This is merely a temporary version I am providing because this is a (very) long-term project, and I am not really sure whether it will ever see its fruition. It includes internal links, all entries are listed, but not all have text associated. Neither are included links to the images.
I like this encylopaedia, because it is the only one I know of which concentrates on the material legacy of the Romans (and to a lesser degree the Greeks).
Current status: about 90% of the entries finished (but not yet finally proofread).
From what has been said, the nature of the work may be readily conceived. In the first place, to define the true meaning of all the terms, technical or otherwise, expressive of any particular object, artificial production, manual operation, &c., which can be submitted to ocular inspection. Secondly, to impart a distinct notion of that meaning, by exhibiting a virtual representation of the thing itself, faithfully copied from some classic original, thus presenting the same forms as the ancients were accustomed to look upon, and suggestive of the same ideas as they themselves conceived. And lastly, to furnish a general knowledge of the social customs, and every-day life, of the Romans and Greeks, in the shape of a vocabulary, containing all the written terms which have reference to such matters; illustrated by a series of pictures, after their own designs, of the dress they wore, the houses they lived in, the utensils they used, or the pursuits they followed, by which we may be said to acquire a sort of personal acquaintance with the people themselves, and to see them, as it were, in a glass, under the genuine characters, and familiars aspects, which they presented to one another. For this purprose an Index is added at the end of the volume, forming a systematic table of contents to the whole, and containing separate lists of all the words relating to any given subject classed under distinct heads, so that by referring in the consecutive order there set out to the explanations given under each, all that relates to any particular topic will be concentrated under one view, as if written in a single article, thus affording a comprehensive insight into the whole matter, as well as a knowledge of the various classical terms connected with it, and the distinctions or affinities between such of them as are allied in sense, though not actually synonymous.
The Latin language, in preference to the Greek, is taken as a basis, for obvious reasons; being more generally known, it affords a more general scope and interest to the work. But the Greek synonymes, when sufficiently identical, are inserted in a bracket by the side of the leading words, and any special difference between the Greek and Roman usages is pointed out in the text; and, an Alphabetical Index of the Greek words, with their Latin synonymes, is subjoined, which will show the corresponding usages of the two languages in juxtaposition, and afford the means of referring to the Greek words as readily as if they had been inserted alphabetically in the body of the volume. At the same time it is not professed, nor was it ever intended, to make so complete an analysis of the Greek language as of the Latin; nor are the Greek authorities regularly cited except in particular cases, where their assistance was necessary; but as nothing really essential is omitted, those who have mastered what is here contained, will, I apprehend, find themselves able to supply all that is needful out of the knowledge already acquired.
In selecting written authorities, the plan pursued has always been to prefer, where suitable, the same passages as those usually quoted in the dictionaries; and to place them immediately after the assumption they are intended to support, inserted in brackets, and without interrupting the text, in order that the book might accommodate itself to the use of all who feel an interest in the subjects it treats of, not as classical studentes only, but as inquirers after popular knowledge. As a general rule, too, when a word occurs incidentally in any author belonging to the flourishing age of literature, but the precise character of the object expressed by it is ascertained from descriptions or inferences found in writings of a much later period, both passages are referred to; the one to establish the genuine and early usage of the term, the other to decide the proper interpretation belonging to it. But where the words are of such common occurrence, and their meanings so generally known and admitted as not to require proof, it has been thought sufficient merely to mention the names of some of the best authors where they are found, without specifying any particular passages.
It is often impossible to ascertain the exact sense of many terms, and the precise character of the objects designated by them, without having recourse to the details and evidence afforded by authors of the inferior periods of classic literature. Hence the grammarians, scholiasts, and inscriptions are frequently appealed to; not as tests of good Latinity, nor of correct etymology, nor, indeed, as unerring guides, but as an available resource of certain value, where their testimony is confirmed by other evidence, especially that afforded by artistic respresentations; for if nothing but written proofs from the best periods of literature are to be admitted as valid, the very absence of these will often produce impressions just as erroneous respecting the customs of antiquity, as the opposite fault of accepting every thing which is written, without submitting it to the ordeal of a strict and impartial investigation. To cite an example from one of many others: Beckmann, in most respects an extremely estimable authority, gives it as his opinion, in the History of Inventions, that presses for cloth were not invented until the tenth century; because, as he states, he had not met with any passage in which such machines were mentioned. But when the fulling establishment was excavated at Pompeii, (which city was overwhelmed by the eurption of A. D. 79), the representation of a cloth-press, exactly similar in construction to those now in use, was discovered amongst other pictures exhibiting different processes of the trade, upon a pilaster of the building; and Ammianus Marcellinus, though a late writer as regars Latinity, yet considerably anterior to the period fixed by Beckmann, for he lived in the fourth century, distinctly gives the name pressorium to a contrivance of the kind in question. At the same time, it is not to be denied that due caution, and a fitting degree of critical scepticism, ought to be exerted upon all occasions, that one may not be induced to give out what is only doubtful as a certainty, or to invest mere fancies with the air of established truths. With this conviction I have felt it a paramount duty to trace regularly all the steps for the conclusions arrvied at; citing impartially the reasons and authorities; never attempting to speak positively, unless the grounds appeared to warrant it; always noting the points which admitted of doubt; and in cases where the balance of authority seemed undecided, and the opinions of the learned not agreed, I have faithfully produced both sides of the argument, and the evidence in support of each.
It is scarcely necessary to enlarge upon the advantage of using the products of art as a means of interpreting a written language. A description in words, when sufficiently clear and circumstantial, may convey all that is wished for; and yet the impression will become more decided by inspection of a virtual representation of the thing itself. Nor is the authority justly due to the one, more important than that which ought to be allowed to the other. What is written with the pen is neither clearer, truer, nor more self-convincing than what is written with the pencil or the chisel. On the contrary, the latter will often have the advantage. But when the two are brought to bear upon each other, as here, reflecting mutual lights, supplying alternate deficiencies, and supporting each other by the interchange of the corresponding evice, it is then that the pictorial description becomes truly valuable as the best possible means for producing accurate perceptions, and elucidating points of difficulty by a process which gains conviction at once. Take, for example, the expressions hasta amentata and hasta ansata, which are, met with as descriptive of some peculiar kind of spears; and both of which are set down as synonymous terms in the dictionaries, although the elementary notions contained in the respective adjectives are entirely distinct,—the sbustantive amentum implying something in the nature of a straight thong; the other, ansa, something bent in the form of a loop or handle. Consequently, the language itself indicates that the two objects are not identical; but the distinction could not have been positively established, and probably might never have been ascertained, but for the discovery of two ancient designs,—the one upon a Greek vase, which exhibits a spear with a straight thong (amentum) attached to the shaft, as shown by the wood-cut,p. 25;—the other, on the walls of a tomb P
With respect to the illustrations, which form the distinguishing feature of the book, the main conditions required are, that they shall be derived from authentic originals, executed with fidelity, and sufficiently distinct in detail to exhibit without confusion the peculiar points which they are intended to exemplify.
With regard to the authenticity of the illustrations, I may state that there are few of which I have not myself personally inspected the originals. But in every case where a drawing has been copied at second hand, that is, from an old book or engraving, or whenever there has appeared to be a possibility that the copy from which it is taken might have been incorrectly excecuted, or made up in any way; whenever, in short, I had no the means within my own knowledge of vouching for its truthfulness, I have quoted the work from which my illustration is taken, so as to afford at least a responsible authority for the design. In other cases I have thought it sufficient merely to mention the nature of the production which furnished an original for each illustration, whether a painting, statue, engraved gem, &c.; as it has been a constant object throughout to keep the volume within the smallest possible limits consistent with a due execution of the task undertaken. Of the whole number of wood-cuts, representing nearly two thousand different objects, only fifty are selected from other than Greek or Roman originals. One-half of these are drawn from the antiquities of Egypt, and are produced without hesitation because they establish the familiar use of certain articles long before the historical commencement of authentic history in Europe; but, as we know how much the Greeks borrowed from Egypt, and the intercourse which took place between the Romans and that people, they may be safely appealed to as inventions handed down to the classic ages from a more remote period. Twelve are from originals still met with in actual use, chiefly in Asia, Greece, or Italy,— countries all of which have retained much of their primitive manners, and many of the identical forms employed by their early ancestors almost without variation. Three are of Chinese original; inserted because they serve to explain certain terms not otherwise easily intelligible, nor correctly understood. But it may be remarked that many customs and articles now peculiar to that primitive people, as seen in the drawings made by travellers, and by collections exhibited in this country, bear a marked resemblence to the practice and forms in use amongst the classic inhabitants of Greece and Italy; while the fact that real porcelain bottles with Chinese letters upon them have been found in several of the oldest tombs in Egypt, testifies that an early intercourse must have existed, in some shape or other, between those countries. Nine only of the engravings are not copied from any actual original, but are composed in accordance with written texts, for the purpose of giving a clear and definite notion of certain terms more readily explained by a diagram than by description—a kind of knowledge which it is one of the principal objects of these pages to supply; but, to prevent misapprehension, the circumstance of their being compositions is mentioned, together with the name of the scholar or editor who designed them.
As regards fidelity of execution, an essential requisite in matters of this nature, no pains have been spared to attain the end. Many of the drawings were made upon the wood from designs or tracings executed by myself; all have been corrected on the block by the draughtsman under my directions, or by my own hand, when necessary; and by the engraver, after cutting, from proofs retouched by myself, or under my orders.
As regars precision and clearness of detail, some allowance must be made in consideration of the very reduced size of the drawings, which in a work intended for utility not luxury, and so copiously illustrated as the present, becomes a law of necessity. Small, however, as they are, if the reader will only take the trouble of examining closely the particulars pointed out by the text to his attention, he will find that they seldom fail in telling their own tale—if not at the first casual glance, at all events after a little practice, and when his mind has become familiarised with the precise points and distinctions intended to be conveyed. But, wherever it has struck me that any indistinctness prevailed, either in consequence of want of precision in the drawing, or confusion from the crowding of unnecessary lines, I have cited some other instance where a larger or more perfect represenation of the object is engraved, and which would show it more distinctly.
In selecting illustrations, it has been my constant aim to produce such as are least common or hacknied, rather than those which may be seen, or are usually referred to, in other words which touch upon similar subjects; for by this means the aggregate amount of pictorial authorities forming a common stock of available reference, is both varied and increased. But in cases where only a single specimen is known to exist, there is no alternative but to reproduce it; or where, amgonst several, one is so much more complete and definite in details, that it furnishes a better and more satisfactory illustration than any of the rest, like what is termed a locus classicus in literature, I have felt it right to insert that one, since every design is used as a practical commentary upon the meaning of words, addressed to the mind through the eyesight, and not as a pretty picture for the mere embellishment of a printed page.
It only remains to explain the marks of accentuation inserted for the purpose of distinguishing the correct pronunciation of the Latin words for those who might require such assistance, though it must be acknowledged that every attempt of the kind will be liable to some objection or other. In the commencement I placed a mark after an open vowel, or after the consonant which follows a close one, according to our ordinary manner of pronunciation. But it subsequently occurred to me that the prosody might be indicated, as well as the pronunciation at the same time, by alway placing the mark after a long vowel, as li'niger, li'nea, lori'ca, and after the consonant which follows a short one, as lan'ius, lit'uus, lit'icen; which method has been systematically adopted throughout the latter half of the volume.
December, 1848.
ABAC'ULUS (ἀβακίσκος). A small tile or die of glass, or a composition in imitation of stone, stained of various colours, and used for inlaying patterns in mosaic pavements. (Plin. H.N. xxxvi. 67. Moschus ap. Athen. v. 41.) The illustration represents part of the ancient mosaic pavement in the church of S. Groce in Gerusalemme, at Rome.
AB'ACUS (αβαξ). In its general signification, a rectangular slab of stone, marble, earthenware, &c.; whence it is applied in a more special sense to various other objects, which possess the characteristic form of a level tablet.
1. A tablet employed in making arithmetical calculations, on the plan of reckoning by decads; similar to that still in use amongst the Chinese (Davis, China, chap. 19.), and commonly called the Pythagorean multiplication table. The illustration represents an original first published by Velser. (Histor. Augustan.) It is divided into compartments by parallel channels cut through it, into each of which is inserted a certain number of pins with a button at each end, in order that they might be moved up and down the channels without falling out. The numbers represented by the pins in each channel are marked on it; the longer ones at the bottom are for units; the shorter, at the top, for decimals.
A tray covered with sand was likewise employed for the same purpose, the lines being drawn out in a similar manner in the sand, and pebbles used, instead of pins, for making the calculations (Pers. Sat. i. 131.); this was still designated by the same name, as was also the tray used for describing their diagrams. Apul. Apol. p. 429. Varior.
2. A play-board, divided in like manner into compartments, for one of the ancient games of chance and skill; probably the one nearest allied to our "back-gammon," the ludus duodecim scriptorum, or the game of the twelve lines. Caryst. ap. Athen. x. 46.
The illustration is copied from an original of marble belonging to the Christian era, which was excavated in a vineyard at Rome. It will be observed that it is divided, like our back-gammon boards, into four separate tables by the cross lines at each side; and each side into twelve compartments by the same number of lines, the duodecim scripta. The inequality of the lines upon which the pieces moved, and of the intervals between them, arose from the necessity of leaving room for a Greek inscription, which, in the original, runs down the centre, but has been omitted for convenience in the wood-cut; the meaning of it, according to the translation of Salmasius, is as follows:—"In playing thus at the throws of the dice, Jesus Christ gives victory and assistance to those who write his name and play with dice."
That the board here figured was actually used in a mixed game of chance and skill, such as our back-gammon, is proved by the lines upon its surface, forming the points upon which the counters moved, and the inscription which implies that the moves were first determined by a chance throw of the dice; and that the name abacus was most appropriately given to the board used at such a game, is testified by the nature of its surface divided into parallel lines, so closely resembling in appearance the counting-board, as well as the circumstance that it was, in fact, a table upon which numbers were reckoned,—the numbers cast up on the dice being added together to decide the move. See the Greek Epigram, quoted by Dr. Hyde, and Christie (Ancient Greek Games, p. 42.), in which a game of this description is described in detail.
3. Also the play-board used in another ancient game of skill,—the ludus latrunculorum,—having a closer resemblance to our chess and draught boards. (Macrob. Sat. i. 5.) Although games of this description were of very great antiquity, and are represented both by the Egyptian and Greek artists, yet the precise manner in which the surface of the board was divided has not been ascertained, because it is always expressed in profile, which only shows the men but not the face of the board. See LATRUNCULI, TABULA LATRUNCULARIA.
4. A "side-board" for setting out the plate, drinking vessels, and table utensils in the triclinium, or dining room. (Cic. Verr. iv. 16. Juv. iii. 204. Plin. H.N. xxxvii. 6.) The illustration, copied from a fictile lamp, shows one of these sideboards with the plate set out upon it. It consists of two slabs, the lower one supported upon two feet, and the upper by a bracket leg, which rests upon the one below. The simplest kinds were made of marble, the more costly of bronze; and the surface was sometimes perforated into holes, in order to receive such vessels as were made with sharp or narrow bottoms, and, consequently, not adapted to stand alone. This appears the most natural interpretation of the multiplices cavernæ (Sidon. Apoll. Carm. xvii. 7, 8.), for the term used to express the setting out of plate upon a side-board is exponere (Pet. Sat. lxxiii. 5.), which would be ill applied, if, according to the common acceptation, these cavernæ were partitions, like the pigeon holes in a cabinet, in which the plate would rather be hidden than displayed.
5. A slab of marble used for coating the walls of a room. (Plin. H.N. xxxv. 1.) Sometimes the whole surface of the wall was covered with these slabs, as in the example, which represents an apartment in Dido's palace from the Vatican Virgil; sometimes coffers or pannels only were inserted, as an ornament; and as extravagance is commonly accompanied by bad taste, the marble itself was occasionally painted upon (Plin. H.N. xxxiii. 56.); and sometimes the coating of stucco or hard white cement, which was capable of receiving a very high polish was sawed from the wall of an old house, and inserted as an abacus instead of marble. See Vitruv. vii. 3. 10., a passage which Becker, in his Gallus, p. 23. n. i. 11. Transl., is clearly mistaken in referring to sideboards.
6. A square tablet which the early builders placed upon the head of their wooden columns in order to provide a broad flat surface for the superincumbent beam which supported the roof, to lie upon, and thus constituted the first step in the formation of an architectural capital. Vitruv. iv. 1. 11.
It is credible that this simple tablet remained for a long period as the only capital; and in the Doric, the oldest and simplest of the Greek orders, it never lost its original character, but still continued with only the addition of one other and smaller member (the enchinus) as the most prominent and imposing portion of the capital. With the invention of the richer orders the size, form, and character of the abacus were materially altered, though the name was still retained, and applied to the crowning member of any capital. These varieties are fully explained and illustrated under the word CAPITULUM.
The illustration represents one of the tombs sculptured in the rock at Beni-Hassan, which are supposed by Sir G. Wilkinson to be as old as 1740 B.C. It is highly curious for the early traces it affords of that style of building, which the labour, skill, and refinement of the Greeks gradually improved and embellished until it eventuated in the most perfect of all structures, the Greek Doric temple. There is no base, nor plinth; the columns are fluted; the capital consists of a mere abacus; a single beam or architrave forms the entablature, and supports a sort of sculptural cornice intended to imitate a thatching of reeds; and as there is no frieze (zophorus) between it and the architrave, we may infer that it is illustrative of a period when buildings were merely covered by an outer roof (tectum) without any soffit or ceiling cælum), for the beams which formed the ceiling or under roof were shown externally by the member subsequently termed a frieze. [ZOPHORUS.]
ABOLLA. A cloak or mantle made of cloth doubled (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. v. 421). and fastened by a brooch under the neck or upon the top of the shoulder. It was originally worn by the military, as in the example from Trajan's column, and therefore was put on by the inhabitants of the city, instead of the toga, the costume of civilians, during periods of turbulence or foreign invasion (Varro, ap. Non., s.v. p. 538. Mercer); but subsequently it came to be used more commonly, and by all classes, as an article of the ordinary attire. (Juv. iv. 76. Suet. Cal. 35.) It does not differ very materially from the sagum; but was made of finer material, and somewhat smaller dimensions, whence Martial recommends persons addicted to thieving not to wear an abolla, because it was not large enough to conceal the stolen articles beneath it. Mart. Ep. viii. 48.
2. Abolla major. The large wrapping blanket of the Greek philosophers, more especially of the Cynics, who, as they wore no under clothing, enveloped themselves for the sake of decency in a wrapper of very ample dimensions (Mart. Ep. iv. 53.). Hence the expression facinus majoris abollæ (Juv. Sat. iii. 115.) means a crime committed by a Greek philosopher, the garment being put for the person who wears it, as we apply our phrase "the long robe" to members of the legal profession. The illustration represents Heraclitus from an engraved gem.
ABSIS or APSIS. The semicircular termination of any rectangular chamber, forming what is commonly termed in English "an alcove." (Plin. Ep. ii. 17. 8.) A form of this kind was commonly employed in courts of justice (basilicae) in order to make a convenient place for the judges' seats; and sometimes in temples to form a recess for the statue of the deity to whom the edifice was consecrated; as in the illustration, which shows the absis, as it now remains, of the temple of Rome and Venus, built by the Emperor Hadrian. Compare also the illustration to ADYTUM, where the ground-plan of a similar member is seen.
ACAPNA, sc. Ligna (ακαπνα, poet. δανά, κάγκανα). A word adopted from the Greek language and employed to designate fire-wood which had undergone a preparation to prevent it from smoking when placed upon the fire. Smokeless wood of this description was prepared in three different ways: 1st. by peeling off the bark, then soaking it a long time in water, and finally suffering it to dry thoroughly before it was used. (Theophrast. Hist. Plant. xv. 10.) The effect of this process is now well known, as it has been found that wood conveyed by water in floats burns more briskly and throws out less smoke than that which has been transported by land carriage merely: 2d. by soaking it in oil, or oil-lees, or by pouring oil over it (Cato, R.R. 130. Plin. H.N. xv. 8.): 3d. by hardening and scorching it over the fire until it lost the greater part of its moisture, without being entirely reduced to charcoal; this last was also designated by a special name Cocta or Coctilia. Mart. Ep. xiii. 15.
2. Acapnon mel. Honey taken from the hive without smoking the bees, which was considered the best kind of honey. Columell. vi. 33. 2. Plin. H.N. xi. 15.
ACAT'IUM (ἀκάτιον). A small, but fast-sailing vessel, belonging to the class termed actuariæ, viz. which were worked with oars as well as sails. It was more especially used by the Greek pirates (Thucyd. iv. 67.), was furnished with an armed beak (rostrum). and had the stern rounded and bent inwards (inflexa, Plin.
2. The same word is also used in connection with the rigging of a vessel, being sometimes applied to designate a sail, and sometimes a mast; but which of the sails or which of the masts is nowise apparent. Xenophon (Hellen. vi. 2. 27.) speaks of the acatia as sails, but contradistinct to the larger sails; Hesychius and Isidorus (Orig. xix. 3. 3.) on the contrary assert that the acatium was the largest sail on the ship, and attached to the main mast; while Julius Pollux (i. 91.) and Hesychius in another passage affirm that it was not a sail at all, but a mast, and that one the largest or main mast. Amidst all this apparent contradiction only one thing is certain, that the acatium was especially invented for fast sailing with light winds. If a conjecture might be hazarded all the difficulty would be got over by assuming that it meant both the mast and the sail belonging to it; and that it was a mast rigged after the fashion of the pirate vessels, to which the name properly belonged; a taller and lighter mast for instance than those usually employed, fitted also with smaller sails, probably with a top-sail over the main-sail, which would be handier for working and better for sailing in fair weather than the ordinary heavy mast, with its cumbrous yard. Thus Iphicrates, in the passage of Xenophon already referred to, before commencing his voyage, trimmed his vessels so as to be ready for any emergency. He left behind him the ordinary large set of sails (τἀ μεγάλα ἱστία), and consequently the heavy masts to which they belonged, and fitted the ships with masts and sails (ἀκατίοις), such as the pirates used in their vessels, for the rapidity they afforded in sailing, and the fewer hands they required for working, in case he should be forced to an engagement.
ACCENSUS. A civil officer attached to the service of several Roman magistrates, the consuls, prætors, and governors of provinces. (Varro, L. L. vii. 58. Liv. iii. 33.) He was generally the freedman of the person whom he served (Cic. ad Q. Fr. i. 1. 4.), and it was his duty to summon the people to the assemblies, to call the parties engaged in law-suits into court, and preserve order in it (Cic. l. c. 7.), and to proclaim the hour at sunrise, mid-day, and sunset. Plin. H. N. vii. 60.
2. The military ACCENSI were originally a body of supernumeraries enlisted for the purpose of supplying any vacancies which might occur in the legions by death or otherwise (Festus s. v. Adcensi), but subsequently they were formed into a separate corps, belonging to the levis armatura, or light-armed troops, amongst whom they occupied the lowest rank of all. They were selected from the fifth class of the Servian census (Liv. i. 43.), had no body armour nor weapons of attack, properly so called, but fought as they best could, with nothing but their fists and stones (pugnis et lapidibus depugnabant, Varro
ACCINCTUS. In a general sense, girded, equipped, or provided with anything. But the word is more especially applied to the military, and then implies that the soldiers has his sword girded on, or, in other words, that he is accoutred as a soldier on duty ought to be; like the right-hand figure in the illustration, from Trajan's Column. Hence, miles non accinctus, means a soldier without his sword, or, as we should say, without hise "side-arms," which, under a lax system of discipline, the men took off when employed upon field works, fortifications, &c., and piled with their shields and helmets on the ground beside them, like the left-hand figure in the illustration, also from the Column of Trajan. Under a strict system, this was not allowed; the shield and helmet only were laid aside, but the soldier was always accinctus, or had his sword on. Tac. Ann. xi. 18. Veget. Mil. iii. 8.
ACCUBITA'LIA. Things which belong to a sofa or couch; particularly the furniture of a bed, or a dining couch, including the cushions or pillows, mattress, and coverlet; as seen in the two next illustrations. Valerian ap. Trebell. Claud. 14.
ACCUBIT'IO. The act of reclining at table (Cic. Senect. 13.), as described uder ACCUBO.
ACCU'BITUM. A particular kind of couch used to recline upon at meals, which was substituted under the empire for the lectus tricliniaris. (Schol. Vet. ap. Juv. Sat. v. 17. Lamprid. Elagab. 19.) The precise form and character of this piece of furniture is nowhere described; but as the words accubo, accumbo, accubitus, in their strict sense refer to the act of a single person, it is but reasonable to conclude that the accubitum was a sofa intended for the reception of one person only: the more so as the annexed illustration from an ancient Roman marble (Symeoni, Epitaffi Antichi, p. 51. Lione, 1558) shows that sofas of such a character were actually used at meals; while the interpretation given explains at the same time the object of their introduction, in order that any number of guests might be accommodated at an entertainment by the addition of extra sofas (Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 34.); whereas the accomodation afforded by a tricliniary couch was limited to nine.
ACCU'BITUS. Same as ACCUBITIO. Stat. Ach. i. 109.
AC'CUBO (κατακλίνομαι). To recline at table, an attitude usually adopted by the ancients at their meals, instead of our haibt of sitting. The posture of reclining, as clearly shown in the illustration, from the Vatican Virgil, was one between lying and sitting, the legs and lower part of the body being stretched out at full length on a sofa, whilst the upper part was slightly raised and supported upon the left elbow, which rested on a pillow, the right arm and hand being left free to reach out and take the food.
The usual method of arranging the sofas, the etiquette of precedence, and position of the different places, is explained under the word LECTUS TRICLINIARIS.
During the later periods of Roman history, the men and women reclined together at their repasts; but the Greeks considered such a posture to be indecorous for females; their women, therefore, either sat at a separate table, or upon one end of the couch on which the men only reclined, as shown in the illustration copied from a Greek marble in the museum of Verona, representing a funeral repast (cœna feralis). The same practice was also observed by the Romans, before the corruption of manners incident upon wealth and conquest had ensued.
ACCUM'BO. Properly denotes the taking a place on a dining coach, in contradistinction to Accubo, which refers to a person already reclining; and in allusion to a single person, as distinguished from discumbo, which has reference to several persons or the whole company. But these distinctions are not always observed.
ACERRA (λιβανωτρὶς). A small square box with a lid to it (arca turalis. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. v. 745.), in which the incense used at a sacrifice was contained. (Acerraturis custos. Ovid. Met. xiii. 703. Hor. Od. iii. 8. 2.) The illustration is copied from a bas-relief in the museum of the Capitol at Rome, on which various implements employed at the sacrifice are sculptured.
The incense itself was not burnt in the acerra, but the box was carried to the altar by an attendant of the priesthood, as shown by the annexed figure, copied from a bas-relief at Rome. The box is carried in his left hand, a jug for pouring out libations of wine (capis) in his right, and the skin of a victim over the left arm. The incense, when used, was taken out of the box, and sprinkled upon the burning altar, for which the expression is libare acerra. Ov. Pont. iv. 8. 39. Pers. Sat. ii. 5.
2. According to Festus (s. v.), the same name was also given to a small portable altar placed before the dead, and on which incense was burnt. See the illustration to ARA TURICREMA, and compare Cic. Leg. ii. 24.
ACERSEC'OMES (ἀκερσεκόμες). Literally, with long and flowing hair, and thence, by implication a young or effeminate person (Juv. Sat. viii. 128.); for the habit of wearing the hair unshorn was regarded as unmanly by the civilized Romans, among whom it was only adopted for young slaves who waited at table, an instance of which is given in PINCERNA; or for the boys (Camilli) who acted as attendants upon the priesthood at the altar, as in the illustration annexed, which is copied from the Vatican Virgil, and represents one of these attendants.
ACETAB'ULUM (ὀξύβαφον). A vinegar cruet, or rather cup, which the ancients used to place upon their tables at dinner, to dip their bread in. (Isidor. Orig. xx. 4. 12. Apic. viii. 7. Ulp. Dig. xxxiv. 2. 20.) We have no direct testimony of its being so employed, beyond the inference drawn from the Greek name of the vessel, which means literally a vinegar dipper. The original, of fine red clay, here figured, is in the Museum at Naples, and is an undoubted example of these cups, as the name ὀξύβαφον is inscribed underneath it. Panofka, Recherches sur les véritables Noms des Vases Grecs.
2. The cup used by jugglers of the class now called "thimble-riggers," joueurs de gobelets, in playing the trick of the "little pea" (Seneca, Ep. 45.). This was a very common piece of jugglery both amongst the Greeks and Romans, and was played exactly in the same way as now (Alciphron, Ep. iii. 20., where the process is circumstantially detailed). The "thimble-rigger" was called ψηφοκλέπτης or ψηφοπαίκτης by the Greeks (Athen. i. 34. Suidas.); the Romans have left no specific name, except the common one for all jugglers, præstigiator. Seneca, l. c.
3. A dry measure of capacity, containing the fourth part of a Hemina. Plin. H. N. xxi. 109.
ACIC'ULA. A diminutive of ACUS; but as the word is applied to the bodkin which women wore in their hair (ACUS, 2.), the diminutive must be understood as expressing inferiority of material, rather than smallness of size, for such ornaments were made of wood and bone, as well as ivory and the precious metals. Cod. Theodos. iii. 16. 1.
ACI'NACES (ὀξύβαφον). A short, straight poniard, peculiar to the Persians, Medes, and Scythians (Hor. Od. i. 27. 5. Curt. iii. 3. 18.), which was worn suspended from a belt round the waist, so as to hand against the right thigh (Val. Flacc. vi. 701. Florus, iv. 11. 3), as seen in the illustration from a bas-relief found amongst the ruins of Persepolis. The acinaces was not a sword, but a dagger; for it was worn together with the sword, but on the opposite side of the body, as may be seen on the wounded Persian in the celebrated Pompeian Mosaic, inserted under BRACÆ; from the reduced scale of the drawing, it is not very prominent; but the handle of it is apparent on the right side, the sword being suspended by a belt (balteus on the left.
ACIS'CULUS. A small "pick," used chiefly by builders and stone masons, having a bluff end like a hammer at one extremity, and a curved point, or pick, at the other. It is represented on several coins of the Valerian family, with the name inscribed below it, from one of which the example is taken. Quint. vi. 3. 53.
AC'LIS or ACLYS. A massive weapon used by the Osci, and some foreign nations, but not by the Greeks or Romans (Virg. Æn. vii. 730. Sil. Ital. iii. 363.). It appears to have been a sort of harpoon; for it consisted of a short thick stock set with spikes, and attached to a line, so that it might be recovered again after it had been launched (Serv. ad Virg. l. c.; but it was only known to Servius by tradition, having fallen into disuse long before his time.
ACRATOPH'ORUM (ἀκρατοφόρον). Properly a Greek germ, but familiarized in the Latin language as early as the time of Varro (Varro, R. R. i. 8. 5. Cic. Fin. iii. 4.), and employed to designate the vessel in which pure or unmixed wine was placed upon the table (Pollux, vi. 99.). It was, therefore, in some measure, an opposite to the Crater, a larger vessel used for a similar purpose, but containing wine and water mixed together. The illustration is copied from a marble vase (Buonarotti, Vasi di Vetrol. p. 31.), bearing an inscription dedicated to Silvanus, and ornamented with a wreath of vine leaves. It corresponds exactly in form with two others delineated by the Pompeian artists, one of which is placed at the feet of a statue of Bacchus (Mus. Borb. vii. 56.), and the other in the hands of the god Acratus (Mus. Borb. vii. 62.), which, taken together, are quite sufficient to identify the form.
ACROPOD'IUM. A word coined from the Greek, though not found in any Greek author; the exact meaning of which is open to some doubts; but the most probable interpretation seems to be, the low square plinth commonly seen under the feet of a marble statue (Hygin. Fab. 88.), as in the illustration, which represents the statue of Juno, placed in front of a temple, from the Vatican Virgil. This acropodium formed a component part of the statue itself; but it also served as a sort of upper basement or podium (ἄκρον πόδιον) for the figure to rest on, when it was placed in an elevated position, or upon a regular base constructed for the purpose, as in the illustration.
ACROTE'RIA (ἀκροτήρια). The pedestals placed on the summit and angles of a pediment for the purpose of supporting statues. (Vitruv. iii. 5. 12.) They were frequently made without bases or cornices, as in the illustration.
ACTUA'RIOLUM. Diminutive of ACTUARIUS. A small vessel, or open boat, propelled chiefly by oars, never exceeding eighteen in number; the one which transported Cicero (Ep. ad Att. xvi. 3.) had ten; but they were sometimes assisted by a sail when the wind served. (Scheffer, Mil. Nav. ii. 2.) The example is copied from a miniature in the Vatican Virgil.
ACTUA'RIUS. Naves actuariæ, or simply Actuariæ. A large class of open vessels worked by sweeps and sails, in contradistinction to the merchantmen, or sailing vessels (onerariæ). (Sisenna. ap. Non. s. v. p. 535. Cic. Att. v. 9.) Properly speaking, these were not ships of war, that is of the line, but were employed for all purposes requiring expedition, as packet boats, transports (Liv. xxv. 30.), for keeping a look-out, and by pirates (Sallust. Fragm. ap. Non. l. c.), and were never fitted with less than eighteen oars. (Scheffer, Mil. Nav. ii. 2.) The illustration is from the Vatican Virgil.
2. Actuarii. Short-hand writers, who took down the speeches delivered in the senate or public assemblies. Suet. Jul. 55.
3. Under the empire, officers who kept the commissariat accounts, received the supplies for the use of the army from the contractors, and dispensed them in rations to the troops. Ammian, xx. 5. 9. Id. xxv. 10. 17. Aurel. Vict. p. 293.
ACUS (ἀκέστρα, βελόνη, ῥαφίς). Seems to have designated in the Latin language both a pin for fastening, and a needle for sewing; as the specific senses in which the word is applied are sometimes characteristic of the former, and sometimes the latter of these two implements, which we distinguish by separate names. (Cic. Milo, 24. Celsus, vii. 16. Ovid. Met. vi. 23.) The illustration represents a box of pins found at Pompei, and a sewing needle an inch and a half long, from the same city.
2. Acus comatoria, or crinalis. A large bodkin or pin several inches long, made of gold, silver, bronze, ivory, or wood, which the women used to pass through their back hair after it had been plaited or turned up, in order to keep it neatly arranged, a fashion still retained in many parts of Italy. (Pet. Sat. xxi. 1. Mart. Ep. ii. 66. Id. xiv. 24. Apul. Met. viii. p. 161. Varior.) The illustration is taken from the fragment of a statue in the Ducal Gallery at Florence, which shows the mode of wearing these hair-pins; but a great variety of originals have been discovered at Pompeii and elsewhere, of different materials and fancy designs, which are engraved in the Museo Borbonico (ix. 15.), and in Guasco (Delle Ornatrici, p. 46.).
3. The tongue of a brooch, or of a buckle formed precisely in the same manner as our own, as seen in the illustrations, which are all copied from ancient originals. Valerian. ap. Trebell. Claud. 14.
4. A needle used for trimming oil-lamps, and usually suspended by a chain to the lamp, as is still the common practice in Italy. The illustration is copied from an original bronze lamp, excavated in Pompeii, and a part of the chain by which it hangs is shown. The use of it was to drawp up and lengthen the wick as it burnt down in the socket; et producit acu stupas homore carentes. Virg. Moret. 11.
5. A dibble for planting vines. Pallad. i. 43. 2.
6. A surgeon's probe (Furnaletti, s. v.); but he does not quote any ancient authority, and the propter term for that instrument was SPECILLUM.
ADMISSA'RIUS, sc. equus (ἀναβάτης). A stallion kept especially for the purpose of breeding; for as the ancients mostly rode and drove entire horses, none but those especially kept for the purpose were allowed to have intercourse with the mares. Varro, R. R. ii. 7. 1. Columell. vi. 27. 3.
2. Also used of other animals, as of asses. Varro, R. R. ii. 8. 3. Pallad. iv. 14. 2.
ADORA'TIO (προσκύνησις, Soph. Electr. 1374). The act of adoration, a mark of reverence exhibited by passers-by to any person or object towards which they wished to show extreme reverence and respect. This action was expressed by the following attitude and movements:—the body was inclined slightly forwards and the knees gently bent, whilst the right hand touched the object of reverence, an altar, statue, &c.; the left was raised up to the mouth (ad os, from whence the term is derived), kissed, and then waved towards the object intended to be honoured. (Plin. H. N. xxviii. 5. xxix. 20. Apul. Met. iv. p. 83. Varior. Id. Apol. p. 496.) The chief motions in this pantomime are clearly shown in the illustration which is copied from an engraved gem in Gorlæus (Dactyliothec., p. ii. No. 63.).
ADULA'TIO (προσκύνησις, Herod. i. 134). The most abject manner of doing an act of reverence, as practised by the Persians and other Oriental races by prostration of the body and bowing the head upon the ground (Liv. ix. 18. Id. xxx. 16. Suet. Vitell. 2. Curt. viii. 5.), as represented in the annexed gem (Gorlæus, Dactyliothec. ii. 396.), in which a worshipper is performing adulation to the god Anubis. The Latin poets also designated this act by such expressions as procumbere (Tibull. i. 2. 85.), or pronus adorare (Juv. Sat. vi. 48.).
ADVERSA'RIA, sc. scripta. A day-book, or common-place book, in which accounts or memorandums were put down at the moment to be subsequently transcribed into a ledger, or into a regular journal. Cic. pro Rosc. Com. 2.
AD'YTUM (ἄδυτον). A private or secret chamber in a temple, from which every person but the officiating priests were stricly excluded. (Cæs. B. C. iii. 105. Virg. Æn. vi. 98.) That the adytum was distinct from the cella, is clear from a passage of Lucan (Phars. v. 141—161.), in which the priestess, dreading the violent exertions she would have to undergo from the stimulants applied in the secret chamber to produce an effect like prophetic inspiration—pavens adyti penetrale remoti Fatidicum—stops short in the body of the temple and refuses to advance into the adytum, or den (antrum) as it is there termed, until she is compelled by force. A chamber of this kind is represented in that portion of the annexed illustration, which lies behind the circular absis, marked in a stronger tint than the rest, and which communicates with the body of the edifice by two doors, one on each side. The whole represents the ground-plan of a small Doric temple, formerly existing near the theatre of Marcellus, at Rome on the site of which the church of S. Niccola in Carcere now stands. It is copied from the work of Labacco, who surveyed it in the 16th century, Libro dell' Architettura, Roma, 1558.
Apartments of this description were constructed for the purpose of enabling the priesthood to delude their votaries by the delivery of oracular responses, the exhibition of miracles, or any sort of preternatural effects, and at the same time conceal the agency by which they were produced. They consequently were not attached to all temples, but only to those in which oracles were uttered, or where the particular form of worship was connected with mysteries; which explains which such contrivances are so seldom met with in the ground-plans of ancient temples still existing. But the remains of another ancient temple at Alba Fucentis, in the country of the Marsi, now Alba, on the Lake of Fucino, afford ample confirmation that the illustration introduced may be regarded as a true specimen of the ancient adytum. The interior of that edifice retained its pristine form, and was in a complete state of preservation when visited by the writer. It differs only slightly in construction from the example in the cut; for the secret chamber is not placed behind the absis, but is constructed underneath it, part being sunk lower than the general floor of the main body of the temple (cella) and part raised above it, so that the portion above would appear to the worshippers in the temple merely as a raised basement, occupying the lower portion of the basis, and intended to support in an elevated position the statue of the deity to which the edifice was dedicated; nor has it any door or visibile communication into the body of the temple; the only entrance into it being afforded by a postern gate within a walled enclosure at the back of the premises, through which the priests introduced themselves and their machinery unseen and unknown. But the one remarkable feature of the whole, and that which proves to conviction the purpose to which it has been applied, consists in a number of tubes or hollow passages formed in the walls, which communicate from this hidden recess into the interior of the temple, opening upon different parts of the main walls of the cella, and thus enable a voice to be conveyes into any part of the temple, whilst the person and place from whence it comes remain concealed.
ÆDIC'ULA. A shrine, tabernacle, or canopy, with a frontispiece supported by columns, constructed within the cella of a temple, and under which the statue of the divinity was placed—quadrigæ inauratæ in Capitolio positæ in cella Jovis supra fastigium ædiculæ. (Liv. xxxv. 41.) The illustration represents the statue of Jupiter under a tabernacle in the Capitoline temple, as described by Livy in the passage quoted, and is taken from a medal struck in honour of the Vestal virgin, Ælia Quirina.
2. A small cabined made of wood after the model of a temple, in which the family busts or images of a man's ancestors (imagines majorum), the Lares, and tutelar deities of a house were preserved, and placed in large cases round the atrium. (Pet. Sat. xxix. 8.) The illustration is copied from a bas-relief in the British Museum, and represents an ædicula, in which the bust of Protesilaus is deposited. Compare Ovid. Her. xiii. 150—158.
ÆDIT'UUS, ÆDIT'IMUS, or ÆDIT'UMUS (ναοφύλαξ, ἱεροφύλαξ, νεωκόρος). A sacristan, or guardian, to whose surveillance the care of a temple was committed. Varro. L. L. viii. 12. Gell. xii. 10. He kept the keys, opened it at the appointed hours (Liv. xxx. 17.), attended to the sweeping and cleaning (Eurip. Ion. 80—150.), and acted as a guide to strangers by explaining the rarities and works of art it contained. Plin. xxxvi. 4. § 10. The appointment was an honourable one (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. ix. 648.), for it was a place of trust and responsibility; as may also be inferred from the style and dress of the figure annexed, which affords a rare example of the Greek ædituus, from a bas-relief at Dresden, whose office is indicated by the broom of laurel leaves, which was used for sweeping the temple at Delphi. Eurip. Ion. ll. cc.
ÆGIS (αἰγίς). In its primary sense a goat's skin, which the primitive inhabitants of Greece used, as well as the skins of other animals, as an article of clothing and defence. This would be naturally put on over the back, and tied by the front legs over the chest, so as to protect both the back and breast of the wearer, as seen in the statue of Juno Lanuvina in the Vatican Museum (Visconti, Mus. Pio Clem. ii. tav. 21.). It thus formed the original type of the æigs, as worn by Jupiter and Minerva, which was made out of the goat Amalthea, which suckled Jupiter in his infancy. Hygin. Astron. ii. 13.
The illustration exhibits a figure of Minerva on a fictile lamp (but imitated from a very ancient type), wearing the ægis as described above, which covers the breast, and falls down behind the back as low as the knees. The snakes of the Gorgon's head placed upon it form a fringe round the edges in the same manner as Homer (Il. ii. 448.) describes the tassels on the ægis of Jove.
2. As such a mantle formed a cumbrous appendage to a statue in the ideal style of Greek sculpture, it was transformed by the artists of that country into a small and elegantly formed breast-plate, covered with scales, to imitate armour, and decorated with the Gorgon's head in the centre, as in the figure of Minerva here given, also from a fictile lamp. From this the word Ægis was subsequently used to designate the breast-plate of a divinity, but more especially of Jupiter and Minerva, as contradistinguished from Lorica, the breast-plate of mortals. Ovid. Met. vi. 79. Id. ii. 755. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. viii. 35.
3. At a still later period the same word was used to designate the ordinary cuirass worn by persons of distinction, such as the Macedonian kings and Roman emperors, when decorated with an image of the Gorgon's head in front (Mart. Ep. vii. 1.), which they adopted amongst its other ornaments in token of the divine character and authority they assumed, as in the example, from a statue at Rome.
4. The translation of ægis, a shield, conveys an idea quite remote from the original and true meaning of the word; for almost every figure in the works of ancient art with a goat-skin on the breast, is also furnished with a shield apart; and the passages where a defence in the nature of a shield is supposed to be referred to are either equivocal, or may be understood with equal truth as descriptive of the large mantle of goat-skin shown in the first wood-cut; which could easily be drawn forward over the left arm, to protect it like a shield in the same manner as the Athenians used their chlamys (see CLIPEATUS CHLAMYDE), and as represented by the figure annexed, which is copied from a very ancient statue of Minerva in the Royal Museum at Naples.
AENEA'TOR. A collective name for one who belonged to a brass band, and played upon any of the different wind instruments used in the army, at the public games, or religious ceremonies, including the Buccinatores, Cornicines, and Tubicines. Suet. Jul. 32. Amm. Marc. xxiv. 4. 22.
ÆOLIP'ILÆ, or ÆOLIP'YLÆ. Metal vases with a very small orifice, which were filled with water and placed on the fire to elucidate the origin and nature of wind by the effect of steam engendered within them. (Vitruv. i. 6. 2.).
ÆQUIPON'DIUM (σήκωμα). The equipoise or moveable weight attached to a steel-yard (statera), and balance (libra, Vitruv. x. 3, 4.). A great many of these have been found at Pompeii and elsewhere, mostly made of bronze, and of some fanciful device, such as the example produced, which is taken from a Pompeian original.
ÆRA'RIUM. The public treasury of the Roman state, as distinguished from the exchequer, or private treasury of the emperors (fiscus); in which the produce of the yearly revenue, the public accounts, the decrees of the senate, and the standards of the legions, were deposited. (Cic. Leg. iii. 4. Tac. Ann. iii. 51. Liv. iii. 69.) During the republic the temple of Saturn was used as the treasury.
2. Ærarium sanctius. A private department of the same, in which were kept the monies and treasures acquired by foreign conquest, and the fees paid by slaves for their manumission (aurum vicesimarium), and which was never opened but upon great emergencies. Liv. xxvii. 10. Compare Quint. x. 3. 3.
3. Ærarium militare. The army pay-office, a separate treasury established by Augustus to provide for the expenses of the army, for which purpose some new taxes were imposed. Suet. Octav. 49.
ÆRO. A sand-basked made of oziers, rushes, or sedge (Plin. H. N. xxvi. 21. Vitruv. v. 12. 15.), which is frequently represented as used by the soldiers employed in excavations, fortifications, and ordinary field works, on the Column of Trajan, from which the annexed illustration is taken. The word, however, is only a colloquial term employed by the common people, or in familiar language. Donat. ap. Terent. Phorm. i. 2. 72.
ÆRU'CA. A bright green colour artificially made to imitate the natural verdigris (ærugo) which bronze acquires by age. Vitruv. vii. 12. Compare Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 26., who describes the different processes for making this colour, but which he terms ærugo
ÆRU'GO (ἰὸς χαλκοῦ). The bright green rust which bronze acquires from age, as distinguished from the brown rust of iron (ferrugo, rubigo, Cic. Tusc. iv. 14.). The older the bronze, the more bright and beautiful the colour becomes, which is considered to enhance its value; and on that account a statue of high antiquity was prized by the ancients far beyond one of more recent casting. Wink. Storia delle Arti, vii. 2. 10. ÆRUSCA'TOR. A charlatan, begging impostor, or one who raises the wind by imposing upon the credulity of others. Aul. Gell. xiv. 1, 2. Comp. ix. 2. 2. ÆS THERMA'RUM. A metal bell or gong, which was suspended in the public baths, in order to notify to the public by its sounds when the hot water for the baths was ready. Mart. Ep. xiv. 163. The illustration shows two of these implements, from an ancient painting representing a set of baths, and which are there suspended at the windows. Blanchini, Instrument. Mus. Vet. tav. vii. No. 8. AGA'SO (ἱπποκόμος). A slave attached to the stables, who dressed the horses, led them out, and held them till his master mounted; a groom, ostler, or stable boy (Liv. xliii. 5. Plin. H. N. xxxv. 40. § 29.), as seen in the example from the Vatican Virgil. 2. Sometimes also applied to those who have the charge of other animals, such as donkeys (Apul. Met. vi. p. 121., Varior.), and in a more general sense transferred to any of the lower class of slaves. Hor. Sat. ii. 8. 72. AGATHODÆMON (ἀγαθοδαίμων). The Greek name for a good spirit or guardian angel, for which the Latin term is GENIUS, q. v. Lamprid. Elagab. 28. Inscript. ap. Visconti, Mus. Pio Clem. tom. i. p. 153. AGE'A. The passage or gangway by which the boatswain (hortator) approached the rowers (Isidor. Orig. xix. 2. 4. Ennius, ap. Isidor. l. c.); also termed aditus in less technical language. AGGER (χῶμα). Generally any thing which is thrown together—quod adgeritur—to fill up a void, or raise a mound, whether of earth, wood, or rubbish, whence the following more special senses are derived. 1. An artificial mound or rampart with which the Romans surrounded their camps, or any position for a certain period during the campaign. It was most commonly a large embankment of earth, surmounted on the top by palisades (vallum), and protected on the outside by a trench (fossa), formed by the excavation of the earth dug out of it to form the agger. But in situations where the nature of the soil would not admit of an embankment of earth, other materials of ready and easy access were had recourse to, and it was then frequently constructed out of the trunks of trees filled in with brushwood, &c., as in the illustration from the Column of Trajan. The top of it is covered by a vallum or palisade, and a boarded gallery over head for the protection of the soldiery. The example will at once explain the meaning of those passages in which it is mentioned that the agger was set on fire.. Cæs. Bell. Civ. ii. 14. 2. Agger murorum. (Virg. Æn. x. 24.) An embankment upon which the walls and towers of a fortified city were built, and which served as a rampart upon which the garrison were stationed to defend the place. It was constructed of earth thrown up in the manner last described, but was moreover cased with masonry, and ascended from the inside by a flight of steps, as seen in the cut, which is a section of the agger and walls still remaining at Pompeii, with an elevation of one of its towers partially restored. 3. A temporary mound of earth, wood, or any other materials ready at hand, thrown up against the walls of a besieged city, on which the battering train (tormenta bellica) was placed, and for the purpose of raising the assaulting parties to a level with the ramparts. Like the parallels in modern warfare, it was commenced at some distance from the city walls, and then gradually widened on the inside until it met them, which is implied by such expresses as agger promotus ad urbem, Liv. v. 7. 4. Agger viæ, properly the road, that is, the central part of a street or highway intended for the traffic of carriages and cattle. Virg. Æn. v. 273.) which was paved with stones imbedded in cement laid upon several strata of broken rubbish (compare VIA), and slightly raised in the centre, so that the section formed an elliptical outline, as seen in the annexed plan, which is a section between the curb stones of the Via Sacra, leading up to the temple of Jupiter Latialis. The plan upon which it was constructed explains why this part of a road was called the agger (Serv. ad Virg. l.c. Isidor. Orig. xv. 16. 7.), though the name is sometimes used in a more general sense, as synonymous with VIA, as Aurelius agger instead of Via Aurelia. Rutil. Itiner. 39. 6. An artificial embankment or dyke upon the sides of a river to protect the country from inundations (Virg. Æn. ii. 496.), and also a margin of masonry, forming the quay of a port, to which the vessels werer made fast. (Ovid. Met. xv. 690. Id. Trist. iii. 9. 13.) The illustration represents a dyke of rough stones formed at the confluence of two rivers from the Column of Trajan. AG'INA. The socket or eye, to which the beam of a balance is pinned, and in which the upright index (examen, lingula oscillates to show that the object weighed corresponds exactly with the weight in the opposite scale. (Festus. s. v. Tertull. ad Hermog. 41.) Both the agina and the index affixed perpendicularly on the centre of the beam are shown in the illustration, which is taken from an original of bronze. Caylus. iv. 96. 4. AGITA'TOR. Generally one who puts any thing in motion; but more especially applied to those who drive cattle; and in the following special cases. 1. Agitator aselli (ὀνηλάτης). A donkey boy, or donkey driver (Virg. Georg. i. 273.). From a fictile lamp formerly in the possession of Fabretti (Col. Tr. Addend. p. ult.). 2. Agitator equorum (ἡνίοχος). A coachman, or charioteer, who drove another person in a carriage, whether a chariot of war or not. (Virg. Æn. ii. 476. The illustration is from a terra cotta, representing Paris carrying away Helen. Wink. Mon. Ined. 117. 3. When used by itself and without any other word to modify or distinguish it, a driver at the chariot-races of the Circus (Plaut. Men. i. 2. 50. Suet. Nero, 22.) Compare AURIGA. The illustration is from a terra cotta lamp, formerly in the possession of Bartoli. AGITA'TRIX. A female who sets any thing in motion; hence, sylvarum agitatrix, a huntress, who beats up the woods and covers (Arnob. iv. p. 141.), particularly applied to Diana, the goddess of the chase; in which character she appears in the illustration from a terra cotta lamp, formerly in the collection of Bartoli. AGMINA'LIS, sc. equus. A sumpter horse, which follows an army for the purpose of carrying the arms, accoutrements, and baggage, as in the example from the Column of Trajan, which shows one of these animals laden with the shields and helmets of the Roman soldiers. Dig. 50. 4. 18. § 21. Cod. Theodos. 8. 5. 6. AG'OLUM. A long tapering stick used by the Roman drovers and herdsmen, for driving their cattle. (Festus. s. v.) The drovers of the Roman Campagna make use of a similar instrument at the present day, formed by a long straight shoot of the prickly pear, precisely like the example here given, which is from a painting at Pompeii. AGONOTH'ETA (ἀγωνοθέτης). The president at the public games in Greece, always a person of distinction, whose office it was to decide disputes, declare the victors, and award the prizes. Spart. Hard. 13. AGRIMENSO'RES. Land surveyors. (Amm. Marc. xix. 11. 8.) A body formed into a college by the Roman emperors, and paid by the state. AHE'NUM. Properly a copper or boiler for heating water, which was suspended over the fire, in contra-distinction to the saucepan (cacabus) for boiling meat or vegetables, and which was placed upon it (Paul. Dig. 33. 7. 18. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. i. 213.); the distinction however is not always observed. The example is copied from an original of bronze found at Pompeii; the eye at the top of the handle is to receive the hook by which it was suspended. 2. The coppers which contained the water for supplying a bath (Vitruv. v. 10. 1.). These were always three in number, arranged with a nice regard to economy of fuel. The largest, which contained the hot water (caldarium), was placed immediately over the furnace, the mouth of which is shown by the square aperture at the bottom of the annexed woodcut; over that was placed a second (tepidarium), which only received a mitigated heat from the greater distance of the fire, and which, therefore, contained water of a lower temperature; the uppermost of all (frigidarium) received the cold water direct form the cistern; thus, when the hot water was drawn off from the lowest copper, the empty space was immediately filled up with fluid which had already acquired a certain degree of heat, and the second was again replenished with cold water from above. All this is made very clear by the illustration, which shows the three boilers used in the baths at Pompeii, as restored by Sir W. Gell from the impressions which their figures have left in the mortar of the wall behind them in which they were set. A'LA. The wing of a bird, and thence, from the resemblance in use, the feather affixed to the shaft of an arrow to guide and steady its course through the air. (Virg. Æn. ix. 578.) The example shows a Greek arrow found in Attica. 2. A large recess in Roman houses of any size and splendour, of which there were generally two, one on each side of the atrium (Vitruv. vi. 3. 4.), furnished with seats, and closed in front with curtains; and which, if we may judge from the analogy afforded by the houses of modern Turkey, (which have two precisely similar recesses on their galleries, closed with curtains, and fitted with divans,) were intended for the master of the house to receive his visitors, and enjoy the conversation of his acquaintance. The position of the Alæ is shown on the ground-plan of the house of Pansa [see DOMUS], where they are marked C. C.; their internal elevation in the engraving above, which is a restoration of the atrium of the house of Sallust at Pompeii, and in which the entrance to the alæ is formed by the two large doorways with the curtains drawn aside at the furthest angle of the chamber, on the right and left hand. 3. In large buildings, such as a basilica or Etruscan temple, which were divided by rows of columns into a centre nave and two side aisles, like our churches (a distribution, of which the great temple at Pæstum affords an existing specimen; see also the illustration to BASILICA), these side aisles appear to be termed Alæ by Vitruvius (iv. 7. 2.); and, in consequence, Professor Becker (Gallus, p. 107. Transl.) wishes to establish that the alæ of private houses were not the apartments described above, but merely two side-aisles, separated in like manner by rows of columns from the centre of the atrium. But, to support this position, he is under the necessity of inventing an imaginary atrium of his own, unlike any which has yet been discovered either at Pompeii or elsewhere—of separating the cavædium from the atrium,—and of composing a Roman house upon a plan entirely conjectural, which he, therefore, distributes into the three separate divisions—the atrium first, next the cavædium, and the peristyle beyond; all which, though plausible enough in theory receives no corroboration from anything yet brought to light; and, therefore, in the absence of positive authority, the interpretation given under No. 2. seems most entitled to confidence. 4. The wing of an army, which, in the Latin writers, is equivalent to saying the division or contingent furnished by the allies; for these were always stationed on the flanks, to cover the legions consisting of Roman citizens, who always occupied the centre of the battle array. Veget. Mil. 2. 14. 5. For a similar reason, also applied to a brigade of cavalry containing 300 men and upwards, furnished by the allies, and in like manner posted upon the flanks. Cincius ap. Gell. xvi. 4. 4. ALABASTER or ALABASTRUM (
ALAR'II. The troops stationed on the wings of an army, including both infantry and cavalry, which were always formed out of the contingents furnished by the allies, and consequently varied in their arms and accoutrements, according to the customs of the different nations by whom they were supplied. (Cic. Fam. ii. 17. Cæs. B. G. i. 51.) Bodies of such troops are represented in several battles on the Column of Trajan, as of the German auxiliaries, and Sarmatian cavalry, &c., each in the costume of their respective countries.
ALBAR'IUM or OPUS ALB. (κονίαμα). Stucco or cement, with which brick walls were covered, made out of sandstone, brick, and marble, powdered and ground together for an outside coating; or of gypsum and plaster of Paris, for the finer kinds used in the interior. Vitruv. vii. 2. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 55. ib. 59.
ALBA'RIUS (κονιατής). A plasterer, whose trade it was to cover the walls with cement, and make ornamental cornices, friezes, and reliefs in stucco. Inscript. ap. Gruter. 642. 11. Compare Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 59.
ALBA'TUS. Clothed in white. Thus in the Circensian games, auriga albatus (Plin. H. N. viii. 65.), a driver who wore the white colour, or belonged to the white company (factio albata).
ALBO-GALE'RUS. The fur cap worn by the Flamen Dialis, which was made of the skin of a white victim which had been sacrificed to Jupiter, with a spike of olive wood projecting from the top, precisely as seen in the illustration taken from a medal struck in honour of Marcus Antoninus. Festus. s. v. Varro. ap. Gell. x. 15. 4.
ALBUM (λεύκωμα). A space or patch covered with white plaster against the walls of a building, upon which public announcements or advertisements to the public were written; and thence the name is given to any sort of white tablet bearing an inscription, such as a list of the senators, the prætor's edicts, or things of a like nature. (Paul. Sentent. l. i. t. 14. Seneca. Ep. 48. Cic. Orat. ii. 12.) The illustration is a facsimile, upon a reduced scale, of an album written against one of the houses in Pompeii, which appears to have been equivalent to a modern announcement, such as: "Patronized by the Royal Family," or "By appointment." The words of it are MARCUM . CERRINIUM . VATIAM . AEDILEM . ORAT . UT . FAVEAT . SCRIBA . ISSUS . DIGNUS . EST. i. e. Issus, the scribe, solicits the patronage of M. Cerrinius Vatia, the ædile; he is a fit person.
ALEXANDRI'NUM OPUS. A particular kind of mosaic work, especially used for the flooring of rooms, and belonging to the class of pavements termed sectilia, the distinctive character of which consisted in this, that the frets or patterns forming the designs, were composed by the conjunction of only two colours, red and black for instance, on a white ground, as in the example, which represents a portion of a pavement in a house at Pompeii. (Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 25.) The words of Lampridius seem to imply that this description of mosaic was first introduced by Severus; but such a notion is rendered untenable by the numerous specimens of it in the Pompeian houses. We must, therefore, understand that Severus merely introduced the custom of forming such pavements by the contrast of two sorts of marble different in colour and quality from those which had been previously employed for the purpose, viz. porphyry and Lacedæmonian marble.
ALIC'ULA. A short cloak or mantle resembing the chlamys in form, but of smaller dimensions, fastened by a brooch in front, and worn by persons of humble means (Mart. Ep. xii. 82.), by sportsmen (Pet. Sat xl. 5.), and by young persons. (Ulp. Dig. 34. 2. 24.) It is often seen in works of ancient art, like the example, which is from a painting at Pompeii, in all of which the designation is clearly explained by the resemblance it bears to a pair of little wings, as the wind or motions of the wearer raise it floating from his shoulders.
A'LIPES (πτερόπους ). Having wings on the feet, an epithet especially given to the god Mercury, as in the example from a terra cotta lamp. Ovid. Fast. v. 100. Id. Met. iv. 753.
ALIP'ILUS (παρατίλτριος). A slave attached to the baths, or kept by private persons for the purpose of plucking out the straggling hairs from any parts of the body, or under the arm-pits. Both males and females were employed for this purpose. Seneca, Ep. 56. Compare Juv. xi. 157. Cratin. 'Ωρ. 2.
ALIPTES or ALIPTA (ἀλείπτης). Properly a Greek word, but used by the Romans in the same sense as by the Greeks, to designate a person who combined in himself the several duties and authority of a lanista and unctor. It was his business to anoint and rub the bodies of the Athletæ with oil and fine sand mixed together before and after a contest in the Palæstra, or of young persons in the gymnastic schools; as well as to direct and preside over their training and exercises (Aristot. Eth. N. 2. 6. 7. Pindar, Olymp. viii. 54-71.); and also to give them advice respecting their diet and mode of living, which he was enabled to do from the knowledge he possessed of their muscular conformation, and general state of bodily health. Cic. Fam. i. 9. Celsus, i. 1.
2. A slave attached to the baths, for whom the genuine Latin term is unctor, whose business it was to rub the bather dry, scrape off the perspiration with the strigil, and then anoint the body with unguents. (Seneca, Ep. 56. Juv. Sat. vi. 422.) The illustration is taken from a fresco which represents a bathing room painted on the walls of a sepulchral chamber on the Appian Way, discovered in the last century (Ficoroni, La Bolla d'Oro, p. 45.). It was undoubtedly copied from some celebrated original, for Juvenal must have had a similar one in his mind's eye when he wrote the passage above referred to.
ALLIGA'TI. In a special sense, a captive or prisoner of war with the soldier who had charge of him; i. e. the two together were called alligati, because it was the Roman practice to chain the prisoner to his captor, the manacle being fastened to the right wrist of the former, and to the left of the soldier to whose custody he was committed; whence the allusion of Seneca (Tranquill. i. 10.), alligati sunt qui alligaverunt. (Compare Stat. Theb. xii. 460.) The illustration from the arch dedicated by silversmiths of Rome to Septimius Severus, represents a Roman soldier with his prisoner, the latter with both his hands chained together behind his back, while the soldier is preparing to fasten the chain to his own arm: the ring which forms the manacle is seen at the end of the chain.
ALLOCU'TIO. An address or harangue; especially such as the Roman generals were in the custom of delivering to their soldiery. Allocutions of this kind are frequently represented on medals, triumphal arches, and columns, at which the commanders appear upon a raised platform (suggestum), attended by their chief officers, with the standards and body of the troops arranged in front, as here shown from a medal of Antoninus, which also bears the inscription ADLOCUTIO AUGUST. S. C.
ALTA'RE. According to the grammarians, a high altar (quasi alta ara), which was dedicated only to the gods above (Serv. ad Virg. Ecl. v. 66. Festus, s. v.), whilst the Ara was both lower, and employed in sacrificing to the gods below as well as those above. Such an interpretation may possibly acquire authority from the engraved gem here figured (Agostini, Gemme, 142.), in which two altars, both with incense burning on them, but one much more elevated than the other, are seen; a similar example occurs in the miniatures of the Vatican Virgil, in which four square altars are depicted, two tall and two lower ones, and which seem to illustrate such a passage as inter aras et altaria (Plin. Paneg. i. 5. Compare Plin. H. N. xv. 40.), and other places in which the two words are distinguished. The interpretation that altare means that which is placed on the altar (ara) is scarcely so satisfactory; for in the passage of Quintilian (Declam. xii. 26.) aris altaria imponere, the reading is doubtful; and that of Justin (xxiv. 2.), sumptis in manus altaribus, will bear a very different interpretation.
ALTA'RIUM, i. q. ALTARE. Sulp. Sev. i. 19.
ALTICINCTUS (ὑψίζωνος). Having the tunic drawn high up through the girdle, and above the knees in order to allow free action to the limbs, as was usual with rustics, labourers, or persons engaged in hard work or active exercise. (Phaedr. ii. 5. 11.) The example is copied from the Vatican Virgil.
ALU'TA. Leather dressed with alum (alumen) in order to render it soft and pliable; whence the word is often used by the poets for a boot, shoe, purse, &c., made of such leather. Mart. xii. 26. Juv. Sat. xiv. 282.
2. A patch, or beauty spot for the face. Ovid. Art. Am. iii. 202.
ALVEA'RE (σμῆνος, σίμβλος). A beehive, in which the bees make their combs and deposit their honey. (Columell. ix. 11. 1.) Amongst the ancients these were sometimes made of metal, of which an example is introduced (s. FORI) from an original found at Pompeii; also of earthenware, but they were not approved, as being most affected by the vicissitudes of heat and cold. The best were made from strips of cork, or of the fennel-plant (ferula) sewed together; and the next best of basket-work (Columell. ix. 6. 1. Virg. Georg. iv. 33.), as in the example, which is taken from a Roman bas-relief, in which it is introduced as an emblem accompanying the figure of Hope. Montfauc. Antiq. Expl. i. 204.
ALVEA'RIUM (σμηνών). A row of beehives, or place where beehives stand. Varro. R. R. iii. 16. 12.
ALVE'OLUS. A diminutive of ALVEUS, generally; but in a special sense of its own, a weaver's shuttle, which was used for conveying the threads of the woof (subtemen) through the warp (stamen). (Hieron. Ep. 130. ad Demetr. n. 15. ad torquenda subtemina in alveolis fusa volvantur.) From this passage, and the name by which the instrument was called, we may safely infer that it was a flat piece of wood rounded or pointed off at each end, and scooped into the shape of a boat, with a cavity in the centre, into which the pin of the bobbin was inserted; precisely like the figure here introduced which represents a common kind of shuttle used in some parts of this and other countries, but which corresponds so exactly with the words above quoted, that it may be justly looked upon as an ancient model unchanged by time. There is a small hole in its side, through which the thread is drawn, and as the shuttle is thrown, the bobbin and pin revolve (fusa volvantur) and deliver out the thread.
AL'VEUS. From alvus the belly; whence it is applied in several special senses to a variety of objects which possess a real or imaginary resemblance in form to that part of the human body.
1. A long shallow wooden vessel answering to our notion of the words trough or tray, either for holding liquids or any other articles; like the figure in the cut, which is used by a carpenter for his tools and necessaries in a Pompeian painting. Plin. H. N. xvi. 22. Liv. i. 4.
2. A small boat or canoe used upon rivers, of very primitive construction, being hollowed out of a single tree (Vell. ii. 107). The example here given represents a log canoe discovered in the bog which forms the bank of the old river at the junction of the Nen, at Horsey near Peterborough (Artis. Durobriv. pl. 57.), which, if not of Roman origin, is certainly of very great antiquity; and, as it resembles in every respect the canoes represented on medals which commemorate the foundation of Rome, it may be received as a model of the alveus.
3. The hull of a ship; and thence used by poets for the ship itself. Sall. Jug. 21. Propert iii. 7. 16.
4. A particular kind of dish or small tray, in which certain sorts of fruit, such als olives, were handed round to the guests at table. Pet. Sat. lxvi. 7.
5. A board used by the Roman for one of their games of skill. The circumstance of dice as well as counters being mentioned in connection with the game played upon the alveus (Plin. xxxvii. 6. Val. Max. viii. 8. 2.), implies that that game was the ludus duodecim scriptorum, in which, as in our back-gammon, the move was decided by a throw of the dice. The alveus, therefore, must have resembled in some respects our back-gammon board, and been divided in the same manner as the abacus (see ABACUS, No. 2.), or if any difference really existed between the meaning of these two words, it is possible that the latter term was strictly used when the board consisted of a marble slab; the former when made like a wooden tray with raised edges, as indeed the original notions of the two words of themselves indicate.
6. A hot-water bath, constructed in the floor of a bathing-room at the opposite extremity to that which contained the Labrum (Vitruv v. 10. 4. Marquez, Case degli Antichi Romani, § 317.), and furnished with a step at the bottom, which formed a seat for the bather when he descended into it. (Auctor. ad Herenn. iv. 10.) The illustration here given is a section of the alveus in the public baths at Pompeii. The tinted part is the flooring of the room formed of brickwork, in which the flues through which the hot air circulated are observable, one under the bath itself, and four others under the general flooring. A is the alveus; B the seat on which the bather sat (gradus, Vitr. l. c.); C a low parapet wall forming the upper part of the bath (pluteus, Vitr. l. c.), from which two steps on the outside lead down to the floor of the room. The general plan of the apartment in which it is placed, and relative situation with respect to the other members of the same, will be understood by referring to the first wood-cut under BALINEÆ, letters D, h, i.
7. From this the word is sometimes transferred in a more general sense to any sort of vessel or conveniens for washing in. Ovid. Met. viii. 652.
8. A bee-hive. (Plin. H. N. vii. 13.) [ALVEARE.]
ALVUS, i. q. ALVEARE. Varro, Columell. Plin.
AMANUENSIS (ὑπογραφεύς ). A slave or a freedman employed as a secretary or amanuensis, to write letters which his principal dictated aloud. Suet. Tit. 3.
AMA'ZON ('Aμαζών). An Amazon, a female warrior of Scythian race, whose armour consisted of a helmet, a shield of peculiar form called pelta, a bow and arrows, a sword, and double axe (bipennsi), all of which accessories are shown in the illustration which is copied from a sarcophagus in the Museum of the Capitol at Rome. The common derivation of the name from μαζός, because they were said to have destroyed the right breast in order that it might not interfere with the use of their weapons, is a mere fiction invented by the grammarians; for they are always represented in works of ancient art as perfect as other women. See the next cut.
Amazons are also frequently represented on horse-back, in which case they are armed with a spear, like the ordinary cavalry of other nations; as in the example form a fictile vase.
AMBIV'IUM (ἄμφοδος). Any road or street that leads round a place. Varro. ap. Non.
AM'BRICES. The cross laths (regulæ) inserted between the rafters and tiles of a roof. (Festus. s. v.).
AMBUBAI'Æ. Female musicians and ballad singers of Syrian extraction, who frequented the Circus and places of public resort, and supported themselves by their music and prostitution. Suet. Nero, 27. Hor. Sat. i. 2. 1. Compare Juv. iii. 62, 65.
AMEN'TO. To hurl a spear or javelin by the assistance of a thong (amentum) attached to it, which from the passages cited below appears to have been executed by inserting the fingers between the ends of the thong, and thus giving the missile a rapid rotatory motion before it was discharged; but there is no known work of antiquity in which this action is represented. Lucan. vi. 221. Compare Ovid. Met. xii. 321. Cic. de Orat. i. 57.
AMEN'TUM (τὸ ἅμμα τῶν ἀκοντίων, Beier. ad Cic. Amic. xxvii. 7.). A thong fastened to the shaft of a spear or javelin at the centre of gravity, in order to give it a greater impetus when thrown. (Liv. xxxvii. 41. Ovid. Met. xii. 221. Sil. Ital. iv. 14.) This illustration is taken from one of Sir W. Hamilton's fictile vases; but in the celebrated mosaic of Pompeii, believed to represent the battle of Issus, a broken spear provided with a similar appendage is seen lying on the ground.
2. The thong or strap by which the soleae, crepidae, and similar kinds of shoes were fastened on the foot (Festus, s. v.), as in the example from a marble statue at Rome, where the amentum is shown by the broad flat thong which passes over the instep, and through the loops (ansae) affixed to the sides of the sole. Pliny mentions a sitting statue of Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, which was remarkable for having a mere sole under the foot without any thong to fasten it (soleis sine amento insignis, H. N. xxxiv. 14.); and similar omissions are not unfrequently observable in the Pompeian paintings, only to be accounted for by the caprice or inadvertance of the artists.
AM'ITES. A pair of shafts, and particularly applied to two long poles, like those of a sedan-chair, which projected from the front and back of a BASTERNA, so as to form a double pair of shafts for the beasts which bore it. (Pallad. vii. 2. 3.) The illustration represents a conveyance common in many parts of Europe during the middle ages, which, though not from any known Greek or Roman model, is introduced because it represents to the eye a precisely similar contrivance to what is mentioned by Palladius. Compare BASTERNA.
2. Strong poles of timber inserted horizontally between two upright posts, for the purpose of making a fence to confine cattle within their enclosures. Columell. ix. 1. 3.
3. The two parallel rods upon which each side of a clap-net is stretched when laid flat upon the ground, and by which they are made to rise up and fall over the bird which has alighted between them; from which it may also be applied to the net itself. Pallad. viii. 12. Hor. Epod. 2. 33.
That the ancients were acquainted with clap-nets there is no doubt; for they are represented in the Egyptian tombs, and constructed precisely upon the same principles as those now used by our bird-catchers. (Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians), vol. iii. p. 37.) They are distinctly alluded to by Plautus (As. i. 3. 61.—72.); and by Manilius (Astr. v. 371—373.), where he describes the various ways of taking birds; Aut nido captare suo, ramove sedentem, Pascentemve super surgentia ducere lina: in which passage the last words graphically depict the rising up of the clap-nets over the bird that is feeding on the seeds which the fowler has thrown down on the ground (area) between them, as described by Plautus. Lastly, Palladius (l. c.) says that an owl was employed together with the amites, as a call bird, to which use it is still put by the modern Italians. All these circumstances seem sufficient to authorise the interpretation given; though it should not be concealed that Festus (s. v.) and the scholiasts on Horace (l. c.) make the word synonymous with ancones, or varae, and explain it by the gloss furculae aucupatoriae, which is received by Doering, Orelli, and the commentators generally. But it is not probable that the Romans would have invented three different words to express one and the same thing; nor is it easy to conceive how birds could be caught by nets erected upon poles, which they could so easily fly over; and the general analogy of the word, by a comparison with its other meanings, should not be neglected, both of which apply to poles placed in a horizontal and parallel position, as distinct from those which are set upright, or stuck in the ground.
AMIC'TUS. A general term expressive of all the various articles of outer clothing, which were in fact wrapped round the person (from amicire), as distinguished from those of the inner apparel, which were drawn on (from induere); including therefore the Toga, Pallium, Sagum, Abolla, Paludamentum, &.c (Virg. Æn. v. 421. Quint. xi. 3. 137. Compare INDUTUS. The two figures here represented, both from Etruscan works, will explain distinctly what is meant by the term. The one standing is just beginning to put on his amictus, a loose piece of cloth, one side of which is already passed from behind over the left arm and shoulder, whilst he is in the act of slipping his right elbow under the other side, in order to pull it up to the neck, so that both the ends will depend in front of the person in the manner represented by the left-hand figure, in the illustration to ANABOLIUM. He will then take up the right side, draw it across the chest, and turn the end over his left shoulder, so as completely to envelope the upper part of the body in the manner seen on the sitting figure, who is then amictus pallio. Cic. de Orat. iii. 32.
AMIC'ULUM. Diminutive of AMICTUS, and including all the smaller and finer kinds of outside wraps, both of male and female attire, which were disposed upon the person in the manner explained under the preceding word, such for instance as the Chlamys, Sagulum, and also the bridal Flammeum. Festus. s. v. Corolla.
AMPHIMAL'LUM (ἀμφίμαλλον). A very thick and coarse description of woolen cloth, having a long nap on both sides of the fabric, from which the name was taken; it was used for carpetting, outside coverings in very cold weather, and seems to have been, originally at least, of foreign manufacture, for it was not known at Rome until the time of the elder Pliny (Plin. H. N. viii. 73.), and was probably introduced there from Germany, for it is represented in one of the trophies erected by the soldiers of Antoninus over the Germans on the column of that emperror; from which the illustration is taken. It will be observed that the long nap is seen on the inside, where the edges turn over, the same as on the outside. AMPHIPROS'TYLUS (ἀμφιπρόστυλος). Applied to temples, or to any other edifices, which have an open porch or portico projecting beyond the cella or main body of the building at both extremities, the front and rear, as shown on the accompanying ground-plan. Vitruv. iii. 2. 4. AMPHIT'APUS (ἀμφίταπος). Designates a particular kind of cloth, which, like the amphimallum, had a nap on both sides, but was of a finer texture (Athen. v. 26.), and probably of Oriental manufacture. There was certainly a distinction between the two; for amphimalla were not known at Rome till the time of Pliny, whereas amphitapa are mentioned by Lucilius and Varro ap. Non. s. v. p. 540. Mercer. AMPHITHEA'TRUM (ἀμφιθέατρον). An amphitheatre; a building originally constructed for the exhibition of gladiatorial combats, but occasionally used for other kinds of spectacles. The exterior was always formed by an oval wall, divided into one or more stories of arcades, according to the size of the building, and decorated with columns, pilasters, &c., according to the taste of the architect, as shown by the illustration introduced, which represents the external wall of an amphitheatre still remaining in a high state of preservation at Pola in Istria. The interior formed an elliptical cup or hollow (cavea), set round with seats for the spectators, rising in steps one above the other, and was distributed into the following principal parts: the arena, a flat and oval space at the bottom, and in the centre of the edifice, where the combatants fought; the podium, an elevated gallery immediately encircling the arena, reserved for the senators and persons of distinction; gradus, the circles of seats occupied by the public, which, when the building was lofty, were divided into two or more flights, termed maeniana, by broad landing places (praecinctiones) and raised walls (baltei); and vertically, into compartments in the form of an inverted triangle or wedge (cunei) by a number of stair-cases (scalæ), which communicated with the avenues of ingress and egress (vomitoria) within the shell of the building. On the top of all was a covered gallery, appropriated to the women. All of these points are discernible in the following illustration, which represents the interior of the amphitheatre at Pompeii in its existing state; but, as the drawing is necessarily made upon a very reduced scale, and is indistinct in parts from the dilapidations it has suffered, the whole plan and construction of these edifices will be better understood by comparing it with the plan subjoined in the following page, which is a restored section, and elevation of a portion of the amphitheatre at Pola, by the Canonico, Pietro Stancovich (Anfiteatro di Pola, tab. 4.), in which all the parts are detailed more perfectly. The company entered the theatre through the arches on the ground-floor at the left hand side of the engraving. A is the podium, which is approached by a short staircase, springing from the third or inner corridor, in the centre of the cut; it is raised above the arena by a blank wall, surmounted by a balustrade, under which is seen one of the doorways through which the wild beasts or combatants emerged upon the arena. The staircase, which commences immediately from the ground entrance, leads directly to the first mænianum (1), which the spectator entered through the doorways (vomitoria) B, and descended the flight of stairs which divide the rows of seats between them into a wedge-shaped compartment (cuneus), until he came to the particular row where his seat was reserved. The high blank wall into which the entrance (B) opens, is the balteus, and its object was to separate the different mæniana, and prevent the classes who were only entitled to a seat in the upper ones from descending into those below. A branch staircase, diverging to the left, leads up to the corridor formed by the arcades of the outer wall; from whence it turns to the right, and conducts to the second mænianum (2), which is entered, and distributed in the same way as the lower one, and separated from the one above by another balteus (C). Other staircases, but which cannot be shown on one section, conduct in like manner to the third mænianum (3) and to the covered gallery for the women above (D). The three solid arches in the centre of the engraving, constructed in the main brickwork of the building, form a succession of corridors encircling the whole edifice, from which the different staircases spring, while at the same time they support the seats of the cavea, and the flights of stairs by which the company entered or left the amphitheatre. AM'PHORA (ἀμφορεύς). A large earthenware vessel, with a handle on each side of its neck, and terminating in a point at bottom, so that it would stand upright if planted in the ground, or remain stationary if merely leaned against a wall; chiefly used for containing wine in store, for which the smallness of its diameter, as compared with the height, shows it was invented, in order to contain a large quantity, and only occupy a small space. The illustration represents two amphoræ of the most usual form, the one stuck in the ground, and the other leaning against a wall, as they were found at Pompeii, and also shows the manner in which they were transported from place to place, from a terra-cotta bas-relief, which formed the sign of a wine shop in the same town. AMPUL'LA. A bottle; like our own word, a general term for any form or material, but more accurately for a vessel made of glass, with a narrow neck and swelling body, like a bladder; whence the word is used figuratively to signify turgid or inflated language. (Hor. A. P. 97.) The illustration affords an example of various originals excavated at Rome. 2. Ampulla olearia. An oil flask, such as was used for carrying oil to the baths for pouring over the strigil to prevent it from scraping too sharply, and for other general purposes. It is described by Apuleius (Flor. ii.9. 2.), exactly as represented in the cut, from an original formerly in the possession of Lorenzo Pignori (De Serv. p. 84.), as shaped like a lentil, with a narrow neck and flattish sides, lenticulari forma, tereti ambitu, pressula rotunditate. 3. Ampulla rubida. A flask covered with leather, like our hunting flasks, and used by persons on a journey to hold wine, vinegar, or oil (Plaut. Stich. ii. 1. 77. Festus s. v. Rubida). AMPULLA'RIUS. One who followed the trade of covering glass bottles with leather. Plaut. Rud. iii. 4. 51. AMUS'SIS. An instrument employed by masons and builders for testing the evenness, accuracy, and regularity of their work, as the rule, the square, and the plummet is by carpenters. The exact meaning is somewhat doubtful; for, from the different passages where the word occurs, it appears to have been equally applied to a level for testing the uniform evenness in the surface of a wall or course of masonry (Festus. s. v. Amussim and Examussim. Varro. ap. Non. s. v. Examussim, p. 5. Mercer); the square for proving a right angle (Auson. Edyll. xvi. 10.); and the line and plummet for preserving an exact perpendicular (Sisenna ap. Charis. ii. p. 178.); but in each case the same general use and notion is preserved, that in whatever way applied, it is always for the purpose of proving that the work is accurately and regularly done: whence the expression adamussim or examussim is equivalent to accurately, i. e. according to line and rule. Macrob. Sat. i. 4. Aul. Gell. i. 4. 1. AMUSSITA'TUS. Made with accuracy and precision, as tested by the instrument amussis; hence, figuratively, in Plautus (Mil. iii. 1. 37.), accurate, precise. AMUS'SIUM. A marble slab, the surface of which was exactly levelled, and proved by the instrument amussis, and upon which the direction of the winds was marked. It was then fixed against the external wall of a house, as a dial, to show the point from which the wind blew. Vitruv. i. 6. 6. Marini, ad l. ANABATH'RUM (ἀνἀβαθρον). Generally any row of seats rising one above another like a flight of stairs, as was the usual arrangement in all buildings constructed for the accommodation of a numerous company, such as the theatres, Circus, &c. (See the illustrations under AMPHITHEATRUM.) But the more accurate and strict meaning of the word implies something more definite; viz. a temporary set of wooden seats, constructed upon the same principle, but which were hired for any special occasion, as a concert, recitation, &c., and placed round the sides of the room for the accommodation of a numerous audience, in the same manner as is still common at the present day for a similar purpose. Juv. Sat. vii. 46. ANABOL'IUM (ἀναβόλαιον). Properly a Greek word, which has, threfore, a more especial reference to the customs of that people; though, being a general term, it might be equally well applied to the Romans, when descriptive of similar habits. (Inscript. ap. Don. cl. 1. n. 91.) It is derived from the Greek
ANACLINTE'RIUM (ἀνακλιντήριον). The head-board of a sofa or sleeping couch, upon which the squab and pillow for the support of the head rested. (Spart. Æl. Ver. 5.) The example is from a bas-relief at Rome, which represents the death of Meleager.
ANADE'MA (ἀνάδημα). A band for the head; but more particularly one which was used as a mere ornament, such as those worn by women and young persons of the male sex amongst the Greeks, in contradistinction to the diadema, vitta, or other head-bands, which were the insignia of regal, religious, or honorary distinctions. (Eur. Hippol. 83. Lucret. iv. 1126 Paul. Dig. 34. 2. 27.) The example is from a Pompeiian painting.
ANAGLYP'TA or ANAG'LYPHA (ἀνάγλυπτα, ἀνάγλυφα). Objects cast in low relief; a bas-relief in marble, metal, ivory, &c. Mart. iv. 39. Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 49.
ANAGNOS'TES (ἀναγνοώστης). A slave, whose duty it was to read aloud to his master in his study, or to the guests at table. (Cic. Att. i. 12. Nepos, Att. 14. Aul. Gell. iii. 19.) Also a person who read out passages from the favourite poets in the theatre or public places (Aul. Gell. xviii. 5. 1.), like the recitatori, or spiegatori of modern Naples.
ANALEM'MA (ἀνάλημμα). Properly a Greek word, used to designate any thing which serves as an underprop; and especially a wall, pier, or buttress constituting the substructure of a building (Dion. Hal. iii. 69.), for which the proper Latin term is Substructio. The Romans adopted it to signify the pedestal upon which a sundial was erected, often seen in pictures and bas-reliefs as a square pillar, or short column (Winkelm. Mon. Ant. Ined. No. 157. 185.); but Vitruvius, who uses the word, applies it incorrectly to the dial itself (Vitruv. ix. 1. 1. Schneider ad l. In the illustration, copied from a silver cup found at Porto d'Anzio, only a portion of the analemma is drawn; but that is sufficient to show what is meant: the whole consists of a square pilaster about five feet high, with a base at the bottom corresponding with the cornice at the top.
ANANCÆ'UM. A vessel for holding liquids (Varro. apd. Non. s. v. Creterra, p. 547. Mercer), but of what precise character is very uncertain. It is usually interpreted a wine cup of great capacity, employed in drinking bouts, which it was compulsory to empty at a draught, upon the authority of Plautus (Rud. ii. 3. 33.); but the reading of the passage is doubtful. Weise has ἀναγκαίως.
ANATHE'MA (ἀνάθημα). Properly a Greek word, which includes any thing that is set up as a votive offering in a temple, such as a tripid, statue, &c., used in a Latin form by Prudent. Psychom. 540.
ANCI'LE (τὸ ἀγκύλιον). The sacred shield found, according to tradition in the palace of Numa, and supposed to have fallen from heaven. According to the grammarians, it was made of bronze, and of an oblong oval shape, but with a semicircular incavation on each side, similar to that on the top of the pelta (Varro, L. L. vii. 43. Festus. s. v. Mamur.), as seen in the illustration from a medal of Augustus, which also has a representation of the Salian apex by its side. The name ancile is evidently formed from the Greek ἀγκύλη, the bend of the arm, which the grammarians above cited refer to the incision on the sides of the shield; but it is clearly referable to the semicircular handle (compare ANSA and ANSATUS), affixed to the top for the purpose of suspending it on the rod by which it was carried through the city by the Salii, as seen in the annexed woodcut from an engraved gem, in which the curvature of the sides is much less pronounced, and the general form more consonant with the language of Ovid (Fast. iii. 377.): Idque ancile vocat, quod ab omni parte recisum est; Quaque notes oculis, angulus omnis abest, which can scarcely be taken as a description of the figure on the medal of Augustus; a figure which it is probable was invented by the designer of the medal, in conformity with the received derivation of the Roman antiquaries; or perhaps the effects of age have modified the form, and made the indentures appear more prominent and decisive than they were in its early state.
ANCLA'BRIS. A small table made use of as an altar at the sacrifice, upon which the sacrificial implements were placed, as well as the entrails of the victim, for the inspection of the diviners. (Festus. s. v. Id. s. Escariæ.) The example represents a small bronze table found at Pompeii, which from its diminutive size, and the hollow form of its top, is believed to have been employed in the manner stated. It is rather more than eight inches high, rather less than eight long, and about seven wide. In one of the Pompeian paintings a priest is represented carrying one of these tables to the sacrifice. Pitture di Ercolan. iv. tav. 1.
ANCON (ἀγκών). Literally an elbow; i. e. the bend or angle formed by the two bones of the arm when bent at the elbow joint; from this it is transferred to several other things which partake of the same form, or have a resemblance to it; and, as this flexure consists of two separate parts or sides, the word is generally applied in the plural.
1. The arms or branches of a stone-mason's or carpenter's square (norma), which is employed in measuring right angles; and was formed of two flat rules mitred together like an elbow joint. (Vitruv. iii. 5. 14.) The example represents a square thus formed, which is carved upon a sepulchral marble amongst many other implements of a carpenter's trade. Fabretti Aq. 73.
2. (παρωτίς—οὖς τῷ ὑπερθύρῷ. Inscript. in Elgin collection of Mus. Brit.) The trusses or consoles whcih support an ornamental cornice (hyperthyrum) over a doorway; which are usually made in the form of the letter S, and are affixed under each extremity of the cornice, at right angles with it. (Vitruv. iv. 6. 4.) The small figure on the left hand of the engraving gives a side view of one of these consoles, from the temple of the "Dio Redicolo," as it is now called, near Rome; the other represents the cornice over the doorway to the templo of Hercules, at Cora, and gives a front view of the ancones depending on each side of the cornice.
3. Cramps of bronze or iron employed in building, for connecting together large blocks, or courses of masonry. (Vitruv. x. 13. 21.) These were used instead of mortar, in all structures of great size, and account for the number of holes observable in the masonry of many ancient buildings, from which the cramps have been removed during the middle ages in order to get possession of the metal. The top figure in the illustration shows the form of a bronze ancon from the Coliseum, and the lower one the manner in which it was applied to cramp together two blocks of stone in the same edifice.
4. The arms of an arm-chair, which are attached to the uprights forming the back, and thus with them constitute a right angle like the carpenter's square. (Coel. Aur. Tard. ii. 1.) The illustration is copied from a marble chair in a bas-relief formerly in the palace of the Cardinal Mazzarini at Rome.
5. The prongs or forks at the end of the props (varæ), which the ancient sportsmen used to hang their nets upon. (Grat. Cyneg. 87.) These were stuck by their sharp ends into the ground, and at short intervals from one another, around any spot which it was wished to enclose, and the nets then hung upon the fork. Compare VARA, where the manner of setting up the net is shown.
6. A particular kind of bottle or vessel for holding wine used in the Roman taverns (Paul. Dig. 33. 7. 13.), and which, from its denomination, is not unreasonably supposed to have been made with a bent neck, something like a retort. An example alone is wanting to confirm the conjecture.
AN'CORA (ἀγκύρα). An anchor. The ancient anchors were sometimes made with only one arm or fluke, but the most perfect kinds had two, made of iron, and in form closely resembled those still in use. They were usually carried over the bows of the vessels (Virg. Aen. iii. 277., as in the example from Trajan's Column; but large ships had two, and sometimes more, according to their size. Athen. v. 43.
ANCORALE. The cable of an anchor, Liv. xxii. 19. Id. xxxvii. 30. See the preceding woodcut.
2. The buoy-rope (Plin. H.N. xvi. 16.) The buoy itself (σημειον ἀγκύρας. Paus. viii. 12. 1.) was made of cork, and was attached by means of the ancorale to a ring, which is seen at the bottom of the shank in the preceding illustration. While the buoy indicated the spot where the anchor lay, the rope which held it also served to draw the fluke out of the ground, when the anchor had to be raised.
ANDABA'TÆ. A class of gladiators who fought hoodwinked, or with a close helmet which had no opening in the vizor to see through. (Hieron. adv. Jov. i. 36. Cic. Fam. vii. 10, but here the reading is doubtful.) According to Turnebus (Advers. ii. 10.) they exhibited in the Circus after the races in a sort of ludicrous contest, both the driver and Andabata being blindfolded.
ANDRON (ἀνδρών). Properly speaking a Greek word, and therefore in its strict sense having reference to the customs of that nation. It designates the first of the two principal divisions into which the ground-plan of a Greek house was distributed, appropriated to the sole and exclusive use of the male portion of the establishment. (Vitruv. vi. 7. 4. Festus, s. v.) It consisted of an open court (αὐλή), surrounded by collonades (marked c on the plan), round which were arranged the various sets of chambers required for the service of the proprietor and his dependants (Nos. 1 to 9), and was separated from the other division contaning the women's apartments by a passage and door (marked d) between the two.
2. The Latin writers applied the word in a very different sense, to designate a mere passage which divides one house, or one part of the same house, from another; as for instance, the passage between the external wall of a house and garden adjoining (Plin. Ep. ii. 17. 22.); and the Roman architects made use of the same term most inaccurately to designate the corridor in a Greek house, which separated the men's and women's apartments from one another (marked d in the preceding plan), but for which the proper name was Mesaulæ.
ANDRONI'TIS (ἀνδρωνῖτις). Synonymous with ANDRON, No. 1.
ANGIPORTUS or ANGIPORTUM (στενωπός). A narrow or back street, whether in the nature of a court which had no thoroughfare (Terent. Adelph. iv. 2. 40.), and which was then properly termed fundula; or merely a small back street leading from any of the principal parts of the city. (Hor. Carm. i. 25. 10. Plaut. Pseud. iv. 2. 6.) These back streets in Pompeii are so narrow that a person can step across them from kirb stone to kirb stone at one stride.
ANGUIL'LA. A whip made of eel-skin, which was used by the Roman schoolmasters to punish their scholars. (Plin. H. N. ix. 39. Isidor. Orig. v. 27. 15.) The illustration is copied from a painting at Herculaneum, which represents the interior of a school-room.
ANGUIS. A serpent, or snake, which amongst the Romans was employed as a symbolical representation of the genius loci, or presiding spirit of a place. (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. v. 85.) Figures of serpents were therefore painted against a wall, in the same way as the cross is in modern Italy, to deter the public from contaminating the spot, and answered the same purpose as our injunction "Commit no nuisance." Pers. Sat. i. 113.
These signs are frequently met with in the houses of Pompeii, in kitchens, bake-houses, and such places, where cleanliness is particularly desirable; and generally with an altar between them, as seen in the annexed illustration, which was copied by the writer from one of the corridors leading into the Thermæ of Trajan at Rome. It is painted in fresco, and has the following inscription underneath.
IOVEM et JUNONEM et DUODECIM DEOS IRATOS HABEAT QUISQUIS HIC MINXERIT AUT CACARIT.
2. A military ensign made in imitation of the figure of a serpent, and which was adopted in the Roman armies for the ensign of a cohort. (Claud. in Rufin. ii. 5. 177. Sidon. Apoll. 5. 40.) It was more commonly termed DRACO, under which name the materials, character, and uses are more fully described. The illustration is copied from the column of Trajan.
ANGUSTICLA'VIUS. One who is entitled to wear upon his tunic the ornament called clavus angustus, a distinctive badge of the equestrian order. Suet. Otho, 10. [CLAVUS.]
ANQUI'NA (ἀγκοίνα). The collar by which the yard-arm of a vessel is fastened to the mast, technically called the "truss" by our sailors. Isidor. Orig. xix. 4. 7. Helvius Cinna ap. Isidor. l. c.
In the illustration, which is copied from a fictile lamp, the anquina appears as a semicircular ring, or band of wood, or of metal, but it was usually made of rope. It received its appellation from the primary sense of the Greek word, which means a bent arm. The ἀγκοίνα διπλὴ, which is spoken of amongst the Greeks as employed for vessels of a large class, such as Quadriremes, &c., does not mean that the yard was fitted with two trusses, but that the truss was made of a double thickness of rope to bear the wear and tear proportional to the size of the yard.
ANSA (ἄγκος, ἀγκή). That by which we take hold of any thing; whence it is specially applied, in the same way as our own own word "handle," to many objects which differ essentially from one another in form and character, though all are employed for the same general purpose, as a handle to hold by. Of these the most important are the following:—
1. (Λαβή—ἀγκή). The handle of any vessel for containing liquids, as cups, jugs, amphorae, &c. These of course varied in form, according to the taste of the artist who designed them, and are indifferently placed upon the neck, one or both sides, or from top to bottom of the vessel, as best suited the beauty of the whole outline, of which the ancient artists always made them a component part, so as not to have the appearance of being stuck on afterwards, as mere accessories or afterthoughts. The illustration is taken from a bronze jug found at Pompeii, with a single handle, of a very beautiful, though simple character; but a great variety of other forms will be shown in the course of the work. Cato, R. R. 113. Virg. Ecl. iii. 45. Ov. Her. xiv. 252. Id. Met. viii. 653.
2. Ansa ostii (ἐπισπαστήρ, κορώνη, ῥόπτρον). The handle of a door by which it is pulled open or shut to, and which also served as a knocker. (Pet. Sat. 96. 1.) These are frequently represented as simple rings attached to a hold-fast; in other cases they are more elaborately designed and ornamented, as in the illustration annexed, which is copied from an original of bronze, and formerly belonged to the door of a house at Pompeii.
3. Ansa crepidæ (ἀγκύλη). The loop or eye on the side leather of the Greek shoe, called crepida, through which the thong or lace was passed and crossed over the instep to bind it on the foot. (Tibull. i. 8. 14.) There were the same number of these on each side of the shoe, as may be collected from the well-known story of Apelles, who was reproved by a cobbler for having omitted one of the ansæ in a work which he had exposed to public view. (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 36. § 12.) The form and character is clearly seen in the illustration, from a marble foot of Greek sculpture.
4. Ansa stateræ. The eye or handle on the top of a steel-yard, by which it is suspended, and which formed its centre of libration, being fixed to the shortest half of the beam, nearest the end on which the scale or object to be weighed was attached. (Vitruv. x. 3, 4.) The illustration is copied from a bronze steel-yard found at Pompeii.
5. Ansa gubernaculi (οἴαξ). The handle of a rudder (Vitruv. x. 3. 5.), which was the top of the rudder pole (AA in the illustration), which the helmsman held with both his hands, when the rudder consisted of a mere ore without any tiller (clavus), as in the right-hand cut. But in large vessels, when the addition of a tiller was necessary, he placed one hand on the ansa (at A, left-hand cut), and the other on the clavus (B), which enabled him to move his helm with much greater facility. The right-hand figure is copied from the Column of Trajan; the left-hand one from a painting at Pompeii.
6. Ansa ferrea. An iron cramp by which the large blocks of stone were fastened together in ancient buildings, when mortar was not used. Vitruv. ii. 8. 4. same as ANCON (6), where an illustration is given.
ANSA'TUS. Furnished with a handle or handles, as explained in the preceding word.
2. Ansata hasta, Ansatum telum (ἀγκυλωτός, ἀγκυλητόν, μεσάγκυλον). A spear or javelin, which was furnished with a semicircular rest for the hand, attached like a handle to the shaft.{TR: "shaft," → "shaft."} These handles were not permanent fixtures, but were put on to their weapons by the soldiers before going into battle, or upon an emergency, as occasion required Plutarch. 2. p. 180. C. ed. Xylandr. Compare Xen. Anab. iv. 2. 28.), and they served a double purpose, to assist in hurling them, when employed as missiles—ansatas mittunt de turribus hastas (Ennius ap. Non. s. v. Ansatæ, p. 556.); or as a stay for the hand which gave force to the thrust when used at close quarters, ansatis concurrunt telis (Ennius, ap. Macrob. Sat. vi. 1.). Both of these uses are indicated by the illustration, copied from a warrior's tomb at Pæstum (Nicolai, Antichità di Pesto, tav. vi.); and which is valuable for the authority it affords respecting the true meaning of the word, hitherto only guessed at, or misunderstood. But this picture proves the characteristic difference between the ansa and amentum of a javelin; the latter, as is well known, being a mere thong; the former, as here shown, and in accordance with the primary and other notions of the word, both in Latin and Greek, a handle either of an angular or curved form attached to some other object.
ANSULA. Diminutive of ANSA; applied in all the sense illustrated under that word. Valerius Maximus (viii. 12. 3.), in relating the story about Apelles and the cobbler, uses the diminutive ansulæ instead of ansæ, employed by Pliny (H. N. xxxv. 36. § 12.); and in the illustration to ANSA (3), it will be observed that there are in reality a number of smaller loop-holes under the larger ones. That wood-cut will, therefore, afford an example both of the ansa and ansula strictly taken.
ANTÆ (παράσταδες). Square pilasters (Non. s. v. p. 30.), which are used as a termination to the side walls of a temple, when those side walls are projected beyond the face of the cella, or main body of the building. (Vitruv. iv. 4. 1.) As one of these pilasters is required on each side to form a corresponding support, the word is always used in the plural; and thus a temple is said to be in antis or ἐν παραστάσι (Vitruv. iii. 2. 2.), when the porch is formed by the projection of the side walls, terminated, as described, by two square pilasters, which have two columns between them.
ANTA'RIUS. Funes antarii; ropes employed in the erection of a mast, column, or any other object of great weight and height. (Vitruv. x. 2. 3.) They were fastened to the head of the column, and to the ground on each side of it at proper distances, in order to keep it steady, and prevent its inclining either way, whilst being erected.
ANTEAM'BULO. A slave whose duty it was to precede the lectica of his master or mistress, and clear the way through a crowd. (Suet. Vesp. 2.); hence the same name is also applied to the freedman or client who performed the obsequious office of walking before his patron when he went abroad. Mart. Ep. ii. 18.
ANTECESSO'RES. Light cavalry soldiers who formed the advanced guard of an army on the march; they cleared the way for the main body, and selected the positions for a halt or a camp. Hirt. Bell Afr. 12. Suet. Vit. 17.
ANTECURSO'RES. Same as ANTECESSORES. Cæs. Bell. Civ. 1. 16.
ANTEFIX'A. Ornaments in terra-cotta, invented by the Etruscan architects, from whom they were borrowed by the Romans, and used to decorate various parts of an edifice externally as well as internally, to cover a flat surface, or conceal the junctures between two blocks of masonry, or to make an ornamental finish to any rough or inelegant contour. Hence the name is specially applied to the following distinct objects.
1. Long flat slabs of terra-cotta with designs in relief, which were nailed along the whole surface of a frieze (zophorus), in order to enrich the entablature, and give to the part a finished an ornamental effect. The Greek artists sculptured the marble itself, and held such a contrivance for concealing defects in supreme contempt. (Liv. xxxiv. 4.) The illustration represents an original antefix found at Rome, which had once been used for the purpose described. The holes for the nails by which it was fastened up are perceivable on the surface.
2. Ornaments of the same material which were affixed to the cornice of an entablature, for the purpose of affording a vent for the rain weater to discharge itself from the roof into the street. (Fest. s. v. They represent the "gurgoils" of Gothic architecture, but are of a more simple design, and most frequently formed by the mask of a lion's head, in allusion to the inundation of the Nile, which takes place when the sun is in the sign of Leo. The illustration is taken from an original found at Rome, which shows a round hole in the mouth, where a leaden tube was inserted to form a spout for the discharge of the water.
3. Upright ornaments placed along the top of an entablature, above the upper member of the cornice, to conceal the ends of the ridge tiles (imbrices/), and the juncture of the flat ones. The illustration represents a front and side view of two originals found at Rome; the upper figure, in the centre, shows the ends of the tiles as they appear without the antefix, the one beneath it with the antefixes attached; the right-hand figure also shows the shoulder at the back, which was inserted under the imbrex, to fix it up; and the left-hand one, which has an image of Victory on its face, thus presents a graphic commentary to the passage of Livy (xxvi. 23.), where he mentions that the statue of Victory on the top of the temple of Concord, fell down, and was caught by the Victories in the antefixes: Victoria, quæ in culmine erat, fulmine icta decussaque, ad Victorias, quæ in antefixis erant, hæsit, &c.
ANTEN'NA (ἐπίκριον). The yard-arm of a ship; which was made of a single piece of fir when the vessel was a small one, but of two pieces braced together for those of a larger size. Hence the word is often met with in the plural number, while the sail attached to it is at the same time expressed by the singular—antennis totum subnectite velum (Ovid, Met. xi. 483.). Small yards of a single piece are represented in several of the wood-cuts, illustrative of ancient shipping in different parts of this work; and the yard introduced at p. 36. s. v. ANQUINA shows distinctly the manner in which the two pieces were joined together for the larger kinds. The yard itself is taken from a bas-relief on a tomb at Pompeii; the details of the sail and truss by which it is fixed to the mast, from two terra-cotta lamps of Bartoli.
ANTEPAGMEN'TUM. The jamb of a door-case; especially so termed when the jamb was made with an ornamental moulding which projected before the upright pillar (scapus cardinalis) that formed the pivot on which the door turned, and concealed it entirely from view on the outside. Vitruv. iv. 6. Festus, s. v. Cato. R. R. xiv. 4.
This will be readily understood by the illustration, which represents an elevation and ground-plan of the ancient door and door-case still remaining to the church of S. Theodore at Rome, formerly the temple of Remus. On the right side the antepagmentum is cut away in order to expose the shaft and socket, while the left side and the ground-plan show the manner in which those parts were concealed by the antepagmentum, and explain the real meaning of the word. It will also be observed that a door so constructed could only open inwards; the style of the door, to which the pivot was affixed, and the socket in which it turned, being placed behind a projecting part of the jamb, which was hollowed to receive it, and thus formed a sort of frame lapping over the edges of the door on the outside, so as to exclude the external air from the interior.
2. Antepagmentum superius. Vitruv. iv. 6. 1. The lintel of a door-case; especially when the door opened inwards, and the moulding of the lintel lapped over its upper edge, in the same manner as just described with respect to the jambs on the sides, a construction commonly adopted in the houses at Pompeii, where the doors are usually placed entirely behind the door case.
ANTEPILA'NI. The men who, in the battle array of the Roman legion, were drawn up before the Pilani or Triarii, who were posted in the third line. Thus it is a general term, comprising the soldiers of the two first lines, and including both the Hastati and Principes, as they were respectively called. Liv. viii. 8.
ANTE'RIDES (ἐρείσματα). Buttresses built up against the outisde of a wall to support it if weak (Vitruv. vi. 8. 6.), seldom employed by the Greek or Roman architects, except to strengthen a foundation. The illustration shows the construction of the Cloaca Maxima at Rome, with external buttresses on each side of the masonry, as seen in an excavation superintended by Piranesi. These buttresses, however, are formed of a different stone from the rest of the work, and were not part of the original construction, but may be regarded as vestiges of the repairs which the sewers underwent upon the occasion alluded to by Dionysius (iii. 67.), when a sum of not less than 200,000l. of our money was laid out upon them.
ANTESIGNA'NI. A body of the boldest and best men of the legion, who were stationed immediately before the standards to prevent their being captured by the enemy. Cæs. B. C. i. 57. Liv. xxii. 5. Id. ix. 39.
ANTES'TOR. To summon a person, or ask him to become witness that a defendant refuses to come into court. On such occasions the plaintiff asked any of the bystanders to bear witness of the defendant's contempt, by the words licet antestari; upon receiving his assent, he touched the ear of his witness, then seized upon the person of his opponent, and dragged him forcibly into the court. Plaut. Pers. iv. 9. 10. Hor. Sat. i. 9. 78. Plin. H. N. xi. 103.
ANTIÆ. The ringlets of a woman's head of hair, which hang down to the ears from the temples (Festus, s. v. Isidor. Orig. xix. 31. 8.), and likewise the side locks of males, when studiously arranged in the same way from the temples down the sides of the face (Apul. Flor. i. 3. 3.); as in the example, from a small bronze figure found at Herculaneum. The illustration to ANADEMA shows these ringlets as worn by females, from a Pompeian painting.
ANTILE'NA. A breast strap attached to the pack saddles of a beast of burden, in order to keep the saddle from sliding backwards. (Isidor. Orig. xx. 16.) It was fastened to the front of the saddle on both sides, and passed across the chest of the animal, as in the illustration from a painting at Herculaneum; and was a necessary appendage to the pack-saddle in all mountainous countries, where the ascents are steep.
ANTIQUA'RIUS. A term used under the empire, and distinct from Librarius, to designate a person employed in copying old books (Isidor. Orig. vi. 14. 1.), and who wrote in the old uncial character after the running letters had come into general use. Becker, Gallus. i. p. 164. Transl.
ANTLIA (ἀντλία). A pump, or other machine for raising water, including all the various contrivances adopted by the ancients for that purpose; and not indicating any particular construction; the word being used by Martial (Ep. ix. 19. 4.) to designate the pole and bucket; by Suetonius (Tib. 51.), the water treadwheel; and by Callixenus (ap. Athen. v. 43.), the Archimedean screw. The different machines thus comprised under the general term Antlia are described and illustrated under their own specific names, and are as follows:—1. ROTA AQUARIA; 2. TYMPANUM; 3. TOLLENO; 4. GIRGILLUS; 5. CTESIBICA MACHINA and SIPHO; 6. COCHLEA.
ANULA'RIUS and ANNULA'RIUS. One who follows the trade of making rings. (Cic. Acad. ii. 46.) The ring makers formed a distinct collegium or company at Rome. Inscript. ap. Murat. 2015. 5.
ANULA'TUS and ANNULA'TUS. In general, having or being furnished with rings; whence
1. Anulati pedes, having fetters on the feet, in the manner of the farming slaves amongst the Romans, who worked in chains (Apul. Met. ix. p. 184.), as in the example, from an engraved gem.
2. Anulatæ aures. Ears with rings in them (Plaut. Pœn. v. 2. 20.), as in the example, from a Pompeian painting.
A'NULUS or AN'NULUS (δακτύλιος, σφραγίς). A ring for the finger; originally made of iron, and used as a signet for sealing. Subsequently, however, golden rings were adopted instead of iron, but the use of that metal at Rome was restricted to the senators, chief magistrates, and equites. (Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 4.) The example represents an original from the Dactyliotheca of Gorlæus. The signet ring was worn on the fourth finger of the left hand both by the Greeks and Romans (Aul. Gell. x. 10.); see the right-hand figure in the cut, which represents the hand of Jupiter, from a Pompeian painting; and thence the expression, sedere ad anulos alicui (Eum. Paneg. ad. Const. 15.), means to sit on the right hand of any one. But under the empire the fashion of wearing rings of various kinds, and degrees of value, as mere ornaments, became prevalent amongst all classes, and were worn on different fingers of both hands, as well as several at a time (Mart. Ep. v. 61. Id. xi. 59.); see the left-hand figure from a Pompeian painting, which shows a female hand with three rings, two on the fourth, and one on the little finger.
2. Anulus bigemmis. A ring which has two precious stones set in it. (Valerian. in Epist. ap. Trebell. Claud. 14.) The illustration exhibits an original from the Dactyliotheca of Gorlæus (Part i. No. 68) with two engraved gems set in it; one, a large signet, with the figure of Mars, and the other a small one, with a dove and myrtle branch.
3. Anulus velaris. A curtain ring, made like our own, to run pon a rod for the purpose of drawing or withdrawing the curtain. Amongst the Romans these rings were usually made of hard wood (Plin. H. N. xiii. 18.) In a house excavated at Heculaneum in 1828 (an elevation of which is given as an illustration to the article DOMUS), the iron rods upon which they ran between the columns of the Atrium were found entire, and similarly placed to the example annexed, which is from a miniature fo the Vatican Virgil, and exemplifies their object and use, though from the minuteness of the design not discernible upon the rod.
4. A ring set round the circle of a boy's hoop, for the purpose of creating a jingling noise as the hoop performed its revolutions (Mart. Epigr. xiv. 169.) Several of these were placed on the same hoop, as shown by the example, which is copied from a sepulchral bas-relief on a tomb still remaining near Tivoli.
5. A plait of long hair, arranged in circles, like rings, round the back part of the head (Mart. Epigr. ii. 66.), as seen in the illustration annexed, which represents Plotina, the wife of the emperor Trajan, from an engraved gem. The female peasantry in many parts of the Roman and Neapolitan states still continue to arrange their hair in a similar manner.
6. In architecture, annulets; which consist of a series of rings or circular fillets, varying in ancient examples from three to four in number, which are placed immediately below the echinus of a Doric capital, and fall off perpendicularly under one another like an inverted flight of steps. Vitruv. iv. 3. 4.
APALA'RE or APPLA'RE. A description of ladle or spoon, more particularly intended for cooking or handing round soft boiled or perhaps poached eggs (Gloss. Isid.); though it was also employed for other purposes. (Auson. Epist. xxi.) The illustration is copied from an original of bronze found in a kitchen at Pompeii, which, it is believed, affords a specimen of one of these implements.
APEX. Literally a pointed piece of olive wood, set in a flock of wool, which was worn on the top of the head by the Flamines and Salii (Festus, s. v. Albogalerus. Serv. ad Virgl. A. x. 270.). It was fastened by a fillet on each side, or to a cap which fitted the head, as in the example, from a Roman bas-relief; whence the word apex is often put for the cap itself. Fabius Pictor ap. Gell. x. 15. 3. Liv. vi. 41.
2. (κῶνος). The ridge on the top of a helmet to which the crest of horsehair was affixed. (Isidor. Orig. xviii. 14. 2. Virg. Æn. xii. 492.) The apex itself is prominently shown in the annexed example, which is copied from a bronze original found at Pompeii; but a specimen, with the horse-hair crest attached, is given under the article GALEA.
APHRAC'TUS or APHRAC'TUM (ἄφρακτον). A ship without a deck, or only partially covered fore and aft, in the manner which we term half-decked. (Cic. Att. v. 13.) The illustration is copied from the Vatican Virgil, and shows by the relative height of the men that it has no deck in the centre; by comparing the decked ship (s. v. NAVIS CONSTRATA), the different construction of the two will be readily apparent.
APIA'RIUM (μελισσών, μελισσοτροφεῖον). An apiary, or place where a number of beehives are kept. Columell. ix. 5. 6.
APIA'RIUS (μελισσεύς—οὐργός). One who tends and keeps bees. Plin. H. N. xxi. 31.
APICA'TUS. Wearing the apex or pointed cap of the Flamen Dialis. (Ovid. Fast. iii. 397.) See the engraving in the preceding column, and article FLAMEN.
APLUS'TRE and APLUS'TRUM (ἄφλαστον). An ornament made of wooden planks, somewhat resembling the feathers of a bird's wing, which was commonly placed on the stern of a ship. (Lucan. iii. 586. Lucret. iv. 439.) The illustration represents an aplustre in detail from an ancient bas-relief, of which there is a cast in the British Museum; the situation which it occupied upon the vessel is shown in the preceding wood-cut.
APODYTE'RIUM (ἀποδυτήριον). An undressing-room; especially a chamber in the baths (Cic. Q. Fr. iii. 1. 1. Plin. Ep. v. 6. 25.), where the visitors undressed, and left their clothes while bathing; for in the public establishments every person was compelled by law to strip himself before he passed into the interior apartments, as a check to robbery, and to prevent the concealment of stolen articles about the person. (Cic. Cæl. 26.) The illustration represents the interior of the Apodyterium in the baths at Pompeii; its relative position with regard to the other apartments of the establishment may be seen on the ground-plan of BALINEAE, on which it is marked A. It is furnished with three doors: the one on the left, at the further end of the engraving, is the general entrance from the outside; that on the right of it opens into the cold bath; and the nearest one on the right gives access to the warm bath. Seats for dressing and undressing upon run along three sides of the room; and holes are seen in the walls, in which wooden pegs were fixed for hanging up the clothes. The small dark niche under the window served to contain a lamp.
APOPHORE'TA (ἀποφόρητα). Presents which a host gave to his guests a the conclusion of an entertainment, to be carried home with them. Compliments of this kind were more especially customary during the fête of the Saturnalia. Suet. Cal. 55. Id. Vesp.
APOSPHRAGI'SMA (ἀποσφράγισμα). The device or impression upon a signet ring. (Plin. Epist. x. 55. 3.) See the illustrations s. v. ANULUS.
APOTHE'CA (ἀποθήκη). A store-room or repository for any description of stock. (Cic. Vatin. 5. Id. Phil. ii. 27.) This word contains the elements of the Italian bottega, and French boutqiue, a shop; but that is a perversion of the original sense; which did not mean a store in which goods were kept for sale, but only for the private use of the owner. Compare TABERNA.
2. In a more special sense by the Romans, a store room for wine in the upper part of the house (whence Horace, Od. iii. 21. 7. descende testa; Plin. Ep. ii. 17. 13. Plin. H. N. xiv. 14. 6. and 7.), where it was kept to ripen in amphoræ, or, as we might say, "in bottle;" whereas the new wine in dolia and cupæ, or, according to our expression "in the wood," was placed below in the cella vinaria. [CELLA.]
APOTHEO'SIS (αποθεωσις). A word borrowed from the Greek language, but only used at a late period (Tertull. Apol. 34.), for which the Latin term is CONSECRATIO, which see.
APPARITO'RES. A collective name given to the public officers attached to the service of the Roman magistrates, including the ACCENSI, LICTORES, PRÆCONES, SCRIBÆ, VIATORES, &c. Cic. Q. Fr. 1. 1. 4. Suet. Tib. 11.
2. In the army, the servants who waited upon the military tribunes. Hirt. B. Afr. 37. Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 52.
AQUÆDUCTUS (ὑδραγωγεῖον). An aqueduct; an artificial channel, frequently of many miles in length, for the purpose of conveying a pure stream of water from its source to any determinate point (Cic. Att. xiii. 6. Frontinus de Aqæduct.). The illustration represents a portion of the aqueduct constructed by the emperor Claudius, which is built of travertine stone, and upon a single tier of arches; but some aqueducts conveyed as many as three separate streams in distinct channels, one above another; and others were built with two or three tiers of arches, according to the nature of the sites over which they passed. The channel (specus), through which the water flowed, is seen, uncovered at the top.
AQUA'GIUM. A water course or stream of water which was common property, and could only be diverted in small portions by the proprietors through whose lands it passed. Pomp. Dig. 43. 20. 3.
AQUA'LIS. Any vessel which contains water for drinking; a water can, or water jug. Plaut. Curc. ii. 3. 33. Id. Mil. iii. 2. 39.
2. The same as Matula (Varro, L. L. v. 119.); to which the joke contained in the passage of Plautus (Mil. iii. 2. 39.) probably alludes.
AQUA'RIUS (ὑδροφόρος). A water carrier. Cic. Fam. viii. 6.
2. A slave employed in the baths, who brought in the water, poured it over the bather, and filled the labra, which latter duty is shown by the figure in the illustration, copied from a fictile vase. These men were noted for their licentious habits. Juv. vi. 332. compared with Festus, s. v.
3. An officer at Rome attached to the service of the aqueducts, whose duty it was to see that not more than the quantity allowed by law to each individual, or public establishment, was laid on from the main. Front. Aq.
AQUILA. The eagle, the principal ensign of the Roman legion (Plin. H. N. x. 5.), made of silver or bronze, and with expanded wings, as shown in the example, from an original published by La Chausse (Recueil d'Antiq. Romaines v. 15.). The manner in which it was carried is shown by the illustration to the following word.
2. (αἰετός, ἀετός, ἀέτωμα). In architecture the triangular face included by the horizontal and sloping cornices of a pediment, to which latter it formed, as it were, a support (sustinentis fastigium aquilæ Tac. Hist. iii. 71.). The term is properly Greek (Pausan. i. 24. 5. Id. v. 10. 20.), and corresponds to the Latin TYMPANUM; unless the latter word was employed when the part consisted of a mere naked face unadorned with sculpture; and the former, when the surface was broken by bas-reliefs; for the name originated in a very early Greek practice of carving an eagle in the pediment of a temple, especially of those which were dedicated to Jupiter, as in the example from a bas-relief of the Villa Mattei at Rome. In Etruscan or other edifices of aræostyle construction, the aquila was formed of wood, in order to lighten the pressure upon the architrave; a circumstance which caused the conflagration of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, when the Capitol was besieged by Vespasian. Tac. Hist. l. c.
AQUIL'IFER. The principal ensign of a Roman legion, who carried the eagle. (Cæs. B. G. v. 37. Suet. Aug. 10.). There was but one aquilifer to each legion, though there were many signiferi, or standard bearers. (Veget. Mil. ii. 13. Compare Tac. Ann. i. 39. and 61.) The example is taken from the Column of Trajan, on which an ensign carrying the eagle is several times represented, with the skin of a wild beast over his head and back, in the same manner as here shown.
AQUIMINA'RIUM, AQUIMINA'LE, or AQUÆMANA'LIS. A jug from which water was poured over the hands before and after meals.{TR: "meals," → "meals."} It was accompanied by a basin to receive the water as it fell from the hands, so that the two together would answer to our "basin and ewer." Varro, ap. Non. s. v. p. 547. Ulp. Dig. 34. 2. leg. 19. n. 12.
ARA (θυτήριον, βωμός). An altar, i. e. any structure raised above the ground, either of turf, stones, brick, or sculptured marble, upon which the offerings made to the gods were placed or burned. Altars were either circular or square, with a cavity at the top, in which the fire was kindled, and an orifice at the side or bottom, through which the libations of wine, or juices of the burnt offering, exuded. The cavity for the fire is shown at the top, and the orifice for the outflow of liquids at the bottom, of the right-hand figure in the cut, which is copied from a Pompeian painting; the left-hand figure is from a fictile vase, and shows the liquid streaming out from a vent-hole placed higher up. These parts are essential to every altar, on which victims were burnt, or libations poured; where they are wanting, though the marble bears a general resemble to an altar, it is only a cippus, not an ara, a fact which archæologists too often lose sight of.
2. Altars were erected in the following situations. In the lucus, or sacred gove, before the statue of the divinity to whom it was consecrated (Hom. Il. ii. 305.), as in the illustration from the arch of Trajan, in which the trees represent the sacred grove surrounding a statue of Diana, before which the altar is placed.
3. On the steps under the entrance porch, or in front, of a temple; as in the annexed engraving, which represents the remains of the temple of Fortune at Pompeii, where the altar is seen at the bottom of the steps which lead up to the entrance door.
4. In the streets of a town (Plaut. Aul. iv. i. 20. Id. Most. v. i. 45.), and against the walls of a house, in front of a picture or image of the Lares Viales: as in the annexed street view at Pompeii. The top compartment of the bas-relief above the altar contains the figures of two LARES, exactly similar to the one used as an illustration for that word; and the two snakes below are a sign to warn the public against the commission of a "nuisance," as explained under ANGUIS.
5. Lastly, they werer placed near or upon the impluvium of private houses; and on these the family sacrifices were offered to the Penates. The engraving represents a restoration of part of the atrium in the house of the Dioscuri, at Pompeii, in which the impluvium is seen in the foreground, with the altar on its margin, traces of which were discovered when the excavation was made.
6. Ara turicrema. An altar on which francincense was sprinkled and burnt. (Lucret. ii. 353. Virg. Æn. iv. 453.) The illustration, from an ancient painting discovered at the foot of the Palatine hill, shows a female engaged in the duty of sprinkling incense upon a burning altar, which, from its diminutive size, appears to have been intended solely for such offerings; but the passages of Lucretius and Virgil, above referred to, seem to indicate that the epithet turicrema was also applied very generally to every kind of altar, because the incense was commonly used with all.
7. Ara sepulcri or ara funeris. The funeral pile upon which a dead body was burned (Virg. Æn. vi. 177. Ov. Trist. iii. 13. 21.), so termed because it was built up of logs of wood in a square form, like an altar. The illustration is from a bas-relief representing the story of the Iliad, supposed to have been executed in the age of Nero, and represents the burning of Patroclus.
ARACH'NE. A particular kind of sun-dial, which is naturally believed to have received its name from a resemblance to the spider's web produced by the hour lines intersecting the circles of the equator and tropics, described upon it; but of which no ancient specimen has been discovered. Vitruv. ix. 8.
ARÆOSTY'LOS (ἀραιοστύλος). Aræostyle; applied to a building or colonnade in which the columns are situated at wide intervals, of not less than 3¼ or 4 of their own diameters apart from each other; as in the lowest line of the annexed diagram, which shows the relative width of the five different kinds of intercolumniations adopted by the ancients. The aræostyle construction was particularly employed in the Tuscan order, and for localities frequented by a large concourse of people, in order not to occupy too much room by a multitude of columns. It required an architrave of wood, as stone or marble could not support a superincumbent weight upon supports placed so far apart. The colonnade surrounding the Forum of Pompeii is of this construction, in which vestiges of the wooden architraves were found at the period when it was excavated. Vitruv. iii. 2.
ARA'TOR (ἀροτήρ). One who ploughs; a ploughman (Plin. H. N. xviii. 49. § 2.). Also a ploughing ox, for the word is equally applied to animals (Ovid. Fast. i. 698.). Both are shown by the illustration, from a Roman bas-relief.
2. A tenant farmer upon a large scale, who cultivated extensive tracts of the public lands for a tenth part of the produce; generally persons of the equestrian order, and spoken of by Cicero as a useful and excellent class of men. Cic. Agr. ii. 31. 2. Verr. iii. 55.
ARA'TRUM (ἄροτρον). A plough. The plough most commonly represented on ancient monuments is a very simple machine, consiting of the branch of an elm tree either naturally or artificially bent into a crook (buris) at one end, which when sharpened to a point, and cased with iron, answered the purpose of a share (vomer); another branch growing out from the main one in a direction contrary to the crooked end, served for a plough tail (stiva) or handle to guide the machine, and press the share to a sufficient depth into the ground. The whole of these parts and details are distinctly shown by the preceding wood-cut.
2. The next illustration represents a plough of improved construction, from a bas-relief discovered in the island of Magnesia. With the exception of not being furnished with a coulter, it possessed all the component parts enumerated by the Greek and Latin authors: viz. A A, buris (γύης), the plough-tail, the opposite end of which forms the pole (temo, ἱστοβοεύς); B, dentale (ἔλυμα), the share beam; C, vomer (ὕννις), the plough-share; D is a truss which binds the share-beam more firmly to the pole and plough-tail, and which some archæologists distinguish by the name fulcrum, but without quoting their authority; E E, aures (πτερά), the earth-boards; F, stiva (ἐχέτλη), the handle by which the ploughman directed the plough.
3. The next example represents a wheeled plough (currus) from Caylus, which besides the parts above enumerated, is likewise furnished with a coulter (culter), like the blade of a knife, attached to the pole in front of the share.
4. Aratrum auritum. A plough furnished with mould-boards. Pallad. i. 43. 1. Wood-cut, No. 2. E E.
5. Aratrum simplex. A plough without mould-boards. Pallad. l. c. Woodcut. s. ARATOR.
ARBUS'CULÆ (ἁμαξόποδες). Strong wooden collars, or rings fastened underneath a cart (plaustrum) or under an engine of war, for the purpose of receiving the axle, which revolved together with its wheels in these collars, in the same manner as now seen in a child's go-cart (Vitruv. x. 14. 1. Ginzrot, Wagen und Fahrwerke, i. 91. 3.). When the wheels revolved upon their axle, as was usual for carriages (currus), the axle was of course a fixture, and arbusculæ were not necessary.
ARCA (κιβωτός). Any large and strong box or chest in which clothes, money, or any kind of property was kept (Cato, R. R. ii. 3. Cic. Parad. vi. 1. Juv. xi. 26. Suet. Cal. 49); a clothes trunk, money chest, &c. The example here introduced is a very remarkable specimen of a money chest, discovered in the atrium of a house at Pompeii; and which, with great apparent reason, is believed to have been a chest in which the quæstor kept the public monies. It stands upon raised pedestals coated with marble; the frame is of wood, lined inside with bronze, and plated outside with iron. It is described in detail in Gell's Pompeiana, vol. ii. pp. 30—31.
2. A common wooden box in which the remains of such persons as could not afford the expense of a funeral and regular coffin were carried to the place of sepulture. Hor. Sat. i. 8. 9. Lucan. viii. 736. Caii Dig. ii. 7. 7.
3. A coffin in which a corpse was deposited entire, in the earth or in a tomb, when not reduced to ashes on the funeral pile (Plin. H. N. xiii. 27. Val. Max. i. 1. 12.). The illustration shows the plan and elevation of an original coffin of baked clay (Uggeri, Capo di Bove, pl. 19.). The shaded part in the plan is a raised sill for the head of the corpse, and the round hole in it is a cavity for receiving aromatic balsams, which were poured in through a corresponding orifice seen on the side of the shell in the upper figure. The whole was covered by a lid.
4. A dungeon cell in a private house where slaves were confined. Cic. Milo, 22.
5. A wooden caisson, employed when laying foundations under water. It was a square box without top or bottom, sunk into the ground, from the interior of which the water was pumped out, the void being then filled in with stone or other materials, of which the foundation was composed. Vitruv. v. 12. 3.
ARCA'RII. Officers who kept the accounts of the emperor's pribvy purse (fiscus, whence they were termed Cæsariani; their offices were situated in the Forum of Trajan. Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 43. Fragment. jur. ante Justinean. a Maio edita, p. 38.
2. In private families, cashiers or servants who kept the accounts, and superintended the receipts and disbursements of their master's property. Inscript. ap. Grut. 641. 7, 8. Scæv. Dig. 40. 5. 41.
AR'CERA. A close covered cart boarded all over, so as to resemble a large chest (arca), which was used at Rome for the transport of invalids or aged and infirm persons, before the invention of litters and other more luxurious contrivances (Varro, L. L. v. 140.). The inmate reclined in it at full length, for which purpose it was furnished with cushions and pillows inside; and the exterior was usually covered over with loose drapery to give it a more sightly appearance, and conceal the rough boarding of which it was made (Gell. xx. 1. 8.). The illustration is from a sepulchral marble preserved in the Museum at Baden, published by Ginzrot (Wagen und Fahrwerke, tab. 19. 2.), and may be regarded as the only known example of this primitive conveyance, the great antiquity of which is authenticated by the mention of it in the Twelve Tables. (Gell. l. c.). The original also shows a bundle of drapery placed on the roof in a heap, intended to spread over the whole carriage, as mentioned above.
ARCHIMI'MUS (ἀρχίμιμος). The leader of a company of buffoons, who were engaged at funerals to dance and play the merry-andrew in the procession, the leader of the party enacting a mock representation of the person and character of the deceased. Suet. Vesp. 19. See also MIMUS, 2.
ARCUA'RIUS. One who makes bows and arrows. Aur. Arc. Dig. 50. 6. 6. Compare Veget. Mil. ii. 11.
ARCUA'TIO. A substruction of arches for the support of any superstructure, as a roadway, bridge, or aqueduct. Frontinus, 18 and 21. Cut of AQUÆDUCTUS.
ARCUA'TUS. In general arched, or built upon arches. Plin. Ep. x. 47. 2. See cut of AQUÆDUCTUS.
2. Arcuatus currus. A two-wheeled carriage with an arched awning over head. (Liv. i. 21.) The example is from a painting in an Etruscan tomb, published by Micali (Italia avanti il Dominio de' Romani).
ARCUBALLIS'TA. An instrument for shooting arrows, combining the properties of the bow and ballista. The name points to a weapon in the nature of the modern cross-bow; but it is impossible to define it precisely, as the exact character of the BALLISTA is not sufficiently understood. Veget. Mil. ii. 15.
ARCUBALLISTA'RIUS. One who manages the Arcuballista. Veget. Mil. iv. 21.
AR'CULA (κιβώτιον). Diminutive of ARCA, in its general senses; but also specially applied as follows:—
1. A painter's colour box, divided into a number of separate compartments; more especially used by encaustic painters, in which they kept distinct the different coloured waxes used in their art. (Varro, R. R. iii. 17. 4.) The illustration is from a Roman bas-relief, which represents Painting inducing M. Varro to illustrate his book with portraits.
2. A small sepulchre or stone coffin, such as was used by the Christianized Romans, and deposited in their catacombs, when the bodies were buried, without being burnt. (Inscript. ap. Grut. 1031. 4.) The illustration represents one of these coffins in the catacombs at Rome, a portion only being removed in the drawing to show the skeleton.
ARCULA'RIUS. A maker of arculæ, caskets, little boxes, jewel cases, &c. Plaut. Aul. iii. 5. 45.
AR'CULUM. A chaplet made from the branch of the pomegranate tree bent into a circle, and fastened at the ends by a fillet of white wool, which was worn by the Flaminica Dialis at all sacrifices, and on certain occasions likewise by the wife of the Rex sacrificulus. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. iv. 137.
2. Or Arculus. A porter's knot; especially the linen cloth rolled up and twisted into a circle which the young women placed on the top of their heads in the same way as is still practised by the Italian peasantry, as a support for the baskets (canestrae, cistæ) which they carried in the Panathenaic and other festivals. (Festus, s. v.) This contrivance is frequently represented in sculpture upon figures carrying any sort of burden on their heads, such as the Canephoræ, Cayatides, Telamones, of which latter the figure in the cut presents an example from the baths of Pompeii; and is frequently mistaken for the modius, which it resembles indeed in appearance, but would be a most inappropriate ornament for such a position.
AR'CUMA. A small cart (plaustrum) or truck, in which a single person could be conveyed. (Festus, s. v.) The illustration, from a sepulchral bas-relief at Rome, agrees so precisely with the definition of Festus as to leave no doubt of its real name.
ARCUS (βιός, τόξον). A bow for shooting arrows, the use of which amongst the Greeks was chiefly confined to the sports of the field and contests of skill, with some partial exceptions during the Homeric age (Il. xii. 350.), after which it never appears as a military weapon. The Romans employed it in like manner as a hunting and fowling piece; but it was never introduced into their armies, excepting by auxiliaries from countries where it was the national weapon.
The Greek bows were constructed on two different plans; the one consisting of two horns joined together by a straight stock in the centre, like the top figure in the cut, from a fictile vase; the other, when unbent, had a circular form, like a bay (sinus), as shown by the bottom figure, also from a fictile vase; and when strung, was bent backwards against the curve, which must have given it tremendous power, and will explain the true meaning of Homer's epithet παλίντονον (Il. viii. 266.). The two forms are also distinguished by the Latin writers with the epithets patulus (Ov. Met. viii. 30.), and sinuosus or sinuatus (Id. Met. viii. 380. Am. i. 1. 23.)
2. The Roman bow, as shown in their paintings, did not differ from the Greek one.
3. Arcus Scythicus. The scythian bow mentioned by the Greek and Latin authors, possessed a very different form from either of the two preceding examples, as will be perceived by the illustration copied from a candelabrum in the Villa Albani, which represents Hercules carrying off the sacred tripod from the temple of Apollo (see Hygin. Fab. 32.). A bow of similar form is seen in the hands of Hercules on a gem in the Florence gallery; on one of the Stosch Cabinet; and on the base of a candelabrum at Dresden, representing the same quarrel between Hercules and Apollo.
The lunated figure in the first woodcut has often been cited by philologists as a specimen of the Scythian bow, but the following particulars will satisfactorily prove that such a supposition is not supported by authority: — 1. Hercules made use of two bows (Herod. iv. 10.); one of which, as he received it from Apollo (Apollodor. ii. 4. 11.), was necessarily a Greek one; the other, which he had from Teutarus, a Scythian shepherd (Lycophr. 56. Tzetz. ad Lycophr. 50. Compare Theocr. Id. xiii. 55.), was necessarily one of those used by the natives of that country. 2. Lycophron (917.) assimilates the Scythian bow to a serpent; and Becker, in describing the figure on the candelabrum of Dresden (Augusteum, pl. 5.), singularly enough mistakes it for a serpent, though the quiver at his side is clearly indicative of its real character. 3. Strabo (ii. 332. Siebenk. Compare Ammian. xxii. 8. 5.) compares the outline of the Pontus Euxinus to that of a Scythian bow; one side, which is nearly straight, forming the chord; the other, which, as he says, is recessed into two bays, one larger and more circular, the other smaller, and receding less, the bow itself. 4. Euripides (ap. Athen. x. 80.) introduces a countryman who had seen the name of Theseus, which he could not read, somewhere inscribed, endeavouring to explain the characters of which it was composed by some familiar image; and he compares the fourth letter, the Greek Sigma, to a lock of hair twisted into curls like the tendrils of a vine, βόστρυχος εἱλιγμένος. 5. Whilst Agathon (ap. Athen. l. c.), in relating the same story, makes his rustic assimilate the same letter to the form of a Scythian bow. 6. Now the earliest character used to express the Greek Sigma was written thus ???no printable character???, or thus , ???no printable character??? as shown by the Sigean marbles, a monument of very high antiquity (Chishul. Inscr. Sig. p. 4. and 41.), and not like the letter C, which is a more modern form. 7. Thus the bow carried by the figure in our engraving corresponds exactly with every one of the images to which the Scythian bow is compared—a serpent, the contour of the Euxine sea, the tendril of a parasitical plant, and the Greek Sigma; whereas the lunated form has no affinity with any one of them, except indeed the letter C; but if that were admitted,all the rest would be utterly inappropriate.
4. An arch, a mechanical arrangement by which tiles, bricks, or blocks of stone are disposed in the form of a curve, which enables them to support one another by their mutual pressure, and bear any superincumbent weight, such as a bridge, aqueduct, upper story of a building, &c. &c. Ovid. Met. iii. 169. Juv. Sat. iii. 11.
Though the principle upon which an arch is constructed was not entirely unknown to the Greeks, yet their universal adoption of the columnar style of architecture, and general deficiency of roads, aqueducts, and bridges, rendered its use unnecessary to them; but the Romans employed it extensively in all their great works, as will be seen by numerous examples throughout these pages, and at a very early period, as shown by the illustration annexed, which is an elevation of the wall called the pulcrum littus on the banks of the Tiber, and the three concentric arches which formed the Cloaca Maxima, a structure belonging to the fabulous age of the elder Tarquin.
5. An archway, or triumphal arch (Suet. Claud. 1., and with the epithet triumphalis, Cenotaph. Pisan. C. Cæsaris. August. F.). During the republican period these were temporary structures of wood thrown across a street through which a triumph passed, and removed after the show; for the permanent archways recorded under the republic (Liv. xxxiii. 27. Id. xxxvii. 3.) are termed fornices, and were not erected to commemorate the honours of a triumph. (See FORNIX.) But under the empire they were converted into permanent edifices, built of marble, and erected in various parts of the city, as well at Rome as in the provincial towns; small and unostentatious at first, with a single gang-way, but subsequently increased in size, and elaborately covered with sculpture and statues, as in the illustration, which presents an elevation of the triumphal arch of Septimius Severus, now standing at Rome, to which the statues only on the top have been restored, as they originally existed, from the design on a medal of that emperor.
A'REA. In its orginal sense, is used to designate any vacant plot of ground in a city, affording a site for a building (Varro, L. L. v. 38. Hor. Epist. i. 10. 13.), and from that it is also transferred to the open space upon which a house that had been pulled down had formerly stood (Liv. iv. 16.); whence the following more special significations are deduced:—
1. A large open space in a town, like the French place, the Italian piazza, and the English parade, left free and unencumbered by buildings for the exercise and recreation of the townspeople. (Vitruv. i. 7. 1. Hor. Od. i. 9. 18.) These areas were often embellished by statues and works of art; sometimes surrounded by posts and rails to define their extent, and prevent private individuals from building on the public property (Inscript. ap. Bellori, Fragm. Urb. Rom. p. 70.); and still further to preclude all attempts at encroachment or appropriation, they were consecrated to some deity who had his altar erected in the centre; and hence they were distinguished from one another by the name of the deity under whose protection they were placed, as the area of Mercury, the area of Pollux, the area of Apollo, which latter is represented in the illustration from the ancient marble plan of Rome, now preserved in the Capitol, but which originally formed the pavement to the temple of Romulus and Remus. The altar, ascended on each side by a flight of steps, is seen in the centre; the open space around is sufficiently apparent, and its extent may be guessed by completing the mutilated inscription, which was AREA APOLLINIS.
2. The open space of ground in front of a Roman house, temple, or other edifice, which forms the area of the vestibule (VESTIBULUM, Plin. Paneg. 52. 3. Inscript. ap. Nardini, Rom. Ant. iii. 4.), as in the example (copied from an ancient painting, in which some of the principal edifices of Rome are depicted), where it lies between the two projecting wings in front of the building.
3. An open space in front of a cemetery, around which the sepulchres were ranged, and which served as an Ustrinum, where the funeral pyre was raised, and the body burnt. (Stat. Theb. vi. 57. Tertull. ad Scapul. 3. Marini, Inscriz. Alb. p. 118.) The illustration represents an area of this description, with the tombs built round it, which was excavated in the Villa Corsini at Rome.
4. (ἀλωή). A threshing-floor; or more accurately a flat circular area in the open fields, paved with flints, and then covered over with clay or chalk, and levelled by the roller, in which the grains of corn were trodden out of the ear by cattle driven round it (Virg. G. i. 178. Hor. Sat..i. 1. 45. Cato, Columell. Pallad.), a mode of threshing commonly adopted in Egypt, Greece, and Italy, even at the present day, and clearly shown by the example from a painting in the Egyptian tombs.
5. The square open space between the two wings of a "clap net" when they are spread on the ground, upon which the fowler sprinkled his seed to induce the birds to alight between them. Plaut. Asin. i. 3. 64.
6. A bed or border in a flower or a kitchen garden. Columell. xi. 3. 13. Pallad. i. 34. 7.
7. In Martial (x. 24. 9.), apparently used for the race-course in a circus, round which the chariots ran, more usually called spatium; but the reading is doubtful.
ARE'NA. The flat oval floor in the interior of an amphitheatre, where the wild beasts and gladiators fought, so called because it was sprinkled over with sand to prevent the feet from slipping (Suet. Nero, 53. Juv. Sat. iv. 100.); see the second wood-cut s. AMPHITHEATRUM, which represents the amphitheatre at Pompeii, in its present state; the arena is the flat space in the centre, where the two small figures are standing.
ARENA'RIA or ARENA'RIUM. A sand-pit. Cic. Varro. Vitruv.
ARENA'RIUS. A general term for any one who contended in the arena of an amphitheatre either against his fellow-men, or with wild beasts, including therefore the GLADIATOR and BESTIARIUS. Pet. Sat. cxxvi. 6.
2. A teacher of arithmetic or geometry, so called because he marked out his calculations or diagrams upon a tray covered with sand. Tertull. Pall. 6. ABACUS, 1.
ARE'OLA. Diminutive of AREA; a small open square or place (Plin. Ep. v. 6. 20.); a small bed for flowers or vegetables, &c. in a garden. Columell. xi. 2. 30.
ARETAL'OGUS. A personage introduced at dinner time amongst the Romans to amuse the company, but in what character or by what means is not clearly ascertained, perhaps as a sort of court jester or buffoon. Juv. Sat. xv. 16. Ruperti ad l. Suet. Aug. 74. Casaub. ad l..
ARGE'I. Certain sites in the city of Rome, twenty-seven in number, with small chapels attached to them (Varro, L. L. v. 45.), consecrated by Numa for the performance of religious rites (Liv. i. 22.), and visited, it would appear, in succession (Ov. Fast. iii. 791. Aul. Gell. x. 16. 4.), upon certain festivals, like the Stazioni of modern Italy.
2. Images or Guy Fawkeses, made of bullrushes, thirty in number, which were annually cast into the Tiber from the Sublician bridge, on the Ides of May, by the pontifices and Vestals; the origin and meaning of which custom are involved in obscurity. Varro, L. L. vii. 44. Ov. Fast. v. 621. Festus. s. v.
ARGENTA'RIA, sc. Taberna. A silversmith, banker, or money-changer's booth or shop, generally situated under the colonnade which surrounded the forum. Plaut. Ep. ii. 2. 17. Liv. xxvi. 27.
ARGENTA'RIUS. A private banker, as contradistinguished from the public banker (Mensarius); he received deposits, and allowed interest upon them, acted as money-changer for foreigners, and attended public sales as a broker or commissioner to bid for his employers. Cic. Cæcin. 6. Plaut. Aul. iii. 5. 54. Suet. Nero, 5.
AR'IES (κριός). A battering-ram; an instrument composed of a powerful wooden beam, furnished at one extremity with a mass of iron moulded into the form of a ram's head, which was driven with violence against the walls of a fortified place, in order to effect a breach in them. Cic. Off. i. 11. Virg. Æn. xii. 706.
In the primitive manner of using this instrument, it was carried by a number of men in their arms, and thrust without any other assistance than their united energies, against the opposing walls (Vitruv. x. 13.1), in the same way as here employed by the Dacians, on the column of Trajan. The next improvement was to suspend the ram from a beam placed upon uprights, by which means it was swung to and fro, with less manual labour, but much greater mechanical force (Vitruv. x. 13. 2.); and, lastly, it was fixed upon a frame which moved upon wheels, and was covered by a shed and siding of boards, to protect the soldiers who worked it from the missiles of the enemy (Vitruv. l.c.), as here shown, from the triumphal arch of Septimius Severus.
ARMA'RIUM. An armoire, cabinet, or cupboard, for keeping domestic utensils, clothes, money, curiosities, or any of the articles in daily use. It was a large piece of furniture, usually fixed against the walls of a room, divided by shelves into compartments, and closed in front by doors. (Cic. Cluent. 64. Plaut. Capt. iv. 4. 10. Pet. Sat. xxix. 8. Plin. H. N. xxix. 32.) The example here given represents one of these cup-boards exactly as described, which forms part of the furniture belonging to a shoemaker's room in a Pompeian painting. It is filled with lasts and boots.
2. A book-case in a library; also a sort of fixture, and sometimes let into the walls of a room. (Plin. Ep. ii. 17. 8.) These were divided into a number of separate compartmens by shelves and upright divisions, and each division was distinguished by a number, as the first, second, and third case. Vitruv. vii. Præf. 7. Vopisc. Tac. 8.
ARMENTA'RIUS. A herdsman of any kind, who had the charge of a drove of oxen, for instance, or of brood mares (Appul. Met. vii. p. 142.), and under whose care and superintendence they were driven up from the plains into the mountains, and kept there at pasture during the hot months of summer. Lucret. vi. 1250. Varro, R. R. ii. 5. 18. Virg. G. iii. 344.
ARMILLA (ψέλλιον or ψέλιον). An armlet for men, consisting of three or four massive coils of gold or bronze, so as to cover a considerable portion of the arm (Festus, s. v. Isidor. Orig. xix. 31. 16.), generally worn by the Medes and Persians, and also by the Gauls (Claud. Quadrigar. ap. Gell. ix. 13. 2.) as an ordinary part of their dress, and indication of rank and power. The armlet belonged likewise to the national costume of the early Sabines (Liv. i. 11.); and was frequently given as a reward of valour to the Roman soldier who had distinguished himself, to be preserved as a record, or worn as a decoration upon solemn occasions. (Liv. x. 44.) The example here given is from a bronze original which was discovered in a tomb at Ripatransona upon the arm of a skeleton.
2. (ἀμφίδεα, χλιδών, περικάρπιον). In a more general sense, any circle of gold, or ornamental ring, which females, and, more especially, the women of Greece, wore upon various parts of their persons, round the wrists, on the fleshy part of the arm, or above the ankle, all of which fashions are exemplified in the annexed figure of Ariadne, from a Pompeian painting. The Greek language had an appropriate term for each of these ornaments; but the Latin, which is not equally copious, includes all under the same name. (Plaut. Men. iii. 3. 3. Pet. Sat. lxvii. 6.) Where they are ascribed to men, as in Pet. Sat. xxxii. 4. and Mart. Ep. xi. 21. 7., it is to ridicule in the first instance the vulgar ostentation of a parvenu, and in the latter to characterise a womanly effeminacy of manner.
3. An iron ring fastened upon the head of a beam, to prevent it from splitting. Vitruv. x. 2. 11.
ARMILLA'TUS. Wearing an armlet (armilla), an ornament especially characteristic of the Asiatic and some other foreign races; hence a notion of disparagement is commonly conveyed by the word, even when used with reference to those nations (Suet. Nero 30.), and of severe censure when applied to the Romans, as indicating an unmanly imitation of foreign customs. Suet. Cal. 52. Compare ARMILLA.
2. Armillatus canis. A dog with an armilla or collar round his neck, as in the example, from a mosaic at Pompeii. Propert. iv. 8. 24.
ARMILLUM. A vessel for wine, which Varro (ap. Non. s. v. p. 547.) describes as a kind of urceolus, and Festus (s. v.) enumerates amongst the sacrificial vessels. It must, however, have been in very common use, as may be inferred from the proverb anus ad armillum (Lucil. Sat. p. 60. 10. ed. Gerlach. Apul. Met. ix. p. 197.), which is said of persons when they recur to their accustomed tricks or habits, as "old women to their wine cups."
ARQUITES. An old form from arquus, instead of arcus; bowmen, for whom the more usual name is SAGITTARII. Festus, s. v.
AR'TEMON (ἀρτέμων, N. T.). One of the sails on a ship, but which one, or where placed, is extremely doubtful. Isidorus (Orig. xix. 3. 3.) says, that it was used more for the purpose of assisting the steerage of a vessel than for accelerating her speed—dirigendæ potius navis causa, quam celeritatis—which would seem to indicate a sail attached to a low mast, slanting over the stern, like that which is frequently used in our fishing boats, and in the small crafts of the Mediterranean, which the sailors there call the trinchetto. This is probably the true interpretation, for it distinguishes the sail by a particular use and locality, entirely distinct from the various other sails of which the position and nature are sufficiently ascertained. Bayfius, however (R. Nav. p. 121.) considers it to be the
2. The principal pulley in a system comprising several others (polyspaston), which was attached to a contrivance for raising heavy weights. Vitruv. x. 2. 9.
ARTOLAG'ANUS (ἀρτολάγανον). A very delicate and savoury kind of bread cake, flavoured with wine, milk, oil, and pepper. Athen. iii. 79. Cic. Fam. ix. 20. Plin. H. N. xviii. 27.
ARTOP'TA (ἀρτόπτη). A mould in which pastry and bread were sometimes baked. Plaut. Aul. ii. 9. 4. Compare Juv. Sat. v. 72., but most of the commentators refer this passage to the person who made this kind of bread. The example represents two originals from Pompeii of the simplest kind, but others of more elaborate patterns have been found in the same city.
ARTOPTIC'IUS, sc. panis. A roll, cake, or small loaf of bread baked in a mould. (Plin. H. N. xviii. 27.) The example is from an original, which was discovered with several others in a baker's shop at Pompeii, hardened but uninjured by the lapse of so many centuries.
A'RULA. Diminutive of ARA.
ARUN'DO. A reed or cane; a plant very generally used by the ancients in the manufacture of many articles for which the long, light, elastic, and tapering form of its stalk was peculiarly suitable; whence the word is used both by prose writers and poets to designate the object formed out of it. (Plin. H. N. xvi. 66.) Of these the most important are as follows:—
1. A bow, made of cane, particularly employed by the Parthians and Oriental races. Sil. Ital. x. 12.
2. An arrow made of cane, employed by the Egyptians and Oriental races, as well as the Greeks. (Virg. Æn. iv. 73. Ovid. Met. i. 471.) The example represents an original Egyptian arrow of this description.
3. A fishing rod made of cane, which is shown in the annexed engraving from a painting at Pompeii. Plaut. Rud. ii. 1. 5. Ov. Met.. xiii. 923.
4. A cane rod tipped with birdlime, employed by the ancient fowlers for catching birds. The example here given is from a terra-cotta lamp, on which a fowler is represented going out for his sport, with this rod over his shoulder; the call bird sits on one end of it, and a cage or a trap is suspended from the other. It was applied in the following manner. The sportsman first hung the cage with his call bird on the bough of a tree, under which, or at some convenient distance from it, he contrived to conceal himself, and when a bird, attracted by the singing of its companion, perched on the branches, he quietly inserted his rod amongst the boughs, until it reached his prey, which stuck to the lime, and was thus drawn to the ground. When the tree was very high, or the fowler under the necessity of taking up his position at a distance from it, the rod was made in separate joints, like our fishing rods, so that he could gradually lengthen it out until it reached the object of his pursuit, whence it is termed arundo crescens or texta. (Mart. Ep. ix. 55. Id. xiv. 218. Sil. Ital. vii. 674—677. Pet. Sat. 109. 7. Bion, Id. 11. 5.) The last illustration is from an engraved gem, and shows the process clearly.
5. A reed-pen, for writing upon paper or papyrus, one of which, by the side of an inkstand, is here represented from a Pompeian painting. Pers. Sat. iii. 1. Auson. Epist. vii. 50.
6. A pandean pipe, which was made of several stalks of the reed or cane, of unequal length and bore, fastened together and cemented with wax; hence termed arundo cerata (Ovid. Met. xi. 154. Suet. Jul. 32.), as shown by the example from a Pompeian marble.
7. A rod employed in weaving, for the purpose of separating the threads of the warp stamen) before the "leashes" (licia) were attached, and passed alternately in and out, before and behind each alternate thread, in order to separate the whole into two distinct parcels, which, when decussated, formed a "shed" for the passage of the shuttle, as represented in the centre of the loom here engraved, which is copied from the Vatican Virgil. Ovid. Met. vi. 55., and consult TELA, TEXO.{TR: No entry "TEXO".}
8. A long cane with a sponge, or other appropriate material, affixed to the end of it, which thus served as a broom for sweeping and cleansing the ceilings of a room. Plaut. Stich. ii. 3. 23. Compare Mart. Ep. xii. 48. and the broom in the hands of the AEDITUUS, s. v..
9. A cane rod for measuring. Prudent. Psych. 826.
10. A stick or cudgel made of cane. Pet. Sat. 134. 4.; but this is probably the same as No. 8.
11. An espalier of canes for training vines. Varro, R. R. i. 8. 2.
ARX (ἀκρόπολις). The fortress or citadel of an ancient town. These were always formed upon the top of a steep hill, or an abrupt and precipitous rock, rising out of the general level of the plain upon which the habitable parts of the city were built. They required, therefore, but little artificial fortification, in addition to the natural difficulties of the site, beyond that of a wall at the top, and of a gate and tower to command the principal access. Many of these citadels are still to be traced in various parts of Greece and Italy, all of which are constructed in the manner described. They are not fortified upon any regular plan, nor have they any precise shape, but merely follow the outline of the summit on which they stand. The illustration here inserted is from a sketch of the Acropolis at Athens, as it now remains, with some columns of the temple of Jupiter Olympius in the plain below, which will serve to convey a general notion of these fortresses. Like the Arx of Rome, it contains the principal temples of the deities who presided over the city, which were placed within the enclosure for the sake of protection.
2. Of the ARX at Rome no positive traces now remain, the site upon which it formerly stood being entirely covered with modern buildings. It occupied, however, the most northern and lofty of the two summits into which the crown of the Capitoline hill was divided, facing toward the Via Flaminia and Mons Esquilinus, and upon the area on{TR: "of" → "on"} which the church of Ara-celi (supposed to be a corruption of Arce) now stands. Niebuhr, Hist. Rom. i. p. 502. transl.
AS (from εἷς, pronounced ἆ by the Tarentines). A piece of money, which represented the unit of value in the Roman and early Italian coinage. Originally it weighed one pound, hence called as liberalis; and was composed of a mixture of copper and tin (æs), hence also called æs grave; but the value was much reduced in after times. In the age of Cicero, it was worth about three farthings of our money. In its earliest state it bore the impress of a bull, ram, boar, or sow, emblematic of the flocks and herds (pecus, whence the word pecunia), which constitute the wealth of all primitive ages; afterwards the more usual device was a double-headed Janus on one side with the prow of a vessel (see SEMISSIS), or of Mercury, the god of traffic, on the other, as shown by the example introduced above, drawn one-third the size of the original, which weighs in its present state 10 oz. 10. gr.
ASCAU'LES (ἀσκαύλης). A word coined from the Greek, signifying a bag-piper. (Mart. Epigramm. x. 3. 8.) These men are scarcely to be reckoned amongst the class of professed musicians; for the instrument that they played was peculiar to the peasantry and common people, as is clearly to be inferred from the passage of Martial (l. c.), and from the style and dress of the figure here introduced, which is copied from a small bronze figure formerly in the possession of Dr. Middleton, evidently intended to represent a person of the lower classes. The ancient marbles and gems afford other specimens of the same subject.
AS'CIA. The name given to several different implements employed in separate trades, and for distinct purposes, all of which were classed under the same term, because they possessed a general resemblance in form, or the manner in which they were handled. They are as follows:—
1. (σκέπαρνον). An instrument said to have been invented by Dædalus (Plin. H. N. vii. 57.), of common use amongst all workers in wood, such as carpenters, wheelwrights, shipwrights, &c. (XII. Tab. ap. Cic. leg. ii. 23. Pet. Sat. 74. 16.), and corresponding in some respects with the adze or addice of our day; but with these important distinctions—that it was used for chopping surfaces placed in an upright, instead of horizontal, position (see the illustration s. ASCIO; had a shorter handle, so as to be used with one hand; and was formed with a bluff head, like a hammer, at one extremity of the blade, whilst the opposite end, which formed the cutting edge, was slightly hollow, and curved over for the convenience of chopping to the hollow side of a piece of wood, or for scooping out flat surfaces, all which characteristics are distinctly shown by the example, which represents two specimens, slightly differing from one another, both copied from sepulchral marbles.
2. (τύκος and τύχος). An instrument of nearly similar form, employed by masons and builders, to which allusion is often made in sepulchral inscriptions. It had a hammer at one end, and a blade, like a bird's bill, at the other (Aristoph. Av. 1138. Schol. ad l.), as seen in the illustration, which is copied from an original found, with several other building implements, at Pompeii.
3. An instrument used by bricklayers for chopping lime and mixing mortar (Vitruv. vii. 7. Pallad. i. 14.), as in the example from Trajan's Column, which represents part of a figure employed in the process described.
4. A short-handled hoe, used by gardeners, agricultural labourers, &c. for breaking up the ground, excavating earth, and similar purposes. (Pallad. i. 43.) The illustration is from the Column of Trajan, and resembles both in use and form the zappa, or short hoe of the modern Italian peasant.
AS'CIO (σκεπαρνίζω). When applied to wood-workers, to chop, form, or fashion with a carpenter's adze (ascia), an operation which the ancients performed with one hand, and upon surfaces placed in an upright position, as shown by the cut, which represents one of the workmen of Dædalus employed in this manner, from a bas-relief of the Villa Albani.
2. When applied to builders, to stir up and mix mortar with a plasterer's hoe, as in the illustration to ASCIA, No. 3.
ASCOPE'RA (ἀσκοπήρα). A large bag, or knapsack, made of undressed leather, in which foot-travellers carried their necessaries, as contradistinguished from hippopera, the horseman's saddlebags. (Suet. Nero, 45.) The illustration is selected from an ancient fresco painting representing a landscape scene.
ASINA'RIUS. A farm servant who had the charge of feeding, driving, and tending the asses belonging to the farm. Varro, R. R. i. 18. 1.
ASPERGIL'LUM (περιρῥαντήριον). See the next word.
ASPER'SIO. The act of sprinkling with water, as a purification, before making sacrifice to the gods below (Cic. Leg. ii. 10. Compare Ov. Fast. v. 67. Virg. Æn. iv. 635.); whereas the whole body, or the hands and face, were immersed previous to a sacrifice offered to the gods above. (Broüer, de Adorat. cap. 12.) This ceremeony was performed either with a branch of laurel; as in the example from a medal, which represents Lucilla, the daughter of M. Aurelius, breaking off a branch to sprinkle the young children, whilst a priestess is drawing water from the river; or with a whisk made expressly for the purpose, as in the annexed engraving, also from a medal, and which the Greeks termed περιρῥαντήριον or ῥάντιστρον. The corresponding Latin term is unknown; for the word aspergillum, employed by modern philologists, is not supported by any ancient authority.
ASSER. In general, a small wooden beam, pole or post fixed in or upon anything (Liv. Cæs. Tac.); whence the following more special meanings are deduced:—
1. The pole by which a palanquin (lectica) was carried on the shoulders of its bearers. (Suet. Cal. 58. Juv. iii. 245. Id. vii. 132. Mart. ix. 23. 9.) It was entirely separate from the conveyance, and must not be confounded with the shafts (amites), which were permanently affixed to the body of the carriage, or at least only removable upon occasion. The asser was passed under a thong (lorum, struppus) attached to these shafts, like the backband in single harness, and then raised upon the shoulders of the bearers (lecticarii), so that the whole weight of the carriage was suspended upon it. The
2. An iron-headed beam suspended and worked like a ram on board ship, to damage the enemy's rigging. Veget. Mil. iv. 44.
3. Asser falcatus. A long pole, with a sharp and crooked iron head, used in sieges to mow down the garrison on the walls. Liv. xxxviii. 5.
4. Asseres. In architecture, the common rafters of a timber roof, over which the tiles are laid; marked h h in the plan which illustrates the word MATERIATIO. Externally they are represented by the ornaments called dentils DENTICULUS, 2.) in Ionic and Corinthian elevations. Vitruv. iv. 2. 1. and 5.
ASSER'CULUM and ASSER'CULUS. Diminutive of Asser; any small pole or stake, and so used for a broom-handle. Cato, R. R. 152. Wood-cut s.ÆDITUUS.
ASSIS (σανίς). A flat board or plank. Cæs. Plin. Columell. Vitruv.
2. A valve in a water pipe, or water-cock, by the turning of which the liquid is drawn off from, or retained in, the pipe. (Vitruv. x. 7. 1.) The example represents an original bronze cock, discovered in the island of Capri; the contrivance for turning the valve is distinctly apparent at the top.
ASSUS. Literally roasted; hence, in the neuter gender, assum; a chamber in a set of baths heated with warm air, with the object of promoting violent perspiration. Cic. Q. Fr. iii. 1. 1. See SUDATIO, SUDATORIUM.
2. Assa tibia. A solo on the pipe, without any vocal accompaniment. Serv. ad Virg. G. ii. 417.
2. Assa nutrix. A dry nurse. Schol. Vet. ad Juv. Sat. xiv. 208.
4. Assi lapides. Stones laid without mortar (Serv. ad Virg. G. ii. 417.), in which way the finest of the Greek and Roman buildings were constructed.
ASTRAGALIZONTES (ἀστραγαλιζοντες). A Greek name used to designate persons engaged in playing with the knuckle-bones of animals (ἀστραγάλοι, Latin Tali), one of which is here shown from an original of bronze, a very favourite subject with the sculptors and painters of Greece. (Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 19. § 2. Pausan. x. 30. 1.) Both sexes amused themselves in this way, and employed the knuckle-bones for many different games, but the simplest and commonest, which appears to be represented in the annexed engraving, from a Greek painting discovered at Resina, resembled what our school-boys call "dibs," and consisted merely in throwing the bones up into the air, and catching them again on the back of the hand as they fall down. In many others, which were purely gambling games, the bones were marked with numbers, and used as dice. Jul. Poll. ix. 100—104. Eust. Od. i. p. 1397. 34. sq. and TALUS.
ASTRAG'ALUS (ἀστράγαλος). The Greek name for one of the vertebral bones, the ball of the ankle-joint and the knuckle-bone of animals, which was used instead of dice for games of chance and skill, but is not employed in any of these senses by the Latin writers.
2. By the Roman architects, an astragal; a small moulding of semicircular profile, so termed by the ancients from a certain resemblance which it bears, in its alternation of round and angular forms, to a row of knuckle-bones (ἀστράγαλος, and last cut but one), placed side by side; and called a bead or baguette by the moderns, because it closely resembles a string of beads or berries. It is more especially characteristic of the Ionic order, in which it is employed to form the lowermost member of the capital immediately under the echinus, to divide the faces of an architrave, or in the base, where it is a plain moulding, similar to the torus, but of smaller dimensions. (Vitruv. iv. 1. 11. Id. iii. 4. 7. Id. iii. 5. 3.) The first of the two specimens here given is from a capital of the temple of Apollo, near Miletus; the lower one from the temple of Minerva at Priene.
ASTUR'CO. A small horse of the Spanish Asturian breed; highly valued by the Romans on account of its showy action and easy paces. Plin. H. N. viii. 67. Mart. xiv. 199.
ATHLE'TÆ (ἀθληταί). A general name for the combatants who contended for a prize (ἆθλον), in the public games of Greece and Italy; of whom there were five kinds, each distinguished by an appropriate name, viz. CURSOR, LUCTATOR, PUGIL, QUINQUERTIO, PANCRATIASTES.
ATLANTES (Ἄτλαντες). Properly a Greek term (to which the Latin TELAMONES corresponds), used to designate human figures, when employed as architectural supports to an entablature or cornice, instead of columns, and so termed in allusion to the story of Atlas, who bore the heavens on his shoulders. (Vitruv. vi. 10.) One of these figures is given under ARCULUS, from a specimen at Pompeii.
ATRAMENTA'RIUM (μελανδόχη). A vessel for holding atramentum, a black liquid employed for various purposes, as varnish, by painters (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 36. n. 18.); by shoemakers for dyeing their leather (Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 32.); and also for writing ink (Cic. Q. Fr. ii. 15.), in reference to which last use the term answers to our ink-stand (Gloss. Philox. Vulgat. Ezech. ix. 2.), one of which is shown in ARUNDO 5.
ATRIEN'SIS. A domestic slave, or one who belonged to the familia urbana in all the great Roman houses, to whose especial charge the care of the Atrium was committed. He occupied a position not unlike that of maitre d'hotel in the present day; for he exercised a control over all the other slaves of the household, took charge of the busts, statues, and valuables exposed in the atrium, set out and arranged the furniture, and saw that it was kept clean, and nothing damaged. Plaut. Asin. passim, and especially Act. ii. Sc. 2. and 4. Cic. Parad. v. 2.
ATRI'OLUM. Diminutive of Atrium, and thus, in a general sense, any small atrium; but the word has also a more special application, and designates a distinct member in the large Roman palaces, which might be styled the second or back atrium; for it was disposed with sleeping rooms and other members all round it, similar to those of the principal one, from which it chiefly differed in size, and perhaps in splendour. Cic. Q. Fr. iii. 1. 1. Id. Att.. i. 10.
A'TRIUM. A large apartment, constituting the first of the two principal parts into which the ground-plan of a Roman house was divided. It was approached directly from the entrance hall or passage (prothyrum), and in early times served the family as the common place of reunion, or public room of the house, in which the women worked at their looms, the family statues and ancestral images were displayed, the household gods and their altar, as well as the kitchen hearth (focus), were situated. Its relative position with regard to the rest of the mansion is shown in the two first ground-plans which illustrate the word DOMUS, on which it is marked B.
As regards the internal structure, it consisted of a rectangular apartment, the sides of which were covered over with a roof, having in most cases an aperture in the centre (compluvium), and a corresponding basin in the floor (impluvium), to receive the rain water which flowed in through the opening (see the next wood-cut). The roof itself was frequently supported upon columns, which thus formed a colonnade or open cloister round its sides (see wood-cut No. 3.). But as the roof was constructed and supported in several different ways, each of which gave a different character to the interior, these varieties were classed under the following separate names, to distinguish the different styles adopted in their construction:—
1. Atrium Tuscanicum. The Tuscan atrium; the simplest and probably most ancient of all, which was adopted at Rome from the Etruscans, and could only be employed for an apartment of small dimensions. Its peculiarity consisted in not having any columns to support the roof, which ran round its sides, and was carried upon two beams placed lengthwise from wall to wall, into which two shorter ones were mortized at equal distances from the wall, so as to form a square opening in the centre between them (Vitruv. i. 6. 2.), as seen in the engraving above, which presents a restoration of the Etruscan atrium to the house of Sallust at Pompeii.
2. Atrium Tetrastylum. The tetrastyle atrium, so termed because its roof was supported upon four columns, one at each angle of the impluvium. The illustration affords a specimen of this style from a house at Pompeii, excavated by General Championet; from the preceding example, it is easy to imagine a restoration of the roof, which, when it rests upon the four columns, will form a covered gallery round the sides of the room, with an opening in the centre between them, similar to the one there shown, but with the decoration of a column at each of its corners.
3. Atrium Corinthium. The Corinthian atrium, which was of the same description as the last, but of greater size and magnificence, inasmuch as the columns which supported its roof were more numerous, and placed at a distance back from the impluvium. The central part was also open to the sky, as in the example, from a Corinthian atrium at Pompeii, restored after the pattern of a house which was discovered with its upper story entire at Herculaneum, and an elevation of which is introduced in the article DOMUS. In this style of construction, one end of every beam which bore the roof, and formed a ceiling to the colonnade round the room, rested upon the head of each column, the other one upon the side wall, instead of being placed parallel to it, as in the Tuscan and tetrastyle; they are thus arranged at right angles to the walls, or in other words, recede from them, which is what is meant by the expression of Vitruvius, à parietibus recedunt.
4. Atrium displuviatum. An atrium, the roof of which was formed in a shelving direction, with the slant turned outwards from the compluvium, instead of towards it, and which, therefore, shot off the water from the house into gutters on the outside, instead of conducting it into the impluvium, as in the three preceding instances. Such a plan of construction is clearly shown in the diagram annexed, from the marble plan of Rome, where the opening in the centre and the outward shelve of the roof is very cleverly expressed.
5. Atrium testudinatum. The testudinated or covered atrium, which had no compluvium, the whole apartment being entirely covered over by a roof of the kind termed testudo (Vitruv. v. 1.), which is also cleverly expressed by the artist who executed the marble plan of Rome, from which the illustration is selected. It is probable that an atrium of this description consisted of two stories, and that it received its light from windows in the upper one. Compare also CAVAEDIUM.
ATTEG'IA. A Moorish hut or wigwam made of reeds and thatch. Juv. Sat. xiv. 196.
AUCEPS (ἰξευτής, ὀρνιθευτής). In a general sense, a fowler or any person who amuses himself with the sport of snaring, netting, and killing birds; but in a more special sense, a slave belonging to the familia rustica, something like our "game-keeper," whose employment consisted in taking and selling game for the profit of his owner; the principal sources of income on some estates being derived from the produce of the woods and fisheries. (Ov. A. Am. iii. 669. Plaut. Trin. ii. 4. 7. Pignorius de Serv. p. 560.) The illustration, from a small marble statue at Naples, represents one of these fowlers returning with his game. He wears a sportsman's hat and boots, a tunic and cloak of skin with the fur on, carries a hunting knife in his right hand, two doves slung to the girdle round his waist, a hare on his left arm, and the end of the noose in which it was caught appears between the fingers. The instruments employed by the ancient fowlers in the pursuit of their sport were gins and snares (laquei, pedicæ), a rod tipped with bird lime (arundo, calamus), traps (transennæ), clap-nets (amites), a call-bird (avis illex), and cage for the same (cavea); the manner of using all which is described, and illustrated under each head.
AUDITIO'RIUM. Any place in which orators, poets, and authors generally, assembled an audience to hear their compositions recited. Quint. ii. 11. 3. Id. x. i. 36.
2. A lecture room, in which philosophers and professors delivered their lectures. Suet. Tib.. 11.
3. A court of justice where trials were heard. Paul. Dig. 49. 9. 1. Ulp. Dig.. 4. 4. 18.
4. Auditorium Principis. The court or chamber in which the emperor sat to hear and decide causes. Paul. Dig. 42. 1. 54.
AUGUR (οἰωνοσκόπος). An augur, a Roman priest, who interpreted the will of the gods, or revealed future events from observations taken on the flight and singing of birds. (Liv. i. 36. Cic. Div. i. 17. They were formed into a college or corporation; and are principally distinguished from other classes of the priesthood, on coins and medals, by a crooked wand (lituus), like a crozier, which they carried in the right hand, and sometimes with the sacred bird, and the waterjug (capis) by their side or on the reverse. The example is from a medal of Marcus Antoninus.
AUGURA'LE. A space on the right side of the general's tent (prætorium) in a Roman camp, where the auspices were taken. Tac. Ann. xv. 30. Compare Quint. viii. 2. 8.
AUGUSTA'LES. An order of priests instituted by Augustus, and selected from the class of freed-men, whose duty it was to superintend the religious ceremonies connected with the worship of the Lares Compitales, deities who presided over the cross roads, to whom it was customary to erect a shrine at the spot where these roads met. Pet. Sat. 30. 2. Orelli, Inscr. 3959. Schol. Vet. ad Hor. Sat. ii. 3. 281.
2. Sodales Augustales, or simply Augustales. An order of prieses instituted by Tiberius, to superintend the divine honours paid to Augustus and the Julian family. The body consisted of twenty-one persons selected from the principal Roman families. Tac. Ann. i. 15. and 54. Reines. Inscr. i. 12.
AULA (αὐλή). Properly a Greek word, which in early times designated an open court or court-yard in front of a house, around which the stables, stalls for cattle, and farming outhouses were situated; hence the Roman poets adopted the word to express a dog-kennel (Grat. Cyneg. 167z.), a sheep pen (Prop. iii. 2. 39), or a den for wild animals. Pet. Sat. 119. 17.
2. Subsequently to the age of Homer, the Greek aula was an open peristyle in the interior of a house, of which there were two in every mansion (Vitruv. vi. 7. 5.); one round which the men's apartments were disposed, and the other for the exclusive use of the females. In other respects, they corresponded in general arrangement and distribution to the atrium and peristylium of a Roman house: see the plan of the Greek house s. v. DOMUS, on which the two aulæ are marked respectively C and E. In allusion to this sense of the word, Virgil uses it for the cell of the queen bee. Æn. iii. 353.
3. Aula regia. The central portion of the scene in the Greek and Roman theatres, especially for tragic performances, representing a noble mansion (Vitruv. v. 6. 8.), near or in which the action was supposed to take place. The illustration represents a view of the great theatre at Pompeii, with the scene at the further end, from which the general character of this part of the building may be readily imagined, though the whole of its upper portion has decayed.
4. An old form of spelling (Cato, R. R. 85.) for OLLA, which see.
AULÆ'A or AULÆ'UM (αὐλαία). A piece of tapestry or arras hangings used to decorate the walls of a dining room (Hor. Sat. ii. 8. 54.), or as a screen against the sun between the pillars of a colonnade (Prop. ii. 32. 12.), or to close in the open galleries round an atrium or peristylium of private houses, as shown in the elevation of the Herculanean house (s. v. DOMUS), in which the rods and rings for suspending them were found in their places, when the excavation was made. In the illustration, from a bas-relief in the British Museum, the aulæum forms the background to a tricliniary chamber; and similar ones are of very common occurrence both in sculpture and paintings, where they are introduced by the artist as a conventional sign to indicate that the scene in which they appear is not laid in the open air, but takes place in an interior.
2. A large coverlet of tapestry or embroidered work, which it was customary to spread over the mattress of a sofa or dining couch (Vig. Æn. i. 697.), and which hung down to the ground all round it; whence also termed Peristroma. It is seen in the preceding wood-cut, but more distinctly in the annexed one from the Vatican Virgil.
3. A piece of tapestry, or curtain ornamented with figures embroidered on it (Virg. G. iii. 25.), employed in the Greek and Roman theatres, for the same purpose as our
AULŒ'DUS (αὐλῳδός). One who sings to the accompaniment of a flute or pipe. Cic. Mur.. 13.
AURES. The earth or mould boards of a plough, placed on each side of the share-beam, and inclining outwards, in order to throw off the earth turned up by the share into a ridge on each side of the furrow. (Virg. G. i. 172.) They are shown in the engraving s. v. ARATRUM 2. by the letters E E.
AU'REUS. Called also nummus aureus, or denarius aureus; a guilder, or golden denarius, the standard gold coin of the Romans, which passed for twenty-five denarii, or 17s. 8½d.; but the intrinsic value, as compared with our gold coinage at the present day would nearly equal 1l. 1s. 1¾d.. (Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 13. Suet. Cal. 42. Id. Dom. 8. Hussey on ancient Weights and Money.). The illustration is from an original in its actual state.
AURI'GA (ἡνιοχος). In general any person who acted as a coachman or charioteer, as shown by the example from a terra-cotta bas-relief. Virg. Æn. xii. 624. Ovid. Met. ii. 327.
2. But, more especially, the driver of a racing car in the Circus at the Circensian games. (Suet. Cal. 54.) The example here given is from a statue in the Vatican, which, if compared with the next illustration, will afford a perfect notion of the costume worn by these drivers. The palm branch in the right hand is the emblem of victory; the purse in the left contains the sum of money which formed the prize. The manner in which these men drove was peculiar, and differed materially from the ordinary style, shown in the first cut, as will be perceived by the annexed example, which is copied from a consular diptych; and as the original is the work of a late period, when the arts were at a low ebb, it is to be regarded as a more faithful representation of the actual truth unadorned by any attempts at artistic effect or ideal portraiture. The driver here passes the reins round his back, or actually stands within them; the object of which was to give him more command over his horses, by leaning his whole weight back against the reins, and to prevent the chance of their falling from his hands in case of any sudden shock or collision. But as this practice exposed him to the danger of being dragged in his reins in case of an upset, he carried a crooked knife fixed to the thongs which braced his body, as seen in front of the left side in the preceding figure, in order to cut them on the emergency. The last example also shows the skull cap which he wore on his head, as well as the bandages round the legs, and on the back of the hands; the horses' legs are also bandaged, their tails are tied up, their manes are hogged, and a mask is placed over the front of their faces.
3. By poets the word is also applied less specially, for a groom who brought out a carriage or war car, and stood at the horses' heads till the driver mounted (Virg. Æn. xii. 85.); for a helmsman (Ovid. Trist. i. 4. 16.); and generally for a horseman or rider (Auct. Paneg. ad. Pison. 49.)
AURIGA'RIUS. Same as AURIGA. Suet.{TR: "Suet," → "Suet."} Nero 5.
AURIGA'TOR. Same as AURIGA. Inscript. ap. Grut. 340. 3.
AURI'GO and AURI'GOR. To drive a chariot in the races of the Circus, as described under AURIGA. Suet. Nero. 24. Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 27.
AURISCALP'IUM (ὠτογλυφίς). An ear-pick (Mart. Ep. xiv. 23.); also a surgeon's probe for the ear. (Scribon. Compos. 230.) The example represents an original found at Pompeii.
AUS'PEX. One who takes the auspices, or in other words, who observes the flight, singing, or feeding of birds, in order to discover therefrom the secrets of futurity. Cic. Att. ii. 7. Hor. Od. iii. 27. 8.
AUTHEP'SA (αὐθέψης). A word coined from the Greek, meaning in its literal sense a self-boiler (Cic.
AUTOPY'ROS (αὐτόπυρος). Brown-bread, made of coarse flour with the bran in it. Plin. H. N. xxii. 68. Petr. Sat. 66. 2. Celsus, ii. 18.
AVE'NA. An Pandean pipe made with the stalk of the wild oat, such as was used by the peasantry. Virg. Tibull. Ov. Met. viii. 192. ARUNDO. No. 6.
AVER'TA. A saddle-bag, which was probably placed on the rump of an animal, as now commonly practised in Italy. Acron. ad Hor. Sat. i. 6. 106.
AVERTA'RIUS. A beast of burden, which carries the averta, or saddle-bag, upon his rump. Impp. Valent. et Valens. Cod. Theodos. 8. 5. 22.
AVIA'RIUM. A poultry card. Varro, R. R. iii. 3. 7.
2. An aviary, in which birds of choice kinds, and rare breeds were kept. Varro, l. c.
3. A decoy or preserve for aquatic birds. Columell. viii. 1. 4.
AVIA'RIUS. A slave who had the charge of breeding, feeding, and fattening poultry. Columell. viii. 3. 4. seq.
AVICULA'RIUS. Apic. viii. 7. Same as the preceding.
AXICIA. A word only met with in a single passage of Plautus (Curc. iv. 4. 21.), which the dictionaries and commentators interpret, a pair of scissors. But the reading or the interpretation seems very doubtful; for the instrument used by the ancients for the same purpose as our scissors, was termed FORFEX by the Romans; and in the passage of Plautus, the axicia is enumerated as an article of the toilet, with the comb, tweezers, looking-glass, curling-irons, and towel; but a pair of scissors, though useful enough on a modern dressing table, would be far less appropriate to the Roman toilet if regard is had to the difference of ancient habits.
AXIS (ἄξων). The axle-tree of a carriage to which the pole is affixed, and round which the wheels revolve (Ov. Met. ii. 317.), which is clearly seen in the illustration from an ancient bronze car preserved in the Vatican; but in the waggons of the kind called plaustra, the axle tree was not a fixture, but revolved together with the wheels in nuts or sockets screwed on to the bottom of the cart; see ARTEMON.
2. Axis versatilis. A revolving cylinder, such as is worked by a windlass for drawing up weights, by twisting the cord round about itself, like the roller and windlass by which a bucket is drawn out of a well, as illustrated by the annexed engraving from a marble sarcophagus in the Vatican cemetery. Vitruv. ix. 8. 8.
3. The upright axis of a door, which worked in sockets let into the upper and lower lintel, and so formed a pivot upon which the door turned when opened or shut. Stat. Theb. i. 349. See ANTEPAGMENTUM and CARDO.
4. The valve of a water pipe or cock; in which sense the proper reading is ASSIS.
5. A plank; also properly written ASSIS.
BABYLON'ICUM. A shawl of Babylonian manufacture, which was highly prized amongst the Romans for its fine texture and brilliant colours. Lucret. iv. 1027. P. Syrus ap. Petr. Sat. 55. 6.
BACCHA (Βάκχη). A Bacchante; a female who celebrates the mysteries of Bacchus. (Ovid. Her. x. 48.) They are frequently represented in works of art, and described by the poets (Ov. Met. vi. 591.), as in the illustration, with a wreath of vine leaves or ivy round the head, loose flowing hair, a mantle made of kid-skin, on the left side, and the thyrsus in the right hand, running like mad women through the streets. The figure here introduced, which is from a bas-relief of the Villa Borghese, instead of the skin on her person, carries part of a kid in her left hand.
