. Moreover, it was the polemarch’s duty to offer the yearly sacrifice to Artemis, in commemoration of the vow made by Callimachus, at Marathon, and to arrange the funeral games in honour of those who fell in war. The six Thesmothetae were extensively connected with the administration of justice, and appear to have been called legislators, because, in the absence of a written code, they might be said to make laws, or thesmi (θεσμοί), in the ancient language of Athens, though in reality they only explained them. They were required to review, every year, the whole body of laws, that they might detect any inconsistencies or superfluities, and discover whether any laws which were abrogated were in the public records amongst the rest. Their report was submitted to the people, who referred the necessary alterations to a legislative committee chosen for the purpose, and called Nomothetae (νομοθέται). The chief part of the duties of the thesmothetae consisted in receiving informations, and bringing cases to trial in the courts of law, of the days of sitting in which they gave public notice. They did not try them themselves, but seem to have constituted a sort of grand jury, or inquest. The trial itself took place before the Dicastae. [DICASTAE.] It is necessary to be cautious in our interpretation of the words ἀρχή and ἄρχοντες, since they have a double meaning in the Attic orators, sometimes referring to the archons peculiarly so called, and sometimes to any other magistracy. The archons had various privileges and honours. The greatest of the former was the exemption from the trierarchies--a boon not allowed even to the successors of Harmodius and Aristogeiton. As a mark of their office, they wore a chaplet or crown of myrtle; and if any one struck or abused one of the archons, when wearing this badge of office, he became atimus (ἄτιμος), or infamous in the fullest extent, thereby losing his civic rights. The archons, at the close of their year of service, were admitted among the members of the areiopagus. [AREIOPAGUS.]

FOOTNOTE:

[1] By this is meant that the supreme power, though not monarchical, was confined to one family.

ARCUS (also fornix), an arch. A true arch is formed of a series of wedge-like stones, or of bricks, supporting each other, and all bound firmly together by their mutual pressure. It would seem that the arch, as thus defined, and as used by the Romans, was not known to the Greeks in the early periods of their history. But they made use of a contrivance, even in the heroic age, by which they were enabled to gain all the advantages of our archway in making corridors, or hollow galleries, and which in appearance resembled the pointed arch, such as is now termed Gothic. This was effected by cutting away the superincumbent stones in the manner already described, at an angle of about 45° with the horizon. The mode of construction and appearance of such arches is represented in the annexed drawing of the walls of Tiryns. The gate of Signia (Segni) in Latium exhibits a similar example. The principle of the true arch seems to have been known to the Romans from the earliest period; it is used in the Cloaca Maxima. It is most probably an Etruscan invention. The use of it constitutes one leading distinction between Greek and Roman architecture, for by its application the Romans were enabled to execute works of far bolder construction than those of the Greeks. The Romans, however, never used any other form of arch than the semicircle. The arcus triumphalis, triumphal arch, was a structure peculiar to the Romans, erected in honour of an individual, or in commemoration of a conquest. Triumphal arches were built across the principal streets of Rome, and, according to the space of their respective localities, consisted of a single archway, or a central one for carriages, and two smaller ones on each side for foot-passengers. Those actually made use of on the occasion of a triumphal entry and procession were merely temporary and hastily erected; and, having served their purpose, were taken down again, and sometimes replaced by others of more durable materials. Stertinius is the first upon record who erected anything of the kind. He built an arch in the Forum Boarium, about B.C. 196, and another in the Circus Maximus, each of which was surmounted by gilt statues. There are twenty-one arches recorded by different writers, as having been erected in the city of Rome, five of which now remain:--1. Arcus Drusi, which was erected to the honour of Claudius Drusus on the Appian way. 2. Arcus Titi, at the foot of the Palatine, which was erected to the honour of Titus, after his conquest of Judaea; the bas-reliefs of this arch represent the spoils from the temple of Jerusalem carried in triumphal procession. 3. Arcus Septimii Severi, which was erected by the senate (A.D. 207) at the end of the Via Sacra, in honour of that emperor and his two sons, Caracalla and Geta, on account of his conquest of the Parthians and Arabians. 4. Arcus Gallieni, erected to the honour of Gallienus by a private individual, M. Aurelius Victor. 5. Arcus Constantini, which was larger than the arch of Titus. As a specimen of the triumphal arches, a drawing of the arch of Drusus is given in the preceding page.

ARCUS (βιός, τόξον), the bow used for shooting arrows, is one of the most ancient of all weapons, but is characteristic of Asia rather than of Europe. In the Roman armies it was scarcely ever employed except by auxiliaries; and these auxiliaries, called sagittarii, were chiefly Cretes and Arabians. The upper of the two figures below shows the Scythian or Parthian bow unstrung; the lower one represents the usual form of the Grecian bow, which had a double curvature, consisting of two circular portions united by the handle. When not used, the bow was put into a case (τοξοθήκη, γωρυτός, corytus), which was made of leather, and sometimes ornamented. It frequently held the arrows as well as the bow, and on this account is often confounded with the pharetra or quiver.

ĀRĔA (ἅλως, or ἁλωά), the threshing-floor, was a raised place in the field, open on all sides to the wind. Great pains were taken to make this floor hard; it was sometimes paved with flint stones, but more usually covered with clay and smoothed with a roller.

ĂREIOPĂGUS (ὁ Ἄρειος πάγος, or hill of Ares) was a rocky eminence, lying to the west of, and not far from the Acropolis at Athens. It was the place of meeting of the council (Ἡ ἐν Ἀρείῳ πάγῳ βουλή), which was sometimes called The Upper Council (Ἡ ἄνω βουλή), to distinguish it from the senate of Five-hundred, which sat in the Cerameicus within the city. It was a body of very remote antiquity, acting as a criminal tribunal, and existed long before the time of Solon, but he so far modified its constitution and sphere of duty, that he may almost be called its founder. What that original constitution was, must in some degree be left to conjecture, though there is every reason to suppose that it was aristocratical, the members being taken, like the ephetae, from the noble patrician families. [EPHETAE.] By the legislation of Solon the Areiopagus was composed of the ex-archons, who, after an unexceptionable discharge of their duties, “went up” to the Areiopagus, and became members of it for life, unless expelled for misconduct. As Solon made the qualification for the office of archon to depend not on birth but on property, the council after his time ceased to be aristocratic in constitution; but, as we learn from Attic writers, continued so in spirit. In fact, Solon is said to have formed the two councils, the senate and the Areiopagus, to be a check upon the democracy; that, as he himself expressed it, “the state riding upon them as anchors might be less tossed by storms.” Nay, even after the archons were no longer elected by suffrage, but by lot, and the office was thrown open by Aristides to all the Athenian citizens, the “upper council” still retained its former tone of feeling. Moreover, besides these changes in its constitution, Solon altered and extended its functions. Before his time it was only a criminal court, trying cases of “wilful murder and wounding, of arson and poisoning,” whereas he gave it extensive powers of a censorial and political nature. Thus we learn that he made the council an “overseer of everything, and the guardian of the laws,” empowering it to inquire how any one got his living and to punish the idle; and we are also told that the Areiopagites were “superintendents of good order and decency,” terms as unlimited and undefined as Solon not improbably wished to leave their authority. When heinous crimes had notoriously been committed, but the guilty parties were not known, or no accuser appeared, the Areiopagus inquired into the subject, and reported to the demus. The report or information was called apophasis. This was a duty which they sometimes undertook on their own responsibility, and in the exercise of an old established right, and sometimes on the order of the demus. Nay, to such an extent did they carry their power, that on one occasion they apprehended an individual (Antiphon), who had been acquitted by the general assembly, and again brought him to a trial, which ended in his condemnation and death. Again, we find them revoking an appointment whereby Aeschines was made the advocate of Athens before the Amphictyonic council, and substituting Hyperides in his room. They also had duties connected with religion, one of which was to superintend the sacred olives growing about Athens, and try those who were charged with destroying them; and in general it was their office to punish the impious and irreligious. Independent, then, of its jurisdiction as a criminal court in cases of wilful murder, which Solon continued to the Areiopagus, its influence must have been sufficiently great to have been a considerable obstacle to the aggrandisement of the democracy at the expense of the other parties in the state. Accordingly, we find that Pericles, who was opposed to the aristocracy, resolved to diminish its power and circumscribe its sphere of action. His coadjutor in this work was Ephialtes, a statesman of inflexible integrity, and also a military commander. They experienced much opposition in their attempts, not only in the assembly, but also on the stage, where Aeschylus produced his tragedy of the Eumenides, the object of which was to impress upon the Athenians the dignity, sacredness, and constitutional worth of the institution which Pericles and Ephialtes wished to reform. Still the opposition failed: a decree was carried by which, as Aristotle says, the Areiopagus was “mutilated,” and many of its hereditary rights abolished, though it is difficult to ascertain the precise nature of the alterations which Pericles effected. The jurisdiction of the Areiopagus in cases of murder was still left to them. In such cases the process was as follows:--The king archon brought the case into court, and sat as one of the judges, who were assembled in the open air, probably to guard against any contamination from the criminal. The accuser first came forwards to make a solemn oath that his accusation was true, standing over the slaughtered victims, and imprecating extirpation upon himself and his whole family were it not so. The accused then denied the charge with the same solemnity and form of oath. Each party then stated his case with all possible plainness, keeping strictly to the subject, and not being allowed to appeal in any way to the feelings or passions of the judges. After the first speech, a criminal accused of murder might remove from Athens, and thus avoid the capital punishment fixed by Draco’s Thesmi, which on this point were still in force. Except in cases of parricide, neither the accuser nor the court had power to prevent this; but the party who thus evaded the extreme punishment was not allowed to return home, and when any decree was passed at Athens to legalize the return of exiles, an exception was always made against those who had thus left their country. The Areiopagus continued to exist, in name at least, till a very late period. Thus we find Cicero mentioning the council in his letters; and an individual is spoken of as an Areiopagite under the emperors Gratian and Theodosius (A.D. 380). The case of St. Paul is generally quoted as an instance of the authority of the Areiopagus in religious matters; but the words of the sacred historian do not necessarily imply that he was brought before the council. It may, however, be remarked, that the Areiopagites certainly took cognizance of the introduction of new and unauthorised forms of religious worship, called ἐπίθετα ἱερά, in contradistinction to the πάτρια or older rites of the state.

ĂRĒNA. [AMPHITHEATRUM.]

ĂRĔTĀLŎGI, persons who amused the company at the Roman dinner tables.

ARGĒI, the name given by the pontifices to the places consecrated by Numa for the celebration of religious services. Varro calls them the chapels of the argei, and says they were twenty-seven in number, distributed in the different districts of the city. There was a tradition that these argei were named from the chieftains who came with Hercules, the Argive, to Rome, and occupied the Capitoline, or, as it was anciently called, Saturnian hill. It is impossible to say what is the historical value or meaning of this legend; we may, however, notice its conformity with the statement that Rome was founded by the Pelasgians, with whom the name of Argos was connected. The name argei was also given to certain figures thrown into the Tiber from the Sublician bridge, on the Ides of May in every year. This was done by the pontifices, the vestals, the praetors, and other citizens, after the performance of the customary sacrifices. The images were thirty in number, made of bulrushes, and in the form of men. Ovid makes various suppositions to account for the origin of this rite; we can only conjecture that it was a symbolical offering, to propitiate the gods, and that the number was a representative either of the thirty patrician curiae at Rome, or perhaps of the thirty Latin townships.

ARGENTĀRĬI, bankers or money changers. (1) GREEK. The bankers at Athens were called Trapezitae (τραπεζίται), from their tables (τραπεζαι) at which they sat, while carrying on their business, and which were in the market place. Their principal occupation was that of changing money; but they frequently took money, at a moderate premium, from persons who did not like to occupy themselves with the management of their own affairs, and placed it out at interest. Their usual interest was 36 per cent.; a rate that at present scarcely occurs except in cases of money lent on bottomry. The only instance of a bank recognized and conducted on behalf of the state occurs at Byzantium, where at one time it was let by the republic to capitalists to farm. Yet the state probably exercised some kind of superintendence over the private bankers, since it is hardly possible otherwise to account for the unlimited confidence which they enjoyed.--(2) ROMAN. The Argentarii at Rome must be distinguished from the mensarii and nummularii, or public bankers. [MENSARII.] The argentarii were private persons, who carried on business on their own responsibility, and were not in the service of the republic; but the shops or tabernae about the forum, which they occupied, and in which they transacted their business, were state property. The business of the argentarii may be divided into the following branches. 1. Permutatio, or the exchange of foreign coin for Roman, and in later times the giving of bills of exchange payable in foreign towns. 2. The keeping of sums of money for other persons. Such money might be deposited by the owner merely to save himself the trouble of keeping it and making payments, and in this case it was called depositum; the argentarius then paid no interest, and the money was called vacua pecunia. Or the money was deposited on condition of the argentarius paying interest; in this case the money was called creditum. A payment made through a banker was called per mensam, de mensa, or per mensae scripturam, while a payment made by the debtor in person was a payment ex arca or de domo. An argentarius never paid away any person’s money without being either authorised by him in person or receiving a cheque which was called perscriptio. The argentarii kept accurate accounts in books called codices, tabulae, or rationes, and there is every reason for believing that they were acquainted with what is called in book-keeping double entry. When a party found to be in debt paid what he owed, he had his name effaced (nomen expedire or expungere) from the banker’s books. 3. Their connection with commerce and public auctions. In private sales and purchases, they sometimes acted as agents for either party (interpretes), and sometimes they undertook to sell the whole estate of a person, as an inheritance. At public auctions they were almost invariably present, registering the articles sold, their prices, and purchasers, and receiving the payment from the purchasers. 4. The testing of the genuineness of coins (probatio nummorum). This, however, seems originally to have been a part of the duty of public officers, the mensarii or nummularii, until in the course of time the opinion of an argentarius also came to be looked upon as decisive. 5. The solidorum venditio, that is, the obligation of purchasing from the mint the newly coined money, and circulating it among the people. This branch of their functions occurs only under the empire. The argentarii formed a collegium, divided into societates or corporations, which alone had the right to admit new members of their guild. None but freemen could become members of such a corporation. It has already been observed that the argentarii had their shops round the forum: hence to become bankrupt was expressed by foro cedere, or abire, or foro mergi.

ARGENTUM (ἄργυρος), silver. The relative value of gold and silver differed considerably at different periods in Greek and Roman history. Herodotus mentions it as 13 to 1; Plato, as 12 to 1; Menander, as 10 to 1; and Livy as 10 to 1, about B.C. 189. According to Suetonius, Julius Caesar, on one occasion, exchanged silver for gold in the proportion of 9 to 1; but the most usual proportion under the early Roman emperors was about 12 to 1. The proportion in modern times, since the discovery of the American mines, has varied between 17 to 1 and 14 to 1. In the earliest times the Greeks obtained their silver chiefly as an article of commerce from the Phocaeans and the Samians; but they soon began to work the rich mines of their own country and its islands. The chief mines were in Siphnos, Thessaly, and Attica. In the last-named country, the silver mines of Laurion furnished a most abundant supply, and were generally regarded as the chief source of the wealth of Athens. The Romans obtained most of their silver from the very rich mines of Spain, which had been previously worked by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, and which, though abandoned for those of Mexico, are still not exhausted. By far the most important use of silver among the Greeks was for money. There are sufficient reasons for believing that, until some time after the end of the Peloponnesian war, the Athenians had no gold currency. [AURUM.] It may be remarked that all the words connected with money are derived from ἄργυρος, and not from χρυσός, as καταργυρόω, “to bribe with money;” ἀργυραμοιβός, “a money changer,” &c.; and ἄργυρος is itself not unfrequently used to signify money in general, as aes is in Latin. At Rome, on the contrary, silver was not coined till B.C. 269, before which period Greek silver was in circulation at Rome; and the principal silver coin of the Romans, the denarius, was borrowed from the Greek drachma. For further details respecting silver money, see DENARIUS, DRACHMA. From a very early period, silver was used also in works of art; and the use of it for mere purposes of luxury and ostentation, as in plate, was very general both in Greece and Rome.

ARGỸRASPĬDES (ἀργυράσπιδες), a division of the Macedonian army, who were so called because they carried shields covered with silver plates.

ARGỸROCŎPEION (ἀργυροκοπεῖον), the place where money was coined, the mint, at Athens.

ĂRĬES (κριός), the battering-ram, was used to batter down the walls of besieged cities. It consisted of a large beam, made of the trunk of a tree, especially of a fir or an ash. To one end was fastened a mass of bronze or iron (κεφαλή, ἐμβολή, προτομή), which resembled in its form the head of a ram. The aries in its simplest state was borne and impelled by human hands, without other assistance. In an improved form, the ram was surrounded with iron bands, to which rings were attached for the purpose of suspending it by ropes or chains from a beam fixed transversely over it. By this contrivance the soldiers were relieved from the necessity of supporting the weight of the ram, and could with ease give it a rapid and forcible motion backwards and forwards. The use of this machine was further aided by placing the frame in which it was suspended upon wheels, and also by constructing over it a wooden roof, so as to form a “testudo,” which protected the besieging party from the defensive assaults of the besieged.

ĀRISTOCRĂTĬA (ἀριστοκρατία), signifies literally “the government of the best men,” and as used by Plato, Aristotle, Polybius, &c., it meant the government of a class whose supremacy was founded not on wealth merely, but on personal distinction. That there should be an aristocracy, moreover, it was essential that the administration of affairs should be conducted with a view to the promotion of the general interests, not for the exclusive or predominant advantage of the privileged class As soon as the government ceased to be thus conducted, or whenever the only title to political power in the dominant class was the possession of superior wealth, the constitution was termed an oligarchy (ὀλιγαρχία), which, in the technical use of the term, was always looked upon as a corruption (παρέκβασις) of an aristocracy. In the practical application of the term aristocracy, however, the personal excellence which was held to be a necessary element was not of a higher kind than what, according to the deeply-seated ideas of the Greeks, was commonly hereditary in families of noble birth, and in early times would be the ordinary accompaniments of noble rank, namely, wealth, military skill, and superior education and intelligence. It is to be noted that the word ἀριστοκρατία is never, like the English term aristocracy, the name of a class, but only of a particular political constitution.

ARMA, ARMĀTŪRA (ἔντεα, τεύχεα, Hom.; ὅπλα), arms, armour. Homer describes in various passages an entire suit of armour, and we observe that it consisted of the same portions which were used by the Greek soldiers ever after. Moreover, the order of putting them on is always the same. The heavy-armed warrior, having already a tunic around his body, and preparing for combat, puts on--1. his greaves (κνημῖδες, ocreae); 2. his cuirass (θώραξ, lorica), to which belonged the μίτρη underneath, and the zone (ζώνη, ζωστῆρ, cingulum), above; 3. his sword (ξίφος, ensis, gladius), hung on the left side of his body by means of a belt which passed over the right shoulder; 4. the large round shield (σάκος, ἀσπίς, clipeus, scutum), supported in the same manner; 5. his helmet (κόρυς, κυνέη, cassis, galea); 6. he took his spear (ἔγχος, δόρυ, hasta), or in many cases, two spears. The form and use of these portions are described in separate articles, under their Latin names. The annexed cut exhibits them all. Those who were defended in the manner which has now been represented are called by Homer aspistae (ἀσπισταί), from their great shield (ἀσπίς); also angemachi (ἀγχεμάχοι), because they fought hand to hand with their adversaries; but much more commonly promachi (πρόμαχοι), because they occupied the front of the army. In later times, the heavy-armed soldiers were called hoplitae (ὁπλίται), because the term hopla (ὄπλα) more especially denoted the defensive armour, the shield and thorax. By wearing these they were distinguished from the light-armed (ψιλοί, ἄνοπλοι, γυμνοί, γυμνῆται, γυμνῆτες), who, instead of being defended by the shield and thorax, had a much slighter covering, sometimes consisting of skins, and sometimes of leather or cloth; and instead of the sword or lance, they commonly fought with darts, stones, bows and arrows, or slings. Besides the heavy and light-armed soldiers, another description of men, the peltastae (πελτασταί), also formed a part of the Greek army, though we do not hear of them in early times. Instead of the large round shield, they carried a smaller one called the pelté (πέλτη), and in other respects their armour, though heavier and more effective than that of the psili, was much lighter than that of the hoplites. The weapon on which they principally depended was the spear. The Roman legions consisted, as the Greek infantry for the most part did, of heavy and light-armed troops (gravis et levis armatura). The preceding figure represents two heavy-armed Roman soldiers. All the essential parts of the Roman heavy armour (lorica, ensis, clipeus, galea, hasta) are mentioned together, except the spear, in a well-known passage of St. Paul (Eph. vi. 17).

ARMĀRĬUM, originally a place for keeping arms, afterwards a cupboard, in which were kept not only arms, but also clothes, books, money, and other articles of value. The armarium was generally placed in the atrium of the house.

ARMILLA (ψάλιον, ψέλιον, or ψέλλιον, χλιδών, ἀμφιδέα), a bracelet or armlet, worn both by men and women. It was a favourite ornament of the Medes and Persians. Bracelets do not appear to have been worn among the Greeks by the male sex, but Greek ladies had bracelets of various materials, shapes, and styles of ornament. They frequently exhibited the form of snakes, and were in such cases called snakes (ὄφεις) by the Athenians. According to their length, they went once, twice, or thrice round the arm, or even a greater number of times. The Roman generals frequently bestowed armillae upon soldiers for deeds of extraordinary merit.

ARMĬLUSTRĬUM, a Roman festival for the purification of arms. It was celebrated every year on the 19th of October, when the citizens assembled in arms, and offered sacrifices in the place called Armilustrum, or Vicus Armilustri.

ARRA, ARRĂBO, or ARRHA, ARRHABO, was the thing which purchasers and vendors gave to one another, whether it was a sum of money or anything else, as an evidence of the contract being made: it was no essential part of the contract of buying and selling, but only evidence of agreement as to price. The term arrha, in its general sense of an evidence of agreement, was also used on other occasions, as in the case of betrothment (sponsalia). Sometimes the word arrha is used as synonymous with pignus, but this is not the legal meaning of the term.

ARRHĒPHŎRĬA (ἀῤῥηφόρια), a festival celebrated at Athens in honour of Athena (Minerva). Four girls, of between seven and eleven years (ἀῤῥηφόροι, ἐρσηφόροι, ἐῤῥηφόροι), were selected every year by the king archon from the most distinguished families, two of whom superintended the weaving of the sacred peplus of Athena; the two others had to carry the mysterious and sacred vessels of the goddess. These latter remained a whole year on the Acropolis; and when the festival commenced, the priestess of the goddess placed vessels upon their heads, the contents of which were neither known to them nor to the priestess. With these they descended to a natural grotto within the district of Aphrodite in the gardens. Here they deposited the sacred vessels, and carried back something else, which was covered and likewise unknown to them. After this the girls were dismissed and others were chosen to supply their place in the acropolis.

ARRŎGĀTĬO. [ADOPTIO.]

ARTĂBA (ἀρτάβη), a Persian measure of capacity = 1 medimnus and 3 choenices (Attic) = 102 Roman sextarii = 12 gallons, 5·092 pints.

ARTĔMĪSĬA (ἀρτεμίσια), a festival celebrated at Syracuse in honour of Artemis Potamia and Soteira. It lasted three days, which were principally spent in feasting and amusements, Festivals of the same name, and in honour of the same goddess, were held in many places in Greece, but principally at Delphi.

ARTOPTA. [PISTOR.]

ĂRŪRA (ἄρουρα), a Greek measure of surface, mentioned by Herodotus, who says that it is a hundred Egyptian cubits in every direction. Now the Egyptian cubit contained nearly 17¾ inches; therefore the square of 100 by 17¾ inches, i.e. nearly 148 feet, gives the number of square feet (English) in the arura, viz. 21,904.

ĂRUSPEX. [HARUSPEX.]

ARVĀLES FRĀTRES, formed a college or company of twelve priests, and were so called from offering public sacrifices for the fertility of the fields. That they were of extreme antiquity is proved by the legend which refers their institution to Romulus, of whom it is said, that when his nurse Acca Laurentia lost one of her twelve sons, he allowed himself to be adopted by her in his place, and called himself and the remaining eleven “Fratres Arvales.” We also find a college called the Sodales Titii, and as the latter were confessedly of Sabine origin, and instituted for the purpose of keeping up the Sabine religious rites, it is probable that these colleges corresponded one to the other--the Fratres Arvales being connected with the Latin, and the Sodales Titii with the Sabine element of the Roman state. The office of the fratres arvales was for life, and was not taken away even from an exile or captive. One of their annual duties was to celebrate a three days’ festival in honour of Dea Dia, supposed to be Ceres, sometimes held on the 17th, 19th, and 20th, sometimes on the 27th, 29th, and 30th of May. But besides this festival of the Dea Dia, the fratres arvales were required on various occasions, under the emperors, to make vows and offer up thanksgivings. Under Tiberius, the Fratres Arvales performed sacrifices called the Ambarvalia, at various places on the borders of the ager Romanus, or original territory of Rome; and it is probable that this was a custom handed down from time immemorial, and, moreover, that it was a duty of the priesthood to invoke a blessing on the whole territory of Rome. There were also the private ambarvalia, which were so called from the victim (hostia ambarvalis) that was slain on the occasion being led three times round the corn-fields, before the sickle was put to the corn. This victim was accompanied by a crowd of merry-makers, the reapers and farm-servants dancing and singing, as they marched, the praises of Ceres, and praying for her favour and presence, while they offered her the libations of milk, honey, and wine. This ceremony was also called a lustratio, or purification.

ARX signifies a height within the walls of a city, upon which a citadel was built, and thus came to be applied to the citadel itself. Thus one of the summits of the Capitoline hill at Rome is called Arx. The Arx was the regular place at Rome for taking the auspices, and was hence likewise called auguraculum; or, more probably, the auguraculum was a place in the Arx.

AS, or Libra, a pound, the unit of weight among the Romans. [LIBRA.]

AS, the unit of value in the Roman and old Italian coinages, was made of copper, or of the mixed metal called AES. It was originally of the weight of a pound of twelve ounces, whence it was called as libralis and aes grave. The oldest form of the as is that which bears the figure of an animal (a bull, ram, boar, or sow). The next and most common form is that which has the two-faced head of Janus on one side, and the prow of a ship on the other (whence the expression used by Roman boys in tossing up, Capita aut navim.) Pliny informs us, that in the time of the first Punic war (B.C. 264-241), in order to meet the expenses of the state, this weight of a pound was diminished, and asses were struck of the same weight as the sextans (that is, two ounces, or one-sixth of the ancient weight); and that thus the republic paid off its debts, gaining five parts in six; that afterwards, in the second Punic war, in the dictatorship of Q. Fabius Maximus (B.C. 217), asses of one ounce were made, and the denarius was decreed to be equal to sixteen asses, the republic thus gaining one half; but that in military pay the denarius was always given for ten asses; and that soon after, by the Papirian law (about B.C. 191), asses of half an ounce were made. The value of the as, of course, varied with its weight. Before the reduction to two ounces, ten asses were equal to the denarius = about 8½ pence English [DENARIUS]. Therefore the as = 3·4 farthings. By the reduction the denarius was made equal to sixteen asses; therefore the as = 2⅛ farthings. The as was divided into parts, which were named according to the number of ounces they contained. They were the deunx, dextans, dodrans, bes, septunx, semis, quincunx, triens, quadrans or teruncius, sextans, sescunx or sescuncia, and uncia, consisting respectively of 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1½, and 1 ounces. Of these divisions the following were represented by coins; namely, the semis, quincunx, triens, quadrans, sextans, and uncia. After the reduction in the weight of the as, coins were struck of the value of 2, 3, 4, and even 10 asses, which were called respectively dussis or dupondius, tressis, quadrussis, and decussis. Other multiples of the as were denoted by words of similar formation, up to centussis, 100 asses; but most of them do not exist as coins. In certain forms of expression, in which aes is used for money without specifying the denomination, we must understand the as. Thus deni aeris, mille aeris, decies aeris, mean respectively 10, 1000, 1,000,000 asses. The word as was used also for any whole which was to be divided into equal parts; and those parts were called unciae. Thus these words were applied not only to weight and money, but to measures of length, surface, and capacity, to inheritances, interest, houses, farms, and many other things. Hence the phrases haeres ex asse, the heir to a whole estate; haeres ex dodrante, the heir to three-fourths. The as was also called in ancient times assarius (sc. nummus), and in Greek τὸ ἀσσάριον. According to Polybius, the assarius was equal to half the obolus.

ASCĬA (σκέπαρνον), an adze. The annexed cut shows two varieties of the adze. The instrument at the bottom was called acisculus, and was chiefly used by masons.

ASCLĒPIEIA (ἀσκληπίεια), the name of festivals which were probably celebrated in all places where temples of Asclepius (Aesculapius) existed. The most celebrated, however, was that of Epidaurus, which took place every five years, and was solemnized with contests of rhapsodists and musicians, and with solemn processions and games.

ASCŌLĬASMUS (ἀσκωλιασμός, the leaping upon the leathern bag, ἀσκός) was one of the many kinds of amusements in which the Athenians indulged during the Anthesteria and other festivals in honour of Dionysus. Having sacrificed a he-goat to the god, they made a bag out of the skin, smeared it with oil, and then tried to dance upon it.

ĂSĔBEIAS GRĂPHĒ (ἀσεβείας γραφή), one of the many forms prescribed by the Attic laws for the impeachment of impiety. Any citizen not incapacitated by disfranchisement (ἀτιμία) seems to have been a competent accuser; and citizens, resident aliens, and strangers, were equally liable to the accusation. Whether the causes were brought into the areiopagus, or the common heliastic court, seems to have been determined by the form of action adopted by the prosecutor, or the degree of competency to which the areiopagus rose or fell at the different periods of Athenian history.

ĂSĬARCHAE (ἀσιάρχαι) were, in the Roman province of Asia, the chief presidents of the religious rites, whose office it was to exhibit games and theatrical amusements every year, in honour of the gods and the Roman emperor, at their own expense, like the Roman aediles. They were ten in number, selected annually by the different towns of Asia, and approved of by the Roman proconsul; of these, one was the chief asiarch, and frequently, but not always, resided at Ephesus.

ASSĀRĬUS NUMMUS. [AS.]

ASSERTOR, or ADSERTOR, contains the same root as the verb adserere, which, when coupled with the word manu, signifies to lay hold of a thing, to draw it towards one. Hence the phrase adserere in libertatem, or liberali adserere manu, applies to him who lays his hand on a person reputed to be a slave, and asserts, or maintains his freedom. The person who thus maintained the freedom of a reputed slave was called adsertor. The person whose freedom was thus claimed was said to be adsertus. The expressions liberalis causa, and liberalis manus, which occur in connection with the verb adserere, will easily be understood from what has been said. Sometimes the word adserere alone was used as equivalent to adserere in libertatem. The expression asserere in servitutem, to claim a person as a slave, occurs in Livy.

ASSESSOR, or ADSESSOR, literally one who sits by the side of another. Since the consuls, praetors, governors of provinces, and the judices, were often imperfectly acquainted with the law and forms of procedure, it was necessary that they should have the aid of those who had made the law their study. The assessors sat on the tribunal with the magistrate. Their advice or aid was given during the proceedings as well as at other times, but they never pronounced a judicial sentence.

ASSĬDUI. [LOCUPLETES.]

ASTRĂGĂLUS (ἀστράγαλος), literally, that particular bone in the ankles of certain quadrupeds, which the Greeks, as well as the Romans, used for dice and other purposes. [TALUS.] In architecture it signifies a certain moulding (the astragal) which seems to have derived its name from its resemblance to a string or chain of tali, and it is in fact always used in positions where it seems intended to bind together the parts to which it is applied. It belongs properly to the more highly decorated forms of the Ionic order, in which it appears as a lower edging to the larger mouldings, especially the echinus (ovolo), particularly in the capital, as shown in the following woodcut.

ASTRĂTEIAS GRĂPHĒ (ἀστρατείας γραφή), the accusation instituted at Athens against persons who failed to appear among the troops after they had been enrolled for a campaign by the generals. The defendant, if convicted, incurred disfranchisement (ἀτιμία) both in his own person and that of his descendants.

ASTRŎLŎGĬA, astrology. A belief very early arose, which still prevails unshaken in the East, that a close connection subsisted between the position and movements of the heavenly bodies and the fate of man. Few doubted that the destiny of a child might be predicted with certainty by those who were skilled to interpret the position of the stars at the moment of his birth, and that the result of any undertaking might be foretold from the aspect of the firmament when it was commenced. Hence a numerous and powerful class of men arose who were distinguished by various designations. From the country where their science was first developed, they were called Chaldaei or Babylonii; from observing the stars, astronomi, astrologi, planetarii; from employing diagrams such as were used by geometricians, mathematici; from determining the lot of man at his natal hour, genethliaci; from prophesying the consummation of his struggles, ἀποτελεσματικοί; while their art was known as ἀστρολογία, μετεωρολογία, γενεθλιαλογία, ἀποτελεσματική, Ars Chaldaeorum, Mathesis, or, from the tables they consulted, πινακική. Their calculations were termed Babylonii numeri, Χαλδαίων μέθοδοι, Χαλδαίων ψηφίδες, Rationes Chaldaicae; their responses when consulted Chaldaeorum monita, Chaldaeorum natalicia praedicta, Astrologorum praedicta. The stars and constellations to which attention was chiefly directed were the planets and the signs of the zodiac, some of which were supposed to exert uniformly a benign influence (ἀγαθοποιοὶ ἀστέρες), such as Venus, Jupiter, Luna, Virgo, Libra, Taurus; others to be uniformly malign (κακοποιοὶ ἀστέρες), such as Saturnus, Mars, Scorpio, Capricornus; others to be doubtful (ἐπίκοινοι ἀστέρες), such as Mercurius. The exact period of birth (hora genitalis) being the critical moment, the computations founded upon it were styled γένεσις(genitura), ὡροσκόπος (horoscopus), or simply θέμα, and the star or stars in the ascendant sidus natalitium, sidera natalitia. Astrologers seem to have found their way very early into Italy. In B.C. 139 an edict was promulgated by C. Cornelius Hispallus, at that time praetor, by which the Chaldaeans were ordered to quit Italy within ten days, and they were again banished from the city in B.C. 33, by M. Agrippa, who was then aedile. Another severe ordinance was levelled by Augustus against this class, but the frequent occurrence of such phrases as “expulit et mathematicos,” “pulsis Italia mathematicis,” in the historians of the empire prove how firm a hold these pretenders must have obtained over the public mind, and how profitable the occupation must have been which could induce them to brave disgrace, and sometimes a cruel death.

ASTỸNŎMI (ἀστυνόμοι), or street-police of Athens, were ten in number, five for the city, and as many for the Peiraeeus. The astynomi and agoranomi divided between them most of the functions of the Roman aediles. [AGORANOMI.]

ĂSῩLUM (ἄσυλον). In the Greek states the temples, altars, sacred groves, and statues of the gods, generally possessed the privilege of protecting slaves, debtors, and criminals, who fled to them for refuge. The laws, however, do not appear to have recognised the right of all such sacred places to afford the protection which was claimed, but to have confined it to a certain number of temples, or altars, which were considered in a more especial manner to have the ἀσυλία, or jus asyli. There were several places in Athens which possessed this privilege; of which the best known was the Theseium, or temple of Theseus, in the city, near the gymnasium, which was chiefly intended for the protection of ill-treated slaves, who could take refuge in this place, and compel their masters to sell them to some other person. In the time of Tiberius, the number of places possessing the jus asyli in the Greek cities in Greece and Asia Minor became so numerous, as seriously to impede the administration of justice; and, consequently, the senate, by the command of the emperor, limited the jus asyli to a few cities. The asylum, which Romulus is said to have opened at Rome to increase the population of the city, was a place of refuge for the inhabitants of other states, rather than a sanctuary for those who had violated the laws of the city. In the republican and early imperial times, a right of asylum, such as existed in the Greek states, does not appear to have been recognised by the Roman law; but it existed under the empire, and a slave could fly to the temples of the gods, or the statues of the emperors, to avoid the ill-usage of his master.

ĂTĔLEIA (ἀτέλεια), immunity from public burthens, was enjoyed at Athens by the archons for the time being; by the descendants of certain persons, on whom it had been conferred as a reward for great services, as in the case of Harmodius and Aristogeiton; and by the inhabitants of certain foreign states. It was of several kinds: it might be a general immunity (ἀτέλεια ἁπάντων); or a more special exemption, as from custom-duties, from the liturgies, or from providing sacrifices.

ĀTELLĀNAE FĂBŬLAE were a species of farce or comedy, so called from Atella, a town of the Osci, in Campania. From this circumstance, and from being written in the Oscan dialect, they were also called Ludi Osci. These Atellane plays were not praetextatae, i.e. comedies in which magistrates and persons of rank were introduced, nor tabernariae, the characters in which were taken from low life; they rather seem to have been a union of high comedy and its parody. They were also distinguished from the mimes by the absence of low buffoonery and ribaldry, being remarkable for a refined humour, such as could be understood and appreciated by educated people. They were not performed by regular actors (histriones), but by Roman citizens of noble birth, who were not on that account subjected to any degradation, but retained their rights as citizens, and might serve in the army. The Oscan or Opican language, in which these plays were written, was spread over the whole of the south of Italy, and from its resemblance to the Latin could easily be understood by the more educated Romans.

ĂTHĒNAEUM (ἀθήναιον), a school (ludus) founded by the Emperor Hadrian at Rome, for the promotion of literary and scientific studies (ingenuarum artium), and called Athenaeum from the town of Athens, which was still regarded as the seat of intellectual refinement. The Athenaeum was situated on the Capitoline hill. It was a kind of university, with a staff of professors, for the various branches of study. Besides the instruction given by these magistri, poets, orators, and critics were accustomed to recite their compositions there, and these prelections were sometimes honoured with the presence of the emperors themselves. The Athenaeum seems to have continued in high repute till the fifth century.

ATHLĒTAE (ἀθληταί, ἀθλητῆρες), persons who contended in the public games of the Greeks and Romans for prizes (ἆθλα, whence the name of ἀθληταί), which were given to those who conquered in contests of agility and strength. The name was in the later period of Grecian history, and among the Romans, properly confined to those persons who entirely devoted themselves to a course of training which might fit them to excel in such contests, and who, in fact, made athletic exercises their profession. The athletae differed, therefore, from the agonistae (ἀγωνισταί), who only pursued gymnastic exercises for the sake of improving their health and bodily strength, and who, though they sometimes contended for the prizes in the public games, did not devote their whole lives, like the athletae, to preparing for these contests. Athletae were first introduced at Rome, B.C. 186, in the games exhibited by M. Fulvius, on the conclusion of the Aetolian war. Aemilius Paullus, after the conquest of Perseus, B.C. 167, is said to have exhibited games at Amphipolis, in which athletae contended. Under the Roman emperors, and especially under Nero, who was passionately fond of the Grecian games, the number of athletae increased greatly in Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor. Those athletae who conquered in any of the great national festivals of the Greeks were called Hieronicae (ἱερονῖκαι), and received the greatest honours and rewards. Such a conqueror was considered to confer honour upon the state to which he belonged; he entered his native city through a breach made in the walls for his reception, in a chariot drawn by four white horses, and went along the principal street of the city to the temple of the guardian deity of the state. Those games, which gave the conquerors the right of such an entrance into the city, were called Iselastici (from εἰσελαύνειν). This term was originally confined to the four great Grecian festivals, the Olympian, Isthmian, Nemean, and Pythian, but was afterwards applied to other public games. In the Greek states, the victors in these games not only obtained the greatest glory and respect, but also substantial rewards. They were generally relieved from the payment of taxes, and also enjoyed the first seat (προεδρία) in all public games and spectacles. Their statues were frequently erected at the cost of the state, in the most frequented part of the city, as the market-place, the gymnasia, and the neighbourhood of the temples. At Athens, according to a law of Solon, the conquerors in the Olympic games were rewarded with a prize of 500 drachmae; and the conquerors in the Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian, with one of 100 drachmae; and at Sparta they had the privilege of fighting near the person of the king. The privileges of the athletae were secured, and in some respects increased, by the Roman emperors. The term athletae, though sometimes applied metaphorically to other combatants, was properly limited to those who contended for the prize in the five following contests:--1. Running (δρόμος, cursus). [STADIUM.] 2. Wrestling (πάλη, lucta). 3. Boxing (πυγμή, pugilatus). 4. The pentathlum (πένταθλον), or, as the Romans called it, quinquertium. 5. The pancratium (παγκράτιον). Of all these an account is given in separate articles. Great attention was paid to the training of the athletae. They were generally trained in the palaestrae, which, in the Grecian states, were distinct places from the gymnasia. Their exercises were superintended by the gymnasiarch, and their diet was regulated by the aliptes. [ALIPTAE.]--The athletae were accustomed to contend naked. In the descriptions of the games given in the Iliad, the combatants are represented with a girdle about their loins; and the same practice, as we learn from Thucydides, anciently prevailed at the Olympic games, but was discontinued afterwards.

ĂTĪMĬA (ἀτιμία), the forfeiture of a man’s civil rights at Athens. It was either total or partial. A man was totally deprived of his rights, both for himself and for his descendants (καθάπαξ ἄτιμος), when he was convicted of murder, theft, false witness, partiality as arbiter, violence offered to a magistrate, and so forth. This highest degree of atimia excluded the person affected by it from the forum, and from all public assemblies; from the public sacrifices, and from the law courts; or rendered him liable to immediate imprisonment, if he was found in any of these places. It was either temporary or perpetual, and either accompanied or not with confiscation of property. Partial atimia only involved the forfeiture of some few rights, as, for instance, the right of pleading in court. Public debtors were suspended from their civic functions till they discharged their debt to the state. People who had once become altogether atimi were very seldom restored to their lost privileges. The converse term to atimia was epitimia (ἐπιτιμία).

ATLANTES (ἄτλαντες) and TĔLĂMŌNES (τελαμῶνες), terms used in architecture, the former by the Greeks, the latter by the Romans, to designate those male figures which are sometimes fancifully used, like the female Caryatides, in place of columns. Both words are derived from τλῆναι, and the former evidently refers to the fable of Atlas, who supported the vault of heaven, the latter perhaps to the strength of the Telamonian Ajax.