BACILLUM (βακτήριον). A small staff, stick, or cane; a walking-stick, sometimes as with us artificially bent into form. (Cic. Fin. ii. 11 Juv. Sat. iii. 28. The example is from a painting at Pompeii, and represents Ulysses.
2. Varro, R. R. 50. 2. See FALX DENTICULATA.
BAC'ULUS and BAC'ULUM (βάκτρον). A long stick or staff, such as was commonly carried by travellers, rustics, shepherds, and goatherds (whence termed agreste. Ov. Met. xv. 654.); by infirm or aged persons of both sexes (Ov. Met. vi. 27.); and also, out of affectation, by the Greek philosophers. (Mart. Ep. iv. 53.) The illustration, from a MS. of Virgil in the Vatican library, represents one of the sheherds of the Eclogues leaning on his staff, precisely as described by Ovid, incumbens or innitens baculo (Met. xiv. 655. Fast.. i. 177.); an attitude also of daily occurrence amongst the peasants of the Roman Campagna.
2. (σκῆπτρον). A long staff, which, in early times, was carried by kings and persons in authority, both as a mark of distinction and a defensive weapon. In works of art it is always represented of greater length than the rustic staff, as may be seen by the annexed figure of Agamemnon, from a marble vase of Greek sculpture, and it is sometimes described as being ornamented with gold and silver (Florus, iv. 11. 3. Id. iii. 19. 10.) It was the original of the regal
BAJULATO'RIUS. Which serves or is adapted for carrying. Sella bajulatoria. See SELLA.
BAJ'ULUS (νωτοφόρος, φορτηγός). A porter, or any person who carries burdens on his back, as shown in the illustration from a painting in a sepulchral chamber at Rome. Plaut. Pœn. v. 6. 17. Cic. Par. iii. 2.
2. In the Roman househould, a slave who performed the same duties as the porter of a modern establishment, such as carrying parcels, letters, &c. Hieron. Ep. 6. ad Julian. n. 1.
BALIN'EÆ or BAL'NEÆ. A set of public baths, including conveniences for warm and cold bathing, as well as sudorific or vapour baths, and provided with a double set of apartments for the male and the female sex. Varro, L. L. viii. 48. Id. ix. 64.
The system upon which the bathing establishments of the Romans were arranged, and the ingenious method of their construction, will be best understood by the annexed ground-plan and description of the double set of baths at Pompeii. Views and elevations of the various apartments in detail are given separately under each of their respective names. They had six distinct entranctes, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, from the street; of which the three first were for visitors; 4 and 5 for the slaves and purposes connected with the business of the establishment; and the last gave access to the women's baths, which have no intercommunication with the larger set. To commence the circuit by the first door (1), at the bottom of the plan on the left hand.
a. Latrina, a privy.
b. An open court, surrounded by a colonnade on three of its sides, which formed a sort of Atrium to the rest of the edifice.
c. c. Stone seats along one side of the court for the slaves who were awaiting the return of their masters from the interior, or for the accommodation of the citizens, in like manner expecting the return of their friends.
d. A recessed chamber, either intended as a waiting-room for visitors; or probably appropriated to the use of the superintendant of the baths.
e. Another latrina, near the second principal entrance (2), from which a corridor, turning sharp to the right, leads into
A. The apodyterium, or undressing-room, which has a communication with each of the principal entrances, and with each of the apartments destined for the various purposes of hot and cold bathing.
ff. Seats of masonry on each side of the room, for the bathers to dress and undress upon.
B. The frigidarium, or chamber containing the cold-water bath (baptisterium).
g. A room for the use of the garde-robe, who took charge of the wearing apparel, kept for its owners while bathing.
C. The tepidarium, or tepid chamber; the atmosphere of which was kept at an agreeable warmth by means of a brazier, found in it. It was intended to break the sudden change of temperature from heat to cold, as the bather returned from the thermal chamber to the open air. This apartment served also in the present instance as a place for being scraped with the strigil, and anointed after bathing (see the illustration to ALIPTES); for the convenience of which it was furnished with two bronze seats found in the room, and the walls were likewise divided all round into small recesses, forming so many closets or lockers, which might contain the strigils, oils, unguents, and other necessaries for the use of those who did not bring their own with them. A door from this department conducted the bather into
D. The caldarium, or thermal chamber; which contains (h) a hot water bath (alveus) at one extremity, and the laconicum, with its basin or labrum (i), at the other. The flooring of the room is hollow underneath, being suspended upon low brick pillars, and the walls are also fitted with flues, so that the whole apartment was surrounded by hot air, supplied from an adjoining furnace. See the illustration to SUSPENSURA and HYPOCAUSTUM.
l. The furnace, which, besides the use above mentioned, also heated the coppers containing the water for the baths; viz.
m. The caldarium, or copper for hot water; and
n. The tepidarium, or copper for tepid water.
o. The cold water cistern.
p. A room for the slaves who had charge of the furnace and its appendages, furnished with a separate entrance from the street (4), and two staircases, one of which led up to the roof, and the other down to the furnace.
q. A small passage, connecting the last-named apartment with
r. The yards, where all the things necessary for the service of this part of the establishment, such as wood, charcoal, &c., were kept. It has also its own separate entrance from the street (5), and the remains of two pillars, which originally supported a roof or a shed, are still visible.
The remaining portion of the plan is occupied by another set of baths, appropriated for females, which are more confined in point of space, but arranged upon a similar principle. They have but one entrance (6), which gives access to a small waiting-room (s), with seats for the same use and purposes as those marked c c in the larger set. E. The apodyterium, with seats on two of its sides (t t), and which, like the one first described, communicates with the frigidarium, or cold water bath (F), and with the tepidarium, or tepid chamber (G), through which the bather passes on, as he did in the preceding case, to the thermal chamber (H), provided in the same manner with its Laconicum and labrum (u) at one end, and its alveus, or hot water bath (w), on the side contiguous to the furnace and boilers, which are thus conveniently situated, so as to supply both sets of baths with hot air and warm water by a single apparatus. In these baths for the women, the tepidarium has a suspended floor and walls fitted with flues, which is not the case in the corresponding apartment of the larger set.
2. Vitruvius (vi. 5. 1.) used the same term to designate a private bath in a man's own house; but this, according to Varro (l. c.), is not a strictly accurate usage. See the following word.
BALIN'EUM or BAL'NEUM. A private bath, or the suite of bathing rooms belonging to a private house (Varro, L. L. ix. 68. Cic. Fam. xiv. 20.); as contradistinguished from the plural Balineæ, applied to the public establishments, which commonly comprised two sets of baths, with distinct and separate accommodation for both sexes, and consequently more extensive and numerous dependencies. In other respects the distribution and arrangements of the several apartments were upon a similar principle in both cases, as will be seen by comparing the members in the annexed wood-cut, which presents the ground-plan of the baths belonging to the suburban villa of Arrius Diomedes at Pompeii, with those of the public baths described and illustrated in the preceding article. The baths and their appurtenances occupied an angle at one extremity of the whole pile of building, and were entered from the atrium through a door at a. Immediately on the right of the entrance is a small room (b), perhaps used as a waiting-room, or intended for the slaves attached to this department of the household. Beyond this is the apodyterium, or undressing-room (A), situated between the cold and hot baths, and having a separate entrance into both of them.
B is a small triangular court, partially covered by a colonnade on two of its sides; in the centre of which and in the open air, excepting that it had a roof over head, supported upon two columns at opposite angles, was the cold water bath (c)—piscina in area. Plin. Ep. v. 6. 26.
C is the tepid chamber (tepidarium, with a seat in one corner, upon which the bather sat to be scraped and anointed after the bath.
D. The caldarium, or thermal chamber, arranged exactly as in the public baths, with the Laconicum at the circular end, and an alveus, or hot water bath, at the opposite extremity.
d is the reservoir, which contained a general supply of water from the aqueduct; e, a room for the use of the slaves who served the furnaces, which had a stone table in it (e), and a staircase leading to an upper story, or to the roof; f, the cistern for cold water; g, the boiler for tepid water; h, the boiler for hot water; i, the furnace; all of which are disposed in the same manner as those of the public establishments, and with the same regard for the saving of fuel and water. See CALDARIUM, TEPIDARIUM, FRIGIDARIUM.
2. Sometimes the same word is used in a more confined sense for the hot water bath (alveus); seen at the square end of the room D in the last wood-cut, and at the letter h in the preceding one. Cic. Att. ii. 3. Pet. Sat. 72. Celsus, iii. 24.
BALL'ISTA or BAL'ISTA (λιθοβόλος, or -ον). An engine used at sieges for hurling ponderous masses of stone. (Lucil. Sat. xxviii. p. 61. 23. Gerlach. Cic. Tusc. ii. 24. Tacit. Hist. iv. 23.) Neither the descriptions of the Latin authors, nor the monuments of art enable us to form a distinct notion of the manner in which these machines were constructed; and the different attempts of modern antiquaries to restore a specimen from the words of Vitruvius (x. 11.) and of Ammianus (xxiii. 4. § 1—3), must be regarded as too uncertain and conjectural to be invested with any degree of authority. They were, however, made of different dimensions, called majores and minores (Liv. xxvi. 47.); and some were used as field engines, being placed upon carriages and drawn by horses or mules, so that they could be readily transported to any position on the field of battle, thence termed CARROBALLISTÆ, one of which is represented on the column of Antoninus. We have subsequently introduced it as an illustration to that word; and it may serve to convey a general notion as to what these machines were like; but is far too imperfect and deficient in detail to afford any approximation towards a distinct understanding of the exact principle upon which they were constructed.
BALLISTA'RIUM or BALISTAR. An arsenal or magazine in which ballistæ are kept. Plaut. Pœn. i. 1. 74.
BALLISTA'RIUS or BALIST. A soldier who worked or discharged a ballista; ranked amongst the light-armed troops. Ammian. 16. 2. § 5. Veget. Mil. ii. 2.
BALNEÆ. See BALINEÆ.
BALNEA'RIA. Used absolutely to express collectively all the implements, vessels, and necessaries used in the bath, such as strigils, oil, perfumes, towels, &c. Apul. Met. iii. p. 51. Compare Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 42. Paul. Dig. 34. 2. 33.
BALNEA'RIS, sc. fur. Catull. xxxiii. 1. A fellow who made a livelihood by stealing the clothes of poor people, who had no slaves of their own to take care of them, from the public baths while their owners were bathing; for at Rome every one was compelled by law to strip himself in the undressing-room, before he was permitted to enter the bathing apartments (Cic. Cæl. 26.), the object of which was to prevent the property or utensils of the establishment from being purloined, and concealed under the dress.
BALNEA'RIA. Absolutely, for a set of baths, or bathing chambers. Cic. Q. Fr. iii. 1. 1. See BALINEÆ and BALINEUM.
BALNEA'TOR. The keeper of a set of baths. Cic. Cæl. 26.
BALNEA'TRIX. The mistress of a set of baths, or who was charge of the women's department of the same. Petr. ap. Serv. Æn. xii. 159.
BALTEA'RIUS. The master or keeper of the belts (baltei), an officer in the Imperial household, whose duty it was to provide and keep in the wardrobe those articles of use and ornament. Inscript. ap. Reines. cl. 8. n. 69. Spon. Miscell. Erud. Ant. p. 253.
BALTE'OLUS. Diminutive of BALTEUS.
BAL'TEUS or BAL'TEUM (τελαμών). A baldric or shoulder belt, passed over one shoulder, and under the other, for the purpose of supsending the sword, in the same manner as our soldiers carry their sidearms. (Quint. xi. 3. 140.) It was fastened in front by a buckle (Virg. Æn. v. 314.), and frequently enriched with studs (bullæ)) of gold or precious stone (Virg. l. c.), both of which particulars are distinctly visible in the illustration, from a trophy at Rome, commonly known as "the trophies of Marius," but in reality belonging to the age of Trajan.
2. The Greek soldiers of the Homeric age also used a similar belt to carry their shields by; and, consequently wore two of them at the same time. Hom. Il. xiv. 404.
3. A similar kind of belt, also designated by the same term, was used in like manner for suspending a quiver from the shoulders (Virg. Æn. v. 313. Nemes. Cyneg. 91.), and a musical instrument, like the lyre or guitar from the neck. (Apul. Flor. ii. 15. 2.) See the illustrations to PHARETRATUS, 3. and LYRISTRIA, which afford examples of a belt applied in both of these ways.
4. An ornamental belt or band, sometimes decorated with gold and silver studs, or with embroidery, which was placed round a horse's neck and breast, below the monile or throat-band, and from which bells were often suspended. (Apul. Met. x. p. 224.) The illustration is from a fictile vase: compare the example under TINTINNABULATUS, which is plain, and with a bell hanging from it.
5. Less accurately, and particularly by the poets, a girdle round the waist (Lucan. ii. 361. Sil. Ital. x. 181. CINGULUM, and a horse's girth round the body. Claud. Ep. xxi. and xx. See CINGULA.
6. The broad flat belt in the sphere, which contains the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and represents the sun's course through them (Manilius, iii. 334.), as shown by the engraving, which is copied from a painting at Pompeii.
7. The band which encircles the bolster or cushion on the side of an Ionic capital; in technical language, the band or girdle of the bolsters. (Vitruv. xi. 5. 7.) It is often covered with sculpture, as in the example, which represents a side view of a capital belonging to the temple of Minerva Polias.
8. In a theatre or amphitheatre, a wall or belt, which formed a line of demarcation between one tier of seats (Maenianum) and another. (Caplpurn. Ecl. vi. 47.) The object of this was to prevent the different classes of spectators from passing over from the places assigned to their respective orders into other parts of the building where they were not entitled to sit; as for instance, from an upper circle into a lower one. The illustration presents a view in the larger theatre at Pompeii, and shows a portion of two mæniana, or tiers of seats, separated by the balteus between them. It will be understood that this belt, which here is only a fragment, ran uninterruptedly round the entire range of seats. The visitors, upon entering the theatre, walked round the covered gallery shown by the large dark arch on the right hand, until they came to either of the small doors (vomitoria), through which they passed into the interior, and descended the staircases in front of them until they came to the row or step (gradus) in which their respective places were situate. Another balteus is seen above, also with two of its door, which separated the second mænianum from the seats above. It will also be observed that the covered passage which encircles the first mænianum has no communication with the one above, which was approached by a separate corridor of its own, connected with a distinct set of staircases in the external shell of the building.
BAPHI'UM (βαφεῖον). A dyer's establishment. Inscript. ap. Carli, Antich. Ital. tom. 3. p. 14. Procuratori Baphii Cissæ Histriæ. Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 40. Strabo, xvi. 2. § 23.
BAPTISTE'RIUM (βαπτιστήριον). Properly a Greek word (Sidon. Ep. ii. 2.), though not extant in any Greek author. A cold plunging bath, constructed in the cella frigidaria. (Plin. Ep. ii. 17. 11. Id. v. 6. 25.) The illustration presents a view of the cold bath, and room which contains it, as now remaining at Pompeii. The bath itself (baptisterium) is a circular marble basin, of 12 feet 9 inches diameter, indented with two steps, and having a short low seat at the bottom (on the left hand in the engraving), upon which the bather might sit and wash.
2. Amongst the ecclesiastical writers, or subsequently to the establishment of Christianity; a building distinct from the church in which the baptismal font was placed (Sidon. Ep. iv. 15.); of which the baptistery built by Constantine near the church of S. Giovanni Laterano, at Rome, affords an actual example. A view of the interior of this edifice may be seen in Gally Knight's "Ecclesiastical Architecture of Italy."
BARBA'TULUS. Having a youthful beard growing just round the chin, without being shortened or trimmed into shape by the barber (Cic. Att. i. 14.), as it was worn by the youth of Rome before the custom of shaving had obtained; and, subsequently, until the age of manhood, when its ample growth required to be artificially trimmed into form. The illustration is taken from a statue of Drusus, the son of Tiberius, found at Pompeii.
BARBA'TUS (πωγωονίας). Wearing the beard of its natural length, as was frequently practised by the Greeks, until the age of Alexander, and universally by the Romans, until the year B.C. 300 (Plin. H. N. vii. 59. Compare Liv. v. 41. and Cic. Cæl. 14.), whence the Latin writers commonly used the word to describe the rude and unpolished manners of the early ages (Cic. Mur. 12. Id. Sext. 8.), when beards were worn like that in the example from an engraved gem, supposed to represent Numa Pompilius, from the resemblance it bears to the profile upon some coins which have the name of Numa inscribed upon them.
2. Barbatus bene. Having the beard neatly clipped and trimmed, so as to give it an artificial kind of beauty; a practice which came into fashion amongst the young exquisites towards the latter days of the republic (Cic. Cat. ii. 10.), and was generally adopted by the emperors from the time of Hadrian, as in the annexed bust of Antoninus Pius, from an engraved gem.
BAR'BITOS and BAR'BITON (βάρβιτος, βάρβιτον, and βαρύμιτον. Jul. Poll. iv. 59.). A stringed instrument belonging to the class of lyres; but which was of a larger size and had thicker strings (Pollux, l. c.), and, therefore, produced louder and fuller notes than the usual instruments of that kind. In other respects, it was played in the same manner as they were, with the fingers and the plectrum, or quill (Claud. Proem. ad Epith. in Nupt. Hon. et Mar. 9. Auson. Epigr. 44.); and thus it may be regarded as an instrument which bore the same analogy to the lyre as our violoncello does to the violin. All these particulars make it highly probable that the figure here introduced affords an authentic specimen of the ancient barbitos. It is copied from a Pompeian painting, where it stands by the side of Apollo, resting on a knob, like our bass viol, upon the ground, and reaching as high as half way up the figure.
BAR'CA. A boat employed for discharging a cargo, and transporting it to the shore. When the vessel put to sea, it was shipped on board, and only lowered down again when its services were required. Isidor. Orig. xix. 1. 19. Not. Tir. p. 77.
BARDOCUCUL'LUS. A hood or cowl (cucullus), which, if we might judge from the name, was peculiar to the Bardæi, a people of Illyria (compare Capitol. Pertin. 8.); but Mart. (Ep. i. 54., compare Juv. Sat. iii. 145.) attributes it to the Gauls, and in another passage (Ep. xiv. 128.) he clearly indicates that it was an outer garment worn by the common people of that country, and bearing some sort of resemblance to the Roman pænula. Thus it was probably a cloak of coarse materials, with a hood to it, which covered the whole body, like the one worn by the carter in the annexed engraving, which is copied from a sepulchral bas-relief found at Langres, in France. It has sleeves, which the pænula had not; but there is a slit at the side (just near the right foot), the same as in the pænula, only not so long; and it is precisely these resemblances and discrepancies which account for the juxtaposition of the two words in Martial.
BA'RIS (βᾶρις). A flat-bottomed boat used upon the Nile, for the transport of merchandise, and more especially for conveying a dead body across the river to the place of sepulture, in the funeral procession. (Herod. ii. 96. Diodor. i. 96.) The illustration shows one of these boats with a mummy placed in it, from an Egyptian painting. When Propertius (iii. 11. 44.) applies the name to the war vessels of Antony and Cleopatra, it is to be understood in a sense of extreme irony and contempt.
BASCAU'DA. The Welsh "basgawd," and English "basket." These articles of ancient British manufacture were imported, together with their name, into Rome (Mart. Ep. xiv. 99.), where they werer employed amongst the table utensils and held in much esteem. Juv. Sat. xii. 46. Schol. Vet. ad l.
BASIL'ICA. A spacious public building erected in, or contiguous to the forum or market place, for the merchants and people of business to meet in, as well as for a court of justice; thus answering in many respects to our "Town Hall" and "Exchange." Cic. Verr. ii. 5. 58. Id. Att. ii. 14.
The internal construction of a basilica bore a very close resemblance to most of our old English churches. It consisted of a central nave and two side aisles, divided from it by a row of columns on each side, as shown on the annexed ground-plan of the Basilica at Pompeii. In this part of the building, the merchants and people of business congregated and transacted their affairs. At the further extremity of the principal nave, a portion was railed off (see the right hand of the preceding cut), like the chancel of a church, or a tribune was thrown out (see the next wood-cut), so as to form a recess apart from the noise and activity of the traffickers in the body of the building; and in these the judges sat, and the council pleaded. The whole of the interior was further surrounded by an upper gallery raised upon the columns which divided the aisles below, as represented in the annexed engraving, which shows a longitudinal section and elevation down the centre of the ancient Basilica at Verona, as restored from its remains by the Count Arnaldi. These upper galleries were mainly intended for the accommodation of spectators and idle loungers; who were thus enabled to watch the proceedings going on without creating confusion, or disturbing the real business below. Vitr. v. 1.
2. After the introduction and establishment of Christianity by Constantine, many of the ancient basilicæ were converted by him into places for religious worship, for which purpose their plan of construction was so well adapted; hence, amongst the ecclesiastical writer, after that period, the word is commonly used to designate a church (Supl. Sev. Hist. Sacr. ii. 33. and 38.). Five of these edifices at Rome still retain their ancient name of basilicæ; and moreover, preserve a record of their original purpose, by being kept open, like a court of justice, the whole day, instead of being shut at certain hours, like all the other churches.
BASIL'ICUS, sc. jactus. The name given to one of the throws on the dice. What combination of numbers was required to turn up the throw is not ascertained; but it was evidently a good cast, from the name, though below the Venus, which was the best of all. Plaut. Curc. ii. 3. 80. Becker, Gallus, p. 393. Transl.
BASTER'NA. A sort of palanquin, more especially appropriated to the use of females. (Poet. Incert. in Anthol. Lat. Ep. iii. 183.) It was a close carriage (Ammian. xiv. 6. 16.); and was borne by two mules, one before and one behind, each harnessed to a separate pair of shafts. (Pallad. vii. 2. 3.) The whole of this description corresponds so precisely with the annexed drawing, from an old wood-cut of the 15th century, and with similar conveyances still in use in various countries, as to leave no doubt that the ancient basterna was formed upon a similar model.
BASTERNA'RIUS. A slave who drove the mules, which carried a palanquin or basterna. Symm. Ep. vi. 15.
BATIL'LUM or BATIL'LUS. A small shovel or fire pan, used as a chafing-dish, in which lighted charcoal was carried for the purpose of burning odoriferous herbs and frankincense. (Hor.
2. A common shovel, or scoop for removing filth, rubbish, &c.; sometimes made of wood (Varro, R. R. i. 50. 2.), and sometimes of iron. Varro, R. R. iii. 6. 5.
3. A small and flattish pan, or dish, with a handle to it, employed as a crucible for assaying silver. (Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 44.) The example is copied from a bas-relief found on the Via Appia, the use of which is clearly identified in the original, by the representation of a bag of money beside it.
BATI'OLA. A sort of drinking cup of large dimensions and valuable materials; but of which the precise form and capacity are not known. Plaut. Stich. v. 4. 12.
BAX'A and BAX'EA. A light sort of slipper, or sandal, or shoe, made of fibres, leaves, or willow strips platted together by the Romans (Isidor. Orig. xix. 34. 6. and 13.), and of the palm leaf, or the papyrus, by the Egyptians. (Apul. Met. ii. 39.) They were worn on the Comic stage (Plaut. Men. ii. 3. 40.), and by philosophers who affected simplicity of dress. (Apul. Met. xi. p. 244.) The example is from an original of papyrus in the Berlin collection. They are sometimes indicated on the feet of Egyptian statues, and many originals have been discovered in the Egyptian tombs; some made with close sides and upper leather, like a shoe; others with a leaf forming a mere strap, like a clog, across the instep; and others, like the specimen here engraved, with a band across the instep, and another smaller leaf in the fore part of the sole, intended to pass the great toe through.
BEN'NA. A Gaulish word, used to designate a four-wheeled cart or carriage made of wicker-work, and capable of holding several persons, as seen in the example copied from the Column of Antoninus. Festus, s. v. Scheffer, Re Vehic. ii. 21. Compare Cato, R. R. 23. 2. where, however, Schneider reads Mæna.
BES. Eight-twelfths, or two-thirds of anything; as, for instance, one of the fractional parts of the As; but not used in actual coinage as a piece of money. Varro, L. L. v. 172.
BESTIA'RIUS (θηριομάχης). One who was trained and hired to fight with wild beasts at the Circensian games, in the Roman amphitheatre, or upon any particular occasion when shows of this nature were exhibited to the people. (Cic. Sext. 64. Id. Q. Fr. ii. 6.) The Bestiarii were distinct from the gladiators, and altogether regarded as an inferior class of combatants (Pet. Sat. 45. 11.); nevertheless, they were at first fully protected, like them, with defensive and offensive armour; viz. a helmet, shield, knife or sword, and defences for the legs; most of which particulars are shown in the illustration, forming part of a bas-relief let into the wall of the Palazzo Savelli, now Orsini, at Rome, and which is built upon the ruins of the theatre of Marcellus; at the dedication of which 600 wild beasts were killed, a slaughter commemorated, no doubt, by the bas-relief here introduced. But latterly they became more distinct in their accoutrements and mode of fighting, having no body armour beyond bandages on their legs and arms; and for offensive weapons, carrying only a spear or a sword in one hand, and a piece of coloured cloth, like the Spanish matador, in the other; as shown by the annexed example, from a tomb at Pompeii. This custom was first introduced in the reign of Claudius. Plin. H. N. viii. 21.
BIBLIOPO'LA (βιβλιοπώλης). A bookseller; whose trade consisted in collecting MSS. (Mart. Ep. iv. 72.); advertising them by catalogues affixed to the outside of his shop (Mart. Ep. i. 118. 11. Hor. Sat. i. 4. 71. Id. A. P. 373.); multiplying copies by the employment of various hands to transcribe them (Mart. Ep. ii. 8. Compare Ep. vii. 11.); and disposing of the same by sale (Plin. Ep. ix. 11.)
BIBLIOTHE'CA (βιβλιοθήκη). A library; i. e. the apartment or building in which a collection of books is preserved. (Cic. Fam. vii. 28.) A room fitted up as a library was discovered in one of the houses at Herculaneum, in the year 1753, which contained 1756 MSS. exclusive of many destroyed by the workmen before their value was known. They were arranged in shelves, or presses, round the room, to the height of nearly six feet; and in its centre, there was also an isolated case, formed by a rectangular column, which fronted each way, and was filled in the same manner as the other shelves. Iorio, Officina de' Papiri.
2. A library; i. e. the collection of books contained in a library. Cic. Fam. xiii. 77. Festus, s. v.
3. A book-case, or set of book shelves. Paul. Dig. 30. 1. 41. Ulp. Dig. 32. 3. 52. § 8.
BIBLIOTHE'CULA. A small library. Symm. Ep. iv. 18.
BICLIN'IUM. A sofa, or couch, adapted for two persons to recline on at their meals, &c. (Plaut. Bacch. iv. 3. 84. and 117.) It is a hybrid word, half Latin and half Greek, (Quint. i. 5. 68.) The example is from a Roman bas-relief.
BIDENS (δίκελλα, σμινύη). A strong and heavy two-pronged hoe (Ov. Fast. iv. 927), employed in various agricultural purposes; such as, for hoeing up the soil instead of ploughing; for breaking the clods of earth turned up by the plough; for loosening and clearing the earth about the roots of the vine, &c. (Virg. G. ii. 355. 400. Tibull. ii. 3. 6. Columell. iv. 17. 8.) The example is from an engraved gem, which represents Saturn in the character of an agricultural slave, in allusion to the Saturnalian festival.
2. As an adjective, it is descriptive of things which are formed with two prongs, blades, or teeth; as forfex or ferrum bidens (Virg. Cat. 8. Id. Cir. 213.); a pair of shears (cut of FORFEX); bidens ancora (Plin. vii. 57.), an anchor with a double fluke, for in early times they were only made with a single one. Cut of ANCORA.
BIDEN'TAL. A small temple or shrine, consecrated by the augurs, and enclosing an altar erected upon any spot which had been struck with lightning (puteal); so called because it was customary to sacrifice a sheep of two years' old (bidens) at such places. (Festus s. v. Hor. A. P. 471. Apul. Deo Socr. p. 677.) The illustration affords a view of the remains of a bidental at Pompeii. The altar is seen in the centre, and parts of the columns which enclosed it are standing in their places; the roof and superstructure may be easily imagined.
BIF'ORIS and BIF'ORUS (δίθυρος). Bivalve; applied to windows and doors, to indicate those which open in two leaves, instead of all in one piece, similar to what we call French windows and folding-doors. (Ovid. Pont. iii. 3. 5. Vitruv. iv. 6. 6.) See the illustration to ANTEPAGMENTUM.
BIF'RONS (διμέτωκος). Having two fronts or faces looking both ways; a type attributed to Janus, as illustrative of his great sagacity, and emblematic of his knowledge of the past and future,—the known, which, as it were, lies before, and the unknown, which is behind. (Virg. Æn. vii. 180.) Busts of this kind, with the likenesses of different persons turned back to back, were much used by the ancients to ornament their libraries and picture galleries; they were frequently placed on the top of a square pillar at the meeting of cross-roads; and very generally as a termination for the top of a post forming the upright to a garden railing, or other ornamental enclosure; for which purpose an object presenting a front or complete view all round is especially adapted. The illustration is from the Capitol at Rome; it presents two female busts, of the same likeness, a rare coincidence; for busts of this kind mostly represent male heads of different persons, very generally philosophers, or of the Indian Bacchus, united with some mythological or other personage.
BI'GA (συνωρίς). A pair of horses yoked together; which was effected by a cross-bar resting on their whithers, like our curricle-bar, as is very plainly shown by the illustration, from a Pompeian painting. In this sense the plural bigæ, is generally and most appropriately used. Plin. H. N. vii. 57. Virg. Æn. ii. 272. Catull. lv. 26.
2. In the singular, more accurately, though the plural is also used, a car drawn by a pair of horses; a two-horsed carriage (Suet. Tib. 26. Tac. Hist. i. 86.), and equally applied to a war-car, or racing chariot, which latter is represented by the engraving from a fictile lamp.
BIGA'TUS, sc. nummus, or argentum bigatum. (Liv. xxxiii. 23.) A silver denarius; one of the earliest Roman coins (Liv. xxiii. 15. Tac. Germ. 5.), which bore the device of a biga, or two-horse car, on the reverse (Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 13.), from which it received its name. The example is from an original in the British museum, and drawn of the actual size.
BIJ'UGIS and BIJ'UGUS. The same as BIGA, in both senses.
BI'LANX. With two scales. Marc. Capell. ii. 180. p. 42. See LIBRA.
BI'LIX (δίμιτος). Literally, made with two threads, or by a double set of leashes (licia), in reference to cloth woven like our "twill" or "dimity" (Virg. Æn. xii. 375.), the peculiarity of which depends upon the manner in which the threads of the warp and woof are interlaced. In a piece of common "calico", the threads cross each other at right angles, every thread of the woof (subtemen) passing alternately over and under one of the threads of the warp (stamen), for which a single set of leashes is sufficient; but in twilled fabrics a thread of the woof is passed over one, and then under two or more threads of the warp, which gives a ribbed appearance in the pattern. Thus, when the twill is formed by passing over one thread and under two, it requires two sets of leashes, and was distinguished by the epithet bilix; when over one, and under three, trilix; and so on.
BILYCH'NIS, sc. lucerna. A lamp furnished with two nozzles and wicks, so as to give out two separate flames. (Pet. Sat. 30. 2.), as in the example, from an original of bronze.
BIPA'LIUM. A particular kind of spade, fitted with a cross-bar at a certain height above the blade, upon which the labourer pressed his foot in digging, and thus drove the blade two spits deep, or twice the depth of the common spade (pala). The usual reach of this instrument was two feet, but that could be increased or diminished, by placing the cross-bar either further from, or nearer to, the blade. (Cato, R. R. 45. 2. Varro, R. R. i. 37. 5. Columell. i. 3. 11.) The example is from a sepulchral bas-relief.
BIP'EDA. A large tile, two feet long, used for making pavements in the open air. Pallad. i. 40. 2. Id. i. 19. 1.
BIPEN'NIFER. Bearing, or armed with, the double-bladed axe (bipennis), a weapon especially characteristic of the Amazons, as seen in the illustration, from a Greek bas-relief, but also attributed to other persons, as to the Thracian king, Lycurgus (Ov. Met. iv. 22.), and to Arcas, the son of Jupiter and Callisto. Ov. Met. viii. 391.
BIPEN'NIS (δίστομος πέλεκυς, ἀξίνη). An axe with a double edge or blade (Isidor. Orig. xix. 19. 11.); used as a chip axe (Hor. Od. iv. 4. 57.), and more commonly as a weapon of war. (Virg. Æn. v. 307. Plin. H. N. viii. 8.) See the illustration and preceding word.
BIPRO'RUS (δίπρωρος). Having a double prow (Hygin. Fab. 168. 277.); which probably means a vessel built sharp fore and aft, like the fast-sailing "proas" of the Indian seas, so that it could sail either way without tacking or going about. Compare Tac. Ann. ii. 6.
BIRE'MIS (δίκωπος). Literally, furnished with a pair of oars or sculls; and thence used, both adjectively with scapha, and absolutely for a small boat rowed by one man, who handles a pair of sculls, as in the engraving, from an ancient fresco painting. Hor. Od. iii. 29. 62. Lucan. viii. 562. Compare 565. and 611., where the same is designated parva ratis, and alnus
2. (δίκροτος). Furnished with two banks of oars (ordines); which is the more common application, and designates a bireme or vessel of war, which has two lines of oars on each side, placed in a diagonal position one above the other, as in the example, from a bas-relief of the Villa Albani, each oar being worked by a single rower. (Plin. H. N. vii. 57. Cæs. B. C. iii. 40. Tac. Hist. v. 23.) That such was the arrangement adopted in the construction of a bireme, is sufficiently evident from the figure in the cut; by the sculptures on Trajan's Column (23, 24. 59. 61. ed. Bartoli), where a similar disposition is indicated; and by the passage of Tacitus (l. c.), which distinguishes a vessel which has its oars placed in a single file (moneris) from the bireme, which, therefore, had them distributed in two—complet quod biremium, quæque simplici ordine agebantur. BIRO'TUS, and BIRO'TA substantively. Having two wheels, and thus designated any description of carriage so constructed; all of which are enumerated in the Analytical Index. Non. Marc. s. v. Cisium, p. 86. Cod. Theodos. 8. 5. 8. BIR'RUS. A capote, or cape, with a hood to it (Schol. Vet. ad Juv. Sat. viii. 145.), which was in very common use amongst all classes under the later emperors, as an outdoor covering for the head and shoulders. It had a long nap like beaver (Claud. Epigr. 42.), and from the thickness of its texture is designated as stiff (rigens, Sulp. Sev. Dial. 14.), both of which qualities are clearly recognizable in the illustration, from a statue found at Pompeii, which represents a young fisherman asleep in his capote. BISAC'CIUM. A pair of saddle-bags made of coarse sacking; the original of the Italian bisacce and δισάκιον of the modern Greeks. Pet. Sat. 31. 9. Anton. ad l.. BISELL'ARIUS. A person to whom the privilege was accorded of using a bisellium. Inscript. ap. Grut. 1099. 2. BISEL'LIUM. A state chair of large dimensions, sufficient for holding two persons (Varro, L. L. v. 128.); though there is every reason to believe that it was only used by one; as the several specimens found or represented at Pompeii are usually accompanied by a single foot-stool (suppedaneum) placed in the centre, similar to the example here given, which is from a Pompeian bas-relief, and has its name, bisellium, inscribed above it. These chairs were used by persons of distinction, especially the Augustals, in the provinces, at the theatre, and other public places, in the same manner as the sella curulis was at Rome. Inscript. ap. Mazois. BIV'IUM. A road, or street, which branches into two forks (Plin. H. N. vi. 32.); hence, in bivio (Virg. Æn. ix. 238.), at the point of divergence between two such roads or streets, and which in the town of Pompeii is always furnished with a fountain, as in the example, which presents a street view in that city. BOI'Æ. Probably identical with the Greek κλοιοί, which was a large wooden collar, put round the neck of mischievous dogs (Xen. Hell. ii. 4. 41.); whence the Romans applied the word, in a similar sense, to a collar of wood or iron put round the neck of slaves and criminals. Plaut. As. iii. 2. 5. Id. Capt. iv. 2. 109. Prudent. Præf. Psych. 34. Hieron. 5. in Hierem. 27. BOLE'TAR. Properly a dish for serving mushrooms (boleti) upon (Mart. Ep. xiv. 101.); and thence transferred to any kind of dish. Apic. ii. 1. v. 2. viii. 7. BOTEL'LUS. Diminutive of botulus. Mart. v. 78. BOLTULA'RIUS. A maker and vendor of botulus, black puddings, or sausage meat. Sen. Ep. 56. BOT'ULUS (φύσκη). A sort of sausage meat or black pudding, for it was prepared with the blood of the animal (Tertull. Apol. 9.), which appears to have been prized more especially by the common people, and such gentry as Trimalchio of Petronius. Mart. xiv. 72. Gell. xvi. 7. 3. Petr. Sat. xlix. 10. BOVI'LE (Veget. iv. 1. 3.) The same as BUBILE, which is the more usual form. BRABE'UM, BRABI'UM, or BRAVI'UM (βραβεῖον). The prize given to the victor at the public games. (Prudent. BRABEU'TA (βραβευτής). The judge who declared the victors, and awarded the prizes a the public games of Greece. Suet. Nero, 53. BRAC'Æ or BRAC'CÆ (ἀναξυρίδες). An article of dress which entirely covered the lower part of the person from the waist (see cut 2.) to the ankles, and was either made to fit the figure nearly tight, like our pantaloons, or to sit more loosely round the legs, like trowsers. The word contains the elements of the Scotch breeks, and English breeches; but answers more closely to the pantaloons and trowsers of the present day. The Romans included both kinds under the general term of bracæ; but the Greeks distinguished each particular from by a characteristic name; as follows:— 1. ἀναξυρίδες. A pair of tight trowsers or pantaloons, more especially proper to the Eastern nations, and amongst these the Amazons and Persians (Ovid. Trist. v. 10. 34. Herod. i. 71.), as shown by the engraving annexed, which represents a Persian prince at the battle of Issus, from the great mosaic at Pompeii. 2. Bracæ laxæ (θύλακοι). A pair of loose trowsers, worn in the same manner as the preceding, but more generally characteristic of the northern nations (Ovid. Trist. v. 7. 49. Lucan. i. 430.), as seen in the annexed figure, representing one of the German auxiliaries in the army of Trajan; and of the Phrygians, amongst the Asiatics (Eur. Cycl. 182); consequently the usual costume of Paris. 3. Bracæ virgatæ (Propert. iv. 10. 43.), or pictæ. (Val. Flacc. vi. 227.) Striped, checked, and embroidered trowsers, which were much worn by the inhabitants of Asia. See the next illustration.{TR: See entry "BRACATUS".} BRACA'RIUS. Strictly a trowser-maker (Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 24.); but in the Edict of Diocletian (p. 20.), a tailor in general, who made any kind of vest. BRACA'TUS or BRACCA'TUS. In general, a person who wears trowsers or pantaloons; more especially intended to characterise the Asiatic or northern races (Cic. Fam. ix. 15. Pers. Sat. iii. 53.), as distinguished from the Greeks, by whom they were never worn; and from the Romans, by whom they were only adopted at a late period of the Empire, or by persons who affected a foreign style. Tac. Hist. ii. 20. 2. Bracatus totum corpus, breeched from head to foot. An expression intended to describe a peculiar sort of costume commonly worn by the races who inhabited the shores fo the Palus Mæotis (Mela, ii. 1.), and often seen on the figures of Amazons on the Greek fictile vases, from one of which the illustration here introduced is taken. It was a dress which formed a pair of pantaloons below, and a sort of waistcoat or jacket above; but was made all in one length, as the phrase indicates, and as is clearly shown by a figure in Winkelmann (Mon. Ined. No. 149.), which leaves exposed the portion here concealed by the kilt. 3. Bracatus miles. A trowsered soldiers; which means, when the phrase is used with reference to the republican or early Imperial period, a foreign soldier or auxiliary (Propert. iii. 4. 17.) from any of the nations who wore long trowsers as their national costume (see the cut of bracæ 2. and many other examples on the Column of Trajan; but from the days of Alexander Severus, and subsequently, these articles of apparel were also adopted by the Roman soldiers (Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 40.), and may be seen on those figures of the arch of Constantine, which were executed at the period when the arch was built, and not taken from the works of Trajan, one of which is here introduced; consequently, in any writings of this period the phrase is equally characteristic of the Romans themselves. 4. Bracata Gallia. A department of Gaul, so called from the long breeches or trowsers worn by its inhabitants. It was subsequently termed Gallia Narbonensis. Mela, ii. 59. Plin. H. N. iii. 5. BRACHIA'LE (περιβραχιόνιον). A piece of defensive armour which covered the brachium, or part of the arm between the wrist and elbow. It is distinctly mentioned by Xenophon (Cyrop. vi. 4. 2.) as part of the accoutrements worn by the Persians, and is sometimes seen on figures of Roman gladiators, though the Latin name does not occur in this sense, except, perhaps, Trebell. Claud. 14., where, however, it may mean a bracelet. The example here introduced is from an original of bronze, which was found, with other pieces of armour, at Pompeii, and probably belonged to a gladiator. The rings by which it was fastened on the front of the arm are seen at the side. BREPHOTROPHE'UM and BREPHOTROPHI'UM (βρεφοτροφεῖον). A foundling-hospital; both words, however, the Latin as well as Greek, are of a late date, not occurring before the age of the Christian emperors, when foundlings were declared to be free, and those who received or educated them were forbidden by law to detain, or sell them as slaves (Imp. Justin. Cod. i. 2. 19.); for while the exposure, sale, or giving in pawn of children was commonly permitted and practised, it is not likely that any establishment of this kind would be maintained at the public expense. BUBI'LE (βόαυλος or -ον). A cow-shed, cow-house, or stall for oxen. (Phædr. ii. 8. Cato, R. R. 4. Columell. i. 6. 4.) The illustration, which might almost have been sketched from a modern farm-yard, is copied from a miniature of the Vatican Virgil. BUB'SEQUA. A cow-boy, who drives the cattle to and from their pastures, &c. (Apul. Met. viii. p. 152. Sidon. Ep. i. 6.) The example is from the Vatican Virgil. BUBUL'CUS (βουκόλος). In a general sense, a cow-herd, neat-herd, or herdsman (Virg. Ecl. x. 9.), who tends, manages, and has the general care for the cattle on a farm; in which sense the term pastor is more common. The illustration is from an engraved gem. BUCCELLA'TUM. A hard soldier's biscuit, which was distributed for rations upon a march. Spart. Pescenn. Nig. 10. Ammian. xvii. 8. 2. BUC'CULA (παραγναθίς). The cheek-piece of a helmet, which was furnished with one on each of its sides, attached by hinges, so as to be lifted up and down at pleasure. In active exercise the bucculæ were fastened under the chin; when the wearer was "at ease," they were frequently tied up over the top of the skull cap. (See the illustrations s. GALEA. Liv. xliv. 34. Juv. x. 134.) The engraving shows one side of an original bronze helmet found in a tomb at Pæstum, with the cheek piece depending from it. BUCCULA'RIUS. One who made, or affixed cheek-pieces (bucculæ) to helmets. Aurel. Arcad. Dig. 50. 6. 6. BU'CINA and BUC'CINA (βυκάνη). A particular kind of horn, formed in spiral twists (Ovid, Met. i. 336.), like the shell of the fish out of which it was originally made, as shown by the annexed engraving, from a small bronze figure once belonging to Blanchini. In this, its earliest form, it was commonly used by swine and neat-herds to collect their droves from the woods (Varro, R. R. ii. 4. 20. Id. iii. 13. 1. Prop. iv. 10. 29.); by the night watch, and the Accensi, to give notice of the hours by night or day (Prop. iv. 4. 6. Seneca, Thyest. 798.); and in early times, to summon the Quirites to the assembly, or collect them upon any emergency. Prop. iv. i. 13. 2. The bucina was also employed as one of the three wind instruments with which signals were made, or the word of command given to the soldiery (Polyb. xv. 12. 2. Virg. Æn. xi. 475. Veget. Mil. iii. 5.); but the military instrument was then of a different form, having a larger mouth made of metal, and bent round underneath (quæ in semetipsam æreo circulo flectitur, Veget. l. c.), of which kind a specimen is here given, from a marble bas-relief, published by Burney, Hist. of Music, vol. i. p. 6. BUCINA'TOR or BUCCINA'TOR (βυκανητής, or βυκανιστής). One who blows the horn, called bucina (Polyb. ii. 29. 6. Id. xxx. 13. 11. Cæs. B. C. ii. 35.), which in addition to the uses mentioned in the last article, was also employed for making signals on board ship, as in the example, from a terra-cotta lamp, which represents a ship coming into port; the sailors are furling the sails, while the master signalizes its arrival by sounding the bucina. BUL'GA. A small leathern bag, which was carried on the arm (Non. s. v. p. 78. ed. Mercer), in the same manner as the modern reticule, by travellers, who used it as a money bag (Lucil. Sat. vi. p. 20. 1. ed. Gerlach. Varro ap. Non. l. c.); and by agriculturists, as a pouch, containing the seed at sowingtime (the πήρα σπερμοφόρος of the Greek Anthology), to which use the example here given was applied; it is borne by a figure furnished with various implements of husbandry on a beatiful silver tazza of the Neapolitan Museum. Mus. Borb. xii. 47. BUL'LA. Literally a water bubble; whence the word applied to various ornaments of a globular form, or which possess some affinity in shape to a bubble; viz.— 1. The head of a nail; made of rich and elaborate designs in bronze, or sometimes gold (Cic. Verr. v. 57.), and used for ornamenting the external panels of a door. The example is from an original of bronze, and represents one of the nail heads which decorate the ancient bronze doors of the Pantheon at Rome. 2. A boss or stud of the precious metals or other valuable material, affixed as an ornament to other objects; as, for instance, to a girdle, shoulder belt, sword sheath, &c. (Virg. Æn. ix. 359.) The example is from an original in ivory found in the catacombs at Rome. 3. Bulla aurea. A golden ornament, worn by the Roman children of noble families (Plin. 4. Bulla scortea. An ornament of a similar description, only made of leather, instead of gold, which was worn attached to a thong of the same material (lorum, Juv. v. 165.), by the children of freedmen and of the lower classes. (Ascon. in Cic. Verr. v. 58.) The exampley is from a small bronze statue found at Perugia, in which the details of the band by which it was fastened round the neck clearly indicate that it was mde of a leather plat. BULLA'TUS. Wearing the bulla; which was suspended by a fastening round the neck, so as to hang in front of the breast. It was so worn by Roman children, until they attained the age of puberty, when it was laid aside, together with the prætexta, and dedicated to the tutelary deities of their house. (Scipio Afr. ap. Macrob. Sat. ii. 10. Pers. Sat. v. 31.) The illustration is from a bas-relief in terra-cotta, and represents a youth with his tablet at school. BUL'LULA. Diminutive of BULLA. An ornament, worn by females round their necks, but of smaller dimensions, and made of gold, silver, bronze, or of precious stones. Inscript. ap. Ficoroni, Bolla d'Oro, p. 26. Hieron. in Isai. ii. 3. 18. BU'RA or BU'RIS (γύης). The plough tail (Varro, R. R. i. 19. 2.); i. e. the hinder part of an ancient plough formed out of the branch of a tree, or a single piece of timber, bent at one end into a curve (Virg. Georg. i. 169.), like an ox's tail (βοὸς οὐρὰ), from which resemblance the Latin name originated. (Serv. ad Virg. l. c. Isidor. Orig. xx. 14. 2.) The illustration represents an ancient plough, from an engraved gem; the bent part on the left hand is the bura; the short hook under it, shod with iron, acted as the share (vomer); the upright stock, formed by a natural branch growing out in an opposite direction, the handle (stiva), by which the ploughman guided his machine; and the straight end, proceeding horizontally from the curve, a pole (temo), to which the oxen were attached. Compare also ARATRUM, 2., where the same part is shown upon a Greek plough of improved construction at the letters A A. BUSTUA'RIUS. A gladiator who engaged in mortal combat round the funeral pyre at the burning of a body; a custom which originated in the notion that the manes were appeased with blood, and the consequent practice of killing prisoners taken in war over the graves of those who were slain in battle. (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. x. 519. Cic. Pis. 9. Compare Hom. Il. xxi. 26. Florus, iii. 20. 9.) The illustration is from an engraved gem; the character of the figure is indicated by the sepulchral pyramid in the back ground. BUS'TUM (τύμβος). A vacant space of ground, on which a funeral pile was raised, and the corpse burnt; but expressly so termed when this area was contained within the sepulchral enclosure, and contiguous to the tomb in which the ashes were afterwards deposited. It is, therefore, to be considered in the light of a private or family burning ground in contradistinction to the Ustrinum, or public one. Festus, s. v. Lucret. iii. 919. Cic. Leg. ii. 26. Suet. Nero, 38. BU'TYRUM (βούτυρον). Butter; an article which does not appear to have been either of Greek or Roman invention, but to have come to the former people from the Scythians, Thracians, and Phrygians, and to the latter from the nations of Germany. After they had become acquainted with the manner of making it, it was only used as medicine, or as an ointment in the baths, but not as an article of food, nor in cookery; and it would moreover appear that they were unable to make it of the same firmness and consistency as we do, or to work it beyond an oily or almost liquid state, for in all the passages in which the word occurs it is spoken of as something fluid and to be poured out. Columell. vi. 12. 5. Plin. H. N. xi. 96. Id. xxviii. 35. Beckman, History of Inventions, vol. i. p. 504—7. London, 1846. BUXUM (πύξος). Box-wood; an article much employed by the ancients, as it is with us, on account of its consistency and fitness for working; whence the word is commonly used to signify any of the various articles made of such wood; for example:— 1. A boy's whipping-top. Virg. Æn. vii. 382. Pers. Sat. iii. 51. 2. A box-wood flute or pipe. (Ovid. Met. xiv. 537. Prop. iv. 8. 42.) A pair of box-wood pipes from Greece are preserved in the British Museum. See TIBIA. 3. A box-wood comb. (Ov. Fast. vi. 229. Juv. xiv. 194.) See PECTEN. 4. A box-wood tablet, covered with wax, for writing on. (Prop. iii. 23. 8.) See CERA, TABELLA. CACAB'ULUS or CACAB'ULUM (κακκάβιον). Diminutive of CACABUS. Apic. iv. 1 CA'CABUS or CAC'CABUS (κακκάβη, κακκαβίς, κάκκαβος). A pot for boiling meat, vegetables, &. (Varro, L. L. v. 127.), which was placed immediately upon the fire, or on a trivet (tripus) standing over it. (Compare AHENUM.) The common sorts were made of earthenware; whence, when other kinds are recommended, the material is always specified by a characteristic epithet, as a tin pot (stagneus, Columell. xii. 42. 1.); a bronze pot (æneus, Id. xii. 48. 1.); a silver pot (argenteus, Ulp. Dig. 34. 2. 20.) The example represents a bronze original, from Pompeii; a specimen in use, and upon a trivet, is given under TRIPUS 1. CADUCEA'TOR. A general name for any person who was sent out from one belligerent party to another, carrying the wand of peace (caduceus); or, as we should express it, the bearer of a flag of truce. The persons of those employed upon such missions were at all tims held sacred and inviolable. Liv. xxxii. 32. Cato, ap. Fest. s. v. See also CERYX and FETIALIS. CADU'CEUS or CAD'UCEUM (κηρύκειον, κηρύκιον). In general, a herald's wand (Cic. de Orat. i. 46.), which consisted of a simple olive stick, ornamented with garlands (Müller, Archaologie der Kunst, p. 504 and the illustration to CERYX 2.); but the word is more specially applied to the wand assigned by ancient artists and poets to Mercury (caduceus Mercurialis, Apul. Met. xi. p. 245.), in his capacity of herald or messenger of the gods. In this, the place of the garlands is occupied by snakes; in allusion to the fable which states that Mercury, observing two snakes fighting with one another, separated them with his staff; whence a stick thus decorated came to be adopted as the emblem of peace. (Hygin. Astron. ii. 7. Macrob. Sat. i. 19.) Both these characteristics, the olive stick and the snakes for garlands, are clearly represented in the example, which is copied from a sepulchral urn. Sometimes a pair of wings are added on the top, as in the next illustration. CADU'CIFER. In general, one who carries the caduceus, but more especially used as a characteristic epithet of Mercury, by which it is implied that he is the messenger of heaven. (Ov. Met. viii. 627. Id. Fast. v. 449.) The illustration is from a Roman marble. CADUS (κάδος). A large earthen-ware jar, used chiefly for holding wine (Mart. iv. 66. 8. Virg. Æn. i. 195. Id. Cop. 11.); but also employed for other purposes—to contain oil, honey, dried fruits, salted fish, meats, &c. (Mart. i. 44. 9. Id. i. 56. 10. Plin. H. N. xv. 21. Id. xviii. 73.) It had a narrowish neck and mouth, which could be closed with a stopper or cork bung (Plin. H. N. xvi. 13.), and a body which was pointed at bottom, and possessing the general shape of a boy's whipping-top (turbines cadorum, Plin. H. N. xxvii. 5.); all which characteristic properties are observable in the illustration, from an original discovered amongst various other sorts of vessels in an ancient wine cellar, of which the plan and elevation is introduced under CELLA 2. CÆLUM (γλύφανον). The chisel or graver used by persons who practise the art of chasing (cælatura) in metals. Isidor. Orig. xx. 4. 7. Quint. ii. 21. 24. 2. See COELUM. CÆMENTA'RIUS. One who builds rough walls of unhewn stones (cæmenta). Hieron. Ep. 53. 6. CÆMENTI'CIUS. Built of unhewn stones. The ancients adopted two ways of building with rough quarry stones; one, in which very large irregular masses were laid together without mortar but having the interstices filled in with the smaller chippings, as shown in the illustration above, which represents a portion of the very ancient walls of Tiryns; this kind they termed cæmenticia structura antiqua. (Vitruv. ii. 8. Liv. xxi. 11.) The other, very generally practised by the Romans, consisted of small irregular pieces, imbedded in mortar, so as to take any architectural form, as shown by the annexed illustration, which represents a portion of the Villa of Tibur. This was called cæmenticia structura incerta (Vitruv. ii. 8.), and was mostly intended to be covered over by a coating of cement. CÆMEN'TUM. Rough quarry stones, which were used for building walls in the manner described, and illustrated under the preceding word; including the large irregular masses employed for the walls of a citadel or fortified town (Liv. xxi. 11. Vitruv. i. 5. 8. and last cut but one), as well as the smaller fragments or chippings (λατύπη, σκύρος), more generally adopted in domestic architecture. Cic. Mil. 27. Vitruv. ii. 7. 1. Id. vi. 6. 1. and last illustration. CÆNA. See CŒNA. CÆSAR'IES. Is nearly synonymous with COMA; but implies also a sense of beauty; i. e. as we should say, a becoming head of hair; profuse and abundant when applied to women (Ovid, Am. iii. 1. 32.); thick, long, and waving, like the Greek busts of Jupiter, Bacchus, and Apollo, when applied to men (Plaut. Mil. i. 1. 64. Liv. xxviii. 35. Virg. Æn. i. 590.); whence the same word is also used to designate a grand and majestic beard. Ov. Met. xv. 656. CÆSTRUM. See CESTRUM. CÆSTUS (ἱμάντες, μύρμηξ). Boxing gauntles worn by the ancient prize fighters (Cic. Tusc. ii. 17. Virg. Æn. v. 379.); which consisted of leather thongs bound round the hand and wrists (Prop. iii. 14. 9.), and sometimes reached as high up as the elbow (illustration s. PUGIL), and armed with lead or metal bosses, as in the examples, from an ancient statue. CÆTRA. See CETRA. CALAMA'RIUS. Theca calamaria (καλαμίς). A pen-holder, or case for carrying writing reeds. (Suet. Claud. 35. Mart. Tit. in Ep. xiv. 19.) It is probable that these cases also contained an ink-bottle, like those now used by our school-boys; whence the same word calamajo, in the common language of Italy, means an "ink-stand." CALAMIS'TER, CALAMIS'TRUS, CALAMIS'TRUM (καλαμίς). A pair of curling-irons; so termed because the outside was hollow like a reed (calamus), though, like our own, they were made of iron, and heated in the fire, to produce artificial curls in the hair. (Varro, L. L. v. 129. Cic. Post Red. i. 7. Pet. Sat. 102. 15). The illustration is copied from a sepulchral bas-relief in the Florentine Gallery, on which it appears amongst various other articles of the toilet; the curling part alone is indicated on the marble, as here represented, but that is sufficient to show that the instrument was similar in character to the one still employed for the same purpose. CALAMISTRA'TUS. Having the hair artificially curled with the irons (calamister); a practice very prevalent at Rome, both amongst men and women, in the time of Plautus, Varro, and Cicero. Plaut. As. iii. 3. 37. Cic. Post Red. i. 6. CAL'AMUS (κάλαμος). Literally the haulm or stalk of any tall plant, but more especially of the reed or cane; whence it applied in the same way as the word ARUNDO, and to designate a similar class of objects; as 1. An arrow. Hor. Od. i. 15. 17. ARUNDO 2. 2. Pan's pipes. Virg. Ecl. ii. 33. ARUNDO 6. 3. A fishing-rod. Mart. according to Riddle, s. v. ARUNDO 3. 4. A fowler's lime-tipped rod. Mart. Ep. xiv. 218. ARUNDO 4. 5. A writing-reed. Cic. Att. vi. 8. Hor. A. P. 447. ARUNDO 5. 6. Also a tall reed or cane, set up as a sign-post in the sandy deserts of Egypt. Plin. H. N. vi. 33. CALANT'ICA, CALAUT'ICA, or CALVAT'ICA (κρήδεμνον). A cap fastened on by a ligature round the head, with a kind of curtain or lappets hanging down on both sides as far as the tips of the shoulders (Eustath. ad Il. xiv. 184.), so that they might be drawn together at pleasure, and made conceal the whole face. (Hom. Od. i. 334. Il. xiv. 184.) It was commonly worn by the Egyptians of both sexes (Riddle, s. v.), and is consequently of frequent occurrence in the paintings and sculptures belonging to that nation, precisely similar to the example here introduced, which is copied from a statue of Isis in the Capitol at Rome. When adopted by the Greeks and Romans, its use was confined to the female sex (Non. Marc. s. v. p. 537.), or to persons who affected a foreign or effeminate costume. Cic. Fragm. Or. in Clod. p. 115. ed. Amed. Peyron. Lips. 1824. The affinity of the Greek and Latin words, and their identity with the figure in the engraving, may be established thus. The Greek term is derived from κράς, and δέω or δέμα, meaning literally that which is fastened by a ligature to the head, and Nonius (l. c.) gives a similar interpretation to the Latin one—quod capiti innectitur: whilst Ausonius (Perioch. Od. 5.), translates the κρήδεμνον of Homer by the Latin calantica or calvatica. The illustration and derivation of the Greek word also explain another of the senses in which it is used (Hom. Od. iii. 392.); viz. a leather cap tied over the mouth and bung of a vessel containing wine or other liquids, which the lexicographers erroneously translate, "the lid of a vessel." The illustration moreover will explain why Cicero (l. c.) and Servius (ad Virg. Æn. ix. 616.) use the words calantica and mitra as nearly convertible terms (compare the illustrations to each word); and, at the same time, account for one of the Latin names, calvatica, which is probably the only true one, because in Egypt it really was used to cover the bald heads of the priests of Isis (grege calvo, Juv. CALATHIS'CUS (καλαθίσκος). Diminutive of CALATHUS. Catull. lxiv. 320. CAL'ATHUS (κάλαθος). A woman's work-basket (Virg. Æn. vii. 805.), made of wicker-work, and gradually expanding upwards towards the top (Plin. H. N. xxi. 11.); especially employed for containing the wool and materials for spinning (Juv. Sat. ii. 54.), as in the example, which represents Leda's work-basket, from a Pompeian painting, with the balls of wool and bobbins in it. 2. A basket of precisely the same form and material, employed out of doors for holding fruit, flowers, cheese, &c., which is of very common occurrence in ancient works of art. Virg. Ecl. ii. 46. Id. Georg. iii. 400. Ov. A. Am. ii. 264. 3. A drinking-cup, which we may naturally infer to have been so termed, because it resembled a woman's work-basket in shape; as shown by the figure in the illustration, held by a cupbearer of the Vatican Virgil. Virg. Ecl. v. 71. Mart. Ep. ix. 60. 15. Id. xiv. 107. 4. The modius, or bushel, which was placed as an ornament upon the top of the head of Jupiter Serapis, (Macrob. Sat. i. 20.), and which, as seen in the example, from an engraved gem, representing the head of Serapis, possessed the same CALA'TOR. A public crier; particularly one who was attached to the service of the priesthood (Suet. Gramm. 12.), whose duty it was to precede the high-priest on his way to the sacrifice, and put a stop to any kind of work, which it was considered would pollute the ceremony on a festival or holy day. Serv. ad Virg. Georg. i. 268. 2. A private servant or messenger. Plaut. Merc. v. 2. 11. Id. Rud. ii. 3. 5. CALAUT'ICA. See CALANTICA CALCAR. A horseman's spur (Plaut. As. iii. 3. 118. Virg. Æn. vi. 882.); so called, because it was affixed to the heel (calx) of the rider (Isidor. Orig. xx. 16. 6. compare Virg. Æn. xi. 714.); whence the manner of applying it is clearly illustrated by the expression subdere equo calcaria. (Curt. vii. 4. compare iv. 16.) The right-hand figure in the annexed engraving represents an original from Caylus (Recueil d'Antiq. vol. iii. pl. 59. no. 5.), and closely resembles one found at Herculaneum, excepting that the latter has its point formed like a lance head, or lozenge shaped. All the ancient spurs are like these, with a simple goad, calcis aculeus (Columell. viii. 2. 8., where it is applied to poultry), and not rowelled. The left-hand figures present a side and back-view of the left foot of a statue in the Vatican, representing an Amazon, and show the straps and fastenings by which the spur was fixed to the foot; the goad itself is broken off, but the place from which it projected is clearly seen. The right foot of the statue is not equipped in the same way; from which circumstance some antiquaries incline to the belief that the ancients only rode with one spur, and that one on the left leg. 2. In like manner, the spur which grows out from the heel of a cock. Columell. viii. 2. 8. CALCA'TOR (ληνοβάτης). One who crushes grapes for making wine, by treading them out with the naked feet, as is still the practice in Italy. (Calpurn. Ecl. iv. 124.) In the illustration, from a bas-relief in the Library of St. Mark at Venice, the operation is performed by two persons only, represented by Fauns; but in other ancient works of art, as many as seven persons are seen in the vat at the same time, sometimes supporting themselves by ropes over head, but more commonly with crutch-handled sticks, like those in the annexed engraving. CALCATO'RIUM. A raised platform of masonry in the cellar attached to a vineyard (cella vinaria), which was ascended to form a gangway on a level with the tops of the large vessels (dolia, cupæ), in which the wine was kept in bulk, for the convenience of the persons who superintended its manufacture and sale. (Pallad. i. 18. 1.) It was so called a calcando, or ab opere calcato; and is incorrectly explained in the dictionaries, where it is taken for a vat in which the grapes were trodden out (see the preceding wood-cut; for a contrivance of that description belongs clearly to the press-room (torcularium), in which the wine was made, and not the cellar (cella vinaria), in which it was stored. Cato designates the same thing by the term suggestum. R. R. 154. CALCEA'MEN. Same as CALCEUS CALCEAMEN'TUM. A general term, expressive of all kinds of covering for the feet; including the various descriptions of boots and shoes enumerated in the classed Index. CALCEOLA'RIUS. A shoe-maker. (Plaut. Aul. iii. 5. 38.) The illustration is from a painting excavated at Resina, representing the interior of a shoe-maker's shop, in which the two genii here figured are employed at their trade. CALCE'OLUS (ύποδημάτιον). Diminutive of CALCEUS; a small shoe or boot; and thence more especially applied to those worn by women. (Cic. N. D. i. 29.) The engraving represents three specimens of women's shoes from the Pompeian paintings, of the most usual descriptions. It will be observed that all of them reach as high as the ankle, are made with soles and low heels, and with or without ties; but those which are tied are either fastened by a cord drawn in a hem round the top, or have merely a slit over the instep, through the sides of which the lace is passed, and not lappets, as was more usual in men's shoes. (See the next illustration.{TR: See entry CALCEUS.}) There does not appear to have been any material difference between the shoes of the Greek and Roman females; for the later took their fashions from Greece, as ours do from France. CAL'CEUS (ὑπόδημα κοῖλονὑπόδημα κοῖλον). A shoe or boot, made upon a last, and right and left (Suet. Aug. 92.), so that it would completely cover the foot, as contradistinguished from the sandal, slipper, &c., which were only partial coverings. (Cic. Hor. Suet. Plin.) The illustration represents a lace-up or half boot, from a bronze vase in the Collegio Romano, and two men's shoes of the ordinary kind, from paintings at Pompeii. 2. Calceus patricius. The shoe worn by the Roman senators, which was of a different character from that worn by the rest of the citizens, whence the expression calceos mutare (Cic. Phil. xiii. 13.) means, "to become a senator." It was fastened by straps crossing each other over the instep (Isidor. Orig. xix. 34. 4.), and then carried round the leg as far as the bottom of the calf, as is frequently seen on statues draped in the toga, and in the manner represented by the annexed figures, of which the front view is taken from a bronze, the side one from a marble statue. A lunated ornament, called LUNULA, was moreover attached to them, for an account of which see that word. 3. Calceus repandus. A shoe with a long pointed toe bent upwards or backwards. (Cic. Nat. Deor. i. 29., but the diminutive is used because applied to a female.) This form appears to have been of great antiquity, for it is frequently seen in Egyptian and Etruscan monuments, from which latter people it came, like many other of their fashions, to the Romans, and remained in common use in many parts of Europe until a late period of the middle ages. The illustration here given is Etruscan (Gori, Mus. Etrusc. tab. 3. and 47.), but it resembles exactly the shoes worn by a figure of Juno Lanuvina on a Roman denarius (Visconi, Mus. P. Clem. tom. 2. tav. A. vii. No. 12.), which is draped in every respect as Cicero (l. c.) describes her. In a passge of Cato, quoted by Festus (s. Mulleos), the epithet uncinatus is, according to Scaliger's emendation, applied to a shoe of this character; and the term uncipedes to the persons who wore them, by Tertullian, de Pall. 5. CALCULA'TOR. An accountant (Mart. Ep. x. 62.): so called because the ancients used to reckon with small stones (calculi) upon a board covered with sand. (Isidor. Orig. x. 43. ABACUS.) The example is from an Etruscan gem, and represents an arithmetician sitting at a table on which the pebbles for making his calculations are seen, while the counting board, inscribed in Etruscan characters, which are interpreted to mean "a calculator," is held in his left hand. CAL'CULUS (ψῆφος). Literally a pebble, or small stone worn round by friction, which was employed by the ancients for several purposes, as follows:— 1. For mosaic work. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 67. 2. A counter for reckoning. Cic. Amic. 16. preceding wood-cut, and ABACUS. 3. A pebble used in voting, which was thrown in the urn; a white one to acquit, and a black one to condemn. Ovid. Met. xv. 41. 4. A counter employed in games of chance or skill, for the same purpose as our chess and draughtsmen; and the term is applied indiscriminately to the men employed in the ludus duodecim scriptorum, or backgammon, and in the ludus latrunculorum, or draughts. Ov. Am. ii. 207. Val. Max. viii. 8. 2. Aul. Gell. xiv. 1. 9. CALDA'RIUM. The thermal chamber in a set of baths. (Vitruv. v. 10. Seneca, Ep. 86. Celsus, i. 4.) In all the baths which have been discovered, public as well as private, this apartment is constantly arranged upon a uniform plan, and consists of three principal parts; a semicircular alcove (laconicum) at one end (the right hand in the engraving), with a labrum upon a raised stem in the centre of it; a vacant space in the centre of the room (sudatio, sudatorium); and a warm-water bath (alveus) at the other extremity—all which parts were essential to the ancient system of bathing. In the central portion, the bather exercised himself by lifting weights and performing gymnastics, for the purpose of exciting perspiration, superinduced by the hot air proceeding from the flues seen under the flooring of the room; or entered the warm water bath, if preferred, instead. It is probable that in the more magnificent and extensive structures, such as the Roman Thermæ, separate apartments were appropriated for each of these operations; but in the smaller establishments, such as the baths of Pompeii, and in private houses, the thermal chamber, in all the instances hitherto discovered, and they are many, is uniformly arranged in the manner described, and shown by the illustration, which represents the section of a bath-room attached to an ancient Roman villa at Tusculum. The relative situation and arrangement of such chambers in connection with the other parts of the establishment, and the general ground-plan, will be understood by referring to the illustration, s. BALINEÆ, letters D and H; and BALINEUM, letter D. 2. The boiler in which the warm water for supplying a bath was heated (Vitruv. v. 10.) as seen in the preceding section over the furnace (No. 2.), with a conduit tube into the bath. See also AHENUM 2., where the principle upon which the ancients constructed and arranged their coppers is explained. CALENDA'RIUM (ἡμερολόγιον). An almanack or calendar; which, like our own, contained the astronomical, agricultural, and religious notices of each month in the year; the name of the month, the number of days it contained, and the length of the day and night; the sign of the zodiac through which the sun passes; the various agricultural operations to be performed in the month; the divinity under whose guardianship the month was placed; and the various religious festivals which fell in it. The illustration represents an original of marble, found at Pompeii, with the inscription for the month of January, printed at length, as a specimen of the whole, by its side. 2. A ledger in which bankers and money lenders kept their accounts with their customers; so termed because the interest became due on the calendæ, or first day of the month. Seneca. Benef. vii. 10. Id. Ep. 87. CALIC'ULUS (κυλίκιον). Diminutive of CALIX. CALIDA'RIUM. See CALDARIUM. CALIEN'DRUM. A sort of covering which Roman women sometimes wore upon their heads, but the exact nature of which it is not easy to determine. (Hor. Sat. i. 8. 48. Varro, teste Porphyr. Schol. ad Hor. l. c. Acron. ib.) It was, however, a kind of head-dress, and probably in the nature of a cap, like that shown by the illustration, which is copied from an engraved gem representing a portrait of Faustina the younger; and might be made in different patterns; for Canidia wore a high one. (Hor. l. c.) Some think that the caliendrum was made of hair, and was a sort of wig. CAL'IGA. The shoe worn by the Roman soldiery of the rank and file, including the centurions, but not the superior officers. (Cic. Att. ii. 3. Justin, xxxviii. 10. Juv. Sat. xvi. 24. Suet. Cal. 52.) It consisted of a close shoe, which entirely covered the foot (see CALIGARIUS; had a thick sole studded with nails (CLAVUS CALIGARIS), and was bound by straps across the instep and round the bottom part of the leg, as represented in the illustration, from the arch of Trajan. CALIGA'RIUS. One who followed the trade of making soldiers' shoes (caligæ). (Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 33. Inscript. ap. Grut. 649. 1.) The example is from a sepulchral marble at Milan, which bears the inscription SUTOR CALIGARIUS, thus identifying the trade. It is of coarse execution, and has suffered from age, but is a valuable relic, because it proves that the caliga was a close-fitting shoe, made upon a last, and not a sandal, which left the toes exposed, as has been generally inferred from Bartoli's engravings of the triumphal arches and columns. The workman appears to hold the handle of an awl in his right hand, and in the left a caliga on the last, while the fellow-shoe is on the table before him. CALIGA'TUS. Wearing the caliga, or soldier's shoe (Juv. Sat. iii. 322.), as seen in the last cut but one;{TR: See entry CALIGARIUS.} and thence by implication, a common soldier (Suet. Aug. 25. Id. Vitell. 7.), because its use was peculiar to the rank and file. CALIP'TRA or CALYP'TRA (καλύπτρα, κάλυμμα). A veil worn in public by the young women of Greece and Italy, for the purpose of concealing the features from the gaze of strangers (Festus, s.v. Hom. Od. v. 232. Soph. Ag. 245.), very similar to what the Turkish women still use. It was placed on the top of the head, and wrapped round the face in such a manner as to conceal every part of it except the upper portion of the nose and one of the eyes (Eurip. Ipht. T. 372.), and fell down over the shoulders to about the middle of the figure, precisely as seen in the illustration, from a small terra-cotta figure in the Collegio Romano. A veil of this kind was also worn by the brides of Greece (Æsch. Ag. 1149.), and the same costume is still preserved at Rome for the young women who receive a dowry from the state on the festival of the Annunciation. CALIX (κύλιξ). A shallow circular wine-goblet, of Greek invention (Macrob. Sat. v. 21.), with a low stem, and two small handles, like the example, from an original of terra cotta; frequently represented on their fictile vases in carousals and drinking scenes, and commonly met with in every collection, sometimes decorated with drawing, and at others merely covered with an uniform coat of lustrous black varnish. 2. A sort of soup plate or vegetable dish, in which food of a liquid nature, and vegetables more especially, were cooked and brought to table. (Varro, L. L. v. 127. Ovid, Fast. v. 509.) The illustration annexed is from an original of earthenware found in the catacombs at Rome. The edges of the platter on which it stands, and which is in the same piece as the top, have suffered from time; but the general form of the whole seems sufficiently applicable to the purposes described. 3. A water-meter: i. e. a copper cap or tube of certain length and capacity, attached to the end of main pipe at the part where it was inserted into the reservoir of an aqueduct (castellum), or to the end of a branch pipe inserted in the main, for the purpose of measuring the quantity of water discharged into the pipe. Every private house and public establishment in the city of Rome was by law entitled to the supply of a certain quantity of water, and no more than what the law allowed; it was measured out by means of the calix, the length and diameter of which being fixed, the number of cubic feet of water passing through it in a given time could be regulated to a nicety. Frontin. Aq. 36. CALO'NES. Slaves belonging to the Roman soldiery (Festus, s. v.), who followed their masters to the field, waited upon them as servants, attended at their exercises, and performed all the duties required of a menial, such as carrying the vallum, &c. Cic. Nat. Deor. iii. 5. Serv. ad Virg. Æneid. vi. 1. and Nonius s. v. p. 62. 2. A farm-servant (Hor. Sat. i. 6. 103.); a palanquin or sedan bearer (Senec. Ep. 110.); and thus a menial generally. CALPAR. An antiquated name for DOLIUM; which had already grown obsolete in the time of Varro, C.
CAL'THULA. An article of female attire which appears to have been much in vogue at the time of Plautus. (Epid. ii. 2. 49.) It is supposed to have received its name from the caltha (Non. Marc. s. v. p. 548.), the calendula officinalis of Linnæus, which is a flower of a yellow colour; but it is impossible to ascertain the exact nature of merely local or temporary fashions.
CALVAT'ICA. See CALANTICA.
CALX. The same as LINEA ALBA; the
CAM'ARA or CAM'ERA (καμάρα). Strictly speaking, is a Greek word adopted into the Latin language (Cic. Q. Fr. iii. 1. 1. Pallad. i. 13. 1.), and used by the Roman architects to designate the vaulted ceiling of a chamber, when constructed in wood and plaster (Vitruv. vii. 3. cf. Propert. iii. 2. 10.), instead of a regular arch of brickwork or masonry formed of regular intrados and voussoirs. This constitutes the real distinction between the terms camara and fornix; but the former was also transferred in a more general sense to any kind of apartment or building which had a vaulted ceiling. It contains the elements of our word chamber, through the modern Italian camara, their ordinary expression for a room of any kind.
2. Camera vitrea. A vaulted ceiling, of which the surface was lined with plates of glass. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 64. Compare Stat. Sylv. i. 3. 53. and i. 5. 42.
3. A small vessel used by the Greek pirates, capable of containing from twenty-five to thirty men. It was of a very peculiar construction, being made sharp fore and aft, but round, large, and full in the centre or midship, with the ribs rising upwards from the water, and converging together, so as to form a sort of roof over the vessel, from which peculiarity its name was derived. (Strabo, xi. 2. 12. Tac. Hist. iii. 47. Aul. Gell. x. 25. 3.) An old engraving by F. Huiis after the elder Brengel, and published by Jal (Archéologie Navale, vol. ii. p. 255.), exhibits the stern of a vessel constructed in the manner described, and probably preserves a trace of the ancient camara.
CAMEL'LA. A wooden bowl for driking out of, the form and peculiarities of which are entirely unknown. Ov. Fast. iv. 779. Pet. Sat. 135. § 3 and 4. Id. 64. § 13.
CAMILLUS (Κάδουλος or Κάδωλος). An attendant who waited upon the high priest while officiating at the sacrifice; as the CAMILLA was a young female who attended in like manner upon his wife. They were selected from the children of noble families (Macrob. Sat. iii. 8. Festus, s. Flamininius), and are frequently represented in ancient works of art, standing at the side of the priest or priestess, and bearing in their hands the vessels employed in the sacred rite. The example here introduced is from the Vatican Virgil.
CAMI'NUS (κάμινος). A smelting furnace. (Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 21.) The illustration represents the section and plan of a Roman smelting-furnace discovered near Wandsford in Northamptonshire. (Artis, Durobriv. p. 25.) A is the smelting pot, below which the fire was kindled, as shown in the illustration to FORNACULA; B, the slag lying about as it ran from the furnace; C, the channel which conveyed the metal into the moulds, D.
2. A blacksmith's forge (Virg. Æn. vi. 630. Juv. Sat. xiv. 118.), which, as shown by the annexed illustration, from a sepulchral marble at Rome, resembled in all respects those of our own days. The centre figure holds the iron on the anvil (incus) by a pair of pincers (forceps); under the anvil is a vessel with water, for plunging the heated iron and instruments into; the fire is seen in the back ground; and the bellows (follis), with a man working them, behind the left-hand figure.
3. A hearth or fire-place in private houses, for the purpose of warming an apartment (Hor. Ep. i. 11. 19. Id. Sat. i. 5. 81. Suet. Vitell. 8.), or for cooking, such as in early times was constructed in the atrium, and which consisted of a mere stone hearth raised above the level of the floor, and upon which the logs of firewood were placed, but without a flue to carry away the smoke.
4. It still remains a doubtful point, whether caminus ever means a chimney in our sense of that word, that is, a flue intended to carry off smoke through the different stories of a house, and discharge it above the roof; as the passages which might be cited for that purpose are not at all conclusive, and the absence of any thing like a chimney on the top of a building in the numerous landscapes pourtrayed{TR: Sic.} by the Pompeian artists, and of any positive traces of such a contrivance in the public and private edifices of that town, affords sufficient evidence that, if known to the ancients, it must have been very rarely applied; consequently, in most houses, the smoke must have escaped through a mere opening in the roof, at the windows, or through the doors. But contrivances for making a fire in the centre of a room, accompanied at least with a short flue, have been discovered in several parts of Italy, one at Baiæ, another near Perugia, and a third at Civita Vecchia, the plan of which is given in the annexed wood-cut, from a MS. by Franceso di Giorgio, preserved in the public library at Siena. The form is a parallelogram, entirely enclosed by a wall of ten feet high on three of its sides, but having an opening or doorway on the other. Within this shell are placed four columns with an architrave over them, which supported a small pyramidal cupola, underneath which the fire was made on the hearth; the cupola served to collect the smoke as it ascended, and allowed it to pass out through an aperture in its top. If the edifices in which these stoves were constructed were only one story high, no flue, perhaps, was used; but if, as is most probable, there were apartments above, it seems almost certain that a small flue or tube would have been placed over the vent hole of the cupola, in the same manner as it is in a baker's oven at Pompeii, which is represented in the annexed engraving; though the original height cannot be determined, as only a portion of the ground story now remains.
CAMPES'TRE. A kilt, fastened round the loins, and reaching about two thirds down the thigh; worn for the sake of decency by gladiators and soldiers while training, or by persons taking violent exercise in public, when otherwise divested of clothing (Hor. Ep. i. 11. 18. Augustin. Civ. Dei xiv. 17.); so called because these exercises were commonly performed in the Campus Martius. In very hot weather it was also worn by some persons, instead of a tunic, under the toga. (Ascon. in Cic. Orat. pro Scauro). The illustration represents a gladiator with the campestre, from a terra-cotta lamp.
CAMPICUR'SIO. A sort of review, or exercise performed by the Roman soldiery in the Campus Martius. Veget. Mil. iii. 4.
CAMPIDOC'TOR (ὁπλοδιδακτής). A drill sergeant, who taught the recruits their exercises in the Campus Martius. Veget. Mil. iii. 6 and 8. Ammian. xv. 3. 10.
CANALIC'ULA. Diminutive of CANALIS; a small drain, ditch, or gutter. Varro, R. R. iii. 5.
CANALIC'ULUS. Diminutive of CANALIS; a small drain, ditch, or gutter. Columell. viii. 15. 6. Vitruv. x. 9. 7.
2. The channel or groove incavated on the face of a triglyph (Vitruv. iv. 3. 5.), marked by shading in the example, from an ancient Doric temple formerly existing in the forum at Rome, as copied from the original by Labacco.
2. The channel or groove incavated on the face of a triglyph (Vitruv. iv. 3. 5.), marked by shading in the example, from an ancient Doric temple formerly existing in the forum at Rome, as copied from the original by Labacco.
CANA'LIS (σωλήν). An open channel, artificially made, of wood or brickwork, for the purpose of supplying cattle with water in the meadows, and thus serving as a drinking trough, as seen in the illustration from the Vatican Virgil. Virg. G. iii. 330. Varro, R. R. iii. 5. 2. Vitruv. viii. 5.2. and 6. 1., where it is distinguished from TUBUS and FISTULA.
2. Canalis in Foro. Probably the gutter or kennel, as we say, near the centre of the Roman forum, from which the rain waters were immediately discharged through an opening into the Cloaca Maxima or main sewer (Plaut. Curc. iv. 1. 15.); whence the word canalicola was invented as a nick-name for a lazy idle fellow, because such people used to loiter and lounge away their time about this spot. Festus, s. v.
3. A narrow alley or passage in a town. Liv. xxiii. 31.
4. A splint, employed by surgeons in setting broken bones. Celsus, viii. 16.
5. In architecture, the channel in an Ionic capital, which is a smooth flat surface lying between the abacus and cymatium or echinus, and terminating in the eye of the volute. (Vitruv. iii. 5. 7.) It is clearly shown in the engraving, which represents a capital from the temple of Fortuna Virilis at Rome.
CANCELLA'RIUS. A word introduced at a late period of the empire, and applied either to an officer who kept guard before the emperor's sent, or his sleeping apartment, the approach to which was closed by gratings (cancelli), as we learn from Cassiodorus (Var. Ep. ii. 6.), whence the appellation: or to a sort of chief clerk presiding over a body of juniors who assisted the judges in a court of law, the tribunes of which, where the judges and their officers sat, were in like manner separated from the body of the court by an iron railing. Hence we derive our term of "chancellor." Vopisc. Carin. 16. Cassiodor. l.c..
CANCELLI (κιγλίς, δρύφακτον). Iron gratings and trellis work; intended as an ornamental fence to enclose or protect anything (Varro, R. R. iii. 5. 4. Columell. viii. 1. 6.); for instance, before the judges' tribune in a court of law; in front of the rostrum in the forum (Cic.
CANDE'LA. A candle made of pitch, wax, or tallow, with the pith of a bull-rush for the wick (Plin. H. N. xvi. 70.), which was used in early times before the invention of the oil lamp. Mart. Ep. xiv. 43.
2. A sort of torch, made of the fibres of the papyrus twisted together like a rope, or of a rope itself coated with wax (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. xi. 143. Varro, L. L. v. 119.), which was anciently carried in funeral processions; and is represented in the illustration, from a sepulchral marble at Padua, which, according to the tradition there preserved, is believed to contain the remains of St. Luke.
3. A mere rope coated with wax to preserve it from decay. Liv. xl. 29.
CANDELA'BRUM. A contrivance devised for the purpose of supporting a light in a position sufficiently elevated above the ground to distribute the rays to a convenient distance around it. Of these the ancients had in use several kinds, viz.
1. (λυχνοῦχος). A candle-stick for holding tapers or candles of wax and tallow. These were either made like our own, with a socket and nozzle into which the end of the candle was inserted (Varro, ap. Macrob. Sat. iii. 4. Festus, s. v.); or with a sharp point at the end, like those so commonly seen in the churches of Italy, upon which the bottom of the candle was stuck. (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. i. 727.) An example of the former kind is given in the illustration, from an original found at Pompeii; and an engraved gem of the Worsley Museum affords a specimen of the last sort, in which the sharp point is seen projecting from the top.{TR: No illustration of this gem is given in the book.}
2. (λυχνοῦχος). A portable lampstand, upon which an oil-lamp was placed. These were sometimes made of wood (Pet. Sat. 95. 6.), but mostly of metal (Cic. Verr. ii. 4. 26), and were either intended to be placed upon some other piece of furniture, like the annexed example, which represents a bronze lamp and stand found at Pompeii, of the kind termed humile (Quin. Inst. vi. 3. 99.), which was meant to be placed upon a table; or they were made to stand upon the ground; in which case they were of considerable height, and consisted of a tall slender stem (scapus), generally imitating the stalk of a plant, or a tapering column, and a round flat dish or tray (superficies) at the top, on which the lamp was placed, like the annexed illustration from a Pompeian original. It is to candelabra of this description that Vitruvius alludes (vii. 5. 3.), when he reprehends the practice adopted by the artists of his own day, and of such frequent occurrence in the arabesque decorations of the Pompeian houses, of introducing them in the place of columns, as architectural supports to architraves and other superincumbent weights, out of all proportion with such tall and slender stems. Compare also LYCHNUCHUS.
3. (λαμπτήρ). A tall stand, with a hollow cup, instead of the flat SUPERFICIES, at the top, in which pitch, rosin, or other inflammable materials were lighted. These were not portable, but were permanently fixed in their situations; and were frequently made of marble, and fastened down to the ground; not only in the interior of temples, but also in the open air (Stat. Sylv. i. 2. 231.), where they served for illuminations on festivals and occasions of rejoicing, precisely as they are still used for similar purposes in front of the cardinals' and ambassadors' palaces at Rome in the present day. The illustration is taken from a bas-relief in the Villa Borghese, and exemplifies this customs; for it stands as an illumination in front of an open colonnade, under which a band of maidens are dancing, upon the occasion of a marriage festival. In the early or Homeric times the λαμπτήρ was a sort of grate raised upon legs, or on a stand, in which dried wood (ἄκαπνον) was burnt, for the purpose of giving light to a room, instead of torches, candles, or lamps. Hom. Odyss. xviii. 306—310.
CANE'PHORA or CANE'PHOROS (κανηφόρος). The basket-bearer; a young Athenian maiden, who walked in the procession at the festivals of Demeter, Bacchus, and Athena, carrying a flat basked (canum, or canistrum, Festus, s.v.) on her head, in which were deposited the sacred cake, chaplet, frankincense, and knife employed to slay the victim. Young women are frequently represented in this capacity by the ancient artists and similarly described by classic authors, with their arms raised up, and in the exact attitude of the figure here engraved, from a statue at Dresden. Cic. Verr. ii. 4. 3. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 4. n. 7. Compare Ovid, Met. ii. 711—713.
CANIC'ULA. Pers. Sat. iii. 49. Same as CANIS 2.
CANIS. A chain; but whether of any particular description is doubtful; though probably not, as the expression may have originated in a play upon the words catella, catellus. Plaut. Cas. ii. 6. 37. Becker, Gallus, p. 232. transl.
2. The worst throw upon the dice; i.e. when all aces were turned up. Suet. Aug. 71.
CANISTEL'LUM. Diminutive of CANISTRUM.
CANIS'TRUM and CANIS'TER (κάνεον, κάνης). A large, flat, open basket, whence termed patulum (Ov. Met. viii. 675.), and latum (Id. Fast. ii. 650.), made of wicker-work (Pallad. xii. 17.), and without handles, so as to be adapted for carrying on the head, as shown by the figure in the opposite column; particularly employed as a bread-basket (Virg. Æn. viii. 180.), in reference to which use the example here introduced, from a Pompeian painting, is carried by Ceres, and filled with ears of corn.
CANO. To sing generally; but also to sound, or play upon, any musical instrument (Cic. Div. ii. 59.); as lituo canere (Cic. Div. i. 17.), to sound the lituus (see wood-cut s. LITICEN); cornu canere (Varro, L. L. v. 91.), to sound the horn (see CORNICEN); tibiis canere (Quint. i. 10. 14.), to play upon the pipes (TIBICEN); cithara canere (Tac. Ann. xiv. 14.), to play the guitar (CITHARISTA).
2. Intus et foris canere; an expression descriptive of the peculiar mode of playing upon the lyre, which is represented in the annexed engraving, from the Aldobrandini fresco in the Vatican. To strike the chords merely with the plectrum held in the right hand, was foris canere; to thrum the chords merely with the fingers of the left hand was intus canere; but when the two were used together, and both sides of the instrument struck at once, as in the engraving, the musician was said to play on the inside and out, intus et foris canere. Ascon. ad Cic. Verr. ii. 1. 20.
CANTE'RIUS. A gelding. Varro, R. R. ii. 7. 15. Festus, s.v.
2. A prop for vines. Columell. iv. 12. 1.
3. A machine used for suspending horses with broken legs, to keep their feet off the ground while the bone is setting. Veget. Vet. iii. 47. 2.
4. In architecture, CANTERII (ἀμείβοντες, συστάται) are the canthers or principal rafters in the timber work of a roof (see MATERIATIO, f.f.); their upper ends meet together, and form the apex of the pediment; their lower extremities rest upon the tie-beams (tigna); and in the finished building are represented externally by mutules (mutuli), which are, therefore, carved to represent the projecting extremities of a series of rafters. Vitruv. iv. 2. 1. and 3.
CANTERI'OLUS (ὀκρίβας). A painter's easel; represented in the annexed engraving, with the picture on it, from a Roman bas-relief, precisely similar to those still in use. The Greek term for this contrivance is well authenticated; but the Latin one here given, upon the authority of Riddle's English-Latin Dictionary, though sufficiently appropriate, wants a positive authority.
CANTH'ARUS (κάνθαρος). A goblet, or drinking cup, of Greek invention. It was furnished with handles (Virg. Ecl. vi. 17.); and was the cup particularly sacred to Bacchus (Macrob. Sat. v. 21.), as the scyphus was to Hercules; consequently in works of art, both painting and sculpture, a vessel of the form here engraved, from a fictile original, is constantly represented in the hands of that divinity.
2. A vase into which the water of an ornamental fountain is discharged, formed in imitation of the drinking cup. Paul. Dig. 30. 41.
3. A sort of boat, the peculiar properties of which, however, are unknown. Macrob. Sat. l. c. Aristoph. Pac. 143.
CANTHE'RIUS. See CANTERIUS.
CANTHUS (ἐπίδωτρον). The tire of a wheel; a hoop of iron or bronze fastened on to the felloe, to preserve the wood from abrasion. (Quint. i. 5. 8.) The Greek name occurs in Homer (Il. v. 725.); the Latin one, though used by Persius (Sat. v. 71.), is noted as a barbarism by Quintilian (l.c.), who considers it to be a Spanish, or an African word.
CANTO. Used in the same senses as CANO.
CANUM (κανοῦν). A Greek basket, made of reed or osiers, more usually termed CANISTRUM in Latin. Festus, s.v. Varro, L. L. v. 120.
CANUSINA'TUS. Wearing a garment wove from the wool of Canusium, now Canosa. Suet. Nero, 30. Mart. Ep. ix. 23. 9.
CAPE'DO. An earthenware wine jug, with a handle, such as was used in early times at the sacrifice. (Cic. Parad. i. 2.) Same as CAPIS.
CAPEDUN'CULA. Diminutive of the preceding. Cic. N. D. iii. 17.
CAPILLAMEN'TUM. A wig of false hair; but particularly one in which the hair is very long and abundant, like a woman's head of hair. Suet. Cal. 11. Pet. Sat. 110. 5. Tertull. Cult. Fœm. 7. and GALERUS 3.
CAPIL'LUS. The hair of the head in general, and without reference to its quality or character; i.e. equally applied to any description of hair, whether long or short, straight or curly, dressed or undressed. Cic. Ov. Hor. Cæs. Nep., &c.
2. Also applied to the hair of the beard (Cic. Off. ii. 7. Suet. Nero, 1.); and to the fur of animals. Catull. 25. 1. Aul. Gell. xii. 1. 4.
CAPIS. A wine jug (Varro, ap. Non. s. Armillum, p. 547.) of early form and usage, made of earthenware, and having a single handle, from which circumstance the Roman grammarians derive its name. (Varro, L. L. v. 121. Festus, s.v.) In the early and simple ages of Roman history, earthenware vessels of this description were of common use, both for religious and other purposes (Liv. x. 7. Pet. Sat. 52. 2.); but with the increase of luxury, they were relinquished for the more elegant Greek forms, or were made of more costly materials (Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 7.), though still retained for purposes of religion, which acquires additional veneration and respect by the preservation of ancient forms and usages; consequently, they are frequently represented on coins and medals struck in honour of persons belonging to the priesthood, similar to the figure here introduced, which is copied from a bronze medal of the emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, on which he is represented in the character of an augur.
CAPISTE'RIUM. A vessel employed for cleansing the ears of corn after they had been threshed out and winnowed. It appears to have been something in the nature of an alveus, or wooden trough, into which the corn was put and shaken up, so that the heavy grains subsided to the bottom, while the light ones and any refuse admixture which might have been left amongst them after the winnowing, rose to the top, and could be easily separated from the rest. Possibly also water was employed in the operation. Columell. ii. 9. 11. Compare Apul. Met. ix. p. 193.
CAPIS'TRUM (φορβειά). A
2. A nose piece, with spikes sticking out from it, to prevent the young of animals from sucking after they had been weaned, such as is commonly used with calves at the present day. Virg. Georg. iii. 399.
3. A ligature employed in training vines, for fastening them to the uprights or cross bars of a trellis. Columell, iv. 20. 3.
4. A rope employed for suspending the end of the press beam (prelum) in a wine or oil press. Cato, R. R. xii.
5. A broad leather band or cheek-piece, with an opening for the mouth, worn by pipers, like a halter, round the head and face, in order to compress the lips and cheeks when blowing their instruments, which enabled them to produce a fuller, firmer, and more even tone, as shown by the annexed illustration, from a bas-relief at Rome. It does not appear to have been always used, for pipers are as often represented in works of art without such an appendage as with it; nor does the Latin name occur in any of their classical writers, though the Greek one is well authenticated. Aristoph. Vesp. 582. Soph. Tr. 753.
CAP'ITAL. A small kerchief of woollen cloth (Varro, L. L. v. 130.), worn in early times by the Roman women round the head, to keep the hair from flowing loose; and subsequently retained as a peculiarity in costume by young females attached to the services of religion, such as the Flaminica, or attendant upon the wife of the Flamen Dialis. Varro, l.c. Festus s.v.
CAPITEL'LUM. Same as CAPITULUM.
CAPIT'IUM. An article of female attire, worn upon the upper part of the person, and over the bosom (Varro, L. L. v. 131. id. de Vit. Pop. Rom ap. Non. p. 542.), but whether in the nature of a spencer or of a corset, it is difficult to determine. Aulus Gellius notes the word as obsolete and peculiar to the common people; but in a passage from Laberius quoted by him (xvi. 7. 3.), it is described as of gaudy colours, and worn outside the tunic; a description which agrees precisely with the style, appearance, and manner in which the peasant woman of Italy wear their corsets at the present day, and with the figure here introduced, from a sepulchral marble published by Gori (Inscript. Antiq. Flor. p. 344.), evidently to represent a female of the lower class, from the rough stone which serves as a seat for her toilet.
CAPITO'LIUM. The Capitol; one of the seven hills of Rome, originally called Mons Saturnius, a name which was subsequently changed into Mons Tarpeius, in allusion to the virgin Tarpeia, who was said to have been killed and buried there by the Sabines; and finally, during the legendary period, referred to as the reign of Tarquinius Superbus, into Mons Capitolinus or Capitolium, because a human head (caput) was believed to have been found there in digging the foundations for the temple of Jupiter. (Varro, L. L. v. 41, 42. Liv. i. 55.) The hill was divided into two summits, with a level space between them: the northern and more elevated one of the two, on which the church of Ara Celi now stands, being made into a fortress, was termed the Arx or citadel; the lower one on the south, now Monte Caprino, being occupied by the famous Capitoline temple. Niebuhr, Hist. Rom. vol. i. p. 502. transl.
2. The Capitoline temple; constructed by the last Tarquin upon the southern summit of the Mons Capitolinus, in honour of the three principal Roman deities, Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. It comprised three distinct cells (cellæ) parallel to each other, but enclosed by one roof, terminating in a single pediment; the centre one was dedicated to Jupiter, that on the right hand of his statue, i. e. on the left of the spectator when fronting the edifice, to Minerva, and the other to Juno. The ground-plan was a parallelogram, possessing only a slight difference between its width and length. A triple row of columns supported the pediment in front, and a double one formed a colonnade on each of the flanks; but the rear, which was turned from the city, had no colonnade. (Dionys. iv. 61.) The ground-plan above given is designed in accordance with this description from Dionysius, in order to convey a clear notion of the internal arrangement of this remarkable edifice, which was constructed uopn a plan so different from that usually adopted in their religious buildings by the Greeks and Romans. It is true that the temple described by Dionysius was the one existing in his own day, which was built by Sylla, and dedicated by Catulus; but we have it upon record, that, from a feeling of religious veneration, the original ground-plan was never altered. Tac. Hist. iv. 53.
As regards the exterior elevation of this famous temple, nothing but a few blocks of large stones, which formed the substruction, now remain to give a faint idea of all its former splendour; and the representations of it, which appear upon coins, medals, and bas-reliefs, are too minute and imperfect in respect of details to afford a fair conception of its real character and appearance. It was thrice destroyed by fire, and three times rebuilt, but always upon the former site, and with the same ground-plan. The first structure was certainly of the Etruscan order described by Vitruvius, for the architects who built it were sent for from Etruria for the purpose. (Liv. i. 56.) When rebuilt for the first time by Sylla, the only difference made conisted in changing the order into the Corinthian, for the columns were brought from the temple of Jupiter Olympus at Athens (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 5.); which Vitruvius expressly says (Proem. vii. 17.) were Corinthian, and some of them are still remaining there to prove the fact. The same plan and architectural order were still preserved under Vespasian (Tac. Hist. iv. 53.); and also in the fourth structure raised by Domitian, as testified by the illustration here annexed, taken from a bas-relief belonging to the triumphal arch of Marcus Aurelius, on which that emperor is represented in the act of performing sacrifice in front of the Capitoline temple. Although the sculpture does not present a faithful representation of the real elevation, it will be observed that the principal characteristics are sufficiently indicated—the Corinthian order of the columns, and the three separate cells under one pediment, which are expressed by the unusual appearance of three entrance door. It is well known to those conversant with the works of antiquity, that the ancient artists, both Greek and Roman, adopted as a constant practice of their school, a certain conventional manner of indicating, rather than representing, the accessories and localities amongst which the action expressed took place; instead of the matter-of-fact custom now prevailing of giving a perfect delineation, or, as it were, portraiture, of the identical spot and scene.
3. Capitolium vetus. The old Capitol; a small temple on the Quirinal hill, dedicated to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, and supposed to have been built by Numa. This name, however, was not given to it until after the erection of the more famous edifice on the Capitoline hill, when it was adopted,in order to distinguish the two; which Martial distinctly does in the following verse—inde novum, veterem prospicis inde Jovem. Mart. Ep. vii. 73. Id. v. 22. Varro, L. L. v. 158. Val. Max. iv. 4. 11.
CAPIT'ULUM (ἐπίκρανον, κιονόκρανον). The capital of a column; which, in the infancy of building as an art, was nothing more than a simple abacus, or square tablet of wood, placed on the top of a wooden trunk, the original column, to form a broad bed for the architrave to rest upon. (See the illustration to article ABACUS 6.) From this simple beginning, it became eventually the principal ornament of a column, and a prominent feature by which the different architectural orders are distinguished; being, like them, and strictly speaking, divided into three kinds, the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian capitals, which, with the Roman alterations, make five varieties in use among the ancients; for the Tuscan, of which no example remains, is only a species of Doric; and the Composite is formed by a union of the Ionic and Corinthian, having the foliage of the latter surmounted by the volutes of the former—a bastard capital introduced in the Imperial age, when the genius for invention was succeeded by a love for novelty and splendour, and first employed in the triumphal arches at Rome, where a specimen is still to be seen on the arch of Titus.
1. Capitulum Doricum. GREEK. The Greek Doric capital, which is the simplest of all, being divided into no more than three principal parts: the large square abacus at the top, retaining in this order its primitive character to the last; the echinus or quarter round, immediately below it; and the anuli, or anulets, just above the neck of the shaft. The example represents a Doric capital from the Parthenon.
2. ROMAN. The Doric of the Romans is more complicated and varied in its parts. Instead of the simple abacus, they substituted a moulded cymatium and fillet; in place of the echinus, an ovolo, often broken by carvings, as in the example; instead of the anulets, either an astragal (astragalus), or a bead and fillet. The example is from a Roman temple near Albano.
3. Capitulum Ionicum. GREEK. The Greek Ionic capital consists of two leading features: the abacus, which is smaller and lower than in the Doric, but still square in its plan, though moulded on the exterior faces; and the volutes (voluta), or spiral mouldings on each side of the front, which are frequently connected by a pendent hem or fold, as in the example, and hang down much lower than the sculptural echinus between them. The example is from a Greek temple near the Ilyssus.
4. ROMAN. The Roman Ionic does not differ very materially, nor in its essential parts, from the Greek specimens, excepting that it is often elaborately covered with carving; the volutes are in general smaller, and the tasteful hem which hangs down between them in the preceding engraving is never introduced; but that is not to be considered as an uniform characteristic of the Greek order; it does not occur in the temple of Bacchus at Teos (introduced s. DENTICULUS), nor in other existing edifices. The example is from the temple of Fortuna Virilis at Rome.
5. Capitulum Corinthium. The Corinthian capital is the richest of all the pure orders, and the specimens now remaining of it in Greece and Italy do not materially differ in any characteristic point. It consists of an abacus, not square, like that of the Doric and Ionic capitals, but hollowed on the sides, and having the angles cut off, and a rosette (flos) or other similar ornament in the middle. Under the abacus are small volutes (helices, Vitr. iv. 1. 12.), bending downwards like stalks, two of which meet under each angle of the abacus, and two in the centre of each face of the capital, where they sometimes touch, and sometimes are interwoven with each other. The whole is surrounded by two circular rows of leaves (folia), each leaf of the upper row growing between and behind those of the lower one, in such a manner that a leaf of the upper row falls in the centre of each of the four faces of the capital. In the best examples, these leaves are carved to imitate the acanthus, or the olive tree, which last is represented in the engraving, from the portico of the Pantheon at Rome.
6. A small circular head-piece, affixed to the top of the tablets used by the Roman children at their schools. (Varro, R. R. iii. 5. 10.) It had an eye in its centre, through which a thong or cord was passed, and by which it was slung upon the arm when carried (Hor. Sat. i. 6. 74.), or hung upon a peg, when put by, as in the example, from a Pompeian painting.
7. In military engines, such as the ballista and catapulta, the capitulum appears to have been a cross-bar with holes in it, through which the cords passed, by the tension of which the missile was discharged (Vitruv. i. 1. 18. Id. x. 10. 2. Id. x. 12. 2.); but as the mechanical construction of these machines has not been ascertained, any attempt to determine their component parts would only be conjectural and unsatisfactory.
CAPRA'RIUS (αἰπόλος, αἰγελάτης). A goat-herd, who drove out a flock of goats to pasture; of which animals the ancients kept large flocks upon their farms. (Varro, R. R. ii. 3. 10.) The qualities required in him were strength, activity, boldness, and great powers of enduring fatigue, as goats always scatter themselves to browze, and the places which afford their best pasturage are abrupt and precipitous steeps in mountain districts, which abound with brushwood, wild herbs, and flowers. (Columell. vii. 6. 9. Varro, R. R. ii. 3. 7.) The illustration represents one of the goat-herds of Virgil's Eclogues, from a MS. in the Vatican.
CAPRE'OLUS. Literally a roe-buck or chamois; and thence an instrument used in husbandry, for raking up and loosening the soil, formed with two iron prongs (Columell. xi. 3. 46.), converging together like the horns of the chamois, as shown by the annexed figure, which is copied from an ancient ivory carving in the Florentine Gallery, where it appears in the hands of a figure standing, with a goat by its side, in the midst of a vineyard, thus identifying its object and name.
2. (συγκύπτης). A brace or strut; i. e. a piece of timber placed in a slanting position in a trussed partition, or in the frame of a roof (E E in the illustration), in order to form a triangle by which the whole construction is made stronger and firmer. In this sense, the word is mostly used in the plural, because they are generally inserted in pairs, meeting together at bottom, and diverging upwards, like the horns of the chamois. Cæs. B. C. ii. 10. Vitruv. iv. 2. 1.
CAPRI'LE. A goat-house. Columell, vii. 6. 6. Varro, R. R. ii. 3. 8.
CAPRIMUL'GUS. A milker of goats; the milk of which animals was extensively used by the ancients. (Catull. xxii. 10.) Properly speaking, the caprimulgus was a slave belonging to the familia rustica, but in the illustration, from a painting at Pompeii, he is represented as a genius, pursuant to the common practice of the ancient schools in similar cases.
CAP'RIPES. Goat-footed; a form commonly attributed by poets and painters to Pan and the Satyrs, in order to indicate their libidinous and dissolute propensities. (Lucret. iv. 583. Hor. Od. ii. 19. 4.) The illustration is taken from a Pompeian painting.
CAPRON'Æ (προκόπιον). The locks of hair which fall down over the centre of the forehead from the top of the head; distinctly marked in the illustration annexed, from a supposed statue of Adonis found in the amphitheatre of Capua. Non. Marc. s. v. p. 22. Apul. Flor. i. 3. 3.
2. The forelock of a horse; when it falls over the forehead, as in the example, from an engraved gem, instead of being tied up into a tuft (cirrus), a very common practice. Festus, s. v. Xen. Equest. v. 6.
CAPSA. A deep, circular wooden box or case (Plin. H. N. xvi. 84.), in which things are deposited to be removed from place to place, but more especially employed for the transport of books. (Cic. Cæl. Div. 16. Hor. Sat. i. 4. 22. Ib. 10. 63.) The illustration represents two of these boxes, one open with the rolls or volumes inside it, from a Pompeian painting; the other, with the lid shut down and locked, from a MS. of Virgil in the Vatican. Both have straps attached, for the convenience of carrying them about.
CAPSA'RIUS. A slave who carried his young master's capsa, or box of books to and from school. Suet. Nero, 36. Juv. Sat. x. 117.
2. A slave attached to the service of the public baths, whose duty it was to take charge of the wearing apparel left by the bathers in the undressing room, to prevent their being stolen; a species of theft frequently occurring at Rome. Paul. Dig. i. 15. 3. Compare Ovid, Art. Amt. iii. 639. Plaud. Rud. ii. 3. 51.
CAPSEL'LA. A double diminutive of CAPSA; a very small box, in which were kept dried fruits (Ulp. Dig. 33. 7. 12.), or women's trinkets; sometimes suspended from a chain round their necks. Pet. Sat. 67. 9.
CAP'SULA. Diminutive of CAPSA; a small box for books, or other things (Catull. lxviii. 36.); hence the expression homo totus de capsula (Seneca, Ep., 115.), a fop, or, as we also say, one who looks as if he had just come out of a band-box.
CAPSUS. The body or interior of a carriage; like our expression, the inside of a coach. (Vitruv. x. 9. 2.) See the illustrations to CARPENTUM.
2. A cage or enclosure for confining animals. Vell. i. 16.
CAP'ULA. Diminutive of CAPIS; a small wine jug or drinking cup, with a handle to it, which was used with the circular drinking table termed cilibantum. (Varro, L. L. v. 121. Id. de Vit. Pop. Rom. ap. Non. s. Armillum, p. 547.) Vessels of this form and character are frequently represented upon round tables at which parties are drinking, in the painting of Pompeii, from one of which the annexed illustration is taken.
CAPULA'RIS. See CAPULUS 3.
CAPULA'TOR. A person employed in the process of oil making, whose business it was to pass and repass the oil from one vat to another, or from the vat into jars, for the purpose of refining it, which he did with a sort of ladle or vessel with a handle, similar in form and character to the capis or capula, from which the name originates. Cato, R. R. lxvi. 1. Columell, xii. 52. 10.
CAP'ULUS (). The handle or haft of any implement which has a straight handle, such as a sickle (Columell. iv. 25. 1. see FALX); of a sceptre (Ovid. Met. vii. 506. see SCEPTRUM), as contradistinguished from ansa, which represents a curved or bent one. More especially the hilt of a sword, which was made of wood, bone, ivory, silver, or gold, and sometimes inlaid with precious stones, and mostly without a guard. (Virg. Æn. x. 506. Tac. Ann. ii. 21. Spart. Hadr. 12. Claud. de Laud. Stil. ii. 91.) The illustration is copied from an original found at Pompeii.
2. Poetical for stiva; the handle of a plough, which the ploughman held in his hand to direct its course. (Ov. Pont. i. 8. 57.) See STIVA, and the illustration s. ARATOR.
3. The bier on which a dead body was carried out. (Festus, s. v. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. vi. 222. Lucilius and Novius, ap. Non. s. v. p. 4.); whence the epithet, capularis is applied to designate one who is near his death, or ready for his bier. (Plaut. Mil. iii. 1. 33.) The
CA'RABUS. A small boat made of wicker-work, like the Welsh "coracle," and covered with raw hides. (Isidor. Orig. xix. 1. 26.) The illustration is given by Scheffer (Mil. Nav. p. 810.), from an old MS. of Vitruvius. The lines down the sides which are more distinct in the original, show the seams where the hides are sewn together. The form of the tiller and rudder, as well as its position at the stern of the boat, which is a very unusual one, but is also seen on a sepulchral marble in Boldetei (Cimiterj, p. 366.), indicates a late period.
CARACAL'LA. An article of dress worn by the Gauls, which occupied the same relative position in their attire as the χιτών of the Greeks and tunica of the Romans. It differed, however, from them in form and size; for it was a tight vest, with long sleeves, the skirts of which reached about half way down the thighs, and were slit up before and behind as far as the fork, like a modern frock-coat. (Strabo, iv. 4. 3. Edict. Dioclet. 21. Compare Mart. Ep. i. 93. 8., where it is termed palla Gallica.) This explanation depends mainly upon the passage of Strabo cited above, who says, in describing the costume of the Gauls, that they left the hair to flow in its natural profusion, and wore a sagum and long trowsers; but that, instead of tunics, they wore a vest with long sleeves, which was slit up before and behind as far as the fork—ἀντὶ δὲ χιτώνον σχιστοὺς χειριδωτοὺς φέρουσι μέχρι αἰδοίων καὶ γλουτῶν—a description agreeing exactly with the costume of the figures introduced above, which are taken from two small bronzes found at Lyons, and exhibit all the characteristics here mentioned, as well as some others peculiar to the ancient inhabitants of Gaul; viz. the profusion of hair arranged in the Gallic fashion (see the illustration s. CIRRUS 1., where an example is introduced upon a larger scale), and not unlike the style usually represented on the heads of Jupiter and Æsculapius, a circumstance which led the Count Caylus and Montfaucon into the error of mistaking these figures for personations of those deities,—the shoes of the particular character worn by the Gauls (see GALLICÆ, where there is another example upon a larger scale),—the sagum on the shoulders of the right-hand figure,—the torquis round the neck of the other,—and the slit in front of the dress, which is very plainly indicated in both. In a Pompeian caricature (inserted s. PICTOR) a corresponding slit is shown at the back of a similar vest. The trowsers alone are wanting to both figures; which may arise from the caprice of the artist, or from the markings by which they were indicated in the originals having been lost or overlooked from the effects of age. The passage of Strabo has always been interpreted as if it meant a χιτών of the kind called σχιστός (see the article TUNICA), but which only reached as far as the bottom of the belly in front, and the hip behind; but it is clear that the word σχιστός has reference to the other two μέχρι αἰδοίων καὶ γλουτῶν; for if it was so very short, no slit would have been required.
2. A dress of similar description introduced at Rome by the emperor Aurelius Antoninus Bassianus, whence he received the nickname of Caracalla (Anton. Caracall. 9. Aurel. Vict. Vit. Cæs. 21. Id. Epit. 21.), which only differed from its Gallic original in being much longer, reaching down to the ankles, and sometimes also furnished with a hood. From this time it came into general use amongst the common people, and was subsequently adopted by the Roman priesthood, amongst whom it is still retained under the name of sottana, a vest which precisely resembles the Gaulish jerkin of the preceding cuts, with the skirts lengthened to the feet.
3. Caracalla Major. The long caracalla of the Romans, last described. Edict. Dioclet. 21.
4. Caracalla Minor. The short caracalla of the Gauls, first described. Edict. Dioclet. l. c.
CAR'BASUS (κάρπασος). A fine sort of flax produced in Spain; whence the name is given to anything made from it; as a linen garment (Virg. Æn. viii. 34.); the awning stretched over the uncovered part of a theatre or amphitheatre, as a shield against the sun and rain (Lucret. vi. 109. see VELUM); the sail of a ship (Virg. Æn. iii. 357. VELUM); the Sibylline books, which were made of linen. Claud. B. Gil. 232., &c.
CARBATI'NÆ (καρβάτιναι or καρπάτιναι). The commonest of all the kinds of coverings for the feet in use amongst the ancients, and peculiar to the peasantry of southern countries, Asiatics, Greeks, and Italians. (Xen. Anab. iv. 5. 14. Pollux, vii. 22. Hesych. s. v.) They consisted of a square piece of undressed oxhide, placed under the foot, as a sole; then turned up a the sides and over the toes, and fastened across the instep and round the lower part of the leg by thongs passing through holes on the edges, in the same way as with the crepida, on which account they are also called by that name in Catullus (98. 4.). The single piece of hide, which in fact constitutes the whole shoe, serving both for sole and upper leather, also explains the meaning of the epithets by which they are described in Hesychius—μονόπελμον and μονόδερμον, i. e. having the sole and upper leather all in one. Foot coverings of this sort are almost universally worn by the Italian peasantry at this day, as represented in the illustration, from a sketch made by the writer, which is introduced here in preference to an ancient example, on account of the clear idea it gives of the material and manner in which they were made; but the Greek vases and Pompeian paintings afford many specimens of the same; as in Tischbein, 1. 14. Museo Borbon. xi. 25. and the right-hand figure at p. 31. of this work s. ANABOLIUM.
CARCER (κάρκαρον). A prison or gaol. The Roman prisons were divided into three stories, one above the other, each of which was appropriated to distinct purposes. The lowermost (carcer inferior, γοργύρη) was a dark underground dungeon, having no other access but a small aperture through the floor of the cell above, and was used not for detention, but as the place of execution, into which the criminal was cast in order to undergo his sentence, if condemned to death. The middle one (carcer interior), constructed immediately over the condemned cell, and on a level with the ground, but having, like the preceding, its only access through{TR: "throng" → "through"} an aperture in the roof, served as a place of confinement where the punishment of imprisonment in chains (custodia arcta) was expiated, or until the sentence, if a capital one, was about to be carried into effect. The upper one, forming a story above the ground, was provided as a place of detention for those convicted of minor offences, or who were only condemned to an ordinary term of imprisonment (custodia communis), in which the confinement was much less severe, the prisoners not being chained, nor excluded from the enjoyment of air and exercise. Thus we may understand with precision the sort of confinement to which Dolabella was subjected by Otho—neque arcta custodia, neque obscura (Tac. Hist. i. 88.); i. e. in the upper chamber of all, not in the close confinement of the carcer interior (the upper one in engraving), nor in the dark underground dungeon below. All these three divisions were apparent in the gaol of Herculaneum, when it was excavated; and the two lower ones still remain entire in the prisons constructed by Ancus and Servius, near the Roman Forum, a section of which is introduced above, showing their relative positions and plan of construction. The wall at the top, with the inscription, commemorating the person by whom it was repaired, faced the forum, and enclosed the upper story, now decayed.
2. The stalls in the Circus where the chariots were stationed before the commencement of a race, and to which they returned after its conclusion. (Ovid. Her. xviii. 166. Auct. ad Herenn. iv. 3.) These were vaults closed in front by large wooden gates, and usually twelve in number (Cassiodor. Var. Ep. iii. 51.), whence the word is mostly used in the plural (Cic. Brut. 47. Virg. G. i. 512.); one for each chariot, and situated at the flat end of the race course under the oppidum, six on each side of the porta pompæ, through which the procession entered. Their relative position as regards the course is shown on the ground-plan of the CIRCUS (s. v.), on which they are marked A. A, and an elevation of four carceres, with their doors open (cancelli), is here given, from a bas-relief in the British Museum.
CARCHE'SIUM (καρχήσιον). A drinking-cup of Greek invention, having a tall figure, slightly contracted at its sides, with slender handles which reached from the rim to the bottom (Macrob. Sat. v. 21.), and used as a goblet for wine (Virg. Georg. iv. 380.), or milk. (Ovid, Met. vii. 247.) The figure in the engraving is from a painting in the tomb of Caius Cestius, one of the Epulones or citizens who had the duty of providing a sumptuous banquet in honour of Jupiter. The locality where it is represented, and its perfect correspondence with the description of Macrobius, seem quite sufficient to identify the name and form.
2. An apparatus attached to the mast of a ship, just above the yard (Lucil. Sat. iii. 14. ed. Gerlach. Lucan. v. 418.), in which part of the tackle worked (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. v. 77. Non. s. v. p. 546.), and into which the seamen ascended to keep a look out, manage the sails, and discharge missiles, as seen in the illustration, from a painting in the Egyptian tombs. It thus answers in some respects to what our seamen call the "tops," but received its name from a real or fancied resemblance to the drinking-cup figure in the last wood-cut.
3. Carchesium versatile. The same apparatus, when made to revolve round the mast, and act as a crane for the loading and unloading of merchant vessels, by means of crossbar or crane-neck inserted horizontally into it. (Vitruv. x. 2. 10. Schneider, ad l.) Our seamen make use of the yard arm in a manner not dissimilar.
CARDINA'LIS. See SCAPUS.
CARDINA'TUS. See CARDO 4.
CARDO. A pivot and socket, forming an apparatus by means of which the doors of the ancients were fixed in their places, and made to revolve in opening and shutting; thus answering the same purpose as the hinges more commonly in use amongst us, though the contrivance was entirely different in its character. (See GINGLYMUS.) The Greeks distinguished each of these parts by distinct names, using στρόφιγξ for the pivot, and στροφεύς for the socket in which the pivot worked; but the Latin writers commonly include the whole apparatus under the term cardo, though they sometimes apply it to each of the parts separately, and sometimes to the whole style of the door-leaf (scapus cardinalis), that formed the axle by which the contrivance acted. (Plin. H. N. xvi. 77. ib. 84. Id. xxxvi. 24. n. 8. Plaut. Asin. ii. 3. 38. Virg. Æn. ii. 480. Apul. Met. i. p. 9.) The figures in the annexed engraving will explain the nature of these objects, and the manner in which they were applied. The two top ones on the right hand exhibit a pair of bronze shoes from Egyptian originals in the British Museum, which were fastened on to the top and bottom of a door-leaf, to act as pivots (στρόφιγγες), for the wooden axles were cased with bronze to bear the wear and tear (Virg. Cir. 222. æratus cardo); the two lower ones on the same side are two boxes which were let into the sill and lintel of the door case to act as sockets (στροφεῖς), in which the pivots turned; the left-hand one, which is Egyptian, and of very hard stone, is now in the British Museum, and was actually used with the pivot shoe drawn immediately above it: the right-hand one is of bronze, and was found in the sill of a door at Pompeii; the teeth or flutings round the sides are too keep it firm in its place, and prevent it from turning in its setting with the working of the door; the left-hand figure is an Egyptian door from Wilkinson, and shows the manner in which the apparatus was attached and worked. Compare the illustration s. ANTEPAGMENTUM.
2. The pin or pivot at each extremity of an axle in machinery, by means of which the axle revolves in the sockets which receive them, as in a wheel-barrow, roller, and similar contrivances. Vitruv. x. 14. 1.
3. A tenon in carpentry; i. e. the head of a timber cut into a particular form for the purpose of fitting into a cavity of the same size and shape in another piece, and so forming a joint (Vitruv. x. 14. 2.); hence cardo securiculatus, a tenon in the form of an axe, or as we call it "dove-tailed." Vitruv. x. 10. 3.
CARE'NUM. The must of new wine inspissated by boiling down to two-thirds of its original quantity. Pallad. Oct. 18.
CARI'NA (τρόπις). The keel, or lowest piece of timber in the framework of a ship, running the whole length from stem to stern, and serving as a foundation for the entire fabric (Cic. de Orat. iii. 46.); including also the false keel or "keelson." Liv. xxii. 20. Cæs. B. G. iii. 13.
CARNA'RIUM. A frame suspended from the ceiling, and furnished with hooks and nails, for the purpose of hanging up cured provisions dried fruits, herbs, &c., similar to those still used in our kitchens. (Plaut. Capt. iv. 4. 6. Pet. Sat. 135. 4. Id. 136. 1. Plin. H. N. xviii. 60.) The illustration is from a painting at Pompeii, in which it is suspended from the ceiling of a tavern, and shows sausages, vegetables, and such things hanging by strings or in nets.
2. In a more general sense, a safe or larder for the preservation of fresh viands. Plaut. Curc. ii. 3. 45. Plin. H. N. xix. 19. n. 3.
CAR'NIFEX. The public executioner, who inflicted torture and scourging upon criminals, and executed the condemned by strangling them with a rope. Plaut. Capt. v. 4. 22. Suet. Nero, 54.
CARNIFICI'NA. The place in which criminals were tortured and executed (Liv. ii. 23. Suet. Tib. 62.); viz. an underground dungeon beneath all the other cells of the gaol. The illustration represents the interior of the carnificina in the state prisons at Rome, constructed by Servius Tullius, after whom it was called the Tullianum, and the identical spot in which the friends and accomplices of Catiline were executed by order of Cicero. The criminal was let down into it by a rope through the aperture in the ceiling, and his body dragged up again by an iron hook (uncus) after the execution. The small door-way on the left hand, though ancient, does not belong to the original construction; it gives admission to a low subterranean gallery, now filled with rubbish, but which takes a direction towards the Tiber, and was, perhaps, intended for carrying the dead bodies to the river, when they were not dragged out of the prison for exposure on the Gemonian stairs.
CARPEN'TUM. A two-wheeled carriage, with an awning over it, and curtains by which it might be closed in front (Prop. iv. 8. 23. Apul. Met. x. p. 224.); capable of containing two or three persons, usually drawn by a pair of mules (Lamprid. Heliog. 4.), and used by the Roman matrons and ladies of distinction from remote antiquity. (Ov. Fast. i. 619. Liv. 5. 25.) The illustration, which belongs to the earliest times is copied from an Etruscan painting (Micali, Italia avanti i Romani, tav. 27.), and represents a bride and bridegroom, or a married pair, as Livy describes Lucumo and his wife on their arrival at Rome (sedens carpento cum uxore. Liv. i. 34.).
2. Carpentum funebre or pompaticum. A state carpentum or carriage, in which the urn containing the ashes of the great, or their statues, were carried in the funeral procession. (Suet. Cal. 15. Id. Claud. 11. Isidor. Orig. xx. 12. 3.) These were likewise covered carriages, constructed upon the same principle as the preceding, but more showy and imposing in character; as may be seen by the example, from a medal struck in commemoration of one of the Roman empresses, its use being further implied by the form, which, it will be observed, is made in imitation of a tomb.
3. A cart employed for agricultural purposes, and apparently of very common and general use; for the same word is frequently applied in the sense of cart-load, as of dung, &c., to indicate a certain quantity, which every one would immediately recognise, as in the English phrase, "a load." (Pallad. x. 1. Veget. Mul. Med. iv. 3. Præf.) It was probably built like the first of the two specimens, but of coarser workmanship, and without the awning.
CARPTOR. The carver; a slave whose duty it was to carve the dishes at grand entertainments before they were handed round to the guests, Juv. Sat. ix. 110.
CARRA'GO. A species of fortification adopted by many of the barbarous nations with whom the Romans came into collision. It was effected by drawing up their waggons and war-chariots into a circle round the positions which they occupied. Amm. Marc. xxxi. 7. 7. Trebell. Gallien. 13. Veget.
CARROBALLIS'TA. A ballista mounted upon a carriage, and drawn by horses or mules for the convenience of transport from place to place, or to different points in the scene of action. (Veget. Mil. iii. 24. Id. ii. 25.) The illustration represents an engine of this description, as it is expressed on the Column of Antonine; but it is too imperfect in point of detail, to give an adequate idea of the constructive principle upon which such machines acted.
CARRU'CA or CARRU'CHA. A particular kind of carriage introduced at Rome under the Empire (at least mention of it first occurs in Pliny, and it subsequently becomes common in Suetonius, Martial, and others). Its precise form and character is a matter of mere conjecture; but it is clearly distinguished from the covinus and essedum by Martial (Ep. xii. 24.), and from the rheda by Lampridius. (Alex. Sev. 43.) It was at all times a vehicle of costly description, and highly ornamented; at first, by carvings in bronze and ivory (Aurel. Vopisc. 46.), and afterwards by chasings in silver and gold. (Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 40. Mart. Ep. iii. 62.) This description agrees so far with the figure in the annexed engraving, representing the carriage of the præfect of Rome from the Notitia Imperii, and in which the metal ornaments are very apparent. It may, therefore, by a plausible conjecture, be regarded as affording a type of these conveyances, but the Latin writer certainly make use of the term at times in a general sense, without intending thereby to designate any particular build (as in Suet. Nero, 30. and Mart. Ep. iii. 47., where the same vehicle is indiscriminately termed carruca and rheda), and the word retained this usage in after times, for it contains the elements of the Italian carrozza, and our carriage, both of which are general expressions.
2. Carruca dormitoria. A close carruca (Scævol. Dig. 34. 2. 11.); the carruca undique contecta of Isidorus, Orig. xx. 12. 3.
CARRUCA'RIUS. Belonging to a carruca; an epithet applied to the coachman who drove it (Capitol. Maxim. jun. 4.), and to the horses or mules which drew it. (Ulp. Dig. 21. 1. 38.) See the preceding word and illustration.
CARRUS. A small two-wheeled cart with boarded sides all round, used chiefly in the Roman armies for a commissariat and baggage waggon, as in the example, from the Column of Trajan, on which such vehicles are frequently represented. The name is of Celtic origin, as was the vehicle itself, having been extensively employed by the ancient Britons, Gauls, Helvetii, &c. Sisenn. ap. Non. s. v. p. 125. Liv. x. 28. Cæs. B. G. i. 3.
CARTIB'ULUM. A particular kind of table, made of stone or marble, with an oblong square slab for the top, and supported by a single central pedestal, or after the manner of those now called console tables by our upholsterers. It was not used as a dining-table, but as an ornamental slab or sideboard for holding the plate and vases belonging to the household, and used to stand on one side of the atrium with the vessels arranged upon it. (Varro, L. L. v. 125.) This account from Varro is accurately illustrated by the engraving, which represents a marble table of the kind, as it was discovered on the margin of the impluvium in the house of the Nereids at Pompeii. Behind it is a fountain, and underneath it there is a sort of sink, divided into two compartments, into which the draining or residue from the vessels were emptied before they were put upon the table.
CARYAT'IDES (Καρυάτιδες). Female figures employed instead of columns by the ancient architects to support an entablature, as seen in the annexed engraving, which represents the portico attached to the temple of Pandrosos at Athens. Vitruv. i. 1. 5.
CASA. Generally a cottage; understood in the same latitude of meaning which we apply to that word in our own language; for instance:—
1. A cottage proper (Vitruv. ii. 1. 3. and 5. Pet. Sat. 115. 6.); the first regular effort in building of the pastoral ages, and which continued afterwards as the constant model for the residence of a village population. Of this description was the thatched cottage of Romulus on the Capitoline hill (casa Romuli, Vitruv. ii. 1. Pet. Fragm. 21. 6.), and those of the aboriginal inhabitants of Latium, of which the illustration here introduced may be regarded as an authentic and highly curious example. It is copied from an earthenware vase, now preserved amongst the Egyptian and other antiquities in the British Museum, but originally employed as a sepulchral urn, which was discovered in the year 1817 amongst several others in the form of temples, helmets, &c., at Marino, near the ancient Alba Longa, imbedded in a sort of white earth under a thick stratum of volcanic lava (the Italian peperino), which flowed from the Alban mount before its eruptions became extinct; previously to which period these vases must in consequence have been deposited there, an irresistible proof of their great antiquity. Visconti, Lettera al Sigr. Giuseppe Carnevali, sopra alcuni Vasi sepolcrali rinvenuti nella vicinanza della antica Alba Longa. Roma. 1817.
2. A small country-house (Mart. Ep. vi. 43.); built, as we should say, in cottage fashion, upon a far less grand or magnificent scale than the regular villa or country mansion, as represented in the annexed engraving, from a painting at Pompeii, which affords a good idea of the small Roman country-house, with its courtyard, outbuildings, and live stock. When Martial (Ep. xii. 66.) used the words domus and casa as convertible terms, it is purposely and pointedly, in order to insinuate that the domus or town-house was but a poor and ill-built one; i. e. no better than a casa or cottage.
3. A bower or rustic arbour, made of osiers and branches, and sometimes covered with vines, as in the example from the ancient mosaic of Præneste. Tribull. ii. 1. 24.
4. A sort of wigwam or hut which the soldiery sometimes formed with branches of trees, as a substitute for a tent. Veget. Mil. ii. 10.
CA'SEUS (τυρός). Cheese (Varro, L. L. v. 108.); which the ancients made from the milk of cows, sheep, and goats (Varro, R. R. ii. 11.), and eat in a fresh state, like cream cheese, or dried and hardened. (Id. ib.) It was also pressed and made into ornamental shapes by boxwood moulds (Columell. vii. 8. 7.). Pliny (H. N. xi. 97.) enumerates the different places where the best cheeses were made.
CASS'IDA. Same as CASSIS.
CASSIDA'RIUS. An armourer who makes metal helmets. Inscript. ap. Muret. 959. 5.
2. An office whose duty it was to take charge of the metal helmets in the Imperial armoury. Inscript ap. Reines. 8. 70.
CAS'SIS, -idis (κόρυς). A casque or helmet made of metal, as contradistinguished from GALEA, a helmet of leather (Isidor. Orig. xviii. 14. compare Tac. Germ. 6.); but this distinction is not always observed (Ov. Met. viii. 25., where both names are given to the same helmet); and as the latter is the more common name, the different kinds and forms are described and illustrated under that word.
CASSIS, -is (ἄρκυς). One of the nets employed by the ancients in hunting wild animals, such as boars and deer. (Isidor. Orig. xix. 5. 4. Ov. A. Am. i. 392. Mart. Ep. iii. 58.) It was a sort of purse or tunnel net, the mouth of which was kept open by branches of trees, and so deceived the animal who was driven into it, when it was immediately closed by a running rope (epidromus) round the neck. Yates, Textrin. Antiq. p. 422.
CASTELLA'RIUS. An officer who had the charge of superintending the public reservoir (castellum) of an aqueduct. Front. Aq. 117. Inscript. ap. Grut. 601. 7.
CASTEL'LUM. Diminutive of CASTRUM. A small fortified place or fortress in which a body of soldiers was stationed, either in the open country to protect the agricultural population from the incursions of hostile tribes, or on the frontiers, to guard the boundaries of the state, or in any other position which commanded the main road and lines of intercommunication. (Sisenn. ap. Non. s. Festinatim. p. 514. Cic. Fam. xi. 4. Id. Phil. v. 4.) The illustration represents one of these fortified posts with its garrison, from the Vatican Virgil.
2. A small fortified town; so called because many of the forts, originally intended as mere military posts, grew into towns and villages from the neighbouring population flocking to them, and building their cottages about the fort, for the sake of protection; just as the baronial castles of the feudal ages formed a nucleus for many of the town in modern Europe. Curt. v. 3.
3. The reservoir of an aqueduct; formed at its city termination, or at any part of the line, were a head of water was required for the supply of the locality; and into which the main pipes were inserted for the purpose of distributing the water through the various districts of a city. (Vitruv. viii. 6. 1. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 24. n. 9. Frontin. Aq. 35.) In ordinary situations, these were plain brick or stone towers containing a deep cistern or reservoir within them, but at the termination of the duct when it reached the city walls, the castellum was designed with a regard to ornament as well as use, having a grand architectural façade of one or more stories, decorated with columns and statues, and forming with its waste water a noble fountain which poured its jets through many openings into an ample basin below (Vitruv. l. c.); as seen in the illustration here inserted, which is a restoration of the castellum belonging to the Julian aqueduct, still remaining, though in a dilapidated state at Rome, near the church of S. Eusebio; but the details here introduced are authorized by an old drawing of the structure executed in the 16th century, when the principal ornaments were still in their original situations, and the whole in a much more perfect condition than at present.
4. Castellum privatum. A reservoir built at the expense of a certain number of private individuals living in the same district, and who had obtained a grant of water from the public duct, which was thus collected into one head from the main reservoir, and thence distributed amongst themselves by private pipes. Frontin. 106. compare 27.
5. Castellum domesticum. A cistern which each person constructed on his own property to receive the water allotted to him from the public reservoir. Frontin.
6. A cistern or receptacle, into which the water raised by a water-wheel was discharged from the scoops, buckets, or troughs (modioli) which collected it. (Vitruv. x. 4. 3.) See ROTA AQUARIA
CASTER'IA. A place in which the oars, rudders, and moveable gear of a vessel were laid up, when the ship was not in commission; or, as others think, a particular compartment in the vessel itself, to which the rowers retired to rest themselves when relieved from duty. Non. s. v. p. 85. Plaut. Asin. iii. i. 16. Scheffer, Mil. Nav. ii. 5.
CASTRA. Plural of CASTRUM. An encampment, or fortified camp. The arrangement of a Roman camp was one of remarkable system and skill. Its general form was square, and the entire position was surrounded by a ditch (fossa), and an embankment (agger) on the inside of it, the top of which was defended by a strong fencing of palisades (vallum). Each of the four sides was furnished with a wide gate for ingress and egress; the one furthest removed from the enemy's position (A) was styled porta decumana; that immediately in front of it (B) porta prætoria; the one on the right hand (C), porta principalis dextra; the other on the left (D), porta principalis sinistra. The whole of the interior was divided into seven streets or gangways, of which the broadest one, running in a direct line between the two side gates, and immediately in front of the general's tent (prætorium), was 100 feet wide, and called Via Principalis. In advance of this, but parallel to it, was another street, called Via Quintana, 50 feet wide, which divided the whole of the upper part of the camp into two equal divisions; and these were again subdivided by five other streets of the same width, intersecting the Via Quintana at right angles. The tents and quarters of the troops were then arranged as follows:—1. The prætorium, or general's tent. 2. The quæstorium, a space allotted to the quæstor, and the commissariat stores under his charge. 3. the forum, a sort of market place. 4. 4. The tents of the select horse and volunteers. 5. 5. The tents of the select foot and volunteers. 6. 6. The Equites Extraordinarii, or extraordinary cavalry furnished by the allies. 7. 7. The Pedites Extraordinarii, or extraordinary infantry furnished by the allies. 8. 8. Places reserved for occasional auxiliaries. 9. 9. The tents of the tribunes, and of the præfecti sociorum, or generals who commanded the allies. This completes the upper portion of the camp. The centre of the lower portion was allotted to the two Roman legions which constituted a consular army, flanked on each side by the right and left wings, composed of allied troops. The manner in which these were respectively quartered will be at once understood by the names of each, which are written in the engraving over their respective positions. Finally, the whole of the interior was surrounded by an open space, 200 feet wide, between the agger and the tents, which protected them from fire or missiles, and facilitated the movements of the troops within. The plan, drawn out after the description of Polybius, when the Roman armies were divided by maniples, is inserted in order to illustrate the general method upon which a Roman camp was constructed, and not as an authentic design from any ancient monument. Some of the minor details were necessarily altered after the custom of dividing the legions into cohorts, instead of maniples, had obtained; but the general plan and principal features of the interior distribution, remained the same.
2. Castra Prætoriana. The permanent camp on the skirts of the city of Rome, in which the Prætorian guards were stationed. (Suet. Claud. 21. Tac. Ann. iv. 2.) A portion of the high brick wall which enclosed it, with one of the gates, is still to be seen standing near the Porta Pia, where it forms a part of the present city walls, into the general circuit of which it was taken when they were extended by Aurelian.
3. Castra navalia or nautica. A naval encampment; i. e. a line of fortification formed round the ships of a fleet, to protect them from the enemy, when they were drawn up ashore. Cæs. B. G. v. 22. Nepos, Alcib. 8.
CASTRUM. An augmentative of CASA, meaning in its primary sense a large or strongly-built hut, and thence a fort or fortress; though the diminutive CASTELLUM was retained in more common use. Nepos, Alcib. 9. Virg. Æn. vi. 776.
CAS'TULA. A woman's petticoat; worn next the skin, and fastened under the breast, which it left exposed. (Varro, de Vit. Pop. Rom. ap. Non. s. v. Caltula, p. 584.) In early works of art, it is often represented as the only under garment or sole article of the attire, similar to the figure in the engraving, from a bas-relief on an Etruscan tomb; but the Roman women mostly wore a tunic or some other article of dress over the breast and shoulders, so that the two covered the person as much as an upper and under tunic; in which case the upper part of the petticoat, as well as the bosom, is concealed under the skirts of the outer covering. In this manner it is worn by Silvia in the Vatican Virgil (p. 146.), and by a female figure amongst the Pompeian paintings. Mus. Borb. xiv. 2. compare xii. 57., where the castula is put on over a long-sleeved tunic, but fastened over the shoulders and round the waist in the same manner as above.
CA'SULA. Diminutive of CASA. Any very small cottage or humble dwelling in general; but, more especially, a temporary hut or cabin of a conical form, which sheep and goat herds erected on the lands where their flocks pastured; and agricultural peasants in the fields for their shelter at harvest time. (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 37. Juv. Sat. xi. 153.) The example is from a Pompeian painting representing a rustic scene; and the illustration introduced in CAPRARIUS shows a goat-herd's hut of similar character. The second meaning belonging to this word is also an evidence of the first.
2. A hooded cloak or capote; such as was worn by the country people, and universally given to Telesphorus, the attendant of Æsculapius, as he is represented in the annexed example, from an engraved gem. When the hood is drawn over the head, as here, the whole garment presents an appearance very similar to the cabin last described, and from this resemblance the term originated, being probably a sort of nick-name, or familiar word amongst the lower orders. Isidor. Orig. xix. 24. 17.
CATACLIS'TA sc. vestis (Apul. Met. xi. 245.; but neither the reading nor the meaning of the word is free from uncertainty.) A term which some have interpreted to mean a dress kept shut up in the wardrobe, and only taken out to be worn upon great occasions as a holiday dress (Salmas. ad Tertull. de Pall. 3.); others, with more apparent reason, a garment without any opening, but fitting tight and close to the person, like those commonly seen on Egyptian statues. Visconti, Mus. Pio-Clem. vi. 14.
CATAD'ROMUS. A rope extended in a slanting position from the ground to some elevated point in a theatre, upon which rope-dancers ascended and descended; a feat which, however extraordinary it may appear, is also recorded to have been performed in the Roman amphitheatre by an elephant with a rider on its back. (Suet. Nero 11. compare Galb. 6. and Plin. H. N. viii. 2.) The illustration is from a medal of Caracalla; the slanting ropes and the dancers on them are clearly indicated, while the baskets and palm branches on the top represent the prizes for those who succeed in reaching up to them.
CATAG'RAPHA (τà κατάγραφα). Paintings in which the figures are drawn in perspective, or, as the artists have it, fore-shortened, so that, although the whole figure is represented, only a portion of it is seen by the spectator (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 34.); a practice now considered as indicating great skill on the part of the artist, but which the ancient painters seldom had recourse to. The illustration here introduced is from a Pompeian picture, which represents Agamemnon conducting Chryseis on board the vessel which was to convey her to her father. The figure of Agamemnon is slightly foreshortened in its upper portion; but, slight as that is, it is the closest approximation towards such a mode of treatment discoverable in the whole of the works executed by the artists of Pompeii. Even in the celebrated mosaic which represents the battle of Issus, the largest pictorial composition, and richest in number of figures, which has descended to us, the whole of them are represented in full front or side views, and in postures nearly erect, though in the most energetic action. But, with the exception of some arms and legs, and one horse which has his back turned to the spectator, there is no attempt at fore-shortening the figure in the sense now understood, whereby an entire figure is portrayed upon the canvass, within a space which otherwise would only admit a part of it. Even the three men who are wounded, and upon the ground, have their bodies presented in profile, and at full length, their legs and arms only being slightly foreshortened. The same observations are equally applicable to the designs on fictile vases.
CATAPHRAC'TA (καταφράκτης). A term employed by Vegetius to designate generally any kind of breast-plate worn by the Roman infantry from the earliest period until the reign of the Emperor Gratianus. Veget. Mil. i. 20.
CATAPHRACTAR'IUS. Same as CATAPHRACTUS. Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 56. Ammian. xvi. 2. 5. ib. 10. 8. and 12. 63.
CATAPHRAC'TUS (κατάφρακτος). A heavy-armed cavalry-soldier (Sallust ap. Non. s. v. p. 556.), whose horse, as well as himself, was covered with a complete suit of armour (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. xi. 770.), like the scaled back of a crocodile (Ammian. xxii. 15, 16); more especially characteristic of some foreign nations; the Parthians (Prop. iii. 12. 12.), Persians (Liv. xxxvii. 40.), and Sarmatians (Tac. Hist. i. 79.), as shown by the illustration representing a Sarmatian cataphract, from the Column of Trajan.
CATAPIRA'TES (βολίς). The
CATAPUL'TA (καταπέλτης). A military engine constructed principally for discharging darts and spears of great substance and weight (Paulus ex Fest. s. Trifax); whence it is sometimes put for the missile which it discharges. (Titin. ap. Non. s. v. p. 552. Plaut. Pers. i. 1. 27.) This machine is described in detail by Vitruvius (x. 15.), and it appears no less than six times on the Column of Trajan, from one of which the annexed representation is taken; but the details are not sufficiently circumstantial in any one of them to illustrate satisfactorily the words of Vitruvius, or to show the precise manner in which it acted, beyond the general fact that it projected the missile by the force of its rebound, when the cross bar was drawn back from one of the sides, and then allowed to fly again with a recoil. It was also employed in the same manner as the ballista, for projecting large blocks of stone (Cæs. B. C. ii. 9.); for which purpose the arch in in the centre seems intended, in order to let the mass pass; and it was also placed at times upon a carriage, and transported by horses or mules, like the carro-ballista, as proved by the next wood-cut.
CATAPULTA'RIUS (καταπελτικός). Any thing used with, or belonging to, a catapult; hence pilum catapultarium (Plaut. Curc. iii. 5. 11.), a dart of large and heavy description, made for the purpose of being projected from the catapulta. (Compare Polyb. xi. 11. 3.) The illustration is taken from the Column of Trajan, and also affords an insight into the manner of using and working these engines.
CATARAC'TA or CATARAC'TES (καταρράκτης). A cataract, cascade, or sudden fall of water from a higher to a lower level, like the falls of Tivoli or Terni. Plin. H. N. v. 10. Vitruv. viii. 2. 6.
2. A sluice, flood-gate, or lock in a river, either for the purpose of moderating the rapidity of the current (Plin. Ep. x. 69.), or for shutting in the water, so as to preserve a good depth in the stream. (Rutil. i. 481.) The illustration is copied from one of the bas-reliefs on the arch of Septimius Severus. It will be observed, that the Roman artist, in accordance with the practice of his school, has omitted to insert the flood-gate, contenting himself with carving the uprights by which it was kept in its place, and made to slide up and down.
3. A portcullis, suspended over the entrance of a city or fortified place, so that it could be let down or drawn up by iron rings and chains at pleasure. (Liv. xxvii. 28. Veget. Mil. iv. 4.) In one of the ancient gate-ways still remaining at Rome, another at Tivoli, and also at Pompeii, the grooves in which the portcullis worked are plainly aparent; and the example here introduced, from an ancient fresco painting, where it defends the entrance to a bridge, exhibits the chains and ring by which it was worked, precisely as mentioned by Vegetius. The grating which closed the entrance does not appear in the original, which may be the effect of age; or, perhaps, it was not a regular portcullis, but only a movable bar raised and lowered at certain hours to close the passage against travellers or cattle; but in either case, it is sufficient to exhibit the character of such contrivances amongst the ancients.
CATASCOP'IUM. Diminutive of CATASCOPUS. A small vessel emploed as a spy-ship, to keep a watch or look-out. Aul. Gell. x. 25.
CATAS'COPUS (κατάσκοπος). A spy or scout. Hirt. Bell. Afr. 26.
2. A vessel employed as a spy-ship. Cæs. B. G. iv. 26. Isidor. Orig. xix. 1.
CATAS'TA. An elevated wooden frame or platform upon which slaves were placed when exposed for sale in the slave market, in order that the purchaser might examine them, to discover their points or defects. (Tibull. ii. 3. 60. Pers. vi. 77. Suet. Gramm. 13.) From an expression of Statius (Sylv. ii. 1. 72. turbo catastæ), it would appear that the machine was made to revolve, like the stands used for statues, that the purchaser might have an opportunity of inspecting the structure of the figure exposed all round.
2. Catasta arcana. An apparatus of similar description, on which the most valuable and beautiful slaves were shown, not in the public market, but privately in the depôts of the dealers. Mart. Ep. ix. 60. 5.
3. An iron bed or grating under which a fire was kindled, and on which criminals were sometimes laid to be tortured, and some of the early martyrs roasted alive. Prudent. Περὶστεφ. i. 56. Id. ii. 399.
CATE'JA. A missile employed in warfare by the Germans, Gauls, Hirpini, &c. It was a spear of considerable length and slender shaft, having a long cord attached to it, like the harpoon, so that it could be recovered by the person who had launched it. Virg. Æn. vii. 742. Serv. ad l. Sil. iii. 277. Isidor. Orig. xviii. 7. 7.
CATELLA (ἁλυσίδιον). A diminutive of CATENA; but generally used to indicate the smaller and finer sort of chains made by jewellers in gold or silver, and used for trinkets, or any of the various purposes to which similar articles are applied in our own days. (Hort. Ep. i. 17. 55. Liv. xxxix. 31. Cato, R. R. 135.) The example here introduced, from a Pompeian original, exhibits a small bronze chain of a pattern very commonly found; but the excavations made at different times in that city and other parts of Italy have produced a great variety of other designs, affording specimens of all the patterns now made, as well as some others, which cannot be imitated by modern workmen.
CATELLUS. A diminutive of CATENA; a small chain made use of for the confinement of slaves, but whether of any special character, it is difficult to determine. From the passage of Plautus where the word occurs (Curc. v. 3. 13.), it may be surmised that the catellus was something like what is now called a "clog," which is attached to the legs of animals to prevent them from straying, and which might have been fastened as a punishment, to the leg of a slave; the term thus originating in a pun upon the word canis (Becker, Quæst. Plautin. p. 63. Lips. 1837.), the clog and chain having a sort of affinity to a dog with its chain.
CATE'NA (ἅλυσις). A chain, formed by a series of iron links interlacing with each other. (Cic. Virg. Hor. Ov. &c.) The chains of the ancients were made exactly like our own, as shown by the illustration, which represents some of the links of an ancient chain now preserved as a sacred relic in the Church of S. Pietro in Vinculis at Rome, and which gave its title to the church; for it is there said to be the identical one with which St. Peter was chained in the Tullianum, or Servian prison. See Cancellieri, Carcere Tulliano, where all the evidence upon which this tradition depends is stated at length.
2. A chain of gold or silver worn by women as an ornament round the body, or over the shoulder and sides, like a balteus (Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 12.) Ornaments of this description are frequently depicted in the Pompeian paintings, from one of which the illustration is taken; and always placed, as here, upon the naked body of goddesses, bacchanals, dancing girls, and persons of that description.
CATENA'RIUS, sc. CANIS. A yard or watch dog, chained up to protect the premises from strangers. The Romans kept dogs in this way at the entrance of their houses by the side of the porter's cell, with the notice, CAVE CANEM — "Beware of the dog," written up (Pet. Sat. 19. 1. Id. 72. 7. Seneca, Ira, 3. 37.); as is shown in the annexed illustration, from a mosaic, which forms the pavement of the PROTHYRUM in the house of the "tragic poet," as it is called, at Pompeii.
CATENA'TUS (ἁλυσίδετος). Shackled, fettered, or in chains, like a slave, criminal, or captive. (Flor. iii. 19. 3. Suet. Tib. 64. Hor. Epod. vii. 8.) The word does not imply that the person so confined was chained up, or bound to, another object, which is expressed by alligatus; but merely that he was bound with chains in a manner to impede the freedom of his motions, and prevent an escape by flight. See the illustrations s. CATULUS and COMPEDITUS.
CATERVA'RII. Gladiators and combatants who fought in companies or bodies, and not in single pairs, which was the more usual manner. Suet. Aug. 45. Compare Cal. 30. gregatim dimicantes.
CATHED'RA (καθέδρα). A chair with a back to it, but without arms, such as was used more especially by females (Hor. Sat. i. 10. 91. Mart. Ep. iii. 63.); hence when assigned to males, it frequently implies a notion that they were of idle, luxurious, or effeminate habits. (Juv. Sat. ix. 52. The illustration represents Leda's chair, from a Pompeian painting.
2. Cathedra supina. A chair with a long deep seat (hence cathedra longa. Juv. Sat. ix. 52.), and reclining back (whence supina. Plin. H. N. xvi. 68.), such as we might call an easy or lounging chair. The example is from a Greek fictile vase, and represents one of the masters who taught the young men their exercises in the gymnasium (παιδοτρίβης). A marble in the Capitol at Rome shows the empress Agrippina sitting in one of a similar character.
3. Cathedra strata. A chair covered with a cushion, as seen in the first engraving. Juv. l. c.
4. The chair in which philosophers, rhetoricians, &.c, sat to deliver their lectures; a professor's chair (Juv. Sat. vii. 203. Mart. Ep. 1. 77.), of which the last illustration probably affords the type.
5. A sedan chair (Juv. Sat. i. 65.); for SELLA, which see.
6. More recently, the chair in which the bishops of the early Christian Church sat during divine service (Sidon. in conc. post Epist. 9. 1. 7.); from which the principal church of a diocese was called the "cathedral;" i. e. in which the bishop's chair is placed.
CATH'ETER (καθετήρ). Properly, a Greek word, for which the Romans used fistula ænea (Celsus, vii. 26. 1.); a catheter, or surgical instrument employed in drawing off the water, when suppressed, from the bladder, into which it is inserted. Cæl. Aurel. Tard. ii. 1. n. 13.) The example is from an original, nine inches long, discovered at Pompeii.
CATILLUS or CATILLUM. A small dish of the same form and character as the catinus, but of less capacity, and possibly of inferior manufacture. Columell. xii. 57. 1. Val. Max. iv. 3. 5.
2. (ὄνος). The upper or outer of the two stones in a mill for grinding corn (Paul. Dig. 33. 7. 18. § 5.), which served as a hopper or bowl into which the corn was poured; whence the name. The annexed illustration represents a Roman mill now remaining at Pompeii, with a section on the left hand. The upper part or basin is the catillus, into which the unground corn was put; it was then turned round by slaves or animals, and as it turned, the ears of corn gradually subsided through a hole at its bottom on to the conical or bell-shaped stone underneath (see the section), between which and the inner surface of its cap, they were ground into flour.
3. An ornament employed in decorating the scabbard of a sword (Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 54.), which is supposed to have been in the form of a round silver plate or stud, similar to those seen on the sheath of the sword inserted under CAPULUS; but the reading of the passage, as well as the meaning of it, if correct, is uncertain.
CAT'INUM or CAT'INUS. A deep sort of dish, in which vegetables, fish, and poultry were brought to table. (Hor. Sat. i. 6. 115. Ib. ii. 4. 77 Ib. i. 3. 92.) The illustration, which is copied from a series of ancient fresco paintings discovered near the church of St. John in Lateran, at Rome (Cassini, Pitture Antichi, tav. 4.), representing a number of slaves bringing in different dishes at a feast, shows the catinus, with a fowl and fish in it, precisely as described by Horace in the last two passages cited.
2. A deep earthenware dish, in which some kinds of cakes, pies, or puddings were cooked, and served up to table in the same; like our pie-dish. Varro, R. R. 84.
3. A deep dish made of earthenware, glass, or more precious materials, in which pastiles of incense were carried to the sacrifice (Suet. Galb. 18. Apul. Apol. p. 434.), and thence taken out to be dropped upon a small burning fire-basket. (See the illustration to FOCUS TURICREMUS.) The illustration represents a curious and valuable dish of agate, which was brought from Cesarea in Palestine in the year 1101, and is now preserved as a sacred relic in the sacristy of the cathedral at Genoa, where it goes by the name of the sagro catino. It is devoutly believed in that city that our Saviour partook of the paschal lamb with his disciples out of this identical dish; but the smallness of its size, and the value of its material, sufficiently prove that it was never made to contain food, though it might have been, reasonably enough, employed for the purpose assigned.
4. An earthenware crucible for melting metals. (Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 21.) The illustrations, one of red, the other of white clay, which were found in an ancient Roman pottery at Castor in Northamptonshire. Artis. Durobriv. pl. 38.
CATOMID'IO (κατωμίζω). To "hoist" one upon the shoulders of another, for the purpose of inflicting a flogging; a mode of punishment which, amongst the Romans, was applied to grown-up persons, as well as boys. (Pet. Sat. 132. 2. compare Apul. Met. ix. p. 196. Spart. Hadr. 18.) The illustration represents the whole process as taking place in a school-room at Herculaneum, from a painting discovered in that city.
CAT'ULUS. A chain attached to an iron collar (collare) round the neck, like a dog's chain by which runaway slaves, when recaptured, were brought back to their masters. (Lucil. Sat. xxix. 15. ed. Gerlach. Cum manicis, catulo, collarique, with manacles, leading chain, and neck collar.) The illustration, from the Column of Antonine, representing a barbarian captive, shows both the collar and chain attached to it, as mentioned by Lucilius.
CAUDEX. See CODEX, which is the more usual spelling.
CAUDICA'RIUS or CODICA'RIUS. Naves caudicariæ. Large boats employed upon the Tiber, and made of coarse planking roughly joined (Varro, de Vit. Pop. Rom. ap. Non. s. v. p. 535. Festus. s. v..; probably so constructed, because the rapidity of the current rendered it difficult to remount the stream; and they could thus be broken up or taken to pieces, without much loss, upon reaching the mouth of the river or their place of destination, as was the usual practice upon the Rhone before the introduction of steam navigation.
CAUDIC'IUS, sc. lembus. A vessel of similar character as the preceding, employed upon the Moselle. Auson. Mosell. 197.
CAULA. A general name for any place surrounded with fences, so as to form an enclosure, as a sheepfold, &c. Festus, s. v. Virg. Æn. ix. 61. Serv. ad l.
CAULIC'ULI. In architecture, the eight smaller leaves or stalks in a Corinthian capital which spring out of the four larger or principal ones, by which the eight volutes of the capital are sustained. (Vitruv. iv. 1. 12. Gwilt, Glossary of Architrecture, s. v.) They are easily distinguished upon any Corinthian capitals. See CAPITULUM 6.; but in consequence of the very diminished size of the drawing, it is difficult to make them sufficiently prominent.
CAUPO. The master or keeper of a caupona; i. e. 1. An innkeeper (ξενοδόκος), who receives travellers in his house, and furnishes them with food and lodging (Cic. Div. i. 27); 2. a publican (κάπηλος), who furnished strangers with drink or food, but not with lodgings. Mart. Ep. i. 27. ib. i. 57., and see the next word.
CAUPO'NA (ξενοδοκειον, πανδοκεῖον). An inn, for the accommodation of travellers, where they could be furnished with temporary board and lodging. (Hor. Ep. 1. 11. 12. Aul. Gell. vii. 11. 1.) The old-fashioned country inn, or road-side house, affords the nearest parallel in our language to the ancient caupona, which has no resemblance to the more imposing establishments or hotels, in which people of wealth amongst us take up their residence for long periods together. It was opened for the convenience of the poorer and trading classes, and those who travelled upon business, not for pleasure; for most other persons had private connections, or were furnished with introductions, which would ensure them a hospitable entertainment in some friend's house wherever they went; and such is still the custom in modern Italy, where the traveller who diverges from the beaten track, is obliged to have recourse to private hospitality, in consequence of the wretched nature of the places called inns.
2. (καπηλεῖον). In the large towns, the caupona was a place where wine and other refreshments, but wine more especially, was sold and drunk on the premises (Cic. Pis. 22. compare Mart. Ep. i. 27. ib. 57.); and thus it had a closer resemblance to our tavern, gin, or beer shop; the chief object of which is to retail spirits and liquors, though some also supply eatables. The illustration represents the interior of a wine shop, from a painting on the walls of one of these establishments at Pompeii; but in the original, a frame for dried and salted provisions is also suspended from the ceiling, which has been omitted, from inadvertance, in the engraving; it is, however, given under the word CARNARIUM.
3. (καπηλίς). A female who keeps one of these places of entertainment. Lucil. Sat. iii. 33. Gerlach. Apul. Met. i. p. 6. and 15.
CAUPO'NIUS, sc. puer. The waiter or pot-boy at a tavern, or a wine shop (Plaut. Pœn. v. 5. 19.); see on the right hand in the preceding wood-cut, the figure who is bringing in the wine.
CAUPO'NULA. Diminutive of CAUPONA; a low, poor, and common wine-shop. Cic. Phil. ii. 31.
CAU'PULUS or CAU'POLUS. A particular kind of boat (Aul. Gell. x. 25. 3.), the peculiar characteristics of which are unknown; but said to belong to the same class as the lembo and cymba. Isidor. Orig. xix. i. 25.
CAU'SIA (καυσία). A high.crowned, and broad-rimmed felted hat invented by the Macedonians (Val. Max. v. 1. 4.); from whom it descended to the Romans, and was especially worn by their fishermen and sailors. (Plaut. Mil. iv. 4. 42. Id. Pers. i. 3. 75.) The example is from a fictile vase; but it resembles exactly the hat worn by Alexander, on a medal.
CAU'TER and CAUTE'RIUM (καυτήρ, καυτήριον). A cautery or branding iron, used by surgeons, veterinaries, and others, for branding cattle, affixing a stigma upon slaves, and similar purposes. (Pallad. i. 43. 3. Veget. Vet. i. 28.) The example represents an original, four inches long, which was discovered in a surgeon's house at Pompeii.
2. An instrument employed for burning in the colours of an encaustic painting; but as that art, as it was practised amongst the ancients, is now lost, it is impossible to determine the exact character of the instrument, or the precise manner in which it was used. Mart. Dig. 33. 7. 17. Tertull. adv. Hermog. 1.
CAVÆ'DIUM or CAVUM ÆDIUM. Literally, the void or hollow part of a house. To understand the real meaning of this word, it is to be observed that in early times, or for houses of small dimensions, the ancient style of building was a very simple one, and consisted in disposing all the habitable apartments round four sides of a quadrangle, which thus left a space or court-yard in the centre, without any roof, and entirely open to the sky, as shown by the annexed example, from the Vatican Virgil. This hollow space received the primitive name of cavum ædium, so truly descriptive of it; and formed, with the suites of apartments all round it, the entire house. But as the Romans increased in wealth, and began to build upon a more magnificent scale, adopting the style and plans of other nations, they converted this open court into an apartment suitable to the uses of their families, by covering in the sides of it with a roof supported upon columns of one story high, and leaving only an opening in the centre (compluvium) for the admission of light and air. This practice they learnt from the Etruscans (ab Atriatibus Tuscis. Varro, L. L. v. 161.), and, therefore, when the cavum ædium was so constructed, they designated it by the name of atrium, after the people from whom they had borrowed the design. By referring to the ground-plans which illustrate the article DOMUS, it will be perceived that the atrium is in reality nothing more than the hollow part of the house, with a covered gallery or portico round its sides; and thus the two words sometimes appear to be used as convertible terms, and at others, with so much uncertainty as to bear an interpretation which would refer them to two separate and distinct members of the edifice; and, in reality, in great houses, or in country villas which covered a large space of ground, and comprised many distinct members, with their own appurtenances attached to each, we find that both a cavædium and atrium were comprised in the general plan. This was the case in Pliny's villa (Ep. ii. 17.), in which we are to understand that the first was an open court-yard, without any roof and side galleries (whence it is expressly said to be light and cheerful, hilare); the other, a regular atrium, partially covered in, according to the Etruscan, or foreign fashion. There can be no doubt that such is the real difference between the cavædium and atrium; but when the two words are not applied in a strictly distinctive sense, as in the passage of Pliny above cited, both the one and the other may be commonly used to designate the same member of a house, without reference to any particular position or mode of fitting up, both of them in reality being situate in the hollow, or shell of the house; and, consequently, Vitruvius, as an architect, employs the term cavædium (vi. 5.) for the style which more strictly and accurately resembles an atrium. (See that word, and the illustrations there introduced; which will show the different ways of arranging a cavædium, when taken in its more general meaning.)
CA'VEA. An artificial cage or den for wild beasts, made with open bars of wood or iron (Hor. A. P. 473.), in which they were transported from place to place (Claud. Cons. Stilich. ii. 322—5.); exposed to public view, as in a menagerie (Plin. H. N. viii. 25.); and sometimes brought into the arena of an amphitheatre, to be let loose upon the victims condemned to fight with them, in order to render their attack more ferocious than would be the case if they were emitted from an underground den into the sudden glare of open day. Vopisc. Prob. 19.
2. A bird cage, made of wicker-work, or sometimes of gold wire (Pet. Sat. 28. 9.), in which singing birds were domesticated, and kept in private houses; or the call bird carried out by the fowler (auceps) for his sport. The passage from Petronius, quoted above, speaks of a magpie, suspended in his cage over a door, which was taught to utter salutations to all who entered. The example is from a fictile vase in Boldetti, Cimiterj, p. 154.
3. The coop or cage in which the sacred chickens were kept and carried to the places where the auspices were taken, by observing the manner in which they fed. (Cic. N. D. ii. 3. Id. Div. ii. 33.) The illustration represents one of these cages, with the cickens feeding, and the handle, by which it was carried, from a Roman bas-relief.
4. Poetically, a bee-hive. Virg. G. iv. 58. See ALVEARE.
5. A conical frame of laths or wicker-work, made use of by fullers and dyers for airing, drying, and bleaching cloth. (Apul. Met. ix. p. 193.) This frame was placed over a fire-pan, or a pot with sulphur kindled in it, the use of which is well known for bleaching, and the cloth was then spread over the frame, which confined the heat, and excluded the air. The example here given is from a painting in the fuller's establishment (fullonica) at Pompeii. In the original, a man carries it on his head, and the pot of sulphur in his hand; but it has been drawn here standing on the ground, with the vessel of sulphur placed underneath it, precisely in the same way as it is now commonly employed in Italy for airing clothes, in order to show more clearly the mode of use.
6. A circular fence constructed round the stems of young trees to preserve them from being damaged by cattle. Columell. v. 6. 21.
7. That portion of the interior of a theatre, or amphitheatre (Apul. Met. x. p. 227.), which contained the seats where the spectators sat, and which was formed by a number of concentric tiers of steps, either excavated out of the solid rock on the side of a hill, or supported upon stories of arches constructed in the shell of the building. According to the size of the edifice, these tiers of seats were divided into one, two, or three distinct flights, separated from one another by a wall (balteus) of sufficient height to intercept communication between them, and then the several divisions were distinguished by the names of ima, summa, media cavea, i. e. the lower, upper, or middle tier; the lowest one being the post of honour, where the equites sat. (Plaut. Amph. Prol. 66. Cic. Am. 7. Id. Senect. 14.) The illustration affords a view of the interior, or cavea, of the amphitheatre at Pompeii, as it now remains; and shows the general plan of arrangement. See also the articles and illustrations to THEATRUM and AMPHITHEATRUM.
CAVER'NÆ (κοίλη or κοίλη ναῦς). The hold of a ship, and the cabins it contains. Cic. Orat. iii. 46. Lucan. ix. 110.
CEL'ERES. The old and original name by which the equestrian order at Rome was designated upon its first institution by Romulus, consisting of a body of 300 mounted men, selected from the 300 patrician or burgher families, and thus forming the nucleus of the Roman cavalry. Liv. i. 15. Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 9. Festus. s. v. Niebhur, Hist. Rom. vol. i. p. 325. transl.
CEL'ES (κέλης). A horse for riding, in contradistinction to a carriage or draught horse; but more particularly a race-horse, ridden in the Greek Hippodrome, or the Roman Circus (Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 10.), one of which is shown in the illustration, from a stucco frieze, representing Cupids racing, in the baths of Pompeii.
2. A boat or vessel of a particular class, in which each rower handled a single oar on his own side, in contradistinction to those in which each man worked a pair, and those in which more than one man laboured at the same oar. The larger descriptions had many oarsmen, and were sometimes fitted with a mast and sail, but had no deck, and in consequence of their fleetness were much used by pirates. (Plin. H. N. vi. 57. Aul. Gell. x. 25. Herod. vii. 94. Thucyd. iv. 9. Scheffer, Mil. Nav. p. 68.) The illustration here given is from the Column of Trajan, and clearly represents a vessel rowed in the manner described, and therefore belonging to this class.
CELETIZON'TES (κελητίζοντες). Jockeys, who rode the race-horses in the Greek Hippodrome (Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 19. n. 14), as shown in the last wood-cut but one.
CELEUS'MA (κέλευσμα). The chaunt or cry given out by the cockswain (hortator, pausarius, κελευστής) to the rowers of the Greek and Roman vessels, in order to aid them in keeping the stroke, and encourage them at their work. (Mart. Ep. iii. 67. Rutil. i. 370.) The chaunt was sometimes taken up, and sung in chorus by the rowers, and sometimes played upon musical instruments. Auson. in Div. Verr. 17.
CELLA. A cellar; employed as a general term, denoting a magazine or store-room upon the ground-floor, in which produce of any description was kept; the different kinds of cellars being distinguished by an epithet indicating the nature of the articles contained therein; for example,—
1. Cella vinaria (οἰνεών). A wine cellar, forming one of the principal appurtenances to a vineyard. It was a magazine where the produce of the year's vintage was deposited in large earthenware vessels (dolia, seriæ, &c.), or in wooden barrels (cupæ), after it had been removed from the vats of the press room (torcularium), where it was made and kept in bulk until sold or bottled; i. e. put into amphoræ, for the purpose of being removed into the apotheca at the top of the house, where it was kept to ripen. (Varro, R. R. i. 13. 1. Colum. xii. 18. 3. and 4. Pallad. i. 18. Cic. Senect. 16.) The illustration, which is copied from a bas-relief discovered at Augsburgh in the year 1601, shows one of these magazines for wine in the wood, the usual manner of keeping it in the less genial climates (Plin. H. N. xiv. 27.); and the next example, though not properly a wine grower's cellar, will serve to convey an idea of the plan on which the stores were arranged and disposed when the wine was kept in vessels of earthenware, which was the more usual practice.
2. A wine-merchant's or tavern-keeper's cellar, upon the ground-floor, in which they also kept their wine in bulk, to be drawn off for private sale, or to be supplied in draught to the poorer customers who frequented their houses, and which was thence termed draught wine (vinum doliare), or, out of the wood (de cupa). (Cic. Pis. 27.) The illustrations represent a section and ground-plan of a portion of one of these wine-stores, which was discovered in the year 1789, under the walls of Rome. It is divided into three compartments: the first, which is approached by a few steps, consists of a small chamber, ornamented with arabesques and a mosaic pavement, but contained nothing when excavated; the second one, which leads out of it, is of the same size, but entirely devoid of ornament, and without any pavement, the floor consisting of a bed of sand, in the centre of which a single row of the largest description of dolia was found imbedded (defossa{TR: "deffossa" → "defossa"}) two-thirds of their height in the soil; the last of the three is a narrow gallery, six feet high, and eighteen long (of which a portion only is represented in the engraving, but it extends about four times the length of the part here drawn), and like the preceding one is covered at bottom with a deep bed of sand, in which a great number of earthenware vessels, of different forms and sizes, were partially imbedded, like the preceding ones, but ranged in a double row along the walls on both sides, so as to leave a free passage down the middle, as shown by the lowest of the two engravings, which represents the ground-plan of the cellars.
3. Cella olearia. A magazine or cellar attached to an olive ground, in which the oil when made was kept in large earthenware vessels, until disposed of to the oil merchants. Cato, R. R. iii. 2. Varro, R. R. i. 11. 2. Columell. i. 6. 9.
4. Any one of a number of small rooms clustered together, such as were constructed for the dormitories of household slaves (Cic. Phil. ii. 27.); for travellers' sleeping rooms at inns and public houses (Pet. Sat. 9. 3. and 7.); or the vaults occupied by public prostitutes. (Juv. Sat. vi. 128. Pet. Sat. viii. 4.) The illustration represents part of a long line of cellæ now remaining amidst the ruins of a Roman villa at Mola di Gaeta; the fronts were originally bricked in, with only an entrance-door in the centre to admit the occupant, and so much of light and air as could be supplied through such an aperture.
5. In like manner, the different chambers which contained the necessary conveniences for hot and cold bathing in a set of baths, were called cellæ; because, in fact, they consisted of a number of rooms leading one into another, like the cells of a honey-comb, as is very clearly shown by the annexed illustration, from a fresco painting which decorated an apartment in the Thermæ of Titus at Rome; thus the room containing the warm baths was the cella caldaria, or caldarium; the tepid chamber, cella tepidaria, or tepidarium; the one which held the cold bath, cella frigidaria, or frigidarium. Plin. Ep. v. 6. 25. and 26. Pallad. i. 40.
6. The niches or cells in a dovecote and poultry-house, which are clustered in a similar manner. Columell. viii. 8. 3. Id. viii. 14. 9.
7. (σηκός) The interior of a temple; i. e. the part enclosed within the four side-walls, but not including the portico and peristyle, if there is any. (Cic. Phil. iii. 12.) The illustration represents a ground-plan of the temple of Fortuna Virilis, now remaining at Rome, on which the part within the dark lines is the cella.
CELLA'RIUS. A slave belonging to the class of ordinarii, who had charge of the pantry, store-room, and wine cellar (cella penaria et vinaria, and whose duty it was to give out the daily rations of meat and drink to the household. Plaut. Capt. iv. 2. 116. Columell. xi. 1. 19.
CELLA'TIO. A suite or set of small rooms, as in the illustration to CELLA 4., which might be applied for any of the ordinary purposes of life, as store-rooms, sleeping-rooms for slaves and inferior dependants, &c. Pet. Sat. 77. 4.
CELL'IO. Same as CELLARIUS. Inscript. ap. Grut. 582. 10.
CELL'ULA. Diminutive of CELLA. Any small or ordinary kind of chamber, such as those described and represented in CELLA 4. Ter. Eun. ii. 3. 18. Pet. Sat. 11. 1.
2. The interior of a small shrine or temple, as described in CELLA 7. Pet. Sat. 136. 9.
CELLULA'RIUS. A monk or friar, so called from the small conventual cells in which the religious orders dwelt. Sidon. Epist. ix. 9.
CELOX. The same as CELES, 2. Ennius, ap. Isidor. Orig. xxx. 1. 22. Liv. xxxvii. 27.
CENOTAPH'IUM (κενοτάφιον). A cenotaph, or honorary tomb erected in memory of a person whose body could not be found, or whose ashes had been deposited elsewhere (Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 63.); hence also called tumulus honorarius (Suet. Claud. 1.), and inanis (Virg. Æn. iii. 303.), because it was erected merely out of compliment to the deceased, and did not contain any of his remains.
CENSOR (τιμητής). A Roman magistrate of high rank, whose duty it was to rate the property of the citizens by taking the census; to superintend their conduct and morals; and to punish those who had misconducted themselves, by degradation and removal from their rank, offices, or position in society. Thus he could deprive the senator of his seat in the house; the knight, of the horse allowed him at the public expense, which was equivalent to breaking him; or he could remove any citizen from his tribe into one of less influence or rank. (Liv. xxvii. 11. Suet. Aug. 37. Polyb. vi. 13. 3.) He wore no distinctive badge, nor particular costume, beyond the usual ones of his consular rank; and, consequently, when a censor is represented on coins or medals, he is merely draped in the toga, and sitting on a curule chair, as in the coin of Claudius in Spanheim, vol. ii. p. 101.
CENTAU'RUS (κένταυρος). A centaur; a savage race of men who dwelt between the mountains Pelion and Ossa in Thessaly, and were destroyed in a war with their neighbours, the Lapithæ. But the poets and artists converted them into a fabulous race of monsters, half man and half horse, whence termed bimembres (Virg. Æn. viii. 293. Ovid, Met. xv. 283.); in which form they are represented waging war with the Lapithæ in the metopes of the Parthenon, on the temples of Theseus at Athens, and of Apollo Epicurius near Phigaleia in Arcadia. In the works of Greek art they are represented of both sexes, frequently playing upon some musical instrument, and the figure is always remarkable for the consummate grace and skill with which the artists of that nation contrived to unite the otherwise incongruous parts of two such dissimilar forms. The figure of a female centaur, as being less common, is selected for the illustration, from a very beautiful relief in bronze, of Greek workmanship, discovered at Pompeii.
CENTO (κέντρων. Generally, any covering or garment composed of different scraps of cloth sewed together, like patch-work, which the ancients employed as clothing for their slaves (Cato, R. R. 59. Columell. i. 8. 9.), as counterpanes for beds (Macrob. Sat. i. 6.), or other common purposes; whence the same name was also given to a poem made up of verses or scraps collected from different authors, like the Cento Nuptialis of Ausonius.
2. Specially, a cloth of the same common description; used as a saddle-cloth under the saddle of a beast of burden, to prevent it from galling the back, as shown in the annexed example from a painting at Herculaneum. Veget. Vet. ii. 59. 2.
CENTONA'RII. Piece-brokers, and persons who made and sold pieces of patchwork, made up from old cast-off garments; the dealing in which formed a regular trade at Rome, where such economical articles were extensively used for blankets to extinguish conflagrations (Ulp. Dig. 33. 7. 12.); to protect tents and military machines against an enemy's missiles (Cæs. B. C. ii. 9.), and other purposes enumerated in CENTO.
CENTUN'CULUS. Diminutive of CENTO; and applied in the same senses as there mentioned (Apul. Met. i. p. 5. Liv. vii. 4. Edict. Dioclet. p. 21.); and from a passage of Apuleius (Apol. p. 422. mimi centunculo), the same word is also believed to indicate a dress of chequered pattern, like what is now called harlequin's, which is undoubtedly of great antiquity; for in the Museum of Naples, there is preserved a fictile vase on which Bacchus is represented in a burlesque character, and draped precisely like our modern harlequin.
CENTU'RIO (ἑκατοντάρχης). A centurion; an officer in the Roman army, of lower rank than the tribunes, by whom he was appointed. His post on the field of battle was immediately in front of the eagle (Veget. Mil. ii. 8.); and the distinguishing badge of his rank was a rod (vitis), with which he used to correct his men when refractory or negligent of their duties. (Plin. H. N. xiv. 3.) The illustrations present the figures of two centurions, the one on the left-hand of the reader, from a sepulchral bas-relief, with the inscription QUINTUS PUBLIUS FESTUS. CENTUR. LEG. XI.; he has his rod in the right hand, is likewise decorated with phaleræ, and wears greaves (ocreæ), as the Roman soldiers did in early times; the other shows a centurion of the age of Trajan, from a bas-relief formerly belonging to the triumphal arch of that emperor, but now inserted in the arch of Constantine; he has his helmet on, the rod in his right hand, and in the original composition the bearer of the eagle (aquilifer) stands by his side.
CEPOTAPH'IUM (κηποτάφιον). A tomb in a garden; or a garden to which a degree of religious veneration became attached, in consequence of its having a sepulchre erected within it. Inscript. ap. Fabretti, p. 80. n. 9. Id. p. 115. n. 293. Compare D. Joann. Evang. xix. 41.
CE'RA. Wax; and thence used to designate things made of wax; as the waxen masks or likenesses of a man's ancestors, which the Roman families of distinction preserved in cases placed round the atrium (Ovid. Fast. i. 591. Juv. viii. 19.), as shown by the example, from a sepulchral bas-relief, which represents a wife bewailing the death of her husband, whose likeness is placed in a small case against the wall of the apartment where the scene is laid.
2. A set of tablets for writing on with the style (stylus), made of thin slabs or leaves of wood, coated with wax, and having a raised margin all round to preserve the contents from friction. They were made of different sizes, and varied in the number of their leaves, whence the word in this sense is applied in the plural (Quin. x. 3. 31. and 32. Juv. i. 63.), and the tablets themselves are distinguished by the number of leaves they contained; as ceræ duplices, a tablet with two slabs only, like the bottom figure on the left-hand of the engraving; ceræ triplices (Mart. Ep. xiv. 6.), a tablet containing three leaves, one between the two outsides, like the top figure in the engraving; ceræ quintuplices (Mart. Ep. xiv. 4.), one with five leaves, or three centre ones and two outsides, like the right-hand figure at the bottom of the wood-cut, all of which examples are copied from paintings at Pompeii. When the singular number is used, as prima, secunda, extrema cera (Hor. Sat. ii. 5. 53. Cic. Verr. ii. 1. 36. Suet. Jul. 83.), it indicates the first, second, or last page of the tablets.
CERAU'LA (κεραύλης). Properly a Greek word Latinized, and corresponding with the Roman CORNICEN. Apul. Met. p. 171. Ceraula doctissimus, qui cornu canens adambulabat.
CER'BERUS (Κέρβερος). The dog which kept watch at the entrance to the nether world; a monster fabled to have sprung from Typhaon and Echidna, and to have been dragged upon earth by Hercules as the last and most difficult of his twelve labours. In reality Cerberus was a dog belonging to the king of the Molossians, whose country produced the finest breed of dogs known to the ancients, and which are believed to be represented by the marble statues now preserved in the Vatican, exhibiting two dogs of very powerful frames, with long hair upon the neck and shoulders like the mane of a lion. The poets metamorphosed these hairs into snakes (Hor. Od. ii. 85.), and, to increase the horror, some gave the animal a hundred heads (Hor. Od. ii. 34.), others fifty (Hesiod. Theogn. 312., though in verse 771. he has but one), and others limited the number to three (Soph. Trachin. 1109.), the centre one being that of a lion, with the head of a wolf to one side, and of an ordinary dog on the other (Macrob. Sat. i. 20.). This is the usual type under which he is mostly portrayed by the painters and sculptors of antiquity (Mus. Pio-Clem. tom. ii. tav. 1. Bartoli, Lucerne, part 2. tav. 7. Cod. Vat. &c.); though examples are not wanting in which the fabulous is made subordinate to the real character of the monster, as in a group of Hercules and Cerberus in the Vatican (Mus. Pio-Clem. ii. 8.), where the leonine head and mane of the Molossian dog is strongly marked, and made to predominate entirely over the other two, which are executed upon a much smaller scale, and, as it were, rather indicated than developed.
CERCU'RUS (κέρκουρος or κερκοῦρος). An open vessel, invented by the Cyprians, propelled by oars, fast in its movement and used for the transport of merchandize, as well as in warfare. (Liv. xxxiii. 19. Lucil. Sat. viii. 3 ed. Gerlach. Plaut. Merc. i. l. 86. Plin. H. N. vii. 57. Herod. vii. 97.) Its characteristic properties are nowhere described; but Scheffer (Mil. Nav. ii. 2. p. 75.) is of opinion that the oarage, instead of running the whole length of the vessel, only ranged from the prow to about midship, so that the after part would serve as a hold for the freight in the manner represented by the annexed illustration, copied by Panvinus (de Lud. Circen. ii. 11.) from a bronze medal, which, if that notion be correct, will afford a model of the vessel in question.
CERDO. A workman of inferior description, or who belonged to the lowest class of operatives (Juv. iv. 153. Pers. iv. 51.): the particular trade which he practised is likewise designated by the addition of another substantive as sutor cerdo (Mart. Ep. iii. 59.), a cobbler; cerdo faber (Inscript. ap. Spon. Miscell. Erudit. Antiq. p. 221.), a journeyman smith; and so on for other trades.
CE'REUS. A wax candle, made with the pith of a rush coated with wax; also a torch made of the fibres of papyrus twisted together, and covered with wax. Cic. Off. iii. 20. Plaut. Curc. i. l. 9. Val. Max. iii. 6. 4. and CANDELA.