ĀTRĀMENTUM, a term applicable to any black colouring substance, for whatever purpose it may be used, like the melan (μέλαν) of the Greeks. There were, however, three principal kinds of atramentum: one called librarium, or scriptorium (in Greek, γραφικὸν μέλαν), writing-ink; another called sutorium, which was used by the shoemakers for dyeing leather; the third tectorium, or pictorium, which was used by painters for some purposes, apparently as a sort of varnish. The inks of the ancients seem to have been more durable than our own; they were thicker and more unctuous, in substance and durability more resembling the ink now used by printers. An inkstand was discovered at Herculaneum, containing ink as thick as oil, and still usable for writing. The ancients used inks of various colours. Red ink, made of minium or vermilion, was used for writing the titles and beginning of books. So also was ink made of rubrica, “red ochre;” and because the headings of laws were written with rubrica, the word rubric came to be used for the civil law. So album, a white or whited table, on which the praetors’ edicts were written, was used in a similar way. A person devoting himself to album and rubrica, was a person devoting himself to the law. [ALBUM.]

ĀTRĬUM (called αὐλή by the Greeks and by Virgil, and also μεσαύλιον, περίστυλον, περίστῳον) is used in a distinctive as well as collective sense, to designate a particular part in the private houses of the Romans [DOMUS], and also a class of public buildings, so called from their general resemblance in construction to the atrium of a private house. An atrium of the latter description was a building by itself, resembling in some respects the open basilica [BASILICA], but consisting of three sides. Such was the Atrium Publicum in the capitol, which, Livy informs us, was struck with lightning, B.C. 216. It was at other times attached to some temple or other edifice, and in such case consisted of an open area and surrounding portico in front of the structure. Several of these buildings are mentioned by the ancient historians, two of which were dedicated to the same goddess, Libertas. The most celebrated, as well as the most ancient, was situated on the Aventine Mount. In this atrium there was a tabularium, where the legal tablets (tabulae) relating to the censors were preserved. The other Atrium Libertatis was in the neighbourhood of the Forum Caesaris, and was immediately behind the Basilica Paulli or Aemilia.

AUCTĬO signifies generally “an increasing, an enhancement,” and hence the name is applied to a public sale of goods, at which persons bid against one another. The sale was sometimes conducted by an argentarius, or by a magister auctionis; and the time, place, and conditions of sale, were announced either by a public notice (tabula, album, &c.), or by a crier (praeco). The usual phrases to express the giving notice of a sale were, auctionem proscribere, praedicare; and to determine on a sale, auctionem constituere. The purchasers (emtores), when assembled, were sometimes said ad tabulam adesse. The phrases signifying to bid are, liceri, licitari, which was done either by word of mouth, or by such significant hints as are known to all people who have attended an auction. The property was said to be knocked down (addici) to the purchaser. The praeco, or crier, seems to have acted the part of the modern auctioneer, so far as calling out the biddings, and amusing the company. Slaves, when sold by auction, were placed on a stone, or other elevated thing, as is the case when slaves are sold in the United States of North America; and hence the phrase homo de lapide emtus. It was usual to put up a spear (hasta) in auctions; a symbol derived, it is said, from the ancient practice of selling under a spear the booty acquired in war.

AUCTOR, a word which contains the same element as aug-eo, and signifies generally one who enlarges, confirms, or gives to a thing its completeness and efficient form. The numerous technical significations of the word are derivable from this general notion. As he who gives to a thing that which is necessary for its completeness may in this sense be viewed as the chief actor or doer, the word auctor is also used in the sense of one who originates or proposes a thing; but this cannot be viewed as its primary meaning. Accordingly, the word auctor, when used in connection with lex or senatus consultum, often means him who originates and proposes.--The expressions patres auctores fiunt, patres auctores facti, have given rise to much discussion. In the earlier periods of the Roman state, the word patres was equivalent to patricii; in the later period, when the patricians had lost all importance as a political body, the term patres signified the senate. Hence some ambiguity has arisen. The expression patres auctores fiunt, when used of the early period of Rome, means that the determinations of the populus in the comitia centuriata were confirmed by the patricians in the comitia curiata. Till the time of Servius Tullius there were only the comitia curiata, and this king first established the comitia centuriata, in which the plebs also voted, and consequently it was not till after this time that the phrase patres auctores fiunt could be properly applied. Livy, however, uses it of an earlier period. The comitia curiata first elected the king, and then by another vote conferred upon him the imperium. The latter was called lex curiata de imperio, an expression not used by Livy, who employs instead the phrase patres auctores fiunt (Liv. i. 17, 22, 32).--After the exile of the last Tarquin, the patres, that is the patricians, had still the privilege of confirming at the comitia curiata the vote of the comitia centuriata, that is, they gave to it the patrum auctoritas; or, in other words, the patres were auctores facti. In the fifth century of the city a change was made. By one of the laws of the plebeian dictator Q. Publilius Philo, it was enacted that in the case of leges to be enacted at the comitia centuriata, the patres should be auctores, that is, the curiae should give their assent before the vote of the comitia centuriata. By a lex Maenia of uncertain date the same change was made as to elections.--But both during the earlier period and afterwards no business could be brought before the comitia without first receiving the sanction of the senate; and accordingly the phrase patres auctores fiunt came now to be applied to the approval of a measure by the senate before it was confirmed by the votes of the people. This preliminary approval was also termed senatus auctoritas.--When the word auctor is applied to him who recommends but does not originate a legislative measure, it is equivalent to suasor. Sometimes both auctor and suasor are used in the same sentence, and the meaning of each is kept distinct. With reference to dealings between individuals, auctor has the sense of owner. In this sense auctor is the seller (venditor), as opposed to the buyer (emtor): and hence we have the phrase a malo auctore emere. Auctor is also used generally to express any person under whose authority any legal act is done. In this sense, it means a tutor who is appointed to aid or advise a woman on account of the infirmity of her sex.

AUCTŌRĀMENTUM, the pay of gladiators. [GLADIATORES.]

AUCTŌRĬTAS. The technical meanings of this word correlate with those of auctor. The auctoritas senatus was not a senatus-consultum; it was a measure, incomplete in itself, which received its completion by some other authority. Auctoritas, as applied to property, is equivalent to legal ownership, being a correlation of auctor.

AUDĪTŌRĬUM, as the name implies, is any place for hearing. It was the practice among the Romans for poets and others to read their compositions to their friends, who were sometimes called the auditorium; but the word was also used to express any place in which any thing was heard, and under the empire it was applied to a court of justice. Under the republic the place for all judicial proceedings was the comitium and the forum. But for the sake of shelter and convenience it became the practice to hold courts in the Basilicae, which contained halls, which were also called auditoria. It is first under M. Aurelius that the auditorium principis is mentioned, by which we must understand a hall or room in the imperial residence; and in such a hall Septimius Severus and the later emperors held their regular sittings when they presided as judges. The latest jurists use the word generally for any place in which justice was administered.

AUGUR, AUGŬRĬUM; AUSPEX, AUSPĬCĬUM. Augur or auspex meant a diviner by birds, but came in course of time, like the Greek οἰωνός, to be applied in a more extended sense: his art was called augurium or auspicium. Plutarch relates that the augures were originally termed auspices. The word auspex was supplanted by augur, but the scientific term for the observation continued on the contrary to be auspicium and not augurium. By Greek writers on Roman affairs, the augurs are called οἰωνοπόλοι, οἰωνοσκόποι, οἰωνισταί, οἱ ἐπ’ οἰωνοῖς ἱερεῖς. The belief that the flight of birds gave some intimation of the will of the gods seems to have been prevalent among many nations of antiquity, and was common to the Greeks, as well as the Romans; but it was only among the latter people that it was reduced to a complete system, governed by fixed rules, and handed down from generation to generation. In Greece, the oracles supplanted the birds, and the future was learnt from Apollo and other gods, rarely from Zeus, who possessed very few oracles in Greece. The contrary was the case at Rome: it was from Jupiter that the future was learnt, and the birds were regarded as his messengers. It must be remarked in general, that the Roman auspices were essentially of a practical nature; they gave no information respecting the course of future events, they did not inform men what was to happen, but simply taught them what they were to do, or not to do; they assigned no reason for the decision of Jupiter--they simply announced, yes or no. The words augurium and auspicium came to be used in course of time to signify the observation of various kinds of signs. They were divided into five sorts: ex caelo, ex avibus, ex tripudiis, ex quadrupedibus, ex diris. Of these, the last three formed no part of the ancient auspices.--1. Ex caelo. This included the observation of the various kinds of thunder and lightning, and was regarded as the most important, maximum auspicium. Whenever it was reported by a person authorised to take the auspices, that Jupiter thundered or lightened, the comitia could not be held.--2. Ex avibus. It was only a few birds which could give auguries among the Romans. They were divided into two classes: Oscines, those which gave auguries by singing, or their voice, and Alites, those which gave auguries by their flight. To the former class belonged the raven (corvus) and the crow (cornix), the first of these giving a favourable omen (auspicium ratum) when it appeared on the right, the latter, on the contrary, when it was seen on the left: likewise the owl (noctua) and the hen (gallina). To the aves alites belonged first of all the eagle (aquila), which is called pre-eminently the bird of Jupiter (Jovis ales), and next the vulture (vultur). Some birds were included both among the oscines and the alites: such were the Picus Martius, and Feronius, and the Parra. These were the principal birds consulted in the auspices. When the birds favoured an undertaking, they were said addicere, admittere or secundare, and were then called addictivae, admissivae, secundae, or praepetes: when unfavourable they were said abdicere, arcere, refragari, &c., and were then called adversae or alterae. The birds which gave unfavourable omens were termed funebres, inhibitae, lugubres, malae, &c., and such auspices were called clivia and clamatoria.--3. Ex tripudiis. These auspices were taken from the feeding of chickens, and were especially employed on military expeditions. The chickens were kept in a cage, under care of a person called pullarius; and when the auspices were to be taken, the pullarius opened the cage and threw to the chickens pulse or a kind of soft cake. If they refused to come out or to eat, or uttered a cry (occinerent), or beat their wings, or flew away, the signs were considered unfavourable. On the contrary, if they ate greedily, so that something fell from their mouth and struck the earth, it was called tripudium solistimum (tripudium quasi terripavium, solistimum, from solum, according to the ancient writers), and was held a favourable sign.--4. Ex quadrupedibus. Auguries could also be taken from four-footed animals; but these formed no part of the original science of the augurs, and were never employed by them in taking auspices on behalf of the state, or in the exercise of their art properly so called. They must be looked upon simply as a mode of private divination. When a fox, a wolf, a horse, a dog, or any other kind of quadruped ran across a person’s path or appeared in an unusual place, it formed an augury.--5. Ex diris, sc. signis. Under this head was included every kind of augury which does not fall under any of the four classes mentioned above, such as sneezing, stumbling, and other accidental things. There was an important augury of this kind connected with the army, which was called ex acuminibus, that is, the flames appearing at the points of spears or other weapons. The ordinary manner of taking the auspices, properly so called (i.e. ex caelo and ex avibus), was as follows: The person who was to take them first marked out with a wand (lituus) a division in the heavens called templum or tescum, within which he intended to make his observations. The station where he was to take the auspices was also separated by a solemn formula from the rest of the land, and was likewise called templum or tescum. He then proceeded to pitch a tent in it (tabernaculum capere), and this tent again was also called templum, or, more accurately, templum minus. [TEMPLUM.] Within the walls of Rome, or, more properly speaking, within the pomoerium, there was no occasion to select a spot and pitch a tent on it, as there was a place on the Arx on the summit of the Capitoline hill, called Auguraculum, which had been consecrated once for all for this purpose. In like manner there was in every Roman camp a place called augurale, which answered the same purpose; but on all other occasions a place had to be consecrated, and a tent to be pitched, as, for instance, in the Campus Martius, when the comitia centuriata were to be held. The person who was then taking the auspices waited for the favourable signs to appear; but it was necessary during this time that there should be no interruption of any kind whatsoever (silentium), and hence the word silentium was used in a more extended sense to signify the absence of every thing that was faulty. Every thing, on the contrary, that rendered the auspices invalid was called vitium; and hence we constantly read in Livy and other writers of vitio magistratus creati, vitio lex lata, &c. The watching for the auspices was called spectio or servare de coelo, the declaration of what was observed nuntiatio, or, if they were unfavourable, obnuntiatio. In the latter case, the person who took the auspices seems usually to have said alio die, by which the business in hand, whether the holding of the comitia or any thing else, was entirely stopped.--In ancient times no one but a patrician could take the auspices. Hence the possession of the auspices (habere auspicia) is one of the most distinguished prerogatives of the patricians; they are said to be penes patrum, and are called auspicia patrum. It would further appear that every patrician might take the auspices; but here a distinction is to be observed between the auspicia privata and auspicia publica. One of the most frequent occasions on which the auspicia privata were taken, was in case of a marriage: and this was one great argument used by the patricians against connubium between themselves and the plebeians, as it would occasion, they urged, perturbationem auspiciorum publicorum privatorumque. In taking these private auspices, it would appear that any patrician was employed who knew how to form templa and was acquainted with the art of augury. The case, however, was very different with respect to the auspicia publica, generally called auspicia simply, or those which concerned the state. The latter could only be taken by the persons who represented the state, and who acted as mediators between the gods and the state; for though all the patricians were eligible for taking the auspices, yet it was only the magistrates who were in actual possession of them. In case, however, there was no patrician magistrate, the auspices became vested in the whole body of the patricians (auspicia ad patres redeunt), who had recourse to an interregnum for the renewal of them, and for handing them over in a perfect state to the new magistrates: hence we find the expressions repetere de integro auspicia, and renovare per interregnum auspicia.--The distinction between the duties of the magistrates and the augurs in taking the auspices is one of the most difficult points connected with this subject, but perhaps a satisfactory solution of these difficulties may be found by taking an historical view of the question. We are told not only that the kings were in possession of the auspices, but that they themselves were acquainted with the art and practised it. Romulus is stated to have appointed three augurs, but only as his assistants in taking the auspices, a fact which it is important to bear in mind. Their dignity gradually increased in consequence of their being employed at the inauguration of the kings, and also in consequence of their becoming the preservers and depositaries of the science of augury. Formed into a collegium, they handed down to their successors the various rules of the science, while the kings, and subsequently the magistrates of the republic, were liable to change. Their duties thus became two-fold, to assist the magistrates in taking up auspices, and to preserve a scientific knowledge of the art. As the augurs were therefore merely the assistants of the magistrates, they could not take the auspices without the latter, though the magistrates on the contrary could dispense with their assistance. At the same time it must be borne in mind, that as the augurs were the interpreters of the science, they possessed the right of declaring whether the auspices were valid or invalid. They thus possessed in reality a veto upon every important public transaction; and they frequently exercised this power as a political engine to vitiate the election of such parties as were unfavourable to the enclusive privileges of the patricians. But although the augurs could declare that there was some fault in the auspices, yet, on the other hand, they could not, by virtue of their office, declare that any unfavourable sign had appeared to them, since it was not to them that the auspices were sent. Thus we are told that the augurs did not possess the spectio. This spectio was of two kinds, one more extensive and the other more limited. In the one case the person who exercised it could put a stop to the proceedings of any other magistrate by his obnuntiatio: this was called spectio et nuntiatio (perhaps also spectio cum nuntiatione), and belonged only to the highest magistrates, the consuls, dictators, interreges, and, with some modifications, to the praetors. In the other case, the person who took the auspices only exercised the spectio in reference to the duties of his own office, and could not interfere with any other magistrate: this was called spectio sine nuntiatione, and belonged to the other magistrates, the censors, aediles, and quaestors. Now as the augurs did not possess the auspices, they consequently could not possess the spectio (habere spectionem); but as the augurs were constantly employed by the magistrates to take the auspices, they exercised the spectio, though they did not possess it in virtue of their office. When they were employed by the magistrates in taking the auspices, they possessed the right of the nuntiatio, and thus had the power, by the declaration of unfavourable signs (obnuntiatio), to put a stop to all important public transactions.--The auspices were not conferred upon the magistrates in any special manner. It was the act of their election which made them the recipients of the auspices, since the comitia, in which they were appointed to their office, were held auspicato, and consequently their appointment was regarded as ratified by the gods. The auspices, therefore, passed immediately into their hands upon the abdication of their predecessors in office.--The auspices belonging to the different magistrates were divided into two classes, called auspicia maxima or majora and minora. The former, which belonged originally to the kings, passed over to the consuls, censors, and praetors, and likewise to the extraordinary magistrates, the dictators, interreges, and consular tribunes. The quaestors and the curule aediles, on the contrary, had only the auspicia minora.--It was a common opinion in antiquity that a college of three augurs was appointed by Romulus, answering to the number of the early tribes, the Ramnes, Tities, and Lucerenses, but the accounts vary respecting their origin and number. At the passing of the Ogulnian law (B.C. 300) the augurs were four in number. This law increased the number of pontiffs to eight, by the addition of four plebeians, and that of the augurs to nine by the addition of five plebeians. The number of nine augurs lasted down to the dictatorship of Sulla, who increased them to fifteen, a multiple of the original three, probably with a reference to the early tribes. A sixteenth was added by Julius Caesar after his return from Egypt. The members of the college of augurs possessed the right of self-election (cooptatio) until B.C. 103, the year of the Domitian law. By this law it was enacted that vacancies in the priestly colleges should be filled up by the votes of a minority of the tribes, i.e. seventeen out of thirty-five chosen by lot. The Domitian law was repealed by Sulla B.C. 81, but again restored B.C. 63, during the consulship of Cicero, by the tribune T. Annius Labienus, with the support of Caesar. It was a second time abrogated by Antony B.C. 44; whether again restored by Hirtius and Pansa in their general annulment of the acts of Antony, seems uncertain. The emperors possessed the right of electing augurs at pleasure. The augurs were elected for life, and even if capitally convicted, never lost their sacred character. When a vacancy occurred, the candidate was nominated by two of the elder members of the college, the electors were sworn, and the new member was then solemnly inaugurated. On such occasion there was always a splendid banquet given, at which all the augurs were expected to be present. The only distinction in the college was one of age; an elder augur always voted before a younger, even if the latter filled one of the higher offices in the state. The head of the college was called magister collegii. As insignia of their office the augurs wore the trabea, or public dress, and carried in their hand the lituus or curved wand. [LITUUS.] On the coins of the Romans, who filled the office of augur, we constantly find the lituus, and along with it, not unfrequently, the capis, an earthen vessel which was used by them in sacrifices. The science of the augurs was called jus augurum and jus augurium, and was preserved in books (libri augurales), which are frequently mentioned in the ancient writers. The expression for consulting the augurs was referre ad augures, and their answers were called decreta or responsa augurum. The science of augury had greatly declined in the time of Cicero; and although he frequently deplores its neglect in his De Divinatione, yet neither he nor any of the educated classes appears to have had any faith in it.

AŪGŬRĀCŬLUM. [ARX; AUGUR, p. 50, b.]

AUGŬRĀLE. [AUGUR, p. 50, b.]

AUGŬRIUM. [AUGUR.]

AUGUSTĀLES--(1) (sc. ludi, also called Augustalia, sc. certamina, ludicra), games celebrated in honour of Augustus, at Rome and in other parts of the Roman empire. After the battle of Actium, a quinquennial festival was instituted; and the birthday of Augustus, as well as that on which the victory was announced at Rome, were regarded as festival days. It was not, however, till B.C. 11 that the festival on the birthday of Augustus was formally established by a decree of the senate, and it is this festival which is usually meant when the Augustales or Augustalia are mentioned. It was celebrated iv. Id. Octobr. At the death of Augustus, this festival assumed a more solemn character, was added to the Fasti, and celebrated to his honour as a god. It was henceforth exhibited annually in the circus, at first by the tribunes of the plebs, at the commencement of the reign of Tiberius, but afterwards by the praetor peregrinus.--(2) The name of two classes of priests, one at Rome and the other in the municipia. The Augustales at Rome, properly called sodales Augustales, were an order of priests instituted by Tiberius to attend to the worship of Augustus and the Julia gens. They were chosen by lot from among the principal persons of Rome, and were twenty-one in number, to which were added Tiberius, Drusus, Claudius, and Germanicus, as members of the imperial family. They were also called sacerdotes Augustales, and sometimes simply Augustales. The Augustales in the municipia are supposed by most modern writers to have been a class of priests selected by Augustus from the libertini to attend to the religions rites connected with the worship of the Lares, which that emperor was said to have put up in places where two or more ways met; but there are good reasons for thinking that they were instituted in imitation of the Augustales at Rome, and for the same object, namely, to attend to the worship of Augustus. They formed a collegium and were appointed by the decuriones, or senate of the municipia. The six principal members of the college were called Seviri, a title which seems to have been imitated from the Seviri in the equestrian order at Rome.

AUGUSTUS, a name bestowed upon Octavianus in B.C. 27, by the senate and the Roman people. It was a word used in connection with religion, and designated a person as sacred and worthy of worship; hence the Greek writers translate it by Σεβαστός. It was adopted by all succeeding emperors, as if descended, either by birth or adoption, from the first emperor of the Roman world. The name of Augusta was frequently bestowed upon females of the imperial family; but Augustus belonged exclusively to the reigning emperor till towards the end of the second century of the Christian aera, when M. Aurelius and L. Verus both received this surname. From this time we frequently find two or even a greater number of Augusti. From the time of Probus the title became perpetuus Augustus, and from Philippus or Claudius Gothicus semper Augustus, the latter of which titles was borne by the so-called Roman emperors in Germany. [CAESAR.]

AULAEUM. [SIPARIUM.]

AURĔUS. [AURUM.]

AURĪGA. [CIRCUS.]

AURUM (χρυσός), gold. Gold was scarce in Greece. The chief places from which the Greeks procured their gold were India, Arabia, Armenia, Colchis, and Troas. It was found mixed with the sands of the Pactolus and other rivers. Almost the only method of purifying gold, known to the ancients, seems to have been that of grinding and then roasting it, and by this process they succeeded in getting it very pure. This is what we are to understand by the phrase χρυσίον ἄπεφθον in Thucydides, and by the word obrussa in Pliny. The art of gilding was known to the Greeks from the earliest times of which we have any information. The time when gold was first coined at Athens is very uncertain, but on the whole it appears most probable that gold money was not coined there, or in Greece Proper generally, till the time of Alexander the Great, if we except a solitary issue of debased gold at Athens in B.C. 407. But from a very early period the Asiatic nations, and the Greek cities of Asia Minor and the adjacent islands, as well as Sicily and Cyrene, possessed a gold coinage, which was more or less current in Greece. Herodotus says that the Lydians were the first who coined gold, and the stater of Croesus appears to have been the earliest gold coin known to the Greeks. The Daric was a Persian coin. Staters of Cyzicus and Phocaea had a considerable currency in Greece. There was a gold coinage in Samos as early as the time of Polycrates. The islands of Siphnos and Thasos, which possessed gold mines, appear to have had a gold coinage at an early period. The Macedonian gold coinage came into circulation in Greece in the time of Philip, and continued in use till the subjection of Greece to the Romans. [DARICUS; STATER.] The standard gold coin of Rome was the aureus nummus, or denarius aureus, which, according to Pliny, was first coined 62 years after the first silver coinage [ARGENTUM], that is, in the year 207 B.C. The lowest denomination was the scrupulum, which was made equal to 20 sestertii. The weight of the scrupulum was 18·06 grains. The annexed cut represents a gold coin of 60 sestertii. Pliny adds that afterwards aurei were coined of 40 to the pound, which weight was diminished, till under Nero they were 45 to the pound. The average weight of the aurei of Augustus, in the British Museum, is 121·26 grains: and as the weight was afterwards diminished, we may take the average at 120 grains. The value of the aureus in terms of the sovereign = 1_l._ 1_s._ 1_d._ and a little more than a halfpenny. This is its value according to the present worth of gold; but its current value in Rome was different from this, on account of the difference in the worth of the metal. The aureus passed for 25 denarii; therefore, the denarius being 8½_d._, it was worth 17_s._ 8½_d._ The ratio of the value of gold to that of silver is given in the article ARGENTUM. Alexander Severus coined pieces of one-half and one-third of the aureus, called Semissis and tremissis, after which time the aureus was called solidus. Constantine the Great coined aurei of 72 to the pound; at which standard the coin remained to the end of the empire.

AURUM CŎRŌNĀRĬUM. When a general in a Roman province had obtained a victory, it was the custom for the cities in his own provinces, and for those from the neighbouring states, to send golden crowns to him, which were carried before him in his triumph at Rome. In the time of Cicero it appears to have been usual for the cities of the provinces, instead of sending crowns on occasion of a victory, to pay money, which was called aurum coronarium. This offering, which was at first voluntary, came to be regarded as a regular tribute, and was sometimes exacted by the governors of the provinces, even when no victory had been gained.

AURUM VĪCĒSĬMĀRĬUM. [AERARIUM.]

AUSPEX. [AUGUR.]

AUSPĬCĬUM. [AUGUR.]

AUTHEPSA (αὐθέψης), which literally means “self-boiling,” or “self-cooking,” was the name of a vessel which is supposed to have been used for heating water, or for keeping it hot.

AUTŎNŎMI (αὐτονόμοι), the name given by the Greeks to those states which were governed by their own laws, and were not subject to any foreign power. This name was also given to those cities subject to the Romans, which were permitted to enjoy their own laws and elect their own magistrates.

AUXĬLĬA. [SOCII.]

AXĀMENTA. [SALII.]

AXĪNĒ. [SECURIS.]

AXIS. [CURRUS.]

AXŎNES (ἄξονες), also called kurbeis (κύρβεις), wooden tablets of a square or pyramidal form, made to turn on an axis, on which were written the laws of Solon. According to some writers the Axones contained the civil, and the Kurbeis the religious laws; according to others the Kurbeis had four sides and the Axones three. But at Athens, at all events, they seem to have been identical. They were at first preserved in the Acropolis, but were afterwards placed in the agora, in order that all persons might be able to read them.

BĀLISTA, BALLISTA. [TORMENTUM.]

BALNĔUM or BĂLĬNĔUM (λοετρόν or λουτρόν, βαλανεῖον, also balneae or balineae), a bath. Balneum or balineum signifies, in its primary sense, a bath or bathing vessel, such as most Romans possessed in their own houses; and from that it came to mean the chamber which contained the bath. When the baths of private individuals became more sumptuous, and comprised many rooms, the plural balnea or balinea was adopted, which still, in correct language, had reference only to the baths of private persons. Balneae and balineae, which have no singular number, were the public baths. But this accuracy of diction is neglected by many of the later writers. Thermae (from θέρμη, warmth) means properly warm springs, or baths of warm water, but was afterwards applied to the structures in which the baths were placed, and which were both hot and cold. There was, however, a material distinction between the balneae and thermae, inasmuch as the former was the term used under the republic, and referred to the public establishments of that age, which contained no appliances for luxury beyond the mere convenience of hot and cold baths, whereas the latter name was given to those magnificent edifices which grew up under the empire, and which comprised within their range of buildings all the appurtenances belonging to the Greek gymnasia, as well as a regular establishment appropriated for bathing.--Bathing was a practice familiar to the Greeks of both sexes from the earliest times. The artificial warm bath was taken in a vessel called asaminthus (ἀσάμινθος) by Homer, and puelus (πύελος) by the later Greeks. It did not contain water itself, but was only used for the bather to sit in, while the warm water was poured over him. On Greek vases, however, we never find anything corresponding to a modern bath in which persons can stand or sit; but there is always a round or oval basin (λουτήρ or λουτήριον), resting on a stand, by the side of which those who are bathing are standing undressed and washing themselves. In the Homeric times it was customary to take first a cold and afterwards a warm bath; but in later times it was the usual practice of the Greeks to take first a warm or vapour, and afterwards a cold bath. At Athens the frequent use of the public baths, most of which were warm baths (βαλανεῖα, called by Homer θερμὰ λοετρά), was regarded in the time of Socrates and Demosthenes as a mark of luxury and effeminacy. Accordingly, Phocion was said to have never bathed in a public bath, and Socrates to have used it very seldom. After bathing both sexes anointed themselves, in order that the skin might not be left harsh and rough, especially after warm water. Oil (ἔλαιον) is the only ointment mentioned by Homer, but in later times precious unguents (μῦρα) were used for this purpose. The bath was usually taken before the principal meal of the day (δεῖπνον). The Lacedaemonians, who considered warm water as enervating, used two kinds of baths; namely, the cold daily bath in the Eurotas, and a dry sudorific bath in a chamber heated with warm air by means of a stove, and from them the chamber used by the Romans for a similar purpose was termed Laconicum. A sudorific or vapour bath (πυρία or πυριατήριον) is mentioned as early as the time of Herodotus. At what period the use of the warm bath was introduced among the Romans is not recorded; but we know that Scipio had a warm bath in his villa at Liternum, and the practice of heating an apartment with warm air by flues placed immediately under it, so as to produce a vapour bath, is stated to have been invented by Sergius Orata, who lived in the age of Crassus, before the Marsic war. By the time of Cicero the use of baths of warm water and hot air had become common, and in his time there were baths at Rome which were open to the public upon payment of a small fee. In the public baths at Rome the men and women used originally to bathe in separate sets of chambers; but under the empire it became the common custom for both sexes to bathe indiscriminately in the same bath. This practice was forbidden by Hadrian and M. Aurelius; and Alexander Severus prohibited any baths, common to both sexes, from being opened in Rome. The price of a bath was a quadrant, the smallest piece of coined money, from the age of Cicero downwards, which was paid to the keeper of the bath (balneator). Children below a certain age were admitted free. It was usual with the Romans to take the bath after exercise, and before the principal meal (coena) of the day; but the debauchees of the empire bathed also after eating as well as before, in order to promote digestion, and to acquire a new appetite for fresh delicacies.

Upon quitting the bath the Romans as well as the Greeks were anointed with oil. The Romans did not content themselves with a single bath of hot or cold water; but they went through a course of baths in succession, in which the agency of air as well as water was applied. It is difficult to ascertain the precise order in which the course was usually taken; but it appears to have been a general practice to close the pores, and brace the body after the excessive perspiration of the vapour bath, either by pouring cold water over the head, or by plunging at once into the piscina. To render the subjoined remarks more easily intelligible, the preceding woodcut is inserted, which is taken from a fresco painting upon the walls of the thermae of Titus at Rome. The chief parts of a Roman bath were as follow:--1. Apodyterium. Here the bathers were expected to take off their garments, which were then delivered to a class of slaves, called capsarii, whose duty it was to take charge of them. These men were notorious for dishonesty, and were leagued with all the thieves of the city, so that they connived at the robberies which they were placed to prevent. There was probably an Elaeothesium or Unctorium, as appears from the preceding cut, in connection with the apodyterium, where the bathers might be anointed with oil.--2. Frigidarium or Cella Frigidaria, where the cold bath was taken. The cold bath itself was called Natatio, Natatorium, Piscina, Baptisterium, or Puteus.--3. Tepidarium would seem from the preceding cut to have been a bathing room, for a person is there apparently represented pouring water over a bather. But there is good reason for thinking that this was not the case. In most cases the tepidarium contained no water at all, but was a room merely heated with warm air of an agreeable temperature, in order to prepare the body for the great heat of the vapour and warm baths, and upon returning from the latter, to obviate the danger of a too sudden transition to the open air.--4. The Caldarium or Concamerata Sudatio contained at one extremity the vapour bath (Laconicum), and at the other the warm bath (balneum or calda lavatio), while the centre space between the two ends was termed sudatio or sudatorium. In larger establishments the vapour bath and warm bath were in two separate cells, as we see in the preceding cut: in such cases the former part alone was called concamerata sudatio. The whole rested on a suspended pavement (suspensura), under which was a fire (hypocaustum), so that the flames might heat the whole apartment. (See cut.) The warm water bath (balneum or calda lavatio), which is also called piscina or calida piscina, labrum and solium, appears to have been a capacious marble vase, sometimes standing upon the floor, like that in the preceding cut, and sometimes either partly elevated above the floor, as it was at Pompeii, or entirely sunk into it. After having gone, through the regular course of perspiration, the Romans made use of instruments called strigiles or strigles, to scrape off the perspiration.

The strigil was also used by the Greeks, who called it stlengis (στλεγγίς) or xystra (ξύστρα). The figure in the cut on p. 24 is represented with a strigil in his hand. As the strigil was not a blunt instrument, its edge was softened by the application of oil, which was dropped upon it from a small vessel called guttus or ampulla, which had a narrow neck, so as to discharge its contents drop by drop, from whence the name is taken.

In the Thermae, spoken of above, the baths were of secondary importance. They were a Roman adaptation of the Greek gymnasium, contained exedrae for the philosophers and rhetoricians to lecture in, porticoes for the idle, and libraries for the learned, and were adorned with marbles, fountains, and shaded walks and plantations. M. Agrippa, in the reign of Augustus, was the first who afforded these luxuries to his countrymen, by bequeathing to them the thermae and gardens which he had erected in the Campus Martius. The example set by Agrippa was followed by Nero, and afterwards by Titus, the ruins of whose thermae are still visible, covering a vast extent, partly under ground and partly above the Esquiline hill. Thermae were also erected by Trajan, Caracalla, and Diocletian, of the two last of which ample remains still exist. Previously to the erection of these establishments for the use of the population, it was customary for those who sought the favour of the people to give them a day’s bathing free of expense. From thence it is fair to infer that the quadrant paid for admission into the balneae was not exacted at the thermae, which, as being the works of the emperors, would naturally be opened with imperial generosity to all, and without any charge.

BALTĔUS (τελαμών), a belt, a shoulder belt, was used to suspend the sword. See the figs. on p. 41. In the Homeric times the Greeks used a belt to support the shield. The balteus was likewise employed to suspend the quiver, and sometimes together with it the bow. More commonly the belt, whether employed to support the sword, the shield, or the quiver, was made of leather, and was frequently ornamented with gold, silver, and precious stones. In a general sense balteus was applied not only to the belt which passed over the shoulder, but also to the girdle (cingulum), which encompassed the waist. In architecture, Vitruvius applies the term Baltei to the bands surrounding the volute on each side of an Ionic capital. Other writers apply it to the praecinctiones of an amphitheatre. [AMPHITHEATRUM.]

BĂRATHRON (βάραθρον), also called ORUGMA (ὄρυγμα), a deep cavern or chasm, like the Ceadas at Sparta, behind the Acropolis at Athens, into which criminals were thrown. [CEADAS.]

BARBA (πώγων, γένειον, ὑπήνη), the beard. The Greeks seem generally to have worn the beard till the time of Alexander the Great; and a thick beard was considered as a mark of manliness. The Greek philosophers in particular were distinguished by their long beards as a sort of badge. The Romans in early times wore the beard uncut, and the Roman beards are said not to have been shaved till B.C. 300, when P. Ticinius Maena brought over a barber from Sicily; and Pliny adds, that the first Roman who is said to have been shaved every day was Scipio Africanus. His custom, however, was soon followed, and shaving became a regular thing. In the later times of the republic there were many who shaved the beard only partially, and trimmed it, so as to give it an ornamental form; to them the terms bene barbati and barbatuli are applied. In the general way at Rome, a long beard (barba promissa) was considered a mark of slovenliness and squalor. The first time of shaving was regarded as the beginning of manhood, and the day on which this took place was celebrated as a festival. There was no particular time fixed for this to be done. Usually, however, it was done when the young Roman assumed the toga virilis. The hair cut off on such occasions was consecrated to some god. Thus Nero put his up in a gold box, set with pearls, and dedicated it to Jupiter Capitolinus. Under the emperor Hadrian the beard began to revive. Plutarch says that the emperor wore it to hide some scars on his face. The practice afterwards became common, and till the time of Constantine the Great, the emperors appear in busts and coins with beards. The Romans let their beards grow in time of mourning; the Greeks, on the other hand, on such occasions shaved the beard close.

BARBĬTUS (βάρβιτος), or BARBĬTON (βάρβιτον), a stringed instrument, the original form of which is uncertain. Later writers use it as synonymous with the lyra. [LYRA.]

BASCAUDA, a British basket. This term, which remains with very little variation in the Welsh “basgawd” and the English “basket,” was conveyed to Rome together with the articles denoted by it.

BĂSĬLĬCA (sc. aedes, aula, porticus--βασιλική, also regia), a building which served as a court of law and an exchange, or place of meeting for merchants and men of business. The word was adopted from the Athenians, whose second archon was styled archon basileus (ἄρχων βασιλεύς), and the tribunal where he adjudicated stoa basileius (ἡ βασίλειος στοά), the substantive aula or porticus in Latin being omitted for convenience, and the distinctive epithet converted into a substantive. The first edifice of this description at Rome was not erected until B.C. 182. It was situated in the forum adjoining the curia, and was denominated Basilica Porcia, in commemoration of its founder, M. Porcius Cato. Besides this there were twenty others erected at different periods, within the city of Rome. The forum, or, where there was more than one, the one which was in the most frequented and central part of the city, was always selected for the site of a basilica; and hence it is that the classic writers not unfrequently use the terms forum and basilica synonymously. The ground plan of all these buildings is rectangular, and their width not more than half, nor less than one-third of the length. This area was divided into three naves, consisting of a centre (media porticus), and two side aisles, separated from the centre one, each by a single row of columns. At one end of the centre aisle was the tribunal of the judge, in form either rectangular or circular, as is seen in the annexed plan of the basilica at Pompeii. In the centre of the tribunal was placed the curule chair of the praetor, and seats for the judices and the advocates. The two side aisles, as has been said, were separated from the centre one by a row of columns, behind each of which was placed a square pier or pilaster (parastata), which supported the flooring of an upper portico, similar to the gallery of a modern church. The upper gallery was in like manner decorated with columns, of lower dimensions than those below; and these served to support the roof, and were connected with one another by a parapet-wall or balustrade (pluteus), which served as a defence against the danger of falling over, and screened the crowd of loiterers above (sub-basilicani) from the people of business in the area below. Many of these edifices were afterwards used as Christian churches, and many churches were built after the model above described. Such churches were called basilicae, which name they retain to the present day, being still called at Rome basiliche.

BASTERNA, a kind of litter (lectica) in which women were carried in the time of the Roman emperors. It appears to have resembled the Lectica [LECTICA] very closely; and the only difference apparently was, that the lectica was carried by slaves, and the basterna by two mules.

BAXA, or BAXĔA, a sandal made of vegetable leaves, twigs, or fibres, worn on the stage by comic actors.

BĒMA (βῆμα). [ECCLESIA.]

BENDĬDEIA (βενδίδεια), a Thracian festival in honour of the goddess Bendis, who is said to be identical with the Grecian Artemis and with the Roman Diana. The festival was of a bacchanalian character. From Thrace it was brought to Athens, where it was celebrated in the Peiraeeus, on the 19th or 20th of the month Thargelion, before the Panathenaea Minora. The temple of Bendis was called Bendideion.

BĔNĔFĬCĬUM, BĔNĔFĬCĬĀRĬUS. The term beneficium is of frequent occurrence in the Roman law, in the sense of some special privilege or favour granted to a person in respect of age, sex, or condition. But the word was also used in other senses. In the time of Cicero it was usual for a general, or a governor of a province, to report to the treasury the names of those under his command who had done good service to the state: those who were included in such report were said in beneficiis ad aerarium deferri. In beneficiis in these passages may mean that the persons so reported were considered as persons who had deserved well of the state; and so the word beneficium may have reference to the services of the individuals; but as the object for which their services were reported was the benefit of the individuals, it seems that the term had reference also to the reward, immediate or remote, obtained for their services. The honours and offices of the Roman state, in the republican period, were called the beneficia of the Populus Romanus. Beneficium also signified any promotion conferred on or grant made to soldiers, who were thence called beneficiarii.

BESTIĀRĬI (θηριομάχοι), persons who fought with wild beasts in the games of the circus. They were either persons who fought for the sake of pay (auctoramentum), and who were allowed arms, or they were criminals, who were usually permitted to have no means of defence against the wild beasts.

BIBLĬŎPŌLA (βιβλιοπώλης), also called librarius, a bookseller. The shop was called apotheca or taberna libraria, or merely libraria. The Romans had their Paternoster-row; for the bibliopolae or librarii lived mostly in one street, called Argiletum. Another favourite quarter of the booksellers was the Vicus Sandalarius. There seems also to have been a sort of bookstalls by the temples of Vertumnus and Janus.

BIBLĬŎTHĒCA (βιβλιοθήκη, or ἀποθήκη βιβλίων), primarily, the place where a collection of books was kept; secondarily, the collection itself. Public collections of books appear to have been very ancient. That of Peisistratus (B.C. 550) was intended for public use; it was subsequently removed to Persia by Xerxes. About the same time Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, is said to have founded a library. In the best days of Athens, even private persons had large collections of books; but the most important and splendid public library of antiquity was that founded by the Ptolemies at Alexandria, begun under Ptolemy Soter, but increased and re-arranged in an orderly and systematic manner by Ptolemy Philadelphus, who also appointed a fixed librarian, and otherwise provided for the usefulness of the institution. A great part of this splendid library was consumed by fire in the siege of Alexandria by Julius Caesar; but it was soon restored, and continued in a flourishing condition till it was destroyed by the Arabs, A.D. 640. The Ptolemies were not long without a rival in zeal. Eumenes, king of Pergamus, became a patron of literature and the sciences, and established a library, which, in spite of the prohibition against exporting papyrus issued by Ptolemy, who was jealous of his success, became very extensive, and perhaps next in importance to the library of Alexandria. The first public library in Rome was that founded by Asinius Pollio, and was in the atrium Libertatis on Mount Aventine. The library of Pollio was followed by that of Augustus in the temple of Apollo on Mount Palatine and by another, bibliothecae Octavianae, in the theatre of Marcellus. There were also libraries on the Capitol, in the temple of Peace, in the palace of Tiberius, besides the Ulpian library, which was the most famous, founded by Trajan. Libraries were also usually attached to the Thermae. [BALNEUM.] Private collections of books were made at Rome soon after the second Punic war. The zeal of Cicero, Atticus, and others, in increasing their libraries is well known. It became, in fact, the fashion to have a room elegantly furnished as a library, and reserved for that purpose. The charge of the libraries in Rome was given to persons called librarii.

BĪCOS (βῖκος), the name of an earthen vessel in common use among the Greeks, for holding wine, and salted meat and fish.

BĬDENTAL, the name given to a place where any one had been struck by lightning, or where any one had been killed by lightning and buried. Such a place was considered sacred. Priests, who were called bidentales, collected the earth which had been torn up by lightning, and every thing that had been scorched, and burnt it in the ground with a sorrowful murmur. The officiating priest was said condere fulgur; he further consecrated the spot by sacrificing a two-year-old sheep (bidens), whence the name of the place and of the priest, and he also erected an altar, and surrounded it with a wall or fence. To move the bounds of a bidental, or in any way to violate its sacred precincts, was considered as sacrilege.

BIDIAEI (βιδιαῖοι), magistrates in Sparta, whose business was to inspect the gymnastic exercises. They were either five or six in number.

BĪGA or BĪGAE. [CURRUS.]

BĪGĀTUS. [DENARIUS.]

BĬPENNIS. [SECURIS.]

BĬRĒMIS. (1.) A ship with two banks of oars. [NAVIS.] Such ships were called dicrota by the Greeks, which term is also used by Cicero.--(2.) A boat rowed by two oars.

BISSEXTUS ANNUS. [CALENDARIUM, ROMAN.]

BŎĒDRŎMĬA (βοηδρόμια), a festival celebrated at Athens on the seventh day of the month Boëdromion, in honour of Apollo Boëdromius. The name Boëdromius, by which Apollo was called in Boeotia and many other parts of Greece, seems to indicate that by this festival he was honoured as a martial god, who, either by his actual presence or by his oracles, afforded assistance in the dangers of war.

BOEŌTARCHĒS (βοιωτάρχης, or βοιωτάρχος), the name of the chief magistrates of the Boeotian confederacy, chosen by the different states. Their duties were chiefly of a military character. Each state of the confederacy elected one boeotarch, the Thebans two. The total number from the whole confederacy varied with the number of the independent states, but at the time of the Peloponnesian war they appear to have been ten or twelve. The boeotarchs, when engaged in military service, formed a council of war, the decisions of which were determined by a majority of votes, the president being one of the two Theban boeotarchs, who commanded alternately. Their period of service was a year, beginning about the winter solstice; and whoever continued in office longer than his time was punishable with death, both at Thebes and in other cities.

BŎNA, property. The phrase in bonis is frequently used as opposed to dominium or Quiritarian ownership (ex jure Quiritium). The ownership of certain kinds of things among the Romans could only be transferred from one person to another with certain formalities, or acquired by usucapion (that is, the uninterrupted possession of a thing for a certain time). But if it was clearly the intention of the owner to transfer the ownership, and the necessary forms only were wanting, the purchaser had the thing in bonis, and he had the enjoyment of it, though the original owner was still legally the owner, and was said to have the thing ex jure Quiritium, notwithstanding he had parted with the thing. The person who possessed a thing in bonis was protected in the enjoyment of it by the praetor, and consequently after a time would obtain the Quiritarian ownership of it by usucapion. [USUCAPIO.]

BŎNA CĂDŪCA. Caducum literally signifies that which falls: thus glans caduca is the mast which falls from a tree. The strict legal sense of caducum and bona caduca is as follows:--If a thing is left by testament to a person, so that he can take it by the jus civile, but from some cause has not taken it, that thing is called caducum, as if it had fallen from him. Or if a heres ex parte, or a legatee, died before the opening of the will, the thing was caducum. That which was caducum came, in the first place, to those among the heredes who had children; and if the heredes had no children, it came among those of the legatees who had children. In case there was no prior claimant the caducum belonged to the aerarium; and subsequently to the fiscus. [AERARIUM.]

BŎNA FĬDES implies, generally speaking, the absence of all fraud and unfair dealing or acting. In various actions arising out of mutual dealings, such as buying and selling, lending and hiring, partnership and others, bona fides is equivalent to aequum and justum; and such actions were sometimes called bonae fidei actiones. The formula of the praetor, which was the authority of the judex, empowered him in such cases to inquire and determine ex bona fide, that is, according to the real merits of the case: sometimes aequius melius was used instead of ex bona fide.

BŎNŌRUM CESSĬO. There were two kinds of bonorum cessio, in jure and extra jus. The in jure cessio was a mode of transferring ownership by means of a fictitious suit. The bonorum cessio extra jus was introduced by a Julian law, passed either in the time of Julius Caesar or Augustus, which allowed an insolvent debtor to give up his property to his creditors. The debtor thus avoided the infamia consequent on the bonorum emtio, which was involuntary, and he was free from all personal execution. He was also allowed to retain a small portion of his property for his support. The property thus given up was sold, and the proceeds distributed among the creditors.

BŎNŌRUM COLLĀTĬO. By the strict rules of the civil law an emancipated son had no right to the inheritance of his father, whether he died testate or intestate. But, in course of time, the praetor granted to emancipated children the privilege of equal succession with those who remained in the power of the father at the time of his death; but only on condition that they should bring into one common stock with their father’s property, and for the purpose of an equal division among all the father’s children, whatever property they had at the time of the father’s death, and which would have been acquired for the father in case they had still remained in his power. This was called bonorum collatio.

BŎNŌRUM EMTĬO ET EMTOR. The expression bonorum emtio applies to a sale of the property either of a living or of a dead person. It was in effect, as to a living debtor, an execution. In the case of a dead person, his property was sold when it was ascertained that there was neither heres nor bonorum possessor, nor any other person entitled to succeed to it. In the case of the property of a living person being sold, the praetor, on the application of the creditors, ordered it to be possessed (possideri) by the creditors for thirty successive days, and notice to be given of the sale. This explains the expression in Livy (ii. 24): “ne quis militis, donec in castris esset, bona possideret aut venderet.”

BŎNŌRUM POSSESSĬO was the right of suing for or retaining a patrimony or thing which belonged to another at the time of his death. The bonorum possessio was given by the edict both contra tabulas, secundum tabulas, and intestati. 1. An emancipated son had no legal claim on the inheritance of his father; but if he was omitted in his father’s will, or not expressly exheredated, the praetor’s edict gave him the bonorum possessio contra tabulas, on condition that he would bring into hotchpot (bonorum collatio) with his brethren who continued in the parent’s power, whatever property he had at the time of the parent’s death. 2. The bonorum possessio secundum tabulas was that possession which the praetor gave, conformably to the words of the will, to those named in it as heredes, when there was no person intitled to make a claim against the will, or none who chose to make such a claim. 3. In the case of intestacy (intestati) there were seven degrees of persons who might claim the bonorum possessio, each in his order, upon there being no claim of a prior degree. The first three degrees were children, legitimi heredes, and proximi cognati. Emancipated children could claim as well as those who were not emancipated, and adoptive as well as children of the blood; but not children who had been adopted into another family. If a freedman died intestate, leaving only a wife (in manu) or an adoptive son, the patron was entitled to the bonorum possessio of one half of his property.

BŎŌNAE (βοῶναι), persons in Athens who purchased oxen for the public sacrifices and feasts. They are spoken of by Demosthenes in conjunction with the ἱεροποιοί and those who presided over the mysteries.

BORĔASMUS (βορεασμός or βορεασμοί), a festival celebrated by the Athenians in honour of Boreas, which, as Herodotus seems to think, was instituted during the Persian war, when the Athenians, being commanded by an oracle to invoke their γαμβρὸς ἐπίκουρος, prayed to Boreas. But considering that Boreas was intimately connected with the early history of Attica, we have reason to suppose that even previous to the Persian wars certain honours were paid to him, which were perhaps only revived and increased after the event recorded by Herodotus. The festival, however, does not seem ever to have had any great celebrity.

BOULĒ (βουλή--ἡ τῶν πεντακοσίων). In the heroic ages, represented to us by Homer, the boulé is simply an aristocratical council of the elders amongst the nobles, sitting under their king as president, which decided on public business and judicial matters, frequently in connection with, but apparently not subject to an agora, or meeting of the freemen of the state. [AGORA.] This form of government, though it existed for some time in the Ionian, Aeolian, and Achaean states, was at last wholly abolished in these states. Among the Dorians, however, especially among the Spartans, this was not the case, for they retained the kingly power of the Heracleidae, in conjunction with the Gerousia or assembly of elders, of which the kings were members. [GEROUSIA.] At Athens on the contrary, the boulé was a representative, and in most respects a popular body (δημοτικόν). The first institution of the Athenian boulé is generally attributed to Solon; but there are strong reasons for supposing that, as in the case of the Areiopagus, he merely modified the constitution of a body which he found already existing. But be this as it may, it is admitted that Solon made the number of his boulé 400, 100 from each of the four tribes. When the number of the tribes was raised to ten by Cleisthenes (B.C. 510), the council also was increased to 500, fifty being taken from each of the ten tribes. The bouleutae (βουλευταί) or councillors were appointed by lot, and hence they are called councillors made by the bean (οἱ ἀπὸ τοῦ κυάμου βουλευταί), from the use of beans in drawing lots. They were required to submit to a scrutiny or docimasia, in which they gave evidence of being genuine citizens, of never having lost their civic rights by atimia, and also of being above 30 years of age. They remained in office for a year, receiving a drachma (μισθὸς βουλευτικός) for each day on which they sat: and independent of the general account (εὐθύναι), which the whole body had to give at the end of the year, any single member was liable to expulsion for misconduct by his colleagues. The senate of 500 was divided into ten sections of fifty each, the members of which were called prytanes (πρυτάνεις), and were all of the same tribe; they acted as presidents both of the council and the assemblies during thirty-five or thirty-six days, as the case might be, so as to complete the lunar year of 354 days (12×29½). Each tribe exercised these functions in turn; the period of office was called a prytany (πρυτανεία), and the tribe that presided the presiding tribe; the order in which the tribes presided was determined by lot, and the four supernumerary days were given to the tribes which came last in order. Moreover, to obviate the difficulty of having too many in office at once, every fifty was subdivided into five bodies of ten each; its prytany also being portioned out into five periods of seven days each; so that only ten senators presided for a week over the rest, and were thence called proedri (πρόεδροι). Again, out of these proedri an epistates (ἐπιστάτης) was chosen for one day to preside as a chairman in the senate, and the assembly of the people; during his day of office he kept the public records and seal. The prytanes had the right of convening the council and the assembly (ἐκκλησία). The duty of the proedri and their president was to propose subjects for discussion, and to take the votes both of the councillors and the people; for neglect of their duty they were liable to a fine. Moreover, whenever a meeting, either of the council or of the assembly, was convened, the chairman of the proedri selected by lot nine others, one from each of the non-presiding tribes; these also were called proedri, and possessed a chairman of their own, likewise appointed by lot from among themselves. But the proedri who proposed the subject for discussion to the assembly belonged to the presiding tribe. It is observed, under AREIOPAGUS, that the chief object of Solon, in forming the senate and the areiopagus, was to control the democratical powers of the state: for this purpose he ordained that the senate should discuss and vote upon all matters before they were submitted to the assembly, so that nothing could be laid before the people on which the senate had not come to a previous decision. This decision, or bill, was called probouleuma (προβούλευμα); but then not only might this probouleuma be rejected or modified by the assembly, but the latter also possessed and exercised the power of coming to a decision completely different from the will of the senate. In addition to the bills which it was the duty of the senate to propose of their own accord, there were others of a different character, viz. such as any private individual might wish to have submitted to the people. To accomplish this, it was first necessary for the party to obtain, by petition, the privilege of access to the senate, and leave to propose his motion; and if the measure met with their approbation, he could then submit it to the assembly. A proposal of this kind, which had the sanction of the senate, was also called probouleuma, and frequently related to the conferring of some particular honour or privilege upon an individual. Thus the proposal of Ctesiphon for crowning Demosthenes is so styled. In the assembly the bill of the senate was first read, perhaps by the crier, after the introductory ceremonies were over; and then the proedri put the question to the people, whether they approved of it. The people declared their will by a show of hands (προχειροτονία). If it was confirmed it became a psephisma (ψήφισμα), or decree of the people, binding upon all classes. The form for drawing up such decrees varied in different ages. In the time of Demosthenes the decrees commence with the name of the archon; then come the day of the month, the tribe in office, and, lastly, the name of the proposer. The motive for passing the decree is next stated; and then follows the decree itself, prefaced with the formula δεδόχθαι τῇ βουλῇ καὶ τῷ δήμῳ. The senate-house was called Bouleuterion (βουλευτηριον). The prytanes also had a building to hold their meetings in, where they were entertained at the public expense during their prytany. This was called the Prytaneion, and was used for a variety of purposes. [PRYTANEION.]

BRĀCAE, or BRACCAE (ἀναξυρίδες), trowsers, pantaloons, were common to all the nations which encircled the Greek and Roman population, extending from the Indian to the Atlantic ocean, but were not worn by the Greeks and Romans themselves. Accordingly the monuments containing representations of people different from the Greeks and Romans exhibit them in trowsers, thus distinguishing them from the latter people.

BRAURŌNĬA (βραυρώνια), a festival celebrated in honour of Artemis Brauronia, in the Attic town of Brauron, where Orestes and Iphigeneia, on their return from Tauris, were supposed by the Athenians to have landed, and left the statue of the Taurian goddess. It was held every fifth year, and the chief solemnity consisted in the Attic girls between the ages of five and ten years going in solemn procession to the sanctuary, where they were consecrated to the goddess. During this act the priests sacrificed a goat, and the girls performed a propitiatory rite, in which they imitated bears. This rite may have simply risen from the circumstance that the bear was sacred to Artemis, especially in Arcadia. There was also a quinquennial festival called Brauronia, which was celebrated by men and dissolute women, at Brauron, in honour of Dionysus.

BRUTTĬĀNI, slaves whose duty it was to wait upon the Roman magistrates. They are said to have been originally taken from among the Bruttians.

BUCCĬNA (βυκάνη), a kind of horn trumpet, anciently made out of a shell (buccinum), the form of which is exhibited in the specimen annexed. The buccina was distinct from the cornu; but it is often confounded with it. The buccina seems to have been chiefly distinguished by the twisted form of the shell, from which it was originally made. In later times it was carved from horn, and perhaps from wood or metal, so as to imitate the shell. The buccina was chiefly used to proclaim the watches of the day and of the night, hence called buccina prima, secunda, &c. It was also blown at funerals, and at festive entertainments both before sitting down to table and after.

BULLA, a circular plate or boss of metal, so called from its resemblance in form to a bubble floating upon water. Bright studs of this description were used to adorn the sword belt; but we most frequently read of bullae as ornaments worn by children, suspended from the neck, and especially by the sons of the noble and wealthy. Such an one is called heres bullatus by Juvenal. The bulla was usually made of thin plates of gold. The use of the bulla, like that of the praetexta, was derived from the Etruscans. It was originally worn only by the children of the patricians, but subsequently by all of free birth.

BŪRIS. [ARATRUM.]

BUSTUM. It was customary among the Romans to burn the bodies of the dead before burying them. When the spot appointed for that purpose adjoined the place of sepulture, it was termed bustum; when it was separate from it, it was called ustrina. From this word the gladiators, who were hired to fight round the burning pyre of the deceased, were called bustuarii.

BUXUM or BUXUS, probably means the wood of the box-tree, but was given as a name to many things made of this wood. The tablets used for writing on, and covered with wax (tabulae ceratae), were usually made of box. In the same way the Greek πυξίον, formed from πύξος, “box-wood,” came to be applied to any tablets, whether they were made of this wood or any other substance. Tops and combs were made of box-wood, and also all wind instruments, especially the flute.

BYSSUS (βύσσος), linen, and not cotton. The word byssus appears to come from the Hebrew butz, and the Greeks probably got it through the Phoenicians.

CĂBEIRĬA (καβείρια), mysteries, festivals, and orgies, solemnised in all places in which the Pelasgian Cabeiri were worshipped, but especially in Samothrace, Imbros, Lemnos, Thebes, Anthedon, Pergamus, and Berytos. Little is known respecting the rites observed in these mysteries, as no one was allowed to divulge them. The most celebrated were those of the island of Samothrace, which, if we may judge from those of Lemnos, were solemnised every year, and lasted for nine days. Persons on their admission seem to have undergone a sort of examination respecting the life they had led hitherto, and were then purified of all their crimes, even if they had committed murder.

CĀDŪCĔUS (κηρύκειον, κηρύκιον), the staff or mace carried by heralds and ambassadors in time of war. This name is also given to the staff with which Hermes or Mercury is usually represented, as is shown in the following figure of that god. From caduceus was formed the word caduceator, which signified a person sent to treat of peace. The persons of the caduceatores were considered sacred.

CĂDŪCUM. [BONA CADUCA.]

CĂDUS (κάδος, κάδδος), a large vessel usually made of earthenware, which was used for keeping wine, drawing water, &c. The name of cadus was sometimes given to the vessel or urn in which the counters or pebbles of the dicasts were put, when they gave their vote on a trial, but the diminutive καδίσκος was more commonly used in this signification.

CAELĀTŪRA (τορευτική), a branch of the fine arts, under which all sorts of ornamental work in metal, except actual statues, appear to be included. The principal processes, which these words were used to designate, seem to have been of three kinds: hammering metal plates into moulds or dies, so as to bring out a raised pattern; engraving the surface of metals with a sharp tool; and working a pattern of one metal upon or into the surface of another: in short, the various processes which we describe by the words chasing, damascening, &c. The objects on which the caelator exercised his art were chiefly weapons and armour--especially shields, chariots, tripods, and other votive offerings, quoits, candelabra, thrones, curule chairs, mirrors, goblets, dishes, and all kinds of gold and silver plate. The ornamental work with which the chaser decorated such objects consisted either of simple running patterns, chiefly in imitation of plants and flowers, or of animals, or of mythological subjects, and, for armour, of battles. The mythological subjects were reserved for the works of the greatest masters of the art: they were generally executed in very high relief (anaglypha). In the finest works, the ornamental pattern was frequently distinct from the vessel, to which it was either fastened permanently, or so that it could be removed at pleasure, the vessel being of silver, and the ornaments of gold, crustae aut emblemata. The art of ornamental metal-work was in an advanced stage of progress among the Greeks of the heroic period, as we see from numerous passages of Homer: but its origin, in the high artistic sense, is to be ascribed to Phidias, and its complete development to Polycletus. In the last age of the Roman Republic, the prevailing wealth and luxury, and the presence of Greek artists at Rome, combined to bring the art more than ever into requisition. After this period it suddenly fell into disuse.

CAELĬBĀTUS. [AES UXORIUM; LEX JULIA ET PAPIA POPPAEA.]

CAERĬTUM TĂBŬLAE. [AERARII.]

CAESAR, a title of the Roman emperors, was originally a family name of the Julia gens; it was assumed by Octavianus as the adopted son of the great dictator, C. Julius Caesar, and was by him handed down to his adopted son Tiberius. It continued to be used by Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, as members either by adoption or female descent of Caesar’s family; but although the family became extinct with Nero, succeeding emperors still retained the name as part of their titles, and it was the practice to prefix it to their own names, as for instance, Imperator Caesar Domitianus Augustus. When Hadrian adopted Aelius Varus, he allowed the latter to take the title of Caesar; and from this time, though the title of Augustus continued to be confined to the reigning emperor, that of Caesar was also granted to the second person in the state and the heir presumptive to the throne. [AUGUSTUS.]

CĂLĂMISTRUM, an instrument made of iron, and hollow like a reed (calamus), used for curling the hair. For this purpose it was heated, the person who performed the office of heating it in wood ashes (cinis) being called ciniflo, or cinerarius.

CĂLĂMUS, a sort of reed which the ancients used as a pen for writing. The best sorts were got from Aegypt and Cnidus.

CĂLANTĬCA. [COMA.]

CĂLĂTHUS (κάλαθος, also called τάλαρος), usually signified the basket in which women placed their work, and especially the materials for spinning. In the following cut a slave, belonging to the class called quasillariae, is presenting her mistress with the calathus. Baskets of this kind were also used for other purposes, such as for carrying fruits, flowers, &c. The name of calathi was also given to cups for holding wine. Calathus was properly a Greek word, though used by the Latin writers. The Latin word corresponding to it was qualus or quasillus. From quasillus came quasillaria, the name of the slave who spun, and who was considered the meanest of the female slaves.

CALCĔUS, CALCĔĀMEN, CALCĔĀMENTUM (ὑποδήμα, πέδιλον), a shoe or boot, anything adapted to cover and preserve the feet in walking. The use of shoes was by no means universal among the Greeks and Romans. The Homeric heroes are represented without shoes when armed for battle. Socrates, Phocion, and Cato, frequently went barefoot. The Roman slaves had no shoes. The covering of the feet was removed before reclining at meals. People in grief, as for instance at funerals, frequently went barefooted. Shoes may be divided into those in which the mere sole of a shoe was attached to the sole of the foot by ties or bands, or by a covering for the toes or the instep [SOLEA; CREPIDA; SOCCUS]; and those which ascended higher and higher, according as they covered the ankles, the calf, or the whole of the leg. To calceamenta of the latter kind, i.e. to shoes and boots, as distinguished from sandals and slippers, the term calceus was applied in its proper and restricted sense. There were also other varieties of the calceus according to its adaptation to particular professions or modes of life. Thus the CALIGA was principally worn by soldiers; the PERO by labourers and rustics; and the COTHURNUS by tragedians, hunters, and horsemen. The calcei probably did not much differ from our shoes, and are exemplified in a painting at Herculaneum, which represents a female wearing bracelets, a wreath of ivy, and a panther’s skin, while she is in the attitude of dancing and playing on the cymbals. The form and colour of the calceus indicated rank and office. Roman senators wore high shoes like buskins, fastened in front with four black thongs. They were also sometimes adorned with a small crescent: we do not find on any ancient statues the crescent, but we may regard the bottom right hand figure in the annexed cut as representing the shoe of a senator. Among the calcei worn by senators, those called mullei, from their resemblance to the scales of the red mullet, were particularly admired; as well as others called alutae, because the leather was softened by the use of alum.

CALCŬLĀTOR (λογιστής), a keeper of accounts in general, and also a teacher of arithmetic. In Roman families of importance there was a calculator or account-keeper, who is, however, more frequently called by the name of dispensator, or procurator: he was a kind of steward.

CALCŬLI, little stones or pebbles, used for various purposes, as, for instance, among the Athenians for voting. Calculi were used in playing a sort of draughts. Subsequently, instead of pebbles, ivory, or silver, or gold, or other men (as we call them) were used; but they still bore the name of calculi. Calculi were also used in reckoning; and hence the phrases calculum ponere, calculum subducere.

CALDĀRĬUM. [BALNEUM.]

CĂLENDAE or KĂLENDAE. [CALENDARIUM.]

CĂLENDĀRĬUM or KĂLENDĀRĬUM, generally signified an account-book, in which were entered the names of a person’s debtors, with the interest which they had to pay, and it was so called because the interest had to be paid on the calends of each month. The word, however, was also used in the signification of a modern calendar or almanac. (1) GREEK CALENDAR. The Greek year was divided into twelve lunar months, depending on the actual changes of the moon. The first day of the month (νουμηνία) was not the day of the conjunction, but the day on the evening of which the new moon appeared; consequently full moon was the middle of the month. The lunar month consists of twenty-nine days and about thirteen hours; accordingly some months were necessarily reckoned at twenty-nine days, and rather more of them at thirty days. The latter were called full months (πληρεῖς), the former hollow months (κοῖλοι). As the twelve lunar months fell short of the solar year, they were obliged every other year to interpolate an intercalary month (μὴν ἐμβολιμαῖος) of thirty or twenty-nine days. The ordinary year consisted of 354 days, and the interpolated year, therefore, of 384 or 383. This interpolated year (τριέτηρις) was seven days and a half too long, and to correct the error, the intercalary month was from time to time omitted. The Attic year began with the summer solstice: the following is the sequence of the Attic months and the number of days in each:--Hecatombaeon (30), Metageitnion (29), Boedromion (30), Pyanepsion (29), Maemacterion (30), Poseideon (29), Gamelion (30), Anthesterion (29), Elaphebolion (30), Munychion (29), Thargelion (30), Scirophorion (29). The intercalary month was a second Poseideon inserted in the middle of the year. Every Athenian month was divided into three decads. The days of the first decad were designated as ἱσταμένου or ἀρχομένου μηνος, and were counted on regularly from one to ten; thus, δευτέρα ἀρχομένου or ἱσταμένου is “the second day of the month.” The days of the second decad were designated as ἐπὶ δέκα or μεσοῦντος, and were counted on regularly from the 11th to the 20th day, which was called εἴκας. There were two ways of counting the days of the last decad; they were either reckoned onwards from the 20th (thus, πρώτη ἐπὶ εἰκάδι was the 21st), or backwards from the last day, with the addition φθίνοντος, παυομένου, λήγοντος, or ἀπίοντος; thus, the twenty-first day of a hollow month was ἐνάτη φθίνοντος; of a full month, δεκάτη φθίνοντος. The last day of the month was called ἕνη καὶ νέα, “the old and new,” because as the lunar month really consisted of more than twenty-nine and less than thirty days, the last day might be considered as belonging equally to the old and new month. Separate years were designated at Athens by the name of the chief archon, hence called archon eponymus (ἄρχων ἐπώνυμος), or “the name giving archon;” at Sparta, by the first of the ephors; at Argos, by the priestess of JUNO, &c.--(2) ROMAN CALENDAR. The old Roman, frequently called the Romulian year, consisted of only ten months, which were called Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Junius, Quinctilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, December. That March was the first month in the year is implied in the last six names. Of these months, four, namely, Martius, Maius, Quinctilis, and October, consisted of thirty-one days, the other six of thirty. The four former were distinguished in the latest form of the Roman calendar by having their nones two days later than any of the other months. The symmetry of this arrangement will appear by placing the numbers in succession:--31, 30; 31, 30; 31, 30, 30; 31, 30, 30. The Romulian year therefore consisted of 304 days, and contained thirty-eight nundinae or weeks; every eighth day, under the name of nonae, or nundinae, being especially devoted to religious and other public purposes. Hence we find that the number of dies fasti afterwards retained in the Julian calendar tally exactly with these thirty-eight nundines; besides which, it may be observed that a year of 304 days bears to a solar year of 365 days nearly the ratio of five to six, six of the Romulian years containing 1824, five of the solar years 1825 days; and hence we may explain the origin of the well-known quinquennial period called the lustrum, which ancient writers expressly call an annus magnus; that is, in the modern language of chronology, a cycle. It was consequently the period at which the Romulian and solar years coincided. The next division of the Roman year was said to have been made by Numa Pompilius, who instituted a lunar year of 12 months and 355 days. Livy says that Numa so regulated his lunar year of twelve months by the insertion of intercalary months, that at the end of every nineteenth year (vicesimo anno) it again coincided with the same point in the sun’s course from which it started. It is well known that 19 years constitute a most convenient cycle for the junction of a lunar and solar year. It seems certain that the Romans continued to use a lunar year for some time after the establishment of the republic; and it was probably at the time of the decemviral legislation that the lunar year was abandoned. By the change which was then made the year consisted of 12 months, the length of each of which was as follows:--

Martius, 31 days. Aprilis, 29 ” Maius, 31 ” Junius, 29 ” Quinctilis, 31 ” Sextilis, 29 ” September, 29 ” October, 31 ” November, 29 ” December, 29 ” Januarius, 29 ” Februarius, 28 ”

The year thus consisted of 355 days, and this was made to correspond with the solar year by the insertion of an intercalary month (mensis intercalaris or intercalarius), called Mercedonius or Mercidonius. This month of 22 or 23 days seems to have been inserted in alternate years. As the festivals of the Romans were for the most part dependent upon the calendar, the regulation of the latter was entrusted to the college of pontifices, who in early times were chosen exclusively from the body of patricians. It was therefore in the power of the college to add to their other means of oppressing the plebeians, by keeping to themselves the knowledge of the days on which justice could be administered, and assemblies of the people could be held. In the year 304 B.C., one Cn. Flavius, a secretary (scriba) of Appius Claudius, is said fraudulently to have made the Fasti public. The other privilege of regulating the year by the insertion of the intercalary month gave the pontiffs great political power, which they were not backward to employ. Every thing connected with the matter of intercalation was left to their unrestrained pleasure; and the majority of them, on personal grounds, added to or took from the year by capricious intercalations, so as to lengthen or shorten the period during which a magistrate remained in office, and seriously to benefit or injure the farmer of the public revenue. The calendar was thus involved in complete confusion, and accordingly we find that in the time of Cicero the year was three months in advance of the real solar year. At length, in the year B.C. 46, Caesar, now master of the Roman world, employed his authority, as pontifex maximus, in the correction of this serious evil. The account of the way in which he effected this is given by Censorinus:--“The confusion was at last carried so far that C. Caesar, the pontifex maximus, in his third consulate, with Lepidus for his colleague, inserted between November and December two intercalary months of 67 days, the month of February having already received an intercalation of 23 days, and thus made the whole year to consist of 445 days. At the same time he provided against a repetition of similar errors, by casting aside the intercalary month, and adapting the year to the sun’s course. Accordingly, to the 355 days of the previously existing year he added ten days, which he so distributed between the seven months having 29 days that January, Sextilis, and December received two each, the others but one; and these additional days he placed at the end of the several months, no doubt with the wish not to remove the various festivals from those positions in the several months which they had so long occupied. Hence in the present calendar, although there are seven months of 31 days, yet the four months, which from the first possessed that number, are still distinguishable by having their nones on the seventh, the rest having them on the fifth of the month. Lastly, in consideration of the quarter of a day, which he regarded as completing the true year, he established the rule that, at the end of every four years, a single day should be intercalated, where the month had been hitherto inserted, that is, immediately after the terminalia; which day is now called the bissextum.” The mode of denoting the days of the month will cause no difficulty, if it be recollected that the kalends always denote the first of the month; that the nones occur on the seventh of the four months of March, May, Quinctilis or July, and October, and on the fifth of the other months; that the ides always fall eight days later than the nones; and lastly, that the intermediate days are in all cases reckoned backwards upon the Roman principle of counting both extremes. For the month of January the notation will be as follows:--

1. Kal. Jan. 2. a. d. IV. Non. Jan. 3. a. d. III. Non. Jan. 4. Prid. Non. Jan. 5. Non. Jan. 6. a. d. VIII. Id. Jan. 7. a. d. VII. Id. Jan. 8. a. d. VI. Id. Jan. 9. a. d. V. Id. Jan. 10. a. d. IV. Id. Jan. 11. a. d. III. Id. Jan. 12. Prid. Id. Jan. 13. Id. Jan. 14. a. d. XIX. Kal. Feb. 15. a. d. XVIII. Kal. Feb. 16. a. d. XVII. Kal. Feb. 17. a. d. XVI. Kal. Feb. 18. a. d. XV. Kal. Feb. 19. a. d. XIV. Kal. Feb. 20. a. d. XIII. Kal. Feb. 21. a. d. XII. Kal. Feb. 22. a. d. XI. Kal. Feb. 23. a. d. X. Kal. Feb. 24. a. d. IX. Kal. Feb. 25. a. d. VIII. Kal. Feb. 26. a. d. VII. Kal. Feb. 27. a. d. VI. Kal. Feb. 28. a. d. V. Kal. Feb. 29. a. d. IV. Kal. Feb. 30. a. d. III. Kal. Feb. 31. Prid. Kal. Feb.

The letters a d are often, through error, written together, and so confounded with the preposition ad which would have a different meaning, for ad kalendas would signify by, i.e. on or before the kalends. The letters are in fact an abridgment of ante diem, and the full phrase for “on the second of January,” would be ante diem quartum nonas Januarias. The word ante in this expression seems really to belong in sense to nonas, and to be the cause why nonas is an accusative. Whether the phrase kalendae Januarii was ever used by the best writers is doubtful. The words are commonly abbreviated; and those passages where Aprilis, Decembris, &c. occur are of no avail, as they are probably accusatives. The ante may be omitted, in which case the phrase will be die quarto nonarum. In the leap year (to use a modern phrase), the last days of February were called,--

Feb. 23. a. d. VII. Kal. Mart. Feb. 24. a. d. VI. Kal. Mart. posteriorem. Feb. 25. a. d. VI. Kal. Mart. priorem. Feb. 26. a. d. V. Kal. Mart. Feb. 27. a. d. IV. Kal. Mart. Feb. 28. a. d. III. Kal. Mart. Feb. 29. Prid. Kal. Mart.

In which the words prior and posterior are used in reference to the retrograde direction of the reckoning. From the fact that the intercalated year has two days called ante diem sextum, the name bissextile has been applied to it. The term annus bissextilis, however, does not occur in any classical writer, but in place of it the phrase annus bissextus.--The names of two of the months were changed in honour of Julius Caesar and Augustus. Julius was substituted for Quinctilis, the month in which Caesar was born, in the second Julian year, that is, the year of the dictator’s death, for the first Julian year was the first year of the corrected Julian calendar, that is, B.C. 45. The name Augustus in place of Sextilis was introduced by the emperor himself in B.C. 27. The month of September in like manner received the name of Germanicus from the general so called, and the appellation appears to have existed even in the time of Macrobius. Domitian, too, conferred his name upon October; but the old word was restored upon the death of the tyrant.--The Julian calendar supposes the mean tropical year to be 365 d. 6 h.; but this exceeds the real amount by 11′ 12″, the accumulation of which, year after year, caused at last considerable inconvenience. Accordingly, in the year 1582, Pope Gregory XIII. again reformed the calendar. The ten days by which the year had been unduly retarded were struck out by a regulation that the day after the fourth of October in that year should be called the fifteenth; and it was ordered that whereas hitherto an intercalary day had been inserted every four years, for the future three such intercalations in the course of four hundred years should be omitted, viz., in those years which are divisible without remainder by 100, but not by 400. Thus, according to the Julian calendar, the years 1600, 1700, 1800, 1900, 2000, were to be bissextile as before. The bull which effected this change was issued Feb. 24th, 1582. The Protestant parts of Europe resisted what they called a papistical invention for more than a century. In England the Gregorian calendar was first adopted in 1752. In Russia, and those countries which belonged to the Greek church, the Julian year, or old style, as it is called, still prevails. In the ancient calendars the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, were used for the purpose of fixing the nundines in the week of eight days; precisely in the same way in which the first seven letters are still employed in ecclesiastical calendars, to mark the days of the Christian week.

CĂLĬGA, a strong and heavy sandal worn by the Roman soldiers, but not by the superior officers. Hence the common soldiers, including centurions, were distinguished by the name of caligati. The emperor Caligula received that cognomen when a boy, in consequence of wearing the caliga, and being inured to the life of a common soldier. The cuts on pp. 1, 41, show the difference between the caliga of the common soldier and the calceus worn by men of higher rank.

CĂLIX (κύλιξ). (1) a drinking-cup used at symposia and on similar occasions.--(2) A vessel used in cooking.--(3) A tube in the aquaeducts attached to the extremity of each pipe, where it entered the castellum.

CALLIS, a beaten path or track made by the feet of cattle. The sheep-walks in the mountainous parts of Campania and Apulia were the property of the Roman state; and as they were of considerable value, one of the quaestors usually had these calles assigned to him as his province, whence we read of the Callium provincia. His principal duties were to receive the scriptura, or tax paid for the pasturage of the cattle, and to protect life and property in these wild and mountainous districts. When the senate wished to put a slight upon the consuls on one occasion they endeavoured to assign to them as their provinces, the care of the woods (silvae) and sheep-walks (calles).

CALLISTEIA (καλλιστεῖα), a festival, or perhaps merely a part of one, held by the women of Lesbos; at which they assembled in the sanctuary of Hera, and the fairest received the prize of beauty. Similar contests of beauty are said to have been held in other places.

CĀLŌNES, the slaves or servants of the Roman soldiers, so called from carrying wood (κᾶλα) for their use. The word calo, however, was also applied to farm-servants. The calones and lixae are frequently spoken of together, but they were not the same: the latter were freemen, who merely followed the camp for the purposes of gain and merchandise, and were so far from being indispensable to an army, that they were sometimes forbidden to attend it.

CĂLUMNĬA. When an accuser failed in his proof, and the accused party was acquitted, there might be an inquiry into the conduct and motives of the accuser. If the person who made this judicial inquiry found that the accuser had merely acted from error of judgment, he acquitted him in the form non probasti; if he convicted him of evil intention, he declared his sentence in the words calumniatus es, which sentence was followed by the legal punishment. The punishment for calumnia was fixed by the lex Remmia, or as it is sometimes, perhaps incorrectly, named, the lex Memmia. But it is not known when this lex was passed, nor what were its penalties. It appears from Cicero, that the false accuser might be branded on the forehead with the letter K, the initial of Kalumnia. The punishment for calumnia was also exsilium, relegatio in insulam, or loss of rank (ordinis amissio); but probably only in criminal cases, or in matters relating to status.

CĂMĂRA (καμάρα), or CĂMĔRA. (1) A particular kind of arched ceiling, formed by semicircular bands or beams of wood, arranged at small lateral distances, over which a coating of lath and plaster was spread, and the whole covered in by a roof, resembling in construction the hooped awnings in use amongst us.--(2) A small boat used in early times by the people who inhabited the shores of the Palus Maeotis, capable of containing from twenty-five to thirty men. These boats were made to work fore and aft, like the fast-sailing proas of the Indian seas, and continued in use until the age of Tacitus.

CĂMILLI, CĂMILLAE, boys and girls employed in the religious rites and ceremonies of the Romans. They were required to be perfect in form, and sound in health, free born, and with both their parents alive; or, in other words, according to the expression of the Romans, pueri seu puellae ingenui, felicissimi, patrimi matrimique.

CĂMĪNUS. [DOMUS.]

CAMPESTRE (sc. subligar), a kind of girdle or apron, which the Roman youths wore around their loins, when they exercised naked in the Campus Martius. The campestre was sometimes worn in warm weather, in place of the tunic under the toga.

CAMPUS MARTĬUS. [See CLASSICAL DICTIONARY.]

CĂNĂBUS (κάναβος), a figure of wood in the form of a skeleton, round which the clay or plaster was laid in forming models. Figures of a similar kind, formed to display the muscles and veins, were studied by painters in order to acquire some knowledge of anatomy.

CĀNATHRON (κάναθρον), a carriage, the upper part of which was made of basket-work, or more properly the basket itself, which was fixed in the carriage.

CANCELLĀRĬUS. [CANCELLI.]

CANCELLI, lattice-work, placed before a window, a door-way, the tribunal of a judge, or any other place. Hence was derived the word Cancellarius, which originally signified a porter, who stood at the latticed or grated door of the emperor’s palace. The cancellarius also signified a legal scribe or secretary, who sat within the cancelli or lattice-work. The chief scribe or secretary was called Cancellarius κατ’ ἐξοχήν, and was eventually invested with judicial power at Constantinople. From this word has come the modern Chancellor.

CANDĒLA, a candle, made either of wax (cerea), or tallow (sebacea), was used universally by the Romans before the invention of oil lamps (lucernae). In later times candelae were only used by the poorer classes; the houses of the more wealthy were always lighted by lucernae.

CANDĒLABRUM, originally a candlestick, but afterwards the name of a stand for supporting lamps (λυχνοῦχοι), in which signification it most commonly occurs. The candelabra of this kind were usually made to stand upon the ground, and were of a considerable height. The most common kind were made of wood; but those which have been found in Herculaneum and Pompeii are mostly of bronze. Sometimes they were made of the more precious metals, and even of jewels. The candelabra did not always stand upon the ground, but were also placed upon the table. Such candelabra usually consisted of pillars, from the capitals of which several lamps hung down, or of trees, from whose branches lamps also were suspended.

CANDĬDĀTUS. [AMBITUS.]

CANDYS (κάνδυς), a robe worn by the Medes and Persians over their trowsers and other garments. It had wide sleeves, and was made of woollen cloth, which was either purple or of some other splendid colour. In the Persepolitan sculptures, from which the annexed figures are taken, nearly all the principal personages wear it.

CĂNĒPHŎROS (κανηφόρος), a virgin who carried a flat circular basket (κάνεον, canistrum) at sacrifices, in which the chaplet of flowers, the knife to slay the victim, and sometimes the frankincense were deposited. The name, however, was more particularly applied to two virgins of the first Athenian families who were appointed to officiate as canephori at the Panathaenaea. The preceding cut represents the two canephori approaching a candelabrum. Each of them elevates one arm to support the basket while she slightly raises her tunic with the other.

CANTHĂRUS (κάνθαρος), a kind of drinking cup, furnished with handles. It was the cup sacred to Bacchus, who is frequently represented on ancient vases holding it in his hand.

CANTĬCUM, an interlude between the acts of a Roman comedy, and sometimes, perhaps, of a tragedy. It consisted of flute music, accompanied by a kind of recitative performed by a single actor, or if there were two, the second was not allowed to speak with the first. In the canticum, as violent gesticulation was required, it appears to have been the custom, from the time of Livius Andronicus, for the actor to confine himself to the gesticulation, while another person sang the recitative.

CĂPILLUS. [COMA.]

CĂPISTRUM (φορβειά), a halter, or tie for horses, asses, or other animals, placed round the head or neck, and made of osiers or other fibrous materials. The Greek word φορβειά was also applied to a contrivance used by pipers and trumpeters to compress their mouths and cheeks, and thus to aid them in blowing. It is often seen in works of ancient art, and was said to be the invention of Marsyas. [TIBIA.]

CĂPĬTE CENSI. [CAPUT.]

CĂPĬTIS DĒMĬNŪTĬO. [CAPUT.]

CĂPĬTŌLĪNI LŪDI. [LUDI.]

CĂPĬTŌLĬUM. [See CLASS. DICTIONARY.]

CĂPĬTŬLUM. [COLUMNA.]

CAPSA, or SCRĪNĬUM, a box for holding books among the Romans. These boxes were of a cylindrical form. There does not appear to have been any difference between the capsa and scrinium, except that the latter word was usually applied to those boxes which held a considerable number of rolls. The slaves who had the charge of these book-chests were called capsarii, and also custodes scriniorum; and the slaves who carried in a capsa behind their young masters the books, &c. of the sons of respectable Romans, when they went to school, were called by the same name.