CERIOLA'RE. A stand or holder for wax-candles and torches, similar to the example engraved at p. 107 (s. CANDELABRUM, 1.); but utensils of this description were also made in a variety of fanciful forms and patterns according to the taste of the artist who designed them, for one is mentioned in an inscription (ap. Grut. 175. 4.) of bronze, with the figure of Cupid holding a calathus. Compare Inscript. ap. Maffei, Mus. Veron. p. 83.
CER'NUUS (κυβιστητήρ). Literally, with the face turned down towards the ground; hence a tumbler, or one who entertains the public by feasts of jumping, throwing summersets in the air, falling head over heels, walking with his face downwards, and other similar exhibitions, such as we still see practised in our streets and fairs. (Lucil. Sat. iii. 20. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. x. 894.) The illustration represents one of these tumblers, from the collection in the Collegio Romano. (Caylus, iii. 74.)
2. Amongst the Greeks feats of this nature were frequently exhibited by females, who were introduced with the dancing and singing girls, to amuse the guests at an entertainment, and whose skill and suppleness of body were rally extraordinary. One of their favourite exhibitions consisted in making a summerset backwards, between a number of swords or knives stuck in the ground, at small intervals from one another, with their points upwards, as represented in the following illustration, from a Greek fictile vase; to perform this feast was termed ξίφη or εἰς μαχαίρας κυβιστᾶν. Plat. Symp. p. 190. A. Xen. Symp. ii. 11.
CERO'MA (κήρωμα). Properly, an unguent, made of oil and wax compounded together, with which the bodies of wrestlers were anointed previously to being rubbed over with fine sand (Mart. Ep. vii. 32.); whence the same term is also used to designate the chamber in which this operation was performed. Plin. H. N. xxxv. 2. Senec. Brev. Vit. 12.
CERU'CHI (κεροῦχοι). The ropes which run from each arm of the sail-yard to the top of the mast, corresponding with what are now called in nautical language "the lifts." (Lucan. viii. 177. Id. x. 494.) Their object was to keep the yard in a level and horizontal position upon the mast, which it could not preserve without a support of this nature; and the largest class of vessel, which had a yard of great length and weight, were furnished with a double pair of lifts, as in the example, from the Vatican Virgil; while the smaller and ordinary sized had only one.
CERVI. In military language, large branches of trees, having the smaller ones left on, and shortened at a certain distance from the stock, so as to present the appearance of a stag's horn. (Varro, L. L. v. 117.) They were stuck in the ground, to impede the advance of an enemy's column, a charge of cavalry over a plain, which afforded no natural obstructions (Sil. Ital. x. 412. Liv. xliv. 11.), and as a palisade or protection to any vulnerable or important position. Cæs. B. G. vii. 72.
CERVI'CAL (προσκεφάλαιον, ὑπαυχενιον). A bolster, cushion, or squab for supporting the back of the head and neck on a bed or dining couch. (Suet. Nero, 6. Mart. xiv. 146.) The illustration is from a painting at Pompeii.
CERVI'SIA or CEREVE'SIA. A beverage extracted from barley, like our beer or ale; which was the ordinary drink of the Gauls. (Plin. H. N. xxii. 82.) The same name, according to Servius (ad Virg. Georg. iii. 379.), was also given to a beverage, extracted from the fruit of the service tree, which would correspond more closely with our cider.
CERYCE'UM (κήρυξ). A Greek word Latinised; same as CADUCEUS. Martian. Capell. 4. p. 95.
CERYX (κήρυξ). A Greek word, used in a Latin form by Seneca (Tranquill. 3.); a Greek herald, marshal, or pursuivant, who occupied a similar position amongst that people, and performed the same sort of duties as the Fetiales{TR: "Fetialis" → "Fetiales"} and Legati of the Romans. His distinctive badge was a wand (κηρύκειον, caduceus); his person was held sacred and inviolable; and his most honourable employment consisted in carrying flags of truce between conflicting armies, and messages between hostile states, a duty which the figure in the illustration, from a fictile vase, is represented as in the act of commencing. He is armed with sword and spear; has the herald's wand in his right hand; and stands before a burning altar, upon which he has just sacrificed, preparatory to starting on his journey; the sentiment of departure being indicated, according to the customary practice of the Greek artists, by certain conventional signs, such as the travelling boots, the chlamys thrown loosely over the arm, and the hat slung behind his back. Besides this, in his character of marshal and pursuivant, the Ceryx possessed the power of interposing between and separating combatants, as seen in the annexed example, also from a fictile vase; was authorized to summon the assemblies of the people, and keep order in them, and to superintend the arrangements at a sacrifice, as well as at public and private festivals.
2. A public crier; more closely allied to the Roman præco; whose business it was to make proclamations in the public assemblies (Aristoph. Ach. 42. seq.), and to enjoin silence by sound of trumpet at the national games, whilst the solemn eulogium (κήρυγμα) was pronounced upon the victor (Fabri. Agon. ii. 3. Mosebach de Præcon. Vet. § 32—34.), as shown by the following figure, from a Greek marble in the Vatican; he is represented as just beginning to sound his trumpet by the side of the conqueror, who is in the act of placing on his head the crown which he has just received from the president (ἀγωνοθέτης), whilst on the other side of the composition a pair of Pancratiastæ are contending.
CESTICIL'LUS. A porter's knot, for carrying burdens on the head. Festus, s. v. Compare ARCULUS.
CESTROSPHEN'DONE (κεστροσφενδόνη). A weapon of warfare, first employed by the soldiers of Perseus in the Macedonian war, consisting in a short dart, the head of which was two spans broad, affixed to a wooden stock of the thickness of a man's finger, and half a cubit in length, and furnished with three short wooden wings, similar to the feathers of an arrow. It was discharged from a sling. Liv. xlii. 65. Polyb. xxvii. 9.
CESTRUM (κέστρον). A sort of graver or etching needle employed in the process of encaustic painting on ivory. It is supposed that the instrument was heated by fire, and that the traits to be delineated were burnt into the tablet with its point, and then filled in with liquid wax; but the whole subject of encaustic painting, and the manner in which the operation were conducted, is very obscure and uncertain. Plin. H. N. xxxxv. 41.
CESTUS (κεστός, sc. ἱμάς). In a general sense, any band or tie (Varro, R. R. i. 8. 6.); but the word is properly a Greek adjective, meaning embroidered, whence it is more frequently used in a special sense to designate the girdle of Venus, upon which a representation of the passions, desires, joys, and pains of love was embroidered (Hom. Il. xiv. 214. Mart. Ep. vi. 13. Id. xiv. 206. and 207.) The illustration introduced is from a bas-relief of the Museo Chiaramonti, representing a figure of Venus draped in the archaic style; consequently from some very early type, which makes it trustworthy. It will be perceived, that the cestus on this figure is worn lower down than the ordinary female's girdle (cingulum, 1.), and higher up than the young women's zone (zona, or cingulum, 2.), which may account for the uncertainty prevailing amongst scholars respecting the proper place which the cestus occupied on the person, and for the apparent indecision of the passages, which have led some to place it over the loins (as Winkelmann), and others immediately under the bosom (as Heyne and Visconti); whereas in the example, it is really placed in an intermediate position between the two.
2. The glove worn by boxers, more commonly written CAESTUS, which see.
CETA'RIÆ or CETA'RIA. Shallow places or fishing grounds upon a coast, frequented by large fish at certain periods of the year, when they are taken by the fishermen; such as the places in the Mediterranean, where the tunny fish is now caught. Hor. Sat. ii. 5. 44. Plin. H. N. ix. 19.
CETA'RII. A class of fishermen, who took the larger kinds of fish, such as tunnies, upon the cetariæ (Varro, ap. Non. s. v. p. 49.), salted them down, and sold them in shops belonging to themselves. Columell. viii. 17. 12. Terent. Eun. ii. 2. 26.
CETRA. A small round shield (Varro, ap. Non. s. v. p. 555. and p. 82.), covered with hide (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. vii. 732.); chiefly employed by the natives of Africa, Spain, and ancient Britain (Tac. Agr. 36.), the form and character of which is believed to be preserved in the target of the Scottish highlanders.
CETRA'TUS. One who bears the small round target, called cetra, which was characteristic of some barbarous nations, but not of the Romans. Cæs. B. C. i. 70.
CHALATO'RIUS, sc. funis (ἐπίτονος, sc. ἰμάς). The rope by which a sail-yard is raised and lowered on the mast, corresponding with the halyard of modern nautical language. It was fastened on the middle of the yard, and run up through a block affixed to the mast, from which the end descended to the deck, where it was worked by the sailors. (Veget. Mil. iv. 15.) It is probably derived from χαλάω, to slacken, loosen, or let down; and allied to the χαλινός, or bridle of the Greek sailors.
CHALCID'ICUM (Χαλκιδικόν). A large, low, and deep porch, covered with its own roof, supported on pilasters, and appended to the entrance front of a building, where it protects the principal doorway, and forms a grand entrance to the whole edifice (Becchi, del Calcidico e della Cripta di Eumachia, § 21—43.), in the manner represented by the following engraving, which represents a stucture of similar character, now remaining in front of the very ancient church of S. Giorgio in Velabro at Rome, believed to occupy the site of the original Basilica Semproniana in the Forum Boarium. Structures of this kind received their name from the city of Chalcis (Festus, s. v.), where, it may be presumed, they were first introduced, or of the most frequent occurrence; and they were added on to private as well as public edifices, not merely as an ornament to the façade, but for the purpose of affording shelter to persons whilst waiting on the outside for their turn to be admitted, or who transacted their business under them; to the palaces of kings and great personages (Hygin. Fab. 184. Auson. Perioch. Odyss. 23. Procop. de Ædific. Justin. i. 10.); to the basilicæ, courts of justice, and merchants' changes (Vitruv. v. 1.), where they could serve to contain the articles of merchandize, the sale of which was negotiated in the interior; to the curia, the town-hall, and senate-house (Dion Cass. li. 22. August. Mon. Ancyran. ap. Grut. p 232. 4.), perhaps for the reception of the slaves awaiting their masters, and of the people naturally congregating about such places for curiosity or business. The external character and appearance of these appendages is sufficiently indicated by the preceding wood-cut; and their general plan, with reference to the rest of the edifice, by the next one, which represents the ground-plan of an extensive building at Pompeii, constructed by the priestess Eumachia, consisting of an enclosed gallery (crypta, A), an open one (porticus, B) adjoining, which encloses a courtyard or area (C) in the centre; the whole being covered by a grand entrance, fronting the forum, with the name CHALCIDICUM inscribed upon a slab of marble affixed to the wall.
CHAMUL'CHUS (χαμουλκός). A sort of dray employed in the transport of very weighty substances, such as large blocks of marble, columns, obelisks, &c., which lay low upon the ground (whence the name, from χαμαὶ the ground, and ἕλκω, to draw), and probably resembled those now used for similar purposes. Ammian. xvii. 4. 14.
CHARAC'TER (χαρακτήρ). In general, any sign, note, or mark, stamped, engraved, or otherwise impressed upon any substance, like the device upon coins, seals, &c.; and in a more special sense, the brand or mark burnt into the flanks of oxen, sheep, or horses, in order to distinguish the breed, certify the ownership, or for other purposes of a similar nature, as in the example, which shows the brand upon a race-horse, from a small antique bronze. Columell. xi. 2. 14.
2. The iron instrument with which such marks were made. Isidor. Orig. xx. 7.
CHARIS'TIA (Χαρίστια or Χαριτήσια). The feast of the Charities; a family banquet, to which none but relatives or members of the same family were invited, and the object of which was to reconcile any differences which might have arisen amongst them, and to preserve the kindred united and friendly with one another. (Val. Max. ii. 1. 8. Ov. Fast. ii. 617.) It was celebrated on the 19th of February (viii. Cal.Mart.), which was thence termed the "kinsmen's day"—lux propinquorum. Mart. Ep. ix. 56.
CHARIS'TION (χαριστίων). An instrument for weighing; but of what precise character, or in what it differed from the balance (libra) and steelyard (statera) is not ascertained. Inscript. ap. Don. cl. 2. n. 67. Not. Tires. p. 164.
CHARTA (χάρτης). Writing-paper, made from layers of the papyrus, of which eight different qualities are enumerated by Pliny (H. N. xiii. 23.):—1. Augustana, subsequently called Claudiana, the best quality; 2. Liviana, the next best; 3. Hieratica, originally the best, and the same as charta regia of Catullus (xix. 16.); 4, 5, 6. Amphitheatrica, Saitica, Leneotica, inferior kinds, named after the places where they were respectively manufactured. 7. Fanniana, made at Rome, and named from its maker Fannius; 8. Emporetica, coarse paper, not used for writing, but only for packing merchandize, whence its name. To these may be added, 9. charta dentata, the surface of which was smoothed and polished by rubbing over with the tooth of some animal, to procure a glossy face for the pen to glide over, like our "hot-pressed" paper (Cic. Q. Fr. ii. 15. Plin. H. N. xiii. 25.); and 10. charta bibula, a transparent, and spongy sort of paper, which let the ink run, and showed the letters through. Plin.
CHE'LE (χηλή). Properly, a Greek word, which signifies a cloven foot; a pair of crooked and serrated claws, like those of a crab; the talons of a bird; or the claw of a wild beast; whence in that language, it is employed to designate several different instruments, possessing in their forms or manner of usage a resemblance to any one of these natural objects: as a netting needle; a breakwater to protect the mouth of a harbour, when made in the form of a claw set open (see the plan of the port at Ostia, s. PORTUS, letter K); a pair of pincers or pliers, with bent arms like claws, &c. By the Romans, for a similar reason, the same name is given to a particular part of some military engines, such as the ballista and scorpio, which was a sort of claw, or nipper, made to open and seize upon the trigger or chord of the machine whilst it was being drawn back to produce the rebound which discharged the missile. Vitruv. x. 11. 7. Id. x. 10. 4.
CHELO'NIUM (χελώνιον). A bracket or collar affixed to the uprights of a certain machine for moving heavy weights (machina tractoria) at their lowest extremities, into which the pivot (cardo) of a revolving axle and wheel (sucula) was inserted; like that in which the axle of a plaustrum turned. Vitruv. x. 2. 2.
2. A collar of similar description, fastened to the top of an upright beam in another kind of contrivance for raising weights (polyspaston), to which the block and pullies (trochleæ) were affixed. Vitruv. x. 2. 8.
3. A particular member in a catapulta; called also pulvinus. Vitruv. x. 10. 5.
CHELYS (χέλυς, χελώνη). Properly, a Greek word, adopted into the Roman language by poets; but the genuine word is TESTUDO, under which its meanings are illustrated and explained.
CHENIS'CUS (χηνίσκος). An ornament resembling the head and neck of a goose (χήν), sometimes placed on the stern of a vessel (Apul. Met. xi. p. 250.), but more frequently in ancient monuments, at the head. The illustration represents three of these figures; the centre one in detail, from an ancient bas-relief, of which there is a cast in the British Museum; the one on the left hand, over the stern, from Trajan's Column; and that on the right, over the prow, from the Vatican Virgil.
CHENOBOSCI'ON (χηνοβοσκεῖον). An enclosure, with its appurtenances, attached to a country-house or farm, appropriated to the breeding and keeping of geese, large flocks of which were maintained on some estate. (Varro, R. R. xii. 10. 1.) It consisted of a spacious yard on the outside of the farm-house and buildings (Columell. viii. 1. 4.), surrounded by a wall nine feet high, which formed the back of an open gallery or colonnade (porticus), under which the pens (haræ) for the birds were situated. These were built of masonry or brickwork, each being three feet square, and closed in front by a door. The site selected, where possible, was contiguous to a stream or pool of water; if not, an artificial tank was made for the purpose; and near to, or adjoining, a field of meadow grass, or one sown with artificial grasses, where the soil required it. Columell. viii. 14. 1—2.
CHILIAR'CHUS or CHILIAR'CHOS (χιλιάρχης or χιλίαρχος). The commander of a thousand men; a word more especially employed by the Greeks to designate the Persian vizîr (Xen. Cyrop. ii. 1. 23. Nepos, Con. 3.); and applied by the Romans to an officer who commanded the marines, or soldiers who manned a fleet. Tac. Ann. xv. 51.
CHIMÆ'RA (Χίμαιρα). Literally, a she-goat, which the poets and artists of Greece converted into a monster, spouting fire, composed of three different animals—the head of a lion, the body of a wild goat, ending in a dragon's tail; fabled to have been killed by Bellerophon. Hor. Ovid. Tibull. Hom. &c.
CHIRAMAX'IUM (χειραμάξιον). An invalid's-chair upon wheels, which could be drawn or pushed forward by the hands of a slave, in the same manner as now practised. (Pet. Sat. 28. 4.) The illustration represents a marble chair now in the British Museum, but which originally belonged to the baths of Antoninus at Rome, where it was doubtless employed as a sella balnearis or pertusa; but the two small wheels carved as ornaments on the sides, and in imitation of the moveable invalid's chair of wood, in which they were wheeled to and from the baths, establish at once the meaning of the word, and the harmony between ancient customs and our own in this particular.
CHIRIDO'TA (χειριδωτός, sc. χιτών). Properly a Greek word, and an adjective, but sometimes used substantively by the Romans (Capitolin. Pertinax, 8.); and applied to a tunic with long sleeves reaching down to the hand (χείρ), more especially characteristic of the Asiatic and Celtic races, as seen in the annexed figure, from the Niobe group, representing the tutor (pædagogus) of the younger children, a class of men usually selected for that duty from the inhabitants of Asia Minor. Amongst the male population of Greece, and of Rome in the earlier times, sleeved tunics were not worn, excepting by people who affected foreign habits, or of luxurious and effeminate characters; hence when mention is made of persons so dressed, there is always an implied sense of reproach concealed under it. (Scipio Afr. ap. Gell. vii. 12. 2. Cic. Cat. ii. 10. Suet. Cal. 52.) But in both countries they were permitted to females, as shown by numerous monuments both of Greek and Roman artists, and in the annexed example, from a painting at Pompeii; whence the sarcasm of Virgil (Æn. ix. 616.), where the Trojans are called women, and not men, because their tunics had long sleeves.
CHIRONOM'IA (χειρονομία). The art of gesticulating or talking with the hands and by gestures, with or without the assistance of the voice. (Quint. i. 11. 17.) This art was of very great antiquity, and much practised by the Greeks and Romans, both on the stage and in the tribune, induced by their habit of addressing large assemblies in the open air, where it would have been impossible for the majority to comprehend what was said without the assistance of some conventional signs, which enabled the speaker to address himself to the eye as well as the ear of his audience. These were chiefly made by certain positions of the hands and fingers, the meaning of which was universally recognized and familiar to all classes, and the practice itself reduced to a regular system, as it remains at the present time amongst the populace of Naples, who will carry on a long conversation between themselves by mere gesticulation, and without pronouncing a word. It is difficult to illustrate such a matter in a work like this; but the act is frequentyly represented on the Greek vases, and other works of ancient art, by signs so clearly expressed, and so similar in their character to those still employed at Naples, that a common lazzaroni, when shown one of these compositions, will at once explain the purport of the action, which a scholar with all his learning cannot divine (Iorio, Mimica degli Antichi, p. 369.) In the illustration, for instance, which is copied from a Greek fictile vase, it is self-evident that the two females are engaged in a woman's quarrel; the one on the left, by her forward attitude and index finger pointedly directed towards the other, making some angry accusation against her; whilst the backward movement of the body exhibited by the figure on the right, the sudden cessation of her music, and the arms thrown open and upwards, present a very natural expression of surprise, either feigned or real, on her part. Thus much would be readily divined by any one. But the subject of the quarrel? That is told by the positions of the hands and fingers. It is a love quarrel, arising from jealousy; for the exact gesture employed by a modern Neapolitan to signify love, viz. joining together the tips of the fore-finger and thumb of the left hand, is exhibited by the figure on the left side of the picture; whilst the other woman not only expresses surprise by her attitude, but with her right hand raised up towards the shoulder, and all its fingers wide open and erect, denies the insinuation, and declares her indignation at the accusation; for such is the gesture which a Neapolitan employes to signify a negative, more especially when what is said excites his astonishment and displeasure. Thus these few gestures represent a long dialogue. The cause of quarrel is, without doubt, the sitting Faun, who, while affecting to play away so resolutely between the angry damsels, has been detected in making signs incautiously to the nymph with the tambourine, and which were perceived by his old flame who stands behind him.
CHIRON'OMOS and CHIRON'OMON (χειρονόμος). Generally, any person who employs the art of gesticulation to express his meaning without the aid of language, as explained in the previous article; thence also, a pantomimic actor on the stage (Juv. Sat. vi. 63.); and one who performs any duty with regular, studied, or theatrical movements; whence the same term is applied by the satirists to the slave who carved up the dishes at great entertainments with a pompous flourish of his knife. Juv. Sat. v. 121. Compare Pet. Sat. 36. 6.
CHIRUR'GUS (χειρουργός ). A surgeon, who performs operations, as distinguished from a medical practitioner. The Roman doctor (medicus) of early times exercised both departments of the healing art; but, about the time of Tiberius, surgery began to be practised as a distinct profession. Cels. Præf. vii. Becker, Gallus, p. 224. transl.
CHLAM'YDA. Same as CHLAMYS. Apul. Met. xi. p. 256. Id. Flor. ii. 15. 2.
CHLAMYDA'TUS (χλαμυδωτός). Clad in the chlamys, or Grecian mantle; which, from the nature of the garment, might be put on in a variety of ways, presenting very different characters, but all studiously arranged with a view of appearing graceful and becoming. (Ovid. Met. ii. 733.) The most simple and usual were the following:—
1. The narrowest part of the mantle (see the right-hand figure s. CHLAMYS was passed round the back of the neck, and the two corners brought together in front of the throat, where they were joined by a buckle, clasp, or brooch, so that the goars might be turned back over the shoulders (demissa ex humeris. Virg. Æn. 263.), and the middle or longest part would hang down behind as far as the knees, as shown by the annexed figure, from the Panathenaic frieze in the Britishm Museum.
2. Or, a portion of the narrow part of the left-hand figure s. CHLAMYS, was folded down, in order to make a longer line, and then fastened sideways over the right shoulder by a brooch, &c.; so that the mantle completely enveloped the left arm, leaving the right one, as well as the whole side, uncovered, whilst the four corners hung down on the same side parallel to one another, two in front and two behind, as shown by the annexed figure, from a Greek vase.
3. Or, one side of it was carried across the chest, and thrown over the left shoulder, so as closely to envelope the upper part of the person, as low as the wrists (Apul. Flor. ii. 15. 2.); an arrangement more especially adopted on horseback, as shown by the annexed example, from the Panathenaic frieze in the British Museum.
CHLAM'YS (χλαμύς). A light and short mantle, originating with the inhabitants of Thessaly or of Macedonia, whence it was imported into other parts of Greece, and became the regular equestrian costume of the Athenian youths, from the period of their becoming ἔφηβος until the age of manhood. (Plutarch. Alex. 26. Pollux. x. 124. Apul. Met. x. p. 233.) It consisted of an oblong square piece of cloth, to each side of which a goar (πτέρυξ) was attached, sometimes in the form a right-angled, and at others of an obtuse-angled triangle, so that the whole, when spread out, would form a mantle of similar shape and dimensions to the diagrams introduced above. The different ways in which it was adjusted and worn are described and illustrated in the preceding article.
2. Properly speaking, the chlamys belongs to the national costume of the Greeks, but not of the Romans, though it was occasionally adopted, even at an early period, by some of the last-mentioned people, as by L. Scipio and Sylla (Cic. Rabir. Post. 10. Val. Max. iii. 2. and 3.); but these are both mentioned as singular instances. In some cases too, it is ascribed to women—to Dido by Virgil (Æn. iv. 137.), and to Agrippina by Tacitus (Ann. xii. 56.).
CHORA'GIUM (χορήγιον). The furniture, scenery, dresses, &c. belonging to a theatre, which are necessary in presenting a play upon the stage, or, as our actors call it, "the property." Festus, s. v. Plaut. Capt. Prol. 60.
2. A large apartment behind the stage, where the "property" was kept; or, perhaps, where the actors, and in a Greek theatre, the Chorus, dressed or rehearsed. (Vitruv. v. 9. 1. Demosth. p. 403. 22. Reiske.) It formed one of the appurtenances constructed in the spacious porticoes at the back of a theatre (Vitruv. l. c.), as may be seen on the plan of Pompey's theatre, introduced as an illustration under THEATRUM.
3. A sort of spring in hydraulic machines. Vitruv. x. 8. 1.
CHORA'GUS. The person who provided the scenery, ornaments, dresses, &c., necessary for presenting a play upon the Roman stage, which he sometimes furnished at his own expense, but more usually from monies levied on the community, and paid over to him by the ædiles. Plaut. Pers. i. 3. 78.
2. (χορηγός). Amongst the Greeks, the choragus was the person who defrayed the costs for bringing out a Chorus; and the leader of the Chorus was sometimes designated by the same name.
CHORAU'LES and CHORAU'LA (χοραύλης). A musician who accompanied the Chorus of the Greek theatre, or any other number of singers in a concert generally, upon the double pipes; as contradistinguished from aulœdus, who played an instrument solo without vocal music. (Suet. Galb. 12. Plin. H. N: xxxvii. 3. Mart. Ep. ix. 78.) The costume and instrument of these performers are shown by the figure annexed, from a drawing by Fulvius Ursinus, in the Vatican Library, copied from a statue discovered on the Appian way, with the name CHORAULES inscribed upon its base.
CHORE'A (χορεία). A choral dance; i. e. in which the performers join hand in hand, so as to form a circle and dance to the sound of their own voices, precisely as represented in the illustration, from a painting in the baths of Titus at Rome. Virg. Cul. 19. Ovid. Met. viii. 581. Claud. B. Gild. 448.
CHOROB'ATES. An instrument used for taking the level of water, and of the country through which it is to be conducted. Vitruv. viii. 5. 1.
CHOROCITHARIS'TA. A musician who accompanies a chorus of singers on the cithara. Suet. Dom. 4.
CHORS, CORS, or COHORS (χόρτος). A farm, or straw-yard, which constituted one of the principal appendages belonging to a country villa, where the whole live stock, cattle, pigs, poultry, &c., were kept, stalled, and foddered. It consisted of a large court, covered with litter, for the purpose of making dressing for the land, provided with a tank, where the cattle were watered when brought up for the night; and enclosed all round by numerous outbuildings, including sheds for the carts, ploughs, and agricultural implements, as well as stabling, stalls, sties, and houses for the cattle, and other domestic animals (turba cortis, Mart. Ep. iii. 58.), forming the live stock of the farm. (Varro, L. L. v. 88. Id. R. R. 1. 13. 2. and 3. Vitruv. vi. 6. 1.) The illustration annexed, which represents the yard in which the followers of Ulysses were kept when changed into swine, from a miniature of the Vatican Virgil, will serve to convey a notion of the general plan and character of an ancient farm-yard and its dependencies.
2. A sheep pen, made with hurdles and netting, and set up on the lands where the flock pastured, to protect them at night. (Varro, R. R. ii. 2. 9.) Also a permanent enclosure surrounded by high stone walls, in which sheep were stalled. Columell. vii. 3. 8.
CHORUS (χορός). A band or company of persons engaged in dancing and singing, more especially when their songs and dances were performed in honour, or as part of the worship, of some divinity. Cic. Phil. v. 6. Virg. Æn. viii. 718. Suet. Cal. 37. Hor. Od. i. 1. 31.
2. The chorus of singers in a dramatic entertainment on the Greek stage. The performers in it were entirely distinct from the actors, though they sometimes performed the part of interlocutors. The Roman drama had no chorus Hor. A. P. 193. 204. 283. Aul. Gell. xix. 10.
3. A choral or round dance. (Mart. Ep. iv. 44. Compare Tibull. ii. 8. 88.) Same as CHOREA; where see the illustration.
CHRYSEN'DETA (χρυσένδετα). The name given to a particular manufacture of plate employed by the wealthy Romans for their table services, but the precise character of which is not ascertained; excepting that the name itself and the epithets applied to it, appear to indicate that the articles were made upon a basis of silver, with ornaments of gold either inlaid, or chased in relief upon it. Mart. Ep. ii. 43. Id. vi. 94. Id. xiv. 97. and compare Cic. Verr. iv. 21—23.
CHYT'RA (χύτρα). A common kind of earthenware pot in use amongst the Greeks, employed for boiling and cooking, or any ordinary purpose; and, therefore, left in its natural rough state of red clay, without any sort of decoration or painting. (Aristoph. Pac. 923. Athen. ix. 73. Cato, R. R. 157. 11., where, however, some editions read scutra.) The illustration, from an original, represents the form of these pots according to Panofka, Recherches sur les véritables Noms des Vases Grecs, i. 28.
CHYT'ROPUS (χυτρόπους). A chytra made with legs, so that it could be set over the fire without being placed upon a trivet, as shown by the annexed figure, from an original after Panofka. Hesiod. Op. 746. Vulg. Levit. xi. 35.
CIBILL'A. The reading of some editions in a passage of Varro (L. L. v. 118.) for CILLIBA; which see.
CIBO'RIUM (κιβώριον). Literally, the seed-pod of the Egyptian bean (colocasia); and thence a drinking vessel of Greek invention, so termed from its resemblance to the form of that fruit. Hor. Od. ii. 7. 22. Schol. Vet. ad l. Athen. xi. 54.
CICO'NIA. Literally, a stork; but also applied to a mimic gesture expressive of ridicule or contempt, produced by bending the forefinger into the form of a stork's neck, and pointing it towards the person ridiculed with a rapid motion of the two top joints up and down. Pers. i. 58. Hieron. Epist. 125. 18.
2. A contrivance employed by farmers to test a labourer's work in spade husbandry, and prove if all his trenches were dug to a uniform and proper width and depth. It consisted of an upright, with a cross-bar affixed to it, at right angles, like the letter T inverted, so that the long branch measured the depth, the two shorter arms the width and evenness of the trench. Columell. iii. 13. 11.
3. Ciconia composita. A contrivance of the same description as the preceding, but not quite so simple; invented by Columella, to remedy some inconveniences experienced in the use of that instrument, which led to frequent disputes between the farmer and his labourers, without insuring him against being deceived by them; inasmuch as it required a very sharp eye to see that the instrument was placed fairly upright in the furrow, and not in a slanting position, which would make the trench appear deeper than it really was. For this purpose he added two cross-bars to the original instrument, nailed on it in the form of the letter X, and suspended a line and plummet from the point where they intersected each other; thus, the extreme ends of the cross-bars and tail-piece proved the width of the trench at top and bottom, and showed if the sides were dug fair and even throughout; the height of the machine measured the exact depth of the trench; and the plumb line prevented disputes by indicating at once whether it was inserted in a horizontal position or not. (Columell. iii. 13. 12.) The illustration is not from the antique, but is a conjectural diagram by Schneider, constructed in accordance with Columella's description, and inserted here in order to convey a better idea than words alone can express.
4. A name given by the ancient Spaniards to the machine for raising water from a well, which we call a "swipe," and the Romans termed TOLLENO. Isidor. Orig. xx. 15. 3.
CICU'TA. Literally, the hemlock; whence transferred to things made out of the stalks of that plant, especially the Pan's pipes. Virg. Ecl. ii. 36. Lucret. v. 1382.
CICU'TICEN. A performer on the Pan's pipes, made of the hemlock stalks. (Sidon. Carm. i. 15.) The illustration is from a small ivory figure in the Florentine Museum.
CID'ARIS (κίδαρις and κίταρις). The royal bonnet worn by the kings of Persia, Armenia, and Parthia, which had a tall, stiff, and straight crown, encircled by a blue diadem ornamented with white spots (Curt. iii. 3.). All these particulars, with the exception of the colour, are distinctly visible in the illustration, which represents Tigranes, king of Armenia, from a Syrian model.
2. The bonnet worn by the high-priest of the Jews. Hieron.
CILIBAN'TUM. A wine or drinking table of circular form, supported upon three legs; for circular tables, on a single stem, had an appropriate name of their own — monopodia. Tables of this kind are frequently represented in the Pompeian paintings, from one of which the annexed illustration is copied, with the drinking vessels (capides, capulæ) upon it, precisely as mentioned by Varro, L. L. v. 121.
CILIC'IUM (κιλίκιον). A coarse kind of cloth made of goats' hair, used for various purposes, in the army and navy more especially, and probably resembling the material now used for coal-sacks and horses' nose-bags. Cic. Verr. ii. 1. 38. Liv. xxxviii. 7. Veget. Mil. iv. 6. Serv. ad Virg. Georg. iii. 313.
CIL'LIBA (κιλλίβας). A Greek word, signifying literally the trestle, which forms a stand for anything; whence it was adopted by the Romans to designate a dining-table of square form, supported by trestles underneath, as shown by the illustration, from the Vatican Virgil, which represents the table at which the companions of Ulysses fed, when changed into beasts. Square dining tables were usually employed by the early Romans; but had fallen into disuse before the age of Varro, when circular ones were mostly adopted; except in camps for the military mess, where the old form was retained as more convenient. Varro, L. L. v. 118.
CINÆDUS (κίναιδος). A dancing-master, who taught the art of dancing in a school (Scipio Afr. ap. Macrob. Sat. ii. 10. Non. s. v. p. 5. Plaut. Mil. iii. 73.); for in early times, while this kind of exercise was confined to religious and warlike dances, it was not esteemed unbecoming; but with the corruption of manners, when mimetic and lascivious dances were introduced upon the stage, the name was likewise given to the performers in these exhibitions, and thence, in a more indefinite meaning, it became a term of reproach for any one who indulged in the indelicate propensites for which the stage dances were notorious.
CINCINNA'TUS. Having the hair of the head twisted into long corkscrew curls or ringlets (cincinni). Cic. in Senat. 5. Id. pro Sext. 11.
CINCIN'NUS (ἕλιξ). A ringlet, or long corkscrew curl of hair, like the twist of a fringe (Cic. Pis. 11.), or the tendril of a vine (Varro, R. R. i. 31. 4.), as in the example, from the Column of Trajan. Though ringlets of this kind are natural to some few individuals, the term mostly implies that they were artificially produced with the curling-irons.
CINCTIC'ULUS. Diminutive of CINCTUS, -us; a short petticoat or kilt worn by boys wound the loins in the same way as the cinctus by grown-up persons. Plaut. Bacch. iii. 3. 28.
CINCTO'RIUM. A belt worn round the waist, for the purpose of attaching the sword (Mela, ii. 1.), as contradistinguished from the baldrick (balteus), which was slung over the shoulder. The consuls, tribunes, and superior officers of the Roman army are always represented on the columns and arches with their swords attached by a cinctorium, as in the example, from a bas-relief in the Capitol at Rome; but the orderlies, or common men, carry theirs suspended from a balteus.
CINCTUS, -us (διάζωμα, περίζωμα). A sort of petticoat, like the Scotch kilt, reaching from the waist to the knees, or thereabouts, which was worn in early times, instead of the tunic, by persons of the male sex, engaged in active or laborious employments. Isidor. Orig. xix. 33. 1. Varro, L. L. v. 114., as shown by the illustration, from a terra-cotta lamp.
2. A waist-band worn over the tunic (Plin. H. N. xxviii. 9. Suet. Nero, 51.); same as CINGULA and CINGULUM, 3.
3. Cinctus Gabinus. A particular manner of adjusting the toga (Liv. v. 46. Id. viii. 9.), in which one end of it was thrown over the head, and the other passed round the waist behind (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. vii. 612.), so as to present the appearance of a girdle, precisely as shown in the annexed figure, from the Vatican Virgil.
CINCTUTUS, -a, -um. Generally, wearing a girdle, belt, or sash of any kind, and applied to both sexes; to females, who wore a girdle under the breast (Ovid. Met. vi. 59. and CINGULUM, 1.), or, like a zone, round the loins (Curt. iii. 3. and CINGULUM, 2.); to men, who wore a girdle over the tunic (Plaut. Curc. ii. 1. 5. and CINGULUM, 3.); or their swords attached to a waist-band (gladio cinctus, Liv. xxxviii. 21. and CINTORIUM); and to huntsmen who carried their knives in a waist-band (cultro venatorio cinctus, Suet. Aug. 35. and 19.
CINERA'RIUM. A niche in a tomb, adapted for the reception of a large cinerary urn, or a sarcophagus, as contradistinguished from columbarium, which was of smaller dimensions, and only formed to receive a pair of jars (ollæ). (Inscript. ap. Grut. 850. 10. Ap. Fabrett. 16. 71. CALPURNIA EMIT COLUMBARIA N. IV. OLLAS. N. VIII. ET CINERARIUM MEDIANUM.) The illustration, which represents one side of a sepulchral chamber, as it appeared when first excavated, presents an arrangement similar to that set forth by the preceding inscription, with two columbaria at bottom, over which are the same number of cinerary niches for urns, and a larger one in the centre (cinerarium medianum), with its sarcophagus.
CINERA'RIUS. A slave who waited upon the ornatrix while engaged in dressing her mistress's hair. His chief duty consisted in heating the curling irons in the ashes (cineres), whence the name (Varro, L. L. v. 129.); but in some cases, he also performed the part of a barber. Catull, 61. 138. Seneca, Constant. Sap. 14.
CINGIL'LUM. A diminutive of CINGULUM; but in a passage of Petronius (Sat. 67. 4.), the only one in which the word occurs, it is clearly used to designate an article of female attire worn on the upper part of the person, and reaching from the shoulders to a little below the waist; for, when Fortunata appears at the banquet of Trimalchio, she wears a yellow cingillum over a cherry-coloured tunic, which is seen below it; the tunic also being sufficiently short to leave the bangles round her ankles, and her Greek shoes exposed to view — galbino succincta cingillo ita, ut infra cerasina appareret tunica, et periscelides tortæ, phæcasiæque inauratæ. It must, therefore, have resembled what we now term a jacket or spenser, such as is frequently represented in the Pompeian paintings, from one of which the illustration is copied; and if the tunic were only drawn up a little higher through its girdle, so as to leave the feet and ankles exposed, it would strictly accord with the entire costume described.
CIN'GULA. A girth or surcingle by which the saddle pad is fastened, as in the example, from the Column of Antoninus. Ovid. Rem. Am. 236. Calpurn. Ecl. vi. 41.
2. A man's girdle round the waist. Ovid, A. Amat. iii. 444. and CINGULUM 3.
CIN'GULUM (ταινία). A band, sash, or girdle worn by females over the tunic, and close under the bosom, in order to make the dress sit close, and becomingly on the person, as shown by the figure annexed, from a Greek statue. Isidor. Orig. xix. 33. 1. Virg. Æn. i. 492.
2. (ζώνη). A girdle or sash also worn by females, and especially young unmarried women, but fastened lower down the body, just above the hips, as shown by the annexed illustration, representing Electra, from a marble found at Herculaneum, with the sash drawn by its side, from a Greek vase. In this sense the term is also applied to the Cestus of Venus. Festus. s. v.Val. Flacc. vi. 470. and CESTUS.
3. (ζωστήρ). A man's girdle, worn round the waist, and outside the tunic, as shown by the example, from a statue at Naples. It served for carrying any small article suspended from it, and especially to shorten the tunic, when the wearer was engaged in active exercise, by drawing up the lower part to any desirable height. Pet. Sat. 21. 2. and ALTICINCTUS.
4. (μίτρα, ζωστήρ, ζώνη). A soldier's belt, made of metal, or of leather plated with metal, worn round the loins to secure the bottom of the cuirass (see the illustration s. CLIPEATUS 1., and protect the belly. It was fastened by hooks, as in the
5. (διάζωμα, περίζωμα). An article in female attire similar to the Cinctus of males (Varro, L. L. v. 114.), viz. a short petticoat reaching from the waist to the knees, which was worn in early times instead of a tunic, especially by women who led an active or laborious life; whence it is very commonly assigned to the Amazonian women on the fictile vases, from one of which the illustration is copied.
CIN'IFLO. A slave attached to the female part of the household, whose business it was either to heat the irons for the ornatrix (Schol. Acron. ad Hor. Sat. i. 2. 98.) when she was dressing her mistress's hair; or, according to Servius (ad Virg. Æn. xii. 611.), to procure and administer the powder (cinis) which women employed for tinting their hair of a light auburn colour.
CIPPUS (στήλη). A short round post or pillar of stone set up to mark the boundaries between adjacent lands or neighbouring states. (Simplic. ap. Goes. p. 88.) The illustration represents one of these stones, now preserved in the Museum of Verona. From the inscription (one of the oldest authentic Roman inscriptions extant) we learn that it was set up by Atilius Saranus, who was dispatched by the senate, as proconsul, to reconcile a dispute between the people of Ateste (Este) and Vincentia (Vicenza) respecting their boundaries.
2. A low pillar, sometimes round, but more frequently rectangular, erected as a tomb-stone over the spot where a person was buried, or employed as a tomb for containing the ashes after they had been collected from the funeral pyre, by persons who could not afford the expense of a more imposing fabric. (Pers. i. 37.) The illustration represents an elevation and section of a cippus, which formerly stood on the Via Appia; the section, on the left hand, shows the movable lid, and the cavity for receiving the ashes.
3. A strong post, formed out of the trunk of a tree, with the weaker branches cut off, sharpened to a point, and driven into the ground to serve as a palisade in military fortifications. Cæs. B. G. vii. 73.
CIR'CINUS (διαβήτης). A pair of compasses, employed by carpenters, architects, masons, and sculptors, for describing circles, measuring distances, or taking the thickness of solids. (Cæs. B. G. i. 38. Vitruv. iix. 8. 2.) The illustration represents three sorts of compasses, similar to those still in use; on the right a pair of proportional compasses, on the left a pair of callipers, and a small common compass in the centre, all copied from originals found at Pompeii.
CIRCITO'RES. Surveyors of the Roman aqueducts, whose duty it was to visit the different lines for the purpose of seeing if any parts wanted repairs, and that no frauds had been committed by the insertion of improper pipes, in order to divert the water without permission, or draw off a larger quantity of it than the law allotted. Frontin. Aq. 117.
2. In the Roman armies, a detachment of men appointed to go the rounds at certain intervals, and see that all the watches were regularly kept, and all the sentries at their posts. Veget. Mil. iii. 8. Inscript. ap. Murat. 540. 2.
3. Commercial travellers, employed by certain manufacturers and tradesmen, to carry round and dispose of the goods they made. Ulp. Dig. 14. 3 15.
CIRCU'ITOR. A watchman or looker out, employed upon a farm or country villa, to go the rounds and protect the gardens and fields from depredations. Pet. Priap. 16. 1.
CIRCULA'TOR. A strolling juggler, or mountebank, who goes about getting money by showing off tricks and sleights of hand (Celsus, v. 27. 3. Apul. Met. i. p. 3.); or with trained animals (Paul. Dig. 47. 11. 11.), as shown by the annexed illustration, from a terra-cotta lamp.
CIR'CULUS (κύκλος). A circle; thence, applied to various things which have a circular figure: as—
1. The hoop of a cask (cupa), by which the staves are bound together, as in the example from Trajan's Column. Pet. Sat. 60. 3. Plin. H. N. xiv. 27. Id. xvi. 30.
2. A particular kind of cake or biscuit, made in the form of a ring. Varro, L. L. v. 106. Vopisc. Tac. 6.
3. A circular dish, upon which food was brought up and placed upon the table (Mart. Ep. xiv. 138.), as shown by the illustration, from the Vatican Virgil; whereas many dishes were only handed round to the guests, without being deposited on the dining table.
4. The broad belt in the sphere, which contains the twelve signs of the zodiac, and represents the sun's track through them, as seen in the annexed example, from a Pompeian painting. Aul. Gell. xiii. 9. 3.
5. An imaginary circle in the heavens, or which astronomers describe on the celestial globe, for the purpose of marking out certain regions of the sky, and explaining the course of the planets, as seen in the illustration, from a statue of Atlas bearing the heavens on his shoulders. Varro, L. L. vi. 8. Cic. Somn. Scip. 3. Ovid. Met. ii. 516.
CIRCUMCIDA'NEUS. Literally, cut round; but the word is employed in a special sense to designate an inferior quality of newly-made wine, or must, produced by repeated squeezings under the press beam. To understand distinctly the meaning of the word and the quality of the article intended by it, we have only to reflect, that when the fresh grapes had been crushed in a vat by the naked feet, the residue of stalks and skins (pes) was carried in a mass to the pressing machine (torcular), and there subjected to the action of a powerful beam (prelum) screwed down upon it, which extracted all the juice remaining in them. This operation would naturally cause a portion of the mass to bulge out beyond the edge of the surfaces between which it was squeezed, without being thoroughly pressed. It was therefore, cut off all round with a knife, and again placed under the beam, and the juice it yielded was the circumcidaneum. When the mass of skins was enclosed in a basket (fiscina), or between laths of wood (regulæ), it was purposely to prevent it from bulging out, and, consequently, when so treated, there was no circumcidaneum produced. Cato, R. R. 23. 4. Varro. R. R. i. 24. Columell. xii. 36. Plin. H.N. xiv. 23. and 25.
CIRCUMSIT'IUM. (Varro, R.R. i. 54.) Same as CIRCUMCIDANEUM.
CIRCUMCISO'RIUM. An instrument employed by veterinaries for bleeding cattle in the feet. Veget. Vet. i. 26.
CIRCUS (Κίρκος.) Polyb. xxx. 13. 2.) A Roman circus, or race-course, which, in the earliest times, was nothing more than a flat open space, round which temporary wooden platforms or scaffoldings were raised for the spectators to stand upon; but even before the destruction of the monarchy, a permanent building was constructed for the purpose, and laid out upon a regular plan, ever afterwards retained until the final dissolution of the empire; and then the entire edifice, with its race-course and appendages, were included under the general name of circus. Liv. i. 35. Varro, L. L. v. 135. Dionys. iii. 68.
The ground-plan was laid out in an oblong form, terminating in a semicircle at one extremity, and enclosed at the opposite end by a pile of buildings called "the town" (oppidum), under which the stalls (carceres) for the horses and chariots were distributed, marked A. A. in the engraving, which represents the ground-plan of a circus still remaining in considerable preservation on the Appian Way, near Rome, commonly known as the Circus of Caracalla. A long low wall (spina, B on the plan) was built lengthways down the course, so as to divide it, like a barrier, into two distinct parts; and at each of its ends was placed a goal (meta), round which the chariots turned; the one nearest to the stables (C) being termed meta prima, the farthest one (D) meta secunda. It will be perceived that the two sides of the circus in the example are not quite parallel to each other, and that the spina is not exactly equidistant from both sides. Perhaps this is an exceptional case, only adopted in structures of a limited extent, like the present one, with the object of affording most room for the chariots at the commencement of the race, when they all started abreast; but when the goal at the bottom (D) had been turned, their position would be more in column than in line; and consequently less width would be required across that side of the course. For a similar reason, the right horn of the circus is longer than the left; and the stalls (A A) are arranged in the segment of a circle, of which the centre falls exactly in the middle point (E), between the first meta and the side of the building, at which the race commenced. The object of this was that all the chariots, as they came out from their stalls, might have the same distance to pass over before they reached the spot where the start took place, which was at the opening of the course, where a chalked rope (alba linea, E) was fastened across from two small marble pillars (hermulæ), and loosened away from one side, as soon as all the horses had brought up fairly abreast of it, and the signal for the start had been displayed. The outbuilding (F) is the emperor's box (pulvinar); and the one on the opposite side (G) supposed to have been intended for the magistrate (editor spectaculorum), at whose charge the games were exhibited. In the centre of the end occupied by the stalls was a grand entrance (H), called porta pompæ, through which the Circensian procession entered the ground before the races commenced; another one was constructed at the circular extremity (I), called porta triumphalis, through which the victors left the ground in a sort of triumph; a third is situated on the right side (K), called porta libitinensis, through which the killed or wounded drivers were conveyed away, and two others (L L) were left close by the carceres, through which the chariots were driven into the ground.
As regards the external and internal elevation of the edifice, a circus was constructed upon a similar design to that adopted for theatres and amphitheatres; consisting on the outside of one or more stories of arcades, according to the size and grandeur of the building, through which the spectators entered upon the staircases, leading into the interior of the fabric. The interior was arranged in rows of seats, divided into tiers, and separated by stairs and landing-places, in the same manner as described and illustrated under the word AMPHITHEATRUM; of which a fair idea may be conceived from the next engraving, representing the ancient race-course at Constantinople, as it appears on an old map, executed before that city was taken by the Turks. Though a ruin, it shows distinctly the arcades and outer shell of the building; some fragments of the rows of seats for the spectators; the spina, with its obelisks and columns nearly perfect; the meta prima on the right hand of it; the oppidum and carceres, arranged on a curved line, like the first example; and one of the gates, through which the chariots entered the ground, like those marked L L on the ground-plan; it is besides remarkable as affording the only known instance in which the superstructure of a circus is exhibited.
CIRRA'TUS. Of men or women (Mart. ix. 30. Ammian. xiv. 6. 20.); see CIRRUS 1. Of cloth fabrics (Capitol. Pertinax. 8.); see CIRRUS 8.
CIRRUS. Properly, a lock of curly hair, growing in a full and natural curl, as contradistinguished from Cincinnus, a ringlet or twisted curl, mostly made with the irons; such, for instance, as was natural to the youth of Greece, before they attained the age of manhood, when their locks were cut off, and dedicated to some deity (Varro, ap. Non. s. v. p. 94.); or to the Germans (Juv. Sat. xiii. 164.) and Gauls, who were distinguished amongst the ancients for the abundance and beauty of their hair, and, consequently, in all works of art, are universally characterized by this property. See the illustration, s. COMATUS.
2. Cirrus in vertice (μαλλòς ἀτθλητοῦ, Gloss. Vet.) A tuft of hair drawn up all round the head, and tied into a bunch on the occiput, as was the practice of athletes, wrestlers, boxers, &c., in order to avoid being seized by the hair in the heat of contest, as exhibited in the illustration, from a bas-relief in the Vatican, representing a pair of Pancratiastæ. The example likewise explains a passage of Suetonius (Nero, 45.), in which it is related, that during the insurrection of Vindex, and while the city of Rome was suffering severely from famine, a vessel arrived from Alexandria, which, instead of being laden with grain, only brought a cargo of fine sand for the use of the athletes maintained by the emperor. The population, enraged at this, fastened a tuft of hair (cirrus in vertice) on the top of all his statues, with a pasquinade below in Greek characters, alluding to the insurrection of Vindex, and thus implying that the emperor, as an athlete, was about to commence a contest in which he would be worsted.
3. The forelock of a horse, when tied up into a tuft at the top of his head, as in the example, from a Pompeian painting, instead of being left to fall over his forehead, when it was called capronæ. Veget. Vet. iv. 2.
4. The fetlock tuft of a horse. Veget. Vet. ii. 28. Id. iv. 1.
5. The topknot, or tuft upon the heads of certain birds. Plin. H. N. xi. 4.
6. A tuft of flowers, which grow in close bunches or tufts. Plin. H. N. xxvi. 20.
7. The arms of the polypus, which are divided into numerous feelers, like a bunch of hair. Plin. H. N. xxvi. 37.
8. The fringe on a piece of cloth (Phædr. ii. 5. 13.), which was produced by leaving the ends of the warp threads upon the cloth after it was taken from the loom, instead of cutting them off. The example is from a Pompeian painting; and compare the article and illustration s. Tela recta.
CISIA'RIUM. A manufactory where gigs (cisia) were built. Inscript. ap. Fabrett. p. 91. 179.
CISIA'RIUS. One who builds gigs (cisia), like our cab driver. Ulp. Dig. 19. 2. 13.) See the next wood-cut, and observe that the driver sits on the near side, which is still the practice in Italy.
CIS'IUM. A light two-wheeled chaise or gig (Non. s. v. p. 86.), employed by the Romans as a public and private conveyance, when rapidity of transit was required. (Cic. Phil. ii. 31. Id. Rosc. Am. 7. Virg. Catal. viii. 3.) It carried two persons, the driver and another, was open in front, and furnished with shafts, to which one, or sometimes two, outriggers (Auson. Ep. viii. 6. cisio trijugi), were occasionally added, as is still the practice in the Neapolitan calessin. Most of these particulars are shown in the example, copied from a bas-relief on the monument at Igel; but which is incorrectly given in the English edition of Wyttenbach's Treves, were the outrigger is omitted.
CISO'RIUM. A sharp cutting instrument employed by veterinaries. Veget. Vet. ii. 22.
CISSYB'IUM (κισσύβιον). A Grecian drinking bowl, with a handle; originally made of ivy wood, but, subsequently, distinguished by a wreath of ivy leaves and berries carved upon it. Macrob. Sat. v. 21. Theocr. Id. i. 27.
CISTA (κίστη). A deep cylindrical basket, covered with a lid, and made of wickerwork (Plin. H. N. xv. 18. n. 2. Id. xvi. 77.), which was employed in various ways, as its form and character rendered it applicable. The example here introduced is copied from a Roman bas-relief; but baskets of a similar form and character are frequently represented both in sculpture and painting. When square cistæ are mentioned (Columell. xii. 54. 2.), the very addition of the epithet implies an unusual shape; and the uniform character of the following illustrations, all representing different objects which bore the common name of cista, is sufficient to declare the figure which presented itself to the ancient mind in correspondence with that name.
2. A money-box (Hor. Ep. i. 17. 54. Cic. Verr. ii. 3. 85.), undoubtedly of smaller dimensions than the {TR: "the the" → "the"} coffer or chest, of which an illustration is introduced s. ARCA 1. The specimen here annexed is from an original of earthenware, which has a slit at the top for dropping in the money, like those now used by the licensed beggars in the Italian towns.
3. A book-basket (Juv. iii. 206.), similar to the capsa in form and character, but made of wicker-work, instead of wood, and like that also used for other similar purposes, as for keeping clothes (Poeta vet. ap. Quint. viii. 3. 19.) See the illustrations s. CAPSA.
4. A basket employed at the Comitia and in the courts of justice, into which the voters and the judges cast the tablets (tabellæ) by which their votes or sentences were declared. (Auctor. ad Herenn. 1. 12. Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 2. § 7. Manutius de Comit. Rom. xv. p. 572. Wunder. Codex Erfutens. p. 158. seqq.) The illustration is from a coin of the Cassian family, and represents a voter dropping his tablet of acquittal (marked A for absolvo) into the cista.
5. The mystic cist, a covered basket, box, or case, in which the sacred utensils and other articles appertaining to the rites of Ceres and Bacchus were enclosed, in order to conceal them from the eyes of profane beholders, whilst carried in solemn procession upon the festivals appointed for those deities; for all the ceremonies connected with their worship were conducted in profound secrecy. (Catull. 64. 260. Tibull. i. 7. 48. Compare Ov. A. Am. ii. 609.) There is no doubt that the cista employed for this purpose was, in the first instance a mere wicker basket, similar to the one delineated in the first wood-cut which illustrates this article; for it is so represented on numerous coins and bas-reliefs, where the wicker-work is expressed in detail; but, subsequently, or amongst wealthy congregations, it was made of more costly materials, and elegant workmanship, as proved by two originals in bronze now preserved at Rome; one of which was found near the ancient Labicum, the other at Præneste. The latter is represented in the annexed engraving. It stands upon three feet; the handles by which it was carried are observable at the sides; the lid is surmounted by two figures, a bacchante and a faun; and the outside is covered with a design in outline, representing the reception of the Argonauts in the arsenal at Cyzicus. In it were found the following objects; another small case, a model of a kid, and of a panther, a patera, a ligula, a sharp pointed instrument like the stylus, and a piece of metal of triangular form, the pyramid (πυραμίς), mentioned by Clemens of Alexandria as one of the articles usually contained in these cases. The other one, found at Labicum, is similar in form, material, and style of execution; excepting that it has three figures on the lid; Bacchus in the centre draped with a robe covered with stars, to indicate that he was the nocturnal Bacchus (Nyctelius Pater, Ov. A. Am. i. 567.), at which time the orgies were celebrated (Serv. ad Æn. iv. 303. Compare Liv. xxxix. 8. seqq.); and a Faun in the nebris on each side of him. The inside contained a patera, on which the contest between Pollux and Amicus king of Bebrycia, with Diana between them, was represented in contorniate figures, the names of each being inscribed over them in a very ancient Latin form, POLUCES, AMUCES, and LOSNA, the old name for Diana. Under the feet of the figures on the lid, there is an inscription, resembling in its spelling and Latinity the style of that on the Duilian Column; and testifying that the vessel was presented by a female, and made by a Roman artist of the name of Novius Plautius:—
DINDIA . MACOLNIA . FILEA . DEDIT .
NOVIOS . PLAVTIOS . MED. ROMAI. FECID.
CISTELLA (κιστίς). A small CISTA. Plaut. Cist. iv. 1. 3. Ter. Eun. iv. 6. 15.
CESTELLA'TRIX. A female slave, who had charge of her mistress's clothes, trinkets, &c. kept in a cista. Plaut. Trin. ii. 1. 30.
CISTELL'ULA. A very small cista; diminutive of CISTELLA. Plaut. Rud. ii. 3. 60.
CISTER'NA. An artificial tank or reservoir, sunk in the ground, and frequently covered in with a roof (Varro, R. R. i. 11.), for the purpose of collecting and preserving good water for the use of a household. (Columell. i. 5. Pallad. i. 17.) It differs from our "cisterns," which are above ground; and from a "well" (puteus), which is supplied by springs.
2. Cisterna frigidaria. Perhaps an ice house. Pet. Sat. 73. 2.
CIS'TIFER. One who carries a cista, box, or burden; a porter. Mart. Ep. v. 17.
CISTOPH'ORUS (κιστοφόρος). One who carried the mystic case (CISTA, 5.) in certain religious processions. In the rites of Ceres and Bacchus, or of the Egyptian deities, Isis and Osiris, this service was performed by women, as represented in the annexed illustration from a Pompeian painting. The wreath of ivy leaves and berries (corymbus) round the head, show her to have been a follower of Bacchus; and the bird's eye observable on the head of the jug indicates a priestess of Osiris, whose symbol amongst the Egyptians was an eye (Winkelm. Cab. Stosch. p. 2.); and as Bacchus and Osiris were the same deity, under different names, it is clear that she is a cistophora, and not a canephora, as the editors of the Museo Borbonico have erroneously termed her, from want of attention to the above particulars. In the ceremonies of Bellona, on the contrary, the cista was carried by men, as proved by an ancient marble discovered on the Monte Mario near Rome, which bears the following inscription:—L. LARTIO . ANTHO . CISTOPHORO . ÆDIS . BELLONÆ, &c., upon it. He is draped in a manner closely resembling the preceding figure, with a tunic reaching to the feet, but slightly raised, so as to expose an under one beneath it; a pallium over the shoulder; a chaplet round the head; and an infula hanging down in front of the breast; in the right hand a lustral branch, and in the left two double axes (bipennes), characteristic of the priests of Bellona. Inscript. ap. Don. 62. and 135. Compare Demosth. p. 313. 28. ed. Reiske. Giovanni Lami, Dissertaz. sopra le Ciste Mistiche.
2. A silver coin, worth about four drachmæ, which passed current in Asia, whence the expression in cistophoro (Cic. Att. xi. 1.) is equivalent to saying "in Asiatic money." It received the name either from having an impression of the sacred cista upon it, or, as is more probable, of the shrub cistus (κίστος){TR: "κίςτος" → "κίστος"}.
CIS'TULA. Diminutive of CISTA. Plaut. Amph. i. 1. 264.
CITH'ARA (κιθάρα, κίθαρις). A stringed instrument of very great antiquity, resembling in form the human chest and neck (Isidor. Orig. ii. 3. 22.), and so corresponding with our guitar, a term which comes to us through the Italian chitarra; the Roman c and Italian ch having the same sound as the greek κ. The illustration here introduced, from an ancient bas-relief preserved in the hospital of St. John in Lateran at Rome, agrees so closely with the description which Isidorus gives of the instrument, as to leave little doubt that it preserves the real form of the cithara, in the strict and original sense of that word; although it may have been sometimes applied by the Greek poets in a less special or determinate meaning. See also the two following words and illustrations (CITHARISTA, CITHARISTRIA).
CITHARIS'TA (κιθαριστής). One who plays upon the cithara, or guitar. (Cic. Phil. v. 6.) Homer describes the manner in which the player held this instrument by saying that it was placed upon the arm (ἐπωλένιον κιθαρίζων. Hymn. Merc. 432.), as shown by the annexed wood-cut, representing an Egyptian citharista, from the tombs at Thebes. It affords also a further confirmation that the character ascribed to the cithara in the last article is the correct one, and will likewise serve as an authority for correcting the false reading ὑπολένιον in the same hymn (v. 507.). It was sometimes suspended across the shoulders by a balteus (Apul. Flor. ii. 15. 2. and next wood-cut), and, like the lyre, was occassionally struck with the plectrum, instead of the fingers. Hom. l. c. 498.
CITHARIS'TRIA (κιθαριστρία, κιθαριστρίς). A female player uon the cithara or guitar. (Terent. Ph. i. 2. 32. and compare CITHARISTA.) These women were frequently introduced, together with dancing girls, to amuse the guests at an entertainment; and the figure in the engraving, from a tomb at Thebes in Egypt, is evidently intended to represent a character of that description, as is apparent from the attention bestowed upon the decoration of her person, the hair, earrings, necklace, bracelets on the arms and wrists, the shoes, and transparent drapery.
CITHARŒ'DA. A female who plays the cithara, and at the same time accompanies it with her voice. Inscript. ap. Grut. 654. 2. ap. Mur. 941. 1. and compare CITHARISTRIA.
CITHARŒD'US (κιθαρῳδός). One who plays upon the cithara, and sings at the same time. Quint. i. 12. 3. Id. iv. 1. 2. Cic. Mur. 13. and compare CITHARISTA.
CLABULA'RE, or CLAVULA'RE, sc. vehiculum. A large cart, with open sides made of rails (clavulæ or clavolæ), and intended for the conveyance of goods, as well as passengers. Under the Empire, it was commonly employed for the transport of soldiers, which was thence termed cursus clabularis. (Impp. Constant. et Julian. Cod. Theodos. 6. 29. 2. Ammian. xx. 4. 11.) The cart in the illustration is from a painting at Pompeii, and was employed for the transport of wine. The open rail-work with which it is constructed, helps to authorize the interpretation given, which otherwise is to be regarded as more conjectural than positive.
CLASSIA'RII (ἐπιβάται). A class of soldiers trained for fighting on board ship (Hirt, B. Alex. 20.), thus corresponding in many respects with our marines. But this branch of the military service was regarded by the Romans as less honourable than the other; for both the sailors (nautæ) and the rowers (remiges)) are sometimes included under the general name of classiarii (Hirt, B. Alex. 2. Tac. Ann. xiv. 4.) The illustration is from an ancient bas-relief published by Scheffer, Mil. Nav. Addend.
CLAS'SICI. Citizens who belonged to the first of the six classes into which the population of Rome was divided by Servius Tullius (Aul. Gell. vii. 13.); whence the expression scriptores classici, classical authors, means those of the very first order. Aul. Gell. xix. 8. 6.
2. The horn-blowers who summoned the classes to the comitia by sound of the lituus or the cornu. Varro, L. L. v. 91. CORNICEN, LITICEN.
3. Same as CLASSIARII; including the fighting men as well as the ship's company. Curt. iv. 3. Tac. Hist. i. 31. ib. ii. 17.
CLAS'SICUM. Properly, a signal given by sound of trumpet; whence transferred to the instrument itself by which the signal was given. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. vii. 637. Virg. Georg. ii. 539.
CLATHRA'TUS. Closed or protected by cross-bars of tellis (clathri), as explained in the next paragraph. Plaut. Mil. ii. 4. 25.
CLA'THRI. A trellis or grating of wood or metal employed to cover over and protect an aperture, such as a door or window, or to enclose any thing generally. (Hor. A. P. 473. Plin. H. N. viii. 7. Cato, R. R. iv. 1. Columell. viii. 17. 10.) The example represents the trellis which covered in the lunettes over the stalls (carceres) in the circus of Caracalla.
CLAUS'TRUM. One of the words employed by the Romans with reference to the closing of doors; and used at times in a sense as general and indefinite as our term "fastening," which may be equally applied to a lock, a bolt, a bar, or other contrivance, when there are no governing words to indicate the nature of the fastening intended. (Cic. Agr. i. 7. Claud. in Eutrop. 1. 195.) But many other passages as distinctly imply that the word had also a special meaning, expressive of some particular object which went under that name, and which would naturally possess some analogy with the other objects designated by the same term. Of these the one which best agrees with all these requirements is a staple, hasp, or box fixed on to a door-post, into which the bolt of a lock, whether turned by a key or shot by the hand, was inserted in order to fasten the door, as may be seen on the Egyptian door represented in the illustration s. CARDO. This interpretation will coincide with most, if not all, of the expressions made use of in describing a forcible entry; which are such as these—to break through, pull out, or force back, the claustrum; and as the ancient doors were commonly made in two flaps, or had fastening at top and bottom, the plural claustra is mostly used (ad claustra pessuli recurrunt, for shutting (Apul. Met. i. p. 10. Varior.); claustra perfringere, to break open (Id. p. 8.); evellere (Id. p. 70.); revelli (Liv. v. 21. Cic. Verr. ii. 4. 23.); claustris, quæ accuratissime affixa fuerunt, violenter evulsis (Apul. Met. iii. p. 46.). Compare CLAUSULA.
2. Poetically, for the door itself (Mart. x. 28.); or the gates of a city. Ovid. Met. iv. 86.
3. A cage or den in which wild beasts are enclosed. Hor. Od. iii. 11. 44. Stat. Sylv. ii. 5. 4.
4. In plural, the stalls for the horses in the Circus. (Hor. Epist. i. 14. 9. Stat. Theb. vi. 399.) Same as CARCERES.
CLAU'SULA. The handle of a strigil (Apul. Flor. ii. 9. 2.), or other instrument, when made in such a manner that the hand was inserted into it, so that it formed a ring or guard all round it, as shown by the annexed example, from an original bronze strigil found in the baths at Pompeii. The clausula is thus contradistinguished from capulus, a straight handle or haft, and from ansa, a handle affixed to another object. The word is also allied to claustrum, the staple into which a bolt shoots, to which it has a considerable resemblance.
CLAVA (ῥόπαλον). A stout, rough stick, thickening towards the butt-end, such as we might term a cudgel; sometimes used in an offensive manner (Cic. Verr. ii. 4. 43.), and frequently carried out of affectation by the ancient philosophers, instead of a walking stick (Sidon. Epist. iv. 11. ix. 9. Id. Carm. xv. 197.), as shown by the annexed figure of Democritus, from an engraved gem.
2. A heavy stick or stave, with which recruits were made to go through their exercises in lieu of a sword, and which they used against the dummy or manikin (palus), a wooden figure set up for the purpose. Cic. Senect. 16. Veget. Mil. ii. 11.1
3. (ῥόπαλον. Soph. Tr. 512.) A club or bludgeon, such as was used by Hercules and Theseus. (Prop. iv. 9. 39. Suet. Nero, 53.) It is always represented by the ancient sculptors and painters as a formidable weapon, made thick and heavy at one extremity, and gradually tapering towards the other, by which it was held in the hand; and frequently with the knots left rough upon it (irrasa, Sil. Ital. viii. 584.); as in the example, representing the club of Hercules, from a Pompeian painting. Compare CLAVIGER, 1.
4. (κορύνη, ῥόπαλον σιδήρῳ τετυλωμένον). A mace, or war club, having an iron head, thickly studded with knobs or sharp spikes, affixed to the wooden handle. In this form it is mentioned by Homer (Il. vii. 141.), and by Herodotus (vii. 63.), when describing the accoutrements of the Assyrians who followed the army of Xerxes, and is represented by the engraving, from an ancient Roman fresco painting of the Villa Albani, where it appears as the weapon of Mars; thus proving that the Romans were also acquainted with the implement, though they do not appear to have designated it by any characteristic name.
CLAVA'RIUM. An allowance of money made to the Roman soldiery, for the purpose of providing nails (clavi caligares) for their boots. Tac. Hist. iii. 50. and CLAVUS, 5.
CLAVA'TOR. Either a suttler, or soldier's servant, who carried his baggage (Plaut. Rud. iii. 5. 25.), in which sense it would be synonymous with CALO; or, a recruit, who practised his exercises with a wooden stave (CLAVA, 2.) before being entrusted with a sword. Festus, s. Calones.
CLAVA'TUS. Striped with gold, purple, or other colours. It was customary amongst the Romans to weave stripes of this nature into their cloth fabrics, both such as were intended to be made up into garments (Vopisc. Bonos. 15.), as those which were manufactured for mere household purposes, such as table linen, napkins, &c. Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 37. CLAVUS, 8, 9.
2. Studded with nails, in reference to boots and shoes (Festus, s. v. Clavata), implying either that the sole is set thick with hob-nails, like the example, representing the sole or underneath part of a terra-cotta lamp made in the form of a shoe; or that it is armed with sharp projecting points, like the soldier's boot (caliga), which is represented by the illustration to CLAVUS, 5.
3. Covered with prickles, spikes, or projections, like a mace or club.
CLAVIC'ULA (κλειδίον). Diminutive of CLAVIS.
CLA'VIGER (κορυνήτης). Armed with a club; or with a mace. The club is well known as one of the weapons used by Hercules, whence he is distinguished by the epithet claviger (Ov. Met. xv. 22.); but in early times, and amongst many of the nations of antiquity, it was employed in warfare, as by the Dacians, on the Column of Trajan, and by the rustic inhabitants of Latium in their contests with the Trojans, in the miniatures of the Vatican Virgil, from one of which the annexed figure is copied. The example under CLAVA, 4. shows the club in its improved form of a mace; and illustrates the word claviger, in the sense fo a mace-bearer.
2. (κλειδοῦχος). Bearing a key; an epithet given by the Romans to Janus, because he was supposed to be the guardian and overseer of all men's doors (Ovid, Fast. i. 228. Macrob. Sat. i. 9.); and by the Greeks to Cupid (Wink. Mon. Ined. 32.), which implied that he had the power of opening and shutting the abodes of Love; but more especially to Hecate triformis, as the goddess who kept the keys of Hades, and who is represented in the annexed engraving, from a small bronze statue.
CLAVIS (κλείς). A key adapted for opening a regular lock with wards, for raising a latch, or moving a mere bolt; and including all the varieties in form, size, or use, of which the following illustrations afford examples:—
1. A door-key; made with regular wards, very like those now in use; as shown by the example annexed, from an original found at Pompeii. These were of the largest description, and employed for fastening the gates of a city, the external doors of a house or other building, the cellars, store-houses, &c., and were carried by the officers or slaves who had charge of such respective localities, suspended from the girdle round their waists;—a purpose indicated by the tongue and eye in the preceding example.
2. A small key, such as was kept by the mistress of the house (materfamilias), or used for locking up closets, armoires, trinket-cases, book or money-boxes (see CAPSA, where the lock and hasp is shown), &c., like the example, from the Dactyliotheca of Gorlæus. Hor. Epist. i. 20. 3. Id. Sat. ii. 3. 146.
3. Clavis Laconica. A particular kind of key, probably invented in Egypt, though the Greeks ascribe its origin to the Laconians; supposed to be made with three teeth, like the example from an Egyptian original preserved in the British Museum. It was applied to the inside of the door by a person standing without, who put his arm through a hole in the door made expressly for the purpose (clavi immittendæ foramen, Apul. Met. iv. p. 70.), and then raised the latch, which fastened it, by means of the projecting teeth. This interpretation, however, mainly relies for its authority upon a passage in Plautus (Most. ii. 1. 57.); in which Thranio, who is standing outside the house, and wishing to make it appear that the premises were no longer inhabited, locks the door on the outside with the door key which he held in his hand, and then orders the clavis Laconica to be given out to him, so that no one could gain ingress or egress without his assistance. But the whole subject is still very obscure and doubtful.
4. Clavis clausa. A small key, made without any neck or lever, such as the example, from an original in the Dactyliotheca of Gorlæus, and which, consequently, would only be used for raising latches, or in small locks which required but slight force to turn them; and when introduced into the lock or door would be almost concealed by it. (Virg. Moret. 15.) But the interpretation, and indeed the reading of the passage itself, is extremely doubtful. Some think the clavis clausa and Laconica to be identical; and Aristophanes (Thesm. 422.) certainly applies the epithet κρυπτὰ to the Laconian key with three teeth.
5. Clavis adultera. A false or skeleton key. Sall. Jugurth. 12. Compare Ovid. Art. Amat. iii. 643.
6. Clavis trochi (ἐλατήρ). The stick used by Greek and Roman boys for trundling their hoops (Propert. iii. 14. 6.); made of iron, with a hook at the end, or a round knob and bend in the neck, like the
CLA'VULUS. Diminutive of CLAVUS; probably, also, a nail without a head (Cato, R. R. xxi. 3.); as clavulus capitatus (Varro, R. R. ii. 9. 15.), a small-headed nail.
CLAVUS (ἦλος). A nail for fixing or fastening one thing to another. Many specimens of ancient nails, of various forms and sizes, of bronze as well as iron, are preserved in the Cabinets of Antiquities, resembling in most respects those now in use. The Latin expression for driving a nail is clavum figere or pangere (Liv. vii. 3.), and the act is shown by the figure annexed, which represents one of Trajan's soldiers making a stockade, the strength of which may be inferred from the immense size of the nail employed.
2. Clavus trabalis, or tabularis. A nail of the largest description, such as was employed in building, for fastening the main beams (trabes). Cic. Verr. vi. 21. Hor. Od. i. 35. 18. Petr. Sat. 75.
3. Clavus annalis. The nail which was driven on the Ides of September in every year into the side wall of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus (Liv. vii. 3.); a custom which is referred back to a very early period, and supposed to have been adopted as an expedient for reckoning the lapse of time before the use of letters was generally understood (Festus, s. v.), and subsequently retained out of religious deference to old customs. The fragment here introduced represents the four sides of part of a large bronze nail, now in the possession of the Italian historian Bianchini (Storia Univers. tom. i. p. 156. tav. 9. A.), which, from the letters upon it, is believed to have been actually employed for the purpose described.
4. Clavus muscarius. A nail with a large broad mushroom-shaped head (Vitruv. vii. 3. 11.), like the one represented under BULLA; but larger and of coarser workmanship.
5. Clavus caligaris. A sharp nail or spike, with which the soles of soldiers' boots (caligæ) were furnished (Plin. H. N. ix. 33. Juv. iii. 247. Id. xvi. 24. Isidor. Orig. xix. 34. 13.); the sharp ends projecting from the sole, as in our cricket shoes, in order to afford the wearer a firmer footing on the ground. (Joseph. Bell. Jud. vi. 1. 7.) The example introduced is given by Ferrarius, as copied from the arch of Constantine at Rome. He states that the spikes were clearly distinguishable in his time, but the artist has certainly committed an error in leaving the toes exposed, for the caliga was a close boot; see that word, and CALIGARIUS.
6. Clavus gubernaculi. The helm or tiller of an ancient rudder; which was a cross-bar (fustis, Serv. ad Virg. Æn. v. 176.), fixed to the upper part of the handle (ansa) at right angles to it, so that it fell within the ship, and enabled the steersman to move his helm in the direction required. (Isidor. Orig. xix. 2. 12.) When the vessel was furnished with a rudder on each quarter, and sufficiently small to be managed by a single helmsman, he held a clavus in each hand; but in heavy weather, or in larger vessels, each rudder had its own helmsman. The steerage was effected in both cases by raising or depressing the clavus, at the same time turning it slightly in or out, in order to give the blade of the rudder a less or greater resistance against the water; an effect well known to those who are accustomed to rowing, or steering with an oar; and our own nautical phrases "helm up" and "helm down," which still remain in use, though expressive of a very different operation, undoubtedly originated in this practice of the ancients; for in the Latin and Anglo-Saxon Glossary of Ælfricus, the word clavus is translated helma, our helm. All these particulars are clearly illustrated by the engraving, which represents the after part of an ancient ship, on a bas-relief discovered at Pozzuoli.
7. A stripe of purple colour woven into the texture of a piece of cloth, as an ornament, for wearing apparel, or for the linen employed in household purposes, such as napkins, tablecloths, coverlets for couches, &c. Mart. Ep. iv. 46. 17. Pet. Sat. 32. 2. Ammian. xvi. 8. 8.
8. Clavus Latus. The broad stripe; an ornamental band of purple colour, running down the front of a tunic, in a perpendicular direction immediately over the front of the chest, the right of wearing which formed one of the exclusive privileges of a Roman senator, though at a later period it appears to have been sometimes granted as a favour to individuals of the equestrian order. (Hor. Sat. i. 6. 28. Acro ad Hor. Sat. i. 5. 36. Quint. viii. 5. 28. Festus, s. v. Clavatus. Ovid. Trist. iv. 10. 29. Plin. Ep. ii. 9.) As the clavus was a mere shade of colour woven up with the fabric, and, consequently, possessed no substance of its own, it is not indicated upon any of the statues which represents persons of senatorial rank; for the sculptor deals only with substantial forms, and the Roman paintings which remain to us are mostly imitations of Greek works, representing mythological or heroical subjects, or otherwise scenes of common life. Consequently, we have no known example of the broad senatorial clavus upon any existing monument; but a fair notion of its real character may be obtained from the annexed wood-cut, representing the Persian sarapis, as worn by Darius, in the Pompeian mosaic of the battle of Issus; and which was decorated with a similar ornament, with the exception, that the stripe of the Persian kings was white upon a purple ground, that of the Roman senators purple on a white one.
9. Clavus angustus. The narrow stripe; a distinctive badge of the equestrian order. (Paterc. ii. 88. 2.) It was of purple colour, like the former, and also a decoration to the tunic; but differed in character, inasmuch as it consisted of two narrow stripes running parallel to each other down the front of the tunic, one on the right, and the other on the left side of the person; whence the plural purpuræ (Quint. xi. 3. 138.) is sometimes used, instead of the singular, to distinguish it. In paintings of a late period, this ornament is frequently met with, similar to that on the figure annexed, representing a Camillus in the Vatican Virgil. But at the period when such works were executed, it had ceased to be worn as a distinctive badge of rank; for it repeatedly occurs on figures acting in a menial capacity, such as cup-bearers and attendants at the table, who were usually attired in fine clothes, in the same way as the ancient costume of this country has now descended to a "livery."
CLEPSYD'RA (κλεψύδρα). An hour-glass, originally employed by the Greeks, and subsequently adopted at Rome, for the purpose of measuring the time allowed to each speaker in a court of law. (Plin. Ep. ii. 11.) These glasses were made of different sizes, according to the length of time for which they were required to run; and did not differ materially from the modern ones, with the exception of being filled with water instead of sand, as may be collected from the description of Apuleius (Met. iii. p. 44.), and still more from the example annexed, which is copied from a bas-relief of the Mattei palace at Rome. The one described by Aristotle (Probl. xvi. 8.) was similar in principle, but had a sort of spout at the top for pouring in the water, which trickled out at the bottom, through several small holes.
2. Probably, also a water-clock of sufficient size to run for a number of hours, and answer the purpose of a day and night clock; the lapse of time being indicated by lines or spaces (spatia. Sidon. Apoll. Ep. ii. 9.) described upon the globe from which the water escaped, or upon the reservoir into which it flowed. Pliny (H. N. vii. 60.) gives the name horologium to a device of this nature.
CLIBANA'RII. The name used to designate those of the Persian cavalry, whose horses, as well as the troopers, were covered with an entire suit of defensive armour (Ammian. xvi. 10.8. ib. 12. 22. Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 56.); compare CATAPHRACTUS, 1. and illustration.
CLIBANIC'IUS, sc. panis (κλιβανίτις). Bread baked in a clibanus. Isidor. Orig. xx. 2.
CLI'BANUS (κλίβανος or κρίβανος). A covered vessel, made wider at bottom than top (Columell. v. 10. 4.), and pierced all round with small holes (Dioscor. ii. 81. and 96.); employed for various purposes, but more especially for baking bread. (Plin. H. N. xix. 3.) When in use, it was enveloped in hot ashes, the warmth of which penetrated through the perforations in a more regular and even temperature than could be produced by the ordinary oven. The usual material was earthenware; but when Trimalchio has his bread baked in a silver clibanus (Pet. Sat. 35. 6.), it is intended as an instance of ridiculous ostentation.
CLIN'ICUS (κλινικός). A visiting physician, who attends his patients at the bed-side. Mart. Ep. ix. 97.
2. A sick person confined to his bed. Hieron. Epist. 105. n. 5.
3. Same as VESPILLO; who carried out the dead upon a bier or couch. Mart. Ep. iii. 93. Id. i.31.
CLI'NOPUS (κλινόπους). The foot of a bedstead. (Lucil. ap. Macrob. Sat. vi. 4.) The ancient bedsteads were commonly supported upon four legs, like our own, as in the illustration, from a Pompeian painting.
CLIPEA'TUS (ἀσπιδηφόρος). Armed or furnished with the large round Grecian shield (clipeus), as shown by the example from a Greek fictile vase. Virg. Æn. vii. 793. Ovid. Met. iii. 110. Curt. vii. 9.
2. Clipeatus chlamyde. Having the left arm covered with the chlamys instead of a shield (Pacuv. ap. Non. s. v. Clypeat. p. 87.), as represented by the annexed figure, from a fictile vase; in which manner Alcibiades is stated by Plutarch to have tried to protect himself in the combat when he lost his life.
3. Clipeata imago. A portrait engraved or painted upon a clipeus. (Cic. ap. Macrob. Sat. ii. 3.) See CLIPEUS, 3.
CLIPE'OLUM (ἀσπίδιον). Diminutive of CLIPEUS. Hygin. Fab. 139.
CLIP'EUS and CLIP'EUM (ἀσπίς). The large round shield or buckler, more especially peculiar to the heavy-armed infantry of the Greeks (Liv. ix. 19.); but also borne by the first-class men at arms amongst the Romans, from the time of Servius (Liv. i. 43. Dion. Hal. iv. 16., which passages also prove the identity between the Latin clipeus and Greek ἀσπις), until the period when the citizens commenced receiving pay for their military service, when the Scutum was substituted in its stead. (Liv. viii. 8.) In form it was completely circular, but concave on the inside (cavus. Varro, L. L. v. 19. Compare Virg. Æn. iii. 637.), with a circumference large enough to reach from the neck to the calf of the leg (see the figure in CLIPEATUS, 1.). It was sometimes made entirely of bronze (Liv. xlv. 33.); but more commonly of several folds of ox-hide (Virg. Æn. xii. 925. septemplicis. Ovid. Met. xii. 97. decem), covered with plates of metal; and occasionally upon a foundation of wicker-work (whence clipei textum. Virg. Æn. viii. 625. and ἱτέα. Eurip. Suppl. 697.), over which the folds of untanned leather and metal were spread. The illustration affords a front and side view of a Greek clipeus, from two fictile vases.
2. Sub clipeo latere. Clipei sub orbe tegi. (Ovid. Met. xiii. 79. Virg. Æn. ii. 227.) A position often represented in works of art, in which the soldier kneels down, and places his shield upright before him; by which his whole person is concealed, and covered from the attacks of his assailant; in the same manner as shown by the figure which illustrates VENABULUM.
3. A shield or plate of metal, or other material, upon which the bust of a deity, or portrait of distinguished persons was carved in relief, or painted in profile, as an honorary memento (Suet. Cal. 16. Tac. Ann. ii. 83.); a custom of very great antiquity, which owes its origin to the Trojans. (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 3. Compare Hor. Od. i. 28. 11.) The illustration represents an original bronze clipeus of this description, with a bust of the Emperore Hadrian upon its face.
4. A shield or plate of similar character, made of marble or metal, but ornamented with other devices as well as portraits, which was used as a decoration, to be suspended in public buildings or private houses, between the pillars of a colonnade, in the manner represented in the annexed engraving, from a bas-relief in terra-cotta. Liv. xxxv. 10.
5. An apparatus employed to regulate the temperature of the Laconicum, or vapour bath; which consisted in a hollow circular plate of metal, suspended by chains under an opening in the dome of the ceiling at the circular end of the thermal chamber (caldarium), and immediately over the labrum, by the raising or depressing of which, the temperature of the room was increased or lowered, as more or less of the cold air was permitted to enter, or of the hot air to escape. (Vitruv. v. 10.) The wood-cut represents a section of the Laconicum at Pompeii, a view of which in its present state is introduced under that word; the squares at the bottom show the flues of the hypocaustum; the basin in the centre over the largest flue is the labrum; and the clipeus, with the chain by which it was lowered or raised up, so as to close the aperture in the ceiling above it, is an imaginary restoration, in order to elucidate the manner in which the apparatus acted; but the bronze stays for fastening the chains by which the clipeus was worked, were found affixed to the sides of the wall. It must not, however, be concealed that the positive nature of the clipeus is a point involved in much uncertainty, and that many scholars, relying upon a picture in the Thermæ of Titus (represented by the annexed engraving) maintain that the Laconicum was the small cupola here seen rising from the floor of the chamber, which permitted a volume of flame and hot air to raise itself above the general level of the apartment; and that the clipeus, which regulated the temperature by admitting or shutting off the heat, was placed, as in the cut, under this cupola, and just over the hypocaust. But it is difficult to conceive how the apparatus could have been worked in such a situation, as both the clipeus and the chains for raising it would have become intensely hot from their proximity to the fire; besides nothing bearing even a remote resemblance to such a construction has been discovered in any of the ancient baths, and the account of Vitruvius (l. c.) describes almost minutely a similar disposition to that observable in the circular extremity of the thermal chamber in the Pompeian baths. As both the plans are introduced the reader has the means of judging for himself. A long array of names favours each side of the argument.
CLITEL'LÆ (κανθήλια). The pack-saddle upon which paniers were carried; and thence also a pair of panniers; whence only used in the plural number. (Hor. Sat. i. 5. 47. Phædr. i. 15.) The illustration is from an engraved chrystal in the Florentine Gallery.
CLITELL'ARIUS (κανθήλιος). A beast which carries paniers, as in the preceding illustration. Cato, R. R. x. 1. Columell. ii. 22. 3.
CLOA'CA (ὑπόνομος). A large subterranean canal, constructed of masonry or brickwork, for the purpose of carrying off the rain waters from the streets of a town, and the impurities from private houses, which were discharged through it into some neighbouring river, thus answering to our sewer and drain. (Liv. i. 38. Cic. Cæcin. 13. Hor. Sat. ii. 3. 242. Strabo, v. 8. p. 197. ed. Siebenk.) The illustration represents a street view in Pompeii, with the embouchures of two drains under the pavement, and shows the manner in which the rain waters entered them.
2. Cloaca Maxima. A main sewer, which received the contents of several tributary branches, and conducted them in one channel to the river. But the name is also specially given to the great sewer of Rome, which was made by the elder Tarquin for the purpose of draining off the stagnant waters of the Velabra, and low lands between the Palatine and Capitoline hills, in order to provide an area for laying out the race-course, or Circus Maximus, and the Forum. A considerable portion of this great work is still in existence, after a lapse of more than 2000 years. It consists of three concentric arches of masonry, put together without cement, and in the style called Etruscan, as shown by the annexed elevation, which represents the embouchure where it opens upon the Tiber, near the Sublician bridge, and part of the adjacent wall, which formed the substruction of the quay termed pulchrum littus. The smallest, or innermost arch, is between 13 and 14 feet in diameter; each of the blocks composing the arch is 5 feet 10 inches wide, and rather more than 3 feet 3 inches high; the whole being composed of the dark volcanic stone (tufa Litoide. Brocchi, Suolo di Roma.), which forms the basis of the Capitoline hill, and was the common building material during the periods ascribed to the early kings. A design showing the construction of the underground part is exhibited at p. 41. s. ANTERIDES. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 24. 3. Dionys. iii. 67.
CLOACA'RIUM. The sewers-rate; a tax which was levied for the expenses of cleansing and repairing the sewers. Ulp. Dig. 7. 1. 27. Paul. Dig. 30. 39.
CLOA'CULA. Diminutive of CLOACA; a branch sewer communicating with the main duct. Lamprid. Heliog. 17.
CLOSTEL'LUM. Diminutive of CLOSTRUM. Either the key-hole of a lock; or, perhaps, the box-hasp into which the bolt of a lock shoots; and which would leave a crevice between itself and a door which did not fit close, so that a person might see through it, as mentioned by Petronius, Sat. 140. 11. Compare Senec. Ben. vii. 21.
CLOSTRUM. For CLAUSTRUM. In a general sense, any fastening like a lock (Cato, R. R. xiii. 3. Id. CXXXV. 2.); but, more definitively, the box into which a lock shoots. Senec. Ben. vii. 21.
CLU'DEN. A sword used by actors upon the Roman stage, the blade of which receded into the handle immediately upon meeting with any resistance, and so produced the effect of stabbing without danger. (Apul. Apol. p. 526.) A device of the same kind is resorted to by modern actors; but the reading in Apuleius is not certain, and the interpretation is conjectural.
CLAB'ULUM or CLUNAC'ULUM. A small sword, or rather dagger, so called because it was worn at the back, just over the buttocks (clunes), as shown in the annexed example, from the Column of Trajan. Aul. Gell. x. 25. Isidor. Orig. xviii. 6. 6.
2. The same name was also given to the knife of the cultrarius, with which he ripped up the entrails of victims at the sacrifice (Festus, s. v.); and which was carried in the same manner by a strap round the loins, as shown by the annexed figure, representing one of these servants, from a Pompeian painting.
CLYSTER (κλυστήρ). A syringe; especially such as was used for injecting fluids into the body. Suet. Claud. 44. Plin. H. N. xxxi. 33.
CLYSTE'RIUM (κλυστήριον). Diminutive of the preceding. Scrib. Compos. 118.
CNODAX (κνώδαξ). A pin or pivot, affixed to the extreme ends of an axle or cylinder, and run into a socket, so as to form a support which will enable the axle to revolve. Vitruv. x. 2. 12.
COA VESTIS. The Coan robe: which was of the finest texture, and almost transparent; so that the forms of the wearers were readily apparent through the drapery, which only partially concealed them. It was, therefore, chiefly worn by females addicted to pleasure, such as singing and dancing girls, one of whom is represented in the engraving, from a Pompeian painting. Plin. H. N. xi. 26. Propert. iv. 5. 55. Ov. A. Am. ii. 298. Hor. Sat. i. 2. 101.
COAC'TILIS, sc. lana (πιλητός or πιλωτός). Felt or felted cloth; that is, wool matted together by repeated manipulation and pressure until it forms a consistent texture, like a piece of cloth. Plin. H. N. viii. 73. Edict. Dioclet. p. 21. Ulp. Dig. 34. 2. 26.
COACTO'RES (πράκτορες). Receivers or collectors of taxes, duties, &c. Cic. Rab. Post. 11. Hor. Sat. i. 6. 86.
2. The rear-guard of an army, or the body of troops who brought up the rear in a line of march. Tac. Hist. ii. 68.
COAC'TUS. Same as COACTILIS. Plin. H. N. viii. 73. Cæs. B. C. iii. 44.
COAG'ULUM (πυετία). Rennet; i. e. anything used in curdling milk; for which the concreted milk found in the stomachs of suckling animals, the milky moisture contained in the stomach of a pig, as well as the stomach itself, and vinegar, was commonly employed by the Romans. (Varro, . R. R. ii. 11. 4. Plin. H. N. xxiii. 63.) Hence, also, curdled milk (Plin. H. N. xxviii. 45.); and cheese. Ovid. Fast. iv. 545.
COASSA'TIO (σανίδωμα). Any thing made of boards joined together, as the flooring of a house (Vitruv. vi. 6.), or the deck of a ship. Theophrast.
COCH'LEA (κοχλίας). Literally, a snail with a spiral shell; whence applied to several other objects partaking of a spiral form; as—
1. A worm and screw, as a mechanical power, employed in oil, wine, and clothes presses, precisely in the same manner, and formed upon similar principles to those now in daily use, as shown by the annexed wood-cut, representing a press for cloth, from a painting in the fuller's establishment (fullonica), at Pompeii. Vitruv. vi. 9. Plin. H. N. xviii. 74. Pallad. iv. 10. 10. Id. xi. 9. 1.
2. A contrivance for raising water, upon the principle of a screw, invented by Archimedes, and similar to the machine still to be seen in Germany, which goes by the name of the "water snail." It consisted of a long cylinder, with a hollow pipe coiled round it, like the thread of a screw; was placed in an oblique direction, with the lowest end in the water, and then made to turn round its own axis by the operation of cattle, or of a tread-wheel (tympanum); as it revolved, it gradually turned the water up through the coils of the pipe from the lowest to the topmost spiral, from which it ran out, as having nothing further to support it. (Vitruv. x. 6.) It is also mentioned by Strabo (xiii. 30. p. 561. ed. Siebenk.), as being used in Egypt, where it was worked by slaves, and employed for the purpose of irrigation; indeed, a pump of this description will only raise water to a moderate height.
3. A particular kind of doorway adapted for a bull-ring, aviary, and places of such description (Varro, R. R. iii. 5. 3.), where it was requisite that all who entered or went out should be enabled to do so with rapidity and security; in order that the animals might not escape with the opening of the door, while the person inside might retreat with safety upon any sudden emergency. Schneider (Index, R. R. Script. s. v. Cavea) considers this to have been a door raised and lowered after the manner of a portcullis, synonymous, therefore, with CATARACTA; but his proofs are far from conclusive, and the old interpretation of Gesner is more in unison with the other analogies of the word; viz. an apparatus like the one now commonly used in the foundling hospitals and convents of nuns in Italy for the purpose of introducing any thing into the interior, without opening a door, and which goes by the name of "the wheel," la ruota. It is constructed upon the same principle as a dark lantern, consisting of a cylindrical box, situated in the thickness of the main wall, and made to revolve round an upright axis which runs through its centre, and fixes it in its place. An aperture is left on one part of the circumference, through which, when turned to the street, the objects intended to be introduced are placed in the box, which is then pushed half round its axis, when the opening comes on the inside of the wall. It is obvious that such an apparatus would be particularly adapted for any of the purposes above mentioned to which the cochlea was put; and the name may have been obtained from the resemblance which such a contrivance bears to a snail within its shell, or to the spiral staircase (cochlis) within its case.
COCH'LEAR and COCHLEA'RE (κοχλιάριον). A spoon with a bowl at one end, and a sharp point at the other, for eating eggs and shell-fish (Mart. Ep. xiv. 121.); the broad end serving as an egg spoon (Pet. Sat. 33. 6.), and the point for drawing the fish out of its shell. (Plin. H. N. xxviii. 4.) The example represents an original found in Pompeii.
2. A measure of liquids; answering to our spoonful. Columell. xii. 21. 3.
COCHLEA'RIUM. A place where snails were bred and fattened; which were considered as a delicacy by the Roman epicures, being imported from different parts, to be reared and fed in these home nurseries. (Varro, R. R. iii. 12. 2. Ib. 14. 1. Plin. H. N. ix. 82.) The ridiculous Trimalchio has them served up to table upon silver grid-irons. Pet. Sat. 70. 7.
COCH'LIS. See COLUMNA, 2.
COC'TILIS, sc. later. A brick hardened by burning, as contradistinguished from one dried by the sun. Varro, R. R. i. 14. Plin. H. N. vii. 57.
2. Murus coctilis. A wall built of bricks hardened by the fire. Ovid. Met. iv. 58.
3. Coctilia or Cocta ligna (ξύλα κάγκανα). Dried or scorched wood, chopped into small pieces, and prepared by hardening over the fire sufficiently to dry up the moisture contained in it, without reducing it to charcoal (Ulp. Dig. 32. 55.), in order that it might burn readily and briskly, and not throw out a quantity of smoke. It was sold by measure (Valerian ap. Trebell. Claud. 14.), and not by weight, like other kinds of fire-wood, in particular warehouses at Rome, called tabernæ coctiliciæ; and the preparing, as well as the selling of which, as we are told, the father of the Emperor Pertinax belonged. Jul. Cap. Pertinax, 3.
COCTUS. Same as COCTILIS.
COC'ULUM. Apparently, a general term given to any kind of saucepan for boiling meats. Festus, s. v. Isidor. Orig. xx. 8. Cato, R. R. xi. 2.
CO'DEX. A clog, or heavy log of wood, chained to the feet of slaves which they dragged about with them, and were made to sit upon. Juv. ii. 57. Prop. iv. 7. 44.
2. A blank book for writing in, made up of separate leaves bound together, like our own, as is shown by the annexed example, from a Pompeian painting. Originally, the leaves were made of thin tablets of wood (codices i. q. caudices), coated with wax, whence the name arose and which was still retained in use, although the original material had been superseded by paper or parchment. Ulp. Dig. 32. 50. Cic. Verr. i. 36. Id. Sull. 15.
3. At a later period, the word also means a code of laws, as the Codex Justinianus, Theodosianus, &c., which it may be assumed were written in books of this description.
CODICIL'LUS. Diminutive of CODEX. But in the plural, CODICILLI were a collection of small tablets employed for writing memorandums (Cic. Fam. ix. 26.), intended to be copied out fairly afterwards; to be despatched as letters to intimate friends (Cic. Fam. vi. 18.); for noting down the particulars of a will (Plin. Ep. ii. 16.); of a petition or memorial (Tac. Ann. iv. 39.), and other similar purposes.
CŒLUM (οὐρανός). A soffit, or ceiling, of which word it contains the elements through the French ciel. (Vitruv. vii. 3. 3. Florus, iii. 5. 30. and cœlo capitis, the nether part of the scull, Plin. H. N. xi. 49.) The earliest buildings were only covered by an outer roof (tectum), the inside of which served as the ceiling; but as that was found to be an insufficient protection against the changes of weather and temperature, an inner one was afterwards contrived, which constitued the cœlum, and gave rise to an extra member in the entablature, denoted externally by the zophorus or frieze.
CŒMETE'RIUM (κοιμητήριον). A Greek word; properly signifying a sleeping chamber (Dosiad. ap. Athen. iv. 22.); whence used by the Latin writers of a late period for a cemetery. Tertull. Anim.. 51.
COEMP'TIO. A marriage by civil contract, solemnized by a ficticious sale, at which the parties betrothed went through the ceremony of mutually selling themselves to one another, and supposed to have first come into use when intermarriages between the patrician and plebeian families became lawful, A. U. C. 308. Cic. Muret. 12. Non. Marc. s. v. Nubentes, p. 531.
CŒ'NA (δεῖπνον). The principal daily meal of the Romans; and, consequently, better translated by our word dinner than supper, which is more commonly applied. It was the third meal taken in the day, i. e. after the breakfast (jentaculum) and the luncheon (prandium or merenda), the most usual hour being about three P.M. of our time; though the particular habits of different individuals might induce some to dine at an earlier, and others at a later hour. Plaut. Cic. Petr. Suet., &c.
2. Prima, altera, tertia cœna. The first, second, or third remove of dishes, or courses at a dinner. Mart. Ep. xi. 31.
CŒNAC'ULUM. An eating-room, according to the original and strict meaning of the word (Varro, L. L. v. 162.); but, as the apartment appropriated for that purpose was usually situated in the upper part of the house, at one period of Roman history, the word came to be used much more commonly in our sense of a room upstairs (Festus, s. v. Liv. xxxix. 14.), and the plural cœnacula (like the Greek ὑπερῷον) to designate the whole suite of rooms contained in an upper story (Cic. Agr. ii. 35.); and, as the upper stories at Rome were chiefly occupied by the poorer classes, a sense of inferiority is frequently implied by the term, so that our words attics or garrets would in such cases furnish the most appropriate translation. (Hor. Ep. i. 1. 91. Juv. x. 17.) The annexed example, from a Roman painting, exhibits the external appearance of the cœnacula; and the two last illustrations to the article DOMUS, which represent the plan and elevation of a two-storied house excavated at Herculaneum, will show the manner of building and distributing the apartments of an upper story in private houses of a moderate size.
2. Cœnaculum meritorium. A hired lodging, in an upper story. Suet. Vitell. 7.
CŒNA'TIO. Seems to be a general term, applied to any kind of eating-room; as well to the sumptous banqueting-halls of the golden palace of Nero (Sueton. Nero, 31.), as to the ordinary dining parlour of Pliny's villa. (Plin. Epist. ii. 17. 10. Ib. v. 6. 21.) Like the cœnaculum, it was situated up stairs (Juv. vii. 183. Mart. Ep. ii. 59.); and in this respect differed from triclinium, which, in the Pompeian houses, is always placed upon the ground-floor.
CŒNATO'RIA, i. e. cœnatoriæ vestes. The garments or apparel worn at the dinner table (Pet. Sat. 21. 5. Mart. x. 87. Capitol. Maxim. Juv. 4.); the precise character of which has not been ascertained; but one of them went expressly by the name of SYNTHESIS, which see.
CŒNOB'ITA. Late Latin; one who lives in a community (cœnobium) with others; thence a monk or friar. Hieron. Ep. 22. n. 34. and 35.
CŒNOB'IUM (κοινόβιον). A monastery, or convent of monks or friars; because they live together in common. Hieron. Ep. 22. n. 36.
CO'HORS. Same as CHORS. Varro, R. R. iii. 3. Ovid. Fast. iv. 704.
2. A cohort, or body of infantry soldiers, constituting the tenth part of a legion, but which varied in numbers at different periods of the Roman history, accordingly as the legion itself was increased in numerical strength. Varro, L. L. v. 88. Cincius, ap. Gell. xvi. 4. 4. Cæs. B. G. iii. 1.
3. The term is sometimes used to distinguish the allied and auxiliary troops from those of the legion; by which it is inferred, that in early times such troops were arranged in cohorts instead of maniples. Florus, iii. 21. Liv. ii. 64. Id. xxiii. 14.
4. Also, in some cases, for a troop or squadron of cavalry, but of what precise number is uncertain, Plin. Ep. x. 106. Virg. Æn. xi. 500.
5. Prætoria cohors. A body of picked men, selected from the legionaries, who formed a sort of bodyguard to the consul, or commander under the republic; but became a permanent corps du garde under the emperors. See PRÆTORIANUS.
CO'HUM. The rope or thong by which the yoke (jugum) is fastened to the pole (temo) of a plough. (Festus, s. v.) It is very distinctly seen in the annexed example, from a bas-relief discovered in the island of Magnensia.
COLIPH'IUM. A sort of food upon which wrestlers and persons in training for athletic exercises were dieted, in order to increase their muscular development, without adding superfluous flesh, upon the same principle as still pursued by our prize-fighters, &c. What the Roman coliphia were is not distinctly known; but they are generally supposed to have been a kind of bread cake, without leaven, and mixed with new cheese. Plaut. Pers. i. 3. 12. Juv. ii. 53. Schol. Vet. ad l. Mart. vii. 67. 12.
COLLA'RE. An iron collar put round the neck of runaway slaves, with a leading chain (catulus) attached to it, like a dog's chain and collar. (Lucil. Sat. xxix. 15. ed. Gerlach.) Prisoners of war were sometimes treated in the same way, as may be seen by the illustration, representing a barbarian captive, from the Column of Antoninus.
2. A dog's collar. (Varro, R. R. ii. 9. 15.) The example is from a mosaic pavement in one of the houses at Pompeii, and represents a watch-dog, with his collar and chain attached.
COLLIC'IÆ or COLLIQ'UIÆ. Gutters, made with concave tiles, placed under the eaves of a house, for the purpose of carrying away the rain water from the roof, and conducting it into the impluvium. Festus, s. Inlicium. Vitruv. vi. 3.
2. Open drains or gutters in the country, for the purpose of carrying away the rain water from the lands into the ditches (fossæ). Plin. H. N. xviii. 49. n. 2. Columell. ii. 8. 3.
COLLICIA'RIS sc. tegula. A drain tile, for making colliciæ. Cato, R. R. xiv. 4.
COLLIPH'IUM. See COLIPHIUM.
COLLIQ'UIÆ. See COLLICIÆ.
COLLUVIA'RIUM. A sort of well or opening formed at certain intervals in the channel of an aqueduct, for the purpose of procuring a free current of air along its course; and also, perhaps, to facilitate the operation of clearing away any foul deposits left by the waters, by affording a ready access to every part of the duct. Vitruv. viii. 8. 6.
COLLYBIS'TES or COLLYBIS'TA (κολλυβιστής). A Greek word Latinised; a money dealer. Hieron. Comment. Matth. c. 21.
COL'LYBUS (κόλλυβος). Properly, a Greek word, meaning a small coin; whence it came to signify, both amongst the Greeks and Romans, the difference of exchange, or agio, as it is called, charged by the dealer for changing the money of one country into the currency of another. Cic. Att. xii. 6. Id. Verr. ii. 3. 78.
COLLY'RA (κολλύρα). A sort of bread or bun, of an oval form, which was eaten with broth or with gravy. Plaut. Pers. i. 3. 12. Compare ib. 15 and 17.
COLLY'RIS (κολλυρίς). Same as COLLYRA. Augustin. de Gent.
2. A head-dress worn by women, and supposed to have received its name from some resemblance in form to the bread or bun designated by the same term. (Tertull. Cult Fœm. 7.) In a Pompeian painting (Mus. Borb. vi. 38.), there is represented a plate of bread or buns divided into separate segments of precisely the same form as those which appear on the head-dress worn by Faustina on an engraved gem (see the wood-cut s. CALIENDRUM; such a coincidence favours the conjecture that the painting affords a genuine example of the kind of bread, and the gem of the peculiar head-dress which went under the same name.
COLLY'RIUM (κολλύριον). A medical substance made up into the shape of a collyra, composed of various ingredients, according to the nature of the remedy required, and applied externally for rubbing the parts affected, or for inserting into any hollow, such as the nostrils, &c. Celsus, v. 28. 12. Hor. Sat. i. 5. 50. Scrib. Comp. 142. Columell. vi. 30. 8.
COLOB'IUM (κολόβιον). A tunic with short sleeves (from the Greek κολοβός, docked or curtailed) which just covered the upper and fleshy part of the arm (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. ix. 616.), as shown by the annexed example, from the Column of Trajan. This was the original and usual form of the tunic worn by the Romans of the republican age, at home, or in active exercise, as here represented; but abroad, or when in costume, as we might say, the toga was thrown over it.
COLO'NICA. A farm-house. Auson. Ep. iv. 6.
COLO'NUS. A yeoman or farmer; i. e. one who gains a livelihood by the cultivation of the soil, whether as a tenant farmer, or one who tills his own land. Varro, R. R. ii. Proem. 5. Columell. i. 7. Scævola, Dig. 33. 7. 20.
2. A colonist. Cic. N. D. iii. 19. Justin. xvi. 3.
COLOS'SUS (κολοσσός). A statue of gigantic dimensions, or very much beyond the proportions of nature; such, for instance, as the Colossus at Rhodes, which was above seventy feet high. Hygin. Fab. 233. Festus, s. v. Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 18.
COLOS'TRA (Plin. H. N. xi. 96. Mart. Ep. xiii. 38.); only another name for COAGULUM.
CO'LUM (ἠθμός). A colander, or strainer made of basket-work, bullrushes, bast, or osiers (Cato, R. R. xi. 2. Columell. xi. 2. 7. Id. xii. 19. 4.), and in the form of an inverted cone, through which new made wine and oil (Columell. xii. 38. 7. Scrib. Comp. 156.), was passed after it had been squeezed out by the press beam. (Virg. Georg. ii. 242.) The example introduced is from a Roman bas-relief, representing various processes connected with the vintage.
2. Colum nivarium. A wine strainer made of metal, for cooling, diluting, and mixing the wine with snow at table. (Mart. Ep. xiv. 103.) It was used in the following manner. A lump of frozen snow being deposited in the strainer, and the strainer being placed upon the drinking cup, the wine was then poured upon the snow, with which it mixed itself, and filtered into the cup, through the perforations of the strainer, free from any sediment or impurities. The example represents an original of bronze discovered in Pompeii.
3. A basket for catching fish, like an eel or prawn basket; so termed, because when taken up, the water drains out of it, leaving the fish at the bottom, like the dregs in a strainer. Auson. Ep. iv. 57. Compare NASSA.
COLUM'BAR. A contrivance, something like the pillory, for confining the hands and head (Plaut. Rud. iii. 5. 60.); so termed from the resemblance which the apertures through which these parts projected, bore to the holes for nests in a dove-cote (columbarium). It was employed for the punishment of slaves, and, in all probability, resembled the "wooden collar" of the Chinese, which is represented in the annexed engraving, from a drawing by Staunton.
COLUMBA'RIUM (περιστερεών). A dove-cote or pigeon-house; which probably differed very little from those of the present day, with the exception of being frequently built upon a much larger scale; for as many as five thousand birds were sometimes kept in the same house. Varro, R. R. iii. 7. Pallad. i. 24.
2. Columbaria (plural); the pigeon-holes, or separate cells in the cote for each pair of birds. Varro, R. R. iii. 7. 4. and 11. Columell. viii. 8. 3.
3. Columbaria (plural); the niches or pigeon-holes in a sepulchral chamber, in which the ashes of the dead contained in jars (ollæ) were deposited. (Inscript. ap. Spon. Miscell. Er. Ant. 19. p. 287. Ap. Fabretti, p. 9.) Each of these were adapted for the reception of a pair of jars, like doves in their nests, as exhibited by the annexed illustration, copied from a sepulchral vault near Rome. The lids of the jars are seen above, and the names of the persons whose ashes they contained are inscribed underneath, against the face of the wall, into which the jars themselves are sunk. All the four walls of the sepulchre were covered with niches of this description, which sometimes amounted to one hundred and more. See SEPULCRUM COMMUNE, and illustration.
4. Columbaria, plural (τρύπηματα). The oar-ports, through which the oars projected from the inside of a vessel (Isidor. Orig. xix. 2. 3. Compare Festus. s. Navalis Scribia); so called because they resembled the niches in a dove-cote, as plainly shown by the illustration, representing two oar-ports on the side of a vessel, in the Vatican Virgil. This also accounts for the meaning of the word columbarius in a fragment of Plautus, where it signifies a rower, accompanied with a sentiment of depreciation.
5. Columbaria, plural (ὀπαί). The cavities or holes in the walls of a building which form a bed for the heads of the tie-beams (tigna) to lie in. (Vitruv. iv. 2. 4.) See the illustration to MATERIATIO, letters d, d, d.
6. Columbaria (plural). Openings formed in the axle of a particular description of tread-wheel (tympanum), for raising water. The axle, in question, was a hollow cylinder, and the water raised by the revolutions of the wheel was conveyed into the axle through these apertures, and then discharged from its extremity into the receiving trough (Vitruv. x. 4.); but the whole process will be better understood by a reference to the article TYMPANUM, 5.
COLUMEL'LA (στυλίς). A general diminutive of COLUMNA.
2. (στηλίδιον). A small cippus, or short pillar, erected over a grave as a tomb-stone. Cic. Leg. ii. 26.
3. Columella ferrea. A strong iron pin or bolt, forming part of the trapetum, or machine for bruising olives. (Cato, R. R. xx. 1. Id. xxii. 2.) See TRAPETUM, and the illustration, on which it is marked by the figure 4.
COL'UMEN. The highest timber in the frame-work of a roof, forming the ridge piece to the whole. (Vitruv. iv. 2. 1.) See MATERIATIO and the illustration, on which it is marked b, b.
COLUM'NA (κίων, στῦλος). A column, employed in architecture to support the entablature and roof of an edifice. It is composed of three principal parts: the capital (capitulum); the shaft (scapus); and the base (spira). The column was, moreover, constructed in three principal styles or orders, each possessing characteristic forms and proportions of its own, distinctive of the order, but by unprofessional persons most readily distinguished by the difference in the capitals. 1. Dorica, the Doric, shown by the engraving, representing a view of the Parthenon, from Gwilt's "Encyclopædia of Architecture," the oldest, most substantial, and heaviest of all, which has no base, and a very simple capital (see CAPITULUM, 1. and 2.). 2. Ionica, the Ionic; the next in lightness, which is furnished with a base, and has its capital decorated with volutes (see CAPITULUM, 3. and 4.). 3. Corinthia, the Corinthian, the lightest of all, which has a base and plinth below it, and a deep capital ornamented with foliage (see CAPITULUM, 5.). To these are sometimes added:—4. Tuscanica, the Tuscan, only known from the account of Vitruvius, and which nearly resembles the Roman Doric; and 5. Composita, the Composite, a mixed order, formed by combining the volutes of the Ionic with the foliage of the Corinthian.
This most perfect and most beautiful of all architectural supports originated, as is generally the case, from the simplest beginnings. A few strong poles, or the straight trunks of trees, stuck into the ground, in order to support a cross-piece for a thatch of boughs or straw to rest upon, formed the first shaft (scapus) of a column. When a tile or slab of wood was placed under the bottom of the trunk to form a foundation, and prevent the shaft from sinking too deeply into the ground, the first notion of a base (spira) was attained; and a similar one, placed on its top to afford a broader surface for the cross-beam or architrave to rest upon, furnished the first capital. Thus these simple elements, elaborated by the genius and industry of succeeding ages, produced the several distinctive properties of the architectural orders. To explain the peculiar properties belonging to each order of columns is rather the province of the architect, than of a work of this nature; for it would require large drawings and minute details, scarcely requisite for the classical student or general reader. One point, however, is to be constantly borne in mind,—that the columna of ancient architecture always implied a real, and not a fictitious, support; for neither the Greeks nor the Romans, until the arts had declined, ever made use of columns, as the moderns do, in their buildings, as a superfluous ornament, or mere accessory to the edifice, but as a main and essentially constituent portion of the fabric, which would immediately fall to pieces if they were removed; and that the abusive application of coupled, clustered, incastrated, imbedded columns, &c., was never admitted in Greek architecture; for the chief beauty of the column consists in its isolation, by means of which it presents an endless variety of views and changes of scene, with every movement of the spectator, whether seen in rank or in file.
2. Columna cochlis. A column with a cockle or spiral staircase in the centre, for the purpose of ascending to the top. (P. Victor. de Reg. Urb. Rom. c. 8. and 9.) These were employed for various purposes; and more especially for honorary columns, to support on their tops the statue of the person whose achievements or memory they were erected to commemorate. Two of the kind still remain at Rome, one constructed in honour of the Emperor Trajan, which is represented in the engraving, with a section by its side of part of the interior, to show the spiral staircase, and which, with the statue on the top, now supplanted by Pope Sixtus V., was 130 feet in height; the other, of a similar character, in honour of the Emperor M. Aurelius Antoninus. Both are covered externally by spiral bas-reliefs, representing the various wars carried on by these emperors, from which many figures have been selected to illustrate these pages.
3. Columna rostrata. A column ornamented with images, representing the prows (rostra) of ships all down the shaft. (Virg. Georg. ii. 29. Serviud, ad l.) These were erected in commemoration of persons who had obtained a great naval victory; and the example represents the one set up in honour of C. Duilius (Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 11.) after his action with the Carthaginian fleet, B. C. 261, now preserved, together with part of the original inscription underneath, detailing the number of vessels and booty taken, in the Capitol at Rome.
4. Columna Bellica. A short column erected before the temple of Bellona, situated near the porta Carmentalis and Circus Maximus, against which the Romans in early times used to hurl a spear when about to declare war. Festus, s. v. Bellona. Ovid. Fast. vi. 206.
5. Columna Mænia. A column erected in the Roman forum, to which slaves, thieves, and other offenders were bound, and publicly punished. Cic. Sext. 58. Id. Div. Verr. 16. Ascon. ib.
6. Columnæ Herculis. The columns of Hercules; originally and properly, two large pyramidal columns, which the Phœnicians were accustomed to set up in the course of their extensive voyages, as light-houses and landmarks, whereby to recognise particular coasts upon any future visit, being respectively dedicated to Hercules and Astarte, their sun and moon. They are plainly shown by the annexed wood-cut, from the device on a Tyrian coin, where the two columns, with the light-house in front, the conch underneath, which the master of the vessel sounded to announce his arrival in port (see BUCINATOR), and the tree representing the land, evidently explain the objects intended. Remains of such works, or others resembling them, are found in the West of England, in China, and in Africa, and are mentioned by Tacitus (Germ. 34.), as existing in his day on the eastern bank of the Rhine, in the country of the Frisii (Frisons). By the Greeks and Romans, however, the two pyramidal mountains at the Straits of Gibraltar, Calpe and Abyla (Gibraltar in Europe, and Ceuta in Africa) were termed the Columns of Hercules, in consequence of the resemblance which they bear at a distance to the Phœnician columns described above, and a corresponding fable, to account for the name, was invented in favour of their own hero. Mela, i. 5. Plin. H. N., iii. Proem.
7. The king-post, or crown-post in a timber roof, which supports the tie-beams (capreoli) and rafters (cantherii), marked D in the illustration. Vitruv. iv. 2. 1.
COLUMNA'RIUM. A Roman tax levied upon proprietors or occupants for the number of columns contained in their houses, or other buildings belonging to them. Cic. Att. xiii. 6.
COLUMNA'RIUS. A worthless fellow, or, perhaps, an insolvent debtor; i. e. literally one who had been summoned to receive punishment at the columna Mænia. Cæl. ad Cic. Fam. viii. 9.
COLU'RIA. Circular segments of stone placed one on the top of the other to form a column, when the column is made of different pieces instead of one entire block of marble. Sidon. Ep. ii. 2; but the reading is not certain.
COLUS (ἠλακάτη). A distaff; commonly made out of a cane stick about a yard in length, slit at the top in such a manner that it would open, and form a sort of basket for containing the mass of wool or flax intended to be spun into threads, as represented by the right-hand figure in the annexed wood-cut, which is copied from an Egyptian original in the British Museum. The ring which surrounds it is intended to be put over the wool, as a sort of cap, which keeps the whole mass together. The peasantry of Italy make their distaffs of precisely the same form and materials at the present day. When the distaff was filled with wool, it was designated by such epithets as compta (Plin. H. N. viii. 74.), plena (Tibull. i. 3. 86.), or lana amicta (Catull. 64. 312.), and is shown by the left-hand figure, from a bas-relief on the Forum of Nerva at Rome, which represents a female with the distaff in her left hand, the drawn thread (stamen) depending from it, and in the act of twisting the spindle (fusus) with the fingers of her right hand. Compare also the article NEO, in which the manner both of spinning, and of using these implements, is more fully detailed.
COLYMB'US (κόλυμβος). In the Gloss of Isidorus, a tank (lacus) wherein clothes were washed; hence, a swimming or plunging bath. Lamprid. Hel. 23. Prudent.
COMA (κόμη). The hair of the head; nearly synonymous with CÆSARIES, but mostly with an implied sense of length and profusion; i. e. a fine head of long thick hair; whence we find the word applied to the mane of animals (Pallad. iv. 13. 2. Aul. Gell. v. 14. 2.); to the horse hair on the crest of a helmet (Stat. Theb. viii. 389. and CRISTA); and often connected with such epithets as intonsa (Cic. Tusc. iii. 26.), demissa (Prop. ii. 24. 52.), and the like.
COMATO'RIUS. See ACUS, 2.
COMA'TUS (κομήτης). In a general sense, one who is possessed of a head of long thick hair, which is allowed to luxuriate in its natural growth (Mart. xii. 70. Suet. Cal. 35.); but the word is also specially used to characterize the Germans (Tertull. Virg. Veland. 10.) and the people of Transalpine Gaul, including Belgica, Celtica, and Aquitanica, all of which were comprised under the name of Gallia Comata (Mela, iii. 2. Plin. iv. 31. Lucan. i. 443.), in consequence of the profusion and abundance of their hair, and the manner in which it was arranged, uniformly represented by the Roman artists like the example here annexed, which is copied from a sarcophagus discovered in the Villa Amendola, near Rome, and covered with bas-reliefs giving the details of a combat between the Romans and Gauls.
COMES (ἀκόλουθος). A companion or associate, generally; but more specially an attendant, or tutor, who accompanied his pupil to and from school, in his walks, &c. Suet. Aug. 98. Tib. 12. Claud. 35.
COMISSA'TIO (κῶμος, συμπόσιον). A revelling, feasting, or drinking bout, commencing afer the cœna, and often protracted to a late hour of the night. (Varro, L. L. vii. 89. Liv. xl 13. Cic. Cæl. 15. Suet. Tit. 7.) Greek scenes of this nature are frequently represented on fictile vases. (Mus. Borb. v. 51. Millin. Vas. Ant. ii. 58. Tischbein. ii. 55. Wink. Mon. Ined. 200.), in which the lateness of the hour is indicated by the introduction of candelabra, the festivity by the presence of Comus and winged genii, and the debauchery by the mixed company of courtesans, dancing, playing, and singing girls.
COMISSA'TOR (κωμαστής, συμπότης). A reveller, who forms one of the company at a comissatio, or wine party. (Liv. xl. 9. Cic. Cæl. 28.) It was not always usual for the comissator to dine (cœnare) with his host; but he was often invited to come in and take his wine with the company after he had dined elsewhere; as Habinnas comes from the cœna of Scissa to the ommissatio of Trimalchio—Habinnas comissator intravit. Pet Sat. 65. 3. Compare Liv. xl. 7.
COMIT'IUM. An enclosed place abutting on the Roman Forum, and near the Curia, where the Comitia Centuriata were held and causes tried. (Varro, L. L. v. 155.) It was originally uncovered, in consequence of which the assemblies were often obliged to be dissolved when the weather was bad; but was roofed in, to obviate this inconvenience, during the second Punic war. (Liv. xxvii. 36.) Some lofty walls, still remaining under the Palatine hill, are supposed to be vestiges of this building.
COMMENTAC'ULUM or COMMOTAC'ULUM. A wand which the Roman priesthood carried in their sacrificial processions, wherewith to clear the way, and prevent the populace from closing too near upon them. Festus. s. v..
COMPEDI'TUS. Having fetters or shackles upon the feet; but the word more especially designates a slave who always wore, and worked in, fetters (Seneca, Tranq. c. 10. Plaut. Capt. v. i. 23. Cato, R. R. 56. Compare Ovid. Pont. i. 6. 31.), like the galley-slaves of modern Italy, whose chains are made precisely like those worn by the figure in the illustration, from an engraved gem, which represents Saturn in fetters; an adjunct frequently given by the Romans to the statues of this deity, but from which they were removed during his festival in the month of September (Stat. Sylv. i. 6. 4.), when a temporary liberty was also allowed to the slaves in allusion to the happy condition which mankind were supposed to have enjoyed under his reign.
COMPES (πέδη). A fetter, or shackle for the feet; as shown by the preceding wood-cut, and the illustration s. CATULUS.
2. A ring of silver or gold, worn by women round the bottom of the leg, just above the ankle, in the same manner as a bracelet is round the wrist (Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 54. Cmpare xxxiii. 12. Pet. Sat. 67. 7.), as shown by the annexed engraving, from a Pompeian painting of Ariadne. Ornaments of this nature were confined to females of the plebeian classes at Rome, to courtesans, dancing girls, and characters of that description, who went with bare feet, and partially exposed their legs; which would otherwise have been entirely concealed under the long and training drapery of the Roman ladies and matrons. For a similar reason, they are never represented in the Pompeian paintings on figures who wear shoes, but only when the foot and ankle is uncovered; but when Petronius, in the passage cited, places them on the legs of Fortuna above her shoes, it is to ridicule the vulgar ostentation of wealth in the wife of the parvenu by the adoption of an unusual custom.
COM'PITUM. A place where two or more roads meet; more especially with reference to the country (Virg. Georg. ii. 382.), in contradistinction from trivium, which applies more to the streets of a town. (Cic. Agr. i. 3.) It was customary to erect altars, shrines, and small temples on these spots, at which religious rites in honour of the Lares Compitales, the deities who presided over cross-roads, were performed by the country people (Prop. iv. 3. 54.); whence the word compitum is sometimes used for a shrine erected on such a spot. (Grat. Cyneg. 483. Pers. iv. 28.) All these particulars are elucidated by the illustration, from a landscape painting at Pompeii.
COMPLU'VIUM. A large square opening in the centre of the roof which covered the four sides of an Atrium in Roman houses, and towards which these sides converged for the purpose of carrying down the rain into a reservoir (impluvium) in the floor immediately under it; as is clearly shown by the illustration, representing the interior of a Pompeian Atrium restored. (Varro, L. L. v. 161. Festus, s. Impluvium. Vitruv. vi. 3. 6.) In a passage of Suetonius (Aug. 92.), the whole of the open space, or area surrounded by the colonnade, is designated the compluvium.
CONCÆ'DES. A barricade made of trees cut down and placed across a road to impede the approach or pursuit of a hostile force. (Tac. Ann. i. 50. Vet. Mil. iii. 22.) On the columns of Trajan and Antonine the Roman, as well as barbarian, soldiers are frequently represented in the act of felling trees for this and similar purposes.
CON'CHA (κόγχη). Strictly, a shell-fish, such as the muscle, pearl oyster, or murex; and, as various household utensils were made out of the shells of these fish, or in imitation of them, the name is commonly given to such objects; as to a salt-cellar (Hor. Sat. i. 3. 14.); a drinking cup (Juv. vi. 303.); a vase for unguents. Hor. Od. ii. 7. 22. Juv. vi. 419.
2. The conch, or Triton's shell, which they are frequently represented by poets and artists as blowing in place of a trumpet (Plin. H. N. ix. 4. Lucan, ix. 394.), in which cases the shell more closely resembles the bucina, as shown by the annexed engraving from a terra-cotta lamp.
CONCILIAB'ULUM. In a general sense, any place of public resort; but more especially a rendezvous where the country people were in the habit of meeting together at stated intervals, for the purpose of transacting business, holding markets, and settling disputes, thus answering very nearly to our market and assize-towns, and places where fairs are appointed to be held. Festus s. v. Liv. vii. 15. Id. xxxiv. 1. and 56. Id. xl. 37.
CONCLA'VE. A general name, applied indiscriminately to any room or apartment in a house which is not a public passage room, but might be locked with a key, whether a dining-room, bed-room, &c. Festus, s. v. Ter. Eun. iii. 5. 35. Id. Heaut. v. 1. 29. Cic. Rosc. Am. 23. Id. Or. ii. 86. Vitruv. vi. 3. 8.
CON'CREPO. See CREPITUS.
CONCUBI'NA. A female who had contracted the peculiar sort of alliance termed concubinatus. Cic. Or. i. 40. Dig. 25. 7.
CONCUBINA'TUS. Properly, an alliance between two persons of different sexes, in the nature of a marriage, which was not looked upon as immoral or degrading amongst the Romans, so long as each party remained single, though it had none of the legimitate consequences of a proper marriage attached to it. It usually occurred between persons of unequal rank or condition, but who still wished to live together, as between a senator and freed-woman; and, in effect, very closely resembled the so called morganatic marriages of crowned heads or princes with persons of inferior rank, which, by the laws of some countries, may be impolitic or illegal, but not immoral. Becker, Gallus. Ulp. Dig. 25. 7. 1. Ib. 48. 5. 13.
CONCUBI'NUS. A man who contracts the alliance termed concubinatus with a female. Catull. 61. 130. Quint. i. 2. 8.
CONDA'LIUM. A ring worn on the first joint (condylus, κόνδυλος) of the fore-finger. (Festus s. Condylus. Plaut. Trin. i. 3. 7. and 15.) The commentators and lexicographers infer from the passage of Plautus (l. c.) that rings of this description were peculiar to the slave class; but it does not appear that the condalium, which Stasimus loses in the play, was his own; it might surely have been his master's; and the one in our engraving is on the right hand of a female in a bronze statue discovered at Herculaneum. There are, however, two statues in the Vatican (Visconti, Mus. Pio Clem. iii. 28. and 29.), both representing comic actors (one of them certainly a slave), who wear similar rings on the same joint of the fore-finger, but on the left hand.
CONDITI'VUM. Seneca, Ep. vi. Same as CONDITORIUM.
CONDITO'RIUM. An underground vault or burying-place (descendit in conditorium. Pet. Sat. 111. 7.), in which a corpse was deposited in a coffin, without being reduced to ashes (Plin. H. N. vii. 16.); a practice prevalent amongst the Romans at the two extreme periods of their history, before the custom of burning had obtained, and after it had been relinquished. This is the strict meaning of the word, though it also occurs in a more general sense for a monument erected above ground (Plin. Ep. vi. 10. 5.); and in which cinerary urns were also placed. The illustration represents the section and plan of a sepulchral chamber, excavated in the rock which forms the base of the Aventine hill, at a depth of forty feet below the surface; the centre shaft formed a staircase for descending into the sepulchre, which is a circular chamber, having an external corridor all round it, as shown by the groundplan in miniature at the left hand of the upper part of the engraving. It also contains niches for cinerary urns, which may have been made at a subsequent period.
2. (λάρναξ). The chest or coffin in which the dead body was encased, when placed in the vault. (Suet. Aug. 18. Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 7.) The illustration represents the coffin of L. Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, which was discovered in an underground sepulchre of the Cornelian family on the Appian way. The whole is carved in a grey-coloured stone of volcanic formation (peperino) with dentils, triglyphs, and rosettes in the metopes; the top slab takes off as a lid; and on the side is engraved the following epitaph, not only courious as identifying for whom the coffin was made, but as an authentic specimen of early Latinity.—
3. A magazine in which military engines were kept. Ammian. xviii. 9. 1.
CONDUS, or Promus Condus. See PROMUS.
CON'DYLUS. Same as CONDALIUM. Festus, s. v.
CONFARREA'TIO. One of the three forms of contracting marriage in use amongst the Romans; believed to have been the most ancient, as it was the most solemn form, for it partook of the nature of a religious ceremony, whereas the other two were merely civil contracts. It was solemnised in the presence of ten witnesses, the high priest, and Flamen Dialis; was accompanied by prayers, and the sacrifice of a sheep, the skin of which was spread over the chairs on which the bride and bridegroom sat. The name obtained from a custom belonging to it of carrying a flour cake (far) before the bride as she returned from the wedding. (Arnob. iv. 140. Serv. ad Virg. Georg. i. 31. Æn. iv. 374. Plin. H. N. xviii. 3.) An ancient marble, representing this ceremony, is engraved and described by Bartoli (Admirand. pl. 58.), and by Lumisden (Antiquities of Rome, appendix iii.); but the figures are too numerous, and the details too minute, to bear a reduction adapted to these pages.
CONFARREA'TUS. One who is married by the ceremony of confarreatio. Tac. Ann. iv. 16.
CONGIA'RIUM. A largess, or donation, consisting of a number of congii filled with wine, oil, salt, &c. (Liv. xxv. 2. Plin. H. N. xiv. 17. Ib. xxxi. 41.), which it was customary with the Roman kings, consuls, and emperors to distribute amongst the people at their own expense. (Suet. Nero, 7. Plin. Paneg. 25.) This is the original and strict meaning of the term; but in process of time, donations of other things, even money (Suet. Aug. 41.), were designated by the same name, as well as a largess made to the soldiery (Cic. Att. xvi. 8.), though the proper name for that is donativum. The manner of distributing these favours was as follows;—the donor sat upon an elevated tribunal (suggestum), which the recipients approached one by one, and were presented with a token (tessera), upon which the amount to be received was written, and made payable upon presentment at the magazine of the giver; as shown in the illustration, from a bas-relief on the arch of Constantine at Rome; or, in some cases, the tokens were thrown down promiscuously amongst the crowd to be scrambled for, when they were expressly called missilia.
CON'GIUS. A Roman liquid measure, containing six sextarii, or twelve heminæ (Rhemn. Fann. de Pond. et Mens. 70. Cato, R. R. 57.), the form and character of which is shown by the annexed engraving, from an original of the age of Vespasian, now known as the Farnese Congius. The large letter P. X. stand for pondo decem.
CONISTE'RIUM (κονίστρα). An apartment in the palæstra or gymnasium, the floor of which was covered over with fine sand (κόνις), or in which the bodies of the wrestlers were rubbed over with sand after being anointed. Vitruv. v. 11.
CONO'PEUM or CONOPI'UM (κωνωπεών, κωνωπεῖον). A musquito net, suspended over a sleeping couch, or over persons reposing out of doors, to keep off the gnats and other troublesome insects; the use of which originated in Egypt. Hor. Epod. ix. 16. Prop. iii. 11. 45. Varro, R. R. ii. 10. 8. Juv. vi. 80., in which passage the penultimate is long.
CONQUISITO'RES. Pressmasters, or recruiting officers; who were appointed to go and seek out certain citizens, selected by the consul for conscripts, and compel them upon his authority to take the military oath, and enter the service; whereas, on common occasions, the citizens presented themselves voluntarily to be enrolled. Cic. Mil. 25. Liv. xxi. 11. Hirt. B. Alex. 2. Compare Cic. Prov. Cons. 2. Liv. xxiii. 32. xxv. 6.
CONSECRA'TIO (ἀποθέωσις, ἀφιέρωσις). The act of deification, or canonisation; by which ceremony a mortal was enrolled amongst the gods, and admitted to a participation in divine honours, a distinction usually conferred upon the Roman Emperors, but unknown under the republic. The chief part of this ceremony was performed in the Campus Martius, where a pyre of faggots and rough wood was raised, covered externally by an ornamental design, resembling a tabernacle of three or four stories, each of which lessened as they got higher, and were ornamented with statues, drapery, and other decorations. In the second story, a splendid couch, with a waxen image of the deceased lying on it, was deposited, and surrounded with all kinds of aromatic herbs. The whole mass was then ignited and an eagle let loose from the top story, which was believed to carry the soul up to heaven, as seen in the subjoined wood-cut, from a bas-relief on the arch of Titus, representing the deification of that emperor. The first wood-cut shows the tabernacle, from a medal of Caracalla, which bears the inscription CONSECRATIO as a legend. Tac. Ann. xiii. 2. Suet. Dom. 2. Herodian. iv. 2.
CONSTRA'TUM. In general, any flooring made of planks: as, 1. Constratum navis (Pet. Sat. 100.), the deck of a ship, which is very clearly expressed in the annexed engraving, from a bas-relief on the tomb of Munatius Plancus at Pompeii. 2. Constratum pontis (Liv. xxx. 10.), the flooring which affords a gangway over a bridge of boats, as in the annexed example, from the Column of Antoninus, or over a wooden bridge, as in the illustration to PONS SUBLICIUS.
CONSUL (ὕπατος). A consul; one of the two chief magistrates annually elected by the Roman people during the republican period, and nominally retained under the empire, though with very different and limited powers. The outward symbols of their authority were the fasces, which were carried before them by twelve lictors; an ivory sceptre (sceptrum eburneum, or scipio eburneus), with the image of an eagle on its top; and the embroidered toga (toga picta), which, however, was only worn upon certain occasions: their ordinary civil costume being the toga and tunica, with the latus clavus; their military one, the paludamentum, lorica, and parazonium. Consequently, on works of art, they are represented without any very distinctive marks: either simply draped in the toga, or in the same military costume as other superior officers; as on the consular coins of Cn. Piso, and of Cinna, in Spanheim, vol. ii. pp. 88. 91.
CONTABULA'TIO The long parallel folds in a loose garment, such as the toga, palla, pallium, &c., which hang down from the shoulders, and present the appearance of folding or lapping over one another, like a boarding of planks in a wooden building, as is plainly demonstrated by the lines at the back of the annexed figure, from a fictile vase. Apul. Met. xi. p. 240. Compare Tertull. de Pall. 5. and CORRUGIS.
CONTA'RII, and CONTA'TI (κοντόφοροι). Soldiers armed with the long pike styled contus. Inscript. ap. Grut. 40. 2. and 3. Veget. Mil. iii. 6. Arrian. Tact. p. 15. See CONTUS, 3.
CONTIGNA'TIO. The wood-work of beams and joists which supports the flooring in a building of several stories (Vitruv. vi. 5. Pallad. i. 9.); whence also used to designate the floor or story itself. Cæs. B. C. ii. 9. Liv. xxi. 62.
CONTOMONOB'OLON. A game in which feats of leaping were displayed by men who made use of a pole (contus) to assist their exertions. Imp. Justin. Cod. 3. 43. 3. Compare MONOBOLON.
CONTUBERNA'LES (σύσκηνοι). Comrades or mess-mates; i. e. soldiers who shared the same quarters, and lived together under the same tent; each tent being occupied by ten men, with a subaltern (decanus), something like our sergeant or corporal, at their head. Festus. s. v. Veg. Mil. ii. 8. and 13. Cic. Ligar. 7. Hirt. Bell. Alex. 16.
2. Young men of distinguished families, who accompanied a general in his military expeditions, for the purpose of learning the art of war, were also termed his contubernales, or on his staff. Cic. Cæl. 30. Suet. Jul. 42.
3. Hence, in a more general sense, any close or intimitate friends and acquaintances. Plin. Ep. iv. 27. 5.
4. Persons living together as man and wife, without being legally married; as slaves, or a freedman and a slave. Pet. Sat. 96. 7. Id. 57. 6. Columell. i. 8. 5. Id. xii. 3. 7.
CONTUBER'NIUM (συσκηνία). A military tent in which ten soldiers and their corporal (decanus, or caput contubernii) are quartered together (Cæs. B. C. iii. 76. Tac. Hist. i. 43.); whence, in a more general sense, any dwelling in which several persons live together (Suet. Cal. 10. Tac. Hist. iii. 74.); and especially, the abode of a pair of slaves, male and female. Columell. xii. 1. 2.
CONTUS (κοντός). A long and strong pole, shod with iron, employed for punting; i. e. for pushing on a boat against the stream, instead of rowing, like our punt-pole; as shown in the annexed engraving, from the very ancient mosaic pavement in the temple of Preneste (now Palestrina). Virg. Æn. vi. 302. Eurip. Alcest. 262.
2. A pole of similar character, employed on board ship (Virg. Æn. v. 208.) for various purposes; to keep the vessel off the rocks or shore (Hom. Od. ix. 487.); for taking soundings (Festus. s. Percunctatio. Donat. ad Terent. Hec. i. 2. 2.); and similar uses. Every trireme was furnished with three such poles, of different sizes (Böck. Urk. p. 125.); and in the illustration at p. 91. (s. BUCINATOR), one of the sailors is observed to stand at the head of the vessel, which is just about to enter the port, with a contus in his hands.
3. A cavalry pike of very great weight and length (Non. s. v. p. 555. Arrian. Tact. p. 15., where it is distinguished by juxta-position from the lance, λόγχη, lancea), and resembling the Macedonian sarissa, except that it was not quite so long. (Veg. Mil. iii. 24.) It was the national weapon of the Sarmatians (Tac. Ann. vi. 35. Sat. Achill. ii. 418. Sil. Ital. xv. 684.); though occasionally adopted by the Greeks, and some of the Roman cavalry (Arrian. p. 16.); and was likewise employed by sportsmen in hunting wild beasts. (Grat. Cyneg. 117.) The length and strength of the weapon in the illustration, which represents Alexander at the battle of Issus, from the great mosaic of Pompeii, favours the belief that we have in it a genuine specimen of the contus. It may be remarked that only one half of its entire length is presented to the view, as the portion behind the hand, which is placed at the centre of gravity, has perished, from the mutilation of the original; and, likewise, that it is erroneously instanced as an example of the sarissa, an arm which belonged to the infantry, and was still more ponderous.
CO'NUS (κῶνος). Generally, anything of a conical figure; whence, in a more special sense:—
1. The metallic ridge on the scull piece of a helmet, to which the crest was affixed (Plin. H. N. x. 1. Virg. Æn. iii. 468.); for which the genuine Latin word is APEX; which see.
2. A particular kind of sun dial; from its designation, supposed to have been described upon an elevation of conical form. Vitruv. ix. 8. 1.
CONVIV'IUM (σύνδειπνον, ἑστίασις). A feast, or banquet; but at regular and proper hours, and without any implied notion of debauchery or excess; in which respect it differs from comissatio, which was a protracted revel after the convivium. Cic.
COOPER'CULUM. Same as OPERCULUM.
COOPERTO'RIUM. Loose clothing, as a covering for animals, objects, or persons. Veg. Vet. iii. 77. Scæv. Dig. 34. 2. 39.
CO'PA. A girl who frequents the taverns, where she gains a livelihood by dancing, singing, and playing for the amusement of the company. Suet. Nero, 27. Virg. Copa, 1.
COPA'DIA. Delicacies for the table, or dainties for gourmands. Apic. vi. 1. vii. 6.
COPH'INUS (κόφινος). A large kind of basket or hamper, very generally employed in gardening and husbandry (Columell. xi. 3. 51.), as well as for other purposes. (Juv. Sat. iii. 14. Id. vi. 542.) The illustration annexed, which is copied from an engraved gem, probably represents a basket of this description; the flowers placed in it indicate its use, and the size is declared by there being two persons to support it.
COP'IS (κόπις). A scimitar; a sword with a convex edge (leniter curvatus, Curt. viii. 14.), and, consequently, better adapted for cutting than thrusting. It was more especially peculiar to the Eastern nations (Xen. Cyr. ii. 1. 9. vi. 2. 10.); and, accordingly, the example here given is lying on the ground beside a wounded Phrygian, in a statue excavated at Pompeii.
2. The hunting knife (culter venatorius) in consequence of its having a convex edge (see the illustration s. CULTER, 3.), is called by the same name in Apuleius, Met. xi. p. 243.
COPO. See CAUPO.
COPO'NA. See CAUPONA.
COP'REA (κπρίας). A jester or buffoon; a word first introduced under the Roman emperors (Suet. Tib. 61. Claud. 8. Dio Cass. xv. 28.); in whose palaces such characters were kept, like the kings' jesters of the middle ages.
COP'TA (κοπτή). A sort of hard cake or biscuit, which would keep for a long time, and might be transmitted to great distances. The island of Rhodes was famed for its manufacture. Mart. xiv. 68.
COPTOPLACEN'TA (κοπτοπλακοῦς). Same as the preceding. Pet. Sat. 40. Poet. Lat. Min. ap. Wernsdorf. tom. ii. p. 234.
COP'ULA. A leash for coupling sporting dogs, as in the example, from a bas-relief, representing the funeral of Meleager. Ov. Trist. v. 9.
2. A breast-collar attached to the traces, by which draught horses or mules drew their loads, as in the example, from a painting at Herculaneum, after Ginzrot. Apul. Met. ix. p. 185.
COQUUS (μάγειρος). A cook (Mart. xiv. 220. Liv. xxxix. 6.); and in early times a maker of bread (Festus, s. v. Plin.
COR'AX (κόραξ). A Greek word, which occurs in a Latin form in Vitruvius, but only as a translation from Diades, who merely mentions it as the name of one of the military engines employed in the attack of fortified places, observing, at the same time, that it was very inefficient, and not worth the trouble of describing. (Vitruv. x. 13. 8.) Polybius also gives the same appellation on board ship, and describes at length the manner in which it was constructed and applied. Polyb. i. 22.
CORBIC'ULA. (Pallad. ii. 10. 6.) Diminutive of CORBIS.
COR'BIS. A basket of wicker-work, made in a pyramidical or conical shape (Varro, L. L. v. 139. Id. R. R. i. 22. 1. Isidor. Orig. xx. 9. Compare Arrian. Anab. v. 7. 8. πλέγμα ἐκ λύγου πυραμοειδές), and used for a variety of agricultural purposes, the particular application being generally marked by a characteristic epithet, as:—
1. Corbis messoria; a basket used for measuring corn in the ear, as opposed to the modius, in which it was measured after it had been threshed out (Cic. Sext. 38. Cato, R. R. 136.); or in which the ears of corn (spicas) were collected by the reaper, when each ear was nicked off from the top of the stalk by a serrated instrument (see the illustration and description s. Falx denticulata), instead of being cut with the straw. Varro, R. R. i. 50. 1. Propert. iv. 11. 28. Ov. Met. xiv. 643.
2. Corbis pabulatorius; a basket of the same character, which contained a certain measure of green food for cattle. Columell. vi. 3. 5. Id. xi. 2. 99.
3. Corbis constricta; a basket of similar character, employed as a muzzle for horses (Veget. Mulom. iii. 23. 2.), but here the reading is doubtful; Schneider has curcuma.
The example introduced above is copied from a fresco painting in the sepulchre of the Nasonian family on the Flaminian Way, near Rome, where it appears several times in the hands of figures engaged in rural occupations; and is given as a genuine specimen of the Roman corbis or corbula, on account of the uses to which it is there applied, its affinity in form to the descriptions cited at the head of this article, and because a basket of exactly the same shape and materials is now employed by the Neapolitan peasantry for similar purposes, and called by a diminutive of the same name, la corbella.
COR'BITA (πλοῖον σιταγωγόν or σιτηγόν). A merchantman, but more accurately, a ship employed solely for the transport of corn, and so termed, because it carried a corbis at the mast-head. (Festus, s. v.) These were large and heavy sailing vessels (Plaut. Pœn. iii. 1. 4. Lucil. ap. Non. s. v. p. 533. Compare Cic. Att. xvi. 6.), with two masts, as proved by the annexed example from a medal of Commodus, struck in commemoration of his having chartered a number of vessels to bring corn to Rome from Africa and Egypt, as narrated by Lampridius in his life. The corbis is seen at the top of the main mast; and it may be remarked that the modern name corvette originated in this word.
COR'BULA. Diminutive of CORBIS; a small basket employed in fruit fathering (Cato, R. R. ii. 5.); as a bread basket (Cæcil. ap. Non. s. v. p. 197.); and for carrying up dishes from the kitchen to the dining room. Plaut. Aul. ii. 7. 4.
CORDAX (κόρδαχ). A dance of the old Greek comedy, at once highly ridiculous, and so indecent that it was considered a mark of drunkenness or great want of self-respect to dance it off the stage. (Pet. Sat. 52. 9. Hesych. s. v. Aristoph. Nub. 540.) A dance of this kind is represented on the marble tazza in the Vatican (Visconti, Mus. Pio-Clem. iv. 29.), where it is performed by ten figures, five Fauns, and five Bacchanals; but their movements, though extremely lively and energetic, are not marked by any particular indelicacy; certainly not so much as is exhibited in the Neapolitan tarantella, which is thought to preserve the vestiges of the Greek cordax.
CORIA'RIUS. One who prepares hides and skins; a tanner or a carrier. Plin. H. N. xvii. 6. Inscript. ap. Grut. 648. 8. and 283. 1.
COR'NICEN (κεραταύλης or κεραύλης). A trumpeter; i. e. who blows the large circular horn called cornu, as shown by the annexed illustration, from the arch of Constantine at Rome. Liv. ii. 64. Juv. x. 214.
CORNICULA'RIUS. Strictly, a soldier who had been presented by his general with the corniculum; whence the name was given as a title to an assistant officer, or adjutant, who acted for the consul or tribune; probably because the person so promoted was always selected from amongst those who had received the above-named reward. Suet. Dom. 17. Val. Maxm. vi. 1. 11.
2. Hence the word came also to be applied in civil matters to a clerk or secretary, who acted as the assistant of a magistrate. Cod. Theodos. 7. 4. 32.
CORNIC'ULUM. Diminutive of CORNU, any small horn; but, in a more special sense, an ornament bestowed upon meritorious soldiers by their commanding officer, as a mark of distinction (Liv. x. 44.), supposed to have been in the form of a horn, and worn upon the helmet, either as a support for the crest, like the left-hand figure in the engraving annexed, from a bas-relief; or affixed to the sides, like the one on the right, from a painting at Pompeii.
CORNU, CORNUS, or CORNUM (κέρας), originally, an animal's horn; whence specially applied to various other objects, either because they were made of horn, or resembled one in form; for instance:
1. A horn lantern. Plaut. Amph. i. 1. 188. See LATERNA.
2. An oil cruet, either made of horn, or out of a horn. Hor. Sat. ii. 2. 61.
3. A funnel made out of a horn. (Virg. Georg. iii. 509.) See INFUNDIBULUM.
4. A drinking-horn (Calpurn. Ecl. x. 48. Plin. H. N. xi. 45.), originally made out of a simple horn, but subsequently of different metals modelled into that form. When drinking, the horn was held above the head, and the liquor permitted to flow from it into the mouth through a small orifice at the sharp end, as shown by the illustration, from a painting at Pompeii.
5. An ornamental part of the helmet. (Liv. xxvii. 33. Virg. Æn. xii. 89.) See CORNICULUM.
6. (σάλπιγξ στρογγύλη). A very large trumpet; originally made of horn, but subsequently of bronze (Varro, L. L. v. 117. Ovid. Met. i. 98.), with a cross-bar, which served the double purpose of keeping it in shape, and of assisting the trumpeter to hold it steady while in use, as shown by the illustration s. CORNICEN. The example is copied from the Column of Trajan.
7. The horn of a lyre (testudo); and as there were two of these, one on each side of the instrument, the plural is more appropriately used. (Cic. N. D. ii. 59.) They were sometimes actually made with the horns of certain animals, as of the wild antelope (Herod. iv. 192.), which appear to be represented in the annexed example, from a painting at Pompeii.
8. A bow; in like manner made with the horns of animals, joined together by a centre piece, as shown by the annexed example, from a fictile vase. In this sense both the singular and plural are used. Ovid. Met. v. 383. Virg. Ecl. x. 59. Suet. Nero, 39.
9. The extreme ends of a yardarm, to which a square sail is attached; used in the plural, because there were two of them. Virg. Æn. iii. 549. Ib. v. 832.
10. Also in the plural. Ornaments affixed to each end of the stick upon which an ancient book or volume was rolled, in the same manner as now practised for maps, and projecting on either side beyond the margin of the roll. The precise character of these horns is not ascertained, nor in what respect they differed from the umbilici; nor have any appendages appearing to correspond with the name been met with amongst the numerous MSS. discovered at Herculaneum. It is clear, however (from Ov. Trist. i. 1. 8. and Tibull. iii. 3. 13.), that all books were not decorated with them, but only such as were fitted up with more than ordinary taste and elegance. As the cylinder to which the horns were attached was fastened on to the bottom of the roll, the expression ad cornua is used to signify the end. Mart. xi. 107. Compare UMBILICUS.
CORNU CO'PIÆ (κέρας Ἀμαλθείας). The horn of plenty; a symbol composed of the primitive drinking-horn (CORNU, 4.), filled with corn and fruit, to indicate the two kinds of nourishment essential to mankind, whence commonly employed by poets and artists as a symbol of Happiness, of Concord, and of Fortune. (Plaut. Pseud. ii. 3. 5. Compare Hor. Epist. i. 12. 29. Od. i. 17. 15. The example is from a terra-cotta lamp, where it accompanies an image of Fortune.
COROL'LA (στεφανίσκος). As a general diminutive of CORONA, means any kind of small chaplet or garland (Prop. ii. 34. 59. Catull. 63. 66.); but the word is used in a more special sense to designate a wreath of artificial flowers made out of thin horn shavings, tinged with different colours, to imitate the tints required, and worn in the winter season. Plin. H. N. xxi. 3.
COROLLA'RIUM. Also a diminutive from CORONA; but more specially applied to a light wreath made of very thin leaves of metal plated or gilt, which the Romans used to give away as a present to favourite actors. Plin. H. N. xxi. 3. Varro, L. L. v. 178.
CORO'NA (στέφανος, κορωνίς). A wreath, garland, or chaplet, made of real or artificial flowers, leaves, &c., worn as an ornament upon the head; but not as a crown in our sense of the word, i. e. as an emblem of royalty; for amongst the ancients, a diadem (diadema) occupied the place of the modern crown. Of these there were a great many varieties, distinguished by the different materials or the designs in which they were made, and chiefly employed as rewards for public virtue, or ornaments for festive occasions. Under these two divisions, the principal coronæ are enumerated in the following paragraphs:—
1. Corona triumphalis. The triumphal crown; of which there were three several kinds. (1.) A wreath of laurel leaves without the berries (Aul. Gell. v. 6. 1. Plin. H. N. xv. 39.), worn by the general during his triumph in the manner shown by the annexed bust of Antoninus, from an engraved gem. This being esteemed the most honourable of the three, was expressely designated laurea insignis. (Liv. vii. 13.) (2.) A crown of gold made in imitation of laurel leaves, which was held over the head of the general during the triumph by a public officer (servus publicus, Juv. x. 41.) appointed for the purpose, and in the manner shown by the illustration, from a bas-relief on the Arch of Titus, representing that emperor in his triumphal car at the procession for the conquest of Jerusalem, in which a winged figure of Victory poetically performs the part of the public officer. (3.) A crown of gold, and of considerable value, but merely sent as a present to the general who had obtained a triumph (Plut. Paul. Æmil. 34.), from the different provinces, whence it is expressely called provincialis. Tertull. Coron. Mil. 13.
2. Corona ovalis. A chaplet of myrtle worn by a general who had obtained the honour of an ovation. Aul. Gell. v. 6. Festus, s. v.
3. Corona oleagina. A wreath of olive leaves, which was conferred upon the soldiery, as well as their commanders, and was appropriated as a reward for those through whose counsels or instrumentality a triumph had been obtained, though they were not themselves present in the action. Aul. Gell. v. 6.
4. Corona obsidionalis. A garland of grass and wild flowers, whence also termed graminea (Liv. vii. 37.), gathered on the spot where a Roman army had been besieged, and presented by that army to the commander who had come to their relief, and broken the siege. Though the least in point of value, this was regarded as the most honourable of all the military rewards, and the most difficult to be obtained. Aul. Gell. v. 6. Festus, s. v. Plin. xxii. 4.
5. Corona civicia. The civic crown; a chaplet of oak leaves with the acorns, presented to the Roman soldier who had saved the life of a comrade in battle, and slain his opponent. It was originally presented by the rescued comrade, and latterly by the emperor. (Plin. H. N. xvi. 3. Aul. Gell. v. 6. Tac. Ann. xv. 12.) The illustration is from a painting at Pompeii, representing a young warrior with the civic wreath.
6. Corona muralis. The mural crown; decorated with the towers and turrets of a battlement, and given as a reward of valour to the soldier who was first in scaling the walls of a besieged city. (Liv. xxvi. 48. Aul. Gell. v. 6.) The character of this crown is known from the representations of the goddess Cybele, to whom it was ascribed by poets and artists, in order to typify the cities of the earth over which she presided. (Lucret. ii. 607—610. Ov. Fast. iv. 219.) The example is from a bas-relief found in a sepulchre near Rome.
7. Corona castrensis, or vallaris. A crown of gold, ornamented with palisades (vallum), and bestowed upon the soldier who first surmounted the stockade, and forced an entrance into an enemy's camp. (Aul. Gell. v. 6. Val. Max. i. 8. 6.) Of this no authentic specimen exists.
8. Corona classica, navalis, or rostrata. A chaplet of gold designed to imitate the beaks of ships (rostra), and presented to the admiral who had destroyed a hostile fleet, and, perhaps, also to the sailor who was the first to board an enemy's vessel. (Paterc. ii. 81. Virg. Æn. viii. 684. Plin. H. N. It is represented in the annexed wood-cut, on the head of Agrippa, from a bronze medal.
9. Corona radiata. The radiated crown; set round with projecting rays, and properly assigned to the gods or deified heroes; whence it was generally assumed by the Roman emperors, and by some other persons who affected the attributes of divinity. (Stat. Theb. 1. 28.) Its character is shown in the annexed illustration, on the head of Augustus, from one of the Marlborough gems.
10. Corona pactilis, plectilis, or plexilis. A festive garland worn merely as an ornament round the head, and composed of natural flowers with their leves adhering to the stalks, by which they were twisted and twined together, as in the annexed illustration, representing a personification of Spring, from a marble bas-relief. Plin. H. N. xxi. 8. Aul. Gell. xviii. 2. Plaut. Bacch. 1. 1. 37.
11. Corona sutilis. An ornamental garland for the head, made of flowers plucked from their stalks, and sewed together. It was the one worn by the Salii at their festivals; and was originally composed of flowers of any description, but subsequently of the rose alone, the choicest leaves being selected from each blossom, and then sewn together. (Plin. H. N. xxi. 8.) It is represented in the annexed engraving, on the head of a Roman empress, from an engraved gem.
12. Corona natalitia. A wreath of laurel, ivy, or parsely, which the Romans were in the custom of suspending over the door of a house in which a birth had taken place, in the same way as the natives of Holland put up a rosette of lace upon similar occasions. Bartholin. de Puerp. p. 127. Compare Juv. Sat. ix. 85.
13. Corona longa (ὑποθυμίς, ὑποθυμιάς). A long wreath or festoon of flowers hung over the neck and chest, in the same way as the rosary, of which it was the probable original, the rosary being still called "la corona" by the modern Italians; but, amongst the Greeks and Romans, it appears to have been more particularly employed as a festive decoration, and was used to ornament buildings as well as persons. (Ovid. Fast. iv. 738. Cic. Leg. ii. 24.) The illustration is from an ivory carving in the Florentine Gallery, supposed to represent M. Antony in the costume of a follower of Bacchus, and resembles exactly the description which Cicero gives of Verres, with a chaplet on his head, and a garland round his neck—ipse autem coronam habebat unam in capite, alteram in collo. Verr. ii. 5. 11.
14. A cornice, or projecting member, used to decorate walls, either as a finish on the top (see the next illustration), or for the purpose of making ornamental divisions on any part of the surface. Vitruv. v. 2. Id. cii. 3. 4. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 59.
15. A particular member of the cornice, which crowns an entablature under the roof, still called by our architects the corona. It is that particular member which has a broad flat face situated between the cyma recta above, and the cymatium, or bed moulding, below, from which it has a bold projection. (Vitruv. iv. 3. 6.) The Roman architects, unlike ours, do not appear to have appropriated any distinct word to express collectively all the members of which a cornice is composed; consequently, they did not regard the cornice as an entire portion of an entablature, but as several distinct members, which are always enumerated separately: viz. the sima; cymatium in summo; corona; cymatium in imo. Hesychius, however, uses the Greek κορωνίς in a collective sense, as equivalent to our cornice.
CORONA'RIA. A female who makes garlands and chaplets. Plin. H. N. xxi. 3. See next illustration.
CORONA'RIUS (στεφανηπλόκος). One who makes and sells garlands, wreaths, chaplets, or crowns, of real or artificial flowers. (Front. ad M. Cæs. Ep. i. 6. Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 26.) The illustration is from a Pompeian painting, and represents male and female genii engaged in this operation.
2. Aurum coronarium. A sum of gold sent by the provinces to a commander, for making a golden triumphal crown. (Cic. Pis. 37.) See CORONA, 1. (3.).
3. Opus coronarium. Stucco-work employed in the decoration of cornices. Vitruv. vii. 6. CORONA, 14. and 15.
CORONA'TUS (στεφανηφόρος). Wearing a wreath, chaplet, or crown. See the illustrations to CORONA.
2. Also, decorated with garlands or festoons; applied to things, as to ships (Ov. Fast. iv. 335.); to altars (Prop. iii. 10. 19.); to cattle (Prop. iii. 1. 10. Id. iv. 1. 21.).
CORRIG'IA (ἱμάς, σφαιρωτήρ). A shoe-string and boot-lace (Cic. Div. ii. 40.); which were sometimes made of dog's skin. (Plin. H. N. xxx. 12.) The examples are from Pompeian paintings.
CORRU'GIS. Literally wrinkled; but it is applied to the plaits of a loose garment (sinus corrugis, Nemes. Cyneg. 93.), produced by tieing a girdle round it (see the figures in the opposite column); or to the irregular and transverse folds created by throwing up a portion over the shoulder, instead of leaving it pendant, as seen on the right side of the figure s. CONTABULATIO.
CORSÆ. Fillets or mouldings employed to decorate the external face of a marble door-post. (Vitruv. iv. 6.) See the illustration s. ANTEPAGMENTUM.
CORTI'NA. A deep circular vessel, or caldron, employed for boiling meat, melting pitch (Plin. H. N. xvi. 22.), making paint (Id. xxxv. 42.), and a variety of other purposes, for which its form and character rendered it convenient, and which, when placed over the fire, was either raised upon a trivet, or supported upon large stones put under it. (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 65.) The example is copied from a bronze original found at Pompeii.
2. (ὅλμος, κύκλος, ἐπίθημα τοῦ τρίποδος). The lid or covering placed over the caldron or hollow part of the Delphic tripod (Virg. Æn. vi. 347. Prudent. Apoth. 506. tripodas cortina tegit, Jul. Pollux. x. 81.), upon which the priestess sat to receive the divine afflatus, and pronounce her responses. It had the form of a half globe, and is frequently represented in that manner by sculptors, lying by itself upon the ground at the feet of Apollo; but when placed upon the caldron, the two together made a complete globe; as shown in the illustration, from a bas-relief upon an altar in the Villa Borghese. In the original, the raven, sacred to Apollo, is sitting on its top; in one of Hamilton's vases, Apollo himself is seen sitting upon the cup, without any lid, and in another, upon a lid like the present.
3. An altar in the form of a tripod, made of marble, bronze, or the precious metals, often intended to be dedicated as an offering in the temples of the gods, and likewise preserved as a piece of ornamental furniture in the houses of great and wealthy persons. (Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 8. Suet. Aug. 52. Compare Mart. xii. 66.) The illustration is copied from an original of marble in the Vatican.
4. The vault or ceiling over the stage in a theatre, from its resemblance to the covering of the tripod, No. 2. Sever. Ætn. 294.
CORTINA'LE. A cellar in which new-made wine was boiled down in caldrons (cortinæ). Columell. i. 6. 19.
CORTIN'ULA. Diminutive of CORTINA. Ammian. xxix. 1.
CORVUS (κόραξ). The name given to several machines employed in naval and military operations, and in the attack or defence of fortified places; each of which was so called either from its resemblance in form to the raven's beak, or from the manner of its application, like the raven darting down, and carrying off its prey; consequently, the word may be translated as a crane, a grappling-iron, a crow-bar, as best suits the context in the passages where it occurs. Quin. Curt. iv. 2. Id. iv. 4. Vitruv. x. 19.
2. A cutting instrument used in surgical operations, because the blade was shaped like a raven's beak. Celsus, vii. 19.
CORYCÆ'UM. An apartment in the gymnasium and in large bathing establishments, such as the Roman Thermæ, appropriated for playing a particular kind of game, which consisted in buffetting backwards and forwards a large sack (κώρυκος), filled with fig grains, olive husks, bran, or sand, suspended from the ceiling. Anthyll. ap. Oribas. Coll. Med. 6. Vitruv. v. 11.
CORYM'BIUM. A wig of false hair, dressed in imitation of the corymbus (Pet. Sat. 110. 1. and 5.),—a fashion which is explained in the next article, No. 2.
CORYM'BUS (κόρυμβος). A bunch of ivy berries, and likewise of other kinds of fruit which grow in the same conical-shaped clusters; afterwards, a wreath or chaplet made with the leaves and clusters of the ivy, which the ancients used as a festive ornament on many occasions, but especially as an appropriate decoration for Bacchus and his followers, as in the annexed illustration, from a marble bust, supposed to represent Ariadne. Tibull. i. 7. 45. Prop. ii. 30. 39. Juv. vi. 52.
2. A peculiar manner of arranging the hair, more especially characteristic of the early population of Athens (Heraclid. ap. Athen. xii. 5. Compare CROBYLUS), and of the female sex amongst them. (Schol. ad Thucyd. i. 6.) It was produced by turning the hair backwards all round the head, and drawing it up to a point at the top, where it was tied with a band, so as to have a sort of resemblance in general form to a cluster of ivy berries, as shown by the example, from a bas-relief in Greek marble. When the hair was too long or too abundant to be tied thus simply, it was fastened in a double bow across the top of the head, as in the well-known statue of Apollo Belvedere, and a bust of Diana in the British Museum. In Cicero (Ep. Att. xiv. 3.) Corymbus is a proper name, arising out of the custom of arranging the hair in the manner described. Ernesti, Clav. Cic. s. v.
3. The elevated ornament on the stern of a ship (Val. Flacc. i. 272.); for which the special name is APLUSTRE; which see.
CORY'TUS (γωρυτός). Properly, and accurately a bow-case (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. x. 168.), as contradistinguished from the quiver for arrows (pharetra); although the same case was sometimes used to carry both the bow and arrows, when it is distinguished by a characteristic epithet (sagittiferi coryti, Sil. Ital. xv. 773.). An example of both kinds is given in the engraving, the simple bow-case from a fictile vase, the one containing the bow and arrows from an engraved gem.
COS (ἀκόνη). A hone, whetstone, or grindstone; worked with water and oil (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 47.), and by the same sort of machinery as now employed. The illustration, from an engraved gem, represents Cupid sharpening his arrows on a grindstone, exactly as described by Horace (Od. ii. 8. 15. ardentes acuens sagittas Cote cruenta).
COSME'TÆ. Ladies' maids; slaves whose duty it was to attend the toilet of the Roman ladies, and assist in dressing and adorning their mistresses. Juv. Sat. vi. 477. Heindorf. ad Hor. Sat. i. 2. 98.
COTHURNATUS. Wearing the cothurnus, as explained and illustrated in the next word.
COTHURNUS (κόθορνος). A high boot of Greek original, usually worn by huntsmen, and persons addicted to the sports of the field. It was a leather boot, enveloping the entire foot (whence cothurno calceatus, Plin. H. N. vii. 19.) and leg as far as the calf (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. i. 337. Herod. vi. 125.), was laced up the front, and turned over with a fall down at the top, besides possessing the characteristic peculiarity of not being made right and left, as the foot coverings of the ancients usually were, but with a straight sole (solo perpetuo, Sidon. Apoll. Carm. ii. 400.), so that each boot could be worn indifferently on either foot (utroque aptus pedi, Serv. ad Virg. Bucol. vii. 32.); hence the frequent application of the word in the singular, whilst the calcei and other coverings made in pairs mostly occur in the plural. All these peculiarities are distinctly apparent in the illustration, representing on a larger scale the boots worn by the fowler exhibited at p. 67. s. AUCEPS.
2. A boot of the same description, but more elaborately ornamented, and commonly translated buskin, is occasionally assigned by the Greek artists to some of their divinities, especially to Diana, Bacchus, and Mercury; and by the Romans, in like manner, to the goddess Roma, and to their emperors, as a sign of divinity. Thus they were assumed by M. Antony, when he affected the character and attributes of Bacchus (Vell. Pat. ii. 82.); but they were not worn by the Roman as a part of his ordinary costume; for Cicero (Phil. iii. 6.) reproaches the insolence of one Tuditanus who appeared in public cum palla et cothurnis. The illustration affords a specimen of a cothurnus of this nature, from a marble figure of the goddess Roma.
3. The Roman poets also make use of the word cothurnus, as a translation of the Greek ἐνδρομίς (see ENDROMIS, 3.). In this manner it is applied by Virgil (Æn. i. 341.), Nemesian (Cyneg. 90.), and Sidonius Apollinaris (Carm. ii. 400.), which last passage minutely describes the ἐνδρομίς, but not the cothurnus.
4. A boot worn by tragic actors on the stage (Virg. Ecl. viii. 10. Servius ad l.), having a cork sole several inches thick, for the purpose of increasing their stature (compare Juv. Sat. vi. 633.), and giving them a more imposing appearance; whence the word also came to signify a grand and dignified style. It was in order to conceal the unsightly appearance of such a chaussure, that the tragic actors always wore long robes reaching to the ground, as seen in the illustration annexed, from a marble bas-relief of the Villa Albani, representing a company of stage-players, though here the artist has left the cothurni uncovered, in order to identify the character of the actor.
COTIC'ULA. Diminutive of Cos; a touch-stone for assaying gold and silver. Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 43.
2. A small mortar, made of the same hard kind of stone as that used for hones and grindstones. Plin. H. N. xxxi. 45. Id. xxxvii. 54. Isidor. Orig. iv. 11.
COTT'ABUS (κότταβος). A game of Sicilian origin, and a very favourite after-dinner amusement amongst the young men of Athens. It was played in various ways, more or less complicated; but the simple and ordinary manner consisted in casting the heel-tap of a wine cup into a large metal vessel, or upon the floor, whilst the player affected to discover the sincerity of his mistress's affections by the particular sound of the splash produced by the wine in its fall; hence the word is applied to sounds of similar kind, but produced by other means, as the lash of a whip. Plaut. Trinc. iv. 3. 4.
COT'ULA or COT'YLA (κοτύλη). A small measure of capacity, containing the half of a sextarius. (Mart. Ep. viii. 71.) It was especially employed by medical practitioners, and had a graduated scale marked upon the sides, like those used by our apothecaries, dividing it into twelve equal parts, each of which was termed an uncia, 1 oz.
COVINA'RIUS. One who fights from a war-car of the kind called covinus. Tac. Agr. 35. and 36.
COVI'NUS. A war-car employed by the Belgæ and ancient Britons, the precise character of which is not ascertained, beyond the fact that it was armed with scythes, and probably had a covering over head. Mela, iii. 6. Lucan. i. 426. Sil. Ital. xvii. 417.
2. A travelling carriage adopted by the later Romans, after the model of the Belgian car; and which, from a passage of Martial (Ep. xii. 24.), it is inferred, was driven by the owner, who sat inside, and not by a coachman. In the same passage, it is also distinguished from the carruca and essedum, but without any particulars.
CRA'TER (κρατήρ). A capacious bowl or vessel, containing wine and water mixed together, out of which the drinking goblets were filled, and handed round to each individual at table; for the ancients seldom drank their wine neat. (Non. s. v. p. 545. Ovid. Fast. v. 522. Virg. Æn. i. 728.) It was made of various materials, from earthenware up to the precious metals; and in different forms, according to the taste of the designer, but always with a wide open mouth, as in the example, from a bronze original discovered at Pompeii. At meal time it was brought into the eating-room, and placed upon the ground, or on a stand, and the cup-bearer (pincerna, pocillator) took the mixed liquor from it with a ladle (cyathus), out of which he replenished the cups (pocula, calices, &c.), and handed them to the guests. In the representations of Greek banquets (see the examples quoted s. COMISSATIO), the crater is placed upon the ground in front of the tables; in an ivory carving of a Bacchanalian scene (Buanorotti, Med. p. 451.), it stands likewise upon the ground, while a winged genius pours the wine into it from an amphora; and in a marble bas-relief, representing a similar subject (Bartoli, Adm. p. 45.), a Faun fills it in like manner from a wine skin (uter).
2. The crater of a volcanic mountain (Plin. H. N. iii. 14. Lucret. vi. 702.); which is produced by the cinders and other matters discharged into the air from the mouth of the volcano, falling down all round the top, when they naturally form a deep circular basin, through which the eruption finds its vent.
CRA'TES (ταρσός). Our crate; a stand, frame, or basket, made with hurdles, or like a hurdle; also a hurdle itself; all of which were employed by the ancients in many different ways, as the same objects still are amongst ourselves. Varro, Cato, Columell. Virg. Hor. Cæs. &c.
2. Same as CARNARIUM. Juven. xi. 82.
3. Sub crate necari. To be executed under the hurdle; an unusual method of punishment, sometimes adopted by the Romans (Liv. i. 51. Id. iv. 50.), in which the condemned was laid under a hurdle, and crushed by a weight of stones thrown upon it. Plaut. Pœn. v. 2. 65.
CRATIC'IUS. Made with hurdles, or hurdle-wise. See PARIES, 1.
CRATI'CULA (ταρῥίον). Diminutive of CRATES; whence, in a more special sense, a gridiron (Cato, R. R. 13. 2. Mart. Ep. xiv. 221.) The example is taken from an original of bronze found in a tomb at Pæstum, but without the handle, which is restored in the engraving, from a similar specimen painted in a sepulchre of the Christian era on the Via Tiburtina.
CREAG'RA (κρεάγρα). A Greek word Latinized (Marc. Cap.), for which the proper Latin term is HARPAGO; which see.
CREM'IUM (φρύγανον). Small wood, or underwood, for burning; especially employed in bakers' ovens. Columell. xii. 19. 3. Ulp. Dig. 32. 35.
CREPIC'ULUM, CREPID'ULUM, CREPIT'ULUM. An ornament for the head worn by females, supposed to have acquired its name from the jingling sound it made with every motion of the wearer; but nothing definite is known respecting it, and the readings are doubtful. Festus, s. v. Tertull. de Pall. 4.
CREP'IDA (κρηπίς). Usually translated a slipper, which gives a very imperfect, as well as incorrect, notion of the word. The crepida consisted of a thick sole welted on to a low piece of leather, which only covered the side of the foot, but had a number of eyes (ansæ) on its upper edge, through which a flat thong (amentum) was passed to bind it on the foot, as in the preceding wood-cut from a Greek marble; or sometimes loops (ansæ) only were welted to the sole, as in the annexed example, also from a Greek statue, through which the amentum was interlaced, in different and fanciful patterns, across the instep, and as high as the ankle. It was properly characteristic of the Greek national costume, was adopted by both sexes, and considered the proper chaussure to be worn with the pallium, and with the chlamys; consequently, on the fictile vases and other works of art, when figures are clad in the above-named garments, and not bare-footed, as in the heroic style, their feet are commonly protected by coverings of a similar description to those introduced above. Hor. Sat. i. 3. 127. Pers. i. 127. Liv. xxix. 19. Suet. Tib. 13. Aul. Gell. xiii. 21. 3.
2. Crepida carbatina. See CARBATINA.
CREPIDA'RIUS. One who followed the trade of making crepidæ. Aul. Gell. xiii. 21.
CREPIDA'TUS. Wearing shoes of the kind called crepidæ; properly characteristic of the Greeks, and used with the chlamys or the pallium. (Cic. Pis. 38. Suet. Dom. 4. CREPIDA.) The well-known statue of the Belvedere Apollo, which has the chlamys on its left arm, will furnish an example.
CREPID'ULA. Diminutive of CREPIDA; whence especially applied to those worn by females. Plaut. Pers. iv. 2. 3.
CREPI'DO (κρηπίς). Any raised basement upon which other things are built or supported, as of a temple, altar, obelisk, &c. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 14. Compare Cic. Orat. 67.
2. A wall built as a margin or embankment along the side of a river, port, or basin of water, to form a quay, against which ships were moored, and passengers or merchandise landed or embarked. Cic. Verr. ii. 5. 7. Quint. Curt. iv. 5. Id. v. 1.
3. The trottoir, or raised causeway for foot passengers on the side of a Roman road or street. (Juv. v. 8. Pet. Sat. 9. 2.) The illustration represents a street, with its road-way and foot-pavement, in the city of Pompeii.
4. In architecture, the projecting members of a cornice, or other ornaments in a building.
CREPITAC'ULUM. A little rattle, with bells attached, to make a jingling sound; especially a child's rattle. (Quint. ix. 4. 66. Capell. i. 4. Compare Lucret. v. 230. where the diminutive, crepitacillum, is used.) The example represents an original found at Pompeii.
2. Martial (Ep. xiv. 54.), and Apuleius (Met. xi. p. 240.), give the same designation to the Egyptian sistrum, which was only another kind of rattle; see that word and the illustration.
CREP'ITUS, sc. digitorum; or concrepare digitis. A snapping of the fingers by pressing the tip of the thumb (hence pollex argutus, Mart. vi. 89.) firmly against the middle finger, a gesture employed by the ancients for making a sign to attract observation (Cic. Agr. ii. 30.); particularly as a summons to their slaves (Pet. Sat. 27. 5. Mart. Ep. xiv. 19. Id. iii. 82.); and, in general, as a mark of contemptuous indifference; which latter expression is implied by the figure in the engraving, representing a drunken Faun, from a statue found at Herculaneum, as it were in the act of exclaiming, "Eat, drink, and be merry; all else is not worth this snap of the fingers."
CREPUN'DIA (σπάργανα). Children's playthings; consisting of a variety of miniature objects, such as rattles, dolls, little swords, hatchets, &c., and other toys similar to those given to children at the present day. But the Greeks and Romans also included under the same name little tokens of the same description which they used to tie round their children's necks. (Plaut. Mil. v. 6.) for ornaments, or amulets, and also to those who were exposed, or put out to nurse. (Plaut. Cist. iv. 1. 13. Cic. Brut. 91. Soph. Œd. T. 1035.) Several of these are enumerated by Plautus (Rud. iv. 4. 111—126. Ep. v. i. 34.), and are seen round the neck of a child in a statue of the Pio-Clementine Museum, copied in the preceding engraving, of the same character as he mentions: — viz. a half moon (lunula), on the top of the right shoulder; then a double axe (securicula ancipes); next a bucket (situla argenteola); a sort of flower, not mentioned; a little sword (ensiculus aureolus); a little hand (manicula); then another half-moon; a dolphin, instead of the little sow (sucula) mentioned by Plautus; with a recurrence of the same objects.
CRE'TA. The same as CALX and LINEA ALBA. Plin. H. N. viii. 65.
CRIBELLUM (κοσκίνιον). Diminutive of CRIBRUM.
CRI'BRUM (κόσκινον). A sieve; made of parchment perforated with holes, or of horse-hair, thread, papyrus, or rushes, interwoven, so as to leave interstices between each plat. The Romans sifted their flour through two kinds of sieves, called respectively excussoria and pollinaria, the latter of which gave the finest flour, termed pollen. Sieves of horse-hair were first made by the Gauls; those of linen by the Spaniards; and of papyrus and rushes by the Egyptians. (Plin. H. N. xviii. 28. Cato, R. R. 76. 3. Pers. Sat. 3. 112.) The example is from a bas-relief on the Column of Trajan.
CRINA'LE. A large comb of convex form (curvum, Ovid. Met. v. 52.), made to fit the back of the head, where it was placed to keep the back hair close down to the head, as shown by the annexed engraving, from a small bronze figure, representing one of the Sabine women in the arms of a Roman soldier. (Guasco, delle Ornatrici, p. 69.) It will be understood that the long ends of the hair have fallen from their place by the violence of the struggle in which the figures had been engaged; and it may be remarked, that the women of Rome and its neighbourhood still wear a comb of the same kind, which they call "lo spicciatojo."
CRI'NIS (θρίξ). Any hair; then especially the hair of the head; more particularly implying a head of hair in its natural state and growth; i. e. not cut, nor artificially dressed. Hence, crinis passus, dishevelled hair, which is left to hang down to its full length, as was usual with the women of antiquity when afflicted with any great calamity (Liv. i. 13. and see the illustration s. PRÆFICÆ); crinis sparsus, hair which streams wildly from the head, characteristic of persons under violent exertions, or possessed by any furious passion or impulse. Ovid. Met. i. 542. and the illustration s. BACCHA.
CRINI'TUS. Having long and flowing hair, which is suffered to hang down at its natural length, such as the figures introduced s. ACERSECOMES and CAMILLUS. Ennius ap. Cic. Acad. ii. 28. Mart. Ep. xii. 49.
CRISTA (λόφος). The crest of a helmet; which was affixed to an elevated ridge (apex) on the top of the scull-cap. (Virg. Æn. xii. 89. Liv. x. 39. Plin. H. N. vii. 57.) Both the apex and crista are often included under the latter term; but the real difference between the two words is that given. The illustration here introduced affords an example of three Roman helmets, with their crests composed of feathers, from a group originally belonging to the Arch of Trajan, but now inserted on the Arch of Constantine, near the Coliseum. The Greek crests were more usually made of horse-hair, with the entire tail falling down behind, as a protection to the nape of the neck and back, like the left-hand figure in the following engraving, from a fictile vase; and they sometimes added as many as three crests to one helmet, like the right-hand figure in the engraving, from a statue of Minerva.
CRISTA'TUS. Applied to helmets, distinguishes those which were fitted with a crest (crista) from the mere scull-cap (cudo), which had neither ridge-piece nor crest. (Liv. ix. 40. Ovid. Met. viii. 25.) Compare the preceding wood-cuts with the illustration to CUDO.
CRO'BYLUS (κρωβύλος or κρώβυλος). Designates a particular manner of arranging the hair, which was characteristic of the earliest inhabitants of Athens (Thucyd. i. 6.), and some uncivilized nations (crobylus barbarorum, Tertull. Virg. Veland. 10.). It was effected by drawing back the hair from the roots all round the head, and fastening it in a knot, or with a tie at the top; and the same fashion prevailed amongst both sexes of the Greeks: but the term crobylus had an especial reference to the men; corymbus, on the contrary, to the women. (Schol. ad Thucyd. l. c.) Yet Thucydides and Heraclides of Pontus (ap. Athen. xii. 5.) use the two words κρώβυλος and κόρυμβος as convertible terms, and both descriptive of the male adjustment. It is, moreover, an unfounded statement to say, as some of the interpreters have done, that the fashion was peculiar to "elderly persons." Thucydides, in narrating the progress of the Greeks towards civilization in dress and manners, remarks that certain antiquated customs, and amongst them that of the crobylus, had but lately been given up by some of the old people. But age is always the most averse to change, and the last to adopt new fashions; and many will remember a similar instance in modern Europe to that mentioned by Thucydides, where some few of the oldest people continued to wear their pig-tails long after they had been generally laid aside by the younger portion of the community. Besides, the Greek artists frequently give a coiffure of this kind to Apollo, Bacchus, and youthful persons, as in our example, from a bronze figure of a boy discovered at Herculaneum. The precise set of the hair is not given with sufficient distinctness; but in the original it is clearly seen to be turned back and tied up in the same manner as that more plainly shown by the head of the female illustrating the words CORYMBUS.
CROCO'TA (κροκωτόν). A rich saffron-coloured robe, or gala dress, worn by the Greek women at the Dionysiac festivals; and from them adopted by the ladies of Rome (Non. s. v. p. 549. Plaut. Fraga ap. Non. s. Strophium, p. 538.); by the priests of Cybele (Apul. Met. viii. p. 172.); and also by some individuals who affected a feminine and foppish style of dress. Cic. Harusp. Respons. 21.