CAPSĀRĬI, the name of three different classes of slaves. [BALNEUM; CAPSA.]

CĂPUT, the head. The term “head” is often used by the Roman writers as equivalent to “person,” or “human being.” By an easy transition it was used to signify “life:” thus, capite damnari, plecti, &c., are equivalent to capital punishment. Caput is also used to express a man’s status, or civil condition; and the persons who were registered in the tables of the censor are spoken of as capita, sometimes with the addition of the word civium, and sometimes not. Thus to be registered in the census was the same thing as caput habere: and a slave and a filius familias, in this sense of the word, were said to have no caput. The sixth class of Servius Tullius comprised the proletarii and the capite censi, of whom the latter, having little or no property, were barely rated as so many head of citizens.--He who lost or changed his status was said to be capite minutus, deminutus, or capitis minor. Capitis minutio or deminutio was a change of a person’s status or civil condition, and consisted of three kinds.--A Roman citizen possessed freedom (libertas), citizenship (civitas), and family (familias): the loss of all three constituted the maxima capitis deminutio. This capitis deminutio was sustained by those who refused to be registered at the census, or neglected the registration, and were thence called incensi. The incensus was liable to be sold, and so to lose his liberty. Those who refused to perform military service might also be sold.--The loss of citizenship and family only, as when a man was interdicted from fire and water, was the media capitis deminutio. [EXSILIUM.]--The change of family by adoption, and by the in manum conventio, was the minima capitis deminutio.--A judicium capitale, or poena capitalis, was one which affected a citizen’s caput.

CĂPUT. [FENUS.]

CĂPUT EXTŌRUM. The Roman soothsayers (haruspices) pretended to a knowledge of coming events from the inspection of the entrails of victims slain for that purpose. The part to which they especially directed their attention was the liver, the convex upper portion of which seems to have been called the caput extorum. Any disease or deficiency in this organ was considered an unfavourable omen; whereas, if healthy and perfect, it was believed to indicate good fortune. If no caput was found, it was a bad sign (nihil tristius accidere potuit); if well defined or double, it was a lucky omen.

CĂRĂCALLA, an outer garment used in Gaul, and not unlike the Roman lacerna. It was first introduced at Rome by the emperor Aurelius Antoninus Bassianus, who compelled all the people that came to court to wear it, whence he obtained the surname of Caracalla. This garment, as worn in Gaul, does not appear to have reached lower than the knee, but Caracalla lengthened it so as to reach the ankle.

CARCER (kerker, German; γοργύρα, Greek), a prison, is connected with ἕρκος and εἵργω, the guttural being interchanged with the aspirate. (1) GREEK. Imprisonment was seldom used amongst the Greeks as a legal punishment for offences; they preferred banishment to the expense of keeping prisoners in confinement. The prisons in different countries were called by different names; thus there was the Ceadas (Κεάδας), at Sparta; and, among the Ionians, the Gorgyra (γοργύρα), as at Samos. The prison at Athens was in former times called Desmoterion (δεσμωτήριον), and afterwards, by a sort of euphemism, οἴκημα. It was chiefly used as a guard-house or place of execution, and was under the charge of the public officers called the Eleven.--(2) ROMAN. A prison was first built at Rome by Ancus Martius, overhanging the forum. This was enlarged by Servius Tullius, who added to it a souterrain, or dungeon, called from him the Tullianum. Sallust describes this as being twelve feet under ground, walled on each side, and arched over with stone work. For a long time this was the only prison at Rome, being, in fact, the “Tower,” or state prison of the city, which was sometimes doubly guarded in times of alarm, and was the chief object of attack in many conspiracies. There were, however, other prisons besides this, though, as we might expect, the words of Roman historians generally refer to this alone. In the Tullianum prisoners were generally executed, and this part of the prison was also called robur.

CARCĔRES. [CIRCUS.]

CARCHĒSĬUM (καρχήσιον). (1) A beaker or drinking-cup, which was used by the Greeks in very early times. It was slightly contracted in the middle, and its two handles extended from the top to the bottom. It was much employed in libations of wine, milk, and honey.--(2) The upper part of the mast of a ship. [NAVIS.]

CARMENTĀLĬA, a festival celebrated in honour of Carmenta or Carmentis, who is fabled to have been the mother of Evander, who came from Pallantium in Arcadia, and settled in Latium: he was said to have brought with him a knowledge of the arts, and the Latin alphabetical characters as distinguished from the Etruscan. This festival was celebrated annually on the 11th of January. A temple was erected to the same goddess, at the foot of the Capitoline hill, near the Porta Carmentalis, afterwards called Scelerata. The name Carmenta is said to have been given to her from her prophetic character, carmens or carmentis being synonymous with vates. The word is, of course, connected with carmen, as prophecies were generally delivered in verse.

CARNEIA (καρνεῖα), a great national festival, celebrated by the Spartans in honour of Apollo Carneios. The festival began on the seventh day of the month of Carneios = Metageitnion of the Athenians, and lasted for nine days. It was of a warlike character, similar to the Attic Boëdromia. During the time of its celebration nine tents were pitched near the city, in each of which nine men lived in the manner of a military camp, obeying in everything the commands of a herald. The priest conducting the sacrifices at the Carneia was called Agetes (Ἀγητής), whence the festival was sometimes designated by the name Agetoria or Agetoreion (Ἀγητόρια or Ἀγητόρειον), and from each of the Spartan tribes five men (Καρνεᾶται) were chosen as his ministers, whose office lasted four years, during which period they were not allowed to marry. When we read in Herodotus and Thucydides that the Spartans during the celebration of this festival were not allowed to take the field against an enemy, we must remember that this restriction was not peculiar to the Carneia, but common to all the great festivals of the Greeks: traces of it are found even in Homer.

CARNĬFEX, the public executioner at Rome, who executed slaves and foreigners, but not citizens, who were punished in a manner different from slaves. It was also his business to administer the torture. This office was considered so disgraceful, that he was not allowed to reside within the city, but lived without the Porta Metia or Esquilina, near the place destined for the punishment of slaves, called Sestertium under the emperors.

CARPENTUM, a cart; also a two-wheeled carriage, enclosed, and with an arched or sloping cover overhead. The carpentum was used to convey the Roman matrons in the public festal processions; and this was a high distinction, since the use of carriages in the city was entirely forbidden during the whole of the republican period. Hence the privilege of riding in a carpentum in the public festivals was sometimes granted to females of the imperial family. This carriage contained seats for two, and sometimes for three persons, besides the coachman. It was commonly drawn by a pair of mules, but more rarely by oxen or horses, and sometimes by four horses like a quadriga.--Carpenta, or covered carts, were much used by the Britons, the Gauls, and other northern nations. These, together with the carts of the more common form, including baggage-waggons, appear to have been comprehended under the term carri, or carra, which is the Celtic name with a Latin termination. The Gauls took a great multitude of them on their military expeditions, and when they were encamped, arranged them in close order, so as to form extensive lines of circumvallation.

CARRĀGO, a kind of fortification, consisting of a great number of waggons placed round an army. It was employed by barbarous nations, as, for instance, the Scythians, Gauls, and Goths. Carrago also signifies sometimes the baggage of an army.

CARRŪCA, a carriage, the name of which only occurs under the emperors. It appears to have been a species of rheda [RHEDA], had four wheels, and was used in travelling. These carriages were sometimes used in Rome by persons of distinction, like the carpenta; in which case they appear to have been covered with plates of bronze, silver, and even gold, which were sometimes ornamented with embossed work.

CARRUS. [CARPENTUM.]

CĂRỸA or CĂRỸĀTIS (καρύα, καρυατίς), a festival celebrated at Caryae, in Laconia, in honour of Artemis Caryatis. It was celebrated every year by Lacedaemonian maidens with national dances of a very lively kind.

CĂRỸĀTĬDES, female figures used in architecture instead of columns. Their name is usually derived from Caryae, a city in Arcadia, near the Laconian border, the women of which are said to have been reduced to slavery by the Greeks, because Caryae had joined the Persians at the invasion of Greece. But this tale is probably apocryphal. One of the porticos of the Erechtheum at Athens is supported by Caryatides.

CASSIS. [GALEA.]

CASTELLUM ĂQUAE. [AQUAE DUCTUS.]

CASTRA. Roman armies never halted for a single night without forming a regular entrenchment, termed castra, capable of receiving within its limits the whole body of fighting men, their beasts of burden, and the baggage. So completely was this recognised as a part of the ordinary duties of each march, that pervenire ad locum tertiis ... quartis ... septuagesimis castris are the established phrases for expressing the number of days occupied in passing from one point to another. Whenever circumstances rendered it expedient for a force to occupy the same ground for any length of time, then the encampment was distinguished as castra stativa. In wild and barbarian lands, where there were no large towns and no tribes on whose faith reliance could be placed, armies, whether of invasion or occupation, were forced to remain constantly in camps. They usually, however, occupied different ground in summer and in winter, whence arose the distinction between castra aestiva and castra hiberna, both alike being stativa. But whether a camp was temporary or permanent, whether tenanted in summer or in winter, the main features of the work were always the same for the same epoch. In hiberna, huts of turf or stone would be substituted for the open tents of the aestiva (hence aedificare hiberna), and in stativa held for long periods the defences would present a more substantial and finished aspect, but the general outline and disposition of the parts were invariable. Polybius has transmitted to us a description of a Roman camp, from which the annexed plan has been drawn up. It is such as would be formed at the close of an ordinary day’s march by a regular consular army consisting of two Roman legions with the full contingent of Socii. Each legion is calculated at 4200 infantry and 300 cavalry; the Socii furnished an equal number of infantry, and twice as many cavalry, so that the whole force would amount to 16,800 foot and 1800 horse. Skill in the selection of a spot for a camp (capere locum castris) was ever considered as a high quality in a general, and we find it recorded among the praises of the most renowned commanders that they were wont in person to perform this duty. Under ordinary circumstances, however, the task was devolved upon one of the military tribunes, and a certain number of centurions appointed from time to time for the purpose. These having gone forward in advance of the army until they reached the place near which it was intended to halt, and having taken a general survey of the ground, selected a spot from whence a good view of the whole proposed area might be obtained. This spot was considerably within the limits of the contemplated enclosure, and was marked by a small white flag. The next object was to ascertain in what direction water and fodder might be most easily and securely provided. These two preliminary points being decided, the business of measuring out the ground (metari castra) commenced, and was executed, as we learn from various sources, with graduated rods (decempedae) by persons denominated metatores. In practice the most important points were marked by white poles, some of which bore flags of various colours, so that the different battalions on reaching the ground could at once discover the place assigned to them.

The white flag A, which served as the starting point of the whole construction, marked the position of the consul’s tent, or praetorium, so called because praetor was the ancient term for any one invested with supreme command. A square area was left open, extending a hundred feet each way from the praetorium. The camp was divided into two parts, the upper and the lower. The upper part formed about a third of the whole. In it was the praetorium (A) or general’s tent. A part of the praetorium was called the Augurale, as the auguries were there taken by the general. On the right and left of the praetorium were the forum and quaestorium; the former a sort of market-place, the latter appropriated to the quaestor and the camp stores under his superintendence. On the sides of and facing the forum and quaestorium, were stationed select bodies of horse (K) taken from the extraordinaries, with mounted volunteers, who served out of respect to the consul, and were stationed near him. And parallel to these were posted similar bodies of foot-soldiers (L). Before the quaestorium and the forum were the tents of the twelve tribunes of the two legions (B), and before the select bodies of horse and infantry the tents of the praefecti sociorum were probably placed (C). Again, behind the praetorium, the quaestorium, and the forum, ran a street or via (D), 100 feet broad, from one side of the camp to the other. Along the upper side of this street was ranged the main body of the “extraordinary” horse (M): they were separated into two equal parts by a street fifty feet broad (E). At the back of this body of cavalry was posted a similar body of infantry (N), selected from the allies, and facing the opposite way, i.e. towards the ramparts of the camp. The vacant spaces (O) on each side of these troops were reserved for foreigners and occasional auxiliaries. The lower part of the camp was divided from the upper by a street, called the Via Principalis (V P), or Principia, a hundred feet broad. Here the tribunal of the general was erected, from which he harangued the soldiers, and here the tribunes administered justice. Here also the principal standards, the altars of the gods, and the images of the emperors were placed. The lower part of the camp was occupied by the two legions and the troops of the allies according to the arrangement of the preceding cut. Between the ramparts and the tents was left a vacant space of 200 feet on every side, which was useful for many purposes: thus it served for the reception of any booty that was taken, and facilitated the entrance and exit of the army. The camp had four gates, one at the top and bottom, and one at each of the sides; the top or back-gate, which was the side most away from the enemy, was called the decumana. The bottom or the front gate was the practoria, the gates of the sides were the porta principalis dextra, and the porta principalis sinistra. The whole camp was surrounded by a trench (fossa), generally nine feet deep and twelve broad, and a rampart (vallum) made of the earth that was thrown up (agger), with stakes (valli) fixed at the top of it. The labour of this work was so divided, that the allies completed the two sides of the camp alongside of which they were stationed, and the two Roman legions the rest.--In describing the Roman camp and its internal arrangements, we have confined ourselves to the information given by Polybius, which, of course, applies only to his age, and to armies constituted like those he witnessed. When the practice of drawing up the army according to cohorts, ascribed to Marius or Caesar [EXERCITUS], had superseded the ancient division into maniples, and the distinction of triarii, &c., the internal arrangements of the camp must have been changed accordingly. In each legion the tribunes divided themselves into three sections of two each, and each section in turn undertook for two months the superintendence of all matters connected with the camp. Out of the twenty maniples of Principes and Triarii in each legion, two were appointed to take charge of the broad passage or street called Principia, extending right across the camp in front of the tents of the tribunes. Of the remaining eighteen maniples of Principes and Hastati in each legion, three were assigned by lot to each of the six tribunes, and of these three maniples one in turn rendered each day certain services to the tribune to whom it was specially attached. One maniple was selected each day from the whole legionary force, to keep guard beside the tent of the general. Three sentinels were usually posted at the tents of the quaestor, and of the legati: and by night sentinels kept watch at every maniple, being chosen out of the maniple which they guarded. The Velites mounted guard by day and by night along the whole extent of the vallum: to them also in bodies of ten was committed the charge of the gates, while strong bodies of infantry and cavalry were thrown forward in advance of each gate, to resist any sudden onset, and give timely notice of the approach of the enemy.--Excubiae; excubias agere; excubare; are the general terms used with reference to mounting guard whether by night or by day. Vigiliae; vigilias agere; vigilare; are restricted to night duty: Excubiae and Vigiliae frequently denote not only the service itself, but also the individuals who performed it. Stationes is used specially to denote the advanced posts thrown forward in front of the gates. Custodes or Custodiae the parties who watched the gates themselves, Praesidia the sentinels on the ramparts, but all these words are employed in many other significations also. The duty of going the rounds (Vigilias circuire s. circumire) was committed to the Equites, and for this purpose each legion supplied daily four, picked out from each turma in rotation by the commander of the troop. The eight persons thus selected decided by lot in which watch they should make their rounds, two being assigned to each watch. They then repaired to the tribune, and each individual received a written order specifying the posts which he was to visit, every post being visited in each watch by one or other of the two to whom the watch belonged. Sometimes we find centurions, tribunes, and even the general in chief represented as going the rounds, but, under ordinary circumstances, the duty was performed as we have described. The watchword for the night was not communicated verbally, but by means of a small rectangular tablet of wood (πλατεῖον ἐπιγεγραμμένον--tessera) upon which it was written.--Breaking up a Camp. On the first signal being given by the trumpet, the tents were all struck and the baggage packed, the tents of the general and the tribunes being disposed of before the others were touched. At the second signal the baggage was placed upon the beasts of burden; at the third, the whole army began to move.

CĂTĂLŎGUS (κατάλογος), the catalogue of those persons in Athens who were liable to regular military service. At Athens, those persons alone who possessed a certain amount of property were allowed to serve in the regular infantry, whilst the lowest class, the thetes, had not this privilege. [CENSUS.] Thus the former are called οἱ ἐκ καταλόγου στρατεύοντες, and the latter οἱ ἔξω τοῦ καταλόγου.

CĂTĂPHRACTA. [LORICA.]

CĂTĂPHRACTI (κατάφρακτοι). (1) Heavy-armed cavalry, the horses of which were also covered with defensive armour. Among many of the Eastern nations, who placed their chief dependence upon their cavalry, we find horses protected in this manner; but among the Romans we do not read of any troops of this description till the later times of the empire, when the discipline of the legions was destroyed, and the chief dependence began to be placed on the cavalry. This species of troops was common among the Persians from the earliest times, from whom it was adopted by their Macedonian conquerors. They were called by the Persians clibanarii.--(2) Decked vessels, in opposition to Aphracti.

CĂTĂPĪRĀTĒR (καταπειρατηρία, βολίς), the lead used in sounding (ἐν τῷ βολίζειν), or fathoming the depth of water in navigation. The mode of employing this instrument appears to have been precisely the same as that now in use.

CĂTĂPULTA. [TORMENTUM.]

CĂTĂRACTA (καταῤῥάκτης), a portcullis, so called because it fell with great force and a loud noise. It was an additional defence, suspended by iron rings and ropes, before the gates of a city, in such a manner that, when the enemy had come up to the gates, the portcullis might be let down so as to shut them in, and to enable the besieged to assail them from above.

CĂTEIA, a missile used in war by the Germans, Gauls, and some of the Italian nations, supposed to resemble the ACLIS.

CĂTĒNA, dim. CĂTELLA (ἄλυσις, dim. ἀλύσιον, ἀλυσίδιον), a chain. The chains which were of superior value, either on account of the material or the workmanship, are commonly called catellae (ἀλύσια), the diminutive expressing their fineness and delicacy as well as their minuteness. The specimens of ancient chains which we have in bronze lamps, in scales, and in ornaments for the person, especially necklaces, show a great variety of elegant and ingenious patterns. Besides a plain circle or oval, the separate link is often shaped like the figure 8, or is a bar with a circle at each end, or assumes other forms, some of which are here shown. The links are also found so closely entwined, that the chain resembles platted wire or thread, like the gold chains now manufactured at Venice. This is represented in the lowest figure of the woodcut.

CĂTERVĀRĬI. [GLADIATORES.]

CĂTHEDRA, a seat or chair, was more particularly applied to a soft seat used by women, whereas sella signified a seat common to both sexes. The cathedrae were, no doubt, of various forms and sizes; but they usually appear to have had backs to them. On the cathedra in the annexed cut is seated a bride, who is being fanned by a female slave with a fan made of peacock’s feathers. Women were also accustomed to be carried abroad in these cathedrae instead of in lecticae, which practice was sometimes adopted by effeminate persons of the other sex. The word cathedra was also applied to the chair or pulpit from which lectures were read.

CĂTĪNUS, or CĂTĪNUM, a large dish, on which fish and meat were served up at table. Hence Horace speaks of an angustus catinus as an indication of niggardliness on the part of the host.

CĂVAEDĬUM. [DOMUS.]

CĂVĔA. [THEATRUM.]

CAUPŌNA. (1) An inn, where travellers obtained food and lodging; in which sense it answered to the Greek words πανδοκεῖον, καταγώγιον, and κατάλυσις. Inns for the accommodation of persons of all classes existed among the Greeks and Romans, although they were not equal either in size or convenience to similar places in modern times. An inn was also called taberna and taberna diversoria, or simply diversorium or deversorium.--(2) A shop, where wine and ready-dressed meat were sold, thus corresponding to the Greek καπηλεῖον. The person who kept a caupona was called caupo. In Greek κάπηλος signifies in general a retail trader, who sold goods in small quantities; but the word is more particularly applied to a person who sold ready-dressed provisions, and especially wine in small quantities. In these καπηλεῖα only persons of the very lowest class were accustomed to eat and drink. In Rome itself there were, no doubt, inns to accommodate strangers; but these were probably only frequented by the lower classes, since all persons in respectable society could easily find accommodation in the houses of their friends. There were, however, in all parts of the city, numerous houses where wine and ready-dressed provisions were sold. The houses where persons were allowed to eat and drink were usually called popinae and not cauponae; and the keepers of them, popae. They were principally frequented by slaves and the lower classes, and were consequently only furnished with stools to sit upon instead of couches. The Thermopolia, where the calida or warm wine and water was sold, appear to have been the same as the popinae. Many of these popinae were little better than the lupanaria or brothels; whence Horace calls them immundas popinas. The ganeae, which are sometimes mentioned in connection with the popinae, were brothels, whence they are often classed with the lustra. Under the emperors many attempts were made to regulate the popinae, but apparently with little success. All persons who kept inns or houses of public entertainment of any kind were held in low estimation both among the Greeks and Romans. They appear to have fully deserved the bad reputation which they possessed, for they were accustomed to cheat their customers by false weights and measures, and by all the means in their power.

CAUSĬA (καυσία), a hat with a broad brim, which was made of felt, and worn by the Macedonian kings. Its form is seen in the annexed figure. The Romans adopted it from the Macedonians.

CAUTĬO, CĂVĒRE. These words are of frequent occurrence, and have a great variety of significations, according to the matter to which they refer. Their general signification is that of security given by one person to another, or security which one person obtains by the advice or assistance of another. The cautio was most frequently a writing, which expressed the object of the parties to it; accordingly the word cautio came to signify both the instrument (chirographum or instrumentum) and the object which it was the purpose of the instrument to secure. Cicero uses the expression cautio chirographi mei. The phrase cavere aliquid alicui expressed the fact of one person giving security to another as to some particular thing or act. The word cautio was also applied to the release which a debtor obtained from his creditor on satisfying his demand; in this sense cautio is equivalent to a modern receipt; it is the debtor’s security against the same demand being made a second time. Thus cavere ab aliquo signifies to obtain this kind of security. Cavere is also applied to express the professional advice and assistance of a lawyer to his client for his conduct in any legal matter. Cavere and its derivatives are also used to express the provisions of a law, by which any thing is forbidden or ordered, as in the phrase, Cautum est lege, &c. It is also used to express the words in a will, by which a testator declares his wish that certain things should be done after his death.

CĔADAS or CAEADAS (κεάδας or καιάδας), a deep cavern or chasm, like the Barathron at Athens, into which the Spartans were accustomed to thrust persons condemned to death.

CĔLĔRES, are said by Livy to have been three hundred horsemen, who formed the body-guard of Romulus both in peace and war. There can, however, be little doubt that these Celeres were not simply the body-guard of the king, but were the same as the equites, or horsemen, a fact which is expressly stated by some writers. [EQUITES.] The etymology of Celeres is variously given. Some writers derived it from their leader Celer, who was said to have slain Remus, but most writers connected it with the Greek κέλης, in reference to the quickness of their service. The Celeres were under the command of a Tribunus Celerum, who stood in the same relation to the king as the magister equitum did in a subsequent period to the dictator. He occupied the second place in the state, and in the absence of the king had the right of convoking the comitia. Whether he was appointed by the king, or elected by the comitia, has been questioned, but the former is the more probable.

CELLA, in its primary sense, means a store-room of any kind. Of these there were various descriptions, which took their distinguishing denominations from the articles they contained, as, for instance, the cella penuaria or penaria, the cella olearia and cella vinaria. The slave to whom the charge of these stores was intrusted, was called cellarius, or promus, or condus, “quia promit quod conditum est,” and sometimes promus condus and procurator peni. This answers to our butler and housekeeper. Any number of small rooms clustered together like the cells of a honeycomb were also termed cellae; hence the dormitories of slaves and menials are called cellae, and cellae familiaricae, in distinction to a bed-chamber, which was cubiculum. Thus a sleeping-room at a public-house is also termed cella. Cella ostiarii, or janitoris, is the porter’s lodge. In the baths the cella caldaria, tepidaria, and frigidaria, were those which contained respectively the warm, tepid, and cold bath. [BALNEAE.] The interior of a temple, that is the part included within the outside shell (σηκός), was also called cella. There was sometimes more than one cella within the same peristyle or under the same roof, in which case each cell took the name of the deity whose statue it contained, as cella Jovis, cella Junonis, cella Minervae, as in the temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline.

CĔNOTĂPHĬUM, a cenotaph (κενός and τάφος), was an empty or honorary tomb, erected as a memorial of a person whose body was buried elsewhere, or not found for burial at all.

CENSOR (τιμητής), the name of two magistrates of high rank in the Roman republic. Their office was called Censura (τιμητεία or τιμητία). The Census, which was a register of Roman citizens and of their property, was first established by Servius Tullius, the fifth king of Rome. After the expulsion of the kings it was taken by the consuls; and special magistrates were not appointed for the purpose of taking it till the year B.C. 443. The reason of this alteration was owing to the appointment in the preceding year of tribuni militum with consular power in place of the consuls; and as these tribunes might be plebeians, the patricians deprived the consuls, and consequently their representatives, the tribunes, of the right of taking the census, and entrusted it to two magistrates, called Censores, who were to be chosen exclusively from the patricians. The magistracy continued to be a patrician one till B.C. 351, when C. Marcius Rutilus was the first plebeian censor. Twelve years afterwards, B.C. 339, it was provided by one of the Publilian laws, that one of the censors must necessarily be a plebeian, but it was not till B.C. 280 that a plebeian censor performed the solemn purification of the people (lustrum condidit). In B.C. 131 the two censors were for the first time plebeians.--The censors were elected in the comitia centuriata held under the presidency of a consul. As a general principle, the only persons eligible to the office were those who had previously been consuls; but a few exceptions occur. At first there was no law to prevent a person being censor a second time; but the only person, who was twice elected to the office, was C. Marcius Rutilus in B.C. 265; and he brought forward a law in this year, enacting that no one should be chosen censor a second time, and received in consequence the surname of Censorinus.--The censorship is distinguished from all other Roman magistracies by the length of time during which it was held. The censors were originally chosen for a whole lustrum, that is, a period of five years; but their office was limited to eighteen months, as early as ten years after its institution (B.C. 433), by a law of the dictator Mam. Aemilius Mamercinus. The censors also held a very peculiar position with respect to rank and dignity. No imperium was bestowed upon them, and accordingly they had no lictors. The jus censurae was granted to them by a lex centuriata, and not by the curiae, and in that respect they were inferior in power to the consuls and praetors. But notwithstanding this, the censorship was regarded as the highest dignity in the state, with the exception of the dictatorship; it was a sanctus magistratus, to which the deepest reverence was due. They possessed of course the sella curulis. The funeral of a censor was always conducted with great pomp and splendour, and hence a funus censorium was voted even to the emperors.--The censorship continued in existence for 421 years, namely, from B.C. 443 to B.C. 22; but during this period many lustra passed by without any censor being chosen at all. Its power was limited by one of the laws of the tribune Clodius (B.C. 58). After the year B.C. 22 the emperors discharged the duties of the censorship under the name of Praefectura Morum.--The duties of the censors may be divided into three classes, all of which were however closely connected with one another: I. The Census, or register of the citizens and of their property, in which were included the lectio senatus, and the recognitio equitum; II. The Regimen Morum; and III. The administration of the finances of the state, under which were classed the superintendence of the public buildings and the erection of all new public works.--I. The CENSUS, the first and principal duty of the censors, for which the proper expression is censum agere, was always held in the Campus Martius, and from the year B.C. 435 in a special building called Villa Publica. After the auspicia had been taken, the citizens were summoned by a public crier (praeco) to appear before the censors. Each tribe was called up separately, and every paterfamilias had to appear in person before the censors, who were seated in their curule chairs. The census was conducted ad arbitrium censoris; but the censors laid down certain rules, sometimes called leges censui censendo, in which mention was made of the different kinds of property subject to the census, and in what way their value was to be estimated. According to these laws each citizen had to give an account of himself, of his family, and of his property upon oath, ex animi sententia. First he had to give his full name (praenomen, nomen, and cognomen) and that of his father, or if he were a freedman that of his patron, and he was likewise obliged to state his age. He was then asked, Tu, ex animi tui sententia, uxorem habes? and if married he had to give the name of his wife, and likewise the number, names, and ages of his children, if any. Single women (viduae) and orphans (orbi orbaeque) were represented by their tutores; their names were entered in separate lists, and they were not included in the sum total of capita. After a citizen had stated his name, age, family, &c., he then had to give an account of all his property, so far as it was subject to the census. In making this statement he was said censere or censeri, as a deponent, “to value or estimate himself,” or as a passive “to be valued or estimated:” the censor, who received the statement, was also said censere, as well as accipere censum. Only such things were liable to the census (censui censendo) as were property ex jure Quiritium. Land formed the most important article in the census; next came slaves and cattle. The censors also possessed the right of calling for a return of such objects as had not usually been given in, such as clothing, jewels, and carriages. We can hardly doubt that the censors possessed the power of setting a higher valuation on the property than the citizens themselves had put. The tax (tributum) was usually one per thousand upon the property entered in the books of the censors; but on one occasion the censors, as a punishment, compelled a person to pay eight per thousand (octuplicato censu, Liv. iv. 24). A person who voluntarily absented himself from the census, and thus became incensus, was subject to the severest punishment. It is probable that service in the army was a valid excuse for absence. After the censors had received the names of all the citizens with the amount of their property, they then had to make out the lists of the tribes, and also of the classes and centuries; for by the legislation of Servius Tullius the position of each citizen in the state was determined by the amount of his property. [COMITIA CENTURIATA.] These lists formed a most important part of the Tabulae Censoriae, under which name were included all the documents connected in any way with the discharge of the censors’ duties. These lists, as far at least as they were connected with the finances of the state, were deposited in the aerarium, which was the temple of Saturn; but the regular depository for all the archives of the censors was in earlier times the Atrium Libertatis, near the Villa publica, and in later times the temple of the Nymphs. The censors had also to make out the lists of the senators for the ensuing lustrum, or till new censors were appointed; striking out the names of such as they considered unworthy, and making additions to the body from those who were qualified. [SENATUS.] In the same manner they held a review of the equites equo publico, and added and removed names as they judged proper. [EQUITES.] After the lists had been completed, the number of citizens was counted up, and the sum total announced; and accordingly we find that, in the account of a census, the number of citizens is likewise usually given. They are in such cases spoken of as capita, sometimes with the addition of the word civium, and sometimes not; and hence to be registered in the census was the same thing as caput habere. [CAPUT.]--II. REGIMEN MORUM. This was the most important branch of the censors’ duties, and the one which caused their office to be the most revered and the most dreaded in the Roman state. It naturally grew out of the right which they possessed of excluding unworthy persons from the lists of citizens. They were constituted the conservators of public and private virtue and morality; they were not simply to prevent crime or particular acts of immorality, but their great object was to maintain the old Roman character and habits, the mos majorum. The proper expression for this branch of their power was regimen morum, which was called in the times of the empire cura or praefectura morum. The punishment inflicted by the censors in the exercise of this branch of their duties was called Nota or Notatio, or Animadversio Censoria. In inflicting it they were guided only by their conscientious convictions of duty; they had to take an oath that they would act neither through partiality nor favour; and in addition to this, they were bound in every case to state in their lists, opposite the name of the guilty citizen, the cause of the punishment inflicted on him,--Subscriptio censoria. The consequence of such a nota was only ignominia and not infamia [INFAMIA], and the censorial verdict was not a judicium or res judicata, for its effects were not lasting, but might be removed by the following censors, or by a lex. A nota censoria was moreover not valid, unless both censors agreed. The ignominia was thus only a transitory capitis deminutio, which does not appear even to have deprived a magistrate of his office, and certainly did not disqualify persons labouring under it for obtaining a magistracy, for being appointed as judices by the praetor, or for serving in the Roman armies. This superintendence of the conduct of Roman citizens extended so far, that it embraced the whole of the public and private life of the citizens. Thus we have instances of their censuring or punishing persons for not marrying, for breaking a promise of marriage, for divorce, for bad conduct during marriage, for improper education of children, for living in an extravagant and luxurious manner, and for many other irregularities in private life. Their influence was still more powerful in matters connected with the public life of the citizens. Thus we find them censuring or punishing magistrates who were forgetful of the dignity of their office or guilty of bribery, as well as persons who were guilty of improper conduct towards magistrates, of perjury, and of neglect of their duties both in civil and military life. The punishments inflicted by the censors are generally divided into four classes:--1. Motio or ejectio e senatu, or the exclusion of a man from the number of senators. This punishment might either be a simple exclusion from the list of senators, or the person might at the same time be excluded from the tribes and degraded to the rank of an aerarian. The censors in their new lists omitted the names of such senators as they wished to exclude, and in reading these new lists in public, passed over the names of those who were no longer to be senators. Hence the expression praeteriti senatores is equivalent to e senatu ejecti. 2. The ademptio equi, or the taking away the equus publicus from an eques. This punishment might likewise be simple, or combined with the exclusion from the tribes and the degradation to the rank of an aerarian. [EQUITES.] 3. The motio e tribu, or the exclusion of a person from his tribe. If the further degradation to the rank of an aerarian was combined with the motio e tribu, it was always expressly stated. 4. The fourth punishment was called referre in aerarios or facere aliquem aerarium, and might be inflicted on any person who was thought by the censors to deserve it. [AERARII.]--III. THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE FINANCES OF THE STATE, was another part of the censors’ office. In the first place the tributum, or property-tax, had to be paid by each citizen according to the amount of his property registered in the census, and, accordingly, the regulation of this tax naturally fell under the jurisdiction of the censors. [TRIBUTUM.] They also had the superintendence of all the other revenues of the state, the vectigalia, such as the tithes paid for the public lands, the salt-works, the mines, the customs, &c. [VECTIGALIA.] All these branches of the revenue the censors were accustomed to let out to the highest bidder for the space of a lustrum or five years. The act of letting was called venditio or locatio, and seems to have taken place in the month of March. The censors also possessed the right, though probably not without the concurrence of the senate, of imposing new vectigalia, and even of selling the land belonging to the state. The censors, however, did not receive the revenues of the state. All the public money was paid into the aerarium, which was entirely under the jurisdiction of the senate; and all disbursements were made by order of this body, which employed the quaestors as its officers. [AERARIUM; SENATUS.]--In one important department the censors were entrusted with the expenditure of the public money; though the actual payments were no doubt made by the quaestors. The censors had the general superintendence of all the public buildings and works (opera publica); and to meet the expenses connected with this part of their duties, the senate voted them a certain sum of money or certain revenues, to which they were restricted, but which they might at the same time employ according to their discretion. They had to see that the temples and all other public buildings were in a good state of repair (aedes sacras tueri and sarta tecta exigere), that no public places were encroached upon by the occupation of private persons (loca tueri), and that the aquaeducts, roads, drains, &c. were properly attended to. The repairs of the public works and the keeping of them in proper condition were let out by the censors by public auction to the lowest bidder. The persons who undertook the contract were called conductores, mancipes, redemptores, susceptores, &c.; and the duties they had to discharge were specified in the Leges Censoriae. The censors had also to superintend the expenses connected with the worship of the gods. In these respects it is not easy to define with accuracy the respective duties of the censors and aediles: but it may be remarked in general that the superintendence of the aediles had more of a police character, while that of the censors had reference to all financial matters.--After the censors had performed their various duties and taken the census, the lustrum or 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 (lustrum facere or condere), but both censors were obliged of course to be present at the ceremony. [LUSTRUM.]--In the Roman and Latin colonies and in the municipia there were censors, who likewise bore the name of quinquennales. They are spoken of under COLONIA. A census was sometimes taken in the provinces, even under the republic; but there seems to have been no general census taken in the provinces till the time of Augustus. At Rome the census still continued to be taken under the empire, but the old ceremonies connected with it were no longer continued, and the ceremony of the lustration was not performed after the time of Vespasian.--The word census, besides the meaning of “valuation” of a person’s estate, has other significations, which must be briefly mentioned: 1. It signified the amount of a person’s property, and hence we read of census senatorius, the estate of a senator; census equestris, the estate of an eques. 2. The lists of the censors. 3. The tax which depended upon the valuation in the census.

CENSUS.--(1) GREEK.--The Greek term for a man’s property as ascertained by the census, as well as for the act of ascertaining it, is τίμημα. The only Greek state concerning whose arrangement of the census we have any satisfactory information, is Athens. Previous to the time of Solon no census had been instituted at Athens. According to his census, all citizens were divided into four classes: 1. Pentacosiomedimni (Πεντακοσιομέδιμνοι), or persons possessing landed property which yielded an annual income of at least 500 medimni of dry or liquid produce. 2. Hippeis (Ἱππεῖς), i.e. knights or persons able to keep a war-horse, were those whose lands yielded an annual produce of at least 300 medimni, whence they are also called τριακοσιομέδιμνοι. 3. Zeugitae (Ζευγῖται), i.e. persons able to keep a yoke of oxen (ζεῦγος), were those whose annual income consisted of at least 150 medimni. 4. The Thetes (Θῆτες) contained all the rest of the free population, whose income was below that of the Zeugitae. The constitution of Athens, so long as it was based upon these classes, was a timocracy (τιμοκρατία, or ἀπὸ τιμημάτων πολιτεία). The highest magistracy at Athens, or the archonship, was at first accessible only to persons of the first class, until Aristides threw all the state offices open to all classes indiscriminately. The maintenance of the republic mainly devolved upon the first three classes, the last being exempted from all taxes. As the land in the legislation of Solon was regarded as the capital which yielded an annual income, he regulated his system of taxation by the value of the land, which was treated as the taxable capital. Lists of this taxable property (ἀπογραφαί) were kept at first by the naucrari, who also had to conduct the census, and afterwards by the demarchi.--As property is a fluctuating thing, the census was repeated from time to time, but the periods differed in the various parts of Greece, for in some a census was held every year, and in others every two or four years. At Athens every person had to state the amount of his property, and if there was any doubt about his honesty, it seems that a counter-valuation (ἀντιτίμησις) might be made. This system of taxation according to classes, and based upon the possession of productive estates, underwent a considerable change in the time of the Peloponnesian war, though the divisions into classes themselves continued to be observed for a considerable time after. As the wants of the republic increased, and as many citizens were possessed of large property, without being landed proprietors, the original land-tax was changed into a property-tax. This property-tax was called εἰσφορά, concerning which see EISPHORA. Compare LEITURGIAE; and for the taxes paid by resident aliens, METOICI.--(2) ROMAN. [CENSOR.]

CENTESĬMA, namely pars, or the hundredth part, also called vectigal rerum venalium, or centesima rerum venalium, was a tax of one per cent. levied at Rome and in Italy upon all goods that were exposed for public sale at auctions. It was collected by persons called coactores. This tax was perhaps introduced after the civil war between Marius and Sulla. Its produce was assigned by Augustus to the aerarium militare. Tiberius reduced the tax to one half per cent. (ducentesima), after he had changed Cappadocia into a province, and had thereby increased the revenue of the empire. Caligula in the beginning of his reign abolished the tax altogether for Italy.

CENTUMVĬRI, were judices, who resembled other judices in this respect, that they decided cases under the authority of a magistratus; but they differed from other judices in being a definite body or collegium. This collegium seems to have been divided into four parts, each of which sometimes sat by itself. The origin of the court is unknown. According to an ancient writer, three were chosen out of each tribe, and consequently the whole number out of the 35 tribes would be 105, who, in round numbers, were called the hundred men. If the centumviri were chosen from the tribes, this seems a strong presumption in favour of the high antiquity of the court. It was the practice to set up a spear in the place where the centumviri were sitting, and accordingly the word hasta, or hasta centumviralis, is sometimes used as equivalent to the words judicium centumvirale. The praetor presided in this court. The jurisdiction of the centumviri was chiefly confined to civil matters, but it appears that crimina sometimes came under their cognizance. The younger Pliny, who practised in this court, makes frequent allusions to it in his letters.

CENTŬRĬA. [EXERCITUS; COMITIA.]

CENTŬRĬĀTA CŎMĪTĬA. [COMITIA.]

CENTŬRĬO. [EXERCITUS.]

CENTUSSIS. [As.]

CĒRA (κηρός), wax. For its employment in painting, see PICTURA; and for its application as a writing material, see TABULAE and TESTAMENTUM.

CĔRĔĀLĬA, a festival celebrated at Rome in honour of Ceres, whose wanderings in search of her lost daughter Proserpine were represented by women, clothed in white, running about with lighted torches. During its continuance, games were celebrated in the Circus Maximus, the spectators of which appeared in white; but on any occasion of public mourning the games and festivals were not celebrated at all, as the matrons could not appear at them except in white. The day of the Cerealia is doubtful; some think it was the ides or 13th of April, others the 7th of the same month.

CĔRĔVĪSĬA, CERVĪSĬA (ζύθος), ale or beer, was almost or altogether unknown to the Greeks and Romans; but it was used very generally by the surrounding nations, whose soil and climate were less favourable to the growth of vines. According to Herodotus, the Egyptians commonly drank “barley wine;” and Diodorus Siculus says that the Egyptian beer was nearly equal to wine in strength and flavour. The Iberians and Thracians, and the people in the north of Asia Minor, instead of drinking their beer out of cups, placed it before them in a large bowl or vase, which was sometimes of gold or silver. This being full to the brim with the grains, as well as the fermented liquor, the guests, when they pledged one another, drank together out of the same bowl by stooping down to it, although, when this token of friendship was not intended, they adopted the more refined method of sucking up the fluid through tubes of cane. The Suevi and other northern nations offered to their gods libations of beer, and expected that to drink it in the presence of Odin would be among the delights of Valhalla.

CĒRŌMA (κήρωμα), the oil mixed with wax (κηρός) with which wrestlers were anointed; also the place where they were anointed, and, in later times, the place where they wrestled.

CĔRŪCHI. [NAVIS.]

CESTRUM. [PICTURA.]

CESTUS. (1) The thongs or bands of leather, which were tied round the hands of boxers, in order to render their blows more powerful (ἱμάντες, or ἱμάντες πυκτικοί). The cestus was used by boxers in the earliest times, and is mentioned in the Iliad; but in the heroic times it consisted merely of thongs of leather, and differed from the cestus used in later times in the public games, which was a most formidable weapon, being frequently covered with knots and nails, and loaded with lead and iron.--(2) A band or tie of any kind, but more particularly the zone or girdle of Venus, on which was represented every thing that could awaken love.