CROCO'TULA (κροκώτιον). Diminutive of the preceding. Plaut. Epid. ii. 2. 49. Virg. Catalect. v. 21.
CORTAL'IUM (κροτάλιον). Literally, a small rattle; a sort of pet or fancy name by which the Roman ladies designated a pendant to their ear-rings, when formed by two or more drop pearls (elenchi), sufficiently large to produce a sharp crackling sound (like that of the crotalum), when shaken against each other by the motions of the wearer. (Pet. Sat. 67. 9. Plin. H. N. ix. 56.) The example represents an original ear-ring found at Pompeii.
CROTALIS'TRIA. A female performer on the crotala. Prop. iv. 8. 39. See the next wood-cut.
CROT'ALUM (κρόταλον). A sort of musical instrument especially employed in the worship of Cybele (Apul. Met. viii. p. 170.), and frequently used to form an accompaniment for dancing. (P. Scipio ap. Macrob. Sat. ii. 10. Virg. Copa, 2.) It consisted of two split canes, or hollow pieces of wood or metal, joined together by a straight handle, as in the right-hand figure of the annexed engraving, from a mosaic pavement in a tomb excavated in the Villa Corsini. When played, one of these was held in each hand, and snapped together with the fingers, so as to produce a crisp rattling sound, like the castanets, as shown by the female figure in the illustration, from a bas-relief of the Villa Borghese.
CRUCIA'RIUS. A criminal executed upon the cross (crux) by hanging (Pet. Sat. 112. 5. cruciarii parentes detraxerunt pendentem); hence, a worthless fellow, like our gallows-bird. Apul. Met. x. p. 215.
CRUCIFIX'US. Or, separately, cruci fixus; nailed to the cross, in the manner we understand by the term crucified. Quint. vii. 1. 3. Plin. H. N. viii. 18.
CRUME'NA (βαλάντιον). A leathern pouch for carrying money, slung over the neck by a strap (Plaut. Asin. iii. 3. 67 Id. Truc. iii. 1. 7.), so as to hang in front of the person, or at his back; whence Ballio, in Plautus (Pseud. i. 2. 38.), tells the slave to walk in front, that he might keep an eye upon the crumena, which was slung behind him. It was from the practice of carrying money about in this manner, that the Greek expression βαλαντιότομος, equivalent to our cut-purse, derived its origin and meaning. The illustration is from a figure on a bronze lamp.
CRUPPELLA'RIUS. A Celtic word employed by the Gauls to designate a particular class of men who fought as gladiators, clothed from head to foot in an entire suit of armour. (Tac. Ann. i. 43. Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 56.) Men thus accoutred were termed cataphracti or clibanarii by the Persians, and cruppellarii by the Gauls. See the illustration s. CATAPHRACTI.
CRUS'MATA or CRU'MATA (κρούματα or κρούσματα). Castanets; in ancient times, as well as our own, peculiarly characteristic of the Spanish nation (Mart. Ep. vi. 71.), though the same instruments were also played by the women of Greece and Italy, as is proved by the annexed illustration, from a fictile vase; and by a bas-relief of the Capitoline Museum (iii. 36.), in which a female is represented with the same instrument in her right-hand, and the scabillum under her left foot.
CRUS'TÆ. Figures or images in low-relief, embossed upon plate, as contradistinguished from emblemata, which were in high-relief. Cic. Verr. ii. 4. 23. Paul. Dig. 34. 2. 33.
CRUSTA'RIUS. An artist who designed, and modelled crustæ for gold and silver plate. (Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 55.) They were sold at Rome in shops appropriated for that particular branch of trade, called crustariæ tabernæ. Festus, s. v.
CRUSTULA'RIUS. One who makes and sells crustula. Senec. Ep. 56.
CRUS'TULUM. Diminutive of CRUSTUM. Any small piece of pastry or cake, such as a pastrycook's tart; especially given to children. Hor. Sat. i. 1. 25. Juv. Sat. ix. 5. and Schol. Vet. ad l.
CRUS'TUM. A fragment, or broken piece of bread, cake, or pastry. Hence the English crust. Hor. Ep. i. 1. 78. Virg. Æn. vii. 114.
CRUX. One of the machines or contrivances employed by the ancients for inflicting capital punishment upon criminals and slaves. It was made and applied in two different ways. Originally, it was an upright pole with a sharp point at the top (Greek σταυρός, σκόλοψ), upon which the victim was impaled, as still practised in the East; a mode of punishment indicated by the expression in crucem suffigere (Justin. xviii. 7. Hirt. B. Afr. 66.), or in crucem sedere (Mæcen. ap. Senec. Ep. 101.); but, subsequently, it was fitted with a transverse piece of wood, like our cross, upon which the condemned was fastened with nails, or bound with ropes, and then left to perish, a mode of execution expressed by such phrases as cruci figere, or affigere, and the like. (Tac. Ann. xv. 44. Pet. Sat. iii. 5.) It would also appear from other passages (Plin. H. N. xiv. 3. pendere in cruce, Pet. Sat. 112. 5.), that criminals were likewise hung upon it, as upon a gibbet, or gallows.
CRYP'TA (κρύπτη, or κρυπτή). The original of our word crypt; which, however, gives a very incorrect notion of the object conveyed to the Greek and Roman mind by the same term. The ancient crypta comes nearest to our cloister, which it closely resembled; being, in fact, a long narrow gallery, on the level of the ground (not subterranean, as commonly supposed), inclosed by walls on both sides, and receiving its light from rows of windows, in one or both of the side walls which inclosed it. Structures of this kind were frequently built as public edifices for the convenience of the population; in the pleasure grounds of wealthy individuals (Seneca, Ira, 111. 18.); as adjuncts to great mansions; to the promenades connected with a theatre (Suet. Cal. 58.); and very commonly, as we learn from numerous inscriptions (Muratori, Inscript. p. 481. 4. Rheines. Syntagm. Inscript. ii. 28.) were attached to the side of a porticus or open colonnade; being intended as agreeable places of resort, when the heat of the season or inclemency of the weather rendered shelter acceptable to an idle and luxurious population. Even the Prætorian guards had a crypta adjacent to their permanent camp at Rome, which was demolished by the orders of Hadrian, when he attempted to reform the discipline of the corps. (Spart. Hadr. 10.) The annexed illustration, compared with the one which follows, will afford a correct idea of the real nature of the ancient crypt. It represents the ground-plan of a public edifice constructed by the priestess Emachia at Pompeii, consisting of a crypta, porticus, and chalcidicum, all which members are enumerated in an inscription affixed to the outside wall over the principal entrance. The three corridors or cloisters marked A A A constitute the crypta. They are surrounded on three of the sides by a blank wall, decorated with fresco paintings; on the inside are observed the windows which opened upon an adjoining colonnade (porticus), marked B B B B, which, in its turn, surrounds a large central area, C. Considerable remains of a similar structure are still to be seen on the site of ancient Capua, contiguous to the amphitheatre; and an example of these cloisters, annexed to a theatre, is shown in the fragment containing the plan of Pompey's theatre, s. THEATRUM
2. Enclosed cloisters of the same description, as far as relates to design and locality, were usually constructed, instead of open colonnades, round the inner court-yards of Roman villas and farm-houses, for the purpose of storing grain, fruits, and such produce as required to be kept free from damp, and yet not altogether excluded from air. Vitruvius, therefore, in giving a design for a model villa, very wisely recommends covered galleries (cryptæ) to be constructed in the interior of farm buildings for such produce; and the stabling, as well as magazines for less perishable commodities, to be situated in the open front court (vestibulum). (Vitruv. vi. 5. 2. Compare Varro, R. R. i. 57.) The illustration represents a view of the remains of the suburban villa of L. Arrius Diomedes at Pompeii, and shows very clearly the character and style of these appurtenances. On the left hand only a portion of the foundations remain; but the right wing and centre are nearly entire, with a part of the first story of the villa behind it. From this there is a staircase, still entire, leading down into the crypta, which, it will not fail to be observed, is not a subterranean cellar, but on the level of the ground, and with windows opening into a square court, originally surrounded by the other stories built over the cloisters.
3. When the windows were closed with their wooden shutters, the whole corridor would form a long, narrow, dark vault; whence the word, in poetical and metaphorical language, was transferred in a secondary sense to subterranean passages of various kinds: thus the main sewer, which passed down the Suburra, in continuation of the cloaca Maxima at Rome is termed crypta Suburræ (Juv. v. 106.); the tunnel, which passed under the cliffs between Naples and Pausilippo, now the "Grotto of Pausilipo," is designated crypta Neapolitana (Pet. Fragm. 13. Seneca, Ep. 57.); and the crypta, in front of which Quartilla offers her sacrifice (Pet. Sat. 16. 3.) may refer to this same grotto, or to a cloister attached to her house and gardens, like those described above.
4. The stalls for the horses and chariots in a circus (Sidon. Carm. xxiii. 319.) See the illustration and article, CARCER, 2.
CRYPTOPOR'TICUS. The term always employed by the younger Pliny when speaking of a structure similar to what is described under the last word. It appears to have been only another name, more fully descriptive, for CRYPTA; or, if there was any real distinction between the two, it may be, that when the gallery had windows on both sides, as was the case with those in Pliny's villas, it possessed a considerable resemblance to the colonnade (porticus), and was consequently distinguished by the name crypto-porticus; when there were windows only on one side, and a blank wall on the other, such as those represented in the two preceding illustrations, it would be more appropriately designated by the name of crypta simply. Plin. Ep. ii. 17. 16. seqq. Id. v. 6. 27—28. Id. vii. 21. 2. Id. ix. 36. 3.
CTESIB'ICA MACH'INA. A double-actioned forcing-pump, invented by Ctesibius of Alexandria, who lived in the age of Ptolemy Euergetes (Vitruv. ix. 8. 2. Plin. H. N. vii. 38.), and constructed upon the principle now employed for our fire-engines. The machine is described at length by Vitruvius (x. 7.), from the writings of its inventor, which are now lost; and a pump of similar character, but improved construction, probably after a model of Hero, the pupil of Ctesibius, was discovered near Civita Vecchia, in the last century; but as that does not contain all the parts mentioned by Vitruvius, a representation of it is inserted under its Greek name SIPHO, where the component parts of which it consists are explained from the description of Hero. In this place, only a conjectural diagram of the machina Ctesibica is introduced, designed by Perrault in accordance with the account of Vitruvius; but it will enable the reader, from a comparison of the two together, to form an accurate idea of the nature of these machines, and the difference between them. The parts mentioned by Vitruvius are:—catinus, the cup, A, which was not employed by Hero, who, instead of it, uses an upright tube (σωλὴν ὄρθιος); modioli gemelli, B B, the two boxes, or cases, in which the pistons (regulæ) act, corresponding with the δύο πυξίδες of Hero; emboli masculi, two suckers (C C), same as ἐμβολεῖς, Hero; fistulæ in furcillæ figura, two connecting pipes in the form of a fork, which in the pump of Hero are supplied by a single horizontal tube (δωλήν); and pænula, the cowl (D), placed over the cup to compress the water at the foot of the hose; not used by Hero. The operation of the machine is easily understood. It was placed over the reservoir, and both pistons worked together, the one being depressed while the other was drawn up; as the sucker (C) rises, it draws up a supply of water through an opening at the bottom of the cylinder (B), which is furnished with a moveable lid (marked by dotted lines in the engraving), that opens as the water flows in, but closes of its own accord immediately that the piston is pressed down again; and this pressure forces the water through the forked pipe into the catinus (A), the bottom of which, in like manner, is furnished with moveable lids over each pipe, alternately opening and shutting with each stroke of the pistons, which, as they move alternately up and down, force up the water in a continuous stream through the pænula (D) into a pipe or hose affixed to the top of it, and made to any length required.
CUBICULA'RIUS. A slave whose service was confined to the sitting and dwelling-rooms (cubicula) of a Roman house; he waited in the antechamber, and announced his master's visitors, &c. Cic. Verr. ii. 3. 4. Id. Att. vi. 2.
CUBIC'ULUM. Literally, a room furnished with a sofa or bed; whence it became a general term for any such room in a private house, whether used as a sitting or sleeping-room (Plin. Ep. i. 3. 1. cubicula nocturna et diurna, Id. ii. 17. 21. Plaut. Most. iii. 2. 7.); for the Romans were much in the habit of reposing upon sofas in the day-time at their studies, meals, siestas, and receptions.
2. The emperor's box at the Circus or amphitheatre, wherein he reclined in state to view the games (Suet. Nero, 12. Plin. Paneg. 51), instead of sitting on the open podium, as was usual in more simple times.
CUBI'LE (κοίτη). In general, any place to lie down in, as a bed, or the room in which the bed is: whence more especially used to designate the marriage-bed (Virg. Æn. viii. 412. Eur. Med. 151.); a sleeping-room (Cic. Cat. iv. 8. Suet. Nero, 25.); and, indeed, like cubitorium, any one of the small apartments in a private house usually occupied by the master or his family. Plin. H. N. xv. 10. salutatorium; Plin. Paneg. 63. 3.
CUBITAL' (ὑπαγκώνιον). A bolster or cushion for the elbow to rest upon, when the figure is otherwise in a recumbent position, such as was used for the convenience of invalids (Hor. Sat. ii. 3. 255.), or by persons when reclining at their meals (see ACCUBO). The illustration is from a figure on the top of an Etruscan tomb.
CUBITO'RIA, sc. vestimenta. (Pet. Sat. 30. 11.) Same as CŒNATORIÆ vestes.
CUCUL'LIO or CUCU'LIO. Diminutive of CUCULLUS; the diminutive expressing inferiority of quality, rather than of dimensions. Lamprid. Elag. 32. mulionico; Capitol. Ver. 4. vulgari viatorio; Cato, R. R. ii. 3.
CUCUL'LUS. A piece of paper rolled into the shape of a funnel, in which the chemists and other tradespeople of Rome used to wrap the powders and drugs bought by their customers (Mart. Ep. iii. 2.), precisely as the grocer and chandler's shopkeeper do at the present day.
2. From similarity in form to the preceding, a hood or cowl attached to some other garment, such as the lacerna, sagum, pænula, &c., which could be drawn up over the head, to serve instead of a hat; and was commonly worn by slaves, rustics, fishermen, and persons whose occupations exposed them to the weather at all seasons, like the cowl of the Capuchin friars, and modern Neapolitan fishermen. (Columell. xi. 1. 21. Mart. Ep. xi. 98. 10. Juv. vi. 118. Pallad. i. 43. 4.) The above illustration is from a painting at Pompeii, representing a group of common people drinking in a tavern (caupona). When it was desired to uncover the head, the cowl was pushed back, and rested on the upper part of the back, in the manner shown by the second engraving, representing another of the figures in the same group. The first of these illustrates Cicero's description of M. Antony (Phil. ii. 31.), domum venit capite involuto; the latter one, the caput aperuit, of the same passage.
3. Cucullus Bardaicus (Jul. Cap. Pertinax, 8.); same as BARDOCUCULLUS.
4. Cucullus Liburnicus (Mart. in Lemmate, xiv. 139.); same as BARDOCUCULLUS.
5. Cucullus Santonicus (Juv. viii. 145.); same as BARDOCUCULLUS; from the town of Saintes in France, where the manufacture of these articles was introduced from Illyria.
CUC'UMA. A vessel employed for boiling water, making decoctions, and similar purposes, the precise form and character of which there are no materials for determining. (Pet. Sat. 135. 4. Id. 136. 2.) The word, however, is still retained in the colloquial language of the modern Romans, in which "la cucuma" means a vessel for boiling water.
CUCUR'BITA and CUCURBIT'ULA (κολοκύνθη, σικύα). A pumpkin, or gourd; thence, a cupping-glass, which the ancients made out of those fruits (Juv. Sat. xiv. 58.), as well as of horn or bronze. (Celsus, ii. 11.) The example represents an ancient original made out of a pumpkin, now preserved in the Vatican Library, and published by Rhodius.
CU'DO or CU'DON (καταῖτυξ, λιτός περικεφάλαιος). The simplest form of helmet, consisting of a mere scull-cap, without any ridge-piece (apex) or crest (crista) (hence, ἄφαλος τε καὶ ἄλοφος, Hom. Il. x. 258.), made out of leather or the skin of wild animals (Sil. Ital. viii. 493.), and fastened under the chin by a thong (ὀχεύς). It was worn by some of the Roman light-armed troops (Polyb. vi. 22.); is ascribed to Diomedes by Homer, and is frequently seen in Greek representations of that hero, from one of which in bronze the annexed example is taken.
CUL'CITA (τύλη, στρωμνή). A mattrass for a sofa, couch, or bed, stuffed with wadding, wool, or feathers (Varro, L. L. v. 167. Pet. Sat. 38. Cic. Tusc. iii. 19. Seneca, Ep. 87.); which, consequently, was somtimes very soft, like our feather beds, and at others, like our wool and hair mattrasses, sufficiently hard not to take an impression from the body resting upon it. (Seneca, Ep. 108.) The illustration is from a painting at Pompeii.
CU'LEUS or CUL'LEUS. A very large sack made of pig's-skin or leather, and employed by the Romans for the transport of wine or oil (Nepos, Eum. 8. Plin. H. N. vii. 19. Cato, R. R. xi. 1.), as represented by the annexed illustration, from a painting at Pompeii, which shows the manner of transporting it on a cart frame, of emptying its contents into smaller vessels (amphoræ), and how it was filled; viz. by the neck at the top, which was then tied up with a cord. A contrivance of precisely the same kind is still employed in Italy for the transport and sale of oil. The size of this will likewise account for another use to which it was applied by the ancient Romans, for sewing parricides in. Cic. Q. Fr. i. 2. 2.
2. Also a liquid measure; the largest used by the Romans, containing twenty amphoræ, or 118 gallons, and particularly employed in estimating the produce of a vineyard or olive ground. Rhemn. Fann. de Pond. et Mens. 86. Varro, R. R. 1. 2. 7.
CULIG'NA (κυλίχνη). A vessel for wine, the exact nature of which is not ascertained. Cato, R. R. 132.
CULI'NA. A kitchen. (Cic. Fam. xv. 18. Pet. Sat. 2. 1. Seneca, Ep. 114.) The illustration represents a kitchen stove in the house of Pansa at Pompeii, with some cooking utensils upon it, as discovered when first excavated; viz. a strainer (colum), a kitchen knife (culter coquinaris), and an implement for dressing eggs (supposed apalare); below is the ground-plan of a kitchen in the same city, from the house of the Quæstor, distributed into the following parts. Immediately on the left hand of the entrance there is a semicircular sink (1) , and on the right a staircase (2), which probably led up to the store-rooms; fronting the entrance are the remains of the brickwork which formed the stove (3), similarly constructed to the elevation above; and adjoining this is another small chamber (4), which we might call the back kitchen, with a privy (5) at its furthest extremity; a convenience, which, singularly enough, is generally found adjacent to the kitchens in the houses of Pompeii.
CULTEL'LUS (μαχαιρίς, μαχαίριον). Diminutive of CULTER; and employed in nearly the same senses, only designating a lesser description of each kind. But the cultellus is never so small as our pocket and pen-knife (scalprum); for Juvenal designates a carving-knife by the diminutive (Sat. v. 122.); Ulpian (Dig. 9. 2. 11.), a barber's razor; and the cultellus of Horace (Ep. i. 7. 51.), which people used to clean and pare their nails with, was the same as the barber's instrument, which is expressly name for that purpose by Valerius Maximus (iii. 2. 15.), cultellum tonsorium quasi unguium resecandorum causa poposcit.
2. Cultellus ligneus. A wedge of wood; which is sharper at the edge than at the back, like the blade of a culter. Vitruv. vii. 3. 2.
CUL'TER (μάχαιρα). The name given by the ancients to several different implements employed in cutting, which were made with a single edge, broadish back, and a sharp point; all of which were used for domestic or agricultural, and not military, purposes, excepting when descriptive of the barbarous ages, or to characterize the assassin rather than the soldier. Our knife is, perhaps, the nearest translation, but the ancient culter is mostly applied to the largest class of instruments, which pass by the name of knives amongst us. The several kinds, with the epithets which distinguished them, are enumerated below.
2. Culter coquinaris. A cook's knife or kitchen-knife (Varro, ap. Non. s. v. p. 195.), for cutting up meat. The illustration is from an original discovered in a kitchen at Pompeii. Butchers also made use of a similar implement for the same purpose. Liv. iii. 48. Herod. ii. 61.
2. The knife employed by the cultrarius at a sacrifice for cutting the victim's throat (Plaut. Rud. i. 2. 45.); and by the butchers in the slaughter-house (Varro, R. R. ii. 5.11.); frequently represented on sepulchral bas-reliefs, from one of which the annexed specimen is taken, where the inscription CULTRARI OSSA identifies the instrument. Compare the engraving s. CULTRARIUS, in which it is seen in use.
3. Culter venatorius. A huntsman's knife, carried from a belt round the waist, with which he despatched his prey at close quarters (Pet. Sat. 40. 5. Suet. Aug. 19.); similar to that used by the men who fought with wild beasts in the amphitheatre; see the first illustration to BESTIARIUS. The example is copied from an engraved gem.
4. The sharp edge, or flat part of the blade in a vine-dresser's pruning-hook (falx vinitoria), which, in the annexed engraving, from an old MS. of Columella, lies between the handle and the hook at the top (Columell. iv. 25. 3.), and which was particularly brought into use for lopping and cutting off.
5. Culter tonsorius. A sort of knife or razor which barbers used for shaving. (Cic. Off. ii. 7. Pet. Sat. 108. 11. Plin. H. N. vii. 59.) Also designated by the diminutive cultellus, and probably having a blade with a point shaped like the huntsman's knife (No. 3.), for it was used for keeping the nails clean. Hor. Ep. i. 7. 51. compared with Val. Max. iii. 2. 15.
6. A knife made of bone or ivory, for eating fruit with (Columell. xii. 45. 4.); also termed cultellus. Plin. H. N. xii. 54.
7. The coulter of a plough; formed like the blade of a large knife, and inserted vertically in front of the share (vomer. Plin. H. N. xviii. 48.), as is clearly shown by the annexed illustration, from an engraved gem.
8. In cultrum collocatus. A technical expression in use amongst Roman architects and mechanics, when speaking of objects placed upon their smallest sides or narrowest edges; as of bricks or stones in a building set upon their sides, instead of laid in the usual manner, with their broadest surfaces upwards. (Vitruv. x. 5.) The modern Italians make use of a similar metaphor, "per coltello," when they wish to express the same kind of arrangement.
CULTRA'RIUS. The minister or servant of an officiating priest, who despatched the victim at a sacrifice, by cutting its throat with a knife (culter), as contradistinguished from popa, who knocked it down with a blow of the axe (securis) or mallet (malleus). (Suet. Cal. 32. Inscript. ap. Grut. 640. 11.) The illustration, from a very beautiful marble bas-relief discovered at Pompeii, represents an old woman and a Faun about to offer up a pig in sacrifice, the former in the character of a priestess, the latter as a cultrarius, cutting its throat.
CULUL'LUS. According to the Scholiasts on Horace, an earthenware calix employed by the pontifices and Vestals in their sacrificial rites; but commonly used in a general sense for any kind of drinking-cup. Acron. and Porphyr. ad Hor. Od. i. 31. 11. Hor. A. P. 434.
CUM'ERA. A sort of tub, pan, or basket with a convex lid, used by the country people for keeping corn in. Festus, s. Cumerum. Hor. Sat. i. 1. 53. Id. Epist. i. 7. 30. Acrod. ad ll.
CUM'ERUM. A covered vase, or, perhaps, basket, carried by the camillus in a marriage procession (Varro, L. L. vii. 34.), and containing the necessaries (utensilia) of the bride. Festus, s. v.
CUNA'BULA. A child's cradle. (Cic. Div. i. 36. Plaut. Amph. v. 1. 55. Serv. ad Virg. Ecl. iv. 23. Arnob. adv. Gent. iv.) The example is from a very ancient MS. of Genesis, published by Lambeccius (Comment. Bibl. Cæs. iii. 39.); but ancient cradles were also commonly made in the shape of a trough or boat, as in the next illustration; whence a Greek name for the same is σκάφη. Athen. xiii. 85.
2. Hence the place in which any living thing is born: a birth-place (Prop. iii. 1. 27.); a bird's nest (Plin. H. N. x. 51.); a bee-hive. Virg. Georg. iv. 66.
CUNÆ. Same as CUNABULA. Cic. Div. i. 36.
CUNA'RIA. A nurse, who rocked an infant in its cradle, washed it at its birth, wrapped it in swaddling clothes, &c. (Inscript. ap. Grut. 311. 7. Compare Mart. Ep. xi. 39.) The illustration is from a marble bas-relief at Rome.
CUN'EUS (σφήν). A wedge; a body of wood, iron, or other substances, with a thin edge gradually thickening upwards, employed for splitting (Virg. Georg. i. 144.), tightening, and fastening. Cic. Tusc. ii. 10.
2. When applied to ships (Ovid, Met. xi. 514.), the exact meaning of the term is doubtful. Some suppose that it is used to designate projecting pieces of timber fastened to the sides and bottom of a vessel to protect it from rocks; others, the timbers themselves put together in the form of a wedge, like what is now called "diagonal trussing;" or thin wedges of wood driven in together with the tow, by which the seams are caulked. Scheffer, Mil. Nav. i. 6.
3. (κερκίς). A compartment of seats (gradus, sedilia, subsellia) in a theatre or amphitheatre (Vitruv. v. 6. 2. Suet. Aug. 44.), comprising the several rows contained in each tier (mænianum) between a pair of staircases (scalæ). The illustration, which represents a portion of the interior of the larger theatre at Pompeii, shows six of these cunei, or compartments of seats, three in the lower tier, and three in the one above, with two flights of stairs in each, down which the spectator walked when he entered the theatre through either of the doors (vomitoria) at the top, until he arrived at the particular row in the cuneus on which his seat was situated. These compartments of seats were termed wedges on account of their cuneiform appearance, being narrowest at the bottom, and gradually expanding upwards as the circuit of the theatre increases; see the parts marked B on the general plan s. THEATRUM, 1., where the form is more characteristically displayed.
4. A wine bin, constructed with rows of shelves rising one over the other, like the seats of a theatre, and upon which the wine was deposited to ripen, after it had been drawn off from the bulk into amphoræ, or, as we should say, bottled. Cato, R. R. ii. 3. 2. Pontedera, Curæ Posth. ad l.
5. A body of soldiers drawn up in the shape of a wedge. Liv. xxii. 47. Veg. Mil. iii. 19.
CUNICULA'RII. Sappers and miners; or soldiers who effect an entrance into a town from a mine (cuniculus). Veg. Mil. ii. 11. Ammian. xxiv. 4. 22.
CUNICULATO'RES. Same as the preceding. Luctat. in Stat. Theb. ii. 418.
CUNIC'ULUS (ὑπονόμος). Any subterranean passage, but more especially a mine in military operations. Veget. i. 6. Liv. v. 21. Ammian. xxiv. 4. 21.
CU'NULÆ. Diminutive of CUNÆ; a small or common sort of cradle. Prudent. Cathem. vii. 164. Id. xi. 98.
CU'PA (γαῦλος). A cask, or butt; made with wooden staves (tabulæ, Pallad. i. 38. 1.), and bound round with iron hoops (circuli, Pet. Sat. 60. 3. Plin. H. N. xiv. 27.), in which wine, vinegar, and other articles were kept and transported from place to place; whence vinum de cupa (Cic. Pis. 27.) is equivalent to our expression out of the wood. The example is copied from the Column of Trajan.
2. (κώπη). An oblong block of wood, forming one of the component parts in a trapetum, or machine for bruising olives. It was made of elm or beech, and perforated through its centre, in order to be slipped on to a thick iron pivot (columella ferrea), which projected from the top of the stone cylinder (miliarium) in that machine. The object of it was twofold: to form a block for receiving the ends of the axles, which are inserted in it in the engraving, and on which the wheels (orbes) were suspended, while at the same time it enabled them to move in a circular direction round the bruising vat (mortarium) by turning round the pivot passing through its centre from the top of the upright stone cylinder on which it was placed. It was, therefore, cased with plates of metal, to prevent friction. (Cato, R. R. xxi. 1—4). The specimen here introduced is restored from the fragments of a trapetum discovered at the ancient Stabia, the wood-work of which had perished, but the iron plates remained entire, as well as the portions of the two axles inserted in it. The figure, however, sufficiently explains the meaning of the name, and why it was so called; for the word, in its literal sense, signifies the handle of an oar (Diodor Sic. iii. 3. and Agath. quoted by Wesseling ad l.), to which the cupa of a trapetum, as shown by the engraving, bears a close resemblance. The situation occupied by it on the machine, and the manner in which it acted will be better understood by referring to the illustration s. TRAPETUM, where it is marked 5.
CUPE'DIA or CUPE'DIÆ. Delicacies for the table. Festus, s. v. Plaut. Stich. v. 4. 32.
CUPEDINA'RIUS and CUPEDIA'RIUS. A general term, including all dealers in provisions of the choicer kinds, such as poultry, game, fish, &c. (Terent. Eun. ii. 2. 25. Lamprid. Elag. 30.) The market where they had their stalls was called Forum cupedinis. Varro, L. L. v. 146.
CUPEL'LA. Diminutive of CUPA, 1. Pallad. iii. 25. 12. Apidc. i. 2.
CU'PULA. Diminutive of CUPA, 1. (Ulp. Dig. 33. 6. 3.); of CUPA, 2. Varro, R. R. xxi. 3.
CURCU'MA. A kind of halter. (Veget. iii. 33. 1.) See Ducang. Gloss. Græc. et Lat. s. v.
CU'RIA. A common hall, or place in which any corporate body, such for instance as the curiæ of the Roman burghers, met to transact matters connected with their body, or to perform religious duties; whence the word came to be applied more specially to the building in which the Roman senate met to carry on their deliberations. There were several of these in the city distinguished from one another by the names of the individual who dedicated them; as the curia Hostilia, Julia, Pompeia, but the former was the one mostly used for the senate house. Varro, L. L. v. 155. Id. vi. 46. Benecke ad Cic. Cat. iv. 1. 2.
CU'RIO. The priest of a corporate body (curia), who was appointed to perform the rites of religion on behalf of the corporation. (Varro, L. L. v. 83.) Each of the thirty Roman curiæ had one curio, who acted as the chief of his own corporation; but from these one was appointed as president over the whole, with the title of Curio Maximus. Paulus ap. Fest. s. Maximus. Liv. xxvii. 8.
2. A public crier. Mart. Epist. Præf. ii. Trebell. Gallien. 12.
CURIS. A Sabine word for a spear. Ovid. Fast. ii. 477. HASTA.
CURRIC'ULUM. Diminutive of CURRUS. Cic. Har. resp. 10. Suet. Cal. 19. Ovid.
2. The course or space run over by each chariot at a race in the Greek Hippodrome, or Roman Circus. Hor. Od. i. 1. 3. Plaut. Trin. iv. 4. 11.
CURRUS. A Roman chariot, or carriage upon two wheels, which was entered from behind, but was close in front, and open overhead. It was also constructed to contain two persons, the driver and another, both standing, and was drawn by two, three, or four horses, and occasionally even by a greater number. (Cic. Ovid, Virg. &c.) The example is from an original now preserved in the Vatican, made of wood, but covered with plates of bronze. When found, it was broken into many pieces, which have since been put together. A front view of the same is given at p. 72.
2. (ἅρμα). The war chariot used by the Greeks of the heroic ages; which was of a similar construction to the one last mentioned, but of a lighter character, being partially formed with open rail-work instead of close pannelling, as shown by numerous examples, on fictile vases, from one of which, found at St. Agatha, formerly Saticola, the annexed engraving is copied.
3. Currus volucris (πτηνὸν ἅρμα). A chariot, with wings attached to the extremities of the axle-tree, fancifully attributed by poets and artists to the cars of Jupiter and Apollo (Hor. Od. i. 34. 8. Plato, Phæd. tom. ix. p. 321. Bipont), and frequently represented on fictile vases, from one of which the annexed illustration is copied.
4. Currus triumphalis. A triumphal car, in which the Roman general was carried at his triumph. This was not open a the back, like the ordinary currus, but was completely circular, and closed all round (Zonar. vi. 21.), as shown by the annexed engraving, from a medal of Vespasian, and in the wood-cut s. CORONA, 1., which shows the persons in it. Its pannels were also decorated with carvings in ivory, which are apparent in the present example, whence it is designated as the ivory car (currus eburneus, Pedo Albin. El. i. 333.).
5. A plough with wheels, or the carriage part of such a plough. (Virg. Georg. i. 174.) See the illustration s. CULTER, 7.
6. Currus falcatus. A war chariot furnished with sharp blades of iron or scythes affixed to the end of the pole and of the axle tree, chiefly employed by foreign nations. Several descriptions of these carriages have come down to us, but no representations of any one on works of art; consequently, the exact manner in which the offensive weapon was attached has not been ascertained. Liv. xxxvii. 41. Curt. iv. 9. Hirt. B. Alex. 75. Val. Flacc. vi. 105.
CURSOR (σταδιεύς, σταδιοδρόμος). A runner, who runs a race in the stadium. (Cic. Tusc. ii. 23. Nepos, Milt. 4.) The female figure introduced s. STROPHIUM, 1. is believed to represent a Spartan damsel equipped for the foot-race.
2. A racing-jockey. (Ovid. Pont. iii. 9. 26.) See CELES.
3. A private postman or messenger who carries letters on foot, or on horseback (Mart. iii. 100. Suet. Nero, 49.); more specially termed TABELLARIUS, which see.
4. A slave kept by great people to precede their carriages on foot, similar to the running footman of modern Europe. Seneca, Epist. 126. Mart. Ep. iii. 47. 14.
CURU'LIS. An epithet very generally applied to anything relation to a chariot (currus); as equus curulis, a carriage horse (Festus, s. v.); triumphus curulis, a regular triumph, in contradistinction to an ovation, because at the former the general entered the city on a car, but at the latter on foot or on horseback (Suet. Aug. 22. Compare Tit. 9.); ludi curules, the Cicernsian games, at which the chariot races took place (Minucius Felix, 37.); sella curulis, a portable chair which the magistrates of Rome carried about with them; described and illustrated under SELLA.
CUSPIS (αἰχμή). A point; of anything generally which is pointed; but more especially used to designate the pointed head of a lance, spear, or javelin, when made without barbs, as contradistinguished from spiculum, which expresses a barbed point. (Virg. Æn. xii. 510. Sil. Ital. xiii. 167.) The illustration represents two Roman spear-heads of the most usual forms, from originals.
2. A sharp point, or spear-head, affixed to the top of the Roman ensigns (Suet. Jul. 62.), which the standard-bearers converted into a weapon of offence, when hard pressed at close quarters. It is clearly seen in the annexed engraving, from Trajan's Column, above the eagle.
3. A sharp point or spear-head, projecting from the top of the thyrsus (Catull. 64. 257.), which is prominently visible in the next engraving, from a painting at Pompeii; where it is represented above the leaves, which usually terminate the shaft, in order to show that the painting was intended to bear an allusion to the fable which relates that Bacchus and his followers, upon certain occasions, converted their thyrsi into offensive weapons, by concealing a lance-head in the leaves. Macrob. Sat. i. 19.
4. The point of a spit for roasting meat; and thence the spit itself (veru). Mart. Ep. xiv. 221.
5. The pointed end of Neptune's trident; and thence the weapon itself (fuscina, tridens). Ovid. Met. xii. 580.
6. An earthenware tube employed in the cultivation of vineyards, so called because it was made sharp and pointed at one extremity, for the purpose of being fixed in the ground. Varro, R. R. 1. 8. 4.
CUSTO'DES. A general name given to those who have the care or guardianship of other persons or things; but employed in a more special sense to designate the officers who acted as scrutineers at the Comitia. Their duty consisted in receiving the votes (tabellæ) as they were taken out of the balloting basket (cista) by the Diribitores, and in pricking off the result upon a tablet; whence the allusion of Horace, omne tulit punctum, &c. Cic. in Senat. . Id. Agr. ii. 9. Varro, R. R. iii. 5. 18.
CY'ATHUS (κύαθος). A cup with one handle, employed by the Greeks as a ladle for filling the wine-goblets (poculum, calices) of each person at table out of the common bowl (crater); and subsequently adopted by the Romans for a similar object. In very early days the simpulum was the only vessel used for this purpose at the domestic table, and at the sacrifice; but as luxury and refinement increased, the latter came to be appropriated for making libations to the Gods, and the cyathus confined to the feasts of men. (Varro, L. L. v. 124.) The example is from an original of earthenware.
2. A small measure both of liquid and dry things, containing the twelfth part of a sextarius. Rhemn. Fann. de Pond. et Mens. 80. Compare Pliny, xxi. 109.
CYBÆ'A. A sort of transport ship, or merchantman, of considerable size (Cic. Verr. ii. 4. 8. Ib. ii. 5. 17.), the distinctive properties of which are, however, unknown.
CYBIA'RIUS. A dealer in salted fish. Arnob. ii. 70.
CYBIOSAC'TES (κυβιοσάκτης). A dealer in salt fish; a nickname given to the Emperor Vespasian (Suet. Vesp. 19.), and to the Thirteenth Ptolemy. Strabo, xvii. 1. 11.
CYCLADA'TUS. Wearing the cyclas; an article of female attire, and, therefore, indicative of great effeminacy of manners when adopted by men, as was sometimes the case with the Emperor Caligula. Suet. Cal. 52.
CYC'LAS (κυκλάς). One of the articles of female apparel, consisting of a long and loose piece of drapery, generally made of a very fine texture, and wrapped round the body in the same manner as a pallium, being sufficiently ample to envelope the whole figure, if required, and having a border of purple colour or gold embroidery all round its edges, from which peculiarity the name is believed to have arisen. (Serv. ad. Virg. Æn. i. 282. Juv. vi. 259. Orop. iv. 7. 40. Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 41.) All these particulars are distinctly visible in the illustration annexed, representing Leda in her cyclas, from a painting at Pompeii.
CYLIN'DRUS (κύλινδρος). A roller, for levelling and condensating the ground in agricultural and other operations. (Virg. Georg. i. 178. Vitruv. x. 6.) The illustration here introduced from Fellow's Journal in Asia Minor, p. 70., represents a roller made out of the trunk a tree, and intended to be drawn by cattle. When used it does not revolve, being simply dragged over the ground, and sometimes weighted by the driver standing upon it; but as so many of the agricultural implements now used in the East are found to preserve the exact character of their ancient originals, it is probable that rollers of this description were sometimes employed both by the Greeks and Romans; though revolving cylinders, like our own (Columell. xi. 3. 34.), were certainly not unknown to them.
CYMAT'IUM (κυμάτιον). An architectural moulding, employed in cornices, friezes, and architraves (Vitruv. iii. 5. 10—12.), having at the top a full and swelling outline, which sinks into a hollow below, without making any angle, like the undulation of a wave (κῦμα, cyma), from which resemblance the name arose. It is called an "ogee" by our workmen, and "cyma reversa" by modern architects, to distinguish it from the "cyma recta," the contour of which is hollow above and full below. See SIMA.
CYM'BA (κύμβη). A small boat used upon rivers, and by fishermen, rising at both ends, so as to form a hollow in the centre, whence distinguished by the epithet adunca (Ovid. Met. i. 293.), or concava. (Ovid. Am. iii. 6. 4.) It was usually rowed by one man, as in the example, from an ancient Roman painting, or by two at the most; and is the name especially given to Charon's bark. Hor. Od. ii. 3. 28. Virg. Æn. vi. 303.
CYMBALIS'TA (κυμβαλιστής). A man who plays upon the cymbals (cymbala), in the manner represented by the next illustration. Apul. Deo Socrat. p. 685.
CYMBALIS'TRIA (κυμβαλίστρια). A female player upon the cymbals, as shown by the example, from a painting at Pompeii. Pet. Sat. 22. 6. Inscript. ap. Grut. 318. 12.
CYM'BALUM (κύμβαλον). A cymbal; a musical instrument, consisting of two hollow half globes (Serv. ad Virg. Georg. iv. 64. Lucret. ii. 619.) of bell metal, with a ring at the top, by which they were held between the fingers, and clashed together with both hands, as represented in the preceding illustration. They were especially adopted by the votaries of Cybele (Virg. l. c.), and of Bacchus (Liv. xxxix. 8. and 10.); and being always used in pairs, as in the example from a painting at Pompeii, the word is mostly used in the plural.
CYM'BIUM (κυμβίον). A drinking bowl, with two handles (Apul. Met. xi. p. 239.), so called from a certain resemblance in its outline to the bark termed cymba (Festus, s. v. Macrob. Saturn. v. 21.), as is exemplified by the annexed example, from a bronze original found at Pompeii. It was sometimes employed for containing milk (Virg. Æn. iii. 66.), and was also made of the precious metals (Virg. Æn. v. 267.), as well as of earthenware. Mart. Ep. viii. 6.
CYNOCEPH'ALUS (κυνοκέφαλος). A species of ape, with a head like a dog's (Simia Inuus. L.); kept as a sacred animal in the temples of Isis, and frequently represented in the Egyptian sculptures and paintings. Cic. Att. vi. 1. Plin. H. N. viii. 80.
2. Dog-headed; an epithet given to the Egyptian deity Anubis, who is represented with a dog's head. Tertull. Apol. 6. Minucius Felix in Octav. 22.
DACTYLIOTHE'CA (δακτυλιοθήκη). In general, a collection of gems, which the ancients, like ourselves, were in the habit of collecting and preserving in cabinets for their value and beauty. Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 5.
2. A case or box for finger-rings, in which they were deposited when not in use, or when removed from the fingers at night. (Mart. Ep. xi. 59. Id. xiv. 123.) The illustration represents an ivory case of this kind, from an original found in Pompeii, with an upright stick on the top of the lid for stringing the rings upon, in the same manner as now practised on a lady's toilette table.
DADU'CHUS (δᾳδοῦχος). Properly, a Greek term, meaning a torch-bearer; but it is specially used to designate the person who, on the fifth day of the Eleusinian mysteries, conducted the initiated, with a torch in his hand, to the temple of Demeter at Eleusis, in commemoration of her wandering about with a lighted torch to seek for her daughter Persephone. Fronto. ad Verum Imp. Ep. 1. Inscript. ap. Fabretti, p. 676. n. 29.
DÆMON (δαίμων). Properly, a Greek word, signifying a good spirit, who was supposed to preside over every individual during his life time; translated by the Latin words LAR and GENIUS; which see. Apul. Deo Socrat. p. 674. Cic. Univers. 11.
2. By the ecclesiastical writers of the Christian era, always in the sense of an evil spirit, or devil. Lactant. ii. 14. Tertull. Apol. 22.
DÆMON'IUM (δαιμόνιον). Diminutive of DÆMON; and, like that word, employed by the heathen writers to signify a good spirit; by the Christians for an evil one. Cic. Div. i. 24. Tertull. Apol. 21.
DALMATICA'TUS. Wearing the Dalmatic robe, which was a long frock made of white Dalmatian wool. It reached as low as the feet, was decorated with purple stripes down the front, and had a pair of very long and loose sleeves, which covered the whole arm as far as the wrists. It was not worn by the Romans in early times, and never, perhaps, came into general use; but was always regarded as a mark of singularity or luxurious habits, even at a late period of the Empire, until it came to be adopted by the Roman Catholic clergy, under the early popes. (Isidor. Orig. xix. 22. 9. Lamprid. Commod. 8. Id. Heliog. 26. and Alcuinus, De Divinis Officiis.) The illustration, which corresponds exactly with the above description from Origen, is copied from one of the miniatures in the Vatican Virgil, which are supposed to have been executed during the reign of Septimius Severus.
DARDANA'RIUS. A regrater or monopolist, who buys and stores up any kind of raw or manufactured produce, with the object of raising the market price by creating scarcity. Ulp. Dig. 47. 11. 6. Paul. Dig. 48. 19. 37.
DARI'US or DARI'CUS (δαρεικός). A gold coin of Persian currency (Auson. Epist. v. 23.), which bore the impress of a man kneeling, with a bow and arrows. It contained about 123.7 grains of pure gold, and consequently was equal in value to 1l 1s. 10d. of our money. (Hussey, Ancient Weights, &c. vii. 3.) The example is from a specimen in the British Museum, and of the actual size; but the reverse is quite unintelligible. The silver coins which bear the same figure of a kneeling archer, and go by the same name in modern numismatics, were not, however, so called in ancient times.
DATA'TIM LUDERE. A phrase expressive of the simplest kind of game at ball; in which players standing at respective distances, severally throw the ball from one to another. Plaut. Curc. ii. 3. 15.
DA'TOR. In the Game of ball; the person, or the slave, who supplied the balls, picked up those which fell to the grounds, and brought them to the players. Plaut. Curc. ii. 3. 18. Compare Pet. Sat. 27. 2.
DEALBA'TUS (κονιατός). Covered with a coating of white cement, or stucco (opus albarium), which the ancients employed extensively both in the interior and exterior of their buildings, as an ornamental facing to conceal the rough stone or brick-work. (Cic. Verr. ii. 1. 55. Id. Fam. vii. 29.) The illustration represents a portion of one of the city gates at Pompeii, partially covered with cement, and showing the brick-work underneath the parts which have broken away. The whole city was coated with cement of rustic work in this manner, and frequently tinted in brilliant colours, such as red, blue, and yellow.
DEASCIA'TUS. Chopped out or off with an adze (ascia). Prudent. Περὶ στεφ. 10. 381. Inscript. ap. Murat. 1203. 9. ASCIA, ASCIO.
DECA'NUS. A subordinate officer in the Roman army, who had the command over ten orderlies quartered with him in the same tent (contubernium); whence he is also called caput contubernii. Veg. Mil. ii. 8. and 13.
DECAS'TYLOS (δεκάστυλος). Having a porch supported upon ten columns in a row. Vitruv. iii. 1.
DECEM'JUGIS, sc. currus. A chariot drawn by ten horses, all of which were yoked abreast of one another, and not attached as leaders and wheelers, according to our practice. Nero is said to have driven a ten-horsed car at the Olympic games (Suet. Nero, 24.), and Trajan had the same number of horses attached to his triumphal car, which is represented by the illustration, from a medal of that emperor.
DECEM'PEDA. A ten-foot rod employed by architects and surveyors for taking measurements. Cic. Mil. 27. Hor. Od. ii. 15. 14.
DECEMPEDA'TOR. A surveyor, or land measurer, who takes his measurements with the decempeda. Cic. Phil. xiii. 18.
DECEMRE'MIS (δεκήρης). A vessel with ten banks of oars (ordines) on a side. (Plin. H. N. vii. 57.) The manner of arranging the oars, or of counting the banks, in vessels of so large a size, is still involved in much doubt and obscurity. But see the article HEXIREMIS; in which a possible method is suggested; and if that be admitted, it will only be requisite to add four oar-ports to each tier between stem and stern, to constitute a decemremis.
DECEM'VIRI. The members of a commission composed of ten persons, and appointed for particular purposes, as follows:—
1. Legibus scribendis. Ten commissioners appointed soon after the expulsion of the kings, in place of the consuls, to prepare a code of laws for the state. Liv. iii. 32. seqq.
2. Sacrorum or sacris faciundis. A body of commissioners, originally ten in number, but subsequently increased by Sulla to fifteen, who were appointed for life to take charge of the Sibylline books, and inspect them when required. Liv. x. 8. Id. xxv. 12.
3. Litibus judicandis. Ten commissioners, five of whom were senators, and five equestrian, who acted as judges in private disputes instead of the prætor urbanus, when his military duties compelled him to quit the city. Cic. Or. 46. Suet. Aug. 36.
4. Agris dividendis. Ten commissioners appointed to direct the division and allotment of lands amongst the people. Cic. Agrar. 2. passim. Liv. xxxi. 4.
DECE'RIS (δεκήρης). Same as DECEMREMIS (Suet. Cal. 37.); but the reading is not certain.
DECIMA'NUS or DECUMA'NUS. A contractor who leased from the government the right of farming and collecting the public tithes; a sort of land tax, consisting of a tenth part of the produce levied upon the subjects of all countries which had become the property of the state, either by voluntary surrender, or by conquest. Ascon. in Verr. i. 2. 5. Cic. ib. ii. 3. 8. and 33.
2. Ager decumanus. Land subject to the tithe of land tax, as just described. Cic. Verr. ii. 3. 6.
3. Frumentum decumanum. The tithe of corn; viz. one tenth of the produce, paid as the above tax. Cic. Verr. ii. 3. 5. and 81.
4. Miles decumanus. A soldier of the tenth legion. Hirt. B. Afr. 16. Tac. Hist. v. 20.
5. Porta Decumana. The principal gate of entrance to a Roman camp, which was the farthest removed from the enemy's front; marked A on the plan s. CASTRA. Veget. Mil. i. 23.
DECU'RIO. A commander of ten men in a cavalry regiment, three of whom were appointed to each turma, or troop of thirty men; but the one who was first appointed out of the three held the rank of senior captain, and had the command over the whole troop. Festus, s. v. Varro, L. L. v. 91. Veget. Mil. ii. 14.
2. A senator in any of the municipal towns or colonies, who held a corresponding rank, and discharged similar functions in his own town to what the senators did at Rome. Cic. Sext. 4. Manut. ad Cic. Fam. vi. 18.
3. Under the empire, an officer attached to the imperial palace, somewhat in the nature of a high chamberlain, was styled Decurio cubiculariorum. Suet. Dom. 17.
DECUR'SIO and DECURSUS. A military review; at which the soldiers were put through all the manœuvres of a sham fight, for purposes of discipline and regimental exercise (Suet. Nero, 7. Liv. xxiii. 35. Id. xxvi. 51. Id. xl. 6. Tac. Ann. ii. 55.), or as a pageant displayed at the funeral of a deceased general, when a body of troops performed their evolutions round the burning pile. (Virg. Æn. xi. 188. Tac. Ann. ii. 55.) The illustration is copied from the reverse of a medal of Nero, which has the inscription DECURSIO underneath. Of course it is not to be taken as a perfect representation of such scenes, but only as a conventional mode of expressing the subject in a small compass. One of the slabs which formerly covered the base of the Antonine Column affords a more complete representation of the pageant; but the numerous bodies of infantry and cavalry there introduced could not be compressed within the limits of drawing suitable to these pages.
DECUSSIS. A piece of money of the value of ten asses, which was marked with the letter x. Varro, L. L. v. 170. Stat. Sylv. iv. 9. 9.
DEDOLA'TUS. See DOLA'TUS.
DE'FRUTUM (ἕψημα, σίραιον). New wine boiled down to one half its original quantity (Plin. H. N. xiv. 11.), in order to increase its strength; and employed by the ancient wine growers, as the "doctor" is by the moderns, in giving body to poor wine. Columell. xii. 37.
DELA'TOR (μηνυτής). A public spy, or common informer, who lived by denouncing, and getting up charges against, his fellow-citizens. Tac. Ann. iv. 30. Suet. Nero, 10.
DEL'PHICA, sc. mensa. A table made of marble or bronze, in imitation of a tripod, which was employed as a drinking table, and valued as a piece of ornamental furniture in the houses of wealthy individuals. (Cic. Verr. ii. 4. 59. Mart. Ep. xii. 66.) The example is copied from an original of white marble.
DEL'PHIN and DELPHI'NUS. A dolphin. Delphinorum columnæ (Juv. vi. 589.), the columns of the dolphins. These were columns erected on the spina of the Circus, to support a number of marble dolphins in an elevated position, so as to be readily seen by the concourse of spectators; their object being to give notice of the number of turns round the goals which had been run in each race. Seven courses round the spina constituted a single race; and consequently, one of these dolphins was put up at one end of the course upon the completion of each circuit, and an egg (ova curriculorum) at the other, in order that there might be no mistake or dispute. The figure of a dolphin was selected in honour of Neptune, the egg, of Castor and Pollux. The illustration is taken from a sepulchral bas-relief, representing a race-course.
DELU'BRUM. That part of a temple (templum) in which the altar or statue of the deity was erected; and thence any temple which contains an altar or an image of a god. Cic. N. D. iii. 40. Id. Arch. 11. Virg. Æn. iv. 56.
DEMAR'CHUS (δήμαρχος). An officer amongst the Greeks (Plaut. Curc. ii. 3. 7.), resembling in many respects the Tribune of the people amongst the Romans, particularly in the power he possessed of convening meetings of the demus (δῆμος), and of taking the votes on all questions submitted to the assembly; whence the word is employed by the Greeks as a translation for the Latin tribunus plebis. Plut. Cor. 7.
DENA'RIUS. The principal silver coin of the Romans, which originally contained ten asses, subsequently increased to sixteen, when the weight of the as had been reduced; worth about 8½d. of our money. It bore various devices: the head of Jupiter, of the twin brothers Castor and Pollux, of the goddess Roma, with a helmet, and a two or four-horse chariot on the reverse, similar to the example annexed, from an original of the actual size.
2. Denarius aureus. A gold coin of the same name, equal to twenty-five silver denarii. (Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 13.) This piece was not of very common use; but a specimen struck under Augustus is here introduced in its actual state.
DENS (ὀδούς). A tooth; whence specially applied to various other objects, which resemble teeth, either in their form, or mode of application; viz.:—
1. The fluke of an anchor (Virg. Æn. vi. 3.), which is generally represented in the works of ancient art as a plain hook without barbs (see the illustration s. ANCORA); but flukes constructed with barbed teeth, such as ordinarily used at the present day, were also adopted by the ancients, as is proved by the annexed example, from the device on a Roman imperial coin.
2. The barb of a hunting spear (Grat. Cyneg. 108.), like the spear head shown in the annexed engraving, from one of the bas-reliefs representing Trajan's hunting feats, now affixed to the arch of Constantine; for the war spears, both of the Greeks and Romans, had usually a lozenge or leaf-shaped head (see CUSPIS), without barbs.
3. The tooth or prong of the agricultural implement termed ligo; which was a sort of hoe with a curved blade notched in the centre, so as to form two prongs on the outside; whence fracti dente ligonis. (Columell. x. 88.) The example is from an engraved gem.
4. The plough-share; when formed in the simplest or primitive manner out of the branch of a tree, either naturally or artificially bent into a hook as in the annexed example, from an Etruscan bronze discovered at Arezzo. A share of this description would rather tear up, or bite the ground, as Varro phrases it (L. L. v. 135. dens, quod eo mordetur terra), than cut through it, like the regular share (vomer), from which it is further distinguished by the epithet uncus (Virg. Georg ii. 406.); the force and meaning of which are characteristically exemplified by the engraving.
5. The tooth of a rake, harrow, or other similar agricultural implements, such as the irpex, occa, rastrum, &c.; like the example, found in the Roman catacombs. Lucan. vii. 859. Varro, L. L. v. 136. Festus s. Irpices.
6. The tooth of a saw. (Plin. H. N. xvi. 83. Ovid. Met. viii. 246. perpetuos dentes.) The illustration represents a small hand-saw used by Dædalus, in a marble bas-relief.
7. The tooth of a comb. (Tibull. i. 9. 68. Claud. Nupt. Honor. et Mar. 102.) A small toothed comb, like the one exhibited in the engraving, from an original of box-wood found in a Roman tomb, was termed dens densus. Tibull. l. c.
8. The tooth of the three-pronged key supposed to be the clavis Laconica (Tibull. i. 2. 18.), of which a specimen is annexed, from an Egyptian original.
9. The hook of a clasp (Sidon. Carm. ii. 397.); see FIBULA, 2.
10. The cogs of a wheel in machinery (tympanum dentatum). Vitruv. x. 5.
11. Dens curvus Saturni. Poetically, for a pruning-hook. (Virg. Georg. ii. 406.) See FALX.
DENTA'LE (ἔλυμα). The share-beam of a plough, to which the share (vomer) was attached. (Columell. ii. 2. 24.) In the annexed example, from an engraved gem, the dentale is shod with an iron head, marked dark in the engraving. Compare ARATRUM, 2., which shows a plough of more perfect construction, on which the dentale is distinguished by the letter B.
2. Dentale duplici dorso. (Virg. Georg. i. 172.) A share-beam with a double back; i. e. which opens behind in two parts, but meets at a point in front, where the share is fixed; in the manner exemplified by the annexed engraving, which represents a plough still in common use amongst the agricultural population on the bay of Taranto.
DENTAR'PAGA (ὀδοντάγρα). A dentist's instrument for drawing teeth. It was a species of forceps, which Varro designates by the epithet bipensilis; but the precise form of the instrument has not been identified. Varro, ap. Non. s. v. p. 99.
DENTA'TUS. See TYMPANUM, PEDICA, CHARTA.
DENTICULA'TUS. Furnished with small teeth or prongs; as applied to artificial and natural objects, in the ways explained and illustrated under the article DENS.
2. Falx denticulata (Columell. ii. 21. 3.) See FALX, 3.
DENTIC'ULUS. A dentil in architecture. (Vitruv. iv. 2. 5. Id. iii. 5. 11.) The dentils are a number of small square blocks, with interstices between them, employed in the entablature of columnar architecture. They belong properly to the Ionic and Corinthian orders; and their proper situation is under the bed moulding of the cornice, as in the example annexed, from the temple of Bacchus at Teos; for they are intended to represent externally the heads of the common rafters (asseres) in the timber-work of a roof. In some Roman, and many modern buildings, they are placed under modillions (mutuli); but this was contrary to the practice of the Greeks, for it destroys their meaning and intention; and, for a similar reason, the Greek architects never placed them on the sloping sides of a pediment, as the Romans did, because the ends of the rafters do not project in the front of a building, but only at the sides. The Romans, moreover, introduced them into their Doric order (Vitruv. i. 2. 6.), an instance of which application may be seen in the illustration s. TRIGLYPHUS, representing an entablature belonging to the theatre of Marcellus at Rome.
DENTIDU'CUM. A dentist's instrument for extracting teeth. Cæl. Aur. Tard. ii. 4.
DENTRIFIC'IUM (ὀδοντόσμηγμα, ὀδοντότριμμα). Tooth-powder, for cleansing and whitening the teeth. Plin. H. N. xxix. 11. Id. xxxii. 21. Id. xxviii. 49.
DENTISCALP'IUM (ὀδοντόγλυφις). A tooth-pick. The choicest kinds were made out of the stalks to the leaves of the mastick tree (lentiscus); the inferior qualities from quills. Mart. xiv. 22. Id. iii. 82. Id. vi. 74. Id. vii. 53.
DEPONTA'NI. Roman citizens who had passed the age of sixty, and thence became incapacitated from voting at elections and in the public assemblies; so termed, because in reality they were excluded from the bridge (pons suffragiorum), which the voter passed over as he entered the enclosure (septum) to cast his ballot into the box. Festus, s. v.
DERUNCINA'TUS. Smoothed with the runcina; i. e. planed.
DESCOBINA'TUS. Scraped with the scobina.
DESIGNA'TOR. A person employed at the theatre in a capacity something like that of our box or stall-keeper, whose business it was to point out, and conduct the company to their proper places. (Plaut. Pœn. Prol. 19.) Every seat was numbered, the space allotted to each being marked out by a line (linea) drawn on each side of it, and the billet of admission (tessera theatralis) specified the number of the seat which the holder was entitled to occupy, which was shown to him by the designator when he entered the theatre.
2. An undertaker; who made all the arrangements for a funeral, and directed the procession, at the head of which he walked, attended by lictors clothed in black. Hor. Ep. i. 7. 6. Donat. ad Terent. Adelph. i. 2. 7. Seneca, Benef. vi. 38.
3. A sort of clerk of the course at the Circensian games; who made the arrangements for each race, and distributed the prizes. Ulp. Dig. 3. 2. 4. — Cic. Att. iv. 3. 2. probably applies to this class.
DESUL'TOR (μεταβάτης, ἄμφιππος). A person who exhibited feats of horsemanship in the Circus upon horses trained for the purpose, like our performers at Astley's, and the figure in the preceding engraving, which is copied from a bas-relief in the museum at Verona. He sometimes had as many as four horses under his command (Agostini, Gemme, 193.); but the more usual number was two. (Liv. xiii. 29.), which he rode without reins or saddle, as shown by the annexed example, from a terra-cotta lamp, and received the name of desultor from the practice of leaping from one to the other, while the animals were at their full speed. (Isidor. Orig. xviii. 39. Compare Prop. iv. 35.) He wore the cap termed pileus on his head (Hygin. Fab. 81.), which is observable in both the illustrations; and frequently rode in the Circus by the side of the chariots (see the illustration s. SPINA); but sometimes a performance of desultores was exhibited alone. Liv. xliv. 9.
DESULTO'RIUS, sc. equus. A horse trained for the performances of the desultor (Suet. Cæs. 39.), as shown in the two preceding illustrations.
2. Same as DESULTOR. Cic. Mur. 27.
DEUNX. Eleven unciæ, or eleven twelfths of anything; as the eleventh part of an as, a nominal sum, not represented in actual coinage. Varro, L. L. v. 172. Rhemn. Fann. de Pond. 45.
DEVERSO'RIUM. A general name for any place at which a traveller "puts up," or is accommodated with temporary board and lodging, whether a public inn (taberna meritoria) or a private house be used for the purpose. Cic. Phil. ii. 41. Pet. Sat. 15. 8. Cic. Fam. vii. 23.
DEX'TANS. Ten unciæ, or ten-twelfths of anything; as the tenth part of an as, a nominal sum, not represented in actual coinage. Varro, L. L. v. 172. Suet. Nero, 32.
DEXTRA'LE. A bracelet worn on the fleshy part of the right arm, as in the example, from a painting at Pompeii. Cyprian. de Habitu Virgin.
DEXTROCHE'RIUM. A bracelet worn round the wrist of the right arm, as in the annexed example, supposed to represent the portrait of a Pompeian lady, from a painting in that city. Capitolin. Maxim. 6. Id. Maxim. Jun. 1.
DIABATHRA'RIUS. One who makes diabathra. Plaut. Aul. iii. 5. 39.
DIABATH'RUM (διάβαθρον). A particular kind of slipper or sandal (solea) of Greek original (Festus, s. v.); respecting which nothing further is known, than that it was especially characteristic of the female sex (Eustath. ad Hom. Od. v. 9.); whence, if attributed to males, as by Nævius (ap. Varro, L. L. vii. 53.), it is only in ridicule, and pointedly meant to designate an effeminate style of dress. From this it may be inferred that Pollux is mistaken when he makes it common to both sexes. Onomast. vii. 90.
DIACH'YTON. A particular kind of wine produced by drying the grapes in the sun for several days before they were squeezed. Plin. H. N. xiv. 11.
DIADE'MA (διάδημα). A diadem; which, in its original notion, means the blue and white band worn by the Asiatic monarchs round the tiara (Xen. Cyr. viii. 3. 13.), as shown by the illustration s. CIDARIS; but subsequently the diadem was a broad white band (Val. Max. vi. 2. 7.), fastened round the head, and tied in a bow behind, adopted by other nations, as an ensign of sovereignty (Juv. xiii. 105.), like the annexed example, from an engraved gem, representing Ptolemy, the brother of Cleopatra. Thus in works of art, the diadem indicates a regal station, like the crown of modern times.
DIADEMA'TUS. Wearing the diadem, as shown in the preceding illustration. Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 19. § 17.
DIÆ'TA (δίαιτα). The name given to some particular department in ancient houses, the precise nature of which is not distinctly known. Thus much, however, is certain, that it consisted of several rooms adjoining one another, and contained within the suite both eating and sleeping rooms. Plin. Epist. ii. 17. 12. and 20. Ib. vi. 21. Ib. vii. 5. 1.
2. (σκηνή). A cabin or tent erected on the deck a the stern of a vessel, as in the annexed example, from the Vatican Virgil. It was appropriated to the use of the chief person in command; or to the magister, in a merchantman. Pet. Sat. 15. 1.
DIAMIC'TON. A term employed by the Roman builders to designate a particular manner of constructing walls, similar in most respects to the Emplecton, but of an inferior description; for though the outside surfaces were formed of regular masonry or brickwork, and the centre filled in with rubble, they had no girders (diatoni) to consolidate the mass, and bind it together. (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 51.) The illustration shows a wall constructed in diamicton, from a ruin at Rome.
DIAPAS'MA (διάπασμα). A fine powder, made from dried flowers, odoriferious herbs, or berries, intended to be rubbed over the body as a perfume. Plin. H. N. xiii. 3. Id. xxi. 73. Mart. Ep. i. 88.
DIA'RIUM. A day's allowance of provisions, which was weighed out to slaves (Hor. Ep. i. 14. 40. Pet. Sat. 75. 4.); and thence also a soldier's daily allowance or pay. Cic. Att. viii. 14.
DIAST'YLOS (διάστυλος). Having the space of three diameters between column and column, which constitutes the widest intercolumnation capable of bearing an architrave of stone, or marble; for the Tuscan style, which admitted four diameters, required its architrave to be of wood. (Vitruv. iii. 2.) The annexed diagram shows the relative width of the five different kinds of intercolumniation in which the diastyle is the last but one.
DIAT'ONI (διάτονοι). Girders, or bandstones, employed in the construction of walls which are built in the style termed Emplecton. They are large stones of the same length as the entire thickness of the wall, like those marked F in the annexed example, and consequently extended from one face of it to the other, being laid in courses at regular intervals, for the purpose of consolidating the structure, and binding the whole together. (Vitgruv. ii. 8. 7.)
DIATRE'TA (διάτρητα). Vases or drinking cups of cut glass, or precious stones, ground by the wheel in such a manner that the patterns upon them not only stood out in relief, but were bored completely through, so as to form a piece of open tracery, like network (Mart. Ep. xii. 70. Ulp. Dig. 9. 2. 27.), precisely as exemplified by the annexed figure, copied from an original glass drinking-cup found at Novara in the year 1725. The letters on the top, which form the inscription BIBE, VIVAS MULTOS ANNOS, and the whole of the tracery below, are cut out of the solid, and form part of the same substance as the inner cup, though completely au jour, small ties or pins being left at proper intervals, which unite the letters and tracery to the inner body of the cup.
DIAT'RIBA. A place in which learned disputations are carried on, such as a school or lecture room. Aul. Gell. xvii. 20. 2. Id. xviii. 13. 2.
DIAZO'MA (διάζωμα). Properly, a Greek word Latinized (Vitruv. v. 6, 7.), for which the genuine Latin term is PRÆCINCTIO; under which it is explained.
DICHAL'CON (δίχαλκον). A small copper coin of Greek currency, equal in value to the fourth or fifth of an obolus. Vitruv. iii. 1. Plin. H. N. xxi. 109.
DIC'ROTUS (δίκροτος). Having two banks of oars on a side; properly, a Greek word, for which the Romans used BIREMIS; which see.
DIDRACH'MA and DIDRACH'MUM (δίδραχμον). A double drachm, of the Greek silver coinage. (Tertull. Præscr. 11.) Like the drachma, it was of two different standards: the Attic, of which specimens are very rare, worth about 1s 7½d of our money; and the Æginetan, worth about 2s 3½d, the largest coin of that standard, and by no means uncommon; one of which is here represented of the actual size, from an original in the British Museum.
DIGITA'LE (δακτυλήθρα). A covering to the hand with fingers to it, like our glove. (Varro, R. R. i. 55. 1. Xen. Cyr. viii. 8. 17.) The example here introduced is copied from Trajan's Column, where it appears on the hands of a Sarmatian; but the passage of Varro is considered doubtful, and some editions read digitabulum, which is interpreted to be an instrument with prongs, like the human hand, affixed to a long handle, and employed in gathering fuit.
DILO'RIS. A hybrid word, meaning literally furnished with two thongs; but intended to designate the two stripes of purple, or purple and gold, termed paragaudæ, which, in late times, were employed to ornament wearing apparel, in a similar manner to the clavus, as explained and illustrated under the word PARAGAUDA. Vopisc. Aurel. 46.
DI'MACHÆ (διμάχαι). A class of troops amongst the Macedonians who acted both as horse and foot soldiers, being trained to dismount and serve amongst the infantry as occasion required. Curt. v. 13.
DIMACHÆ'RI (διμάχαιροι). A class of gladiators, who are supposed to have fought with two swords each; but the fact is only an inference, collected from their name. Inscript. ap. Mrt. 613. 3. Orelli, Inscript. 2584.
DIOGMI'TÆ. A body of light-armed troops employed under the empire, and stationed upon the confines to prevent incursions, pursue robbers, &c. Ammian. xxvii. 9. 6. Capitolin. Anton. Philosoph. 21.
DIOP'TRA (δίοπτρα). A geometrical instrument employed in measuring the altitude of distant objects; for taking the levels of a source of water intended to be conveyed to a distance by means of an aqueduct, and similar purposes. Vitruv. viii. 5. 1.
DIO'TA (δίωτα). A Greek word, meaning literally with two ears; and thence employed both in the Greek and Latin languages, as a general term for any vessel which is furnished with two handles, like the amphora, lagena, &c.; especially such as were intended for the preservation of wine in store (Hor. Od. i. 9. 8.), to which purpose the original depicted in the annexed engraving was applied; for it is carried by a Faun, attending upon Bacchus, on a fictile vase of the Neapolitan Museum.
DIPLINTH'IUS. Two bricks thick. Vitruv. ii. 8.
DIP'LOIS (διπλοἷς, δίπλαξ). A doubled cloak; i. e. a pallium, or other article of the outward apparel (amictus), which, when put on, was partly doubled back in the same manner as women do their shawls, in consequence of being too large to be conveniently worn single. It belonged to the Grecian costume (Isidor. Orig. xix. 24. 11.), was affected by the Cynic philosophers (Hor. Ep. i. 17. 25. Acron. ad l.), and is very clearly represented in the annexed figure of Juno, from a fictile vase, as well as on a statue of Minerva in the Vatican. Mus. Pio-Clem. iii. 37.
DIPLO'MA (δίπλωμα). A sort of passport, consisting of two leaves (whence the name originated), which was given to a messenger or other person travelling upon public business, in order that he might readily obtain every thing necessary on his journey, without delay or hindrance. Cic. Fam. vi. 12. Plin. Ep. x. 31. Capitolin. Pertin. 1.
2. A diploma, or document drawn up by a chief magistrate, which conferred some particular privilege upon the person to whom it was given. Suet. Nero, 12.
DIPLOMA'RIUS. A public courier or state messenger; i. e. who was furnished with a public passport (diploma). Inscript. ap. Orelli, 2917.
DI'PTEROS (δίπτερος). Literally with two wings; whence employed by architects to designate a temple or other edifice which has a double row of columns all round. Vitruv. iii. 2.
DIP'TYCHA (δίπτυχα). Folding tablets, consisting of two leaves connected by a string or by hinges, which shut up like the covers of a book, or of a modern backgammon board. (Schol. Vet. ad Juv. ix. 36.) The outside presented a plain surface of wood; the inside had a raised margin all round, within which a coat of wax was spread for writing on with a steel point (stilus), while the margin preserved the wax and letters from abrasion by coming into contact.
2. Diptycha consularia, prætoria, ædilitia. Tablets of similar form, but containing the names and portraits of consuls, prætors, ædiles, and other magistrates, which they presented to their friends, and distributed amongst the people on the day of entering upon their respective offices. (Symmach. Ep. i. 80. Id. v. 54. Cod. Theodos. 15. 9. 1.) Many diptychs of this description in wood and ivory are preserved in the cabinets of antiquities, and have been engraved by Maffei, Mus. Veronens., and Donati, Dittici Antichi, but the details are too minute and elaborate for insertion in these columns.
DIRIBITO'RES. Officers who had charge of the balloting boxes at the Roman Comitia. It was their duty to sort the votes of the different tribes at the conclusion of the ballot, and then hand them over to the scrutineers (custodes), who priced off the respective numbers, and declared the result. Cic. in Senat. 11. Id. Pis. 15.
DIRIBITO'RIUM. A room or building, supposed to have been originally constructed for the diribitores to sort the votes at the Comitia; but subsequently the same place, or a similar one, was set apart for the use of the officers engaged in examining the muster roll of the army, distributing the pay, and assigning the conscripts to their different legions. Suet. Claud. 18. Plin. H. N. xvi. 76. § 2.
DISCINCTUS (ἄζωστος). Ungirt; that is, wearing the tunic without its belt round the waist, as shown by the figure annexed, from a painting at Pompeii; and, as this was an unusual practice amongst the ancients, except when a person wished to be at ease in his own house (Hor. Sat. ii. 1. 73.), it implies a sense of hurry and constrained dishabille (Id. Sat. i. 2. 132.), or of natural slovenliness, which was considered to be indicative of loose morals. Pedo Albin. El. ii. 21—25. of Mæcenas, who was addicted to this habit.
2. With respect to females, the meaning is the same, and the appearance presented by a woman's tunic without its belt (recincta, soluta) is shown by the following figure, from an engraved gem; but the sense of indelicacy is still more decided as regards the sex, amongst whom, both in Greece and Italy, such freedom of costume was chiefly affected by women of easy character, such as singing and dancing girls, who are mostly so depicted in the Pompeian paintings.
3. Discinctus miles. With respect to the military, the word implies without the sword belt (balteus, cinctorium), which the Roman commanders sometimes took from their men who had disgraced themselves, as the colours are now taken for a similar purpose from a modern regiment; and this was not only a mark of ignominy, but a real hardship to the soldier, who was thus compelled to carry his naked sword without the assistance of a belt and the sheath attached to it. Liv. xxvii. 13.
DISCERNIC'ULUM. A bodkin employed by women to part the hair evenly down the front of the head. Lucil. ap. Non. s. v. p. 35. Varro, L. L. v. 129.
DISCOB'OLUS (δισκοβόλος). One who throws the discus; the manner of doing which is shown by the subjoined engraving, from the celebrated statue of Myron (Quint. ii. 13. 10. Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 19. § 3.), a copy of which is preserved in the British Museum. The very remarkable attitude and position of this figure are characterized by Quintilian as "laboured and distorted"—distortum et elaboratum—but these words are to be understood with reference to the usual practice of the Greek artists who were extremely chary of representing their figures in violent action, such as occurs in ordinary nature, and not as intended to imply that the figure in question does not truly express the real posture which every player with the discus actually assumed at the moment of discharging his disk; for a passage of Statius (Theb. vi. 646—721.), descriptive of a contest between two discoboli, enumerates one by one all the particular motions and poses observable in this statue. The player first examines his discus to find which part of the edge will best suit the gripe of his fingers, and which will lay best against the side of his arm,—quod latus in digitos, mediæ quod certius ulnæ, Conveniat; he then raises up his right arm with its weight,—Erigit adsuetum dextræ gestamen, et alte Sustentat; bends both his knees downwards, and swings the disk up above the general level of his body,—humique Pressus utroque genu, collecto sanguine discum, Ipse super sese rotat; and then discharges the mass by swinging his arm downwards, which acquires a double impetus from the resistance in a contrary direction, produced by the rising up of the bent body, as the arm descends,—ahenæ lubrica massæ Pondera vix, toto curvatus corpore, juxta dejicit. This passage, while it illustrates the meaning and intention of the different attitudes exhibited by the above figure, also clearly explains the manner in which the discus was cast.
DISCU'BITUS, DIS'CUBO. These words denote the taking of a place, and reclining at meal-time, as described s. ACCUBO; but, strictly speaking, when they are used, allusion is made to the whole company, that is, to a number of persons who recline together upon different couches (Val. Max. ii. 1. 9. Cic. Att. v. 1.), as seen in the illustration s. TRICLINIUM, 1.
DIS'CUS (δίσκος). A circular plate of stone or metal, about a foot in diameter, employed, like our quoit, for throwing to a distance as an exercise of strength and skill. (Hor. Od. i. 8. 11. Prop. iii. 14. 10.) The instrument itself, and the manner of projecting it, are shown and explained by the wood-cut on the opposite page, and the text which accompanies it.
2. Any shallow circular vessel for containing eatables; the original of our word dish. Apul. Met. ii. p. 36.
3. A flat circular sundial, placed horizontally upon its stand. (Vitruv. ix. 8.) The example is from an original published by Martini, von den Sonnenuhren der Alten.
DISPENSA'TOR. One of the slave family in a Roman household, both in town and country, who performed the duties of a secretary and accountant in the former, and of a bailiff or steward in the latter establishment. Cic. Att. xi. 1. Suet. Galb. 12. Macrob. Sat. ii. 4. Pompon. Dig. 50. 16. 166.
DISPLUVIA'TUS. See ATRIUM, 4.
DIVERSO'RIUM. See DEVERSORIUM.
DIVIDIC'ULUM. A tower in an aqueduct, containing a large reservoir, from which the water was distributed through separate pipes into the city. It was an old name, subsequently relinquished for the more imposing Castellum. Festus, s. v. and CASTELLUM, 4., where an illustration is given.
DO'DRA. A potage, or drink composed of nine different ingredients — water, wine, broth, oil, salt, bread, herbs, honey, and pepper. Auson. Epigr. 86. and 87.
DO'DRANS. Nine-twelfths of anything; thence a copper coin, consisting of nine unciæ, or three quarters of an as. (Varro, L. L. v. 172.) It is extremely rare in actual coinage; though an example is said to exist in a coin of the Cassian family, which bears the letter S, and three balls, to represent its value.
DOLABEL'LA. A small dolabra, or instrument constructed upon the same principle, which was employed for agricultural purposes, especially in the vineyard, for clearing out the dead wood, and loosening the earth about the roots of the vines. (Columell. iv. 24. 4. and 5.) The example is taken from a sepulchral marble (Mazzocchi
DOLA'BRA (ἀξίνη). An instrument employed for cutting, chopping, breaking, and digging; by woodsmen (Quint. Curt. viii. 4.), agricultural labourers (Columell. Arb. 10. 2. Pallad. iii. 21. 2.), and very generally in the army, for making stockades (Juv. viii. 248.), or breaking through the walls of a fortification (Liv. xxi. 11.), to both which purposes it is frequently applied by the soldiery on the Columns of Trajan and Antoninus. It belonged to the class of instruments which go by the name of hatchet (securis) amongst us; and is often confounded by the writers of a late age with the adze (ascia), with both of which it presents points of resemblance and of discrepancy, having a long handle and double head, one side of which is furnished with a sharp cutting blade, the edge of which lies parallel to the haft, instead of across it, like the adze, and the other side with a crooked pick, something like a sickle, thence termed falx by Propertius (iv. 2. 59.). The example introduced is from a sepulchral monument found at Aquileia, and is carried with the inscription DOLABRARIUS COLLEGII FABRUM underneath, which thus identifies the name and nature of the instrument. Compare also the wood-cut s. DOLATUS, where it is shown in use.
2. Dolabra fossoria. The instrument employed by excavators and miners, which had a long handle, like the preceding one, and a head of similar character, furnished with a cutting edge at one side, placed parallel to the haft, and a regular pick at the other, as shown by the annexed example, from a painting in the Roman catacombs, in which it appears in the hands of an excavator. Isidor. Orig. xviii. 9. 11., and compare the illustration s. FOSSOR, 1. where it is seen in use.
3. Dolabra pontificalis. The hatchet employed in slaughtering cattle, at the sacrifice (Festus, s. Scena), and by butchers (Paul. Dig. 33. 7. 18.), which is furnished with two blades—one broad and large, like a hatchet; the other at the back, of smaller dimensions, and resembling the cutting edge of an ordinary dolabra, as shown by the annexed example, from a bas-relief representing a sacrifice in the Villa Borghese.
DOLABRA'TUS. Hewn, split, formed, or fashioned with a dolabra. Cæs. B. G. vii. 73. and wood-cut s. DOLATUS.
2. Made like a dolabra, or furnished with one; as securis dolabrata (Pallad. i. 43.), a hatchet with a dolabra at the back of the blade, as seen in the preceding illustration.
DOLA'TUS. Hewn, cut, chopped, and formed into shape with the dolabra, as applied to objects in wood (Cic. Acad. ii. 31. Plin. H. N. xvi. 18.), and represented in the annexed engraving, from the Column of Trajan; and as the action employed in using that instrument is one of giving repeated blows, the word is also applied in the sense of beaten violently. Hor. Sat. i. 5. 22.
DOLI'OLUM. Diminutive of DOLIUM. Liv. v. 40. Veg. Vet. vi. 13. 3.
DO'LIUM. A large-mouthed, round, full-bellied earthenware vessel (Varro, R. R. iii. 15. 2. Columell. xii. 6. 1. Ib. 4. 5.), of great capacity, employed to contain new wine in a body until it was drawn off into amphoræ, or, as we should say, bottled (Seneca, Ep. 36. Procul. Dig. 33. 6. 15.); as well as other kinds of produce, both dry and liquid, as oil, vinegar, &c. (Varro, R. R. i. 22. 4. Cato, R. R. 10. 4. and 11. 1.) The great size of these vessels is testified by the fact that Diogenes lived in one (Juv. Sat. xiv. 308.); and by some originals excavated at Antium, which ware three inches thick, and have an inscription declaring their capacity at 18 amphoræ, equal to 21½ of the modern Roman barrels. The illustration is copied from a bas-relief, representing the dolium of Diogenes. Our word tub, which is commonly adopted as the translation of dolium, gives an incorrect notion of the object, which was made of baked earth, though of sufficient size to contain a man, as the oil jars used at this day in Italy, and those of the well-known story of the Forty Thieves, in the Arabian Nights.
2. Dolium demersum, depressum, defossum. A dolium sunk partially into the sand which formed the floor of a wine cellar. (See the illustration s. CELLA, 2.) This method was considered the best for keeping wine which had not a strong body; but if it was of a generous quality, the dolium containing it stood upon the ground. Plin. H. N. xiv. 27. Columell. xii. 18. 5.
DOLON or DOLO (δόλων). A long and strong stick, with a small sharp iron point at the extremity. Virg. Æn. vii. 664. Varro, ap. Serv. ad l..
2. A sword stick, in which a poniard is concealed (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. vii. 664. Isidor.
3. A small fore-sail on a ship with more than one mast, carried over the prow, and attached to the foremast (Isidor. Orig. xix. 3. 3. Liv. xxxvi. 44. Polyb. xvi. 15. 2.), as is clearly seen in the annexed illustration, from a bas-relief of the Villa Borghese. If the vessel had three masts, and consequently three sail, the dolon was the smallest of the three. Pollux, i. 91.
DOMUS. A private house, occupied by a single proprietor and his family, as contradistinguished from the insula, which was constructed for the reception of a number of different families, to whom it was let out in lodgings, flats, or apartments.
The Roman houses were usually built upon one fixed plan, varying only in the size, number, and distribution of the apartments, according to the wealth of the owner, or the particular nature of the ground plot on which they stood. They were divided into two principal members: the atrium, or cavædium, with its appropriate dependencies all round; and the peristylium, with its appurtenances beyond, which were connected by an intermediate room, the tablinum, and one or two corridors, fauces, or sometimes by both. These several apartments constituted the nucleus of the edifice on its ground-plan, and are constantly found in every Roman house of any size; their relative situations were always fixed; and they were constructed according to a received model, which was never deviated from in any important particular, as shown by the annexed illustration, representing the ground-plan of three small houses, side by side, in one of the streets of Rome, from the marble map of the city, now preserved in the Capitol, but executed in the age of Septimius Severus. A A A, the prothyrum, or entrance passage from the street; B B B, the atrium, or cavædium; C C C, the peristylium; D D D, the tablinum, or passage-room which connects the two principal divisions of the building. Of the other pieces not marked by letters of reference, those by the side of the doors facing the street were shops; those in the interior, eating, dwelling, and sleeping rooms for the use of the family.
The next illustration represents the ground-plan of a Pompeian house, which was also, in some respects, an insula; for it was surrounded by streets on all sides, and some exterior dependencies with upper stories, which had no communication with the principal portion of the structure. It is introduced for the purpose of affording an idea of the general style in which houses of the better class, such as were occupied by private persons in easy circumstances, were laid out, their method of arrangement and number of conveniences; for the palaces of the great aristocracy, whether of wealth or birth, were much larger, and possessed a greater variety of parts, according to the circumstances and taste of the owner. A separate account of these, as well as of the individual members here mentioned, will be found under each distinct name, and enumerated in the classed Index. The house is known as that of Pansa, and is supposed to have been occupied by a Pompeian ædile, from the words PANSAM ÆD. being painted in red letters, near the principal entrance. A. Ostium and prothyrum, the entrance-hall, between the street door and the atrium, with a mosaic pavement, upon which the usual word of salutation, SALVE, is inlaid in coloured stones. B. The atrium, of the kind called Tuscan, in the centre of which is the impluvium (a), to receive the water collected from the discharge of the roofs, and a pedestal or altar (b) of the household gods, which it was customary to place on the impluvium. The length of the atrium is just half as long again as its breadth, as Vitruvius directs that it should be. C C. The alæ, or wings of the atrium, which are exactly two-sevenths of the length of the atrium, as required by Vitruvius. C C C C C. Five small cubicula, or chambers intended for the reception of guests, or the use of the family. D. The Tablinum; paved with mosaic, and open to the peristyle, so that a person who entered the house by the principal door, at A, looked through the whole extent of the edifice, the atrium and peristylium, into the œcus and garden beyond, which must have presented a very beautiful and imposing vista: it could, however, be closed, when required, with curtains, or by temporary screens. E. A corridor of communication between the atrium and peristylium, for the use of the servants, and to obviate the inconvenience of making a passage room of the tablinum. In most cases there are two corridors of this description, one on each side of the tablinum, whence they are designated by the plural fauces. d. A chamber, the use of which is uncertain; but it might have served as an eating-room (triclinium), a picture-gallery (pinacotheca), or a reception-room for visitors. This terminates the front part of the house, which includes the atrium and its dependencies. F F. The peristylium, which forms the principal compartment of the second or interior division of the house. It has a roof supported upon columns, which form four corridors, with an open space in the centre, containing a base of water (piscina), similar to the impluvium of the atrium, but of larger dimensions. G G. Alæ of the peristyle. e e e e. Four cubicula; the three on the left of the peristyle were used as dwelling-rooms; the other one, by the side of the passage E, appears to have been appropriated to the house porter (ostiarius), or to the slave who had the charge of the atrium (atriensis), as it had a direct and immediate communication with both divisions of the house, as well as the surveillance of the entrance from the side street at m. The triclinium, or dining-room; to which the contiguous chamber (f) communicating with it, and with the peristyle, was probably an appurtenance for the use of the slaves and attendants at the table. I. Œcus, which is raised two steps above the peristyle, and has a large window opening on a garden behind, as well as a passage (g) by its side, like the faux of the atrium, in order to give access to the garden without passing through the grand room. K. Culina, the kitchen, which opens at one side upon another room, or back-kitchen (h), furnished with dwarf walls for the deposit of oil jars, cooking utensils, &c., and at the other, upon a court-yard (i), adjoining another of the side streets which flank the edifice, and to which it gives access by a back door (o). L L. A covered gallery (porticus or crypta), running along one side of the garden (M), in one corner of which is a tank (k), supplied from a reservoir (l) by its side. This completes the domus, or private house, occupied by Pansa, which has four seperate entrances: the principal one in front (A), and three at the sides, two for the family and visitors (m and n), and one back door (postica) for servants and tradespeople (o).
But the whole insula contained several additional apartments or smaller houses, some with an upper story, which were let out to different tenant shopkeepers. 1 1 1. Three shops facing the main street. 2. A shop in the same street, which has also an entrance into the domus, and consequently is supposed to have been the occupation of Pansa himself, in which his steward (dispensator) sold the produce of his farms, such as wine, oil, &c. to the inhabitants of Pompeii, in the same way as the nobility of Florence retail out the produce of their vineyards, at the present day, in a small room on the ground-floor of their palaces. 3 3. Two baking establishments, with their oven (p p), wells (q), a kneading trough (r), and other appurtenances. 4 4. Two more shops, let out to different trades. 5, 6, 7. Three small shops and houses, occupied by different tenants.
The ground-floor thus described, constituted the principal part of an ordinary Roman domus or private house, and contained the apartments occupied by the proprietor and his family; the upper story being distributed into small chambers (cœnacula), used as sleeping rooms, and chiefly assigned to the domestic part of the establishment; for it is an incredible supposition that the small rooms on the ground-floor, which openend upon the porticoes of the atrium and peristyle, the principal apartments of the master and mistress, could ever be intended for slaves to sleep in; and the upper story was frequently approached by a double-stair-case, one from the interior of the house, and the other an external one ascending from the street. (Liv. xxxix. 14.) Indications of upper floors are observable in many houses at Pompeii, and other ancient edifices; but only one actual example has ever been discovered, and that no longer exists. It belonged to a house in Herculaneum, which was entirely covered by a bed of lava, from the eruption which destroyed that city; and when excavated, the wood-work, the beams, and architraves, were found to be nearly carbonized by the action of the heat, and the walls were so much shattered by the earthquake which accompanied the eruption of 79, that the whole of the upper story was obliged to be taken down; but the sectional elevation and plan of the rooms exhibited in the two following wood-cuts was made from actual survey before the demolition took place, and consequently afford the only authentic example of this part of a Roman dwelling house now attainable. Nothing is conjectural nor restored, excepting the mere tiles of the roof, and curtains between the columns. A. Section of the atrium. The four columns seen in front supported the roof B (also marked on the subjoined ground-plan), which covered over one of the four corridors surrounding the central and open part of the atrium. Iron rods and rings for hanging curtains between the columns, as shown by the engraving, were found in their original situations when the excavation was made. They were intended to shut out the sun, which beamed down into the lateral corridors from the compluvium, or open space in the centre. C C. Two of the lateral corridors just mentioned which have doors at their furthest ends, opening into separate apartments, and are enclosed above by the flooring of the upper story. D. Section of the peristylium. The eight columns seen in front enclose one of the sides of an open area, which was laid out as a garden. E E. Two of the lateral corridors, which surround three sides of the peristyle, open to the garden on the side nearest to it through their intercolumniations, and enclosed at the back by the party-wall between them and the adjacent apartments. F F. Sectional elevation of the upper story, the plan and distribution of the apartments in which is given in the wood-cut subjoined. Nos. a to m. Twelve small chambers (cœnacula) built over the corridors of the court below, and which received their light from windows looking down into the interior, as shown by the elevation. The first six upon a terrace, G (solarium) above the garden; and, consequently, may be surmised to have been intended for the use of the proprietor, his family, and guests. Nos. n to r. Another set of small rooms, some of which have windows to the street, probably used as sleeping rooms for the slaves. Nos. s to v. Rooms probably apportioned to the female part of the establishment; as they form a suite by themselves, with a separate communication from the rest. The floors of these upper rooms are laid in mosaic work as well as those below. The upper story only extends over two sides of the peristyle, as shown by the elevation; the other two having no superstructure above the roof which covered the garden corridor.
2. (οἶκος). A Greek house. No excavation has yet laid open the plan of a Greek house; consequently, any attempt to define and distribute its parts can only be drawn from incidental passages of various authors, and must be regarded as purely conjectural; but as there undoubtedly were some essential points of difference between the domestic habitations of the Greeks and Romans, a supposed plan is here inserted, upon the authority of Becker, which will at least serve to explain the terms which the Greeks employed to designate the various parts of their dwelling houses, and to give a general idea of the usual plan on which they were arranged. a. αὔλειος θύρα. The house door, or principal entrance from the street. b. θυρωρεῖον, θυρών, διάθυρα. The entrance hall or passage; the rooms on the right and left of which afforded accommodation for stabling, for the porter's lodge, and slaves. c. αὐλή. The court and peristyle forming the first division of the house, which was appropriated to the use of the males, and, with the different chambers distributed around it (Nos. 1—9.), formed collectively the ἀνδρωνίτις. d. μέταυλος, or μέσαυλος θύρα. The door in the passage which separates the two principal divisions of the house, and which when closed shuts of all communication between them. e. The court and peristyle forming the second or interior part of the house, which was appropriated to the females, and with the various dependencies (Nos. 11—18.) situated around it, forms collectively the γυναικωνῖτις. f. προστάς, or παραστάς. A chamber at the further end of the peristyle, probably used as a reception or retiring room by the mistress of the house. g g. θάλαμος, and ἀμφιθάλαμος. The principal bedchambers. h h h. ἰστῶνες. Rooms in which the women worked at the loom. i. κηπαία θύρα. The garden gate, or back door.
DONA'RIUM. The treasury of a temple; i. e. an apartment in which the presents made to the gods were preserved. Serv. ad Virg.
2. A votive offering, or present made to the gods as a token of gratitude for some favour received, such as the recovery from sickness, or an escape from some impending calamity or accident (Aul. Gell. ii. 10. Aurel. Vict. Cæs. 35.) These of course varied in value and character according to the wealth and taste of the donor, consisting of arms taken in war, tripods, altars, and valuables of any kind from persons who had means at their command; but the poorer classes made more humble offerings, such as tablets inscribed or painted with a representation of the deity miraculously interposing in their behalf, and similar to those so frequently seen suspended in Roman Catholic churches; or very generally articles in terra-cotta, which were kept for sale ready made at the modeller's shop, representing only certain portions of the body, such as an arm, hand, eye, foot, leg, &c., so that each person could purchase only the exact part believed to have been healed by divine assistance. The illustration affords a specimen of three donaria of this kind, all from originals in terra-cotta; a foot, two eyes, and a hand, representing the wound the cure of which it was intended to commemorate.
DONATI'VUM. A largess or bounty given by the emperor to the army, as contradistinguished from congiarium, which was bestowed upon the people generally. Suet. Neto, 7. Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 26.
DORMITA'TOR (ἡμερόκοιτος). A thief who commits depredations by night. Plaut. Trin. iv. 2. 20. Hesiod. Od. 603.
DORMITO'RIUM. A dormitory, or bed-chamber (Plin. H. N. xxx. 17.); which appears to have been generally small, and scantily furnished, as shown by the example, representing the interior of Dido's bed-room, from the Vatican Virgil.
DORSUA'LIA. A broad band, made of richly dyed cloth, or embroidered silk, which was laid across the backs of horses upon state occasions, as in the example, from the triumphal procession of Constantine; or upon cattle conducted to the sacrifice, of which the Arch of Titus at Rome affords several specimens. Trebell. Gallien. 8.
DORSUA'RIUS and DOSSUA'RIUS. A beast of burden; a pack-horse (Varro, R. R. ii. 10.), or ass (Id. ii. 6.), as in the example, from the triumphal arch of Constantine.
DORY'PHORUS (δορυφόρος). A halberdier; the name given to the soldiers who formed the body-guard of the Persian kings, from the weapon they carried; but the word does not occur in Latin, excepting as the name of a celebrated statue by Polycletes (Cic. Brut. 86. Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 19. § 2.), representing one of these guards, or of a soldier armed like them.
DRACH'MA (δραχμή). A drachm; the principal silver coin of the Greek currency, as the denarius was of the Roman, and of which there were two standards of different weights and value—the Attic and Æginetan.
The Attic drachm, represented by the annexed wood-cut, from an original in the British Museum, of the actual size, was mostly current in the north of Greece, the maritime states, and in Sicily. It contained six obols, and its average value was nearly equal to 9¾d. of our money; but when Pliny (H. N. xxi. 109.) speaks of the Attic drachma and Roman denarius as being of equal weight, it is to be understood that the latter had been reduced from its original standard. Hussey, Ancient Weights and Money, p. 47—48.
The Æginetan drachm, represented by the next wood-cut, also from an original of the same size in the British Museum, was used in Bœotia, and some parts of northern Greece, and in all the states of the Peloponnesus except Corinth. It was of a higher standard than the Attic, containing about 93 grains of pure silver, and was worth about 1s 1¾d. of our money. Hussey, Ancient Weights and Money, p. 59—60.
DRA'CO. A dragon; the ensign of a military cohort, adopted from the Parthians, and introduced into the Roman army, about the time of Trajan. It was made in the image of a large dragon fixed upon a spar, having its head with gaping jaws of silver, while the rest of the body was formed of coloured cloth or skins, which, being hollow and flexible, waved about with motions like those of the reptile it represented, as the wind entered through the open mouth. Veget. Mil. ii. 13. Ammian. xvi. 10. 7. and 12. 39. Claud. iii. Cons. Honor. 138. Nemesian. 85.
2. An apparatus for heating water in a manner which economized both time and fuel; consisting in a boiler furnished with a number of tubes set round it, like the coils of a serpent, so that the entire quantity of the liquid was exposed at the same time, and in small quantities, to the action of the fire. Senec. Quæst. Nat. iii. 24.
DRACONA'RIUS. The ensign, or standard bearer of a military cohort, who carried the draco, or dragon represented in the preceding wood-cut. (Ammian. xx. 4. 18. Veg. Mil. ii. 7. and 13.) Ensigns of this description are frequently represented on the Columns of Trajan and Antonine amongst the barbarian troops, but not in the Roman armies, though they were introduced into them about the time of Trajan. It is from this word that the modern name of dragoon originated, meaning in its original sense a cavalry soldier, who followed the ensign of a dragon.
DRACONTA'RIUM. A band for the head (Tertull. Cor. Mil. 15.), either twisted to imitate the coils of a serpent; or, perhaps made in the form of two serpents joined together like the torquis, see the illustration s. TORQUATUS, and compare Inscript. ap. Don. cl. 1. n. 91., torquem aureum ex dracontariis duobus; but worn round the head instead of the neck.
DROMO, or DROMON (δρόμων). A particular kind of ship, remarkable for its celerity, but respecting which nothing more definitive is known. Isidor. Orig. xix. 1. 14. Cassiodor. Var. Ep. v. 17.
DROMONA'RIUS. A rower in a vessel termed dromo. Cassiodor. Var. Ep. iv. 15.
DUL'CIA. Confectionery; a general name for all kinds of sweets made with honey, as contradistinguished from pastry, or sweets made with meal, fruits, milk, etc. Lamprid. Elag. 27. and 32.
DULCIA'RIUS. A person who made dulcia; i. e. a confectioner, as contradistinguished from a pastry-cook. Lamprid. Elag. 27. Trebell. Claud. 14. Veg. Mil. i. 7.
DUUM'VIRI. Two officers appointed to act together for various purposes; as,
1. Duumviri jure dicundo; two chief magistrates who administered the laws in provincial towns. Cic. Agr. ii. 34.
2. Duumviri perduellionis; two colleagues appointed to try persons accused of the murder of a Roman citizen. Liv. i. 26. Cic. Rabir. perd. 4.
3. Duumviri Navales; two colleagues appointed upon emergencies to superintend the equipment or repairs of a fleet. Liv. ix. 30.
4. Duumviri sacrorum; two colleagues appointed to take charge of the Sybilline books, a duty subsequently transferred to the decemvirs. Liv. iii. 10.
EBORA'RIUS. A carver and worker in ivory. Imp. Const. Cod. 10. 64. 1.
ECHI'NUS (ἐχῖνος). A hedge-hog; and a sea-urchin, the shell of which was made use of by the ancients as a receptable for medicine and other things; hence the name is given by Horace (Sat. i. 6. 117.) to a table utensil, formed of the same material, or modelled to imitate it; but the particular use for which he intended it to be applied is not clearly apparent. Heindorf (ad l.) says, a bowl for washing the goblets in.
2. In architecture. A large elliptico-circular member in a Doric capital, placed immediately under the abacus. (Vitruv. i. 3. 4.) In the finest specimens of the order it is either elliptical or hyperbolical in its outline, but never circular; and, with the annulets under it is of the same height as the abacus. (Elmes, Lectures on Architecture, p. 205.) The example represents a capital from the Parthenon.
EC'TYPUS (ἔκτυπος). Formed in a mould (τύπος, forma), which has the device intended to be displayed incavated in it, so that the cast (ectypum) which comes from it presents the objects in relief, like a terra-cotta cast (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 43.), as will be readily understood by the annexed engravings. The right-hand one represents an ancient mould, from an original found at Ardea, and the left-hand one shows the terra-cotta cast with its figures in relief which comes out of it.
2. Ectypa gemma, or scalptura; an engraved stone which has the images upon it carved in relief, like a cameo, instead of being cut into it, like a seal or intaglio. Seneca, Ben. iii. 26. Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 63.
EDOLA'TUS. Shaped, and cut out of the rough with a dolabra (Columell. viii. 11. 4. and DOLATUS); hence figuratively applied to anything which is finished with great care and nicety. Cic. Att. xiii. 47. Compare Varro, ap. Non. p. 448.
EFFIG'IES. In general, any likeness, image, or effigy. But, with reference to an express use of the word in the Roman funera gentilitia (Tac. Ann. iv. 9. Compare iii. 5.), see IMAGINES, 2.
ELAEOTHES'IUM (ἐλαιοθέσιον). The oiling room in a set of baths, where the oils and unguents were kept, and to which the bather retired to be rubbed and anointed. In large establishments a separate chamber was appropriated for this purpose, adjoining the frigidarium, or cold chamber (Vitruv. v. 11. 2.), as exhibited in the illustration at p. 142, from a painting representing a set of baths in the Thermæ of Titus at Rome; where it is seen with the name written over it, filled with jars for unguents ranged upon shelves, and occupying the last chamber on the left hand, immediately adjoining the frigidarium, as directed by Vitruvius. But in private baths, or in public ones of a more limited extent, such as those of Pompeii, the tepid chamber seems to have been used as a substitute. See the article TEPIDARIUM.
ELEN'CHUS. A large drop pearl in the shape of a pear, much esteemed by the wealthy ladies of Rome, who were fond of wearing two or three together as pendants for the ears, or dangling from the rings of the fingers. (Plin. H. N. ix. 56. Juv. Sat. vi. 459.) The example is copied from an original ear-ring, consisting of one large elenchus, for a drop.
E'LIX. An ancient word, expressing a broad deep furrow drawn between the ridges in corn fields, for the purpose of draining the moisture from the roots of the plant. Serv. ad Virg. G. i. 109. Columell. ii. 8. 3.
ELLYCH'NIUM (ἐλλύχνιον, θρυαλλίς). The wick of a candle or oil-lamp; usually made with the pith of a rush, or the coarse fibres of flax, or of papyrus. (Vitruv. viii. 1. 5. Plin. H. N. xxiii. 41. Id. xxviii. 47.) The illustration represents a small Roman lamp, with the wick burning.
EMBLE'MA (ἔμβλημα). Inlaid; but especially applied to mosaic work (Varro, R. R. iii. 2. 4. Lucil. ap. Cic. Brut. 79.), which is composed with a number of small pieces of coloured stone, glass, or enamel set in a bed of cement. As this art was practised in various ways, we meet with several names in reference to it, each of which discriminates some one of the particular methods, such as tessellatum, sectile, vermiculatum, and others enumerated in the classed Index. If the present one, emblema, is not a generic, but specific term, it may have been used to designate a description of mosaic little known, but practised in the villa of Hadrian, near Tivoli, some fragments of which have been published by Caylus (Recueil, vi. 86.), and consisting of bas-reliefs modelled in very hard stucco, which are inlaid with small pieces of different coloured stones and enamels, so as to have the appearance of being painted. The second meaning attached to the word emblema supports such a conjecture.
2. A raised ornament or figure not cast nor cut out of the solid, but affixed to some other substance as an ornamental mount; such, for instance, as a figure in gold rivetted upon bronze. (Cic. Verr. ii. 4. 17. 22. 24.) This art was much practised and highly esteemed by the ancients; and several specimens of it have been discovered at Pompeii.
EMBOLIA'RIA. An actress who came upon the stage between the acts of a play to keep the audience amused by reciting some kind of interlude (embolium, ἐμβόλιον). Plin. H. N. vii. 49. Inscript. ap. Murat. 660. 4.
EM'BOLUM (ἔμβολον). Properly, a Greek word Latinized (Pet. Sat. 30.), meaning the beak of a ship of war, expressed in Latin by the word ROSTRUM, under which it will be explained and illustrated.
EM'BOLUS (ἔμβολος). The piston and sucker of a pump, syringe, or other similar contrivance for drawing up and discharging water. (Vitruv. x. 7.) See CTESIBICA MACHINA and SIPHO.
EMER'ITI. Roman soldiers who were discharged from military duty (Val. Max. vi. 1. 10. Ov.. Trist. iv. 8. 21.), having served the full time required by law; viz. twenty years for legionaries, and sixteen for the prætorians. Tac. Ann. i. 78. Dion Cass. lv. 23.
EMISSA'RIUM. An emissary; any artificial canal formed with the object of draining off a stagnant body of water. (Cic. Fam. xvi. 18. Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 21.) Remains of some stupendous works of this nature are still to be seen in Italy, constructed as emissaries for the lakes of Albano and Fucino (Suet. Claud. 20. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 24. § 11.); the first in consequence of an alarm felt that the waters would overflow, and inundate the country; the other for the purpose of reclaiming the land with a view to cultivation. The last, which remains nearly entire, and has been cleared out and made passable by the king of Naples, consists of a tunnel more than three miles in length, a large portion of which was excavated by the hammer and chisel through a stratum of hard rock, forming the basis of the mountain through which it passes at a depth of 1000 feet below the highest summit. The remainder, which lies but a few feet below the surface of the earth, is entirely vaulted in brick; of which material the archway through which the water was discharged into the river Liris, is composed; but the embouchure fronting the lake presents a fine architectural elevation of masonry.
EMPLEC'TON (ἔμπλεκτον). A method of constructing walls introduced by the Greeks, and copied by the Roman architects, in which the outside surfaces on both sides were formed of ashlar laid in regular courses as shown by the upper part of the annexed illustration (letter E), and the central space between them filled in with rubble work (G), layers of cross stones (diatoni, F) being placed at intervals in regular courses, and of sufficent size to extend through the entire thickness of the wall from side to side, and so act as girders to bind the whole together. Vitruv. ii. 8. 7. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 51.
EMPO'RIUM (ἐμπόριον). A mart or factory; i. e. a large building, containing ranges of bonding warehouses, in which foreign merchandize, brought by sea, was deposited, until disposed of to the retail dealers. (Vitruv. v. 12. 1.) The site was always enclosed by lofty walls, and often strongly fortified (Liv. xxi. 57.), if the town which contained the emporium was situated in an exposed part of the country. The annexed engraving is a ground-plan of some very extensive ruins on the banks of the Tiber under the Aventine hill, believed to be the remains of the emporium of Rome. (Liv. xxxv. 10.) The singl eline outside shows the circuit of the external wall enclosing the factory; o, a flight of steps leading down to the river, as mentioned by Livy; a b, and c d, portion sof wall containing the colonnades down to the river side, as directed by Vitruvius; m to n, remains of the walls which enclosed the range of warehouses. The parts actually remaining when the survey was made are marked by the dark lines; but it will be perceived that these remains are sufficiently extensive to authorize the completion of the circuit, as given in a lighter tint.
EM'POROS (ἔμπορος). Properly, a Greek word, and, consequently, illustrative of Greek customs; but used in a Latin form by Plautus (Merc. Prol. 9.), and Ausonius (Epist. xxii. 28.). It designates a person who acted in the double capacity of merchant and seaman; being appointed by some shipowner or capitalist to a vessel which he conducted on a voyage of traffic for the advantage of his employer; hence, in Plautus (l. c.), he is styled emporos Philemonis; i. e. who imports for his principal Philemon.
ENCAR'PA (ἔγκαρπα). Festoons of fruit and flowers, employed as a decorative ornament in sculpture or painting (Vitruv. iv. 1. 7.), as shown by the example, from a Roman sepulchral monument.
ENCAUS'TICA (ἐγκαυστική). The art of encaustic painting; i. e. in colours mixed with wax, and afterwards hardened by the action of fire. This art, as practised by the ancients, is now lost, nor has the process actually adopted by them ever been thoroughly ascertained; although the Count Caylus imagined that he had discovered the secret, and wrote an express treatise on the subject. They appear to have pursued several methods, and to have conducted the operation in very different ways: either with colours mixed with wax, laid on with a dry brush, and then burnt in with a cautery (cauterium); or by marking out the drawing with a hot etching iron (cestrum) upon ivory, in which process wax does not appear to have been used at all; or, lastly, by liquifying the wax with which the colours were mixed, so that the brush was dipped into the liquid compound, and the colour laid on in a fluid state, as it is with water colours, but subsequently smoothed and blended by the operation of heat. Plin. H. N. xxxv. 41. Ib. 39. Vitruv. vii. 9. Ov. Fast. iii. 831.
ENCOMBO'MA (ἐγκόμβωμα). Properly, an article of Greek attire; viz. a sort of apron tied round the body in a knot (whence the name arose), and worn by slaves to keep the tunic clean (Longus. ii. 33.), by young girls (Varro, ap. Non. s. v. p. 542.), and also on the comic stage. (Jul. Pollux, iv. 18.) Both of these latter uses are exemplified by the annexed figure of a young female, playing on the double pipes, from a marble bas-relief, representing a scene from some play.
EN'DROMIS. A large blanket, or wrapper of coarse woolen cloth, in which it was customary to envelope the body in order to prevent the chance of taking cold after the violent exertions of gymnastic exercises. (Juv. iii. 103. Mart. vi. 19. Id. xiv. 126.) It is frequently depicted in scenes illustrative of life in the gymnasiums, upon figures in repose, similar to the one in the annexed engraving, from a fictile vase, representing a youth who has just gone through his exercises, standing before his teacher; but though the word itself is Greek, and has especial reference to the customs of that people, it is only amongst the Latin authors that it occurs in the sense explained. Compare No. 3.
2. Endromis Tyria. A wrapper of similar character and object, but of a finer texture, adopted by the Roman ladies, who addicted themselves to masculine habits, and affected the same pursuits as men. Juv. vi. 246.
3. (ἐνδρομίς). In Greek, the word has a very different meaning, being employed to designate the boots originally invented and worn by the Cretan huntsmen (Nonn. Dionys. v. p. 154.), and thence adopted by the Greek artists as the characteristic chaussure of Diana in her quality of a huntress. (Callim. Hymn. in Dian. 16. Jul. Pollux, vii. 93.) Consequently, they are seen on a great number of statues of that goddess, on which they appear like the example in the annexed illustration, from a bronze of Herculaneum, with the toes exposed, and a broad band just above them (fascia primos sistitur ad digitos, Sidon. Apoll. Carm. ii. 400.), to which the two side leathers are attached. These open down the front, but are pierced with holes on their edges, for the thong to pass through which binds them on the legs, in the same manner as with our lace-up boots (Galen. Comment. in Hippocr. de Articul. and Spanheim ad Callim. l. c.) The cross laces, which are omitted in our bronze, may be seen on other statues. (Mus. Chiaramont. tav. 17. Mus. Pio-Clem. ii. 15. iii. 38.) The Latin poets always dress Diana in cothurni, which were close boots, enveloping the whole foot (see COTHURNUS, and the illustrations there given); but ἐνδρομίδες received their name because they were peculiarly fitted for persons who required great activity and agility in running (Galen. l. c.); which, it is obvious, would be materially assisted by the free play allowed to the foot from the exposure of its extremities, instead of the whole being constrained by an upper leather; consequently, they are appropriately worn in this form by a Faun and by a shepherd, in the Neapolitan Museum. (Mus. Borb. viii. 23. ib. 25.) These considerations, as well as the uniform testimony of ancient statues, seem to warrant the distinction above drawn, though it does not depend upon any positive verbal authority; while at the same time, it helps to explain the real difference between the names of three kinds of hunting boots commonly received as synonymous terms: κόθορνος, which reached up to the calf, was laced in front, but covered the entire foot; ἐνδρομίς, also reaching up to the calf, and laced in front, but leaving the toes uncovered; and ἀρβύλη, a half boot, laced in front, but only reaching up to the ankle.
ENSIC'ULUS (ξιφίδιον). Diminutive of ENSIS; a little sword, for a child's toy. Plaut. Rud. iv. 4. 112. and CREPUNDIA.
ENSIS (ξίφος). A sword. Used mostly by the poets, but synonymous with GLADIUS. (Quint. x. 1. 11.) See also FALX, 6.
EPHEBE'UM (ἐφηβεῖον). A spacious apartment in the Greek gymnasium, where the youths performed their exercises in the presence of their masters. (Vitruv. v. 11. Strabo, v. 4. 7.) See the illustration s. GYMNASIUM (letter C), which will give an idea of its usual locality and relative size, as compared with the other divisions of the establishment.
EPHE'MERIS (ἐφημερίς). A journal or diary, kept by an individual, in which he noted down the daily occurrences, actions, or expenditure. Cic. Quint. 18. Nepos, xxv. 13.
EPHIPPIA'RIUS. A saddler, who makes ephippia. Inscript. ap. Fabrett. p. 712. n. 339.
EPHIPPIA'TUS. One who rides upon a saddle pad (EPHIPPIUM) instead of the bare back. See the illustration s. EQUES. Cæs. B. G. iv. 2.
EPHIP'PIUM (ἐφίππιον). A pad saddle for horses (Varro, R. R. ii. 7. 15. Cæs. B. G. iv. 2.), used by the Greeks and Romans. It is very commonly represented in works of art as a piece of cloth doubled several times into a thick square pad (see the second illustration s. EQUES; but also occurs in many instances under the form of a regularly stuffed pad, like the annexed example, from the Antonine Column. Similar ones are likewise seen in the painting of Herculaneum and Pompeii, and on the arch of Septimius Severus; but the pad is more frequently concealed by the housings (stragula), which covered both sides of the animal.
EPH'ORI (ἔφοροι). Literally, overseers; but the word was especially used as the title of five magistrates elected annually by the people of Sparta, to whom very great political powers were entrusted, which enabled them to exercise a control over the kings and all other magistrates; and thus, in the Dorians constitutions, the Ephori enjoyed a position somewhat analogous to that of the tribunes at Rome. Aristot. Polit. ii. 10. Cic. Leg. iii. 7.
EPIB'ATÆ (ἐπιβάται). Marines of the Greek navy; a body of troops who served exclusively on board ship, entirely distinct from the land forces, from the seamen, and the rowers. (Herod. vi. 12. Hirt. B. Alex. 11. Vitruv. ii. 8. 14.) The Romans designated the marines of their navy by the term CLASSIARII.
EPICH'YSIS (ἐπίχυσις). A Greek jug, with a small and narrow lip, out of which wine was poured at an entertainment into the cup from which it was drunk; and adopted by the Romans, as they advanced in civilization, instead of the less elegant guttus, previously used by them for a similar purpose. (Plaut. Rud. v. 2. 22. Varro, L. L. v. 124.) The illustration represents an epichysis, with the receiving cup of glass, from a Pompeian painting, and a Nereid pouring wine out of one into a patera, from a painting of Stabia. In all the numerous pictures of Pompeii, &c., which represent the act of pouring wine from a jug, the jug is constantly formed with a small neck and narrow lip, like those exhibited above; which identifies the epichysis, and establishes its difference from the ewer, or water jug (gutturnium, πρόχοος), which had a thicker throat and wider lip.
EPICO'PUS (ἐπίκωπος). Properly, a Greek word, used to designate a row boat, as contradistinguished from a sailing vessel. Cic. Att. xiv. 16.
EPIC'ROCUM (ἐπίκροκον). Properly, a Greek word, used to designate a woman's garment; but whether it meant of a fine texture, or of a saffron colour, is matter of doubt, for it may be derived from κρόκη (subtemen), or from κρόκος (crocus). Nævius ap. Varro, L. L. vii. 5. Varro, ap. Non. s. Habitare, p. 318. Festus, s. v.
EPIDIP'NIS (ἐπίδειπνις). Properly, a Greek word, which designates the last course at a dinner. Pet. Sat. 69. 6. Mart. Ep. xi. 31.
EPID'ROMUS (ἐπίδρομος). A running rope attached to the neck of a tunnel net (cassis), and passing through a set of rings affixed to the mouth of the purse, by pulling which the huntsman, who lay in ambush, closed the net like a bag, when the game had been driven into it. Plin. H. N. xix. 2. § 2. Jul. Poll. v. 29. Xen. Cyneg. vi. 9.
2. The sail on the mast nearest to the stern in vessels fitted with more than one mast. (Jul. Poll. i. 91. Isidor. Orig. xix. 3. 3.) Pollux and Isidorus differ in some degree from each other, one giving the name to the sail, the other to the mast; but probably the term included the mast with the sail belonging to it. The illustration is copied from a bas-relief of the Villa Borgheses.
3. Enumerated by Varro (R. R. xiii. 1.) amongst the articles necessary for the furniture of an oil press room (torcularium), but without any context to explain what is meant.
EPIGRUS. See EPIURUS.
EPILIM'MA. A sort of unguent of the cheapest and most common description. Festus, s. v.
EPIRHE'DIUM. A hybrid word, composed from the Greek preposition ἐπὶ and the gallic term Rheda; the true meaning of which is not settled. Scheffer and Ginzrot believe it to have been a square or oblong cart, enclosed with four sides, in the same manner as the rheda, and consequently to be represented by the annexed figure, from a bas-relief in the Museum at Verona. Others consider that the word has reference only to the ornamental decorations of a rheda, or that it designates the harness of the horses which drew it. Juv. Sat. viii. 66. Schol. Vet. ad l. Scheffer, R. V. ii. 23. Ginzrot,
EPISTOM'IUM (ἐπιστόμιον). The cock of a water pipe, or of any vessel containing liquids to be draw off in small quantities when required. (Vitruv. ix. 8. 11.) The illustration represents an original bronze water cock found at Pompeii, similar in constructive principle to those now in use, but of a more tasteful design. Seneca says (Ep. 86.) that in his day the baths of Rome, even for the common people, were furnished with silver cocks.
EPISTYL'IUM (ἐπιστύλιον). Properly, a Greek word adopted by the Roman architects to designate the architrave or main beam laid horizontally over the capitals of a column, from one to the other, in order to form a continuous bed for a superstructure to rest upon. When the architrave was made of timber, it was properly called trabs; when of stone or marble, epistylium, though that word, as a general term, may with equal correctness be applied to both. (Vitruv. iii. 5. 11. Varro, R. R. iii. 5. 1. Festus, s. v.) The example, from a tomb sculptured in the rock at Beni Hassan, explains the original use and early application of the epistylium to columnar architecture. In this instance it has no other members over it; merely forming a connecting surface for the roof (tectum) to rest upon; but the next engraving shows its finished state as one of the principal members of an entablature.
2. Epistylia; in the plural, the epistyles; which comprise the whole superstructure above the abacus of a column, forming what our architects term collectively the entablature, otherwise divided by them into three distinct members; the architrave (trabs, or epistylium) at bottom; the frieze (zophorus) next above; and the cornice over all, for which the Romans had no collective name, but always described it by enumerating the separate members which it contained. See CORONA, 15.
EPITHALAM'IUM (ἐπιθαλάμιον). The nuptial song, sung in chorus by a company of young girls outside the door of the bridal chamber. Quint. ix. 3. 16. Theocr. Id. 18.
EPITOX'IS. (Vitruv. x. 10. 4.) A particular part of the catapulta, in which, as it is conjectured, the missile was placed.
EPITY'RUM (ἐπίτυρον). An eatable composed of the flesh of the olive seasoned with oil, vinegar, rue, mint, &c. (Cato, R. R. 119.); more common in Greece and Sicily, than in Italy. Varro, L. L. vii. 86. Columell. xii. 49. 9.
EPIU'RUS (ἐπίουρος). A wooden pin used as a nail (Isidor. Orig. xix. 19. 7. Pallad. xii. 7. 15.); but the readings differ, some having epigrus and ἐπίκουρος.
EPULO'NES. The members of one of the four great religious corporations at Rome, originally composed of three persons (triumviri epulones, Liv. xxxi. 4.), but afterwards increased to seven (septemviri epulones, Lucan. i. 602.); whose chief duty consisted in preparing a sumptuous banquet, termed LECTISTERNIUM, for Jupiter and the twelve gods, upon occasions of public rejoicing or calamity (Festus, s. v.), when the statues of the deities were placed upon couches in front of tables (Val. Max. ii. 1. 2.), spread with delicacies, which the Epulones afterwards consumed.
EQUA'RIUS sc. medicus (ἱππίατρος). A horse doctor, or veterinary surgeon. (Val. Max. ix. 15. 2.) The illustration represents a veterinary, and shows the ancient manner of bleeding horses, from a Roman bas-relief discovered in the south of France.
2. Absolutely; a groom or stable boy. (Solin. 43.) ame as EQUISO.
EQUES (ἱππεύς). In a general sense, any one who sits upon a horse, a horseman or rider. (Mart. Ep. xii. 14.) Both the Greeks and Romans rode without stirrups, and either upon the bare back (Varro, ap. Non. p. 108. Mercer), as in the annexed engraving, representing an Athenian youth, from the Panathenaic frieze (compare the illustrations s. CELES and DECURSIO, which are Roman); or upon a saddle pad (EPHIPPIUM), which is mostly covered and concealed by a piece of coloured cloth thrown over it (see the next and subsequent illustrations); but never upon a regular saddle made, like ours, upon a tree or frame, which was a late invention, towards the decline of the Empire. The women rode sideways, like our own, upon a pad, or ephippium, as proved by the expressions muliebriter equitare, or equo insidere (Ammian. xxxi. 2. 6. Compare Achill. Tat. de Amor. Clitoph. et Leucip. Agathias iii.); and the same fashion was sometimes practised by men, as shown by the annexed illustration, representing a Pompeian gentleman taking a country ride, from a landscape painting in that city.
2. A knight; i. e. one of a body originally, as is supposed, appointed by Romulus, and consisting of three hundred men selected from the patrician families, who served on horseback, and were mounted at the public expense, to act as a garde du corps for the king. Their numbers, however, were considerably increased at different periods, and a property qualification, instead of birth, made essential for admission into the body, which thus constituted the cavalry branch of the old Roman armies, and formed a separate order in the state, distinguished from the senatorian by the outward badge of the CLAVUS ANGUSTUS, and from the commonalty by a gold ring on the finger. As this class had ceased to serve in a distinct military capacity before the termination of the republic, and the remaining monuments which delineate military scenes are all posterior to that period, we have no genuine representation of a Roman knight of this description, beyond what is afforded by the devices on some of the censorial coins, which are too small and imperfect to give minute or characteristic details. They appear, however, on these coins simply draped in the tunic (tunica), and holding a horse by the bridle before the censor, who sits in his curule chair; which accords so far with the account of Polybius (vi. 25.), who says that the old Roman cavalry had no body armour before their intercourse with the Greeks had taught them to adopt the same accoutrements as the horse soldiers of that country.
3. A cavalry trooper; who did not receive his horse from the state, but possessed sufficient means to mount himself, and so avoid the greater hardship of serving on foot. (Liv. v. 7. Id. xxxiii. 26. Cæs., &c.) These troops received pay from the state, and eventually constituted the Roman cavalry, after the regular equestrians had ceased to do military duty. Soldiers of this class are frequently represented on the columns and triumphal arches of the Imperial period, similar to the figure annexed, from the Column of Antoninus, in a helmet, and with a cuirass of scale armour, a lance, small round shield, no stirrups, and pad saddle covered with housings.
4. Eques legionarius. A legionary trooper; evidently, as the epithet implies, distinct from the knights and from ordinary cavalry, which was usually stationed on the wings, and very frequently furnished by the allies. The name leads naturally to the conclusion that these men formed a body of heavy-armed cavalry, like the infantry of the legion; and the annexed figure from the Column of Antoninus so far confirms the conjecture, as it shows that in that age at least there was a class of mounted Roman troops who wore cuirasses of exactly the same description as the legionary of the same period, as will be seen by comparing the illustrations s. LEGIONARIUS and LORICA SQUAMATA, with the present figure, the lower portion of which is concealed in the original by the groups before it. Liv. xxxv. 5. Veg. Mil. ii. 2.
5. Eques prætorianus. See PRÆTORIANI.
6. Eques sagittarius. A mounted archer; a class of troops mostly composed of foreign auxiliaries; but also equipped by the Macedonians (Quint. Curt. v. 4.), and the Romans (Tac. Ann. ii. 16.), who sometimes armed their own citizens in that manner, at least under the Empire, as shown by the annexed example, which represents a Roman soldiers on the Column of Antoninus.
7. Eques cataphractus. See CATAPHRACTUS.
8. Eques alarius. The allied cavalry which accompanied the Roman legions, so termed because they were always stationed upon the wings. Liv. xl. 40. Cæs. B. G. i. 51.
9. Eques extraordinarius. A trooper selected from the allied cavalry, and formed into a picked body for the service of the consuls. Liv. xl. 31. and 27. Id. xxxiv. 37.
10. A mounted gladiator, who fought like a cavalry soldier, on horseback (Inscript. ap. Orelli, 2569. 2577.); two of whom are shown in the annexed engraving, from a bas-relief on the tomb of Nævoleia Tyche at Pompeii. It will be perceived that their armour assimilates closely with the figure of the legionary trooper, No. 4.
EQUI'LE (ἱππόστασις). A stable for horses. (Varro, R. R. ii. 7. 15. Suet. Cal. 55.) The engraving represents an ancient stable on the bay of Centorbi in Sicily, probably the only genuine specimen of such buildings now remaining. It is constructed of masonry, and vaulted at the top: is not divided into stalls, each animal being separated from his neighbour by a swinging bar, if necessary. The manger, which recedes gradually inwards from the top, is also of masonry, and divided into a number of cribs (φατνώματα), a separate one for each horse, and not formed in one long line, common to all. The rope of the head stall passed through a small aperture in front of each crib, and was fastened by a block on the opposite side of the wall, which will be readily understood from the drawing and the horse introduced for that purpose.
EQUI'SO. A groom who leads out horses to exercise. Varro, ap. Non. s. v. pp. 105. 450. Val. Max. vii. 3. Ext. 1, 2.
2. Equiso nauticus. One who tows a boat up the stream by a rope. Varro, ap. Non. ll. cc.
EQUUL'EUS. Literally, a young horse, or colt; whence transferred, in a special sense, to a wooden machine upon which slaves were placed to extract evidence from them by torture. (Cic. Mil. 21. Quint. Curt. vi. 10.) The ancient writers have not left any description by which the exact nature of this contrivance can be ascertained; and their artists never depicted scenes calculated to awaken painful emotions. But the expressions used to describe the treatment of the sufferer—in equuleo; or, in equuleum impositus—lead to the conjecture that it was something in the nature of the crux, and the punishment a sort of impalement; the criminal being made to site bare on a sharp point, with heavy weights attached to his arms and legs, in order to increase the natural pressure of the body, as shown by the annexed engraving, which represents an instrument of punishment formerly used at Mirandola, in the north of Italy, and which, in confirmation of the suggestion, was called by the same name, the colt, il cavaletto.
EQUUS. A stallion; properly distinguished from equa, a mare, and from canterius, a gelding.
2. Equus publicus. The horse allotted by the state to each of the old Roman knights (equites), for the performance of cavalry duty, which was purchased and kept at the public expense. Liv. v. 7. Cic. Phil. vi. 5. Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 9.
3. Equus curtus. A horse which had its tail docked (Prop. iv. 1. 20.); not a common practice amongst the ancients. Horace applies the same epithet to a mule (Sat. i. 6. 104.), apparently in disparagement; but a crop-tailed horse was offered annually as a sacrifice to Mars (Festus, s. October equus); and possibly the small bronze cast, from which the annexed figure is copied, was intended to commemorate that custom.
4. Equus Trojanus. The Trojan horse, by means of which the Greek soldiery enclosed in its belly were enabled, according to the fable, to open the gates of Troy to their comrades, and thus captured the city. (Cic. Muren. 37. Hygin. Fab. 108.) Many ancient representations of this stratagem remain in painting, sculpture, and engraved gems, corresponding generally with the figure annexed, which is copied from a miniature in the Vatican Virgil, showing the platform and wheels by which it was moved, the door which Sinon opens to let the inmates out, who descend to the ground by sliding down a rope, all as minutely detailed by Virgil, Æn. ii. 257—264.
5. Equus bipes. A sea-horse; a monster composed of the fore-hand and two front legs of a horse, with the body ending in a fish's tail; fabulously and poetically attached to the marine chariot of Neptune and Proteus. (Virg. Georg. iv. 389. Pervigil. Ven. 10.) The example is from a Pompeian painting.
6. Equus fluviatilis. The river horse, or hippopotamus. Plin. H. N. viii. 30.
7. Equus ligneus. Poetically for a ship. Plaut. Rud. i. 5. 10.
8. A battering engine for beating down walls (Prop. iii. 1. 25.); subsequently, and better known by the name of the ram. (Plin. H. N. vii. 57.) See ARIES.
ERGASTULA'RIUS. A person who had the charge of superintending an ergastulum, and the slaves confined in it. He acted as a gaoler and taskmaster, to see that their work was done, and was himself a slave, though placed in a confidential office. Columell. i. 8. 17.
ERGAS'TULUM. A sort of prison and place of correction attached to the farms and country villas of the Romans, in which those of the slave family who were kept in fetters (compediti, nexi, vincti) were lodged and made to work in irons; whereas, the rest, who were not chained, were provided with separate accommodation (cellæ, contubernia) in other parts of the establishment. (Columell. i. 6. 3. Compare . 16. Apul. Apol. p. 482. Brut. ad Cic. Fam. xi. 13.) As Columella recommends that such places should be constructed underground, we may conclude that it was not the universal practice to do so.
ERGAS'TULUS. A slave condemned to the ergastulum. Lucil. Sat. xv. 8. ed. Gerlach.
ER'GATA (ἐργάτης). A capstan or windlass, for drawing up vessels on to the shore, and for moving heavy weights generally. Vitruv. x. 4.
ERIC'IUS. Literally, a hedgehog; a name also given to a contrivance for defending the gates of a camp or any fortified place, consisting of a long beam, studded with iron spikes, and planted across the opening that required defence. (Cæs. B. C. iii. 67. Sallust, Hist. ap. Non. p. 555.) The beam across the gateway represented in the engraving s. CATARACTA, 3., if furnished with spikes., would afford an example of the ericius.
ES'SEDA or ES'SEDUM. An uncovered car or cart, upon two wheels, open in front, but closed behind, and drawn by two horses, commonly used in warfare by the ancient Britons, Gauls, and Belgæ. (Cæs. B. G. iv. 33. Id. v. 16. Virg. Georg. iii. 204. Serv. ad l.). The Romans also constructed carriages after the same model, which they employed for ordinary purposes, and designated by the same name (Cic. Att. vi. 1. Ov. Pont. ii. 10. 34. Suet. Cal. 51.); but no representation either of the original British car, or of the Roman imitation of it, is known to exist in any authentic monument.
ESSEDA'RIUS. A British, Gaulish, and Belgic warrior, who drove and fought from a war car (essedum) in the manner described by Cæsar (B. G. iv. 33.). Cic. Fam. vii. 6.
2. A captive from either of the above nations, who was made to exhibit his national mode of fighting, from the essedum, as a gladiator in the Roman amphitheatre. Suet. Cal. 35. Claud. 21.
EURI'PUS (εὔριπος). Any artificial canal, or water course, of greater or lesser extent, such as were made to ornament a villa (Cic. Leg. ii. 1. Seneca, Ep. 83.); to afford a body of water for a spectacle to display amphibious or aquatic animals from foreign parts (Plin. viii. 40.); and especially, a moat filled with water constructed by Julius Cæsar round the interior of the Circus Maximus (Suet. Cæs.39. Plin. H. N. viii. 7.), in order to protect the spectator from the sudden irruption of any animal, when hunts and shows of wild beasts were exhibited in it. This was afterwards filled up by Nero (Plin. l. c.); and the name of euripus transferred, at a subsequent age, to the barrier (spina) which ran down the centre of the course. Tertull. adv. Hermog. 31. Sidon. Carm. xxiii. 356.
EUSTYLOS (εὔστυλος). A colonnade in which the intervals between the columns have the width of two diameters and a quarter; the style considered to be the most perfect in respect of solidity of structure, beauty of appearance, and general convenience. (Vitruv. iii. 2. 1.) The annexed diagram shows the five different kinds of intercolumniation used by the ancients, with their relative intervals, amongst which the eustyle occupies the third line.
EVERRIC'ULUM. The ordinary fishing-net (Varro, R. R. iii. 17. 7. Apul. Apol. p. 457. Non. s. v. p. 34.); which, as represented in the annexed wood-cut, from a fresco painting in the palace of Titus at Rome, appears to have been very similar to those used by the fishermen of our own days.
EVOCA'TI. Veterans who had served their time, but enlisted again as volunteers. They were not subject to the common military duties of the gregarian or legionary soldier, but seem to have held a superior rank, and to have acted in the capacity of centurions, whose costume and badges of distinction they enjoyed; being represented on sepulchral monuments with the vinerod (vitis) in one hand, a sword on the left side (parazonium), and a roll of paper, indicating, perhaps, their carte of discharge, in the other; as shown by the annexed figure, from a sepulchral marble, which also bears the inscription AUR . JULIANUS . EVOK. Cic. Fam. iii. 6. Cæs. B. G. vii. 65. B. C. i. 17.
2. The same title was subsequently conferred upon a body of young men selected from the equestrian families, and formed into a corps, by the emperor Galba, to which the duty of keeping guard at the doors of the imperial bed-chamber was entrusted. Suet. Galb. 10.
EXACISCULA'TUS. Dilapidated, destroyed, or pulled out with a "pick" (acisculus); a common way of breaking into tombs, for the purpose of stealing the valuables deposited in them. Hence, the word is of frequent occurrence on sepulchral inscriptions, in the form of a caution to the public against the commission of such an offence. Inscript. ap. Mur. 1028. 2. ap Don. cl. 12. n. 27.
EXA'MEN. The tongue on the beam of a balance, rising perpendicularly from the beam, and moving in an eye affixed to the same, by which it serves to point out the equality or inequality of weight between the objects in the scale. (Virg. Æn. xii. 725. Pers. Sat. i. 6.) The illustration represents a scale beam furnished with such a tongue and eye, from an original of bronze preserved amongst the Roman antiquities in the British Museum.
EXASCIA'TUS. Hewn out of the rough, and into shape with a carpenter's adze (ascia); and, as this was the first operation with other and finer tools, the expression opus exasciatum implies a work already somewhat advanced; i. e., in which all the preliminaries have been successfully got through. Plaut. As. ii. 2. 93.
EXCALCEA'TUS. Literally, without shoes (calcei, Suet. Vesp. 8.); thence, in a special sense, a comic actor (Seneca, Ep. 8.), as contradistinguished from a tragic one (cothurnatus), who wore upon the stage a close boot, which enveloped the whole foot; whereas the chaussure of the comedian was not a close shoe or regular calceus, but a mere sole bound on with leather straps, which left the toes and great part of the foot exposed, as shown by the annexed figure, from a bas-relief representing a comic scene.
EXCUBITO'RES. Sentries and watchmen, including those who performed military as well as civil duties (Cæs. B. G. vii. 69. Columell. vii. 12.), and who kept watch by night or day (excubiæ); in which respect they are distinguished from Vigiles, a name given only to night watches.
2. Under the Empire, the same term was specially applied to a body of soldiers belonging to the imperial cohort to whom the duty of guarding the emperor's palace was entrusted. Suet. Nero, 8. Compare Otho, 6.
EXCUBITO'RIUM. The post where a corps de garde is stationed; of these there were fourteen in Rome itself, one for each of the regions into which that city was divided. P. Victor. de Reg. Urb. Rom.
EXCU'SOR (χαλκεύς). A copper-smith (Quint. ii. 21. 10.); but the reading is not certain.
EXED'RA (ἐξέδρα). An assembly room, or hall of conversation; a large and handsome apartment, sometimes covered in (Vitruv. vi. 3. 8.), and sometimes open to the sun and air (Vitruv. vii. 9. 2.), constituting one of the dependencies to a gymnasium, or to a private mansion of the first class. It was, in reality, a place fitted up for the reception of a party of savans to meet and converse in (Vitruv. v. 9. 2. Cic. N. D. i. 6.), as the philosophers were accustomed to do in the Greek Gymnasium and the Roman Thermae. For this purpose, it was frequently constructed with a circular absis (Plut. Alcib. 17.), in which rows of seats were arranged for the company; and, in fact, is so delineated in a bas-relief of the Villa Albani (Wink. Mon. ined. 185.), representing a scientific discussion between several philosophers. Consequently, in our ground-plan describing the ruins of the GYMNASIUM at Ephesus (s. v.), the name of exedra is assigned to each of the two divisions at the bottom of the lateral corridors, which terminate with a similar absis.
EXED'RIUM (ἐχέδριον). Diminutive of EXEDRA. Cic. Fam. vii. 23.
EXEQ'UIÆ. See EXSEQUIÆ.
EXO'MIS (ἐχωμίς). A particular kind of Greek tunic, afterwards adopted by the Romans, without sleeves, very short (substricta), and entirely open down the right side, so that, when put on, the right shoulder (ὦμος), as well as the arm and breast, were left exposed. (Aul. Gell. vii. 12. 1.) It was the usual dress of persons employed in active and laborious occupations, such as slaves, rustics, artizans, and huntsmen; hence, in works of art, it is frequently worn by Vulcan, Charon, Dædalus, and Amazons, all of whom pursued a life of toil or industry, and in a similar form to that on the annexed figure, representing a slave in attendance on a hunting party, from a Roman bas-relief.
2. The same term was also applied to the pallium (περίβλημα), Jull. Poll. vii. 48.), when it was arranged upon the person in such a manner as to present a similar appearance to that of the tunic last described; covering only the left shoulder, but leaving the right one with the arm and breast exposed, as exhibited by the annexed figure from the Vatican Virgil.
EXO'STRA (ἐχώστρα). A wooden bridge or platform projected from a movable tower to the walls of a besieged town, over which the assailants passed on to the ramparts. Veg. Mil. iv. 21. and 17.
2. A machine employed upon the stage of the ancient theatres, for the purpose of revealing to the spectators the results of certain actions which could not be perpetrated before their eyes, such, for instance, as a murder, or any other atrocity which might wound their moral or religious feelings. The precise character of the machine, and the manner in which it was made to operate, is not thoroughly ascertained; further than the fact, that it was pushed forward from behind the scenes, and made to turn round by springs and wheels, so as to expose to view the object required; a dead body, for example, indicative of a murder or a suicide. Cic. Prov. Cons. 6. Jul. Pollux, iv. 128, 129.
EPAPILLA'TUS. Literally, having one breast exposed; an expression intended to describe the appearance of a person who wears his tunica or pallium adjusted in the manner explained and illustrated under the article EXOMIS. Plaut. Mil. iv. 4. 44. Non. s. v. p. 103.
EXPEDI'TI. Literally, free and unencumbered; whence applied, in military language, as a descriptive name for the light-armed troops in general (velites, Festus, s. Advelitatio); or to the heavy-armed legionaries (Sisenn. ap. Non. s. v. p. 58. Cic. Att. viii. 9.), when equipped for rapid march; i. e. when the more cumbrous parts of their accoutrements and luggage (impedimenta) were transported in carts, and their offensive and defensive arms disposed about the person in the way most convenient for rapidity of transit. The annexed figure, representing one of the legionary soldiers in the army of Trajan in a hurried line of march, compared with the illustration to IMPEDITUS, will afford a precise notion of the meaning conveyed by the term.
EXSEQ'UIÆ. A funeral, or funeral procession and solemnities (Tac. Hist. iv. 62. Cic. Mil. 13. Id. Quint. 15. Suet. Tib. 32.) The poorer classes of the Romans were buried at night, and without any kind of show; but wealthy persons were carried to their final home with much pomp and ceremony, accompanied by a long procession of relatives, friends, and dependants, arranged by an undertaker (designator), and in the following order. First came a band of musicians playing upon the long funeral pipe (tibia longa); and immediately behind them, a number of women hired to act as mourners (præficæ), chanting dirges, tearing their hair, and singing the praises of the deceased. Then followed the slaughter-man (victimarius); whose business it was to kill the favourite animals of their deceased master, horses, dogs, &c., round the funeral pile. Next came the corpse upon a rich bier (capulum, feretrum, lectica funebris), immediately preceded by persons who carried the busts or images of his ancestors (imagines), as well as any public presents, such as coronæ, phaleræ, torques, which he might have possessed, and by a buffoon (archimimus), dressed up to imitate the person and deportment of the deceased. After the bier, followed a long line of slaves and attendants, leading the animals intended to be sacrificed at the burning of the body, and finally the whole procession was closed by the empty carriage of the dead man, which brought up the rear in the same way as is still customary amongst ourselves. All, or nearly all, of these particulars are exhibited in the order above stated upon a bas-relief, on a Roman sarcophagus, representing the funeral of Meleager; a device which would be appropriately selected for a person who during his life-time had been addicted to the chase and sports of the field. It is engraved by Bartoli (Admirand. Rom. plates 70. and 71.), and several figures have been selected from it to illustrate the different words bracketed in this article; but the entire subject contains too many figures to bear a reproduction proportionable to the size of these pages.
EX'TISPEX (ἡπατοσκόπος, σπλαγχνοσκόπος). A soothsayer, or diviner who affected to interpret the will of the gods, and the results of futurity, by inspecting the entrails of victims slain at the altar (Cic. Div. ii. 18.), as shown by the annexed illustration, from a bas-relief of the Villa Borghese, the only ancient representation of this practice yet discovered.
EXTISPIC'IUM (ἡπατοσκοπία). An inspection of the entrails of animals for the purpose of predicting events from their appearance; as represented in the preceding engraving. Accius, ap. Non. p. 16. Suet. Nero, 56.
FABATA'RIUM. A large bowl or dish in which beans, or bean-flour, made into a stir-about (puls fabacia, Macrob. Sat. i. 12.) was served up. Lamprid. Heliog. 20.
FABER (τέκτων). The name given indiscriminately to any artizan or mechanic who works in hard materials, such as wood, stone, metal, &.c, in contradistinction to one who moulds or models in soft substances, like wax or clay, who received the appellation of plastes. It is, consequently, accompanied in most cases by a descriptive epithet which determines the calling of the workman alluded to; as faber tignarius, a carpenter (see the next illustration); faber ferrarius, a blacksmith (see the illustration s. FERRARIUS); faber æris, marmoris, eboris, a worker in bronze, marble, and ivory; and so on. The Greek term has not quite so extensive a meaning as the Latin one, being rarely applied to a worker in metal, who was expressely called χαλκεύς or σιδηρεύς, though some passages occur where it is so used.
FAB'RICA. In general, the workshop of any mechanic who works in hard materials, but especially in wood; as the shop of a carpenter, or a cabinet maker. (Terent. Ad. iv. 2. 45. Lucret. iv. 515.) The illustration represents a carpenter's shop, from a painting found at Herculaneum, in which the workmen are represented under the form of genii, pursuant to the usual treatment of the ancient schools, for subjects of this nature, in which scenes of ordinary life are depicted.
FABRI'LIA. Mechanics' tools; a general term under which is included all the different kinds of tools, implements, and instruments employed by carpenters, smiths, and other artizans who work in marble, stone, ivory, or other hard materials. Hor. Ep. ii. 1. 116.
FACTOR. A term used at the game of ball, which went by the name of datatim ludere, or catch-ball; and given to the player who threw the ball upon receiving it from the dator. Plaut. Curc. ii. 3. 18.
FACTO'RIUM, sc. vas. A receiving vessel which held the exact quantity of olives proper to be put under the press at one making (factum). Pallad. xi. 10. 1. Compare Cato, R. R. 67. 1. and Varro, R. R. i. 24. 3.
FAC'ULA. Diminutive of Fax. A small or common kind of torch; also, a strip or lath of resinous wood, out of which torches were made, by tying them up into bundles. Cato, R. R. 37. 3.
FALA. A wooden tower of several stories high, employed in sieges, but the characteristic properties of which are unknown. Festus, s. v. Ennius ap. Non. s. v. p. 114.
2. A wooden tower of similar nature, erected occasionally in the circus, upon the vacant part of the arena, between the barrier (spina) and circumference (euripus), when the military spectacle of a sham fight (decursio) was to be exhibited. Juv. vi. 589. Non. l. c. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. ix. 705.
FALA'RICA. A peculiar kind of spear intended to be discharged as a missile from the hand, and employed in warfare as well as the chase. (Virg. Æn. ix. 705. Liv. xxxiv. 14. Grat. Cyneg. 342.) It is described as a missile of the largest dimensions (Non. s. v. p. 555.); with an immense iron head, and strong wooden shaft, weighted near the top by a circular mass of lead (Isidor. Orig. xviii. 7. 8.), exactly as represented by the annexed figure, from an ancient monument published by Alstorp (de Hastis Veterum, p. 178.). Another specimen of very similar character is exhibited on a sepulchral marble discovered at Aquileia, published by Bertoli (Antichità di Aquileja, p. 153.).
2. A missile invented by the people of Saguntum, similar in many respects to the preceding, but of a still more formidable description. It was chiefly employed in sieges, and discharged with prodigious violence, by the assistance of machinery (Lucan. vi. 198.), from the lofty wooden towers called falæ, which also suggested a motive for its name. (Festus, s. v.) It is described by Liv. (xxi. 8.) and Vegetius (Mil. iv. 18.), who give it a character very similar to the preceding specimen, with the exception that the iron just under the head was enveloped in tow steeped in pitch or other inflammable materials, which was ignited before the weapon was discharged.
FALCA'RIUS. A maker of scythes and sickles (falces). Cic. Cat. i. 4. Id. Sull. 18.
FALCAS'TRUM. An instrument employed in husbandry for clearing away any thick overgrowth of weeds and bushes; consisting of the blade of a sickle (falx) affixed to a long straight handle (Isidor. Orig. xx. 14. 5.), similar to what is still used for the same object amongst ourselves. It was probably only a provincial term in use amongst the labouring population; for educated people and the agricultural writers used RUNCO.
FALCA'TUS (δρεπανηφόρος). Furnished with scythes; as, currus falcatus (see CURRUS, 6.): or, like a sickle; as, ensis falcatus. See FALX, 6.
FALCIC'ULA. Diminutive of FALX. Pallad. i. 43. 3.
FAL'CIFER. Bearing a scythe or a sickle; both of which implements were emblematically ascribed by poets and artists to old Saturnus, in allusion to his having first introduced agriculture into Italy, or to his mythical character, as the personification of Time (Cronos, Κρόνος), the destroyer of all things. (Ovid, Ib. 216. Macrob. Sat. i. 7. and 8.) The latter is introduced in the illustration, as of less common occurrence, from a medal struck in honour of Heliogabalus.
FAL'CIGER. Same as FALCIFER. Auson. Ecl. de Fer. Rom. 36.
FAL'CULA (δρεπάνιον). Diminutive of FALX. Cato, R. R. xi. 4. Columell. xii. 18. 2.
FALE'RE. An architectural term employed by Varro (R. R. iii. 5. 14. and 16.), of doubtful signification, but conjectured to mean a low wall of masonry constructed as an artificial embankment round the margin of a pool of water.
FALX (δρεπάνη, δρέπανον, ἅρπη). In a general sense, an instrument for cutting, with a curved blade and single edge; but made in various forms, as best adapted for the purposes to which it was applied, each of which was consequently distinguished by a characteristic epithet denoting the particular kind in view as:—
1. Fœnaria and Veruculata. A scythe for mowing grass (Cato, R. R. x. 3. Pallad. i. 43. 1. Columell. ii. 21. 3.), always represented in ancient works of art with a long and straight handle, as in the annexed example, which is Egyptian; but the specimen in the preceding cut, and other instances on gems and coins, all present a similar figure.
2. Stramentaria and Messoria. A sickle for reaping corn. (Cato, R. R. x. 3. Pallad. i. 43. 1.) The illustration represents an original discovered, amongst various other agricultural implements, in the city of Pompeii.
3. Denticulata (ἄρπη καρχαρόδος). A toothed sickle, employed, instead of the common one, for reaping in some parts of ancient Italy, Greece, and Egypt (Columell. ii. 21. 3.) The blade, which had its edge notched like a saw, was attached to the end of a short stick slightly bent in the back (Varro, R. R. 50. 2.); and, when in use, was held with the point upwards, in the position shown by our example, from an Egyptian painting, so that the reaper worked upwards, cutting the stalk a little below the ear (Job, xxiv. 24. "cut off the tops of the ears of corn."). The different modes of handling the toothed and the common sickle may be seen in two paintings from the tombs at Thebes, engraved by Wilkinson (Manners and Customs of the Egyptians, vol. iv. pp. 89. 98.).
4. Arboria and Silvatica. The common hedge-bill, or bill-hook (Cato, R. R. x. 3. Id. xi. 4), employed by woodmen, hedgers, and labourers of that kind; and similar in every respect to the instrument used by the same class of persons in our own day, as shown by the example, from an original found at Pompeii.
5. Vinitoria, Vineatica, and Putatoria. The vine dresser's pruning-hook (Cato, R. R. xi. 4. Pallad. i. 43. 1. Columell. iv. 25. 1.); which was a complicated sort of instrument, furnished with a variety of different edges, in order to adapt it for the many nice operations required in the pruning of vines. Each of these parts bore an appropriate name, which will be readily understood by referring to the annexed engraving, representing one of these instruments from the MSS. of Columella. The straight edge immediately above the handle was termed culter, the coulter; the curved one beyond, sinus, the bend or hollow; the edge between the hollow and the point, scalprum, the knife; the hook itself, rostrum, the beak; the projecting spike beyond, mucro, the point; and the lunated edge at the back, securis, the axe.
6. A falchion (Cic. Mil. 33. Stat. Ach. ii. 419.); which has the upper extremity of its blade very much curved, so as in some respects to resemble a sickle; whence it is also expressly designated ensis falcatus (Ovid, Met. i. 718. ib. iv. 726.), or hamatus. (Id. Met. v. 80.) A weapon of this form is frequently assigned by poets and artists to Mercury and Perseus, and is represented in the annexed engraving, from a terra-cotta lamp (Bartoli, Lucerne, iii. 13. Compare Wink. Mon. Ant. Ined. 84.), where it appears in the hand of a young warrior designed in the heroic style, with shield, helmet, and mantle of skin.
7. Supina. The knife with a curved edge, and pointed blade, employed by the class of gladiators called Thracians (Thraces), which received its designation from the manner in which it was handled; being held rather down, and, as it were, on its back (supina, Juv. Sat. viii. 201.); i. e. with the edge uppermost, so that the thrust was made at the bottom of the belly, and the wound carried in a ripping direction upwards, precisely as the modern Italians now use their knives, and, as indicated by the annexed engraving, representing one of the above-named gladiators, on a terra-cotta lamp.
8. Muralis (δορυδρέπανον). An instrument employed in warfare, both naval and military, for cutting away the masts and rigging of an enemy's vessel, clearing the battlements of their defenders, or tearing down the stones and stockades which formed a bulwark. (Cæs. B. G. iii. 14. Strabo, iv. 4. 1. Liv. xxxviii. 5. Cæs. B. G. vii. 86.) This may be readily imagined, with a massive iron head, in the shape of a sickle, affixed to the end of a strong pole or beam, which could be worked by the hand or machinery, so as to mow, cut, or pull out, in the manner described.
9. Poetically used for DOLABRA (Prop. iv. 2. 59.); an instrument which has one of its sides made in a curved form, approximating to the shape of a sickle.
FANUM. A place which had been consecrated, by the solemn formula of the augurs (effatum), to some deity (Varro, L. L. vi. 54. Liv. x. 37. Cic. Div. i. 41.); and, as a sacred edifice was generally raised and dedicated upon such places, the same term also signified the edifice or temple, with the consecrated precinct surrounding it.
FARCI'MEN. Stuffing; made of minced ingredients inclosed in the inside of any eatable. Varro, L. L. v. 111. Isidor. Orig. xx. 2. 28.
FARRA'GO. A particular kind of green crop, consisting of grain, barley, tares, and leguminous plants sown together broad-cast, and cut while green, as fodder for cattle, during the latter end of winter and commencement of spring; whence the term was metaphorically used to signify a confused jumble of things. (Varro, R. R. i. 31. 5. Columell. ii. 11. 8. Plin. xviii. 41. Nemes. Cyneg. 283.)
FARRA'RIUM. A barn for storing the grain called far, or spelt. Vitruv. vi. 9. 5.
FAR'REUM. A cake made of far or spelt. Plin. H. N. xviii. 3.
FARTOR (σιτευτής). A slave whose especial business it was to fatten poultry for the table; or one who kept and sold fatted poultry. (Columell. viii. 7. 1. Inscript. ap. Grut. 580. 15.) In the following passages, Plaut. Truc. i. 2. 11. Ter. Eun. ii. 2. 26. Hor. Sat. ii. 3. 229., the word is commonly supposed to mean a maker of sausages, or of pastry filled inside with sweetmeats; but there is no reason for the distinction, and the presence of a poulterer would be equally accordant with the context in all of them. Becker, Gallus, p. 138. Transl.
FARTU'RA. The cramming, or fattening of poultry (Columell. viii. 7. 4.); whence the term was adopted by builders to designate the mass of rubble employed for filling up the internal part of a wall between the outside surfaces, when the wall was not constructed of solid masonry or brickwork (Vitruv. ii. 8. 7.), as shown by the annexed specimen of Roman building.
FAS'CIA. In a general sense, any long narrow strip of cloth employed as a bandage; such, for instance, as the swaddling-band (σπάργανον) in which the ancients were accustomed to envelope the bodies of newly-born children. (Plaut. Truc. v. 13. Compare Amphitr. v. 1. 52.) It consisted of a long and narrow cloth-band twined, like a mummy, completely round the body from head to foot, so as to leave nothing but the face uncovered, as is plainly shown by the annexed engraving, representing an infant which is held in the arms of a tragic actress, in a Pompeian painting, and resembling in every respect the manner in which an Italian peasant woman swaddles her offspring at the present day.
2. A band worn round the head as an emblem of royalty (Seneca, Ep. 80.); more specially termed DIADEMA.
3. (ἀποδέσμος). A bandage fastened round the chests of young girls, in order to restrain the growth of the bosom by its pressure (Mart. Ep. xiv. 134. Ov. A. Am. iii. 247. Prop. iv. 9. 49.); a subdued breast being considered essential to grace and beauty in a young female figure. It was worn next to the skin, as shown by the two examples here annexed. The front view is copied from a bronze statuette (Caylus, vi. 71.), and the back one from a Pompeian painting, in which it is coloured red. But it is not to be considered as a part of the ordinary dress, nor of universal use, either in Greece or Italy; being only applied where the person inclined to excessive developement, or by mothers over anxious to promote the personal attractions of their daughters. Ter. Eun. ii. 3. 21.
4. A bandage fastened round the leg from the knee to the ankle (crus, Quint. xi. 3. 144. Val. Max. vi. 2. 7. whence termed cruralis, Ulp. Dig. 34. 2. 25.), like the annexed example, from a consular diptych. It was not worn as an ordinary part of the national costume; but only upon certain occasions, or by particular individuals; as a legging for persons in delicate health (Quint. l. c.), or whose occupations made it necessary that the skin and leg should be well protected by some defence which would not impede agility of movement, like the drivers in the Circus, of which an example is afforded by the engraving; or those who followed the active and perilous sports of the field (Grat. Cyneg. 338. Pet. Sat. 405.), of which an instance occurs in the Vatican Virgil, where Æneas, when equipped for a hunting excursion with the queen of Carthage, has his legs protected by bandages exactly like those of the charioteer here introduced.
5. (ποδεῖον, or πόδειον). A sock or stocking (Cic. Fragm. ap. Non. s. Calantica. Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 40.), which entirely enveloped the foot, and was worn with shoes (Cic. Att. ii. 3. Varro. ap. Non. s. Ephippium, p. 108.), and more particularly by women. (Cic. Fragm. l. c.) It appears on the legs of several female figures amongst the Pompeian paintings, one of which is represented by the annexed engraving; where, it will not fail to be observed, the material is evidently elastic, since it fits tight to the leg, but does not lace in front; that it has no sole, and is fastened by a sort of band or garter at the top, thus intimately resembling the hose of a Scotch highlander, whose costume, in more respects than one, betokens a very early original; and if the sock of the ancients, as is not improbable, was ornamented by a checked pattern, like the Scotch one, which imitates the interlacing of a bandage, it would explain why it was called fascia pedulis (Ulp. Dig. 34. 2. 25.), which assuredly means "a sock," for the same term "la pedule" is retained in the modern Italian language to designate the foot part of a stocking.
6. A band of coarse and strong cloth forming what is now called the sacking, or ticking, which supports the mattress of a couch or bed. (Cic. Div. ii. 65.) Several of these bands were stretched across the framework, and interlaced with cords (restes) to strain them tight, in the same manner as still practised. This is clearly to be inferred from Mart. Ep. v. 62.
7. An imaginary circle in the heavens; also called CIRCULUS and ZONA; which see. Mart. Capell. vi. 196.
8. A dark belt of clouds forming round the horizon, indicative of bad weather. Juv. Sat. xiv. 294.
9. In architecture; the fascia, or facia, as it is no called, is a member produced by dividing an even surface into separate parts, which thus possess an appearance of long flat bands lying parallel to each other. They are frequently introduced in architraves, more especially of the Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite orders, which are divided into two or three of these bands, as in the annexed example, from the temple of Bacchus at Teos, thence termed respectively the first, second, and thrid fascia, beginning from the lowest. Vitruv. iii. 5. 10.
FASCIC'ULUS. Diminutive of FASCIS. A small quantity of any thing tied up into a roll or fascine; as a nosegay (Cic. Tusc. iii. 18.); a bundle of flax (Plin. H. N. xix. 3.); or of books (Hor. Ep. i. 13. 13.), which last are shown by the engraving, as they were found in a library at Herculaneum.
FASCI'NA. Same as FASCIS, 1. Cato, R. R. xxxvii. 5.
FAS'CIOLA. Diminutive of FASCIA. A small bandage, or one made of fine materials, for infants (Vopisc. Aurel. 4.); the head (Varro, L. L. v. 130.); feet and legs (Cic. Har. Resp. 21. Hor. Sat. ii. 3. 255.); as explained in the article FASCIA.
FASCIS (φάκελος and φάκελλος). Accurately, a packet of things, but more especially wood (Hirt. B. G. viii. 15. Tac. Ann. xiii. 35.), wattled together, and made up into a faggot or fascine, for the convenience of carriage; as in the illustration, from a sepulchral painting of the Christian era; and contradistinguished from SARCINA, which is applied to such things as are wrapped up into a pack or bundle.
2. In the plural. Fasces (αἱ ῥάβδοι). The fasces carried by the lictors before certain of the Roman magistrates; with which malefactors were beaten before execution. They consisted of a number of rods cut from the birch (Plin. H. N. xvi. 30.), or elm tree (Plaut. Asin. iii. 2. 29.), wattled together, and bound round with thongs into the form of a fascine. During the reign of the kings, and under the first years of the republic, an axe (securis) was likewise inserted amongst the rods; but after the consulate of Publicola, no magistrate, except a dictator (Liv. ii. 18.) was permitted to use the fasces with an axe in the city of Rome (Cic. de Rep. ii. 31. Val. Max. iv. 1. 1.); the employment of both together being restricted to the consuls at the head of their armies (Liv. xxiv. 9.), and to the quæstors in their provinces. (Cic. Planc. 41.) The illustration affords an example of the fasces as they appeared with the axe inserted, from a bas-relief of the Mattei palace at Rome.
3. Fasces præferre and submittere. The lictor walked before the magistrate to whose service he was attached with a rod (virga) in his left hand, and the fasces on his left shoulder, as shown by the annexed figure, from a bas-relief in the Museum of Verona. This is expressed by the phrase fasces præferre; but if a magistrate of inferior rank met a superior, the lictor removed the fasces from his shoulder, and lowered them, as a mark of respect, till the great man had passed, as our soldiers ground arms in the presence of great personages. This is expressed by the phrase fasces submittere.
4. Fasces laureati. When a general had achieved a victory, he had the fasces, which were borne before him, decorated with laurel leaves (laureati, Cic. Div. i. 28. Id. Att. viii. 3.); and the emperors also added a similar ornament to their own fasces in compliment to any of their officers who had obtained a brilliant success. (Tac. Ann. xiii. 3.) The method adopted was, upon such occasions, either to insert a branch of laurel into the top of the rods, as shown by the left-hand figure in the annexed engraving, representing the fasces carried by a lictor in attendance on the Emperor Vespasian, from a bas-relief; or to fasten a laurel wreath upon them, as in the right-hand example, from a consular coin.
5. Fasces versi. In mourning, or at the funeral of commanders, the fasces were reversed (versi, Tac. Ann. iii. 2.); that is, carried with the axe downwards, as our soldiers carry their muskets upon similar occasions; and sometimes, as at the funeral of Drusus, the staves were broken (fracti fasces, Pedo Albin. El. i. 177.).
FASE'LUS (φάσηλος). A light craft invented by the Egyptians, supposed to have received its name from some resemblance to the pod of a faselus, or kidney bean. It was made of the papyrus, of wicker-work, and sometimes even of baked earth (fictilis, Juv. Sat. xv. 127.), all of which materials accord with the fragile character ascribed to it by Horace (Od. iii. 2. 28.), and account for the great speed for which it was likewise remarkable. (Catull. 4.) It was constructed of different sizes, and for various purposes; the smaller as a mere row boat (hence styled brevis. Serv. ad Virg. Georg. iv. 289.); the latter being of considerable length (Acro, ad Hor. l. c.), fitted with sails, and employed in warfare and on distant expeditions (Sall. ap. Non. s. v. p. 534. Cic. Att. i. 13.), whence it is mentioned as forming an intermediate class between the navis longa, or war galley, and the navis actuaria, or transport and packet boat. (Appian. Bell. Civ. v. 95.) The illustration, from an engraved gem of the Stosch cabinet, may be regarded as affording the probable type of a faselus of the smaller kind, both on account of its shape, the material (papyrus) of which it is made, and because it is placed under the Egyptian deity Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris.
FASTI. Year books or almanacks engraved on stone or bronze, and exposed in some public parts of the city for general inspection and information. They were of two kinds—
1. Fasti sacri, or kalendares; which were very similar to our almanacks, containing a list of the days and months in the year; the rising and setting of the fixed stars; the market days; holydays; the days on which the courts of law sat; those which were regarded as ill-omened and unlucky; together with a chronological table, enumerating important events in the history of the state, such as the anniversary of a great battle, the dedication of a temple, &c. &c., as is collected from a variety of original fragments still preserved.
2. Fasti annales, or historici. Registers containing the names of consuls and other magistrates, with the dates of their entrance upon, and retirement from office, inscribed upon slabs of marble or bronze, and preserved in the public archives. A long list of the Fasti consulares, supposed to have been engraved during the reign of Tiberius, is still displayed in the Capitol at Rome.
FASTI'GIUM. Strictly the top or crowning part of a pediment, formed by the two converging sides of the roof; whence it came to be used, in a more general sense, for the entire pediment or fronton of a religious edifice, including the whole triangular figure, consisting of the cornice of the entablature which forms its base, the two converging cornices at the sides, and the tympanum or flat surface, A, within them. Vitruv. iii. 5. 12. and 13. Cic. Orat. iii. 46. Liv. xl. 2.
2. When applied to private houses, it designates a roof rising to a point at the top, in contradistinction to a flat one (Cic. Q. Fr. iii. 1. 4.); or implies that the front of the house was covered by a portico and pediment like the pronaos of a temple; an honour not allowed to individuals, but decreed by the Romans to their Imperial rulers, as a token of divinity. (Cic. Phil. ii. 43. Florus, iv. 2.)
FAT'UI and FAT'UÆ. Idiots of both sexes, who were purchased as slaves, and kept in great Roman families for the purpose of exciting merriment by their stupidity. Senec. Ep. 50.
FAUX. From its original meaning, the gullet or entrance to the stomach, is used to designate any narrow pass or confined entrance either in natural or artificial objects; and expressly to a narrow passage which formed a communication between the two principal divisions of a Roman house, the atrium and peristylium. It was situated by the side of the tablinum; and as there were frequently two of these, one on each side of the above-named apartment, the word is commonly used in the plural (fauces, Vitruv. vi. 3. 6.) The object of it was to obviate the inconvenience of making a passage room of the tablinum, as well as to afford a ready access from one part of the house to the other, when that apartment was closed in with screens. The relative position which it bore to the other members of the house will be understood by referring to the ground-plan at p. 248., where it is marked E, and its general appearance in elevation by the annexed engraving, which presents a view from the house of the Dioscuri at Pompeii, with the ceiling only restored. The foreground shows the interior of the atrium, with its impluvium in the floor; the large deep recess on the left at the back is an open tablinum, showing the peristyle through it; and the low dark door at the side is the faux, which opens at its further end into the peristyle in the same way as it does upon the atrium on the side here shown.
2. Also in the plural; the stalls or stables for the horses and chariots in the Circus. (Ennius ap. Cic. Div. i. 48. Cassiodor. Var. Ep. iii. 51.) See CARCER, 2., where the object is described and illustrated.
FAVIS'SÆ. Pits, or cellars constructed underneath a temple, in which the sacred implements, ornaments, furniture, or other property belonging to the edifice were stowed away after they had become unfit for use. (Varro, ap. Gell. ii. 10. Brocchi, Suola di Roma p. 152.) Three pits of this nature were discovered under the ruins of an ancient temple at Fiesole, filled with broken musical instruments, various implements and utensils in ivory and bronze, as well as idols, lamps, and fictile vases, all damaged and mutilated.
FAVUS. A flag, tile, or slab of marble cut into a six-cornered figure of the same shape as the cell in a honey-comb (favus), used for making pavements of the kind termed sectilia. (Vitruv. vii. 1. 4.) The illustration represents a piece of pavement in the Thermæ of Titus at Rome; the honeycomb pattern is laid with slabs of fine marble, of the kind called pavonazzetto.
FAX (φανός). A torch; which was made out of a piece of resinous wood cut into a point, and dipped into oil or pitch; or of tow impregnated with wax, tallow, pitch, rosin, or any inflammable materials enclosed in a tube of metal, or in a bundle of wattled laths (faculæ), as shown by the illustration, from the Column of Antoninus. Virg. Georg. i. 291. Liv. xxii. 16. Plin. H. N. xix. 7.
FECIA'LIS. See FETIALIS.
FEMINA'LIA or FEMORA'LIA. Short breeches, or drawers which covered the thighs (femora), being fastened round the waist, and terminating a little below the knee (Suet. Aug. 82. Isidor. Orig. xix. 22. 29.), like the annexed figure, from the Column of Trajan. They were not, however, usually worn by the Romans in early times, except, perhaps, by some few individuals of delicate constitution, like Augustus; as in ordinary cases the long and ample toga rendered such a precaution unnecessary. But when that garment fell into disuse, they seem to have been very generally adopted; particularly by the troops engaged on foreign service in cold and northerly climates; for they appear invariably on all the figures of the triumphal arches and columns, both officers and men.
FEMUR (μηρός). In architecture, the long flat projecting face between each channel (canaliculus) of a triglyph (Vitruv. iv. 3. 5.); three of which are seen in the annexed engraving, from the frieze of a Doric temple formerly existing at Rome.
FENESTEL'LA or FENESTREL'LA. Diminutive of FENESTRA. A small window, or one which is less than the usual size. (Columell. viii. 3. 3. Pallad. i. 24.) The annexed illustration represents two of the windows in the house of the Tragic Poet at Pompeii, on the street side. They are situated on the ground floor, at a height of six feet six inches above the pavement, and are not quite three feet by two in size. By the side of each is a wooden frame for the shutter to slide into when the window was opened.
FENES'TRA (θυρίς). A window; inclusive of the aperture (lumen) in the wall, through which the light is admitted, and the casement or shutters, whether glazed, or otherwise by which it is closed. The illustration represents three ancient windows of different designs; the one on the left hand, from a Greek bas-relief in the British Museum; that on the right from the Vatican Virgil; and the centre one from a marble sarcophagus of a later period, found in the Vatican cemetery.
2. Fenestra biforis (θυρίς δικλίς). A window opening in two leaves from top to bottom, such as well call a French window. Ovid. Pont. iii. 3. 5.
3. A loop hole in the walls of a fortress, from which missiles were discharged. (Cæs. B. C. ii. 9.) The illustration, which presents a view of the Porta asinaria at Rome, constructed by Honorius, shows several of these apertures. The low-roofed building in front is a modern structure.
4. A hole pierced in the lobe of the ear for the purpose of receiving the ring of a pendant or ear-ring. (Juv. i. 104.) Many statues have been discovered with holes bored in the marble, into which real ear-rings were inserted; of which the annexed engraving, from a bust found at Herculaneum affords an example. The holes in the ears still remain, and the pupil of the eye is also hollowed to receive an artificial one.
FENES'TRULA. Same as FENESTELLA. Apul. Met. ix. p. 208.
FER'CULUM. In a general sense, that on which anything is borne; a contracted form for FERICULUM; especially a tray, on which a number of dishes were brought up at once from the kitchen into the eating room (Pet. Sat. 36. 2. Id. 39. 1. Suet. Aug. 74.); whence the same word frequently implies the dishes displayed upon it, constituting what we term a course or remove. Hor. Sat. ii. 6. 104. Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 47. Juv. i. 94.
2. A sort of portable platform borne by a number of men upon their shoulders, in solemn processions and other pageants, upon which any object of attraction was placed in order that it might be exposed to the general gaze from an elevated position; as, for example, the images of the gods at the Circensian procession (Suet. Jul. 76. Compare Cic. Off. i. 36.); the spoils of conquered nations at a triumph (Suet. Jul. 37.); and even the captives themselves, when of sufficient consequence, were subjected to this cruel exposure. (Senec. Herc. Oet. 110.) The illustration, from a bas-relief on the Arch of Titus, represents eight Roman soldiers at the triumph of that emperor, after the conquest of Jerusalem, carrying the spoils of the temple, the "table of gold" (1 Kings, vii. 48.) and trumpets on a ferculum; another bas-relief on the same arch represents a group transporting the golden candlestick in the same manner; a frieze shows a statue of the River Jordan personified, similarly transported; and a sarcophagus of the Pio-Clementine Museum affords an example of three captives, two males and a female, borne aloft upon a ferculum of the same description, by six supporters.
FERENTA'RII. A corps of soldiers in the Roman armies, classed amongst the levis armatura, or light-armed troops. (Veg. Mil. i. 20. Non. s. v. p. 554.) They were not armed for close conflict, having no defensive weapons, and only such offensive ones as were intended to be discharged from a distance (quæ ferrentur, non quæ tenerentur. Non. s. Decuriones, p. 520. Festus, s. v.), whence they are sometimes ranked with the Accensi. They were posted on the wings in the battle array; and were chiefly employed to commence the attack by a discharge of missiles (Sal. Cat. 60. Veg. l. c.); or sometimes, like the Rorarii, to annoy the enemy from between the ranks of the heavy-armed troops. Tac. Ann. xii. 35.
2. Equites ferentarii. A mounted corps of the same description, furnished with javelins for throwing at a distance, instead of the fixed cavalry lance; qui ea modo habebant arma quæ ferrentur, ut jaculum. Varro, L. L. vii. 57.
FER'ETRUM and FERET'RUM (φέρετρον). Strictly speaking, a Greek word, which the Romans expressed by capulus (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. vi. 222.); the bier, on which a dead body was carried to the grave, or to the funeral pile (Virg. Æn. vi. 222. Ov. Met. iii. 508.), represented by the illustration, from a marble tomb at Rome.
2. Same as FERCULUM, 2. Sil. Ital. x. 566. Id. xvii. 630.
FERRA'RIA, sc. fodina and officina. An iron mine; an iron foundry; and a blacksmith's workshop. Cæs. B. G. vii. 22. Liv. xxxiv. 21.
FERRA'RIUS, sc. faber, or absolutely. A smith, blacksmith, armourer, who works in iron, as contradistinguished from other metals. (Plaut. Rud. ii. 6. 47. Inscript. ap. Spon. Miscell. Antiq. p. 66.) The
FERRITER'IUM. A prison where slaves were kept in chains. Plaut. Most. iii. 2. 55. Same as ERGASTULUM.
FERRIT'ERUS. A slave kept in chains. Plaut. Trin. iv. 3. 4. See COMPEDITUS.
FERRIT'RIBAX. (Plaut. Most. ii. 1. 9.) Same as preceding.
FERULA (νάρθηξ). The fennel; a plant much used by the ancients for the infliction of slight punishments; as a schoolmaster's ferule for chastising boys on the hand (Juv. Sat. i. 15.), or the back (Apul. Met. ix. p. 196.); a riding switch (Ov. A. Am. i. 546.); and a cane for punishing slases guilty of minor offences. (Hor. Sat. i. 3. 119. Juv. vi. 479.) As an instrument of punishment, the ferula was thus the mildest of those employed by the ancients.
FES'TRA. An antiquated form of writing FENESTRA. (Festus, s. v. Pet. Fragm. xxi. 6.)
FESTU'CA. A slight rod, with which the lictor of a prætor touched the head of a slave whose owner had restored him to freedom. (Plaut. Mil. iv. i. 15. Id. Pers. v. 174.) Also called VINDICTA.
FETIA'LES (φετιάλεις and φητιάλεις). The members of a college of heralds at Rome to whom was entrusted the duty of seeking redress of grievances from hostile states, carrying declarations of war, and assisting in the conclusion of treaties of peace. They carried with them a wand (caduceus), as the emblem of amity, and a spear, as the token of war, which they hurled across the hostile frontier when hostilities were decided on. (Gell. x. 27.) The annexed figure, from an engraved gem, is supposed to represent a Fetialis about to depart upon a hostile mission from the columna bellica, on which the figure of Minerva is seen in the act of discharging a spear, as above described.
FIB'ULA (περόνη, πόρπη, ἐνετή). A brooch, employed in fastening various parts of the dress, both in male and female attire (Liv. xxvii. 19. Ov. Met. ii. 412. Id. viii. 318.); such as the chlamys, palla, pallium, sagum, and paludamentum, but not the toga, which was wrapped on the body by the amplitude of its own folds, and did not require anything to fix it. Brooches were made of various materials and patterns, in bone, ivory, bronze, the precious metals, and valuable stones set in gold; upon the same principle as is still adopted, with a sharp pin (acus, περόνη), which shifted into a catch on the rim of the ornament, and were commonly used to fasten loose draperies under the throat, or on the point of the shoulder, like the annexed example, from a fictile vase.
2. A clasp; such as were used more particularly for fastening belts, girdles, and articles of a like nature (Virg. Æn. iv. 139.), made with a hook instead of a pin, which fastened into an eye on the opposite end of the belt from that to which the fibula is fixed, as in the annexed example, representing an original military belt discovered at Pæstum; which likewise illustrates such expressions as fibula adunco morsu (Calpurn. Ecl. vii. 81.) and fibula mordaci dente. Sidon. Carm. ii. 397.
3. A buckle; employed in fastening girdles, belts, straps, harness, and things of that description (Virg. Æn. v. 313. Id. xii. 274.): usually made in the same form as our own, as shown by the annexed examples, all from ancient originals. But buckles were often made in a much more costly style, and of elaborate workmanship, as productions of art, intended to be bestowed as rewards of valour upon the military (Liv. xxxix. 31.), or worn by persons of wealth and rank (Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 12.); a specimen of which is afforded by the annexed engraving, from an original of silver found at Herculaneum. The square part was rivetted on to a belt by studs passing through the four holes visible in the engraving; the other part, which is slightly mutilated at the end, formed the buckle, with an ornamental tongue, which worked upon a pin run through the centre of the ornament.
4. A buckle, was also employed for fastening the fillet or bandeau (tænia, vitta) which young women wore round the head, to keep their hair in set. Virgil describes Camilla with her hair confined in this way (Æn. vii. 815.); and the annexed bust, from a bronze statue found at Herculaneum, shows the end of the bandeau passed under a guard beyond the buckle in the same manner as is customary at the present day.
5. In a more general sense, the word is also used to designate many things which fasten various objects together; as a trenail in carpentry (Cæs. B. G. iv. 17.); an instrument employed in the olive press room (Cato, R. R. iii. 5.); a band which braces the withies in a basket together (Cato, R. R. xxxi. 1.); and a contrivance adopted by surgeons for closing wounds (Greek, ἀγκτήρ), which compressed the lips of the orifice, and held them together, when sewing (sutura) was either inexpedient or impossible. Celsus. v. 26. 23. Ib. 7. 4.
FIC'TILE (κέραμον). A general name given to any thing made of earthenware or potter's clay; including vessels, moulds, or casts in terra-cotta, bricks, tiles, &.c
FICTOR (πλάστης). A general term for any artist who models in clay, wax, or any plastic material, as contradistinguished from one who works in bronze, marble, wood, ivory, or other solid substances. (Cic.
2. A sort of confectioner, or artiste, who executed models in pastry or wax of different animals required for sacrifice in certain religious rites, but which could not be themselves procured for the purpose. Ennius ap. Varro, L. L. vii. 4. Serv. adVirg. Æn. ii. 116.
FIDE'LIA. A sort of vessel, jar, or pot made of earthenware, or glass (Columell. xii. 38. 1.), the distinctive properties of which are not known; further than that it was employed for holding cement (Cic. Fam. vii. 29.), as well as various other things. Plaut. Aul. iv. 2. 15. Pers. Sat. v. 183. Columell. xii. 10. 4.
FIDES or FIDIS. Apparently from the Greek σφίδη, cat-gut; whence used as a general term for stringed instrument, such as the lyra, chelys, cithara. Varro, R. R. ii. 5. 12. Ov. Fast. v. 104.
FID'ICEN. A general term for a male performer on any stringed instrument. Cic. Fam. ix. 22.
FIDIC'INA. A general term for a female performer on any stringed instrument. Ter. Phorm. i. 2. 59.
FIDIC'ULA. Diminutive of FIDIS. A small or thin musical string. Cic. N. D. ii. 8.
2. Mostly in the plural, FIDICULÆ; a contrivance for torturing slaves, consisting of a number of thin cords; but the exact nature of the apparatus, as well as the manner in which it was applied, is involed in uncertainty. Suet. Cal. 33. Seneca, Ira, iii. 3. 19.
FIG'ULUS (κεραμεύς). Any artist or mechanic who works in clay; as, one who makes figures and ornaments in terra-cotta (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 43.), represented by the preceding illustration; a brick-maker (Juv. x. 171.), represented by the engraving s. LATERARIA; a potter (Varro, R. R. iii. 15. 2.), of which trade the annexed figure, from an Egyptian painting, affords and example. The potter sits on the ground before his wheel (rota), on the top of which is placed the lump of clay, which he forms into shape with this thumbs and fingers, exactly in the same manner as now practised. An engraved gem (Caylus, Recueil, &c. iv. 62.) represents an artisan of the same description, with a modelling stick in his hand, sitting before a fictile vase, which is situated on the top of a miniature kiln, to indicate that he is giving the last finish before sending it to the oven.
FIM'BRIA (θύσανοι, κροσσοί). A fringe, or ornamental border to a piece of cloth (Celsus, ii. 6. Varro, L. L. v. 79.), generally produced by leaving the extremities of the warp threads upon the cloth after it had been removed from the loom (see TELA RECTA); but rich tassels and fringes were sometimes made separately, and sewn on to the fabric at pleasure. Julius Cæsar wore them round the wrists of a long-sleeved tunic. (Suet. Cæs. 45.) The illustration is from a painting at Pompeii.
FIMBRIA'TUS (θυσανωτός). Furnished with tassels or fringes. The preceding wood-cut shows a table napkin ornamented in this way; but fringes upon wearing apparel in works of art are more especially introduced to characterise royal personages of foreign and barbarous nations, like the captive princes on the Arch of Constantine, or the Egyptian priesthood, especially Isis and her attendants, one of whom is represented in the annexed engraving, from a Pompeian painting, in the exact costume which Herodotus ascribed to that class (ii. 81.). It was a mark of singularity in Julius Cæsar that he wore a fringe on the sleeve of his tunic (Suet. Cæs. 45.); for amongst Greeks and Romans such an appendage was regarded as exclusively feminine.
2. As applied to whips, see FLAGRUM, 3.
FISCEL'LA. Diminutive of FISCINA. A small basket made of wicker work or rushes, of common use in gardening, farming, and dairy operations; particularly to hold a sort of cheese made with curdled cream (Tibull. ii. 3. 15.), called ricotta by the modern Italians; one of which is represented in the cut, with the cheese in it, from an original, as it was found at Pompeii.
2. (φιμός). A small basked put over the nose of oxen, as a muzzle, to prevent them from cropping the young shoots of the vines when ploughing (Cato, R. R. 54. 5. Plin. H. N. xviii. 49. § 2.); and of other animals of a vicious nature to prevent their biting, as shown by the annexed engraving, from the Theodosian Column. Ginzrot, 85. 3.
FISCEL'LUS. Diminutive of FISCUS. Same as FISCINA. Columell. xii. 38. 6.
FIS'CINA. A large basket, made of osiers, Spanish broom, or rushes, employed in all kinds of out-door work, in gardens, orchards, vineyards, and agricultural operations, in the same manner as the fiscella; as a fruit basket (Cic. Fl. 17.); a cheese basket (Mart. i. 44.); a muzzle for horses (Plin. xxxiv. 19. § 7.); and in the wine and oil press room for containing the grapes or olives whilst under the action of the press beam (Columell. xii. 39. 3.), the use and action of which are explained and exhibited by the article and illustration, s. TORCULAR, 1.
FIS'CUS. A large basket of the same description and uses, as described under the two preceding words;{TR: Meant are the articles FISCELLUS, and FISCINA.} and especially employed in the squeezing of grapes and olives. Columell. xii. 52. 2. Ib. 47. 9.
2. It would appear that the Romans made use of a basket of this kind for the custody of coin (Cic. Verr. i. 8. Phædr. ii. 7.); whence the term fiscus came to be applied under the Empire to that portion of the public revenue which was applied to the maintenance of the sovereign, like our "civil list," as contradistinguished from the personal and private property of the prince (res privata Principis, ratio Cæsaris), and from the Exchequer, or Treasury of the State (ærarium), out of which the expenses of the government were defrayed. But this distinction is not always strictly observed.
FIS'SIPES. Cloven footed; whence used to designate a reed pen (Auson. Epist. vii. 50.), which was made, like our own, with a split at the nibs; see the illustration s. ARUNDO, 5.
FISTU'CA. A rammer, with which walls of masonry, floorings, and pavements were levelled and consolidated (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 61. Cato, R. R. 28. 2.), as shown by the annexed example, from the Column of Trajan; also employed for driving piles under water (Cæs. B. G. iv. 17.); but that, from the nature of the service performed, must have been a larger and more powerful instrument, and probably was worked by machinery.
FISTUCA'TUS. Beaten down, consolidated, or driven in with a rammer (fistuca). Vitruv. vii. 4. 5. Plin.
FIS'TULA (σωλήν). A water pipe. (Cic. Rabir. perd. 11. Frontin. Aq. 25.) These were generally made of lead; but in the Villa of Antoninus Pius at Lanuvium, a portion of one has been discovered, weighing between thirty and forty pounds of pure silver, so that the description of Statius (Sylv. i. 5. 48.), which records a similar extravagance is not a poetic fiction. The example here given represents part of an original excavated in Rome, where many similar specimens have been found, all of which possess the same peculiarity of form as here observable, being compressed at the top, but circular below.
2. (σύριγξ). A Pan's pipe, made of the stalks of the reed, cane, or hemlock. (Virg. Ecl. ii. 36. Tibull. ii. 5. 31.) See ARUNDO, 6.
3. A writing pen made of reed, or cane. (Pers. iii. 14.) See ARUNDO, 5.
4. (καθετήρ). A metal catheter, distinguished by the ancient surgeons, as well as our own, into two sorts, the male and female. (Celsus, vii. 26. 1.) See CATHETER.
5. An implement employed by the shoemaking trade; perhaps, a shoe-maker's punch. Plin. H. N. xvii. 23.
6. A rolling pin for making pastry. Apic. 42.
7. Fistula farraria, ferraria, or serrata. Supposed to be a machine for grinding corn (Plin. H. N. xviii. 23. Cato, R. R. 10. 3.), but the readings are uncertain; some of the old editions of Cato have fiscella farinaria.
FISTULA'TOR. One who blows the Pan's pipe (fistula), Cic. Or. iii. 61. in which passage it is specially used to designate a piper employed by the Roman orators to assist them in keeping their voices at a proper pitch, one of whom, it is insinuated by Cicero, always accompanied Gracchus when he spoke in public.
FISTULA'TUS. Hollow, perforated, or fitted with tubes. Suet. Nero, 31.
FLABELLI'FER. In a general sense, any one who carries a fan (flabellum); the name is specially given to young slaves of the male or female sex (Plaut. Trin. ii. 1. 29.), whose business it was to carry their mistress's fan, and fan her when required. The illustration represents a Cupid as the fan-bearer of Ariadne, lamenting her desertion, in a Pompeian painting; other designs in that city, as well as on fictile vases, exhibit females in a similar capacity.
FLABELL'UM (ῥιπίς). A fan. (Terent. Eun. iii. 5. 50.) The fans of the Greek and Roman ladies were made with the leaves of the lotus plant, of peacock's feathers (Prop. ii. 24. 11.), or some expansive material, painted in brilliant colours (Mart. iii. 82.); were not constructed to open and shut, like ours, but were stiff, and had a long handle, the most convenient form for the manner in which they were used; viz. for one person to fan another, a slave being always employed for the purpose. (FLABELLIFER.) The left-hand figure in the illustration represents a fan of lotus leaf, from a Pompeian painting; the right-hand one, of peacock's feathers, from a painting discovered at Stabia.
FLAGELLUM (μάστιξ). A cat, or scourge; made with a great number of knotted and twisted tails, like the numerous feelers of the polypus, which are consequently deisgnated by the same name (Ov. Met. iv. 367.); chiefly employed for the punishment of slaves. (Juv. vi. 478. Hor. Sat. i. 2. 41. Ib. 3. 119. Marcell. Dig. 48. 19. 10.) Though a diminutive of FLAGRUM, it was in reality an instrument of greater severity; the diminutive only applying to the fineness of the fibres which composed it, but which, by their very nature, increased the sufferings inflicted. Consequently, it is characterised by the epithet horribile; in some cases, even producing death (Hor. ll. cc.); and the nature of the wound produced by it is always specified by words which are descriptive of cutting, such as cædere, secare, scindere (Hor. Juv. ll. cc. Ov. Ibis, 183.), in contradistinction to those connected with flagrum, which express an action of thumping or pounding, such as pinsere or rumpere. The scourge held by the upright figure in the illustration, which is copied from the device on the handle of a bronze jug found at Pompeii, is no doubt intended to represent one of these instruments; but it will be readily conceived from the minuteness of the design, consequent upon the confined space allotted to it, that it affords only an imperfect idea of the real object.
2. A driving-whip (Virg. Æn. v. 579. Sil. iv. 440.); in which case we may infer that it designates one of a severer description than those commonly used; with two or three thongs, for instance, instead of a single one like the scutica. The specimen here introduced is used by a Triton in a Pompeian painting.
3. The thong attached to a harpoon (aclis), for the purpose of drawing it back again to the person who had launched it. Virg. Æn. vi. 730. Servius ad l.
FLA'GRUM. An instrument employed chiefly for the punishment of slaves (Plaut. Amph. iv. 2. 10. Mart. xiv. 79.), consisting of several chains with knobs of metal at their extremities (whence durum, Juv. v. 172.), appended to a short handle, in the same manner as a whip; but which dealt out heavy blows rather than lashes; consequently the effects produced by it are described by words expressive of thumping, pounding, and breaking (pinsere, Plaut. Merc. ii. 3. 80. rumpere, Ulp. Dig. 47. 10. 9.), and not of cutting, or lashing, which is characteristic of the flagellum. Livy (xxviii, 11.), however, has cæsa flagro. The illustration is copied from an original found at Herculaneum, in the houses of which city other specimens have been found, with two and five tails, but otherwise of similar character to the present.
2. Flagrum talis tessellatum (μάστιξ ἀστραγαλωτή). A whip composed of a number of long lashes (prolixe fimbriatum), with the pastern bones (tali) of sheep tied up in them, and affixed to a short handle, with which the priests of Cybele affected to flog themselves for the purpose of exciting compassion amongst the ignorant multitude. (Apul. Met. vii. p. 173.) The example annexed, corresponding in every respect with the above description, is copied from a marble bas-relief representing Cybele surrounded by various implements employed in her worship, of which the above forms one.
3. Flagrum fimbriatum (Apul. l. c.), furnished with a number of lashes, which hang together like a fringe (fimbria), whence the name.
FLAMEN. A Flamen; the title given to any Roman priest attached to the service of some single divinity (Cic. Leg. ii 8.), each being distinguished by the name of the deity to whom he ministered (Varro, L. L. v. 84.); as Dialis, of Jupiter; Martialis, of Mars; Quirinalis, of Romulus. His pontifical dress was the læna, fastened by a brooch at the throat, and the cap called apex, with an olive stick and flock of wool on its crown. Serv. ad Virg. Æn., iv. 262.
FLAMIN'ICA. The wife of the Flamen Dialis. Festus, s. Flamen.
FLAMMEA'RIUS. One who makes, or deals in, flammea. Plaut. Aul. iii. 5. 35. and FLAMMEUM.
FLAMM'EOLUM. Diminutive of FLAMMEUM; not, however, meaning small in size, but of a very fine and thin texture; consequently, of greater value. Juv. x. 334.
FLAM'MEUM. The marriage veil, worn by a Roman bride on her wedding day. It was of a deep and brilliant yellow colour (Plin. H. N. xxi 22.), like a flame, from which circumstance the name arose; and of large dimensions, sufficient to cover the whole person from head to foot. During the ceremony it was worn over the head, to shield the downcast looks of virgin modesty (Lucan. ii. 361.), as exhibited in the above figure, from a Roman marble, representing a bride (nupta) at her wedding; and was so kept until she arrived at her new home, when she was unveiled by her husband; as exemplified by the annexed figure, also from a Roman marble, which represents a young bride sitting on a couch, with the flammeum still on her shoulders, though unveiled, and exhibiting a very natural gesture of feminine modesty, or regret for the loss of her old friends and companions.
FLAM'MULA. A banner used in late times by some of the cavalry regiments of the Roman armies (Veget. Mil. ii. 1. Id. iii. 5.); which may have received the name from being of a yellow colour, like the bridal veil (flammeum); or from being notched at the end into long pointed forks, like a flame (flamma), a specimen of which is exhibited in the annexed wood-cut from the arch of Septimius Severus.
FOCA'LE (προσγναθίδιον). A wrapper for the neck and jaws (fauces, quasi faucale), like our neck-cloth or cravat; originally only worn by delicate persons and invalids (Hor. Sat. ii. 3. 255. Quint. xi. 3. 144.), not as an ordinary part of the Roman costume, as it is of ours; but when the extension of the Empire forced the Roman soldier to endure the severities of northern climates, it seems to have been generally adopted in the army; for it is universally worn by the troops in the armies of Trajan, Antoninus, and Septimius Severus, in the manner shown by the annexed example, the ends of which hang down over the chest exactly as described by the Scholiast on Horace (l. c.), a collis dependentia, ad fovendum collum, et fauces contra, frigus muniendas.
FOCA'RIUS. One of the lowest class of household slaves, attached to the kitchen department, where he had to attend to the fire, and probably perform the common drudgery of the place. Ulp. Dig. 4. 9. 1.
2. Focaria. A female slave employed in the above services; a kitchen-maid. Ulp. Dig. 33. 7. 12. Pomp. ib. 15.
FOC'ULUS. Diminutive of FOCUS; any small or portable fire-place; especially in the following specific senses and uses:—
1. The cavity on the top of an altar for burnt-offerings, within which the fire was kindled (Liv. ii. 12.); whence also used for the altar itself. (Cic. Dom. 47.) The example represents a small marble altar, showing the foculus at the top, from an original found at Antium.
2. (ἐσχάριον). A brazier, or chafing-dish, in which charcoal or wood-ashes were burnt, for the purpose of warming apartments. Many of these have been discovered in the houses of Herculaneum and Pompeii both round and square, but similar in general character to the specimen annexed, from an original of bronze.
3. A small portable stove or fire-place, employed for culinary and other purposes. (Plaut. Capt. iv. 2. 67. Juv. Sat. iii. 262.) The example, from a painting found in Herculaneum, shows the stove raised upon a stand supported on three legs, in order to give room for ventilation underneath, the door in front through which the charcoal was to be inserted, and a vessel on the top, containing the ingredients which the figure stirs round whilst they boil.
FOCUS (ἑστία, ἐσχάρα). A fire-place; the hearth of a house. (Cic. Sen. 16. Hor. Od. i. 9. 5. Tibull. i. 1. 6.) Amongst the Romans, the hearth was consecrated to the Lares, and held as a sacred spot in the house; consequently, it was situated in the public hall, or atrium, where the altar of the household gods also stood (see ARA, 5.): hence the frequent juxtaposition of the words pro aris et focis in solemn adjurations. It consisted of a square platform of stone or bricks, raised a few inches only from the ground, as is manifested by numerous instances still visible at Pompeii; upon this the fire was kindled with logs of wood resting upon andirons (varæ), but in most cases without any flue or chimney to carry off the smoke.
2. Same as FOCULUS, 1. The hollow part at the top of an altar, for burnt-offerings, in which the fire was kindled; thence, the altar itself. Ov. A. A. i. 637. Tibull. i. 8. 70.
3. Focus turicremis. A brazier or fire-pan, made of metal and furnished with handles for the convenience of transport from place to place, and placed upon solemn occasions before the altar or statue of a divinity, to serve the purpose of a censer for burning pastiles of frankincense. (Ov. Her. ii. 18. Marini, Fr. Arv. p. 311.) The illustration, from an ancient Roman fresco, exhibits a female with a dish of pastiles in her left hand, and the focus turicremis burning on the ground beside her, into which she drops them one by one.
4. A sort of hot plate, invented by the luxurious Romans for the purpose of having their soups and ragouts thoroughly hot when brought to table. It was made of metal, and contained a fire of kindled charcoal, as well as the dish or vessel with the viands ready cooked, all of which were thus carried up at once from the kitchen to the dining-room, which Seneca expresses by saying the kitchen accompanies the meal—culina cœnam prosequitur. (Senec. Ep. 78.) The illustration represents an utensil of this kind, from an original in bronze found at Pompeii, with a section of the inside, and a drawing of the pan which contained the viands, placed between them. The charcoal was inserted and replenished through the small door at the bottom; the smoke escaped through two apertures at the sides, each ornamented by a lion's head; the handles at the top served to carry it; and the pan was let in at the top, where it was supported over the fire by the rim round its surface.
FODI'NA (μέταλλον). A mine from which minerals, &c. are dug; each particular mine being marked by a distinguishing epithet; as, auri fodina, a gold mine; argenti fodina, a silver mine; which are also frequently written as one word. Ulp. Dig. 27. 9. 3. Vitruv. Plin.
FŒNIS'ECA, FŒNISEC'TOR, FOENISEX'. A mower of grass with a scythe, as contradistinguished from a reaper of corn with a sickle. Columell, ii. 18. 5. Id. xi. 1. 12. Varro, R. R. i. 49. 2.
FOLLICULA'RE (ἄσκωμα). The shaft of an oar at the point where it protrudes from the oar port, which was encircled by a leather cap or bag (folliculus), to ease the wear and tear of the oar, and prevent the water in heavy seas from entering the vessel through the port. Both the form and situation of this cap are clearly shown by the illustration, which represents several oars furnished with the guard described, as they are seen on the side of a vessel in a bas-relief of the Villa Albani.
FOLLIC'ULUS. Diminutive of FOLLIS.
FOLLIS. A ball inflated with air, and of large dimensions, which, from its lightness, was peculiarly adapted for the amusement of very young or old people, as affording exercise without violent exertion. (Mart. xiv. 47.) The annexed illustration is from the device on a coin of Gordian iii., as published by Mercuriali (Gymn. p. 126.); and resembles, both in the size of the inflated bladder, and the manner in which it is employed, an amusement still common in Italy, known as the game of the big ball (il giuco del pallone), at which the players have their right arms, from the elbow to the wrist, covered with a guard like that exhibited in the engraving; with this they strike the ball, which another person delivers to them, as the bowler does at cricket.
2. A cushion or mattress inflated with air, instead of stuffed with feathers, which latter was considered more luxurious. Lamprid. Elag. 25.
3. A large leather bag for holding money (Juv. xiv. 281.); especially used in the army as a military chest for keeping the soldiers’ pay. Veg. Mil. ii. 20.
4. (φύσα). A pair of bellows; consisting of two boards, with an air-valve (parma), united by a skin of ox or cow hide, so as to form a machine similar to what we now use, as shown by the annexed figure, from a terra-cotta lamp, in the collection of Licetus (Lucern., vi. 24. 2.), Cic. N. D. i. 20. Pers. v. 11. Bellows, also made of goat's skin (folles hircini), are mentioned by Horace (Sat. i. 4. .19.); and of bull's hide (folles taurini) by Virgil (Georg. iv. 171.); but this latter is only to be taken as a poetical expression, or was written in ignorance of a well known fact, that bull’s leather is unfit for making bellows. Beckman, Hist. of Inventions, vol. 1. p. 64. London, 1846.
5. Follis fabrilis. A blacksmith’s bellows (Liv. xxxvii. 7.) of large dimensions, such as employed in our forges; of which an instance is afforded by the engraving s. FERRARIUS.
FORCEPS (πυράγρα). A pair of tongs, such as were used by smiths for taking the heated metal out of the fire, and holding it upon the anvil, whilst being worked. (Isidor. Orig. xix. 7. 3. Ov. Met. xii. 277. Virg. Æn. vii. 453.) The example represents a pair of Vulcan’s tongs, from a marble bas-relief. Compare illustrations s. MARCUS and MARCULUS.
2. (ῥιζάγρα). A particular kind of dentist’s instrument, in the form of pincers, employed for extracting the roots of decayed teeth (Celsus, vii. 12. 1.); a purpose which medical men have assigned to the instrument here figured, from an original discovered, amongst other surgical instruments, in a house at Pompeii, and for which it seems well adapted.
3. (ὀδοντάγρα). A pair of pincers for drawing teeth (Celsus, vii. 12. 1.), which were constructed with bent claws (uncis). Lucil. Sat. xix. 11. Gerlach.
4. (ὀδοντάγρα) Serv. ad. Virg. Æn. xi. 404.) A pair of pincers expressly constructed for the purpose of extracting spear or arrow heads from wounds. Virg. and Serv. l. c.
5. In military language; same as FORFEX, 3. Cato, ap. Fest. s. Serra.
FORFEX (ψαλίς, μάχαιρα διπλῆ, Pollux. ii. 32.) A pair of scissors, clippers, or shears, employed for snipping (Columell. xii. 44. 4.), clipping the hair or beard (Mart. vii. 95.), shearing sheep (Calpurn. Ecl. v. 74.), and other similar purposes. The example represents a pair of sheep shears, as seen over the figure of a ram in an engraved gem; and the wood-cut at p. 208 shows an instrument of exactly the same form, used as a pair of scissors by a party of garland makers. The form of the instrument, moreover, which is round at the bottom, as Galen describes the Greek ψαλίς, not only identifies that word with the Latin forfex, but also accounts for the secondary meanings which it bore; viz. a vault, an absis, and an arched aqueduct.
2. A pair of shears for raising weights. Vitruv. x. 2. 2.
3. In military language, a tenaille, or body of troops disposed in the form of the letter V, to receive the attack of another advancing in the shape of a wedge (cuneus), which it admitted within its position, and then closed upon its flanks. Veg. Mil. iii. 18. Gell. x. 9.
FORFIC'ULA (ψαλίδιον). Diminutive of FORFEX. Plin. H. N.. xxv. 23.
FORI. Plural of FORUS. The ship’s floors (Latin and Anglo-Saxon Glossary of the 10th century). This includes the flooring of the deck (Gell. xvi. 19. 3.); the gangways by which the mariners passed about the vessel (Cic. Sen. 6. Lucan. iii. 630.), those between the rowers' benches (Virg. Æn. vi. 412.), and perhaps the benches themselves. Isidor. Orig. xix. 2.
2. The standing-places on a temporary platform erected for the accommodation of spectators at a public show. Liv. i. 35. Festus, s. Forum.
3. The floors, one above the other, by which the Roman agriculturists sometimes divided their beehives (Virg. G. iv. 250.) into a number of separate stories; as shown by the annexed example, from an original of bronze discovered at Pompeii. The left-hand figure shows the outside; the right-hand one, a section of the inside divided into stories; and the top one the moveable lid with its handle.
4. Narrow furrows in a field or garden formed into parallel lines by the hoe. Columell. x. 92. 1.
FOR'ICA. A set of public privies, like the cabinets d'aisance of Paris, distributed in various parts of the city for the convenience of the population. A small fee charged for the accommodation, together with the profits arising from the sale of the contents, induced individuals to take such premises on lease, as a means of gaining a livelihood. Juv. iii. 38. Ruperti ad l.; but compare Furnaletti,
FORICA'RIUS. The lessee of a FORICA. Paul. Dig. 22. 1. 17. § 5.
FORIC'ULA. Diminutive of FORIS; a window-shutter. (Varro, R. R. i. 59. 1.) See the illustration s. FENESTELLA, which shows a shallow recess on the outside of the wall, to receive a wooden shutter when it was pushed back from the window.
FORIS (σανίς, κλισιάς, θύρετρον). The door itself, as distinct from the doorcase (Liv. vi. 34. Cic. Verr. ii. 1. 26. Plaut. Curc. i. 3. 1.); and especially of one which opened outwards. (Serv. Æn. i. 449.) The doors of the ancients were generally made in two leaves, like our folding-doors (illustration s. JANUA); consequently, the word foris is mostly used in the plural; but when it occurs in the singular, we are to understand that one only of the leaves is meant (Ov. Her. xii. 150.), or that the door consisted of a single leaf, which the ancients sometimes used in the interior of their houses, as shown by the illustration, from the Vatican Virgil.
2. Fores carceris. The doors which closed the front of a stall in the circus, in which the horses and chariots were stationed before they started for the race, as shown by the annexed wood-cut, from a bas-relief in the British Museum. Ov. Trist. v. 9. 29.
FORMA (τύπος). A model, mould, or form, by which other things of a plastic, fusible, or ductile nature are made to assume any shape required; as—
1. A mould for taking terra-cotta casts. These were made of stone, with the design engraved upon them in intaglio, into which the wet clay was pressed, and then put into an oven to be baked in its mould. The illustration shows an original mould on the right hand, found at Ardea, with the cast from it (ectypus) on the left.
2. (χόανος). A mould for fusible metals, casts in bronze (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 49.), coins (Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 39.), and similar objects, also made of stone, sufficiently hard to resist the molten heat; or of baked earth; of which material the annexed example is composed, representing an original mould for coins, with a specimen of the money upon a rather larger scale by the side. A number of models, with a reverse of the device engraved on both sides, are arranged in the case, at a distance from one another corresponding with the exact thickness of the intended coin; the liquid metal was poured into the groove at the side, from which it flowed through the holes there seen, and produced a perfect coin between each layer of the types.
3. A mould for making bricks. Pallad. vi. 12.
4. A mould in which cream cheeses were pressed, made of box-wood (Columell. vii. 8. 7.); also designated by the diminutive Formula. Pallad. vi. 9. 2.
5. (καλάπους). A. shoemaker's last; made of wood, like our own, and with a handle to it, as shown by the annexed example from a painting of Herculaneum, representing two genii as shoemakers engaged at their trade. Hor. Sat. ii. 3. 106. Ulp. Dig. 9. 2. 5. § 3.
6. The water-way, or channel of an aqueduct, or that part of it which is conducted underground, instead of being raised upon arches (Frontin. Aq. 75. 126.) and which are consequently embedded in earth, like a cast in its mould.
FORMA'CEUS. See PARIES.
FORMEL'LA. Diminutive of FORMA. Either a small mould for giving an artificial and fanciful form to fish when dressed up for dinner, or probably a mould in the shape of a fish, like the annexed specimen, from an original found in Pompeii. Apic. ix. 13.
FORMI'DO. A sort of scarecrow, employed by huntsmen for the purpose of driving their prey in a particular direction, to where the toils were laid. It consisted of a long line stretched across any given district, to which a number of feathers of different colours were attached; and as these fluttered in the wind, they frightened the animals, and deterred them from retreating towards the site where the scarecrow was exhibited. (Grat. 85. 88. Nemes. 304. Virg. Æn. xii. 750. Senec. Ira. ii, 12.) Hence the allusion of Horace (Sat. i. 8. 3.), when he terms Priapus the terror of thieves—furum formido.
FOR'MULA. Diminutive of FORMA.
FORNACA'RIUS, FORNACA'TOR, FURNACA'TOR. The slave who attended an oven, or a furnace at the baths. Ulp. Dig. 9. 2. 27. Paul. Dig. 33. 7. 14. Inscript. in the baths at Pompeii.
FORNAC'ULA. FORNAC'ULA. Diminutive of FORNAX. A small furnace for smelting metals (Juv. x. 82.); or for heating, boiling, or melting anything of a liquid or fusible nature. The illustration represents an ancient Roman fornacula in elevation, like one of our coppers, from an excavation near Wansford in Northamptonshire, and was intended for making the glaze employed in a neighbouring pottery, to varnish over the outsides of the earthenware vessels there made. The small cut, let into the text, presents a transverse section of the copper and furnace, and shows how they were constructed.
2. Fornaculæ balnearum. The furnace and flues employed for heating the thermal chamber in a set of baths (Fronton. ad M. Cæs. 1. Ep. 2.), which are plainly shown in the annexed engraving, representing the section of a bath-room excavated at Tusculum; the furnace is seen on the left, with the boilers over it, and the flues extending under the whole flooring of the room towards the right.
FORNAX (κάμινος). An oven or kiln for baking pottery. (Cic. N. D. i. 37.) The illustration shows the remains of a Roman pottery kiln, discovered near Castor in Northamptonshire. The low door in front is the entrance to the furnace (præfurnium); the circular building at the back, the kiln in which the vessels were baked upon a floor suspended over the furnace. The floor still remains entire, as shown by the elevation; but the manner in which it was supported by a central pillar, the locality of the furnace, the situation of the vessels, and the vaulting which covered-in the oven, will be better understood by the annexed section of the structure, in which all these particulars are visible; and nothing is added but some vases and a dotted line to complete the original form of the kiln.
2. Fornax æraria. A smelting furnace (Plin. H. N. xi. 42. Virg. Æn. vii. 636.); of which an example is given at p. 104. s. CAMINUS.
3. Fornax calcaria. A lime kiln (Cato, R. R. xxxviii. 4.); constructed in the following manner:—An excavation was made in the earth of sufficient depth to form a spacious vault (fornix) for the furnace, and provided with an entrance mouth (præfurnium), both in front and rear; the former for introducing the fuel, the latter for removing the embers. The gulley or shafts (fauces) which formed the approaches to the mouths of the furnace, were sunk in a perpendicular direction, in order to screen the furnace and its apertures from currents of wind. The part of the kiln above ground (summa fornax) was then built up with bricks or rough stones (cæmenta), coated with clay to confine the heat, and of a concial form, six feet wide at bottom, converging to three at the top, where it ended in a circular aperture or chimney (orbis summus).
4. Fornax balinei. (Labeo. Dig. 19. 2. 58.) The furnace of a bath. See FORNACULA, 2.
FORNICA'TUS. See PARIES.
FORNIX. An arch; a mechanical construction in the form of a segment of a circle, formed by intrados and voussoirs which hold themselves together by mutual gravitation. (Cic. Top. 4. Seneca, Ep. 90.) Same as ARCUS, 4. which see.
2. An archway, erected by some individual to commemorate himself, and ornament the city (Cic. Verr. i. 7. ii. 63. Liv. xxxiii. 27. Id. xxxvii. 3.); but not a triumphal arch (arcus triumphalis), as is proved by the above passages from Livy; one of which has reference to an archway erected by Scipio Africanus before the commencement of a campaign, the other L. Stertinius at the conclusion of his command, which ended without a triumph. Thus the archway which forms one of the entrances into the Forum at Pompeii would be properly termed a fornix; that of Titus, of Septimius Severus, or of Constantine at Rome, an arcus; though the external appearance, in respect of ornament and design, was the same in both. See ARCUS, 5. and the illustration there given.
3. A vault, or vaulted chamber; especially of a confined and common description, such as was inhabited by slaves and poor people; hence, the cell of a common prostitute (Hor. Sat. i. 2. 30. Juv. xi. 171.), for at Rome such persons pursued their vocation in vaults of this description; which practice has given rise to the modern term fornication. The illustration represents a set of small rooms constructed in this manner amongst the ruins of a Roman villa on the bay of Gaieta. The doors and wall which closed them in front have perished; but the remains are sufficient to give a clear notion of the construction termed fornix.
4. A vaulted sally-port in the towers and walls of fortified places, by which the defenders might make a sudden irruption against their assailants. (Liv. xxxvi. 23.) The illustration represents one of the towers belonging to the walls of Pompeii, in its present state, with a sally-port, on the left, at the bottom; the two dark arches, exposed above, contain the staircases, and were concealed by the external wall, when the tower was in its original state.
FORNUS. Same as FURNUS. Varro, ap. Non. s. v. p. 531.
FORPEX. (Cato, R. R. x. 3. Suet. Aug. 75.) Same as FORFEX. A pair of tongs.
FORTAX. (Varro, R. R.. xxxviii. 4.) Applied to masses of chalk arranged together in the form of an arch (fornix) over the fire in a lime kiln, so as to support themselves by mutual gravity, and the whole mass above them in the kiln, while under the process of burning for making lime.
FOR'ULUS. A dwarf bookcase, or cabinet for books (Juv. iii. 219.); not permanently fixed to the walls, like the armarium, but forming a small moveable repository (Suet. Aug. 31.), for a few favourite authors, like the example annexed, from a bas-relief on a sarcophagus, now used as the receiving basin of a fountain in one of the streets at Rome.
FORUM. In its original sense, implied the uncovered space of ground left in front of a tomb, and in which the same right of property existed as in the sepulchre itself. Festus, s. v. Cic. de Legg. ii. 24.
2. (ἀγορά). A market-place; consisting of a large open area in the centre, where the country people exhibited their produce for sale, surrounded by outbuildings and colonnades, under which the different trades erected stalls, and displayed their wares or merchandise. In small towns a single forum would suffice for different markets; but in large cities, like Rome, almost every class of provision dealers had a market of their own, distinguished by the name of the produce sold in it; as forum boarium, the cattle market; olitorium, the cabbage or vegetable market; both of which are represented in the
3. The Forum; i. e. a large open area, of a nature somewhat similar to the last described; but laid out upon a much more magnificent scale, and intended as a place for holding public meetings in the open air, and for the transaction of judicial and commercial business, rather than a mere provision market. (Varro, R. R. v. 145.) It was surrounded by the principal public buildings and offices of state, courts of justice, basilicæ, places of worship, and spacious colonnades of one or more stories, in which the merchants, bankers, and money dealers had their counting-houses, and transacted their business. (Vitruv. v. 1. 2.) Of the famous Roman forum nothing now remains but the ruins of some of the edifices which stood in or around it, still rising in solitary grandeur on the spot, or interspersed amongst the modern buildings which encumber the site. Its former level lies buried beneath a depth of twelve or fourteen feet of earth and rubbish, so that the very site it occupied, its bearings and dimensions, form one of the most disputed points of Roman topography. But the excavations of Pompeii have opened the Forum of that city, the remains of which are sufficiently circumstantial to enable us to trace the ground-plans of the various edifices surrounding it, and to assign some probable use to each of them; and will thus afford a general notion of the usual appearance of these places, and of the manner in which they were laid out. The central area is paved with large square flags, on which the bases for many statues still remain, and surrounded by a Doric colonnade of two stories, backed by a range of spacious and lofty buildings all round. The principal entrance is through an archway (fornix) (A), on the left-hand corner of the plan, and by the side of a temple of the Corinthian order (B), supposed to have been dedicated to Jupiter. On the opposite flank of this temple is another entrance into the Forum, and by its side the public prison (carcer) (C), in which the bones of two men with fetters on their legs were found. Adjacent to this is a long shallow building (D), with several entrances from the colonnade, surmised by the Neapolitan antiquaries to have been a public granary (horreum). The next building is another temple of the Corinthian order (E), dedicated to Venus, as conjectured from an inscription found on the spot. It stands in an area, enclosed by a blank wall and peristyle, to which the principal entrance is in a side street, abutting on the Forum, and flanking the basilica (F), beyond which there are three private houses out of the precincts of the Forum. The further or southern side of the square is occupied by three public edifices (G, H, I), nearly similar to one another in their plans and dimensions. All these have been decorated with columns and statues, fragments of which still remain on the floor; but there are no sufficent grounds for deciding the uses for which they were destined. The first is merely conjectured to have been a council chamber (curia); the second, the treasury (ærarium); and the last, another curia. Beyond these is another street, opening on the Forum; and, turning the angle, are the remains of a square building (K), for which no satisfactory use can be suggested. The space behind is occupied by the sites of three private houses. The next object is a large plot of ground (L), surrounded by a colonnade (porticus) and a cloister (crypta), and decorated in front, where it faces the Forum, by a spacious entrance porch or vestibule (chalcidicum), all of which were constructed at the expense of a female named Eumachia. Beyond this is a small temple (M) upon a raised basement, attributed by some to Mercury, by others to Quirinus; and adjoining to it, an edifice (N), with a large semicircular tribune or absis at its further extremity, supposed to have been a meeting-hall for the Augustals, or a town-hall (senaculum) for the Pompeian senate. The rear of both these structures is covered by the premises belonging to a fuller's establishment (fullonica). The last structure (O) is a magnificent building, with various appurtenances behind it, commonly called the Pantheon, from twelve pedestals placed in a circle round an altar in their centre, supposed to have supported the statues of the Dii Magni, or twelve principal divinities; but the style of the decorations, and the subjects of the numerous paintings which ornamented its walls, afford considerable weight to another ingenious conjecture which has been hazarded, that it was a banquetting-hall belonging to the Augustals.
4. (Perhaps ὑπολήνιον). A particular part of the press-room, where wine or oil was made. Varro, i. 54. 2. Columell. xi. 2. 71. Id. xii. 18. 3. In all these passages, it is enumerated with the presses and other instruments and vessels employed in the operation; and the name would be well adapted to the parts marked H H on the plan of the press-room ecavated at Stabia, which illustrates the word TORCULARIUM.
FORUS. Same as FORUM. Lucil. Sat. iii. 23. Gerlach. Pompon. ap. Non. p. 206.
FOSSOR (ὀρύκτης). An excavator (Inscript. ap. Murat. 1970. 3.); or a miner (Stat. Theb. ii. 418.); i. e. a labourer who digs out, or deep into, the ground with a sharp-pointed instrument, like the mattock (dolabra fossoria), as shown by the aannexed illustration, which represents an excavator at work amongst the Roman catacombs, from a sepulchral painting of the Christian era. The lamp at his side indicates that the scene of his operations is laid underground.
2. But as the excavator made use of the spade (pala) to clear away the soil which had been loosened by his mattock (dolabra), the word is also employed to designate a digger, or agricultural labourer, who turns up or trenches the ground with a spade, (Virg. Georg. ii. 264. Pallad. i. 6. 11.) in the manner shown by the annexed example, from a painting of the same description as the last.
FRACES (στέμφυλα). The husks of the olive, after the juice had been extracted by bruising and squeezing the fruit. Cato, R. R. 56. 2. Id. 67. 2.
FRAM'EA. The spear used by the Germans, which had a short, but very sharp iron head, and was employed both as a pike at close quarters, and as a missile for hurling (Tac. Germ. 6.), in which manner it is used by the annexed figure, representing a German warrior, on the Column of Antoninus.
FRENUM (χαλινός). A horse's bridle, including the bit, head-piece, and reins. (Cic. Hor. Virg.) The example is copied from the arch of Septimius Severus.
FRIGIDA'RIUM. A cool place or larder for preserving meat. Lucil. Sat. viii. 7. Gerlach.
2. One of the chambers mentioned by Vitruvius, as connected with the bathing department of a gymnasium (Vitruv. v. 11. 2.); the actual use and precise nature of which he does not state, nor is it easy to determine. However, it was certainly distinct from the cold-water bath (frigida lavatio), with which it is enumerated, but situated in an opposite angle of the edifice, and adjoining the oiling room (elæothesium), precisely as represented in a painting from the Thermæ of Titus, introduced at p. 142.{TR: See entry CELLA.} Reasoning from analogy and the sense in which the term is used by Lucilius (see No. 1.), we might fairly conclude that it was a chamber which did not contain a bath, but was merely kept at a low temperature, in order to brace the body after the exhaustion of the Laconicum, or vapour bath, by a process less violent than that of plunging immediately into cold water—a common practice amongst the ancients. The difficulty experienced in attempting to establish a distinction between the two expressions frigidarium and frigida lavatio, in the passage of Vitruvius above cited, has induced Marini, and Professor Becker with him, to alter the former reading into tepidarium; but the painting referred to, from the Thermæ of Titus, which shows a frigidarium adjoining the elæothesium, as Vitruvius directs, is sufficient to establish the original reading as genuine.
3. Ahenum, or vas. The vat or cistern containing cold water in a set of baths. (Vitruv. v. 10.) The ingenious manner in which the ancients uniformly contrived to arrange the different coppers and vats required for the supply of their baths, so as to incur the least possible waste of water and fuel, is very clearly exhibited by the annexed woodcut, from a painting in the Thermæ of Titus ad Rome. The boiler for the hot water (caldarium) was placed immediately over the furnace; above that, or at a greater elevation from the fire, was another copper (tepidarium), which immediately supplied the vacuum created in the boiler as the hot water was drawn off, by an equal quantity of fluid already raised to a moderate temperature; and was itself, in like manner, filled up directly from the cold cistern (frigidarium), which, as shown by the engraving, was completely removed from the heat of the furnace.
FRITIL'LUS (φιμός). A dice-box; of similar construction to those still in use, with graduated intervals on the inside to give the dice a rotatory motion during their descent, as shown by the annexed example and section of an original found in an excavation at Rome. Juv. xiv. 5. Mart. iv. 14. Id. xiv. 1.
FRONS. Applied to books; mostly in the plural, frontes geminæ (Ov. Trist. i. 1. 11. Tibull iii. 1. 13.); the two outside surfaces or bases of a roll of papyrus, &c. when it was rolled up so as to form a volume (volumen), and which were smoothed and polished with pumice stone, and dyed black, when the roll was completed. The illustration represents a box of books, from a Pompeian painting, in which there are eight rolls, each with one of their frontes uppermost.
FRONTA'LE (ἄμπυξ). A frontlet, or head-band, placed across the foreheads of horses (Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 74.), as seen in the annexed example, from a fictile vase. It sometimes consisted of a plate of gold (Hom. Il. v. 358.), and, amongst persons of regal state, was often enriched with precious stones. Plin. l. c.
2. The Greek writers also make use of the same word to designate a bandeau placed in a similar manner over the forehead of females, more especially of Divinities (Hom. Il. xxii. 469. Hes. Theogn. 916.); as shown in the annexed woodcut, from a fictile vase.
3. (προμετωπίδιον. Gloss. Vet.) A plate of metal, placed as a defence over the forehead and frontal bone of horses belonging to the heavy cavalry of the Greeks and Romans. (Arrian. Tact. p. 15. Xen. Cyr. iv. 1. Id. Anab. i. 7.) This practice was introduced by the Medes or Persians; and elephants, when caparisoned for action, were provided with a defence of the same nature. Liv. xxxvii. 40.
FUCA'TUS. Rouged or painted, as explained in the next paragraph.
FUCUS (φύκος). Rouge; an article frequently employed by the Greek and Roman women, as it is by those of modern Europe, in order to give the appearance of a brilliant or youthful tint to a complexion already used up or naturally sallow. (Plaut. Most. i. 3. 118. Prop. ii. 18. 31.) It was prepared from a certain kind of moss (Lichen roccella L.), and was laid on with a brush, as in the annexed example, from a fictile vase; or with the finger, as exhibited in other designs of the same nature.
FULCRUM. A stay or support upon which any thing rests; as a staff or walking-stick (Ovid. Pont. iii. 3. 14. BACULUS); the foot of a sofa, couch, or bed (Suet. Claud. 32. Prop. iv. 8. 68. CLINOPUS), whence sometimes put for the bed itself (Prop. iv. 7. 3.); and, in later times, the high pummel in front of a riding-saddle, made upon a tree. (Sidon. Apoll. Ep. iii. 90. SELLA EQUESTRIS.)
FULLO (κναφεύς). A fuller, a cleaner and scourer of cloth. (Mart. xiv. 51.) The fullers, who formed a very important body of tradesmen, were extensively employed in the same capacity as are our washerwomen, for cleaning and whitening garments after they had been worn; an operation which was effected by treading the clothes in large vats of water mixed with urine (Plin. H. N. xxviii. 18.), collected from vessels exposed in corners of the streets for the purpose. (Mart. vi. 93.) The cloth was then dried and bleached upon a semicircular frame (cavea viminea), placed over a pot of sulphur; after which it was hung up, and had the nap loosened and laid with brushes, or with a thistle (cardo fullonicus), from which it was removed to the press (pressorium), where it was finally smoothed and condensed by the action of the screw. The illustration represents a fuller at work in his tub, from a painting in the Fullonica at Pompeii.
FULLO'NICA and FULLO'NIUM (κναφεῖον). A fuller's washhouse and premises. (Ulp. Dig. 39. 3. 3. Ammian. xiv. 11. 31.) An extensive establishment of this kind has been excavated at Pompeii, of which the ground plan is annexed, as it will serve to convey a very accurate notion of the numerous conveniences required for conducting the different processes of the business, and the manner in which they were apllied. A. The principal entrance from the main street. B. The porter's lodge. C. The impluvium, like that in ordinary houses, surrounded by a colonnade, supported by twelve square pilasters, upon one of which the figures of fullers at work, represented in the last and following woodcut, are painted. D. A fountain with a jet of water, a representation of which is introduced under the word SIPHO. E. A spacious apartment, opening upon the peristyle or courtyard of the premises, and perhaps used for drying the clothes. F. A tablinum, with a room on each side of it, where customers were probably received, when they came upon business. G. A closet or wardrobe, in which the clothes were deposited after they had been scoured, and kept until called for; the marks of the shelves are still visible against the walls. H. An adjoining room; the first on the right hand, which is within that part of the premises where the active operations of the trade were carried on. I. The large wash-house with a tank, where the clothes were cleansed by simple washing and rinsing. K. The place where the dirt and grease were got out by rubbing and treading with the feet. LLLLLL. Six niches constructed on the sides of the room, and separated from one another by low walls, about the height of a man's armpits, in each of which was placed a tub where the fuller stood, and worked out the impurities of the cloth, by jumping upon it with his bare feet, an operation which he effected by raising himself upon his arms, while they rested on the side-walls, in the manner exhibited by the annexed engraving from one of the pictures above mentioned. MMM. Three smaller tanks, either for washing, or, more probably, in which the clothes were left to soak before they were washed. N. A fountain or well for the use of the workmen. O. A back gate opening on a small street, contiguous to that portion of the premises in which the active part of the trade was performed. PP. Rooms for which no particular use connected with the trade can be assigned. Q. The furnace of the establishment. R. An apartment contiguous to the furnace. S. Stairs ascending to an upper story. TTT. Apartments opening upon the peristyle, painted in fresco, and probably appropriated for the use of the master and mistress of the establishment. The rooms at the bottom of the plan, without references, are shops facing the street, and belonging to other tradesmen, as they have no connection nor communication with the Fullonica.
FULLO'NIUS or FOLLO'NICUS. Applied to any of the implements or articles used by fullers; as pila or creta fullonica (Cato R. R. x. 5. Plin. H. N. xvii. 4.), fuller's earth; saltus fullonius (Seneca Ep. 15.), the jumping and stamping which fullers practise in scouring clothes, as represented by the last woodcut, and explained by the text which accompanies it.
FULMEN'TA (κάσσυμα). An abbreviation of fulcimenta, used to designate a thick, or probably extra, sole attached to a shoe or boot. (Lucil. Sat. xxviii. 40. Gerlach. Plaut. Trin. iii. 2. 94.) In the example, from a Greek statue of Minerva, three soles are observable, one above the other, which, when thus conjoined, are termed fulmentæ, in contradistinction to the ordinary sole of one piece (solea), for in the passages where the word occurs, it is constantly used in the plural number. They were made of cork, and were employed by the Greek and Roman ladies as a protection against damp in winter, as well as from motives of vanity, to give them an appearance of being taller than they really were. Plin. H. N. xvi. 13.
FUMA'RIOLUM. Diminutive of FUMARIUM. The vent or aperture in a volcanic mountain, through whieh the smoke and vapour make their egress. Tertull. Pœn. 12.
FUMA'RIUM. The smoke-room; a chamber in the upper part of a house in which the smoke from the kitchen fires, or from the furnaces of the bath-rooms, was allowed to collect itself before finding a vent into the air; and which was also used as a storeroom for ripening wine (Mart. x. 36. Compare Hor. Od. iii. 8. 11.); and for drying the moisture out of wood, in order to make it fit for fuel. Columell. i. 6. 19.
FUNA'LE. A link, torch, or taper, made of the papyrus, or the fibres of other plants twisted together like a rope (funis), and smeared with wax or pitch, as exhibited in the annexed woodcut, from a sepulchral marble preserved in the church of St. Justina, at Padua. Isidor. Orig. Cic. Sen. 13. Virg. Æn. i. 731.
2. A contrivance for holding torches of this description, upon which many of them were lit and burnt at the same time, like our chandeliers, Isidor. Orig. xx. 10. 5. Ov. Met. xii. 247.
FUNA'LIS sc. Equus (παρήορος, σειραφόρος). An out-rigger or trace-horse in a carriage drawn by more than two horses. (Stat. Theb. vi. 462. Isidor. Orig. xviii. 35. funarius.) The traces were made of ropes, as is still the practice in Italy, which gave rise to the term. When the carriage had four horses attached, there were two out-riggers, one on each side of the yoke horses (jugales); and then the one on the right, or off horse, was called dexter jugalis (δεξιόσειρος); the left hand one, or near horse, sinister or lævus funalis (Suet. Tib. 6. Auson. Epitaph. xxv. 9.). The illustration is taken from a painting at Herculaneum.
FUNAM'BULUS (σχοινοβάτης). A rope dancer. (Terent. Hecyr. Prol. i 4. Compare Hor. Ep. ii. 1. 210.) The illustration, which represents one of nine figures, dancing on the tight rope, from a painting at Herculaneum (all of whom are in different attitudes, and exhibiting some characteristic feat), indicates the general degree of perfection to which the ancients had carried this art, as the figure is playing upon the double pipes, while he dances on the rope to his own music.
FUNDA (σφενδόνη). A sling, for discharging stones, or leaden plummets (glandes); a weapon commonly used in warfare by the Spaniards, Persians, Egyptians, and other foreign nations; and also occasionally by the Romans, as is shown by the annexed figure, representing a Roman soldier in the army of Trajan, from the column erected in honour of that emperor. Plin. H. N. vii. 37. Virg. Georg. i. 309. Serv. ad l. Id. Æn. ix. 586. FUNDITORES.
2. (ἀμφίβληστρον). A casting-net; employed, like our own, for taking fish in rivers (Virg. Georg. i. 141. Servius ad l. Isidor. Orig. xix. 5. 2.); but apparently cast from behind, and over the right shoulder (instead of being discharged from the left shoulder, and in front of the person throwing it, as is now the practice); that is, if the annexed figure, from a mosaic in the Thermæ of Titus, affords a faithful representation of the manner in which it was thrown. The expression of Virgil, however, verberat amnem, gives an exact description of the manner in which the casting-net falls upon the waters.
3. A bag or pack slung over the shoulders, for the convenience of carrying money, or any other small articles (Macrob. Sat. ii. 4.); probably so called because, with the straps which fastened it, it had the appearance of a sling, as shown by the annexed example, from the device on a bronze lamp.
4. (σφενδόνη, πυελίς). The bezil of a ring; that is, the rim in which the gem is set; and which holds it as a sling does its stone; more especially so called when the setting is transparent, or au jour. (Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 37. and 42.) The example is from an original.
FUNDIBA'LUS and FUNDIB'ALUM. A military engine for discharging stones, belonging to the class of Ballistæ; but the distinctive characteristics are unknown, further than, as the name implies, that its action was that of a sling.
FUNDITO'RES (σφενδονήται). Slingers; mostly with reference to foreign nations. But, amongst the Romans, the slingers were a body of men selected from the fifth class of the Servian census, who were formed into a corps, and attached to the levis armatura, or light-armed division of the army. They were scarcely considered as regular troops, being ranked in the lowest grade amongst the supernumeraries, trumpeters, and band (Liv. i. 43.); and, consequently, like them, wore no body armour, nor any offensive weapon, besides their sling (see the example s. FUNDA, 1.), with which it was their duty to annoy the enemy from any part of the field to which they were ordered. (Sal. Jug. 99. Val. Max. ii. 7. §§ 9. and 15.) The difference between the Accensi, Funditores, and Ferentarii, who are distinguished by Vegetius (Mil. i. 20.), appears to be this, that the first used nothing but their hands for throwing stones; the second employed a sling for the purpose; and the last, who were of a higher grade than the other two, probably used other missiles as well as the sling.
FUN'DULA. A street which has no thoroughfare; a cul de sac (Varro, L. L. v. 145.); one of which is represented by the annexed view, taken in the town of Pompeii. The street terminated in a house, of which some remains are visible in the engraving, and two small sewers are indicated underneath it.
FUN'DULUS. The piston and sucker of a hydraulic organ, which moves up and down (hence termed ambulatilis), like the sucker of a pump (embolus). Vitruv. x. 8. 1.
FUNERE'PUS. (Apul Flor. i. 5. Ib. iv. 18. § 1.) Same as FUNAMBULUS.
FUNUS. A funeral, so termed because, in ancient times, the Romans were always buried by torch light, twisted ropes (funalia) smeared with pitch being carried by the mourners for the purpose. (Isidor. Orig. xi. 2. 34. Donat. ad Terent. Andr. i. 1. 81.) Subsequently, however, the practice of night burial was confined to the poorer classes, who could not afford the expense of a pompous display.
2. Funus publicum or indictivum. A grand and public funeral, celebrated in the day-time, and to which the public were invited by proclamation, to witness the gladiatorial shows and military pageants often displayed upon such occasions. Tac. Ann. vi. 11. Cic. Leg. ii. 24. Festus s. v.
3. Funus gentilitium. A funeral, at which the busts and images of celebrated characters belonging to the same clan (gens) as the deceased, were carried in the procession. (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 2.) This was the usual kind of funeral assigned to persons of distinguished rank or ancient lineage; and a description of the other customs and ceremonies which mostly accompanied it, will be found under the term EXSEQUIÆ.
4. Funus tacitum, or translatitium. An ordinary or common funeral, conducted without any pomp or show, such as was usual with private individuals of the middle and poorer classes. Suet. Nero, 33. Ov. Trist. i. 3. 22.
5. The funeral pyre. Suet. Dom. 15. PYRA, ROGUS.
6. A dead body or corpse (Prop i. 17. 8.); whence also the ghost or shade of a deceased person (Prop. iv. 11. 3.), which the ancient artists were accustomed to represent in a corporeal form, shrouded in grave clothes, but endowed with the powers of motion; as shown by the annexed figure, from a bas-relief, representing a female whom Mercury, in the original, is conducting to the shades below.
FURCA (δίκρανον). A two-pronged fork, such as a stable-fork, hay-fork, pitch-fork. (Virg. Georg. i. 264. Hor. Ep. i. 10. 24.) The annexed example represents the iron head of a hay-fork, supposed to be Roman, but certainly of great antiquity, which was dug out of a bog forming the bank of the old river at the junction of the Nen at Horsey, near Peterborough.
2. A fork with a long handle to it, employed in taverns, kitchens, and larders, for the purpose of taking down provisions from the carnarium (Pet. Sat. 95.8.), which was fixed to the ceiling, by sticking one of the branches into the object, or putting it under the loop by which it was hung upon its hook (see the illustration s. CARNARIUM); resembling, no doubt, the instrument which our butchers use for taking down a joint of meat, and other tradesmen whose articles are hung out of reach. From the expression of Petronius, furca de carnario rapta, it would appear that an instrument of this kind was usually suspended from the carnarium, ready for use.
3. Anything made in the shape of a fork, to be used for a prop or stay; as a prop for vines (Virg. Georg. ii. 259.); for fishing-nets (Plin. H. N. ix. 9.); for supporting planks to stand on. Liv. i. 35.
4. (στῆριγξ, στήριγμα). The pole of a cart or of a carriage; or rather that part of it which fastens into the axle, when it was made with two branches, like a fork, as it appears in the annexed example, from a Pompeian painting. (Plutarch. Coriol. 24. Lysias ap. Poll. x. 157.) It likewise appears from the above passages that the same name was also given to the trestle upon which the pole of a two-wheeled carriage was sometimes supported when the horses were taken out, like what we use to rest the shafts of our gigs upon.
5. An instrument made with two wooden handles or prongs, like a fork, employed for carrying burdens on the neck, in the manner shown by the annexed woodcut, from the Column of Trajan (Plaut. Cas. ii. 6. 37.); and which was frequently adopted as an instrument of punishment for freemen and slaves, when the arms of the culprit were tied down to the bars of the fork, while he was flogged through the streets. Plaut. Pers. v. 2. 73. Liv. i. 26. Suet. Nero, 49.
6. A contrivance for the infliction of capital punishment, on which slaves and robbers were hung; a gallows or gibbet. Callist. Dig. 48. 19. 28. Paul. Dig. 33. Ulp. ib. 13. 6.
FUR'CIFER. Literally, one who carries burdens on a furca, as shown by the preceding illustration; or who bears the furca as a punishment. But as this penalty was for the most part inflicted upon the unfortunate slave class, the word is commonly used as a term of contempt, equivalent to our slave, villain, gallowsbird. Plaut. Amph. i. 1. 132. Ter. Eun. v. 2. 22. Cic. Vatin. 6.
FURCIL'LA. Diminutive of FURCA. A small fork, but still of considerable size, according to our notions; as a hay-fork (Varro, R. R. 1. 49. 1. Cic. Att. xvi. 2.); a vine-prop, two feet high. Varro. ib. i. 8. 6.
FUR'CULA. Diminutive of FURCA; but applied to objects of considerable size; as a wooden prop, made use of to support the walls of a town which were mined underneath. Liv. xxxviii. 7.
FURFURAC'ULUM. A gimblet (Arnob. vi. 200.); so termed because it makes dust like bran (furfur); but the more common word is TEREBRA, which see.
FURNA'CEUS sc.
FURNA'RIUS. A baker by trade. (Ulp. Dig. 39. 2. 24.) Compare COQUUS.
FURNUS (ἱπνός). An oven; for baking bread (Plaut. Cas. ii. 5. 1. Ov. Fast. vi. 313.), or anything else. (Plin. H. N. xx. 39. Id. xxviii. 29.) The excavations of Pompeii have revealed two bakers' shops, with their ovens, both constructed upon a similar plan, and in a considerable state of preservation; one of which is represented in the annexed woodcut as it now appears, with some of the mills for grinding flour in the shop before it. The small arch at the bottom contained the fuel; the one above, the oven itself, over which there is a flue to carry off the smoke.
2. A baker's shop. (Hor. Sat. i. 4. 37.) The preceding illustration shows a baker's shop, with some mills for grinding flour on the left hand, and the oven at the bottom.
3. A hot air or vapour bath, as contradistinguished from balneum, a warm water bath. (Hor. Ep. i. 11. 13.) See CALDARIUM, SUDATIO.
FUS'CINA (τρίαινα). A large fork with three or more branches, employed by fishermen for spearing fish, as represented in the annexed woodcut, from a mosaic picture in an ancient temple of Bacchus near Rome. It was likewise given by artists and poets to Neptune instead of a sceptre, as the more appropriate symbol for the god of the ocean. Cic. N. D. i. 36. and woodcut s. TRIDENS.
2. A weapon of similar form and character, used by the class of gladiators called Retiarii, with which they attacked their adversaries, after they had hampered them by casting a net over their heads, as exhibited in the annexed engraving, from an ancient mosaic. Suet. Cal. 30. Juv. ii. 143.
FUSCIN'ULA. Diminutive of FUSCINA. A carving-fork and eating-fork. (Vulg. Exod. xxvii. 3.) The absence of any express name for articles of this description amongst the genuine old Greek and Latin authors now remaining to us, has induced a very general belief that the ancients were unacquainted with this convenient piece of table furniture; though it is well authenticated that the use of it was introduced into Europe from Italy, where it was in common use long before other nations had learned the advantage of such a luxury. (Coryate, Crudities, p. 60. Lond, 1776.) But the two specimens here exhibited are sufficient to establish the fact of forks being employed by the ancients at least partially, and for the same purposes as they now are, although the positive name by which they were called may not have been discovered. The first represents a two-pronged silver fork found in a ruin on the Via Appia (Caylus, Recueil, iii. 84.); the other, with five prongs, one of which is broken off, resembling our silver forks, in a tomb at Pæstum, and is now preserved in the Museum at Naples. The authenticity of the first has been doubted by those who are unwilling to admit that the ancients were acquainted with such contrivances (Beckman, Hist. of Inventions, ii. pp. 407—413. London, 1846.); and it is certainly possible that Count Caylus may have been imposed upon by the person from whom he purchased it; though the tasteful character of the article affords an evidence of its genuineness, corresponding as it does with the usual style of ancient manufactures, in which the arts of design were universally exerted to embellish even the commonest utensils employed for the most ordinary purposes of daily life; but the fork from the Pæstan tomb will not admit of suspicion. This same tomb abounded in objects of antiquarian interest, and has furnished more than seven illustrations for these pages, several of them unique in their kind; the spear with an ansa, at p. 38.; the gridiron, p. 212; the fire-dogs, s. VARÆ; the war truncheon, s. PHALANGA; the helmet, greaves, belt, and breast-plate s. BUCCULÆ, OCREA, CINGULUM, 4., LORICA, 1.; besides several others of more common occurence. Whether the Romans really used the word now under illustration to designate an eating-fork, may, however, be a matter of dispute; for it certainly has no classic authority to rest upon. The Greek κρεάγρα undoubtedly corresponds with the Latin harpago, a flesh-hook; furca, fuscina, furcula and furcilla are all applied in the passages where they occur to instruments of much larger dimensions than eating-forks; but the precise meaning conveyed by diminutives in the Latin language is very varied and arbitrary. Certainly, furcula or furcilla might have beenn appropriately used for a two-pronged fork, like the top figure, and fuscinula, or fuscinella (which occurs as a cognomen ap. Grut. Inscript. 1141. 1.), for one with a greater number of prongs, like the lower one.
FUSO'RIUM. A drain or cesspool from a kitchen sink, &c. Pallad. i. 37. 4. ib. 17. 1.
FUSTER'NA. The upper portio of a fir pole, which is thick set with branches, as contradistinguished from the lower part (sapinus), which is free from knots. Plin. H. N. xv. 76. § 1.
FUSTIB'ALUS. A contrivance for throwing stones, consisting of a four foot pole, which had a sling attached in the centre, and being whirled round with both hands, discharged the stones with great violence. Veg. Mil. iii. 14.s
FUSTUA'RIUM (ζυλοκοπία). A punishment inflicted upon soldiers for desertion or other serious offences; in which the offender was beaten to death with heavy sticks (fustes) laid on by his comrades. Livy. v. 6. Cic. Phil. iii. 6. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. vi. 825.
FUSUS (ἄτρακτος ). A spindle; usually made of a stick about twelve inches in length, and used with the distaff (colus), for twisting or spinning the fibres of wool or flax into thread (Plin. H. N. xi. 27. Ovid. Met. vi. 22. Tibull. ii 1. 64.); a process described at length under the word NEO. The small figure in the engraving represents a spindle used by Leda in a Pompeian painting; the other two are from an Egyptian original, the right hand showing the instrument before being used, the other as it would appear with the thread wound round it, after it has been twisted.
FU'TILE. A vessel with a broad mouth and sharp-pointed bottom, like the annexed example, from an original found at Rome. This form was originally adopted for the service of Vesta, in order that the ministers of that goddess might not be able to set it down when filled with water; it being contrary to religious punctilioes that water used in her ceremonies should ever have stood upon the ground. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. xi. 339. Donat. ad Terent. Andr. iii. 5. 3.
GAB'ALUS. A word said to be formed from the Hebrew language, and equivalent to the Latin CRUX, a cross or stake upon which criminals were impaled (Varro ap. Non. s. v. p. 117.); whence the same word is also used to designate a worthless fellow, or one who deserved impalement. Macrin. Imp. ap. Capitolin. 11.
GAB'ATA. A particular kind of dish for table service, in fashion at Rome during the time of Martial; but respecting its characteristics nothing is known. Mart. vii. 48. Id. xi. 31.
GÆ'SUM (γᾶισον). A very strong and weighty javelin, which appears to have been made, both head an stock, of solid iron (Pollux. vii. 156.), and to have been employed as a missile, rather than as a spear (Cæs. B. G. iii. 4.), each warrior carrying two as his complement. (Varro, ap. Non. s. v. p. 555.) The weapon was of Gaulish origin (Virg. Æn. viii. 662.); though it was sometimes used by the Romans (Liv. viii. 8.), by the Iberians (Athen. vi. 106.), the Carthaginians (Liv. xxvi. 6. Sil. Ital. ii. 444.), and the Greeks. (Stat. Theb. iv. 64.
GALBANA'TUS. Wearing garments of a yellow dye (galbana). Mart. iii. 82.
GAL'BANUM. A garment of a yellow colour; regarded as a sign of foppishness or effeminacy when worn by men. Juv. ii. 95. Compare Mart. i. 97.
GAL'EA (κράνος, κόρυς, περικεφάλαιος). In its strict sense, this word was originally employed to designate a helmet of skin or leather, in contradistinction to cassis, which implied a casque of metal; but as the latter material was generally substituted amongst the Romans instead of leather as early as the time of Camillus, the original distinction was soon lost sight of, and the term galea came into common use, signifying any kind of helmet. (Isidor. Orig. xviii. 14. Ov. Met. viii. 25. Virg. Æn. v. 490.) The annexed illustration presents the front and side view of an original Roman helmet of bronze found at Pompeii, in which city several others of similar form and character have been discovered. It contains all the parts usually belonging to the ordinary Roman helmet; the ridge at the top of the skull-cap, to which a crest of plumes or horse-hair was attached; a projection in front and at the back, to protect the forehead and nape of the neck; the cheek-pieces, by which it was fastened under the chin; and a perforated visor, which covered the entire face like a mask. The small ornament at the side of the head-piece, resembling a shell, was intended to hold a feather, in the same manner as shown by the figure s. SICARIUS.
2. The ordinary helmets worn by the Roman soldiers on the triumphal arches and columns, are of a more simple character, being smaller, and without visors, but with cheek-pieces, and in place of the crest, a knob or ring at the top, as exhibited by the annexed specimens, from the column of Trajan.
3. The helmets of the centurions had the scull-piece of a similar character to those of the soldiery, exhibited in the last woodcut; but were furnished with a ridge at the top, like that shown by the first woodcut, which was plated with silver, and adorned with dark plumes towering to a considerable height (Polyb. vi. 21.), and placed transversely on the ridge (Veg. Mil. ii. 16.), so that they drooped forwards all round, in the manner represented by the annexed engraving, from one of the slabs on the arch of Constantine, which originally belonged to the arch of Trajan.
4. The helmets of the generals and superior officers were more elaborately ornamented, and resembled the latter styles of Grecian helmet. They are seldom exhibited in sculpture or painting, as great personages are for the most part represented bareheaded.
5. Galea pellibus tecta. The standard bearers on the arches and columns are universally represented as Vegetius describes them (Mil. ii. 16.), with a close scull-cap, over which the head and skin of some wild beast is drawn, so that the face appears through the gaping jaws, and nothing of the helmet is seen, except the cheek pieces on the sides of the face; as shown by the annexed example, from the column of Trajan.
6. Galea venatoria. A scull-cap of leather or of fur, worn by huntsmen (Nepos, Dat. 14. 3.), like the examples s. CUDO and GALERUS, 1.
7. (αὐλῶπις).The old Greek helmet of the heroic ages was of a very different character to any of those yet described, being made with an immovable mask to fit the face, leaving only two holes for the eyes, so that when pulled close down, it entirely covered and concealed the visage, whence galeis abscondunt oras. (Sil. Ital. xiv. 656. Compare Stat. Theb. xi. 373.) The illustration represents two helmets of this description, both from fictile vases; the one on the left drawn down over the face, the other as it was worn when pushed back, before or after an action.
8. The form last described soon fell into disuse on account of its inconvenience, and then the regular Greek helmets were constructed upon a model generally resembling the annexed examples, from fictile vases, and consisted of the following individual parts;—κῶνος (apex), the ridge on the top of the head-piece, to which the crest was affixed; λόφος (crista), the crest, consisting of horse hair, and sometimes two or three of these were worn, as in the right-hand figure; γεῖρον, a projection over the front of the face like a pent, sometimes moveable, but more usually fixed; παραγναθίδες (bucculæ), cheek-pieces, attached to each side of the casque by hinges, and fastened under the chin by a clasp or a button; φάλος, a bright ornament, generally formed by some figure in relief, which was affixed to different parts of the helmet. In the right-hand figure the φάλος consists of two griffins, one on each side of the ridge; such a helmet was thence termed διφάλος: in other specimens the crest itself is supported upon a similar figure, in the manner described by Homer (Il. xiii. 614.), just under the plume; and sometimes they are seen projecting in very bold relief, over the front and round the sides of the casque, as in the colossal statue of Minerva, when the helmet was termed ὀμφίφαλος, and the φάλοι in such cases, when sufficiently large, would touch each other, as mentioned by Homer, Il. xiii. 132. Id. xvi. 216.
GAL'EOLA. A large vessel used as an ACRATOPHORON, to hold the wine before it was mixed for drinking at table (Varro, de Vit. Pop. Rom. ap. Non. p. 547. Interp. Vet. ad Virg. Ecl. vii. 33.); evidently so termed from being made in a deep and circular form like a helmet.
GALERIC'ULUM. Diminutive of GALERUM; both in the sense of a fur cap (Front. Strateg. iv. 7. 29.); and a wig. Suet. Otho, 12.
GALERI'TUS. Wearing a fur cap (galerus), like the early inhabitants of Latium; and thence, by implication, in rude or rustic attire. Prop. iv. i. 29.
GALE'RUS and GALE'RUM (κυνέη). A scull-cap made from the skin of animals with the fur left on; worn by rustics (Virg. Moret. 121.); huntsmen (Grat. Cyneg. 339.); and by the old inhabitants of Latium, instead of a helmet. (Virg. Æn. vi. 688.) The example is given by Du Choul (Castramet. p. 100.), from a Roman monument.
2. A fur cap of similar character, but made out of the skin of a victim which had been slain at the altar, and having a spike of olive wood, surrounded by a flock of wool, on the top. (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. ii. 683.) It was worn by the Pontifices (Apul. Apol. p. 441.), and the Salii (Juv. viii. 208.), and is shown by the annexed engraving, from a medal of M. Antony.
3. A wig of artificial hair (Juv. vi. 120. Avian. Fab. x.), sewn on to a scalp, in order to fit the head in the same manner as still practised. (Tertull. de Cult. Fœm. Suet. Otho, 12. Compare Ov. A. Am. iii. 165.) Many of the female busts, and even some of the portrait statues preserved in the Vatican and Capitol, are furnished with a moveable scalp, sometimes executed in a different-coloured marble from the rest of the statue, so that it could be taken off and changed at pleasure; of which an instance is afforded by the annexed bust from a statue of Julia Soemias, the mother of the Emperor Heliogabalus. The entire scalp representing hair is removeable, with the exception of the two tresses on the shoulders, which are carved out of the solid block of marble. Some antiquaries are of opinion that these scalps were intended to represent wigs, and infer from thence that it was the fashion at Rome for females of all ages to shave off their own hair, and wear an artificial peruke, at the periods when these busts were executed; but it is far more reasonable to attribute the practice to the frivolous and ever changing modes of the day, and to recognise in them an expedient resorted to by sculptors, in order to gratify the vanity of their patrons, who, being unwilling to see their own portraits in a head-dress which was no longer in vogue, could by this mean alter the coiffure with the change of the day, without disfiguring or mutilating the statue.
GALLI'CÆ. A pair of Gaulish shoes; the original of the french galoches and of our galoshes. They were low shoes, not reaching quite so high as the ankle, had one or more thick soles (Edict. Dioclet. p. 24.), and small upper leather, which was entirely open over the front of the instep, like the modern galosh, and the right-hand figure in the cut; or laced in front, and fastened by a ligature round the top, as in the left-hand example; whence they are classed amongst the soleæ by the Latin writers, to distinguish them from the regular calcei, which were close-fitting high-lows that completely enveloped the foot and ankle. They were partially adopted at Rome before the age of Cicero, and were worn with the lacerna; but such a style of dress was regarded as indecorous and anti-national. (Cic. Phil. ii. 30. Aul. Gell. xiii. 21.) Under the empire they came into more common use, and were made for all classes, and of different qualities. (Edict. Diocl. l. c.) Both the specimens in the engraving are copied from a sarcophagus discovered in the Villa Amendola at Rome, in the year 1830, which represents a battle between the Romans and Gauls; the one on the left is worn by a Gaulish prince, the other by a captive of the same nation.
GA'NEA or GA'NEUM. An eating-house of the lowest and most immoral description, at which facilities were afforded for every kind of indulgence, as well as eating and drinking. (Suet. Cal. 11. Ter. Adelph. iii. 3. 5. Liv. xxvi. 2.) A receptacle of this kind has been discovered in the principal street at Pompeii, near the entrance to the town; the public room is fitted up as a wine shop, and gives admission into a back parlour in fresco with a variety of indelicate subjects, characteristic of the purposes to which it was applied.
GA'NEO. Literally, one who frequents a ganea; thence a glutton (Juv. xi. 58.); and, by implication, a person of loose and disorderly habits, for the indulgence of which such places were established. Cic. Cat. ii. 4. Tac. Ann. xvi. 18.
GAR'UM (γάρον). A sauce made from the blood and entrails of sea fish salted down, like the caviare of our day. It was used in a great many ways both in the kitched and at table; and was manufactured of different qualities, good, bad, and indifferent, which accounts for the conflicting terms in which it is spoken of, sometimes as a choice delicacy, and at others as an inferior kind of food. Plin. H. N. xxxi. 43. Hor. Sat. ii. 8. 46. Mart. vii. 27. Id. vi. 93.
GASTRUM. An earthenware vessel, with a full swelling body or belly; whence the name. Pet. Sat. 70. 6. Ib. 79. 3.
GAULUS (γαυλός). A large round full-bodied vessel, which might be put to several uses; as, a drinking-goblet (Plaut. Rud. v. 2. 32.); a milk-pail (Hom. Od. ix. 223.); a water-bucket (Herod. vi. 119.); &c.
2. (γαῦλος). A particular kind of ship, of a round build, with a broad beam, and capacious hold (Festus, s. v. Aul. Gell. x. 25. 3.), employed by the Phœnician merchants and by pirates, in consequence of its fitness for stowing away any quantity of booty.
GAU'SAPA, GAU'SAPE, and GAU'SAPUM (γαύσαπης). Woollen cloth of a particular fabric, introduced at Rome about the time of Augustus, which had a long nap on one side, but was smoother on the other. It was used by both sexes for articles of clothing, as well as for tablecloths, napkins, bed covers, and other domestic purposes. Plin. H. N. viii. 73. Lucil. Sat. xxi. 9. Gerlach. Ov. A. Am. ii. 300. Hor. Sat. ii. 8. 11. Mart. xiv. 152.
2. A wig made of the light flaxen hair, peculiar to the German races, which colour was much prized by the ladies of Rome. Wigs of this kind were also got up and worn by men hired to represent German captives at some of the mock triumphs of the Roman emperors (Pers. Sat. vi. 46.), when they decreed themselves this honour without having subdued the country. The figure in the engraving appears on a trophy of the column of Antoninus, erected to commemorate the victories of that emperor over the Germans; an appropriate, but not very noble symbol of their defeat.
GAUSAPA'TUS and GAUSAPI'NUS. Applied to any thing made of the cloth called gausape. Senec. Ep. 53. Mart. xiv. 145.
GEMEL'LAR. A particular kind of case for holding oil (Columell. xii. 50. 10.); the characteristic properties of which are conjectured to consist in having two recipients, side by side, instead of a single cavity.
GENIUS (ἀγαθοδαίμων). A good spirit, or guardian angel of the male sex, believed to spring into being with every mortal at his birth, and to die with him, after having attended him, directed his actions, and watched over his welfare through life. (Hor. Ep. ii. 2. 187. Tibull. iv. 5.) He is represented as a beautiful boy, entirely naked with the exception of the youthful chlamys on his shoulder, and furnished with a pair of bird's-wings, in the manner represented by the annexed engraving from a painting at Pompeii. Compare JUNONES.
2. Genius loci. The guardian spirit of a place; for amongst the ancients every spot and locality in town or country, buildings, mountains, rivers, woods, &c., was believed to have its own peculiar genius, or presiding spirit; which was portrayed under the form of a serpent (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. v. 85. Inscript. ap. Grut. viii. 4. Prudent. contra Symmach. ii. 441.); consequently images of these reptiles are frequently represented feeding upon an altar; or, as in the example, from a painting in the Thermæ of Titus, with an altar between them, as a sign to deter passengers from "committing a nuisance," out of respect for the genius who presides there.
3. (κακοδαίμων.) Amongst the Christian writers on sacred subjects, the Genius is represented as an evil spirit, said to be condemned to eternal punishment, for his pride and rebellious conduct. Tertull. Apol. 32. Anim. 39. Lact. ii. 15.
GERRÆ (grk>γέρῥον). Any thing made of wicker work; whence trifles, trumpery, mere bagatelles. Plaut. Pœn. i. 1. 9. Ep. ii. 2. 45.
GER'ULUS. A porter. (Hor. Ep. ii. 2. 72. Suet. Cal. 40.) Same as BAJULUS.
GESTA'TIO. A part of an ornamental garden or pleasure-ground, divided into shady walks and vistas of sufficient extent for the proprietor and his guests to be carried about them for exercise in a palanquin (lectica). Plin. Ep. v. 6. 17. Id. ii. 17. 13.
GESTICULA'RIA. A pantomimic actress, who expresses the character she has to personate by dancing and mimetic action of the hands and feet, but without the use of language. Aul. Gell. i. 5. 2.
GESTICULA'TOR. A pantomimic actor, who expresses his part by gesticulations and mimetic motions of the body, but without speech. Columell. i. Præf. 3.
GILLO (βαυκάλιον, βαύκαλις). A vessel for cooling wine and water in (Poet. Vet. in Antholog. Lat. ii. p. 369. Burman.), made of earthenware (Cassian. Institut. iv. 16.), and with a narrow neck, which caused the liquid to gurgle as it was poured out. Poet. Vet. l. c. p. 406.
GIN'GLYMUS (γίγγλυμος). Literally a joint which moves in a socket, like the elbow; thence a hinge (Xen. Eq. xii. 6.), the action of which resembles that of a joint in the human frame. The cabinets of antiquities contain numerous specimens of these contrivances, framed in the different patterns in use at this day, and of all sizes. Of the two examples here given, the top one is from Pompeii, the other is preserved in the British Museum. The Latin name is not met with in any of their writers, and consequently requires authority; but the Greek one is undoubted; and the Romans must have had an appropriate name for a hinge, distinct from cardo, which expresses a very different object.
GIN'GRINUS. See TIBIA.
GIRGIL'LUS. The roller turned by a windlass, in order to raise water from a well by means of a rope and bucket; a contrivance precisely similar to those used in most country places at the present day, as shown by the annexed example from a marble sarcophagus of the Vatican Cemetery. Isidor. Orig. xx. 15.
GLADIATO'RES (μονομάχοι). Gladiators. A general name given to men who were trained to combat with deadly weapons, for the amusement of the Roman citizens, at public funerals, in the circus, and more particularly in the amphitheatres. They were selected for the most part from captives taken in war, but were sometimes slaves, and more rarely freeborn citizens, who volunteered for the occasion. They were also divided into different classes, with characteristic names, descriptive of the weapons and accoutrements they used, or the peculiar mode in which they fought; all of which are enumerated in the Classed Index, and illustrated under their respective titles; but the annexed figure, respresenting the portrait of a famous gladiator in the region of Caracalla, from a sepulchral monument, will afford an idea of the usual appearance, arms, and accoutrements of the ordinary gladiator, who was not enlisted in any of the special bands.
GLADIATO'RIUM. The pay or wages given to a free-born person who trained and served as a gladiator for hire. Liv. xliv. 31.
GLADIATU'RA. The practice or art of a gladiator. Tac. Ann. iii. 43.
GLAD'IOLUS (ξιφίδιον). Diminutive of GLADIUS; same as LINGULA. Aul. Gell. x. 25.
GLADIUS (ξίφος). Like our sword; in some respects a general term, descriptive of a certain class of instruments, which admit of occasional variety both in size and shape; but more particularly used to designate the straight two-edged, cutting and thrusting glaives of the Greek and Roman soldiery, as contradistinguished from the curved and fine-pointed swords employed by foreign nations, or by particular classes of their own countrymen; all of which were designated by characteristic names, enumerated in the Classed Index, and illustrated under their proper titles. The Greek ξίφος had a leaf-shaped blade, no guard, but a short cross-bar at the hilt, as in the annexed example, and the woodcuts at pp. 146. 148., all from fictile vases. It was not more than twenty inches long, and was suspended by a shoulder-strap (balteus) against the left side, as shown by the figure of Agamemnon at p. 73. The Romans used a sword of similar character to the Greek one until the time of Hannibal, when they adopted the Spanish or Celtiberian blade (Polyb. vi. 23.), which was straight-edged, longer and heavier than that of the Greeks (Florus. ii. 7. 9.), as will be readily understood from the annexed example, representing a Roman gladius in its sheath, from an original found at Pompeii. On the triumphal arches and columns, the common soldiers wear their swords in the manner stated by Polybius (l. c.), on the right side, suspended by a shoulder-band, as shown by the engravings at pp. 6. 22. 136; the officers wear their swords on the left, attached to a belt round the waist (cinctorium, and woodcut, p. 159.; and the swords of the cavalry are longer than the weapons of the infantry.
GLANS (μολυβδίς). A large leaden slug or plummet, cast in a mould, and used instead of a stone to be discharged from a sling. (Sall. Jug. 61. Liv. xxxviii. 20, 21. 29). The engraving represents an original found at the ancient Labicum; the letters FIR are for firmiter, "Throw steadily," or Feri, Roma (Inscript. ap. Orelli. 4932.), "Strike, O Rome!" Others have been found in Greece, inscribed with the figure of a thunderbolt, or ΔΕΞΑΙ, "Take this."
GLOMUS (τολύπη). A clew, or ball of wool (Hor. Ep. i. 13. 14. Lucret. i. 360.), or flax (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 19. § 4.), taken off the spindle (fusus) after it had been spun into worsted or thread, and rolled up into a ball to be ready for using in the loom. The illustration is copied from a frieze in the forum of Nerva, at Rome, on which various processes of spinning and weaving are displayed, and represents a young female carrying a lapfull of clews from the spinning to the weaving department.
GLUTINA'TOR. Literally, one who sticks things together with glue (gluten or glutinum); whence the word is used specially to designate a person who practises the art of ornamenting books, and preparing the sheets for the copyists to write upon, by glueing together strips of papyrus to make a page, and also the different pages to make a roll or volume. Cic. Att. iv. 4. Lucil. Sat. xxvi. 42. Gerlach.
GNO'MON (γνώμων). The index or pin on a sun-dial which marks the hour by the shadow it casts (Plin. H. N. ii. 74. Vitruv. i. 6. 6.), as shown by the annexed engraving from a silver cup of Greek workmanship, discovered at Porto d' Anzio, the old Antium.
GOM'PHUS (γόμφος). Properly a Greek word, which signifies a large wedge-shaped pin (Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 463. Tertull. Apol. 12.) driven between two objects, to increase the firmness or tightness of contiguous members, whence the same term was adopted by the Romans to designate the large, round-headed and wedge-shaped stones, which they used to place at intervals between the ordinary kirb stones bounding the foot-pavements of their roads and streets (Stat. Sylv. iv. 3. 48.), as shown by the annexed engraving, representing a part of the road and pavement at the entrance to Pompeii. These stones are not only shaped like a wedge, to produce lateral pressure, but are much longer than the other ones, and are formed with projecting heads, so that they also prevent the rest from rising upwards out of the level.
GRABA'TULUS. Diminutive of GRABATUS. Apul. Met. 1. pp. 8, 9. 12.
GRABA'TUS (κράβατος or κράββατος). A small low couch or bed of the commonest description (Cic. Div. ii. 63. Virg. Moret. 5.), such as was used by poor people, having a mere network of cords stretched over the frame (Lucil. Sat. vi. 13. Gerlach. Pet. Sat. 97. 4.), to support the mattrass, precisely as represented by the annexed engraving, from a terra-cotta lamp.
GRADI'LIS. See PANIS, 2.
GRADUS. A set of bed-steps, consisting of several stairs (Varro, L. L. v. 168.), which were requisite when the bedstead was of such a height from the ground that it could not be reached by a simple scamnum. The illustration represents Dido's marriage bed in the Vatican Virgil, with a set of these steps at its foot.
2. A flight of steps leading up to the porch (pronaos) of a temple. (Cic. Att. iv. 1. Virg. Æn. i. 448.) In Greek temples it usually consisted of only three steps; but the Roman architects added a dozen or more, and sometimes divided them into two flights, as in the annexed example from the ruins of a small temple in the Forum at Pompeii. In all cases, however, the steps were of an uneven number, in order that the person ascending, who naturally commenced with his right foot, might place the same one on the topmost step by which he entered the porch (Vitruv. iii. 4. 4.); the superstition of the people leading them to think a contrary course ill-omened.
3. The seats upon which the spectators sat in a theatre, amphitheatre, or circus. (Inscript. ap. Marini. Frat. Arv. pp. 130. 23. Compare TESSERA THEATRALIS.) These were deep steps rising over one another in tiers, as shown by the annexed view from the larger theatre at Pompeii, in which the seats (gradus) are the larger steps; the smaller ones, running directly from the doors of entrance, being only staircases (scalæ), by which the spectator descended until he arrived at the particular gradus, on which the place belonging to him was situated.
4. The parallel ridges, like steps, on the inside of a dice-box (fritillus), for the purpose of mixing the dice when shaken, and giving them a disposition to rotate when cast from it (Auson. Profess. i. 28.); as shown by the section in the annexed engraving, from an original discovered at Rome.
5. The lines or wrinkles on the roof of a horse's mouth, which resemble those in a dice-box. Veg. Vet. i. 22. 11. Ib. 2. 4.
6. A studied and feminine arrangement of the hair, when artificially disposed in parallel waves or gradations rising one over the other, like steps (Quint. xii. 10. 47.), the same as now termed "crimping." Nero is said to have had his head always dressed in this manner (Suet. Nero, 51); and a statue representing that emperor in the character of Apollo Citharœdus (Mus. Pio-Clem. iii. 4.) has the hair parted in the centre, and regularly crimped on both sides, like a girl's.
GRÆCOSTAD'IUM. Capitol. Antonin. 8. Same as
GRÆCOS'TASIS. The foreign embassy; a building in the Roman Forum, near the Comitium, in which ambassadors from foreign states were lodged at the public expense during their mission. (Varro, L. L. v. 155. Cic. Q. Fr. ii. 1.) Three magnificent Corinthian columns, with a portion of their entablature, still standing under the north-east corner of the Palatine hill, are supposed by some antiquaries to be the remains of the edifice; but the style of the architecture, which presents one of the most perfect models now remaining in Rome, is certainly antecedent to the reign of Antoninus, to which period any ruins of the Græcostasis, if they now remained, must belong, as it was rebuilt by that emperor, after having been totally destroyed by fire. Capitol. Antonin. 8.
GRALLÆ. A pair of stilts made, as they still are, with a fork to embrace the foot; and originally invented for the actors who personated Pan or the satyrs on the stage, in order that they might appear with the thin and slender legs ascribed to these goat-footed deities. Festus. s. Grallatores. Varro ap. Non. p. 115. and CAPRIPES.
GRALLA'TOR (καλοβάμων, καλοβάτης). One who walks upon stilts. Plaut. Pœn. iii. 1. 27. Varro, ap. Non. p. 115, and GRALLÆ.
GRANA'RIUM. Often used in a general sense as synonymous with horreum, a granary or magazine for storing corn (Varro, R. R. i. 57. Hor. Sat. i. 1. 53.); but more accurately distinguished by Palladius (i. 19. 2.), as a cell or bin in the general dépôt, which contained a great number of these, each destined for the reception of a differend kind of grain.
GRAPHIA'RIUM or Graphiaria Theca. A sheath or case for holding the sharp-pointed graver (graphium), employed for writing on tablets covered with wax. Mart. xiv. 21. Suet. Claud. 35.
GRAPH'IUM (γραφίον). A sharp-pointed instrument, or sort of graver made of iron or bronze, employed for writing on wooden tablets covered with wax. (Isidor. Orig. vi. 9. Ov. Am. i. 11. 23.) The example represents an original between eight and nine inches long, found in an excavation at Rome, which is made to open, and shut (top figure), and affords ample testimony to the truth of the anecdotes which speak of persons being wounded, even mortally, with this instrument. Suet. Cæs. 82. Id. Cal. 28. Senec. Clem. i. 14.
GREGA'RIUS sc. miles. An orderly or common foot-soldier of the rank and file. (Cic. Planc. 30. Tac. Hist. v. 1.) Their accoutrements, of course, varied according to the class of troops to which they belonged, and whether Romans, allies, or auxiliaries.
2. Gregarius eques. A cavalry trooper below the rank of an officer. Tac. Hist. iii. 51.
GREM'IUM. A lap; that is, the seat or cavity formed by the belly and thighs of a person in sitting posture; upon which, for instance, nurses and mothers place their children (Cic. Div. ii. 41. Virg. Æn. i. 689. Pedo Albin. i. 116.); thence applied in a more special sense to the lap or hollow made by raising up the lower part of a tunic or mantle, as women do their aprons, in order to form a receptacle for holding anything. (Pet. Sat. 60. 4.) Thus, in strictness it differs from sinus, which was formed over the chest, whereas the gremium fell lower down and over the belly, as in the annexed illustration from a terra-cotta lamp; but this distinction is not always preserved.
GRI'PHUS (γρῖφος and γρῖπος). Properly a Greek word, denoting one of the various kinds of fishing-nets employed in Greece (Oppian. Hal. iii. 81.); but of what precise nature is not ascertained. The Romans used the same term to designate an engine of war (Not. Tires. p. 126.), the characteristic properties of which are equally unknown. From some analogy with these objects the same word was used in a metaphorical sense to signify any thing doubtful or obscure, such as a riddle or enigma. Aristoph. Vesp. 20. Aul. Gell. i. 2. 2.
GROMA and GRUMA (γρώμων). An instrument used by land-surveyors, engineers, and persons of that class; which was set up as an index for the purpose of enabling them to draw their lines, or direct their roads perfectly straight to any given point. (Non. s. v. p. 63. Hyg. de Limit. p. 164. Goes.) Hence degrumari, to make straight (Lucil. Sat. iii. 15. Gerlach.); and grumæ, the central point at which four cross-roads meet. Non. l. c.
GRYPS and GRYPHUS (γρύψ). A griffin; a fabulous animal (Plin. H. N. x. 69.), mostly represented with the body and legs of a lion, surmounted by the head and wings of an eagle; thus combining strength with agility. It was, consequently, employed as an emblem of vigilance, and is frequently represented in tombs and on sepulchral lamps, as it were in the act of guarding the remains deposited therein. The example, from a terra-cotta lamp, possesses all the qualities and characteristics described.
GUBERNAC'ULUM (πηδάλιον). A rudder; which originally was nothing more than a large oar, with a very broad blade, as in the right-hand figure, from the column of Trajan, either fastened by braces (funes, Veg. Mil. iv. 46. ζεύγλαι, Eur. Hel. 1556.) outside the quarters of a vessel, or passed through an aperture in the bulwarks; but in its more improved form it was furnished with a cross-bar inboard, which served as a tiller, like the left-hand figure, from a Pompeian painting; and its different parts were distinguished by the following names: ansa, the handle, A; clavus, the tiller, B; pinna, the blade, C. The word is frequently used in the plural; because the ancient vessels were commonly furnished with two rudders, one on each quarter (wood-cut p. 247), each of which had its own helmsman, if the vessel was a large one (Scheffer, Mil. Nav. p. 301.); but were both managed by a single steersman when it was small enough, as in the following example.
GUBERNA'TOR (κυβερνήτης). A helmsman or pilot, who sat at the stern to steer the vessel (Cic. Sen. 9.), gave orders to the rowers, and directed the management of the sails. (Vig. Æn. x. 218. Lucan. viii. 193.) He was next in command to the magister, and immediately above the proreta. (Scheffer, Mil. Nav. p. 302.) The illustration is from a bas-relief found at Pozzuoli.
GURGUST'IOLUM. (Apul. Met. i. p. 17. iv. p. 70.) Diminutive of GURGUSTIUM.
GURGUST'IUM. Any small, dark, and gloomy hovel or dwelling-place. Cic. Pis. 6. Suet. Gramm. 11.
GUSTA'TIO. Any kind of delicacy taken as a relish or stimulant to the appetite before a meal. Pet. Sat. 21. 6. Id. 31. 8.
GUSTATO'RIUM. The tray upon which a gustatio was served up; often made of valuable materials, and lined with tortoise-shell. Pet. Sat. 34. 1. Plin. Ep. v. 6. 37. Compare Mart. xiv. 88.
GUSTUM and GUSTUS. (Apic. iv. 5. Mart. xi. 31. and 52.) Same as GUSTATIO.
GUTTÆ. Drops, in architecture, used principally under the triglyphs of the Doric order, in the architrave, and under the tænia (Vitruv. iv. 3., 4.), as in the annexed example; but sometimes also applied under the mutules of the order (Vitruv. iv. 3. 6.), as in the example s. Epistylia, p. 262. They are shaped like the frustra of cones, and represent the drops of water which distil from above, and hang in pendant drops below.
GUTTUR'NIUM (πρόχοος). A water-jug, or ewer; employed especially for pouring water over the hands before and after meals. (Festus, s. v.) Many of these have been discovered at Pompeii, with a lip in front, upright handle behind, round throat, and full body, similar to our jugs, but of a more tasteful outline and of richer workmanship. The word is formed from GUTTUS, but the termination, urnium, is an augmentative, indicating that it had a larger mouth, as shown in the example, from a Pompeian original.
GUTTUS. A jug with a very narrow neck and small mouth, from which the liquid poured out flowed in small quantities, or drop by drop (Varro, L. L. v. 124.), as the name implies. Vessels of this kind were used at the sacrifice for pouring wine into the patera to make a libation (Plin. H. N. xvi. 73.); in early times, or by persons of moderate means, as a wine jug at the table, before the Greek epichysis was substituted in its place (Hor. Sat. i. 6. 118. Varro, l. c.); in the baths for dropping oil on the strigil with which the bather was scraped, in order to lubricate the edge, and prevent it from wounding the skin (Juv. Sat. iii. 263.); and also as an oil-cruet, in general. (Aul. Gell. xvii. 8.) The example represents a sacrificial guttus from a Pompeian painting.
GYMNASIAR'CHUS (γυμνασίαρχος). A Greek magistrate who had the superintendence of the public gymnasia, and a jurisdiction over all who frequented them. He wore a purple cloak and white shoes (Plut.
GYMNASIUM (γυμνάσιον). A public building in which the youth of Greece were instructed in one of the principal branches of their education, designed for the development of their physical powers by the practice of gymnastic exercises. Almost every town in Greece had an institution of this kind, and Athens possessed three, the Lyceum, Cynosarges, and the Academia; all of which were constructed upon a scale of great splendour, and furnished with every kind of convenience;—covered and open apartments, colonnades, shady walks, baths, and other contrivances conducive to the health or comfort of the large concourse resorting thither as performers and spectators, or for the enjoyment of literary and scientific conversation. Vitruvius devotes an entire chapter of his work (v. 11.) to a description of the manner in which they were disposed; and remains of several Gymnasia have been discovered at Ephesus, Hierapolis, and Alexandria in Troas; all, however, too much dilapidated to afford an undoubted model, corresponding minutely with all his details, or which might be produced as an authority sufficiently perfect to clear up the many obscurities still apparent in his account. Yet enough is left of them to show that all the three edifices were constructed upon one and the same general principle, only varied in the details and such local distribution of the parts, as the nature of the site or taste of the architect would naturally induce;—a principle, however, which is the very reverse of that adopted by the commentators on Vitruvius, in the conjectural plans which they have invented to illustrate his text; for all of them, without exception, commit the remarkable error of placing the various apartments round the extreme sides of the building, with the corridors within them, surrounding a large open area, forming the greater part of the ground-plot, which thus remains unoccupied; whereas in all the three examples above mentioned, the main body of the building is situated in the centre of the plan, upon the very site which the conjectural designs leave unoccupied. And this arrangement is precisely similar to that adopted for the Roman Thermæ, of which the remains are more complete, and which were undoubtedly constructed after the model of the Greek Gymnasia; as will be at once apparent by comparing the plan s. THERMÆ with the one here annexed, which represents a survey from the Gymnasium at Ephesus, the most perfect of the three. The dark tint shows the actual remains; the lighter one, the restorations, which, although partially conjectural, will be perceived, upon a close inspection, to be in a great measure authorised by the corresponding parts in existence. With regard to the names and uses assigned to each portion of the plan, they have been made to accord, as near as can be, with the words of Vitruvius, which is satisfactorily accomplished in all the more important particulars; sufficiently, at least, to give the reader a clear and accurate notion of the number and variety of parts essentially required in a Greek Gymnasium, and of the manner in which they were usually distributed.
A A A. Three single corridors (porticus simplices) round three sides of the central pile of building, fitted with seats and chairs, and adorned with exedræ for philosophers and others to retire and converse in. The two divisions observable at the bottom angles of the corridors, each of which is constructed with a semicircular absis, appear, from their form and position, to have been exedræ constructed in the three corridors (in tribus porticibus), as Vitruvius directs. B. A double corridor facing the south (porticus duplex ad meridianas regiones conversa), so constructed, that the inside walk might afford shelter from the rain, when driven inwards by windy weather. These four corridors taken together constitute what Vitruvius calls the peristyle (peristylium), which, though forming a peripteral portico round the cluster of rooms comprised in the central pile, is still a true peristylium in respect to the outer parts of the edifice within which it is situated. (Compare PERIPTEROS and PERISTYLIUM.) C. Ephebeum; a large hall furnished with seats, intended as the exercising-room of the ephebi, and opening on to the centre of the double corridor (in duplici porticu, in medio). D. Coryceum, on the right hand of the last apartment (sub dextro). E. Conisterium, the next adjoining (deinde proxime). F. Frigida lavatio; the cold-water bath, beyond the conisterium, and after the turn in the building. Vitruvius places it exactly in the angle (in versura); so that his design provided for three rooms on each side of the ephebeum instead of two, as in the present example; but the proximate situation is the same in both. G. Elaeothesium; the first apartment on the left hand of the youths' exercising-hall (ad sinistram ephebei). H. Frigidarium; a chamber of low temperature adjoining the oiling-room, situated precisely as Vitruvius directs it should be, and as it is shown to be in the painting from the Thermæ of Titus introduced s. ELAEOTHESIUM. Beyond this, in the plan of Vitruvius, was a third division, forming the angle which corresponded with the frigida lavatio on the opposite side, and which was occupied by the passage which conducted to the mouth of the furnace (iter ad propnigeum), but which in our example is shown at the letter N. I. The next room is probably a Tepidarium, though not mentioned by Vitruvius; but its contiguity to the thermal chamber resembles the disposition of that apartment in the baths of Pompeii. K. Concamerata sudatio; the vaulted sudatory, which has its warm-water bath (calda lavatio, L) at one extremity, and the Laconicum (M) at the other. The apartment on the opposite side, which is placed in the same contiguity to the furnace (O), and is constructed of similar shape and dimensions, was probably another sudatory, with its warm bath (P), and Laconicum (Q), having a separate entrance from the Ephebeum and adjacent apartments. The use of the three rooms yet unappropriated (R R R) is quite conjectural; but the larger and central one seems, from its size and locality, to be well adapted for the game of ball, for which a room was provided in every gymnasium, and consequently to be the Sphæristerium; the two angular ones would serve for some other of the many games to which the Greeks were devoted. The parts thus far described comprise the whole of the covered apartments which Vitruvius appears to designate collectively the palæstra. On the outside of these were disposed three more corridors (extra autem porticus tres), one (S) a double one facing the north, which received the company from the peristyle (una ex peristylio exeuntibus, quæ spectaverit ad septentrionem, perficiatur duplex); and two others (TT) called xysti (ξυστοὶ) by the Greeks, with exercising grounds in front of them (stadiatæ), furnished with an elevated path all round, to preserve the spectators from contact with the oiled bodies of those engaged at their exercises. Between these and the double corridor facing the south (B) were laid out a number of open walks (hypæthræ ambulationes, παραδρομίδες), planted with trees, and having open spaces (stationes) left at intervals, and laid with pavements for the convenience of exercise. Beyond this was the stadium (W), provided with seats to accommodate the large concourse of spectators that usually assembled to view the exercises of the athletæ.
GYNÆCE'UM, GYNECI'UM, and GYNÆCONI'TIS (γυναικεῖον, γυναικωνῖτις). That part of a Greek house which was set apart for the exclusive use and occupation of the female portion of the family, like the harem of a modern Turkish residence. (Terenet. Phorm. v. 6. 22. Plaut. Most. iii. 2. 72. Vitruv. vi. 7. 2.) The situation of these apartments has given rise to much controversy, and still remains in some respects doubtful. From the words of Vitruvius, who commences his description of a Greek house with the Gynæceum, it has been inferred that it formed the front part of the house immediately after the entrance; but this is so much at variance with the close and studied seclusion in which Greek females were kept, that it must be given up as untenable. At the Homeric period, the women's apartments appear to have been situated in an upper story (ὑπερῷον); and in after times the same distribution was occasionally adopted, where the ground-plot was of small extent, owing to the high price or scarcity of land. But after the Peloponnesian war the most rational conjecture seems to be that which would place the Gynæceum at the back part of the premises, behind the devision allotted for the men (andronitis); so that it would occupy, with its dependencies, much the same position as the peristylium of the Pompeian houses; as it is laid down on the conjectural plan of a Greek house at p. 252., on which it is marked e.
2. Amongst the Romans, a cloth factory, or establishment in which only women were employed in spinning and weaving. Cod. Just. 9. 27. 5. Id. 11. 7. 5.
3. The Emperor's seraglio. Lact. Mort. persecut. 21.
GYNÆCIA'RIUS or GYNÆ'CIUS. The overseer or master of the factory girls in a gynæceum, or spinning and weaving establishment. Imp. Const. Cod. 11. 7. 3. Cod. Theodos. 10. 20. 2.
GYPSOPLAS'TES. One who takes casts in plaster of Paris (gypsum). Cassiodor. Var. Ep. vii. 5. Compare Juv. ii. 4., where gypsum means the cast itself.
HABE'NA. Literally that by which any thing is held, bound, drawn, or fastened; whence the following more special senses:—
1. (ἡνίαι). Mostly used in the plural; a pair of reins for riding or driving, like the annexed example, from a bas-relief in the Museum at Verona. Virg. Hor. Ov. &c.
2. (ῥυταγωγεύς). In the singular; a halter rope, or leading rein attached to a horse's head-stall, as contradistinguished from frænum, which was bitted (Ammian. xix. 8. 7.); shown by the example, from an engraved gem.
3. A short thong attached to the shaft of a spear, to assist in hurling it (Lucan. vi. 221.); poetical for AMENTUM, 1., where see the illustration.
4. A strap or sandal, by which shoes that had no upper leather were fastened over the instep (Aul. Gell. xiii. 21. 2.); same as AMENTUM, 2., where see the illustration.
5. The lace or strap by which the cheek-pieces (bucculæ) were fastened under the chin. Val. Flacc. vi. 365., woodcut p. 90.
6. The sheets of a sail; i. e. the ropes by which the lower ends of the sails are braced to or slacked away from the wind (Val. Flacc. iv. 679. Compare Ov. Fast. iii. 593.); poetically for PES, where see the illustration.
7. The thong of a sling (Lucan. iii. 710. Val. Flacc. v. 609.); see FUNDA.
8. The thong of a whip for punishing slaves (Hor. Ep. ii. 2. 15. Ov. Her. ix. 81. and illustrations s. FLAGELLUM and SCUTICA); or flogging a top. Virg. Æn. vii. 380.
HALTE'RES (ἁλτῆρες). Heavy weights of stone or lead, like our dumb-bells, intended to increase the muscular exertion of gymnastic exercises, being held in each hand whilst leaping, running, dancing, &c. (Mart. vii. 67. Id. xiv. 49. Compare Senec. Ep. 15. and 56. Juv. vi. 421.) The illustration represents a youth in the gymnasium lifting a pair of halteres from the ground, with two examples of the different forms in which they were made on the left hand of the engraving, all from designs on fictile vases: the large one at the top will afford a specimen of the massa gravis of Juvenal (l. c.).
HAMA (ἄμη). A pail or bucket; used in the wine cellar (Plaut. Mil. iii. 2. 42.); by firemen and others for extinguishing conflagrations (Juv. xiv. 305. Plin. Ep. x. 35. 2.); for drawing water from a well. Ulp. Dig. 33. 7. 12. § 21.
HAMATUS, sc. Ensis. (Ovid. Met. v. 80.) See FALX, 6.
2. See LORICA, 6.
HAMIO'TA. An angler; who fishes with a line and hook (hamus), as contradistinguished from who nets his prey. (Plaut. Rud. ii. 2. 5. Varro, ap. Non. s. v. p. 25.) The illustration is copied from a painting at Pompeii, the inhabitants of which town appear to have been much addicted to the amusement of angling, arising, perhaps, from their proximity to the Sarno; for the landscapes frequently contain the figure of an angler, who always wears the peculiar kind of hat here shown, or one very similar to it, and carries a fish-basket of the same shape as our figure.
HAMOTRAHO'NES. A nickname given to anglers, and to the gaolers who dragged up the corpse of a criminal, after execution, from the carnficina on to the Gemonian stairs; both in allusion to their use of a hook (hamus). Festus, s. v.
HA'MULUS. Diminutive of HAMUS. A small fish-hook (Plaut. Stich. ii. 2. 16. Apul. Apol. p. 460. flexus); a surgeon's instrument. Celsus vii. 7. 4.
HA'MUS (ἄγκιστρον). A fish-hook, made of various sizes, and in form and character precisely like our own. Plaut. Cic. Hor. Ov.
2. (ἄγκιστρον). The Greeks applied the same name to a hook on the top of a bobbin (πηνίον), round which the thread for making the woof in weaving was wound (Plato, Rep. x. p. 616. c.); and probably the Romans likewise, though the word is not found in any remaining passage with this meaning; but the hook itself is plainly shown in the annexed engraving, representing Leda's work-basket, from a painting at Pompeii, which contains two bobbins, each furnished with a hook of this description, and four balls of spun thread ready for winding on a bobbin.
3. The thorn of a briar (Ov. Nux. 115.); whence applied to the hook of the weapon called harpe (Ov. Met. iv. 719), attributed to Perseus and Mercury, which exactly resembles the thorn of a briar, as shown by the annexed example, from a Pompeian painting: it also demonstrates to conviction the incorrectness of the usual translation given to the passage quoted—ferrum curvo tenus abdidit hamo—"up to the hilt."
4. An iron hook or thorn, of which several were set in a frame to form a brush or comb with which tow, oakum, or unwrought flax was carded and pulled into even flakes. Plin. H. N. xix. 3.
5. The hook or ring by which each plate in a flexible coat of mail was joined to its neighbour when they were merely linked together, instead of being sewn on to a substratum of linen (Virg. Æn. iii. 467.); as explained and illustrated s. LORICA, 6.
6. A surgical instrument, the precise nature of which is not ascertained. Celsus, vii. 7. 15.
7. A kind of cake, the nature of which is unknown. Apul. Met. x. 219.
HAPH'E (ἁφή). The yellow sand sprinkled over wrestlers after they were anointed, in order that they might obtain a firm hold upon each other (Mart. vii. 67.); hence a cloud of dust raised in walking (Seneca, Ep. 57.), with which Seneca complains that he was smothered in the Grotto of Pausilipo. In the first illustration to the article LUCTA, a basket is seen on the ground between the wrestlers, in allusion to the practice described.
HARA. A pig-sty; especially for a breeding sow. (Columell. vii. 9. 9. Cic. Pis. 16.) Compare SUILE.
2. A pen or coop for geese. (Varro, R. R. iii. 10. Columell. viii. 14. 6. and 9.) Compare CHENOBOSCION.
HARMAMAX'A (ἁρμάμαξα). A four-wheeled carriage, or caravan, of Eastern origin, usually drawn by four horses, having a cover overhead, and curtains to enclose it at the sides; and especially used for the conveyance of women and children (Curt. iii. 3. Herod. vii. 41. Diod. Sic. xi. 56.), but of which no authentic representation remains.
HAR'MOGE (ἁρμογή). A term employed by painters to express the union and blending of two adjacent tints imperceptibly and harmoniously together. Plin. H. N. xxxv. 11.
HARPA. A harp, with a curved back in the form of a sickle (ἅρπη, falx), like the annexed example, from an Egyptian painting. Venant. Carm. vii. 8. 63., in which passage it is expressly distinguished from the lyre, and as an instrument used by foreigners.
HARPAGINE'TULUS. (Vitruv. vii. 5. 3.) The reading of this word is generally given up as corrupt; but a plausible authority for its genuineness has been suggested by one of the paintings at Pompeii (Pitture d' Ercolano, tom. i. p. 212.), which, instead of a regular frontispiece over a row of columns, presents a fanciful elevation covered all over with ornaments resembling so many little books (harpaginetuli, dim. of harpagines); which, it is thought, may be the objects referred to by Vitruvius.
HAR'PAGO and HAR'PAGA (ἁρπάγη). A particular kind of hook constructed for grappling and drawing things up, or down, or towards the person using it, which was consequently applied in various ways; as a flesh-hook (κρεάγρα), for taking eatables out of the pot (Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 772); a drag for bringing things up from the bottom of the water, a bucket, for instance, from a well (Ulp. Dig. 37. 7. 12. § 21.); and as a grappling-iron in naval warfare, for seizing the rigging of an enemy's vessel, so as to bring it up to close quarters (Liv. xxx. 10.), and similar purposes. The example, which is copied from a bronze original in the British museum, corresponds exactly with the words of the Scholiasts on Aristophanes (l. c.), where it is described as an instrument made with a number of iron prongs, bending inwards like the fingers of the human hand, so as to catch in different ways. A wooden handle was added of various lengths, as best suited the purpose for which it was employed.
HARPAS'TUM (ἁρπαστόν). A ball employed for a particular kind of game in vogue amongst the Greeks and Romans. It was of larger dimensions than the paganica, but smaller than the follis. The game at which it was used was played with a single ball, and any number of players, divided into two parties; the object of each person being to seize the ball from the ground (whence it is associated with the epithet pulverulenta, dusty), and to throw it amongst his own friends. The party which first succeeded in casting it out of bounds gained the victory. Mart. iv. 19. Id. vii. 62. and 67. Mercurial. Art. Gym. ii. 5.
HARPE (ἅρπη). A particular kind of sword or dagger, with a hook like a thorn (hamus), projecting from the blade at a certain distance below the point (mucro); as shown by the figure on the top of the opposite page. This weapon is fabled to have been used by Jupiter (Apollodor. Bibl. i. 6.), Hercules (Europ. Ion., 191), and more particularly by Mercury and Perseus (Ov. Met. v. 176. ib. 69.), to the last of whom it is universally assigned, as a characteristic weapon, by the ancient artists in their sculptures, paintings, and engraved gems.
HARUS'PEX (ἱεροσκόπος). A soothsayer and diviner, who affected to foretell future events by inspecting the entrails of victims, and to interpret the extraordinary phænomena of nature, such as lightning, thunder, meteoric effects, earthquakes, &c.; thus assuming the combined powers of an EXTISPEX and an AUGUR, both of whom held a regular political office, were appointed by the government, and used as state engines. But the haruspex held no sacerdotal nor public position; and amongst the educated classes were regarded with much less respect than the two other; though he carried his jugglery to a much greater extent than either, in order to trade more effectively upon the popular credulity. Cic. Div. i. 39. Val. Max. 1. 1. § 1. Columell. i. 8. 6. Herzog. ad Sall. Cat. 47. 2.
HARUS'PICA. A female who practises the same arts as the Haruspex. Plaut. Mil. iii. 1. 98.
HASTA (ἔγχος). A spear; used as a pike for thrusting, and as a missile to be thrown from the hand. It consisted of three separate parts: the head (cuspis, αἰχμή and ἐπιδορατίς) of bronze or iron; the shaft (hastile, δόρυ) of ash or other wood; and a metal point at the butt end (spiculum, σαυρωτήρ or στύραξ), which served to fix it upright in the ground, or as an offensive arm if the regular head got broken off. (Polyb. vi. 25.) The top figure in the annexed illustration represents a Roman spearhead, from an excavation in Lincolnshire; the centre one, a point for the butt end, from a fictile vase; and the lowest, the whole spear, with the three parts put together. The manner in which it was hurled is shown by the annexed engraving, from the Vatican Virgil, intended to represent the attack and defence of a fortified post; while at the same time it illustrates and explains the more special terms adopted for describing the action employed. It will be observed that the figure on the ground has the inside of the hand turned outwards, or from himself, so that in such a position he must have discharged his spear with a sort of twist to give it impetus, which is expressed by the phrases rotare (Stat. Theb. ix. 102.), or torquere (Virg. Æn. x. 585. xii. 536.); those above have the back of the hand turned outwards, and the little finger, instead of the thumb, towards the head of the spear, which represents the ordinary manner of throwing the missile, expressed by jacere, jactare, mittere, &c.; when held and poised at the centre of gravity, with the back of the hand turned downwards, in order to take an aim before the cast, in which case the point and butt would alternately rise and sink, like the beam of a balance (libra), the action was designated by the word librare, Virg. Æn. xix. 417. ix. 479., which passage makes a pointed distinction between jacere and librare.
2. Hasta amentata. (Cic. De Orat. i. 57.) A spear furnished with a thong to assist in hurling it. AMENTUM, and illustration.
3. Hasta ansata. (Ennius ap. Non. p. 556.) A spear with a handle fixed on the shaft, to assist in thrusting and hurling. ANSATUS, 2. and illustration.
4. Hasta velitaris (γρόσφος). The spear or dart employed by the light-armed troops of the Roman armies, the shaft of which was about three feet long, and of the thickness of a finger, whilst the head was not more than a span in length, but so thin and finely acuminated, that it bent immediately upon coming in contact with any thing which offered solid resistance; consequently, if the soldier missed his aim, it was useless to the enemy, and could not be thrown back again. (Liv. xxxviii. 20. Plin. H. N. xxviii. 6. Polyb. vi. 22.) The head of one of these weapons is shown by the illustration, from an original found in a Roman entrenchment at Meon Hill in Gloucestershire.
5. Hasta Pura. A spear without a head (cuspis), like the old Greek sceptre (sceptrum), which the Roman general used to bestow upon a soldier who had distinguished himself in battle. (Tac. Ann. iii. 21. Virg. Æn. vi. 760. Serv. ad l. Suet. Claud. 28.) The illustration is copied from a painting in the sepulchre of the Nasonian family near Rome.
6. Hasta præpĭlata, with the antepenult short. A spear with the point muffled, or covered with a button or ball (pila) at the end, like our foils (Plin. H. N. viii. 6.), used by soldiers at their exercises (Hist. B. Afr. 72.), and at reviews or sham fights. Liv. xxvi. 51.
7. Hasta pampinea. The thyrsus of Bacchus, so termed because it was originally a spear with its head buried in vine leaves (Virg. Æn. vii. 396. Calpurn. Ecl. x. 65.), as in the annexed example from a Pompeian painting.
8. Hasta graminea (κάμαξ). A spear made of the tall Indian reed, which it was usual to place in the hands of colossal statues of Minerva, on account of its imposing length and size. Cic. Verr. ii. 4. 56.
9. Hasta cælibaris. A spear, with the point of which the Roman bridegroom parted the hair of his betrothed on the marriage day. (Festus s. v. Ovid. Fast. ii. 560. hasta recurva.) The epithet "hooked" or "bent," which Ovid applies to this instrument, plainly intimates that it was not an ordinary spear that was used for the purpose, but the rustic spear, or SPARUM, which see.
10. Hasta publica. A spear set up as the sign of a public auction when goods were publicly disposed of to the highest bidder (Nep. Att. xxv. 6. Cic. Off. ii. 8.); a practice arising from the predatory habits of the old Romans, who, when they disposed of the plunder taken in war, planted a spear by the side of the booty, to indicate whence the right of ownership accrued.
11. Hasta centumviralis. A spear which it was customary to set up as an emblem of authority in the courts of the centumviri; whence the expression, centumviralem hastam erigere, means to summon the centumvirs to their judgment-seats; or, in other words, to open their court. Suet. Aug. 36. Mart. vii. 63.
HASTA'RII. Veg. Mil. ii. 2. Same as HASTATI.
HASTA'RIUM. An auction-room (Tertull. Apol. 13.); a catalogue of sale. Id.
HASTA'TI. In general any person armed with spears; but in a more special sense the Hastati were a particular body of heavy-armed infantry, constituting the first of the three classes into which the old Roman legion was subdivided. They consisted of the youngest men, and were posted in the first line of the battle array, at least until the latter end of the republic, when the custom had obtained of drawing up the Roman army in lines, by cohorts; and, consequently, the old distinctions between the Hastati, Principes, and Triarii, in regard to the respective positions occupied by each of them, had been abandoned. But their arms and accoutrements appear to have been retained, without any very important change even under the empire; for they are frequently represented upon the arches and columns with weapons of offence and defence similar to those which Polybius ascribes to them at his day; viz. a helmet, large shield, cuirass of chain-mail, sword on the right side, and spear, as shown by the annexed example from the column of Antoninus. The cuirass of chain armour (θώραξ ἀλυσιδωτός), which was peculiar to the hastati, is indicated by the marking in the engraving, but is more prominently apparent in the original, from being placed in immediate contrast with two other figures, the one in scale armour (lorica squamata), the other plumated (lorica plumata), both of which are detailed with equal decision and distinctness. Varro, L. L. v. 89. Ennius ap. Macrob. Sat. vi. 1. Liv. xxii. 5. Polyb. vi. 23.
HASTI'LE. Properly the shaft of a spear (Nepos, Epam. xv. 9.); thence used for the spear itself (Ov. Met. viii. 28.); a goad for driving cattle (Calpurn. Ecl. iii. 21.); or any long stick. Virg. Georg. ii. 358.
HAUSTRUM. A scoop, box, or bucket on a water-wheel which takes up the water as the wheel revolves. (Lucret. v. 517. Non. s. v. p. 13.) These were sometimes wooden boxes (modioli, Vitruv. x. 5.); at others only jars (cadi, Non. l. c.); and the Chinese of the present day make use of a joint of bamboo for the purpose; see the illustration s. ROTA AQUARIA, which affords a clear notion of what is meant by the term.
HELCIA'RIUS. One who tows a boat by the loop (helcium) of a tow-rope. Mart. iv. 64. 22. Sidon. Ep. ii. 10.
HELCIUM. Properly the loop attached to a tow-rope drawn by men (HELCIARIUS), which is passed over the shoulder and across the breast; whence it is applied to a breast-collar attached to the traces of draught animals (Apul. Met. ix. p. 185.), as in the annexed example, from a painting of Herculaneum.
HELEP'OLIS (ἑλέπολις). Literally, the destroyer of cities, the name given to an engine invented by Demetrius Poliorcetes for besieging fortified places, consisting of a square tower placed upon wheels, and run up to the height of nine stories, each of which was furnished with machines for battering and discharging projectiles of enormous size and weight. Diod. Sic. xx. 48. xx. 91. Vitruv. x. 22. Ammian. xxiii. 4. 10.
HELIOCAMI'NUS (ἡλιοκάμινος). A room with a southern exposure, which received sufficient heat from the natural warmth of the sun, and, consequently, required no artificial contrivance for warming. Plin. Ep. ii. 17. 20. Ulp. Dig. 8. 2. 17.
HEL'IX (ἕλιξ). The small volute under the abacus of a Corinthian capital, intended to imitate the tendrils or curling stalk of the vine, ivy, or any parasitical plant, bent down by a superincumbent weight. Each capital is decorated with sixteen, two under each angle of the abacus, and two meeting under its centre on each face. Vitruv. iv. 1. 12.
HEMICYC'LIUM (ἡμικύκλιον). A semicircular alcove, sufficiently large to admit of several persons sitting in it at the same time, for the enjoyment of mutual converse. The ancients constructed such places in their own pleasure-grounds (Cic. Am. 1. Sidon. Ep. i. 1.); and also as public seats in different parts of a town for the accommodation of the inhabitants (Suet. Gramm. 17. Plut. de Garrul. p. 99.). The annexed woodcut affords an example of the latter sort; representing a hemicyclium at Pompeii, as it is now seen at the side of the street, just outside of the principal entrance to the city from Herculaneum. The seat runs all round the back, and the floor is at a considerable elevation above the level of the pavement, so that a small stepping stone is placed in the front of it for the convenience of access.
2. A sundial of simple construction invented by Berosus, consisting of an excavation nearly spherical on the upper surface of a square block of stone (excavatum ex quadrato) within which the hour lines were traced, and having the anterior face sloped away from above so as to give it a forward inclination (ad enclima succisum) adapted to the polar altitude of the place for which the dial was made. (Vitruv. ix. 8.) The example is copied from an original, discovered in 1764 amongst the ruins of an ancient villa near Tusculum: the angle of the eclima is about 40° 43', which agrees with the latitude of Tusculum, and the whole instrument coincides exactly with a marble of the same description amongst the collection at Ince Blundell, in Lancashire, which has a bust of Berosus sculptured on the base, and the name hemicyclium inscribed upon it.
HEMI'NA (ἡμίνα). A measure of capacity, containing half a sextarius (Festus, s. v. Rhemn. Fann. de Pond. 67.); whence, also, a vessel made to contain that exact quantity. Pers. i. 129.
HEMIOL'IA (ἡμιολία). A particular kind of ship (Gell. x. 25.), used chiefly by the Greek pirates (Arrian. Anab. iii. 2. 5.); constructed in such a manner that half of its side was left free from rowers, in order to form a deck for fighting upon. (Etymol. Sylburg. ap. Scheffer. Re Nav. p. 74.) It seems to have belonged to the same class as the Cercurus, with a slightly different arrangement of the oars; and is probably represented by the annexed example, from an Imperial medal (Scheff. l. c. p. 111.), in which the central portion, not occupied by rowers, forms the deck alluded to.
HEMISPHÆ'RIUM. One of the many kinds of sundials in use amongst the ancients (Vitruv. ix. 8.), which received its resemblance to a hemisphere, or half of the globe supposed to be cut through its centre in the plane of one of its greatest circles. The illustration represents a statue of Atlas, formerly standing in the centre of Ravenna (Symeoni, Epitaffi antichi, Lione, 1557), which affords an appropriate design for a dial of this description; and indicates that the hemisphærium was erected in an upright position, whereas the discus, which was also circular, was laid flat upon its stand: thus constituting the difference between the two.
2. The interior of a dome; i. e. the ceiling formed by it, which, in fact, consists of the half of a hollow globe; such, for instance, as the Pantheon at Rome. Vitruv. v. 10. 5.
HEPTE'RIS (ἑπτήρης). A war-galley with seven banks of oars. (Liv. xxxvii. 23.) See the article HEXERES, where the metehod of arranging the oars and counting the banks, when they exceeded a certain number, is partially explained; and if the plan there supposed be adopted, the addition of one oar-port to each tier between stem and stern, will make the rating of seven banks instead of six; which banks will be disposed in the manner shown by the following diagram.
HERMÆ (Ἑρμαῖ). Mercuries; a particular kind of statues, in which only the haed, and sometimes the bust, was modelled, all the rest being left as a plain four-cornered post; a custom which descended from the old Pelasgic style of representing the god Mercury. (Macrob. Sat. i. 19. Juv. viii. 53. Nepos, Alcib. vii. 3.) The trunk was sometimes surmounted with a single head, more usually with a double one, as in the example from an original in the Capitol at Rome; and the personages most commonly selected for the purpose were the bearded Bacchus, Fauns, and philosphers. Pillars of this description were extensively employed for many purposes; as signposts; as the uprights in an ornamental fence or railing, to which use the original of our engraving was applied (the cavities being visible on each of its sides, which received the cross-bars between post and post): in the circus, for holding the rope or bar which kept the doors of the stalls (carceres) closed until the chariots received the signal to come out (Cassiodor. Var. Ep. iii. 51.); as shown by the illustration at p. 119.; and, in short, for any purpose for which a post would be employed.
HERMATHE'NA. Probably a terminal statue, like that just described, with the head of Athena or Minerva on the top; of which an example is engraved by Spon. Recherches, p. 98. No. 11. Cic. Att. i. 4.
HERMERAC'LES. Probably a terminal statue (Herma) with the bust of Hercules on its top; of which examples remain at Rome. Mus. Pio-Clem. i. 6. Mus. Capitol. i. p. 13. Cic. Att. 1. 10.
HERM'EROS. Probably a terminal statue (Herma) with the bust of Eros, or Love, on the top. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 4. § 10.
HERM'ULÆ. (Cassiodor. Var. Ep. iii. 51.) Diminutive of HERMÆ.
HERO'UM (ἡρῷον). A sepulchral monument, built in the form of an ædicula, or small temple. (Inscript. ap. Mur. 889. 8. Plin. H. N. x. 6.) Monuments of this kind originated with the Greeks, and in the first instance were only erected in honour of their deified heroes; which explains why the temple was taken as a model; but subsequently they were extensively adopted by private individuals, as may be inferred from the frequent representations of them on fictile vases and sepulchral marbles. The example annexed is copied from a marble slab in the Museum at Verona, which served as the monument of a Greek lady, named Euclea, the daughter of one Agatho, and wife of Aristodemon, as the epitaph inscribed upon it in Greek characters testifies.
HEXACLI'NON. A term coined from the Greek, for the purpose of designating a dining-couch made to accommodate six persons. Mart. ix. 60. 9.
HEXAPH'ORON. A palanquin or sedan (lectica, sella), carried by six men (Mart. ii. 81. Id. vi. 77), in the manner described and illustrated s. ASSER, 1. p. 63.
HEXAPH'ORI, sc. phalangarii. A set of six men who carry any burden by their joint exertions, united by the aid of a phalanga (Vitruv. x. 3. 7.), as explained in the articles PHALANGA and PHALANGARII, where the illustrations represent the operations performed by two men and by eight.
HEXASTY'LOS. Hexastyle; i. e. which has a row of six columns in front.
HEXE'RIS (ἑξήρης). A vessel furnished with six banks of oars on each side. (Liv. xxxvii. 23.). It is still a matter of doubt and of difficulty even to surmise how the oars were disposed in a vessel rated with six banks (ordines); as it has been proved by experiments that an oar poised at such an altitude from the water's edge as would be required for the sixth seat of the rower, even when placed diagonally over the five others, would have so great a dip for its blade to touch the water, that the handle would be elevated above the reach of the rower; or, if the oar were made of sufficient length to obviate this inconvenience, being fixed as of necessity upon the thowl at one-third of its entire length, the part inboard would be so long that it must reach over to the opposite side of the vessel, and thus completely obstruct all movement within it. The most feasible construction seems to be that suggested by Howell (Treatise on the War Galleys of the Ancients), that when vessels had more than five banks of oars, the banks were not counted in an ascending direction from the waters' edge to the bulwarks, but lengthwise from stem to stern; that these were placed in a diagonal direction, as in the trireme (see TRIREMIS, and illustration), and always five deep in the ascending line; but that they were rated, not by these, but by the number of oar-ports between stem and stern. Thus a hexeris would have five parallel lines of oars, with six oar-ports in each, placed diagonally over one another, as in the annexed diagram; a hepteris seven; a decemremis, ten; and so on. Compare ORDO.
HIBERNAC'ULA. Apartments in a dwelling-house intended for winter occupation, which were less decorated than other apartments, in consequence of the dirt caused by the smoke of the fires and lamps burnt in them (Vitruv. vii. 4. 4.), and for which a western aspect was considered the most eligible. Vitruv. 1. 2. 7.
2. Tents constructed for a winter campaign, or in which the soldiers were lodged when an army kept the field during the winter season; consequently, they were covered with skins, and built of wood, or of some more substantial material than an ordinary tent. Liv. v. 2. Compare xxx. 3. xxxvii. 39.
HIERONI'CA (ἱερονίκης). Properly, a Greek term, which has exclusive reference to the customs of that nation. It was employed to designate the victor in any of their public games; viz. the Nemean, Pythian, Isthmian, and Olympic, which were also called sacred games, because they commenced with religious ceremonies. The illustration represents a Grecian youth, crowned and habited as one of these victors, whose costume very closely resembles that ascribed to Nero, when he entered the cities of Italy as a hieronica (Suet. Nero, 25.), after contending at the Olympic races.
HIEROPHAN'TA and HIEROPHAN'TES (ἱεροφάντης). A high priest and teacher of religion amongst the Greeks and Egyptians, corresponding in many respects to the Roman Pontifex Maximus. Nep. Pel. 3. Tertull. adv. Marc. i. 13.
HIEROPHAN'TRIA. A priestess of similar character and dignity to the hierophanta. Inscript. ap. Grut. 538. 11.
HIPPAG'INES, HIPP'AGI, HIPPAGO'GI (ἱππαγωγοί). Horse-transports, especially for the conveyance of cavalry troops. Festus s. v. Gell. x. 25. Plin. H. N. vii. 57. Liv. xliv. 28.
HIPPOCAMP'US (ἱπποκάμπος). A fabulous animal, having the fore quarters and body of a horse, but ending in the tail of a fish, like the annexed example, from a Pompeian painting, which the poets and artists of antiquity commonly attach to the marine car of Neptune and the Tritons. Næv. and Lucil. ap. Non. s. v. p. 120.
HIPPOCENTAU'ROS (ἱπποκένταυρος). A horse-centaur, half-horse and half-man (Cic. N. D. ii. 2.), as opposed to the fish-centaur, half-man and half-fish (ἰχθυοκένταυρος), under which form the giants who waged war against the gods, were represented (Apollodor. i. 6. 1. Mus. Pio-Clem. iv. tav. 10.) Hippocentaurs were also represented of the female sex (Luc. Zeux. 3.), of which an example is afforded by the illustration from a bronze discovered at Pompeii.
HIPPOD'ROMUS. A hippodrome; which, amongst the Romans, implies a plot of ground in a garden or villa, planted with trees, and laid out into a variety of avenues for the purpose of taking equestrian exercise. Plin. Ep. v. 6. 32. Mart. xii. 50.
2. (ἱππόδρομος). A hippodrome; which, amongst the Greeks, implies a race-course for horses and chariots, as contradistinguished from the stadium, which was appropriated to foot-racing. Hippodromes of this kind were frequently attached to the gymnasia, in which the youth of Greece learned the art of horsemanship (Plaut. Bacch. iii. 3. 27.); but the regular Greek Hippodrome, in which the public races took place, corresponds more closely with the Roman Circus, though possessing some remarkable points of difference, and is better known to us from the description which Pausanias has left of the Olympic race-course, than from its actual remains, some vestiges of it merely being still extant. (Gell. Itinerary of Morea, p. 36. The most important distinction consisted in the manner of arranging the stalls for the horses and chariots, which were not disposed in the segment of a circle, like the Roman circus (see the woodcut p. 165. A. A.); but were arranged in two lines with curvilinear sides converging to a point in front of the course, so that the whole plan resembled the figure of a ship's prow, with its beak towards the course, and the base, or extremity of the two sides, where they were widest apart, resting upon the flat end of the hippodrome, or upon a colonnade which covered it. (Pausan. vi. 20. 7.) The whole of this was called the ἄφεσις, and corresponded in locality, though not in distribution, with the oppidum of a Roman circus. The peculiarity of the arrangement was an ingenious invention of the architect Cleotas (Paus. l. c.), and originated in the necessity of affording abundant stabling room, which required much greater accommodation at a Greek race-course, where the numbers were not limited to twelve, as they were with the Romans, but all were freely admitted who wished to compete for the prize. The drivers drew lots for their stalls (Paus. l. c.); and the following method was adopted in order that those who got nearest to the point might not possess any advantage over the others who were posted behind them. A separate rope or bar (καλώδιον, ὕσπληξ) was drawn as a barrier across the front of each stall; and when the races were about to commence, the two ropes which closed the remote stall (1. 1.) on each side, were loosened simultaneously, so that the two cars from the furthest end came out first; and when they had advanced as far as the level of the two next (2. 2.), these were removed; and the four cars continued their course until they had gained the line of the next stall (3. 3.), when the third barriers were slacked away; and so on until the whole number arrived on a line with the point of the prow (B), from whence they all started together and abreast. (Paus. l. c.). It is probable that a long line was drawn entirely across the course at this point, which answered the same purpose as the Roman linea alba. The whole of the design will be clearly understood from the annexed plan of the Olympic hippodrome, as suggested by Visconti, to illustrate the description of Pausanias; though conjectural, it possesses great seeming probability to stamp it with a mark of authority. At all events, it will serve to give a distinct idea of the more important features of a Greek hippodrome, and of the meaning of the terms by which each part was designated. A. The space enclosed by the stalls already described. B. The point or beak of the ἄφεσις, termed ἔμβολον by Pausanias. C. The colonnade (στοά) forming a termination to the flat end of the hippodrome: perhaps this member was not always added. 1, 2, 3. The stalls for the horses (οἰκήματα, carceres). D D. The course (δρόμος). E. A barrier, which divides the course into two parts, like the Roman spina, but more simple, and less decorated, consisting of a plain bank of earth (χώμα), as may be inferred from Pausanias (vi. 20. 8.). F. The goal round which the chariots turned (νύσσα, καμπτήρ, meta); there probably was a similar one at the opposite end of the spina, as in the Roman Circus. G G. The space occupied by the spectators, usually formed in steps cut out on the side of a mountain; or, if the course was in a flat country, formed upon a bank of earth (χώμα) thrown up for the purpose; but not upon vaulted corridors, forming an architectural elevation, like a Roman circus. One side is observed to be longer than the other, which was the case at Olympia (Paus. l. c.), and probably in most other places, in order to give the spectators an equal sight of the race. In the centre of the space occupied by the stalls was a temporary altar (A), upon which a large bronze eagle was placed; and on the point of the prow (B) a similar figure of a dolphin, both of which were worked by machinery, and employed to inform the concourse of the moment when the race was about to commence; the first, by rising up into the air, the other by plunging on to the ground in front of the assembled multitude. Paus. l. c.
HIPPOPE'RA (ἱπποπήρα). A
HIPPOTOX'OTA (ἱπποτοξότης). A mounted archer (Hirt. B. Afr. 19.); in most cases characteristic of foreign nations, as the Syrians (Cæs. B. C. iii. 4.), Persians (Herod. ix. 49.), &.c; but men thus equipped appear to have been used amongst the light horse of the Greeks (Aristoph. Av. 1179.), and of the Romans; at least under the empire, as testified by the annexed figure, which represents a Roman cavalry bowman in the army of Antoninus, from the column of that emperor.
HIR'NEA. An earthenware vessel used for culinary purposes (Cato, R. R. 81. Plaut. Amph. i. 1. 273. and 276.); but of which the distinctive properties are unknown.
HIRNELLA. Diminutive of HIRNEA; employed at the sacrifice. Festus, s. Irnella.
HIS'TRIO. A word of Etruscan origin, which, in that language, signified a pantomimic performer and dancer on the stage (Liv. vii. 2.); but amongst the Romans was used in a more general sense, like our term actor, to signify any dramatic performer who delivered the dialogue of a play, with appropriate action (Cic. Fin. iii. 7.), including both actors of tragedy (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 46.) and comedy. Plin. H. N. vii. 54.
HOPLOM'ACHUS (ὁπλομάχος). Generally, one who fights in a complete suit of heavy armour, or, as we say, armed cap-à-pie; but specially used to designate a gladiator who wore such armour (Suet. Cal. 35. Mart. viii. 74.); and as that was a characteristic of the Samnite, it is believed that the present term was only a new name brought into vogue under the empire for a gladiator of that description. See SAMNITIS.
HORA'RIUM. (Censorin. De Die Nat. 24.) Same as HOROLOGIUM.
HOR'IA. A small boat employed by fishermen on the sea-coast (Non. s. v. p. 533. Plaut. Rud. iv. 2. 5. Gell. x. 25.); the peculiarities of which are unknown.
HOR'IOLA. Diminutive of HORIA; used on rivers. Plaut. Trin. iv. 2. 100. Gell. x. 25.
HOROLOG'IUM (ὡρολόγιον). An hour-measure, or horologe; a general term employed for any contrivance which marked the lapse of time, whether by day or night, and without reference to the agent employed; consequently, including the various kinds of sun-dials (solaria), and water-glasses (clepsydræ), which are enumerated in the Classed Index. Our term clock conveys an improper notion of the ancient horologium; for the only instruments known to the ancients for performing the duties of a modern clock, were water-glasses and sun-dials.
HORREA'RII. Persons who had charge of the public bonding warehouses and magazines, in which merchants, and also private individuals, who had not sufficient accommodation of their own, deposited their merchandise and effects for safe custody. Ulp. Dig. 10. 4. 5. Labeon. Dig. 19. 2. 60. § 9.
HORR'EOLUM. Diminutive of HORREUM. A small granary, or a barn for the storing of agricultural produce. Val. Max. vii. 1. 2.
HORR'EUM (ὡρεῖον). A granary, barn, or other building in which the fruits of the earth were stored (Virg. Georg. 1. 49. Tibull. ii. 5. 84.); frequently constructed, like our own, upon dwarf piers, in order to keep the floor dry, and free from vermin; in which case it was termed pensile. Columell. xii. 50. 3.
2. A store room for wine in the upper floor of a house, where it was kept to ripen after it had been put into amphoræ, or, as we should say, bottled. Hor. Od. iii. 28. 7.
3. (ἀποθήκη). A repository, store room, or lumber room, in which goods and chattels of any kind were deposited for preservation, or to be out of the way, when not required for use; books, for instance (Sen. Ep. 45.); statues (Plin. Ep. viii. 18. 11.); agricultural implements (Columell. i. 6. 7.), &.c
4. Horreum publicum (σιτοφυλακεῖον). A public granary, in which large stores of corn were kept by the state, in order that a supply might always be at hand in times of scarcity, to be distributed amongst the poor, or sold to them at a moderate price. P. Victor. de Reg. Urb. Rom. Compare Liv. Epit. 60. Vell. Pat. ii. 6. 3. Plut. Gracch. 5., from which passages we learn that the first notion of building these granaries originated with C. Sempronius Gracchus.
5. A bonding warehouse, where persons of all classes could deposit their goods and chattels, whether merchandise or personal property, such as furniture, money, securities, or valuables of any kind, for safe custody. This was also a public building, as well as the last mentioned, and each quarter (regio) of the city was at one period furnished with a separate warehouse for the use of the neighbourhood. Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 39. Ulp. Dig. 10. 4. 5. Paul. Dig. 34. 2. 53. Modest. ib. 32. 1. 82.
HORTA'TOR (κελευστής). On board ship, the officer who gave out the chaunt (celeusma), which was sung or played to make the rowers keep the stroke, and, as it were, encourage them at their work (Ovid. Met. iii. 619. Compare Virg. Æn. v. 177. Serv. ad l.), whence the name (solet hortator remiges hortarier, Plaut. Merc. iv. 2. 5.). He sat on the stern of the vessel, with a truncheon in his hand, which he used to beat the time, as represented in the annexed engraving, from the Vatican Virgil.
HORTULA'NUS. A nurseryman, seedsman, or general gardener. (Macrob. Sat. vii. 3. Apul. Met. iv. p. 64. ix. p. 199.) It is also probable that the same name was used to designate a florist, or flower gardener, as contradistinguished from topiarius, who attended to the shrubs and evergreens, and from olitor, the kitchen gardener; for we do not meet with any other name to designate the person who pursues this branch of the gardener's art; though it is clear, from the annexed engraving, which is copied from a fresco painting in the place of Titus, that flower gardening was a favourite occupation in his day; and the original design shows many other gardening operations, besides the two of potting and planting out, exhibited in the above specimen.
HOR'TULUS (κηπίον). Diminutive of HORTUS. Catull. 61. 92. Juv. iii. 226.
HORTUS (κῆπος). A pleasure-ground or garden; which, from the descriptions left us, appears to have been very similar in style and arrangement to that of a modern Italian villa. Where space perrmitted it was divided into shady avenues (gestationes) for exercise in the sedan or palanquin (sella, lectica); rides for horse exercise (hippodromus); and an open space (xystus) laid out in flower beds bordered with box, and interspersed with evergreens clipped into prim forms or fanciful shapes, with taller trees, fountains, grottoes, statues, and ornamental works of art distributed at fitting spots about it. (Plin. Ep. v. 6.) This sketch of Pliny's garden might also pass for a faithful description of the pleasure grounds belonging to the Villa Pamfili at Rome.
2. The same term also includes the kitchen garden; the manner of arranging which, its cultivation, and the different kinds of vegetables grown in it, are detailed at great length by Columella, xi. 3.
3. Hortus pensilis. A moveable frame for flowers, fruits, or vegetables placed upon wheels, so that it could be drawn out into the sun by day, and removed under the cover of a glass-house at night. Plin. H. N. xix. 23. Compare Columell. xi. 3. 52.
4. Horti pensiles. In the plural, hanging gardens; i. e. artificially formed, in such a manner that the beds are raised in terraces one over the other, like steps, supported, or, as it were, suspended, upon tiers of vaulted masonry or brickwork, like the seats of a theatre. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 20. Compare Curt. v. 1.
HOSPIT'IUM. A general term for any place which affords to the traveller or stranger a temporary accommodation of board and lodging, whether it be the house of a friend, a public inn, or a hired lodging. Cic. Phil. xii. 9. Id. Senect. 23. Liv. v. 28.
2. The quarter occupied by a soldier who is billeted on a private individual. Suet. Tib. 37.
HOS'TIA (ἱερεῖον). A victim sacrificed to the gods; properly, as a peace-offering to avert their wrath, as contradistinguished from victima, which was offered as a thanksgiving for favours received. Victims consisted mostly of domestic animals, such as oxen, sheep, pigs, &c., and when sacrificed to the Gods of Olympus, they were slain with the head upwards, as in the annexed example, from the Vatican Virgil; when offered to the deities of the lower regions, to heroes, or to the dead, with the head towards the earth. The larger ones were first stunned by a blow of the mallet from the hand of the popa, as in the annexed engraving, from a Roman bas-relief; the smaller ones were struck in the throat by the cultrarius, as shown by the first example.
HUMA'TIO (κατόρυξεις). Strictly speaking, interment; i. e. in a grave dug in the earth, which was the most ancient manner of disposing of the body after death, and amongst the Romans continued to be the prevalent custom until a late period of the republic; but the word is also used in a general sense for any other mode of burial, because the practice of throwing a small quantity of earth upon the bones and ashes was adopted when the general custom of interment had been relinquished. Cic. Leg. ii. 22. Id. Tusc. i. 43. Plin. H. N. vii. 55.
HYDRAL'ETES (ὑδραλέτης). A mill for grinding corn driven by water instead of cattle or men; which appears to have been first used in Asia (Strabo, xii. 3. § 30.), and not introduced into Italy before the time of Julius Cæsar, at the earliest, and then only by a few private individuals. (Vitruv. x. 5. 2. Compare Pallad. R. R. i. 42.) The earliest mention of public water mills is about A. D. 398, under Arcadius and Honorius (Cod. Theodos. 14, 15. 4.), which were supplied by the aqueducts: and the use of floating mills was invented by Belisarius in the year 536, when Vitiges besieged the city, and stopped the mills, by cutting off the water supplied by the aqueducts. (Procop. Goth. i. 9.) From the passage of Vitruvius (l. c.), we learn that the hydraletes was very similar in operation to the common water-wheel (rota aquaria); a large wheel furnished with float boards (pinnæ), which turned it with the current, and thus acted upon a cogwheel attached to its axle, by means of which the mill-stone was driven, as explained s. MOLA.
HYDRAU'LA and HYDRAU'LES (ὑδραύλης). One who sings or recites to an accompaniment upon the hydraulic organ. Pet. Sat. 36. 6. Suet. Nero, 54.
HYDRAU'LUS (ὕδραυλος or -ις). A water organ (Cic. Tusc. iii. 18. Plin. H. N. ix. u. Vitruv. x. 13.); in which the action of water was made to produce the same effect upon the bellows as is now procured by a heavy weight. The instrument is rudely indicated by the annexed engraving, from a contorniate coin of the Emperor Nero; and in the collection of antiquities bequeathed to the Vatican by Christina of Sweden, there is a medal of Valentinian, which has a representation of a similar instrument on the reverse, accompanied by two figures, one on each side, who seem to pump the water which works it. It has only eight pipes, is placed uon a round pedestal, and, like the present example, affords no indication of keys, nor of any person performing upon it; whence it has been inferred that these organs were only played by mechanism.
HY'DRIA (ὑδρία). A water pail, or water can for holding clean water; more especially used to designate such as were of a superior description (Cic. Verr. iii. 19.), of bronze or silver, and of costly workmanship, like the annexed example, from a Pompeian original.
2. In a more general sense, any kind of vessel for holding water; whence also used for the urn filled with water from which the names of the tribes or centuries were drawn out by lot, for the purpose of assigning to each one its right turn in voting; otherwise, and more specially, termed SITELLA. Cic. Verr. iii. 51.
HYPÆTH'ROS (ὕπαιθρος). Literally, under the sky, or in the open air; whence applied to a temple, or other edifice which had no roof over the central portion of its area, so that the interior was open to the sky. Hypæthral structures were generally the largest and most magnificent of their kind; indeed, the difficulty of roofing over a very large area may be regarded as a principal motive for adopting the expedient. The great temple at Pæstum affords an existing specimen of this style; but no instance was to be found in Rome when Vitruvius wrote. Vitruv. iii. 2.
HYPÆ'TRUM. A latticed window constructed over the grand entrance of a temple (Vitruv. iv. 6. 1.), as in the annexed example, which represents the door of the Pantheon at Rome. One of the Xanthian marbles in the British Museum affords an example of the same contrivance, which possesses the double advantage of giving grandeur without, and admitting air within.
HYPER'THYRUM (ὑπέρθυρον). An ornamental member, consisting of a frieze and cornice supported upon trusses or consoles (ancones, parotides), usually placed above the lintel of a door-frame in temples and other great buildings (Vitruv. iv. 6. 4.); an example of which is given in the annexed engraving, with one of the trusses in profile by its side, from the temple of Hercules at Cora, constructed precisely as Vitruvius directs in the passage cited; and the preceding woodcut affords an example of a similar ornament, but differently designed, placed over the hypætrum, in the Pantheon at Rome. This member was intended to increase the apparent size of the doorway, in order to preserve the level of the horizontal line formed by the architrave of the pronaos and the antæ; whence it is directed that the top of the cornice of the hyperthyrum should coincide with the tops of the capitals belonging to the columns and antæ of the pronaos. If the doorcase itself were made thus high, the valves would be ill-proportioned, and cumbersome to open.
HYPOCAU'SIS (ὑπόκαυσις). A furnace with flues running underneath the pavement of an apartment in a private house or set of baths, for the purpose of increasing the temperature of the air in the chamber above. (Vitruv. v. 10. 1. and 2.) It is very plainly shown in the annexed engraving, representing the sectional elevation of a bath-room, discovered in a Roman villa at Tusculum; the small arch on the left shows the mouth of the furnace (propnigeum), over which are placed the vessels (vasaria, Vitruv. l. c.), containing hot and tepid water, which it served to heat; and, on the right, under the floor of the room, which is supported upon a number of low and hollow tubes, is an offset from the hypocausis, which warmed the chamber above it.
HYPOCAUS'TUM (ὑπόκαυστον). A room, of which the temperature is warmed by means of a furnace and flues (hypocausis) directed under it, as represented by the last engraving, Plin. Ep. ii. 17. 11. and 23. Compare Stat. Sylv. i. 5. 59., where the word seems to be applied to the flues under the chamber rather than to the chamber itself.
HYPOC'RITA, or -TES (ὑποκριτής). An actor or performer who plays a part upon the stage (Suet. Nero, 24. Compare Quin. xi. 3. 7.) The word is properly a Greek one; and corresponds with the Latin histrio.
HYPODIDAS'CALUS (ὑπροδιδάσκαλος). A sub-master, or under teacher; at a school (Cic. Fam. ix. 18.); of a Greek chorus. Plat. Ion. 536. A.
HYPOGE'UM (ὑπόγειον). That part of a building which lies below the level of the ground (Vitruv. vi. 8.); whence a subterranean vault in which the Greeks buried their dead without burning the body (Pet. Sat. iii. 2.); consequently, corresponding with the Roman CONDITORIUM.
HYPOTRACHEL'IUM (ὑπροτραχήλιον). The uppermost part of the shaft of a column, where it is of the smallest diameter, immediately under the neck of the capital. Vitruv. iii. 3. 12. Id. iv. 7. 3.
IATRALIP'TA, or -TES (ἰατραλείπτης). A medical man who treated his patients upon what was called the iatraliptic system (Iatraliptice, Plin. H. N. xxix. 2.); i. e. by the external application of unguents and friction, combined with a regular gymnastic regimen. Plin. Ep. x. 4. Cels. i. 1.
ICHNOGRAPH'IA (ἰχνογραφία). A chart, map, or
IGNISPIC'IUM. A branch of the art of divination, which consisted in foretelling the secrets of futurity by the inspection of ignited matter. (Plin. H. N: vii. 57.) Compare Sen. Œd. 306—330., where the various appearances of the flames, and the results supposed to be indicated by them, are set out at length.
ILLIX or INLEX sc. Avis (παλευτής). A decoy bird, employed by the ancient fowlers to entice others within reach of their nets and snares. For this purpose they made use both of birds which were of a kindred and of a hostile species, such as the owl and falcon, which was also trained to catch those which it had decoyed within its reach. (Plaut. As. i. 3. 68. Pallad. x. 12. Mart. xiv. 216. Oppian. Cyneg. i. 65.) The illustrations at p. 59. s. ARUNDO, 4. afford two examples of the use of a call-bird, from ancient works of art.
IMAGINA'RII. Standard bearers in the Roman Imperial armies, whose ensigns had an image of the emperor amongst the other devices (Veget. Mil. ii. 7.), as seen in the annexed woodcut, from the Column of Trajan, in which the emperor's portrait occupies the top place, surrounded by a wreath of laurel.
IMAGINIF'ERI. (Veget. Mil. ii. 7. Inscript. ap. Grut. 1107. 1.) Same as the preceding.
IMA'GINES MAJO'RUM. Family portraits, or likenesses, consisting of waxen masks, expressing the lineaments of deceased persons, which their surviving relatives preserved with studious care in cases or armoires placed round the atrium of their mansions, regarding them as the honoured representatives of their ancestral line. (Liv. iii. 58. Sall. Jug. 85. Suet. Vesp. 1.) The mask in the annexed woodcut, from a sepulchral bas-relief, which represents a female bewailing the death of her husband, is probably intended for one of these images in its case. The honorary distinction of handing themselves down to posterity by these representations, was only permitted to certain persons amongst the Romans; viz. those who had passed through either of the high offices of ædile, prætor, or consul; and when the funeral of any individual of the above rank and ancient lineage took place, the masks were taken out of their cases, and worn by persons who walked in front of the bier, in a similar costume, and with the same insignia as had belonged to the personages they represented during their lives. (Eichstädt. Dissertt. de Imagg. Rom.) These were called the effigies (effigies) of the family; and they personated characters even as far back as traditional history, Æneas, the Alban kings, Romulus, &c. (Tac. Ann. iv. 9. Compare Polyb. vi. 53. Hor. Epod. 8. 2.) It will be self-evident that no authentic or contemporary likeness of any individual ascribed to such remote antiquity could ever have been in existence, even though we should admit that the original was a real historical person: but there is no doubt that the great Roman families preserved characteristic representations of their early, and even fabulous, ancestors, modelled in lineament and costume after some traditionary type, well known to, and immediately recognized by, the people at large, which are met with on coins, medals, and engraved gems (e. g. the head of Numa s. BARBATUS); precisely as all modern representations of the Saviour exhibit a particular identity of character, style, and features, which, though not professing to be genuine likenesses, are still formed after a traditionary model of very great antiquity.
IMBREX (καλυπτήρ). A ridge-tile made to receive the shower (imber), and of a semi-cylindrical form, as contradistinguished from tegula, which was flat. (Isidor. Orig. xix. 10. 15. Plaut. Most. i. 2. 26.) The imbrex was intended to cover the juncture of two flat tiles, and, consequently, was made narrower at one end, so as to lap over one another and form a continuous ridge down the sides of the roof (woodcut s. IMBRICATUS), which threw off the rain water from its hog's back into the channel formed by the tegulæ, between each row of imbrices. The modern Italian architects use tiles of the same description; two of which are represented by the annexed engraving, which shows their form, and the manner in which they were fitted to one another.
2. Imbrex supinus. A gutter formed by a series of ridge-tiles fitted into one another, and laid upon their backs (Columell. ix. 13. 6. Compare ii. 2. 9.), as in the annexed example, which shows a water conduit in the ruin, commonly known as the grotto of Egeria near Rome.
IMBRICA'TIM. Formed in undulations like the imbrices of a roof. Plin. H.N. ix. 52., and next woodcut.
IMBRICA'TUS. (From imbrico, καλυπτηρίζω). Imbricated, in architecture; that is, having the roof covered with a series of flat and ridge-tiles (tegulæ and imbrices); the usual manner in which the Greeks and Romans protected the timber-work in the roofs of their buildings, and of which a specimen is afforded by the annexed engraving, representing the roof of the portico of Octavia at Rome, the tiles of which are made of white marble.
IMMISSA'RIUM. A basin, trough, or other contrivance built upon the ground, of stone or brick, and intended as a cistern to contain a body of water flowing from the reservoir (castellum) of an aqueduct, for the accommodation of the adjacent neighbourhood. (Vitruv. viii. 6. 1.) It differs from cisterna, which was underground; and is shown by the annexed engraving, from a specimen at Pompeii. The high vaulted building is the reservoir, from which the water flowed through the small dark aperture at its bottom, into the square stone trough (immissarium) on the level of the pavement. The city of Pompeii is furnished with several other conveniences of this description.
IMMOLA'TUS. Accurately speaking, means sprinkled with flour (mola salsa), in reference to a victim intended for the sacrifice, this being one of the usual ceremonies before it was slain. (Cato ap. Serv. Æn. x. 541.); whence the word came to be used in the less special sense of our term immolated, or killed in sacrifice. Hor. Od. iv. 11. 7.
IMPA'GES. The broad transverse band in a door, which stretches from stile to stile, and divides the pannels horizontally from one another, technically called by our carpenters, the rail. Vitruv. 6. iv. 5., and JANUA, where the component parts which form the leaf of a door are illustrated and explained.
IMPEDIMEN'TUM (τὰ σκεύη). The baggage of an army which was transported in waggons, or on beasts of burden (Cæs. B. G. i. 26. Liv. xliv. 27.); including also the baggage waggons and the beasts which drew them. Cæs. B. G. vii. 45. Front. Strateg. ii. 1. 11.
IMPEDI'TI. In military phraseology soldiers who marched with a heavy load of arms, provisions, and personal baggage (sarcina), as was the ordinary practice in the Roman armies (Cæs. B. G. i. 12.), and shown by the annexed example from the column of Trajan. The soldier wears his heavy armour; his shield on the left arm, and helmet slung in front, from the right shoulder, while his personal necessaries, implements for cooking, and vessels for eating and drinking are made into a pack and carried on the top of a pole. The men thus loaded are opposed to EXPEDITI; which compare.
IMPIL'IA (ἐυπίλια, Hesych.). Thick and warm coverings for the feet, made of a felted fabric (Plin. H. N. xix. 10., and Ulp. Dig. 34. 2. 25., in which passage they are distinguished from fasciæ crurales, and from pedules), but whether in the nature of stockings, socks, or shoes, there are not sufficient data to determine.
IMPLUVIA'TUS. A term used to designate some particular kind of garments worn by females (Plaut. Epid. ii. 2. 39.); but as it only occurs in reference to a temporary fashion, it is impossible to say from what caprice the term may have sprung, or what peculiarity it was intended to describe. Some refer it to the form, viz. square, like the impluvium of a house (Turneb. Advers. xiv. 19.); others to the colour, vey dark and dingy, like the water which drips down from the roof of a house into the impluvium (Non. Marc. s. v. p. 548.); both conjectures little to be depended on.
IMPLUV'IUM. A large square basin sunk in the floor of the atrium in private houses, intended as a receptacle for the rain water which flowed in through the compluvium, or opening in the roof of the same. Varro, L. L. v. 161. Festus s. v. Plaut. Amph. v. i. 59. Liv. xliii. 13. Cic. Verr. ii. 1. 23.) The illustration represents the impluvium as now seen in the house of Sallust at Pompeii; a roof is restored to the apartment in order to show the manner in which the rain would enter through the compluvium above.
2. In some passages the word appears to be used in the same sense as compluvium (Plaut. Mil. ii. 2. 4. Ter. Eun. iii. 5. 41. Vitruv. vi. 3. 6.); but there is good reason for doubting the accuracy of these readings, and most of the best editions have adopted compluvium in its place.
INAR'CULUM. Same as ARCULUM. 1. Festus s. v.
INAU'RIS (ἐλλόβιον,). An ear-ring fastened to the ear through a hole (fenestra) bored in the lobe; very generally worn by the women of Greece and Italy (Isidor. Orig. xix. 31. 10. Plaut. Men. iii. 3. 17.), but not by males, as they were amongst some barbarous nations; though Isidorus says (l. c.) that the Greek youths wore a single ear-ring in one ear. These ornaments were made in every conceivable variety of pattern and value, of gold, pearls, precious stones, &c.; and with or without drops (stalagmia), as may be seen by the numerous specimens preserved in most cabinets of antiquities. The example introduced shows an ear-ring of the simplest kind, from a Pompeian painting, consisting of a plain gold ring of considerable size, such as is commonly worn by the female peasantry of Italy at this day; but many other specimens of a more elaborate and valuable character are interspersed in different parts of these pages.
INCERNIC'ULUM (τηλία). Usually translated a sieve; but Lucilius (Sat. xxvi. 70.) and Cato (R. R. 13. 1.) both make a distinction between the two words cribrum and incerniculum, though neither of them gives any details by which we might ascertain in what the difference consisted. A passage of Pliny (H. N. viii. 69.) compared with Aristotle (H. N. vi. 24.), suggests a more fitting interpretation, and leads to the conclusion that the incerniculum was not a sieve at all, but a large tray, chest, or perhaps basket, in which the corn dealers brought their samples of corn to market,
INCI'LE. A tributary or branch drain or ditch, whether for the purpose of conveying water from a common source into the lands for irrigation, or for conducting it from different parts of the land into the main channel. Festus s. v. Cato R. R. 155. 1. Columell. v. 9. 13. Apul. Met. ix. p. 182.
INCINCTUS. In a general sense girded or encircled by a thing (Circ. Acad.iv. 38.); thence wearing a girdle round the tunic (Ov. Fast. ii. 634. CINGULUM and illustrations); and especially having the toga twisted round the body in the peculiar manner called the gabine cincture. Liv. viii. 46. CINCTUS 3. and illustration.
INCISU'RA. A term used by the Roman painters to express what is now technically called hatching by our engravers and artists (Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 57.); which is produced by making separate strokes with the brush, like those of an engraving or chalk drawing, over the flat tints, in order to deepen the tone, give transparency, and form a half-tint between the light and shade. The expedient of hatching is never resorted to in oil painting, because the lubricous vehicle blends easily of itself, but is commonly applied by the fresco painters both of the old Roman and modern Italian schools. The illustration, which is a facsimile of a piece of sculptured pavement in the cathedral at Siena, will explain exactly what is meant by the term. If it were a fresco painting instead of an engraving, the darkest tint at the right hand side between the head of the child and the drapery of the female figure, would be crossed over with a hatching of strongly marked lines as it is here, each one of which would form an incisura; the name being transferred from its original meaning, an indented line, like those in the palm of the hand (Plin. H. N. xi. 114.), to one which resembled the same in its effect.
INCITE'GA (ἐγγυθήκη). A bottle-stand or case for holding cruets, decanters, and other vessels which had round or pointed bottoms so that they could not stand alone. (Festus. s. v. Fea ad Hor. Sat. i. 6. 116.) Of course they were made of different forms, sizes, and patterns, in accordance with the particular use to which they were applied and the taste of the designer. The example introduced represents an earthenware cruet-stand with two glass bottles in it, from an original found in Pompeii, very similar to those still in use; but another kind very generally adopted was an open frame upon three or more legs, like our trivets, made of silver, bronze, or wood (Athen. Deipn. v. 45.), of which the excavations of Pompeii and Egypt have furnished various specimens.
INCOMMA. A word of doubtful authority, but supposed to imply a post with gradations of feet and inches marked upon it, by which the stature of conscripts was tested, in order to see that they did not fall short of the regular military standard. Gloss. Isidor. Veg. Mil. i. 5. Salmas ad Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 4.
INCUNA'BULA. Includes all the objects which constitute the furniture of a cradle (cunabula) and of the infant in it; viz. the mattress (pulvillus) on which it lays; the cradle bands which prevent it from falling out, themselves termed incunabula specially by Plautus (Truc. v. 13.); the swaddling clothes and bands (fasciæ) with which it was enveloped; whence the same term is applied in a general sense for a cradle (Liv. iv. 36.), or a birth-place. Cic. Att. ii. 15.
INCUS (ἄκμων). An anvil, upon which smiths hammer out and fashion their work. (Plin. H. N. vii. 57. Virg. Æn. vii. 629. Hor. Ovid. &c.) It had a projecting horn, upon which angular and circular shapes were formed, and when used was placed upon a wooden block; being in every respect similar to the instrument still employed for the same purposes, as shown by the annexed example, which is copied from an engraved gem.
INDA'GO. A sporting term which expresses the surrounding of a wood or any given spot with nets, and perhaps also by a circle of beaters, in order to prevent the escape of the game, which, by this means, was brought to bay and slaughtered. Virg. Æn. iv. 121. Tibull. iv. 3. 7. Claud. in Rufin. ii. 376.
INDEX (σίλλυβοσ). The title of a book, which announced the subject treated in the work. (Cic. Att. iv. 4. Id. Or. 11. 14. Liv. xxxviii. 56. Suet. Cal. 49.) It answers to the title-page of a modern book, with this difference, that it was written at the end instead of the commencement; at least it is so placed in all the Herculanean MSS. which have been unrolled. It likewise answers to what is now called the lettering piece, attached to the back of the volume; for it was sometimes written on a separate piece of parchment or papyrus, tinged of a red colour, with coccum or minium, and affixed to the centre of the roll, so as to hang down outside, and announce its contents, as in the annexed example from a painting at Pompeii. Iorio, Officina de' Papiri, del Real. Mus. Borb.
2. An inscription upon the base of a statue, upon a slab or upon any object, recounting the actions, &c. which such works were intended to commemorate. Tibull. iv. 1. 30. Liv. xli. 28.
INDICTI'VUS. See FUNUS, 2.
INDU'CULA. An undergarment worn by females; but whether of a general or special nature is uncertain. It certainly belonged to the INDUTUS, and probably meant a small tunic, or chemise. (Plaut.
INDUMEN'TUM. A general term for any thing which is put on in the shape of clothing (Gell. xvi. 19. 3.), or to cover any part of the person; for a mask (Gabius Bassus ap. Gell. v. 7.); a tunic (Aurel Vict. Cæs. 12.)
INDUSIA'TUS. Wearing a frock, like the women's indusium (Apul. Met. ii. p. 33.); a costume which is probably represented on the annexed figure, from a bas-relief fo the Florentine Gallery. It did not form a regular part of the male attire, though it was sometimes given to young and effeminate boys who waited at the tables of wealthy or luxurious individuals, for whom recherché style of dress was affected by their masters. It is of such that Apuleius speaks in the passage cited. Comp. Apul. Met. viii. p. 172.
2. Indusiata vestis. Plaut. Epid. ii. 2. 49. Same as INDUSIUM.
INDU'SIUM. An article belonging to the Indutus of female attire, for which our term frock affords the best translation, and the closest analogy; for it was worn over the chemise (subucula), had short sleeves, and was put on over the head in the same manner as that article of modern costume. (Varro.
INDU'TUS (ἕνδυμα). A general term (from induo for any kind of close garment which a person puts on, or inserts his limbs or body into, as contradistinct from AMICTUS, which is expressive of loose clothing that is wrapped round the body. (Tac. Ann. xvi. 4. Apul. Flor. ii. 9. 1. Ammian. xxx. 7. 4. Compare Cic. Or. iii. 32. Auct. ad Herenn. iv. 47.) It consequently designates any and every of the various kinds of under-garments worn by the ancients, and enumerated in the list of the Classed Index, both of the female and female apparel; and is well illustrated by the annexed figure from a fictile vase, which represents a female taking off her chemise before entering the bath; showing by the action she employs that the tunica was a round garment taken off and put on over the head, like a modern shirt or chemise.
INFUDIB'ULUM. Cato. R. R. 10. 1., for INFUNDIBULUM.
INFRENA'TUS sc. Eques. One who rides without a bridle (frenum), as was the practice of the Numidian horsemen (Liv. xxi. 44.), and some of the northern nations, whose horses were so docile and well broken that they could be managed by voice, without rein or bit, as in the annexed example, which represents on the of the allied cavalry in the army of Trajan, from the column which bears his name.
INFRENA'TUS sc. Eques. One who rides without a bridle (frenum), as was the practice of the Numidian horsemen (Liv. xxi. 44.), and some of the northern nations, whose horses were so docile and well broken that they could be managed by voice, without rein or bit, as in the annexed example, which represents on the of the allied cavalry in the army of Trajan, from the column which bears his name.
2. As a participle of the verb Infreno, it has an exactly contrary signification, meaning bitted and bridled. Liv. xxxvii. 20. Sil. Ital. iv. 314.
INFRENIS or INFRENUS. Virg. Æn. x. 750. iv. 41. Same as INFRENATUS. 1.
IN'FULA. A flock of wool died red and white, and knotted at regular intervals with a riband (vitta), so as to form a long fillet, which was worn by the priesthood and vestals, employed as an ornament for the victim dressed for a sacrifice, and to decorate temples and altars upon festive occasions. (Virg. Æn. x. 538. Id. Georg. iii. 487. Festus, s. v. Cic. Verr. ii. 4. 50. Lucan ii. 355.) It is frequently represented in sculpture, though the natural elasticity of the wool, swelling out between the ties which fasten the flocks at intervals, gives to such works a strong resemblance to a row of large and small beads strung together, for which, in fact, it has been generally mistaken; see the two next woodcuts, where this appearance is very decided, though upon inspection it will be clear that the forms are intended to represent the same objects as those shown in the annexed engraving, which represents two genii making infulæ, from a painting discovered at Resina. The number of flocks tied together to make a length also explains why the prose writers mostly use the word in the plural, infulæ.
INFULA'TUS. Wearing or decorated with infulæ; i. e. with flocks of wool, tied up into a fillet, in the manner described by the last article. (Suet. Cal. 27.) It was worn as a diadem round the head, with long ends hanging down on each side (Serv. ad Virg. x. 538.) by the vestals and other members of the priesthood, exactly as represented by the annexed example from a statue of Isis in the Vatican; and by the victim (hostia) when dressed out for the sacrifice (Varro, L. L. vii. 24. Inscript. ap. Orelli. 642.), which had its head and neck decorated in the same manner, as exhibited by the annexed example from a Roman bas-relief.
INFUNDIB'ULUM (χώνη). A funnel for conveniently transferring liquids from one vessel into another. (Cato. R. R. 13. 3. Columell. iii. 18. Pallad. Jun. 7. 2.) The example represents a funnel, of the same construction as those still in use, from an original of glass discovered at Pompeii.
2. A funnel, or hopper, as it is technically called, through which the corn to be ground was poured into a mill (Vitruv. x. 5. 2.); probably the upper one of the two stones which formed a Roman corn mill, otherweise termed CATILLUS; and compare the illustration s. MOLA, 2., on the top of which there is an appurtenance, which may be intended for a hopper, with the corn pouring into it, though, from the dilapidation of the marble, it now presents an appearance more like a flame.
INFURNIB'ULUM. Same as the Infundibulum; (Plin. H. N. xxiv. 85.), where it is applied to the purpose of inhaling steam for a cough; for which the tunnel above engraved would be sufficiently well adapted if the narrow end were placed in the mouth, and the other one over the object from which the steam arose.
INSCRIP'TUS. Branded; in reference to a slave who had a stigma burnt into his forehead, to denote the offence which he had committed. Mart. viii. 75. 9. Compare Pet. Sat. 103. 2. Id. 106. 1.
2. Also, in a negative sense, unmarked; in reference to merchandize, cattle, &c., when smuggled out of port, or across the frontier, without paying the proper duties, i. e. without having the excise or custom-house brand marked upon them. Lucil. Sat. xxvii. 3. Gerlach. Varro, R. R. ii. 1. 15.
INSIC'IA and INSIC'IUM. Minced meat, or sausage meat. (Varro, L. L. v. 110. Macrob. Sat. vii. 1. Donat. ad Ter. Eun. ii. 2. 26.) The modern Italians retain the form in their name of a sausage, "salsiccia," corrupted from salisisicia, i. e. minced and salted.
INSICIA'TUS. Stuffed with minced meat or stuffing. Apic. v. 4.
INSIC'IOLUM. (Apic. v. 4.) Diminutive of INSICIUM.
INSIG'NE. In a general sense, implies anything which serves as a sign, ornament, or badge, by which persons or things may be distinguished; for example, the crest on a helmet, the device on a shield, the fasces of a consul, the sceptre and diadem of a king, the golden bulla of high-born children; and so on.
2. ( παράσημον). In the navy it has rather a more special sense, being used to designate the figure-head of a ship, which was carved or painted on the bows, and imitated the person or object after which the vessel was named, as contradistinguished from Tutela, which was situated on the quarters, and represented the deity under whose protection the vessel was supposed to sail. The example represents the head of the vessel named the Pistris in Virgil (Æn. v. 116.), from a picture in the Vatican MS., intended to illustrate that passage; which consequently is furnished with an image of that fabulous animal for its figure-head. All the other vessels in the picture have figures in a similar position, representing the objects after which they are named.
IN'SILE. (Lucret. v. 1352.) The real meaning of this word is doubtful. Some think that it expresses the same object as the "treadle" of a modern loom, which is pressed down by the foot of the weaver to work the leash rods or "heddles," and make them decussate the warp. Schneider, on the contrary (Index. Script. R. R. s. Tela), considers it to mean the heddles themselves, which move up and down as they open the warp. In both cases it is derived from insilio; and must have reference to a horizontal loom, and not an upright one, which does not require any treadle, and in which the heddles do not move up and down, but backward and forward; but, though a horizontal loom of a very primitive kind, and doubtless of a very ancient model, is still used in India, all the representations which remain to us of Egyptian and Roman looms are upright ones.
IN'STITA. An ornament attached to the stola of a Roman matron (Hor.
2. A fillet, or riband, which it was usual to tie round the top of the thyrsus under the foliaged head (Stat. Theb. vii. 654.), as in the annexed example, from a Pompeian painting.
3. In the plural; the bands or cords interlaced across the frame of a bed or couch, to make a support for the mattress (Pet. Sat. 97. 4.); as in the annexed example, from a terra-cotta lamp.
4. Also, in a general sense, anything which serves as a band or bandage. Pet. Sat. xx. 3.
IN'STITOR (παλιγκάπηλος). One who sells goods of any description on account of another person, or, as we should say, by commission, whether as a retail shopkeeper and agent, or as a traveller and hawker. Liv. xxii. 25, Ov. A. Am. i. 421. Ulp. Dig. 14. tit. 3.
INSTRAG'ULUM. A coarse and common counterpane for a bed. Cato, R. R. x. 5. xi. 5.
INSUB'ULUM (ἀντίον). the cloth-beam of a weaver's loom, round which the cloth is rolled, when woven to a greather length than the height of the loom. It goes by a similar name it Italy at the present day, where it is called "il Subbio." It was sometimes placed at the top of the loom, as in the annexed example, from an Egyptian painting, where it is seen with the cloth rolled under it under the yoke (jugum); and sometimes at the bottom, accordingly as the woof was driven upwards or downwards, by the comb or batten (pecten, sphata), both of which modes were practised by the ancients. Isidor. Orig. xxix. 1. Gloss. Philox. Pollux. vii. 36. x. 125. Eustat. in Hom. Od. xiii. 107. Aristoph. Thesm. 822.
IN'SULA. A house, or a cluster of contiguous houses, having a free space all round the collective pile, so that they formed a single and isolated mass of building, like an island in the water (Donat. ad Ter. Ad. iv. 2. 39. Festus, s. v. Cic. Off. iii. 16.) But as the houses composing an insula were let out in flats to different families, or comprised several distinct shops and tenements, the word came to be used in a less definite sense for any hired lodging (Pet. Sat. 95. 3.), or house occupied by more than one family, as contradistinguished from domus, the private house or mansion only tenanted by a single person, the owner or his lessee. (Tac. Ann. vi. 45. Suet. Nero, 16. 38. 44. Id. Jul. 41.) The ground-plan, which occupies the second column at p. 250., affords an example both of an insula and a domus; being an isolated patch of buildings surrounded on all sides by streets, and containing one private mansion, and eleven separate shops and tenements, each of which was occupied by a different tenant, as will appear by referring to the description there given.
INSULA'RII. Persons who live in hired lodgings (insulæ). Pet. Sat. 95. 8.
2. Slaves belonging to the owners of house property (Pompon. Dig. 50. 16. 166.); they performed the duties of house-agents and lodging-house keepers, and collected the rent for which they were liable to their masters, the landlords, if the tenant defaulted. Pompon. ib. vii. 8. 16.
INTERCOLUM'NIUM (μεσοστύλιον). The intercolumnation, or space between one column and another in a colonnade (Cic. Verr. ii. 1. 19.); which the ancient architects distributed at five different intervals, called respectively aræostylos, diastylos, eustylos, systylos, pycnostylos; each of which is explained under its own name.
INTERME'TIUM. The long, low barrier between the goals (metæ) of a race course (Gloss. Philox.), which divided the course into two parts, as will be seen by referring to the ground-plan of the Circus of Caracalla, p. 165., on which it is marked B. One side of the course, with an elevation of the intermetium and metæ at the back, is shown by the annexed illustration, from an engraved gem. The word, however, is only found in the Glossary above quoted; but Visconti (Mus. Pio Clem. v. p. 244.) thinks that it was the name originally employed before the more modern one SPINA was adopted, and again revived after that had fallen into disuse or received a different application.
INTERSCAL'MIUM. The space between thowl and thowl (scalmus) on the side of a vessel (Vitruv. i. 2. 4.); consequently, represented on the outside by the space between one oar, or oar-port, and another. The illustration is from an ancient Roman fresco painting discovered in the Farnese gardens.
INTERTIG'NIUM. The space etween the ends of the tie beams (tigna, BBB. in the example) which rest upon the architrave (trabs, A) in the timber-work of a roof. (Vitruv. iv. 2. 2. and 4.) Six of these are here shown; and in the earliest buildings these intervals were left open; but, subsequently, they were covered over with slabs of marble, so as to form part of a continuous frieze (zophorus), or to form a metope (metopa) in the Doric order.
INTERULA. Seems to be identical with SUBUCULA, the innermost tunica (interior or intima), worn next the skin; and is applied indiscriminately to both sexes. (Apul. Flor. ii. 9. Id. Met. viii. p. 159. Vopisc. Prob. 4.) See the illustrations s. INDUTUS and SUBUCULA.
INTESTINA'RIUS. A mechanic employed in making what are now called the
INTESTI'NUM, sc. opus. The fittings of wood in the inside of a house, such as doors, window frames, and shutters; or carpenter and joiner's work. Vitruv. v. 2. Varro, R. R. iii. 1. 10. Plin. H. N. xvi. 82.
INTON'SUS (ἀκερσεκόμης). Unshorn; i. e. wearing long hair; with an implied sense of youthfulness; for both the Greeks and Romans cropped their hair upon arriving at the age of puberty, after which period long hair was regarded as unmanly; excepting with reference to certain deities, such as Eros, the god of love, represented in the example, from a bronze of Herculaneum, Apollo, and Bacchus, to whom it is attributed as a sign of perpetual youth. Ov. Trist. iii. 1. 60. Prop. iii. 13. 52. Tibull. i. 4. 36.
2. (ἄκουρος). Unshaven; i. e. wearing the beard at its natural length, which was the custom of the earlier ages, as in the annexed example, from an engraved gem, intended to represent Numa; whence, in after times, when shaving had become a general fashion, the word implies a rude, uncouth person, of antiquated manners. Hor. Od. ii. 15. 1.. Tibull. ii. 1. 34. Ov. Fast. ii. 30. Liv. xxi. 32.
INTUSIA'TUS. The reading of some editors instead of INDUSIATUS; which see.
INTU'SIUM. The reading adopted by some instead of INDUSIUM; in which case the word would be derived from intus, and not from induo; and then the meaning, according to this derivation of Varro (L. L. v. 131.), would be, an inner tunic over an under one (subucula), but itself under some other garment; which is not very intelligible.
IRPEX. A heavy rake set with a number of teeth (regula cum pluribus dentibus. (Varro, L. L. v. 136. Festus, s. v.), which was drawn by oxen over the ground, like a harrow, to tear up the weeds.
ISELAS'TICI LUDI. The games exhibited at the four great Grecian festivals; viz. the Olympian, Isthmian, Nemean, and Pythian, which were so termed because the victors at them (hieronicæ) were conducted home with much pomp and ceremony to their native town, which they entered in a triumphal car (εἰσήλασαν) drawn by four horses, and crowned with chaplets. Subsequently, however, other games besides these four were honored with the same name. Vitruv. Præf. ix. 1. Plin. Ep. x. 118. Compare Suet. Nero, 25.
ISELAS'TICUM. The reward or stipend bestowed by the Roman emperors upon the champions at the Iselastic games. Trajan. ad Plin. Ep. x. 119.
ISOD'OMOS (ἰσόδομος). One of the styles of masonry adopted by the Greek architects in which every stone was cut and squared to the same height, so that when laid, the courses were all regular and equal. (Vitruv. ii. 8. 6. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 51.) A specimen is exhibited by the annexed woodcut, representing a fragment of the old wall which formed the substruction of the Capitoline temple; consequently, dating as far back as the legendary era of the Roman monarchy.
JACTUS. A throw of the dice. Each throw was distinguished by a particular name, according to the amount or nature of the numbers turned up; as, Canis, Canicula, Venus, Vulturius, Seniones. Liv. iv. 17. Ov. A. Am. iii. 353.
2. A cast of the net; i. e. the quantity of fish taken in it. Val. Max. iv. 1. 7. extr.
JACULATO'RES. Javelin men; furnished by the allies to the Roman armies, and so termed from the dart (jaculum), which they used, in contradistinction to the slingers and archers (funditores, sagittarii; though all three were classed amongst the light-armed troops, and were employed in the same service, to commence a battle by annoying the enemy with showers of their missiles. Liv. xxi. 21. xxxvi. 18.
2. Fishermen who use the cast net (jaculum). Plaut. ap. Isidor. Orig. xix. 5. 2.
JAC'ULUM. A javelin or dart; which is thrown at a distance, not held in the hand for thrusting (Varro, L. L. vii. 57.); whence the name seems to be given indiscriminately by the Latin authors to many kinds of missiles, even to a spear when discharged from the hand, as a missile. Liv. xxvi. 4. Cic. Tusc. 1. 42. Virg. Æn. ix. 52. with Serv. ad l.
2. A cast-net used for taking fish (Ovid. A. Am. i. 763.), which differed in some manner from the funda; for Ausonius (Epist. iv. 54.) mentions both these articles as a necessary part of a fisherman's fit out, but without affording any clue by which the difference can be traced.
3. The net used by the retiarius (Isidor. Orig. xviii. 54.), who hampered his opponent by throwing it over his head, and dispatching him with his trident, as shown and explained s. RETIARIUS.
4. Jaculus. A long rope with a noose at the end, like the lasso, employed for catching steers out of a herd, when it was required to bring them into the homestead, and break them to the plough. Columell. vi. 2. 4.
JA'NITOR (θυρωρός). The doorkeeper or porter; a slave who kept the keys of the street door (janua), and sat in the porter's lodge at the entrance of a house. Cic. Verr. ii. 3. 2. Plaut. Men. iv. 2. 115.
JA'NITRIX. A duenna. (Plaut. Curc. i. 1. 76.) Böttiger and other writers infer from the above, and some passages of Tibullus (i. 6. 61. and i. 8. 76.), that female slaves were employed as doorkeepers, and ushers in the ante-rooms of their mistress's house. But such a notion is absolutely inconceivable; the word is merely used in an allusive sense, as explained.
JA'NUA (αὔλειος θύρα). Strictly, the front or street door of a private house (Cic. N. D. ii. 27. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. i. 449. Vitruv. vi. 7. 1.), as constradistinguished from porta, the gate of a town, &c., and from ostium, a door in the interior; but these nice distinctions are not always observed. The illustration represents a doorway belonging to one of the houses at Pompeii, with the door itself, and panelling restored from a marble door in the street of the tombs, carved in imitation of wooden panels. The whole design consists of the following component parts; the sill, or threshhold, raised a step above the pavement (limen); the lintel above (supercilium, jugumentum or limen superum); the door posts which support it (postes); the door leaves (fores), each of which is composed of the following parts; two uprights, one on each side of the leaf, technically termed the "stiles" by our carpenters (scapi); four transverse pieces, which our carpenters call the "rails" (impagines), dividing the whole into three separate panels (tympana).
JENTAC'ULUM (ἀκράτισμα). A break-fast; the earliest of the daily meals. (Nigid. ap. Isidor. xx. 2. 10.) It was taken at various hours, according to the habits of each individual; by labourers very early in the morning; and, in general, appears to have consisted of light and digestible food. Suet. Vit. 13. Mart. xiv. 223. Compare viii. 67. Apul. Met. i. p. 14.
JUGA'LIS, sc. Equus (ζύγιος Ἱππος). A draught-horse; but especially one which draws by a yoke (jugum) attached to the pole, as contradistinguished from funalis, which drew from traces (Virg. Æn. vii. 280. Sil. Ital. xvi. 400.), as shown by the annexed example, from an Etruscan painting.
2. Jugalis tela. See TELA.
JUGAMENTUM. See JUGUMENTUM.
JUGA'RIUS. A rustic slave, who attended to the stalling, feeding, and dressing of the plough oxen. (Columell. i. 6. 6.) The Tuscan peasantry dress their oxen daily with the brush and currycomb, as we do our horses; and it may be inferred from the above passage of Columella that the Roman jugarius did the same.
JUGA'TIO. Implies the training of vines to a rail or trellis, which was practised in two ways; either in single lines, like an espalier, then termed jugatio directa, or over a frame with uprights and tierbars at the top, like the annexed example, from a painting in the Nasonian sepulchre, which was then called jugatio compluviata. Varro, R. R. i. 8. 2.
JUGUM (ζυγόν). A yoke for draught animals (Cic. N. D. ii. 60. Cato, R. R. xi. 2. Vitruv. x. 3. 8.) It was attached to the end of a pole by a thong (cohum, lorum), or by a pin; and was frequently formed with two arcs to fit the necks of the animals on which it rested, in which case it is described by the epithet curvum (Ov. Fast. iv. 216.), to distinguish it from the plain straight curricle bar, which answered the same purpose; and a pair of loops or bands (ζεῦγλαι) at each extremity, which were tied round the animal's chest, to serve the purpose of a collar (subjugium). The whole of these several details are exemplified by the two illustrations introduced; the first of which is from a bas-relief found in the island of Magnensia; the second, which shows the pin and the thongs round the chest, from a painting at Pompeii.
2. (ἄσιλλα, ἀνάφορον). A yoke for men to carry burdens upon. (Varro, R. R. ii. 2. 10.) It consisted of a pole slightly curved in the centre, and furnished with a strap at each end, to which the object was attached, somewhat in the same manner as our milk pails are carried; but with this material difference, that it was placed along the back, but across one shoulder, so that the objects suspended from it hung before and behind the person bearing it, who could thus shift his burden from one shoulder to the other (Aristoph. Ran. 8.) whenever he wished to ease the weight. The whole of this is illustrated by the annexed woodcut; the top figure represents an original Egyptian yoke, not quite three feet seven inches long, with one of the straps belonging to it, of leather, and nearly sixteen inches long, now preserved in the British Museum; the object on the left hand shows the bottom of the strap upon a larger scale, the two ends of which are fastened together by a small thong, which not only served to connect them, but to receive a hook or an additional strap, if the nature of the burden required it; and the bottom figure in the centre shows the manner of using the instrument, from a fictile vase, which fancifully represents a Satyr carrying objects for a sacrifice to Bacchus.
3. The beam of a balance, or pair of scales; whence used as a name for the constellation Libra. (Cic. Div. ii. 47.) The example represents a bronze original.
4. A cross-bar connecting two uprights at the top, in order to form a frame upon which vines were trained (Varro, R. R. i. 8.); as explained and illustrated s. JUGATIO.