CETRA, or CAETRA, a target, i.e. a small round shield, made of the hide of a quadruped. It formed part of the defensive armour of the Osci, and of the people of Spain, Mauritania, and Britain, and seems to have been much the same as the target of the Scotch Highlanders. The Romans do not appear to have used the cetra; but we find mention of cetratae cohortes levied in the provinces. Livy compares it to the pelta of the Greeks and Macedonians, which was also a small light shield.

CHALCĬOĒCĬA (χαλκιοίκια), an annual festival, with sacrifices, held at Sparta in honour of Athena, surnamed Chalcioecus (Χαλκίοικος), i.e. the goddess of the brazen-house. Young men marched on the occasion in full armour to the temple of the goddess; and the ephors, although not entering the temple, but remaining within its sacred precincts, were obliged to take part in the sacrifice.

CHALCUS (χαλκοῦς), a denomination of Greek copper-money. Bronze or copper (χαλκός) was very little used by the Greeks for money till after the time of Alexander the Great. The χαλκία πονηρὰ at Athens issued in B.C. 406 were a peculiar exception; and they were soon afterwards called in, and the silver currency restored. It is not improbable, however, that the copper coin called χαλκοῦς was in circulation in Athens still earlier. The smallest silver coin at Athens was the quarter-obol, and the χαλκοῦς was the half of that, or the eighth of an obol. Its value was somewhat more than 3-4ths of a farthing. The χαλκοῦς in later times was divided into lepta, of which it contained seven. In later times the obol was coined of copper as well as silver.

CHĂRISTĬA (from χαρίζομαι, to grant a favour or pardon), a solemn feast among the Romans, to which none but relations and members of the same family were invited, in order that any quarrel or disagreement which had arisen amongst them might be made up. The day of celebration was the 19th of February.

CHEIRŎNŎMĬA (χειρονομία), a mimetic movement of the hands, which formed a part of the art of dancing among the Greeks and Romans. In gymnastics it was applied to the movements of the hands in pugilistic combat.

CHEIRŎTŎNĬA (χειροτονία). In the Athenian assemblies two modes of voting were practised, the one by pebbles (ψηφίζεσθαι), the other by a show of hands (χειροτονεῖν). The latter was employed in the election of those magistrates who were chosen in the public assemblies, and who were hence called χειροτονητοί, in voting upon laws, and in some kinds of trials on matters which concerned the people. We frequently find, however, the word ψηφίζεσθαι used where the votes were really given by show of hands. The manner of voting by a show of hands was as follows:--The herald said: “Whoever thinks that Meidias is guilty, let him lift up his hand.” Then those who thought so stretched forth their hands. Then the herald said again: “Whoever thinks that Meidias is not guilty, let him lift up his hand;” and those who were of this opinion stretched forth their hands. The number of hands was counted each time by the herald; and the president, upon the herald’s report, declared on which side the majority voted. It is important to understand clearly the compounds of this word. A vote condemning an accused person is καταχειροτονία: one acquitting him, ἀποχειροτονία; ἐπιχειροτονεῖν is to confirm by a majority of votes: ἐπιχειροτονία τῶν νομῶν was a revision of the laws, which took place at the beginning of every year: ἐπιχειροτονία τῶν ἀρχῶν was a vote taken in the first assembly of each prytany on the conduct of the magistrates; in these cases, those who voted for the confirmation of the law, or for the continuance in office of the magistrate, were said ἐπιχειροτονεῖν, those on the other side ἀποχειροτονεῖν: διαχειροτονία is a vote for one of two alternatives: ἀντιχειροτονεῖν, to vote against a proposition. The compounds of ψηφίζεσθαι have similar meanings.

CHĪRŎGRĂPHUM (χειρόγραφον), meant first, as its derivation implies, a hand-writing or autograph. In this its simple sense, χείρ in Greek and manus in Latin are often substituted for it. From this meaning was easily derived that of a signature to a will or other instrument, especially a note of hand given by a debtor to his creditor.

CHITON (χιτών). [TUNICA.]

CHLAENA (χλαῖνα). [PALLIUM.]

CHLĂMỸS (χλαμύς, dim. χλαμύδιον), a scarf, denoted an article of the amictus, or outer raiment of the Greeks. It was for the most part woollen; and it differed from the himation (ἱμάτιον), or cloak, the usual amictus of the male sex, in being smaller, finer, and oblong instead of square, its length being generally about twice its breadth. The scarf does not appear to have been much worn by children. It was generally assumed on reaching adolescence, and was worn by the ephebi from about seventeen to twenty years of age, and hence was called χλαμὺς ἐφηβηική. It was also worn by the military, especially of high rank, over their body armour, and by hunters and travellers, more particularly on horseback. The usual mode of wearing the scarf was to pass one of its shorter sides round the neck, and to fasten it by means of a brooch (fibula), either over the breast (cut, HASTA), in which case it hung down the back, or over the right shoulder, so as to cover the left arm (cut, CAUSIA). In the following cut it is worn again in another way. The aptitude of the scarf to be turned in every possible form around the body, made it useful even for defence. The hunter used to wrap his chlamys about his left arm when pursuing wild animals, and preparing to fight with them. The annexed woodcut exhibits a figure of Neptune armed with the trident in his right hand, and having a chlamys to protect the left. When Diana goes to the chase, as she does not require her scarf for purposes of defence, she draws it from behind over her shoulders, and twists it round her waist so that the belt of her quiver passes across it. (See woodcut.) Among the Romans the scarf came more into use under the emperors. Caligula wore one enriched with gold. Severus, when he was in the country or on an expedition, wore a scarf dyed with the coccus.

CHOENIX (χοῖνιξ), a Greek measure of capacity, the size of which is differently given; it was probably of different sizes in the several states. Some writers make it equal to three cotylae (nearly 1½ pints English); others to four cotylae (nearly 2 pints English); others again make it eight cotylae (nearly 4 pints English).

CHŎRĒGUS (χορηγός), a person who had to bear the expenses of the choregia (χορηγία), one of the regularly recurring state burthens (ἐγκύκλιοι λειτουργίαι) at Athens. The choregus was appointed by his tribe, though we are not informed according to what order. The same person might serve as choregus for two tribes at once; and after B.C. 412 a decree was passed allowing two persons to unite and undertake a choregia together. The duties of the choregia consisted in providing the choruses for tragedies and comedies, the lyric choruses of men and boys, the pyrrhicists, the cyclic choruses, and the choruses of flute-players for the different religious festivals at Athens. When a poet intended to bring out a play, he had to get a chorus assigned him by the archon [CHORUS], who nominated a choregus to fulfil the requisite duties. He had first to collect his chorus, and then to procure a teacher (χοροδιδάσκαλος), whom he paid for instructing the choreutae. The chorus were generally maintained, during the period of their instruction, at the expense of the choregus. The choregus who exhibited the best musical or theatrical entertainment received as a prize a tripod, which he had the expense of consecrating, and sometimes he had also to build the monument on which it was placed. There was a whole street at Athens formed by the line of these tripod-temples, and called “The Street of the Tripods.”

CHŎRUS (χορός) probably signified originally a company of dancers dancing in a ring. In later times, a choric performance always implies the singing or musical recitation of a poetical composition, accompanied by appropriate dancing and gesticulation, or at least by a measured march. In all the Dorian states, especially among the Spartans, choral performances were cultivated with great assiduity. Various causes contributed to this, as, for example, their universal employment in the worship of Apollo, the fact that they were not confined to the men, but that women also took part in them, and that many of the dances had a gymnastic character given them, and were employed as a mode of training to martial exercises. [SALTATIO.] Hence Doric lyric poetry became almost exclusively choral, which was not the case with the other great school of Greek lyric poetry, the Aeolian; so that the Doric dialect came to be looked upon as the appropriate dialect for choral compositions, and Doric forms were retained by the Athenians even in the choral compositions which were interwoven with their dramas. The instrument commonly used in connection with the Doric choral poetry was the cithara. A great impetus was given to choral poetry by its application to the dithyramb. This ancient Bacchanalian performance seems to have been a hymn sung by one or more of an irregular band of revellers, to the music of the flute. Arion, a contemporary of Periander, was the first who gave a regular choral form to the dithyramb. This chorus, which ordinarily consisted of fifty men or youths, danced in a ring round the altar of Dionysus. Hence such choruses were termed cyclic (κύκλιοι χοροί). With the introduction of a regular choral character, Arion also substituted the cithara for the flute. It was from the dithyramb that the Attic tragedy was developed. For details see TRAGOEDIA. From the time of Sophocles onwards the regular number of the chorus in a tragedy was 15; but it is impossible to arrive at any definite conclusion with regard to the number of the chorus in the early dramas of Aeschylus. The fact that the number of the dithyrambic chorus was 50, and that the mythological number of the Oceanides and Danaides was the same, tempts one to suppose that the chorus in the Prometheus and the Supplices consisted of 50. Most writers, however, agree in thinking that such a number was too large to have been employed. The later chorus of 15 was arranged in a quadrangular form (τετράγωνος). It entered the theatre by the passage to the right of the spectators. [THEATRUM.] Its entrance was termed πάροδος; its leaving the stage in the course of the play μετάστασις; its re-entrance ἐπιπάροδος; its exit ἄφοδος. As it entered in three lines, with the spectators on its left, the stage on its right, the middle choreutes of the left row (τρίτος ἀριστέρου) was the Coryphaeus or Hegemon, who in early times at least was not unfrequently the choregus himself. Of course the positions first taken up by the choreutae were only retained till they commenced their evolutions. To guide them in these, lines were marked upon the boards with which the orchestra was floored. The flute as well as the cithara was used as an accompaniment to the choric songs. The dance of the tragic chorus was called ἐμμέλεια.--The ordinary number of the chorus in a comedy was 24. Like the tragic chorus it was arranged in a quadrangular form, and entered the orchestra from opposite sides, according as it was supposed to come from the city or from the country. It consisted sometimes half of male and half of female choreutae. The dance of the comic chorus was the κόρδαξ. In the Satyric drama the chorus consisted of Satyrs: its number is quite uncertain. Its dance was called σίκιννις. When a poet intended to bring forward a play, he had to apply for a chorus (χορὸν αἰτεῖν) to the archons, to the king archon if the play was to be brought forward at the Lenaea, to the archon eponymus if at the great Dionysia. If the play were thought to deserve it, he received a chorus (χορὸν λαμβάνειν), the expenses of which were borne by a choregus. [CHOREGUS.] The poet then either trained (διδάσκειν) the chorus himself, or entrusted that business to a professed chorus trainer (χοροδιδάσκαλος), who usually had an assistant (ὑποδιδάσκαλος). For training the chorus in its evolutions there was also an ὀρχηστοδιδάσκαλος.

CHOUS, or CHOEUS (χοῦς or χοεῦς), was equal to the Roman congius, and contained six ξέσται, or sextarii (nearly six pints English). It seems that there was also a smaller measure of the same name, containing two sextarii (nearly two pints English).

CHRŎNOLŎGĬA (χρονολογία), chronology. The Greeks reckoned their years generally according to their magistrates, in the early times according to the years of the reign of their kings, and afterwards according to their annual magistrates. At Athens the year was called by the name of one of the nine archons, who from this circumstance was called ἄρχων ἐπώνυμος, or the archon par excellence; and at Sparta the years were called after one of the five ephors, who for this reason was likewise termed ἐπώνυμος. In Argos time was counted according to the years of the high priestess of Hera, who held her office for life (ἡρεσίς); and the inhabitants of Elis probably reckoned according to the Olympic games, which were celebrated every fifth year during the first full moon which followed after the summer solstice. Thus there was no era which was used by all the Greeks in common for the ordinary purposes of life.--Timaeus, who flourished about B.C. 260, was the first historian who counted the years by Olympiads, each of which contained four years. The beginning of the Olympiads is commonly fixed in the year 3938 of the Julian period, or in B.C. 776. If we want to reduce any given Olympiad to years before Christ, e.g. Ol. 87, we take the number of the Olympiads actually elapsed, that is, 86, multiply it by 4, and deduct the number obtained from 776, so that the first year of the 87th Ol. will be the same as the year 432 B.C. If the number of Olympiads amounts to more than 776 years, that is, if the Olympiad falls after the birth of Christ, the process is the same as before, but from the sum obtained by multiplying the Olympiads by 4, we must deduct the number 776, and what remains is the number of the years after Christ. As the Olympic games were celebrated 293 times, we have 293 Olympic cycles, that is, 1172 years, 776 of which fall before, and 396 after Christ.--Some writers also adopted the Trojan era, the fall of Troy being placed by Eratosthenes and those who adopted this era, in the year B.C. 1184. After the time of Alexander the Great, several other eras were introduced in the kingdoms that arose out of his empire. The first was the Philippic era, sometimes also called the era of Alexander or the era of Edessa; it began on the 12th of November B.C. 324, the date of the accession of Philip Arrhidaeus. The second was the era of the Seleucidae, beginning on the 1st of October B.C. 312, the date of the victory of Seleucus Nicator at Gaza, and of his re-conquest of Babylonia. This era was used very extensively in the East. The Chaldaean era differed from it only by six months, beginning in the spring of B.C. 311. Lastly, the eras of Antioch, of which there were three, but the one most commonly used began in November B.C. 49.--The Romans during the time of the republic reckoned their years by the names of the consuls, which were registered in the Fasti. Along with this era there existed another, used only by the historians. It reckoned the years from the foundation of the city (ab urbe condita); but the year of the foundation of the city was a question of uncertainty among the Romans themselves. M. Terentius Varro placed it on the 21st of April in the third year of the 6th Olympiad, that is, B.C. 753; and this is the era most commonly used. To find out the year B.C. corresponding to the year A.U.C., subtract the year A.U.C. from 754; thus 605 A.U.C. = 149 B.C. To find out the year A.D. corresponding to the year A.U.C., subtract 753 from the year A.U.C.; thus 767 A.U.C. = 14 A.D.

CHRȲSENDĔTA, costly dishes used by the Romans at their entertainments, apparently made of silver, with golden ornaments.

CIDĂRIS. [TIARA.]

CINCTUS GABĪNUS. [TOGA.]

CINGŬLUM. [ZONA.]

CĬNĔRĀRĬUS. [CALAMISTRUM.]

CĬNĔRES. [FUNUS.]

CĬNĬFLO. [CALAMISTRUM.]

CIPPUS, a low column, sometimes round, but more frequently rectangular. Cippi were used for various purposes; the decrees of the senate were sometimes inscribed upon them; and with distances engraved upon them, they also served as mile-stones. They were, however, more frequently employed as sepulchral monuments. It was also usual to place at one corner of the burying-ground a cippus, on which the extent of the burying-ground was marked, towards the road (in fronte), and backwards to the fields (in agrum).

CIRCENSES LŪDI. [CIRCUS.]

CIRCĬTŌRES, or CIRCŬĬTŌRES. [CASTRA.]

CIRCUS. When Tarquinius Priscus had taken the town of Apiolae from the Latins, he commemorated his success by an exhibition of races and pugilistic contests in the Murcian valley, between the Palatine and Aventine hills, around which a number of temporary platforms were erected by the patres and equites, called spectacula, fori, or foruli, from their resemblance to the deck of a ship; each one raising a stage for himself, upon which he stood to view the games. This course, with its surrounding scaffoldings, was termed circus; either because the spectators stood round to see the shows, or because the procession and races went round in a circuit. Previously, however, to the death of Tarquin, a permanent building was constructed for the purpose, with regular tiers of seats in the form of a theatre. To this the name of Circus Maximus was subsequently given, as a distinction from the Flaminian and other similar buildings, which it surpassed in extent and splendour; and hence it is often spoken of as the Circus, without any distinguishing epithet. Of the Circus Maximus scarcely a vestige now remains; but this loss is fortunately supplied by the remains of a small circus on the Via Appia, the ground-plan of which is in a state of considerable preservation: it is represented in the annexed cut, and may be taken as a model of all others. Around the double lines (A, A) were arranged the seats (gradus, sedilia, subsellia), as in a theatre, termed collectively the cavea; the lowest of which were separated from the ground by a podium, and the whole divided longitudinally by praecinctiones, and diagonally into cunei, with their vomitoria attached to each. [AMPHITHEATRUM.] Towards the extremity of the upper branch of the cavea, the general outline is broken by an outwork (B), which was probably the pulvinar, or station for the emperor, as it is placed in the best situation for seeing both the commencement and end of the course, and in the most prominent part of the circus. In the opposite branch is observed another interruption to the uniform line of seats (C), betokening also, from its construction, a place of distinction; which might have been assigned to the person at whose expense the games were given (editor spectaculorum). In the centre of the area was a low wall (D) running lengthways down the course, which, from its resemblance to the position of the dorsal bone in the human frame, was termed spina. At each extremity of the spina were placed, upon a base (E, E), three wooden cylinders, of a conical shape, like cypress trees, which were called metae--the goals. Their situation is distinctly seen in the cut on p. 89. The most remarkable objects upon the spina were two columns (F) supporting seven conical balls, which, from their resemblance to eggs, were called ova. Their use was to enable the spectators to count the number of rounds which had been run; and they were seven in number, because seven was the number of the circuits made in each race. As each round was run, one of the ova was either put up or taken down. An egg was adopted for this purpose, in honour of Castor and Pollux. At the other extremity of the spina were two similar columns (G), sustaining dolphins, termed delphinae, or delphinarum columnae, which do not appear to have been intended to be removed, but only placed there as corresponding ornaments to the ova; and the figure of the dolphin was selected in honour of Neptune. These figures are also seen in the cut on p. 89. At the extremity of the circus in which the two horns of the cavea terminate, were placed the stalls for the horses and chariots (H, H), commonly called carceres, but more anciently the whole line of building at this end of the circus was termed oppidum: hence in the circus, of which the plan is given above, we find two towers (I, I) at each end of the carceres. The number of carceres is supposed to have been usually twelve, as in this plan.

They were vaults, closed in front by gates of open wood-work (cancelli), which were opened simultaneously upon the signal being given, by removing a rope attached to pilasters of the kind called Hermae, placed for that purpose between each stall, upon which the gates were immediately thrown open by a number of men, as represented in the preceding woodcut. The cut below represents a set of four carceres, with their Hermae, and cancelli open, as left after the chariots had started; in which the gates are made to open inwards. The preceding account and woodcuts will be sufficient to explain the meaning of the various words by which the carceres were designated in poetical language, namely, claustra, crypta, fauces, ostia, fores carceris, repagula, limina equorum. There were five entrances to the circus; one (L) in the centre of the carceres, called porta pompae, because it was the one through which the Circensian procession entered, and the others at M, M, N, and O. At the entrance of the course, exactly in the direction of the line (J, K), were two small pedestals (hermuli) on each side of the podium, to which was attached a chalked rope (alba linea), for the purpose of making the start fair, precisely as is practised at Rome for the horse-races during Carnival. Thus, when the doors of the carceres were thrown open, if any of the horses rushed out before the others, they were brought up by this rope until the whole were fairly abreast, when it was loosened from one side, and all poured into the course at once. This line was also called calx, and creta. The metae served only to regulate the turnings of the course, the alba linea answered to the starting and winning post of modern days.--From this description the Circus Maximus differed little, except in size and magnificence of embellishment. The numbers which the Circus Maximus was capable of containing are computed at 150,000 by Dionysius, 260,000 by Pliny, and 385,000 by P. Victor, all of which are probably correct, but have reference to different periods of its history. Its length, in the time of Julius Caesar, was three stadia, the width one, and the depth of the buildings occupied half a stadium. When the Circus Maximus was permanently formed by Tarquinius Priscus, each of the thirty curiae had a particular place assigned to it; but as no provision was made for the plebeians in this circus, it is supposed that the Circus Flaminius was designed for the games of the commonalty, who in early times chose their tribunes there, on the Flaminian field. However, in the latter days of the republic, these invidious distinctions were lost, and all classes sat promiscuously in the circus. The seats were then marked off at intervals by a line or groove drawn across them (linea), so that the space included between two lines afforded sitting room for a certain number of spectators. Under the empire, however, the senators and equites were separated from the common people. The seat of the emperor (pulvinar or cubiculum) was most likely in the same situation in the Circus Maximus as in the one above described.--The Circensian games (Ludi Circenses) were first instituted by Romulus, according to the legends, when he wished to attract the Sabine population to Rome, for the purpose of furnishing his own people with wives, and were celebrated in honour of the god Consus, or Neptunus Equestris, from whom they were styled Consuales. But after the construction of the Circus Maximus they were called indiscriminately Circenses, Romani, or Magni. They embraced six kinds of games:--I. CURSUS; II. LUDUS TROJAE; III. PUGNA EQUESTRIS; IV. CERTAMEN GYMNICUM; V. VENATIO; VI. NAUMACHIA. The two last were not peculiar to the circus, but were exhibited also in the amphitheatre, or in buildings appropriated for them. The games commenced with a grand procession (Pompa Circensis), in which all those who were about to exhibit in the circus, as well as persons of distinction, bore a part. The statues of the gods formed the most conspicuous feature in the show, which were paraded upon wooden platforms, called fercula and thensae. The former were borne upon the shoulders, as the statues of saints are carried in modern processions; the latter were drawn along upon wheels.--I. CURSUS, the races. The carriage usually employed in the circus was drawn by two or four horses (bigae, quadrigae). [CURRUS.] The usual number of chariots which started for each race was four. The drivers (aurigae, agitatores) were also divided into four companies, each distinguished by a different colour, to represent the four seasons of the year, and called a factio: thus factio prasina, the green, represented the spring; factio russata, red, the summer; factio veneta, azure, the autumn; and factio alba or albata, white, the winter. Originally there were but two factions, albata and russata, and consequently only two chariots started at each race. The driver stood in his car within the reins, which went round his back. This enabled him to throw all his weight against the horses, by leaning backwards; but it greatly enhanced his danger in case of an upset. To avoid this peril, a sort of knife or bill-hook was carried at the waist, for the purpose of cutting the reins in a case of emergency. When all was ready, the doors of the carceres were flung open, and the chariots were formed abreast of the alba linea by men called moratores from their duty; the signal for the start was then given by the person who presided at the games, sometimes by sound of trumpet, or more usually by letting fall a napkin; whence the Circensian games are called spectacula mappae. The alba linea was then cast off, and the race commenced, the extent of which was seven times round the spina, keeping it always on the left. A course of seven circuits was termed unus missus, and twenty-five was the number of races run in each day, the last of which was called missus aerarius, because in early times the expense of it was defrayed by a collection of money (aes) made amongst the people. The victor descended from his car at the conclusion of the race, and ascended the spina, where he received his reward (bravium, from the Greek βραβεῖον), which consisted in a considerable sum of money.

The horse-racing followed the same rules as the chariots. The enthusiasm of the Romans for these races exceeded all bounds. Lists of the horses (libella), with their names and colours, and those of the drivers, were handed about, and heavy bets made upon each faction; and sometimes the contests between two parties broke out into open violence and bloody quarrels, until at last the disputes which originated in the circus had nearly lost the Emperor Justinian his crown.--II. LUDUS TROJAE, a sort of sham-fight, said to have been invented by Aeneas, performed by young men of rank on horseback, and often exhibited by the emperors.--III. PUGNA EQUESTRIS ET PEDESTRIS, a representation of a battle, upon which occasions a camp was formed in the circus.--IV. CERTAMEN GYMNICUM. See ATHLETAE, and the references to the articles there given.--V. [VENATIO.]--VI. [NAUMACHIA.]

CĬSĬUM, a light open carriage with two wheels, adapted to carry two persons rapidly from place to place. The cisia were quickly drawn by mules. Cicero mentions the case of a messenger who travelled 56 miles in 10 hours in such vehicles, which were kept for hire at the stations along the great roads; a proof that the ancients considered six Roman miles per hour as an extraordinary speed.

CISTA (κίστη). (1) A small box or chest, in which anything might be placed, but more particularly applied to the small boxes which were carried in procession in the festivals of Demeter and Dionysus. These boxes, which were always kept closed in the public processions, contained sacred things connected with the worship of these deities. In the representations of Dionysiac processions on ancient vases women carrying cistae are frequently introduced.--(2) The ballot-box, into which those who voted in the comitia and in the courts of justice cast their tabellae. It is represented in the annexed cut, and should not be confounded with the situla or sitella, into which sortes or lots were thrown. [SITULA.]

CISTŎPHŎRUS (κιστοφόρος), a silver coin, which is supposed to belong to Rhodes, and which was in general circulation in Asia Minor at the time of the conquest of that country by the Romans. It took its name from the device upon it, which was either the sacred chest (cista) of Bacchus, or more probably a flower called κιστός. Its value is extremely uncertain: some writers suppose it to have been worth in our money about 7¼_d._

CĬTHĂRA. [LYRA.]

CĪVIS. [CIVITAS.]

CĪVĬTAS, citizenship. (1) GREEK (πολιτεία). Aristotle defines a citizen (πολίτης) to be one who is a partner in the legislative and judicial power (μέτοχος κρίσεως καὶ ἀρχῆς). No definition will equally apply to all the different states of Greece, or to any single state at different times; the above seems to comprehend more or less properly all those whom the common use of language entitled to the name. A state in the heroic ages was the government of a prince; the citizens were his subjects, and derived all their privileges, civil as well as religious, from their nobles and princes. The shadows of a council and assembly were already in existence, but their business was to obey. Upon the whole the notion of citizenship in the heroic ages only existed so far as the condition of aliens or of domestic slaves was its negative. The rise of a dominant class gradually overthrew the monarchies of ancient Greece. Of such a class, the chief characteristics were good birth and the hereditary transmission of privileges, the possession of land, and the performance of military service. To these characters the names gamori (γάμοροι), knights (ἱππεῖς), eupatridae (εὐπατρίδαι), &c. severally correspond. Strictly speaking, these were the only citizens; yet the lower class were quite distinct from bondmen or slaves. It commonly happened that the nobility occupied the fortified towns, while the demus (δῆμος) lived in the country and followed agricultural pursuits: whenever the latter were gathered within the walls, and became seamen or handicraftsmen, the difference of ranks was soon lost, and wealth made the only standard. The quarrels of the nobility among themselves, and the admixture of population arising from immigrations, all tended to raise the lower orders from their political subjection. It must be remembered, too, that the possession of domestic slaves, if it placed them in no new relation to the governing body, at any rate gave them leisure to attend to the higher duties of a citizen, and thus served to increase their political efficiency. During the convulsions which followed the heroic ages, naturalisation was readily granted to all who desired it; as the value of citizenship increased, it was, of course, more sparingly bestowed. The ties of hospitality descended from the prince to the state, and the friendly relations of the Homeric heroes were exchanged for the προξενίαι of a later period. In political intercourse, the importance of these last soon began to be felt, and the Proxenus at Athens, in after times, obtained rights only inferior to actual citizenship. [HOSPITIUM.] The isopolite relation existed, however, on a much more extended scale. Sometimes particular privileges were granted: as ἐπιγαμία, the right of intermarriage; ἔγκτησις, the right of acquiring landed property; ἀτέλεια, immunity from taxation, especially ἀτέλεια μετοικίου, from the tax imposed on resident aliens. All these privileges were included under the general term ἰσοτέλεια, or ἰσοπολίτεια, and the class who obtained them were called ἰσοτελεῖς. They bore the same burthens with the citizens, and could plead in the courts or transact business with the people, without the intervention of a προστάτης, or patron. Respecting the division of the Athenian citizens into tribes, phratriae and demes, see the articles TRIBUS and DEMUS.--If we would picture to ourselves the true notion which the Greeks embodied in the word polis (πόλις), we must lay aside all modern ideas respecting the nature and object of a state. With us practically, if not in theory, the essential object of a state hardly embraces more than the protection of life and property. The Greeks, on the other hand, had the most vivid conception of the state as a whole, every part of which was to co-operate to some great end to which all other duties were considered as subordinate. Thus the aim of democracy was said to be liberty; wealth, of oligarchy; and education, of aristocracy. In all governments the endeavour was to draw the social union as close as possible, and it seems to have been with this view that Aristotle laid down a principle which answered well enough to the accidental circumstances of the Grecian states, that a polis must be of a certain size. This unity of purpose was nowhere so fully carried out as in the government of Sparta. The design of Spartan institutions was evidently to unite the governing body among themselves against the superior numbers of the subject population. The division of lands, the syssitia, the education of their youth, all tended to this great object. [HELOTES; PERIOECI.] In legal rights all Spartans were equal: but there were yet several gradations, which, when once formed, retained their hold on the aristocratic feelings of the people. First, there was the dignity of the Heraclide families; and, connected with this, a certain pre-eminence of the Hyllean tribe. Another distinction was that between the Homoioi (ὅμοιοι) and Hypomeiones (ὑπομείονες), which, in later times, appears to have been considerable. The latter term probably comprehended those citizens who, from degeneracy of manners or other causes, had undergone some kind of civil degradation. To these the Homoioi were opposed, although it is not certain in what the precise difference consisted. All the Spartan citizens were included in the three tribes, Hylleans, Dymanes or Dymanatae, and Pamphilians, each of which was divided into ten obes or phratries. The citizens of Sparta, as of most oligarchical states, were landowners, although this does not seem to have been looked upon as an essential of citizenship.--(2) ROMAN. Civitas means the whole body of cives, or members, of any given state, and the word is frequently used by the Roman writers to express the rights of a Roman citizen, as distinguished from those of other persons not Roman citizens, as in the phrases, dare civitatem, donare civitate, usurpare civitatem. Some members of a political community (cives) may have more political rights than others; and this was the case at Rome under the republic, in which we find a distinction made between two great classes of Roman citizens, one that had, and another that had not, a share in the sovereign power (optimo jure, non optimo jure cives). That which peculiarly distinguished the higher class, or the optimo jure cives, was the right to vote in a tribe (jus suffragiorum), and the capacity of enjoying magistracy (jus honorum). The inferior class, or the non optimo jure cives, did not possess the above rights, which the Romans called jus publicum, but they only had the jus privatum, which comprehended the jus connubii and jus commercii, and those who had not these had no citizenship.--Under the empire we find the free persons who were within the political limits of the Roman state divided into three great classes. The same division probably existed in an early period of the Roman state, and certainly existed in the time of Cicero. These classes were, Cives, Latini, and Peregrini. Civis is he who possesses the complete rights of a Roman citizen. Peregrinus was incapable of exercising the rights of commercium and connubium, which were the characteristic rights of a Roman citizen; but he had a capacity for making all kinds of contracts which were allowable by the jus gentium. The Latinus was in an intermediate state; he had not the connubium, and consequently he had not the patria potestas nor rights of agnatio; but he had the commercium or the right of acquiring quiritarian ownership, and he had also a capacity for all acts incident to quiritarian ownership, as the power of making a will in Roman form, and of becoming heres under a will. The rights of a Roman citizen were acquired in several ways, but most commonly by a person being born of parents who were Roman citizens. A slave might obtain the civitas by manumission (vindicta), by the census, and by a testamentum, if there was no legal impediment; but it depended on circumstances whether he became a civis Romanus, a Latinus, or in the number of the peregrini dediticii. [MANUMISSIO.] The civitas could be conferred on a foreigner by a lex, as in the case of Archias, who was a civis of Heraclea, a civitas which had a foedus with Rome, and who claimed the civitas Romana under the provisions of a lex of Silvanus and Carbo, B.C. 89. By the provisions of this lex, the person who chose to take the benefit of it was required, within sixty days after the passing of the lex, to signify to the praetor his wish and consent to accept the civitas (profiteri). This lex was intended to give the civitas, under certain limitations, to foreigners who were citizens of foederate states (foederatis civitatibus adscripti). [FOEDERATAE CIVITATES.] Thus the great mass of the Italians obtained the civitas, and the privileges of the former civitates foederatae were extended to the provinces, first to part of Gaul, and then to Sicily, under the name of Jus Latii or Latinitas. This Latinitas gave a man the right of acquiring the Roman citizenship by having exercised a magistratus in his own civitas; a privilege which belonged to the foederatae civitates of Italy before they obtained the Roman civitas.

CLĀRĬGĀTĬO. [FETIALES.]

CLASSĬCUM. [CORNU.]

CLĀVUS ANNĀLIS. In the early ages of Rome, when letters were yet scarcely in use, the Romans kept a reckoning of their years by driving a nail (clavus), on the ides of each September, into the side walls of the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, which ceremony was performed by the consul or a dictator.

CLĀVUS GŬBERNĀCŬLI. [NAVIS.]

CLĀVUS LĀTUS, CLĀVUS ANGUSTUS. The clavus, as an article of dress, seems to have been a purple band worn upon the tunic and toga, and was of two fashions, one broad and the other narrow, denominated respectively clavus latus and clavus angustus. The former was a single broad band of purple, extending perpendicularly from the neck down the centre of the tunic; the latter probably consisted of two narrow purple slips, running parallel to each from the top to the bottom of the tunic, one from each shoulder. The latus clavus was a distinctive badge of the senatorian order; and hence it is used to signify the senatorial dignity, and laticlavius, the person who enjoys it. The angustus clavus was the decoration of the equestrian order; but the right of wearing the latus clavus was also given to the children of equestrians, at least in the time of Augustus, as a prelude to entering the senate-house. This, however, was a matter of personal indulgence, and was granted only to persons of very ancient family and corresponding wealth, and then by special favour of the emperor. In such cases the latus clavus was assumed with the toga virilis, and worn until the age arrived at which the young equestrian was admissible into the senate, when it was relinquished and the angustus clavis resumed, if a disinclination on his part, or any other circumstances, prevented him from entering the senate, as was the case with Ovid. But it seems that the latus clavus could be again resumed if the same individual subsequently wished to become a senator, and hence a fickle character is designated as one who is always changing his clavus. The latus clavus is said to have been introduced at Rome by Tullus Hostilius, and to have been adopted by him after his conquest of the Etruscans; nor does it appear to have been confined to any particular class during the earlier periods, but to have been worn by all ranks promiscuously. It was laid aside in public mourning.

CLEPSȲDRA. [HOROLOGIUM.]

CLĒRŪCHI (κληροῦχοι), the name of Athenian citizens who occupied conquered lands; their possession was called cleruchia (κληρουχία). The Athenian Cleruchi differed from the ἄποικοι or ordinary colonists. The only object of the earlier colonies was to relieve surplus population, or to provide a home for those whom internal quarrels had exiled from their country. Most usually they originated in private enterprise, and became independent of, and lost their interest in, the parent state. On the other hand, it was essential to the very notion of a cleruchia that it should be a public enterprise, and should always retain a connection more or less intimate with Athens herself. The connection with the parent state subsisted in all degrees. Sometimes, as in the case of Lesbos, the holders of land did not reside upon their estates, but let them to the original inhabitants, while themselves remained at Athens. The condition of these cleruchi did not differ from that of Athenian citizens who had estates in Attica. All their political rights they not only retained, but exercised as Athenians. Another case was where the cleruchi resided on their estates, and either with or without the old inhabitants, formed a new community. These still retained the rights of Athenian citizens, which distance only precluded them from exercising: they used the Athenian courts; and if they or their children wished to return to Athens, naturally and of course they regained the exercise of their former privileges. Sometimes, however, the connection might gradually dissolve, and the cleruchi sink into the condition of mere allies, or separate wholly from the mother country. It was to Pericles that Athens was chiefly indebted for the extension and permanence of her colonial settlements. His principal object was to provide for the redundancies of population, and raise the poorer citizens to a fortune becoming the dignity of Athenian citizens. It was of this class of persons that the settlers were chiefly composed; the state provided them with arms, and defrayed the expenses of their journey. The Cleruchiae were lost by the battle of Aegospotami, but partially restored on the revival of Athenian power.

CLĒTĒRES or CLĒTORES (κλητῆρες, κλῆτορες), summoners, were at Athens not official persons, but merely witnesses to the prosecutor that he had served the defendant with a notice of the action brought against him, and the day upon which it would be requisite for him to appear before the proper magistrate.

CLĪBĂNĀRĬI. [CATAPHRACTI.]

CLĬENS is said to contain the same element as the verb cluere, to “hear” or “obey,” and may be accordingly compared with the German word höriger, “a dependant,” from hören, “to hear.” In the earliest times of the Roman state we find a class of persons called clientes, who must not be confounded with the plebeians, from whom they were distinct. The clients were not slaves: they had property of their own and freedom, and appear to have had votes in the comitia centuriata, but they did not possess the full rights of Roman citizens; and the peculiarity of their condition consisted in every client being in a state of dependence upon or subjection to some patrician, who was called his patronus, and to whom he owed certain rights and duties. The patronus, on the other hand, likewise incurred certain obligations towards his client. This relationship between patronus and cliens was expressed by the word clientela, which also expressed the whole body of a man’s clients. The relative rights and duties of the patrons and the clients were, according to Dionysius, as follows:--The patron was the legal adviser of the cliens; he was the client’s guardian and protector, as he was the guardian and protector of his own children; he maintained the client’s suit when he was wronged, and defended him when another complained of being wronged by him: in a word, the patron was the guardian of the client’s interests, both private and public. The client contributed to the marriage portion of the patron’s daughter, if the patron was poor; and to his ransom, or that of his children, if they were taken prisoners; he paid the costs and damages of a suit which the patron lost, and of any penalty in which he was condemned; he bore a part of the patron’s expenses incurred by his discharging public duties, or filling the honourable places in the state. Neither party could accuse the other, or bear testimony against the other, or give his vote against the other. This relationship between patron and client subsisted for many generations, and resembled in all respects the relationship by blood. The relation of a master to his liberated slave (libertus) was expressed by the word patronus, and the libertus was the cliens of his patronus. Distinguished Romans were also the protectors of states and cities, which were in a certain relation of subjection or dependence to Rome. In the time of Cicero we also find patronus in the sense of adviser, advocate, or defender, opposed to cliens in the sense of the person defended or the consultor,--a use of the word which must be referred to the original character of the patronus.

CLĬENTĒLA. [CLIENS.]

CLĬPĔUS (ἀσπίς), the large shield worn by the Greeks and Romans, which was originally of a circular form, and is said to have been first used by Proetus and Acrisius of Argos, and therefore is called clipeus Argolicus, and likened to the sun. But the clipeus is often represented in Roman sculpture of an oblong oval, which makes the distinction between the common buckler and that of Argos. The outer rim was termed ἄντυξ by the Greeks; and in the centre was a projection called ὀμφάλος or umbo, which served as a sort of weapon by itself, or caused the missiles of the enemy to glance off from the shield. In the Homeric times, the Greeks merely used a leather strap (τελαμών) to support the shield, but subsequently a handle (ὄχανον or ὀχάνη). The usual form of the clipeus is exhibited in the figure of the Greek warrior on p. 41. When the census was instituted by Servius Tullius at Rome, the first class only used the clipeus, and the second were armed with the scutum [SCUTUM]; but after the Roman soldiery received pay, the clipeus was discontinued altogether for the scutum.

CLĪTELLAE, a pair of panniers, and therefore only used in the plural number.

CLŎĀCA, a sewer, a drain. Rome was intersected by numerous sewers, some of which were of an immense size: the most celebrated of them was the cloaca maxima, the construction of which is ascribed to Tarquinius Priscus. It was formed by three tiers of arches, one within the other, the innermost of which is a semicircular vault of 14 feet in diameter. The manner of its construction is shown in the preceding cut. Under the republic, the administration of the sewers was entrusted to the censors: but under the empire, particular officers were appointed for that purpose, called cloacarum curatores, who employed condemned criminals in cleansing and repairing them.

CŌA VESTIS, the Coan robe, was a transparent dress, chiefly worn by women of loose reputation. It has been supposed to have been made of silk, because in Cos silk was spun and woven at a very early period.

CŎACTOR, the name of collectors of various sorts, e.g. the servants of the publicani, or farmers of the public taxes, who collected the revenues for them, and those who collected the money from the purchasers of things sold at a public auction. Horace informs us that his father was a coactor of this kind. Moreover, the servants of the money-changers were so called, from collecting their debts for them. The “coactores agminis” were the soldiers who brought up the rear of a line of march.

CŎCHLĔA (κοχλίας), which properly means a snail, was also used to signify other things of a spiral form. (1) A screw, used in working clothes-presses, and oil and wine presses.--(2) A spiral pump for raising water, invented by Archimedes, from whom it has ever since been called the Archimedean screw.--(3) A peculiar kind of door through which the wild beasts passed from their dens into the arena of the amphitheatre.

COCHLĔAR. (κοχλιάριον), a kind of spoon, which appears to have terminated with a point at one end, and at the other was broad and hollow like our own spoons. The pointed end was used for drawing snails (cochleae) out of their shells, and eating them, whence it derived its name; and the broader part for eating eggs, &c. Cochlear was also the name given to a small measure like our spoonful.

CŌDEX, identical with caudex, as Claudius and Clodius, claustrum and clostrum, cauda and coda, originally signified the trunk or stem of a tree. The name codex was especially applied to wooden tablets bound together and lined with a coat of wax, for the purpose of writing upon them, and when, at a later age, parchment or paper, or other materials were substituted for wood, and put together in the shape of a book, the name of codex was still given to them. In the time of Cicero we find it also applied to the tablet on which a bill was written. At a still later period, during the time of the emperors, the word was used to express any collection of laws or constitutions of the emperors, whether made by private individuals or by public authority, as the Codex Gregorianus, Codex Theodosianus, and Codex Justinianeus.

COEMPTĬO. [MATRIMONIUM.]