5. The cross-bar or transverse beam which united at the top the two sides of an upright loom; to which the threads of the warp were fastened (Ovid. Met. vi. 55.), when the loom was of the simplest kind, without a cloth beam (insubulum), and the web was driven down towards the bottom, instead of upwards; such as exhibited by the annexed example, representing Circe's loom, from the Vatican Virgil.
6. The yoke under which the Romans compelled a vanquished enemy to pass without arms, in token of subjugation. (Liv. iii. 28. Flor. i. 11. 13.) It was formed by two spears stuck in the ground, with another fastened transversely over their tops, so as to present the same figure as the upright loom in the preceding woodcut. Festus s. v. Zonar. vii. 17.
7. The thwart, or cross-bench in a boat upon which the passenger sat. (Virg. Æn. vi. 481. of Charon's bark. Serv. ad l.) The illustration is from a Roman bas-relief.
JUGUMEN'TUM. The lintel of a doorway. (Cato. R. R. xiv. 1. ib. 4.) From the use of the word ζύγωμα, applied to the gates of the citadel at Sardis by Polybius (vii. 16. 5.), Schneider would infer that the jugumentum was something in the nature of a fastening affixed to the outside of a door or gate; but it remains to be proved that the Greek word corresponds with the Latin one, which is certainly used by Cato to designate a component part of a doorcase, whether made of wood or of stone, as in the example which represents a doorway at Pompeii; for in the first passage he mentions it as one of the three members of a wooden doorcase, limina, postes, jugumenta; and in the second, as part of the doorway in a wall, cæteros parietes ex latere, jugumenta, et antepagmenta.
JUNO'NES. Fairies or guardian spirits of the female sex, one of which was believed to be born with every female, to attend and watch over her through life, and expire with her at her decease, precisely as the GENIUS with males. They are represented as young girls, with the wings of a bat or a moth, and entirely draped, as shown by the annexed example from a Pompeian painting; whereas the male spirit was usually represented naked or nearly so, and with the wings of a bird. Plin. H. N. ii. 5. Senec. Ep. 110. Tibull. iv. 6. 1.
LAB'ARUM. The imperial standard carried before the Roman emperors from the time of Constantine. In form it resembled the vexillum of the cavalry, consisting of a square sheet of silk attached by a cross bar to the shaft, richly ornamented with gold and embroidery, and emblazoned with the figure of a cross and a monogram of Christ (Prudent. in Symmach. i. 487.), as shown by the annexed example, from a medal of Constantine. The name is probably formed from the Gaulish, lab, to raise; for Constantine was educated in Gaul.
LABEL'LUM. Diminutive of LABRUM. Columell. xii. 43. 1. Cato. R. R. x. 2. and Cic. Leg. ii. 26., where it is an ornamental vase over a grave (tumulus).
LA'BRUM. A general name given to any vessel which is formed with a full round brim, turning over on the outside like the human lip, from which similitude the name arose. The more special uses to which such vessels were applied are the following:
1. A large flat basin containing water, which stood upon the floor at the cicular end of the thermal chamber (caldarium), in a set of baths, in an isolated position, and with sufficient room all round it to accommodate the different bathers who stood round and sprinkled themselves with the water it contained, whilst they scraped off the perspiration from their bodies, engendered by the high temperature of the room. (Vitruv. v. 10. 4. Cic. Fam. xiv. 20. Marquez. Cas. Rom. § 316. seqq.) Most of these particulars are exemplified by the illustration from a fictile vase, which shows a slave (aquarius) filling the labrum with water; one person scraping himself with a strigil (strigilis), and another dipping his hands into the basin for the purpose of sprinkling the water over his person. The engraving on page 363. s. v. LACONICUM, exhibits a vase of the same kind as it now stands at one end of the thermal chamber in the baths of Pompeii.
2. An ornamental basin of the same form, intended to receive the water which fell from the jet of an artificial fountain (Plin. Ep. v. 6. Ulp. Dig. 19. 1. 15.), as exhibited by the annexed example, representing a fountain now remaining in the Fullonica of Pompeii, in which only the water has been restored to show the action.
3. A large flat vessel or pan made of stone or earthenware (Cato. R. R. xii. 15. 2.), which was employed in the cella olearia for holding the oil after it had been removed from the lacus. Cato, R. R. xii. 50. 10. Id. xiii. 2.
4. (χέρνιβον, περιρῥαντήριον). A holy water font, of stone or marble, placed at the entrance of a heathen temple, to contain the lustral water (Herod. i. 51.) into which the hands were dipped as a purification before sacrifice. The illustration represents an original font of white marble which served for this purpose at Pompeii; and the manner of placing it in front of a temple is exhibited by a bas-relief of the Vatican. (Mus. Pio-Clem. v. 33.) The composition of the holy water was the same as that now adopted in Roman Catholic countries, a mixture of salt with common water. (Theocr. Id. xxiv. 95. Durant. de Rit. i. 21.) The word labrum is not met with in any Latin writer in the sense here mentioned; but the Greek names are well authenticated, as well as the object itself; and the form is precisely that of which the name in questions is characteristic.
5. The ditch or trench on the outside of an agger, or of a wall of fortification. Auson. Clar. Urb. v. 9.
LABYRIN'THUS (λαβύρινθος). A labyrinth; under which term the ancients understood not only an intricate design containing many passages and windings within a small space, such as we make in our gardens (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 19. § 2.), but more especially a large mass of building connected with innumerable subterraneous caverns, streets, and passages, like the catacombs at Rome for example, out of which it was next to impossible for a person who had once penetrated into them to return back again without a guide. The original of the name is thought to be Greek, and akin to λαύρα, a narrow passage;—a supposition sufficiently probable, since the greater portion of a labyrinth consisted in underground works, though it was surmounted by numerous architectural elevations also of complicated designs, so that a stranger could not find his way about them. Herod. ii. 184. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 19. § 1. Virg. Æn. v. 588. Ov. Met. viii. 159. seqq.
LACER'NA. An article of dress, which appears to have been borrowed from the Gauls. (Cic. Phil. ii. 30.) It consisted of a loose mantle, not closed all round, like the pænula, but open in front, and fastened by a buckle or brooch (fibula) under the throat. It was, moreover, sufficiently ample to be worn over the toga (Juv. ix. 28.), or any other garment; and had a hood (cucullus Mart. xiv. 132. 139.), which could be raised over the head when the wearer wished to conceal his features, or avoid the sight of any unpleasant object. (Hor. Sat. ii. 7. 55. Paterc. ii. 70. 2.) It came first into use towards the latter end of the republic; but became very general under the empire, being used by all classes, civil as well as military. (Suet. Aug. 40. Claud. 6.) All these particulars seem to be distinctly exhibited in the mantle worn by the annexed figure, from the column of Trajan; and as it presents a characteristic dress, which can be ascribed to no other name in the language, it may be confidently taken as affording the model of a lacerna.
LACERNA'TUS. Wearing the lacerna, as described and represented in the preceding article and illustration. Paterc. ii. 80. 3.
LACER'NULA. Diminutive of LACERNA. Arnob. ii. 56.
LACI'NIA (κροκύς). In its primary sense, a flock of wool, not twisted into a fringe (fimbria), but in its natural form of a knot or tuft, such as we often see left upon the surface of blankets and other woollen fabrics. Hence the term was transferred to many other objects both animate and inanimate which bore a resemblance to the pointed and globular form of that object; as, a small projecting headland (Plin. H. N. v. 43.); a leaf (Id. xv. 30.); and the two drop-like excrescences, growing like warts under the jowl of a she-goat (Id. viii. 76.), which the ancient artists likewise appended to the necks of their fauns and young satyrs, in order to indicate their libidinous propensities, when they represented them without horns, as in the annexed example, from a statue found at Herculaneum.
2. From the resemblance above mentioned, the name was given to a sort of drop, frequently left on to the corners of various articles of dress; the chlamys (Plaut. Merc. i. 2. 29.), pallium (Pet. Sat. xii. 2.); toga (Suet. Cal. 35.), and tunica (Pet. Sat. xii. 6.), where it served the double purpose of use and ornament, being weighted with lead inside, so that it kept the ends down in a graceful and steady position. It is seen upon each corner of the side slit in the tunic worn by the annexed figure, from an equestrian statue of N. Balbus discovered at Herculeaneum; upon the pallium, in the first illustration to that word; upon the chlamys, at pp. 154, 155. 178.; upon the toga of the Etruscan figure, with the right arm extended, s. TOGA, though it is lost in our engraving from the reduced size of the drawing; and on those of the figures in Mus. Borb. vi. 41. Mus. Pio-Clem. iii. 19. v. 32. and many other statues. Now as the lacinia always depended from the extreme corner of the skirt, it will be readily understood how it came to signify in general language the angular extremity of the dress itself; which sometimes hung down near the ground, and sometimes was taken up and thrown over the shoulder (ANABOLIUM), so that one person catches another by the lacinia, to stop him and arrest his attention (Suet. Claud. 15. Pet. Sat. 100. 5.), like our "button holders;" or uses it as a handkerchief to wipe his face (Plaut. Merc. i. 2. 16.); or, to hold any thing (Cic. Fam. xvi. 21.); while Apuleius frequently uses the word in a more general sense, for the entire garment to which laciniæ were appended.
LACO'NICUM (πυριατήριον). The semicircular end of the thermal chamber (caldarium) in a set of baths, so termed because it originated with the Lacedæmonians. (Mart. vi. 43. 16.) One end of the caldarium contained a bath of warm water (alveus), and the other the Laconicum, consisting of a semicircular alcove, heated by a furnace and flues (hypocausis) under its floor and percolating its walls, which were made hollow for the purpose. In the centre was placed a flat vase (labrum), containing water for the bather to sprinkle over himself as he scraped off the perspiration engendered by the high temperature at which the place was kept; and immediately over it was a circular opening (lumen), which could be closed or opened by means of a metal disk (clipeus), accordingly as it was required to raise or lower the degree of heat. (Vitruv. vii. 10. v. 10.) The illustration represents the Laconicum in the baths at Pompeii, with its labrum in the centre, and the circular aperture over it, which was closed by a metal disk, suspended by chains, for which the fastenings were discovered affixed to the walls. The three square windows above were made air-tight by being closed with glass or lapis specularis. The manner in which the apparatus of the clipeus acted is explained at p. 179; and a different explanation, which some scholars wish to attach to the word Laconicum, will be found at p. 180. The relative situation which the Laconicum, as here interpreted, occupied with respect to the other apartments, and its own position in the thermal chamber, may be seen on the ground-plan, p. 74. letters D. i.
LACTA'RIUS. A sort of pastry-cook, who made sweet things (opus lactarium), with milk, meal, fruit, and honey. Lamprid. Elag. 27. and 32.
LACU'NA. A pit sunk underneath the fire of a lime-kiln to receive the ashes which dropped from it, when the kiln was constructed with only one entrance (præfurnium) to its furnace. If there were two entrances, the ashes were removed, when necessary, through one of them, and in that case no lacuna was required. But if there was only a single entrance, such a contrivance was indispensable, because the ashes could not be cleared away without extinguishing or diminishing the fire; and it is a requisite in making lime that the heat should be kept up at a regular and continuous temperature, from the time the furnace is kindled until the whole mass is sufficiently baked. Cato. R. R. 38.
LACU'NAR (φατνώμα). A coffer or panel in a flat ceiling, formed by the beams and rafters supporting the roof or flooring of an upper story, which cross each other at right angles, and, when they are left exposed, are seen to divide the whole soffit into a number of square compartments, like a pit or lake (lacuna, lacus), from which appearance the name arose. (Vitruv. vii. 2. 2. Cic. Tusc. v. 21. Hor. Od. ii. 18. 2.) The illustration represents a flat ceiling of this description from the Vatican Virgil; but, as it was customary to imitate wood-work in brick and masonry, coffers of a similar description are often formed in arched or domed ceilings of which the Pantheon at Rome affords and example.
2. A particular kind of sun-dial (Vitruv. ix. 8.), which may be readily imagined from the name, although no specimen of it is known to exist; as a dial sunk in a slab, like the coffer in a ceiling.
LACUS. In its primary sense, a large and profound cavity filled with water, which does not flow, nor, though stagnant, dry up; corresponding with our lake. Varro. L. L. v. 26. Cic. Agr. iii. 2.
2. A large open basin or artificial tank, containing a head of water supplied from the aqueducts, generally decorated with marble ornaments and fountains, so as to form an embellishment to the city, whilst, at the same time, it furnished the poorer residents in its neighbourhood, who could not afford to have the water laid on to their own houses, with a copious and accessible supply of this necessary element. (Liv. xxxix. 44. Hor. Sat. i. 4. 37. Frontin. Ag. 78. P. Victor. Urb. Rom. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 24. § 9.) As many as 700 of these lakes are enumerated in the city of Rome.
3. A particular part of the building in which wine or oil was made (vinarium torcularium), and into which the juice flowed as it was squeezed out by the pressbeam. (Columell. xii. 18. Plin. Ep. ix. 20. 2. Tibull. i. 1. 10. Ov. Fast. v. 888.) Thus far the general meaning of the word is sufficiently authenticated; but it is not so easy to make out exactly what the lacus was, how it was constructed, or whereabout in the building it was situated. It is clear, however, (from Cato,
4. (λάκκος). Quæ in cella est; a pit sunk below the general level of a wine or oil cellar (cella vinaria, olearia), in which the wine was stored and kept in body after it had been removed from the pressroom (torcularium) where it was made. Cato, R. R. 67. Xen. Anab. iv. 2. 22. Aristoph. Eccl. 154. Schol. ad l.
5. A pit, or large tray, in which lime is chopped up for making mortar (Vitruv. vii. 2. 2.); as shown by the annexed example, from a group in the Column of Trajan, which represents one of the Roman soldiers making mortar for a party of builder.
6. A trough or vessel of water, into which smiths and metal workers plunge their instruments to cool them, or the heated iron to harden it, when wrought. (Ovid. Met. xii. 278.) In the annexed example, from a Roman bas-relief, it is represented as a large round basin standing on the ground at the foot of the anvil.
7. A bin, in a granary. Columell. i. 6. 14.
8. A coffer in a ceiling. (Lucil. ap. Serv. ad Æn. i. 726.) Same as LACUNAR.
LACUS'CULUS. Diminutive of LACUS; and especially, a bin in a granary; or in a store house for olives, in which the fruit was deposited as it was picked, and kept until it could be put into the press. Columell. xii. 50. 5.
LAGE'NA (λάγηνος). A large earthenware vessel, chiefly intended for holding wine, but sometimes used for other purposes, such as keeping fruit, &c. (Hor. Sat. ii. 8. 41. Columell. xii. 45.) It is described as having a full and swelling body, like a gourd, a short neck, and a foot to stand upon. (Apul. Met. ii. p. 31. Columell. x. 383—7.) All these particulars are exhibited by the annexed example, from an original of baked clay; which also closely resembles the lagena, on an engraved gem, which the stork in the fable (Phædr. i. 26.) puts before reynard the fox, in return for his tantalizing her with an invitation to eat out of a patina.
LAM'IÆ (λαμίαι). Vampires; believed to be malignant spirits of the female sex, who wandered about at night in the guise of old hags, sucking the blood, and devouring the flesh of human beings, more especially of young children. This superstition originated in Egypt, whence it was adopted into Greece and Italy. Hor. A. P. 340. Apul. Met. i. p. 13. Id. v. p. 96. Quaranta. Mus. Borb. xi. 53.
LAMPAS (λαμπάς). A general term for any thing which shines or gives light; as a torch (Virg. Æn. ix. 535. FAX); a lamp (Juv. iii. 285. LUCERNA); but, especially, a light which was carried by the youth of Athens in a race called λαμπαδηδρομία, at which the winner had to outstrip his competitors without extinguishing his light. It is represented by the annexed example, from a Greek coin, and resembles a candlestick with a handle under the bottom, and a large disk above, to protect the hand from the gutterings of the pitchy or resinous matter of which the torch consisted.
LAN'CEA (λόγχη). A lance; a very long light spear, with a broad flat head, serving both as a pike and a missile (Virg. Æn. xii. 374.); commonly used by the Greek cavalry (Polyb. vi. 23. Festus, s. v.), and by huntsmen. (Apul. Met. viii. p. 156.) It had a leather loop (nodus) attached to the shaft (Sil. Ital. i. 318. Isidor. Orig. xviii. 7.), and intended for the purpose of enabling the horseman to mount. (Xen. R. Equest. vii. 1.) It is singular that we should have no good or undoubted representation of this weapon. The spear used by Alexander and those of the Greek cavalry in the Pompeian mosaic, representing the battle of Issus (woodcut, p. 200.), are not furnished with the particular appendage above mentioned, and their prodigious size is more characteristic of the contus than the lancea. In the engraved gem of the Stosch cabinet, which represents a Greek horseman mounting from his spear (Wink. Mon. Ant. Ined. 202.), the spear is not fitted with a loop, but with a projecting rest, or small platform, apparently of wood, standing out from the lower end of the shaft. But in a mutilated bas-relief published by Stuart (Antiq. of Athens, v. 3. p. 47.), containing a representation of two shields, and what appears to be part of the shafts of three spears, each of these has a loop affixed to them, similar to what is seen in the illustration here annexed, representing a broken spear lying on the foreground of the Pompeian mosaic above mentioned; and as the head of it is turned towards the Persians, it is quite clear that the artist intended it for a Greek weapon; the probability of its being a lancea is only inferred from the thong which surrounds its shaft.
LANCEA'RIUS (λογχόφορος). A lancer; that is one who is armed with the particular kind of spear termed lancea, which is described and illustrated under the preceding word. Ammian. xxi. 13. 16.
LAN'CEOLA. Diminutive of LANCEA. Capitol. Maxim. Jun. 4.
LANCIC'ULA. Diminutive of LANX. Arnob. ii. 59.
LAN'CULA. Diminutive of LANX; and especially the scale, which was appended when necessary to one end of a Roman steelyard (statera). (Vitruv. x. 3. 4.) The illustration shows two steelyards found in Pompeii; one with a scale affixed to it, the other without the scale, but with a hook for holding the objects to be weighed.
LANIA'RIUM and LANIE'NA (κρεωπώλιον). A butcher's shop. Varro, R. R. ii. 4. 3. Plaut. Epid. ii. 2. 17.
LANIF'ICA. A general term for a female employed in any of the processes connected with the working of wool, inclusive of the spinner, weaver, and the various names enumerated in the Classed Index. Vitruv. vi. 7. 2. Ulp. Dig. 33. 7. 12.
LANIPEN'DIA. The mistress of a household, or the superintendant in an establishment where the business of spinning and weaving wool was conducted. She weighed and gave out to her slaves or workwomen (quasillariæ) a certain quantity of wool which each one was expected to consume in her work per day. (Juv. vi. 476. Schol. Vet. ad l. Paul. Dig. 24. 1. 38.) The illustration shows a female weighing the wool in a pair of scales, from a bas-relief in the Forum of Nerva at Rome, on which various other operations belonging to this branch of industrial labour are represented.
LANIPEN'DIUM. A room in which wool was weighed out to the workwomen for their daily task, as described under the preceding word. Inscript. ap. Romanelli. Topogr. Napolitan. ii. p. 273.
LANIS'TA (μονομαχοτρόφος). A person whose occupation consisted in training gladiators to fight, and teaching them their art. He was sometimes the proprietor of a band of these men, whom he let out upon hire to any person desirous of exhibiting a gladiatorial show; but more commonly merely the trainer and fencing master appointed to instruct the companies belonging to the state. (Cic. Rosc. Am. 40. Id. Att. i. 16. Juv. vi. 215. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. iv. 242.) He is always represented on works of art in a tunic, and unarmed, but with a wand (virga), which he used as a token of authority; as shown by the annexed example, which represents a lanista giving directions to a pair of gladiators, from a mosaic of the Villa Albani.
2. Avium Lanista. One who trained and backed game cocks, quails, and other pugnacious birds to fight; a favourite amusement both of the Greeks and Romans. (Columell. viii. 2. 5.) The illustration represents a pair of cocks, with their backers, under the usual form of genii from a terra-cottta lamp in the collection at Mostyn Hall.
LAN'IUS (κρεουργός). One who buys cattle to slaughter, and sell the meat; a butcher, or meat salesman (Varro, R. R. ii. 5. 11, Phædr. iii. 4.); whence transferred in a more general sense to an executioner (Plaut. Pseud. i. 3. 98.); and to one who buys and sells cattle for slaughtering at the sacrifice. (Varro, l. c.)
LANTERNA. See LATERNA.
LANX. A large circular dish, made of silver or other metals, and often richly embossed; particularly employed at great entertainments (Cic.
2. Lanx quadrata (πίναξ). A square trencher, or platter, originally of wood, but subsequently of more costly materials; used as a plate to eat from, or as a salver for bringing fruit and other eatables to table; as shown by the annexed example, from a mutilated Pompeian painting, which represents a slave bringing in a basket of fruit upon a square trencher to a party of three persons reclining at table, supposed to be intended for Scipio, Sophonisba, and Masinissa. Hom. Od. i. 141. xvi. 49. Aristoph. Plut. 990. Ulp. Dig. 34. 2. 20. Paul. ib. 6. 1. 6.
3. (τάλαντον, πλάστιγξ). The dish or scale of a balance (libra); so termed from its shallow circular form, which resembles that of the dish represented in the first illustration to this article. The annexed example exhibits a balance with the scales or lances suspended by chains, from an original found at Pompeii. Cic. Acad. iv. 12. Id. Tusc. v. 17. Pers. iv. 10.
LAPICI'DA. A quarry-man, who hews stone out of the quarry. Varro, L. L. viii. 62.
LAPICIDI'NA (λατομεῖον). A stone quarry. Cic. Div. i. 13. Plaut. Capt. v. 1. 23.
LAPIDA'RIUS (λιθουργὸς, λιθοξόος, λιθοτόμος). A stone-cutter, lapidary, or mason, and, like our own terms, including the workers of marble as well as stone. (Pet. Sat. 65. 5. Ulp. Dig. 13. 6. 5.) The illustration represents two masons preparing a block of stone or marble, and a column for the building of Carthage, in the Vatican Virgil.
2. When used as an adjective, the word is expressive of anything connected or concerned with stone; as latomia lapidaria, a stone pit (Plaut. Capt. iii. 5. 65.); navis lapidaria, a vessel freighted with stone (Pet. Sat. 117. 12.); lapidariæ literæ, capital letters such as are cut out of stone in inscriptions. Id. 58. 7.
LAQ'UEAR and LAQUEA'RE. (Virg. Æn. i. 726. Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 18.) Same as LACUNAR.
LAQUEA'RIUS. One who makes, or ornaments with stucco work or gilding, the coffers of a ceiling. Cod. Theodos. 13. 4. 2.
LAQUEATO'RES. A class of gladiators very similar to the Retiarii, excepting that they made use of a noose or lasso, instead of a net, to hamper their adversaries before attacking them with their weapon. Isidor. Orig. xviii. 56.
LAQUEA'TUS (φατνωτός). Applied to ceilings which are laid in coffers or panels, as explained and illustrated s. LACUNAR. Hor. Od. ii. 16. 11. Suet. Nero, 31.
LAQ'UEUS (βρόχος). A cord with a slip-loop to it, forming a noose or halter for strangling (Sall. Cat. 58. Liv. i. 26.); or a snare by which wild animals, game, vermin, &c., were caught by the neck. Virg. Georg. i. 139.
LAR'ES. Tutelary spirits; according to the religious belief of the Romans, supposed to be the souls of deceased persons, who exercised a protecting influence over the interor of every man's household, himself, his family, and property. They were not regarded as divinities, like the Penates; but simply as guardian spirits, whose altar was the domestic hearth (focus) in the atrium, upon which each individual made offerings of incense to them in his own home. (Plaut. Aul. Prol. 2. Id. Merc. v. 1. 5. Quaranta. Mus. Borb. tom. xi.) They were likewise believed to exert their influence out of doors, wherey they became the overseers of every sport and place inhabited by men; as the streets, roads, fields, and buildings, both in town and country; whence they were distinguished by the epithets compitales, viales, rurales (Suet. Aug. 31. Plaut. Merc. v. 2. 24. Tibull. i. 1. 20.); and the household ones, familiares (Plaut. Aul. l. c.). They are constantly represented in works of art as young men crowned with a chaplet of laurel leaves, in a short tunic (succinctis Laribus, Pers. v. 31.), and holding up a drinking-horn (cornu) above their heads, as exhibited by the annexed engraving, from a bas-relief in the Vatican, under which is the inscription LARIBUS AUGUSTIS. The accessory of the drinking-horn has induced many antiquaries to take these figures for cupbearers (pocillatores); but the inscription just mentioned is sufficient evidence of their real characters; and they are repeatedly seen on the walls of the Pompeian houses, in kitchens, bakehouses, and over street doors, standing in pairs, one on each side of an altar, in the exact attitude and drapery here shown.
LARA'RIUM. A sort of shrine, small chapel, or apartment where the statues of the Lares, or guardian-spirits of a household, as well as other sanctified or deified personages, were placed and worshipped. (Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 29. and 31.) Such an arrangement, however, was probably peculiar to particular individuals, or to great houses and persons of wealth, for the usual situation for images of the Lares was over or beside the hearth (focus) in the great hall or atrium of the house.
LARVA. A ghost or spectre; i. e. according to the religious belief of the Romans, an evil spirit, supposed to be the soul of a departed being, which, in consequence of crimes committed during life, was deprived of repose in death, and left to wander about the world without any fixed abode, tormenting, frightening, and injuring mankind. Its influence, however, only extended to evil-doers, being innoxious to those who were themselves innocent (Plaut. Amph ii. 2. 154. Id. Capt. iii. 4. 66. Apul. Deo Socrat. p. 689. Augustin. Civ. Dei, ix. 11.); nor was it supposed to be possessed of any corporeal substance, beyond the frame of a skeleton. Seneca, Ep. 24.
2. (μορμολυκεῖον). A bug-bear or hobgoblin, to scare and frighten children; consisting of a mask for the face; but differing from persona, because it is only applied to those which possess unsightly features. (Hor. Sat. i. 5. 64.) The illustration, taken from a painting found in an excavation at Resina, represents one genius frightening another with a larva of this description.
3. An artificial figure of a skeleton, which the ancients were fond of introducing at entertainments, as a memento of the uncertainty and shortness of life, and consequent inducement to make the most of the present hour (Pet. Sat. xxxiv. 8. Apul. Apol. p. 507.); a custom which originated with the Egyptians (Herod. ii. 78.), from whom it passed to the Greeks and Romans. Zonar. iii.
LAS'ANUM (λάσανον). Properly a Greek word, which the Latins express by Sella familiarica; a night-stool (Hor. Sat. i. 6. 109. Pet. Sat. xli. 9. xlvii. 5.); and as the original notion of the Greek word means a trivet for kitchen utensils to stand upon, it is easy to imagine the exact nature of a Greek and Roman lasanum.
LATER (πλίνθος). A brick; composed of argillaceous earth, formed in a mould, and dried in the sun, or baked in a kiln. The bricks of the Greeks and Romans were much larger and also much thinner than those made by us; and each brick was stamped with the name of the maker, and the year in which it was made. Fancy bricks were made in moulds of all shapes and sizes, to imitate the same forms as were produced by the chisel in a stone or marble structure; but the ordinary building bricks were mostly square in form, oblong square, or triangular, and were made of the comparative sizes and shapes exhibited in the annexed woodcut, from originals selected amongst the ruins of Rome. The largest, called pentadoron, is 22 inches square, and 21 lines thick; the next size, called tetradoron, about 16 inches square, and from 18 to 20 lines thick; the smaller one placed over it, 7½ inches square, and 1½ lines thick; the small oblong square, on the extreme right of the woodcut, called Lydius, is about 1½ feet long, and half a foot broad; the triangular ones are made of different sizes, and form either an acute or a right-angled triangle; the manner of using them may be seen at the top of p. 241. Vitruv. iii. 2. 3. Plin. H. N. xxxv. 49.
2. Later crudus (πλίνθος ὠμή). A brick dried in the sun without being baked. Varro, R. R. i. 14. 4. Plin. H. N. xxxv. 49.
3. Later coctus or coctilis (πλίνθος ὀπτή). A brick baked in the kiln. Varro, R. R. i. 14. 4.
4. Later aureus, argenteus. An ingot, of gold or silver, in the shape of a brick. Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 17. Polyb. x. 27.
LATERA'RIA. A brick-field. (Plin. H. N. vii. 57.) The example from a painting at Thebes in Egypt, represents and Egyptian brick-field, but shows exactly the same process as still pursued; the men at the bottom are digging up the brick earth, and loading it in baskets, while the one at the top lays the bricks already made in wooden moulds.
LATER'CULUS (πλινθίον). Diminutive of LATER; a brick of smaller dimensions than the pentadoron or tetradoron; whence, any thing made in a rectangular form, like a small brick, as a piece of pastry. Plaut. Pœn. i. 2. 115. Cato, R. R. 109.
LATERIC'IUS (πλίνθινος). Built of brick; opus lateritium, brick work. Vitruv. ii. 8, 9. and 16. Columell. ix. 6. 4. See PARIES.
LATER'NA or LANTER'NA (ἰπνός, φάνος). A lantern; the transparent parts of which were made in early times of horn or bladder, and subsequently of glass. (Plaut. Amph. Prol. 149. Mart. xiv. 61. and 62. Isidor. Orig. xx. 10. 7.) The annexed illustration shows the section of a circular bronze lantern found at Herculaneum. The low cylinder at the bottom contains the lamp; the sides are made of transparent horn, without any door; but the cupola-shaped lid is perforated in several places to admit air, and permit the escape of smoke; and it could be raised up by means of the upper cross-bar and chain attached to it; which, at the same time, served as a handle to carry it by when let down, as is represented in our engraving.
LATERNA'RIUS. The slave who carried a lantern before his master at night. (Cic. Pis. 9. Val. Max. vi. 8. 1.) In the army the soldiers likewise carried lanterns upon nocturnal expeditions. Veg. Mil. iv. 18.
LATICLA'VIUS. Is applied adjectively to any thing ornamented with the broad stripe termed clavus latus; as a napkin (Pet. Sat. 32. 2.); a tunic (Val. Max. v. 1. 7.); and absolutely designates a person who was entitled to wear this ornament (Suet. Nero, 26.), as explained and illustrated at p. 176. s. CLAVUS, 8.
LATRI'NA. In early language, the name for a bath or washing-place, quasi lavatrina (Varro, L. L. ix. 68. Lucil. ap. Non. s. v. p. 212.); but subsequently also used to designate a water-closet in a private house (Columell. x. 85. Suet. Tib. 58. Apul. Met. i. p. 13.), several of which are still to be seen at Pompeii; and all, like the annexed example, contiguous to the kitchens. The two small arches on the right are the kitchen stove; four steps lead down to the room, and had a handrail by their side to assist the ascent or descent; the mark of which remains against the wall. The recess on the left is the latrina, originally closed by a wooden door, which has left the marks of its hinges and bolt on the edge of the door frame; and the mouth of the pipe through which the place was supplied with water is observable in the right-hand corner.
LATRO (λάτρις). In its primary sense a servant who worked for hire; whence the word came to signify a mercenary soldier, who took foreign service for a stipulated pay, like the Italian condottieri of the middle ages, and the Swiss troops, formerly subsidized by the French kings, as they still are by the Pope and the King of Naples. But, as these bodies committed great excesses in the countries which employed them, the name became subsequently synonymous with that of robber, bandit, or assassin. Varro, L. L. vii. 52. Festus, s. v. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. xii. 7. Plaut. Mil. iv. 1. 2. Juv. x. 22. Val. Max. v. 9. 4.
2. A counter used for playing a game of skill, approaching to our draughts (ludus latrunculorum); also termed hostis and miles; for the game may be said to represent a party of freebooters or soldiers engaged in the attack and defence of a fortified position. (Ov. A. Am. iii. 357. Mart. vii. 72. Id. xiv. 20.) They were distinguished by different colours, black on one side and white or red on the other, as is clearly expressed by the illustration, representing two Egyptians playing at the game, and were made of various materials, wood, metal, glass, ivory, &c. The movements were made upon lines marked on the board, the art being to get into such a position that one of the adversary's pieces was brought between two of the player's, when it was taken; or to drive it into a place where it was unable to move, when it was said to be alligatus, or incitus, "in check;" for ciere is the word which answers to our move; and thence the expression ad incitas redactus, literally, reduced to extremities, corresponds with our phrase check-mated. Senec. Ep. 106. ib. 117. Ov. A. Am. iii. 357. Plaut. Pœn. iv. 2. 86.
LATRUNCULA'RIUS. See TABULA.
LATRUN'CULUS. Diminutive of LATRO, and used in all the same senses.
LATUM'IA. See LAUTUMIA.
LAU'TIA. Presents which it was customary to bestow upon the ambassadors of foreign nations who came upon a mission to Rome, consisting of provisions and such things as were necessary to their maintenance during their residence in the city. Liv. xxviii. 39. xxx. 17. xlv. 20.
LAUTUM'IA or LATOM'IA (λατομία). Literally a stone-quarry; and, as slaves were confined and made to work in the quarries by way of punishment (Plaut. Pœn. iv. 2. 5. Capt. iii. 5. 65.), the same name was also given to any prison excavated out of the quick rock, and below the surface of the soil; such, for instance, as the state prison at Syracuse (Cic. Verr. ii. 5. 27. Dorvill. Iter. Sicul. tom. i. p. 181.); and the one excavated by Servius Tullius under the Capitoline hill at Rome (Varro, L. L. v. 151. Liv. xxvi. 27. xxxii. 26. xxxvii. 3.), of which a section is shown at p. 119., and a view of the interior at p. 121.
LAVA'CRUM (λουτρόν). A water-bath as contradistinguished from a vapour bath, and equally applied to those which were composed of hot or cold water. Spart. Hadr. 18. Aul. Gell. i. 2. 1.
LAVAN'DRIA. Dirty linen, or things for the wash; a vulgar word, only employed by the common people. Laberius ap. Gell. xvi. 7. 2.
LAVA'TIO. In its primary sense, the act of washing or bathing; whence it came to be applied as a general term to things used by a person who takes a bath (Cic. Fam. ix. 5. Phædr. iv. 4. 22. Ulp. Dig. 34. 2. 26.), as well as the bath room itself. Vitruv. v. 11.
LAVATRI'NA. See LATRINA.
LEBES (λέβης). A deep vessel or basin with a full and swelling outline (curvi lebetes, Ov. Met. xii. 243.), made of bronze or the precious metals, and intended to be held under the hands or feet to catch the purifying water, which an attendant poured over them from a jug (gutturnium, προχόος), before and after meals. (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. iii. 466. Hom. Od. i. 137. xix. 386.) Vessels of this description were frequently given as prizes at the games (Virg. Æn. v. 266.), and, consequently, are represented on coins and medals with a palm branch, the emblem of victory placed in them, as in the annexed example from a medal of Gordian. The inscription upon it testifies that it was intended to represent a prize for the Pythian games, while the water jug which stands by its side expresses the purpose for which it was to be used, and identifies it as a genuine representation of the lebes.
2. A copper kettle, or, rather, bronze, of the same form and character, but used for boiling meat, &c., and similar to the olla, with the exception of being smaller, and made of metal, instead of earthenware. (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. iii. 446. Isidor. Orig. xx. 8. 4. Hom. Il. frequently.) The illustration, from a sculptured vase of Greek marble, represents a lebes of similar form to the last example, under which a fire is kindled for cooking a pig; and as these kettles had no legs, it is supported over the fire upon large stones.
LECTA'RIUS (κλινοποιός). A couch or bedstead maker. Inscript. ap. Murat. 956. 7.
LECTI'CA (φορεῖον, κλίνη). A palanquin, introduced into Greece and Italy from the East; in the first instance as an article of luxury for females, but, afterwards, it came to be very generally used for men as well as women. (Sulpic. ad. Cic. Fam. iv. 12. Suet. passim. See the Clavis of Baumgarten-Crusius, s. v.) The body consisted of a wooden case with low sides to it, like the bier (capulus, feretrum), upon which a corpse was carried out (Aul. Gell. x. 3. 2.); with uprights which supported a wooden tester, like the pluteus. (Isidor. Orig. xx. 11. 4. lectica, sive lectus pluteus.) This roof was covered with leather (Mart. xi. 98.), and curtains (vela, plagæ, plagulæ){TR: "plagulæ,)" → "plagulæ)"} were suspended from it, which might be closed all round (Suet. Tit. 10. Senec. Suas. i. 6.), or drawn back, as in the cut, when it was said to be open (aperta, Cic. Phil. ii. 24.); but, in some cases, it was a close conveyance (clausa), having the sides fitted with panels and windows, which could be opened or shut at pleasure. (Juv. iii. 242. compare iv. 20.) The inmate reclined upon a soft mattress or feather bed (Juv. i. 159.), with a bolster to support the back (cervical, Juv. vi. 353.), so that he could read, write, or sleep within it. According to the wealth of the owner, and the size of the lectica, it was borne by two, four, six, or eight tall slaves (lecticarii), in the manner described and illustrated at p. 63. We have no authentic representation of this kind of conveyance, upon any monument of Greek or Roman art; but the various details are sufficiently known from numerous incidental passages, in which the different parts are mentioned or described, to warrant the general correctness of the figure annexed, which is designed by Ginzrot (
2. A litter for the conveyance of sick and wounded (Liv. ii. 36. xxiv. 42. Val. Max. ii. 8. 2.), of similar character, but more simple, and less ostentatiously fitted up.
LECTICA'RII (φορειαφόροι, κλινηφόροι). Palanquin-bearers. These were of two kinds, private or public. The first were slaves forming part of the domestic establishment of individuals, who kept them for the purpose. (Cic. Fam. iv. 12. Suet. Cal. 58.) The latter were free men of the labouring classes, who plied for hire at particular stands in the city of the Rome, called castra lecticariorum, where a number of these conveyances were kept always ready for a fare, as sedan-chairs used to be in modern Europe. P. Victor. de Reg. Urb. Rom. iii. 49.
LECTI'CULA. Diminutive of LECTICA. A litter for the transport of sick or wounded persons (Cic. Div. i. 26. Liv. xxiv. 42.); or a bier on which a dead body was carried out. Nepos, Att. 22.
2. Lecticula lucubratoria. (Suet. Aug. 78.) Same as LECTULUS, which is the more usual term.
LECTISTERNIA'TOR. The slave who spread and arranged the couches (lecti) on which the ancients reclined at their meals. Plaut. Ps. i. 2. 30.
LECTISTER'NIUM. A religious ceremony amongst the Romans, comprising a sumptuous banquet offered to the gods, at which their statues were brought out and placed upon tricliniary couches (lecti) at a table furnished with every kind of delicacy, and provided under the direction of the Epulones. (Liv. xxii. 10. v. 3. xl. 59.) The illustration represents a lectisternium given to Serapis, Isis, Sol, and Luna, from a terra-cotta lamp.
LEC'TULUS (κλινίδιον). Diminutive of LECTUS, both as regards inferiority of size, furniture, and materials. It is thus a small or simple couch for sleeping (Cic. Cat. i. 4. Id. Fin. ii. 30.), or for dining (Id. Mur. 36.); and very generally, a sort of sofa, forming part of the usual furniture in a study (Plin. Ep. v. 5. 5. Ov. Trist. i. 11. 39.), and on which it was a common practice to recline at length while reading, and even writing, the tablet being placed against one knee, which was raised up as a support for the purpose. The annexed example, from a Pompeian painting, compared with the following illustration and description, will explain the difference between the lectulus and lectus.
LECTUS (λέκτρον). A bed to sleep in (cubicularis, Cic. Div. ii. 65.). The ancient bedsteads were of considerable height, requiring a footstool (scamnum), or a set of steps (gradus) to get into them; and were made like our largest-sized sofas, with a head board (anaclinterium, sometimes a corresponding one against the feet, and a high back (pluteus) on the further side, but entirely open on the one at which the occupants entered (sponda). The frame was strung with girths (fasciæ, restes, institæ), which supported a thick mattress (torus, culcita), on which were placed a bolster and pillow (cubital, cervical). All these particulars are exhibited in the annexed example, from a bas-relief in the British Museum.
2. Lectus genialis (εὐνή). The marriage bed; to which the wife was conducted on the eve of her marriage by the pronuba, after she had retired from the bridal feast. It was a large bed, handsomely decorated, and raised to a very great height from the ground, as is indicated by the flight of steps at the foot of the annexed example, which represents the lectus genialis of Dido, in the Vatican Virgil. Cic. Cluent. 5. Compare Lucan. ii. 356.
3. Lectus adversus. A sort of symbolical marriage bed; so termed, because it was placed in the atrium opposite the entrance of the house; or, perhaps, the lectus genialis itself was brought out after the marriage and placed in the atrium; and on this the mistress of the household used to sit, as it were, in state, while she superintended the labours of her slaves and attendants, who worked at their looms in that apartment. Laberius ap. Gell. xvi. 9. 1. Prop. iv. 2. 85.
4. Lectus tricliniaris. A couch adapted for the reception of three persons to recline upon at their meals, in the manner explained s. ACCUBO. (Cic. Verr. ii. 2. 74.) It had a railing slightly raised at one of its ends, at that, viz., which would be on the left of the person reclining upon it, and upon this he supported his left arm; the other two places were separated from each other by pillows. All these particulars are to be seen in the annexed engraving, from a bas-relief which represents the visit of Bacchus to Icarus. The vacant place against the rail, which is seen on the right hand, is the one which the god is about to occupy, after the Faun in the foreground has taken off his shoes, according to the prevalent custom before lying down to eat; and Icarus rests his left arm upon the pillow which separates his place from that of his guest. When a party consisted of more than three persons, it was the custom to arrange three of these couches together round a table, so that the whole formed three sides of a square, leaving the bottom of it open for the approach of the attendants, in the manner represented by the annexed diagram, which were then respectively designated lectus medius, summus, and imus; the middle one being considered the most dignified, and imus the least so. The places also on each couch had their degrees of precedence, and particular names to distinguish them. On the two side couches the places of the highest rank were those next to the rail (i), then the centre ones (ii), and the last (iii); but on the middle couch the post of honour was at the other extremity (iii), which was always left for the greatest personage, and was thence called consularis. The host occupied the highest place (i) on the lowest couch (imus), in order to be near to his principal guest. Finally, the respective names by which the places on each of the couches were distinguished are as follows:—
Middle couch.{TR: "couch" → "couch."} 1. Summus in medio. 2. Inferior in medio. 3. Imus in medio.
Upper couch. 1. Summus in summo. 2. Medius in summo. 3. Imus in summo.
Lower couch. 1. Summus in imo. 2. Medius in imo. 3. Imus in imo.
Hence such expressions as superius or inferius accumbere are easily understood. Sallust. ap. Serv. Æn. i. 698. Hor. Sat. ii. 8. Plut. Symp. i. Quæst. 3.
5. Lectus lucubratorius. (Senec. Ep. 72.) Same as LECTULUS.
6. Lectus funebris. (Pet. Sat. 114. 12. Pers. iii. 103.) A bier upon which dead bodies were carried out to the funeral pile, or to their place of sepulture; as shown by the annexed example, from a sepulchral bas-relief.
LEGA'TUS (ἀντιστράτηγος, ὕπαρχος). A general officer attached to a corps d'armée, and to the governors of provinces, who acted both in a military and civil capacity; his duty being to advise and assist his superiors in their plans and operations, as well as to act in their stead, both as a commander or diplomatic agent, whenever occasion required. (Varro, L. L. v. 87. Cæ. B. C. ii. 17. iii. 51.) On the triumphal arches and columns they are represented in the same costume as the other commanders, as shown by the annexed illustration, from the Column of Trajan, in which the first figure on the right is the emperor himself (imperator), the second a legate (legatus), and the third a tribune (tribunus.
2. (πρεσβευτής). A general title given to ambassadors, whether Roman envoys to foreign states, or from foreign princes to Rome. Cic. Liv. &c.
LEGIO. A Roman legion; two of which constituted a consular army. It consisted of about five or six thousand (for the complement was not always the same), heavy-armed foot soldiers (legionarii) drawn from the Roman citizens; augmented by a body of auxiliaries at least equal in number, and a detachment of cavalry, three hundred strong, which was always joined with it; so that the effective force of a legion in the field is usually reckoned at ten thousand men at least. Varro. Liv. Tac. Veget.
LEGIONA'RII. Legionary soldiers; i. e. the body of five or six thousands heavy-armed men, who formed the contingent furnished out of the Roman citizens to each legion, the rest of its entire complement made up by auxiliaries and cavalry. (Cic. Fam. x. 32. Cæs. B. G. 1. 42.) The annexed figure, from the Column of Trajan, probably represents a legionary of the Imperial age; he wears a close helmet, a sword suspended by a shoulder belt (
2. Legionarii equites. Legionary troopers; i. e. the soldiers comprised in a detachment of three hundred horse, who were always joined with a Roman legion. (Liv. xxv. 21. xxxv. 5. Veg. Mil. ii. 2.) Their defensive armour appears to have been the same as that of the infantry, at least during the Imperial epoch, as shown by the annexed figure, from the Column of Antoninus.
LEMBUS (λέμβος). A small seagoing vessel remarkable for its swiftness, more especially used by the pirates of Illyria. The distinguishing properties of the class to which it belonged are not ascertained; further than that they were generally small, and rowed with oars, sometimes exceeding sixteen in number (Liv. xxxiv. 35.); the largest of them being used in war (Liv. xlv. 10.); the smallest as fishing boats (Accius ap. Non. s. v. p. 534.); as stern boats towed behind larger vessels, in which the sailors or passengers embarked and disembarked from the shore (Plaut. Merc. ii. 1. 35.); and as river boats. Virg. Georg. i. 201.
LEM'BULUS, LEMUN'CULUS, or LENUN'CULUS. Diminutive of LEMBUS. Prudent.
LEMNISCA'TUS. Decorated with fillets or ribands (lemnisci), as explained and illustrated in the following word. Cic. Rosc. Am. 35. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. v. 269.
LEMNIS'CUS (λημνίσκος). A sort of fillet or riband distributed as a reward of honour; sometimes by itself (Liv. xxxiii. 33. Suet. Nero, 25.), but more commonly as a decoration to be fastened upon other prizes; such as military crowns (Festus, s. v.), palm branches (Auson. Epist. xx. 6.), &c., which were considered more honourable when accompanied with a lemniscus, than when they were simply given by themselves. Originally it was made out of the thin membrane lying between the bark and wood of the lime tree (Plin. H. N. xvi. 25.); afterwards of wool dyed of different colours (Festus, s. v. Serv. ad Æn. v. 269.); and finally of gold and silver tinsel. (Plin. H. N. xxi. 4.) The illustration represents a figure of Victory, from a painting in the pyramid of C. Cestius, holding a simple lemniscus in her left hand, and a corona lemniscata in the other.
2. A bandage of lint steeped in lotion for applying to wounds. Celsus, vii. 28. Veg.
LEM'URES. A general name for the departed spirits of men. According to the religious belief of the Romans, the soul was converted after death into a spirit, either beneficent or malign, as the actions of the individual had been good or bad during his lifetime. The good spirit then became a protecting angel, and was properly termed lar; the evil one a spectre, or hobgoblin, properly designated larva. But altough some passages plainly imply that the term lemures meant departed spirits generally, and without reference to any particular disposition, yet a number of others lead to the conclusion that in the popular belief, and in the language of the common people, they were confounded with the larvæ, and regarded as spectres of evil omen and of malicious propensities. Ov. Fast. v. 483. Apul. Deo Socrat. p. 689. Augustin. Civ. D. ix. 11. Pers. v. 185. Hor. Ep. ii. 2. 209. Varro, ap. Non. s. v. p. 135.
LEPES'TA, LEPIS'TA, or LEPAS'TA (λεπαστή). A large vessel employed in early times as an acratophoron, to hold the wine before it was mixed with water for drinking at table (Varro, de Vit. Pop. Rom. ap. Non. s. Sinum, p. 547.), and at a lectisternium amongst the Sabine population. (Id. L. L. v. 123.) It was originally made of earthenware, subsequently of bronze, or the precious metals (Varro, ap. Non. s. Lepista, p. 547. Nævius ap. Mar. Victorin. p. 2587.); and appears to have possessed a form resembling what is generally conveyed by our term pan, the name being taken from the shell of the limpet (λεπ´ας), after which we may assume that it was modelled.
LEPORA'RIUM (λαγοτροφεῖον). A warren, or preserve, attached to a country villa, and in which not hares alone, but other kinds of game, or animals feræ naturæ, were bred and preserved. Varro, R. R. iii. 12. 1. Id. iii. 3. 1. Gell. ii. 20.
LIBA'RIUS. One who cries and sells cakes about the streets, like our muffin man. Senec. Ep. 56.
LIBEL'LA. A level; employed by carpenters and masons for testing the evenness of flat surfaces. It consists of two sides joined at the top by a cross bar, over which a line and plummet descend, as a pendulum; so that when the instrument is placed upright upon any horizontal surface, if both legs do not stand upon the same level, the line and plummet incline from the centre, and show which part is too high or too low. (Lucret. iv. 517. Plin. H. N. vii. 57. Varro, R. R. i. 6. 6.) The example is taken from a sepulchral bas-relief, on which it appears amongst various other tools used in the carpenter's trade.
2. A small silver coin of the Roman currency, containing the tenth part of a denarius and, consequently, equal in value to the as. Varro,
LIBEL'LIO. A bookseller; but rather in a derogatory sense, as one who keeps a book stall with us. Stat. Sylv. iv. 9. 21.
LIBEL'LULUS. Diminutive of LIBELLUS. Mart. Cap. iii. 71.
LIBEL'LUS (βιβλίον). Diminutive of LIBER, a little book; but with this distinction, that the libellus, accurately speaking, was a book consisting of a few leaves of parchment or papyrus, written and bound together in pages, as our books are (Suet. Jul. 56. Cic. Or. i. 21. Hor. Sat. i. 10. 92.), as shown by the annexed example, from a marble bas-relief.
2. Hence the word came to have a more extensive, though characteristic signification; being used to designate any paper or document containing an advertisement, announcement of a play or gladiatorial show, notice of sale, a legal notice, petition, or memorial, all of which were usually written on a single sheet, as in the annexed example, which represents Roman citizens presenting memorials and petitions to M. Aurelius, from a bas-relief in the Capitol at Rome. Cic. Att. xvi. 16. Mart. viii. 31. Plaut. Curc. i. 3. 6. Cic. Phil. ii. 38.
3. A bookseller's shop. Catull. 55. 3.
LIBER (βίβλος). Literally, the fine bark or rind of the Egyptian papyrus, which was used for writing upon; whence it came to signify the work or MS. so written, which we call a book. (Plin. H. N. xiii. 21.) To form this, a sufficient number of strips were glued together into one long continuous sheet, which, for convenience in use, was made up into a cylindrical roll (volumen), so that the reader gradually undid it, as he went on, in the manner represented by the annexed example, from a Pompeian painting; hence the expressions pervolutare, volvere, evolvere librum, mean to read a work. Cic. Att. v. 12. Tusc. i. 11. Brut. 87.
2. When the work extended to any length, and was divided into seperate parts, it was usual to roll up the MS. containing each one of these parts into a separate volume; which was then called a book, in the same sense which we attach to the word when we say the twelve books of Virgil. Cic. Div. ii. 1.
LIBITI'NA. The goddess in whose temple all the apparatus and paraphernalia required for furnishing out a funeral were kept; whence the word is used in a more general sense for the funereal apparatus (Liv. xl. 19. xli. 21.); for the bier (lectus funebris) upon which a corpse was carried (Mart. x. 97. Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 11. § 2.); and for the trade of an undertaker (Val. Max. v. 2. 10.).
LIBITINA'RIUS (κτεριστής). A furnishing undertaker; who let out or sold the furniture and apparatus required for conducting a funeral. Senec. Ben. vi. 38. Ulp. Dig. 14. 3. 5. § 8.
LIBRA (σταθμός, τάλαντον). A balance, or pair of scales; of which a great many specimens, constructed in different ways, are preserved in the various cabinets of antiquities. The simplest kind consists of a mere beam (jugum), with a pair of scales (lances) at each end, and a ring or short chain placed in the centre of the beam, as a handle (ansa) to poise it by. In some cases the beam is furnished with a tongue or index (examen) working in an eye (agina), to mark the variation in weight, as is usual with the modern scales. And sometimes, as in the annexed example, from a Pompeian original, the beam is divided into fractional parts, in the same manner as a steel-yard (trutina), with a weight (æquipondium) attached to it, by which means the difference in weight between two objects is decided at once, without the necessity of having recourse to a number of fractional weights for the purpose.
2. Sine bilance libra. (Mart. Capell. xi. 180. p. 42.) A balance with only one scale, but having a fixed weight instead of a scale attached to the opposite end of the beam, as in the annexed example, from an original in the Granducal Cabinet at Florence. This was not used for measuring unequal quantities, but to test the just weight of a given quantity; and is supposed to have been employed at the mint, for estimating the proper weight of coinage, and by jewellers, money-dealers, &c.
3. A carpenter's or stone-mason's level, for which the diminutive, LIBELLA, is more usual.
4. (Aquaria). A geometrical instrument, employed in taking the levels of water. Vitruv. viii. 5. 1.
5. A counterpoise. (Plin. H. N. xvi. 65.) ÆQUIPONDIUM.
6. A measure made of horn and divided by lines on the inside into twelve fractional parts; employed for measuring oil. Galen, Compos. Med. per gen. i. 17. vi. 8. Compare Hor. Sat. ii. 2. 61.
LIBRA'RIA (from Liber); a bookseller's shop. Gell. v. 4. xiii. 30.
2. (From Libra); same as LANIPENDIA. Juv. vi. 476.
LIBRA'RIUM. A box or case in which books and writings were kept. Cic. Mil. 12. Ammian. xxix. 2.
LIBRA'RII. A class of educated slaves who were employed by their masters in different occupations requiring a certain amount of literary acquirements and skill; such as transcribing and binding books, making extracts, writing letters, acting as librarians. Hence they were distinguished by an epithet denoting the particular service which each had to perform; as scriptor librarius, the transcriber or copyiist; a studiis, who made extracts, or performed the duties of secretary and co-adjutor in the studies or business of his employer; ab epistolis, who conducted his master's correspondence in the character of an amanuensis. Hor. A. P. 354. Cic. Agr. ii. 5. Att. iv. 4. Suet. Claud. 28. Cic. Fam. xvi. 21. Orelli, Inscript. 2437.
2. Same as BIBLIOPOLA. Sen. Ben. vii. 6.
LIBRATO'RES. Professional persons, employed by the officers who had the superintendence of the public aqueducts, to make all the necessary surveys, ascertain the levels of different sources of water, and to regulate the size of the pipes which conveyed a supply of water from the reservoir (castellum) to the various establishments and houses of the city, in order that none might obtain more than their legal allowance; which was effected by calculating the quantity that would pass through a pipe of certain diameter in a given time. Plin. Ep. x. 70. 3. Frontin. Aq. 105.
2. In the army, soldiers who levelled and worked the machines from which missiles were discharged; like the engineers of modern warfare. Tac. Ann. ii. 20. xiii. 39.
LIBRI'LE. The beam of a balance (libra) from which the scales depend (Festus s. v.); whence, also, the balance itself (Aul. Gell. xx. 1. 9.) See the illustration s. LIBRA, 1.
LI'BRIPENS. Before the introduction of stamped money, all sums were reckoned by the pound weight, and not by the number of pieces; whence the person who weighed out the amount to be given for any purchase was termed libripens, the weighman. (XII. Tab. ap. Gell. xv. 13. 4.) But the name was retained in after times, although the custom from which it arose had long fallen into disuse, to designate the person who reckoned up and distributed their pay to the soldiery, whom we might term the quarter-master of a regiment. Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 13.
LI'BUM. A sort of cake or biscuit composed of flour, milk, eggs, and oil, especially made as an offering to the gods (Cato, R. R. 75. Varro, R. R. ii. 81.); and also as a birthday present. Mart. x. 24.
LIBUR'NA or LIBUR'NICA, sc. Navis (λιβυρνίς). A vessel of war, constructed after a model invented by the Illyrian pirates, and introduced into the Roman navy after the battle of Actium. It was built sharp fore and aft, was worked with one or more banks of oars, according to the size, as well as sails, had the mast amid ship, and the levantine sail instead of the common square one. (Veg. Mil. v. 7. Lucan. iii. 691. Sil. Ital. xiii. 240. Scheffer, Mil. Nav. pp. 92. 191.) The smaller ones were used as tenders, but the larger were brought into line for action. Though the real build of these vessels is not positively authenticated, the annexed figure, which appears upon medals, both of Claudius and Domitian, has sufficient affinity to the above description, collected from incidental passages, to be offered as a probable representation of one of the smaller class.
LICIAMEN'TUM. A set of leashes (licia) in weaving; that is, the number attached to one of the rods or "heddles." (Not. Tires. p. 160.) See the next illustration and LICIUM.
LICIATO'RIUM. The rod upon which a set of leashes (licia) were fastened in weaving (Vulg. 1. Kings, 17. 7.), similar in use and purpose to the heddles of our weavers. The illustration shows two leash rods upon the primitive Icelandic loom referred to by Scheffer, Index R. R. Script. s. Tela.
LI'CIUM (μίτος). A leash employed in weaving, for the purpose of decussating the threads of the warp, so as to make an opening, technically called a "shed," for the shuttle to pass through. (Plin. H. N. viii. 74. xxviii. 12.) It consisted of a string with a loop at one end, through which a thread of the warp was passed, each thread through a separate leash; and the whole number were then fastened in alternate order upon two rods (liciatoria), as shown by the preceding woodcut; the first, third, and fifth to one, the second, fourth, and sixth to another; so that when the two rods were pulled apart, they drew every alternate thread of the warp across every other one in opposite directions, making at the same time an opening or shed between them, through which the cross-thread of the woof was conveyed. The process of putting on the leashes in the manner described is termed "entering" by our weavers, and by the Romans was described by the expressions, licia telæ addere, or adnectere. Virg. Georg. i. 285. Tibull. i. 6. 79.
2. Hence any thread, string, or band: as the thread of a web; a string for tying or suspending any thing; a riband for the hair, an enchanted band, &c. Auson. Ep. 38. Ov. Fast. iii. 267. Prudent. in Sym. ii. 1104. Pet. Sat. 131. 4.
LICTOR (ῥαβδοῦχος). A lictor; a public officer attached to the service of certain Roman magistrates, whom he preceded whenever they went abroad; viz. twenty-four for a dictator, twelve for a consul, decemvir, or tribune with military power; six for a prætor, and one for a Vestal virgin. He carried the fasces elevated on his left shoulder, and a rod (virga) in the right hand, with which he removed any persons obstructing the way, and knocked the doors of those whom the magistrate visited. In the city he wore the toga, and carried the fasces without the axe (securis), as exhibited by the annexed figure from a bas-relief of the Vatican; but out of Rome he wore the military cloak (sagum or paludamentum), and had the axe attached to his fasces; as shown by the figure, p. 278.); which also exhibits the rod in the right hand. Morell. Dissert. de' Littori. Milan, 1828.
LIGO (μάκελλα). A sort of hoe, with a long handle (Ov. Pont. i. 8. 59.), and blade curved rather inwards (incurvus, Stat. Theb. iii. 589.), the edge of which was notched into teeth (fracti dente ligonis, Columell. x. 88.). The annexed figure is from an engraved gem, on which it appears in the hands of Saturn, represented in the character of an agricultural serf; and, strictly speaking, when in this form it was designated by a name of its own (bidens, δίκελλα), the two-pronged hoe, which would lead us to infer that the regular ligo was furnished with more than two prongs. But it will serve to convey a general notion of the character of the instrument, and to illustrate the epithets applied to it in the passages cited above.
LIG'ULA or LIN'GULA. Diminutive of LINGUA; a little tongue, applied in the following characteristic senses:—
1. (γλῶσσα, γλωττίς). The mouth-piece of a pipe (tibia), which was inserted between the teeth, like that of a modern clarionet or flageolet. (Plin. H. N. xxvi. 56. Festus s. Lingula.) The example is from a bas-relief.
2. A kind of small spoon, possessing a certain resemblance to the human tongue, employed for eating sweetmeats (Cato, R. R. 84.), taking ointment out of a bottle, skimming certain dishes (Plin. H. N. xxi. 49.), and various other purposes for which its peculiar form adapted it. (Mart. viii. 33. Columell. ix. 15. 3.) The example is from an original of bronze, formerly belonging to the Italian antiquary Bellori.
3. A small tongue or leaf-shaped sword, like the Greek ξίφος, which the Roman soliders also used in early times, before they had adopted the long straight Celtiberian glaive, gladius. (Aul. Gell. x. 25. 2. Varro, L. L. vii. 107.) The example is copied from the device on a votive bronze shield, found at Pompeii, formerly belonging to a gladiator of the class termed Retiarii, as the inscription testifies. The trident (fuscina) is likewise exhibited upon it: from which we may collect that the Retiarius made use of the ligula as well as the net and trident.
4. The lapelle or lappet on each side of a shoe (calceus), through which the strings (corrigiæ) that tied it on the foot were passed; whence the expression demittere ligulas means, to leave the shoes untied. (Festus, s. v. Juv. v. 20. Schol. Vet. ad. l.) The example is from a Pompeian painting.
5. The wedge-like end of a lever (vectis) which is inserted under the weight to be raised (Vitruv. x. 3.), or into any cavity or fixture for the purpose of producing pressure, as with the press beam (prelum) of an oil or wine press. Cato, R. R. 18. and illustration s. TORCULAR, 1.
6. A tenon in carpentry; i. e. a projecting tongue cut out upon the edge of a board or end of a beam, to fit into a mortise or cavity of corresponding form in another timber. Columell. viii. 11.
LIMA (ῥίνη). A file or rasp, of the same description, and for similar uses as the like instrument in our own days. Phædr. iv. 7. Plin. Plaut. &c.
LIMA'RIUS. See PISCINA.
LIMBA'TUS. Adorned with an ornamental border or limbus, as explained an illustrated under that word. Gallien. ap. Trebell. Claud. 17.
LIMBULA'RIUS. One who made borders to be sewed on to wearing apparel, or on to bands for the hair or waist. Plaut. Aul. iii. 5. 45. Inscript. ap. Don. cl. 8. n. 27. LIMBUS i. 2.
LIMBUS (παρυφή). An ornamental border woven into the fabric of a piece of cloth, in order to make a finish round the edges of wearing apparel. (Ov. Met. vi. 127. Virg. Æn. iv. 137. Servius ad l. Stat. Achill. i. 330.) It was made in a great variety of patterns, and was worn amongst the Greeks by both sexes; by males on the skirts of their tunics (woodcut s. v. HIERONIKA) and edges of the chlamys (woodcut s. v. p. 155.), and by females on most articles of their attire; as shown by an infinity of designs on the Greek fictile vases, from one of which the annexed example is taken. But amongst the Romans, if we may judge from the rareness of its occurrence upon the works of art executed by or for that people, even in the Pompeian paintings, it would seem to have been but seldom adopted, and its use mostly confined to females.
2. Hence an ornamental band for the hair, worked with a pattern in embroidery (Stat. Achill. ii. 76. Arnob. ii. 72.), as shown by the woodcut at p. 284. s. FIBULA 4.; or sash for the waist (Stat. Theb. vi. 367.), as exhibited by the annexed figure from a statue in the Royal Museum at Naples.
3. The band or zodiacal circle which contains the figures of the twelve signs, as if on an embroidered sash; like the example annexed, from a painting at Pompeii. Varro, R. R. ii. 3.
4. The main rope of several twists upon which a hunting or fishing net is made, and which, as being much thicker and stronger than the twine of the meshes, served as a sort of border or edging to the net, as exemplified by the annexed figure from a Roman mosaic. Grat. Cyneg. 25.
LIMEN (βηλός). The threshold, including the sill and the lintel of a door; which, however are sometimes distinguished by a special epithet: as limen inferior, the sill; limen superior, the lintel. Plaut. Merc. v. 1. 1. Id. Cas. iv. 4. 1. Vitruv. vi. 9. and 11. See the illustrations s. JANUA.
2. Limen or limina equorum. The threshold or doorway of the stalls in the Circus, from which the horses and chariots came out when they were about to start for a race. Virg. Æn. v. 316. Sil. Ital. xvi. 316. See the illustration s. CARCER, 2.
LI'MUS. A petticoat, reaching from the waist to the feet, and ornamented with a band or stripe of purple colour, all round the bottom of the skirt. It was the proper costume of the Popa, who officiated at the sacrifice, and is distinctly shown by the annexed example, from the Vatican Virgil. Vig. Æn. xii. 120. Servius ad l. Compare Tiro. ap. Gell. xii. 3.
LI'NEA. In general a thread, line, or string; whence the following more special senses:—
1. (ὁρμιά). A fishing-line (Mart. iii. 58. 28.) made of strong hair (seta, Avian. Fab. xx. 1.) or flax twisted into thread (linum, Ov. Met. xiii. 923). The example represents an angler in a Pompeian painting.
2. A line which sportsmen extended along a given tract of country, with a number of different coloured feathers tied on it, for the purpose of frightening the game, and to deter them from breaking out in the direction where it was placed. Grat. Cyneg. 27. and 83. Nemes. 303. Same as FORMIDO.
3. (στάθμη). A carpenter's or stone mason's line, which is a string covered with chalk, and used for striking a straight mark upon a board or slab by which to direct the course of the saw; or for measuring generally Pallad. iii. 9. 10. Vitruv. vii. 3. 5. Cic. Q. Fr. iii. 1. 1.
4. Alba linea (γραμμή). A rope whitened with chalk, and drawn across the opening of a race-course (circus) for the purpose of making the start fair. (Cassiodor. Var. Ep. iii. 51.) Its situation is shown by the dotted line, marked E on the annexed engraving, which represents the ground-plan of a small circus, still remaining in considerable preservation, at a short distance from Rome, on the Appian way; and is inserted on the authority of a mosaic picture representing a circus discovered at Lyons, in the commencement of the present century, where it is coloured white, and occupies the same position as here assigned for it. It was kept taut until all the cars, having left their stalls (carceres, AA. on plan), had arrived fairly abreast of one another at the line indicated, and until the signal for a start was given, when it was slacked away from one side, and the race commenced. Had it not been for a contrivance of this kind, the eagerness of the horses would have led to a constant succession of false starts, as may be seen in the horse races during the Carnival at Rome, where a similar expedient is resorted to; and an overeager horse, who breaks away from his trainers, rushes against the rope, which either brings him up or throws him down; an accident which is actually represented as occurring to a pair of horses in the Lyons mosaic above referred to. Moreover, as this rope was whitened with chalk, it is often referred to under the term Calx or Creta; and as the chariots ran round the course, returning at its conclusion to the end from which they started, all three words are figuratively applied to designate the end of any thing; particularly of life, the chances and accidents of which both poets and artists were fond of assimilating to the casualties of a race. Hor. Ep. i. 16. 79. Cic. Sen. 23. Tusc. i. 8.
5. A string of pearls, which, under the extravagant habits of the empire, were sometimes cast among the people for a scramble, at the public games of the circus, &c. Mart. viii. 78. Compare Suet. Nero, 11. Tertull. Hab. Mil. 9. Ulp. Dig. 9. 2. 27. Compare MISSILIA.
6. A line described upon the face of a sun-dial (solarium), and marked with the various hours, so as to indicate the time of day by the shadow which the index (gnomon) cast upon it. The illustration represents an ancient sun-dial engraved upon a silver cup found at Porto d'Anzio.
7. A line or incision cut across the seats (gradus, sedilia) in a theatre, amphitheatre, or circus, for the purpose of defining the exact space which each person was entitled to occupy, and prevent inconvenient crowding or selfish engrossment. (Ov. Amor. iii. 2. 19. Id. A. Am. i. 141. Quint. xi. 3. 133.) These lines are still discernible in the amphitheatres at Pompeii and Pola, from which last the annexed illustration is taken; it represents one of the large blocks of marble which formed the cavea divided by lines into stalls for six occupants, some of whose initials are carved upon the seat.
LINGUA. The mouth-piece of a pipe. (Plin. H. N. x. 43.) Same as LIGULA, 1.
2. The short end of a lever. (Vitruv. x. 8. 2.) Same as LIGULA, 5.
LINGULA. A vulgar and incorrect writing for LIGULA; which see. Mart. xiv. 120.
LI'NIGER. In a general sense, wearing linen garments; but the word is specially used to designate the Egyptian goddess Isis (dea linigera, Ovid. Met. i. 747.); and a certain class of priests ministering in her temples, who went bald-headed and naked as far as the waist, below which they were covered with a long linen petticoat; whence they are styled linigeri calvi. (Mart. xii. 29. 18. Juv. Sat. vi. 533.) Both these characteristics are exemplified by the annexed figure, representing an Egyptian priest of the kind described, from a painting in the temple of Isis at Pompeii.
LINIPHIA'RIUS, LINIPH'IO and LI'NYPHUS (λινούφος). A linen weaver. Hadrian. in Ep. ap. Vopisc. Saturn. 8. Cod. Theodos. x. 20. 8.
LINOSTE'MA. A fabric made of thread and wool mixed; the warp (stamen) of thread, the web (subtemen) of wool. Isidor. Orig. xix. 22. 17.
LINTEA'MEN. (Apul. Met. xi. p. 245. Lamprid. Elag. 26.) Same as LINTEUM.
LINTEA'RIUS (λινοκήρυξ). A linen draper, or hawker of linen goods for sale. Ulp. Dig. 14. 4. 5. Cod. Theodos. 10. 20. 16.
LINTEA'TUS. Clothed in linen, as contradistinct from wool or cotton. Liv. x. 38. Festus, s. Legio. Senec. V. B. 27.
LIN'TEO. A linen weaver. Plaut. Aul. iii. 5. 38. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. vii. 14.
LINTE'OLUM (ὀθόνιον). Any small linen cloth; thence, especially, a napkin, or a handkerchief. Plaut. Ep. ii. 2. 48. Plin. H. N. ix. 45. Apul. Apol. pp. 490. 494.) See SUDARIOLUM.
LINTER. A boat used chiefly in marshy places, or waters abounding in shallows (Tibull. ii. 5. 34.); for the transport of produce upon rivers, or of cattle and soldiers across them (Liv. xxi. 27.); for supporting a bridge of boats (Cæs. B. G. i. 12.); and other similar purposes. It was rowed with oars (Cæs. B. G. vii. 60.), not punted; and, as it had but a slight draught, without being flat-bottomed, could not have been very steady in the water; whence Cicero (Brut. 60.) quizzes an orator who swayed his body to and fro while speaking, by saying that he made use of a linter for his pulpit. The example represents a Roman soldier transporting wine casks across a river in one of these boats, from the Column of Trajan.
2. A tray or trough employed at the vintage for carrying grapes from the vineyard to the vat in which the juice was trodden out by the feet; doubtless so named from its resemblance in form to the boat just described. Cato, R. R. xi. 5. Tibull. i. 5. 23. Virg. Georg. i. 262.
LIN'TEUM (ὀθόνη). Generally, any cloth made of linen; but Pliny (H. N. xii. 22.) applies the same term to cotton fabrics. Specially, a towel, napkin, or handkerchief (Plaut. Most. i. 3. 110. Catull. xii. 3. 11. 14.), same as SUDARIUM; a curtain to close the sides of the lectica, or palanquin (Mart. ii. 57.), same as PLAGULA; the sail of a ship, which was made of strips of cloth sewed together (Virg. Æn. iii. 686. Liv. xxviii. 45.), same as VELUM.
LINTRA'RIUS. One who rows a linter. Ulp. Dig. 4. 9. 1.
LINTRIC'ULUS. (Cic. Att. x. 10.) Diminutive of LINTER.
LI'NUM (λίνον). Flax; thence any thing made with flax; as, a sewing thread (Celsus, vii. 14.); a fishing line (Ovid. Met. xiii. 923. LINEA, 1); a string of pearls (Tertull. LINEA, 5.); a string bound round the tablets (tabellæ) upon which letters or any other document were written, and then tied in a knot over which the seal was affixed (Cic. Cat. iii. 5. Plaut. Bacch. iv. 3. 79—111.); a net, the meshes of which were made of string. Ov. Virg. Juv.
LITERA'TUS. Marked or lettered; especially applied to any object of use or ornament which has the maker's or owner's name inscribed upon it (Plaut. Rud. iv. 4. 111. 114. Ib. ii. 5. 21.), as in the annexed and many other articles, found at Pompeii. The letters are L. ANSIDIODO upon the handle.
2. Branded; meaning a slave marked on the forehead for thieving or running away (Plaut.
3. Lettered; meaning versed in letters; applied to an educated slave, whose literary knowledge and acquirements were turned to account by his master in a variety of ways, as a librarian, reader, amanuensis, secretary, &c. Orbilius ap. Suet. Gramm. 4.
4. (γραμματικός). A grammarian; i. e. a scholar who employs himself in writing notes and commentaries upon the works of other authors. Nepos. ap. Suet. Gramm. 4.
LITHOSTRO'TUM (λιθόστρωτον). Literally, paved with stones; whence the pavement of a Roman road, which was laid with polygonal blocks of volcanic formation (silex); or of any flat open square, like an area, or a forum, which were paved with broad square flags; or the floor of a building, like that of the Pantheon at Rome, which is formed with slabs of prophyry and jaune antique; were all lithostrata in a generic sense. But the word is mostly applied, in the passages which remain, to the various kinds of ornamental pavements which go by the common name of mosaic with us; more especially to those which were composed of small pieces of stone or marbles of natural colours, as contradistinguished from those which were made of glass or composition, artificially stained to imitate different tints. Varro, R. R. iii. 1. 10. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 60. Capitol. Gord. 32. and the various names enumerated in the Classed Index.
LIT'ICEN. One who plays the trumpet called lituus. (Varro, L. L. v. 91. Cato, ap. Gell. xx. 2. Ammain. xiv. 2.) The liticines formed a corporation (collegium) at Rome; and the instrument they played, as well as the costume which they wore, is exhibited by the annexed figure, from a sepulchral marble, having the following inscription underneath—M. JULIUS VICTOR EX COLLEGIO LITICINUM. The piece of drapery over the front of the chest is singular; but a Roman soldier, on a bas-relief published by Du Choul (Castramet. des Romains), wears a cape of the same description.
LIT'UUS. A brass trumpet, with a long straight stock, like the tuba, but furnished with a curved joint like the buccina or cornu. (Festus, s. v. Gell. v. 8. Sen. Œd. 734. adunco ære. Hor. Ovid. Cic. Virg.) The engraving represents an original discovered in clearing the bed of the river Witham, near Tattershall, in Lincolnshire, which it will be perceived resembles precisely the instrument held by the liticen in the preceding illustration. It is rather more than four feet long, made of brass, in three joints, like a modern flute, and has been gilt.
2. An augur's wand (Virg. Æn. vii. 187.); which was a short stick (brevis, Gell. v. 8.), bent into a twist at the end, like one side of a bishop's crosier, of which it is supposed to have formed the model. Liv. i. 18. Cic. Div. i. 17. It was used for describing or marking out imaginary divisions in the heavens, for the purposes of divination; and received its name from a certain resemblance which it bore to the military instrument last described (Porphyr. ad Hor. Od. i. 1. 23. Gell. l. c. Orelli ad Cic. l. c.); but in works of art, the end of it is not formed with a gentle curve, like the trumpet and the shepherd's crook (pedum), but is always twisted into a spiral shape, like the annexed examples; one of which represents the instrument itself, from the frieze on an ancient temple under the Capitol at Rome (supposed temple of Saturn), and the other, an augur with the wand in his hand, from a medal of M. Antoninus.
LIXÆ. Camp followers; persons of free birth, who followed an army into the field with the object of supplying the soldiery with goods and provisions of various kinds, as a source of individual profit. Liv. xxxix. 1. Val. Max. ii. 7. 2.
2. By Apuleius (Met. i. p. 18.), servants or attendants upon a magistrate, such as the lictors.
LOCA'RIUM. The price or sum paid for lodgings at an inn or lodging house. Varro, L. L. v. 15.
LOCA'RIUS. One who makes a profit by relinquishing his seat at a place of public entertainment, such as the circus, theatre, &c. to another who arrives too late to find room. Mart. v. 24.
LOCEL'LUS. Diminutive of LOCULUS. Mart. xiv. 13. Pet. Sat. 140. Val. Max. vii. 8, 9. Any small box or case.
LOCULAMEN'TUM. Generally, any case, receptable, or locker divided into separate compartments (Vitruv. x. 9. 5. and 6.); thence more specially, and in the plural, an open bookcase covering the sides of a room from top to bottom, and divided into a number of separate compartments, or, as we should say, a set of book shelves (Senec. Tranquill. 9.); also, a set of nests in a dove-cote or pigeon-house (Columell. viii. 8. 3.); and a hive for bees. Id. ix. 12. 2.
LOC'ULUS. A coffin, in which the body was deposited entire, when not reduced to ashes on the funeral pile. (Justin. xxxix. 1. Plin. H. N. vii. 16. Id. vii. 2.) The illustration represents a coffin of baked clay, with the plan of the interior underneath, in which the shaded part is a raised sill for the head of the corpse to rest upon; and the round hole, a receptacle for aromatic balsams, which were poured into it through a corresponding orifice on the outside of the shell. A marble coffin of more elaborate design is introduced at p. 196.
2. A common wooden box, in which the dead bodies of poor people and criminals were carried out. Fulgent. Planc. s. Sandapila.
3. A crib or compartment in a manger, whether of stone, marble, or wood, in which the allowance of each animal was separately deposited, in order that a greedy brute might not poach upon its neighbour, as shown by the annexed example, which represents the interior of an ancient stable in the bay Centorbi, in Sicily. Veg. Vet. ii. 28. 4.
4. A small cabinet, box, or case, divided into separate compartments; such as we should call a desk; in which money, keys, valuables, and things of small size were deposited for safe custody. Hor. Ep. ii. 1. 175. Juv. i. 89. Plin. H. N. xiv. 14.
5. A case divided into separate compartments, in which the Roman boys carried their books, writing materials, and other necessaries to school. Hor. Sat. i. 6. 74.
LODI'CULA. Diminutive of LODIX.{TR. added "LODIX"}
LODIX. A coarse and rough sort of blanket, chiefly manufactured at Verona (Mart. xiv. 152.); used as an outside wrapper (Suet. Aug. 83.); as a counterpane for a bed (Juv. vi. 195.); and as a rug for the floor. Pet. Sat. 20. 2.
LOGE'UM (λογεῖον). (Vitruv. v. 7.) Properly, a Greek word, for which the Latin expression is PULPITUM; which see.
LOMEN'TUM. A wash or paste for the skin, made of bean meal and rice worked up together, which the Roman ladies applied to their faces for the purpose of taking out wrinkles, and giving a clear tint and smoothness to the skin. Mart. iii. 42. Compare Pallad. xi. 14. 9.
LONGU'RIUS. A very long straight pole, employed for making divisions or fences in a meadow (Varro, R. R. i. 14. 2.); as a swinging bar for separating the horses in a stable, which the ancients did not divide into stalls (Varro, R. R. ii. 7. 10.); as a handle for the falx muralis (Cæs. B. G. iii. 14.);{TR: "B." → "B. G."} or, indeed, for any purpose to which such an object was adapted.
LORA. See LURA.
LORA'RIUS. A slave who inflicted the punishment of flogging upon his fellow slaves with twisted ropes or thongs of leather, at the command of his master. A character of this kind was frequently introduced upon the Roman comic stage (Gell. x. 3. 8. Plaut. Capt. Act. i. Sc. 2.), and is exhibited in the illustration annexed, from a marble bas-relief, representing a scene from some play. The entire composition contains three more figures, a young girl playing the double pipes, and two old men, one of whom, the master of the slave, is about to chastise him in a fit of anger with his stick, but is held back by his friend; whilst the slave, in flying from his master, falls into the hands of the lorarius, who is represented with a twisted thong in his raised arm, with which he is about to punish his crouching comrade.
LORI'CA (θώραξ). The term used generally to designate a piece of defensive armour, which covered the breast, back, belly, and sides as far as the waist; including the cuirass or corselet of leather or metal, plain, scaled, laminated, ringed, and quilted; the coat of mail; and the loose doublet, or flexible linen shirt; all of which are separately described in the following paragraphs:—
1. (γυαλοθώραξ). The Greek cuirass of the most ancient period, made out of two separate and distinct pieces of metal, modelled to the form of the owner; one of which fitted the breast and upper region of the belly, the other the back and loins; the two being fastened upon the person by a number of clasps or buckles (fibulæ, περόναι) down the sides, and with a shoulder strap or epaulette across the top of each shoulder. Each of these plates were termed a γύαλον. The annexed woodcut represents a pair of bronze originals discovered in a tomb at Pæstum; but it would appear that Pausanias had never seen a cuirass of this kind, excepting in pictures (Paus. x. 26. 2.); a remarkable proof of the value and antiquity of the specimen here copied.
2. (θώραξ στάδιος or στατός). The cuirass usually worn by generals and superior officers, both Greeks and Romans, subsequently to the Homeric period; so termed because it would stand by itself when taken off and placed upon the ground. Like the last mentioned, it was in reality formed of two pieces, but on an improved principle, being joined together by the armourer on the right side with hinges (γίγγλυμοι), made by inserting a pin through a series of sockets, so that they would open and shut for putting off or on with convenience and expedition. The joinings are clearly shown by the annexed engraving, from an equestrian statue of N. Balbus found at Herculaneum; and upon a statue of the Pio-Clementine Museum (iii. 11.), similarly accoutred, they are represented with equal distinctness and precision. The cuirass, as here exhibited, which was made of very thick leather, bronze, or other metals, constitutes the lorica itself; but the abdomen, the thighs, the deltoid muscle, and the arm-pits, which would be completely exposed when the arm was raised above the level of the breast, were protected by a series of leather straps (πτέρυγες), usually appended to it round the arm-holes and lower rim of its two plates, which fell over the upper part of the arm, like a sleeve, and over the things, like a kilt, as exhibited in the illustration s. LEGATUS.
3. (θώραξ λεπιδωτός). A corselet of scale armour in which the scales (squamæ, Virg. Æn. ix. 707. xi. 487. Sil. Ital. i. 527.), composed of horn or metal, and sewed on to a basis of leather or quilted linen, were formed to imitate the scales of a fish (λεπίς), which are mostly circular at their bottom edges, and overlap one another in regular succession, as in the annexed example, from one of the trophies on Trajan's Column.
4. (θώραξ φολιδωτός). A corselet of scale armour, made of the same materials as the last, similarly attached, but having its scales formed to imitate those of a serpent (φολίς. Compare Ov. Met. iii. 63. Prudent. Hamart. 423. squamosam thoraca de pelle colubræ), which are mostly angular at their extremities, and overlap in a lozenge shape, so that one of the angles points downwards in the manner exhibited by the annexed example, from the Column of Antoninus, which resembles exactly the scales of the rattle snake, the common viper, and many other reptiles.
5. Lorica plumata. (Justin. xli. 2.) A corselet of similar character to the two preceding, but having the plates of metal which cover it formed to imitate the feathers of a bird (plumæ. Virg. Æn. xi. 770. Sallust. Fragm. ap. Serv. ad l.), instead of scales, as exhibited by the annexed example, from the Arch of Trajan, now inserted on the Arch of Constantine; in which it will be observed that the plates are not so angular at their extremities as the last example, nor so regularly disposed as the one which precedes it.
6. Lorica serta or hamis conserta. (Nepos. xi. 1. Virg. Æn. iii. 467. v. 259. Sil. Ital. v. 140.) A corselet also of scale armour, but in which the plates of bone or metal, instead of being sewn on to a leather or quilted jerkin, were fastened to one another by means of wire rings or hooks (hamæ); of which the annexed engraving affords a specimen, from an original fragment found at Pompeii. The plates are of bone; and each has two holes near the upper edges, through which the connecting wire link is passed, as shown on a large scale by the right-hand part of the engraving; but when the parts are put together, these are covered and protected by the circular end of another plate which laps over them, as shown by the smaller pattern on the left hand.
7. A cuirass, formed by two broad plates of metal across the chest, and long flexible bands (laminæ) of steel over the shoulders, and round the waist; so arranged, that while they fitted closely to the shape of the wearer, they would adapt themselves to all his motions, by slipping under and over one another, as the arms were raised, or the body bent, as shown by the annexed example, from the Column of Trajan. The characteristic name by which cuirasses of this kind were distinguished has not survived; but the object itself is of very common occurrence on the triumphal arches and columns. It appears to have constituted the ordinary armour of the common legionary soldier under the empire; for it is never worn by the superior officers, but always by the gregarians, whose rank is understood from the duties they perform when not engaged with the enemy; such as felling timber for stockades, building forts, transporting provisions, &c. Some writers have recognised this as the cuirass of serpents' scales (φολιδωτός. No. 4.), to which it does not possess sufficient resemblance.
8. (θώραξ ἁλυσιδωτός). A shirt of chain mail, formed by a regular series of links, connected together into a continuous chain (ἅλυσις; molli lorica catena, Val. Flacc. vi. 233.). It was worn by the hastati under the republic (Polyb. vi. 23.); and is represented by some of the cavalry soldiers in the slabs which were removed from the Arch of Trajan to decorate the one built by Constantine near the Coliseum, as well as on the annexed figure, from the column of Antoninus; in which the minuteness of the touches, as well as the close and elastic fit of the shirt, are evidently intended to characterize a coat of chain mail.
9. Lorica lintea (θώραξ λίνεος). A loose jacket of linen, several folds thick, steeped in vinegar and salt (Nicet. Choniat. Script. Byzant. p. 247. Paris. 1647.); more especially worn by the Oriental nations, but also adopted by the Greeks and Romans (Nepos, Iphicr. 1. Suet. Galb. 19. Liv. iv. 20. Arrian. Tact. p. 14.). It is frequently represented on the columns of Trajan and Antonine, similar to the annexed example, as a long doublet, reaching below the hips, easily yielding as the body bends, and fitting rather loosely on the figure.
10. In a general sense, the word is also applied to any thing which serves as a covering, protection, or defence for what is behind or under it; such as the coating of cement upon a wall (Vitruv. ii. 8. 18. vii. 1. 4.), and a breastwork which serves as a screen or fortification (Tac. Ann. iv. 49. Compare Veg. Mil. iv. 28.); &c.
LORICA'TUS (τεθωρακισμένος). Armed with a cuirass, corselet, or coat of mail, as described in the various paragraphs of the last article, , and shown by the woodcuts, pp. 144. 159. 178. 330., and many others in the course of these pages.
2. Loricatus eques. (Liv. xxiii. 19.) Same as CATAPHRACTUS.
3. Loricatus elephas (Hirt. B. Afr. 72.) An elephant equipped for battle, by having a breast-work, or tower for armed men upon his back, like the annexed example, from an engraved gem. It is obvious that the almost impenetrable hide of this animal would not require the assistance of armour, like the horse; and Polybius (Fr. Hist. 22.) uses the diminutive θωράκιον (loricula) for the breast-work of a tower on an elephant's back.
4. Coated with cement. Varro, R. R. i. 57. 1.
LORI'CULA (θωράκιον). Diminutive of LORICA; especially a slight breast-work or fortification. Hirt. B. G. viii. 9. Veg. Mil. i. 57.
LORUM (ἱμάς). In general, any strap or thong of leather; whence applied more specially in the following senses:
1. The rein of a bridle for riding or driving. Virg. Ov. Juv. See FRENUM, HABENA.
2. A long rein or rope with which the ancient huntsman used to keep in his dog, whilst tracking the lair of a wild beast. Its object was to prevent the hound from ranging, from starting his prey too soon, and from closing with it before the huntsman could come up to his assistance. It was of considerable length, which is indicated by the coils in the annexed example, from a sepulchral marble in the Museum of Verona; and the dog by this means also led on his master at a convenient distance to the lair, which he traced by scent. Plin. H. N. viii. 61. Grat. Cyneg. 213. Senec. Thyest. 497.
3. The leathern bulla and thong which attached it to the neck; worn by the children of plebeians. Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 4. Juv. v. 164. See BULLA, 4.
4. The thong by which a lectica was suspended upon the poles (asseres), which rested upon the shoulders of the bearers (Mart. ii. 57.), as explained and illustrated s. ASSER, 1.; also by which any burden was suspended from the phalanga (Vitruv. x. 3. 7. and 8.), as explained and illustrated s. PHALANGA and PHALANGARII.
5. The leather thong by which a boxing glove was fastened round the arm. Prop. iii. 14. 9. and illustration s. CÆSTUS.
6. A thong of twisted leather with which slaves were punished (Plaut. Ps. i. 2. 13. Ter. Ad. ii. 1. 28.) by the LORARIUS; which see.
7. The girdle of Venus. Mart. vi. 21. Same as CESTUS.
LUCER'NA (λύχνος). An oil-lamp, as contradistinguished from candela, a candle; generally made of terra-cotta or bronze, with a handle at one end, a nozzle (myxa) for the wick (ellychnium) at the other, and an orifice in the centre for pouring in the oil; and when in use intended to be placed upon some other piece of furniture, or on a tall upright stem (CANDELABRUM 2.), or suspended by chains from a lampholder (LYCHNUCHUS), or from the ceiling. Of course they were made in a great variety of shapes and patterns, according to the nature of the materials and the taste of the artist who designed them; but however much ornamented, or enriched by fanciful adjuncts and details, they generally preserve more or less of the characteristic form of a boat-shaped vessel, exhibited by the annexed example.
2. Lucerna bilychnis (δίμυξος). A lamp provided with two wicks, and consequently with two nozzles, from each of which a separate flame would issue, as in the annexed illustration from an original of bronze. Pet. Sat. xxx. 2.
3. Lucerna polymixos (πολύμυξος). A lamp with several nozzles or wicks. (Mart. xiv. 41.) The annexed example from an original of terra-cotta contains four; but others with five, six, seven, eight, and even twelve and fourteen, have been found in the excavations of Herculaneum and Pompeii.
4. Lucerna pensilis. A lamp suspended by a chain (instead of being placed upon a stand, candelabrum, like the example No. 2.) from a supporter with branches, or from the ceiling. Pet. Sat. 30. 3. and illustrations s. LYCHNUCHUS and LYCHNUS.
LUCTA, LUCTA'MEN, LUCTA'TIO (πάλη, πάλαισμα). Wrestling, one of the games of the Greek palæstra, in which the combatants endeavoured to throw one another on the ground (Ov. Met. ix. 33—61. Stat. Theb. vi. 830—905.) by every means of bodily exertion, except striking, which was not permitted, or by any trick (Xen. Cyr. i. 6. 32.) which their ingenuity could devise. Grace, however, and elegance of attitude and motion were regarded as an important feature in the struggle. (Plato, de Leg. 796. Cic. Orat. 68.) The wrestling-ground was strewed with sand, and the bodies of the combatants were sprinkled over with fine dust (haphe), in order to give them a firmer hold upon their adversaries; which custom is alluded to in the following illustration, by the basket upset upon the ground.
The contest itself was of two kinds; the simplest and earliest in practice being termed stand-up wrestling (πάλη ὀρθή). Lucian. Lexiph. 5.); in which the contest was only carried on as long as both parties kept their footing, as represented in the
LUCTA'TOR (παλαιστής). A wrestler. Gell. iii. 15. Senec. Ben. v. 3. Ov. Trist. iv. 6. 31. See the preceding article and illustrations.
LU'DIA. Originally designated a female who danced and acted in public, like the male ludius, in which sense it may be applied by Martial (v. 24.); but latterly it meant the wife of a gladiator (Juv. vi. 266.), as the school which he kept was termed ludus.
LUDIMAGIS'TER. A school-master, who kept a school in which young persons were instructed in the rudiments of literature. Ascon. in Cic.
LU'DIO and LU'DIUS (λυδίων). The original name for a stage-player or mimic dancer (Liv. vii. 2.); but afterwards connected with a sentiment of depreciation, such as is conveyed by our expression, strolling player; for the name is applied to those who danced and acted in the public streets (Ov. A. Am. 112.), or in the Circus, for the amusement of the populace (Suet. Aug. 74.), in which jugglers, fortune-tellers, tumblers, and persons of that class used to congregate, as they still do upon our race courses.
LUDUS. Literally, a game, sport, or pastime, more especially such as were invented for the purpose of assisting to develop the powers of the mind or body; whence the same name is given to the place where the necessary discipline or exercises were gone through, which all attainments, whether intellectual or physical, require.
1. Ludus literarius, or simply ludus (διδασκαλεῖον). A school for the instruction of youth, to which the children of both sexes and all classes were sent when old enough, public education being thought preferable amongst the ancients as well as ourselves, to private tuition. (Festus s. Schola. Cic. Fam. ix. 18. Plaut. Pers. ii. 1. 6. Id. Merc. ii. 2. 32.) The illustration represents the interior of a school-room at Herculaneum, from a painting discovered in that city, in which both boys and girls are taught together, as in Martial ix. 69.
2. Ludus gladiatorius. An establishment in which a company of gladiators were trained and taught the practice of their art, under the instruction of the Lanista. Suet. Jul. 31. Cæs. B. C. i. 14.
3. Ludus fidicinus. A school in which instrumental music was taught. Plaut. Rud. Prol. 43.
4. Ludus Trojæ. The Trojan game; a sort of review or sham-fight exhibited by young persons of good family on horseback. Tac. Ann. xi. 11. Suet. Aug. 43. Virg. Æn. v. 448—587); also called DECURSIO, which see; the medal used to illustrate that word bears the inscription DECURSIO LUDUS TROJÆ.
5. Ludus latrunculorum. A game of skill having considerable resemblance to our draughts; described s. LATRO 2.
6. Ludus duodecim scriptorum. A game of skill approximating to our backgammon. See ABACUS, 2.
7. Under the general name ludi the Romans also included chariot-races, gladiatorial combats, and theatrical representations, which were exhibited on certain festivals in honour of the gods, or given by wealthy individuals as an entertainment to the public.
LU'MINAR. Probably a window-shutter (Cato, R. R. 14. Cic. Att. xv. 26); but the interpretation, as well as the readings, in both passages are uncertain.
LUNA (ἐπισφύριον). An ornament in the shape of a half moon, which the Roman senators wore upon their boots. (Juv. vii. 193. Stat. Sylv. v. 2. 28.) Considerable difference of opinion formerly existed amongst scholars respecting the actual meaning of this term; but it is now generally admitted to have been a buckle of ivory or silver, which joined together the sides of the shoe, just above the ankle (Viscont. Inscript. Triop. p. 83. seqq.), as the Greek name implies, and as shown by the right hand-figure in the annexed engraving, from a statue published by Balduinus (de Calceo, p. 69.), after Casali. The right-hand figure is copied from an ivory ornament found in the Roman catacombs, which is believed to be an original senatorial luna.
LUNA'TUS. Ornamented with the senatorial luna; of the shoe (Mart. i. 50. pellis); of the foot (Id. ii. 29. 31. planta), as shown by the preceding illustration.
2. Shaped like a half-moon; of the Amazonian shield, which is hollowed into the form of a crescent (Virg. Æn. i. 490. and illustration s. PELTA); hence agmen lunatum (Stat. Theb. v. 145.), a body armed with such shields.
LU'NULA. Diminutive of LUNA. A small ornament in the form of a half moon, worn by women suspended from their necks (Isidor. Orig. xix. 31. Tertull. Cult. Fœm. 10.); and by children as a token, amulet, or plaything. Plaut. Ep. v. 1. 33. and illustration s. CREPUNDIA, where it is seen amongst other objects round a child's neck.
LUPA'NAR and LUPANA'RIUM (πορνεῖον). A receiving-house for the accommodation of immoral characters. Quint. v. 10. 39. Juv. vi. 121. Ulp. Dig. 4. 8. 21.
LUPA'TUM (στόμιον πριονωτόν). (Pollux. x. 56.) A very severe kind of snaffle-bit surrounded with pricks or jags (ἐχινοι, τρίϐολοι. Pollux, i. 148.), like the teeth of a wolf, from which it took the name (Serv. ad Virg. Georg. iii. 208.); and, in consequence, usually characterised by the epithet durum. Virg. l.c. Ov. A. Am. i. 2. 15. Hor. Od. i. 8. 6. Stat. Theb. iv. 730.
LUPUS (λύκοσ). Same as LUPATUM. Ov. Trist. iv. 6. 4. Stat. Ach. i. 281. PLut. ii. 641. F.
2. A small straight-handled
3. Lupus ferreus. A sort of grappling iron, employed in the defence of fortified places to seize upon the beam of a battering-ram (aries), and break the force of its blow by diverting it from the proper direction. Liv. xxviii. 3. Veg.
LURA. Properly the mouth of the large leathern sack or skin, called culeus, in which wine and oil were transported from place to place, as exhibited in the annexed cut from a Pompeian painting; or of a common wine skin (UTER, and the illustration there given); whence it was also used to signify the skin itself, or a leathern bag. Festus s. v. Auson. Perioch. Od. 10.
LUSTRUM. A solemn purification or expiatory offering, made by the censors every five years, upon their retirement from office, on behalf of the whole people; at which a sow, a sheep, and an ox, were conducted three times round the assembled multitude in the Campus Martiius, and afterwards sacrificed. Liv. i. 44. xxxv. 9. xlii. 10.
LYCHNU'CHUS (λυχνοῦχος). Properly a Greek word, which in that language appears to have designated more particularly a contrivance in the nature of our candlesticks, viz. a stand into which a candle or torch was inserted in order to keep it in an elevated and upright position (CANDELABRUM, 1.); or a latern in which an oil lamp (lucerna, λύχνος) was placed for the convience of transport (LATERNA); for the passages which allude to the manner of using it express the action of putting the light in or taking it out of a stand or case—ἐνθεὶς τὸν λύχνον, Pherecr. Δουλ. 5. ἐξελὼν ἐκ τοῦ λυχνοῦχον τὸν λύχνον Alex. Κηρυττ. 1.
2. The Latin word lychnuchus has a signification somewhat differing from its Greek original, and contradistinct from CANDELABRUM, being used to designate a lamp-stand adapted for holding many lamps (Suet. Jul. 47. Id. Dom. 4. Cic. Q. Fr. iii. 7.); whereas the candelabrum only supported one. A great number of contrivances of this kind have been discovered in the excavations of Herculaneum and Pompeii, of various forms and designs, from one of which the annexed example is copied; but they all possess this characteristic feature, that the lamps are suspended from them by chains, as in the example, instead of being placed upon a flat plate (superficies), as in the case with the candelabra. This peculiarity may also be taken into account as marking a difference between the two objects, and the words by which they were respectively named.
3. Lychnus pensilis. A stand supporting several lamps, suspended, like our chandeliers, from the ceiling. (Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 8.) The illustration represents the upper surface of one of these pendant lamp stands of marble, in the Villa Borghese, which carried eight lamps at least, one from each of the cross-hooks round its margin. The surface is flat, and without any orifice. The small circle in the centre shows a small portion still remaining of the iron, by which it was suspended; and the eight other projecting points may have served for placing additional lamps upon, when required; or these, as well as the cross-hooks, may also have had chains attached to them, which assisted in supporting the piece of furniture.
LYCH'NUS (λύχνος). Properly a Greek word which in that language signifies any portable light, including also the stand or case, a candlestick or lamp for instance, in which it was placed. (Herod. ii. 62. 133. Aristoph. Nub. 56.) But the Romans appear to have adopted the word in a more special sense, to indicate a light or lamp suspended from the ceiling, as in the annexed example, from a painting discovered in the villa Negroni at Rome; for the lychnus is expressly mentioned as a pendant light by most of the writers who use the term. Ennius ap. Macrob. Sat. vi. 4. dependent lychni laquearibus; copied by Virgil, Æn. i. 730. Lucret. v. 296. pendentes lychni; Stat. Theb. i. 521. tendunt vincula lychnis, &c.
LYRA (λύρη). A lyre; a small and very ancient stringed instrument, the invention of which is fabulously attributed to Mercury, though it was undoubtedly introduced into Greece through Asia Minor from Egypt. The cords were open on both sides, without any sounding-board, and varied in number from three to nine. It was sounded with both hands, one on each side; or with a quill (plectrum) in one hand and the fingers of the other; being placed upon the knees if the player was in a sitting position, or suspended by a band over the shoulder if erect. The form of the frame would naturally be varied according to the taste or fancy of the maker; but without destroying the leading characteristics of the instrument, as shown by the difference in the two examples annexed, both of which are from sepulchral painting; the one on the left representing a tetrachord, i. e. with four strings, the other, a hexachord, with six.
LYR'ICEN. Same as LYRISTES.
LYRIS'TES (λυριστής). One who plays upon the lyre (Plin. Ep. i. 15.); which was done either by twanging the strings with both hands, like a harp in the manner represented by the left-hand figure in the illustration from a statue of Apollo in the Vatican; or by striking them with a small quill (plectrum) held in one hand, and the fingers of the other, as performed by the female figure on the right-hand of the illustration, from a Roman fresco painting, also preserved in the Vatican. The female player was termed Lyristria. Schol. Vet. ad Juv. xi. 162.
MACELLA'RIUS (ὀψοπώλης). A victualler, or one who kept a cook's shop, as contradistinct from Lanio, the meat-purveyor. (Varro, R. R. iii. 2. 11.) He dealt in provisions of every description, flesh, fish, and fowl (Suet. Vesp. 19. Compare Plaut. Aul. ii. 8. 3—5.), which he sold ready cooked (Suet. Jul. 26.). His shop was termed taberna macellaria, and his trade regarded as one of the lowest (sodidissimæ mercis). Val. Max. iii. 4. 4.
MACEL'LUM (μάκελλον). An enclosure or building which served as a market, in which all kinds of provisions, fish, flesh, poultry, game, and vegetables were sold (Varro, L. L. v. 147. Plaut. Aul. ii. 8. 3. Suet. Jul. 43.), and probably ready dressed; for in early times when cooks were not regularly kept in private families, each person hired one from the macellum when his services were required. (Plin. H. N. xviii. 28.) It differs, however, from the forum, which was an open area surrounded by colonnades, and in which the market was held upon stated days in each week, and supplied with various kinds of manufactured articles, as well as all descriptions of agricultural produce. There were two edifices appropriated for this purpose in the city of Rome, one on the Esquiline, called Macellum Livianum; the other on the Cælian, called Macellum Magnum, surrounded with two stories of columns, and covered in the centre with a high dome (tholus, Varro, ap. Non. s. Sulcus, p. 448.), which is represented by the annexed woodcut from a medal of Nero, by whom it was, perhaps, restored, or decorated, or enlarged. The square platform in front upon two legs represents a tray or stand (mensa) upon which the provisions were set out; and the two objects upon it, on either side, which in our engraving look like balusters, from imperfect delineation, are in the original clearly meant for a pair of scales.
MACER'IA (μάκελον). A rough wall or enclosure to a vineyard, garden, paddock, &c. (Isidor. Orig. xv. 9. 4. Cic. Fam. xvi. 18.) These were either made of irregular stones, put together without mortar (Serv. ad Virg. Georg. ii. 417.), or sometimes of brick, both baked and raw; as well as of earth and small stones rammed into moulds, like what is now termed pisé. Varro, R. R. i. 14. 4.
MACHÆRA (μάχαιρα). A sword which has only one edge (Isidor. Orig. xviii. 6. 2.); consequently, in an especial manner adapted for cutting rather than thrusting, as the passages in which the word occurs, with any context to illustrate the manner of using it, also distinctly imply an operation like that of chopping or cleaving. (Plaut. Mil. ii. 5. 51. Suet. Claud. 15. Senec. Ben. v. 24.) By the Homeric Greeks it was worn next to the sword-sheath, and employed as a hunting-knife, for sacrificing animals, and cutting up meat at table; but it came originally from the Oriental nations, who are especially characterised for the use of it (Æsch. Pers. 56.). It is, moreover, distinguished from the leaf-shaped, two-edged, cutting and thrusting sword (ξίφος, gladius, Xen. Symp. ii. 10. Plato, Symp. p. 190. A.). All these circumstances induce a belief that the machæra was similar to the hunting-knife (culter venatorius); and that its peculiar form is exhibited in the annexed woodcut from an engraved gem (Agostini, ii. 26.), on which it is used by a gladiator, evidently of a foreign race; as it likewise is by a bestiarius contending with a leopard in a Roman bas-relief inserted at p. 83.
MACHÆ'RIUM (μαχαίριον, μαχαιρίς). Diminutive of MACHÆRA. A fishmonger's knife (Plaut. Aul. ii. 9. 1.); surgeon's knife (Aristot. Gen. An. v. 8. 13.); barber's razor (Aristoph. Eq. 413.); all which senses imply a form of instrument similar to the one described and exhibited in the last article, and thus confirm the suggestion there made respecting its particular formation.
MACHÆROPH'ORUS (μαχαιρόφορος). Armed with the hunting-knife (machæra), as characteristic of foreign nations (Cic. Q. Fr. ii. 10.); the Egyptians (Herod. ix. 32.); Persians (Æsch. Pers. 56.); Thracians, Thucyd. ii. 96.
MA'CHINA (μηχανή). A general term, like our machine, comprising every sort of artificial contrivance invented by men to assist them in their operations, or which is itself made to perform the part of an agent; as for raising or drawing weights (Vitruv. x. 1.); erecting columns (Cic. Verr. ii. 1. 55.); drawing vessels on shore (Hor. Od. i. 4. 2.); discharging missiles (Liv. Sall. &c.); a scaffolding for builders and decorators (Ulp. Dig. xiii. 6. 5. Plin. H. N. xxxv. 37); a stand upon which slaves were exposed for sale (Q. Cic. Pet. Cons. 2.), &c.; all of which are described and illustrated under the special names by which they were designated.
MACHINAMEN'TUM. (Liv. Tac. Cels.) Same as MACHINA.
MACHINA'RIUS. Any one who works upon a scaffolding (Paul. Dig. 9. 2. 31.); but more frequently used as an adjective to express that which is worked by, or itself works with, machinery; as mola machinaria (Apul. Met. vii. p. 143.), a corn-mill driven by cattle (see MOLA 2.); asinus machinarius (Ulp. Dig. ii. 6. 7.), an ass which works a mill.
MACROCHE'RA. A word coined out of the Greek μακρόχειρ, which means long-armed; whence used to designate a tunic with long sleeves (Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 33.); only another term for CHIRIDOTA, which see.
MACROCO'LUM or MACROCOL'LUM. Paper of the largest size, such as we might call royal. (Cic. Att. xvi. 3. xiii. 25. Plin. H. N. xiii. 24.) It is not clear whether this paper was manufactured in one large sheet, or the ordinary sheet extended by glueing several into one; nor whether the name was formed from κῶλον, a limb, or κόλλα, glue, with the adjective μακρός affixed.
MAC'ULA. The mesh of a net. Ov. Her. v. 19. Varro, R. R. iii. 11. 3. Cic. Verr. ii. 5. 11. RETE.
MÆAN'DER, MEAN'DROS, or MÆANDRUS (μαίανδρος). A Greek ornament designed, as it were, in imitation of the peculiarly winding course of the river Meander, from which it derived its name. (Festus s. v. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. v. 250. Strabo xii. 7. 15.) It is often employed as a border for dresses, round the edges of fictile vases, and as an architectural decoration; of which latter kind the annexed example affords an instance, from a small brick building near Rome, which goes by the name of the temple del Dio Redicolo.
MÆ'LIUM. See MELIUM.
MÆNAS (μαινάς). Properly a Greek word, signifying a raving woman; whence adopted by the Roman poets for a Bacchante (see BACCHA and illustration), infuriated by the rites of Bacchus (Sil. Ital. iii. 395. Senec. Troad. 675.); an enervated priest of Cybele (Catull. 63. 23.); or a prophetess under the excitement of inspiration. Senec. Agam. 719.
MÆNIA'NUM. A balcony; projecting over the street from the upper floor of a house or other building; and supported upon brackets affixed to the external wall, or upon columns planted on the ground. (Festus, s. v. Val. Max. ix. 12. 17. Cic. Acad. ii. 22.) These balconies were frequently constructed over the colonnades of a forum (Vitruv. v. 1. 2.); or thrown out over the entrance porch of a house (Isidor. Orig. xv. 13. 11.), as exhibited by the annexed example, from a house discovered at Herculaneum, with the ground-plan of the street and adjacent part of the house on the right hand. A. The balcony, springing from the upper story (C); constructed over the entrance (E on the ground-plan), and supported upon three square pilasters in file (B B elevation and ground-plan), placed upon the margin of the foot pavement (G), so that it projects to a considerable extent over the roadway (F). At one period, such accessories were prohibited by law in ancient Rome (Ammian. xxvii. 9, 10.), on account of the narrowness of the streets; but by a subsequent building act they were allowed, provided they had an open space, in some cases of ten, in others of fifteen, feet clear from any adjacent building. Impp. Honor. et Theodos. Cod. 8. 10, 11.
2. In a theatre, amphitheatre, or circus, a mænianum means one entire range of seats, rising in concentric circles between one landing place (præcinctio) and another, but divided perpendicularly into a number of compartments (cunei) by the flights of steps (scalæ) which the spectators descended or ascended to and from their places. (Inscript. ap. Marin. Fr. Arv. p. 224. seqq.) The number of these varied according to the size of the building: the Flavian amphitheatre contained three, with a covered portico for women above; the theatre at Pompeii, from which the annexed illustration is taken, had only two, of each of which a portion, containing three cunei, is shown by the engraving; sufficient, however, to elucidate the object, for it will be readily understood that each mænianum comprised an entire circuit.
MAGA'LIA and MAPA'LIA. Carthaginian words, designating in the language of that country the cottages of the rural population (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. i. 420. iv. 259.); which were slight huts made of reeds or cane (Sil. Ital. xvii. 88—89.); sometimes of a circular and conical form, like an oven (Cato, Orig. ap. Serv. l. c. Hieron.
MAG'IDA and MAG'IS. A large sort of dish used at table; but of which nothing precise is known. Varro, L. L. v. 120. Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 52.
MAGIS'TER. A word very generally applied to any person who has a command or authority as the chief over a number of others; e. g. magister populi, the dictator (Cic. Fin. iii. 22.); magister equitum, the officer who commanded the cavalry under the dictator (Liv. iii. 27.); magister morum, the censor (Cic. Fam. iii. 13.).
2. In the navy, the magister was an officer answering to our master; he directed the navigation of the vessel, gave orders to the steersman, sailors, and rowers; and sat under the tent (thronus) at the stern of the vessel, as in the annexed example, from the Vatican Virgil. (Liv. xxix. 25. xlv. 42.) In the commercial marine he answered to what we call a skipper, to whom the charge of the vessel and crew was entrusted by the owners, under whose instructions he acted. (Ulp. Dig. 14. 1. 1.) But these accurate distinctions are not always observed.
3. In civil offices the term answers to our principal, president, or chairman of the board, as, magister societatis, the director of a company (Cic. Fam. xiii. 9.); magister virorum, a parish overseer, elected by the inhabitants of each vicus, to manage the parochial affairs of the district (Suet. Aug. 30. Tib. 76.); and the chairman or president of any corporate body. Inscript. ap. Grut. 489 10. ap. Marin. Fr. Arv. n. xv.
4. In private and social life, the president at a feast and drinking bout (Apul. Apol. p. 556.); also termed rex convivii, arbiter bibendi, and συμποσίασχος by the Greeks. He was elected by a throw of the dice, regulated all the proceedings, fixed the proportions in which the water and wine were to be mixed, the quantity each person was to drink, exacted the fines for breaches of order, and, in short, his word was to be a command. Hor. Od. ii. 7. 25. Sat. ii. 2. 123. Xen. An. vi. 1. 30.
5. Magister ludi. (Plaut. Bacch. iii. 3. 37.) Same as LUDI MAGISTER.
6. Under the empire, Magister was a title given to the chiefs of several departments or offices in the state and Imperial household; as, magister epistolarum, a chief secretary who answered letters on behalf of the emperor; magister libellorum, who received and answered petitions; magister memoriæ, who received the decisions from the emperor's mouth, and communicated them to the parties interested; magister scriniorum, who had the custody of all the documents and papers belonging to the emperor; magister officiorum, a sort of chamberlain at the Imperial court, who attended and assisted at audiences, &c. Ammian. Cassiodor. Spartian. Lamprid. Inscript. &c.
7. The title of magister militum or armorum was given by Constantine to each of the two generals who respectively commanded in chief over each branch of the army, infantry and cavalry. Ammian.
MAGISTRA'TUS. The office of a magistrate; that is, of any person invested with public authority to administer the law. Thus, during the monarchy, the king; under the republic, the dictator, consuls, censors, prætors, ædiles, tribunes of the people, the proprætor and proconsul, as well as the decemviri litibus judicandis, had each magisterial authority.
2. A magistrate; the title given to any of the officers mentioned in the preceding paragraph, but who were also divided into the following classes, distinguished by a name of descriptive of the rank or position which each enjoyed. 1. Majores; chief magistrates elected at the comitia centuriata, including consuls, censors, and prætors. 2. Minores; inferior magistrates appointed at the comitia tributa, viz. ædiles, tribunes, and decemvirs. 3. Curules; curule magistrates, who were entitled to the honour of the a sella curulis, comprising dictators, consuls, prætors, censors, and curule ædiles. 5. Plebeii; who were originally only chosen from plebeian families; viz. the plebeian ædiles and tribunes of the people. 6. Ordinarii, who held office for a fixed period, as the consuls for one year. 7. Extraordinarii, who were only appointed upon particular occasions, and for an uncertain period, like the dictator.
MALLEA'TOR. One who beats out or condenses any thing with a mallet (malleus), like a gold-beater, book-binder, striker of a die in coining, &c. Mart. xii. 57. Inscript. ap. Grut. 1070. 1.
MALLEA'TUS. Beaten with a mallet, for the purpose of compression, extension, &c.; as, of books (Ulp. Dig. 32. 50.); Spanish broom (spartum, Columell. xii. 19. .4).
MALL'EOLUS (σφυρίον). Diminutive of MALLEUS. Cels. viii. 3.
2. A missile employed for firing the works, shipping, or military engines of an enemy. It consisted of a reed shaft, fitted at the top with a frame of wire-work, like the head of a distaff (see the illustration s. COLUS), which was filled with inflammable materials, such as tow steeped in pitch, and had an arrow head affixed to the top, so that the whole figure resembled a mallet, as shown by the subsequent figures. It was set alight before being discharged, and when it reached the object against which it was directed, the arrow head stuck firmly into it, while the tow blazed away, and ignited whatever it had fastened upon. Liv. xxxviii. 6. xlii. 64. Cic. Cat. i. 13. Vitruv. x. 16. 9. Veg. Mil. iv. 18. Ammian. xxiii. 4. 14.
MALLEUS (σφῦρα). A mallet; i. e. a hammer with a large wooden head, employed by gold beaters, bookbinders, &c. for beating out into fine plates or leaves (Plin. H. N. xvi. 84. xiii. 26.); by carpenters, shipwrights, masons, &c. for driving the chisel when the blows require to be fine and tempered (Plaut. Merc. ii. 3. 57.); as a beetle for beating out hemp (Plin. H. N. xix. 13.); or, in short, for any purpose to which the same object is applied at the present day.{TR: "day," → "day."} Both the examples annexed are copied from the tomb-stones of Roman artizans.
2. A large wooden mallet used by butchers, and by the Popa at a sacrifice, for knocking down the ox before its throat was pierced by the knife of the cultrarius. (Ovid. Met. ii. 625. Suet. Cal. 32.) The example is copied from a small structure at Rome, erected by the Silversmiths' Company as a compliment to Septimius Severus on which it appears amongst various other implements of sacrifice.
3. A large mallet used by smiths at the anvil, the head of which was either formed entirely of iron, or of wood bound with iron, as in the annexed example, which represents the mallet used by one of the smiths delineated at p. 283., from a Roman bas-relief, upon a larger scale. Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 20. Ib. 41.
MALLUV'IA and MALLUVIUM (χειρόνιπτρον). A wash-hand basin (quasi manu-luvia, Festus, s. v.). The illustration represents a basin upon its stand, with the towel beside it, altogether very similar to a piece of modern furniture, from the celebrated Roman fresco painting in the Vatican, which goes by the name of the Aldobrandini marriage.
MALUS (ἱστός). A ship's mast, mostly made of fir and of a single pole. Plin. H. N. xvi. 76. Ordinary sized vessels carried but one mast (woodcuts, pp. 9. 147.); the larger kinds, especially merchantmen, had two, of the same height, as in the annexed example, from a medal of Commodus, or one considerably smaller and made to rake, as in the specimen at p. 247.; and an engraved gem of the Stosch collection appears to afford an instance of three masts. Wink. Pierres gravées p. 531. No. 41.
2. A mast, or strong wooden pole affixed to the top of the outer wall of a theatre or amphitheatre, from which an awning (velarium) was strained over the entire opening of the cavea, to shield the spectators from the sun and weather. (Lucret. vi. 110.) The illustration represents the top courses of the external wall of the great theatre at Pompeii, which is furnished with large stone rings to receive the masts in the manner here exhibited; in the Flavian amphitheatre at Rome, which was a more decorated building, consoles were employed for the same purpose, which still remain, and are situated in the same manner as the rings here shown.
3. The upright pillar in a clothes' or wine press (pressorium, torcular), which is worked by means of a worm and screw (Plin. H. N. xviii. 74.), as shown by the annexed engraving, representing the press employed in the fullers' establishment at Pompeii, from a painting still remaining on a pilaster within the premise.
MAMILLA'RE (ἀπόδεσμος). A bosom band; made of soft leather (Mart. xiv. 66.), and intended to elevate or confine the bust when inclined to excessive development. It is not to be regarded as precisely similar to the modern stays; for it was not intended to compress the figure into an unnatural appearance of slimness, nor was it worn by every female, but only where the extreme fulness of the person rendered such a restraint necessary. It is very apparent in the annexed illustration, from a Pompeian painting believed to represent Sophonisba; it is worn under the tunic and next the skin, while the ample bust of the African beauty, pointedly expressed by the artist, indicates at once the necessity for it, and its use.
MAMPHU'LA. A bread cake, amongst the Hebrews, Syrians, and other Oriental races, of the following description. When a batch of bread was made in the househould, a piece of the dough was made into a cake, and baked under the ashes (Festus, s. v.), in order to be presented as an offering to the priest. This was called mamphula in the Syrian language, whence the word, and probably the custom itself, was adopted by the ancient Romans. (Lucil. Sat. p. 83. 15. Gerlach.) In our own times it is a common practice to make a piece of the dough at a baking into a cake, and bake it in the ashes for the children.
MANDRA (μανδρα). Properly, an enclosure for cattle, a fold, stall, or pen; whence the word is transferred to the animals themselves, and more especially to a crowd of carts with their cattle and drivers, forming a stoppage in a public thoroughfare. Juv. iii. 237. Mart. v. 22.
2. A division or space marked out by lines, on which the pieces moved, in a draught board (tabula latruncularia, Mart. vii. 72. Auct. Pan. in Pis. 190.) The first notion of the word implies that the mandra was a square enclosure, like a sheepfold, similar in some degree to those by which our draught and chess boards are divided; and that it was not formed by parallel lines (duodecim scripta), like the backgammon board (see the illustration s. ABACUS, 2.); but as all the works which represent persons playing at this game have the board only presented in profile, and no original has been discovered, it is impossible to speak decisively respecting the manner in which its surface was marked out.
MANDU'CHUS. A grotesque kind of masked character, with an enormous mouth, set full of teeth, introduced in early times in the Atellane plays, and on rustic theatres, for the purpose of exciting merriment by his ugliness and voracious propensities, which gave rise to the name (Festus, s. v. Plaut. Rud. ii. 6. 51.) The illustration is from an original of bronze, in which the teeth are inserted of silver.
MANES. The shades of the departed. The ancients themselves seem to have attached a vague and indefinite notion to this term, so that it is not easy to arrive at its real and distinct meaning. The following, however, appears to afford the most satisfactory result. It was believed that the souls of men, upon the dissolution of the body, were converted into spirits, which still continued to exercise an influence over their descendants; some into good spirits, who were termed lares, others into bad ones, who were called larvæ. But as the survivors could not know which of these two conditions had been allotted to the souls of their deceased relatives, they made use of the word manes as an indeterminate expression, which did not define either condition, while it would include both; though their superstitious dislike to any thing of evil sound and omen led them generally to attach the most favourable idea to the term. Hence, in the great majority of cases, it is used in reference to good spirits, who were supposed to reside in the lower world, and allowed to return three times a year upon earth to visit their descendants in the forms they bore whilst alive. Thus the spirit of Anchises, when he meets Æneas in the lower regions, is represented in the Vatican Virgil as draped in the costume of his country; and Hector, in the same work, when he appears to Æneas on earth, is attired in the same way; with the words Hectoris manes written over the figure. In this case, as well as others, the name is given to the spirit of an individual person; it is also used to designate the regions below, where the manes resided, who were likewise regarded in the light of inferior deities; whence they are commonly styled on sepulcral inscriptions DII MANES. Apul. Deo Socrat. p. 689. Augustin. C. D. ix. 11. Compare Serv. ad Virg. Æn. iii. 63. Festus, s. v. and Isidor. Orig. viii. 11. 100. Virg. Æn. iv. 427. Georg. 1. 243.
MANGO. A slave-dealer (Mart. i. 59.), more especially one who endeavours to increase the personal attractions of young people exposed for sale by artificial devices, such as high feeding, rouge, cosmetics, &c. in order to increase their value, and give them a semblance of properties which in reality they did not possess. (Quint. ii. 15. 95. Plin. H. N. xxiv. 22.) Hence the word is transferred in a more general sense to a second-hand dealer, or furbisher up of fictitious and old articles. Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 76. of dealer in jewellery.
MA'NIA. A bug-bear; any great ugly person which nurses invent to frighten children. Festus, s. v. Arnob. 6. fin.
MAN'ICA (χειρίς). A long sleeve reaching down to the wrist, more especially characteristic of foreign nations, both of the East and North; but regarded by the Greeks and Romans of the virtuous ages, as a mark of extreme effeminacy; though at a later era, it was commonly added to the tunics of both sexes. (Virg. Æn. ix. 616. Tac. Germ. 17.) The example represents a figure in the Niobe group, supposed to be the children's attendant (pædagogus); consequently, a slave and foreigner, as the style implies; probably from Asia Minor.
2. An armlet, or piece of armour which some of the Roman gladiators wore upon the right arm, from the shoulder to the wrist, like a sleeve (Juv. vi. 256.), as represented by the annexed figure, from a bas-relief in the street of the tombs at Pompeii. The appearance indicates that it was either made by a bandage (fascia) or of straps of leather, or plates of metal, so commonly worn by the legionary soldiers on the columns and arches; see LORICA, 7.
3. A sheath, or armlet worn by archers on the left arm between the elbow and wrist, as in the annexed example, form the column of Trajan; that part being particularly exposed, and the nature of their arms not permitting the use of a shield. Veg. Mil. i. 20.
4. (χειρίς). A glove or mitten for the hand only; made of leather or fur (Pallad. i. 43. 4.), and worn by the Persians and some northern nations more generally than either by Greeks or Romans, amongst whom the use of such a protection was confined to huntsmen and agricultural labourers (Hom. Od. xxiv. 230.) or to delicate persons (Cic. Phil. xi. 11.), whose hands suffered from the cold (Plin. Ep. iii. 5. 15.). Xenophon makes a clear distinction between the two words χειρίς and δακτυλήθρα (Cyr. viii. 8. 17.), which answer to the Latin manica and digitale; though both applied to objects which enveloped the hand; whence it may be inferred that the manica was made without fingerstalls, like the gloves of our hedgers, and the other with fingers, like the example s. DIGITALE.
5. A manacle, as contradistinguished from compes, a fetter. (Virg. Æn. ii. 146. Hor.
6.{TR: "7." → "6."} A grappling-iron, used in the naval warfare (Lucan. iii. 565.), and, as the name implies, formed in imitation of the fingers in the human hand. Similar in general character to the manus ferrea, and HARPAGO, where an illustration is given.
MANICA'TUS. Furnished with longs sleeves; applied to tunics. (Cic. Cat. ii. 10.) See MANICA, 1.
2. Columell. i. 8. 9. xi. 1. 21. See MANICA, 4.
MANIC'ULA or MANIB'ULA. A cross bar on the top of the stiva, or handle of a plough, which the ploughman held in his hands to facilitate the operation of pressing the share into the soil, as exhibited in the annexed wood-cut, from an Etruscan example. Varro, L. L. v. 135.
MANIP'ULUS and MANIP'LUS (δράγμα, ἄμαλλα, οὖλος). Literally, a handful of any thing, but especially the number of stalks which the reaper takes in his left hand when cutting the corn; and as these were subsequently bound together into shocks or sheaves, in the same manner as now practised, the word is also used to designate a bundle of corn, straw, or more commonly hay, which the ancient farmers tied up into bundles before it was carried. (Plin. H. N. xviii. 72. Ov. Remed. 191. Varro, R. R. i. 49. 1. Columell. ii. 18. 2. xi. 2. 40.) The sheaf of wheat in the illustration is copied from a device upon a terra-cotta lamp.
2. The standard or ensign of a company of soldiers; in the earlier periods of Roman history said to have been a wisp or handful of hay fixed to a pole, and carried before the men; a record of which was preserved in after times by the figure of a human hand placed on the top of the standard, as in the annexed example, from the Column of Trajan. Ov. Fast. iii. 115-118. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. xi. 870. Aurel. Vict. de Orig. P. R. 22.
3. Also a maniple of foot soldiers; that is, the number of men who followed one standard. A maniple of principes, hastati, or velites consisted of 120, but of the triarii only 60; and four maniples formed a cohort (cohors). (Cæs. Tac. Virg. &c.) In a few cases, also used for a troop of horse; but that is contrary to the strict sense. Sil. Ital. iv. 316.
MAN'NULUS. (Plin. Ep. iv. 2. 3. ) Diminutive of MANNUS.
MANNUS. A galloway; a small horse of Gallic blood, but very fast paces, much esteemed by the Romans for its fleetness in harness. Lucret. iii. 1076. Hor. Epod. iv. 14. Prop. iv. 8. 15. Pet. Sat. 45. 7. Isidor. Orig. xii. 1. 55.
MANSIO'NES (σταθμοί). Stations; or resting-places distributed at certain distances along the high roads; more particularly intended to afford quarters for troops, but also containing houses for the accommodation of travellers, where they could bait their cattle and obtain refreshment; whence the distance from one place to another is sometimes indicated by reckoning the number of mansiones which intervened between them. Suet. Tit. 10. Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 45.
2. Mansiones camelorum. In the East, stations furnished with wells, at which the camels stopped to water. Plin. H. N. xii. 32.
MANSUETA'RIUS (τιθασσευτής). A tamer of wild animals; who not only rendered them tractable and docile, but also taught them to perform certain exercises and tricks. (Lamprid. Elag. 21. Compare Senec.
MANTE'LE, MANTI'LE, and MANTE'LIUM (χειρόμακτρον, ἐκμαγεῖον). Originally, a napkin or towel for the mouth and hands at meals, in which sense it would be synonymous, or nearly so, with MAPPA; but at a later period, when it became customary to lay a cloth over the dinner table, the same name was also used to designate a table-cloth. In other respects, it may be collected from the passages cited below, that the mantele was of larger, rougher, and coarser description than the mappa, and that it was furnished by the host to his guests; a single one, perhaps, serving for all of them; whereas it was the custom for each individual to bring his own mappa with him. Varro, L. L. vi. 85. Serv. ad Virg. Georg. iv. 377. Mart. xii. 29. 12. xiv. 138. Isidor. Orig. xix. 26. 6.
MANTEL'LUM or MANTE'LUM. That which serves as a cloak to conceal any thing; the original of the Italian mantello, and our mantle. Plaut. Capt. iii. 3. 6.
MAN'TICA. A double wallet, employed as a knapsack for pedestrians (Apul. Met. p. 14.), or a saddle bag on horseback. (Hor. Sat. i. 6. 104.) It consisted of two bags joined together, and when carried by foot passengers, was slung over the shoulder so that one hung in front, the other behind the bearer (Phædr. iv. 5. Catull. xxii. 21. Pers. iv. 23.); on horseback, it was placed behind the rider, and across the animal's loins. Hor. l. c.
MANTIC'ULA. Diminutive of the preceding.
MANUA'LE. A small wooden case, or binding for a book (libellus), which prevented the margins of the leaves from getting rubbed or dog's-eared by the dress of the person who carried it about with him. Mart. xiv. 84.
MANUBALLIS'TA. A hand ballista; probably similar to the modern cross-bow. Veg. Mil. ii. 15. iv. 22.
MANUBALLISTA'RIUS. One who uses a manuballista. Veg. Mil. iii. 14. iv. 21.
MANU'BRIUM. That by which any thing is held in the hand; a general term for any kind of handle: of a jug or other vessel (Cic. Verr. ii. 4. 27. ANSA 1.); of a knife (Juv. xi. 133. CAPULUS 1. CULTER); of agricultural implements (Columell. xi. 2. 92., and the list of them collected in the Classed Index); the spigot of a water-cock. Vitruv. x. 8. 3. ASSIS 2. and EPISTOMIUM.
MANUC'LA and MANUC'ULA. See MANULEA.
MANUCULA'TUS. See MANULEATUS.
MANUL'EA. A long sleeve, covering the arm down to the wrist and hand. Front. ad M. Cæs. Ep. iv. 3. ed. A. Maio. Same as MANICA 1.
2. A piece of defensive armour for the arm. (Accius ap. Non. s. Balteus, p. 194.) Same as MANICA 2.
3. A particular part of the military engine called Catapulta; viz. that which held the cord in tension. Vitruv. x. 10.
MANULEA'RIUS. One who makes manuleæ, or garments with long sleeves. Plaut. Aul. iii. 5. 37.
MANULEA'TUS. Furnished with, or wearing long sleeves. Plaut. Ps. ii. 4. 48. Suet. Cal. 52. Senec. Ep. 33. Same as MANICATUS.
MANUS FERREA (χεῖρ σιδηρᾶ). The iron-hand; a sort of grappling-iron, used especially in the navy for seizing hold upon the rigging or hull of another vessel, so as to lock the two together while one of the crews attempted to board. (Liv. xxvi. 39. xxxvi. 44. xxxvii. 30. Frontin. Strat. ii. 3. 24. Lucan. iii. 635.) This contrivance is sometimes confounded with the HARPAGO (Curt. iv. 2. 12.); but the two are distinctly mentioned as separate objects by Cæsar (B. C. i. 57.), and by Pliny (H. N. vii. 57.), who ascribes the invention of the manus to Pericles, and of the harpago to Anacharsis. One, and perhaps the principal, point of difference consisted in this, that the manus was fastened to a chain, and discharged as a missile from an engine; so that it grappled a vessel at a certain distance, and took it in two; or, when drawn in, brought it close up alongside (Curt. iv. 3. Lucan. iii. 375. Scheffer, Mil. Nav. ii. 7.); whereas the harpago was affixed to a long shaft or pole (asser), Liv. xxx. 10.
MAPA'LIA. See MAGALIA.
MAPPA. A table-napkin (Hor. Sat. ii. 8. 63.); which the Romans used for wiping the hands and mouth at meals, and vulgar people fastened under their chins to protect their clothes from stains, as some do in our days. (Pet. Sat. 32. 2.) In ordinary cases the host did not furnish his guests with napkins; but each person brought his own mappa with him (Mart. xii. 29. 11.); and occasionally carried away in it some of the delicacies which he could not consume at table (Mart. ii. 37. vii. 20.); a practice of common occurrence also amongst the modern Italians. The example is copied from a painting at Pompeii, of the kind called Xenia, in which it is represented hanging upon a peg amongst a variety of eatables and table utensils.
2. A cloth or napkin which was thrown down as a signal for the races to commence at the Circensian and other games by the magistrate who furnished the show. (Suet. Nero, 22. Mart. xii. 29. 9. Juv. xi. 191.) The origin of this practice appears to have been of very great antiquity, since it is attributed to the Phœnicians (Quint. i. 5. 57.); though, in after times, a story gained currency which made Nero its author, who was reported, upon some occasion, to have taken up a napkin from the table where he was dining in the golden house which overlooked the Circus Maximus, and thrown it down as a signal, when the populace in the circus below were becoming impatient for the races to begin. (Cassiodor. Var. Ep. iii. 51.) The illustration, which shows a magistrate in the act of raising the mappa, is taken from a representation of a chariot race, on a Roman bas-relief.
MAR'CULUS. Diminutive of MARCUS. A smith's hammer (Mart. xii. 57. 6. Plin. H. N. vii. 57. Isidor. Orig. xix. 7. 2.); and as the word is a diminutive, it will represent one of the smaller kinds, used with one hand, as by the annexed figure from a sepulchral urn, and by one of the smiths at p. 288.{TR: Kein Bild mit Hammer auf S. 288!!!}
MARCUS. A large iron-headed hammer, used by smiths, such as we call a sledge-hammer (Isidor. Orig. xix. 7. 2.); as shown by the annexed example from the Vatican Virgil, and used by one of the smiths at p. 288.{TR: Kein Bild mit Hammer auf S. 288!!!}
MARRA. A sort of hoe with a broad head (lata, Columell. x. 70.), indented with teeth (Id. x. 88.), which was employed in gardening and husbandry, for tearing up and clearing away weeds and fibrous encumbrances from the ground, &c. (Plin. H. N. xvii. 35. § 4. Juv. xv. 166. Columell. ll. cc.) The example shows the head of an instrument corresponding with the above description, which was found in the tomb of one of the Christian martyrs at Rome, with which he had probably been tortured.
MARSU'PIUM (μαρσύπιον). A purse for money (Varro, ap. Non. s. v. p. 141. Id. R. R. iii. 17. 3. Plaut. Rud. v. 2. 26.); often represented in works of art in the hands of Mercury, the god of gain, and more or less ornamented with tassels, &c. The example is from a Pompeian painting.
MARTIOBAR'BULUS. A word of doubtful authority which occurs in Vegetius (Mil. i. 17.); where, if the reading be correct, it designates a soldier armed with leaden bullets (glandes) for discharging from a sling.
MAR'TIOLUS. Diminutive of MARCULUS. A common hammer of the smallest kind; such as used by carpenters for driving nails, or hammering and beating out any thing which does not require extraordinary force or labour; like the delicate works in metal, called ἔργα σφυρήλατα by the Greeks (Pet. Sat. 51. 4.) The example is represented on the sepulchral stone of a Roman mechanic.
MAR'TULUS. (Plin. H. N. vii. 57.) Same as MARCULUS. The Italian "martello."
MASTI'GIA (μαστίγιας). Properly a Greek expression of reproach, meaning a good-for-nothing fellow, who deserves to be flogged (Plaut. Curc. iv. 4. 11. Terent. Ad. v. 2. 6.); equivalent to the Latin verbero.
2. Hence a whip (μάστιξ). Sulp. Sev. Dial. ii. 3.
MASTIGOPH'ORUS (μαστιγοφόρος). A term borrowed from the Greeks, amongst whom it signifies something like a slave driver (Thucyd. iv. 47.); but the Romans, and perhaps the Greeks also, gave the same name to an officer who bore a near resemblance to our policeman, and clerk of the course on a race-ground, whose duty it was to repress disorderly conduct at public places and popular festivals, keep off the populace, and prevent crowding or tumult, for which purpose he was provided with a whip (μάστιξ), whence the name arose. Arcad. Dig. 50. 4. 18. Prud. adv. Symm. ii. 516.
MASTRU'CA and MASTRU'GA. A word of foreign origin, probably Phœnician, which designates a coarse and common kind of covering made of the skins of wild animals (Isidor. Orig. xix. 23. 5.), more especially peculiar to the peasantry and common people of Sardinia (Cic. Fragm. pro Scaur. ap. Isidor. l. c. Quin. i. 5. 8.), and of Carthage (Plaut. Pœn. v. 5. 33.); both of which were Phœnician colonies. Its form and character is doubtless shown in the annexed figure from a mosaic found at Palestrina, representing the rape of Europa, in which the artist skilfully announces the country of his heroine, and the locality where the scene took place, by the introduction of a rustic figure in the mastruca, expressing by his attitude and gestures the greatest alarm at the strange abduction of his young mistress.
MASTRUCA'TUS. Wearing the mastruca, as shown by the preceding woodcut. Cic. Prov. Cons. 7. of Sardinians.
MAT'ARA and MAT'ARIS. See MATERIS.
MATAX'A. See METAXA.{TR: Article "METAXA" does not exist.}}
MATEL'LA. Diminutive of MATULA. Varro, ap. Non. s. v. p. 543. Mart. xii. 32. 13.
MATELL'IO. Diminutive of MATULA. Varro, L. L. v. 119. Id. ap. Non. s. Trullium, p. 547. Cic. Par. v. 2.
MATERIA'RIUS. A timber-merchant. Plaut. Mil. iii. 3. 45.
2. A worker in wood, such as a carpenter shipwright, &c. Inscript. ap. Grut. 642. 4.
MATERIA'TIO. A collective term, including all the timber-work employed in the construction of a roof (Vitruv. iv. 2. 1.); arranged by the ancient architects in the manner exhibited by the annexed diagram, which represents a timber roof in elevation and section, from Gwilt's Encyclopedia of Architecture, and distributed into the following component parts:—a a. trabes, the beams which formed the architraves, supported upon columns and pilasters; b b. columen, the ridge-piece which forms the culminating point; c. columna, the king-post, which supports the central apex; d d. tigna, the tie-beams which extend transversely from side to side of the building, and across the architraves on which they rest; e. capreolus, the strut, placed diagonally between the king-post and rafter, the centre of which it supports; f f. canterii, the principal rafters of the roof, which form a bed for the purlines to rest upon; g g g g. templa, the purlines, which lie transversely over the rafter; h h. asseres, the common rafters, over which the tiles are placed.
MATERIA'TUS. Built or constructed of wood-work. Vitruv. iv. 2.
MAT'ERIS. A Celtic word, denoting a particular kind of javelin employed by the Belgæ (Strabo, iv. 4. 3.), which had a broader head than usual (Hesych.); but respecting which nothing further is known. Liv. vii. 24. Cæs. B. G. i. 26. Sisenn. ap. Non. s. v. p. 556.
MATRIMO'NIUM. Matrimony, which amongst the Romans was contracted in three ways; by use (usus), when a man lived with a woman for a year; by contract (coemptio), in which the parties went through a mock ceremony of mutually selling themselves to one another; and by a religious solemnity, termed confarreatio, under which term the rites are explained.
MATTA (ψίαθον). A mat made of rushes. Ov. Fast. vi. 679.
MATTA'RIUS. One who sleeps upon a mat, or on a coarse mattress no better than a mat. August. contra Faust. v. 5.
MATT'EA or MATT'YA (ματτύα). A general name given to any choice and delicate food, especially poultry and game, which we might term dainties. Pet. Sat. 65. 1. Ib. 74. 6. Mart. xiii. 92.
MAT'ULA (ἀμίς). This word, like its diminutive, is the one usually employed to designate a chamber utensil (Plaut. Most. ii. 1. 39. Ulp. Dig. 34. 2. 25. § 10. and the authorities cited s. MATELLA and MATELLIO); though they were all likewise referred to any kind of vessel for holding water.
MAUSOLE'UM. The sepulchre of Mausolus, king of Caria, which from the beauty and magnificence of its structure passed for one of the wonders of the world (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 4. § 9.); hence the word was adopted by the Romans as a name for any sepulchre of extraordinary magnificence, especially of kings and emperors, like that of Augustus in the Campus Martius; and of Hadrian on the opposite bank of the Tiber. (Florus, iv. 11. 10. Suet. Aug. 100. Vesp. 23. Mart. v. 64.) Considerable remains of both these edifices are still in existence; the first being now used as a ring for bull baits; the latter as a fortress, which goes by the name of the Castle St. Angelo. Both, however, are entirely deprived of their external ornaments: but the annexed woodcut represents the mausoleum of Hadrian, as it appeared in its original state, before the statues and columns which decorated it were destroyed during the siege of Rome by the Goths under Vitiges. The restoration is by the Venetian architect Labacco (Libro dell' Aarchitettura, Roma, 1558), from remaining vestiges, representations on medals, and the description of Procopius. It will convey a just idea of the former magnificence of the sepulchre, and may be regarded as an accurate design, with the exception that there should be a statue of Hadrian on the top, instead of the fir cone, which is erroneously placed there.
MAVOR'TE or MAVOR'TIUM. A term introduced at a late period, or used by the common people, instead of RICINIUM, which see. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. i. 282. Isidor. Orig. xix. 25.
MAZON'OMUM (μαζονομεῖον, μαζονόμος). Properly an article of Greek domestic use; viz. a round wooden trencher, upon which barley cakes were served up (Hesych. Compare Harmod. ap. Athen. iv. 31.); whence the name was transferred to a large salver of bronze or gold, upon which burning incense and other perfumes were carried by young boys in the religious ceremonies of Bacchus (Calix ap. Athen. v. 27.), as shown by the annexed example, from a bas-relief of the Pio-Clementine Museum.
2. The Romans also adopted the name, but used it in a somewhat different meaning; for a dish of very large dimensions (sub iniquo pondere mazonomi Nemes. Fragm. de Aucup. i. 17.), in which game pies were brought up (Hor. Sat. ii. 8. 86. Schol. Vet. ad l. Varro, R. R. iii. 4. 3.), like the annexed example from an ancient fresco discovered near the church of St. John in Lateran, at Rome, representing a number of slaves, each of whom brings in a different dish at a feast; the pastry is painted yellow: and a bas-relief of the Pio-Clementine Museum (v. 14.) represents a dish with a pastry crust, of precisely the same character presented by an attendant to Hercules, who is reclining at his meal.
MEDIASTI'NI. A class of slaves whose distinctive services and condition are not fully ascertained. They appear, however, to have been the lowest in point of rank, performing the commonest drudgery both in agricultural employments and household work. Columell. i. 9. 3. ii. 13. 7. Dig. 7. 7. 6. Acro ad Hor. Ep. i. 14. 14. Non. s. v. p. 143.
MEDICAMENTA'RII. Dealers in herbs and prepared medicines (Plin. H. N. xix. 33.); perhaps quack nostrums, or something worse, for they were certainly held in little repute, and the Theodosian poisoners of both sexes are designated by the name. Cod. Theodos. 3. 16.
MED'ICUS (ἰατρός). A medical man , like our word "doctor," or "general practitioner," applied to those who practise both branches of the healing art, surgery as well as medicine. (Plaut. Men. v. 3. 6. Cic. Cluent. 21. Plin. H. N. xxix. 6. Suet. Cal. 8. Nero, 2.) From these passages we also learn that generally the medicus of Rome was a foreigner, who gained a livelihood by attending all persons choosing to employ him; or a slave kept by wealthy individuals as an apothecary to the household, whose services were not accessible to the public.
2. The same title was also given to veterinaries and cattle doctors; a class of professionals who divided themselves into many branches, each confining itself to studying the diseases of a separate race of animals, after which the practitioner took his characteristic appellation; as medicus equarius; mulo-medicus; medicus pecorum, &c. Val. Max. ix. 15. 2. Veget. i. Præf. 6. Varro, R. R. ii. 7. 16.
MEDIM'NUS, and MEDIM'NUM (μέδιμνος). A Greek measure of capacity; mostly a dry measure, but also used for liquids: it contained six Roman modii. Nepos, Att. 2. Rhemn. Fann. de Pond. &c. 64.
MEDIPON'TUS. Enumerated by Cato amongst the necessaries of a wine-press, but without any further explanatory details; excepting that it is mentioned as one of the ropes, and apparently of the strongest and thickest description. Cato, R. R. iii. 3. and 12.
ME'LINA. A wallet or pouch made out of the skin of a badger (meles). Plaut. Epid. i. 1. 21.
ME'LIUM. A dog's collar, made of leather studded with iron-headed nails (clavulis capitatis, Varro, R. R. ii. 9. 15.); particularly used for sporting dogs as a protection to the throat and neck. Compare MILLUS, and the illustration there introduced.
MEMBRA'NA. Parchment; sometimes employed for writing books upon, though not of such common or general use as paper (charta) made of papyrus. Plin. H. N. xiii. 21. Hor. Sat. ii. 3. 2.
2. (διφθέρα). A wrapper or cover made of parchment, dyed on the outside with purple or yellow colour (Tibull. iii. 1. 9. Compare Ov. Trist. 1. 1. 5.), in which a roll was enveloped, to keep it clean, and preserve it from injury. That the membrana was not a box or case like the capsa, is clear from its being assimilated to articles of outside clothing (Mart. x. 93. toga purpurea. Id. xi. 1. sindone).
MEMBRA'NULA. Diminutive of the preceding; a small strip of parchment upon which the title-pages, lettering pieces, or contents of a books (indices) were written. Cic. Att. iv. 4.
MENDI'CULA, sc. vestis. A beggar's garment (Plaut. Epid. ii. 2. 41.), as seen in the next illustration.
MENDI'CUS (πτωχός). A mendicant, or beggar-man, who lives upon charitable donations. (Plaut. Bacch. iii. 4. 16.) The illustration represents a scene in the forum at Herculaneum, from a painting discovered in that city, in which a blind beggar led by a dog is receiving alms from a young female.
2. A mendicant priest, belonging to the order of Cybele, who lived upon public alms, like the modern Capuchins. Hor. Sat. i. 2. 2.
ME'NIS (from the Greek μήνη). An ornament in the shape of a half-moon, which the Romans used to place at the commencement of their books; hence a menide, from the beginning. Auson. Profess. 25.
MENSA (τράπεζα, shortened from τετράπεζα). In the primary notion, a surveying board or table (from metior); whence it came to be applied in as general a sense as our word table, including every kind of form both round and square, though the square form is mostly implied when the word is used by itself, without any adjunct descriptive of the shape intended. The following are the most characteristic senses in which the word is employed.
1. Either simply, or with the epithet escaria, a dining-table. In the earliest times, at least amongst the Romans, dinner tables were square, and supported upon trestles, or several legs, according to the size of the slab, as exhibited by the annexed example, from a painting in the Vatican Virgil, representing the companions of Ulysses at dinner in the island of Circe. But after the invention of circular dining-tables, this form was generally relinquished, excepting in the soldiers' messroom, where it was still retained. Varro, L. L. v. 118.
2. Mensa prima (πρῶτη τράπεζα). The first course at dinner; sometimes brought in upon a tray (ferculum), which was placed upon the table; at others the table itself was brought up already set out, and placed before the guests, the whole being removed together when its contents had been eaten; hence the expressions, mensam ponere, auferre, tollere, removere, correspond to our own, "to bring in," and "to take away the dinner." Ov. Met. xi. 19. Plaut. Truc. ii. 4. 13. Cic. Pis. 27. Virg. Æn. i. 216.
3. Mensa secunda (δεύτερα τράπεζα). The second or last course at a meal, consisting of fruit, sweetmeats, and confectionary; our dessert. Hor. Sat. ii. 2. 121. Nep. Ag. 8. Cic. Att. xiv. 6. and 21. Cels. i. 2.
4. Mensa tripes. A table supported upon three legs, as contradistinguished from monopodium, which had a single trunk or stem. Though sometimes made of an ornamental character, like the example, from a Pompeian painting, the three-legged table was one of the commonest, as it was likewise considered to be of the humblest kind in use amongst the Romans. Hor. Sat. i. 3. 13. Ov. Met. viii. 662.
5. Mensa vinaria. A table for taking wine upon. When round, as in the last woodcut, which represents a table of this kind, it was termed cilibantum (Varro,
6. Mensa vasaria. A table intended to hold the jugs, cans, and other utensils (vasa) employed for domestic purposes. Of these, there were two kinds; one for the atrium, and the other for the kitchen, both, however, square or oblong, and each distinguished by a characteristic name, CARTIBULUM and URNARIUM, under which descriptions and illustrations are given. Varro, L. L. v. 125, 126.
7. Mensa Delpica. A table used as a piece of ornamental furniture, explained and illustrated s. DELPHICA.
8. Mensa sacra. A table made of marble, gold, or silver, which served as a sort of altar, and was placed before the statues of the gods, with the wine vessels, fruits, and viands offered to them at the solemn feast of the lectisternium, as exhibited by the annexed wood-cut, from a terra-cotta lamp. Festus, s. v. Cic. N. D. iii. 34. Virg. Æn. ii. 764.
9. A table or stand upon which some tradesmen, such as greengrocers, poulterers, fishmongers, &c. displayed their commodities for sale in the streets and markets. (Hor. Sat. ii. 4. 37.) The illustration represents a stand of this kind covered with vegtables, poultry, and fish, in the forum at Herculaneum, from a painting discovered in that city. The owner sits by the side of his stand, while a customer presents a plate for the article purchased; the jars on the ground also contain eatables.
10. Mensa lanionia. A butcher's chopping-block; probably similar to those still used by the same class of tradesmen. Suet. Claud. 15.
11. Mensa argentaria. A money-dealer's table or counter, upon which he sets out the sums of money required for transacting his daily routine of business. (Donat. ad Terent. Ad. ii. 4. 13. Compare Hor. Sat. ii. 3. 148.) It is to this early practice that our terms "banker" and "bankrupt" owe their origin, which have come to us through the language of the Florentines, the principal bankers of Europe during the middle ages. At this period they used to set out their money, like the old Romans, upon a wooden bench or bank, "banco;" hence they were termed "banchieri;" and if any of them could not meet his liabilities, his counter was immediately broken to pieces, and himself prohibited from further continuing his business, whence the broken bank (Italian banco rotto) gave rise to the name of bankrupt.
12. Mensa publica. A public counter or bank; i. e. of which the capital belonged to the state, derived from the taxes, and was disbursed for the public service. Cic. Fl. 19. Pis. 36.
13. A raised stand or platform upon which slaves were exposed for sale. (Apul. Met. viii. p. 171.
14. A flat square grave-stone, laid over the remains of the deceased; the simplest kind of monument to the memory of the dead. (Cic. Leg. ii. 26.) The illustration represents an original found near Rome; the hole in the centre was intended for pouring unguents into the grave or tomb.
15. A long flat board or slab, forming one of the component parts of military engines (Vitruv. x. 11. 6.); but how it acted, or what purpose it served, is not easily understood. But see the illustration, s. CARROBALLISTA.
MENSA'RII. Officers appointed by the state upon certain occasions, and in times of general distress, to act as public bankers. They were authorized to advance money on behalf of the state to debtors who could produce sufficient security; to examine into the debts of the poorer classes; to direct issues of specie, and so forth; but are not to be confounded with the argentarii, who were private bankers, negotiating their own and their customers' capital, though, like them, they had their tables or counters (mensæ) displayed in public in the colonnades of the forum. Liv. xxiii. 21. Salmas de Mod. Usur. p. 509. Budæus de Asse, v. p. 509.
MENSO'RES. A general name for persons employed in taking measurements of any kind; as
1. Land surveyors (Columell. vi. 1.); also termed agrimensores.
2. Surveyors who measured out and distributed the several sites to be occupied by the different divisions of tents, &c. in a Roman camp; as contradistinguished from metatores, whose duty consisted in selecting the position itself, which the entire camp was to occupy. Veget. ii. 7.
3. Under the empire, certain officers who selected and marked the houses upon which each soldier was to be billeted during a march, or for a given period. Cod. Theodos. 7. 8. 4.
4. Mensores ædificiorum. Builders; i. e. persons who contracted to build an edifice after a specified plan furnished to them by an architect. Plin. Ep. x. 19. 5. Trajan. ad Plin. Ep. x. 20. 3.
5. Mensores frumentarii. Corn meters; who were employed to measure the corn brought by the Tiber into the public granaries (horrea). Paul. Dig. 27. 1. 26.
MEN'SULA. Diminutive of MENSA.
MENSULA'RII. A class of the public bankers or mensarii; and as the name is formed from a diminutive, mensula, we may suppose them to have held a lower rank, and to have been of an inferior grade. They acted in the capacity of money changers, providing Roman coinage for the foreign pieces brought into the country by strangers; and also were appointed to examine all kinds of money, and decide if it was genuine or forged. Tac. Ann. vi. 17. Dig. 16. 3. 7. Id. 42. 5. 24. Id. 46. 3. 39.
MEREN'DA. One of the Roman meals taken early in the afternoon, which we might translate a luncheon; in which sense the word is still retained by the inhabitants of modern Italy. Plaut. Most. iv. 2. 49. Calpurn. Ecl. v. 61., where the ninth hour in summer is called late for the merenda of rustics.
MER'GA (καρφαμάτιον. Hesych.). An implement employed at harvest work; but whether for reaping the corn, or collecting it after it was cut, and of what precise nature, is not clear. Festus (s. v.) says that it was a pitchfork (furcula), with which the labourer loaded or carried off the sheaves (manipulos) from the field; but Plautus (Pœn. v. 2. 58.) and Palladius (ii. 20. 3.) evidently speak of it as an instrument which was used for reaping the corn; and Pliny (H. N. xviii. 72.) indicated that two of these were used together, between which the ears of corn were nicked off.
MERGES. A bundle, or sheaf, of corn; i. e. strictly the quantity taken up, or cut, by a merga. Virg. Georg. ii. 517. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. xi. 532.
MERIDIA'NI. A class of light-armed gladiators who fought as a sort of interlude at midday, after the termination of the combats with wild beasts, which took place in the morning. (Orelli. Inscript. 2587. Suet. Claud. 34. Senec. Ep. 7. and 95.) The simple tunics in which the annexed figures are clothed, and the absence of all body armour, renders it extremely probable that they afford an example of the meridiani; the more so as they are copied from a mosaic, which represents several other classes of gladiators in the characteristic suits of armour belonging to each class.
MERUM (ἄκρατον). Neat wine, unmixed with water; rarely drunk in this state by the ancient inhabitants of Greece and Italy, except by regulars bousers and drunkards; the usual beverage being about two-thirds of water to one of wine. Mart. i. 12. and 57. Id. iii. 57.
MESAN'CULON (μεσαγκύλον). Properly a Greek name, which the Romans expressed by hasta ansata or telum ansatum. It occurs, however, in the above form ap. Gell. x. 25. 1. and is described and illustrated at p. 83. s. ANSATUS.
MESAU'LOS (μέσαυλος). A passage or corridor in a Greek house, between the two principal divisions of the ground-floor, the andronitis and gunæconitis; in the centre of it there was a door, which, when closed, shut of all communication between the two suites of apartments. (Vitruv. vi. 7. 5.) See the plan at p. 252. on which it is marked d.
MESOCH'ORUS (μεσόχορος). The leader or director of a band of musicians, both vocal and instrumental; he stood in the centre of the band, to give the signals and mark the time. Plin. Ep. ii. 14. 7. Sidon. Ep. i. 2.
MESSOR (ἀμητήρ, θεριστήες). A reaper of grain. (Cic. Orat. iii. 12. Virg. Georg. i. 316.) The most common practice amongst the ancient reapers was to cut the stalk with a reaping hook (falx messoria, or stramentaria) about midway between the ear and the ground, as represented by the annexed figure from a sepulchral painting of the Christian era, the straw afterwards cut by itself. But in some places, Umbria more especially, they cut the straw near the ground, as we do, leaving only a stubble behind; and for a particular kind of bearded corn, like the Egyptian, which has several ears clustered together on the top of a single stem, they nicked the heads off the top of the stalk with an instrument furnished with teeth, like a saw (falx denticulata); an operation which is exhibited in an Egyptian painting published by Wilkinson (Ancient Egyptians, vol. iv. p. 89.). Varro, R. R. i. 50. Compare Columell. ii. 20. 3.
2. Messor fœniseca. A mower of grass with a scythe (falx fœnaria). Columell. ii. 17. 5.
ME'TA. Any object with a broad circular base, gradually tapering off to the top, like a cone (Liv. xxxvii. 27. Cic. Div. ii. 6. Plin. H. N. ii. 7.); whence the following characteristic applications of the term.
1. (καμπτήρ, νύσσα). The goal or turning post in a race-course, which consisted of a group of three conical-shaped columns, placed upon a raised basement, and situated at the end of the barrier (spina), round which the chariots turned, each race comprising seven circuits round the course. (Prop. ii. 25, 26. Suet. Dom. 4.) There were necessarily two metæ, one at each extremity of the spina, marked respectively C and D on the ground-plan of a circus at p. 165. The one nearest the end from which the chariots started was called meta prima; the other, at the further extremity, meta secunda. The driver in turning always kept these on his left hand, or, as we say, on his near side, which a Roman called on his inner wheel (interiore rota. Ov. Amor. iii. 2. 12.); and the great art of driving well consisted in getting round these points without taking too large a sweep, so as to let an antagonist cut in between, nor by shaving too close, to run the risk of an upset by coming into contact with the base on which the columns stood; hence the writings of the poets abound in metaphorical allusions to the chances and accidents which here occurred. (Ov. Trist. iv. 8. 35. Hor. Od. i. 1. 5. Cic. Cæl. 31.); and as the race which commenced at the first meta also ended there, the word is frequently used, like our term goal, for the boundary or conclusion of any other object or thing. (Virg. Ov. Stat. &.) The illustration is copied from a Roman bas-relief, representing a circus. The doorway under the columns gave access to a small chapel in which the altar of the god Consus was placed. Tertull. de Spectac. 5.
2. The innermost or lowest of the two stones in a mill for grinding corn, (Paul. Dig. 33. 7. 18. § 5.), which was formed in the shape of a cone, as exhibited by the annexed example, representing a section and elevation from an original found in a baker's shop at Pompeii. The outer one, called catillus (Dig. l. c.), it will be observed, is made in the shape of an hour-glass, the lower portion of which fitted on to the conical head of the meta, as a cap (section on left hand); and the upper part served as a hopper to receive the corn, which gradually dropped through a small orifice at its base, and was ground into flour against the head and sides of the meta, by turning the outer stone round it. Before the discovery of the mills at Pompeii, by which the real form of a Roman mill has been ascertained, it was the common notion that the upper stone was the meta, and the lower one the catillus—an error which is still left uncorrected even in our best dictionaries.
3. Meta fœni. A hay-rick; which the Roman farmers made up into a conical shape, with a very sharp point (Columell. ii. 19. 2.); like the annexed example from the column of Antoninus. Thus, also, other articles, such as cream cheese, when made up into a conical mass, were designated by the same name. Mart. i. 44. 333. 58. 35.
4. Meta sudans. A fountain at Rome, near the Flavian amphitheatre, which was designed to imitate a cone, over which the water distilled from the top. (Sext. Ruf. de Reg. Urb. 4.) Remains of this fountain are still to be seen between the Coliseum and the arch of Constantine; and representations of it exist on several medals, testifying the appropriateness of the name, which was also given to other fountains of a similar pattern. Seneca (Ep. 56.) mentions one at Baiæ.
METATO'RES. In the army, officers who selected the site for a camp, and marked out its general position and dimension. Cic. Phil. xi. 5. Lucan. i. 382.
METITO'RES. Officers connected with the service of the aqueducts, whose duty it was to see that water was regularly laid on from the reservoir (castellum) into the branch pipes, which conducted it through the city, and to measure out the proper quantity allotted by law to each district. This was effected by regulating the diameter of the main pipes, and by a meter (calix) affixed to them. Frontin. Aq. 79.
MET'OPA (μετόπη). A metope in Doric columnar architecture; i. e. the panel which covered the opening between the triglyphs (Vitruv. iv. 2. 4. iv. 3. .5) in a frieze, sometimes left with a plain face, at others richly ornamented with sculpture, like those of the Parthenon, now preserved in the British Museum, and the annexed example from the Temple of Theseus at Athens. The triglyphs represent externally the heads of the tie-beams (tigna), and in the early wooden structures the space between one tie-beam and another (intertignium) was left open; so that a stranger could effect an entrance through them, as Orestes did into the temple of Diana at Tauris. Eurip. Iph. Taur. 113.
METOPOS'COPUS (μετωποσκόπος). A physiognomist, who tells another's fortune by observing the expression or character of his countenance. Suet. Tit. 2. Plin. H. N. xxxv. 36. § 14.
METRE'TA (μετρητής). The principal liquid measure of the Greeks, containing about 8 gallons, 7.365 pints, English (Plaut. Merc. prol. 75. Columell. xii. 22. 1.); whence also an earthenware vessel of considerable size (Columell. xii. 51. 2.), used to contain oil, received the same name. Cato, R. R. 100. Juv. iii. 246.
ME'TULA. Diminutive of META. Plin. Ep. v. 6. 35.
MICA'TIO; or digitis micare. A game of chance, combined with skill, still common in the south of Italy, where it now goes by the name of Mora. (Varro, ap. Non. s. v. p. 547. Suet. Aug. 13. Calpurn. Ecl. ii. 26.) It is played by two persons in the following manner. Both hold up their right hands with the fist closed; they then simultaneously extend a certain number of their fingers, calling out at the same time by guesswork the collective number extended by the two together, and he who succeeds in hitting on the right number wins the game. The annexed figures, representing a couple of Egyptians playing at mora, from a painting in the tombs, testify the very great antiquity of the game, and will serve to convey a distinct notion of the manner in which it was conducted to those who have never seen it played. The manner is the same as that practised by the moderns, with the exception that the performers are in a sitting instead of a standing posture, as now practised; and that they appear to make use of all their fingers, instead of the right hand only, which must have greatly increased the difficulty and intricacy of the game, as it admits the various combinations which might be made out of twenty numbers instead of only ten. The right-hand figure has extended all the fingers of his right hand, and three of his left; his opponent puts out two with the right hand, and three on the left one; thus the number exhibited is thirteen. If either of the parties cry out "thirteen" at the moment of opening their hands, but before the opened fingers are actually displayed, he wins; if neither succeeds in guessing right, they again close their hands, cry out a number, and open the fingers until one of them calls the right amount. What appears to be so simple is most difficult to execute with any chances of success, and requires more skill and calculation than a person, who had not himself made the experiment, would imagine. Each player has first to settle in his own mind how many fingers he will show; then to surmise how many his oppenent is likely to put up, which he does by observing his usual style of play, by remembering the numbers he last called, and those he last showed; he then adds these to his own, and calls the collective number, thus endeavouring to make the number which he calls. But as all this, which takes so much time in narrating, is actually done with the greatest rapidity, the hands being opened and closed, and the numbers simultaneously called as fast as one can pronounce them—eight, two, six, ten,—it requires great readiness of intellect, and decision of purpose, for a player to have any chance of winning, as well as a quick eye and acute observation, to see in a moment the aggregate number of fingers shown, so as not to overlook his own success; nor, on the other hand, suffer himself to be imposed upon by a more astute opponent; whence the Romans characterized a person of exceeding probity and honour, by saying that one might play at mora with him in the dark—dignus, quicum in tenebris mices. Cic. Off. iii. 19.
MILIA'RIUM. A copper for heating water, of considerable height, but small diameter, so that it presented the appearance of a tall and narrow vessel. (Pallad. v. 8. 7. altum et angustum.) It was commonly used in heating water for the baths (Pallad. i. 40. 3.), as well as for domestic purposes (Senec. Q. N. iii. 24.); and, consequently, was made of various dimensions. (Senec. Q. N. iv. 9.) The
2. A short thick column, which rose from the centre of the basin (mortarium) in a mill for bruising olives (trapetum, Cato, R. R. xx. 1. Id. xxii. 1.) It is marked 2. 2. on the annexed section and elevation of an original olive-mill, found at Stabia. The object of it was to support the square box (cupa, 5.), into which one extremity of each axle, on which the wheels (orbes, 3. 3.) revolved, was inserted; so that when the wheels were driven round the basin (1. 1.), it constituted the pivot upon which they and their axles turned.
MILLIA'RIUM. A mile-stone; which the Romans placed along the sides of their principal roads, in the same manner as we do, with the respective distances from the city inscribed upon them, reckoned at intervals of 1000 Roman paces (our mile) apart. This custom was first introduced by C. Gracchus; and the illustration represents an original Roman mile-stone, now standing on the Capitol, but which originally marked the first mile from Rome, as indicated by the numeral I. on the top of it. The rest of the inscription refers to the Emperors Vespasian and Nerva, by whom it was successively restored.
2. Milliarium aureum. The golden milestone; a gilt column, erected by Augustus, at the top of the Roman forum (in capite Rom. fori. Plin. H. N. iii. 5. Suet. Otho, 6. Tac. Hist. i. 27.), to mark the point at which all the great military roads ultimately converged and ended. (Plut. Galb. p. 1064.) The precise spot where it stood was not ascertained till about ten years ago, when an excavation, undertaken by the late pope, revealed a circular basement coated with marble at the north-east angle of the forum, close beside the arch of Septimius Severus, which, by the common consent of all archæologists, has been received as the remaining base of the golden miliary column. But it does not appear that the mileage of the roads was constantly reckoned from this standard; on the contrary, actual measurements of the distances marked upon Roman milestones, which have been found standing in their original places, prove that those distances were computed from the gates of the city (Marin. Frat. Arv. p. 8. Fabrett. Aq. p. 136.); and the law books also cite a third principle of measuring, from the last row of houses (mille passus non à milliario Urbis, sed a continentibus ædificiis numerandi sunt. Macer. Dig. 50. 16. 154.). All which testifies that the practice varied at different periods, and led to litigation amongst the Romans themselves. It will be remembered that our mileage on some roads, which used to be marked from the standard at Cornhill, is now reckoned more commonly from one of the bridges.
MILLUS. A collar for a sporting dog, made of leather, and armed with projecting iron spikes (clavis ferreis eminentibus), particularly used for those which were trained for hunting wild beasts, to protect the vulnerable parts of the neck and throat from their formidable adversaries. (Scipio Aemilian. ap. Fest. s. v.) The example here introduced represents one of Meleager's hounds, in a painting of Herculaneum.
MILVI'NUS. Applied to pipes; see TIBIA.
MIMA. (Cic. Phil. ii. 24. Hor. Sat. i. 2. 56.) A female mime. See MIMUS.
MIMALL'ONES (μιμαλλόνες). A Greek name for Bacchanals (Stat. Ep. iv. 660.); distinguished, however, from Bacchæ by Strabo, x. 3. 10.
MIMALL'ONIS (Ov. A. Am. i. 541.) A word coined from the Greek; the same, or similar to BACCHA; which see.
MI'MULA. Diminutive of MIMA, in a derogatory and contemptuous sense. Cic. Phil. ii. 25.
MI'MULUS. Diminutive of MIMUS; also with an implied sense of inferiority. Arnob. ii. 69.
MI'MUS. In a general sense, means any person who takes off or imitates the manners, deportment, or expression of another, by gesticulation, grimace, or feigned tones of the voice, corresponding with our mimic. But, in a more restricted meaning, the name was given to an actor on the stage, who played a part in a particular kind of drama, designated by the same name; a very broad, and for the most part indecent farce, in which private characters were shown up and exposed to ridicule. The mimic who performed these parts expressed his meaning by gesticulation and pantomimic action chiefly, though dialogue was not entirely excluded. Originally he danced upon the floor between the stage, not upon it, and without a mask; accordingly, in the annexed example, from an engraved ring, it will be perceived that nearly the whole of the face is exposed to view; the mask, unlike those usually worn by comic actors, only covering a small portion of the cheeks; the scalp is covered by a fur cap. Cic. Or. ii. 59. Ov. A. Am. i. 501. Id. Trist. ii. 497. Diopmed. iii. 487. Compare PLANIPES.
2. Buffoons, or mimics of this description, were also employed off the stage, especially at great funerals (indictiva funus), at which they followed the Præficæ, dancing grotesque dances, and acting the part of merry-andrews, as exhibited by the annexed figure from a sepulchral lamp found in a tomb excavated in the Villa Corsini; whilst the leader of their band (archimimus) affected to personate the deceased. (Dionys. viii. 72. Suet. Vesp. 19.) The instruments, which the figure holds, are crotala (see p. 217.); and his head is decorated with the appropriate appendage of a fool's cap.
MIRMILLO'NES. A class of gladiators usually matched in combat with the Thraces, or the retiarii. They wore the Gallic helmet, with the image of a fish for the crest, as exhibited by the annexed figure from a tomb near the gate of Herculaneum, at Pompei. They are believed to have been originally Gauls; but the derivation, as well as the allusive meaning of the name, is very doubtful. Cic. Phil. vi. 5. Suet. Dom. 10. Juv. viii. 20. Festus s. Retiarius.
MISTA'RIUS. A vessel employed for the same purpose as the crater, in which wine was mixed with water; it is described as of tall proportions, and with a handle on each side. Lucil. Sat. v. 61. Gerlach.
MISSIL'IA. Presents of various articles, thrown from an elevated platform amongst the people by the Roman emperors, or other wealthy individuals who sought to gain the favour of the populace by a largess (congiarium); to which the modern practice of scattering money amongst the crowd at a coronation or other solemnities owes its origin. The missilia were in general the objects themselves actually thrown, and belonged to those who had the good luck to catch them in the scramble; but as some things, such as corn or wine, could not be disposed of in this manner, and others would be damaged by the fall and contest for their possession, billets or tokens (tesseræ) were in such cases thrown in their stead, upon which the name and quantity of the article to be received was inscribed, accompanied by a written order for the same, payable to the bearer upon presentation at the magazine of the donor. Suet. Nero, 11. Turneb. Advers. xxix. 9.
MITEL'LA (μιτρίον). Diminutive of MITRA. A coif or bandage, in the shape of a half-handkerchief (Celsus, viii. 10. 3.); worn by the Greek women (Virg. Cop. 1.) round the head, as shown by the annexed example, from a bust in the British Museum, and frequently represented on fictile vases and the Pompeian paintings. Men used a similar bandage tied round their heads when at home, or at drinking bouts, to counteract the effects of the wine (Aristot. ap. Athen. xv. 16.); and Cicero speaks of it as a scandal that he had seen both young and old persons in the public streets of Naples wearing mitellæ (Rab. Post. 10.).
2. A sling for a broken arm, made of a bandage in the shape described. Celsus, l. c.
MITRA (μίτρα). In the strict generic sense, means a long scarf with ties (redimicula), at the end, which served to fasten it as required for the various uses to which it might be put. This is clear from Callixenus (ap. Athen. v. 28.), who describes the colossal figure of Nysas, in the Dionysiac procession of Ptolemy, as bearing a thyrsus in her left hand, with a mitra fastened round it, precisely as shown by the annexed example, from a bas-relief of the Pio-Clementine Museum, on which various implements and persons pertaining to the worship of Bacchus are sculptured. Hence the Greek writers apply the same term to the virgin zone (Callim. Jov. 21. ZONA); to a broad sash worn under the bosom (Apoll. Rhod. iii. 867. STROPHIUM); and the epithet ἄμιτρος (Callim. Dian. 14.), to designate a young woman who has not arrived at her full development or at marriageable years; i. e. who did not yet require the zona, or the strophium. Also the military belt worn round the waist, at the bottom of the cuirass, as a protection to the belly, was called by the same name. Hom. Il. iv. 137. CINGULUM, 4.
2. In accordance with the preceding definition of a scarf with ties at the extremity to fasten it, the same name was given by the writers, both of Greece and Italy, to a particular kind of covering for the head, worn by the natives of Persia, Arabia, Asia Minor, and by the women of Greece, arranged so as to envelope the whole of the head from the forehead to the nape of the neck, the sides of the face, and the chin, under which it passed; whence the person who wears it is said to be veiled in it (mitra velatus. Claud. de Laud. Stilich. i. 156.), as characteristically displayed by the annexed example, representing a Persian mitra, worn by one of the followers of Darius, in the large mosaic at Pompeii. The Asiatic mitra, worn by the Phrygians and Amazons, was a cloth cap, which covered the head as completely as the preceding, and was tied by strings or lappets under the chin (Isidor. Orig. xix. 31. 4. Serv. ad. Virg. Æn. iv. 216. ix. 616.); in the manner shown by the annexed example, representing the head of Paris, from a Pompeian painting; and in works of art, generally, it is one of the usual characteristics of Priam, and the Trojans, which distinguish them from Greeks and Romans, amongst whom the use of it was regarded as a sign of extreme effeminacy. (Cic. Har. resp. 21.) The mitra of the Greek women was formed of a scarf of mixed colours (versicoloribus. Plin. H. N. xxxv. 35.), fastened round the head and under the chin, in a style similar to the preceding examples, as exemplified by the annexed illustration, from a bust at Dresden; but when introduced into Italy, its use was more particularly confined to aged persons and women of abandoned character, whether foreign or native. Ov. Fast. iv. 517. Prop. iv. 5. 70. Juv. iii. 66. Ulp. Dig. 34. 2. 25., in which passage it is mentioned as of a similar description, but different from the calantica.
3. A strong cable, bound round the hull of a vessel amidship, to strengthen the timbers in stress of weather. Isidor. Orig. xix. 4. 6. quo navis media vincitur. Tertull.
MITRA'TUS (μιτρηφόρος). Wearing the mitra, as explained and illustrated in the last article. Plin. vi. 32. of Arabs; Prop. iv. 7. 62. of Asiatics.
MITTENDA'RIUS. An officer of the Imperial age who was sent into the provinces to collect the tribute. Cod. Theodos. 6. 30. 2.
MOD'IOLUS. Diminutive of MODIUS; whence specially applied to various objects possessing a resemblance in form to the modius; as
1. (χνόη, χοινίκη, χοινικίς, πλήμνη). The box or nave of a wheel, into which the spokes (radii) and axle (axis) are inserted (Plin. H. N. ix. 3. Vitruv. x. 9. 2.); whence also applied to the axle itself (Soph. Electr. 745. and Varro, R. R. xx. xxi. of the axles which suspend the wheels (orbes) in an oil mill (trapetum). The illustration represents an ancient wheel, preserved in the museum of Prince Esterhazy at Vienna. The second and third of the Greek names bracketed imply that the principal dry measures of the Greeks and Roman (χοῖνιξ and modius) were of the same form, if they differed in capacity.
2. A box, bucket, or scoop, in the shape of a modius affixed to the outer circumference of a water wheel, which fills the contents into a receiver as the wheel revolves. (Vitruv. x. 5.) Sometimes wooden boxes were employed for the purpose, at others jars; and the Chinese make use of a joint of bamboo. See the illustration s. Rota aquaria; which will explain their application and object.
3. A particular part of the catapulta and ballista (Vitruv. x. 12. 1); supposed to be a box or cap, which contained the rope; but as the exact manner in which these machines were constructed is involved in doubt and obscurity, an authorized definition is not attainable.
4. (πυχίς, Hero de Spirit. p. 180.). The box or cylinder in which the piston and sucker of a forcing pump acts (Vitruv. x. 7.); marked B B respectively on the wood-cuts s. CTESIBICA MACHINA and SIPHO.
5. (χοινίκη). A surgical instrument, like a trepan, for cutting out parts of bones, consisting of a cylindrical borer, with serrated sides. Cels. viii. 3.
6. A small drinking goblet. Scæv. Dig. 34. 2. 37.
MOD'IUS and MOD'IUM. The principal dry measure of the Romans containing sixteen sextarii, or the sixth part of the Greek medimnus, something like the English peck. Its principal use was for measuring corn after it had been threshed; differing in this from the corbis, which was employed for measuring corn in the ear, that had not been cut with its straw by the sickle, but nicked off under the ear with a serrated or forked instrument (falx denticulata, merga. Cato, R. R. 136. Hor. Ep. i. 16. 55. Cic. Div. Verr. 10.) The illustration is copied from a terra-cotta lamp, evidently intended to represent a modius, from the introduction of several shocks of corn, which in the original design are placed by its side.
2. The sheath or socket in which the mast of a ship is fixed. Isidor. Orig. xix. 2. 9.
MOD'ULUS. In a general sense, a measure by which any thing is measured; but more specially, a module, or measure of division, adopted by architects as a standard by which the proportions of an order, or the entire building, may be regulated. It may be taken at pleasure; but the diameter or semidiameter of a column at the bottom of the shaft is the module mostly resorted to. Vitruv. v. 9. 3.
2. In aqueducts, a water-meter; same as CALIX, 3. Front. Aq. 34. 36.
MŒ'NE, or MŒ'NIA, plural, which is more usual. The walls of a town (Cæs. B. C. iii. 80.), almost synonymous with murus; but with a more comprehensive sense, as it frequently includes all the buildings in a town which were surrounded by a murus. Cic. Cat. ii. 1. Vitruv. viii. 3. 24. Virg. Æn. vi. 549.
MOLA (μύλη). A mill; a general term, like our own, including various contrivances for grinding different kinds of objects, whether driven by human labour, cattle, or water; amongst which the following varieties are particularly specified:—
1. Mola manuaria, or trusatilis (χειρομύλη); a hand-mill for grinding wheat, or other farinaceous produce, such as beans, lupins, &c. (Aul. Gell. iii. 3. Cato, R. R. xi. 4. Ov. Med. fac. 72. Jabolen. Dig. 33. 7. 26.) Several of these mills, more or less perfect, have been discovered in the bakers' shops at Pompeii; all of which are constructed in the same manner, and consist of two stones cut into the peculiar shape exhibited by the annexed woodcut, representing the mill with both its stones fitted together and ready for use on the right hand, and a section of the outer stone on the left, to show the different forms of each. The base consists of a cylindrical stone, about five feet in diameter, and one in height, out of which rises a conical projection about two feet high, which forms the lower millstone (meta), and has an iron pivot fastened at its top. The outer stone (catillus) is made in the shape of an hour glass, so that one half of it would fit, like a cap, upon the conical surface of the lower stone, receiving the pivot just mentioned into a socket incavated for the purpose in the centre of the narrowest part, between the two hollow cones, which served the double purpose of keeping it fixed in its position, and of diminishing or equalizing the friction. The corn was then pured into the hollow cup at the top, and descended gradually through four holes pierced in its bottom on to the solid cone below; where it was ground into flour between the outer and inner surface of the cone and its cap, as the latter was turned round and round by the slaves who drove it, with the aid of a wooden bar inserted in each of its sides, for which the square socket is shown in the cut. The flour then fell out from the bottom all round into a channel cut round the base to receive it.
2. Mola asinaria, or machinaria. A mill of the same construction and use, but worked by cattle instead of men, as shown by the annexed example, from a marble in the Vatican. (Cato, R. R. xi. 4. Ov. Fast. vi. 318. Apul. Met. vii. p. 143.) It will be perceived that the animal is blindfolded, as stated by Apuleius (Met. ix. p. 184.).
3. Mola aquaria. A mill for grinding flour, driven by water instead of men or cattle. (Vitruv. x. 5. Pallad. R. R. 1. 42. Auson. Mosell. 362.) The millstones were similar to those represented in the two preceding woodcuts; but the outer one was turned round by means of a wheel (rota aquaria), furnished with float boards, and having a cog wheel (tympanum dentatum) affixed to the opposite extremity of its axis, the cogs of which fitted into those of another wheel placed vertically over it, so that as the water wheel revolved, it communicated a rotatory motion through the cogs to the outer stone (catillus) of the mill. See also HYDRALETES. Ausonius mentions likewise saw mills for cutting marble into slabs, driven by water (Mosell. 363.).
4. Mola buxea. A small wooden handmill, for grinding pepper and articles of similar description. Pet. Sat. 74. 5.
5. Mola versatilis. Probably a grindstone, like the annexed example, from an engraved gem, in which the stone (cos) is worked round by the foot in the same manner as now practised. (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 29.) Livy also (xxviii. 45.) appears to indicate a machine of the same kind; but the interpretation is not altogether certain, for both passages might be referred to the common corn mill, No. 1.
6. Mola olearia. An olive mill, employed for bruising the olives, and grinding off the fleshy parts of the fruit from the stones without breaking them. (Columell. xii. 52. 6.) In the opinion of Columella, the mola was the best of all the contrivances employed for the purpose. He does not, however, explain the manner in which it was constructed, further than by saying that the bruising stone could be elevated at pleasure to suit the exact size of the olives, and thus avoiding the danger of crushing the stones with the flesh, which deteriorates the oil; but the same could also be done in the trapetum, by placing a block (orbiculus) under the axle, between the cupa and miliarium. (Cato, R. R 22. 2.) Still as Columella pointedly distinguishes the mola from the trapetum, it may be inferred that the former was a machine of somewhat similar character to the common corn-mill (No. 1.), consisting of two stones, the upper one being moveable, and working round a stationary one below it. (Compare Geopon. x. 18. Pallad. xii. 17. 1.) A third machine used for the same purposes was the solea et canalis (Columell. l. c.), the nature of which is entirely unknown; and lastly a contrivance called TUDICULA, which see.
MOLA'RIUS, MOLENDA'RIUS, MOLENDINA'RIUS, sc. Asinus. An ass which works in a mill. Cato, R. R. xi. 1. Paul. Dig. 33. 7. 18. § 2.
MOLENDINA'RIUS. A
MOLETRI'NA (μυλών). The building or place in which a mill is worked. Cato ap. Non. s. v. p. 63.
MOLI'LE. The name given to a part of the apparatus used for turning a mill, both in those which were driven by men and by cattle. Varro, R. R. x. and xi. In the former passage, it probably means the handles inserted into the sides of the upper stone (wood-cut s. MOLA, 1.); in the latter, the frame over the animal's back, to which he was attached when harnessed to his work (wood-cut s. MOLA, 2.).