COENA (δεῖπνον), the principal meal of the Greeks and Romans, dinner. (1) GREEK. Three names of meals occur in the Iliad and Odyssey--ariston (ἄριστον), deipnon (δεῖπνον), dorpon (δόρπον). The word ariston uniformly means the early, as dorpon does the late meal; but deipnon, on the other hand, is used for either, apparently without any reference to time. In the Homeric age it appears to have been usual to sit during mealtimes. Beef, mutton, and goat’s flesh were the ordinary meats, usually eaten roasted. Cheese, flour, and occasionally fruits, also formed part of the Homeric meals. Bread, brought on in baskets, and salt (ἃλς, to which Homer gives the epithet θεῖος), are mentioned. The Greeks of a later age usually partook of three meals, called acratisma (ἀκράτισμα), ariston, and deipnon. The last, which corresponds to the dorpon of the Homeric poems, was the evening meal or dinner; the ariston was the luncheon; and the acratisma, which answers to the ariston of Homer, was the early meal or breakfast. The acratisma was taken immediately after rising in the morning. It usually consisted of bread, dipped in unmixed wine (ἄκρατος), whence it derived its name. Next followed the ariston or luncheon; but the time at which it was taken is uncertain. It is frequently mentioned in Xenophon’s Anabasis, and appears to have been taken at different times, as would naturally be the case with soldiers in active service. We may conclude from many circumstances that this meal was taken about the middle of the day, and that it answered to the Roman prandium. The ariston was usually a simple meal, but of course varied according to the habits of individuals. The principal meal was the deipnon. It was usually taken rather late in the day, frequently not before sunset. The Athenians were a social people, and were very fond of dining in company. Entertainments were usually given, both in the heroic ages and later times, when sacrifices were offered to the gods, either on public or private occasions; and also on the anniversary of the birthdays of members of the family, or of illustrious persons, whether living or dead. When young men wished to dine together they frequently contributed each a certain sum of money, called symbole (συμβολή), or brought their own provisions with them. When the first plan was adopted, they were said ἀπὸ συμβολῶν δειπνεῖν, and one individual was usually entrusted with the money to procure the provisions, and make all the necessary preparations. This kind of entertainment, in which each guest contributed to the expense, is mentioned in Homer under the name of ἔρανος. An entertainment in which each person brought his own provisions with him, or at least contributed something to the general stock, was called a δεῖπνον ἀπὸ σπυρίδος, because the provisions were brought in baskets.--The most usual kind of entertainments, however, were those in which a person invited his friends to his own house. It was expected that they should come dressed with more than ordinary care, and also have bathed shortly before. As soon as the guests arrived at the house of their host, their shoes or sandals were taken off by the slaves and their feet washed. After their feet had been washed, the guests reclined on the couches. It has already been remarked that Homer never describes persons as reclining, but always as sitting at their meals; but at what time the change was introduced is uncertain. The Dorians of Crete always sat; but the other Greeks reclined. The Greek women and children, however, like the Roman, continued to sit at their meals. [ACCUBATIO.] It was usual for only two persons to recline on each couch. After the guests had placed themselves on the couches, the slaves brought in water to wash their hands. The dinner was then served up; whence we read of τὰς τραπέζας εἰσφέρειν, by which expression we are to understand not merely the dishes, but the tables themselves, which were small enough to be moved with ease. In eating, the Greeks had no knives or forks, but made use of their fingers only, except in eating soups or other liquids, which they partook of by means of a spoon, called μυστίλη, μύστρον, or μύστρος. It would exceed the limits of this work to give an account of the different dishes which were introduced at a Greek dinner, though their number is far below those which were usually partaken of at a Roman entertainment. The most common food among the Greeks was the μάζα, a kind of frumenty or soft cake, which was prepared in different ways. Wheaten or barley bread was the second most usual species of food; it was sometimes made at home, but more usually bought at the market of the ἀρτοπῶλαι or ἀρτοπώλιδες. The vegetables ordinarily eaten were mallows (μαλάχη), lettuces (θρίδαξ), cabbages (ῥάφανοι), beans (κύαμοι), lentils (φακαῖ), &c. Pork was the most favourite animal food, as was the case among the Romans. It is a curious fact, which Plato has remarked, that we never read in Homer of the heroes partaking of fish. In later times, however, fish was one of the most favourite foods of the Greeks. A dinner given by an opulent Athenian usually consisted of two courses, called respectively πρῶται τράπεζαι and δεύτεραι τράπεζαι. The first course embraced the whole of what we consider the dinner, namely, fish, poultry, meat, &c.; the second, which corresponds to our dessert and the Roman bellaria, consisted of different kinds of fruit, sweetmeats, confections, &c. When the first course was finished, the tables were taken away, and water was given to the guests for the purpose of washing their hands. Crowns made of garlands of flowers were also then given to them, as well as various kinds of perfumes. Wine was not drunk till the first course was finished; but as soon as the guests had washed their hands, unmixed wine was introduced in a large goblet, of which each drank a little, after pouring out a small quantity as a libation. This libation was said to be made to the “good spirit” (ἀγαθοῦ δαίμονος), and was usually accompanied with the singing of the paean and the playing of flutes. After this libation mixed wine was brought in, and with their first cup the guests drank to Διὸς Σωτῆρος. With the libations the deipnon closed; and at the introduction of the dessert (δεύτεραι τράπεζαι) the πότος, συμπόσιον or κῶμος commenced, of which an account is given under SYMPOSIUM.--(2) ROMAN. As the Roman meals are not always clearly distinguished, it will be convenient to treat of all under the most important one; and we shall confine ourselves to the description of the ordinary life of the middle ranks of society in the Augustan age, noticing incidentally the most remarkable deviations. The meal with which the Roman sometimes began the day was the jentaculum, which was chiefly taken by children, or sick persons, or the luxurious. An irregular meal (if we may so express it) was not likely to have any very regular time: two epigrams of Martial, however, seem to fix the hour at about three or four o’clock in the morning. Bread formed the substantial part of this early breakfast, to which cheese, or dried fruit, as dates and raisins, were sometimes added. Next followed the prandium or luncheon, with persons of simple habits a frugal meal, usually taken about twelve or one o’clock. The coena, or principal meal of the day, corresponding to our “dinner,” was usually taken about three o’clock in the time of Cicero and Augustus, though we read of some persons not dining till near sunset. A Roman dinner at the house of a wealthy man usually consisted of three courses. The first was called promulsis, antecoena, or gustatio, and was made up of all sorts of stimulants to the appetite. Eggs also were so indispensable to the first course that they almost gave a name to it (ab ovo usque ad mala). The frugality of Martial only allowed of lettuce and Sicenian olives; indeed he himself tells us that the promulsis was a refinement of modern luxury. It would far exceed our limits to mention all the dishes which formed the second course of a Roman dinner. Of birds, the Guinea hen (Afra avis), the pheasant (phasiana, so called from Phasis, a river of Colchis), and the thrush, were most in repute; the liver of a capon steeped in milk, and beccaficos (ficedulae) dressed with pepper, were held a delicacy. The peacock, according to Macrobius, was first introduced by Hortensius the orator, at an inaugural supper, and acquired such repute among the Roman gourmands as to be commonly sold for fifty denarii. Other birds are mentioned, as the duck (anas), especially its head and breast; the woodcock (attagen), the turtle, and flamingo (phoenicopterus), the tongue of which, Martial tells us, particularly commended itself to the delicate palate. Of fish, the variety was perhaps still greater; the charr (scarus), the turbot (rhombus), the sturgeon (acipenser), the mullet (mullus), were highly prized, and dressed in the most various fashions. Of solid meat, pork seems to have been the favourite dish, especially sucking pig. Boar’s flesh and venison were also in high repute: the former is described by Juvenal as animal propter convivia natum. Condiments were added to most of these dishes: such were the muria, a kind of pickle made from the tunny fish; the garum sociorum, made from the intestines of the mackerel (scomber), so called because brought from abroad; alec, a sort of brine; faex, the sediment of wine, &c. Several kinds of fungi are mentioned, truffles (boleti), mushrooms (tuberes), which either made dishes by themselves, or formed the garniture for larger dishes. It must not be supposed that the artistes of imperial Rome were at all behind ourselves in the preparation and arrangements of the table. In a large household, the functionaries to whom this important duty was entrusted were four, the butler (promus), the cook (archimagirus), the arranger of the dishes (structor), and the carver (carptor or scissor). Carving was taught as an art, and performed to the sound of music, with appropriate gesticulations.

----“minimo sane discrimine refert, Quo vultu lepores, et quo gallina secetur.”

In the supper of Petronius, a large round tray (ferculum, repositorium) is brought in, with the signs of the zodiac figured all round it, upon each of which the artiste (structor) had placed some appropriate viand, a goose on Aquarius, a pair of scales with tarts (scriblitae) and cheesecakes (placentae) in each scale on Libra, &c. In the middle was placed a hive supported by delicate herbage. Presently four slaves come forward dancing to the sound of music, and take away the upper part of the dish; beneath appear all kinds of dressed meats; a hare with wings to imitate Pegasus, in the middle; and four figures of Marsyas at the corners, pouring hot sauce (garum piperatum) over the fish, that were swimming in the Euripus below. So entirely had the Romans lost all shame of luxury, since the days when Cincius, in supporting the Fannian law, charged his own age with the enormity of introducing the porcus Trojanus, a sort of pudding stuffed with the flesh of other animals.--The third course was the bellaria or dessert, to which Horace alludes when he says of Tigellius ab ovo usque ad mala citaret; it consisted of fruits (which the Romans usually ate uncooked), such as almonds (amygdalae), dried grapes (uvae passae), dates (palmulae, caryotae, dactyli); of sweetmeats and confections, called edulia mellita, dulciaria, such as cheesecakes (cupediae, crustula, liba, placentae, artolagani), almond cakes (coptae), tarts (scriblitae), whence the maker of them was called pistor dulciarius, placentarius, libarius, &c. We will now suppose the table spread and the guests assembled, each with his mappa or napkin, and in his dinner dress, called coenatoria or cubitoria, usually of a bright colour, and variegated with flowers. First they took off their shoes, for fear of soiling the couch, which was often inlaid with ivory or tortoise-shell, and covered with cloth of gold. Next they lay down to eat, the head resting on the left elbow and supported by cushions. There were usually, but not always, three on the same couch, the middle place being esteemed the most honourable. Around the tables stood the servants (ministri) clothed in a tunic, and girt with napkins; some removed the dishes and wiped the tables with a rough cloth, others gave the guests water for their hands, or cooled the room with fans. Here stood an eastern youth behind his master’s couch, ready to answer the noise of the fingers, while others bore a large platter of different kinds of meat to the guests. Dinner was set out in a room called coenatio or diaeta (which two words perhaps conveyed to a Roman ear nearly the same distinction as our dining-room and parlour). The coenatio, in rich men’s houses, was fitted up with great magnificence. Suetonius mentions a supper-room in the golden palace of Nero, constructed like a theatre, with shifting scenes to change with every course. In the midst of the coenatio were set three couches (triclinia), answering in shape to the square, as the long semicircular couches (sigmata) did to the oval tables. An account of the disposition of the couches, and of the place which each guest occupied, is given in the article TRICLINIUM.

COENĀCŬLUM. [DOMUS.]

COENĀTĬO. [COENA.]

COGNĀTI, COGNĀTĬO. The cognatio was the relationship of blood which existed between those who were sprung from a common pair; and all persons so related were called cognati. The foundation of cognatio is a legal marriage. The term cognatus (with some exceptions) comprehends agnatus; an agnatus may be a cognatus, but a cognatus is only an agnatus when his relationship by blood is traced through males. Those who were of the same blood by both parents were sometimes called germani; consanguinei were those who had a common father only; and uterini those who had a common mother only.

COGNĬTOR. [ACTIO.]

COGNŌMEN. [NOMEN.]

CŎHORS. [EXERCITUS.]

CŌLĂCRĔTAE (κωλακρέται, also called κωλαγρέται), the name of very ancient magistrates at Athens, who had the management of all financial matters in the time of the kings. Cleisthenes deprived them of the charge of the finances, which he transferred to the Apodectae. [APODECTAE.] From this time the Colacretae had only to provide for the meals in the Prytaneium, and subsequently to pay the fees to the dicasts, when the practice of paying the dicasts was introduced by Pericles.

COLLĒGĬUM. The persons who formed a collegium were called collegae or sodales. The word collegium properly expressed the notion of several persons being united in any office or for any common purpose; it afterwards came to signify a body of persons, and the union which bound them together. The collegium was the ἑταιρία of the Greeks. The legal notion of a collegium was as follows:--A collegium or corpus, as it was also called, must consist of three persons at least. Persons who legally formed such an association were said corpus habere, which is equivalent to our phrase of being incorporated; and in later times they were said to be corporati, and the body was called a corporatio. Associations of individuals, who were entitled to have a corpus, could hold property in common. Such a body, which was sometimes also called a universitas, was a legal unity. That which was due to the body, was not due to the individuals of it; and that which the body owed, was not the debt of the individuals. The common property of the body was liable to be seized and sold for the debts of the body. It does not appear how collegia were formed, except that some were specially established by legal authority. Other collegia were probably formed by voluntary associations of individuals under the provisions of some general legal authority, such as those of the publicani. Some of these corporate bodies resembled our companies or guilds; such were the fabrorum, pistorum, &c. collegia. Others were of a religious character; such as the pontificum, augurum, fratrum arvalium collegia. Others were bodies concerned about government and administration; as tribunorum plebis, quaestorum, decurionum collegia. According to the definition of a collegium, the consuls being only two in number were not a collegium, though each was called collega with respect to the other, and their union in office was called collegium. When a new member was taken into a collegium, he was said co-optari, and the old members were said with respect to him, recipere in collegium. The mode of filling up vacancies would vary in different collegia. The statement of their rules belongs to the several heads of AUGUR, PONTIFEX, &c.

CŎLŌNĬA, a colony, contains the same element as the verb colere, “to cultivate,” and as the word colonus, which probably originally signified a “tiller of the earth.” (1) GREEK. The usual Greek words for a colony are ἀποικία and κληρουχία. The latter word, which signified a division of conquered lands among Athenian citizens, and which corresponds in some respects to the Roman colonia, is explained in the article CLERUCHI. The earlier Greek colonies, called ἀποικίαι, were usually composed of mere bands of adventurers, who left their native country, with their families and property, to seek a new home for themselves. Some of the colonies, which arose in consequence of foreign invasion or civil wars, were undertaken without any formal consent from the rest of the community; but usually a colony was sent out with the approbation of the mother country, and under the management of a leader (οἰκιστής) appointed by it. But whatever may have been the origin of the colony, it was always considered in a political point of view independent of the mother country, called by the Greeks metropolis (μητρόπολις), the “mother-city,” and entirely emancipated from its control. At the same time, though a colony was in no political subjection to its parent state, it was united to it by the ties of filial affection; and, according to the generally received opinions of the Greeks, its duties to the parent state corresponded to those of a daughter to her mother. Hence, in all matters of common interest, the colony gave precedence to the mother state; and the founder of the colony (οἰκιστής), who might be considered as the representative of the parent state, was usually worshipped, after his death, as a hero. Also, when the colony became in its turn a parent, it usually sought a leader for the colony which it intended to found from the original mother country; and the same feeling of respect was manifested by embassies which were sent to honour the principal festivals of the parent state, and also by bestowing places of honour and other marks of respect upon the ambassadors and other members of the parent state, when they visited the colony at festivals and on similar occasions. The colonists also worshipped in their new settlement the same deities as they had been accustomed to honour in their native country: the sacred fire, which was constantly kept burning on their public hearth, was taken from the Prytaneium of the parent city; and sometimes the priests also were brought from the mother state. In the same spirit, it was considered a violation of sacred ties for a mother country and a colony to make war upon one another. The preceding account of the relations between the Greek colonies and the mother country is supported by the history which Thucydides gives us of the quarrel between Corcyra and Corinth. Corcyra was a colony of Corinth, and Epidamnus a colony of Corcyra; but the leader (οἰκιστής) of the colony of Epidamnus was a Corinthian who was invited from the metropolis Corinth. In course of time, in consequence of civil dissensions, and attacks from the neighbouring barbarians, the Epidamnians apply for aid to Corcyra, but their request is rejected. They next apply to the Corinthians, who took Epidamnus under their protection, thinking, says Thucydides, that the colony was no less theirs than the Corinthians’: and also induced to do so through hatred of the Corcyraeans, because they neglected them though they were colonists; for they did not give to the Corinthians the customary honours and deference in the public solemnities and sacrifices, which the other colonies were wont to pay to the mother country. The Corcyraeans, who had become very powerful by sea, took offence at the Corinthians receiving Epidamnus under their protection, and the result was a war between Corcyra and Corinth. The Corcyraeans sent ambassadors to Athens to ask assistance; and in reply to the objection that they were a colony of Corinth, they said, “that every colony, as long as it is treated kindly, respects the mother country: but when it is injured, is alienated from it; for colonists are not sent out as subjects, but that they may have equal rights with those that remain at home.” It is true that ambitious states, such as Athens, sometimes claimed dominion over other states on the ground of relationship; but as a general rule, colonies may be regarded as independent states, attached to their metropolis by ties of sympathy and common descent, but no further. The case of Potidaea, to which the Corinthians sent annually the chief magistrates (δημιουργοί), appears to have been an exception to the general rule.--(2) ROMAN. A kind of colonisation seems to have existed among the oldest Italian nations, who, on certain occasions, sent out their superfluous male population, with arms in their hands, to seek for a new home. But these were apparently mere bands of adventurers, and such colonies rather resembled the old Greek colonies, than those by which Rome extended her dominion and her name. Colonies were established by the Romans as far back as the annals or traditions of the city extend, and the practice was continued, without intermission, during the republic and under the empire. Colonies were intended to keep in check a conquered people, and also to repress hostile incursions; and their chief object was originally the extension and preservation of the Roman dominion in Italy. Cicero calls the old Italian colonies the propugnacula imperii. Another object was to increase the power of Rome by increasing the population. Sometimes the immediate object of a colony was to carry off a number of turbulent and discontented persons. Colonies were also established for the purpose of providing for veteran soldiers, a practice which was begun by Sulla, and continued under the emperors; these coloniae were called militares. The old Roman colonies were in the nature of garrisons planted in conquered towns, and the colonists had a portion of the conquered territory (usually a third part) assigned to them. The inhabitants retained the rest of their lands, and lived together with the new settlers, who alone composed the proper colony. The conquered people must at first have been quite a distinct class from, and inferior to, the colonists. No colonia was established without a lex, plebiscitum, or senatusconsultum; a fact which shows that a Roman colony was never a mere body of adventurers, but had a regular organisation by the parent state. When a law was passed for founding a colony, persons were appointed to superintend its formation (coloniam deducere). These persons varied in number, but three was a common number (triumviri ad colonos deducendos). We also read of duumviri, quinqueviri, vigintiviri for the same purpose. The law fixed the quantity of land that was to be distributed, and how much was to be assigned to each person. No Roman could be sent out as a colonist without his free consent, and when the colony was not an inviting one, it was difficult to fill up the number of volunteers. The colonia proceeded to its place of destination in the form of an army (sub vexillo), which is indicated on the coins of some coloniae. An urbs, if one did not already exist, was a necessary part of a new colony, and its limits were marked out by a plough, which is also indicated on ancient coins. The colonia had also a territory, which, whether marked out by the plough or not, was at least marked out by metes and bounds. Thus the urbs and territory of the colonia respectively corresponded to the urbs Roma and its territory. Religious ceremonies always accompanied the foundation of the colony, and the anniversary was afterwards observed. It is stated that a colony could not be sent out to the same place to which a colony had already been sent in due form (auspicato deducta). This merely means, that so long as the colony maintained its existence, there could be no new colony in the same place; a doctrine that would hardly need proof, for a new colony implied a new assignment of lands; but new settlers (novi adscripti) might be sent to occupy colonial lands not already assigned. Indeed it was not unusual for a colony to receive additions, and a colony might be re-established, if it seemed necessary, from any cause. The commissioners appointed to conduct the colony had apparently a profitable office, and the establishment of a new settlement gave employment to numerous functionaries, among whom Cicero enumerates--apparitores, scribae, librarii, praecones, architecti. The foundation of a colony might then, in many cases, not only be a mere party measure, carried for the purpose of gaining popularity, but it would give those in power an opportunity of providing places for many of their friends.--The colonies founded by the Romans were divided into two great classes of colonies of Roman citizens and Latin colonies; names which had no reference to the persons who formed the colonies, but merely indicated their political rights with respect to Rome as members of the colony. The members of a Roman colony (colonia civium Romanorum) preserved all the rights of Roman citizens. The members of a Latin colony (colonia Latina) ceased to have the full rights of Roman citizens. Probably some of the old Latin colonies were established by the Romans in conjunction with other Latin states. After the conquest of Latium, the Romans established colonies, called Latin colonies, in various parts of Italy. Roman citizens, who chose to join such colonies, gave up their civic rights for the more solid advantage of a grant of land, and became LATINI. [CIVITAS.] Such colonies were subject to, and part of, the Roman state; but they did not possess the Roman franchise, and had no political bond among themselves.--The lex Julia, passed B.C. 90, gave the Roman franchise to the members of the Latin colonies and the Socii; and such Latin colonies and states of the Socii were then called municipia, and became complete members of the Roman state. Thus there was then really no difference between these municipia and the Roman coloniae, except in their historical origin: the members of both were Roman citizens, and the Roman law prevailed in both.--In the colonies, as at Rome, the popular assembly had originally the sovereign power; they chose the magistrates, and could even make laws. When the popular assemblies became a mere form in Rome, and the elections were transferred by Tiberius to the senate, the same thing happened in the colonies, whose senates then possessed whatever power had once belonged to the community. The common name of this senate was ordo decurionum; in later times, simply ordo and curia; the members of it were decuriones or curiales. Thus, in the later ages, curia is opposed to senatus, the former being the senate of a colony, and the latter the senate of Rome. But the terms senatus and senator were also applied to the senate and members of the senate of a colony. After the decline of the popular assemblies, the senate had the whole internal administration of a city, conjointly with the magistratus; but only a decurio could be a magistratus, and the choice was made by the decuriones. The highest magistratus of a colonia were the duumviri or quattuorviri, so called, as the members might vary, whose functions may be compared with those of the consulate at Rome before the establishment of the praetorship. The name duumviri seems to have been the most common. Their principal duties were the administration of justice, and accordingly we find on inscriptions “Duumviri J. D.” (juri dicundo), “Quattuorviri J. D.” The name consul also occurs in inscriptions to denote this chief magistracy; and even dictator and praetor occur under the empire and under the republic. The office of the duumviri lasted a year.--In some Italian towns there was a praefectus juri dicundo; he was in the place of, and not co-existent with, the duumviri. The duumviri were, as we have seen, originally chosen by the people; but the praefectus was appointed annually in Rome, and sent to the town called a praefectura, which might be either a municipium or a colonia, for it was only in the matter of the praefectus that a town called a praefectura differed from other Italian towns. Arpinum is called both a municipium and a praefectura; and Cicero, a native of this place, obtained the highest honours that Rome could confer.--The censor, curator, or quinquennalis, all which names denote the same functionary, was also a municipal magistrate, and corresponded to the censor at Rome, and in some cases, perhaps, to the quaestor also. Censors are mentioned in Livy as magistrates of the twelve Latin colonies. The quinquennales were sometimes duumviri, sometimes quattuorviri; but they are always carefully distinguished from the duumviri and quattuorviri J. D.; and their functions were those of censors. They held their office for one year, and during the four intermediate years the functions were not exercised. The office of censor or quinquennalis was higher in rank than that of the duumviri J. D., and it could only be filled by those who had discharged the other offices of the municipality.

CŎLOSSUS (κολοσσός) is used both by the Greeks and Romans to signify a statue larger than life; but as such statues were very common, the word was more frequently applied to designate figures of gigantic dimensions. Such figures were first executed in Egypt, and were afterwards made by the Greeks and Romans. Among the colossal statues of Greece, the most celebrated was the bronze colossus at Rhodes, dedicated to the sun, the height of which was about 90 feet.

CŌLUM (ἠθμός), a strainer or colander, was used for straining wine, milk, olive-oil, and other liquids. Those that were used as articles of luxury for straining wine were frequently made of some metal, such as bronze or silver. Occasionally a piece of linen cloth (σάκκος, saccus) was placed over the τρύγοιπος or colum, and the wine (σακκίας, saccatus) filtered through. The use of the saccus was considered objectionable for all delicate wines, since it was believed to injure, if not entirely to destroy their flavour, and in every instance to diminish the strength of the liquor. For this reason it was employed by the dissipated in order that they might be able to swallow a greater quantity without becoming intoxicated. The double purpose of cooling and weakening was effectually accomplished by placing ice or snow in the filter, which under such circumstances became a colum nivarium, or saccus nivarius. The preceding woodcut shows the plan and profile of a silver colum.

CŎLUMBĀRĬUM, a dovecot or pigeon-house, also signified a sepulchral chamber formed to receive the ashes of the lower orders, or dependants of great families; and in the plural, the niches in which the cinerary urns (ollae) were deposited.

CŎLUMNA (κίων, στύλος), a pillar or column. The use of the trunks of trees placed upright for supporting buildings, unquestionably led to the adoption of similar supports wrought in stone. As the tree required to be based upon a flat square stone, and to have a stone or tile of similar form fixed on its summit to preserve it from decay, so the column was made with a square base, and was covered with an abacus. [ABACUS.] Hence the principal parts of which every column consists are three, the base (basis), the shaft (scapus), and the capital (capitulum). In the Doric, which is the oldest style of Greek architecture, we must consider all the columns in the same row as having one common base (podium), whereas in the Ionic and Corinthian each column has a separate base, called spira. The capitals of these two latter orders show, on comparison with the Doric, a much richer style of ornament; and the character of lightness and elegance is further obtained in them by their more slender shaft, its height being much greater in proportion to its thickness. Of all these circumstances some idea may be formed by the inspection of the three accompanying specimens of pillars. The first on the left hand is Doric, the second Ionic, and the third Corinthian. In all the orders the shaft tapers from the bottom towards the top. The shaft was, however, made with a slight swelling in the middle, which was called the entasis. It was, moreover, almost universally channelled or fluted. Columns were used in the interior of buildings, to sustain the beams which supported the ceiling. Rows of columns were often employed within a building, to enclose a space open to the sky. Beams supporting ceilings passed from above the columns to the adjoining walls, so as to form covered passages or ambulatories (στοαί). Such a circuit of columns was called a peristyle (περίστυλον), and the Roman atrium was built upon this plan. The largest and most splendid temples enclosed an open space like an atrium, which was accomplished by placing one peristyle upon another. In such cases, the lower rows of columns being Doric, the upper were sometimes Ionic or Corinthian, the lighter being properly based upon the heavier. A temple so constructed was called hypaethral (ὕπαιθρος). But it was on the exterior of public buildings, and especially of temples, that columns were displayed in the most beautiful combinations, either surrounding the building entirely, or arranged in porticoes on one or more of its fronts. [TEMPLUM.] Their original and proper use was, of course, to support the roof of the building; and, amidst all the elaborations of architectural design, this object was still kept in view. On the summit of the row of columns rests the architrave, i.e. chief beam (ἐπιστύλιον, epistylium): above this is the frieze (ζωοφόρος, ζωφόρος, zophorus), in which the most ancient order, namely the Doric, shows, in its triglyphs, what were originally the ends of the cross-beams: in the other orders these ends are generally concealed, and the frieze forms a flat surface, which is frequently ornamented by figures in relief, whence its Greek name. Above the frieze projects the cornice (κορωνίς, coronis or corona), forming a handsome finish to the entablature (for so these three members taken together are called), and also, on the sides of the building, serving to unite the ends of the rafters of the roof. The triangular gable-end of the roof, above the entablature, is called the pediment. [FASTIGIUM.]--Columns in long rows were used in aquaeducts, and single pillars were fixed in harbours for mooring ships.--Single columns were also erected to commemorate persons or events. Among these, some of the most remarkable were the columnae rostratae, called by that name because three ship-beaks proceeded from each side of them, designed to record successful engagements at sea. The most important and celebrated of those which yet remain, is one erected in honour of the consul C. Duillius, on occasion of his victory over the Carthaginian fleet, B.C. 261. Columns were also employed to commemorate the dead. The column on the right hand in the last woodcut exhibits that which the senate erected to the honour of the Emperor Trajan. Similar columns were erected to the memory of many of the Roman emperors.

CŎLUMNĀRĬUM, a tax imposed in the time of Julius Caesar upon the pillars that supported a house. The Ostiarium was a similar tax. [OSTIARIUM.] The columnarium, levied by Metellus Scipio in Syria in B.C. 49-48, was a tax of a similar kind, but was simply an illegal means of extorting money from the provincials.

CŎLUS, a distaff. [FUSUS.]

CŎMA (κόμη, κουρά), the hair. (1) GREEK. In the earliest times the Greeks wore their hair long, and thus they are constantly called in Homer καρηκομόωντες Ἀχαιοί. The Spartan boys always had their hair cut quite short (ἐν χρῷ κείροντες); but as soon as they reached the age of puberty (ἔφηβοι), they let it grow long. Before going to battle they combed and dressed it with especial care. It seems that both Spartan men and women tied their hair in a knot over the crown of the head. The custom of the Athenians was different. They wore their hair long in childhood, and cut it off when they reached the age of puberty. The cutting off of the hair, which was always done when a boy became an ἔφηβος, was a solemn act, attended with religious ceremonies. A libation was first offered to Hercules, which was called οἰνιστήρια or οἰνιαστήρια, and the hair after being cut off was dedicated to some deity, usually a river-god. But when the Athenians passed into the age of manhood, they again let their hair grow. In ancient times at Athens the hair was rolled up into a kind of knot on the crown of the head, and fastened with golden clasps in the shape of grasshoppers. This fashion of wearing the hair was called κρωβύλος, and in the case of females κόρυμβος. The heads of females were frequently covered with a kind of band or a coif of net-work. Of these coiffures one was called σφενδόνη, which was a broad band across the forehead, sometimes made of metal, and sometimes of leather, adorned with gold. But the most common kind of head-dress for females was called by the general name of κεκρύφαλος, and this was divided into the three species of κεκρύφαλος, σάκκος, and μίτρα. The κεκρύφαλος, in its narrower sense, was a caul or coif of net-work, corresponding to the Latin reticulum. These hair-nets were frequently made of gold threads, sometimes of silk, or the Elean byssus, and probably of other materials. The σάκκος and the μίτρα were, on the contrary, made of close materials. The σάκκος covered the head entirely like a sack or bag; it was made of various materials, such as silk, byssus, and wool. The μίτρα was a broad band of cloth of different colours, which was wound round the hair, and was worn in various ways. It was originally an Eastern head-dress, and may, therefore, be compared to the modern turban. The Roman calautica or calvatica is said by Servius to have been the same as the mitra, but in a passage in the Digest they are mentioned as if they were distinct.--With respect to the colour of the hair, black was the most frequent, but blonde (ξανθὴ κόμη) was the most prized. In Homer, Achilles, Ulysses, and other heroes are represented with blonde hair. At a later time it seems to have been not unfrequent to dye hair, so as to make it either black or blonde, and this was done by men as well as by women, especially when the hair was growing gray.--(2) ROMAN. Besides the generic coma we also find the following words signifying the hair: capillus, caesaries, crines, cincinnus, and cirrus, the two last words being used to signify curled hair. In early times the Romans wore their hair long, and hence the Romans of the Augustan age designated their ancestors intonsi and capillati. But after the introduction of barbers into Italy about B.C. 300, it became the practice to wear the hair short. The women, too, originally dressed their hair with great simplicity, but in the Augustan period a variety of different head-dresses came into fashion. Sometimes these head-dresses were raised to a great height by rows of false curls. So much attention did the Roman ladies devote to the dressing of the hair, that they kept slaves especially for this purpose, called ornatrices, and had them instructed by a master in the art. Most of the Greek head-dresses mentioned above were also worn by the Roman ladies; but the mitrae appear to have been confined to prostitutes. One of the simplest modes of wearing the hair was allowing it to fall down in tresses behind, and only confining it by a band encircling the head. [VITTA.] Another favourite plan was platting the hair, and then fastening it behind with a large pin. Blonde hair was as much prized by the Romans as by the Greeks, and hence the Roman ladies used a kind of composition or wash to make it appear this colour (spuma caustica). False hair or wigs (φενάκη, πηνίκη, galerus) were worn both by Greeks and Romans. Among both people likewise in ancient times the hair was cut close in mourning [FUNUS]; and among both the slaves had their hair cut close as a mark of servitude.

CŌMISSĀTĬO (derived from κῶμος), the name of a drinking entertainment, which took place after the coena, from which, however, it must be distinguished. The comissatio was frequently prolonged to a late hour at night, whence the verb comissari means “to revel,” and the substantive comissator a “reveller,” or “debauchee.”

CŎMĬTĬA. This word is formed from co, cum, or con, and ire, and therefore comitium is a place of meeting, and comitia the meeting itself, or the assembled people. In the Roman constitution the comitia were the ordinary and legal meetings or assemblies of the people, and distinct from the contiones and concilia. All the powers of government were divided at Rome between the senate, the magistrates, and the people in their assemblies. Properly speaking, the people alone (the populus) was the real sovereign by whom the power was delegated to the magistrates and the senate. The sovereign people or populus, however, was not the same at all times. In the earliest times of Rome the populus consisted of the patricians (or patres) only, the plebs and the clients forming no part of the populus, but being without the pale of the state. The original populus was divided into thirty curiae, and the assembly of these curiae (the comitia curiata) was the only assembly in which the populus was represented. A kind of amalgamation of the patricians and the plebs afterwards appeared in the comitia of the centuries, instituted by king Servius Tullius, and henceforth the term populus was applied to the united patricians and plebeians assembled in the comitia centuriata. But Servius had also made a local division of the whole Roman territory into thirty tribes, which held their meetings in assemblies called comitia tributa, which, in the course of time, acquired the character of national assemblies, so that the people thus assembled were likewise designated by the term populus.

We shall examine in order the nature, power, and business of each of these different comitia. (1) COMITIA CURIATA consisted of the members of the thirty curiae, that is, the patricians, who formed exclusively the populus in the early times. They were convened, in the kingly period, by the king himself, or by his tribunus celerum, and in the king’s absence by the praefectus urbi. After the death of a king the comitia were held by the interrex. In the republican period, the president was always one of the high patrician magistrates, viz. a consul, praetor, or dictator. They were called together by lictors or heralds. The votes were given by curiae, each curia having one collective vote; but within a curia each citizen belonging to it had an independent vote, and the majority of the members of a curia determined the vote of the whole curia. The meeting was always held in the comitium. The comitia curiata did not possess much power in the kingly period. They could only be called together when the king (or his representative) chose, and could only determine upon matters which the king submitted to them. The main points upon which the populus had to decide were the election of the king, the passing of laws, declarations of war, the capital punishment of Roman citizens, and, lastly, certain affairs of the curiae and gentes. The priestly officers, such as the Curiones, Flamines Curiales, were likewise either elected by the curiae, or at least inaugurated by them. The right of finally deciding upon the life of Roman citizens (judicia de capite civis Romani) is said to have been given to the populus by king Tullus Hostilius. It must further be remarked, that when the king had been elected, the populus held a second meeting, in which he was formally inducted into his new office. This formality was called lex curiata de imperio, whereby the king received his imperium, together with the right of holding the comitia. Down to the time of Servius Tullius, the comitia curiata were the only popular assemblies of Rome, and remained of course in the undiminished possession of the rights above described; but the constitution of that king brought about a great change, by transferring the principal rights which had hitherto been enjoyed by the curiae to a new national assembly or the comitia centuriata. But while the patricians were obliged to share their rights with the plebeians, they reserved for themselves the very important right of sanctioning or rejecting any measure which had been passed by the centuries. The sanction of decrees passed by the centuries is often expressed by patres auctores fiunt, and down to the time of the Publilian law no decree of the centuries could become law without this sanction. By the Publilian law (B.C. 339) it was enacted that the curiae should give their assent before the vote of the comitia centuriata; so that the veto of the curiae was thus virtually abolished. The comitia curiata thus became a mere formality, and, instead of the thirty curiae themselves giving their votes, the ceremony was performed by thirty lictors. The comitia of the curiae were also called COMITIA CALATA or “the summoned comitia” (from calare, i.e. vocare), when summoned for the purposes mentioned below:--1. On the calends it was proclaimed to the comitia calata on what day of the new month the nones fell, and perhaps also the ides as well as the nature of the other days, namely, whether they were fasti or nefasti, comitiales, feriae, &c., because all these things were known in the early times to the pontiffs exclusively. 2. The inauguration of the flamines, and after the banishment of the kings, also that of the rex sacrorum. 3. The testamenti factio, or the making of a will. 4. The detestatio sacrorum, which was in all probability an act connected with the testamenti factio, that is, a solemn declaration, by which the heir was enjoined to undertake the sacra privata of the testator along with the reception of his property. The comitia calata were summoned by the college of pontiffs, who also presided in them.

(2) COMITIA CENTURIATA. The object of the legislation of Servius Tullius was to unite the different elements of which the Roman people consisted, into one great political body, in which power and influence were to be determined by property and age. The whole people was conceived as an army (exercitus), and was therefore divided into two parts, the cavalry (equites), and infantry (pedites). The infantry was divided into five classes, or, as Dionysius has it, into six classes, for he regards the whole body of people, whose property did not come up to the census of the fifth class, as a sixth. The class to which a citizen belonged determined the tributum, or war tax, he had to pay, as well as the kind of service he had to perform in the army and the armour in which he had to serve. But for the purpose of voting in the comitia, each class was subdivided into a number of centuries (centuriae, probably because each was conceived to contain 100 men, though the centuries may have greatly differed in the number of men they contained). Hence the name of Comitia Centuriata. Each century was divided into the seniores and the juniores. Each century, further, was counted as one vote, so that a class had as many votes as it contained centuries. In like manner, the equites were divided into a number of centuries or votes. The two principal authorities on these subdivisions are Livy and Dionysius. The annexed table will show the census as well as the number of centuries or votes assigned to each class.

According to Livy. According to Dionysius. I. Classis. Census: 100,000 asses. I. Classis. Census: 100 minae. 40 centuriae seniorum. 40 centuriae seniorum. 40 centuriae juniorum. 40 centuriae juniorum. 2 centuriae fabrum. II. Classis. Census: 75,000 asses. II. Classis. Census: 75 minae. 10 centuriae seniorum. 10 centuriae seniorum. 10 centuriae juniorum. 10 centuriae juniorum. 2 centuriae fabrum (one voting with the seniores and the other with the juniores). III. Classis. Census: 50,000 asses. III. Classis. Census: 50 minae. 10 centuriae seniorum. 10 centuriae seniorum. 10 centuriae juniorum. 10 centuriae juniorum. IV. Classis. Census: 25,000 asses. IV. Classis. Census: 25 minae. 10 centuriae seniorum. 10 centuriae seniorum. 10 centuriae juniorum. 10 centuriae juniorum. 2 centuriae cornicinum and tubicinum (one voting with the seniores, and the other with the juniores). V. Classis. Census: 11,000 asses. V. Classis. Census: 12½ minae. 15 centuriae seniorum. 15 centuriae seniorum. 15 centuriae juniorum. 15 centuriae juniorum. 3 centuriae accensorum, VI. Classis. Census: below 12½ cornicinum, tubicinum. minae. 1 centuria capite censorum. 1 centuria capite censorum.