MOLI'NA. The term employed by late writers for
MOLLIC'INA. See next word.
MOLOCH'INA, sc. vestis (μολόχινη). A garment made of cloth woven from the fibrous parts of the bark of the hibiscus (μολόχη), a species of mallow, which is still employed in India for making cordage. The word is also written mollicina, molicina, and molicinia, all evident varieties from the Greek original. Isidor. Orig. xix. 22. 12. Novius ap. Non. p. 54. Cæcil. Ib. p. 548. Yates, Textrin. Antiq. pp. 304—309.
MOLOCHINA'RIUS. One who deals in cloth made from the mallow plant. Plaut. Aul. iii. 40. MOLOCHINA.
MONAU'LOS and -US (μόναυλος). A single pipe, of the simplest character, and played in the same way as our flageolet and clarionet. (Plin. H. N. vii. 57. Mart. xiv. 64.) The Greek name also designates the person who played it (Hedyl. Ep. ap. Athen. iv. 78.), for which we find monaules (Not. Tires. p. 173.) The illustration represents a single pipe of this description, from a statue in the Vatican, with a performer, showing the manner in which it was handled, from the Vatican Virigil.
MONE'RIS (μονήρης, μονόκροτος). A vessel which has only a single line of oars in file; a galley; as opposed to those which have two or more (Liv. xxiv. 33. Tac. Hist. v. 23. quæ simplici ordine agebantur), as shown by the annexed example, from the Vatican Virgil. Vessels of this class were sometimes of considerable size, and rated amongst the naves longæ; in which several rowers worked upon the same oar, by means of a false handle attached to it, in the same way as was practised in the Mediterranean galleys of the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, and explained at length s. REMEX.
MONE'TA. The mint, where money was coined; a building on the Capitol adjoining the temple of Juno Moneta. Cic. Phil. vii. 1. Suet. Jul. 76. Liv. vi. 20.
2. Hence the money itself (Ov. Fast. i. 221.); and the die or mould with which it is coined. (Mart. xii. 55.) See FORMA, 2.
MONI'LE (μάννος). A necklace; a very usual ornament worn by the females of Greece and Italy, in the same manner as still practised; and made in every conceivable variety of form, pattern, and material, of which the excavations of Herculaneum, Pompeii, and the tombs of Etruria have afforded numerous and highly valuable originals. The examples here introduced are all from Pompeian paintings, which are selected for illustration because they afford specimens of designs which appear to have been generally favourites, as they are frequently met with on the fictile vases and other works of art. The top figure is a head of Juno, who wears a necklace formed of stars of gold, alternating with a large bead between each star; the two below are dancing girls; the left-hand one with a single row of pearls or beads, the other with a number of gold drops or pendants, precisely similar in pattern to an original necklace now seen in the royal museum at Naples.
2. Monile baccatum. A necklace made with a string of beads, berries, or stained glass, of which the left-hand figure in the preceding wood-cut affords and example. Virg. Æn. i. 654. Lamprid. Alex Sev. 41.
3. A collar or necklace placed as an ornament round the throat or neck of favourite animals, such as horses (Virg. Æn. vii. 278.) or deer. (Ov. Met. x. 112.) The fawn of Silvia is represented with this appendage in the Vatican Virgil; and the annexed example, from a fictile vase, shows it upon a horse, having pendants in the shape of a crescent depending from it, which explains the monile lunatum of Statius, Theb. ix. 689.
MONOB'OLON. A game in which various feats of leaping were displayed without the assistance of a leaping pole, or any other aid to muscular exertion, like the "sauts perilleux" of the French, or the "mortal leaps" of our itinerant showmen. (Imp. Justin. Cod. 3. 43. 3.) The example is after an engraved gem; and though the word it illustrates belongs to a late period, the work of art is of a much earlier date.
MONOCHRO'MATA (μονοχρώματα). Paintings tinted with a single colour, either red or white for instance, upon a dark ground, as frequently seen on fictile vases. Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 39. Id. xxxv. 36. § 2.
MONOGRAM'MOS (μονόγραμμος). Literally, drawn in outline, like the earliest attempts at painting, which consisted only of outlines (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 5.); thence transferred to any thing which has no substance, as the gods (Cic. N. D. ii. 23.); or a wretchedly attenuated person (Lucil. Sat. ii. 17. Gerlach.
MONOLI'NUM. A necklace formed with a single string of pearls. Capitol. Maxim. Jun. 1. Left-hand figure s. MONILE, 1.
MONOLITH'OS (μονόλιθος). Formed out of a single block of stone or marble, as a statue, column, or pillar. Laberius ap. Non. s. Lenis. p. 544. Ampel. 8. Compare Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 5. § 13.
MONOLO'RIS, sc. vestis. Decorated with a single paragauda, or band of gold and purple, as explained s. PARAGAUDA. Aurel. Vopisc. 46.
MONOPOD'IUM. A word coined from the Greek to denote a table supported upon a single foot and stem (Liv. xxxix. 6. Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 8.); though it is not met with in that language with the same meaning. The illustration represents an original of marble found at Pompeii.
MONOP'TEROS (μονόπτερος). Literally, with only one wing; whence adopted by architects to designate a circular shrine or temple, consisting of an open colonnade supporting a dome, under which an altar might be placed, but without any cell (cella, Vitruv. iv. 8. 1.), as shown by the annexed example. Vitruvius cites a temple of Bacchus at Teos as a specimen of this style (vii. Præf. 12.): and some architects recognize another instance in the existing ruins of an edifice at Pozzuoli, known as the temple of Serapis.
MONOX'YLUS (μονόξυλος). Literally, made out of a single piece of wood; applied adjectively to any small boat scooped out of a solid trunk, such as the linter, alveus, scaphula (Plin. H. N. vi. 26.); and, absolutely, as the name of a small broad-bottomed boat, employed by the Roman soldiers in making bridges over unfordable rivers. A certain number of these were usually transported with an army upon waggons (Veget. Mil. iii. 7.) and are repeatedly represented on the columns of Trajan and Antonine, from the latter of which the annexed example is taken.
MONUMEN'TUM (μνήμα, μνημεῖον). In general, any monument, record, or memorial intended to perpetuate the memory of persons or things, such, for instance, as a statue, a building, or a temple, particularly one on which the name of the founder is inscribed. Cæs. B. C. ii. 21. Cic. Verr. i. 4. Id. Div. i. 9. Ib. 28.
2. Monumentum sepulcri, or absolutely; a monument, tomb, or
3. (γνωρίσματα). The toys or tokens tied round the necks of infants when they were exposed as foundlings, in order that they might be recognized by any members of their families in after years, if they happened to survive (Ter. Eun. iv. 6. 15.); more usually designated by the general term CREPUNDIA, under which a more full description and illustration is introduced.
MORA (κνώδων, πτέρυξ). A projecting tooth or cross-bar on each side of a hunting-spear, below the head, and fixed to the ferrule or socket into which the shaft fits. Such an adjunct was more particularly employed in boar hunting; and its object was to prevent the point from penetrating too far, which would bring the animal into close contact with the huntsman; for as it came on with enormous weight and force, the shaft of the spear would follow the point unless it met with some resistance, up to the hands of the person who held it. (Grat. Cyneg. 110. Xen. Cyneg. x. 3. and 16. Pollux. v. 22.) The last cited author makes a distinction between the κνώδων and πτέρυξ, which is satisfactorily explained by the two examples annexed, both representing spear-heads from ancient monuments. (Alstorp. de Hast. p. 179.) The sharp curved points, like teeth, are the κνώδοντες; the straight ones with widening ends, like wings, the πτέρυγες; but as both served the same purpose of staying the onward course of the animal, they are included by the Latin writers under the one general name of mora, literally, a delay or hindrance.
2. The cross-bar which guards the blade from penetrating beyond it, as shown by the annexed example from the sarcophagus of Alexander Severus, at Rome. Sil. Ital. i. 515.
3. A flat cross piece of wood at the bottom of a splint in which a broken leg is confined, for the purpose of supporting the foot and keeping the instrument in its proper place. Celsus, viii. 10. 5.
MORIO'NES. Deformed idiots; who were purchased as slaves, and kept in the great Roman houses for the purpose of affording amusement by their want of mental capacity, conjoined, as it always was, with physical malconstruction (Mart. viii. 13. Id. xii. 94. Plin. Ep. ix. 17. 1.), both of which properties are visibly expressed in the annexed figure from a small bronze statue, in which the eyes and teeth are inserted of silver, and which faithfully illustrates the description given by Martial (vi. 39.) of one of these creatures, acuto capite, et auribus longis, Quæ sic moventur, ut solent asellorum.
MORTA'RIUM (ὅλμος). A mortar, in which ingredients are kneaded up and mixed together with a small pestle (pistillum), worked by one hand (Virg. Moret. 100.) in a roundabout direction (Ib. 102. it manus in gyrum), and formed, as it still is, of a stone or other solid material, hollowed into the shape of a shallow basin (Ib. 96., lapidis cavum orbem. Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 50. Id. xxxiii. 41. Scrib. Comp. 111. Columell. xii. 57. 1. Cato, R. R. 74.) The
2. The hollow basin in which the olives were placed in the bruising-machine, called a trapetum, to be crushed by the wheels, which worked round it. (Cato, R. R. xxii. 1.) It will be observed from the figure on the right hand of the annexed wood-cut, representing an original trapetum found at Stabia in elevation and section, that the mortarium (marked 1. 1. on each plan) is a sort of basin with sides and bottom of the same hollow curvilinear form as the common mortar, though the centre of it is occupied by a short thick column (miliarium, 2. 2.), which supports the bruising-stones (orbes, 3. 3.).
3. A large basin, or receiver of similar form, in which fine cement or stucco was kneaded and mixed. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 55. Vitruv. vii. 3. 10.
4. A hollow trench dug round the roots of a tree to collect moisture (Pallad. iv. 8. 1.); a meaning which clearly arises from the resemblance which the trench and trunk of the tree bears to the miliarium and mortarium of a trapetum, as shown by the section under No. 2.
MUCI'NIUM or MUCCI'NIUM. (Arnob. ii. 5.) A pocket-handkerchief for wiping the nose. See SUDARIUM.
MU'CRO. The point of any instrument, weapon, or other artificial or natural object which is pointed, jagged, or sharply acuminated; but more especially the point of
MULC'TRA, MULCTRA'LE, and MULC'TRUM (ἀμολγεύς). A milk-pail, for milking cows and goats (Virg. Ecl. iii. 30. Georg. iii. 177. Hor. Epod. xvi. 49.); and in which the milk was carried while cried through the town. (Calpurn. Ecl. iv. 25. The example is from the Vatican Virgil.
MULI MARIA'NI. C. Marius, with the object of remedying the inconvenience resulting from the immense baggage-train which accompanied an army on its march, made each soldier carry his own rations for a certain number of days' provision, together with the vessels for dressing it, and his personal baggage, on the top of a pole fixed to his back. This custom was subsequently retained, as shown by the annexed figure, representing one of the soldiers in Trajan's army, from the column of that emperor; but when first introduced, the practice, being a novelty, gave rise to the joke which attached to these men the nickname of "Marius' mules," because they carried their loads like beasts of burden, on their backs. Frontin. Strateg. iv. 1. 7. Festus, s. v. and s. Ærumnula.
MU'LIO (ὀρεοκόμος). A person who keeps mules to let out for hire, or for sale; a mule dealer and job master. Suet. Vesp. 4.
2. (ἡμιονηγός, ἀστραβηλάτης) A muleteer, or mule driver; without reference to whether the animals were his own or not, or whether he drove them as a coachman, in harness (Suet. Nero, 30. Vesp. 23.); or on foot, as beasts of burden. Id. Vit. 7.
MULL'EOLUS. (Tertull. Pall. 4.) Diminutive of MULLEUS.{TR: "MULLEUS"-Link wurde ergänzt}
MULL'EUS. A half boot of a reddish or plum colour, worn by the patricians of Rome; not, however, by all of them, but only those who had borne the curule magistracy, a dictator, consul, prætor, censor, or curule aedile. (Cato. ap. Fest. s. v. Vopisc. Aurel. 49. Isidor. Orig. xix. 34. 10.) Some think the mulleus was the same as the calceus patricius (wood-cut s. v. p. 99.); others, that it resembled the calceus repandus, or uncinatus, of which a figure is given on the same page, No. 3.
MULOMED'ICUS (κτηνίατρος). Strictly a veterinary who confines his practice to the diseases of mules, as contradistinguished from equarius medicus, a horse doctor; but the word also bears a more extensive signification for a cattle doctor generally. Veget. Mulomed. Præf. i. and iv.
MULTIC'IUS, MULTITIC'IUS or MULTIT'IUS. Used to designate some particular kind of fabric, either of a very ingenious, or costly, or fine texture, out of which the wearing apparel of women, and men of luxurious or effeminate habits, was made. The precise meaning of the word is not clearly ascertained. Some derive it from multum and icio, and interpret it to mean "closely condensed" by the batten (radius, spatha), which is contrary to the character of transparency attributed to it; others from mollitie (a mulcendo), in allusion to the softness of its texture; and others from multis liciis, i. e. which is made with many leashes (licia), thus indicating an intricate and elaborate pattern woven up in the fabric; which seems to be the most rational interpretation. Juv. ii. 66. xi. 186. Valerian. Aug. in Ep. adAurel. 12. Gloss. Philox.
MUNERA'RIUS. The person who gives a public show of gladiators. Suet. Dom. 10. Quint. viii. 3. 34.
2. Munerarius libellus. A bill of the show; or list announcing the names and descriptions of the gladiators about to be exhibited at a public show. Trebell. Claud. 5.
MURCUS. A nickname given to those who maimed themselves by cutting off their thumbs in order to escape from military service. (Ammian. xv. 12. 5.) This appears to have been not an uncommon practice (Aelian. Variar. ii. 9. Suet. Aug. 24. 27 Plut. Lysand. Cod. Theodos. 7 13. 4, 5. and 10.); and to it our term poltroon owes its origin through the Italian poltrone, abbreviated from pollice trunco.
MUREX. A kind of fish, with a sharp-pointed and twisted shell, poetically given to the Tritons for a trumpet (Val. Flacc. iii. 726.), as in the annexed example from a terra-cotta lamp; also used as a bottle for holding unguents (Mart. iii. 82.); and in ornamenting grottos (Ov. Met. viii. 563.), of which examples are still seen in the gardens of two houses at Pompeii.
2. In a secondary sense, any thing which has a rough and prickly surface, with projecting points, like the end of the murex shell; as a rock or stone full of acuminated protuberances (Plin. H. N. xix. 6. Virg. Æn. v. 205.); a box or case set with spikes inside (Gell. vi. 4.); and, as some think, a very sharp bit, armed with spikes (Stat. Achill. i. 221. murice frænat acuto Delphinas), like the lupatum, or the bits formerly used by the Mamelukes; but as the passage of Statius has reference to a Triton and his dolphins, the more poetical interpretation would be, that he checks their course with the sound of his sharp-pointed shell instead of a bit.
3. Murex ferreus. A caltrop; an instrument made with four spikes of iron, adjusted in such a manner that when thrown upon the ground from any distance one of them always stood upright, as shown by the annexed example from an original. It was used in ancient warfare to impede the advance of cavalry and disable the horses. Val. Max. iii. 7. 2. Curt. iv. 17.
MURICA'TUS and MURIC'IUS. Armed or formed with sharp projections, like the point of the murex. Plin. H. N. xx. 99. Auson. Ep. ix. 4.
MURILEG'ULUS. One who follows the occupation of murex fishing, the juices of which were extensively used by the ancients for making a purple dye. Cod. Justin. 11.
MUR'RHINA, MUR'RHEA, and MYR'RHINA. Porcelain vases. (Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 7. Prop. iv. 5. 26. Juv. vi. 156. Lamprid. Elag. 32.) Modern investigations have placed it beyond dispute that the murrha of the ancients was a fine earth, dug in the East, out of which vases of different kinds, but of light and fragile substance, were made; and many fragments of ancient porcelain have been discovered in various excavations, agreeing remarkably with the description of Pliny (H. N. xxxvii. 8.), in regard to the variety of colours with which they are covered; though in other respects his idea of the material which composes them may be said rather to verge upon the truth, than to afford a faithful account of the actual substance. But the well-attested fact that several bottles of real Chinese porcelain, inscribed with native characters, have been found in the tombs of Egypt (one of which is represented in the annexed woodcut, from the original of Salt's collection in the British Museum), distinctly proves that objects of that material were exported from China at a very early period, although the art of making it may not have been discovered by the Romans; and this would account for the prodigious value set upon them.
MURUS (τεῖχος). A wall of stone or brick, built as a defence and fortification round a town, in contradistinction to paries, the wall of a house, or any other edifice. (Cic. N. D. iii. 40. Id. Off. i. 11. Cæs. B. G. ii. 12.) Town walls were usually constructed with square or round towers (turres) at certain intervals, a fortified gate (porta) at every point from which any of the great roads emanated; sometimes with a trench (fossa) on the outside, having a mound (agger) within it, upon which the ramparts (loricæ, propugnacula) were raised, surmounted by turrets (pinnæ) to shield the defenders.
2. Murus crinalis. A crown ornament for the hair, made in imitation of the walls of a town, with its towers and fortifications, attributed by poets and artists to the goddess Cybele, to typify the cities of the earth over which she was presumed to reign; as in the annexed example from a marble bas-relief. Claud. in Eutrop. ii. 284.
MUSCA'RIUM (σόβη). A fly-flap for driving away flies, or whisk for dusting any thing; made of the long peacocks' feathers (Mart. xiv. 67.), or the tuft at the end of a cow's tail (Id. xiv. 71.); whence the word is also used for a horse's tail. Veg. Vet. vi. 2. 2.
2. A case or closet in which papers, tablets, &c., were placed to preserve them from fly stains (Inscript. ap. Romanelli, Viagg. a Pompei, p. 168.) The modern Italians retain the same elements with a similar meaning in their word mosca-juola, which signifies a cupboard or safe where eatables are put by.
MUSCA'RIUS. See CLAVUS 4.
MUS'CULUS. A contrivance employed in sieges for covering and protecting the men from the enemy's missiles whilst engaged in throwing up their earth works, and making their approaches to the walls. The manner in which it was constructed is detailed at length by Cæsar (B. C. ii. 10.) and Vegetius (Mil. iv. 16.); but no representation of the object itself, except conjectural ones, exists; amongst these the one designed by Guischard (Mémoires Milit. tom. ii. p. 58. tab. 2.), affords a good practical illustration to the text of Cæsar.
2. A small sailing vessel of extremely short dimensions between stem and stern (Isidor. Orig. xix. 1. 14. Not. Tir. p. 178.); the characteristic build as well as the name of which is retained by the Venetians, who still use the name of topo, the mouse, to distinguish a particular kind of small craft, amongst the many different ones which trade in their waters.
MUSE'UM and MUSI'UM (Μουσεῖον). Originally signified a temple, seat, or haunt of the Muses; thence an establishment instituted by Ptolemy Philadelphus, at Alexandria, for the promotion of learning and the support of literary and scientific persons who lived there at the public expense (Suet. Claud. 42. Spart. Hadr. 20.); and the Latin writers also gave the same name to a grotto, or place in their villas where they used to retire and enjoy intellectual conversation. Plin. H. N. xxvi. 42. Varro, R. R. iii. 5. 9. Compare Cic. Leg. ii. 1.
MUSIVA'RIUS. An artist who made mosaic work, the opus musivum, as explained under the following word: MUSIVUM {TR: LEMMA added}
MUSI'VUM (μουσεῖον). The original from which our term mosaic is derived; but the ancients employed the word in a somewhat more restricted sense than we attach to our term. Amongst them musivum means a mosaic formed with small pieces of coloured glass or composition in enamel, as opposed to lithostrotum, which was made of natural stones or different coloured marbles. Mosaics of this description were not originally used for pavements, but only in ceilings (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 4. Inscript. ap. Furnaletti de Musiv. cap. 1. p. 2.), because at first it was feared that the material was not of sufficient durability to bear the wear and tear of footsteps; but when this was discovered to be a groundless alarm, the same materials were employed in making ornamental pavements (Augustin. Civ. D. xvi. 8.), either alone, or with the admixture of real stones, which enabled the artist to make his work more perfect, and his tints more varied and more true; in short, to imitate a picture with considerable precision in all its colours, forms, and varieties; whence this style of the art obtained the name of mosaic painting — pictura de musivo — and became the most perfect amongst the different processes employed for works of this nature, each of which had a characteristic name of its own, which will be found in the list of the Classed Index. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 64. Spart. Pesc. 6. Visconti. Mus. Pio-Clem. vii. p. 236.
MUSTA'CEUM. A wedding-cake, distributed to the friends of the bride and bridegroom when they left the marriage feast. (Juv. vi. 202.) It was made of flour kneaded with new wine or
MUSTUM (τρύξ). Must; i. e. new wine not yet fermented and racked off from the lees. Cato. Columell. &c.
MUTATIO'NES]. Posting-houses, at which relays of horses were kept along the high roads for the service of the state, and the accommodation of travellers. The postmaster of the smallest mutatio was compelled to keep as many as twenty horses; of the largest, not less than forty. {TR: "than" → "then"} Impp. Arcad. et Honor. Cod. Theodos. 8. 5. 53. Cod. Just. 12. 51. 15. Compare Ammian. xi. 9. 4., where the word is used for a relay or change of horses.
MUTA'TOR, sc. equorum. (Val. Flacc. vi. 161.) A poetical expression for DESULTOR, which see.
MUT'ULUS. In a general sense, any projection of stone or wood, like the end of a small beam or rafter, standing out beyond the surface of a wall (Cato, R. R. viii. 9. 3. Varro, R. R. iii. 5. 13. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. i. 740.); whence specially a mutule in architecture; i. e. an ornament properly characteristic of the Doric order, consisting of a square projecting member, arranged at intervals over the triglyphs and metopes under the corona, and intended to represent in the exterior elevation the end of a principal rafter (canterius) in the timber work of the roof (see woodcut s. MATERIATIO, ff.); consequently it is recessed upwards towards the front of the corona, in order to express the slanting position of the rafter, as shown by the angular mutule in our cut, representing a portion of the entablature to the temple of Theseus, at Athens. Vitruv. iv. 2. 3. and 5.
2. In the Corinthian order, these members are now styled modillions, and are made of a more elaborate character, resembling ornamental brackets; but in many Roman and modern elevations, their original purpose of representing the ends of the principals rafters of the roof (canterii) is destroyed by the custom of inserting a row of dentils (denticuli), which represent the ends of the common rafters (asseres and woodcut s. MATERIATIO, hh.), below them; a practice always censured and avoided by the Greeks. (Vitruv. iv. 2. 5.) The illustration represents a portion of the portico in front of the Pantheon at Rome, and shows the order in its pure state, having modillions without the objectionable introduction of dentils underneath.
MYOP'ARO. Diminutive of PARO. {TR: Kein Eintrag "PARO"} A small piratical craft employed by the Saxon Corsairs, made of wicker work, covered with raw hides (Isidor. Orig. xix. 1. 21.), and remarkable for its swift sailing. (Cic. Fragm. and Sallust. ap. Non. s. v. p. 534. Scheffer. Mil. Nav. ii. p. 72 Savaro ad Sidon. Ep. viii. 6.
MYROPO'LA (μυροπώλης). A Greek perfumer or dealer in unguents and perfumes. Plaut. Cas. ii. 3. 10.
MYROPO'LIUM (<μυροπώλιον). A Greek perfumer's shop or stall. Plaut. Ep. ii. 2. 17.
MYSTA or MYSTES (μύστης). Properly a Greek term, designating one who is initiated in the secret rites or mysteries of certain worships. Ov. Fast. iv. 536.
MYSTAGO'GUS (μυσταγωγός, περιηγητής). A guide or cicerone, who conducts strangers over places unknown to them, and points out the objects most worthy of observation, especially at the temples. Cic. Verr. ii. 4. 59.
MYS'TRUM (μύστρον). A liquid measure of the Greeks, containing the fourth part of a cyathus. Rhemn. Fan. 77.
MYX'A or MYX'US (μύξα, μυκτήρ). A word borrowed from the Greek, signifying literally the humour which discharges from the nostrils; whence it is applied in both languages to designate the nozzle of an oil lamp through which the wick protrudes; as shown on the left side of the annexed example. Mart. xiv. 41.
NAB'LIA and NAU'LIA (νάβλα, ναῦλα, and ναῦλον). A musical instrument of Phœnician origin according to Athenæus (iv. 77.), and doubtless the same as the Hebrew nevel, so often mentioned in the Psalms, whence it came to the Greeks and Romans. It was a stringed instrument, having ten cords according to Sopater (Athen. l. c.), or twelve according to Josephus (Antiq. vii. 10.), was of a square form (Schilte ad Kircher. Musurg. ii. p. 49.), and was played with both hands without the plectrum, but in the same manner as a harp. (Joseph. l. c. Ov. A. Am. iii. 327. duplici genialia naulia palma verrere. Cæsius in Asterismo Lyræ, p. 189.) Ovid mentions it as an instrument of the same class as the lyra and cithara, but distinct from both; particularly adapted for use in social life and festive occasions, and the study of which he recommends to all young females who wish to gain admirers and cultivate the art of pleasing. All these particulars agree so well with the instrument and figure exhibited by the annexed woodcut, from a Pompeian painting, as to make it extremely probable that it was intended to represent the nevel, while at the same time they are scarcely reconcileable with the statement of Athenæus (l. c.) that the instrument in question was a hydraulic organ.
NA'NI (νάννοι and νᾶνοι). Pigmies or dwarfs, beings of diminutive stature, kept for ostentation, and as rarities amongst the number of state slaves (Suet. Tib. 61.), both males and females, nanæ. (Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 34.) They were neither distorted in figure, nor of mental imbecility, like the moriones, for they were taught music and other accomplishments (Propert. iv. 8. 41.). The illustration is from a small statue, probably executed as a portrait.
NARTHE'CIUM (ναρθήκιον, νάρθηξ). A small case for keeping unguents and medicines (Cic. Fin. ii. 7. Mart. iv. 78.); made in a cylindrical form, like a joint of the fennel giant (νάρθηξ), which may itself have been used for the purpose, but doubtless suggested the name, and authorised the application of it to an object of corresponding form, though made of other materials; as the annexed example, from an original of ivory found at Pompeii.
NASITER'NA. A vessel which appears to have been very similar in use and character to our watering-pot, employed by the ancients for watering the race-course; in garden and vineyards, for watering the ground to lay the dust before a house, and similar purposes. (Festus s. v. Cato, R. R. x. 2. Plaut. Stich. ii. 3. 28.) It is formed from nasus, a nose or spout, with an augmentative termination, like cisterna from cista, thus meaning a vessel with a very long spout, and not with three spouts or three handles, as some have imagined.
NASSA (κημός, κύρτη). A weel, or basket for snaring fish, made of wicker work with a wide funnel-shaped mouth, long body, and narrow throat, constructed, as our own are, in such a manner that the fish could enter it but not get out again. Festus, s. v. Oppian. Hal. iii. 85. and 341. Sil. Ital. v. 48., where the form and manner of making it is described at length, and corresponding exactly with the annexed figure, composed from two Roman mosaics, in both of which it is represented lying half-buried amongst sedges in a shallow piece of water.
NASSITER'NA. See NASITERNA.
NATA'TIO. A swimming-bath, both in the open air and under cover (Celsus, iii. 27. 1. Cœl. Aurel. Tard. i. 1.); consequently of a higher temperature and of larger dimensions than the plunging-bath, baptisterium.
NAUCLE'RUS (ναύκληρος). A Greek ship-owner, who gained his subsistence by carrying freights of merchandize and passengers from place to place, himself generally acting as the skipper or captain of his own vessel. Isidor. Orig. xix. 1. 3. Plaut. Mil. iv. 3. 16. iv. 6. 68. Xen. Mem. iii. 9. 11.
NAU'CULA; for NAVICULA.
NAU'LIA. See NABLIA.
NAU'LUM (ναῦλον). The price paid for a freight of goods or for a passage in a ship. Juv. viii. 97. Plaut. Dig. 30. 39. 1. Ulp. Dig. 20. 4. 6.
NAUMACH'IA (ναυμαχία). A naval engagement; but in Latin usually applied to the representation of a sea-fight, exhibited as an entertainment to the people of Rome, in an artificial piece of water made for the purpose. Suet. Claud. 21. Jul. 44. Nero, 12.
2. An edifice constructed for the exhibition of sham fights, in imitation of naval engagements (Suet. Tib. 72. Tit. 7.); of which there were several in the city of Rome; consisting of a large basin of water, surrounded by an architectural elevation, containing seats for spectators, simililary disposed to those in the Circus or Amphitheatre; as shown by the annexed example from a silver medal of the Emperor Domitian.
NAUPE'GUS (ναυπηγός). A ship-wright. Pandect.
NAVA'LE (νεών, νεώριον). A dock and dock-yard, in which ships were built, repaired, and laid up in ordinary, with all the gear and tackle belonging to them. Virg. Æn. iv. 593. Liv. viii. 14. xl. 51. Vitruv. v. 12. 7.
2. (ναύσταθμον). A roadstead, or harbour for ships on the coast. Ov. Her. xviii. 207.
NAVAR'CHUS (ναύαρχος). A naval captain who commanded a single vessel in a squadron. (Vegl. Mil. v. 2. Cic. Verr. ii. 5. 32.) But the Greeks gave the same title also to the Spartan admiral-in-chief. Thucyd. iv. 11.
NA'VIA. A small boat, like the alveus, linter, or monoxylus. Macrob. Sat. i. 7.
2. Capita aut navia. An expression used by the Roman boys when tossing up, corresponding with our "heads or tails," instead of which they cried "heads or vessels," because the oldest coins, the As and Semissis, had the head of Janus for a device on one side, and the prow of a ship on the reverse, as shown by the annexed example, representing an original half as. Macrob. Sat. i. 7.
3. A shallow trough, excavated from a single trunk of wood, like a boat, especially employed at the vintage. Festus s. v.
NAVICEL'LA and NAVIC'ULA. Diminutives of NAVIS.
NAVICULA'RIUS. A Roman shipowner, who made an income by transporting goods and passengers from place to place in a vessel of which he was the owner and master; corresponding with the Greek nauclerus. Cic. Fam. xvi. 9. Id. Verr. ii. 2. 55. Tac. Ann. xii. 55.
NAVICULA'TOR (Cic. Manil. 5.) Same as last.
NAVIG'IOLUM Diminutive of NAVIGIUM. {TR: Lemma ergänzt, dieses fehlt im Original}
NAVIG'IUM (πλοῖον). A general term for any kind of vessel constructed for sailing or rowing. Cic. Virg. &c.
NAVIS (ναῦς). A ship; as a general term, including all kinds, whether worked by oars or sails; but mostly applied to vessels of the larger class, with an epithet added to discriminate the particular kind intended; as
1. Navis oneraria (στρογγύλη ναύς, πλοῖον φορτικόν). A ship of burden; employed as a store ship in attendance on a fleet; or as a merchant vessel for the transport of goods, merchandize, or any kind of freight. It was of a heavy build, with a round hull, and generally whole decked, but had not an armed beak (rostrum), and was always worked as a sailing vessel, without oars or sweeps; all which particulars are exhibited in the annexed example, representing the vessel of a Pompeian trader or shipowner, from a sepulchral monument. Liv. xxii. 11. xxx. 24. Nep. Them. 2. Non. s. v. p 536.
2. Navis actuaria (ἐπίκωπος). An open vessel, worked with sweeps as well as sails; not intended to be brought into action, but employed in a fleet for all purposes requiring expedition; for keeping a look out, as a packet-boat, transport, and also by pirates. (Non. s. v. Gell. x. 25. 3. Liv. xxi. 28. xxv. 30.) It was never fitted with less than eighteen oars (Scheffer, Mil. Nav. ii. 2.); and the example introduced, representing the vessel which transported Æneas and his companions to Italy, in the Vatican Virgil, has twenty, ten on a side.
3. Navis longa (ναῦς μακρά). A long sharp-keeled ship, or galley; propelled by a single bank of oars, and forming an intermediate class between the navis actuaria and those which had more than one bank, such as the biremis, triremis, &c. (Liv. xxx. 24.) These vessels were equipped with as many as fifty oars (Herod. vi. 138.); and the annexed example, which is copied from a mosaic in a tomb near Pozzuoli, has forty-eight, twenty-four on a side, the exact number carried by the Mediterranean galleys of the middle ages. (Jal. Archéologie Navale, tom. i. p. 25.) The same word is also used in a generic sense for a man-of-war in general, including those which had several banks of oars, because, in reality, they were all laid down upon the long principle, with a sharp keel and lengthened line from stem to stern, instead of the short round bottoms adopted for the commercial marine and some piratical vessels.
4. Navis tecta, strata, or constrata (ναῦς κατάφρακτη). A decked vessel, as opposed to one which is open or half-decked. (Liv. xxx. 10. xxxvi. 43. Hirt. B. Alex. 11. Tac. Ann. ii. 6.) The first wood-cut shows a decked vessel of the commercial marine; the following one, of the navy proper.
5. Navis aperta (ἄφρακτον). An open vessel, without any deck, or only half-decked. (Liv. xxii. 19. xxxvi. 43.) See the example, No. 2.
6. Navis turrita. A war galley, with a tower erected on its deck, from which the combatants discharged their missiles as from the walls of a fortress (Virg. Æn. viii. 693. Florus, iv. 11. 5.); said to have been first introduced by Agrippa. (Serv. ad Virg. l. c.) The illustration is from a bas-relief, published by Montfaucon.
NAXA. The reading of some editions of Cicero (Att. xv. 20.) for NASSA; which see.
NEB'RIS (νεβρις). A fawn's skin; worn as an article of dress by persons addicted to the chase (Serv. ad Virg. Georg. iv. 342.); but more especially occurring in works of art, and amongst poets, as a characteristic covering of Bacchus and his followers, by whom it is usually put on as an exomis. (Stat. Theb. ii. 664. Achill. i. 609.) The illustration, from a Greek bas-relief, represents a Faun attending upon Bacchus, with the nebris in his hands; and the wood-cut s. SIMPULUM shows it upon the person of a priestess engaged in making a libation.
NEO (νέω, νήθω, κλώθω). To spin, or twist a number of separate fibres of wool or flax into a single thread. The practice of spinning afforded universal occupation to the women of ancient Greece and Italy, as it does to the modern population of the same countries, in which every peasant woman spins her own thread, with the same simple machinery as was employed by the females of the heroic ages, the distaff (colus) and spindle (fusus). The annexed illustration, representing Hercules with the distaff and spindle of Omphale, from an ancient mosaic in the Capitol at Rome, will elucidate the manner in which the process is conducted, and explain the terms employed to describe the different steps in the operation. The loaded distaff (colus compta, or lana amictus) was fixed to the left side of the spinner, by running the end of the stick through the girdle (cingulum), instead of which the modern women use their apron strings. A number of fibres (stamina) are then drawn down from the top with the left hand (ducere lanam. Ov. Met. iv. 34.), and fastened to the spindle, which is then set twirling with the thumb and finger, as boys spin a teetotum (stamine nere. Ov. Fast. ii. 771. pollice versare. Met. iv. 34. versare pollice fusum. Met. vi. 22. Compare Tibull. ii. 1. 64.) The rotatory motion of the spindle, as it hangs suspended (wood-cut, p. 192.), twists these fibres into a thread (filum), which is constantly fed from above by drawing out more fibres from the distaff as the twist tightens (ducere stamina versato fuso. Ov. Met. iv. 221.). When the length of the thread has grown so long that the spindle nearly touches the ground, the portion made is taken up and wound round the spindle, and the same process is again resumed, until other lengths are twisted, and the spindle is entirely covered with thread, so that it can contain no more, when the thread is broken from the distaff (rumpere supremas colos. Val. Flacc. vi. 645.), and the whole rolled up into a ball (glomus) ready for use. Compare Cattul. lxiv. 312—318., where the operation is described in detail.
NER'VIA. (Varro, ap. Non. s. v. p. 215.) Same as NERVUS, 1.
NER'VUS (νεύρον). The string of a musical instrument. Cic. Or. iii. 57.
2. A bow-string. Virg. Æn. x. 131. ix. 622.
3. A raw hide, with which shields were covered. Tac. Ann. ii. 14. Sil. Ital. iv. 291.
4. (ξυλοπέδη. Gloss. Philox.) A contrivance for confining slaves and criminals; which appears to have had a considerable resemblance to our stocks, being made of wood, or of iron, with holes through which the feet were inserted, and fastened with thongs. (Festus, s. v. Plaut. As. iii. 2. 5. XII. Leg. ap. Gell. xx. 1.) Hence frequently used for Carcer.
NESSOTROPHI'UM (νησσοτροφεῖον). A duck-yard, where ducks were reared and kept; comprising one of the principal dependencies of a country villa or farm. It was enclosed by a wall fifteen feet high, carefully covered with cement of a fine quality, which was highly polished to prevent cats and vermin from climbing up it, and surmounted by a strong trellis, from the top of which a net was spread over the whole enclosure, in order to protect the inmates from birds of prey, and, at the same time, prevent them from flying away. The centre of the enclosure was occupied by a pool of water, having an island planted with aquatic shrubs in the middle; and the sides of the pool laid down in grass to a depth of twenty feet from the margin of the water. Beyond this and against the outer wall the nests for the birds were ranged, each one being a foot square, formed of stone, and having some plants of box or of myrtle between it and its neighbour. Along the front of the nests there was a narrow trough or gutter sunk in the ground, through which a constant stream of water was directed, and in this the food was mixed. (Varro, R. R. iii. 10. Columell. viii. 15.) It is not to be supposed that every duck-yard was formed upon so extensive and perfect a plan; but the above description, from Cato and Columella, supplies a notion of the care and expense bestowed upoon these birds by large farmers, and wealthy country gentlemen.
NEUROB'ATA (νευροβάτης). One who danced upon a very fine but strong cord made of gut, so that he would appear to the spectators at a little distance to tread upon nothing but the air; whereas the regular rope dancer (funambulus) performed his exploits upon a stout rope easily discernible, and, consequently, his art was inferior in point of skill and of the illusion produced. Vopisc. Carin. 19. Firm. Math. 8. 17.
NEUROSPAS'TON (νευρόσπαστον). A puppet, or marionette (Aul. Gell. xiv. 1. 9.), having the different limbs attached by wires, so that they could be put in motion imperceptibly by a thread (Hor. Sat. ii. 7. 82.), as is still a common practice. These dancing dolls (which were common amongst the Greeks) were usually exhibited at their shows, and appear to have been brought to great perfection; for Aristotle (de Mund. cap. 6.), paraphrased by Apuleius (de Mund. p. 741.) speaks of some which moved their limbs, hands, head, and eyes in a very natural manner.
NICETE'RIUM (νικητήριον). A prize of victory, or reward of valour, like the phalaræ or torquis, which the recipient wore on his breast or neck (Juv. iii. 68.), as we do crosses and ribands; but the word is properly Greek, and has reference more particularly to the customs of that nation.
NIMBUS. In its ordinary signification, is applied to gloomy and troubled weather, a dark and stormy cloud, a shower of rain; whence it is also used to express any thing which spreads itself like a cloud, especially the light fleecy vapour which poets assign to their gods when they appear upon earth; as a lustrous veil irradiated by the heavenly splendour which emanates from them, like the nimb round Christian saints, and the annexed example, representing Iris, in the Vatican Virgil. (Virg. Æn. x. 634. Id. ii. 615.
2. But as an accessory of this extent would be generally embarrassing in the conduct of a picture, the ancient artists resorted to the expedient of representing the same thing in a conventional manner by a circle of light thrown only round the head, as in the annexed example, from a painting of Pompeii. The later writers designated this circle by the same term (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. ii. 615. iii. 585. Isidor. Orig. xxix. 31. 2.); and it formed the original of the glory or aureole round the heads of Christian saints. Most writers ascribe the use of the nimbus and glory, as now explained, to the Greek μηνίσκος, which was a circular disk of metal placed horizontally over the head of a statue in the open air, to protect it from the weather and bird stains (Aristoph. Av. 1114.); an object of undoubted utility in actual use, but scarcely appropriate, considering the association of ideas connected with it, to be adopted as an ornament for a god or a saint.
3. A linen band, ornamented with gold embroidery, and worn by females across the forehead (Isidor. Orig. xix. 31. 2. Arnob. ii. 72. Compare Plaut. Pœn. i. 2. 138.), in order to contract its size, which produces a more juvenile appearance (compare Pet. Sat. 126. 15. frons minima, as a mark of beauty); for a high forehead is the attribute of age, which bares the temples, not of youth.
4. Nimbus vitreus. A vessel of glass, supposed to be used for cooling wine; and so termed, because, when filled with snow, the steam on the glass gave the appearance of a mist, or the contents of a fleecy cloud. Mart. xiv. 112.
NIVA'RIUS. See COLUM, 2. and SACCUS, 3.
NODUS. A knot; by which certain articles of apparel were tied on the top of the shoulder, instead of being fastened with a brooch (fibula Virg. Æn. vi. 301.). The example represents two Roman soldiers in their military cloaks, the one on the left fastened by a nodus, the other with a fibula, from a group on the Column of Trajan. The rustic at p. 429. playing the monaulos, has an exomis fastened in the same way, which was also the ordinary costume of the Greek and Roman mariners (Plaut. Mil. iv. 4. 44.); and the barbarians on the columns are frequenly represented with their cloaks (saga) tied by a knot like the above figure. From these instances it will be readily understood that the practice was especially characteristic of the poorer classes, who could not afford an ornamental fastening; hence it is assigned to the ferryman Charon to describe his poverty and occupation—sordidus ex humeris modo dependet amictus. Virg. l. c.
2. A knot; by which the girdle (cingulum) was tied under the bosom (Virg. Æn. i. 320.); as in the annexed example, from a small ivory carving of Diana, draped in the manner described by Virgil in the passage just cited—nodo sinus collecta fluentes. Hence the word is also applied to the embroidered girdle of Venus. (Mart. vi. 13.) See CESTUS.
3. A knot; by which the band was tied round a tuft of hair (cirrus, corymbus, crobylus), produced by drawing the hair back from the roots all round the head into a mass at the occiput, as shown by the annexed example, from a bas-relief of the Vatican; a fashion frequently adopted by the young women and youths of Greece, and common to some of the German tribes. Mart. Spect. iii. 9. Ep. v. 37. 8. Tac. Germ. 38.
4. The knot or thong by which the common leather amulet (bulla scortea) was tied round the neck of poor people's children. (Juv. v. 165.) See the illustration s. BULLA 2.
5. A thong attached to a spear, for the purpose of discharging it with greater power when used as a missile (Sil. Ital. i. 318.); more commonly termed AMENTUM; where see the illustration.
6. The knot by which each mesh of a net is fastened; whence the mesh itself. Manil. v. 664.
7. A wood-bud on the branch of a tree (Columell. Arb. iii. 4.); whence the knot produced by cutting off the minor shoots from the parent branch (Liv. i. 18.); and thence, in a special sense, the club of Hercules, which is always represenetd as covered with knots. Senec. Herc. Œt. 1661. CLAVA, 3.
NOMENCLA'TOR. A sort of usher; a slave kept by great personages amongst the Romans, whose business it was to make himself acquainted with the names and persons of every one who was in the habit of attending his master's levees, so that when the great man met any of them out of doors, the nomenclator, who accompanied him, announced their names, and enabled him to address them personally, or pay them some little appropriate compliment; for to pass a client without notice, even inadvertently, might be regarded as an affront, and possibly be resented at the next elections. (Cic. Att. iv. I. Senec. Ep. 27.) In great houses, where the acquaintances and hangers on were very numerous, the nomenclator arranged the order of precedence amongst the guests, announced the name of each dish as it was served up, and enumerated its peculiar excellencies. Pet. Sat. 47. 8. Senec. Ep. 19. Plin. H.N. xxxii. 21.
NORMA (κανών). A square for measuring right angles; employed by carpenters, masons, builders, &c. to prove that the angles are true. (Vitruv. vii. 3. Plin. xxxvi. 51.) It was formed in two ways; either by two rules (regulæ) joined together at right angles, or by a flat piece of board with a right angle cut out of it; both of which are exhibited in the illustration, from sepulchral marbles.
NOSOCOMI'UM (νοσοκομεῖον). A hospital, or infirmary for the poor. Imp. Justin. Cod. 1. 2. 19. and 20.
NOTA'RII. Short-hand writer; belonging to the class of slaves termed generally librarii, amongst whom they formed a distinct body, being especially employed to commit to writing the thoughts of their master at his dictation. Plin. Ep. iii. 5. 15. ix. 26. 2. Mart. xiv. 208.
NOTA'TUS. A slave branded on the forehead with certain marks or letters declaratory of the offence committed. Mart. iii. 21.
NOVA'CULA (ξυρόν). A knife with a very sharp edge, employed for shaving the hair of the head or beard, like our razor. (Pet. Sat. 103. 1. Mart. ii. 66. Suet. Cal. 23. Compare CULTELLUS and CULTER, 5.) Martial (vii. 61.) applies the same name to the assassin's knife (sica).
NUBILA'RIUM. A large shed or barn, open on one side, and situated close by the threshing-floor (area), which was in the open air, in order to house grain until it was threshed out, and shelter it from sudden or partial showers. Varro, R. R. i. 13. 5. Columell. ii. 21. 3.
NUDUS (γυμνός). Unclad; in the ordinary sense, denoting absolute nakedness; thence, in common language, scantily or imperfectly clad, denoting a person of either sex who is divested of all clothing except that which is worn next the skin—the Roman of his toga, the Greek of his pallium—as we say undressed of a man without his coat, or of a female without her gown. But the Latin nudus, as well as the Greek γυμνός, appear to have indicated something more than the mere absence of an outer garment (amictus) over the tunic; for both words are particularly used in describing the hardworking population, agricultural labourers, ploughmen, &c. (Hesiod. Op. 391. Virg. Georg. ii. 299. Aurel. Vict. Vir. Illust. 17.), who either wore an exomis (wood-cut, p. 269.), or a very short
NUMEL'LA and NUMEL'LUS. A contrivance devised for the purpose of keeping men and animals in a fixed position without the power of motion, while under the infliction of punishment (Non. s. v. p. 144. Plaut. As. iii. 2. 5.), the operations of the veterinary (Columell. vi. 19. 2.), or any process for which steadiness of posture was deemed requisite. (Id. vii. 8. 6.) It was made like a pair of stocks for the neck, with two boards or bars sliding in grooves against the sides of two strong uprights, so as to open and shut at pleasure, which allowed the head to pass between them, and when closed, acted as a grip round the neck. (Columell. vi. 19. 2.) The legs were then picketted by thongs round the ankles, or fetlocks, if necessary. Festus. s. v.
NUM'IDA. An outrider, or courier-à-cheval; a slave who rode before his master's carriage, to clear the way, announce his approach, or for the sake of ostentation; generally, a Numidian, a race of people who were famous for their horsemanship. Senec. Ep. 87. Ib. 123. Tac. Hist. ii. 40. Inscript. ap. Marin. Fr. Arv. p. 691.
NUP'TA (νύμφη). A bride; meaning, literally, a female who is covered with a veil (from nubere), because the Roman women enveloped themselves from head to foot in a large yellow-coloured veil at the wedding, as shown by the annexed figure of a bride, in a Roman bas-relief, representing a marriage ceremony. Cic. Ov. Cæs. Juv. &c.
NUP'TIÆ (γάμος). A wedding; marriage nuptials. See MATRIMONIUM and CONFARREATIO; under which the rites and ceremonies are explained.
NYCTOSTRATE'GUS. A title adopted under the empire instead of the old Præfectus Vigilum, to designate the officer who commanded the city watch, and went his rounds at night, attended by a guard, to protect the citizens from fire, robbery, house breaking, &c. Arcad. Dig. 50. 4. 18. § 12.
NYMPHÆ'UM or NYMPHE'UM (Νύμφαιον or Νυμφαῖον). Literally, a building dedicated to the Nymphs (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 43.); by which was understood a grand and lofty chamber, decorated with columns, statues, and pictures, and having a stream of spring water gushing from a fountain in its centre (Liban. Antioch. p. 372.), so as to form a cool and agreeable retreat for the resort of a luxurious population. (Philostr. iv. 8.) Many edifices of this description are enumerated by P. Victor (Urb. Rom.) in the city of Rome; and other writers generally speak of them in connection with the Thermæ (Ammian. xv. 7. 3. Capitol. Gord. 32. Cod. Theodos. et Valent. 11. 42. 5. and 6.), to which establishments an apartment of the character described would form a most appropriate appendage.
OBBA (ἄμβιξ). A particular kind of drinking-cup (Pers. v. 148. Varro, ap. Non. s. v. p. 545.), made of earthenware, and sometimes of wood, or of the Spanish broom. (Non. l. c.) The Latin name is translated by the ἄμβιξ in the glossary of Philoxenus; and that word is explained by Athenæus (xi. 8.) to be a drinking vessel with a sharp point. Dioscorides (v. 110.) applies it to the lid of a vessel used for making quicksilver, in a passage translated by Pliny (H. N. xxiii. 41.), who employs the word calix for the same object. The figure annexed, from an original of baked clay, corresponds so completely with all these particulars, the pointed form of Athenæus, the calix of Pliny, and, when inverted, the lid of Dioscorides, as to remove all doubt respecting the genuine and characteristic form of the obba.
OBBA'TUS. Made in the shape of an obba, as described under that word; applied to the skull caps worn by Castor and Pollux (Apul. Met. x. p. 234.), which are often represented on works of art ending in a sharp point at the top, like the example annexed, from a painting of Pompeii. Charon wears a cap of still closer resemblance in shape to the drinking-cup delineated in the preceding wood-cut on a fictile vase in Stackelberg's Gräb. d. Hell. Pl. 47.; so that there is no necessity for altering the reading in the passage of Apuleius, as some have done.
OBELIS'CUS (ὀβελίσκος). Literally, a small spit; whence applied to other things which possess a sharp or pointed extremity, like a spit; and especially to the tall, slender, rectangular columns, upon a narrow base, and terminating in a point at the top, which were originally invented by the Egyptians, and retain their ancient name of obelisk with us. (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 14. Ammian. xvii. 4. 6.) The illustration represents an original Egyptian obelisk, covered with hieroglyphics, which was originally brought to Rome for the purpose of decorating the mausoleum of Augustus, in the Campus Martius.
OBEX. A fastening to a door. It does not appear that the word had any special meaning, being applied in a manner which admits of various interpretations; a bolt, for instance, bar, lock, or latch; and, consequently, it may be considered as a general term applicable to any of the various contrivances adopted by the ancients as door fastenings. Ov. Met. xiv. 780. Tac. Hist. iii. 30. Paulus ex Fest. s. Obices.
OB'OLUS (ὀβολός). A small piece of Greek money, originally of silver coinage, but in later times of bronze; and of which there were two standards — the Attic, worth about 1½d. of our money, and the Æginetan, worth about 2¼d. Vitruv. iii. 1. 7.
OBSERA'TUS. Fastened with a SERA, which see. Terent. Eun. iv. 6. 25. Liv. v. 41. Mart. vii. 20, 21.
OBSTRAG'ULUM. The flat leather strap or thong with which a shoe of the kind called crepida was bound round the foot, passing between the great and first toe, and over the instep, as shown by the annexed example, from a Greek marble. Extravagant persons had these sometimes studded with pearls. Plin. H. N. ix. 56.
OBSTRIGIL'LUM. A particular kind of shoe, which had the lappets for the strings sewed on to the sole at each side, as shown by the annexed example, from a Pompeian painting. Isidor. Orig. xix. 34. 8.
OBTURA'CULUM and OBTURAMEN'TUM. A stopper, bung, or cork, for closing the mouth of a bottle, jar, or anything of a like nature, sometimes made of cork, and sometimes of glass. (Marcell. Empir. 35. Plin. H. N. xvi. 13.) The example represents a glass bottle and stopper, from a Pompeian painting.
OCCA'TIO (βωλοκοπία). The process of breaking up the clods of earth left by the plough (Cic. Sen. 15.), which we call harrowing. It was effected by drawing a hurdle (crates) over the land, or a wooden frame set with teeth (dentata), similar to our harrow, often weighted by the driver standing upon it; and in very stiff soils the clods were broken and levelled by hand, with a heavy pronged instrument (rastrum), possessing the properties of a rake and hoe. (Plin. H. N. xviii. 49. § 3. Virg. Georg. i. 94, 95.) But the most approved practice amongst the old Romans was to subdue the land by repeated cross ploughings instead of harrowing. (Columell. ii. 4. 2. Plin. l. c. § 2.) The illustration represents the process as performed in Egypt, from a tomb at Thebes, in which one man sows the seed, while the occator covers it with his harrow.
OCCA'TOR (βωλοκόπος). One who harrows, as explained by the preceding article and illustration. Columell. ii. 13. 1. Plaut. Capt. iii. 5. 3.
OCELLA'TA. Marbles; for boys to play with. Suet. Aug. 83. Varro, ap. Non. s. Margaritum, p. 213.
OC'REA (κνημίς). A greave or leggin; that is, a piece of defensive armour which covered the shin bone from the ankle to a little above the knee (Varro, L. L. v. 116.), being fastened by straps and buckles at the back of the leg, which part was left uncovered. It was made of various metals, tin or bronze, modelled to the form and size of the person's leg by whom it was worn, and often highly ornamented by artistic designs embossed or chased upon it. The illustration exhibits a pair of original bronze greaves, from Pompeii, represented in three-quarter front and in profile; the buckles by which they were fastened on the legs are seen at the sides, and a number of small holes all round the edges, by which the linings were fastened into them. The originals are entirely covered with ornamental chasing over the surfaces left plain in our engraving, on account of the small scale on which the drawing is made.
2. A hunter's leggin or boot; poetically for PERO; which see. Virg. Moret. 121.
OCREA'TUS. Wearing
2. When applied to huntsmen, as by Hor. Sat. ii. 3. 234. poetically used for PERONATUS; which see.
OCTASTY'LOS (ὀκτάστυλος). Octastyle; that is, which has a row of eight columns, in front of the pronaos. Vitruv. iii. 3. 7.
OCTOPH'ORON or OCTA'PHORON. A palanquin (lectica) carried by eight slaves (Suet. Cal. 43. Cic. Q. Fr. ii. 10. Mart. vi. 84.), in the manner shown by the illustrations s. ASSER, 1. and PHALANGARII.
OCULARIA'RIUS. One who followed the trade of making false eyes, of glass, silver, or precious stones, which were frequently inserted in marble statues. Inscript. ap. Grut. 645. 1. ap. Fabretti, p. 641. n. 357.
OCULA'RIUS. An oculist (Scrib. Comp. 37.); often conencted with medicus and chirurgus. Celsus, vi. 6. 8. Inscript. ap. Grut. 400. 7.
ODE'UM (ᾠδεῖον). The Odeum; a small theatre with a convex roof, built by Pericles at Athens for musical performances (ᾠδαί. Plutarch, Pericl. 13. Vitruv. v. 9., 10.). Hence the name was adopted for any small theatre covered with a roof (theatrum tectum), and appropriated as a concert room. Suet. Dom. 5.
OE'CUS or OE'COS (οἶκος). Literally, the Greek name for a house Latinized; and for a particular apartment in a house; originally of Greek design, but subsequently adopted by the Roman architects, who introduced several novelties into its constructive details. In general style of arrangement, it bore a close resemblance to the atrium, with the exception of being a close apartment, covered entirely by a roof, without any opening (compluvium) in the centre; and was principally, though not exclusively, used as a banquetting hall, but surpassing in height and area, as well as splendour, the ordinary dining-room (triclinium). (Vitruv. vi. 7. 2. and 4. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 60.) These apartments were built in four different styles, each designated by an epithet descriptive of the construction employed, or naming the country from which the particular plan was borrowed, or where it was most in use: viz.
1. Œcus tetrastylos. The four-columned oecus resembled an atrium of the same name (wood-cut s. ATRIUM 2.), excepting that it had no impluvium, and the roof covered the square within the four columns, as well as the aisles all round them. Vitruv. vi. 3. 8.
2. Œcus Corinthius. The Corinthian oecus resembled an atrium of the same name (see wood-cut s. ATRIUM, 3.), excepting that it had a vaulted roof, supported upon columns at a certain distance from the side-walls, but without any opening in the centre or impluvium below. Vitruv. vi. 3. 9.
3. Œcus Ægyptius. The Egyptian oecus was more splendid than the last described, having its roof over the central portion of the saloon supported upon a double row of columns, like a basilica (see wood-cut p. 81.), and thus a story higher than the sides, which projected like wings all round, and were covered with a flat roof and pavement, forming a promenade round the central and higher portion of the building. Vitruv. vi. 3. 9.
4. ŒCUS Cyzicenus. The Cyzicene œcus, which was a novelty in Italy at the time of Vitruvius, though of frequent occurrence in Greece, was principally intended for summer use; its characteristic peculiarity consisted in having glass doors or windows reaching down to the ground, in order that the persons reclining at table might enjoy a view of the surrounding country on all sides. Vitruv. vi. 3. 10.
ŒNOPH'ORUM (οἰνοφόρον). A basket or portable case for transporting small quantities of wine from place to place; especially for the supply of persons on a journey who preferred carrying their own wine with them to taking the chance of buying what they could upon the road. Hor. Sat. i. 6. 108. Pers. v. 140.
ŒNOPH'ORUS (οἰνοφόρος). A slave who carried the wine basket (œnophorum) last described. Such a character was represented by one of the statues of Praxiteles, which went by the name. Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 19. § 10.
ŒNOPO'LIUM (οἰνοπώλιον). A wine shop; like the modern beer shop and public house; from which the inhabitants of the vicinity supplied themselves daily with the requisite quantity of wine consumed at each meal. Plaut. As. i. 3. 48.
OFFEN'DIX. Plural offendices; the strings by which the apex, or cap worn by certain orders of the priesthood, as the flamines and Salii for instance, was fastened under the chin, as shown by the annexed example, from a Roman bas-relief. Festus, s. v.
OFFICI'NA (ἐργαστήριον). A workshop, manufactory, or place in which any handicraft trade is carried on (Cic. Off. i. 42.); as contradistinguished from taberna, a shop where retail goods are sold, and from apotheca, a magazine or store; the particular kind being indicated by the name of the workmen employed in it; as, officina fullonum (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 40. § 39.), of fullers and scourers; tingentium (id. ix. 62.), of dyers; ærariorum (Id. xvi. 8.), of smiths; cetariorum (Columell. viii. 17. 12.), of dry salters; and so on.
OL'ITOR. A kitchen gardener, as contradistinguished from topiarius, who attended to the shrubs and evergreens. Columell. x. 229. Id. xi. 1. 2.
OLITO'RIUS, sc. hortus, a kitchen garden (Ulp. Dig. 50. 16. 198.; sc. forum, a vegetable market. Liv. xxi. 62.
OLLA. A large jar or pot of very common use and manufacture, being formed of baked earth (Columell. viii. 8. 7. Id. xii. 43. 12.), though sometimes metal was employed for the same object. (Avian. Fab. xi. Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 20.) It had a flat bottom, swelling sides, very wide mouth, and lid to cover it; and was employed for many purposes, especially for cooking, like the French, pot-à-feu, and for preserving fruits; whence grapes kept in jars are called ollares uvæ. (Columell. l. c. Mart. vii. 20.) The illustration, from a painting at Pompeii, shows all these particulars.
2. Olla ossuaria, or cineraria. An earthenware jar of the same description, in which the bones and ashes of the dead were enclosed after burning, and deposited in the sepulchral chamber. (Inscript. ap. Murat. 917. 1. ap. Grut. 626. 6.) Ollæ of this kind were mostly employed for persons of the humbler classes, many of them being deposited in one vault (wood-cut s. SEPULCRUM COMMUNE); sometimes standing under niches round the walls of the chamber, but more commonly buried up to the neck in them, as shown by the following wood-cut. The example annexed represents an original found in one of the sepulchres excavated in the Villa Corsini at Rome; the mouth is covered with a tile or lid (operculum), on which the name of the person whose ashes were contained inside is inscribed; which explains an inscription in Muratori (1756. 7.), Ollæ quæ sunt operculis et titulis marmoreis.
OLLA'RIUM. A niche in a sepulchral vault, in which a cinerary olla was deposited (Inscript. ap. Fabretti, p. 13. No. 60.), mostly in pairs, like pigeons in a nest, whence also termed columbarium. The illustration represents two niches, each with a pair of jars in it, from a sepulchre near Rome.
ON'AGER. A powerful engine employed in sieges for discharging missiles and stones of great weight. It is described at length by Ammianus (xxiii. 4.); but the details of machinery are always obscure, when the actual form of the object itself is unknown.
ONERA'RIA. (Cic. Att. x. 12.) See NAVIS, 1.
OP'A or OP'E (ὀπή). A Greek term, for which the Roman architects employed the word columbarium. (Vitruv. iv. 2. 4.) It signifies the bed or cavity in which the head of a tie-beam (tignum) rests; whence the space between one opa or tignum and another was termed metopa or intertignium.
OPER'CULUM (πώμα). A lid or cover for a jar, pot, or other vessel of similar description. (Cato, R. R. 104. Columell. viii. 8. 7.) See the three last illustrations (OLLA, OLLARIUM).{TR: Hinzufgefügt: "(OLLA, OLLARIUM)"}
OPERIMEN'TUM. A general name for anything which serves as a cover or covering.
OPIF'ERÆ. Probably a corruption of hyperæ (ὑπέραι). The ropes attached to the extreme ends of the sail yard (antenna), for the purpose of bracing the yard round to the wind, called by our sailors the braces. (Isidor. Orig. xix. 4. 6. Hom. Od. v. 260.) They are very plainly indicated in the example annexed, from the device on a terra-cotta lamp, each handled by a different sailor in the act of bracing round the yard by their assistance.
OPIFICI'NA. (Plaut. Mil. iii. 3. 6.) Same as OFFICINA; which, though a contraction, is the more usual form.
OPIL'IO (οἰοπόλος). A shepherd, or a shepherd boy who watches a flock of sheep at pasture. (Plaut. As. iii. 1. 36. Columell. vii. 3. 13. xi. 1. 18.) The illustration is from an ancient manuscript of Virgil in the Vatican library.
OPISTHOD'OMUS (ὀπισθόδομος). A private chamber, like the modern sacristy, built at the back of a temple. Front. ad M. Cæs.1. 8. ed. Ang. Maio.
OPISTO'GRAPHUS (ὀπιστθόγραφος). Written on both sides of the paper, or backed, as it is technically called by our compositors; a practice not habitual to the ancients, but adopted sometimes for economy, especially in the case of foul copies which were intended to be written out fair afterwards. Plin. Ep. iii. 5. 17.
OPOROTHE'CA or OPOROTHE'CE (ὀπωροθήκη). A store for preserving autumnal fruits, such as pears, apples, grapes, &c. Varro, R. R. i. 2. 10. Id. i. 59. 2.
OPPESSULA'TUS. (Apul. Met. i. p. 16. ix. p. 198. Ammian. xxxi. 13. 15.) Fastened with a PESSULUS; which see.
OP'PIDUM. Generally, a town; thence, in a special sense, the mass of buildings occupying the straight end of a circus (Nævius ap. Varro, L. L. v. 133. Festus, s. v.), which included the stalls for the horses and chariots (carceres), the row of seats above, where the musicians and spectators sat, the gate between them, through which the Circensian procession entered the course (porta pompæ), and the towers which flanked the whole on either side, all which together presented the appearance of a town, as shown by the annexed example, representing the oppidum in the circus of Caracalla near Rome, restored from the existing remains, which are very considerable. One stall has been added on each side of the entrance, because they were generally fourteen, though this particular circus, which was a very small one, only had twelve. Its general situation as regards the rest of the edifice is shown by the ground-plan, p. 165. AA and B., and a portion in elevation, belonging to the hippodrome once existing at Constantinople, at p. 166.
OPTIO'NES. Deputies or adjutants in the army, whom the superior officers and centurions had the power of appointing to assist them in the discharge of their duties, or to perform their duty for them in case they were themselves invalided, or otherwise incapacitated. Varro, L. L. v. 91. Vet. Mil. ii. 7.
OPTOSTRO'TUM. A flooring made, or paved, with bricks. Not. Tires. p. 164.; from ὀπτος, coctus, and στρωτόν, stratum.
ORA. A hawser, or cable by which a vessel is made fast to the shore, and which was thrown out from the stern, whilst the anchor and its cable (ancorale) kept the head seawards. Liv. xxii. 19. Quint. iv. 2. 41.
ORA'RIUM. A scarf or handkerchief given to the populace by some of the emperors at the Circensian games, to hold up and wave in the air as a sign of encouragement to the drivers. Vopisc. Aurel. 48. August. C. D. xxii. 8. n. 7. Compare Hieron. Ep. 52. 9.
ORBIC'ULUS. A roller or pulley revolving upon an axis, and having a groove in its circumference for the rope to fit into; employed as a mechanical power for raising or drawing weights in the same manner as still practised. Cato, R. R. iii. 6. Vitruv. x. 2. passim.
2. A small roller placed at each end of an axle or cylinder, to make it revolve when drawn over the ground; applied specially to the revolver of the dentated cylinder used for threshing out corn in the machina called PLOSTELLUM PUNICUM. Varro, R. R. i. 52. 1.
3. A weight made in a flat circular form, like the pulley, such as still used in our shops; a set being made of different sizes, to fit one another, of which a specimen is engraved by Caylus (vii. 31. 1.), from originals. Columell. iv. 30. 4.; but the passage is very obscure.
ORBI'LE. Varro, R. R. iii. 5. 15.; but the meaning, as well as the reading of the passage, is extremely doubtful. Some interpret the word to mean the felloe of a wheel; others the extreme end of the axle which enters the nave. Schneider would read orbis.
ORBIS. In a general sense, anything of a circular shape; particularly such as are of a flat or hollow circular body, in contradistinction to globus, which expresses a solid round. Thence the word is frequently used, especially amongst the poets, for any object partaking of this constructive form; as, the disk of stone or metal employed as a quoit (Ov. Fast. iii. 588. Stat. Theb. vi. 656. DISCUS; the dish which contains the objects to be weighed in a pair of scales (Tibull. iv. 1. 44. LANX, 3.); the metal plate employed as a looking-glass, when made of a circular shape (Mart. ix. 18. SPECULUM; a circular shield (Pet. Sat. 89. 61. Stat. Theb. iv. 132. CLIPEUS, PARMA; the circle of a finger ring (Ov. Am. ii. 15. 6. ANULUS; the iron tire of a wheel (Virg. Georg. iii. 361. Plin. H. N. viii. 19. ROTA; a fillet of wool (Prop. iv. 6. 6. INFULA; a circular table (Mart. xiv. 138. CILIBANTUM, MONOPODIUM.
2. Orbis olearius (ὅρος Æsch. Fragm. Pollux. vii. 150. x. 130. and τριπτήρ, Nicand. ap. Ath. iv. 11.). A round flat board of strong wood, placed over the heap of bruised olive skins, or of grapes already crushed by treading, when they were subjected to the action of the press beam (prelum), in order that the beam might distribute its pressure evenly over the whole surface. (Cato, R. R. 18.) See the article and illustration s. TORCULAR, 2. where it is indicated by the number 6, and which will give a distinct notion of its use and character.
3. (τροχός.) Geopon. ix. 19.) The grinding or bruising stone in an olive mill (trapetum), formed of a circular mass of volcanic stone, made flat on one side, and cylindrical on the other, in order to coincide with the circular shape of the basin (mortarium), round which it worked. (Cato, R. R. xxii. 1. cxxxvi. 6. and 7.) The character and action of these stones will be better understood by reffering to the article and illustration s TRAPETUM, on which they are marked by the numbers 3. 3.
ORCA (ὄρκη or ὕρχα). An earthenware vessel of considerable size, but smaller than the amphora, employed for holding pickled fish (Hor.
ORCHES'TA (ὀρχηστής). (Cassiodor. Var. Ep. iv. 51.) Properly, a Greek word, for which the Romans used PANTOMIMUS.
ORCHESTOPOLA'RIUS (ὀρχέστοπόλος). A dancer in some particular style not ascertained, beyond the inference collected from the name, which seems to imply that his art consisted in spinning his body round and round with great rapidity, like a dancing dervish of the East; from ὀρχηστής, saltator, and πολέω, versor. Firm. Math. viii. 15.
ORCHES'TRA (ὀρχήστρα). The orchestra of a Greek and Roman theatre; which occupied a corresponding position, as regards the rest of the edifice, with the pit of our theatres, and consisted of a flat open space in the centre of the building at the bottom, circumscribed by the lowest row of seats for the spectators, and the boundary wall of the stage in front, as shown by the annexed wood-cut, representing a view in the smaller theatre at Pompeii, in which the low wall on the left forms the boundary to the stage, and the flat semicircular recess on the right the orchestra.
2. In the Greek theatres, the orchestra was the spot where the Chorus stood and performed its evolutions, for which a considerable space was required; consequently, it was deeply recessed, and consisted of more than a semicircle, as shown by the plan of the Greek theatre s. THEATRUM, on which it is marked B. Plans of ten different theatres discovered in Lycia are engraved by Spratt and Forbes (Travels in Lycia, vol. ii. pl. 2.), all of which possess the same constructive form. In the centre of the orchestra was the thymele, or altar of Bacchus.
3. In the Roman theatres, the orchestra has a close affinity with our pit; for as the Romans had no chorus to their dramatic representations, it was occupied by spectators, being appropriated for the accommodation of the senators and persons of distinction (Suet. Aug. 35. Nero, 12. Jul. 39.); whence the word is used to designate the upper classes as opposed to the populace. (Juv. iii. 178.) It was likewise much smaller than the Greek orchestra, for the reason already given, and consisted of an exact semicircle, as shown by the plan of the theatre at Herculaneum s. THEATRUM, on which it is marked C.
OR'CULA. (Cato, R. R. 117.) Diminutive of ORCA.
ORDINA'RII. A general name for those slaves who occupied a position corresponding to what we should call upper servants in our households, including the atriensis or house porter, cellarius or cellerman, dispensator or steward, promus-condus, procurator, &c. They superintended and directed the execution of menial services, but did not themselves perform them, for they had slaves of their own (vicarii), purchased with their own money, who attended upon them. Suet. Galb. 12. Ulp. Dig. 47. 10. 15. Id. 14. 4. 5.
2. Gladiatores ordinarii. Gladiators bred and trained in the regular manner; that is, who were thoroughly instructed in the rules of their art (Seneca, Ben. iii. 28. Id. Ep. 7. Compare Suet. Aug. 45.) as opposed to the catervarii, who fought without science and in tumultuous bodies.
ORDO. In a general sense, a row or series of things placed in regular order of succession one after the other, as a row of trees, rank or file of soldiers, &c.
2. In the ancient marine, a tier, file, or, as it is commonly translated, a bank of oars, varying in number, according to the class and size of the vessel, from one to fifty. The manner in which these banks or ordines were arranged or counted is still in some respects a subject of dispute, and will probably remain without a satisfactory solution, unless the lucky discovery of some artistic representation should enable future antiquaries to base their theories upon some better authority than mere conjecture; for amongst the many plans which have been suggested, there is not one entirely free from objection. Those which appear reasonable upon paper, and have, perhaps, some apparent classical authority to lean on, are found to involve mechancial impossibilities when reduced to practice; and those which are both feasible, and proved by actual experiment to be practicable, must still be accepted with hesitation, because they are wanting in classial authorities to support them. Up to the number of five banks, we have pretty clear evidence, both circumstantial and positive, that each one was counted by rank, and not by file; i. e. that the entire number of oars, no matter how many, extending in a line from the stem to the stern, formed an ordo or bank. Thus Tacitus describes a moneris, or vessel which had only one line of oars, by the expression, quæ ordine simplici agebatur (Hist. v. 23.), as shown by the annexed illustration, from a mosaic discovered near Pozzuoli. In the bireme or vessel with two ordines, it is equally clear, from other words in the same passage of Tacitus, and the following illustration, from a marble bas-relief, that the second bank was placed under the first, and counted in rank from the bulwarks to the water's edge, the lower oar ports, and, consequently, the rowers' seats, being placed diagonally under the first, in order to diminish as much as possible the interval between one bank and the other. That the same principle was observed in the disposition of a trireme or vessel with three ordines, and each bank counted in a similar manner between the water and the bulwarks, is testified by the expression of Virgil—terno consurgunt ordine remi (Æn. v. 120.), and the annexed illustration, from an ancient Roman fresco painting, which confirms it. A similar construction for four ordines is indicated by the illustration s. QUADRIREMIS, in which the banks are visibly four deep, in an ascending line from the water, though the individual details are less circumstantial and explicit, from the minuteness of the design, which is only the device upon a coin; and we may thence fairly conclude that a fifth ordo was disposed and counted in the same way, because it has been ascertained by experiments that a series of five oars ascending in a slanting direction from the water's edge to the gunwale could be arranged within the space of nine perpendicular feet, the highest point of elevation from the water at which an oar could be poised from its thowl (scalmus) to be handled with effect. (Howell, War Gallies of the Ancients, pp. 49. 51.) Beyond this number the difficulty of counting the banks commences, and conjecture alone takes the place of authority, whether written or demonstrative. If more than five parallel tiers were placed one over the other, it would be practically impossible to use the oar in a sixth tier, the fulcrum being placed so high above the water that it would elevate the handle above the reach of the rower, or hinder the blade from touching the water, or the oar must be of such an inordinate length that the part in-board would reach from one side of the vessel to the other, and beyond it. How then are we to account for a vessel with forty banks of oars, like the one builty by Ptolemy? The most plausible solution is, that, in all the larger class of vessels, the oars were disposed in five parallel lines, as in a quinquereme, but that the banks or ordines, after the number of five, were counted in file instead of in rank; i. e. each ascending file of five oars from the water's edge was called an ordo, but the number of banks or ordines were enumerated from stem to stern, instead of from the water to the gunwale. Thus a vessel with ten banks would have ten files of oars, counted from stem to stern, each one of five deep in the ascending line, as exhibited by the following diagram; a vessel with forty banks would present the same arrangement of five deep in file, but each rank between stem and stern would contain forty oar ports instead of ten; a length quite within reasonable bounds, for even the moneris, a small vessel, in the first cut, has twenty-four.
O'REÆ (χαλινός). A snaffle bit; for riding and draught horses. (Titinnius, Nævius, Cato, and Cœlius ap. Fest. s. v.) The curb bit, as used by us, in which a chain is pressed against the under lip and jaw by the leverage of branches, was unknown to the ancients, amongst whom the most approved bits were constructed with great regard to the tenderness of the animal's mouth, being formed with easy supple joints, so that its action was elastic, like that of a chain, and the substance thick, in order that it might bear with less severity upon the parts, by distributing its surface more extensively over them. (Xen. Eq. x. 6. seqq.) All these properties are exhibited in the annexed example, from an original of bronze, which is made to bend in joints, and is furnished with a circular revolver, midway between the centre and bridle ring on each side, which induced the animal to keep his tongue and mouth in motion.
OR'GANUM (ὄργανον). A general name given to any instrument, machine, or contrivance by which human labour is assistened in agriculture, architecture, warfare, &c.; differing, however, from machina in this particular, that it required a certain amount of skill from the person using it, whereas that only wanted brute force or numbers to work it. (Vitruv. x. 1. 3. Columell. iii. 13. 12. Plin. H. N. xix. 20.) Hence the word is especially given to musical instruments (Quint. ix. 4. 10. xi. 3. 20.), and amongst these, more particularly to the one from which our organ is descended (Suet. Nero, 41. Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 27. Id. Heliog. 32.); but which also had a special name of its own, in allusion to the water originally employed, instead of weights, for working it. See HYDRAULUS.
ORNA'TRIX. A female slave, whose chief business consisted in attending the toilette of her mistress for the especial purpose of dressing her hair (Ov. A. Am. iii. 239. Suet. Claud. 40.), upon which the Roman women bestowed a vast deal of attention and ingenuity, judging from the various and often fantastic coiffures exhibited in the numerous busts remaining of the Imperial period. The annexed illustration represents an ornatrix, in a Pompeian painting, dressing her mistress's hair with flowers, some of which are seen lying on the toilette table beside her.
ORNI'THON (ὀρνιθών). An aviary or poultry-house, forming one of the principal appurtenances to a farm, or country villa, in which all kinds of domesticated birds were reared, kept, and fattened for the table. These buildings were constructed and laid out upon a very magnificent scale by the Roman gentry and farmers. Varro, R. R. iii. 3. Columell. viii. 3.
ORPHANOTROPHI'UM (ὀρφανοτροφεῖον). An asylum for orphans, where they were supported and educated at the public expense. Cod. Justin. 22.
ORTHOGRAPH'IA (ὀρθογραφία). A geometrical or architectural drawing, representing an elevation or a section of a building; the first of which consists in showing the external front of the edifice, with all its parts, apertures, and decorations, not in perspective, but as they would appear to the eye of a spectator placed at an infinite distance from it; the latter, in showing the whole plan of the interior as it would appear in like manner if the external wall were removed. (Vitruv. i. 2. 3.) The designs which originally accompanied the work of Vitruvius being lost, we have no example left of this style of drawing amongst the ancients; but the skill they exhibited in making out ground-plans or mapping (ichnographia) will stand surety for their excellence in this other branch of the art.
ORTHOS'TATA (ὀρθοστάτης). Literally, which stands upright; whence employed by architects to designate the front or facing of a wall, composed of different materials from the internal part of it; viz. of regularly laid bricks or ashlar outside an irregular mass of rubble (fartura), as in the annexed specimen of Roman building. Vitruv. ii. 8. 4.
OSCILLA'TIO (αίώρα). A swing, or game at swinging (Pet. Sat. 140. Hygin. Fab. 130. Festus s. Oscillum. Serv. ad Virg. Georg. ii. 389.); a favourite amusement with the ancients, and practised much in the same manner as now, excepting that the swing had four legs to stand upon the ground like a chair, and was suspended by four ropes instead of two, as indicated by the example, which represents a Greek lady swinging, from a design upon a fictile vase. The entire composition, in the original, contains another figure standing on the ground behind the swing, with her arms extended, in the attitude of one who has just pushed the swing forward, and awaits its return, to repeat the operation.
OSCIL'LUM. Diminutive of OS; a small mask or image of the face; more especially of Bacchus, which the country people suspended in a vineyard in such a manner that the mask turned round and fronted different directions, as it was impelled by the action of the wind; it being a current belief that the district became fruitful towards which the aspect of the god was directed. (Virg. Georg. ii. 388—392. Macrob. Sat. i. 7.) The illustration represents several of these oscilla suspended on a tree, from an engraved gem; and an original marble mask of Bacchus, in the British museum, with a ring at the top for hanging it up.
OSSA'RIUM and OSSUA'RIUM. A case of marble, stone, or other material within which a more valuable vase, containing the bones and ashed of the dead were frequently enclosed, when deposited in the sepulchral chamber. (Inscript. ap. Grut. 1043. 1. Ib. 915. 3. ossuarium viva sibi fecit. Ulp. Dig. 47. 12. 2.) The example represents the original case, in which the cinerary urn of Agrippina was enclosed when deposited in the mausoleum of Augustus, as testified by the inscription upon it; and is now preserved in the Capitol at Rome.
OSTIA'RIUS (θυρωρός). The door keeper or house porter; a slave who sat in the porter's lodge (cella ostiaria. Pet. Sat. 29. 1.), or in ancient times was chained himself by the side of the entrance (Id. 28. 8. Suet. Rh. 3.), to take cognizance of all who entered. Same as JANITOR.
OS'TIUM (θὔρα). In strictness, designates a door within the house, as the door of a room contradistinguished from the street door (janua). (Isidor. Orig. xv. 7. 4. Vitruv. vi. 3. 6.) This distinction is clearly drawn in a passage of Plautus (Pers. v. 1. 6.), ante ostium et januam; and is aptly illustrated by the annexed engraving, representing the door-way of a house at Pompeii, to which the ceiling and doors are restored, for the purpose of making the subject more clear and comprehensible. The janua is the door flush with the external wall of the house, which gives admission to an entrance hall or passage (prothyrum), at the further end of which is another door, the ostium, half closed in the engraving, which shuts off the atrium, or the aula of a greek house, from the entrance passage. Vitruvius styles both these duas januas (vi. 7. 1.); because the distinction above mentioned, though doubtless an accurate one, was seldom observed, the word ostium being commonly used as synonymous with janua, for any front or entrance door, and especially for the entrance to a temple (Vitruv. vi. 3. 6.), an example of which is introduced p. 342.
2. The door which closed the front of the stalls in which the chariots and horses were stationed at the Circus (Auson. Ep. xviii. 11.); as shown by the annexed example, from a bas-relief in the British Museum.
3. The mouth or entrance to a port. (Virg. Æn. i. 400.) See the illustration s. PORTUS.
OVI'LE. Literally, a fold or pen for sheep or goats; thence used to designate an enclosure in the Campus Martius, in which each of the tribes and centuries was separately mustered, before the members proceeded to give their votes (Liv. xxvi. 22. Lucan. ii. 197. Juv. vi. 527.); so called because it was partitioned off with a railing, like a sheep pen, which is indicated by the palisade at the bottom of the annexed engraving, from a coin of Nerva; the figures above are intended to represent the voters as they come out of the ovile, and pass over the bridge (pons suffragiorum), to throw their balloting cards (tabellæ) into the balloting basket (cista).
OVUM. An egg; applied specially to a number of conical balls, like eggs, which were placed on the top of a slab supported by columns, on the barrier (spina) of a race-course (circus), in order to inform the spectators of the number of circuits round the goals which had been run in each race. As a single race comprised seven circuits round the course, and the eagerness and interest taken by the populace in these exhibitions amounted to a sort of phrenzy, some contrivance became necessary for showing the number of rounds that had been made, in a manner which would at once preclude the possibility of dispute. This was effected by the plan shown in the annexed illustration, representing seven egg-shaped balls supported upon four columns, as they appear upon the spina of a Roman bas-relief, on which a chariot race is sculptured. The form of the object was selected in honour of Castor and Pollux; and one of these eggs was either put up immediately that each round was completed by the leading chariot, until the whole courses had been run; or the entire number of seven eggs were put up at the commencement of each race, and one taken down, as each circuit was made. Considerable doubt and contradiction exist representing which of these two methods was adopted; but the object and effect would be the same in either; perhaps, the practice varied at different periods, or in different towns. Liv. xli. 27. Varro, R. R. 1. 2. 11. Cassiodor. Var. Ep. iii. 51. Dio. xlix. p. 417.
OXYB'APHUS (ὀξυβάφον). (Rhemn. Fann. de Pond. 75. Isidor. Orig. xvi. 27.) A liquid measure containing fifteen drachms; properly, a Greek form, for which the Latin word is ACETABULUM; which see.
PÆDAGOGIA'NI, sc. pueri. Young slaves selected for their personal beauty, and brought up in the houses of great people under the empire, to act as companions and attendants for their master's children, in place of the pædagogus of earlier times. (Ammian. xxvi. 6. 15. xxix. 3. 3.) The name, as well as the custom, in some measure, has passed down through the middle ages to the present day; for the modern name of "page" is an evident corruption of the old Latin term.
PAEDAGO'GIUM. The division of department in great houses where young slaves were trained up for the service of pages (pædagogiani), apart from the rest of the slave family. Plin. Ep. vii. 27. 13.
2. A page. (Senec. Vit. Beat. 17. Id. Ep 123. Plin. H.N. xxxiii. 54. Compare Suet. Nero, 28.) See PÆDAGOGIANI.
PÆDAGO'GUS (παιδαγωγός). A slave of the better class, whose peculiar duty it was to superintend the morals habits of his master's son, accompany him in his walks, conduct him to and from school, and perhaps also to give instruction at home. (Cic. Am. 20. Senec. Ira, ii. 22. Quint. i. 1. 8. Id. i. 2. 10.) He thus occupied a position somewhat, though not exactly, analogous to that of tutor amongst us; but resembled more closely the "tutore" of modern Italy, who is generally an "abbate," and accompanies his charge about upon all occasions, even when he goes to pay a visit, precisely like the pedagogue of ancient Greece and Italy. The figure introduced at p. 407. MANICA, 1. is believe to be intended for the pædagogus of one of Niobe's children; the style of the head and drapery are evidently meant to characterize a foreigner.
PÆ'NULA (φαινόλης). An article of the outer apparel belonging to the class of garments termed vestimenta clausa, or close dresses. It was a round frock, with a hood, and opening at the top for the head, but otherwise entirely closed down the front; or sometimes with a slit reaching half way up from the bottom of the skirt in front, so that the flaps might be taken up and turned over the shoulder, in the manner shown by the right-hand figure in the annexed wood-cut; but in all cases without sleeves, whence those who wore it are said to be entangled, constrained, and, as it were, enclosed in their pænulæ (irretiti; adstricti et velut inclusi. Cic. Mil. 20. Auct. Dial. de Orat. 39.). It was worn over the tunic; particularly on journeys, and in the city during very cold or wet weather (Quint. vi. 3. 66. Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 27.); occasionally by women (Quint. viii. 3. 54.); and was either made of cloth with a very thick and long nap (Mart. xiv. 145.), or of leather (Id. xiv. 130.). The illustrations exhibit a front and back view of the article, from statues engraved in the treatise of Bartholini, de Pænula.
2. A particular part of the forcing pump invented by Ctesibius of Alexandria, and called after him CTESIBICA MACHINA, under which its character is illustrated by the part marked D. Vitruv. x. 7.
PÆNULA'RIUS. One who makes or sells pænulæ. Inscript. ap. Grut. 646. 5.
PÆNULA'TUS. (Cic. Mil. 10. 20.) Wearing the pænula, as explained and illustrated under that word.
PAGA'NICA, sc. Pila. A particular kind of ball, stuffed with down, and covered with leather, originally used by the country people (pagani), from whom it received the name, though subsequently adopted by the more refined inhabitants of the city. It was larger and softer than the trigon, but smaller and of more consistency than the follis. Mart. xiv. 45. Id. vii. 32.
PA'GINA. Is either synonymous with scheda; that is, a sheet of paper composed of a number of strips of the inner bark of papyrus (philyræ), a number of which, when glued together, formed a book or roll (liber, volumen); or it signifies one of the written columns upon the sheet, as seen in the annexed example; thus corresponding pretty nearly with our page, which seems the best interpretation. Plin. H. N. xiii. 24. Cic. Q. Fr. i. 2. 3.
PA'GUS (πάγος). A Greek word, signifying literally a mountain peak, in which sense it was adopted by the Romans to designate any strong position in the midst of the open country, but more fortified by nature than art, like the top of a precipitous hill, to which the rural population of the surrounding district could retreat with their families, cattle, and property, as to a place of security, upon the occasion of any sudden incursion or razzia so frequent during the barbarous methods of warfare which characterized the earlier periods of Roman history. (Dionys. ii. 76. iv. 15.) And as each of these positions naturally formed the nucleus of a village, much in the same ways as many of the towns in modern Europe have sprung up, from the tendency of the industrious classes to establish themselves within the protection of a baronial castle, the name of pagus was given to the village and district immediately surrounding it, like our hundred or parish, and the name of pagani to the peasantry spread over it, expressly to distinguish them from the military. Varro, L. L. vi. 24. 26. Virg. Georg. ii. 328. Ov. Fast. i. 669. Tac. Ann. i. 56. Cic. Dom. 28. Suet. Aug. 27.
PA'LA. A spade, with an iron blade (Columell. x. 45.), employed both in gardening and husbandry. (Id. v. 9. 8. Varro, L. L. v. 134. Liv. iii. 26. fossam fodiens palæ innisus.) The ancient spade was, however, not so heavy an implement as the one now in use, having a longer handle, and smaller, as well as pointed blade, as exhibited by the annexed example, from a sepulchral painting of the Christian era. The modern Romans make use of a spade of precisely the same form, which they designate by its ancient name "la pala."
2. (πτύον). A wooden spade, or shovel of the same form as the iron one, employed for winnowing corn, in the same manner as still practised both in Italy and Greece. (Cato, R. R. xi. 5.) It is made use of on the threshing floor, and in the open air when the wind sets in with a moderate freshness. The labourer takes up a shovel-full from the heap of corn already threshed out, and throws it to a considerable distance into the air across the direction of the wind, which separates and carries away with it the lighter particles of chaff and refuse, leaving the heavier grain to fall back upon the floor. The illustration represents an Albanian peasant winnowing corn with a pala in the Etesian wind.
3. (μάνδρα, σφενδόνη, πυελίς). The bezil of a ring. (Cic. Off. iii. 9.) Same as FUNDA, 4. where an illustration is given.
PALÆSTRA (παλαίστρα). Properly, a Greek word, often used in the same sense as GYMNASIUM; or the distinction between the two terms may consist in this, that the palæstra originally and properly speaking was the place were the athletes who contended at the public games were trained and exercised in the art of boxing, wrestling, &c.; the gymnasium, on the contrary, an establishment in which the youth of Greece enjoyed the recreation of juvenile sports and gymnastic exercises; the palæstra being that particular department of it in which the gymnastic discipline was undergone. (Plaut. Bacch. iii. 3. 23. Catull. lxiii. 60. Vitruv. v. 11.) See GYMNASIUM.
2. The Romans, when they applied the word specially, used it to designate a particular part of their villas fitted up for the purpose of active games and exercises. Cic. Q. Fr. iii. 1. 2.
PALÆS'TRICUS (παλαιστρικός). In a general sense, one who is skilled in, or addicted to, the exercises of the palæstra. (Quint. i. 11. 15.) But the same name was more frequently used in a special sense, to designate a person who acted in a capacity something between our drill master and dancing master, whose particular province it was to teach the young men of Greece and Italy how to avoid awkwardness or rusticity of manner, to acquire an elegant deportment and graceful carriage, as well as ease and propriety of attitude and gesture (Quint. i. 11. 16. Id. ii. 8. 7. Id. xii. 2. 12.); for, amongst the Greeks more especially, who were devoted admirers of the beautiful under every form and combination, grace was regarded as an essential requisite, even in the violent contests of the palæstra; hence palæstrici motus (Cic. Off. i. 36.) mean the motions and gestures acquired from these masters, which Cicero very properly condemns when carried to excess, or, as we should say, savouring of the dancing master.
PALÆSTRI'TA (παλαιστρίτης). One who exercises himself in the palæstra. Cic. Verr. ii. 2. 14. Mart. iii. 58. 25.
PALAN'GA. See PHALANGA.
PALA'RIA. Neuter plural. The exercise of tilting, practised by recruits of the Roman armies, against a stake (palus) set up in the ground as a manikin, by which they learnt to go through their exercise. Charis. i. 21. Compare Veg. Mil. i. 11. Id. ii. 23.
PAL'E (πάλη). (Stat. Ach. ii. 441.) Properly, a Greek word, for which the Latin expression is LUCTA.
PALEA'RIUM. A loft, for the stowage of fodder straw, or chaff (palea). Columell. i. 6. 9.
PALIMPSES'TUS (παλίμψηστος). Parchment from which former writings have been erased to make room for fresh ones. (Cic. Fam. vii. 18. Catull. xxii. 5.) Hence the name of palimpsest is given by learned to those manuscripts, which, though of themselves of a respectable antiquity, are found to have been written over others still older. It is probable that this practice of obliteration and rewriting upon the same skin was sometimes pursued by the Greek and Roman booksellers, in cases where the original composition was of little interest or value; but none of those now actually in existence are believed to possess a higher date than the ninth century; and it is often found that works of superior merit have been washed out, in order to receive other matter; the original writing underneath being still discoverable, and even legible. Thus Cicero's treatise de Repub. was found, and deciphered by A. Maio, under a commentary of St. Augustin on the Psalms.
PALLA (ξυστίς, πέπλον). A term employed by the Latin authors to designate an article, strictly speaking, of the Greek female costume; worn as a robe of state by ladies of distinction, goddesses, and mythological personages; and by musicians and actors on the stage. Non. s. v. p. 537. Hor. A. P. 278.
It was composed with an oblong rectangular piece of cloth, folded before being put on, in a very peculiar manner, which will be readily understood from the annexed diagram and description. The entire square ABCD was first turned back or folded town in the line EF, which reduces it to the parallelogram EFCD, the line AB coinciding at the back with the line GH in front. It was then doubled across the middle in the line IKL, and the side FC brought together with the opposite one ED, the part turned back being left on the outside, so that the whole is finally reduced in size to the figure EDLI, which is double, and entirely closed on one side, represented by IKL, but open at the other, EGD. It was then put on in the following manner. The wearer opened the two sides, thus brought together at EGD, and passed one of them round the back, so as to stand exactly in the centre of the square EDLI, or edli in the illustration on the opposite column.{TR: i. e. the second image of this entry.} She then fixed the back and front together by a brooch on the point of the left shoulder at N, passing her arm through the aperture NI of the diagram and Ni in the draped figure. Another brooch was then fixed on the top of the right shoulder, at M, which one of the females is in the act of doing, so that the parts between M and N afford an opening for the head, and those between ME (or Me, draped figure), another arm-hole for the right arm, similar to the one on the other side. The corners E, G, and I, K on the first diagram, or e and i on the last one, will fall down in the direction indicated by the dotted lines, and occupying the situations marked EG, IK on the drapery of the right-hand figure; while the whole of the upper portion of the costume corresponds exactly with the words of Sidonius Apollinaris (Carm. xxii. 31.), which describe a statue of Bacchus in female attire, like the one in the Vatican (Mus. Pio-Clem. vii. 2.); nec tegit exsertos, sed tangit, palla lacertos. It is, moreover, obvious, from the preceding account, that the palla thus described was in itself a loose piece of drapery, adjusted on the person by folding round it, like any other article of the AMICTUS; whence it is that persons thus attired are said to be pallis amictæ (Varro. ap. Non. s. v. p. 549.); and this peculiarity will be brought still more forcibly under observation by referring to the wood-cut s. PEPLUM, 1. which represents the side view of a figure, from a statue of Herculaneum, belonging to the same set as the two preceding, and wearing the same kind of costume, with the whole of the left side completely open, so that it might be mistaken by careless observers for a pallium. But sometimes the square piece of drapery, after being folded down at the top, and again in half, as above described, was partially sewed together at the left side, from the bottom to half or two-thirds of its length, as is clearly exmplified by the figure on the left side in the preceding illustration, in which the broad band down the side shows the hem by which the united parts are joined. In this state it becomes a round or close dress—vestimentum clausum—which was of necessity put on over the head, like any other article of the INDUTUS; whence a person so draped is said to be pallam induta (Ov. Met. xiv. 262.); and in appearance, it possesses considerable resemblance to a tunic, a resemblance still further increased by the usual practice, when thus adjusted, of confining it round the waist, or above the hips, by a girdle, as shown by the right-hand figure above; whence the expression palla succinctam occurs in Hor. Sat. i. 8. 23.
It should not be concealed that this explanation is at variance with the ordinary interpretation given to the term by lexicographers and philologists who content themselves with saying that palla is merely a poetical word for pallium, more especially used in regard to women. But, 1. The pallium is never an article of the indutus, as the palla is; on the contrary it, or a piece of drapery similar in general character, was sometimes worn over the palla, as by Circe in Ovid. (l. c.)—pallamque induta nitentem, Insuper aurato circumvelatur amictu. 2. The palla is frequently described as a garment that covered the feet (Ov. Am. iii. 13. 26. Compare Virg. Æn. xi. 576. Stat. Ach. i. 262.), which the pallium never does, nor could do. 3. It was fastened with a girdle (Hor. l. c.), which the pallium never is, nor could be. 4. Nonius (s. v. p. 537.) and Servius (ad Virg. Æn. i. 648.) both explain the term palla by a compound word tunico-pallium, meaning that it possess the properties of a tunica and a pallium, or in other words, that it was both an indutus and an amictus; which corresponds exactly with the description given by Pollux (vii. 47.) of the Greek female dress termed ξυστίς, ἔνδυμά τε ὀμοῦ, καὶ περίβλημα, καὶ χιτών. 5. All the other fashions of the palla, which are described and illustrated in subsequent paragraphs, have a positive affinity with the preceding one, but have no resemblance whatever to the pallium, for they are close dresses in the nature of a tunic or indutus. 6. When Seneca (Ira, iii. 22.) designates a curtain by the term palla, he does not invalidate the accuracy of the above reasoning; for, when the garment was removed from the body, it formed a large rectangular piece of cloth, as already explained. 7. In a variety of other passages where the word occurs, it is introduced without any characteristic adjunct or context to explain whether a sole covering, or an inner or outer garment, is intended. The above are some of the most obvious reasons which establish a conviction that the pallium and palla are not identical terms, and which help to confirm the accuracy of the interpretation here affixed to the latter word; set out with extreme conciseness, it is true, as the nature of this work requires; but it seemed incumbent, when departing from old established opinions, supported by the sanction of great names, to produce some authority for the innovation.
2. Although the palla, when worn as a robe of state, was always a long dress reaching to the feet, as described in the preceding paragraphs; yet it was sometimes of much shorter dimensions, and terminated just above the knees, as is proved by written testimony, and exhibited in works of art. In this state it is given to the hunting nymphs attendant on Diana by Valerius Flaccus (iii. 525. summo palla genu); to Tisiphone by Ovid (Met. iv. 481.); and is so worn by the Furia, in the Vatican Virgil. The illustration, from a bas-relief of the Villa Borghese, shows a drapery made up and put on by means of a brooch on each shoulder, precisely similar to those exhibited in the formar part of this article, with the sole exception in regard to length. It is supposed to represent a Spartan damsel dancing at the fetes of Diana, which were celebrated in one of the villages of Laconia, called Caria, at which dancing was one of the characteristic solemnities, and the costume worn would be naturally allusive to the goddess of the chase (Visconti,
3. The palla worn by the ladies of Rome, though not exactly identical with the Greek one, yet possessed sufficent resemblance to it in all essential particulars to justify its being included in the same class of dresses with the one already described, and designated by the same name. Like that, it partook of the double character of an indumentum and an amictus, being worn as a tunic, and over a tunic (Varro, L. L. v. 131. Hor. Sat. i. 2. 99.), and adjusted to the person by clasps upon the shoulders in the same manner as explained in the two preceding paragraphs, with only this difference, that the upper part was not turned down to make a fall-over, because the tunic underneath it completely covered the bosom, and rendered such a protection unnecessary. The annexed figure from a statue of the priestess Livia, found at Pompeii, illustrates all these particulars. The undermost garment, which comes close up to the throat, and has sleeves looped down the fleshy part of the arm, is the under tunic, or stola (Hor. l. c.); over this is seen the palla, with its back and front edges fastened together by clasps upon the shoulder points, in the same manner as the three preceding figures; while a large veil or loose piece of drapery (amictus) is finally thrown over the whole, in the manner stated by Ovid (Met. xiv. 262.), and implied by Livy (xxvi. 4.), pallam pictam cum amiculo purpureo, where the diminutive expresses fineness of texture not smallness of dimensions. The skirts of the palla are concealed by the outer drapery, so that its actual length cannot be ascertained; but it probably did not reach much below the knee, in order not to hide the flounce (instita) of the stola, the lower edges and plaits of which are seen over the feet, and on the ground. In addition to all this, the lady without doubt wore a regular chemise (tunica intima) next to the skin, which would be entirely concealed by the over-clothing. Thus we may readily understand what Horace means (l. c.) by contrasting the scanty apparel of immodest women with the dense barricades presented by the attire of the virtuous and high-born females; and the reason of the definition given by Nonius (s. v. p. 537.) to the term pall—honestæ mulieris vestimentum.
4. The palla with which Isis in invested by Apuleius (Met. xi. p. 240.) would appear from his words to be a dress of a character totally different from those which have been thus far sufficiently authenticated by written as well as demonstrative evidence, had it not been for the existence of a bas-relief in the Pio-Clementine Museum, representing a priestess of Isis, as here annexed, whose costume corresponds so closely and minutely with the particular details enumerated by Apuleis, as to leave no doubt that his description was drawn from some well-known artistic type, after which the figure here exhibited was also in a great measure modelled. It is here at once apparent that she wears a palla exactly the same in form and mode of adjustment as the right-hand figure, from the Pompeian statue, inserted above, over the outside of which there passes a broad scarf decorated with embroidered stars and half-moons, which is carried from under the right-arm, across the breast, and over the left shoulder, then turned down, so as to leave an end with fringes at its extremity depending in front; the whole of which, as well as the ornamental details, are circumstantially described in so many words by Apuleius. The obscurity of the passage arises from his giving the name of palla to the scarf only; that is, he described the part which forms so prominent a feature in the costume, and attracts so much attention, under the name of the vest on which it was embroidered, or attached as a decoration.
5. Palla citharœdica. The palla worn by musicians upon the stage; whence frequently represented in works of art as an appropriate costume for Apollo in his character of citharœdus and musagetes. This was a long flowing robe, with sleeves reaching to the wrists, and fastened with a broad girdle round the waist, the skirts of which fell over the feet, or sometimes trained upon the ground. It thus resembles in many respects the ordinary chiridota or tunica manicata, and, consequently, is mentioned as an article of the indutus (Auct. ad Herenn. iv. 47. citharœdus palla indutus. Compare Apul. Flor. ii. 15. 2. where a robe precisely like the one here exhibited is minutely described); but it differs from the common tunic in this respect, that it was not made, like that, of one uniform width from top to bottom, but was narrow at the upper part over the chest and shoulders, gradually widening downwards, until it became a loose and sweeping robe towards the feet, from which circumstance it probably received the name of palla. All these particulars are conspicuously apparent in the annexed illustration, representing a statue of Apollo in the Vatican; the loose drapery hanging behind from the shoulders is an amictus worn over the palla. In the original statue the arms are restorations, and the artist has given to them short sleeves, which are corrected for long ones in the present drawing, in accordance with other representations of the same subject, and more particularly of an ancient type in the archaic style of Greek sculpture (Wink. Mon. Ined. Vignette to dedication), which formed the original after which they are all more or less modelled.
6. Palla Gallica. The Gaulish jerkin; a short, close-fitting dress, slit up before and behind as high as the fork. (Mart. i. 93. compared with Strabo iv. 4. 3.) When adopted at Rome, it received the name of CARACALLA, after the emperor who introduced the fashion of wearing it; under which it is described and illustrated.
PALLIAS'TRUM. An augmentative of pallium; the augmentative indicating coarseness of texture, and, consequently, an inferior article worn by the poorer classes, and certain philosophers who affected severity of attire. Apul. Flor. ii. 14. Met. i. p. 4.
PALLIA'TUS. Wearing the Greek pallium; thence, by implication, dressed as a Greek; for the word is opposed in Latin to togatus; that is, to a Roman, whose national costume was the toga. (Plaut. Curc. iii. 2. 9. Cic. Rabir. Post. 9. Suet. Jul. 48. Claud. 15.) The illustration s. PALLIUM and TOGA will at once explain the difference.
PALLIOLA'TUS. Wearing the palliolum upon the head, as explained and exhibited in the following word and illustration. Suet. Claud. 2. Mart. ix. 33.
2. Palliolata tunica. (Vopisc. Bonos. 15.) Like tunico-pallium, another expression or gloss for PALLA, which see; and appropriately employed, because the upper part of the piece of drapery which formed the tunic, was turned down in such a manner that it resembles a palliolum over the shoulders and bosom, instead of the head, as is plainly shown by the illustration p. 465.
PALL'IOLUM. A diminutive of pallium; consequently, used in a general sense for any mantle of ordinary quality, small dimensions, of fine texture, adjusted and worn in the same manner as the pallium. Plaut. Epid. ii. 2. 12. Cic.
2. (θερίστριον, probably). A square cloth, doubled and adjusted to the head, like a veil or cap; and worn as a protection against the weather, especially by invalids and females of advanced age, as shown by the annexed example, representing the head of an old nurse, in a marble bas-relief.
PALLIUM (ἱμάτιον, φᾶρος). The principal article of the Greek amictus, or outer object of their apparel, as the toga was of the Romans. (Quint. xi. 5. 143. Suet. Tib. 13. Liv. xxix. 19.) It consisted of a large sheet or blanket, made of wool, and of a square or oblong square form (Pet. Sat. 135. 4. Tertull. de Pall. 1. Athen. v. 50.), fastened round the neck or on the shoulder by a brooch (fibula, Tertull. l. c.), and sometimes worn over the naked body as the only covering, but more commonly as an outside mantle over the tunic. (Plaut. Ep. v. 2. 59. Cic. Verr. ii. 5. 52.) A garment of this nature might be adjusted upon the person in various ways, according as the fancy of the wearer or the state of the atmosphere suggested; and, as each arrangement presented a different model in the set and character of its folds, the Greeks made use of a distinct term to characterize the particular manner in which it was put on, or the appearance it presented when worn. Of these the most important are the following:—
1. ἐπίβλημα. Meaning literally, that which is thrown on or over, designates the pallium when worn in the simplest manner; i. e. when the centre of one of its sides was merely put on to the back of the neck, and fastened round the throat, or on one shoulder, by a brooch, so that all the four corners hung downward in the manner exhibited on the annexed figure, representing a Greek soldier in his travelling dress, from a fictile vase.
2. ἀναβολή. Meaning, in a literal sense, that which is thrown up, designates the pallium when adjusted in a manner similar to the old style of wearing the toga; i. e. when the part which hangs down, on the right side of the preceding figure, was taken up, and cast over the left shoulder, so that it would depend at the back of the wearer, as represented by the annexed example, from the celebrated statue of Aristides in the Farnese collection. When thus worn, the brooch was not used; and the blanket, instead of being placed on the back, at the middle of its width, was drawn longer over the right side to allow sufficient length for casting on to the opposite shoulder; the right arm likewise was raised up and kept on a level with the chest, forming, as it were, a right angle (Quint. xi. 3. 141.), and having only the hand exposed; all of which particulars are plainly perceivable in the illustration. At the same time both skill and attention were required to adjust the garment, so that it should sit firmly and elegantly upon the body, which was considered as a mark of elegance, if well arranged, or awkwardness, if otherwise. Plato, Theæt. 175. Compare Aristoph. Av. 1565.
3. περίβλημα, περιβόλαιον. Meaning, in a literal sense, that which is thrown round one, designates the pallium when so adjusted as completely to envelope the wearer all round from head to foot, in the manner shown by the annexed example, from a fictile vase. In this method the blanket was put on, and a part thrown over the shoulder, the same as in the last example, but instead of the hand being exposed, and an opening or sinus left in front of the chest, the end thrown over the shoulder was drawn up tight under the chin, which gave a greater length to the part depending behind. The right arm was sometimes kept up in a similar position to the preceding; or it might be dropped down at the side, under the drapery, which fixed itself on the body by its own close folds, as it is represented in the illustration, in which the projection observed midway in front of the figure is produced by the hand being slightly elevated; but in either case the whole of the arm, as well as the hand, is completely covered by the drapery. The Romans indicated this confinement by the expression manum intra pallium continere (Quint. xi. 3. 138.), or intra pallium reducere (Val. Max. vi. 8. Ext. 1.): and the Greeks by a similar one—ἐντὸς τὴν χεῖρα ἔχειν (Æschin.
4. Women also wore the pallium (Pet. Sat. 135. 4. Hom. Od. v. 230.) as well as men, and adjusted it upon their persons with the same varieties that have been already described, as evinced by numerous works of art both in sculpture and painting. The illustration annexed represents two females in the pallium, the one on the left having it adjusted in a manner similar to that exhibited by the statue of Aristides, introduced above; while the right hand one, by raising her arm over her head, has drawn away the end previously cast over her left shoulder, and allowed the opposite side to slip off from her back; but the two together afford a good notion of the manner in which the drapery was put on and arranged. The only difference, when there was any, between the pallium of a male and female, consisted in the difference of texture and variety or brilliance of colour, the finer material and gaudier tints being naturally selected by the sex; but amongst persons of slender means the wife would sometimes wear her husband's blanket;—a piece of economy which the wife of Phocion practised, but Xantippe, the wife of Socrates, refused to submit to. Ælian. Var. Hist. vii. 9. and 10.
5. In a more general sense the name is given to any large rectangular piece of cloth, employed for covering various objects; as, a pall laid over a bier (Apul. Flor. i. 4.); a counterpane or blanket for a bed (Juv. vi. 236.); a warm sheet to wrap in after the bath (Pet. Sat. 28. 2.); a curtain for a room (Prudent. ad Symm. ii. 726); &c.
PALL'ULA. Plaut. Truc. i. 1. 32. Diminutive of PALLA.
PALMA (παλάμη). The palm of the hand; thence, from its resemblance, the broadest part or blade of an oar (ταρσός). Vitruv. x. 3. 6. Catull. 64. 7., and woodcuts s. PES and PRORETA.
2. (φοίνιξ). The palm tree (phœnix dactylifera), regarded amongst the ancients as an emblem of victory, in consequence of the great elasticity and power of resistance, without breaking, possessed by its wood. (Aul. Gell. iii. 6.) Hence it was frequently employed by sculptors and medalists to indicate the conquest of a province, as in the annexed example, from a medal of Trajan.
3. A palm branch, or, as we say, the palm of victory; for both the Greeks and Romans bestowed palm branches upon successful champions amongst the military combatants in the athletic games, or drivers in the race course (Liv. x. 49. Cic. Brut. 47. Hor. Od. iv. 2. 17.); hence, in works of art, wherever any object is seen with a palm branch upon it, or by its side, or a figure with one in the hand, it is implied that the object has been presented as a prize to some victor, and that the person so represented is himself the successful champion; as the annexed figure, from a statue representing a victorious driver in the Circus, who holds a palm branch in his right hand, and a purse of money containing the prize (brabeum, iselasticum) in his left.
PALMA'TUS. Tunica palmata. See TUNICA.
PAL'MULA (ταρσός). Diminutive of PALMA. The blade of a small oar. Catull. iv. 4.
PALUDAMEN'TUM. A military cloak worn by generals and superior officers over their armour (Isidor. Orig. xix. 24. 9. Apul. Apol. p. 441.), as the sagum was by the common soldier, from which it mainly differs in being larger, of finer texture, and richer colour, either a brilliant white, scarlet, or purple. (Val. Max. i. 6. 11. Isidor. l. c.) On the other hand, it was not so large as the Greek pallium, for in all the numerous instances where it occurs on the triumphal arches and columns, it is never thrown over the shoulder, nor round the figure; that is, it is always an ἐπίβλημα, never an ἀναβολή, nor a περίβλημα; being only worn as a pendant mantle, in the manner shown by the annexed example, representing the emperor Trajan, from the column which bears his name. It was fastened by a brooch (fibula) upon the shoulder; and though somewhat larger, was cut out in the same shape as the Greek chlamys (Non. s. v. p. 538.); whence the later Greek writers translate the Latin word paludamentum by that term. Dio. lx. 30. compared with Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 19.
PALUDA'TUS. Wearing the paludamentum, as explained and illustrated by the preceding article and example: but in most cases with a notion specially implied that the person so habited was engaged in military service (Cic. Fam. xv. 17. Suet. Vit. 11. Claud. 21.); during which the toga or garb of peace was relinquished for the military mantle or paludamentum. Isidor. Orig. xix. 24. 4.
PA'LUS (άσσαλος). In a general sense, any pale or stake driven into the ground as a support or fixture for other objects to rest upon; and especially a pale, set up for the exercise and practice of gladiators and the Roman soldiery, which they were made to attack with a discharge of missiles from a distance, or with wooden swords at close quarters, in order to learn the exercise, and acquire the habit of taking a just aim at any particular part of the body required. Juv. vi. 247. Veg. Mil. i. 11. Id. ii. 23.
PAMMACH'IUM (παμμάχιον). Hygin. Fab. 273. Same as PANCRATIUM.
PAN'ACA. (Mart. xiv. 100.) A kind of drinking cup of which nothing characteristic is known; but the word only occurs as the title to the epigram cited, and, in consequence, is not used by Martial himself; for the headings to his epigrams were affixed by a later hand.
PANA'RIOLUM. Diminutive of PANARIUM; a small bread-basket. Mat. v. 49.
PANA'RIUM (ἀρτοθήκη). A bread pantry, in which the bread for a household was kept. Varro, L. L. v. 105.
2. A bread basket for transport from place to place. Plin. Ep. i. 6. 3. Suet. Cal. 18.
PANCRAT'IAS and -AS'TES (παγκρατιαστής). One who contends in the Pancratium. Aul. Gell. iii. 15. xiii. 27. See the next word and illustration.
PANCRAT'IUM (παγκράτιον). An athletic contest of Grecian origin, which also became popular at Rome, after the time of Caligula. It combined both wrestling and boxing with the naked fists, but not with the cæstus; the combatants being allowed to make use of any means for worsting an opponent, by blows, throwing, kicking, or tripping, and to continue the contest on the ground, even when both had fallen, and until one of them was killed, or acknowledged himself to be vanquished. They fought naked, had their bodies sprinkled with fine sand (haphe), and their hair drawn up backwards from the roots, and tied in a tuft on the occiput (cirrus in vertice), to prevent an antagonist from seizing hold by it; most of which particulars are exemplified by the illustration, representing a pair of Greek pancratiastæ, from a bas-relief in the Vatican. Both figures have their hair tied up in the manner described; the one on the left also uses his fist as a boxer, whilst the right-hand one attempts to trip up his adversary by hooking his leg forward and pushing the body back, as still practised by our wrestlers. Prop. iii. 14. 8. Quint. ii. 8. 13. Arist. Rhet. i. 5. 14.
PANDU'RA (πανδούρα). A musical instrument, the precise character of which is not known. According to Pollux (iv. 60.) it was a stringed instrument with three chords; and the guitar is still called by the same term, "la pandura," in Tuscany; but Hesychius (s. σύριγγες) makes it the same as the pan-pipes. To play upon it was expressed by the word pandurizo. Lamprid. Elag. 32.
PANIS (ἄρτος). Bread; a loaf of bread; binos panes, two loaves (Plaut. Pers. iv. 3. 2.); mollia panis, the crumb (Plin. H. N. xiii. 36.); panis crusta, the crust (Id. xxix. 23.). The illustration represents some loaves as they were discovered in a baker's shop at Pompeii; they are about eight inches in diameter, have a crust at top and bottom, are scored above, and one has a stamp upon the top.
2. Panis gradilis. Bread distributed gratuitously to the people, from the top of a flight of steps, as a largess from the emperor. For this purpose flights of steps were erected in different parts of the city contiguous to the bakers' shops, and each person who had obtained a billet or order (tessera) ascended the steps in turn, and there received the donation from the distributing officer in change for his ticket; the plan being adopted as a means of preventing frauds and mobbing, by only admitting the recipients to come up in regular order, and one by one. (Prudent. in Symm. i. 584. Id. ii. 984. Cod Theodos. 14. 17. 3. and 4.) The whole process is shown by the illustration, from a medal of Nerva; on the left hand sits the emperor in person upon a curule chair placed on top of an elevated platform (suggestum); in front of him is the relieving officer giving the bread to a citizen ascending the steps, while another figure behind him holds up for the emperor's inspection the billet containing the order handed in by the recipient.
PANTOMI'MUS (παντόμιμος). A word first used in Italy about the time of Augustus to designate a performer on the stage, corresponding with the ballet or opera dancer of the present day, who represented a part by dancing and dumb show, or, as the term implies, by all sorts of conventional signs and mimic gestures, without the aid of the voice; thus constituting a distinct class from the actor of comedy or tragedy. He wore a mask, and was dressed in a costume appropriate to the character impersonated, but studiously designed with the view of exhibiting his personal beauty and bodily development to the greatest advantage (though often indelicately scanty, according to our notions of propriety); considering that love stories and bacchanalian and mythological subjects furnished the majority of characters for the exercise of his art. Hence the scandal and corruption of morals superinduced by the ballet dancers of Rome compelled several of the emperors to banish them at various periods from Italy. (Macrob. Sat. ii. 7. Suet. Aug. 45. Nero, 16. Tac. Ann. iv. 14. xiii. 25. Plin. Paneg. xlvi. 4. Cassiodor. Var. Ep. i. 20.) The paintings of Pompeii exhibit numerous examples of this class of stage performers, from one of which the annexed illustration is copied; all more or less bearing testimony to the accuracy of the preceding account; yet proving by the originality and grace with which the groups are composed, the variety of the poses, the display of muscular power exhibited in the attitudes, and the animal beauty in respect of bodily form which distinguishes the performers, that the ancient Italians, or the Greek artistes employed by them, far excelled, in professional dexterity and gracefulness (its most essential requisite), the dancers of the operatic ballet in modern times.
PANUCEL'LIUM. This word is written in seven different ways; as uncertain as the meaning attached to it. Some suppose it to mean a spool or bobbin; others, a shuttle with the bobbin inserted, like the example s. ALVEOLUS. Varro, L. L. v. 114. Compare Isidor. Orig. xxix. 7.
PAPIL'IO. In its primary sense, a butterfly; whence the name was transferred to a military tent, either because the curtains with which it was closed in front, when set open, were fastened up at the sides in such a manner as to present an appearance like the wings of a butterfly, as observable in the annexed example, from the column of Trajan; or, possibly, because it was made of richer materials and more varied colours than the common tent (tentorium). Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 51. Spart. Pescenn. 11. Veg. Mil. i. 3.
PAR'ADA. Believed to be a Gaulish word, indicating either an awning over the deck of a vessel; or, which seems more probable, a private and state cabin for the use of persons of wealth or distinction. Auson. Ep. v. 27. Sidon. Ep. viii. 12. Jal. Archéologie Navale, vol. ii. p. 362.
PARAGAU'DA or PARAGAU'DIS. An ornamental band of gold, or of coloured silk decorated with golden embroidery, sewn on to the tunic; whence the garment itself so decorated is also designated by the same term. It appears to have been a fashion introduced under the empire, as a sort of substitue for the more ancient clavus, as the word only occurs amongst the writers of that period; and was distinguished by the epithets monoloris, diloris, triloris, pentaloris, according to the number of bands, one, two, three, four, or five, attached. (Vopisc. Aurel. 46. Impp. Grat. Valent. et Theodos. Cod. 11. 8. 2.) The annexed figure, from an ancient Roman fresco discovered near the church of St. John in Lateran at Rome, is introduced as affording a notion, and probable specimen, of the ornament in question.
PARAS'TAS, PARAS'TATA, PARASTAT'ICA (παραστάς, παραστάτης, παραστατικὴ). A flat column or pilaster, used to decorate the angular terminations of a square building, where it has two faces, as in the annexed example of the temple of Pandrosus at Athens, in which the parastas is seen behind the last figure on the extreme left; or placed against the walls of the cell (cella), with one flat face to correspond with the opposite column which supports the entablature of the colonnade. Vitruv. v. 1.
PARAZO'NIUM (παραζώνιον). A short sword, attached to a belt round the waist (cinctorium), as exhibited by the annexed figure, and worn at the left side by the tribunes and superior officers of the Roman armies, more as a mark of distinction than for actual use (Mart. xiv. 32. August. Dial. Antiqu. 2. and wood-cuts s. LEGATUS and PALUDAMENTUM); whereas the glaive of the common soldier (gladius) was suspended from a shoulder band (balteus), and hung at the right side (wood-cut s. LEGIONARII).
PAR'IES (τοῖχος). The wall of a house, or other edifice, as contradistinguished from murus, the wall of a town. These were made of various materials, and constructed in many different ways; amongst which the following are distinguished:—
1. Paries craticius. A wall made of canes and hurdles, covered with a coating of clay, something like our lath and plaster; used in early times for an external wall, and subsequently for a partition in the interior of a house. Vitruv. ii. 8. 10. Pallad. i. 9. 2.
2. Paries formaceus. A kind of walling now termed pisé, made of very stiff clay, rammed in between moulds as it is carried up, of very frequent occurrence at the present day in France, and in ancient times amongst the inhabitants of Africa, Spain, and the southern parts of Italy. Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 48.
3. Paries latericius. A wall made of bricks; which was constructed in many different patterns, as the art of building progressed and declined. When the arts were in the greatest perfection, the bricks used were very large and thin, and of considerable size, resembling our tiles (see LATER), and were laid in regular even courses throughout. During the intermediate periods the bricks diminished in surface, but increased in thickness; and the walls were commonly constructed with a mixture of different sized bricks laid in alternate courses, so as to produce a pleasing pattern to the eye, although it was frequently concealed by a coating of stucco laid over it, of which the annexed example, representing the structure employed in the entrance gate to Pompeii, will afford a distinct notion. It shows the admixture of thick and thin bricks, as well as the external cement still remaining on some part of it, which has been divided into rustic work to imitate a stone wall. During the decadence the bricks were smaller and thicker, like the largest ones in the example, and frequently of irregular sizes. Cæs. B. C. ii. 15. Vitruv. ii. 8. 16.
4. The different methods adopted in forming walls of stone are explained and illustrated s. CÆMENTICIUS and STRUCTURA.
5. Paries solidus. (Cic. Top. 4.) A blank wall, without any opening in it, as contradistinguished from
6. Paries fornicatus. A wall perforated with arched openings, as in the annexed example, representing part of the Imperial palace on the Palatine hill. The object of this was to save consumption of material without diminishing solidity by the lightness thus given to the entire structure. Cic. Top. 4.
7. Paries communis. The common or partition wall between two contiguous edifices, which was common to both of them. Cic. Top. l. c. Ov. Met. iv. 66.
8. Paries intergericius or intergerivus. (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 49. Festus, s. v.) Same as the preceding.
9. Paries directus. A wall of partition within an edifice, separating one chamber from another. Cic. l. c.
PARMA (πάρμη). The shield used by the light-armed troops (velites, Liv. xxxi. 35.) and the cavalry (equites, Liv. ii. 20.) of the Roman army. It was circular in form (Varro, ap. Non. s. Veles, p. 552.), about three feet in diameter (Liv. xxxviii. 21. Polyb. vi. 22. 19.), and very strongly made upon a framework of iron. The annexed example is copied from a bas-relief in terra-cotta; and corresponds in every particular of form and ornament with the shields of the equestrian gladiators at p. 264 s. EQUES, 10.
2. Parma Threcidica. The Thracian shield, or the shield used by gladiators of the class termed Thracians (Thraces). This was not round, like the Roman parma, but resembled the scutum in form, with the only exception of being smaller as well as shorter, as exhibited by the annexed example, which represents a Thracian gladiator from a terra-cotta lamp. Hence it is that Martial styles it pumilionis scutum (xiv. 213.). Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 45. Fabretti, Col. Tr. p. 267. and PELTASTÆ.
3. The small round piece of board placed under the vent hole of a pair of bellows, which opens to admit the air, as it is drawn in, but closes against the aperture immediately that the sides of the bellows are pressed together, and thus compels the wind to make an exit through the pipe at the nozzle. Auson. Mosell. 269.
PARMA'TUS. Armed with the shield termed parma; more especially characteristic of the Roman cavalry and light-armed troops. (Liv. iv. 38.) The annexed example, from a bas-relief in terra-cotta, compared with the illustration s. CLIPEATUS, will afford a notion of the difference in comparative size and character between the Roman parma and the Greek clipeus, and of the different appearance presented by the men who bore them respectively.
PAR'MULA. (Hor. Od. ii. 7. 10.) Diminutive of PARMA; but there is no evidence that the diminutive denotes any distinct variety.
PARMULA'RIUS. A gladiator, of the class called Thracians (Thraces); and so designated because he was armed with the Thracian parma, as explained and illustrated s. PARMA, 2. Suet. Dom. 40.
PAR'OCHUS (πάροχος). An officer appointed to every station throughout the Roman provinces, who for a certain stipend, fixed by the state, undertook to lodge and entertain ambassadors, magistrates, and persons travelling on public business. Cic. Att. xiii. 2. Hor. Sat. i. 5. 46.
PAROP'SIS or PARAP'SIS (παροψίς). A term adopted from the Greeks, and used by them, as well as the Romans, much in the same sense as the word side-dish is with us; under which the dish itself is sometimes implied, at others the viands contained in it, while at others both the dish and its contents are included. The paropsis was employed for serving up the smaller and more exquisite portions of a meal, like a French entrée; and was made of earthenware, bronze, or the precious metals; but though the Latin passages in which the word occurs do not afford any express indication of the precise form of the vessel, we collect from Alciphron, that it was a deep bowl with a wide top, such as we conceive under the name of cup; for he designates the vessel used by thimble-riggers by the name paropsis, for which the more usual Latin name is ACETABULUM. The illustration introduced under that word may consequently be received also as affording a specimen of the paropsis. Charis. i. 82. Juv. iii. 142. Mart. xi. 27. Pet. Sat. 34. 2. Ulp. Dig. 32. 220. Alciphron. Epist. iii. 20.
PAS'CEOLUS (φάσκωλος and φάσκαλος). A bag or pouch, made of leather, and employed for carrying money, clothes, &c. Non. s. v. p. 151. Plaut. Rud. v. 2. 27. Lucil. Sat. xiii. 6. Gerlach.
PASTIL'LUS (τροχίσκος). A small round ball of flour or other ingredients; but more especially a pill or pastile of medicinal and odoriferous powder, which was chewed to impart sweetness to the breath, or employed generally for the purpose of diffusing an agreeable odour. Plin. H. N. xiii. 43. Hor. Sat. i. 2. 27.
PASTINA'TIO. The act of preparing the soil of a vineyard by digging and trenching for planting young vines with the pastinum. Columell. iii. 12. 6. Compare iii. 13.; thence the ground so prepared. Id. xi. 2.
PASTINA'TOR. A labourer who trenches the soil of a vineyard, and plants the young vines with a pastinum. Columell. iii. 13. 12.
PAS'TINUM. A particular kind of dibble employed for planting young vines, consisting of a long stick with two prongs at the end, between which the young shoot was held, as in a forceps, and by this means depressed into the ground to the depth required. (Columell. iii. 18. 1. and 6. Isidor. Orig. xix. 15.) An instrument of the same kind, called trivella by the Romans, and cruccia by the Tuscans, is still employed for a similar purpose in Italy.
2. Ground prepared by digging and trenching for the planting of young vines with the above implement (Pallad. Feb. 9. 11.); and the act of doing so (Id. Jan. 10. 1.).
PASTOPHO'RUS (παστοφόρος). A member belonging to a certain order of the Egyptian priesthood, called pastophori, because they carried the images of their deities through the public streets in a small case or shrine (παστός, thalamus. Plin. H. N. viii. 71.), stopping at intervals to kneel down, while they displayed the image case before them, for the purpose of eliciting charitable donations from the multitude; all which particulars are apparent in the annexed illustration from an Egyptian statue, representing one of these mendicant priests. Apul. Met. xi. pp. 250. 260. 262.
PASTOR (νομεύς). A general term for any one who attends to the pasturing and feeding of any kind of live stock (Varro, R. R. ii. 10. Hor. Od. iii. 29. 21.); consequently, including the caprarius, opilio, and bubulcus; though, in some instances, the word is specially applied to the two former to distinuish them from the latter. Juv. xi. 151.
PATAGIA'RIUS. One who makes, or, perhaps, sells, patagia. Plaut. Aul. iii. 5. 35.
PATAGIA'TUS. Decorated with a patagium, as shown by the following illustration. Festus, s. v. Plaut. Ep. ii. 2. 49.
PATAGI'UM (παταγεῖον). A broad stripe of purple or gold upon the front of a woman's tunic, similar to the clavus of the other sex, as shown by the annexed example, from a fresco painting in the sepulchre of the Nasonian family near Rome. Festus, s. v. Non. s. v. p. 540.
PATEL'LA. Diminutive of PATINA; consequently, resembling that vessel in form, with the exception of being smaller or shallower. It was used in the kitchen as a cooking utensil (Mart. v. 78. Varro, ap. Prisc. vi. 681.), and in the dining-room as a dish for the viands brought to table (Mart. xiii. 81. Juv. v. 85.). The ordinary kinds were made of earthenware, the more costly of metal and elaborate workmanship; and also of different sizes, conformable to the use for which they were intended; hence we find the word, though itself a diminutive, accompanied with epithets descriptive of very different dimensions; as, exigua, modica, lata, grandis. Juv. l. c. Hor. Ep. i. 5. 2. Mart. l. c. Cic. Verr. ii. 4. 21.
2. Patella Cumana. A dish of the nature last described, but made of earthenware, and consequently of a common description. Mart. xiv. 114. Compare Juv. vi. 343.
3. A dish of the form and character above described, in which solid viands were offered as a feast to the gods, as contradistinguished from the patera, which held liquids only. (Festus, s. v. Varro, ap. Non. s. v. p. 544.) A person would have been regarded as highly irreligious who appropriated one of these dishes to the service of his own dinner table. Cic. Fin. ii. 7.
PATELLA'RII, sc. Dii. A term of derision applied to the gods by certain wits of irreverent dispositions, suggested by the images of the various deities which were enchased upon the dishes (patellæ) employed for holding the viands presented to them at their feasts. Plaut. Cist. ii. 1. 46. Compare Cic. Verr. iv. 21. 22. Becker, Quæst. Plaut. p. 50.
PATE'NA (φάτνη). A manger for horses, made of marble, stone, or wood, and divided into a number of separate compartments or cribs (loculi), like the annexed example, representing the interior of an ancient stable in the bay of Centorbi in Sicily, which is divided into square receiving troughs, precisely as directed by Vegetius (Vet. ii. 28. 3.).
2. See PATINA.
PAT'ERA (φιάλη). A shallow circular vessel, like our saucer, employed for containing liquids, not solids, that is, as a drinking, not an eating utensil (Becker, Quæst. Plaut. p. 50.); but more especially used to receive the wine with which a libation was made, by pouring it from the patera over the head of the victim, or on to the altar (wood-cut s. SPONDAULES). The common qualities were made of earthenware, the more costly of bronze, silver, and also gold, highly and elaborately ornamented; sometimes with a handle, but more usually plain. The illustration affords a specimen of both kinds, from originals in bronze discovered at Pompeii; and represented in front and profile, in order to show the circumference and depth of the vessel. Varro, L. L. v. 122. Macrob. Sat. v. 21. Virg. Æn. i. 739. Ov. Met. ix. 160.
PATIBULA'TUS. Fastened to the patibulum as a punishment. Plaut. Mil. ii. 4. 7. Apul. Met. iv. p. 70. where patibulus is used in the same sense.
PATIB'ULUM. An instrument of punishment made in the shape of a fork, to be placed upon the neck of slaves and criminals, with the two prongs projecting in front, to which their hands were tied up, and in that condition flogged through the city. (Plaut. Mil. ii. 4. 7.) The illustration s. FURCA, 5. will afford a clear notion of the contrivance in question, although it is there used only as a machine for carrying burdens.
2. A cross or gallows; probably in the shape of the letter X, forming a double furca, like that on which St. Peter was crucified. Sallust. Fragm. ap. Non. s. v. p. 366. Senec. Cons. ad Marc. 20. Apul. Met. vi. pp. 130, 131.
3. A fastening for a door, probably made with two prongs to fit into a hasp. Titinn. ap. Non. l. c.
4. A wooden peg, with two prongs for fastening down the layers of a vine. Plin. H. N. xvii. 35. § 27.
PAT'INA (λεκάνη). A bowl or basin, somewhat shallower than the olla, but deeper than the patera, as will be understood by comparing the examples introduced under those two words with the annexed specimen, from an original discovered in a tomb at Pæstum. It was generally made of earthenware, but sometimes, though rarely, of metal; frequently had a lid (operculum) to cover it; and was used for a great many purposes, more especially in culinary and pharmaceutical operations, as well as for bringing to table ragouts, stews, and such eatables as were served with gravy, for which the form described would be particularly appropriate. Plaut. Pseud. iii. . 51. Plin. H. N. xxiii. 33. Phædr. xxvii. 3. Hor. Sat. ii. 8. 43.
PAUSA'RIUS. (Senec. Ep. 56.) The officer who gave out the chaunt (celeusma), and beat the time, by which the rowers kept their stroke; also styled HORTATOR, where an illustration is given.
PAVI'CULA. A rammer for beating down, and consolidating the flooring of a room, or other area. Cato, R. R. 91. Columell. i. 6. 2. Id. ii. 20. 1. Compare FISTUCA.
PAVIMENTA'TUS. Laid with an artificial flooring or pavement. Cic. Dom. 44. Id. Q. Fr. iii. 1. 1.
PAVIMEN'TUM (ἔδαφος, δάπεδον). Strictly, a flooring composed of small pieces of brick, tile, stone, and shells set in a bed of cement, and consolidated by beating down with a rammer (pavicula), which gave rise to the name (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 61. Cato, R. R. xviii. 7.); though it was thence transferred, in a more general sense, to any kind of artificial flooring, even of the most choice and elaborate workmanship, like those described in the succeeding paragraphs (Hor. Od. ii. 14. Suet. Aug. 72.), or of wood (Vitruv. vii. 1. 2.).
2. Pavimentum sectile. A flooring composed of pieces of different coloured marbles, cut (secta) into sets of regular form and size, so that, when joined together, the whole constituted an ornamental design or pattern, as exhibited by the annexed specimen, representing a portion of the ancient pavement still remaining in the church of S. Croce in Gerusalemme at Rome; the objects at the top show the different forms of the pieces with which it is composed; the triangular ones, A and B, consist of serpentine and palombino respectively; the hexagonal, C, of pavonazzetto; and the square, D, of red porphyry. Vitruv. vii. 1. 4. Suet. Jul. 46.
3. Pavimentum tessellatum, or tesseris structum. A flooring belonging to the class of sectilia, and also of an ornamental character, composed of coloured marbles, but of which the component parts were cut into regular dies, without the admixture of other forms, as in the annexed example, showing part of a pavement in the Thermæ of Caracalla at Rome. (Vitruv. l. c. Suet. l. c.) Square dies (tessellæ, tesseræ) were likewise employed in making other kinds of mosaic pavements, as in the following specimen; but in that case they were of smaller dimensions, and less precise in their angles.
4. Pavimentum vermiculatum. A mosaic flooring or pavement, representing natural objects, both animate and inanimate, in their real forms and colours, as in a picture. It was composed with small pieces of different coloured marbles, inlaid in a bed of very strong cement, the colours and arrangement of the pieces being selected and disposed in such a manner as to imitate the object designed with a considerable degree of pictorial effect. The dies, however, were not laid in a regular succession of parallel lines, nor all exactly square, as in the last example (the tessellatum), but they followed the sweep and undulation in the contours and colours of the object represented, which, when viewed at a little distance, produces a close resemblance to the wreathing and twisting of a cluster of worms (vermes), and thus suggested the name. The illustration, which is copied from the fragment of an ancient vermiculated pavement, will afford a tolerable notion of this appearance, though it is not so forcibly expressed as in the original, in consequence of the absence of colour, and the diminutive scale of the drawing. Plin. H. N. xxxv.1. Lucil. ap. Cic. Or. iii. 43.
5. Pavimentum scalpturatum. An ornamental flooring or pavement on which the design is produced by engraving (scalptura), and, perhaps, inlaying; but, as the name implies, by a different process, or in a different manner, from either of the kinds already described. (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 61.) The fragment of the marble floor, now preserved in the Capitol at Rome, which originally formed the pavement to the temple of Romulus and Remus, and had a complete map of the city engraved upon it (a specimen of which is introduced at p. 344. s. ICHNOGRAPHIA), affords an undoubted instance of the pavimentum scalpturatum in its simplest and least ornamental style; though we can readily conceive that the Romans carried this style of decorative art to much greater perfection, and conducted it uopn a principle similar to that followed in the Duomo of Siena, where the effect of a finished cartoon is produced on the pavement, by inserting pieces of grey marble for the half tints into white, then hatching across both with the chisel, and filling in the incisions with black mastic for the shade, so that the design approaches to the perfection of a finished chalk drawing. This effect will be readily conceived from the annexed specimen, which presents a facsimile, though on a very reduced scale, of one of the groups designed by the artist Beccafiume.
6. Pavimentum testaceum. A flooring made of broken pottery (testa). (Pallad. i. 19. 1. Ib. 40. 2.) Same as No. 1.
PAVONA'CEUM, sc. opus or tectum. A method of laying tiles of brick or marble, similar to what is seen upon the roofs of old houses in England, Holland, and Germany, in which the tiles are rounded at one end, so that in overlapping, each other they present an appearance like the feathers of a peacock's tail, exhibited by the annexed example, from a marble fragment excavated in the Forum of Trajan. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 44.
PAXIL'LUS (πάσσαλος). Any small sharp pointed piece of wood; as a peg for hanging things upon (Varro, ap. Non. s. v. p. 153.); for supporting a shelf (Columell. viii. 8. 3.); a dibble for planting (Id. iv. 16. 3.).
PEC'TEN (κτείς). A comb for the hair, made of box wood (Mart. xiv. 25. Ov. Met. iv. 311.), or ivory (Claud. Nupt. Honor. et Mar. 102.). The illustration represents a small-toothed comb (denso dente. Tibull. i. 9. 68.), from an original of ancient workmanship, made of box-wood, and having a bar of ivory inlaid with a pattern in gold, placed across the back, between the two rows of teeth, which are cut extremely fine and even. The large-toothed comb (rarus pecten) was likewise employed in hair-cutting to place under the scissors, in order to prevent them from clipping too close. Plaut. Capt. ii. 2. 18.
2. (κερκίς). An instrument with teeth like a comb, employed by the ancient weavers for the same purpose as the "reed," "lay," or "batten" of our own times; viz. to run the threads of the web close together, by inserting its teeth between the threads of the warp, and pressing the comb up or down, according to the direction in which the web was intended to be driven. (Ov. Met. vi. 58. Virg. Æn. vii. 14.) The example represents an Egyptian implement of this description, from an original found in a tomb at Thebes, and now preserved in the British Museum.
3. An iron-toothed brush, set with a number of crooked pins (pectinis unci. Claud. in Eutrop. ii. 382.), employed for carding wool or flax. Plin. H. N. xi. 27.
4. A haymaker's rake, which had the teeth set wide apart; rarus pecten. Ov. Rem. Am. 192.
5. An iron instrument, with teeth like a comb, employed at harvest in some parts of ancient Italy and Gaul, instead of the reaping hook (falx), to nick off the ears of standing corn, as well as other grain, cutting the stalk. Columell. ii. 20. 3. Plin. H. N. xviii. 72. Compare FALX DENTICULATA and MERGA.
6. A contrivance employed for striking the chords of a stringed instrument. (Virg. Æn. vi. 647. Juv. vi. 382.) It was either the same as the PLECTRUM (which see); or, as the other senses of the word seem to indicate, a more complicated implement, with several teeth, instead of a single stick; but we know of no authorities, either written or demonstrative, to establish that conjecture.
7. A particular figure in a dance, the nature of which is unknown. Stat. Ach. ii. 159.
PECTORA'LE (ἡμιθωράκιον, καρδιοφύλαξ, γύαλον). Strictly, the front plate of a cuirass (represented by the left-hand figure in the illustration), which covered the chest and upper part of the abdomen, being fastened by straps over the shoulders, and buckles or hinges down the sides to another plate, which protected the back, and is represented by the right-hand figure in the illustration; though the word is also used for the entire cuirass. (Varro, L. L. v. 116. Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 18. Polyb. vi. 23.) The Greeks applied the term γύαλον to each of these plates, the back one as well as the front; but the Romans do not appear to have distinguished the former by any special name.
PECUA'RIUS. A Roman grazier upon a very extensive scale, who farmed the public pastures, upon which he raised and grazed large herds of cattle. Cic. Verr. ii. 6. Liv. x. 23. Compare Varro, R. R. iii. 1. 8.
PED'ICA (πέδη). A general term for any snare or gin by which birds and wild animals are caught by the leg (Virg. Georg. i. 307. Liv. xxi. 36.); and sometimes applied to a fetter for men (Plaut. Pœn. iii. 1. 11.).
2. Pedica dentata (ποδάγρα, ποδοστράβη). A particular kind of trap, employed by the ancient huntsmen for taking wild deer (Grat. Cyneg. 92.), an account of which is given by Xenophon (Cyneg. ix. 12—20. Cyrop. i. 6. 28.), and Pollux (v. 32—34.) It consisted of a circular wooden frame, set round with teeth of wood and iron, within which a slip noose was fitted, with a heavy log of wood attached to its opposite extremity. The trap was set in a hole dug for the purpose, and covered over with earth, and the log concealed in another one at a little distance off. When the stag trod on the trap, the spikes pricked his foot, which induced him to withdraw his leg with a jerk, and thus upset the trap. That action slipped the noose on to his foot, and consequently fixed the clog to his leg, which by trailing along the ground, displacing stones, and marking the earth along the course taken in his flight, put the huntsman upon his track, whilst it also materially checked and hampered his speed; for if it got fixed on a front leg, it would fly upwards with every bound, and strike against his breast, neck, or face; if on a hind leg, it would keep knocking against his thighs or belly; and sometimes, by getting wedged amongst stones or stumps, would bring him up to a complete stand-still. A trap very closely resembling this description is used for a similar purpose by the modern Arabs (Wilkinson, Manners and Customs of Ancient Egyptians, vol. iii. p. 6.), which is supposed to be an old Egyptian invention; so that we may conclude it to have been common to several nations of antiquity.
PEDIS'EQUI. Slaves of both sexes, whose duty it was to attend upon their masters and mistresses whenever they went abroad. They formed a distinct class, and had peculiar services for their own to perform, different for instance, from the anteambulones and nomenclatores, who were not pedisequi, though they likewise followed their masters abroad. Nepos, Att. 13. Plaut. As. i. 3. 32.
PEDUM (κορύνη, λαγωβόλον). A shepherd's crook, for catching sheep and goats by the leg; always represented, in works of art, as a simple stick bent into a curve at one end, like the annexed example, from a Pompeian painting, where it is carried by Paris, the Phrygian shepherd; and in this form it is ascribed by poets and artists to the pastoral deities, Pan, the Fauns, and the Satyrs, and to the Muse who presided over pastoral or comic poetry, Thalia. (Festus, s. v. Virg. Ecl. v. 88. Serv. ad l.) An implement of the same description, but rather shorter and stouter, was also employed by the ancient sportsmen and rustics as a throw-stick for casting at hares (Theocr. Id. iv. 49. vii. 129.), from which practice it received the last of the two Greek names bracketed above; and consequently in works of art it is appropriately given in that form to the Centaurs, who are often represented with a dead hare in one hand and a short pedum in the other, to denote the fondness which that race was supposed to cherish for the sport of hunting.
PEGMA (πῆγμα). Literally, anything made of boards joined together; whence, in a special sense, a machine introduced upon the stage, in the amphitheatre, or upon other occasions where pageants were exhibited, for the purpose of representing any sudden or miraculous change of scenic effect. The apparatus was made of wood, and so constructed, by means of springs and weights in the internal machinery, that it would open and shut, expand or contract, increase or diminish in height, or change of itself into a form altogether different from the original one; like the contrivances employed at our theatres for producing the tricks and changes in a pantomime, of which the pegma was the prototype. Senec. Ep. 88. Claud. Mall. Theod. 325. Phædr. v. 7. 7. Suet. Claud. 34.
2. In a private house, the term pegma was given generally to seveal pieces of furniture, as, the case in an atrium in which the ancestral portraits (imagines majorum) were deposited, a bookcase, cupboard, &c., whether fixtures or not. Auson. Epigr. 26. Cic. Att. iv. 8. Ulp. Dig. 33. 7. 12.
PEGMA'RES. Gladiators introduced into the amphitheatre upon a pegma, which was then made to undergo some sudden change, such as turning into a den filled with wild beasts, amongst which they would be precipitated. (Suet. Cal. 26.) But as the word only occurs in this passage, and the reading is regarded as doubtful, the explanation of it can only be received as a conjectural probability.
PELECI'NON. One of the may kinds of sun-dials constructed by the ancients, supposed to have received the name from bearing a resemblance to the form of a "dove-tail" in carpentry, and thus to be derived from the Greek word πελεκίνος, which has that signification; a conjecture rendered highly probable by the annexed example, published by Lambecccio (Append. ad Lib. IV. Comment. p. 282.); the top of which is formed exactly like a dove-tail.
PELLEX (παλλακή). A woman who lived in a state of immoral intercourse with a married man, or with one who had contracted the sort of alliance termed concubitus with another female. Dig. 50. 16. 144. Becker, Gallus.
PELLICULA'TUS. Covered with skin or leather, especially with reference to a bottle or a jar in which fruits, preserves, and other articles requiring the air to be excluded were kept; as in the annexed example, from a Pompeian painting, in which the edges of the leather cap are seen protruding from underneath the lid, which is tied down by cords passing through the handles. Columell. xii. 46. 5. Ib. 39. 2. and 46. 1.
PELLI'TUS. Clad in fur or skins; a common style of clothing amongst the northern nations, the Greeks of the heroic ages, and Romans of primitive times, and which continued in use at a subsequent period for the peasantry, and others subjected to the exposure of a country life, such as hunters, fowlers, &c. (Liv. xxiii. 40. Ov. Pont. iv. 8. 83. Prop. iv. 1. 11.) Clothing of this nature is frequently met with on works of art in the form of an exomis; but the annexed figure, representing a fowler from a statue at Naples, wears a tunic, with an amictus over it, both made of fur.
PELLU'VIA or -UM (ποδανιπτήρ). A foot-pan, or basin for washing the feet in, as opposed to malluvium, a basin for washing the hands. (Festus, s. v.) The illustration, from a Pompeian painting, represents Cupid preparing a foot-bath for Adonis, who, in the original composition, is sitting in front of the vessel; and a bas-relief in Winkelmann (Mon. Ined. No. 161.) exhibits the old nurse washing the feet of Ulysses in a vessel of similar form and character.
PELTA (πέλτη). A small and light shield made of the same materials as the cetra (Liv. xxviii. 5.); viz. wood or wicker-work covered with leather, but without any metallic rim. In shape it was sometimes elliptic, like the example borne by one of the female figures in the following page; but more commonly truncated at the top, and indented by one or two semicircular incavations, like the annexed specimens, from ancient monuments, whence it is characterised by the epithet lunata (Virg. Æn. 1. 490. Compare Varro, L. L. vii. 43.); and in this form it is more especially characteristic of the Amazons and Asiatic races (Quint. Smyrn. i. 147—149.); for the Thracian shield, to which the name of pelta was also given (Herod. vii. 75.), because made of the same light materials, possessed a square and imbricated figure, like the Roman scutum, but upon a smaller scale. See PARMA, 2. and the right-hand figure in the next wood-cut.
PELTAS'TA (πελταστής). In a general sense, one who wears the light shield called pelta; but the name was also specially given to a particular class of the Greek soldiery who were equipped with this defence (Liv. xxviii. 5. xxxi. 36.), composed originally of Thracian mercenaries, but subsequently adopted into the regular army by Iphicrates the Athenian. (Xen. Hell. iv. 4. 16. v. 12. seq.) In addition to the pelta, they carried a knife or dirk, but had no body armour (Herod. vii. 75.), and thus occupied an intermediate grade between the heavy-armed troops (ὁπλῖται) and those who were altogether unprovided with protective arms (ψιλοί). (Polyb. v. 22. Ib. 23. Ib. 25.) The left-hand figure of Priam in the annexed illustration, from a marble bas-relief, exhibits and Asiatic peltasta, whose costume corresponds very closely with the description of Herodotus (l. c.); and the right-hand one, from a terra-cotta lamp, represents a gladiator of the class called Thracians (Thraces), who were equipped in the same style as the soldiers of that country; and, consequently, may be received also as an exemplification of the accoutrements and general appearance presented by the military belonging to the corps in question.
PELTA'TA. In a general sense, any female who bears the small light shield called pelta; but more especially used to designate a female warrior of Amazonian race, to whom it is universally attributed by poets and artists as the national arm of defence. Ov. Her. xxi. 117. Am. ii. 14. 2. Mart. ix. 102. Compare Stat. Theb. xii. 761., where peltifera is used in the same sense. The illustration represents two Amazons, from a marble bas-relief; the one on the left hand, with a lunated pelta of the most usual form, the other of a cylindrical figure, which is of much rarer occurrence.
PELVIS (πέλις). A basin, in the same extensive meaning as our own term; meaning thereby a large vessel of circular form and open circumference (hence patula, Juv. iii. 277.), intended to hold water for washing for all general purposes, whether persons or things; thus, as a generic term, including the special varieties, although they might be designated by an appropriate name of their own; as the hand-basin (malluvium, where see the illustration), the foot-basin (pelluvium, where an example is also given), and various others enumerated in the Classed Index. Non. Marc. s. v. p. 543. Varro, L. L. v. 119. Pet. Sat. 70. 8. Juv. vi. 441.
PENA'TES. Household gods, who were believed to be the creators and dispensers of all the well-being and gifts of fortune enjoyed by a family, as well as an entire community, which it was the object of the guardian spirits (lares) to protect and preserve. It is not clear whether all, or which of the gods, were venerated as penates; for many are mentioned of both sexes, Jupiter, Juno, Minerva, Vesta, Neptune, Apollo, &c.; but every family worshipped one or more of these, whose images were kept in the inner part of the house, the tablinum, situated beyond the atrium. (Cic. N. D. ii. 27. Macrob. Sat. iii. 4. Varro, ap. Arnob. iii. 123. Serv. ad Æn. ii. 296. and 325.) They are represented in various ways on coins and medals; but in the annexed illustration, from the Vatican Virigil, which has the name inscribed over them, they appear as old men with their head veiled, like a priest when officiating at the sacrifice.
PENICIL'LUM or -US (probably ῥαβδίον. Clearch. ap. Athen. xv. 35.) A painter's brush or
PENICULAMEN'TUM. The end or pointed extremity of a loose garment, such as the chlamys or pallium, which hangs down like the tuft end of a tail. Ennius. Lucil. Cæcil. ap. Non. s. v. p. 149.
PENIC'ULUS. A paint-brush. (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 36. § 11.) Same as PENICILLUM, which some editions have in the passage cited.
2. A brush for dusting, made out of the tuft of a cow's tail. Plaut. Men. i. 1. 1. Ib. ii. 3. 45.
PENNA. A quill, or large feather growing from the wing or tail, as contradistinct from pluma, the small feather composing the general plumage of the body (Columell. viii. 2. 10.); employed for various purposes, the whole feather for sweeping and dusting out confined or intricate recesses (Pallad. Nov. viii. 1.); the quill part for making tooth-picks (Mart. xiv. 22.); the feather end for making a wing (ala) to the arrow (Ov. Met. vi. 258.), which kepts its head straight, and directed its course through the air. SAGITTA.
2. A pen for writing (Isidor. Orig. xiv. 3.), made of a quill, as shown by the annexed example, from the Columns of Trajan and Antoninus, on both of which it appears in the hands of a female figure, personified as Victory, and occupied in recording the military successes of those emperors. The use of the quill, as an implement for writing upon parchment or paper, is, however, of a comparatively late period, the reed or cane (arundo, calamus) being solely employed for that purpose in early times. Beckman assigns the fifth century as the period of its introduction (History of Inventions, vol. i. p. 408. London, 1846); but he was only cognizant of one instance where it is represented on works of art—the marble of the goddess Egeria (Gronov. Thesaur. Antiq. Gr. 2. n. 28.), in which he suggests the probability of the pen having been added by a subsequent hand. Admitting that to be an established fact, instead of a supposition, the two instances quoted above will still remain to be disposed of; and as the object in question appears on both of them about midway up the columns, that is, at an elevation of nearly sixty-four feet above the ground, it would be mere folly to suppose that a scaffolding of that height was ever erected for the useless purpose of making any such addition. It is, therefore, obvious that quill pens were made as early at least as the commencement of the second century, when the Column of Trajan was executed, though they may not have come into general or common use until a much later period.
PEN'NIPES. Having feathers or wings attached to the feet; an epithet given to Mercury and Perseus. (Catull. lxv. 24.) Same as ALIPES, which see.
PEN'SILIS. See HORREUM and HORTUS, 3.
PEN'SUM. That which is weighed out as a task; more especially applied to the labour of females, because a certain quantity of wool was weighed out daily to each of the female slaves in an ancient household, which she was expected to spin into thread for her day's work. Justin. i. 3. Plaut. Virg. Ov. and LANIPENDIA
PENTASPAS'TOS (πεντάσπαστον). A pulley case, containing a set of five pullies (orbiculi) for raising weights, like the example s. ORBICULUS, only more powerful from its increased action. Vitruv. x. 2. 3.
PENTATH'LUM (πένταθλον). A word merely translated from the Greek, for which the genuine Latin expression is QUINQUERTIUM.
PENTELO'RIS, sc. vestis. A garment ornamented with five bands of gold embroidery or purple, as explained under the word PARAGAUDA. Aurel. Vopisc. 46.
PENTE'RIS (πεντήρης). A word merely translated from the Greek, for which the genuine Latin term is QUINQUEREMIS.
PE'NULA. See PÆNULA.
PEP'LUM and PE'PLUS (πέπλον and πέπλος). A Greek word translated into Latin, designating a particular article of the female attire, which the Romans expressed by the corresponding term PALLA; the Greek word being derived, according to Riemer, from πέλλα, and akin to ἔπιπλα and ἐπίπλοον; from which the Latin pellis, palla, and pallium are likewise obtained. The ordinary interpretation given to the word, "a shawl," rests upon no substantial authority, if it be understood in our sense of the word; at the same time that it affords but a loose and incorrect notion of the dress itself, and the method of adjusting it; which is fully and circumstantially detailed under its genuine Latin name Palla; to which and the illustrations accompanying it, the reader is referred.
As the above explanation is at variance with the notions ordinarily received, it appears incumbent to state in a concise manner some of the principal reasons for its adoption; and as the article in question belonged properly to the Greek attire, its real character must be sought in the writings and usages of that country. 1. Pollux (vii. 49, 50.) describes the peplum as a dress exclusively for females, which served the double purpose of a tunica and pallium (like the Latin tunicopallium—ἐπιβλημα καὶ χιτὼν, and ἔσθημα δ᾿ ἐστὶ διπλοῦν τὴν χρείαν, ὡς ἐνδοῦναι τε καὶ ἐπιβάλλεσθαι). 2. The Scholiast on Homer (Il. v. 734.) defines it to be a tunic, which was not put on over the head, like the common one (INDUTUS), but was adjusted and fastened on the person by means of brooches (γυναικεῖον ἔνδυμα, τοῦτ᾿ ἐστὶ χιτῶνα, ὃν οὐκ ἐνεδύοντο ἀλλ᾿ ἐνεπερονῶντο). 3. Eustathius (ad Od. σ p. 1847.) describes the peplum as a large wrapper which entirely covered the left shoulder, and had one of its surfaces passed behind the person, and the other across the front, until they met on the right side, where they were joined together in such a manner as to leave the arm and shoulder exposed (μέγαν περιβόλαιον, σκέπον τὸν ἀρίστερον ὦμον, και ἔμπροσθεν καì ὄπισθεν συνάγον τὰς δῦο πτέρυγας εῖς τὴν δεξιὰν πλευρὰν, γυμνὴν ἐῶν τὴν δεξιὰν χεῖρα καὶ τὸν ὦμον). The annexed figure, from a statue found at Herculaneum, and composing one of the same set as the first two inserted in the article PALLA, p. 465., elucidates the words of Eustathius in a striking manner, showing the character of the drapery and method of putting it on; with the exception, that his account seems to place the second brooch under the arm, instead of upon the shoulder, so as to form an exomis, of which an example is afforded in Hope's Costumes, vol. ii. p. 180., whence we may infer that both these fashions were practised; but that in no wise alters the essential character of the dress. 4. Panthea is described by Xenophon (Cyr. v. 1. 6.) as rending her peplum during an access of grief—περικατερῥήξατο τὸν ἄνωθεν πέπλον; which does not mean simply, that she "tore and rent her outer garment," as the translators render it; but that she tore the upper part (τὸ ἄνωθεν) of her peplum; viz. that which is turned over at the top, and covers the breast and back, rending it round (περὶ) and down (κατά)—an action and expression perfectly intelligible when applied to a garment of the nature exhibited in the illustration above, but not so reconcileable with a shawl over the head. During this act her face, neck, and hands were exposed to the gaze of the bystanders (Xen. l. c.); from which the commentators infer that the peplum covered the head and hands as a shawl; but that is quite a mistaken notion; for the Greek and Roman women, as well as Asiatics, wore a seperate shawl or veil (amictus) over the peplum (see the illustration s. PALLA, 3. p. 467.); and it is this which got displaced, as it naturally would, from the head and face, by the violent action of tearing the body-dress (peplum) in the manner described. 5. The peplum is mentioned both by Greek and Latin authors as a long dress reaching to the feet, and trailing on the ground (Τρωάδας ἑλκεσιπέπλους, Hom. Il. vi. 443. peplum fluens, Claud. Nupt. Honor. 122. Manil. v. 387.), which character it is difficult to connect with the appearance of a shawl. 6. The same term is applied by the Greeks to the long close-fitting robe with sleeves to the wrist, and skirts to the feet, which was worn by the Persians (Æsch. Pers. 474. 1060.), as the Romans gave the name of palla to a robe of the same description, which was worn by musicians on the stage. See the illustrations to SEPTUCHUS and PALLA CITHAROEDICA. 7. The peplum was fastened by a brooch on the shoulder, which, when unclasped, left the shoulder and side naked (Soph. Trachin. 926—928. Sidon. Apoll. Carm. iii. 206.); but a shawl, which is only worn over some other dress, would not denude the person even when removed altogether from the body. 8. A garment of the nature described under the term PALLA answers all these conditions, and satisfactorily explains why it is sometimes mentioned as a tunic, and sometimes as a amictus (Mart. Capell. 6. amicta peplo); why it occurs in the sense of a carpet, curtain, veil for covering anything; how the notion of its being only a shawl has obtained; and how, when carried in the Athenaic procession, it was said to be like the sail of a ship; because, when loosed from its clasps, and unfolded, it was in reality nothing more than a large rectangular piece of drapery, which acquired the characteristic appearance of a legitimate garment from the manner in which it was folded and adjusted on the person.
2. The peplum of Athena was a large and splendidly embroidered piece of drapery, that was carried in public procession at the Panathenaic festival, opened out to its full dimensions, and borne between two poles, like the sail of a ship, in the same manner as emblazoned flags and banners are now carried by two men in the solemn processions of the Roman Catholic Church (Plato, Euthyphr. 6. C. Virg. Cir. 21.); but when placed on the statue of the goddess, it was folded and adjusted in the same manner as the PALLA. This will be readily admitted from the annexed figure of Minerva on a fictile vase; although the brooches on the shoulders are concealed by the amictus outside, and the peplum is fastened by a girdle, rendered necessary by the great depth of the upper part turned down (τὸν ἄνωθεν πέπλον), thus indicating the amplitude and consequent splendour of the drapery out of which the dress was formed. Many other statues exhibit Minerva in a similar costume; and amongst these, one of the Museo Chiaramonti (tav. 14.), which has no outer drapery, shows the brooches on both shoulders, and the whole arrangement of the peplum exactly similar to the first two figures introduced under the article PALLA, the only difference being that the fall over is as deep as in the annexed figure, and a narrow ægis crosses obliquely from the right shoulder, in the form of a balteus, to keep the dress adjusted, instead of a girdle round the waist.
PE'RA (πήρα). A scrip or wallet, made of leather and slung by a strap over the shoulder; used by travellers, rustics, mendicants, and the cynic philosophers in imitation of them, to carry provisions and other necessaries. (Phædr. iv. 9. Senec. Ep. 91. Mart. vi. 53.) The illustration represents a peasant with his staff and scrip (baculo et pera) from a marble at Ince-Blundell.
PERFORA'CULUM. An instrument employed by carpenters, carvers in wood, and artizans of a similar class; usually translated a gimlet or auger; but it is clearly distinguished from the terebra in the following passage, where its connexion with the word dolatus would seem to indicate some implement more in the nature of a gouge—perforaculis dolatum, terebrarum vertigine excavatum. (Arnob. vi. 200.
PER'GULA. Literally, and in a general sense, any kind of building added on to the side of a house or other edifice, beyond the original ground-plan, as an outhouse or lean-to, like the outbuilding in front of the annexed landscape, representing a country-house or farm, in one of the Pompeian paintings. (Plaut. Pseud. i. 2. 84. Pet. Sat. 74.) Whence the following more special senses:—
2. A stall or balcony constructed over the colonnades of a forum, and abutting from the buildings adjacent; chiefly intended for the occupation of bankers and money changers. Plin. H. N. xxi. 6. and compare MÆNIANUM.
3. A painter's exhibition-room; a large outbuilding in which the artists of antiquity were accustomed to expose their works to public view, when finished. Lucil. ap. Lactan. i. 22. Plin. H. N. xxxv. 36. § 12. Cod. Theodos. 13. 4. 4.
4. A lecture room in which any of the arts or sciences were taught. Suet. Gramm. 18. Juv. xi. 137. Vopisc. Saturn. 10.
5. An observatory at the top of a house for taking astronomical observations. Suet. Aug. 94.
6. In vineyards and gardens a long covered walk, over which the vines were trained to a framework of wood or trellis, as in the annexed example from a painting of the Nasonian sepulchre. (Liv. xiv. 3. Columell. iv. 21. 2. Id. xi. 2. 32.) The modern Italians retain the word "la pergola" in the same sense.
PERIPETAS'MA (περιπέτασμα). A general term, strictly Greek, for any thing which is spread out, as a covering, curtain, tapestry hanging, &c. Cic. Verr. ii. 4. 12. See AULAEA, PERISTROMA, TAPES.
PERIP'TEROS (περίπτερος). A term employed by architects to designate a temple or other edifice which is surrounded on the outside by a colonnade consisting of a single row of columns all round. (Vitruv. iii. 2.) The temple of Theseus at Athens affords an existing specimen of the style.
PERIS'CELIS (περισκελίς). An anklet, made of choice materials and workmanship, worn more particularly by the Greek women and courtezans round the ankle in the same manner as a bracelet is round the wrist. (Hor. Ep. i 17. 56. Pet. Sat. 67. 4 and 5.) In the numerous instances where ornaments of this description are represented in the Pompeian paintings, they are always introduced upon figures with bare feet and legs, dancing girls and such characters, or the goddesses and heroines draped in the poetical or heroic style, like the annexed example representing Ariadne; consequently, in the passage of Petronius (l. c.), where they are worn by the wife of Trimalchio, and seen peeping from under her tunic above the tops of her shoes, it is expressly intended to ridicule the ostentation, vulgarity, and absurdity of the wealthy parvenu and his silly helpmate, without regarding its fitness, or perceiving the ridiculous figure she makes of herself.
PERISTRO'MA (περίστρωμα). In general any thing which serves as a covering, like the curtains, carpets, and hangings of a room; but more especially a large and loose coverlet customarily spread over a bed or dining couch so as to hang down round the sides, in the manner shown by the annexed illustration from the Vatican Virgil. Cic. Phil. ii. 27.
PERISTYL'IUM (περιστύλιον). A peristyle; that is, a colonnade round a courtyard, or in the interior of a building, which has the columns on the inside and the walls without; whereas the term peripterus is used to express a structure designed upon a plan precisely the reverse of this; viz. a colonnade on the exterior of a building, which has the columns on its outside, and the wall within. Suet. Aug. 82. Plin. Ep. x. 23. 2. Schneider. Vitruv. iii. 3. 9.
2. The peristyle of a Roman house, which formed the second or inner division of the general ground-plan, corresponding in locality with the Gynæconitis of a Greek domicile; and was regarded as the internal or private portion of the edifice, containing the domestic apartments in the ordinary occupation of the proprietor and his family, to which none but their immediate friends and acquaintances had access. It consisted of an open space, surrounded internally with a colonnade, like the Atrium, but covering a larger area, open to the sky, and sometimes laid out as a garden, with a fountain and impluvium in the centre; the apartments occupied by the family being distributed round its sides, and opening upon the colonnade in question. It was separated from the Atrium by the tablinum and fauces, which made passages of communication between the two divisions. (Vitruv. vi. 3. 7.) The illustration above represents an elevation of half the peristyle of a house at Pompeii, restored by Mazois; and its relative situation with respect to the rest of the house will be understood by referring to the ground-plan at p. 248. col. 2 on which it is marked F F.
PERIS'TYLUM (περίστυλον). Cic. Dom. 44. Varro, R. R. iii. 5. 8. Same as the preceding.
PERO (ἀρβύλη). A boot reaching up to the calf of the leg, laced in front and made of raw hide, or untanned leather, with the fur on. (Virg. Æn. vii. 690. Juv. xiv. 186. Isidor. Orig. xix. 34.) The example is from a Pompeian painting.
PERONA'TUS. Wearing the boots last described (perones, Pers. v. 102.); the characteristic chaussure of agricultural labourers, ploughmen, and shepherds, of which last a specimen is inserted from the Vatican Virgil.
PERPENDI'CULUM (κάθετος). A plumb-line or line and plummet, employed by bricklayers, masons, &c., for the purpose of proving if their work be true to the perpendicular. (Vitruv. vii. 3. 5. Cic. ap. Non. s. v. p. 162. Plin. H. N. xxxv. 49.) The illustration represents an original found with several others in a stone mason's shop at Pompeii; and numerous examples have been discovered in various excavations, all bearing a considerable resemblance to one another, and differing in no respect from those now in use, with the exception that they are made of bronze instead of lead, and exhibit taste in their design, which the ancients constantly studied even in the commonest articles of daily use.
PERSO'NA (πρόσωπον or -ειον). A mask, always worn upon the stage in the theatres of ancient Greece and Italy, by the actors of all classes, tragic, comic, or pantomimic. The part which covered the face was made of wood (Prudent. Adv. Symm. ii. 646. Compare Virg. Georg. ii. 387.), and to this a wig of suitable character was added, so that the entire head of the actor, as well as his face, was completely covered (Aul. Gell. v. 7.), and travestied. Moreover, every age and condition of life, from youth to decrepitude, or from the hero to the slave, was represented by an appropriate mask, the characteristics of which were sufficiently well known for the quality and condition of the personage represented to be immediately recognised by the spectators upon his appearance on the stage; and the wig belonging to each particular mask had a settled style of coiffure, as well known as the features its accompanied. Those which were intended to personify historical personages, heroes, demi-gods, &c. were designed in imitation of some well-known type, handed down through ages by the poets, painters, and sculptors; and, consequently, were oftentimes beautiful representations of ideal forms; the others, employed in general tragedy and comedy, were very numerous, and varied in their detail, as explained in the two following paragraphs.
2. Persona tragica. The tragic mask (Phædr. i. 7.), of which there were at least twenty-five different kinds, six for old men, seven for young men, nine for females, and three for slaves; distinguished by a particular conformation of features, colour of the complexion, and arrangement as well as colour of the hair and beard. The illustration shows three of these varieties, from Pompeian paintings, two for old men, and one for a young character; that on the right, with the grand superficies, for stately tragedy; the one on the left, with the hair also disposed in a superficies, but with more sobriety, and a more natural appearance, for middle tragedy; and the youthful one in the centre, which has the hair disposed in a similar fashion, but with still less of exaggeration, belonging to the same class; all exactly as described by Pollux, iv. 133. seq.
3. Persona comica. The comic mask, of which no less than forty-three different types are enumerated, distinguished, in the same manner as the last-mentioned, by their features, complexion, and wigs; viz. nine for old men, ten for young men, seven for male slaves, three for old women, and fourteen for young women. The annexed illustration affords an example of two kinds, from the paintings of Pompeii; the right one of an old man, the other of a young woman, with her head in the mitra intended for a courtezan (meretrix), as described by Pollux (l. c.). Other specimens of comic masks are introduced, s. PERSONATUS, LORARIUS, MIMUS.
4. Persona muta. Another kind of mask was that worn by the dumb actor, persona muta, enumerated in the dramatis personæ to some of the comedies of Plautus and Terence, who comes upon the stage as an attendant upon other, but never speaks himself; corresponding with the "walking gentleman" of the modern drama. It is represented by the annexed woodcut from a Pompeian painting, in which the closed mouth and compressed lips indicate the silent character of the actor who wore it.
5. A mask of terra-cotta, marble, or other material, designed to imitate the human face, heads of animals, or similar devices, generally of grotesque forms, employed as an antefix in buildings (see woodcuts s. ANTEFIXA); as an ornamental escapement for the water of a fountain; or as a gargoil for discharging the rain-water from a roof, of which the annexed illustration affords a specimen, from an original of terra-cotta. Lucret. iv. 297. Plin. H. N. xxxv. 43. Ulp. dig. 19. 1. 17.
PERSONA'TUS. Masked, or wearing a mask (persona); more especially with reference to an actor on the stage (Cic. Orat. iii. 59. Hor. Sat. i. 4. 56.); for in the ancient theatres of Greece and Italy the performers always appeared in masks, designed to suit the particular characters which each had to play; of which an example is afforded by the annexed illustration, representing one of the figures on a marble bas-relief, on which a scene from some comedy is delineated.
PER'TICA. Any long thin rod or pole, for threshing corn (Plin. H. N. xviii. 72.); nut trees (Ov. Nux, 67.); olives (Plin. H. N. xv. 3.); as a measuring rod, or perch (Prop. iv 1. 130.), also termed pertica militaris (Serv. ad Virg. Ecl. ix. 7.), because the lands apportioned amongst the military were measured off into allotments by this instrument. Thence it is often expressed on medals and engraved gems by the side of a plough. See Gorlaeus, Dactyliothec. ii. Nos. 608. 610.
PES (πούς). A foot of men and animals, upon which the body is supported; thence transferred to inanimate things, as the foot of a table, chair, stool, couch, &c., which were sometimes made to imitate the feet of animals, or other ornamental terminations similar to what are still in use, as shown by numerous examples introduced in the course of these pages. Sen. Ben. ii. 34. Ov. Met. viii. 661. Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 4.
2. A foot measure, which was divided into twelve inches (unciæ), and subdivided into sixteen digits (digiti, Vitruv. iii. 1. Columell. v. 1. 4. Front. Aq. 24.). The precise length of the old Roman foot has not been distinctly ascertained, for though several foot rules of bronze have been found in excavations, they all vary slightly in their respective dimensions. One of these, from an original found at Pompeii, is represented s. REGULA 1., for the limited width of these pages will not admit of its being inserted on a scale sufficient to show the real length. Several examples, however, of the actual size are engraved in the Museo Borbonico vi. 15. and Ficoroni, Labico Antico, p. 93.
3. Pes veli. A rope attached to the clew or lower corner of a square sail, for the purpose of setting it to the wind, called the sheet in the nautical language of our country. (Isidor. Orig. xix. 3. 4.) Each sail was furnished with two sheets, as shown by the annexed example, from a coin of Lepidus, one on the larboard, the other on the starboard clew (Catull. iv. 19.); whence the following expressions will be readily understood: æquo pede, or pedibus æquis (Ov. Fast. iii. 565. Cic. Att. xvi. 6.), to sail before the wind, because then the sail was set straight across the vessel, and consequently both sheets were braced to the same length; obliquare lævo pede cornua (Lucan. v. 428.), to sail on a wind, or by the wind, because in such case the yard and sail were braced up, or slanted across the vessel, to catch the slant of the wind; proferre pedem (Plin. H. N. ii. 48.) has the same meaning, because one of the sheets was brought and braced forward, as in the illustration, to give the necessary obliquity to the sail already mentioned; facere pedem (Virg. Æn. v. 828.), to slack out the sheets in order that the sail may expand to the wind, also implying that the wind comes from a favourable quarter.
4. Pes vinaceorum. The mass of grape skins and stalks remaining after the first juice, which made the finest wine, had been squeezed out by the press-beam (prelum), and from which the wine termed circumcidaneum, and other inferior qualities, were subsequently extracted by the repeated action of the beam. Columell. xii. 43. 10. Ib. 19. 3. Compare the woodcut s. TORCULAR.
PES'SULUS (κλεῖθρον, μάνδαλος, κατοχεύς). A bolt for fastening a door (Ter. Eun. iii. 5. 55. Id. Heaut. ii. 3. 37.), of which the annexed illustration affords a specimen, from a bronze original found at Pompeii. The doors of the ancients being generally bivalve had two, and sometimes four bolts affixed to them, one at the top, and the other at the bottom of each leaf, which shot into sockets incavated in the lintel and sill of the doorway, still to be seen in many houses of Pompeii, whence the bolts are mostly mentioned in the plural when the closing and bolting of doors is spoken of (Plaut. Aul. i. 3. 26. occlude fores ambobus pessulis, Apul. Met. iii. p. 56. pessulis injectis, Id. iv. p. 76. Id. i. p. 8); and sometimes they could not be drawn back without a key, for which purpose the three-toothed key (clavis Laconica, p. 174) was probably used (Apul. Met. i. p. 11. subdita clavi pessulos reduco); though in this and other similar passages the pessuli may only mean the bolts of a lock, as we also apply our term with the same general acceptation.
PETASA'TUS. (Cic. Fam. xv. 17. Suet. Aug. 82.) Wearing the petasus, as described and illustrated in the following word.
PET'ASUS (πέτασος). A common felt hat, with a low crown and broad brim, adopted by the Romans from Greece, and worn in both countries as a protection against the sun and weather. (Plaut. Pseud. ii. 4. 45. Amph. i. 1. 190. Compare Suet. Aug. 82.) Hats of this kind were naturally made in many different shapes, according to individual caprice or fashion; but the most usual form approximated closely to that now worn by our country people and railroad labourers, with the exception of being fastened by strings, which either passed under the chin or round the back part of the head. Both of these manners are exhibited in the illustrations, the one from a Pompeian painting, the other from a Greek bas-relief. Most of the horsemen in the Panathenaic procession, from the Parthenon, preserved in the British Museum, wear the petasus; and one of the conventional signs, adopted by the Greek artists, to indicate that a person was represented on a journey, consisted of depicting him with a petasus slung at the back of his neck, as seen on the figure at p. 147.
PETAURIS'TA (πεταυριστής). One who performs feats of agility upon the machine termed petaurum (Festus s. v. Varro ap. Non. s. v. p. 56. Pet. Sat. 53. 11.); but as the real nature of that object has not been ascertained, it is impossible to identify the character of those who exhibited themselves upon it.
PETAU'RUM (πέταυρον). A Greek word, signifying in that language a perch for fowls to roost on; whence it was adopted, amongst the Romans more particularly, as the name for a contrivance or machine employed in the exhibition of certain feats of strengh and agility, or as in a game of mere amusement, like that of swinging. Its precise character, however, still remains involved in uncertainty, every attempt at a definite explanation failing to reconcile itself with the different passages in which the word occurs, though each appears to be supported by some one or more of them. Amongst these the following are the most plausible conjectures hazarded. 1. A general term for all the apparatus used by rope-dancers, tumblers, and similar characters; including the poles, ropes, hoops, &c., required for the different displays exhibited by them. 2. A long plank poised upon an upright at its centre of gravity, and working like our "see-saw," with one man at each extremity, and the third who stood upon the centre, and bounded over the heads of the others on to the ground and back again, something like the exhibition displayed upon the gem introduced s. MONOBOLON. 3. A wheel suspended in the air, and worked round and round by the weight of two men standing upon it, one above and the other below, who also exhibited other feats of dexterity whilst they thus kept it in motion. 4. A wheel, placed horizontally, like a potter's wheel, upon which the tumbler performed his evolutions, whilst the wheel itself was in a state of rapid rotation. The passages relied on for each of these interpretations are the following: — Lucil. ap. Fest. s. v., or p. 87. 40. ed. Gerlach. Manil. Astron. v. 434. Juv. xiv. 265. Pet. Fragm. 13. Mart. ii. 86. xi. 21.
PETO'RITUM or PETOR'RITUM. A four-wheeled open carriage, amongst the Romans used chiefly for the transport of servants and attendants, but of which no representation is known to exist. It was, however, of foreign origin, probably introduced from Gaul, and derived from the Celtic words petoar, four, and rit, a wheel. Hor. Ep. ii. 1. 192. Id. Sat. i. 6. 104. Festus s. v. Aul. Gell. xv. 30.
PHÆCASIA'TUS. Wearing shoes of the kind called phæcasia; especially characteristic of the Greeks. Senec. Ep. 113.
PHÆCAS'IUM (φαικάσιον). A white shoe, proper to the Athenian gymnasiarchs and priesthood of Greece and Alexandria; though also adopted by other classes of both sexes. Senec. Ben. vii. 21. Anthol. vi. 254. Pet. Sat. 67. 4.
PHALAN'GA or PALAN'GA (φάλαγξ). A strong round pole employed by porters to assist them in carrying heavy weights, the ends being rested on their shoulders and the load suspended from it between them at the centre of gravity, as in the annexed example, which represents two of the soldiers on Trajan's column making use of the contrivance in question. Vitruv. x. 3. 7, 8, and 9.
2. A wooden cylinder or roller intended for placing under objects of great weight to assist in moving them, as, for instance, under the bottom of a vessel, whilst being hauled on shore, or launched from the beach. Non. s. v. p. 163. Varro, ap. Non. l. c. Cæs. B. C. ii. 10.
3. Pieces of valuable wood, such as ebony for example, cut into truncheons or cylinders, as objects of merchandise. Plin. H. N. xii. 8.
4. A truncheon employed as a weapon in warfare, the origin of which is attributed to the Africans during their contests with the Egyptians (Plin. H. N. vii. 57.). These were probably cut out of some strong and heavy kind of wood; but an instrument of iron, corresponding with the form and name of the weapon, has been discovered, amongst many other objects of an unique character, in a tomb at Pæstum, together with a painting on the walls of the sepulchre, which represents a Greek warrior on horseback, carrying the truncheon and a shield suspended from his spear, as shown by the annexed illustration. The implement itself, which is engraved at the bottom of the woodcut, is rather more than two feet long, not including the ring at the end; and the manner in which it and the shield are carried in the picture above, renders it probable that they were represented as a trophy, which the owner of the tomb had really taken from some enemy in battle. The object and the painting identify the instrument with its name, which hitherto had not been accomplished.
PHALANGA'RII or PALANGA'RII. Porters who carried things of bulk or great weight with the assistance of a strong pole (phalanga). Four, sex, and even eight men by this means combined their strength for the transport of a single object, as shown by the annexed example, from a terra-cotta lamp, representing eight porters bearing a cask of wine, suspended in the manner described. Vitruv. x. 3. 7. Inscript. ap. Fabretti, p. 10.
2. Soldiers formed into a phalanx. Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 50.
PHALANGI'TES (φαλαγγίτης). A soldier armed and equipped in the same manner as those of the Macedonian phalanx. Liv. xxxvii. 40. xlii. 51.
PHAL'ERÆ (τὰ φάλαρα). Bosses of gold, silver, or other metals, cast or chased with some appropriate device in relief; such, for instance, as the head of a god, image of a king or emperor, or other allusive design, and frequently having additional pendants, in the form of drops and crescents attached to them; which were worn as ornaments upon the breast by persons of distinction, by soldiers as a military decoration, presented by the commander for brilliant services, and as an ornamental trapping for horses. (Liv. ix. 46. Sil. ital. xv. 255. Virg. Æn. ix. 359. Id. v. 310. Claud. iv. Cons. Honor. 549.) The illustration represents a collar formed of phaleræ, with pendants attached to each alternate boss, from an original preserved in the Museum of Antiquities at Vienna, and the manner of wearing them is explained and illustrated by the two following examples (PHALERATUS).{TR: LINK TO PHALERATUS ADDED}
PHALERA'TUS. Wearing bosses (phaleræ) of the precious metals, as a decoration to the person; a practice originally characteristic of foreign nations (Suet., Nero, 30.), but adopted from Etruria by the Romans (Florus, i. 5, 6.), amongst whom they were chiefly employed as a military decoration for distinguished services, and worn in front of the chest (phaleris hic pectora fulget Sil. Ital. xv. 255.), attached to a broad belt, fastened over the bust, as exemplified by the annexed figure, representing the portrait of a centurion in his military accoutrements, from a carving on his tomb; seven phaleræ are exhibited on his person, three down the front of the breast, and two, the halves only of which appear in the drawing, on each side.
2. When applied to horses (Liv. xxx. 17. Suet. Cal. 19. Claud. 17.), it designates an ornament of similar description, sometimes affixed to the headstall or to a throat collar, as in the example from a fictile vase, or to a martingale over the chest, as in the woodcuts at p. 264.; where they hung as pendants (Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 74. Compare Claud. iv. Cons. Honor. 549.), shaking and shining with every motion of the animal.
PHAR'ETRA (φαρέτρα). A quiver, or case for arrows only, in contradistinction to corytus, a bow case, but which sometimes held the arrows as well as the bow. See the three following illustrations.
2. A particular kind of sun-dial, which from its designation is supposed to have borne some resemblance to a quiver; but in the absence of any known example representing such a figure, the interpretation can only be regarded in the light of a conjecture. Vitruv. ix. 8.