According to both Dionysius and Livy, the equites voted in eighteen centuries before the seniores of the first class; and hence there were, according to Livy, 194, and, according to Dionysius, 193 centuries or votes. The latter number is the more probable, since Livy’s even number of 194 centuries would have rendered it impossible to obtain an absolute majority. In this manner all Roman citizens, whether patricians or plebeians, who had property to a certain amount, were privileged to take part and vote in the centuriata comitia, and none were excluded except slaves, peregrini, women and the aerarii. The juniores were all men from the age of seventeen to that of forty-six, and the seniores all men from the age of forty-six upwards. The order of voting was arranged in such a manner, that if the eighteen centuries of the equites and the eighty centuries of the first class were agreed upon a measure, the question was decided at once, there being no need for calling upon the other classes to vote. Hence, although all Roman citizens appeared in these comitia on a footing of equality, yet by far the greater power was thrown into the hands of the wealthy.--As regards the functions of the comitia centuriata, they were--(a.) The election of magistrates. The magistrates that were elected by the centuries are the consuls (whence the assembly is called comitia consularia), the praetors (hence comitia praetoria), the military tribunes with consular power, the censors, and the decemvirs. (b.) Legislation. The legislative power of the centuries at first consisted in their passing or rejecting a measure which was brought before them by the presiding magistrate in the form of a senatus consultum, so that the assembly had no right of originating any legislative measure, but voted only upon such as were brought before them as resolutions of the senate. (c.) The decision upon war, on the ground of a senatus consultum, likewise belonged to the centuries. Peace was concluded by a mere senatus consultum, and without any co-operation of the people. (d.) The highest judicial power. The comitia centuriata were in the first place the highest court of appeal, and in the second, they had to try all offences committed against the state; hence, all cases of perduellio and majestas: and no case involving the life of a Roman citizen could be decided by any other court. The sanction of the curiae to the measures of the centuriae has been already explained.--The comitia centuriata could be held only on dies comitiales or fasti, on which it was lawful to transact business with the people, and the number of such days in every year was about 190; but on dies nefasti (that is, dies festi, feriati, comp. DIES), and, at first also on the nundinae, no comitia could be held, until in B.C. 287 the Hortensian law ordained that the nundinae should be regarded as dies fasti.--The place where the centuries met was the Campus Martius, which contained the septa for the voters, a tabernaculum for the president, and the villa publica for the augurs.--The president at the comitia was the same magistrate who convoked them, and this right was a privilege of the consuls, and, in their absence, of the praetors. An interrex and dictator also, or his representative, the magister equitum, might likewise convene and preside at the comitia. One of the main duties devolving upon the president, and which he had to perform before holding the comitia, was to consult the auspices (auspicari). When the auspices were favourable, the people were called together, which was done by three successive and distinct acts: the first was quite a general invitation to come to the assembly (inlicium). At the same time when this invitation was proclaimed circum moeros or de moeris, a horn was blown, which being the more audible signal, is mentioned by some writers alone, and without the inlicium. When upon this signal the people assembled in irregular masses, there followed the second call by the accensus, or the call ad contionem or conventionem; that is, to a regular assembly, and the crowd then separated, grouping themselves according to their classes and ages. Hereupon the consul appeared, ordering the people to come ad comitia centuriata; and led the whole exercitus--for, in these comitia, the Roman people are always conceived as an exercitus--out of the city, to the Campus Martius.--It was customary from the earliest times for an armed force to occupy the Janiculum, when the people were assembled in the Campus Martius, for the purpose of protecting the city against any sudden attack of the neighbouring people; and on the Janiculum a vexillum was hoisted during the whole time that the assembly lasted. This custom continued to be observed even at the time when Rome had no longer anything to fear from the neighbouring tribes.--When the people were thus regularly assembled, the business was commenced with a solemn sacrifice, and a prayer of the president, who then took his seat on his tribunal. The president then opened the business by explaining to the people the subject for which they had been convened, and concluded his exposition with the words, velitis, jubeatis Quirites, e.g. bellum indici, or ut M. Tullio aqua igni interdictum sit, or whatever the subject might be. This formula was the standing one in all comitia, and the whole exposition of the president was called rogatio. When the comitia were assembled for the purpose of an election, the presiding magistrate had to read out the names of the candidates, and might exercise his influence by recommending the one whom he thought most fit for the office in question. If the assembly had been convened for the purpose of passing a legislative measure, the president usually recommended the proposal, or he might grant to others, if they desired it, permission to speak about the measure, either in its favour or against it (Contionem dare). When the comitia acted as a court of justice, the president stated the crime, proposed the punishment to be inflicted upon the offender, and then allowed others to speak either in defence of the accused or against him. When the subject brought before the assembly was sufficiently discussed, the president called upon the people to prepare for voting by the words, ite in suffragium, bene juvantibus diis. He then passed the stream Petronia, and went to the septa.--Respecting the mode of voting, it is commonly supposed that the people were always polled by word of mouth, till the passing of the leges tabellariae about the middle of the second century before Christ, when the ballot by means of tabellae was introduced. [LEGES TABELLARIAE.] It appears, however, that the popular assemblies voted by ballot, as well as by word of mouth, long before the passing of the leges tabellariae, but that instead of using tabellae, they employed stones or pebbles (the Greek ψῆφοι), and that each voter received two stones, one white and the other black, the former to be used in the approval and the latter in the condemnation of a measure. The voting by word of mouth seems to have been adopted in elections and trials, and the use of pebbles to have been confined to the enactment and repeal of laws. Previous to the leges tabellariae, the rogatores, who subsequently collected the written votes, stood at the entrance of the septa, and asked every citizen for his vote, which was taken down, and used to determine the vote of each century. After the introduction of the ballot, if the business was the passing of a law, each citizen was provided with two tabellae, one inscribed V. R. i.e. Uti Rogas, “I vote for the law,” the other inscribed A. i.e. Antiquo, “I am for the old law.” If the business was the election of a magistrate, each citizen was supplied with only one tablet, on which the names of the candidates were written, or the initials of their names; the voter then placed a mark (punctum) against the one for whom he voted, whence puncta are spoken of in the sense of votes. For further particulars respecting the voting in the comitia, see DIRIBITORES and SITULA. In judicial assemblies every citizen was provided with three tabellae, one of which was marked with A. i.e. Absolvo, “I acquit;” the second with C. i.e. Condemno, “I condemn;” and the third with N. L. i.e. Non Liquet, “It is not clear to me.” The first of these was called Tabella absolutoria and the second Tabella damnatoria, and hence Cicero calls the former litera salutaris, and the latter litera tristis.--There were in the Campus Martius septa or inclosures (whether they existed from the earliest times is unknown), into which one class of citizens was admitted after another for the purpose of voting. The first that entered were the eighteen centuries of the equites, then followed the first class and so on. It very rarely happened that the lowest class was called upon to vote, as there was no necessity for it, unless the first class did not agree with the equites. After the time when the comitia of the centuries became amalgamated with those of the tribes, a large space near the villa publica was surrounded with an enclosure, and divided into compartments for the several tribes. The whole of this enclosure was called ovile, septa, carceres, or cancelli; and in later times a stone building, containing the whole people, was erected; it was divided into compartments for the classes as well as the tribes and centuries; the access to these compartments was formed by narrow passages called pontes or ponticuli. On entering, the citizens received their tablets, and when they had consulted within the enclosures, they passed out of them again by a pons or ponticulus, at which they threw their vote into a chest (cista) which was watched by rogatores. Hereupon the rogatores collected the tablets, and gave them to the diribitores, who classified and counted the votes, and then handed them over to the custodes, who again checked them off by points marked on a tablet. The order in which the centuries voted was determined in the Servian constitution, in the manner described above; but after the union of the centuries and tribes, the order was determined by lot; and this was a matter of no slight importance, since it frequently happened that the vote of the first determined the manner in which subsequent ones voted. In the case of elections, the successful candidate was proclaimed twice, first by the praeco, and then by the president, and without this renuntiatio the election was not valid. After all the business was done, the president pronounced a prayer, and dismissed the assembly with the word discedite.--Cases are frequently mentioned in which the proceedings of the assembly were disturbed, so that it was necessary to defer the business till another day. This occurred--1, when it was discovered that the auspices had been unfavourable, or when the gods manifested their displeasure by rain, thunder, or lightning; 2, when a tribune interceded; 3, when the sun set before the business was over, for it was a principle that the auspices were valid only for one day from sunrise to sunset; 4, when a morbus comitialis occurred, i.e. when one of the assembled citizens was seized with an epileptic fit; 5, when the vexillum was taken away from the Janiculum, this being a signal which all citizens had to obey; 6, when any tumult or insurrection broke out in the city.

(3) COMITIA TRIBUTA. These assemblies likewise were called into existence by the constitution of Servius Tullius, who divided the Roman territory into thirty local tribes. It is a disputed question whether the patricians were originally included in these tribes; but, whether they were or not, it is certain, that by far the majority of the people in the tribes were plebeians, and that, consequently, the character of these assemblies was essentially plebeian. After the decemvirate, the patricians had certainly the right of voting in the assemblies of the tribes, which were then also convened by the higher magistrates. The assemblies of the tribes had originally only a local power; they were intended to collect the tributum, and to furnish the contingents for the army; they may further have discussed the internal affairs of each tribe, such as the making or keeping up of roads, wells, and the like. But their influence gradually increased, and they at length acquired the following powers:--1. The election of the inferior magistrates, whose office it was to protect the commonalty or to superintend the affairs of the tribes. Hence the tribunes of the plebs were elected in the comitia tributa. In like manner, the aediles were elected by them, though the curule aediles were elected at a different time from the plebeian aediles and under the presidency of a consul. At a still later time, the quaestors and tribunes of the soldiers, who had before been appointed by the consuls, were appointed in the assemblies of the tribes. The proconsuls to be sent into the provinces, and the prolongation of the imperium for a magistrate who was already in a province, were likewise points which were determined by the tribes in later times. The inferior magistrates elected by the tribes are:--the triumviri capitales, triumviri monetales, the curatores viarum, decemviri litibus judicandis, tribuni aerarii, magistri vicorum et pagorum, praefecti annonae, duumviri navales, quinqueviri muris turribusque reficiendis, triumviri coloniae deducendae, triumviri, quatuorviri, &c., mensarii, and lastly, after the Domitian law, B.C. 104, also the members of colleges of priests. The pontifex maximus had been elected by the people from an earlier time. 2. The legislative power of the comitia tributa was at first very insignificant, for all they could do was to make regulations concerning the local affairs of the tribes. But after a time, when the tribes began to be the real representatives of the people, matters affecting the whole people also were brought before them by the tribunes, which, framed as resolutions, were laid before the senate, where they might either be sanctioned or rejected. This practice of the tributa comitia gradually acquired for them the right of taking the initiative in any measure, or the right of originating measures, until, in B.C. 449, this right was recognised and sanctioned by a law of L. Valerius Publicola and M. Horatius Barbatus. This law gave to the decrees passed by the tribes the power of a real lex, binding upon the whole people, provided they obtained the sanction of the senate and the populus, that is, the people assembled in the comitia curiata or in the comitia centuriata. In B.C. 339, the Publilian law enacted ut plebiscita omnes Quirites tenerent. This law was either a re-enactment of the one passed in B.C. 449, or contained a more detailed specification of the cases in which plebiscita should be binding upon the whole nation, or, lastly, it made their validity independent of the sanction of other comitia, so that nothing would be required except the assent of the senate. In B.C. 287, the Hortensian law was passed, which seems to have been only a revival and a confirmation of the two preceding laws, for it was framed in almost the same terms; but it may also be, that the Hortensian law made the plebiscita independent of the sanction of the senate, so that henceforth the comitia tributa were quite independent in their legislative character. 3. The judicial power of the comitia tributa was much more limited than that of the comitia centuriata, inasmuch as they could take cognizance only of offences against the majesty of the people, while all crimes committed against the state were brought before the centuries. Even patricians, when they had offended against the commonalty or its members, were tried and fined by the tribes. This again constitutes a difference between the judicial power of the centuries and that of the tribes, for the former could inflict capital punishment, but the latter only fines. The comitia tributa might assemble either within or without the city, but not farther from it than 1000 paces, because the power of the tribunes did not extend farther. For elections the Campus Martius was usually chosen, but sometimes also the forum, the Capitol, or the Circus Flaminius. The presidents were commonly the tribunes, who were supported by the aediles, and no matter could be brought before the tribes without the knowledge and consent of the tribunes. As the comitia tributa, however, more and more assumed the character of national assemblies, the higher magistrates also sometimes acted as presidents, though perhaps not without previously obtaining the permission of the tribunes. The preparations for the comitia tributa were less formal and solemn than for those of the centuries. In the case of elections, the candidates had to give in their names, and the president communicated them to the people. When a legislative measure was to be brought before the assembly, a tribune made the people acquainted with it in contiones, and that on the three preceding nundines. The same was the case when the people were to meet as a court of justice. The auspicia were not consulted for the comitia of the tribes, but the spectio alone was sufficient, and the tribunes had the right of obnuntiatio. In the comitia the tribune who had been chosen to preside sat on the tribunal supported by his colleagues, and laid before the people the subject of the meeting, concluding with the words velitis, jubeatis Quirites. The bill was never read by the tribune himself, but by a praeco, and then began the debates, in which persons might either oppose or recommend the measure, though private persons had to ask the tribunes for permission to speak. When the discussion was over the president called upon the people ite in suffragium, as at the comitia centuriata. They then formed themselves into their tribes, which, like the centuries, ascertained their own votes in enclosures (septa). Which of the 35 tribes was to give its vote first, was determined by lot, and that tribe was called praerogativa or principium (the others were termed jure vocatae). The vote of the first tribe was given by some person of distinction whose name was mentioned in the plebiscitum, if it was of a legislative nature. The manner of collecting the votes was, on the whole, the same as in the comitia centuriata. The announcing of the result of the votes was the renuntiatio. If it so happened that two candidates had the same number of votes, the question was decided by drawing lots. The circumstances which might cause the meeting to break up and defer its business till another day, are the same as those which put an end to the comitia centuriata.

(4) The comitia centuriata mixed with the comitia tributa.--The Servian constitution was retained unaltered so long as no great change took place in the republic; but when the coinage and the standard of property had become altered, when the constitution of the army had been placed on a different footing, and, above all, when the plebeians began to be recognized as a great and essential element in the Roman state, it must have been found inconvenient to leave to the equites and the first class so great a preponderance in the comitia of the centuries, and it became necessary to secure more power and influence to the democratic element. A change, therefore, took place, and the comitia centuriata became mixed with the comitia tributa; but neither the time nor the exact nature of this change is accurately ascertained. Some refer it to the censorship of C. Flaminius, B.C. 220, others to that of Q. Fabius and P. Decius, B.C. 304. But there is evidence that it must be assigned to even an earlier date than this, for the (tribus) praerogativa is mentioned as early as B.C. 396 in the election of the consular tribunes, where the pure comitia tributa cannot be meant, and a centuria praerogativa is a thing unknown. With regard to the manner of the change, the most probable opinion is, that the citizens of each tribe were divided into five property classes, each consisting of seniores and juniores, so that each of the 35 tribes contained ten centuries, and all the tribes together 350 centuries. According to this new arrangement, the five ancient classes, divided into seniores and juniores, continued to exist as before, but henceforth they were most closely united with the tribes, whereas before the tribes had been mere local divisions and entirely independent of property. The union now effected was that the classes became subdivisions of the tribes, and that accordingly centuries occur both in the classes and in the tribes. Each tribe contained ten centuries, two of the first class (one of the seniores and one of the juniores), two of the second (likewise seniores and juniores), two of the third, two of the fourth, and two of the fifth class. The equites were likewise divided according to tribes and centuries, and they seem to have voted with the first class, and to have been in fact included in it, so as to be called centuries of the first class. The centuries of the cornicines, tubicines and fabri, which are no longer mentioned, probably ceased to exist as distinct centuries. The voting by tribes can hardly be conceived, except in those cases in which the ten centuries of every tribe were unanimous; this may have been the case very often, and when it was so, the tribus praerogativa was certainly the tribe chosen by lot to give its unanimous vote first. But if there was any difference of opinion among the centuries making up a tribe, the true majority could only be ascertained by choosing by lot one of the 70 centuriae of the first class to give its vote first, or rather it was decided by lot from which tribe the two centuries of the first class were to be taken to give their vote first. (Hence the plural praerogativae.) The tribe, moreover, to which those centuries belonged which voted first, was itself likewise called tribus praerogativa. Of the two centuries, again, that of seniores gave its vote before the juniores, and in the documents both were called by the name of their tribe, as Galeria juniorum, i.e. the juniores of the first class in the tribus Galeria, Aniensis juniorum, Veturia juniorum. As soon as the praerogativa had voted, the renuntiatio took place, and the remaining centuries then deliberated whether they should vote the same way or not. When this was done all the centuries of the first tribe proceeded to vote at once, for there would not have been time for the 350 centuries to vote one after another, as was done by the 193 centuries in the comitia centuriata.--These comitia of the centuries combined with the tribes were far more democratical than the comitia of the centuries; they continued to be held, and preserved their power along with the comitia tributa, even after the latter had acquired their supreme importance in the republic. During the time of the moral and political corruption of the Romans, the latter appear to have been chiefly attended by the populace, which was guided by the tribunes, and the wealthier and more respectable citizens had little influence in them. When the libertini and all the Italians were incorporated in the old thirty-five tribes, and when the political corruption had reached its height, no trace of the sedate and moderate character was left by which the comitia tributa had been distinguished in former times. Under Augustus the comitia still sanctioned new laws and elected magistrates, but their whole proceedings were a mere farce, for they could not venture to elect any other persons than those recommended by the emperor. Tiberius deprived the people even of this shadow of their former power, and conferred the power of election upon the senate. When the elections were made by the senate the result was announced to the people assembled as comitia centuriata or tributa. Legislation was taken away from the comitia entirely, and was completely in the hands of the senate and the emperor. From this time the comitia may be said to have ceased to exist, as all the sovereign power formerly possessed by the people was conferred upon the emperor by the lex regia. [LEX REGIA.]

COMMĔĀTUS, a furlough, or leave of absence from the army for a certain time.

COMMENTĀRĬUS or COMMENTĀRĬUM, a book of memoirs or memorandum-book, whence the expression Caesaris Commentarii. It is also used for a lawyer’s brief, the notes of a speech, &c.

COMMERCĬUM. [CIVITAS (ROMAN).]

CŌMOEDĬA (κωμῳδία), comedy. (1) GREEK. Comedy took its rise at the vintage festivals of Dionysus. It originated with those who led off the phallic songs of the band of revellers (κῶμος), who at the vintage festivals of Dionysus gave expression to the feelings of exuberant joy and merriment which were regarded as appropriate to the occasion, by parading about, partly on foot, partly in waggons, with the symbol of the productive powers of nature, singing a wild, jovial song in honour of Dionysus and his companions. These songs were commonly interspersed with, or followed by petulant, extemporal witticisms with which the revellers assailed the bystanders. This origin of comedy is indicated by the name κωμῳδία, which undoubtedly means “the song of the κῶμος,” though it has sometimes been derived from κώμη, as if the meaning were “a village song.” It was among the Dorians that comedy first assumed any thing of a regular shape. The Megarians, both in the mother country and in Sicily, claimed to be considered as its originators, and so far as the comedy of Athens is concerned, the claim of the former appears well founded. Among the Athenians the first attempts at comedy were made at Icaria by Susarion, a native of Megara, about B.C. 578. Susarion no doubt substituted for the more ancient improvisations of the chorus and its leader premeditated compositions. There would seem also to have been some kind of poetical contest, for we learn that the prize for the successful poet was a basket of figs and a jar of wine. It was also the practice of those who took part in the comus to smear their faces with wine-lees, either to prevent their features from being recognised, or to give themselves a more grotesque appearance. Hence comedy came to be called τρυγῳδία, or lee-song. Others connected the name with the circumstance of a jar of new wine (τρύξ) being the prize for the successful poet. It was, however, in Sicily, that comedy was earliest brought to something like perfection. Epicharmus was the first writer who gave it a new form, and introduced a regular plot. In his efforts he appears to have been associated with Phormis, a somewhat older contemporary. The Megarians in Sicily claimed the honour of the invention of comedy, on account of Epicharmus having lived in Megara before he went to Syracuse. In Attica, the first comic poet of any importance whom we hear of after Susarion is Chionides, who is said to have brought out plays in B.C. 488. Euetes, Euxenides, and Myllus were probably contemporaries of Chionides; he was followed by Magnes and Ecphantides. Their compositions, however, seem to have been little but the reproduction of the old Megaric farce of Susarion, differing, no doubt, in form, by the introduction of an actor or actors, separate from the chorus, in imitation of the improvements that had been made in tragedy.--That branch of the Attic drama which was called the Old Comedy, begins properly with Cratinus, who was to comedy very much what Aeschylus was to tragedy. The old comedy has been described as the comedy of caricature, and such indeed it was, but it was also a great deal more. As it appeared in the hands of its great masters Cratinus, Hermippus, Eupolis, and especially Aristophanes, its main characteristic was that it was throughout political. Everything that bore upon the political or social interests of the Athenians furnished materials for it. The old Attic comedy lasted from Ol. 80 to Ol. 94 (B.C. 458-404). From Cratinus to Theopompus there were forty-one poets, fourteen of whom preceded Aristophanes. The later pieces of Aristophanes belong to the Middle rather than to the Old Comedy. The chorus in a comedy consisted of twenty-four. [CHORUS.] The dance of the chorus was the κόρδαξ, the movements of which were capricious and licentious, consisting partly in a reeling to and fro, in imitation of a drunken man, and in various unseemly and immodest gestures. Comedies have choric songs, but no στάσιμα, or songs between acts. The most important of the choral parts was the Parabasis, when the actors having left the stage, the chorus, which was ordinarily divided into four rows, containing six each, and was turned towards the stage, turned round, and advancing towards the spectators delivered an address to them in the name of the poet, either on public topics of general interest, or on matters which concerned the poet personally, criticising his rivals and calling attention to his merits; the address having nothing whatever to do with the action of the play. The parabasis was not universally introduced: three plays of Aristophanes, the Ecclesiazusae, Lysistrata, and Plutus, have none. As the old Attic comedy was the offspring of the political and social vigour and freedom of the age during which it flourished, it naturally declined and ceased with the decline and overthrow of the freedom and vigour which were necessary for its development.--It was replaced by a comedy of a somewhat different style, which was known as the Middle Comedy, the age of which lasted from the end of the Peloponnesian war to the overthrow of liberty by Philip of Macedon. (Ol. 94-110.) The comedy of this period found its materials in satirizing classes of people instead of individuals, in criticising the systems and merits of philosophers and literary men, and in parodies of the compositions of living and earlier poets, and travesties of mythological subjects. It formed a transition from the old to the new comedy, and approximated to the latter in the greater attention to the construction of plots which seem frequently to have been founded on amorous intrigues, and in the absence of that wild grotesqueness which marked the old comedy. As regards its external form, the plays of the middle comedy, generally speaking, had neither parabasis nor chorus. The most celebrated authors of the middle comedy were Antiphanes and Alexis.--The New Comedy was a further development of the last mentioned kind. It answered as nearly as may be to the modern comedy of manners or character. Dropping for the most part personal allusions, caricature, ridicule, and parody, which, in a more general form than in the old comedy, had maintained their ground in the middle comedy, the poets of the new comedy made it their business to reproduce in a generalized form a picture of the every-day life of those by whom they were surrounded. There were various standing characters which found a place in most plays, such as we find in the plays of Plautus and Terence, the leno perjurus, amator fervidus, servulus callidus, amica illudens, sodalis opitulator, miles proeliator, parasitus edax, parentes tenaces, meretrices procaces. In the new comedy there was no chorus. It flourished from about B.C. 340 to B.C. 260. The poets of the new comedy amounted to 64 in number. The most distinguished was Menander.--(2) ROMAN.--The accounts of the early stages of comic poetry among the Romans are scanty. Scenic entertainments were introduced at Rome in B.C. 363 from Etruria, where it would seem they were a familiar amusement. Tuscan players (ludiones), who were fetched from Etruria, exhibited a sort of pantomimic dance to the music of a flute, without any song accompanying their dance, and without regular dramatic gesticulation. The amusement became popular, and was imitated by the young Romans, who improved upon the original entertainment by uniting with it extemporaneous mutual raillery, composed in a rude irregular measure, a species of diversion which had been long known among the Romans at their agrarian festivals under the name of Fescennina [FESCENNINA]. It was 123 years after the first introduction of these scenic performances before the improvement was introduced of having a regular plot. This advance was made by Livius Andronicus, a native of Magna Graecia, in B.C. 240. His pieces, which were both tragedies and comedies, were merely adaptations of Greek dramas. The representation of regular plays of this sort was now left to those who were histriones by profession, and who were very commonly either foreigners or slaves; the free-born youth of Rome confined their own scenic performances to the older, irregular farces, which long maintained their ground, and were subsequently called exodia. [EXODIA; SATURA.] Livius, as was common at that time, was himself an actor in his own pieces. The first imitator of the dramatic works of Livius Andronicus was Cn. Naevius, a native of Campania. He composed both tragedies and comedies, which were either translations or imitations of those of Greek writers. The most distinguished successors of Naevius were Plautus, who chiefly imitated Epicharmus, and Terence, whose materials were drawn mostly from Menander, Diphilus, Philemon, and Apollodorus. The comedy of the Romans was throughout but an imitation of that of the Greeks, and chiefly of the new comedy. Where the characters were ostensibly Greek, and the scene laid in Athens or some other Greek town, the comedies were termed palliatae. All the comedies of Terence and Plautus belong to this class. When the story and characters were Roman, the plays were called togatae. But the fabulae togatae were in fact little else than Greek comedies clothed in a Latin dress.

The togatae were divided into two classes, the trabeatae and tabernariae, according as the subject was taken from high or from low life. In the comediae palliatae, the costume of the ordinary actors was the Greek pallium. The plays which bore the name of praetextatae, were not so much tragedies as historical plays. It is a mistake to represent them as comedies. There was a species of tragi-comedy, named from the poet who introduced that style Rhinthonica. A tragedy the argument of which was Greek was termed crepidata. The mimes are sometimes classed with the Latin comedies. [MIMUS.] The mimes differed from the comedies in little more than the predominance of the mimic representation over the dialogue. Latin comedies had no chorus, any more than the dramas of the new comedy, of which they were for the most part imitations. Like them, too, they were introduced by a prologue, which answered some of the purposes of the parabasis of the old comedy, so far as bespeaking the good will of the spectators, and defending the poet against his rivals and enemies. It also communicated so much information as was necessary to understand the story of the play. The prologue was commonly spoken by one of the players, or, perhaps, by the manager of the troop. Respecting the Atellanae fabulae see that article.

COMPĬTĀLĬA, also called LŪDI COMPĬTĀLĬCĬI, a festival celebrated once a year in honour of the lares compitales, to whom sacrifices were offered at the places where two or more ways met. In the time of Augustus, the ludi compitalicii had gone out of fashion, but were restored by him. The compitalia belonged to the feriae conceptivae, that is, festivals which were celebrated on days appointed annually by the magistrates or priests. The exact day on which this festival was celebrated appears to have varied, though it was always in the winter, generally at the beginning of January.

COMPLŪVĬUM. [DOMUS.]

CONCĬLĬUM generally has the same meaning as conventus or conventio, but the technical import of concilium in the Roman constitution was an assembly of a portion of the people as distinct from the general assemblies or comitia. Accordingly, as the comitia tributa embraced only a portion of the Roman people, viz. the plebeians, these comitia are often designated by the term concilia plebis. Concilium is also used by Latin writers to denote the assemblies or meetings of confederate towns or nations, at which either their deputies alone or any of the citizens met who had time and inclination, and thus formed a representative assembly. Such an assembly or diet is commonly designated as commune concilium, or τὸ κοινόν, e.g. Achaeorum, Aetolorum, Boeotorum, Macedoniae, and the like.

CONFARRĔĀTĬO. [MATRIMONIUM.]

CONGĬĀRĬUM (scil. vas, from congius), a vessel containing a congius. [CONGIUS.] In the early times of the Roman republic the congius was the usual measure of oil or wine which was, on certain occasions, distributed among the people; and thus congiarium became a name for liberal donations to the people, in general, whether consisting of oil, wine, corn, money, or other things, while donations made to the soldiers were called donativa, though they were sometimes also termed congiaria. Many coins of the Roman emperors were struck in commemoration of such congiaria. Congiarium was, moreover, occasionally used simply to designate a present or a pension given by a person of high rank, or a prince, to his friends.

CONGĬUS, a Roman liquid measure, which contained six sextarii, or the eighth part of the amphora (nearly six pints Eng.) It was equal to the larger chous of the Greeks.

CONNUBĬUM. [MATRIMONIUM.]

CŌNŌPĒUM (κωνωπεῖον), a gnat or musquito-curtain, i.e. a covering made to be expanded over beds and couches to keep away gnats and other flying insects, so called from κώνωψ, a gnat. Conopeum is the origin of the English word canopy.

CONQUĪSĪTŌRES, persons employed to go about the country and impress soldiers, when there was a difficulty in completing a levy. Sometimes commissioners were appointed by a decree of the senate for the purpose of making a conquisitio.

CONSANGUĬNĔI. [COGNATI.]

CONSĔCRĀTĬO. [APOTHEOSIS.]

CONSĬLĬUM. [CONVENTUS.]

CONSUĀLĬA, a festival, with games, celebrated by the Romans, according to Ovid and others, in honour of Consus, the god of secret deliberations, or, according to Livy, of Neptunus Equestris. Some writers, however, say that Neptunus Equestris and Consus were only different names for one and the same deity. It was solemnised every year in the circus, by the symbolical ceremony of uncovering an altar dedicated to the god, which was buried in the earth. For Romulus, who was considered as the founder of the festival, was said to have discovered an altar in the earth on that spot. The solemnity took place on the 21st of August with horse and chariot races, and libations were poured into the flames which consumed the sacrifices. During these festive games horses and mules were not allowed to do any work, and were adorned with garlands of flowers. It was at their first celebration that, according to the ancient legend, the Sabine maidens were carried off.

CONSUL (ὕπατος), the title of the two chief officers or magistrates of the Roman republic. The word is probably composed of con and sul, which contains the same root as the verb salio, so that consules signifies “those who come together,” just as praesul means “one who goes before,” and exsul, “one who goes out.” The consulship is said to have been instituted upon the expulsion of the kings in B.C. 509, when the kingly power was transferred to two magistrates, whose office lasted only for one year, that it might not degenerate into tyranny by being vested longer in the same persons; and for the same reason two were appointed instead of one king, as neither could undertake anything unless it was sanctioned and approved by his colleague. Their original title was praetores, or commanders of the armies, but this was changed into that of consules in B.C. 449, and the latter title remained in use until the latest periods of the Roman empire.--The consuls were at first elected from the patricians exclusively. Their office was suspended in B.C. 451, and its functions were performed by ten high commissioners (decemviri), appointed to frame a code of laws. On the re-establishment of the consulship in B.C. 449, the tribunes proposed that one of the consuls should be chosen from the plebeians, but this was strenuously resisted by the patricians, and a compromise effected by suspending the consular office, and creating in its stead military tribunes (tribuni militum) with consular power, who might be elected indifferently both from the patricians and plebeians. They were first appointed in B.C. 444. The plebeians, however, were not satisfied with this concession, and still endeavoured to attain the higher dignity of the consulship. At length, after a serious and long-protracted struggle between the two orders, it was enacted by the Licinian law, in B.C. 367, that henceforth the consulship should be divided between the patricians and plebeians, and that one of the consuls should always be a plebeian. Accordingly, in B.C. 366 L. Sextius was elected the first plebeian consul. This law, however, was not always observed, and it still frequently happened that both consuls were patricians, until, in later times, when the difference between the two orders had entirely ceased, and the plebeians were on a footing of perfect equality with the patricians, the consuls were elected from both orders indiscriminately.--During the later periods of the republic it was customary for persons to pass through several subordinate magistracies before they were elected consuls, though this rule was departed from in many particular cases. The age at which a person was eligible to the consulship was fixed in B.C. 180, by the lex annalis [LEX ANNALIS], at 43.--The election of the consuls always took place in the comitia of the centuries, some time before the expiration of the official year of the actual consuls, and the election was conducted either by the actual consuls themselves, or by an interrex or a dictator, and the persons elected, until they entered upon their office, were called consules designati. While they were designati, they were in reality no more than private persons, but still they might exercise considerable influence upon public affairs, for in the senate they were asked for their opinion first. If they had been guilty of any illegal act, either before or during their election, such as bribery (ambitus), they were liable to prosecution, and the election might be declared void.--The time at which the old consuls laid down their office and the consules designati entered upon theirs, differed at different times. The first consuls are said to have entered upon their office in October, then we find mention of the 1st of August, of the ides of December, the 1st of July, and very frequently of the ides of March, until, in B.C. 153, it became an established rule for the consuls to enter upon their duties on the 1st of January; and this custom remained down to the end of the republic. On that day the senators, equites, and citizens of all classes conducted in a procession (deductio or processus consularis) the new magistrates from their residence to the capitol, where, if the auspices were favourable, the consuls offered up sacrifices, and were inaugurated. From thence the procession went to the curia, where the senate assembled, and where the consuls returned thanks for their election. There they might also speak on any subject that was of importance to the republic, such as peace and war, the distribution of provinces, the general condition of the state, the feriae Latinae, and the like. During the first five days of their office they had to convoke a contio, and publicly to take a solemn oath, by which, in the earliest times, they pledged themselves not to allow any one to assume regal power at Rome, but afterwards only to maintain the laws of the republic (in leges jurare). On the expiration of their office they had to take another oath, stating that they had faithfully obeyed the laws, and not done anything against the constitution. The new consuls on entering upon their office usually invited their friends to a banquet. When a consul died during his year of office, his colleague immediately convoked the comitia to elect a new one. A consul thus elected to fill a vacancy was called consul suffectus, but his powers were not equal to those of an ordinary consul, for he could not preside at the elections of other magistrates, not even in the case of the death of his colleague. In the latter case, as well as when the consuls were prevented by illness or other circumstances, the comitia were held by an interrex or a dictator.--The outward distinctions of the consuls were, with few exceptions, the same as those which had formerly belonged to the kings. The principal distinction was the twelve lictors with the fasces, who preceded the consuls; but the axes did not appear in the fasces within the city. This outward sign of their power was taken by the consuls in turn every month, and while one consul was preceded by the twelve lictors with their fasces, the other was during the same month preceded by an accensus, and followed by the lictors; and the one was called during that month consul major, and the other consul minor. Other distinctions of the consuls were the curule chair (sella curulis), and the toga with the purple hem (toga praetexta). The ivory sceptre (scipio or sceptrum) and purple toga were not distinctions of the consuls in general, but only when they celebrated a triumph. Under the empire a consul was sometimes distinguished by the senate with a sceptre bearing an eagle on the top, but his regular ensigns consisted of the toga picta, the trabea, and the fasces, both within and without the city.--The consuls were the highest ordinary magistrates at Rome. Their power was at first quite equal to that of the kings, except that it was limited to one year, and that the office of high priest, which had been vested in the king, was at the very beginning detached from the consulship, and given to the rex sacrorum or rex sacrificulus. Yet the auspicia majora continued to belong to the consuls. This regal power of the consuls, however, was gradually curtailed by various laws, especially by the institution of the tribunes of the plebs, whose province it was to protect the plebeians against the unjust or oppressive commands of the patrician magistrates. Nay, in the course of time, whole branches of the consular power were detached from it; the reason for which was, that, as the patricians were compelled to allow the plebeians a share in the highest magistracy, they stripped it of as much of its original power as they could, and reserved these detached portions for themselves. In this manner the censorship was detached from the consulship in B.C. 443, and the praetorship in B.C. 367. But notwithstanding all this, the consuls remained the highest magistrates, and all other magistrates, except the tribunes of the plebs, were obliged to obey their commands, and show them great outward respect. The functions of the consuls during the time of the republic may be conveniently described under the following heads:--1. They were in all civil matters the heads of the state, being invested with the imperium, which emanated from the sovereign people, and which they held during the time of their office. In this capacity they had the right of convoking both the senate and the assembly of the people; they presided in each (in the comitia of the curies as well as in those of the centuries), and they took care that the resolutions of the senate and people were carried into effect. They might also convoke contiones, whenever they thought it necessary. In the senate they conducted the discussions, and put the questions to the vote, thus exercising the greatest influence upon all matters which were brought before the senate either by themselves or by others. When a decree was passed by the senate, the consuls were usually commissioned to see that it was carried into effect; though there are also instances of the consuls opposing a decree of the senate. 2. The supreme command of the armies belonged to the consuls alone by virtue of their imperium. Accordingly, when a war was decreed, they were ordered by a senatus consultum to levy the troops, whose number was determined by the senate, and they appointed most of the other military officers. While at the head of their armies they had full power of life and death over their soldiers, who, on their enrolment, had to take an oath (sacramentum) to be faithful and obedient to the commands of the consuls. When the consuls had entered upon their office, the senate assigned them their provinces, that is, their spheres of action, and the consuls either settled between themselves which province each was to have, or, which was more common, they drew lots. Usually one consul remained at Rome, while the other went out at the head of the army: sometimes both left the city, and carried on war in different quarters; and sometimes, when the danger was very pressing, both consuls commanded the armies against one and the same enemy. If it was deemed advisable, the imperium of one or of both consuls was prolonged for the particular province in which they were engaged, in which case they had the title of proconsuls [PROCONSUL], and their successors either remained at Rome, or were engaged in other quarters. During the latter period of the republic the consuls remained at Rome during the time of their office, and on its expiration they had a foreign province (in the real sense of the word) assigned to them, where they undertook either the peaceful administration, or carried on war against internal or external enemies. While in their provinces, both the consuls and proconsuls had the power of life and death over the provincials, for they were looked upon there as the chief military commanders; and the provincials, being peregrini, did not enjoy the privileges of Roman citizens. 3. The supreme jurisdiction was part of the consular imperium, and as such vested in the consuls so long as there were no praetors. In civil cases they administered justice to the patricians as well as plebeians, either acting themselves as judices, or appointing others as judices and arbitri. In criminal cases there appears from early times to have been this difference: that patricians charged with capital offences were tried by the curies, while the plebeians came under the jurisdiction of the consuls, whose power, however, was in this case rather limited, partly by the intercession of the tribunes of the people, and partly by the right of appeal (provocatio) from the sentence of the consuls. The consuls might, further, summon any citizen before their tribunal, and, in case of disobedience, seize him (prendere), and fine him up to a certain amount. After the institution of the praetorship, the consuls no longer possessed any regular ordinary jurisdiction; and whenever they exercised it, it was an exception to the general custom, and only by a special command of the senate. 4. Previous to the institution of the censorship the consuls had to perform all the functions which afterwards belonged to the censors: they were accordingly the highest officers of finance, held the census, drew up the lists of the senators, equites, &c. After the establishment of the censorship they still retained the general superintendence of the public economy, inasmuch as they had the keys of the aerarium, and as the quaestors or paymasters were dependent on them. But still in the management of the finances the consuls were at all times under the control of the senate. 5. In all relations with foreign states the consuls were the representatives of the Roman republic. Hence they might conclude peace or treaties with foreign nations, which had, however, to be sanctioned by the senate and people at Rome; and unless this sanction was obtained a treaty was void. They received foreign ambassadors, and introduced them into the senate, and in short all negotiations with foreign princes or nations passed through their hands. 6. In matters connected with their own official functions, the consuls, like all other magistrates, had the power of issuing proclamations or orders (edicta), which might be binding either for the occasion only, or remain in force permanently.--Although the consular power had been gradually diminished, it was in cases of imminent danger restored to its original and full extent, by a decree of the senate calling upon the consuls videant ne quid res publica detrimenti capiat. In such cases the consuls received sovereign power, but they were responsible for the manner in which they had exercised it.--It has already been observed, that to avoid collision and confusion, the two consuls did not possess the same power at the same time, but that each had the imperium every other month. The one who possessed it, as the consul major, exercised all the rights of the office, though he always consulted his colleague. In the earliest times it was customary for the elder of the two consuls to take the imperium first, afterwards the one who had had the greater number of votes at the election, and had therefore been proclaimed (renuntiare) first. In the time of Augustus it was enacted that the consul who had most children should take precedence of the other; and some distinction of rank continued to be observed down to the latest times of the empire.--Towards the end of the republic the consulship lost its power and importance. The first severe blow it received was from Julius Caesar, the dictator, for he received the consulship in addition to his dictatorship, or he arbitrarily ordered others to be elected, who were mere nominal officers, and were allowed to do nothing without his sanction. He himself was elected consul at first for five, then for ten years, and at last for life. Under Augustus the consulship was a mere shadow of what it had been: the consuls no longer held their office for a whole year, but usually for a few months only; and hence it happened that sometimes one year saw six, twelve, or even twenty-five consuls. Those who were elected the first in the year ranked higher than the rest, and their names alone were used to mark the year, according to the ancient custom of the Romans of marking the date of an event by the names of the consuls of the year in which the event occurred. During the last period of the empire it became the practice to have titular or honorary consuls, who were elected by the senate and confirmed by the emperor. Constantine appointed two consuls, one for Rome and another for Constantinople, who held their office for a whole year, and whose functions were only those of chief justices. All the other consuls were designated as honorarii or consulares. But though the consulship had thus become almost an empty title, it was still regarded as the highest dignity in the empire, and as the object of the greatest ambition. It was connected with very great expenses, partly on account of the public games which a consul had to provide, and partly on account of the large donations he had to make to the people. The last consul at Rome was Decimus Theodorus Paulinus, A.D. 536, and at Constantinople, Flavius Basilius junior, A.D. 541.

CONSŬLARIS, signified, under the republic, a person who had held the office of consul; but under the empire, it was the title of many magistrates and public officers, who enjoyed the insignia of consular dignity, without having filled the office of consul. Thus we find commanders of armies and governors of provinces called Consulares under the empire.

CONTĬO, a contraction for conventio, that is, a meeting, or a conventus. In the technical sense, however, a contio was an assembly of the people at Rome convened by a magistrate for the purpose of making the people acquainted with measures which were to be brought before the next comitia, and of working upon them either to support or oppose the measure. But no question of any kind could be decided by a contio, and this constitutes the difference between contiones and comitia. Still contiones were also convened for other purposes, e.g. of persuading the people to take part in a war, or of bringing complaints against a party in the republic. Every magistrate had the right to convene contiones, but it was most frequently exercised by the consuls and tribunes, and the latter more especially exercised a great influence over the people in and through these contiones. A magistrate who was higher in rank than the one who had convened a contio, had the right to order the people to disperse, if he disapproved of the object. It should be remarked, that the term contio is also used to designate the speeches and harangues addressed to the people in an assembly, and that in a loose mode of speaking, contio denotes any assembly of the people.

CONTŬBERNĀLES (σύσκηνοι), signified originally men who served in the same army and lived in the same tent. The word is derived from taberna (afterwards tabernaculum), which was the original name for a military tent, as it was made of boards (tabulae). Each tent was occupied by ten soldiers (contubernales), with a subordinate officer at their head, who was called decanus, and in later times caput contubernii. Young Romans of illustrious families used to accompany a distinguished general on his expeditions, or to his province, for the purpose of gaining under his superintendence a practical training in the art of war, or in the administration of public affairs, and were, like soldiers living in the same tent, called his contubernales. In a still wider sense, the name contubernales was applied to persons connected by ties of intimate friendship, and living under the same roof; and hence, when a freeman and a slave, or two slaves, who were not allowed to contract a legal marriage, lived together as husband and wife, they were called contubernales; and their connection, as well as their place of residence, contubernium.

CONTŬBERNĬUM. [CONTUBERNALES.]

CONVĔNĪRE IN MĂNUM. [MATRIMONIUM.]

CONVENTUS, was the name applied to the whole body of Roman citizens who were either permanently or for a time settled in a province. In order to facilitate the administration of justice, a province was divided into a number of districts or circuits, each of which was called conventus, forum, or jurisdictio. Roman citizens living in a province were entirely under the jurisdiction of the proconsul; and at certain times of the year, fixed by the proconsul, they assembled in the chief town of the district, and this meeting bore the name of conventus (σύνοδος). Hence the expressions--conventus agere, peragere, convocare, dimittere. At this conventus litigant parties applied to the proconsul, who selected a number of judges from the conventus to try their causes. The proconsul himself presided at the trials, and pronounced the sentence according to the views of the judges, who were his assessors (consilium or consiliarii). These conventus appear to have been generally held after the proconsul had settled the military affairs of the province; at least, when Caesar was proconsul of Gaul, he made it a regular practice to hold the conventus after his armies had retired to their winter quarters.

CONVĪVĬUM. [SYMPOSIUM.]

CŎPHĬNUS (κόφινος, Engl. coffin), a large kind of wicker basket, made of willow branches. It would seem that it was used by the Greeks as a basket or cage for birds. The Romans used it for agricultural purposes, and it sometimes formed a kind of portable hot-bed. Juvenal, when speaking of the Jews, uses the expression cophinus et foenum (a truss of hay), figuratively to designate their poverty.

CORBIS, dim. CORBŬLA, CORBĬCŬLA, a basket of very peculiar form and common use among the Romans, both for agricultural and other purposes. It was made of osiers twisted together, and was of a conical or pyramidal shape. A basket answering precisely to this description, both in form and material, is still to be seen in every-day use among the Campanian peasantry, which is called in the language of the country “la corbella.”

CORBĪTAE, merchantmen of the larger class, so called because they hung out a corbis at the mast-head for a sign. They were also termed onerariae; and hence Plautus, in order to designate the voracious appetites of some women, says, “Corbitam cibi comesse possunt.”

CORNU, a wind instrument, anciently made of horn, but afterwards of brass. Like the tuba, it differed from the tibia in being a larger and more powerful instrument, and from the tuba itself, in being curved nearly in the shape of a C, with a cross-piece to steady the instrument for the convenience of the performer. Hence Ovid says (Met. i. 98):

“Non tuba directi, non aeris cornua flexi.”

The classicum, which originally meant a signal, rather than the musical instrument which gave the signal, was usually sounded with the cornu.

“Sonuit reflexo classicum cornu, Lituusque adunco stridulos cantus Elisit aere.” (Sen. Oed. 734.)

The Cornicines and Liticines, the persons who blew the Cornu and Lituus, formed a collegium. In the preceding cut, M. Julius Victor, a member of the Collegium, holds a lituus in his right hand, and touches with his left a cornu on the ground. See engraving under TUBA.

CŎRŌNA (στέφανος), a crown, that is, a circular ornament of metal, leaves, or flowers, worn by the ancients round the head or neck, and used as a festive as well as funereal decoration, and as a reward of talent, military or naval prowess, and civil worth. Its first introduction as an honorary reward is attributable to the athletic games, in some of which it was bestowed as a prize upon the victor. It was the only reward contended for by the Spartans in their gymnic contests, and was worn by them when going to battle. The Romans refined upon the practice of the Greeks, and invented a great variety of crowns formed of different materials, each with a separate appellation, and appropriated to a particular purpose.--I. CORONA OBSIDIONALIS. Amongst the honorary crowns bestowed by the Romans for military achievements, the most difficult of attainment, and the one which conferred the highest honour, was the corona obsidionalis, presented by a beleaguered army after its liberation to the general who broke up the siege. It was made of grass, or weeds and wild flowers, thence called corona graminea, and graminea obsidionalis, gathered from the spot on which the beleaguered army had been enclosed.--II. CORONA CIVICA, the second in honour and importance, was presented to the soldier who had preserved the life of a Roman citizen in battle. It was made of the leaves of the oak. The soldier who had acquired this crown had a place reserved next to the senate at all the public spectacles; and they, as well as the rest of the company, rose up upon his entrance. He was freed from all public burthens, as were also his father, and his paternal grandfather; and the person who owed his life to him was bound, ever after, to cherish his preserver as a parent, and afford him all such offices as were due from a son to his father.--III. CORONA NAVALIS or ROSTRATA, called also CLASSICA. It is difficult to determine whether these were two distinct crowns, or only two denominations for the same one. It seems probable that the navalis corona, besides being a generic term, was inferior in dignity to the latter, and given to the sailor who first boarded an enemy’s ship; whereas the rostrata was given to a commander who destroyed the whole fleet, or gained any very signal victory. At all events, they were both made of gold; and one at least (rostrata) decorated with the beaks of ships like the rostra in the forum. The Athenians likewise bestowed golden crowns for naval services; sometimes upon the person who got his trireme first equipped, and at others upon the captain who had his vessel in the best order.--IV. CORONA MURALIS, was presented by the general to the first man who scaled the wall of a besieged city. It was made of gold, and decorated with turrets.--V. CORONA CASTRENSIS or VALLARIS, was presented to the first soldier who surmounted the vallum, and forced an entrance into the enemy’s camp. This crown was made of gold, and ornamented with the palisades (valli) used in forming an entrenchment.--VI. CORONA TRIUMPHALIS. There were three sorts of triumphal crowns: the first was made of laurel or bay leaves, and was worn round the head of the commander during his triumph; the second was of gold, which, being too large and massive to be worn, was held over the head of the general during his triumph, by a public officer. This crown, as well as the former one, was presented to the victorious general by his army. The third kind, likewise of gold and of great value, was sent as a present from the provinces to the commander. [AURUM CORONARIUM.]--VII. CORONA OVALIS, was given to a commander who obtained only an ovation. It was made of myrtle.--VIII. CORONA OLEAGINA, was made of the olive leaf, and conferred upon the soldiers as well as their commanders.--The Greeks in general made but little use of crowns as rewards of valour in the earlier periods of their history, except as prizes in the athletic contests; but previous to the time of Alexander, crowns of gold were profusely distributed, amongst the Athenians at least, for every trifling feat, whether civil, naval, or military, which, though lavished without much discrimination as far as regards the character of the receiving parties, were still subjected to certain legal restrictions in respect of the time, place, and mode in which they were conferred. They could not be presented but in the public assemblies, and with the consent, that is by suffrage, of the people, or by the senators in their council, or by the tribes to their own members, or by the δημόται to members of their own δῆμος. According to the statement of Aeschines, the people could not lawfully present crowns in any place except in their assembly, nor the senators except in the senate-house; nor, according to the same authority, in the theatre, which is, however, denied by Demosthenes; nor at the public games, and if any crier there proclaimed the crowns he was subject to atimia. Neither could any person holding an office receive a crown whilst he was ὑπεύθυνος, that is, before he had passed his accounts.--The second class of crowns were emblematical and not honorary, and the adoption of them was not regulated by law, but custom. Of these there were also several kinds.--I. CORONA SACERDOTALIS, was worn by the priests (sacerdotes), with the exception of the pontifex maximus and his minister (camillus), as well as the bystanders, when officiating at the sacrifice. It does not appear to have been confined to any one material.--II. CORONA FUNEBRIS and SEPULCHRALIS. The Greeks first set the example of crowning the dead with chaplets of leaves and flowers, which was imitated by the Romans. Garlands of flowers were also placed upon the bier, or scattered from the windows under which the procession passed, or entwined about the cinerary urn, or as a decoration to the tomb. In Greece these crowns were commonly made of parsley.--III. CORONA CONVIVIALIS. The use of chaplets at festive entertainments sprung likewise from Greece. They were of various shrubs and flowers, such as roses (which were the choicest), violets, myrtle, ivy, philyra, and even parsley.--IV. CORONA NUPTIALIS. The bridal wreath was also of Greek origin, among whom it was made of flowers plucked by the bride herself, and not bought, which was of ill omen. Amongst the Romans it was made of verbena, also gathered by the bride herself, and worn under the flammeum, with which the bride was always enveloped. The bridegroom also wore a chaplet. The doors of his house were likewise decorated with garlands, and also the bridal couch.--V. CORONA NATALITIA, the chaplet suspended over the door of the vestibule, both in the houses of Athens and Rome, in which a child was born. At Athens, when the infant was male, the crown was made of olive; when female, of wool. At Rome it was of laurel, ivy, or parsley.

CŎRŌNIS (κορωνίς), the cornice of an entablature, is properly a Greek word signifying anything curved. It is also used by Latin writers, but the genuine Latin word for a cornice is corona or coronix.

CORTĪNA, the name of the table or hollow slab, supported by a tripod, upon which the priestess at Delphi sat to deliver her responses; and hence the word is used for the oracle itself. The Romans made tables of marble or bronze after the pattern of the Delphian tripod, which they used as we do our sideboards, for the purpose of displaying their plate at an entertainment. These were termed cortinae Delphicae, or Delphicae simply.

CŎRỸBANTĬCA (κορυβαντικά), a festival and mysteries celebrated at Cnossus in Crete, by the Corybantes. (See Class. Dict., CORYBANTES.)

CŎRYMBUS (κόρυμβος). [COMA.]

CORVUS, a sort of crane, used by C. Duilius against the Carthaginian fleet in the battle fought off Mylae, in Sicily (B.C. 260). The Romans, we are told, being unused to the sea, saw that their only chance of victory was by bringing a sea-fight to resemble one on land. For this purpose they invented a machine, of which Polybius has left a minute description. In the fore part of the ship a round pole was fixed perpendicularly, twenty-four feet in height and about nine inches in diameter; at the top of this was a pivot, upon which a ladder was set, thirty-six feet in length and four in breadth. The ladder was guarded by cross-beams, fastened to the upright pole by a ring of wood, which turned with the pivot above. Along the ladder a rope was passed, one end of which took hold of the corvus by means of a ring. The corvus itself was a strong piece of iron, with a spike at the end, which was raised or lowered by drawing in or letting out the rope. When an enemy’s ship drew near, the machine was turned outwards, by means of the pivot, in the direction of the assailant. Another part of the machine was a breast-work, let down from the ladder, and serving as a bridge, on which to board the enemy’s vessel. By means of these cranes the Carthaginian ships were either broken or closely locked with the Roman, and Duilius gained a complete victory.

CŌRȲTOS or CŌRȲTUS (γωρυτός, κωρυτός), [ARCUS.]

COSMĒTAE, a class of slaves among the Romans, whose duty it was to dress and adorn ladies.

COSMI (κοσμοί), the supreme magistrates in Crete, were ten in number, and were chosen, not from the body of the people, but from certain γένη or houses, which were probably of more pure Doric or Achaean descent than their neighbours. The first of them in rank was called protocosmus, and gave his name to the year. They commanded in war, and also conducted the business of the state with the representatives and ambassadors of other cities. Their period of office was a year; but any of them during that time might resign, and was also liable to deposition by his colleagues. In some cases, too, they might be indicted for neglect of their duties. On the whole, we may conclude that they formed the executive and chief power in most of the cities of Crete.

CŎTHURNUS (κόθορνος), a boot. Its essential distinction was its height; it rose above the middle of the leg, so as to surround the calf, and sometimes it reached as high as the knees. It was worn principally by horsemen, by hunters, and by men of rank and authority. The sole of the cothurnus was commonly of the ordinary thickness; but it was sometimes made much thicker than usual, probably by the insertion of slices of cork. The object was, to add to the apparent stature of the wearer; and this was done in the case of the actors in Athenian tragedy, who had the soles made unusually thick as one of the methods adopted in order to magnify their whole appearance. Hence tragedy in general was called cothurnus. As the cothurnus was commonly worn in hunting, it is represented as part of the costume of Artemis (Diana).

COTTĂBUS (κότταβος), a social game which was introduced from Sicily into Greece, where it became one of the favourite amusements of young people after their repasts. The simplest way in which it originally was played was this:--One of the company threw out of a goblet a certain quantity of wine, at a certain distance, into a metal basin. While he was doing this, he either thought of or pronounced the name of his mistress; and if all the wine fell in the basin, and with a full sound, it was a good sign for the lover. This simple amusement soon assumed a variety of different characters, and became, in some instances, a regular contest, with prizes for the victor. One of the most celebrated modes in which it was carried on is called δι’ ὀξυβάφων. A basin was filled with water, with small empty cups (ὀξύβαφα) swimming upon it. Into these the young men, one after another, threw the remnant of the wine from their goblets, and he who had the good fortune to drown most of the bowls obtained the prize, consisting either of simple cakes, sweetmeats, or sesame-cakes.

CŎTYTTĬA (κοττύτια), a festival which was originally celebrated by the Edonians of Thrace, in honour of a goddess called Cotys, or Cotytto. It was held at night. The worship of Cotys, together with the festival of the Cotyttia, was adopted by several Greek states, chiefly those which were induced by their commercial interest to maintain friendly relations with Thrace. The festivals of this goddess were notorious among the ancients for the dissolute manner and the debaucheries with which they were celebrated.

CŎTỸLA (κοτύλη), a measure of capacity among the Romans and Greeks: by the former it was also called hemina; by the latter, τρυβλίον and ἡμίνα or ἡμίμνα. It was the half of the sextarius or ξέστης, and contained 6 cyathi, or nearly half a pint English.

CŎVĪNUS (Celtic, kowain), a kind of car, the spokes of which were armed with long sickles, and which was used as a scythe-chariot chiefly by the ancient Belgians and Britons. The Romans designated, by the name of covinus, a kind of travelling carriage, which seems to have been covered on all sides with the exception of the front. It had no seat for a driver, but was conducted by the traveller himself, who sat inside. The covinarii (this word occurs only in Tacitus) seem to have constituted a regular and distinct part of a British army. Compare ESSEDUM.

CRĀTER (κρατήρ, Ionic κρητήρ, from κεράννυμι, I mix), a vessel in which the wine, according to the custom of the ancients, who very seldom drank it pure, was mixed with water, and from which the cups were filled. Craters were among the first things on the embellishment of which the ancient artists exercised their skill; and the number of craters dedicated in temples seems everywhere to have been very great.

CRĔPĬDA (κρηπίς), a slipper. Slippers were worn with the pallium, not with the toga, and were properly characteristic of the Greeks, though adopted from them by the Romans.

CRĪMEN. Though this word occurs so frequently, it is not easy to fix its meaning. Crimen is often equivalent to accusatio (κατηγορία); but it frequently means an act which is legally punishable. Those delicta which were punishable according to special leges, senatus consulta, and constitutiones, and were prosecuted in judicia publica by an accusatio publica, were more especially called crimina; and the penalties in case of conviction were loss of life, of freedom, of civitas, and the consequent infamia, and sometimes pecuniary penalties also.

CRISTA. [GALEA.]

CRĬTES (κριτής), a judge, was the name applied by the Greeks to any person who did not judge of a thing like a δικαστής, according to positive laws, but according to his own sense of justice and equity. But at Athens a number of κριταί was chosen by ballot from a number of selected candidates at every celebration of the Dionysia: they were called οἱ κριταί, κατ’ ἐξοχήν. Their office was to judge of the merit of the different choruses and dramatic poems, and to award the prizes to the victors. Their number was five for comedy and the same number for tragedy, one being taken from every tribe.

CRŌBỸLUS. [COMA.]

CRŎCŌTA (sc. vestis, κροκωτὸν sc. ἱμάτιον, or κροκωτὸς sc. χιτών), was a kind of gala-dress, chiefly worn by women on solemn occasions, and in Greece especially, at the festival of the Dionysia. Its name was derived from crocus, one of the favourite colours of the Greek ladies.

CRŎTĂLUM. [CYMBALUM.]

CRUSTA. [CAELATURA.]

CRUX (σταυρός, σκόλοψ), an instrument of capital punishment, used by several ancient nations, especially the Romans and Carthaginians. Crucifixion was of two kinds, the less usual sort being rather impalement than what we should describe by the word crucifixion, as the criminal was transfixed by a pole, which passed through the back and spine and came out at the mouth. The cross was of several kinds; one in the shape of an X, called crux Andreana, because tradition reports St. Andrew to have suffered upon it; another was formed like a T. The third, and most common sort, was made of two pieces of wood crossed, so as to make four right angles. It was on this, according to the unanimous testimony of the fathers, that our Saviour suffered. The punishment, as is well known, was chiefly inflicted on slaves, and the worst kind of malefactors. The criminal, after sentence pronounced, carried his cross to the place of execution; a custom mentioned in the Gospels. Scourging appears to have formed a part of this, as of other capital punishments among the Romans; but the scourging of our Saviour is not to be regarded in this light, for it was inflicted before sentence was pronounced. The criminal was next stripped of his clothes and nailed or bound to the cross. The latter was the more painful method, as the sufferer was left to die of hunger. Instances are recorded of persons who survived nine days. It was usual to leave the body on the cross after death. The breaking of the legs of the thieves, mentioned in the Gospels, was accidental; because, by the Jewish law, it is expressly remarked, the bodies could not remain on the cross during the Sabbath-day.

CRYPTA (from κρύπτειν, to conceal), a crypt. Amongst the Romans, any long narrow vault, whether wholly or partially below the level of the earth, is expressed by this term. The specific senses of the word are:--(1) A covered portico or arcade; called more definitely crypto-porticus, because it was not supported by open columns like the ordinary portico, but closed at the sides, with windows only for the admission of light and air.--(2) A grotto, particularly one open at both extremities, forming what in modern language is denominated a “tunnel.” A subterranean vault used for any secret worship was also called crypta.--(3) When the practice of consuming the body by fire was relinquished [FUNUS], and a number of bodies was consigned to one place of burial, as the catacombs for instance, this common tomb was called crypta.

CRYPTEIA (κρυπτεία), the name of an atrocious practice at Sparta, said to have been introduced by Lycurgus. The following is the description given of the crypteia. The ephors, at intervals, selected from among the young Spartans, those who appeared to be best qualified for the task, and sent them in various directions all over the country, provided with daggers and their necessary food. During the day-time, these young men concealed themselves; but at night they broke forth into the high-roads, and massacred those of the helots whom they met, or whom they thought proper.

CŬBĬCŬLĀRĬI, slaves who had the care of the sleeping and dwelling rooms. Faithful slaves were always selected for this office, as they had, to a certain extent, the care of their master’s person. It was the duty of the cubicularii to introduce visitors to their master.

CŬBĬCŬLUM usually means a sleeping and dwelling room in a Roman house [DOMUS], but it is also applied to the pavilion or tent in which the Roman emperors were accustomed to witness the public games. It appears to have been so called, because the emperors were accustomed to recline in the cubicula, instead of sitting, as was anciently the practice, in a sella curulis.

CŬBĬTUS (πῆχυς), a Greek and Roman measure of length, originally the length of the human arm from the elbow to the wrist, or to the knuckle of the middle finger. It was equal to a foot and a half, which gives 1 foot 5·4744 inches Eng. for the Roman, and 1 foot 6·2016 inches for the Greek cubit.

CŬCULLUS, a cowl. As the cowl was intended to be used in the open air, and to be drawn over the head to protect it from the injuries of the weather, instead of a hat or cap, it was attached only to garments of the coarsest kind. The cucullus was also used by persons in the higher circles of society, when they wished to go abroad without being known.

CŪDO or CŪDON, a skull-cap made of leather or of the rough shaggy fur of any wild animal, such as were worn by the velites of the Roman armies, and apparently synonymous with galerus or galericulus.

CŪLĔUS, or CULLĔUS, a Roman measure, which was used for estimating the produce of vineyards. It was the largest liquid measure used by the Romans, containing 20 amphorae, or 118 gallons, 7·546 pints.

CŬLĪNA. [DOMUS, p. 143.]

CULTER (μάχαιρα, κοπίς, or σφαγίς), a knife with only one edge, which formed a straight line. The blade was pointed, and its back curved. It was used for a variety of purposes, but chiefly for killing animals either in the slaughter-house, or in hunting, or at the altars of the gods. The priest who conducted a sacrifice never killed the victim himself; but one of his ministri, appointed for that purpose, who was called either by the general name minister, or the more specific popa or cultrarius.

CULTRĀRĬUS. [CULTER.]

CŬNĔUS was the name applied to a body of foot soldiers, drawn up in the form of a wedge, for the purpose of breaking through an enemy’s line. The common soldiers called it a caput porcinum, or pig’s head. The name cuneus was also applied to the compartments of seats in circular or semi-circular theatres, which were so arranged as to converge to the centre of the theatre, and diverge towards the external walls of the building, with passages between each compartment.

CŬNĪCŬLUS (ὑπόνομος), a mine or passage underground, was so called from its resemblance to the burrowing of a rabbit. Fidenae and Veii are said to have been taken by mines, which opened, one of them into the citadel, the other into the temple of Juno.

CŪPA, a wine-vat, a vessel very much like the dolium, and used for the same purpose, namely, to receive the fresh must, and to contain it during the process of fermentation. The inferior wines were drawn for drinking from the cupa, without being bottled in amphorae, and hence the term vinum de cupa. The cupa was either made of earthenware, like the dolium, or of wood, and covered with pitch. It was also used for fruits and corn, forming rafts, and containing combustibles in war, and even for a sarcophagus.

CŪRĀTOR. Till a Roman youth attained the age of puberty, which was generally fixed at fourteen years of age, he was incapable of any legal act, and was under the authority of a tutor or guardian; but with the attainment of the age of puberty, he became capable of performing every legal act, and was freed from the control of his tutor. As, however, a person of that tender age was liable to be imposed upon, the lex Plaetoria enacted that every person between the time of puberty and twenty-five years of age should be under the protection of a curator. The date of this lex is not known, though it is certain that the law existed when Plautus wrote (about B.C. 200), who speaks of it as the lex quina vicemaria. This law established a distinction of age, which was of great practical importance, by forming the citizens into two classes, those above and those below twenty-five years of age (minores viginti quinque annis). A person under the last-mentioned age was sometimes simply called minor. The object of the lex was to protect persons under twenty-five years of age against all fraud (dolus). A person who wasted his property (prodigus), and a person of unsound mind (furiosus, demens), were also placed under the care of a curator.

CŪRĀTŌRES were public officers of various kinds under the Roman empire, such as the curatores annonae, the curatores ludorum, the curatores regionum, &c.

CŪRĬA, signifies both a division of the Roman people and the place of assembly for such a division. Each of the three ancient Romulian tribes, the Ramnes, Tities, and Luceres, was subdivided into 10 curiae, so that the whole body of the populus or the patricians was divided into 30 curiae. The plebeians had no connection whatever with the curiae. All the members of the different gentes belonging to one curia were called, in respect of one another, curiales. The division into curiae was of great political importance in the earliest times of Rome, for the curiae alone contained the citizens, and their assembly alone was the legitimate representative of the whole people. [COMITIA CURIATA.] Each curia as a corporation had its peculiar sacra, and besides the gods of the state, they worshipped other divinities and with peculiar rites and ceremonies. For such religious purposes each curia had its own place of worship, called curia, in which the curiales assembled for the purpose of discussing political, financial, religious and other matters. The religious affairs of each curia were taken care of by a priest, Curio, who was assisted by another called curialis Flamen. As there were 30 curiae, there were likewise 30 curiones, who formed a college of priests, presided over by one of them, called Curio Maximus. The 30 curiae had each its distinct name, which are said to have been derived from the names of the Sabine women who had been carried off by the Romans, though it is evident that some derived their names from certain districts or from ancient eponymous heroes. Curia is also used to designate the place in which the senate held its meetings, such as curia Hostilia, curia Julia, curia Pompeii, and from this there gradually arose the custom of calling the senate itself in the Italian towns curia, but never the senate of Rome. The official residence of the Salii, which was dedicated to Mars, was likewise styled curia.

CŪRIĀTA CŎMĬTĬA. [COMITIA.]

CŪRĬO. [CURIA.]

CŪRĬUS (κύριος), signified generally at Athens the person responsible for the welfare of such members of a family as the law presumed to be incapable of protecting themselves; as, for instance, minors and slaves, and women of all ages.

CURRUS (ἅρμα), a chariot, a car. These terms appear to have denoted those two-wheeled vehicles for the carriage of persons, which were open overhead, thus differing from the carpentum, and closed in front, in which they differed from the cisium. The most essential articles in the construction of the currus were, 1. The rim (ἄντυξ) [ANTYX]. 2. The axle (ἄξων, axis). 3. The wheels (κύκλα, τροχοί, rotae), which revolved upon the axle, and were prevented from coming off by the insertion of pins (ἔμβολοι) into the extremities of the axles. The parts of the wheel were:--(a) The nave (πλήμνη, modiolus). (b) The spokes (κνῆμαι, literally, the legs, radii.) (c) The felly (ἴτυς). (d) The tire (ἐπίσωτρον, canthus). 4. The pole (ῥυμός, temo). All the parts above mentioned are seen in the preceding cut of an ancient chariot. The Greeks and Romans appear never to have used more than one pole and one yoke, and the currus thus constructed was commonly drawn by two horses, which were attached to it by their necks, and therefore called δίζυγες ἵπποι, συνωρίς, gemini jugales, equi bijuges, &c. If a third horse was added, as was not unfrequently the case, it was fastened by traces. The horse so attached was called παρήορος, παράσειρος, σειραφόρος, in Latin, funalis, and is opposed to the ζυγῖται or ζύγιοι, the yoke-horses. The ἵππος παρήορος is placed on the right of the two yoke-horses. (See woodcut.) The Latin name for a chariot and pair was biga, generally bigae. When a third horse was added, it was called triga.

A chariot and four was called quadriga, generally quadrigae; in Greek, τετραορία or τέθριππος. The horses were commonly harnessed in a quadriga after the manner already represented, the two strongest horses being placed under the yoke, and the two others fastened on each side by means of ropes. This is clearly seen in the two quadrigae figured below, especially in the one on the right hand. It represents a chariot overthrown in passing the goal at the circus. The charioteer having fallen backwards, the pole and yoke are thrown upwards into the air; the two trace-horses have fallen on their knees, and the two yoke-horses are prancing on their hind legs.--The currus was adapted to carry two persons, and on this account was called in Greek δίφρος. One of the two was of course the driver. He was called ἡνίοχος, because he held the reins, and his companion παραβάτης, from going by his side or near him. In the Homeric ages, chariots were commonly employed on the field of battle. The men of rank all took their chariots with them, and in an engagement placed themselves in front. Chariots were not much used by the Romans. The most splendid kind were the quadrigae, in which the Roman generals and emperors rode when they triumphed. The body of the triumphal car was cylindrical, as we often see it represented on medals. It was enriched with gold and ivory. The utmost skill of the painter and the sculptor was employed to enhance its beauty and splendour. The triumphal car had in general no pole, the horses being led by men who were stationed at their heads.

CURSŌRES, slaves whose duty it was to run before the carriage of their masters. They first came into fashion in the first century of the Christian aera. The word cursores was also applied to all slaves whom their masters employed in carrying letters, messages, &c.

CURSUS. [CIRCUS.]

CŬRŪLIS SELLA. [SELLA CURULIS.]

CUSTŌDES. [COMITIA.]

CUSTŌDES, CUSTŌDĬAE. [CASTRA.]

CUSTOS URBIS. [PRAEFECTUS URBI.]

CỸĂTHUS (κύαθος), a Greek and Roman liquid measure, containing one-twelfth of the sextarius, or ·0825 of a pint English. The form of the cyathus used at banquets was that of a small ladle, by means of which the wine was conveyed into the drinking-cups from the large vessel (crater) in which it was mixed. Two of these cyathi are represented in the preceding woodcut. The cyathus was also the name given to a cup holding the same quantity as the measure. Hence Horace says (Carm. iii. 8. 13):

“Sume, Maecenas, cyathos amici Sospitis centum.”

CYCLAS (κυκλάς), a circular robe worn by women, to the bottom of which a border was affixed, inlaid with gold. It appears to have been usually made of some thin material.

CȲMA (κῦμα), in architecture, an ogee, a wave-shaped moulding, consisting of two curves, the one concave and the other convex. There were two forms, the cyma recta, which was concave above, and convex below, thus, [Illustration], and the cyma reversa, which was convex above and concave below, thus [Illustration]. The diminutive cymatium or cumatium (κυμάτιον) is also used, and is indeed the more common name.

CYMBA (κύμβη) is derived from κύμβος, a hollow, and is employed to signify any small kind of boat used on lakes, rivers, &c. It appears to have been much the same as the acatium and scapha.

CYMBĂLUM (κύμβαλον), a musical instrument, in the shape of two half globes, which were held one in each hand by the performer, and played by being struck against each other. The word is derived from κύμβος, a hollow. The cymbal was a very ancient instrument, being used in the worship of Cybelé, Bacchus, Juno, and all the earlier deities of the Grecian and Roman mythology. It probably came from the East. The crotalum (κρόταλον) was a kind of cymbal. It appears to have been a split reed or cane, which clattered when shaken with the hand. Women who played on the crotalum were termed crotalistriae. Such was Virgil’s Copa:

“Crispum sub crotalo docta movere latus.”

The line alludes to the dance with crotala (similar to castanets).--For sistrum, which some have referred to the class of cymbala, see SISTRUM.

DACTỸLUS (δάκτυλος), a Greek measure, answering to the Roman digitus, each signifying a finger-breadth, and being the sixteenth part of a foot. [PES.]

DAEDALA or DAEDĂLEIA (δαίδαλα, δαιδάλεια), names used by the Greeks to signify those early works of art which were ascribed to the age of Daedalus, and especially the ancient wooden statues, ornamented with gilding and bright colours and real drapery, which were the earliest known forms of the images of the gods, after the mere blocks of wood or stone, which were at first used for symbols of them.

DAEDĂLA (δαίδαλα), the name of two festivals, celebrated in Boeotia in honour of Hera, and called respectively the Great and the Lesser Daedala. The latter were celebrated by the Plataeans alone; in the celebration of the former, which took place only every sixtieth year, the Plataeans were joined by the other Boeotians.

DAMARĔTĪON (δαμαρέτειον χρύσιον), a Sicilian coin, respecting which there is much dispute; but it was probably a gold coin, equal in value to fifty litrae or ten Attic drachmae of silver; that is, a half stater.

DAMIURGI. [DEMIURGI.]

DAMŎSĬA. [EXERCITUS.]

DANĂCE (δανάκη), properly the name of a foreign coin, was also the name given to the obolos, which was placed in the mouth of the dead to pay the ferryman in Hades.

DAPHNĒPHŎRĬA (δαφνηφόρια), a festival celebrated every ninth year at Thebes in honour of Apollo, surnamed Ismenius or Galaxius. Its name was derived from the laurel branches (δάφναι) which were carried by those who took part in its celebration.

DĀREICUS (δαρεικός), or to give the name in full, the Stater of Dareius, a gold coin of Persia, stamped on one side with the figure of an archer crowned and kneeling upon one knee, and on the other with a sort of quadrata incusa or deep cleft. It is supposed to have derived its name from the first Dareius, king of Persia. It is equal to about 1_l._ 1_s._ 10_d._ 1·76 farthings.

DĔCĂDŪCHI (δεκαδοῦχοι), the members of a council of Ten, who succeeded the Thirty in the supreme power at Athens, B.C. 403. They were chosen from the ten tribes, one from each; but, though opposed to the Thirty, they sent ambassadors to Sparta to ask for assistance against Thrasybulus and the exiles. They remained masters of Athens till the party of Thrasybulus obtained possession of the city and the democracy was restored.

DĔCARCHĬA or DĔCĂDARCHĬA (δεκαρχία, δεκαδαρχία), a supreme council established in many of the Grecian cities by the Lacedaemonians, who entrusted to it the whole government of the state under the direction of a Spartan harmost. It always consisted of the leading members of the aristocratical party.

DĔCASMUS (δεκασμός), bribery. There were two actions for bribery at Athens: one, called δεκασμοῦ γραφή, lay against the person who gave the bribe; and the other, called δώρων or δωροδοκίας γραφή, against the person who received it. These actions applied to the bribery of citizens in the public assemblies of the people (συνδεκάζειν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν), of the Heliaea or any of the courts of justice, of the βουλή, and of the public advocates. Actions for bribery were under the jurisdiction of the thesmothetae. The punishment on conviction of the defendant was death, or payment of ten times the value of the gift received, to which the court might add a further punishment (προστίμημα).

DĔCĂTE (δεκάτη). [DECUMAE.]

DĔCEMPĔDA, a pole ten feet long, used by the agrimensores [AGRIMENSORES] in measuring land. Thus we find that the agrimensores were sometimes called decempedatores.

DĔCEMPRĪMI. [SENATUS.]

DĔCEMVĬRI, or the “ten-men,” the name of various magistrates and functionaries at Rome, of whom the most important were:--(1) DECEMVIRI LEGIBUS SCRIBENDIS, ten commissioners, who were appointed to draw up a code of laws. They were entrusted with supreme power in the state, and all the other magistracies were suspended. They entered upon their office at the beginning of the year B.C. 451; and they discharged their duties with diligence, and dispensed justice with impartiality. Each administered the government day by day in succession as during an interregnum; and the fasces were only carried before the one who presided for the day. They drew up a body of laws, distributed into ten sections; which, after being approved of by the senate and the comitia, were engraven on tables of metal, and set up in the comitium. On the expiration of their year of office, all parties were so well satisfied with the manner in which they had discharged their duties, that it was resolved to continue the same form of government for another year; more especially as some of the decemvirs said that their work was not finished. Ten new decemvirs were accordingly elected, of whom App. Claudius alone belonged to the former body. These magistrates framed several new laws, which were approved of by the centuries, and engraven on two additional tables. They acted, however, in a most tyrannical manner. Each was attended by twelve lictors, who carried not the rods only, but the axes, the emblem of sovereignty. They made common cause with the patrician party, and committed all kinds of outrages upon the persons and property of the plebeians and their families. When their year of office expired they refused to resign or to appoint successors. At length, the unjust decision of App. Claudius, in the case of Virginia, which led her father to kill her with his own hands to save her from prostitution, occasioned an insurrection of the people. The decemvirs were in consequence obliged to resign their office, B.C. 449; after which the usual magistracies were re-established. The ten tables of the former, and the two tables of the latter decemvirs, form together the laws of the Twelve Tables, which were the groundwork of the Roman laws. This, the first attempt to make a code, remained also the only attempt for near one thousand years, until the legislation of Justinian.--(2) DECEMVIRI LITIBUS or STLITIBUS JUDICANDIS, were magistrates forming a court of justice, which took cognizance of civil cases. The history as well as the peculiar jurisdiction of this court during the time of the republic is involved in inextricable obscurity. In the time of Cicero it still existed, and the proceedings in it took place in the ancient form of the sacramentum. Augustus transferred to these decemvirs the presidency in the courts of the centumviri. During the empire, this court had jurisdiction in capital matters, which is expressly stated in regard to the decemvirs.--(3) DECEMVIRI SACRIS FACIUNDIS, sometimes called simply DECEMVIRI SACRORUM, were the members of an ecclesiastical collegium, and were elected for life. Their chief duty was to take care of the Sibylline books, and to inspect them on all important occasions by command of the senate. Under the kings the care of the Sibylline books was committed to two men (duumviri) of high rank. On the expulsion of the kings, the care of these books was entrusted to the noblest of the patricians, who were exempted from all military and civil duties. Their number was increased about the year 367 B.C. to ten, of whom five were chosen from the patricians and five from the plebeians. Subsequently their number was still further increased to fifteen (quindecemviri), probably by Sulla. It was also the duty of the decemviri to celebrate the games of Apollo, and the secular games.

DĔCENNĀLĬA or DĔCENNĬA, a festival celebrated with games every ten years by the Roman emperors. This festival owed its origin to the fact that Augustus refused the supreme power when offered to him for his life, and would only consent to accept it for ten years, and when these expired, for another period of ten years, and so on to the end of his life.

DĔCĬMĀTĬO, the selection, by lot, of every tenth man for punishment, when any number of soldiers in the Roman army had been guilty of any crime. The remainder usually had barley allowed to them instead of wheat. This punishment appears not to have been inflicted in the early times of the republic.

DĒCRĒTUM seems to mean that which is determined in a particular case after examination or consideration. It is sometimes applied to a determination of the consuls, and sometimes to a determination of the senate. A decretum of the senate would seem to differ from a senatus-consultum, in the way above indicated: it was limited to the special occasion and circumstances, and this would be true whether the decretum was of a judicial or a legislative character. But this distinction in the use of the two words, as applied to an act of the senate, was, perhaps, not always observed.

DĔCŬMAE (sc. partes) formed a portion of the vectigalia of the Romans, and were paid by subjects whose territory, either by conquest or deditio, had become the property of the state (ager publicus). They consisted, as the name denotes, of a tithe or tenth of the produce of the soil, levied upon the cultivators (aratores) or occupiers (possessores) of the lands, which, from being subject to this payment, were called agri decumani. The tax of a tenth was, however, generally paid by corn lands: plantations and vineyards, as requiring no seed and less labour, paid a fifth of the produce. A similar system existed in Greece also. Peisistratus, for instance, imposed a tax of a tenth on the lands of the Athenians, which the Peisistratidae lowered to a twentieth. At the time of the Persian war the confederate Greeks made a vow, by which all the states who had surrendered themselves to the enemy were subjected to the payment of tithes for the use of the god at Delphi. The tithes of the public lands belonging to Athens were farmed out as at Rome to contractors, called δεκατώναι: the term δεκατηλόγοι was applied to the collectors; but the callings were, as we might suppose, often united in the same person. The title δεκατευταί is applied to both. A δεκάτη, or tenth of a different kind, was the arbitrary exaction imposed by the Athenians (B.C. 410) on the cargoes of all ships sailing into or out of the Pontus. They lost it by the battle of Aegospotami (B.C. 405); but it was re-established by Thrasybulus about B.C. 391. The tithe was let out to farm.

DĔCUNCIS, another name for the Dextans. [AS.]

DĔCŬRĬA. [EXERCITUS.]

DĔCŬRĬŌNES. [COLONIA: EXERCITUS.]

DĔCUSSIS. [AS.]

DĒDĬCĀTĬO. [INAUGURATIO.]

DĒDĬTĬCĬI, were those who had taken up arms against the Roman people, and being conquered, had surrendered themselves. Such people did not individually lose their freedom, but as a community all political existence, and of course had no other relation to Rome than that of subjects.

DĒDUCTŌRES. [AMBITUS.]

DEIGMA (δεῖγμα), a particular place in the Peiraeeus, as well as in the harbours of other states, where merchants exposed samples of their goods for sale. The samples themselves were also called deigmata.

DEIPNON. [COENA.]

DĒLĀTOR, an informer. The delatores, under the emperors, were a class of men who gained their livelihood by informing against their fellow-citizens. They constantly brought forward false charges to gratify the avarice or jealousy of the different emperors, and were consequently paid according to the importance of the information which they gave.

DĒLECTUS. [EXERCITUS.]

DĒLĬA (δήλια), the name of festivals and games celebrated in the island of Delos, to which the Cyclades and the neighbouring Ionians on the coasts belonged. The Delia had existed from very early times, and were celebrated every fifth year. That the Athenians took part in these solemnities at a very early period, is evident from the Deliastae (afterwards called θεωροί) mentioned in the laws of Solon; the sacred vessel (θεωρίς), moreover, which they sent to Delos every year, was said to be the same which Theseus had sent after his return from Crete. In the course of time the celebration of this ancient panegyris in Delos had ceased, and it was not revived until B.C. 426, when the Athenians, after having purified the island in the winter of that year, restored the ancient solemnities, and added horse-races, which had never before taken place at the Delia. After this restoration, Athens, being at the head of the Ionian confederacy, took the most prominent part in the celebration of the Delia; and though the islanders, in common with Athens, provided the choruses and victims, the leader (ἀρχιθέωρος), who conducted the whole solemnity, was an Athenian, and the Athenians had the superintendence of the common sanctuary. From these solemnities, belonging to the great Delian panegyris, we must distinguish the lesser Delia, which were mentioned above, and which were celebrated every year, probably on the 6th of Thargelion. The Athenians on this occasion sent the sacred vessel (θεωρίς), which the priest of Apollo adorned with laurel branches, to Delos. The embassy was called θεωρία; and those who sailed to the island, θεωροί; and before they set sail a solemn sacrifice was offered in the Delion, at Marathon, in order to obtain a happy voyage. During the absence of the vessel the city of Athens was purified, and no criminal was allowed to be executed.

DELPHĪNĬA (δελφίνια), a festival of the same expiatory character as the Apollonia, which was celebrated in various towns of Greece, in honour of Apollo, surnamed Delphinius.

DELPHIS (δελφίς), an instrument of naval warfare. It consisted of a large mass of iron or lead suspended on a beam, which projected from the mast of the ship like a yard-arm. It was used to sink, or make a hole in, an enemy’s vessel, by being dropped upon it when alongside.

DĒLŪBRUM. [TEMPLUM.]

DĒMARCHI (δήμαρχοι), officers, who were the head-boroughs or chief magistrates of the demi in Attica, and are said to have been first appointed by Cleisthenes. Their duties were various and important. Thus, they convened meetings of the demus, and took the votes upon all questions under consideration; they made and kept a register of the landed estates in their districts, levied the monies due to the demus for rent, &c. They succeeded to the functions which had been discharged by the naucrari of the old constitution.

DĒMENSUM, an allowance of corn, given to Roman slaves monthly or daily. It usually consisted of four or five modii of corn a month.

DĒMĬNŪTIO CĂPĬTIS. [CAPUT.]

DĒMĬURGI (δημιουργοί), magistrates, whose title is expressive of their doing the service of the people, existed in several of the Peloponnesian states. Among the Eleans and Mantineans they seem to have been the chief executive magistracy. We also read of demiurgi in the Achaean league, who probably ranked next to the strategi, and put questions to the vote in the general assembly of the confederates. Officers named epidemiurgi, or upper demiurgi, were sent by the Corinthians to manage the government of their colony at Potidaea.

DĒMŎCRĂTĬA (δημοκρατία), that form of constitution in which the sovereign political power is in the hands of the demus (δῆμος) or commonalty. In a passage of Herodotus (iii. 80), the characteristics of a democracy are specified to be--1. Equality of legal rights (ἰσονομίη). 2. The appointment of magistrates by lot. 3. The accountability of all magistrates and officers. 4. The reference of all public matters to the decision of the community at large. Aristotle remarks--“The following points are characteristic of a democracy; that all magistrates should be chosen out of the whole body of citizens; that all should rule each, and each in turn rule all; that either all magistracies, or those not requiring experience and professional knowledge, should be assigned by lot; that there should be no property qualification, or but a very small one, for filling any magistracy; that the same man should not fill the same office twice, or should fill offices but few times, and but few offices, except in the case of military commands; that all, or as many as possible of the magistracies, should be of brief duration; that all citizens should be qualified to serve as dicasts; that the supreme power in everything should reside in the public assembly, and that no magistrate should be entrusted with irresponsible power except in very small matters.” It is somewhat curious that neither in practice nor in theory did the representative system attract any attention among the Greeks. That diseased form of a democracy, in which from the practice of giving pay to the poorer citizens for their attendance in the public assembly, and from other causes, the predominant party in the state came to be in fact the lowest class of the citizens, was by later writers termed an Ochlocracy (ὀχλοκρατία--the dominion of the mob).

DĒMŎSĬI (δημόσιοι), public slaves at Athens, who were purchased by the state. The public slaves, most frequently mentioned, formed the city guard; it was their duty to preserve order in the public assembly, and to remove any person whom the prytaneis might order. They are generally called bowmen (τοξόται); or from the native country of the majority, Scythians (Σκύθαι); and also Speusinians, from the name of the person who first established the force. They originally lived in tents in the market-place, and afterwards upon the Areiopagus. Their officers had the name of toxarchs (τόξαρχοι). Their number was at first 300, purchased soon after the battle of Salamis, but was afterwards increased to 1200.

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II. The Middle Ages and the Reformation. A.D. 1381-1593 (part 1 of 4)

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II. The Middle Ages and the Reformation. A.D. 1381-1593 (part 1 of 4)