PHARETRA'TUS. Carrying a quiver (Virg. Hor. Ovid. &c.); which was practised amongst the ancients in three different ways:—1. by suspending it horizontally between the shoulders and at the back, as shown by the right-hand figure of the first woodcut, so that the arrow was drawn out over the right shoulder. 2. By suspending it low down the back so that the mouth came on a level with the left hip, as in the left-hand example, when the arrow was extracted by passing the hand across the belly. Both these figures personify the goddess of the chase, the first from a medal, the other from a terra-cotta lamp. 3. Or lastly, by slinging the quiver across the back, with its mouth towards the right elbow, so that the arrows were taken out by passing the right hand behind the back, in the manner exhibited by the annexed example, from a Greek marble, representing a Phrygian archer. The three figures will also explain many passages, more especially in the Greek poets, where the epithets used distinctly imply one or other of the different arrangements exhibited above.
PHARET'RIGER. Sil. Ital. xiv. 286. Same as PHARETRATUS.
PHARMACOPO'LA (φαρμακοπώλης). One who makes and vends quack medicines (Hor. Sat. i. 2. 1.); not a legitimate dealer or practitioner, but one of the class of mountebanks, still common in Italy and other countries, who frequent the public market places (Cic. Cluent. 14. circumforaneus), where they hold forth the virtues of their nostrums in a loud and fluent discourse (Cato ap. Gell. i. 5. 3.) to the ignorant multitude.
PHAR'OS and PHAR'US (πάρος). A light-house, so termed after the celebrated tower built by order of Ptolemy Philadelphus, on the island of Pharos, at the entrance to the port of Alexandria, which became a general model for most others (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 18. Solin. 32. Suet. Tib. 74. Stat. Sylv. iii. 5. 100.) The illustration represents a light-house on a medal of the Emperor Commodus, composed of a circular tower; others are met with of a square form; and the Roman light-house at Dover Castle, of which considerable remains are still visible, is of an octagonal figure; but they all present the same general features of a tall tower in several stories, diminishing upwards, with windows turned towards the sea, at which torches were kept burning for beacons during the night.
PHASE'LUS. See FASELUS.
PHIAL'A (φιάλη). Only a Greek word Latinized, for which the genuine Latin term is PATERA, where an explanation and illustration are given.
PHIL'YRA or PHIL'URA (φιλύρα). A thin strip cut from the inner coat of the papyrus, in order to make a sheet of writing paper. This was effected by glueing together a number of these strips, sufficient for the size of the sheet required, and then consolidating it by a number of similar layers fastened cross-ways at the back, which gave the requisite texture to the whole, and prevented the sheet from splitting in the direction of the fibres. Plin. H. N. xiii. 23.
PHI'MUS (φιμὸς), Hor. Sat. ii. 7. 17. The Greek name for a dice-box Latinized, for which the genuine Latin term is FRITILLUS, under which the word is explained and illustrated.
PHLEBOT'OMUS (φλεβοτόμος). A lancet or fleam for blood-letting. Veg. Vet. i. 19.
PHONAS'CUS (φωνασκός). One who teaches the art of regulating the voice; as a singing-master (Varro ap. Non. s. Suscitabulum. Suet. Nero, 25.); or as a master of elocution. (Suet. Aug. 84. Quint. ii. 8. 15. xi. 3. 19.)
2. In later times the leader of a chorus or band of singers (Sidon. Ep. iv. 11.), for which the proper word is PRÆCENTOR.
PHRYG'IO. An embroiderer, for which art the Phrygians were much renowned. Plaut. Aul. iii. 5. 34. Men. ii. 3. 77. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. iii. 484.
PHRYGIO'NIUS. Embroidered. Plin. H. N. viii. 74.
PHYL'ACA (φυλακή). Plaut. Capt. iii. 5. 93. A prison or place of custody; it is only a Greek word Latinized. See CARCER and ERGASTULUM.
PICTOR (γραφεύς). A painter or artist who exercises any branch of the pictorial art. (Cic. Acad. iv. 7. Hor. A. P. 9.) The illustration represents a portrait painter taking the likeness of a person who is sitting before him, from a design on the walls of a house at Pompeii, which, though a palbable caricature affords a very good idea of the interior of a Roman artist's studio. He sits upon a low stool in front of his easel, with a tray of colours beside him, and a pot of water to cleanse the only brush he uses; both which circumstances indicate an artist in water-colours, or in that style of encaustic painting in which the colours were laid on with a liquid brush (see ENCAUSTICA). Fronting him is the sitter, and behind, at the further end of the room, a pupil drawing on his board; while two assistants are engaged on the right in preparing the colours, probably mixed with wax, in a shallow pan placed over some hot coals, a further indication of the encaustic process. The heated coals, observable in the original, are lost in our engraving, from the inadvertance of the draughtsman, or in consequence of the very reduced scale upon which the drawing is executed. It will be remarked that the artist does not use a palette, which would not be required for either of the styles mentioned; but other examples amongst the Pompeian paintings exhibit a palette in the left hand (Mus. Borb. vi. 3.), of similar form to those used at the present day. Nevertheless, it is extremely probable that this article was not much employed by the ancient painters, as no name for it is known to exist either in the Greek or Latin language.
PICTU'RA (γραφή). A drawing or painting with lines or colours; thence the object itself so drawn or painted, a painting; of which the following kinds are enumerated.
1. Pictura in tabula. (Cic. Verr. ii. 4. 1. Quint. vi. 1. 32.) A painting on wood or panel, mostly on a slab of larch, and frequently fitted with two folding doors to shut in the picture and preserve it from dust and dirt, as shown by the annexed example, from a design at Pompeii, representing a picture on panel suspended over a doorway, and also illustrating the method in which such works were hung.
2. Pictura in linteo, or, in siparia. (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 38. Quint. l. c.) A painting on canvas, a material probably brought into use at a much later date than wood; but clearly represented by the annexed example, from a design at Pompeii, which also shows the frame upon which it was stretched very similar to those now employed for embroidery and worsted working.
3. Pictura inusta. (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 39. Ib. 31.) A painting in coloured wax, burnt in by the action of heat, descriptive of one of the processes employed in encaustic painting. See ENCAUSTICA.
4. Pictura udo tectorio. Vitruv. vii. 3. 6. A fresco-painting; that is executed upon a wall coated with very fine cement, made of marble dust and chalk, and painted while the cement is still wet.
5. Pictura textilis. (Cic. Verr. ii. 4. 1. Lucret. ii. 35.) A picture worked in embroidery; a very early invention, for which the natives of Phrygia were celebrated; hence acu pictus means embroidered.
PICTURA'TUS. Painted in colours; and, when applied to drapery, embroidered. Virg. Æn. iii. 483.
PI'LA, with the first syllable long (ἴγδη). Properly a deep mortar (alta, Ov. Ibis, 573.), in which things were brayed and pounded into an impalpable substance (Plin. H. N. xviii. 29. § 2.), by beating down with a pestle of great size and weight (see PILUM 1.); whence the Greek terms ἴγδις and ἴγδισμα also designate a dance, accompanied with much stamping of the feet. The annexed example is from an original discovered at Pompeii; and is thus distinguished from mortarium, a mortar of smaller dimensions, in which ingredients were kneaded and mixed together; but the distinction is not always observed with accuracy.
2. (πεσσός). A pillar, or pier of an oval-shaped form, such as employed under water for supporting the superstructure of a bridge (Liv. xl. 51. Suet. Claud. 20. Senec. Q. N. vi. 30.); as a monument to receive an inscription (Nep. Alc. 4.); in front of a bookseller's shop, on which the catalogues were exposed to view (Hor. Sat. i. 4. 71.); or other purposes of a congenial nature.
3. (ἐνδόμησις). A pier or breakwater (Virg. Æn. ix. 711.), which is always rounded at the end, and in its entire mass from the base to the top at low water presents a figure of nearly similar form to the other objects expressly characterized by the same term.
PILA, with the first syllable short (σφαῖρα). A ball for playing the game of ball; as a general term including the four distinct kinds used by the ancients; viz. Follis, Harpastum, Paganica, and Trigon, each of which is described under its own specific name.
2. Pila picta. (Ov. Met. x. 262.) A playing-ball, of which the outside leather was painted of different colours, and ornamented with tasty devices; frequently represented on the fictile vases, as an accessory in scenes illustrative of life in the Gymnasium, or of female amusements, from one of which the annexed specimen is copied, where it is exhibited amongst various other trinkets, working and playthings, suspended from the tomb of a young Greek lady. It would appear that green was a favourite colour for this purpose (prasina pila, Pet. Sat. 27. 2.); whence the same is designated by the term vitrea, in an inscription (ap. Grut. tom. i. p. 2. 1537), that is, of a glassy or greenish hue, like the colour of water; as vitrea unda (Virg. Æn. vii. 759.), vitrea sedilia (Id. Georg. iv. 350.).
3. Pila vitrea. (Senec. Q. N. i. 6.) A glass globe filled with water for the purpose of being placed between a person and the object he is contemplating, in order to magnify the object and render it clearer to the view; a custom still adopted in wood engraving and other occupations, requiring a strong and clear light which will not prejudice the sight. It would also appear from the above passage of Seneca that this contrivance was sometimes employed by the ancients to assist an imperfect or failing sight, in the place of our spectacles; for these useful articles were not discovered before the commencement of the 14th century, being invented by a Florentine named Salvino degli Amati, who died in 1317, as testified by the epitaph inscribed upon his tomb (Manni, Dissert. degli Occhiali, p. 65.). It must, however, be remembered that the ancients, who employed a numerous class of well-educated slaves in the character of readers, secretaries, and amanuenses, did not stand so much in need of an artificial assistance for the eye-sight as we do. Another meaning of the expression pila vitrea is explained in the preceding paragraph.
4. Pila Mattiaca. (Mart. xiv. 27.) A ball of German pommade, employed by the ladies of Rome and young men of fashion, to tinge the hair of a light or fair colour. It was composed of goats' tallow and beechwood ashes made up into a ball, which received its distinguishing epithet from the town of Mattium (Marpurg) from whence it was imported.
5. A balloting-ball; employed as a means for selecting what judge should try a cause, and prevent the packing of the bench against the interest of either party. For this purpose a certain number of balls, with the names of different judges inscribed on them, were put into a box, and thence drawn out by lot, in the same spirit as we strike a jury, each party having the right to challenge and reject any obnoxious or presumedly partial judge. Prop. iv. 11. 20., and Ascon. Argument. Milon.
6. An effigy or Guy, clumsily made out of old pieces of cloth stuffed with hay, employed to try the temper of some animals, bulls and buffaloes, when baited; or to infuriate them if they appeared tame and impassive; a practice still continued at Mola, on the bay of Gaeta, upon a certain festival, at which it is customary for buffaloes to be baited in the main street. Mart. Spect. 19. Ascon. ad Cic. Fragm. pro C. Cornel.
PILA'RIUS. One who exhibits feats of dexterity with a number of balls, similar to the Indian juggler (Quint. x. 7. 11. Inscript. ap. Fabrett. p. 250. n. 2.), by throwing them up with both hands, catching them on, and making them rebound from, the inner joint of the elbow, leg, forehead, and instep, so that they kept playing in a continuous circle round his person without falling to the ground, as minutely described by Manilius (Astron. 169—171.), and as exhibited by the annexed figure from a Diptych in the Museum at Verona. The player is exhibiting with seven balls, in a handsome building (the scena pilariorum of Quint. l. c.), whilst a number of boys and other persons stand round, and look on. Two figures in precisely the same attitude, and with the same number of balls each, are sculptured on a sepulchral marble in the collection at Mantua. Labus. Antich. di Mantova. tom. ii.
PILEA'TUS (πιλοφόρος). Bonnetted; that is, wearing a felt-cap termed pileus, the ordinary headcovering of sailors, fishermen, and artisans, as well as of the twin brothers, Castor and Pollux, who are thence styled fratres pileati (Catull. 37. 2.); amongst the Greeks and Romans usually worn without strings, and put on in such a manner as to leave the ends of the hair just visible all round its edges, as exhibited by the annexed example, representing Ulysses on an engraved gem. Liv. xxiv. 16., and PILEUS.
2. Pileata Roma, — pileata plebs, — pileata turba. Expressions employed to indicate the period of the Saturnalian festival, or carnival of ancient Rome; because at that fête all the people wore caps as a token of the general liberty permitted during those days of revelry and rejoicing, and in allusion to the custom of presenting a pileus to the slave who had regained his liberty. Mart. xi. 6. Suet. Nero, 57. Sen. Ep. 19.
3. Pileati servi. (Aul. Gell. vii. 4.) Slaves whose heads were covered with a pileus, when put up for sale, as a token that their owners could not warrant them.
PILEN'TUM. A state carriage used by the Roman matrons and ladies of distinction on gala days and festivals, instead of the Carpentum, which they used on ordinary occasions. (Liv. v. 25. Virg. Æn. viii. 666. Festus s. v.) We have not sufficient data for deciding the precise character of this conveyance, further than what is collected generally and by implication from the terms in which it is spoken of; whence it appears to have been raised to a stately height, of easy motion, with a cover over head, but open all round, and, sometimes, if Isidorus (Orig. xx. 12.) be correct, furnished with four wheels. The figure in the illustration, from a medal of the Empress Faustina, agrees with many of these particulars; and although it cannot be pronounced authoritatively as an accurate representation of the carriage in question, may serve to convey a notion of what it was like, and how it differed from the ordinary carpentum. The circumstance of being drawn by lions instead of horses or mules, may be a piece of mere artistic exaggeration; but under the extravagant habits of the empire, we meet with various instances of wild animals being tamed and yoked to the draught.
PI'LEOLUS (πιλίδιον). Diminutive of pileus: a small and shallow skull-cap, made of felted wool, which just covered the top part of the head, leaving the hair over the forehead and at the nape of the neck entirely free (Hieron. Ep. 85. n. 6. Compare Id. Ep. 64. n. 13.) It was worn by the Romans as a protection for the head even indoors (Hor. Ep. i. 13. 15.); thus resembling in its use, as it did in form, the little cap (French, calotte; Italian, berrettino), which a cardinal and some of the Catholic priests put on to cover their hats,{TR: sic, probably "heads"} and which is exactly similar to the example in the annexed illustration, from an engraved gem, believed to contain the portrait of Alexander the Great.
PI'LEUS or PI'LEUM (πῖλος, πιλωτόν). A cap, properly speaking, of felt, and worn by men as contradistinct from those which were worn by women (Plaut. Amph. i. 1. 300. Mart. xiv. 132. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. ix. 616). They naturally varied in form amongst different nations of antiquity, but still preserving the same general characteristics of a round cap without any brim, and fitting close or nearly so to the head, as exemplified by the specimens annexed, which represent three of the most usual forms occurring in works of art. The first on the left shows the Phrygian bonnet from a statue of Paris. The centre one the Greek cap, mostly egg-shaped, as here, from a bust of Ulysses; and the last, the Roman cap of liberty, from a coin of Brutus.
PILI'CREPUS (Sen. Ep. 56). The correct meaning of this word is doubtful; but it is supposed to designate one who played a game at ball of the same nature as our tennis.
PI'LULA. Diminutive of PILA. Any small globe or ball; especially a pill in medicine. Plin. H. N. xxviii. 37.
PILUM (κόπανον). A large and powerful instrument for bruising and braying things in a deep mortar (pila) (Cato, R. R. x. 5. Plin. H. N. xviii. 23). It was held in both hands, and the action employed when using it was that of pounding by repeated blows, as shown by the annexed example from an Egyptian painting, whence the operation is described by connecting it with such words as tundere (Pallad. i. 41. 2.), contundere (Ib. 3); whereas the ordinary pestle (pistillum) was used with one hand, and stirred round the mortar (mortarium), with an action adapted for kneading and mixing, rather than pounding; but the distinction between these two words is not always preserved.
2. (ὑσσός). The pilum, or national arm of the Roman infantry. It was a very formidable weapon, used chiefly as a missile, but also serving as a pike to thrust with when occasion required, though shorter, stronger, and larger in the head than the hasta or spear. It seems to have varied somewhat in length at different periods, the average being near about six feet three inches from point to butt. The shaft, which was made of wood, was square at the top, and of exactly the same length as the head, which was formed of iron; and this, when riveted on to the shaft, covered one half of its length, leaving about nine inches of solid metal projecting as a head-piece beyond (Liv. ix. 19. Flor. ii. 7. 9. Veg. Mil. ii. 15. Sil. Ital. xiii. 308. Polyb. vi. 23. Id. i. 40.) It appears that we should have no authentic specimen remaining of this national weapon, either as the product of excavations, or in artistic representations, by which its exact form and character might be ascertained from demonstrative evidence. But as the head was made of iron, a material which suffers greatly from corrosion underground, when found, it is always so much eaten away and disfigured by rust as to have lost all distinctive character; and the figures on the columns, triumphal arches, and other sculptures illustrative of military scenes, are for the most part intended for officers, not soldiers of the rank and file, consequently who would not use the pilum; or, if the common soldiers are brought into a prominent position, they are engaged as fatigue parties, felling timber, collecting forage, transporting provisions, making stockades, raising field works, and such other duties as would preclude the artist, even if he wished it, from introducing offensive weapons into the scene. Moreover, the unartistic effect which would be produced by a forest of straight lines, the difficulty also attending the execution of such objects in sculpture, and the fragile nature of the object itself when carved into relief, induced the ancient sculptors, as a general rule of their art, to omit accessories of this kind in their works, and to content themselves with making the action represented obvious and unmistakeable by the mere thruthfulness of attitude and gesture. These reasons and motives will account for the want of an illustration, the absence of which might otherwise appear an unreasonable omission. But it may be suggested that the implement held by the figure in the last woodcut will also afford a probable proximate idea of the pilum of a Roman soldier; the description of which above given, and collected from various written authorities, corresponds in a remarkable manner, both as respects the squareness of the upper part, and relative proportions between the head and shaft, with the instrument there figured, which resemblance will thus explain why both objects were designated by the same name.
PINACOTHE'CA (πινακοθήκη). A picture gallery; an apartment, usually comprised in the houses of the wealthy Greeks, and of the Romans, after they had acquired from them a taste for the arts. Vitruv. i. 2. 7. Id. vi. 3. 8. Plin. H. N. xxxv. 2.
PINCER'NA (οἰνοχόος). A cup-bearer; a slave whose duty it was to mix the wine, fill the cups, and hand them round to the guests at table. They were in general young persons selected for the comeliness of their appearance, who wore their hair flowing on their shoulders, and a short tunic; and had particular attention bestowed upon the cleanliness of their persons and attire (Ascon. in Verr. ii. 1. 26. Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 41.) All these particulars are exhibited in the annexed figure, from the Vatican Virgil; the long trousers and mantle indicate a youth of foreign, and probably Phrygian extraction.
PINNA (πτερόν). The blade of a rudder (gubernaculum): which among the ancients was little more than a large oar having a broad blade at the extremity, with two drooping points, like the feather ends of birds's wings, from which it received the name, as in the annexed example, from a bas-relief found at Pozzuoli. If the blade was rounded at the bottom like a common oar, as was frequently the case, it still retained the same name; but the resemblance was drawn from a single feather, which has the quill in the centre, and, as it were, a blade with an edge on each side of it, like a double axe. Non. s. Bipennis, p. 79.
2. A turret, or notched battlement, along the top of a wall, fortress, tower, &c. (Varro, L. L. v. 142. Claud. Quadrig. ap. Gell. ix. 1. Virg. Æn. vii. 159). Some grammarians deduce this meaning of the word from a fancied resemblance to the feathers or wings worn by the Samnite soldiers and gladiators at the sides of their helmets (see the illustration s. SAMNITES); others from the turret being acuminated or bevelled upwards into an edge, like a feather, in the manner shown by the annexed illustration, which represents two turrets on the city walls of Pompeii, viewed from the inside of the ramparts. It will also be observed that they are ingeniously contrived with a shoulder, or returning angle, which protected the defenders from missiles coming with a slant against their left sides.
3. A paddle or float board attached to the outside of a water wheel (rota aquaria), upon which the current acts to produce rotation. Vitruv. x. 5. 1.
4. A register or stop in a water organ. Vitruv. x. 8. 4.
PINNIR'APUS. Any gladiator matched with a Samnite or Thracian, each of whom wore feathers (pinnæ) in their helmets (as shown by the illustrations to those words) which it was an object of their opponents to snatch away, whence the name arose. Juv. iii. 158. Schol. Vet. ad l.
PINSOR. An early form for PISTOR. Varro. de Vit. P. R. ap. Non. p. 152.
PISCA'TOR (ἁλιεύς). A fisher-man, understood, like our own term, in the same general sense of one who takes fish in salt or fresh water, with the net or line; and also a fish-man who sells through the town the fish he has taken himself (Plaut. Capt. iv. 2. 34. Terent. Eun. ii. 2. 26. Inscript. ap. Fabretti, p. 371. n. 450. piscatores propolæ).
PISCI'NA (ἰχθυοτροφεῖον). A stew or stock pond for fish, an usual appendage to the villa residences of the wealthy Romans. Aul. Gell. ii. 20. 2. Cic. Att. ii. 1. Varro, R. R. iii. 17. Columell. viii. 17.
2. A large swimming bath in the open air water warmed by the heat of the sun, or from a naturally warm spring (Id. ii. 17. 11. Suet. Nero, 31.); but sometimes reduced in temperature by the admixture of snow (Id. Nero, 27.). It differs from the baptisterium, in not being under cover and generally colder.
3. Piscina limaria. A clearing tank, constructed at the commencement or termination of an aqueduct for the purpose of allowing the water to purify itself by depositing its sediment before it was transmitted through the city (Frontin. Aq. 15. 19.). Many remains of such works have been discovered in different parts of Italy, some of which are constructed upon a scale of very great extent and magnificence; but the annexed illustration, representing the plan of one which formerly existed under the Pincian hill (collis hortulorum), and served to purify the aqua Virgo, though small and inconsiderable as compared with many others, will explain the general nature of these structures, and the manner in which they operated. A A represents the duct or water course of the aqueduct, which discharges its waters into the chamber B, where the onward course of the stream is arrested, and ceases to flow. C is an aperture in the floor of the chamber, through which the water descends into another vault, D, below the level of the duct, at the bottom of which the sediment contained in the water deposits itself. E, another aperture through which the water passes on to a second vault, also below the level of the duct, and in which it continues to throw down any remaining deposits. From this it rises through the aperture G, into an upper chamber, H, and again restores itself in a purified state to the duct I I which it had left on the opposite side. The door-way, K, at the bottom of the lower chamber on the right hand, is a sluice-gate (cataracta) through which the mud and other impurities were discharged into the sewer.
4. A tank, or basin of water, in the atrium or peristylium of private houses (Pet. Sat. 62. 7.); more usually termed IMPLUVIUM, which see.
5. Any large wooden vat for holding water. Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 32.
PISTILLUM or PISTILLUS (ὑπέρον). Our pestle; an instrument with a bluff head (Hieron. Ep. 69. n. 4.) used with a mortar (mortarium, Plaut. Aul. i. 3. 17.), for kneading, mixing, and stirring things round (Virg. Moret. iii. 102. and the Greek proverb ὑπέρου περιστοφή); whereas the pilum was a larger implement, used with an action of pounding and braying in a deep vessel termed pila. The example represents an original pestle found amongst some ruins of Roman building, excavated when making the approaches to London Bridge, and resembling in every respect those now in use; but an epigram (ap. Sympos. 85.) implies that the Romans also made pestles with a double head, one at each end, like our dumb bells; and the two words pistillum and pilum, as well as the Greek names which correspond with them, are frequently interchanged with each other without regard to the accurate notion they contained.
PISTOR. Literally one who pounds and brays things in a mortar; thence, more specially, a miller, because in very early times, before the invention of mills for grinding, the corn was brayed into flour with a very heavy pestle, in the manner represented by the figure s. PILUM 1.; and subsequently the same word also signified a baker (Greek ἀρτοποιός), because those tradesmen always ground the flour with which they made their bread. Varro ap. Non. s. Pinsere, p. 152. Plin. H. N. xviii. 28. Varro, ap. Gell. xv. 19.
2. Pistor dulciarius. A confectioner. Mart. xiv. 222.
PISTRIL'LA. Diminutive of PISTRINA. Terent. Adelph. iv. 2. 45.
PISTRI'NA. (Plin.
PISTRI'NUM (μυλών). Originally signified the place where corn was brayed into flour by means of a large pestle and deep mortar, in the manner shown by the figure s. PILUM 1.; but after the invention of mills for grinding (MOLA), the same term was retained to designate the mill-house (Terent. Phorm. ii. 1. 19. Cic. Or. i. 11.), where the mills were driven by slaves, cattle, or water (Pallad. i. 42.); and which, in consequence of the laborious exertion required for grinding by hand, as well as the continuousness of the toil, for they were frequently kept going by night as well as day (Apul. Met. ix. p. 183.), was commonly used as a place of punishment for offending slaves, like our workhouse, where they were condemned to undergo a period of imprisonment with hard labour. Plaut. passim.
PIS'TRIS or PRIS'TIS, and PIS'TRIX or PRIS'TIX (πίστρις and πρίστις). A sea-monster (Florus, iii. 5. 16. Plin. H. N. ix. 2.); but always represented by the ancient artists with the same characteristic features as are exhibited in the annexed illustration from a painting at Pompeii, viz. the head of a dragon, the neck and breast of a beast, with fins in the place of front legs, and the tail and body of a fish (Virg. Æn. iii. 427.); a form generally adopted by the early Christian artists to represent the whale which swallowed Jonah.
2. The name given to a particular class of ships of war (Liv. xxxv. 26. Polyb. xvii. 1. 1.), doubtless from a certain resemblance in general form to the above figure; perhaps from the bow rising very high out of the water, like the head and neck there portrayed. In Virgil (Æn. v. 116.) pistris is the adopted name of a vessel, after the image of this monster borne on its bows as a figure-head (insigne). See the woodcut at p. 352.{TR: "p. 352" instead of "p. 325"}
PITTAC'IUM (πιττάκιον). A slip or bit of paper, parchment, or leather for writing on; especially as a label for a wine bottle, on which the date of the vintage, quality of the wine, and time of bottling, was inscribed. Pet. Sat. 34. 6. Ib. 56. 7.
2. A piece of linen spread with ointment to form a plaster. Laber. Gell. xvi. 7. Celsus, iii. 10.
PLACEN'TA (πλακοῦς). A thin flat cake made of wheat flour, mixed with cheese and honey, but of considerable size, so that it would cut up into a number of separate pieces, for each of the guests present. Cato. R. R. 76. Hor. Ep. i. 10. 11. Compare Sat. ii. 8. 24.
PLAGA (ἐνόδιον). A hunting net, intended to be drawn across a road, opening, or ride in the cover, in order to prevent the game from getting out of bounds. (Grat. Cyneg. 300. Hor. Epod. 2. 23. Lucret. v. 1250. Compare Serv. ad Virg. Æn. iv. 131.) Though the exact nature and character of this net is open to dispute, yet it would appear from a general comparison of the passages in which mention of it occurs, that it was similar in form and use to the RETE; with the exception of being smaller, and employed as a subsidiary to the larger one, across narrow and confined passes, which would otherwise give an inlet into the open country.
2. Same as PLAGULA. Afranius and Varro, ap. Non. s. v. pp. 378. 537.
PLAG'ULA. Diminutive of PLAGA, but applied with the following special senses:—
1. A curtain or rideau, suspended like a net round the couches of a triclinium to keep off the dust or currents of air from the guests reclining at table, as in the annexed example from a bas-relief in the British Museum. Liv. xxxix. 6.
2. A curtain which could be drawn or withdrawn round the sides of a palanquin (lectica), so as to seclude the inmate when desired, or convert the whole into an open carriage. Suet. Tit. 10. and illustration s. LECTICA.
3. A breadth of cloth, two or more of which, when sewed together, make up a dress. Varro, L. L. ix. 79.
4. A strip or file of paper, several of which, when glued together, make up a sheet. Plin. H. N. xiii. 23.
PLAGUN'CULA (πλαγγών). A wax doll. Cic. Att. vi. Ernesti, Clavis, s. v. Callim. Dem. 92. PUPA.
PLA'NIPES. An actor who played a part in a species of low farce, termed a mime (mimus), and who received that designation because he came upon the stage with naked feet, without either the cothurnus or soccus, planis pedibus, i. e. non arte exaltatis. (Diomed. iii. 487. Aul. Gell. i. 11. 7. Macrob. Sat. ii. 1.) The illustration is from an engraved gem.
PLAS'TES (πλάστης). One who models works of art in clay or wax. Vell i. 17. 4. Plin. . H. N. xxxv. 45.
PLASTICA'TOR. (Firm. Matth. viii. 16.) Same as preceding.
PLATE'A and PLAT'EA (πλατεῖα, sc. ὁδός.) A broad or principal street in a town, as contradistinguished from a bye-lane or back-street (angiportus) in the same. Ter. Andr. iv. 5. 1. Hor. Ep. ii. 2. 71. Cæs. B. C. i. 27. Hirt. B. Alex. 2.
PLAUSTRA'RIUS (ἁμαξοπηγός). A wagon maker or cartwright. Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 24.
2. (ἁμαξεύς.) A wagoner. Ulp. Dig. 9. 2. 27. and woodcut, s. Plaustrum Majus.
PLAUS'TRUM (ἅμαξα). A wagon on two wheels usually drawn by oxen, and particularly employed in country occupations for the conveyance of heavy loads and produce of every description. (Plaut. Aul. iii. 5. 31.) Though we make use of the term wagon as the nearest corresponding expression for the Roman plaustrum, that by no means suggests a true notion of the actual object, which in reality consisted of nothing more than a strong platform of boards placed upon a pair of wheels, that were not radiated with spokes (radii), but formed out of a tambourine of solid wood (tympanum), fixed permanently to the axle, so that the whole, both wheels and axle, revolved together; and this explains why the plaustrum is usually spoken of as a noisy and creaking cart (stridens, Virg. Georg. iii. 536. Ov. Trist. iii. 10. 59.) The load itself was merely fastened upon this platform, when of a nature to be so disposed; or was included in a large basket (scirpea in plaustro. Ov. Fast. vi. 680.), as in the present example from a Roman bas-relief, when composed of many small articles which could not otherwise be held together; or, in other cases, a moveable rail was affixed to the sides, which kept the load together, without concealing it; or, as Varro expresses it, left it open on all sides (ex omni parte palam, Varro, L. L. v. 140.), as in the annexed specimen, also from a bas-relief.
2. Plaustrum majus. (Cato, R. R. x. 2. Varro, R. R. i. 22. 3.) A wagon of the same description, and employed for similar purposes, but of larger dimensions, and placed upon four wheels instead of two, as exhibited by the annexed example, from a sepulchral bas-relief discovered at Langres in France.
PLECTRUM (πλήκτρον). Properly a Greek word, which, in its primitive sense, means a thing that is used to strike with (from πλήσσω, to strike); whence in both languages it is specially used to designate a short stick or quill with which the chords of a stringed instrument were struck, by inserting the end between the strings, or running it over them, when required. (Cic. N. D. ii. 59.) The instrument itself is shown on the left side of the illustration, from a Pompeian painting; and the manner of using it, by the figure annexed, from an ancient Roman fresco preserved in the Vatican, who twangs the strings of a lyre with the fingers of her left hand, and strikes them with a plectrum in her right.
2. Poetically applied to the handle (ansa), or to the tiller (clavus) of a rudder. Sil. Ital. xiv. 402. Ib. 548 See GUBERNACULUM.
PLIN'THIS (πλινθίς). Diminutive of PLINTHUS. Vitruv. iii. 3. 2.
PLIN'THIUM (πλινθίον). A sun-dial described upon a flat slab, laid horizontally, like a plinth. Vitruv. ix. 8.
PLIN'THUS (πλίνθος). The ordinary Greek name for a brick or a tile; whence the word was adopted by the Roman architects to designate the lowest member in the base of a column, our plinth, which is a square slab, like a thick tile, placed under the lowest torus, and supposed to have originated from the necessity of placing a large flat surface under the column to prevent it from rotting, when formed of wood, or from penetrating too far into the ground, if stone. Vitruv. iv. 7. 3.
PLOSTEL'LUM (ἁμαξίς). Diminutive of PLAUSTRUM; consequently applicable to any cart of the construction explained under that word, but of less than the usual size, like the annexed example, from an engraved gem, which is fitted for the draught of goats instead of oxen (Agostin. C. D. vii. 21. Hor. Sat. ii. 3. 247., in which passage the diminutive is applied to a toy with mice harnessed to it).
2. Plostellum punicum. A threshing machine, or sort of sledge cart invented by the Carthaginians, and from them adopted into Italy and other countries. It consisted of a wooden frame, like a sledge, into which a certain number of rollers, set round with projecting teeth, were fitted; these threshed out the corn as they turned round when drawn over the floor by the cattle attached to the machine, which was further weighted by the driver, who sat in a sort of frame or chair placed on it. (Varro, R. R. i. 51. 2.) The preceding account from Varro describes so exactly a contrivance still used in Egypt for the same purpose, called the "Noreg," and represented in the annexed illustration, as to leave no doubt respecting the identity of the original one.
PLOX'EMUM, PLOX'EMUS, PLOX'IMUS or PLOX'ENUS. The body part of a two-wheeled carriage or gig (cisium), which was made or covered with leather. (Catull. 97. 6. Festus s. v.) According to Quintilian (i. 5. 8.), the term was a provincial one, which Catullus learnt amongst the districts bordering on the river Po; an opinion in some measure corroborated by the annexed engraving, from an ancient sepulchral marble now preserved in the Museum at Verona, which closey resembles a very peculiar description of one-horse carriage, still commonly used in the same parts of the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, where it goes by the name of a "Padovanino."
PLUMÆ. The scales in a corslet or cuirass, when formed in imitation of a bird's feathers, as in the annexed illustration, from a bas-relief which originally decorated the arch of Trajan, from whence it was removed by Constantine to the one which bears his name. Virg. Æn. xi. 771. Sallust. Fragm. apServ. ad l.
2. Ornaments, either embroidered, or sewed on, or woven into the fabric of a piece of cloth, serving as a coverlet to a pillow, cushion, or other object, in order to produce a rich and fanciful pattern. (Mart. xiv. 146. Prop. iii. 7. 50.) It has not been satisfactorily ascertained what these plumæ were, whether ornaments of gold, or tapestry patterns, or real feathers of different colours sewed on the fabric in the same manner as now practised in India and China. Professor Becker inclines to the latter interpretation (Gallus. p. 9. n. 15. Lond. 1844.).
PLUMA'RIUS. One who followed the art of making plumæ, as explained in the preceding paragraph (Vitruv. vi. 4. Varro. ap. Non. s. v. p. 162.); but as the real nature of those ornaments is yet undecided, it is impossible to declare in what precisely his art consisted.
PLUMA'TUS. 1. Covered with scales in the form of bird's feathers (Justin. xli. 2.), as shown by the preceding illustration.
2. Decorated with the ornaments termed plumæ. Lucan. x. 125. Pet. Sat. 55. 5. See PLUMÆ.
PLUMBUM (μόλυβδος). Lead; whence used as a special name for various articles made of that metal:—as
1. A leaden water-pipe. Hor. Ep. i. 10. 20. Stat. Silv. i. 3. 67. See FISTULA, 1.
2. A leaden plummet, employed as a bullet to be cast from a sling. Ov. Met. ii. 727. See GLANS.
3. A whip with lumps of metal knotted into the thongs, employed for punishing slaves. Prudent. περὶ στεφ.. x. 116. Compare Cod. Theodos. 9. 35. 2.; and see the illustration s. FLAGRUM, 1.
4. A leaden plummet for drawing lines (Catull. 22. 8.); corresponding in use with our own, but differing in form and character: for amongst the ancients these articles were made out of a small round plate, instead of a long pipe; a much more convenient form, requiring no cutting, less apt to get bent, or to scratch the parchment. Salmas. ad Solin. p. 644. Beckman. History of Inventions, vol. ii. p. 389. Lond. 1846.
PLUT'EUS and PLUT'EUM. In a general sense any thing made of boards, hurdles, &c., joined together in order to form a cover or give support; whence the following specific meanings are deduced:—
1. (θωράκιον). A breastwork of boarding which served to screen the assailants of fortified places from the missiles and attacks of the enemy, whilst making their approaches, preparatory to an assault. For this purpose they were advanced in front of the storming parties, placed upon the military engines and moveable towers, or planted round the spot where earthworks were being thrown up. Cæs. B. G. vii. 41. Id. B. C. i. 25. ii. 15. Liv. x. 38. Ammian. xxi. 12.
2. A moveable tower with a roof overhead, made of boards or hurdles covered with raw hides, or hair cloth, and fixed upon wheels, under the shelter of which a besieging party could advance close up to the walls of a beleaguered fortress, and clear it from its defenders before commencing the escalade. Veget. Mil. iv. 15. Vitruv. x. 15.
3. The back board of a bed, opposite to the sponda, or side at which the parties got in, which is plainly exhibited in the annexed example from a Roman bas-relief. Mart. iii. 91. 10.
4. The raised end of a tricliniary couch, in the form of a French sofa, which was placed towards the table, for the upper part of the occupant to rest against, whilst his legs and feet were stretched out to its opposite extremity, as plainly shown by the annexed illustration, from a Roman bas-relief. Suet. Cal. 26.
5. A dwarf wall closing up the lower portions of an intercolumniation (Vitruv. iv. 4. 1.), or placed as a parapet upon the upper stories of an edifice (Vitruv. v. 1. 5.), to preclude the danger of falling over, as seen in the annexed engraving from the Vatican Virgil, representing Dido watching the departure of Æneas from the upper story of her palace.
6. A shelf, affixed to the walls of a room, upon which articles of common use were deposited for convenience, or objects of luxury displayed for ornament (Juv. ii. 7. Pers. i. 106. Ulp. Dig. 29. 1. 17.). The example, from a painting of Herculaneum, represents a shelf fastened to the wall in a shoemaker's shop, upon which a number of lasts are deposited.
7. A board upon which a corpse is laid out. Mart. viii. 44. 13.
PNI'GEUS (πνιγεύς). A damper made in the shape of an inverted funnel, and intended to stop or suppress the rising air in a water organ. Vitruv. x. 8. 2.
POCILLA'TOR (οἰνοχόος). A young slave who filled the wine cups (pocilla), and handed them to the guests. Apul. Met. x. p. 233. Same as PINCERNA; which see.
POCI'LLUM. Diminutive of POCULUM. Liv. x. 42. Suet. Vesp. 2.
PO'CULUM (ποτήρ, ποτήριον). A general term for any description of vessel employed as a drinking-cup, and thus including all the special ones which are enumerated in the list of the Classed Index. Virg. Ov. Tibull. Hor. &c.
PODE'RES or PODE'RIS (ποδήρης). Literally reaching down to the feet; a Greek word, applied adjectively in that language to any garment of the dimensions stated, for which the genuine Latin expression is TALARIS; but the writers of the Christian period made use of the term in a substantive sense to designate a long linen robe, fitting close to the body and reaching to the feet, which was worn by the Jewish priests. Isidor. Orig. xix. 21. 2. Tertull. adv. Jud. 11.
POD'IUM. A low basement, projecting like a step from the wall of a room or building, and intended to form a raised platform for the convenience of depositing other articles upon; as, for instance, a row of bee-hives (Pallad. i. 38. 2.); a number of wine casks in a cellar (Id. i. 18. 2.); or any object whether of ornament or use, such as shown by the annexed illustration, representing the interior of a tomb at Pompeii, on which three cinerary urns are situated.
2. In an amphitheatre or a circus, a basement raised about eighteen feet above the level of the arena, which it circumscribed, intended for the occupation of the emperor, the curule magistrates, and the Vestal virgins, who sat there upon their ivory stools (sellæ curules). Suet. Nero, 12. Juv. ii. 147. See the section of the amphitheatre at Pola, p. 29., on which the podium is marked A.
3. A socle or zocle in architecture; i. e. a projecting basement on the outside of a building, serving to raise pedestals, or to support vases or other ornaments, being itself plain, without either cornice or base. Vitruv. iii. 4. 5.
POLLINC'TOR. One of the undertaker's men whose business it was to wash and anoint a corpse, and prepare it for burial, or for the funeral pile. He was a slave of the Libitinarius. Varro and Plaut. ap. Non. s. v. p. 157. Mart. x. 97. Ulp. Dig. 14. 3. 5.
POLLU'BRUM and POLU'BRUM. An old name for the basin employed in ablution of the hands and feet before and after meals. It was held by a slave in his left hand underneath the feet or hands extended over it, to catch the water poured down upon them from a jug in the right. At a subsequent period a vessel termed trulleum was invented for the same object. Non. s. v. p. 544. Liv. Andron. and Fabius Pictor, l. c.
POLYAN'DRION (πολυάνδριον). A place in which many people are buried. Arnob. 6. p. 194. Inscript. ap. Pitisc. s. v.
POLYMI'TUS (πολύμιτος). Literally woven by the assistance of many leashes (μίτος; licia); thence by implication figured with various patterns, like our damask, for the manufacture of which a great number of leashes are requisite, in order that the threads of the warp may be opened in many different ways; for it is by this means that all varieties in the pattern of stuffs are made. Plin. H. N. viii. 74. Mart. xiv. 150.
POLYMYX'OS (πολύμυξος). See LUCERNA, 3.
POLYPT'YCHA (πολύπτυχα). A set of tablets consisting of many leaves. Veg. Mil. ii. 19. Cassiodor. Var. Ep. v. 14. See CERA, 2.
POLYSPA'STON (πολύσπαστον). A contrivance for raising weights by the assistance of many pulleys (orbiculi) set in a case (trochlea). Vitruv. x. 2.
PO'NDUS (σταθμός). A weight, for weighing objects in a pair of scales (Liv. v. 48. Ulp. Dig. 19. 1. 32). The illustration represents an original found at Herculaneum, similar to the larger weights in use amongst ourselves; but sets of smaller ones, made to stand upon a counter, and divided into fractional parts which fit into one another, like those commonly employed in our retail shops, have also been found in the same city.
2. A weight fastened to the extremities of the warp threads (stamina) in an upright loom (Senec. Ep. 90.), for the purpose of keeping them steady, and imparting a sufficient degree of tension to the warp, while the woof (subtemen) was driven home and compressed by the comb (pecten) or batten (spatha). The ancient method of fixing these weights is shown by the illustration representing a loom of very primitive construction, still employed in Iceland (Schneider, Index R. R. Script. s. Tela), in which they are composed of large stones tied by a number of threads collected into separate parcels. In modern weavings, weights are placed upon the yarn beam for a similar purpose.
PONS (γέφυρα). A bridge. Vitruvius has not left any account respecting the construction of bridges; but the numerous examples still remaining testify the great skill of the Roman engineers and builders in this branch of art. The following account is consequently derived from observation of existing examples, and not from written authorities. The causeway (via, agger) is uniformly laid down, like the roads, with large masses of polygonal stones, flanked on each side with a raised trottoir (crepido) or pavement for foot-passengers, and enclosed on each side by a low parapet wall (pluteus), but not formed of open balustrades, as is the more common practice at the present day. A gateway (porta), which might be closed by a bar or portcullis (cataracta), is frequently erected at one end of the bridge (see the woodcut s. CATARACTA, 2.), or an ornamental archway (fornix), which might also be converted to the same use, is sometimes situated in the centre, or at each end, as in the annexed example, representing the bridge at St. Chamas in its present state. The line of some bridges is nearly horizontal, of others which span a torrent stream, very much hog-backed, with an extremely sharp ascent and declivity. The arches are in all cases nearly semicircular, and sometimes of great span. A single remaining one at Narni is 150 feet wide, springing from a pier at the height of 100 feet from the river below. The bridge built by Augustus at Rimini, which Palladio regarded as the finest model he had seen, contains seven arches, and is horizontal in the centre, but has a slight devergence on each of its ends.
2. (γέφυρα). The original Greek bridge, as the name imports, was nothing more than a dam or mound of earth, forming a raised causeway, such as we use in localities subject to inundations; the smallness of the rivers or streams in that country rendering them for the most part fordable, or easily crossed by a few planks. Hence the art of bridge-building, like that of road-making and drainage, owes its perfection to the Romans, who were the first people to make an extensive use of the arch, and consequently those which are enumerated in that country as regular bridges of any length (Plin. H. N. iv. 1. Ib. 21.) may be fairly believed to have been executed after the Roman conquest.
3. Pons sublicius. A timber bridge, upon piles of wood; frequently constructed for a temporary purpose, such as the passage of an army across a stream. Numerous specimens are in consequence exhibited on the columns of Trajan and Antoninus, from which latter the annexed illustration is taken. The famous sublician bridge at Rome, when rebuilt after its destruction in the war with Porsena, was constructed without nails, in order that the timbers might be taken to pieces, and replaced again whenever occasion required that the communication should be interrupted or re-opened. Liv. i. 33. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 23.
4. Pons suffragiorum. A temporary bridge of planks erected during the Roman comitia, over which the voters passed one by one as they came out from the septum, to cast their votes (tabellæ) into the box (cista) (Cic. Att. i. 14. Ov. Fast. v. 634.). The object was to prevent fraud, tumult, and intimidation, and to secure, as far as possible, freedom of action to the voter, who received his ballot from an officer stationed at one end of the bridge, over which he then crossed to the opposite extremity, where the ballotting box was placed, and having deposited his vote, passed out. These particulars are all expressed in the illustration, from a consular coin, which shows part of the railing enclosing the septum, one voter receiving a ballot, and another in the act of depositing one in the box.
5. (ἐπιβάθρα, ἀποβάθρα). A bridge formed by a broad plank laid from the shore to a vessel, over which the crew and passengers embarked or disembarked (Virg. Æn. x. 288.). The illustration represents a bridge of this description, from a painting in the Nasonian sepulchre near Rome, by means of which a horseman is escaping from the pursuit of a tiger, which other persons in the original composition are hunting.
6. The deck of a vessel upon which towers and military engines were erected, as in the annexed example from a marble bas-relief. Tac. Ann. ii. 6.
7. A drawbridge, let down from the upper story of a moveable tower, or any other elevated object, during sieges, over which the attacking party could pass on to the ramparts without the aid of scaling ladders. Tac. Ann. iv. 51. Suet. Aug. 20. Veg. Mil. iv. 21.
8. A viaduct over a ravine, or between any two points of eminence, such as that which Caligula built to make a direct communication between the Palatine and Capitoline hills. Suet. Cal. 22. Xen. Anab. vi. 5. 22.
PONTIC'ULUS. Diminutive of PONS. Cic. Tusc. v. 10.
PO'NTIFEX (γεφυροποιός). A pontiff; that is, a member of the principal order of Roman priests, to whom the superintendence of the state religion and its ceremonies was entrusted. The head of the order was styled "chief pontiff" (Pontifex Maximus, ἱεροφάντης). On coins and marbles the pontiffs are distinguished by the following implements of worship, placed as symbols by their sides:—the simpulum, securis, apex, and an aspersoir, or whisk for sprinkling the lustral water, designated aspergillum by modern writers; but the real Latin name of which has not come down to us. The chief pontiff is in most instances accompanied with the adjunct of a a simpulum only; though, sometimes a securis or a secespita is added.
PONTO. A large flat-bottomed craft, more especially employed by the Gauls (Cæs. B. C. iii. 29.), and intended for the transport of passengers, soldiers, or cattle across rivers (Paul. Dig. 8. 3. 38. Isidor. Orig. xix. 1. 24.). The example is from a painting in the Nasonian sepulchre; and the illustration on the opposite column exhibits a man on horseback entering a vessel of the nature described.
2. A pontoon, formed by a flooring, of planks laid between two boats with sharp heads (lintres), so as to form a floating bridge for transport across a river It was attached by a running rope, sliding on a transverse one, stretched over-head athwart the stream, and thus driven over by the simple action of the current, as still seen on the Po, Tiber, and other large rivers. Auson. Idyll. xii. 20.
POPA (θύτης). The minister who conducted a victim to the altar, and knocked it down with a mallet, or with the bluff side of an axe, as contradistinguished from the cultrarius, who dispatched it with the sacrificial knife. He wore a short apron or kilt from the waist to the knees (whence styled succinctus. Suet., Cal. 32. Prop. iv. 3. 62.); the upper part of his person being naked, as in the annexed example from a Roman bas-relief. The manner of giving the blow is shown by the illustration s. VICTIMARII.
POP'ANUM (πόπανον). A flat round cake used at sacrifices. Juv. vi. 541. Aristoph. Thesm. 285. Suidas.
POPI'NA (ὀψοπωλεῖον). An eating-house, cook's-shop, or tavern, in which ready-dressed victuals were sold, as contradistinguished from caupona, which was more particularly established for the sale of liquors, though the master of a popina also drew wine for his customers. (Plaut. Pœn. iv. 2. 13. Cic. Phil. ii. 28. Mart. i. 42.) It was customary to display some dainties and choice viands in the windows of these eating-houses, deposited in glass bottles filled with water, in order to magnify their size and entice customers. Macrob. Sat. vii. 14.
POPINA'RIUS. The owner or keeper of an eating-house (popina). Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 49.
POPINA'TOR. Same as preceding. Macrob. Sat. vii. 14.
POPI'NO. Literally, one who frequents taverns and eating-houses (popinæ); thence, by implication, a glutton, debauchee, or person of disorderly habits, because such places were chiefly resorted to by people of low rank, or of idle and dissolute character. Hor. Sat. ii. 7. 39. Suet. Gramm. 15.
PORCA. The ridge between two furrows in ploughed land. Varro, L. L. v. 39. Id. R. R. i. 29. 2.
PORCA'RIUS (συβώτης). A swineherd. Firm. Matth. iii. 6. 6.
PORCINA'RIUS. A pork butcher. Plaut. Capt. iv. 3. 5.
PORCULA'TOR. One who breeds and fattens pigs. Varro, R. R. ii. 4. 1. Columell. vii. 9. 12.
PORCULE'TUM. A piece of land divided into ridges and furrows by the plough. Plin. H. N. xvii. 35. § 9.
POR'CULUS. (Cato, R. R. xix. 2.) A particular part or member belonging to a wine and oil press (torcular), the exact nature of which cannot be ascertained from the single passage of Varro in which it is mentioned.
PORTA (πύλη). The gate of any large enclosure or set of buildings, as opposed to janua and ostium, the door of a house; and especially the gate of a fortified place, of a citadel, or of a city. The annexed engraving, representing the ground-plan of the principal entrance to Pompeii from Herculaneum, will explain the usual system adopted by the ancients for structures of this nature. It consists of a central archway over the main road (A) for carriages, and two lateral ones (B B) for foot passengers, each of which was closed by a smaller gate. Under the arch which faced the open country (at the bottom of our engraving), there was no gate, but instead of it a portcullis (cataracta), the grooves for which are visibile in the walls at the points marked C C on the plan. The gates were situated at the opposite extremity of the pile, nearest the town, as testified by the sockets in the pavement (D D), in which the pivots (cardines) of each valve turned. Both the lateral entrances were vaulted over head, throughout their whole length; but the central roadway was only covered at its two extremities, thus leaving an open space or barbican (A) between the portcullis and gate open to the sky, through which the defenders of the position could pour their missiles from the upper stories of the interior upon their assailants, if they should succeed in forcing an entrance beyond the portcullis and into the barbican. The entire front was further covered with an attic, adapted for purposes of defence, or containing chambers for the administration of justice and the business of civil government, as in the magnificent entrance gate to the city of Verona, represented by the following woodcut, which is constructed with two carriage-ways, one for entering the city, the other for going out, but is not provided with separate gangways for foot-passengers. Other examples, still in existence, have only a single thoroughfare serving both for horses, carriages, and pedestrians, flanked with lateral towers (Cæs. B. C. viii. 9. Virg. Æn. vi. 552—554), as is the case with all the old gateways now remaining in the walls of Rome, of which an example is given in the illustration s. FENESTRA 3., though the entrance itself is now blocked up by a modern lean-to.
2. Porta pompæ. The gate through which the Circensian procession entered the Circus. (Auson. Ep. xviii. 12.) It was situated in the centre of the straight end of the building, with the stalls for the horses arranged on each side of it. See the ground-plan at p. 165., on which it is marked H, and the illustration s. OPPIDUM, where it is shown in elevation.
POR'TICUS (στοά). A portico or colonnade, comprising a long narrow walk covered by a roof supported upon columns, which thus afforded the advantage of a free circulation of air, and, at the same time, protection against the heat of the sun and humidity of the atmosphere. Structures of this kind originated with the Greeks, and were extensively adopted by the Romans, being constructed with great magnificence by both these nations; either as adjuncts to their villas and palatial residences, or as public buildings for the convenience and resort of the population, when they became places of general rendezvous, furnished with seats and decorated with objects of art to increase the splendour and attractions of the place (Cic. Att. iv. 16. Id. Dom. 44. Suet. Aug. Id. Cal. 37.). The illustration, from the marble map of Rome, represents the ground-plan of a portion of the magnificent portico of Octavia, built by Augustus, with the temples of Jupiter and Juno within its precincts. The principal entrance, marked by the double row of six columns (on the right hand of the engraving), which support a pediment of marble like the pronaos of a temple, is still in existence, but much embarrassed by subsequent repairs and modern buildings. Colonnades of the same character were also frequently annexed to the side of a cloister (crypta); so that the concourse frequenting them could retire to a more sheltered spot, whenever the excess of heat or cold induced them; of this, an example is exhibited under the word CRYPTA.
2. A covered gallery in an amphitheatre (Calpurn. Ecl. vii. 47.) for the occupation of the poorest classes; situated at the very top of the edifice, and furnished with a row of columns in front to support its roof, as shown by the woodcut at p. 29., which exhibits a restoration of the upper gallery to the amphitheatre at Pola, from the traces it has left, and those of the Coliseum at Rome.
3. A long wooden shed or gallery covered by a roof, but entirely or partially open at the sides, constructed over an agger (Cæs. B. C. ii. 2.), as in the annexed example from the column of Trajan, to protect the men employed upon it; or in general to shelter anything placed under it such as a row of bee-hives, &c., from the cold and rain. Columell. ix. 7. 4.
PORTI'SCULUS. A truncheon or hammer, with which the officer (pausarius) who gave out the chaunt (celeusma) to the rowers on board ship, beat the time to keep them in stroke (Ennius and Laber. ap. Non. s. v. p. 151. Cato ap. Fest. s. v. Plaut. As. iii. . 14.). In the illustration, from the Vatican Virgil, it is seen in the right hand of the figure sitting in the stern of the vessel.
POR'TITOR (ἐλλιμενιστής). A custom-house officer; employed by the publicani, who leased the portorium, or duties levied upon exports, imports, and transit dues, to examine the goods of merchants and travellers. As the duty was an annoying one, and often exercised with harshness and incivility, these officers were extremely unpopular. Cic. Off. 1. 42. Non. s. v. p. 24.
POR'TULA (πυλίς). Diminutive of PORTA; and especially a wicket gate opening in a valve of the large one, in order to admit passengers after the gates had been shut at night. Liv. xxv. 9. Compare Polyb. viii. 20. 24.
PORTUS. A port or harbour for the shelter and reception of shipping; as a place of refuge against stress of weather or an enemy's fleet, as well as a dock for the lading and unlading of merchandize. The term likewise includes a natural haven, as well as an artificial basin, formed and fortified by human ingenuity and labour. The first of these needs no explanation; but the latter is of sufficient importance to demand some account of its general plan and manner of construction, as works of this kind occupy a prominent place amongst those labours of the ancients which were dedicated to public utility.
Both the Greeks and Romans appear to have laid out their ports upon the same general plan, with scarcely and difference in the details, as testified by numerous remains still to be seen in both countries. They consist of an outer basin (λιμήν of the Greeks) with one or more inner ones (Greek ὅρμος), connected by a water-way; and are mostly situated near the mouth of a river, or in a creek of the sea. The entrance to the harbour is protected by a break-water in advance of the mole, upon which stood a light house and towers of fortification, and chains or booms were upon emergency drawn across this entrance to prevent the ingress of a hostile fleet. The mole was constructed upon arches in order to counteract the natural tendency of artificial ports to fill themselves up by a deposit of sand or shingle, a sufficient calm being procured inside by means of flood-gates hanging from the piers. Moles so formed may be seen at Eleusis; are represented on Roman medals, Pompeian paintings, and the Vatican Virgil. Within the harbour was a broad way or quay supported by a wall of masonry, and backed by magazines for warehousing goods, a market place, the harbour-master's residence, and a temple, mostly dedicated to Venus, in allusion to the element from which that goddess is fabled to have sprung. Flights of stairs conducted from the quay to the water's edge; and columns were placed as mooring posts at regular intervals all round the port; or, instead of them, large rings (ansæ) were affixed to the wall of the quay, each of which was regularly numbered, so that every vessel, as it entered, was compelled to take up its proper station. The whole of the buildings were furthermore enclosed by an outer wall and fortifications, admitting ingress from the land side through a gate strongly defended, like the entrance to a fortress. This description will be readily understood by an inspection of the following illustration, which exhibits a ground plan of the port of Ostia, at the mouth of the Tiber, from a minute survey taken by the Venetian architect Labacco in the 16th century, when the remains were not so much dilapidated as they now are, nor the site itself so completely filled up with mud and deposits, which now conceal such vestiges as were then apparent. The outer and larger harbour was constructed by the Emperor Claudius; the inner and smaller basin by Trajan. A. The entrance gate from the land side, flanked by fortified towers. B. A temple. C. An aqueduct which supplied the port with fresh water. D. The residence of the harbour master, in a situation which commands a view of both ports. EF. Two bridges over a canal which communicates both with the Tiber and the sea, through the branch river on the top of the plan. It is likewise believed that the waterway under one, or perhaps both, of these bridges was closed by a floodgate. G. A large open square surrounded by magazines, and probably serving as a forum or market, and place of rendezvous for the merchants, and captains of vessels, &c. H. A small dock, also surrounded by storehouses, which from the narrowness of its entrance, and its position upon the canal leading into the branch river, appears to have been intended for the coasters and smaller trading vessels of the country. I. A breakwater against the entrance to the inner harbour. K. The breakwater which protected the mouth of the Claudian port. Vestiges of the custom houses and magazines all round the quay of the inner port and on the side adjacent to the branch river are indicated upon the plan. Round the port of Claudius only a few could be traced, which are marked L.; but they were doubtless much more extensive in the original design. The dotted line on the right side of the engraving shows the point to which the sea extended when the survey was taken.
POSCA (ὀξύκρατον). An ordinary drink amongst the lower classes of the Roman people, slaves, and soldiers on service; consisting of water and sour wine or vinegar, with eggs beat up in it. Plaut. Mil. iii. 2. 23. Suet. Vit. 12. Spart. Hadr. 10.
POSTILE'NA (ὑπουρίς). A crupper, or breeching for riding and pack horses; made of leather, or of wood bent into a semi-circular form (Plaut. Cas. i. 1. 36.), so as to embrace the hind quarters of the animal, round which it passed from the back part of the saddle pad, which it thus prevented from sliding forwards, as the antilena or breast strap did from shifting backwards. The illustration is copied from the arch of Septimius Severus.
POSTIS (παραστάς, σταθμός). The jamb of a door case; i. e. an upright pillar, or a post, one of which is placed on each side of a door-way resting upon the sill and supporting the lintel overhead, as shown by the annexed cut representing a stone door-case, now remaining in one of the streets of Pompeii. Cic. Att. iii. 15. Ov. Am. ii. 1. 27. Val. Max. ix. 12. 6. Vitruv. iv. 6.
2. The poets applied the word in a more definite sense; sometimes using it for the door itself (foris), or one of its valves, or for the style (scapus cardinalis) forming the pivot (cardo) on which the leaf revolved.
POST'OMIS. An instrument employed for the same purpose as the twitch is by our grooms and farriers, to hold a horse by the nose, in order to keep him perfectly still and tractable, whilst being handled, or dressed, or submitted to any nice operation (Non. s. v. p. 22). It was made with two branches ending in semicircular prongs, like a pair of pincers, the ends of which, being inserted in the nostrils, were pressed together by a cord fastened round the opposite extremity of the instrument. A contrivance of the same kind is used at the present day in some parts of England for leading bulls about, the pincers being found to tame their courage most completely; and in Tuscany, for draught oxen, in the manner exhibited by the annexed illustration. The figure on the left hand represents an ancient postomis, from a bas-relief discovered in the south of France, on which two veterinaries are exhibited in the acts of bleeding and clipping horses; the one on the right the modern instrument now used in Italy; and the centre part shows the manner in which it is fastened on the beast, one of the round ends being fixed in each nostril, and the handle turned up against the forehead, where it is kept in place by means of a rope fastened round the horns, and running through a ring at the top, which makes the pincers nip whenever it is pulled. The illustration will also explain an allusion of Lucilius (ap. Non. l. c.), who characterises a tippler by saying that the wine cup was always at his nose, which he therefore likens to a postomis.
POSTSCE'NIUM. That part of a Roman theatre which lies behind the scenes (scena), to which the actors withdrew from the stage to make any change in their costume, or perform such actions as required to be concealed from the spectators. Lucret. iv. 1179. See the ground-plan s. THEATRUM ROMANUM, on which it is marked EE.
POSTSIGNA'NI. The soldiers drawn up in the second and third lines of a battle array; that is, behind the front ranks in which the standards (signa) were placed. Frontin. Strat. ii. 3. 17. Ammian. xxiv. 6.
POSTULATIC'II. Gladiators exhibited over and above the regular numbers advertised for the show, in order to gratify the demands (postulata) of the people. Senec. Ep. vii.
PRÆCEN'TOR. The leader of a choral band. Apul. de Mund. p. 749.
PRÆ'CIA. A crier who preceded the Flamines on holy days, and ordererd the people to cease from work whilst a procession passed, lest the sacred rites should be profaned by the priest setting eyes upon a person engaged in manual labour, which was regarded in the light of a pollution. Festus, s. v. Serv. ad Virg. Georg. i. 268.
PRÆCINC'TIO (διάζωμα). A wide landing place, or lobby, in the interior of a theatre and amphitheatre, running all round the circle of the cavea at the top of each mænianum, or tier of seats (Vitruv. v. 3. 4. Compare ii. 8. 11.). The general design of these lobbies will be understood by referring to the plan of the theatre at Herculaneum introduced s. THEATRUM ROMANUM, a portion of which is shown in elevation by the woodcut annexed, which contains the corresponding parts of three præcinctiones. Their use was to enable the spectator when he entered the theatre to reach his own seat without incommoding those who had arrived before him. If, for instance, he entered by the furthest of the small doors (vomitoria) in the illustration, whilst the number of his seat happened to be in the compartment (cavea) nearest to the reader, he walked round the præcinctio until he reached the nearer flight of stairs (scalæ), which he descended until he came to the row of seats (gradus) where his place was numbered, thus having to pass only those few persons who might be sitting between the staircase and the stall belonging to him.
PRÆCLA'VIUM. That portion of a piece of cloth intended to be decorated with the purple stripe (clavus), which was woven before or without the stripe (Non. s. v.). It was made of white wool, and when completed the coloured threads were taken up, and woven into the fabric, as is clear from a passage of Afranius (ap. Non. l. c.):—mea nutrix, surge, si vis, profer purpuram, præclavium textum est.
PRÆ'CO. A public crier; employed by the Romans for many purposes — in a court of justice to summon the plaintiff and defendant, announce the names of the parties, proclaim the sentence, &c.; at the comitia to call up the centuries to vote, proclaim the vote of each century, and the names of the persons elected; at auctions to call the articles put up for sale, announce the biddings, &c., at the public games, where they summoned the people to attend and proclaimed the names of the successful competitors; at the public assemblies, where they were employed to keep silence and preserve order; and at solemn funerals (funera indictiva), when they went round the city inviting the people to attend, of which the annexed figure affords an example, from a Roman bas-relief, in which he is represented with his long trumpet at the head of a funeral procession; and, finally, as a town crier, who cried lost property through the district. Plaut. Cic. Liv. Hor. &c.
PRÆFEC'TI. Twelve officers in a Roman corps d'armée appointed by the consuls to take the command of the contingent of troops furnished by the allies, in which they enjoyed the same rank and authority as the tribuni in the Roman legions. Cæs. B. G. iii. 7. Ib. 39. Sall. Jug. 50.
2. When used with reference to the armies of foreign nations the Latin writers apply the term in a sense which we might translate, "generals of division," who acted under the commander-in-chief. Nepos, Alc. Id. Ages. 2.
3. Præfectus equitum. The general who commanded the cavalry of a corps d'armée. Hirt. B. G. viii. 12.
4. Præfectus legionis. A title adopted under the empire, to designate, as is supposed, the officer previously styled legatus legionis, or legionis præpositus; that is, who had the chief command over one legion, including both the cavalry and infantry composing it. Tac. Hist. i. 82. Compare Veg. Mil. 9.
5. Præfectus castrorum. An officer appointed to every Roman legion, whose duty it was to select the site for a camp, procure the necessary materials for forming it, superintend the construction of its defences, and take charge of the baggage belonging to his legion, the sick and wounded, the commissariat stores and military engines. Veg. Mil. ii. 10. Tac. Ann. xiv. 37 Vell. ii. 119. 4.
6. Præfectus classis. During the republic, an officer who commanded a fleet in active service, under the auspices of the consuls, by whom he was appointed (Liv. xxvi. 48. Flor. iii. 7.). But during the empire the same title was given to two admirals in permanent employ, and appointed by the emperor, one of whom commanded the fleet stationed at Ravenna to guard the Adriatic coast; the other at Misenum for the Mediterranean side. Suet. Aug. 49. Tac. Hist. iii. 12. Veg. Mil. iv. 32.
7. Præfectus navis. The captain of a ship of war. Liv. xxxvi. 44. Flor. ii. 5.
8. Præfectus fabrum. In the army an officer who directed and commanded the armourers, carpenters, and engineers who constructed the military machines employed in warfare (Nep. Att. 12. Cæs. B. C. i. 24. Veg. Mil. ii. 11.). In civil life, the same title was given to the master of a company of smiths, carpenters, and similar trades (fabri). Inscript. ap. Orelli. 3428.
9. Præfectus prætorio. The commander of the Prætorian guards; an officer first appointed by Augustus, and only employed in a military capacity; but subsequently invested both with civil and military authority to a very great extent, so that he became the second person in the realm, and possessed power almost as extensive as the Emperor himself. Tac. Ann. i. 24.
10. Præfectus vigilum. The commander of the watchmen or urban guard, whose duty it was to protect the citizens from robbery, house-breaking, fire, &c. Suet. Aug. 30. Paul. Dig. i. 15. 3.
11. Præfectus urbis. The præfect or governor of the city; a magistrate originally appointed, when occasion required, to take charge of the city in the absence of the kings or consuls; but he became a permanent officer with a certain jurisdiction under the empire. Suet. Aug. 33. 37. Tac. Ann. vi. 10. 11.
12. Præfectus ærarii. An officer first created under the empire as the guardian of the public treasury, who performed the duties previously entrusted to the quæstors, or to the tribuni ærarii. Tac. Ann. xiii. 28. and 29. Plin. Ep. v. 15. 5.
13. Præfectus annonæ. An officer appointed, during the republican period only upon extraordinary emergencies of scarcity, to regulate the corn market, procure supplies, and fix the price at which it should be sold; but under the emperors he became a permanent officer, elected for similar purposes, and ranked as one of the ordinary magistrates. Liv. iv. 12. Tac. Ann. i. 7. Ib. xi. 31.
PRÆFERIC'ULUM. A metal vase, without any handle, and widely open above, like the pelvis, employed for holding the sacred utensils which were carried in procession at certain religious solemnities. Festus, s. v.
PRÆ'FICÆ. Women hired to act as mourners in the funeral processions of wealthy individuals. (Lucil. and Varro ap. Non. s. v. p. 67. Plaut. Truc. ii. 6. 14.) They preceded the corpse, making every external demonstration of poignant grief, with bare heads and dishevelled hair, weeping aloud, and chanting a funeral dirge, or singing the praises of the deceased; as exhibited by the annexed figures from a marble sarcophagus, on which the funeral of Meleager is represented. This singular custom is still observed in two districts of Italy, at Canalo and at Agnara, both in the diocese of Gerace, where women, termed ripetitrici, that is, rehearsers, perform similar offices for the dead. Ficoroni, Vestig. Rom. part. ii. p. 77.
PRÆFUR'NIUM. The mouth of a furnace in a kiln (fornax), or to the heating chamber (hypocausis) of a set of baths; that is, the narrow passage or gully opening into the furnace through which the fuel was introduced. (Cato, R. R. 38. 1. Vitruv. v. 10. 2. Id. vii. 10.) It is shown in the annexed wood-cut, representing the remains of a Roman pottery-kiln, discovered near Castor in Northamptonshire, by the dark archway at the bottom of the engraving, behind which the circular furnace is placed.
PRÆGUSTA'TOR (προγευστής). A slave commissioned to taste the dishes at table before they were presented to his master; to discover if they were properly seasoned, and, more especially, as a safeguard against secret poison. The office was of Oriental origin, but adopted by the Greeks and Romans as luxury increased and morals declined. Suet. Claud. 44. Tac. Ann. xii. 66. Plin. H. N. xxi. 9. Xen. Cyr. i. 3.
PRÆLUM. See PRELUM.
PRÆPILA'TUS (with the antepenult short), designates a weapon for thrusting, which has its point muffled with a button or ball (pila), like our foils, to prevent it from inflicting wounds, whilst the soldiers were learning their exercises, or exhibiting in sham-fights and reviews. Liv. xxvi. 51. Hirt. B. Afr. 72. Quint. v. 12. 7.
2. Præpilatus (with the antepenult long) which is derived from pilum, means simply
PRÆSE'PES, -E'PIS, -E'PIA, -E'PE and -E'PIUM. Literally, any place which is protected in front by a hedge or fence; whence referred to a pen for sheep (Varro, R. R. ii. 2. 19.); a stall for cattle (Cato, R. R. 14. 1.); a stable for horses (Virg. Æn. vii. 275.); and the manger in a stall or stable (Suet. Cal. 55. Columell. i. 6. 6.), for which the technical term is PATENA, under which an illustration is given.
PRÆSTIGIA'TOR (θαυματοποιός). One who practises sleights of hand; a conjuror or juggler. Senec. Ep. 45. Front. de Or. Ep. 1. ed. A. Maio.
PRÆSTIGIAT'RIX. A female juggler. Plaut. Amph. ii. 2. 159.
PRÆSUL. Literally, one who jumps or dances before others (Cic. Div. i. 26.), whence used as a title for the chief of the Salii, who danced annually through the city, exhibiting the sacred shields (ancilia) to the multitude. Capitol. Marc. Antonin. 4.
PRÆTEX'TA. See TOGA.
PRÆTEXTA'TUS. Wearing the TOGA PRÆTEXTA, as exaplained under that word.
PRÆTOR (στρατηγός ἑξαπέλεκευς, Polyb. iii. 106.). A prætor; the title of one of the civil magistrates of Rome, who ranked next to the consuls; first created A.U.C. 388. to administer justice in the city, under the pretence that the constant wars obliged both the consuls to absent themselves at the head of an army, but, in reality, to recompense the patrician families, to which the prætorship was at first confined, for the concession which had been extorted from them, of sharing the consulate with men of plebeian extraction. He wore the toga prætexta, had the privilege of a sella curulis, and was attended by six lictors. At first only one prætor was appointed, but the number was subsequently increased to four by Sulla, eight by Julius, and to sixteen by Augustus Cæsar.
2. (στρατηγός). As the word in its literal sense means simply a person who takes the precedence of others, it was at first employed in a more general sense to designate a person who acted as chief, or had a command over subordinates; thus, in early times, the military consul was styled prætor (Liv. iii. 55. vii. 3.); and the same title was also frequently used to distinguish the commander or general-in-chief of a foreign army. Cic. Div. i. 54. Inv. i. 33.
PRÆTORIA'NI. The prætorian guards, a standing body of troops created by Augustus as a bodyguard, in imitation of the more ancient prætorian cohort (cohors prætoria), and continued under the succeeding emperors until the time of Constantine, by whom they were suppressed, and their stationary camp at Rome broken up. (Tac. Hist. ii. 44. Plin. H. N. vi. 35. Aurel. Vict. Cæs. 40.) Although the arms and accoutrements of these troops cannot be declared with positive assurance, yet there are good grounds for believing that the annexed figure from the column of Trajan represents a soldier of the corps in question; because soldiers equipped in the same manner are commonly seen on the columns and triumphal arches in immediate attendance on the emperor's person; or forming parties sent out to reconnoitre the country and movement of the enemy, which was one of the duties appertaining to these guards, as may be inferred from Suetonius (Tib. 60.); and they are never represented as performing any of the ordinary labours of the legionary soldiers, such as digging trenches, felling timber, making fortifications, &c.
2. Equites prætoriani. The cavalry which formed part of the prætorian guard. (Suet. Cal. 45. Id. Claud. 21.) The illustration is copied from the column of Trajan; and it will be observed that the character of the body armour as well as the form and device of the shield, resembles in every respect those of the preceding figure, thus constituting an additional ground for the belief that both these men were intended for prætorians.
PRÆTO'RIUM (στρατηγεῖον). The tent of the general-in-chief or commander of an army (see the wood-cut p. 127,{TR: "p. 126" → "p. 127"} where it is numbered 1.); so termed because the consul who had the chief command was in early days styled prætor. Liv. x. 33. Id. vii. 12.
2. The residence of the governor of a province, at which he administered justice (Cic. Verr. ii. 4. 28. Ib. ii. 3. 35.); whence transferred to the palace of any king or prince. Juv. x. 161.
3. Latterly the same designation was also given to the splendid country villas of the noble and wealthy Romans, which were built with so much expense and luxury under the imperial period. Suet. Aug. 72. Id. Tib. 39. Stat. Sylv. i. 3. 25.
PRAN'DIUM (ἄριστον). A meal taken about the middle of the day (Suet. Claud. 34.), between the hours of breakfast (jentaculum) and dinner (cœna), (Suet. Vit. 13.), which we might translate a luncheon, or an early dinner, according to the nature and quantity of food set out for the purpose; for it was sometimes a very slight and simple meal, intended merely to stay the stomach from long fasting (Hor. Sat. i. 6. 27.), consisting of bread and cheese, without meat or wine, and not served upon a table regularly set out (Celsus, i. 3. Senec. Ep. 83. Mart. xiii. 30.); but persons fond of indulging their appetites used to set out a regular meal of delicacies (Cic. Phil. ii. 39.), like our hot luncheons, and even take their wine after it. Plaut. Men. 1. 2. 61. Mart. iv. 90.
PRASINIA'NI. Persons who backed the green party (factio prasina) at the races of the Circus (Pet. Sat. 70. 10. Capitol. Ver. 6.) The drivers in the Circensian games were divided into four parties, each of which was distinguished by a tunic of different colours, white, red, green, and blue, termed respectively alba, russata, prasina, veneta, after which their supporters and backers received a corresponding sobriquet.
PRAS'INUS. A driver (auriga) in the Circensian races, who wore a green-coloured tunic, and belonged to the green party, as explained in the last word. Suet. Cal. 55. Id. Nero, 22.
PRECA'TIO. A praying, or offering of prayers (preces), to the divinities more especially. (Doederl. ii. 129. Liv. xxxi. 5. Compare xxxviii. 43. where a distinction between adoratio, precatio, and supplicatio, is pointedly made. The attitude of prayer adopted by the Greeks and early Romans was an erect posture, with both the arms extended upwards (ὑπτιάσματα χερῶν. Aesch. Prom. 1041. Tendoque supinas Ad cælum cum voce manus. Virg. Æn. iii. 176. Hor. Carm. iii. 23. 1.), and the hands brought near together with the palms wide open (pandere palmas, Lucret. v. 1199.), as exhibited by the preceding figure, representing Anchises in the Vatican Virgil. But after the introduction of Christianity, and in general during the imperial period, the arms, instead of being brought together, were thrown wide apart in the attitude of prayer, though the posture still continued to be an erect one, as shown by the annexed figure, from a painting in a Christian sepulchre near Rome. The same posture is exhibited on numerous Imperial medals with the inscription PIETAS upon them, and by a statue of Livia in the Vatican collection. Mus. Pio-Clem. ii. 47.
PRE'LUM. The press-beam for squeezing the juice out of grapes or olives (Vitruv. vi. 9. 3. Serv. ad Virg. Georg. ii. 241. Hor. Carm. i. 20. 9.); whence also put for the machine or press itself (TORCULAR); under which term the nature and action of the object is fully explained and illustrated.
2. The press-beam in a press for clothes, linen, or paper (Mart. ii. 46. 3. Plin. H. N. xiii. 23.), as exemplified by the following wood-cut.
PRESSO'RIUM. A clothes-press (Ammian. xxviii. 4. 19. solutis pressoriis vestes diligenter explorat. Compare Senec. Tranquill. 1.) The example, from a painting in the fullers' establishment at Pompeii, exhibits a machine precisely the same as those now employed for similar purposes, worked by a screw (cochlea) acting upon a press-beam (prelum), which flattens down the folds of cloth laid under it, and against the board on which they are placed.
PRIMIPILA'RIS. The title retained as an honorary distinction by an officer who had enjoyed the rank of chief centurion of the first maniple of the triarii, after he had received his discharge. Quint. vi. 3. 92. Suet. Cal. 35. and 38.
PRIMIPILA'RIUS. Same as preceding. Senec. Const. Sap. 18.
PRIMIPI'LUS. The first centurion of the first maniple of the triarii. He was entrusted with the charge of the eagle, had the right of attending the council of general officers, and took a command in the field in the absence of the tribune. Veg. Mil. ii. 8. Cæs. B. G. ii. 25. Val. Max. i. 6. 11.
PRIN'CIPES. A body of heavy-armed infantry soldiers, who formed the second of the three classes into which the Roman legion was originally divided. It is supposed, from the name they bore, that in the earliest time the principes were placed in the first line of the battle array; but subsequently they were drawn up in the second line, between the hastati and the triarii, and they continued to occupy this position until the latter end of the republic, when the custom was introduced of arraying the army by cohorts, which did away with the primitive distinctions between the hastati, principes, and triarii, and reduced them all to uniformity in rank and accoutrements. Liv. viii. 8. Compare HASTATI and the illustration there.
PRINCIP'IA (plural of principium). The head-quarters in a Roman camp; comprising that portion of it where the tents of the general officers were situated, and the space in front of them where the legionary standards were erected, harangues addressed to the soldiery, justice administered and the sacrifice performed. Liv. vii. 12. Id. xxviii. 24. Tac. Hist. iii. 13. and woodcut s. CASTRA.
PRISTA (πριστήερ). A sawyer (Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 19. § 3). The illustration is from a terra-cotta vase of Etruscan or primitive Italian workmanship; which shows the use of a frame saw, and a simple method of supporting the timber to be cut by means of a stand and prop, without a regular saw pit.
PRISTIS. See PISTRIX.
PROCŒ'TON (προκοιτών). An ante-chamber (Plin. Ep. ii. 17. 10. and 23.); a convenience adopted by the Romans, together with its name, from the customs and language of Greece. Varro, R. R. ii. Proem.
PROCURA'TOR. In a literal sense, one who acts as a proxy or agent on behalf of another; whence the term was used as a title for the head man or superintendent of a Roman household, both in town and country establishments. Though himself a slave, he had the entire management of his master's property and dependants, thus acting in the capacity of our steward or maître d'hotel in town, and bailiff or agent in the country. Senec. Ep. 14. Columell. i. 6. 7. Plin. Ep. iii. 19. 2. Cic. Or. i. 58. Id. Att. xiv. 16.
2. Procurator peni. Plaut. Pseud. i. 2. 14. Same as CELLARIUS and PROMUS.
3. Procurator regni. A viceroy, or deputy governor. Cæs. B. C. iii. 122.
4. An officer who administered the property and collected the dues from any estates in town, or in the provinces belonging to the emperors or to the senate (Suet. Cal. 47. Plin. Paneg. 36.). These persons were not slaves, but selected from the equestrians (Suet. Vit. 2.), or from the class of freedmen. Id. Otho, 7.
PROJECTU'RA (γεῖσσον). The beaver of a helmet, so termed because it projects like the eaves of a roof over the top of the face, as is clearly shown by the annexed example from an original bronze helmet found at Pompeii. The Latin name is quoted by Becchi (Mus. Borb. iii. 60.), but without mentioning his authority; the Greek one is given by Pollux (i. 135.).
PROMPTUA'RIUM. A store-closet, or store-room. Cato, R. R. xi. 3. Apul. Met. i. p. 17.
PROMULSIDIA'RE or -A'RIUM. A tray, stand, or other contrivance for holding the dishes and vessels upon which the promulsis was served up. Pet. Sat. 31. 9. where the article is made in the form of an ass with a pair of panniers. Ulp. Dig. 34. 2. 20.
PROMUL'SIS. The name given to every sort of eatable taken as a stimulant to the appetite before dinner, such as eggs, oysters, radishes, &c. Cic. Fam. ix. 20.
PROMUS. A cellarman and steward; a slave who had charge of the wine and provision stores in a Roman household, and whose duty it was to serve out day by day the necessary quantities of each required for the use of the family; hence the word is often joined with condus, the steward, because the same individual commonly performed both offices. Plaut. Pseud. ii. 2. 14.
PRONA'US or -OS (πρόναος). A porch, or, as well call it, portico, in front of a temple (Vitruv. iii. 2. 8. Id. iv. 4. 1.); forming an open space surrounded with columns and surmounted by a pediment (fastigium) in advance of the main body (cella) of the building, under which the altar was placed and sacrifice performed. The illustration represents an ancient temple, known as the Maison-carrée, at Nîmes.
PRO'NUBA. A matron who had not been more than once married, who attended a bride on the day of her wedding, in a somewhat similar, though not the same, capacity as the bridesmaid does amongst us. It was her especial duty to conduct the bride, after the marriage-feast to the lectus genialis, and to give her encouragement and instructions respecting the new duties and condition of life she had just entered upon (Festus, s. v. Varro, ap. Serv. ad. Virg. Æn. iv. 166. Compare Catull. lxi. 186. and Stat. Sylv. i. 2. 11.); as is grapically shown in the illustration, from the celebrated Roman fresco, preserved in the Vatican, and known by the name of the "Aldobrandini marriage." The bride is the right-hand figure, still enveloped in her bridal veil (flammeum); the pronuba, the one on the left with a chaplet round her head, and in an attitude of persuasion or encouragement; both are sitting upon the marriage bed.
PRO'PES. The lower end of the "sheet" (pes), attached to the clues of a square sail; viz. that which was fastened down to the quarters of the vessel, in order to keep the sail stretched to the wind, as shown by the annexed woodcut from a coin of Lepidus. Turpil. ap. Isidor. xix. 4. 3. Compare Herod. ii. 36.
PROPLAS'MA (πρόπλασμα). A small rough model in clay or terra cotta, which sculptors form in order to embody their first thoughts in a rapid and sketchy manner. It serves to show them the composition of their figures, the arrangement, grouping, and position of the limbs and accessories, in the different points of view all round; and thus to regulate the form of the frame upon which the full-sized model of the finished work is to be executed from nature. Plin. H. N. xxxv. 45. Cic. Att. xii. 41.
PROPNIGE'UM (προπνιγεῖον). The mouth of a furnace (πνιγεύς); properly a Greek term, for which the Latin one is PRÆFURNIUM. Plin. Ep. ii. 17. 11. Vitruv. v. 11. 2.
PROPUGNA'CULUM. In a general sense is applied to any structure on land from which men fight for the purposes of defence, as a fortress, rampart, barricade, &c.; and on shipboard, to the lofty towers raised above the deck, into which the marines (classiarii) ascended to discharge their missiles, and which gave to the vessel an appearance very like that of a fortress, as exhibited by the annexed example, from a marble bas-relief, affording a graphic illustration of the words of Horace: inter alta navium, Amice, propugnacula. Hor. Epod. 1. 2. Schol. Vet. ad l. Plin. H. N. xxxii. 1.
PRORA (πρῷρα). The prow, or forepart of a ship (Cæs. Cic. Virg. Ovid, &c.). Almost all the representations of ancient vessels, whether in sculpture, painting, or mosaic, are extremely deficient in characteristic details, the artists confining themselves to the expression of certain conventional generalities, rather than attempting a faithful delineation by which the constructive principle would be understood; so much so, that where only fragments remain, as in the preceding illustration, disputes have arisen respecting the identity of the part, whether it was intended for the head or stern. The example annexed, from an ancient painting preserved in the Bourbon Museum at Naples, affords, however, a specimen, perhaps unique, of the prow of an ancient vessel, which is clear and precise in its details, as well as practicable in the eyes of experienced seamen (Jal, Archéologie Navale, tom. i. p. 24.); and resembles in a very remarkable degree a vessel now employed by the Calabrese, and often seen in the port of Naples, called a chebek (Italian, sciabecco).
PRORE'TA (πρῳρατης). A man who stood upon the forecastle at the ship's head (prora), to keep a look out, and make signs to the helmsman how to steer, as in the annexed illustration from a medal. He was second in command to the gubernator, and had every thing belonging to the ship's gear under his care and orders. Plaut. Rud. iv. 3. 86. Rutil. Itin. 1. 455. Schæffer, Mil. Nav. iv. 6.
PRO'REUS (πρῳρεύς). Same as the preceding. Ov. Met. iii. 634.
PROSCE'NIUM (προσκήνιον). The stage of an ancient theatre, including the whole space of the elevated platform, bounded by the permanent wall of the scena at the back, and by the orchestra in front (Vitruv. v. 6. 1. Ib. 7. 1. Apul. Flor. 18. Virg. Georg. ii. 381. Serv. ad l.). This stage, or part before the scenes, did not, however, extend backwards, either in a Greek or Roman theatre, to nearly so great a depth as the stage of a modern playhouse, because the number of characters in the ancient drama were much fewer than we are accustomed to introduce, and the chorus of the Greeks performed all their evolutions in the orchestra, while the Romans did not exhibit any chorus at all. The illustration presents a view of the proscenium in the great theatre at Pompeii, taken from the centre of the first lobby (præcinctio), and shows a large part of the orchestra, with the stage beyond, then the wall of the scene with its three entrances, and the boundary wall of the postscenium, in a half tint at the back.
PROS'TOMIS. The reading of some editions for POSTOMIS; which see.
PROSTY'LOS (πρόστυλος). A temple or other building, which has a porch supported upon a colonnade in its front, as shown by the annexed ground plan, and the illustration to PRONAOS, where a similar structure is exhibited in elevation. Vitruv. iii. 2.
PROS'TYPUM (πρόστυπον, Callix. ap. Athen. v. 30.). The reading adopted in some editions of Pliny (H. N. xxxv. 43.) instead of protypum, and interpreted to mean images in low relief (basso-rilievo), as contradistinguished from such as are executed in high relief (alto-rilievo).
PROSU'MIA. A small sea-going craft, employed as a spy ship, to keep a look out and watch the motions of an enemy's fleet; but beyond this, its characteristic peculiarities are not ascertained. Festus, s. v. Cæcil. ap. Non. s. v. p. 536.
PROTH'YRUM (διάθυρον). An entrance hall in a Roman house; that is, a small corridor situated between the street door (janua), which was probably always kept open in the day-time, as is still the practice of modern Italy, and the house door (ostium), which gave immediate access to the atrium, and interior of the house. The Greek name defines it more accurately as the part between (διά) the doors; and their πρόθυρον, or place before the door, corresponds with the Roman vestibulum (Vitruv. vi. 7. 5.). The woodcut represents an entrance-passage to one of the houses at Pompeii, with the ceiling and doors restored to give a more complete notion of the locality; the columns seen through the furthest door, one leaf of which is represented as closed, are those of the atrium.
PROT'YPUM (πρότυπον). A model after which any thing is formed, corresponding with our prototype. In a passage of Pliny (H. N. xxxv. 43.), the term is used to designate reliefs in terra cotta employed as antefixes (antefixa) for decorating buildings, and which could be multiplied to any extent, by making a mould (forma) upon them, and taking casts (ectypa) from it; but the reading of the passage is not altogether certain, and some editors adopt PROSTYPUM in its stead.
PROVOCATO'RES. A class of gladiators respecting whom nothing definite is known, excepting that they usually engaged with the Samnites. Cic. Sext. 64. Inscript. ap. Orelli, 2566.
PSALTE'RIUM (ψλτήριον). A psaltery, that is, a stringed instrument (Varro, ap. Non. s. Nervi, p. 215. Virg. Ciris, 179.), of mixed character, between the cithara and the harpa, to both of which it possessed certain points of affinity—to the former in having a hollow sounding belly formed of wood, over which the chords were stretched, but which, instead of being held downwards in the act of playing, as was usual with the cithara (see the woodcut s. v.), was carried upwards on the shoulder, so as to constitute the top rather than the bottom of the instrument (Isidor. Orig. iii. 21. 7. Cassiod. in Psalm. 150. August. in Psalm. 56.); and to the latter, in having a bent frame which kept the strings extended from its centre, so that the figure presented by the three parts, the strings, belly, and trunk, approximated to the form of a bow, if the juncture of the belly and trunk possessed a circular conformation, as in the engraving; or of a triangle, if the juncture was an angular one, as is the case with an original specimen of the same instrument, now preserved in the Paris collection of Egyptian "Egyptain" → "Egyptian" antiquities. This account, collected from the different passages quoted above, with the assistance of the figures in the illustration, seems to leave no doubt respecting the identity of the instrument. The lower woodcut represents an original in the British Museum, the belly of which is covered with leather, strained over it, and perforated with holes to allow the sounds to escape: the upper one, from a painting at Thebes, exemplifies the method of holding and playing the instrument.
2. ψαλτήριον ὄρθιον. The upright psaltery, mentioned by Athenæus (iv. 81.) as a different instrument from the common one, was probably the same, or nearly similar to the HARPA: see the example s. v. p. 328., which strongly resembles the preceding figure from Thebes, when placed in an upright instead of a horizontal position.
PSAL'TES (ψάλτης). One who plays upon a stringed instrument, as a general term. Quint. i. 10. 18. Sidon. Ep. viii. 9.
PSAL'TRIA (ψάλτρια). In a general sense a female who plays upon any stringed instrument, as in the annexed figure, from a fresco excavated at Civita, in the year 1755, representing the Muse Erato, which in the original, has the word ψάλτρια inscribed underneath; but the term is frequently used in a more special sense to distinguish a class of women, not remarkable for rigid virtue, who made a profession amongst the Greeks of going about to play and sing at banquets for the amusement of the guests, representations of whom are frequently introduced in the designs on the Greek vases, in which revels and drinking parties (comissationes) are depicted. The same practice was introduced at Rome, after the conquest of Antiochus, by the army which had served in Asia. Liv. xxxix. 6. Cic. Sext. 54. Juv. Sat. vi. 337.
PSEUDISOD'OMUM (ψευδισόδομον). One of the earlier and less perfect styles of masonry in use amongst the Greeks, in which the stones, though laid in regular courses, were not all of corresponding size or height; consequently, though all the courses were parallel, and every stone in the same course of one heighth, yet the respective dimensions of each course differed from the others, which produced the effect of false equality indicated by the term. (Vitruv. ii. 8. 6. Plin. H. N. xxxxvi. 51. and compare ISODOMUM.) The illustration represents one of the entrances into the ancient citadel of Mycenæ, and consequently affords a very early instance of the style.
PSEUDODIP'TEROS (ψευδοδίπτερος). Pseudodipteral; a term employed to designate an edifice which presents the appearance of having a double colonnade round it, though in reality it is only a single one, which possesses the same projection from the walls of the cell as the dipteral structure, but the inner row of columns is dispensed with. (Vitruv. iii. 2.) The colonnade is thus twice as wide as that which is termed simply
PSEUDOPERIP'TEROS (ψευδοπερίπτερος). Pseudoperipteral; a term employed to designate an edifice that appears to have a colonnade all round, which, in reality, it does not possess; the walls of the cell being merely furnished with half or three-quarter columns to correspond with the isolated ones of the porch. (Vitruv. iii. 2.) By such an arrangement more room was afforded for the interior, as is clearly shown by the example, representing the ground-plan of the temple of Fortuna Virilis at Rome, while the distribution of the columns or the flanks suggests the notion of a colonnade, as may be seen by the illustration s. PRONAOS, which exhibits a design of the same style in elevation.
PSEUDOTH'YRUM (ψευδόθυρον). A false or rather secret door, for the purpose of giving ingress and egress to the premises, without being subjected to observation. Ammian. xiv. 1. Compare Cic. Sen. 6. Id. Verr. ii. 2. 20.
PSEUDOURBA'NA sc. ædificia. Those parts of a farmhouse or country villa which were appropriated to the use of the owner and his family, i. e. the mansion itself, apart from the farm-buildings and the tenements occupied by the farming-men (familia rustica.) (Vitruv. vi. 5. 3. compared with Columell. i. 6. 1.) The term pseudourban, which might be translated city-like, was given to the above-mentioned part of the villa, because, though in reality a country-seat, it was designed and laid out upon the same plan and with the same luxuries as a town mansion.
PSILOCITHARIS'TA (ψιλοκιθαριστής). One who merely plays upon the guitar (cithara) as an instrumental performer, without accompanying it with his voice. Suet. Dom. 4.
PSILO'THRUM (ψίλωθρον). An unguent or medical preparation, made chiefly of heated arsenic and unslaked lime, employed for removing hairs from the surface of the skin, by men of effeminate habits as well as women. Mart. iii. 74. vi. 93. Plin. H. N. xxiv. 37. Id. xxxii. 47.
PTERO'MA or PTER'ON (πτέρωμα, πτερόν). In architecture, a colonnade on the flank of a temple, or other edifice similarly constructed, projecting from the wall of the cell on each side, like a pair of wings, which resemblance gave rise to the name (Vitruv. iii. 3. 9.); but in buildings which had no side columns, and an outwork on each side of the central pile, similar to what we call wings, or only a blank wall running out like a screen, such an outwork or wall was designated by the same name. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 4. § 9. Id. xxxvi. 13. Strabo. xvii. 28.
PTERO'TUS (πτερωτός). Properly a Greek word, meaning winged, but employed as a characteristic epithet, for the drinking-cup, termed calix, because it was furnished with handles on each side, like wings, as exhibited by the illustration representing an original calix of Greek manufacture. Plin. H. N. xxxv. 66.
PUBLICA'NUS (τελώνης. N. T.). A publican, in the sense which that term bears in our version of the New Testament, meaning thereby a person who took a contract of the public taxes from the state at a stipulated amount, he employing and paying the underlings who collected them, and reserving to himself for his own profit all that remained beyond the sum at which he had taken the contract. The Roman publican was in general a person of equestrian rank. The taxes he collected were the land tax, levied upon pastures; the tithe of corn, from arable lands; and the customs dues on imports; and as he stood in the place of a middleman, and had the onus of direct collection, which would be rigorously enforced, to make a good profit of the contract, the reputation he bore was, in general, far from being flattering or popular; though his wealth made him an important and influential personage. Plin. H. N. xxxviii. 8. Cic. Planc. 9. Liv. xliii. 16.
PUGIL (πύκτης). A boxer; that is, one who fights with the fist (pugnus, πύξ). The act of boxing (pugilatio, pugilatus) dates from a remote antiquity, being practised by the Greeks and Etruscans in very early times, and continuing to be a popular exhibition at Rome during the republic and empire. (Liv. i. 35. Cic. Tusc. ii. 17. Suet. Aug. 45.) The attitudes guards, and method of directing the blows exhibited in various works of art, indicate that the boxing of the ancients resembled in most respects the practice of our own countrymen, with one important exception, which must have rendered their conflicts cruelly severe—that of covering the lower part of the arm and fists with thongs of leather studded with knobs of metal (CÆSTUS), as is shown by the annexed illustration, from a well-known statue of the Villa Borghese.
PUGILA'TIO -A'TUS (πυγμαχία). Boxing; a boxing-match. See PUGIL.
PUGILA'TOR. Same as PUGIL.
PUGILLA'RES. Small tablets covered with wax for writing on, so termed from their diminutive size, because they could be held commodiously in a little hand (pugillus). They were principally used for memorandum books, for noting down first thoughts, and to be despatched as love letters; which intention is exemplified by the illustration, from a Pompeian painting, representing Cupid with a love billet which Polyphemus sends to Galatea. Senec. Ep. 15. Plin. Ep. i. 6. 1. Ib. 22. 11.
PUG'IO (ἐγχειρίδιον). A short, two-edged, sharp-pointed dagger, openly worn on the right side, more particularly by officers in the army, and persons of rank under the empire, as well as by the emperors themselves, in order to indicate their power over life and death. (Cic. Phil. ii. 12. Suet. Vit. 15. Tac. Hist. iii. 68. Id. i. 43. Val. Max. iii. 5. 3.) The example is from an original of bronze in the Neapolitan Museum; the holes on the handle were intended for the reception of ornamental studs.
PUGIUN'CULUS. Diminutive of PUGIO. A small dagger, a dirk. Cic. Fragm. contra C. Anton. ap. Ascon. Id. Or. 67.
PULLA'RIUS. The person who had the care of the sacred chickens (woodcut s. CAVEA, 3.), and affected to predict the results of future events from the manner in which they ate or rejected their food. Cic. Div. ii. 34. Liv. x. 40.
PUL'PITUM (βῆμα). A tribune or pulpit made of wood and of a moveable character (Suet. Gramm. 4. remoto pulpito), into which an orator, declaimer, grammarian, &c., ascended for the purpose of making himself conspicuous, and acquiring a commanding situation, when about to address an audience. Hor. Epist. i. 19. 40.
2. (λογεῖον, ὀκρίβας). In an ancient theatre that part of the stage (proscenium) which was nearest to the orchestra, upon which the actors stood when they delivered their dialogues or speeches (Hor. A. P. 278. Vitruv. v. 7. 2. Ib. 6. 1. Propert. iv. 1. 16.) It is represented by the elevated platform on the left side of the annexed woodcut, which affords a view across the pit and stage in the small theatre at Pompeii; the dark groove which runs along it, shows the recess into which the drop-scene (aulæa) was lowered.
PULSAB'ULUM. An instrument with which the chords of a stringed instrument were struck (Apul. Flor. 15.); for which the more usual name is PLECTRUM, where an illustration is introduced.
PULTA'RIUS. Properly a vessel in which pottage (puls) was served up. It was made in the form of an inverted funnel (Pallad. vi. 7. 2. Compare Columell. ix. 15. 5.), with a broad bottom and narrow mouth, which may be easily conceived in the absence of any authentic specimen; and was likewise employed for other purposes to which such a figure adapted itself, as a cupping-glass (Celsus, ii. 11.), and a vessel for drinking out of. (Plin. H. N. vii. 54. Pet. Sat. 42. 2.)
PULVIL'LUS. Diminutive of PULVINUS.
PULVI'NAR or /POLVI'NAR. May be translated by our terms pillow, bolster, cushion, as best suits the purpose for which it is applied. But the term conveys a notion of greatness and grandeur, and is to be understood, when strictly used, as indicating a cushion of large size and costly materials, such as would be used for beds and couches on which the body reclines, rather than for chairs and seats, or for sitting posture. Pet. Sat. 135. 5. Senec. Ira, iii. 37. And woodcuts. pp. 374. 375.
2. Hence the word is principally used to designate the splendid couches with cushions and squabs, upon which the images of the gods were laid at the feast of the Lectisternium, to partake, as it were, of the banquet spread before them (Cic. Phil. ii. 43. Id. Dom. 53. Liv. xxx. 21.); as exhibited by the annexed woodcut from a terra cotta lamp.
3. In the circus, a spot where couches of the same description were laid out for those deities whose statues were carried in solemn procession at the Circensian festival. Festus s. Thensa. Suet. Aug. 45. Id. Cal. 4.
4. A bed of state, or marriage bed; but with especial reference to those of the divinities (Catull. lxiv. 47.) and of the Roman emperors, to whom divine honours were paid. Suet. Dom. 13. Juv. vi. 132.
PULVINA'RIUM. The place in a temple where the couches of the deities were set out at the feast of the Lectisternium. Liv. xxi. 62.
PULVINA'TUS. Having a full or swelling contour, like a bolster or cushion; whence applied as a technical term by architects to the capitals of Ionic columns, the sides of which, formed by the lateral part of the volute, present a round or swelling shape, like a bolster as shown by the annexed example from a capital belonging to the temple of Minerva Polias. Vitruv. i. 2. 6. Id. iii. 5. 5.
PULVI'NUS. In its general applications has nearly the same meaning as Pulvinar, a pillow, cushion, or bolster; but, in strictness, of a smaller and less ostentatious character, and so more particularly descriptive of those which were used for sitting on (Cic. Or. i. 7. Id. Fam. ix. 18., and woodcut s. CATHEDRA), resting the head against, like the pillow of a bed (Sall. Jug. 74, and woodcut s. CERVICAL, or leaning upon, like the pillow on which a person supported his elbow on a triclinary couch (Nepos, Pel. 3. and woodcut s. CUBITAL), than of such as were intended for the reception of the body in a reclining posture.
2. In architecture, the bolster or baluster on the sides of an Ionic capital (Vitruv. iii. 5. 7.), which imitates the full and swelling outline of a stuffed cushion as shown by the preceding woodcut.
3. In a warm-water bath (alveus), the part immediately above the step (gradus) on which the bather sat, and which thus constituted as it were a cushion for his back to lean against (Vitruv. v. 10. 4.). The illustration represents a section of the warm bath in the thermal chamber at Pompeii, in which A is the bath itself, B the step on which the bather sat, and C the cushion or pulvinus for his back.
4. A ridge between two trenches in a field or garden (Plin. H. N. xvii. 35. § 4.); and a raised border or flower bed (Varro, R. R. i. 35. 1.); both from their resemblance to the upheaving form of a pillow or squab.
PUMILIO'NES, PUMILO'NES, PU'MILI. Senec. Ep. 76. Stat. Sylv. i. 6. 57. Suet. Aug. 83. Same as NANI, which see.
PUNC'TUM. Any small hole made by piercing, or pricking; hence a vote or suffrage; because in early times, before the custom of voting by ballot had obtained, the poll clerk (rogator) held a list of the candidates inscribed upon a tablet covered with wax, and scored off each vote as it was announced, by making a puncture in the wax against the initials of the candidate whom the elector supported. Cic. Planc. 22. Id. Tusc. ii. 24.
2. One of the points or units upon a die (Mart. xiv. 17. Compare Suet. Nero, 30). The example is copied from an original die found at Herculaneum.
3. One of the fractional marks or points on the beam of a steel-yard (statera) by which the exact weight is indicated (Vitruv. x. 3. 4.). The example represents an original steel-yard found at Pompeii.
PUPA. In the primitive sense a little girl; thence a child's plaything, or doll (Varro, ap. Non. s. v. p. 156. Pers. ii. 70. Hieron. Epist. 128. n. 1). The illustration represents an original ivory doll discovered in a child's sepulchre near Rome; and another specimen of terra-cotta found in Sicily, and more elegant in design, is published by the Prince of Biscari, Degli antichi Ornamenti e Trastulli de' Bambini, tav. v.
PUPPIS (πρύμνα). The poop, stern, or after part of a ship. The works of art, hithero discovered, do not furnish us with any clear and satisfactory example of the precise manner in which the ancient ship-builders constructed the sterns of their vessels, beyond the fact that they are always represented round, and in many cases scarcely distinguishable from the prow (prora). Of such, numerous specimens are introduced in various parts of these pages; but the annexed example, composed by the Academicians of the Royal Antiquarian Society at Naples (Academici Ercolanesi) from parts or indications observable in different ancient monuments, is introduced in order to give a more practical notion of the real appearance presented by the stern view of an ancient vessel, than what can be acquired from the conventional figures mostly exhibited by the artists of antiquity. If compared with the illustration s. PRORA, which shows a prow faithfully delineated from the antique, it will be at once seen how well the two would suit together, as the fore and after parts of the same vessel.
PUT'EAL. A dwarf wall or circular shell of marble or other materials surrounding the mouth of a well (puteus) as a protection against the danger of falling in. Many of these have been found in excavations, and may be seen in the various collections of antiquities, oftentimes richly decorated with figures or other devices in relief (the putealia sigillata of Cic. Att. i. 10.); and the annexed woodcut shows one of the same description still covering the mouth of a well, as it now exists in the cloisters of the convent attached to the basilica of St. John in the Lateran at Rome.
2. When any spot was struck with lightning it was immediately deemed sacred, and venerated as such by the Romans, being surrounded by a shell of the same character and name as last described, in order to preserve it from the tread of profane feet (Cic. Sext. 8. Ov. R. Am. 561). Amongst these the puteal Libonis or Scribonianum in the Roman forum, was much celebrated, as the spot near which usurers met and money affairs were negotiated. It is represented by the annexed woodcut from a medal of the Scribonian gens, and has the inscription, PUTEAL LIBONIS, underneath.
PUT'EUS and -UM (φρέαρ). A well; artificially dug in the ground, and supplied from its own spring of water, of which examples are given s. GIRGILLUS, and s. PUTEAL. Cic. Hor. Plin. &c.
2. A pit sunk in the earth for storing grain, as we do potatoes. Varro, R. R. i. 57. 2.
3. An air or vent hole in the water course of an aqueduct, of which a sufficient number were formed at regular intervals throughout its whole length. When the duct was a subterranean one, the vent holes were constructed like the shaft of a tunnel; when there were two or more separate courses of water conveyed by the same aqueduct, one over the other, the vent holes of the lower ones were formed at the sides of the channels, above the level of the flowing water; but when there was only a single course, the opening was made in the top, as exhibited by the annexed illustration, representing a portion of the Alexandrian aqueduct at Rome, in which A shows the channel (specus), through which the water flows, and B the puteus or vent hole in question. Vitruv. vii. 8.
PUTIC'ULI or -LÆ. Grave pits in which the bodies of slaves and people of the poorest classes, who could not afford the expense of a private tomb, or of a funeral pyre, were interred as in a public burial ground. Originally they were situated on the Esquiline hill, but were removed from that locality in the time of Augustus, out of regard for the healthiness of the district, the site being subsequently occupied by the palace and gardens of Mecænas. Varro, L. L. v. 25. Festus, s. v. Compare Hor. Sat. i. 8. 10.
PYCNOSTY'LOS (πυκνόστυλος). Pycnostyle; a term employed by the ancient architects to designate the closest of the five different kinds of intercolumniation in use amongst them, which only had an interval of one diameter and a half between each column, as shown by the top line in the annexed diagram, exhibiting at one view the relative proportions of all the five styles. It was only applied in the Ionic and Corinthian order Vitruv. iii. 2.
PYC'TA or PYC'TES (πύκτης) (Phædr. iv. 24. Senec. Contr. i. 3.) Merely a Greek word Latinized, for which the genuine Latin term is PUGIL; which see.
PYR'A (πυρά). A funeral pyre; made of unhewn wood piled up into a square form, upon which the corpse was placed with its bier to be burnt. It was designated pyra, before the fire was applied, as in the annexed representation of Dido's pyre in the Vatican Virgil; but rogus when ignited. Virg. Æn. xi. 185. Serv. ad l. Id. Æn. xi. 204.
PY'RAMIS (πυραμίς). A pyramid, a structure upon a square base, tapering gradually to a point at the top. The particular form, as well as the name, originated without doubt with the Egyptians; but for what precise object is still undetermined. It was, however, adopted by the Etruscans (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 19. § 4.) and the Romans, as an appropriate design for sepulchral monuments; all those which are mentioned by their writers having been constructed for that purpose, as well as the one now remaining at Rome, which is known as the pyramid of C. Cestius; and the one here introduced from an engraved gem, which is identified as a tomb by the accompanying figure of a gladiator, a class of whom, termed bustuarii, were engaged to fight round the burning pyre of distinguished persons.
PYR'GUS. (Sidon. Ep. viii. 12.) A word coined from the Greek πύργος, though not occurring with the same identical signification in that language, and for which the genuine Latin word is TURRICULA, which see.
PYRR'HICHA and PYRR'HICHE (πυρρίχη). A Greek war-dance of Doric origin, performed to the sound of the flute in rapid measure, the performers wearing their armour and imitating by their motions the attack and defence of combatants in a battle. The illustration, which is copied from a fictile vase, is generally received as a representation of the old Pyrrhic dance, as executed by the Greeks; an imitation of which was introduced at Rome by Julius Cæsar, and also exhibited by succeeding emperors. Suet. Jul. 39. Nero, 12. Spart. Hadr. 19.
PYTHAU'LA or -LES (πυθαύλης). In its original and proper acceptation signified a musician who played an air upon the pipe (αὐλός), expressive of the combat between Apollo and the Python (Hygin. Fab. 273.); whence the name was afterwards given to a musical performer at the theatre, who played the accompaniment to a single voice, as contradistinguished from the Choraules, who accompanied the entire chorus. Diomed. iii. 489. Varro, ap. Non. s. Ramices, p. 166.
PYXIDIC'ULA. Diminutive of PYXIS.{TR: Lemma "Pyxis" added.}
PYX'IS (πυξίς). Literally, a small box or case made of boxwood, but formed in a particular manner; viz. with a lid having a lip or return which shuts over the edge of the box, like the mouth of a tortoise (Plin. H. N. ix. 12.), as is very plainly expressed in the annexed woodcut from the design on a fictile vase. But as boxes of this character were made of various other materials besides boxwood, and extensively used for holding any small articles of use or ornament, especially such as are characteristic of female habits, the word possesses in general a signification analogous to our jewel case, trinket box, and such other receptacles as receive their characteristic name from the nature of the objects contained in them. Pet. Sat. 110. Mart. ix. 38 Suet. Nero 12. Cic. Cæl. 25.
QUAD'RA. In a general sense implies any thing which has four corners, or possesses a square form; whence specially:—
1. A square dining-table (Virg. Æn. vii. 115. Ib. iii. 257.) as contradistinct from a round one; both of which forms were adopted by the ancients, the former being the earliest model, the latter of most common usage. Hence the expression aliena vivere quadra (Juv. v. 2.) denotes a parasite, who lives at another man's expense; or, literally, at another man's table. The illustration represents a square dining table, from the Vatican Virgil, spread before the companions of Ulysses, in the island of Circe.
2. The Roman architects employed the word in two different senses;— to designate the square member or plinth placed under the base (spira) of a column. (Vitruv. viii. 4. 5.); and each of the narrow flat bands with plain surfaces, forming respectively the upper and lower division between the hollow scotia and swelling torus above and below it (Id. iii. 5. 2. and 3.); all which members are exhibited by the illustration annexed.
QUAD'RANS. A small copper coin, three ounces (unciæ) in weight, and equal to a fourth part of the As in value. It is marked with three balls to designate the weight, accompanied with the device of an open hand, strigil, a dolphin, grains of corn, a star, the image of a ship, or the head of Hercules or Ceres; all of which are found on different specimens in various numismatic collections. (Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 13. Hor. i. 3. 137. Mart. ii. 44.) The example here introduced is from an original, weighing in its present stage 2 oz. 179 gr., and is drawn of one-third the actual size.
QUADRAN'TAL. A vessel with four square sides, each a foot long, employed as a measure for liquids, the solid contents of which were equal to an amphora. Cato, R. R. 57. 2. Plaut. Curc. i. 2. 16. Festus, s. v.
QUADRIF'ORIS sc. janua (τετράθυρος). A door, in which each of the two valves fold back into two parts, thus forming altogether four pieces, upon the same principle as our window-shutters and folding-doors; as is exemplified by the illustration, representing a cabinet or armoire, from a Pompeian painting. Vitruv. iv. 6. 5.
QUADRI'GA (τέθρππον ἅρμα). A team of four horses or other animals; thence a carriage drawn by four horses abreast, and more epecially applied to the racing chariots of the circus (see the following woodcut), or to those employed in public processions, triumphs, &c. (Cic. Liv. Suet. &c.) Carriages of this description were originally furnished with two poles and a long cross-bar or yoke, which stretched across the backs of all the four animals, in the same manner as shown by the first woodcut s. BIGA. But that practice was early set aside, and then the two centre horses only were yoked, the two outside being attached by traces, in the manner shown by the woodcut s. FUNALIS. Isidor. Orig. xviii. 35.
QUADRIGA'RIUS. A charioteer who drove a team of four horses abreast; more especially applied to one who drove a four-horsed car (quadriga) at the races of the circus; as represented by the annexed cut from the device on a terra-cotta lamp. Cic. Fragm. Varr. R. R. ii. 7. 15. Suet. Nero, 16.
QUADRIGA'TUS. A
QUADRIRE'MIS (τετρήρης). A war-galley propelled by four banks (ordines) of oars on each of its sides. (Plin. H. N. vii. 57. Cic. Verr. ii. 5. 33.) The illustration, copied from a medal of the Emperor Gordian, though too minute and imperfect to be received as a complete representation of a quadrireme, yet affords a valuable and most satisfactory authority respecting the chief point which distinguished the class to which it belonged, viz. the position and rating of its oarage. It will be perceived that four separate banks, in tiers superimposed one above the other, are distinctly expressed by the four horizontal lines indicating the separation of each bank, and the diagonal position of each file of oars, by the angular termination of their extremities on the left side of the entire range; thus plainly demonstrating that the principle followed in disposing and reckoning the oarage of a quadriremis, was the same as that practised in the BIREMIS and TRIREMIS, the illustrations under which words, being upon a larger scale, and from more detailed models, will show the matter in a clearer light.
QUADRIV'IUM (τετραόδιον). A place where four streets or cross roads meet (Catull. 58. Juv. i. 64). The illustration represents a street view of this nature in the city of Pompeii.
QUA'LUS and -UM (τάλαρος). A very general name for a wicker basket, which might be employed for various purposes; as, a woman's wool basket (Hor. Od. iii. 12. 4. and next woodcut); a strainer made of wicker work, used at the vintage (Virg. Georg. ii. 242. Serv. ad l. and wood cut s. COLUM. 1.); a wicker cage or coop for fowls (Columell. viii. 3. 4. and woodcut s. CAVEA. 2.). It will be observed that all the baskets in the illustrations referred to possess a conical shape, though sometimes standing upon their base, and at others used in an inverted position, which is the very form described by Columella (ix. 15. 12.), and consequently to be received as the distinguishing characteristic of the qualus.
QUASILLA'RIÆ. Female slaves engaged in the spinning department of an ancient household, whose duties consisted in carrying the baskets of wool (quali, quasilli) to the spinners and weavers, while they were occupied with their tasks. They formed the lowest rank in the household, merely attending upon other slaves, and not being themselves skilled in any branch of industrial art (Pet. 5.). The illustration represents two females of this class with the basket between them, from a frieze in the forum of Nerva at Rome, on which various processes connected with the arts of spinning and weaving, and different classes of workwomen, are sculptured.
QUASILL'US and -UM (ταλαρίς). Diminutive of QUALUS; especially applied to the basket in which wool and spinning implements were carried, as explained and illustrated under the last two words. Tibull. iv. 10. 3. Prop. iv. 7. 41.
QUINA'RIUS. A half denarius; a silver coin of Roman currency, worth about 4¼d. of our money. (Varro, L. L. v. 173. Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 13.). The example is from an original of the actual size.
QUINCUN'X. A copper coin of Roman currency, weighing five ounces (unciæ), and equal in value to five twelfths of an As (Hor. A. P. 327.). It is distinguished by five balls to denote its value, of the same character as those which appear on the quadrans (woodcut s. v.); but the coin itself is of extreme rarity, and the British Museum does not possess a specimen.
2. A figure of things arranged in the same position as the five points (puncta) are upon a die. Cic. Sen. 17. Cæs. B. G. vii. 73.
QUINCUP'EDAL. A five-foot rod, divided into graduated parts, for taking measurements. Mart. xiv. 92.
QUINQUERE'MIS (πεντήρης). A war galley equipped with five banks (ordines) of oars on each side; a class of vessel very commonly employed during the second Punic war. Liv. xxviii. 30. Plin. H. N. vii. 5. The absence of any known representation of an ancient quinquereme renders it impossible to show the disposition of the oarage in vessels of this class by reference to a model of undoubted authority; but there are fair conjectural grounds for believing that each bank was placed and rated in an ascending line, one over the other, the oar ports of all the five ranging diagonally in file, in the manner shown by the following diagram; because the biremis, triremis, and quadriremis are shown by existing monuments upon that principle, as is proved by the illustrations to each of those words; and it has been ascertained by actual experiment that a fifth tier superimposed in the same manner would not be too high above the water's edge, for the blade to dip into the water without requiring the oar to be of an unmanageable length; though beyond that number such an arrangement is found practically impossible, because the handle would be hoisted above the rower's reach, from the great obliquity given to the oar by the height of the fulcrum on which it would be poised; or, if the oar were lengthened sufficiently to meet the water at a working angle, the handle would become so long that it could not be contained within the vessel.
QUINQUER'TIO (πένταθλος). One who practised the games of the quinquertium. Liv. Andron. ap. Fest. s. v.
QUINQUER'TIUM (πενταθλον). An athletic contest of Greek origin (Festus, s. v.) consisting of five feats (quinque artium), viz.; leaping (saltus, ἅλμα), running (cursus, δρόμος), wrestling (lucta, πάλη), throwing the quoit (discus, δίσκος), and boxing (pugilatus, πυγμή), for which last throwing the javelin (jaculatio, ἀκόντισις) was afterwards substituted; but to gain the prize it was necessary to achieve a victory in all the five.
RA'DIUS (ῥάβδος). A pointed rod or wand, employed by professors of geometry, astronomy, or mathematics, for describing diagrams in sand, &c. (Cic. Tusc. v. 23. Virg. Ecl. iii. 40.), as exhibited by the annexed figure, representing the Muse Urania, from a Pompeian painting.
2. (ἀκτίς). A ray of light; usually represented by artists as a sharp pointed spike; whence corona radiis distincta (Flor. iv. 2. 91.), a crown ornamented with metal spikes to imitate the rays of the sun, as in the annexed example, representing the head of Augustus, on an engraved gem.
3. (ἀκτίς, κνήμη). The spoke of a wheel (Virg. Georg. ii. 444. Ov. Met. ii. 318.); so termed because they radiate from a centre; hence rota radiata (Varro, R. R. iii. 5. 15), a wheel with spokes as contradistinguished from the solid wheel (tympanum) which had none. The latter of the two Greek words bracketed above, κνήμη, means literally the shin bone, and thus suggests a different image for the same object, which is also exemplified by the form of the spokes in the annexed illustration, representing an original wheel of ancient workmanship now preserved in the gallery of antiquities at Vienna.
4. A sharp pointed stake or palisade for making a vallum. Liv. xxxv. 3.
5. An instrument used in weaving (Virg. Æn. ix. 476. Ov. Met. iv. 275. vi. 56. Lucret. v. 1352.); which, reasoning from analogy, and the other senses of the word, we may infer to have been the same as the long reed now employed by the Hindoos, serving both the purposes of a shuttle and batten. It is formed like a large netting needle, rather longer than the breadth of the web, which introduces the threads of the weft, and is likewise used to condense them.
RA'DULA. A scraper; an iron instrument for scraping or paring off extraneous matter, such as an old coat of paint or pitch from another surface. Columell. xii. 18. 5.
RAL'LUM. Contracted for radulum. A scraper in the form of a spud, which a ploughman put on to the butt end of his goad (stimulus), and used for scraping off the earth from the ploughshare. Plin. H. N. xviii. 49. § 2. The annexed example is copied from an Etruscan bronze, in which it is carried by a rustic engaged at the plough.
RASTEL'LUS. Diminutive of RASTER; especially in the sense of a wooden rake for smoothing over the ground after seed had been sown (Columell. ii. 12. 6.); or for raking up hay, straw, &c., in the hay or corn field. Varro, R. R. i. 49. 1. Id. L. L. v. 136.
RAS'TER, RAS'TRUS and -UM. An agricultural implement of a mixed character, between our fork, rake, and hoe, both as regards the form of the object and the manner in which it was used. It resembled the fork and rake, in so far that the head, which was made of iron (Cato, R. R. x. 3. xi. 4.), but very heavy (Virg. Georg. i. 164.), contained two, three, or sometimes four prongs (quadridens, Cato, ll. cc.), set at intervals apart (Isidor. Orig. xx. 14. 6., a raritate dentium), and arranged, like the rake, transversely across the handle at right angles with it, not in direct continuation, like the common fork; but the ordinary method of using i resembled that of a man hoeing with energy, it being raised up from the earth at each stroke (Senec. Ira, ii. 5.) and then driven down forcibly upon or into it (Celsus, ap. Non. s. v. p. 222.). Thus it was employed in digging and clearing the surface of the soil (Varro, L. L. v. 136. Virg. Georg. iii. 534.); for subduing or working the land, instead of ploughing (Id. Æn. ix. 608.), and more especially for chopping down and breaking into smaller particles any large clods of earth left by the plough, before harrowing, or as a substitute for it (Plin. H. N. xviii. 49. § 3. Virg. Georg. i. 94.). The figure in the wood-cut, which is copied from a very ancient MS. of Terence in the Vatican Library, possesses all the qualities described; and though undoubtedly an imperfect portraiture, will enable the reader to form an accurate notion of the real character of the instrument. It forms the headpiece to the first scene of the first act in the Heautontim. being carried on the shoulders of Menedemus, and is evidently intended for an agricultural instrument of the name and nature described, from the dialogue it illustrates.—CHREMES. Istos rastros interea tamen adpone, ne labora. MENDEM. Minime, &c.—and by the accessories of a sheaf of wheat, and a yoke for plough oxen, which accompany the original design. At the same time it exemplifies the difference between the raster and the ligo, an instrument of otherwise similar character and use, but which, instead of having its head formed by two or more distinct prongs, like a rake, or being, as this is, and as Columella expresses it, a "two-horned tool" (bicorne ferrum, Columell. x. 148.), had a continuous blade like the hoe, but notched at its edge, or, in the language of the same author (x. 88.), broken up into teeth—fracti dente ligonis—as shown by the illustration s. LIGO. The term, moreover, is mostly applied in the plural number, because the head was composed of several parts or prongs, instead of a single blade.
2. Raster ligneus. A wooden rake (Columell. ii. 11. 27.); for which the diminuteive RASTELLUS is more common.
RA'SUS (ξεστός). Close shaved with a razor; both with respect to the beard and hair of the head (Cic. Rosc. Com. 7. Aul. Gell. iii. 4.: and woodcut s. LINIGER); as opposed to tonsus, which means clipped or cut short with scissors.
RATA'RIA. Enumerated by Aulus Gellius amongst the different kinds of boats and ships of which he gives a list (x. 25.), but without any indication of its characteristic qualities. Servius (ad Virg. Æn. i. 43.) describes it merely as a small ship propelled by oars—navicula cum remis; Isidorus (Orig. xix. 1. 9.) seems to imply that it was roughly built, and flat-bottomed, like a raft.
RATIS (σχεδία). A raft; formed by joining together a number of planks to make a float, as shown by the annexed example, from a mosaic in the ceiling of an ancient temple of Bacchus, now the church of Santa Constantia, near Rome. Plin. H. N. vii. 57. Quin. x. 2. 7. Cic. Att. ix. Isidor. Orig. xix. 1. 19.
2. (πλοῖον κοντωτόν). A flat-bottomed boat, pushed on by a pole, as in the annexed example, from the very ancient mosaic pavement of Præneste, instead of being rowed with oars. It constitutes in fact the first step in naval architecture from the simple raft to the regular vessel. Virg. Georg. ii. 445. Flor. iv. 2. 32. Diodor. xix. Bayfius, Re Nav.
3. By the poets used indiscriminately for a boat or ship of any kind.
4. A pontoon, or bridge of boats for passing over from one side of a river to the other; formed by fixing the requisite number of boats in the centre of the stream to serve as piers for supporting a footway of planks laid athwart them from one side of the river to its opposite bank; whence the expression of Livy, rate jungere flumen. The example is from the column of Antoninus.
RECH'AMUS (Vitruv. x. 2. 1.). Same as TROCHLEA.
RECINC'TUS (Virg. Æn. iv. 518.). Equivalent to DISCINCTUS.
RECI'NIUM. See RICINIUM.
REC'TA (ὀρθοσταδίας). A tunic, woven in one piece all round, like our stockings; which fitted into the waist, and took the form of the figure, without requiring any girdle to keep it adjusted to the person, as was necessary with the common tunic, which was made of equal width from top to bottom. It consequently hung down in straight or direct folds from the neck to the feet, as exhibited by the annexed figure of Ceres, which peculiartiy gave rise to the name, both in the Latin and Greek language. Plin. H. N. 74. Festus, s. v. Isidor. Orig. xix. 22. 18. Pollux. vii. 48.
REDEMP'TOR (ἐργολάβος). A contractor; like our own term, of general application for one who undertakes to perform any description of work, such as the building or repairing of a house, &c., for a stipulated amount. Cic. Div. ii. 21. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 55. Liv. Hor.
REDIMI'CULUM. A long lappel, or fillet attached to the mitra (Isidor. Orig. xix. 31. 5. Virg. Æn. ix. 616.), or any other head-dress of similar character, for the purpose of fastening it under the chin (woodcuts s. MITRA, p. 426.), but the whole of which, when loose, would hang down over the shoulders and breast (Ov. Met. x. 265.), as shown by the annexed figure of Paris, from one of the Pompeian paintings.
RE'GULA (κανῶν). A straight rule, used by carpenters, masons, artificers, and people in general, for drawing lines, or taking measurements (Vitruv. v. 3. Cic. ap. Non. s. Perpendiculum, p. 162.). The example represents an original bronze rule, found in a mason's shop at Pompeii, which is divided into graduated parts, and made to shut up in half, by means of a hinge, similar to those now in use; but is moreover furnished with a stay at the back, indented by two notches, which slip under the heads of two small pins, and thus prevents the two halves from closing or yielding from the straight line whilst in use.
2. In a more general sense any long straight lath, or thin bar of wood or metal, for whatever purpose applied; and specially in the plural, the laths, within which the pulp of olives (samsa), or the husks of grapes (pes vinaceorum) were included, when placed under the press beam (prelum) to keep the entire mass under the action of the beam, and prevent the sides from bulging out beyond the centre where the force was pressed. Columell. xii. 52. 10. See the illustration s. TORCULAR, 1. which exhibits a basket (fiscina) employed, as was frequently the case (Id. xii. 39. 3.), instead of laths, for the same purpose.
RE'MEX (ἐρέτης, κωπηλάτης. A rower or oarsman who rows in a boat, galley, or ship. In vessels of war the rowers (remiges) formed a distinct class from the sailors (nautæ) who managed the sails and navigation of the vessel; and from the marines (classiarii), or troops to whom its defence was committed; but the three together, the soldiers, seamen, and rowers, completed the manning of the vessel. Cic. Verr. ii. 5. 33. Id. ii. 4. 34. Cæs. B. C. iii. 24.
In boats and small craft the ancients used their oars in most of the different ways still practised; a single man sometimes plying a pair of sculls (woodcut s. BIREMIS, 1.) when the boat was very small; or, in those of a larger size, handling only a single oar, and then either sitting and pulling towards himself, as we do, or standing up and pushing from himself, as is still the more common practice in the Mediterranean (woodcut s. ACTUARIOLUM).
In sea-going vessels of a large size furnished with a single line of oars, such as the naves longæ, liburnicæ, and others belonging to the class of moneres, which were equipped with oars of great weight and length, it is almost certain that more than one man pulled at the same oar, and sat on the same bench, as was the practice adopted in the galleys of the Venetians, Genoese, and French of Marseilles, during the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, a method which is thus described in the memoirs of Jean Marteihle, a French protestant, condemned to the galleys in 1701. "The rowers sit upon benches" (the transtra of the Romans), "six men to an oar; one foot rests upon a low stool or stretcher, the other is raised and placed against the bench before them. They lean their bodies forward" (the remis incumbunt of Virgil), "and stretch out their arms over the back of those before them, who are also in a similar attitude. Having thus advanced the oar, they raise themselves and the end of the oar which they hold in their hands" (remis pariter insurgunt, Virg.), "and plunge the opposite one into the sea; which done, they throw themselves back upon their benches, which bend beneath their pressure."
In vessels which were furnished with more than one bank (ordo) of oars, such as the biremis, triremis, &c., the system of rowing was conducted upon a different plan. In these the rowers sat upon separate seats (sedilia) instead of cross benches (transtra), and each oar was pulled by a single man, the highest one from the water being of course the longest, and the labour of the man who worked it the most severe. But when vessels of very great size were constructed, such, for instance, as the hexeris, hepteris, decemremis, &c., even though they could not have more than five oars in an ascending line from the water's edge to the bulwarks, as explained in the article ORDO, yet it is clear that the length and weight of the oar must have borne a certain proportion to the width and length of the ship; and in such cases it is but reasonable to infer that both the methods of rowing hitherto described were united; the lower and smaller oars being managed each by a single man, the upper and larger ones by as many more than one as their size required. Thus when mention is made in the ancient authors of the oarage not being fully manned, it is not thereby implied that any of the oars are wanting, which could scarcely be, but that the proper strength or number of hands, required for their effective management, was not put upon some of them.
REMIG'IUM. The oars or oarage of a vessel, in a collective sense; also, like the Greek εἰρεσία and τὸ ἐρετικόν, for remiges, a crew of rowers. Virg. Hor. Plin. &c.
REMUL'CUM or -US (ῥῦμα). A tow-rope, by which one vessel is drawn after another. Isidor. Orig. xix. 4. 8. Hirt. B. Alex. 11. Liv. xxxii. 16.
RE'MUS (ἐρετμὸς, κώπη). An oar. The small oars and sculls, when managed by a single man, differed in no respect from those in modern use, as may be seen from numerous specimens inserted in these pages; but the larger kinds, which sometimes extended to the length of 54 feet, and consequently required several men to one oar, must have been too thick at the handle for the hand to grasp; whence it may be confidently assumed, that they were constructed in the same manner as those used in the Mediterranean galleys of the 16th and 17th centuries, which were from 45 to 50 feet in length, each one requiring six rowers, who managed it by the assistance of a false handle or rail, affixed to the main butt, as shown by the annexed woodcut, representing the part inboard of one of the oars described. The flat piece, just beyond the handle, is distinct from the oar itself, but is fastened to it, as a guard, to prevent the consumption of the oar by rubbing against the side of the vessel, and easily renewable when itself worn out.
R'ENO or RHE'NO. A very short cloak (parvis rhenonum tegumentis. Cæs. B. G. vi. 21.) which only covered the shoulders and breast as far as the loins and abdomen (Isidor. Orig. xix. 23. 4.), and formed an article of clothing, especially characteristic of the Germans (Sallust. Fragm. Incert. 13. ed. Gerlach.), and of the Gauls (Varro, L. L. v. 167.) It was made out of the rough skin of the reindeer, still called Ren in Swdish, and is frequently seen on the German figures of the column of Antoninus (see the illustrations s. FRAMEA and SUPPLEX); but is also worn by some of the soldiers in the imperial army on the column of Trajan, two of whom, affording a front and back view, have been selected for the illustration, because they show the peculiar form and dimensions of the object more distinctly.
REPA'GULA. Plural. One of the contrivances adopted by the ancients as a door fastening (Cic. Div. i. 34.), the precise nature of which must at this day be collected from inferential reasoning, rather than positive testimony. As the word only occurs in the plural, we may conclude that the device consisted of a double fastening, and not a single one; while the expression of Plautus (Cist. iii. 18.), occludite pessulis, repagulis, leads to the conjecture that it consisted of a pair of bolts (pessuli), made of wood and fastened on the leaves of a folding door (Plin. H. N. xvi. 82.), but made to shoot against one another from opposite sides, which seems to be the true meaning of the definition given by Verrius, (ap. Fest. s. v.) repagula, quæ patefaciundi gratia ita figuntur, ut e contrario oppangantur. The annexed illustration, representing an Egyptian door, from a painting at Thebes, which shows the two bolts affixed to separate valves, and shooting from opposite sides against each other, confirms this account so far as to encourage the belief that it really exhibits the contrivance in question. Indeed it is from the Egyptians that both Greeks and Romans appear to have derived the models for most of their locks, keys, and fastenings in general.
REPLUM. (Vitruv. iv. 6. 5.) An upright rail fixed in the centre of the frame of a doorcase, and stretching from the lintel to the sill, in order to serve the purpose of a rebate, and guard the crevice formed by the juncture of the two valves, as shown by the annexed example, representing an ancient bronze door in its original state, which formerly belonged to the temple of Remus, now converted into the church of S. Cosmo and Damiano, at Rome. The ground-plan at the bottom, where it appears in the centre, exhibits the manner in which the rebate closed over the juncture; and the elevation shows one leaf of the door closed against it; if both valves were open, it will be readily perceived that it would remain, like an isolated upright, in the centre of the entire opening. The interpretation here given cannot, however, be accepted as certain, for the precise meaning of the word is much controverted, and there are no authorities, beyond the bare mention of the term in the one quoted, to establish a decision.
REPOSITO'RIUM. A piece of furniture employed by the Romans for bringing up to table the various dishes comprised in a course (Plin. H. N. xviii. 90.), and which was placed with its contents upon a table in the dining-room (Pet. Sat. lx. 4.). It consisted of a large covered box or case (whence theca repositorii. Pet. Sat. xxxix. 3.), either round or square, and sometimes made of choice woods inlaid with tortoise-shell, and enriched by ornaments of silver (Fenestella ap. Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 52. Pet. Sat. xxxv. 2.). The whole case was moreover divided into a number of separate stories, one above the other, each of which held a separate tray (ferculum) furnished with dishes like the dinner baskets in which a French or Italian restaurateur sends out a ready-dressed dinner to his customers. This is clear from Petronius (Sat. xxxvi. 1. and 2. Compare xxxv. 1. and 2.), where a repositorium is placed upon the table, and after the first division has been removed, another tray containing a different course of entrées is exposed to view — superiorem partem repositorii abstulerunt. Quo facto, videmus infra, scilicet in altero ferculo, altilia, &c — which passage distinctly points out the difference between a repositorium and a ferculum, and proves the inaccuracy of those scholars who make the two words synonymous.
REPO'TIA. A carousal or drinking bout after a banquet (Apul. Apol. p. 501. Id. de Mund. p. 750.); whence, in a more special sense, the entertainment given by a bridegroom to his friends the day after his wedding. Festus s. v. Hor. Sat. ii. 2. 60.
RESTIA'RIUS (σχοινοπλόκος, καλωστρόφος). A rope maker. Inscript. Vet. a Jo. Cam. Rossi edita.
RES'TIO (σχοινοπώλης). A dealer in ropes and cords. Front. ap. Putsch. p. 2201. Suet. Aug. 2.
RE'TE and RE'TIS (δίκτυον). A net; in the same general sense as is conveyed by our own word; including both fishing and hunting nets, and, in consequence, all the different kinds which are enumerated in the Classed Index. (Cic. Plaut. Virg. &c.) But sportsmen made use of the term in a more special or technical sense, to distinguish the large net or haye (longo meantia retia tractu. Nemes. Cyneg. 300.), with which they used to surround a wide tract of country, before the operation of beating the covers commenced, in order to prevent the game from dispersing through the open country, and to form an enclosed circle towards which they might be driven, when dislodged by the dogs from the shelter of their thickets. Both the object itself, the manner of setting it, and the purpose for which it was used, may be readily imagined from the annexed illustration, copied from a fresco-painting in the sepulchre of the Nasonian family, near Rome, which also contains several other pictures illustrative of hunting scenes.
RETIA'RIUS. A Roman gladiator, so named from the net (rete) which formed his characteristic implement of attack. Besides this, he was equipped with a heavy threepronged fork (fuscina, tridens), but had no body armour; and his art consisted in casting the net over the head of the adversary, generally a secutor, with whom he was matched. If he succeeded in his throw, so as to hamper his opponent, who was fully armed, in the toils of his net, he advanced to close quarters, and attacked him with the trident, as exhibited by the illustration from an ancient mosaic; but if he failed, having no defensive armour, he immediately took to flight, and endeavoured to collect his net for a second cast before he could be overtaken by his adversary, who pursued him round the arena. Suet. Cal. 30. Claud. 34. Juv. ii. 143. viii. 203.
RETICULA'TUS. Literally, that which is formed like a net, or in a pattern like net-work.
1. Reticulata structura. Reticulatum opus. A method of constructing walls very common in Italy during the later days of the republican and early part of the imperial period, the external appearance of which presented a reticulated pattern, like the meshes of a net, as shown by the division marked A in the annexed wood-cut, which exhibits at a view the different constructive arrangements adopted by the ancient builders. The one in question was formed by small stones, or by blocks of tufo, cut into a die, which, instead of being laid on their sides, were placed upon the sharp edge, so as to fit into one another like wedges. This method of construction, though extremely pleasing to the eye, has the great defect of wanting durability, in consequence of the tendency which such walls have to settle into cracks. Vitruv. ii. 8. 1. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 51.
2. Reticulata fenestra. A lattice, i. e. a window protected by small bars of wood or metal, crossing each other in a reticulated pattern. Varro, R. R. iii. 7. 3.
RETIC'ULUM (δικτύδιον). Diminutive of RETE; a small net, or a net made with small meshes (Varro, R. R. iii. 5. 13.); whence the following specific senses;—
1. A bag of network, the original of our reticule, employed for holding various articles: — bread (Hor. Sat. i. 1. 47.); playing balls (Ov. A. Am. iii. 361.); dried rose leaves, or other aromatic productions, which were thus carried in the hand, for the same purpose as the modern scent bottle. Cic. Verr. ii. 5. 11.
2. (κεκρύφαλος). A cap for the hair, made of net-work, and properly belonging to the female attire (Varro, L. L. v. 130.), though the same was sometimes adopted by the male sex (Lamprid. Heliog. 11. Juv. ii. 96.), as is still the case in modern Italy, where it is worn by the women of Albano, and by the men of Sonnino. The example is from a painting at Pompeii.
RETINA'CULUM (σχοινίον ἐπίγειον). In nautical language, a hawser, thrown out from the stern of a vessel (Ov. Met. xv. 696.), by which it was made fast to the shore (Ib. xiv. 547.), as contradistinguished from the cable (ancorale) at the bow.
2. A tow-rope, by which animals draw a vessel from the shore (Hor. Sat. i. 5. 18.), as contradistinct from remulcus, by which one vessel was towed behind another.
3. Long traces for wagons to which several pairs of oxen are attached, sometimes extending to the length of 26 feet. Cato, R. R. 63. and 135.
4. Any king of long rope or thong which serves to retain or restrain; as a tether, or a halter for cattle (Columell. vi. 2. 4. CAPISTRUM); the reins of a chariot. Virg. Georg. i. 513. HABENA.
RE'TIOLUM. Diminutive of RETE (Apul. Met. viii. p. 155.); same as RETICULUM, 2. Augustin. Ep. 109. n. 10.
RE'TIS. See RETE.
RE'TIUM. Same as RETE. Gloss. Philox.; and Schol. Vet. ad Juv. viii. 207. where it is applied to the net of the Retiarius.
RHE'DA. A large and roomy carriage upon four wheels (Isidor. Orig. xx. 12.), and furnished with several seats, so as to be adapted for the transport of a large party, with their luggage and necessaries (Juv. iii. 10. Mart. iii. 47. 5.). It appears to have been in very general use amongst the Romans, both for town and country (Cic. Mil. 20. Id. Att. vi. 1. Ib. v. 17. Suet. Jul. 57.); and probably resembled the French char-à-banc with a cover overhead, for the carriage itself, as well as its name, was of Gallic original (Quint. i. 5. 68.). The annexed illustration is not copied from any ancient authority, nor is it altogether imaginary, being composed by Ginzrot (Wagen und Fahrwerke, tab. 20.), after the models of several very similar carriages which appear on the columns of Trajan and Antoninus; but is here introduced in order to convey a proximate notion of the general character of the conveyance in question, which, though not altogether genuine, will still serve as a useful illustration to the various passages above referred to.
RHEDA'RIUS. The coachman, or person who drives a Rheda. Cic. Mil. 10.
2. A tradesman who makes these carriages. Capitol. Max. et Balb. 5.
RHOM'BUS (ῥόμβος). Originally signified the spindle (fusus) with which women spun their thread (Schol. ad Apoll. Argon. i. 1139.); a vertical section of which, when covered with thread, would exhibit the figure termed a rhomboid by mathematicians, as will be seen by the centre figure in the illustration s. FUSUS. This meaning subsequently obtained to the complete exclusion, of the primary notion; though a very distinct allusion to that is contained in one of the common applications of the word both by the Greek and Latin writers, who make use of it to designate a sort of reel or whorl employed in enchantment. Ov. Am. i. 8. 7. Prop. iii. 6. 26.
RHOMPÆ'A, ROMPHÆ'A, and RUM'PIA (ῥομφαία). A military weapon peculiar to the Thracians (Aul. Gell. x. 25.); but whether belonging to the class of swords or of spears is a matter of doubt, though the latter seems the more probable. At all events, it was characterised by prodigious length (Liv. xxxi. 29.); and by having, like the Roman pilum, a wooden shaft of the same dimensions as the iron head affixed to it. Val. Flacc. vi. 98.
RHYPAROG'RAPHUS (ῥυπαρογράφος). A painter of low, coarse, and trivial subjects, amongst which are enumerated scenes of ordinary life, interiors of barbers' shops, coblers' stalls, animals, and objects of still life (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 37.), such as those for which the Dutch and Flemish schools have become celebrated. It is evident from the adjective which gives the governing sense to the term (ῥυπαρός, foul, dirty), that works of this description were held in low estimation by the talented and accomplished people of Greece; but the coarser-minded and more material Romans, whose love of art, and taste, were far less pure, being acquired or affected, not innate, set the highest value upon them, and bought them at prices oftentimes exceeding what they paid for the great works of the best masters. Plin. l. c.
RHYT'IUM (τὸ ῥυτόν). Properly, the Greek name for a drinking-horn (Mart. ii. 35. 2.), out of which the liquor was allowed to flow (whence the name, ῥυτός, running, flowing) through an orifice in the point at bottom, into the mouth of the drinker, as exhibited by the annexed example from a Pompeian painting. It is here shown in its simplest form of a mere horn; but vessels of the same character were made in many ornamental devices, especially imitating the heads of different animals, in which the narrow extremity formed by the nose and lips makes a point for the liquor to flow from. Several such have been discovered in the excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and are engraved in the Museo Borbonico (v. 20. viii. 14.).
RI'CA A square sheet of woollen cloth with a fringe round its edges (vestimentum quadratum, fimbriatum. Verrius, ap. Fest. s. v.), worn as a veil over the head by females, when performing sacrifice more especially (Varro, L. L. v. 130.), but also upon other occasions (Plaut. Epid. ii. 2. 50. Aul. Gell. vi. 10. Cæs. German. in Arat. 121.). Both the form and character of this piece of drapery are plainly discernible on the annexed figure, representing a priestess of Isis, from a statue of the Chiaramonte collection in the Vatican.
RICI'NIUM, RECI'NIUM, RICI'NUS, or RECI'NUS Diminutive form of RICA. A small square sheet of woollen cloth (palliolum breve, Non. s. v. p. 542.), doubled in two (Varro, L. L. v. 132.), and worn over the head (Isidor. Orig. xix. 25.) as a veil; more especially assumed as a mourning costume by females (Varro, de Vit. Pop. Rom. ap. Non. l. c. Fragm. xii. tab. ap. Cic. Leg. ii. 23.). The example is copied from one of four figures in a fresco painting which decorated one side of a chamber in the Thermæ of Titus, in which the celebrated group of Laocoon was found, and is supposed to represent Veturia, the mother of Coriolanus, when she went out as a suppliant and in mourning, to dissuade her son, who forms a prominent object in the picture, from advancing against his native city. But even if this explanation of the subject be not the true one, it is still apparent from the attitudes and demeanour of the two females in the design, that they are represented in the character of suppliants, and consequently attired in the habiliments of grief; which alone is sufficient to identify the very peculiar piece of drapery on the head and shoulders with the name and object above described.
RI'CULA. Diminutive of RICA. A veil worn by young women over the head. Turpil. ap. Non. s. Rica, p. 539. Isidor. Orig. xix. 31. 5.
RIS'CUS (ῥίσκος). A ward-robe, more especially for female apparel (Terent. Eun. iv. 6. 15. Ulp. Dig. 34. 2. 26. Pollux, vii. 79.). The word appears to have been generally applied to any kind of receptacle adapted for the purpose mentioned, as it is severally explained to be a wicker basket covered with leather (Donat. ad Terent. l. c.); a large chest (Gloss. Philox.); and a closet let into the wall. Non. s. v. p. 165.
ROBORA'RIUM. A place enclosed with wooden palings, more particularly of oak. Scip. Afric. ap. Gell. ii. 20.
RO'BUR. The underground dungeon in a gaol (carcer) in which the sentence of capital punishment was carried into execution; whence the expression, dignum carcere et robore (Apul. Apol. p. 530.), deserving imprisonment and death. Festus, s. v. Liv. xxxviii. 59. compared with xxxiv. 44. where it is termed carcer inferior. Lucan. ii. 125. It is shown by the circular chamber in the annexed illustration, which represents a section of the state prisons, constructed by Ancus Martius and Servius Tullius, now existing at Rome, and the identical one to which the passages of Livy, above quoted, refer.
ROGATO'RES. Officers who acted at the Roman Comitia in a capacity somewhat similar to that of our poll clerks, their duty being to stand at the nearest end of the bridge (pons suffragiorum), which each citizen ascended to record his vote as he came out from the inclosure (ovile) in which they were first mustered, and to present the balloting tokens (tabellæ) to each individual in turn, which he took and threw into the box (cista) placed at the opposite extremity of the bridge. The illustration, from a coin, explains the process, showing at the bottom the railing which enclosed the ovile, a voter ascending the bridge and receiving his ballot from the rogator, whilst another one at the opposite end is engaged in depositing his in the box. The term, however, originated before the practice of secret voting had obtained, when the poll clerk had only to ask (rogare) the citizens how they intended to vote, and to register the result upon a waxed tablet containing a list of the candidates, by making a mark or point (punctum) against the name of each one as a suffrage was recorded in his favour. Cic. N. D. ii. 4. Id. Div. ii. 35. Ib. i, 17. Id. in Sen. 11. Id. Pis. 15.
ROGUS (πυρά). A funeral pile whilst in process of combustion; composed of rough logs of wood, not cut into shape (xii. tab. ap. Cic. Leg. ii. 23.), but piled up into a square mass, on the top of which a corpse was reduced to ashes (Virg. Æn. xi. 189.). It was strictly termed pyra before the fire had been applied to it, and rogus when burning (Serv. ad Virg. l. c.), as in the example annexed, representing the pile on which the body of Patroclus is consumed, in the bas-relief known as the Tabula Iliaca, on which the various events recorded in the Iliad are portrayed.
RORA'RII. A class of soldiers in the Roman armies, forming part of the levis armatura, or light-armed troops. They were drawn up in the third line behind the triarii, and in a position between them and the accensi (Liv. viii. 8. Compare Plaut. Fragm. ap. Varro, L. L. vii. 58.); their duty being to rush forward, as opportunities offered, and make desultory attacks upon the enemy's columns, with showers of missiles discharged amidst the ranks formed by the first and second lines of the heavy legionary soldiers (Liv. viii. 9.). It is probable enough that the term was derived from rores, drops of rain, as the grammarians say (Varro, l. c. Festus, s. v. Non. s. v. p. 552.); but it by no means follows therefore, as they, and the modern lexicographers after them, have inferred, that the name was given to these troops because they commenced the action by a shower of missiles, like the drops which precede a storm; for that was the duty of the ferentarii, who, for that purpose, were conveniently posted upon the wings (Veg. Mil. i. 20.), whereas the rear ranks of the army, the post of the rorarii, would be a most unfit one for such a purpose. Rores are any drops of water which fall during a shower, as well as before it. The post, moreover, assigned them by Livy, immediately before the accensi, who constituted the lowest grade of the whole army, indicates sufficiently that they formed a distinct class from them, as well as from the ferentarii, holding an intermediate position between both in regard to rank and accoutrements. The figure in the woodcut from the column of Trajan, represents a soldier of the Imperial army fighting, as above mentioned, between two heavy-armed legionaries. Though his weapon ist not seen, it is plain enough from the attitude that he is in the act of discharging a missile. Similar figures occur on two other parts of the column, with shields of the same character, and appointed in the same manner, naked to the waist, with short drawers (femoralia) and military boots (caligæ): in one instance standing amongst a body of troops of all arms, heavy and light, who are listening to an harangue (allocutio) from the emperor; and in the other one, on the field of battle, engaged amongst the heavy infantry like the one here selected. In early times no doubt a kilt (campestre) was worn instead of drawers, which were not introduced until the Imperial age; but that will not impair the genuine evidence of the other details, while the use of a missile and shield, in connection with the defenceless state of the rest of the body, accords perfectly with the rank which these men occupied, and the duties they had to perform, and shows a ground of distinction betweem them and the ferentarii, who had no shield nor defensive arm whatever, and the accensi, who had not even an offensive weapon beyond what nature supplied them, their fists and stones.
ROSTRA'TUS. Formed in the shape of, or furnished with, a snout or beak (Rostrum); whence applied as a descriptive epithet to many different objects — to the bill-hook (Columell. ii. 21. 3. ROSTRUM, 3.); to the plough (Plin. H. N. xviii. 48. ROSTRUM, 4.); to a crown (Plin. H. N. xvi. 3. xxii. 4. CORONA, 8.); to a ship (Hirt. B. Afr. 23. ROSTRUM, 1.); to a column (Suet. Galb. 23. COLUMNA, 3.).
ROS'TRUM (ῥύσχος). Literally, the snout of a beast, especially of swine, and the bill of birds; whence the term is transferred to various artificial objects, resembling in form, or in the uses to which they are applied, either of the natural organs above mentioned; as:—
1. (ἔυβολος). The beak, as it is called by us, of a ship of war, made of bronze, or sometimes of iron, and intended to act against the timbers of an enemy's vessel, like the battering-ram against a wall (Liv. Hor. Hirt. Plin. &c.). In early warfare it consisted of a single beam, shod at the end with a metal head, mostly representing some animals, as exhibited by the annexed example, from an original, perhaps unique, which was found at the bottom of the port of Genoa, and is supposed to have been sunk there in the battle fought between the Genoese and Mago the Carthaginian. It projected from the head of the vessel at a certain elevation above the keel and water's edge, in the manner shown by the woodcut at p. 442. But when the system of naval warfare was perfected, it was formed by several projecting beams, cased with sharp metal points, sometimes employed alone, and sometimes in addition to the one last described; but either situated on the same level as the keel, or depressed below it, so that every fracture not only damaged the vessel, but made a fearful leak below the water. All these properties are exhibited by the annexed illustration, from two Roman medals, the one on the left showing the rostrum on the same line with the keel, according to the construction adopted during the Punic war; that on the right, with the original rostrum, in the form of a bird's head, above, and the improved and more formidable one underneath it, depressed below the bottom of the vessel, according to the construction employed in the age of Augustus. Scheffer, Mil. Nav. ii. 5.
2. Rostra, plural (οἱ ἔυβολοι, Polyb. vi. 53, 1.). The rostra; a name given to the tribune in the Roman forum, from which public men addressed the people, because it was ornamented with ships' beaks taken from the people of Antium in the Latin war (Liv. viii. 14. Varro, L. L. v. 155. Cic. Cæs., &c.). The illustration from a coin of the Lollian gens (probably the M. Lollius Palicanus mentioned by Cicero. Verr. ii. 41.), though exceedingly deficient in respect of accurate details, will nevertheless enable us to conceive a notion of the form and character which this celebrated structure possessed. It is plainly indicated by the sweeping direction of the lines drawn across the coin that the building was a circular one, with a parapet and a platform at the top on which an elevated stand was placed, the whole being supported upon arches, the piers of which were ornamented with the beaks of the vessels above mentioned. It must have been ascended by a flight of steps, and probably there was one on each side of it, so that the whole structure would resemble very closely the ambones or pulpits, still to be seen in several of the earliest Christian churches at Rome.
3. The crooked and pointed end of a vine-dresser's bill-hook (falx vinitoria), that is, the point which is turned uppermost in the annexed example, from an ancient MS. of Columella, and which bears a close resemblance to the beak of certain birds of prey. Columell. iv. 25. 3.
4. The curved end of the primitive Roman plough, used for light soils, formed from the limb of a tree, either naturally or artificially bent into a crook, and when necessary, shod with iron at its extremity; as is very clearly displayed by the annexed figure, from a small Etruscan bronze, found at Arezzo. Plin. H. N. xviii. 48.
5. The nozzle of an oil lamp (lucerna), through which the wick projects, and which is usually made with a curved line rising from the body of the object, not unlike the beak of a bird, as exhibited by the annexed example from an original Roman lamp. Plin. H. N. xxviii. 46.
6. The head of a smith's hammer or mallet (malleus); in which case the analogy is deduced from the application, not from the form, of the instrument; because it is the part with which the shock is given, in allusion to the rostrum of a ship, as exemplified by the annexed illustration, representing smiths at the anvil, from a bas-relief. Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 41.
ROT'A (τροχός). A wheel; made in the same form as now, and composed of the following members: — modiolus, the nave; radius, the spokes; absides, the felloes; canthus or orbis, the tire; all of which are distinctly marked in the annexed figure, representing an original wheel now preserved in the cabinet of antiquities at Vienna.
2. The expression, insistere rotis (Virg. Georg. iii. 114.), literally "to stand upon, or over, the wheels," is not a merely poetical figure of speech, but a graphical description of the manner in which the ancient car (currus) was driven by its charioteer, whose posture was always a standing and not a sitting one, as shown by the annexed example from a terra-cotta lamp. Thus Martyn's translation of the above passage—"to sit victorious over the rapid wheels"—is not only incorrect as regards Latinity, but suggests an image at direct variance with the words of the poet.
3. The wheel of torture; an instrument of punishment employed by the Greeks, by which the victim, being bound to the spokes, was then whirled round with a rapid rotation till sensation or life became extinct, as exhibited by the annexed example from a Greek bas-relief representing Ixion, who was condemned to the wheel by Jupiter for his ingratitude and other overt acts. Cic. Tusc. v. 9. Apul. Met. iii. p. 48. Tibul. i. 3. 74.
4. Rota aquaria. A water wheel, for raising water from a flowing stream, and which works itself by the action of the current (Lucret. v. 517.). Wheels of this nature, of very simple construction, but agreeing exactly with the description of Vitruvius (x. 5.), are still employed in many countries, of which the following example, representing a water wheel commonly met with in China, will afford a very clear notion. The wheel itself is made entirely of bamboo, and consists of two concentric rims, between which are affixed small paddles or float boards (pinnæ), which turn the wheel as they are urged by the current. On the outer circumference (frons) are situated a certain number of scoops (haustra), made out of single joints of the bamboo, in place of which the Romans used wooden boxes (modioli) or earthenware jars (rotarum cadi). (Non. s. Haustra, p. 13.) As the wheel revolves these are filled by immersion; and being placed with a slight inclination upon the wheels, when they rise to the summit of revolution they are forced to discharge their contents into a receiving-trough which conducts the water into a reservoir, or into canals on the level of the high land.
5. Rota figularis. A potter's wheel (Plaut. Epid. iii. 2. 35.) laid horizontally, as a table, the mass of clay, out of which the vase is to be formed, being situated upon it, and fashioned by the hands of the workman, as the rotatory motion of the wheel (currente rota. Hor. A. P. 21.) would readily assist in producing any circular form either for the inside or the outside. The process is clearly shown by the annexed example from an Egyptian painting, which exhibits a potter sitting on the ground before his wheel, with the lump of clay, marked in a darker tint, upon it, gradually forming into shape; the hollow part of the inside being scooped by the thumb of the right hand, and the outside rounded by the palm of the left one—a process precisely similar to what may be seen every day in our own potteries.
ROT'ULA (τροχίσκος). Diminutive of ROTA. Plaut. Pers. iii. 3. 30. Plin. H. N. xviii. 48.
RUBRI'CA. Red ochre; thence, a law, or ordinance of the civil law; such, for instance, as the Twelve Tables, and in contradistinction to a prætor's edit, or rule of the courts (album); because the titles of the former, or, it may be, the entire text, were written with red ochre; whereas the latter were posted on a white ground, and inscribed in the usual form. Quint. xiii. 3. 11. Pers. v. 99. Compare Juv. xiv. 192.
RUD'ENS (κάλως). A rope; more especially intended to designate any part of the lighter cordage constituting the rigging of a vessel (Pacuv. ap. Cœl. ad Cic. Fam. viii. 2. Virg. Æn. 1. 91.), employed about the mast, or used for raising and trimming the sails; in contradistinction to the heavier kinds, such as cables, hawseres, &c.; for example, the halyard, by which the sail was raised (Catull. lxiv. 235.), and down which the seaman slid from the yard to the deck (Ov. Met. iii. 616.), brail ropes (Virg. Æn. iii. 682.), sheets, or, perhaps, braces, or both. Id. x. 229.
RUDIA'RIUS. A gladiator who had been presented with the rudis, in token of receiving his discharge. Suet. Tib. 7.
RUDIC'ULA (κύκηθρον). Diminutive of RUDIS. A mull or wooden spoon (Columell. xii. 46. 3.), for beating up, stirring, or mixing together different ingredients, whilst boiling, stewing, or making decoctions. (Cato R. R. 95. 1. Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 54.) The example, from a picture of still life at Pompeii, exhibits a plate of eggs, together with the vessel and mull for beating them up.
RUD'IS (κύκηθρον). An implement for stirring and mixing liquids and other ingredients while boiling, &c. similar to the preceding example, but of larger dimensions. Cato, R. R. 79. Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 50.
2. A stick with a knob at the end or blunted at the point, employed by gladiators and soldiers whilst learning the art of attack and defence, or practising for exercise and amusement. (Suet. Cal. 32. Liv. xxvi. 51. Ov. Am. ii. 9. 22. Id. A. Am. iii. 515.) It was usual to present an instrument of this description to the gladiator who had received his discharge from service; whence the expression rude donari, means to be relieved from duty. (Hor. Ep. i. 1. 2. Compare Suet. Claud. 2.) The illustration, from an engraved gem, is believed to represent a gladiator with the rudis in his hands; a conjecture which the round form of the object, and its proximate resemblance to the stirring mull, described under the primary meaning of the word, renders extremely probable.
RU'GA (ῥυτίς). Literally, a wrinkle; whence, the worm of a screw (Plin. H. N. xviii. 74. and COCHLEA), and a small irregular crease or fold in a piece of drapery, and contradistinguished from sinus, a deep and loose one, and from contabulatio, a straight and regular one. Plin. H. N. xxxv. 34. Macrob. Sat. ii. 9. and woodcuts s. CONTABULATIO and SINUS.
RULLA. See RALLUM.
RUM'EX. A weapon of similar character with the SPARUM. Festus s.v. Lucil. ap. Fest. Aul. Gell. x. 25.
RUNA. A weapon of similar character with the PILUM (Festus s.v. Ennius ap. Fest.); perhaps an antiquated term for pilum.
RUM'PIA. See RHOMPÆA.
RUNCA'TIO (βοτανισμός). The act of thinning out and weeding young crops, by removing the weakly or over thick plants and weeds, which choke up and draw off nourishment from the rest. (Columell. ii. 12. 9. Plin. H. N. xviii. 50.) This operation was usually performed after the hoeing (sarritio. Columell. ii. 11. 9.), and was conducted chiefly by the hand (Id. v. 6. 7.), with the assistance of a crooked weeding-hook (runco), for the removal of any stubborn roots or weeds amongst the plants.
RUNCA'TOR. One who thins out and clears a crop from extraneous herbage and weeds, in the manner described under the preceding word. Colmell. ii. 12. 1. Id. xi. 3. 19.
RUNCI'NA (ῥυκάνη). A carpenter's plane, for smoothing and levelling surfaces in wood (Plin. H. N. xvi. 82.), of which an example is afforded from a sepulchral marble at Rastadt, which is furnished with a handle, and shows the holes through which the shavings (ramenta) turned up. The same name was also given to the rebate plane, employed by cabinet-makers, joiners, and carvers in wood, for making grooves or channels between the folds of drapery, &c. Tertull. Apol. 12. Augustin. C. D. iv. 8.
RUN'CO. A weeding-hook (Pallad. i. 43. 4.), employed for rooting out briars and other stubborn offsets amongst the young crops, when they were being thinned and cleared out (runcatio). It was formed with a cutting edge and bent neck, like the falx (Isidor. Orig. xx. 14. 5.), and appears to have received its name from the Greek ῥύγχος, the snout of a breast and the bill of a bird, either in allusion to the form, or to the manner in which it was applied, of pecking and routing up the earth. In modern Italy the terms ronca and roncone are now used to designate a bill-hook.
RUSSA'TUS. Clothed in red; especially employed to designate a driver (auriga) in the chariot races of the circus, who belonged to the red party (factio russata), and wore a red tunic to distinguish him from his competitors, whose colours were respectively white, green, or blue. Plin. H. N. vii. 54. Inscript. ap. Reines, cl. 5. n. 63.
RUTA'BULUM. A fire-shovel, employed by bakers and smiths for throwing up the embers and ignitable matter in their ovens and forges (Festus s. v. Isidor. Orig. xx. 8. 6.); whence it is commonly mentioned in conjunction with the thongs (forceps). Cato R. R. x. 3. xi. 5. Suet. Aug. 75.
2. A wooden shovel, like that now employed for mixing together the hot and cold water in a bath, used for stirring together and amalgamating the new-made wine (mustum) with the "doctor" (defrutum) and other ingredients infused in it for the purpose of producing an artificial body and flavour. Columell. xii. 20. 4. Ib. 23. 2.
RUTEL'LUM (ὁμαλιστήρ). Diminutive of RUTRUM. A strickle, or small shovel employed by corn meters for filling the measure and levelling the surface, in order to strike the exact quantity. Luc. Sat. ix. 18. ed. Gerlach.
RUT'RUM. The implement with which Remus is said to have been slain (Ov. Fast. iv. 843.); consisting of a large and broad iron blade into which the handle was inserted perpendicularly, like our shovel; and which, like that, was adapted for the various purposes of grubbing, scraping, digging, and mixing; as, for breaking down clods of earth (Varro L. L. v. 134.); scraping and throwing up sand (Festus s. v.); for kneading and chopping up mortar (Vitruv. vii. 3. Pallad. i. 15.); and other similar uses to which such a form would be adapted. The example represents the blade of a shovel of this nature from an original discovered amongst various other building implements at Pompeii.
SAB'ANUM (σάβανον). A linen cloth, employed as a napkin to contain any thing (Pallad. vii. 7. 3.): a towel for rubbing and drying (Veg. Vet. v. 46. 11.), and for wrapping round the body to confine the perspiration after sweating in the vapour bath. Marcell. Empir. 26.
SAB'ULO. (Macrob. Sat. ii. 1.). A player upon some musical instrument; but the reading of the word is extremely doubtful, and, consequently, the interpretation given to it.
SACCEL'LUS. Diminutive of SACCULUS. A very small bag. Pet. Sat. 104. Cels. iv. 4.
SAC'CEUS. Made of coarse linen or sackcloth. Hieron. Vit. Hilar. 44.
SACCIPE'RIUM (σακκοπήρα). A large bag made of sackcloth, and employed as a receptacle within which the smaller bag or purse was deposited. Plaut. Rud. ii. 6. 64.
SAC'CULUS (σακκίον). Any small sack or bag (Apul. Met. ix. p. 200.); and especially one employed for holding money (Catull. xiii. 7. Juv. xiv. 138.); as in the annexed example, which exhibits a bag of this kind with a heap of money lying beside it, from a painting at Pompeii.
2. (Cic. Fin. ii. 8.) Diminutive of SACCUS 3.
SAC'CUS (σάκκος). A large bag or sack, made of coarse linen cloth; as a corn or flour sack (Cic. Verr. ii. 2. 38. Phædr. ii. 7.), like the annexed example from a group of soldiers on the Trajan column, who are busied in carrying to their respective quarters a number of sacks of corn distributed for the use of the army.
2. A sack or large bag for holding money, the use of which is intended to convey a notion of enermous wealth (Hor. Sat. ii. 3. 149. Id. i. 1. 70.), whereas the diminutive sacculus conveys an impression of povery or small means. The example is copied from a bas-relief discovered at Rome, which, as the inscription on it testifies, was formerly employed as a street direction, to point out the way to the public treasury.
3. Saccus vinarius. A basket, net, or strainer, made of bulrushes, osiers, or bast, and in the shape of an inverted cone (Columell. ix. 15. 12.), through which the ancients strained their wine after it was made, for the purpose of clearing it and mitigating its intoxicating qualities (Plin. H. N. xxiv. 1. Id. xiv. 28. Mart. xii. 60.). The illustration exhibits an article of the kind described, from a Roman bas-relief representing various processes connected with the vintage, and the making of wine; the grapes with which it is filled, indicate the object for which it was used.
4. Saccus nivarius. A piece of coarse cloth, employed in a common way, or by poor people, instead of the colum nivarium, for the purpose of cooling their wine by mixing it with snow; the cloth, with a lump of snow upon it, being placed over the wine cup, and the liquor then poured upon the snow, and made to filter through the cloth into the cup. Mart. xiv. 104.
SACEL'LUM (περίβολος). A diminutive from Sacrum. A small enclosed precinct, either square or round, consecrated to a divinity, and containing an altar (C. Trebat. ap. Gell. vi. 12.), but not roofed over (Festus s. v.). Such a spot was often set apart by individuals on their own property in honour of some favourite deity, as well as by the state, for public reverence. Cic. Div. i. 46. Id. Agr. ii. 14. Ov. Fast. i. 275.
SACE'NA. See SCENA.
SACER'DOS (ἱερεύς and ἱερεία). A priest, and a priestess; a general term applied to both sexes of all classes and orders of the priesthood; including, therefore, the Augur, Pontifex, Flamen, Vestalis, and others enumerated in the Classed Index, and described under their special titles. Varro L. L. v. 83. Cic. Leg. ii. 8. Id. Verr. ii. 5. 45. Ov. Fast. v. 573.
SACERDO'TULA. A young priestess, or one of inferior grade who ministers to her superior. Varro L. L. v. 130. Festus s. Flaminia.
SACO'MA (σήκωμα). A counterpoise; properly a Greek word Latinised (Vitruv. ix. Præf. 9.), for which the Roman expression is ÆQUIPONDIUM, where see the illustration.
SACOMA'RIUS. One who makes weights for counterpoises. Inscript. ap. Mur. 979. 4.
SACRA'RIUM (ἱεροφυλάκιον). In a general sense any place where sacred things are kept, but more especially the sacristy of a temple, in which the utensils, vessels, implements, &c., used in the service of the deity, were preserved (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. xii. 199. Ov. Met. x. 691.); whence the town of Cære, to which the Vestals fled with the sacred fire and property of their temple when Rome was besieged by the Gauls, is termed by Livy the sacristy of the Roman people — sacrarium populi Romani.
2. A private chapel in a man's own house (Cic. Fam. xiii. 2.), such as are attached to some of the mansions of our old nobility and great Catholic families. An apartment of this nature has been discovered in one of the houses at Pompeii, consisting of a square room, with an absis at one end for the statue of the divinity, an altar in the centre within a small peristyle of four columns which supported the roof, and furnished with a separate flight of stairs on each of its flanks, conducting to the suites of apartments situated in the upper story.
3. An apartment in the Imperial palace (Auson. Grat. Act.); so styled in order to flatter the emperor by insinuating his deification.
SA'GA. Literally, a wise woman, deeply versed in religious mysteries (Cic. Div. i. 31. Festus s. Sagaces); whence the more common meaning affixed to the word corresponds with our terms, a witch, sorceress, fortune-teller. (Hor. Od. i. 27. Columell. i. 8. 6. Id. xi. 1. 2.) The annexed figure of a female in a Pompeian painting, who in the original is sitting just outside the door of a miserable thatched hovel, exhibits all the popular characteristics, and seems to exhibit the original type of our nursery witch. The mother Shipton's hat, the magic wand, the dog, and the caldron, are all recorded and depicted in children's story-books.
SAGA'TUS. Wearing the mantle of coarse woollen{TR: "wollen" → "woollen"} cloth, termed sagum, as explained and illustrated under that word; and as the sagum was worn by the military more especially, the word sagatus is frequently opposed to togatus, thereby implying that the individual so equipped is prepared for military duty, or for a violent conflict; in which sense it is nearly equivalent to our expression "in his regimentals." Cic. Fragm. ap. Non. s. Sagum. Capitolin. Marc. Antonin. Philos. 27.
2. Made of coarse long-napped wool; e. g. of the same fabric as the sagum. Columell. xi. 1. 21. Id. i. 8. 9.
SAGE'NA (σαγήνη). Our seine; a large drag-net for taking fish, one edge of which was floated by corks on the water, and the other depressed and extended by leaden weights; the entire length of the net being sufficient to enclose a considerable extent of water, one end of it was carried out from a boat or from the shore, and laid round in a circle until the two ends were brought together, in which state it was dragged into the boat or shore, in the same manner as still practised in the gulf of Naples, and on the coast of Cornwall. Manil. Astron. v. 67. Ulp. Dig. 47. 10. 13.
SAGINA'RIUM. A place in which poultry is put up to be fatted. Varro, R. R. iii. 10. 7.
SAGIT'TA (τόξευμα, ὀῖστὸς, ἰός). An arrow; amongst the Greeks and Romans usually made with a plain bronze head, without barbs, as exhibited by the annexed specimen, from an original found in Attica.
2. Sagitta hamata or adunca. An arrow with a barbed head, like the annexed example, from a terra-cotta lamp; the use of which is more especially characteristic of the Asiatics and northern nations. Ov. Trist. iii. 10. 63.
3. A lancet or phleme for bleeding cattle (Veg.
SAGITTA'RII. Archers or bowmen, who formed part of the light-armed infantry in the Roman armies. But as the bow was not a national weapon amongst the Romans, the battalions of archers were generally furnished by the allies. (Cæs. Sall. Tac. &c.) The illustration represents a German archer from the column of Antoninus.
2. Sagittarii equites (ἱπποτοξόται). Mounted bowmen. Tac. Ann. ii. 16. Curt. v. 4. See HIPPOTOXOTA.
SAGIT'TO (τοξεύω). To shoot with a bow and arrows; an art amongst the Greeks and Romans almost entirely confined to the sports of the field or exercises of skill. The illustration, from a fictile vase, represents one of three Greek youths shooting at a cock tied on the top of a column (one of whom is kneeling in the same position as the figure s. PHARETRATUS, p. 499.), and shows the precise manner of handling the bow, fixing the arrow, drawing it between the fingers, and of directing its course by projecting the forefinger of the left hand along the shaft; thus graphically illustrating the various passages which describe the process—nervo aptare sagittas (Virg. Æn. x. 131.); imponere (Ov. Met. viii. 381.); dirigere (Claud. iv. Cons. Honor. 530.) &c.
SAG'MA (σάγμα). A pack-saddle made on a frame, and employed for sumpter horses and beasts of burden, to receive the panniers or loaded goods, as contradistinguished from the ordinary riding-pad (ephippium), which was soft and stuffed, and had no tree (Veg. Vet. iii. 59. 1. Isidor. Orig. xx. 16. 5.). The example is copied from a Pompeian painting; and similar saddles are also exhibited on the column of Trajan. The frame projecting from the side is intended to receive the lowest packages, and thus constitute a broad base for piling up the goods all round.
SAGMA'RIUS. A horse, mule, or other beast of burden, who carries a load upon the pack-saddle (sagma) as described under the last word. (Lamprid. Elag. 4. Aurel. Imp. in Epist. ap. Vopisc. Aurel. 7.) The annexed illustration is copied from the column of Trajan.
SAGOCHLAM'YS. A particular kind of military cloak introduced under the mpire, which, as the name implies, must have possessed some property common to the Greek chlamys, and the Roman or foreign sagum. (Valer. in Epist. ap. Trebell. Claud. 14.) Both the figures in the annexed woodcut, one of whom represents a foreign soldiers in the Roman service, and the other a captive youth of the same nation, wear an outer cloak of very peculiar fashion, repeatedly occurring on the column of Antontinus. It is formed by two square pieces of cloth, fastened together over each shoulder by brooches, so that one of the parts depends in front of the person, the other in a corresponding manner at the back; the square form, the length of the drapery, the manner of adjusting, and the general appearance presented by it, conveying many points of resemblance to the two articles of attire, compounded in the present name, as will be apparent by referring to the figures which illustrate those terms respectively; and, as it cannot be doubted that a garment so singular as the one above delineated must have been called by a name of its own, while no other occurs in the language so appropriate as the one affixed, it is not unreasonable to infer that it is the true one.
SAGULA'TUS. Wearing the sagulum. Suet. Vit. 11.
SAG'ULUM. Diminutive of SAGUM; the diminutive sometimes implying fineness of texture, as well as reduction in size, a thin or fine sagum, as well as a small one. Suet. Aug. 26. Liv. vii. 34. Sil. Ital. iv. 515. xvii. 527.
SAG'UM and -US (σάγος, ἐφαπτίς). Properly a Celtic word, the original of our "shag," and adopted in the same sense by the Romans to designate a mantle made of coarse wool, or of goat's hair, with the nap left on. It consisted of a square, or at least rectangular, piece of cloth (Afran. ap. Charis, 1. 81.), which when off the person could be spread out like a sheet (Suet. Otho, 2.), but when put on was folded in two and fastened by a brooch (fibula, Varro ap. Non. s. v. p. 538., whence sagum fibulatorium. Trebell. Poll. Trig. Tyrann. 10.), or tied in a knot (nodus, and woodcut s. v.) on the top of the left shoulder, the brooch being fixed through one edge of the drapery at the distance of about one third from each of the corners, so that the left arm and side were covered and protected, the right being left open and free, while the two upper corners fell upon the breast and arm, and the two lower ones depended before and behind on the level of the knees, as is plainly exhibited by the annexed figure, from a bas-relief in the Museum at Verona, representing a lictor in the sagum, which was his appropriate costume when in attendance upon the governor of a province. (Cic. in Pis. 23.) As the sagum was more especially a military costume, both for the officers and common soldiers, it was for that very reason assumed by the citizens generally instead of the cumbrous and stately toga, in times of tumult or threatened invasion; whence such expressions as saga sumere — in sagis esse — ad saga ire — are always indicative of turbulent and troubled times or of a state of actual warfare. Cæs. B. C. i. 75. Sallust. Fragm. ap. Non. s. v. p. 538. Cic. Phil. viii. 11. Liv. Epit. 72.
2. A saddle-cloth; composed of coarse shag placed under the tree-saddle (sella bajulatoria) or the pack-saddle (sagma), to prevent the hard substance from galling the animal's back (Veget. Vet. iii. 59. 2.), as exhibited by the annexed illustration from a painting at Herculaneum.
SAL'GAMA (τὰ ἁλμαῖα). Pickles; made from roots, herbs, fruit, &c., potted down and preserved in brine. Columell. x. 117. Id. xii. 4. 4.
SALGAMA'RIUS (ἁλμευτής). One who makes and deals in pickles (salgama) of the kind last described. Columell. xii. 44. 1.
SAL'IENS. A jet d'eau, or artificial fountain in which the water is made to shoot forth or leap up by the force of its own pressure, in passing through a small tube (sipho) which gives it vent. (Cic. Q. Fr. iii. 1. 2. Vitruv. viii. 6. 2. Ulp. Dig. 19. 1. 15.) Agrippa formed one hundred and five of these fountains in the city of Rome (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 24. § 9.), and the illustration exhibits one still remaining in the fuller's establishment at Pompeii.
SAL'II (Σαλίοι). The Salii; twelve priests of Mars Gradivus, who had the custody of the ancilia, or sacred shields. Their costume consisted of an embroidered tunic, girt round the waist with a broad military belt of bronze (CINGULUM, 4.); or possibly covered by a breastplate (PECTORALE), which seems more probable; and the trabea for an outward mantle. On their heads a pointed bonnet (APEX); a short sword suspended from the left side, a shield upon the left arm and in the right hand a spear or a wand with which they struck the shields as they were being carried through the city by their ministers suspended from a pole. (Liv. i. 20. Dionys. ii. 70.) Most of these particulars are illustrated by the annexed woodcuts; the first of which, from a Roman bas-relief, exhibits the apex, trabea, and wand above mentioned; a branch of laurel is carried in the left hand, because the priest is engaged at a sacrifice of thanksgiving for some victory. The lower figures, from an engraved gem, which is inscribed with Etruscan characters, exhibit the embroidery on the drapery, the sacred shields, and the method of carrying them in procession.
SALIL'LUM (Catull. xxiii. 19.). Diminutive of SALINUM.
SALI'NÆ (ἁλοπήγιον). Places or pits in which salt is made. Plin. H. N. xxxi. 39.
SALINA'TOR (ἁλοπηγός). One who prepares or makes salt; thus salinator ærarius (Ennius ap. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. iv. 244.) is one who leased from the government the privilege of making and selling salt.
SALI'NUM. A salt-cellar; both for holding the salt which was sprinkled over the altar at a sacrifice, and that which was used at meals. It usually consisted of a cup standing in a dish or a saucer; and, from being employed at the domestic sacrifice, was regarded as an object of veneration in the family; so much so, that persons even of slender means where ambitious to possess one of silver, if they could contrive to purchase it. Val. Max. iv. 4. 3. Liv. xxvi. 36. Hor. Od. ii. 16. 13.
SALISA'TOR or SALISSA'TOR. One who forbodes the occurrence of good or evil from the sensible pulsation or palpitation of any part of his body. Isidor. Orig. viii. 9. 29.
SALISUB'SULUS. A dancing Salian; an epithet given to the priests of Mars (Catull. xvii. 5.), in allusion to the dance which they performed on certain festivals, as described s. SALTATIO, ii. 3.
SALPIC'TA or SALPIS'TA (σαλπιγκτής, σαλπιστής). (Jul. Firm. viii. 21. Vopisc. Carin. 19.) A word coined from the greek, for which the Latin term is TUBICEN; which see.
SALSAMENTA'RIUS (ταριχοπώλης). A dealer in salted fish. Auct. ad Herenn. iv. 54. Macrob. Sat. vii. 3.
SALSAMEN'TUM. The brine or pickle used for salting fish (Cic. Div. ii. 57.); whence also the salted fish itself; Greek τάριχος. Terent. Adelph. iii. 3. 26.
SALTA'TIO (ὄρχησις, χόρευσις). A dancing, or a dance; under which term the inhabitants of ancient Greece and Italy designated four different kinds of exercises having little in common with one another, beyond the circumstance that the motions of the performers in all of them were accompanied and regulated by strains of music or a chorus of voices: viz.
1. Religious dances; consisting for the most part of slow and stately movements round the altar, without any violence of gesture or attempt at gymnastic dexterity, and more in the nature of a ceremonial accompanied by music, than what is implied by our term dance; consequently, amongst the Greeks and Romans freeborn citizens of both sexes and all ranks, even the highest, took a part in these exhibitions, without any disparagement to the gravity of their characters or dignity of position. Quint. i. 11. 18. Macrob. Sat. ii. 10. Serv. ad Virg. Bucol. v. 73.
II. Gymnastic or war dances; which served as a training for the field and a stimulus to military valour, like the dances of the South Sea Islanders and the Indians of North America. Amongst these are enumerated:—
1. Saltatio Corybantum. The Corybantian dance, more especially peculiar to the natives of Phrygia and Crete; which possessed a mixed character between the religious, military, and mimetic exhibitions, the performers being armed, and bounding about with wild and violent gestures while striking their shields and swords together, to imitate the noise made by the Corybantes, when endeavouring to stifle the cries of the infant Zeus, in the island of Crete. (Lucian, Salt. 8. Strabo, x. 3. 21.) It is supposed to be represented by the annexed figures, from a Greek bas-relief in the Vatican. The entire composition now remaining contains six figures, all in the same attitude as the pair here introduced; but as neither of the two outside one has a vis-à-vis, it is evident that the marble is only a fragment which originally formed part of a longer frieze, inluding a greater number of performers.
2. Saltatio Pyrrhica. The Pyrrhic dance; described and illustrated s. PYRRHICA.
3. Saltatio Saliorum. A dance performed by the Salii, or priests of Mars (Quint. i. 11. 18.), during the ceremony of carrying the sacred shields (ancilia) through the city of Rome. We have no representation of this performance; but it may be inferred from a passage of Seneca (Ep. 15.), that the motions exhibited by these priests resembled the act of leaping and jumping, more than graceful or measured steps, for he compares them to the stamping and jumping of fullers (saltus fullonius) upon the clothes they are engaged in cleaning, as explained and exhibited by the text and wood-cut at p. 304; but they evinced a considerable degree of muscular strength and agility.
4. Saltatio bellicrepa. A Roman dance of a military character, said to have been instituted by Romulus, in commemoration of the rape of the Sabines, and as a ceremonial for averting a similar calamity from his own people. Festus, s. v.
III. Mimetic dances; in which the performers represent certain events and actions by mere gesticulation and movements of the body, to a musical accompaniment, but without the aid of the voice, like the actors in a modern ballet. These exhibitions would in our day be classed under the name of acting in dumb show, for dancing, in our sense of the term, had no place in it, the performance consisting in expressive movements of the features, body, arms, and hands, rather than the feet. Macrob. Sat. ii. 7. Suet.
IV. Operatic dances; in the ordinary sense of the word as applied by ourselves; intended as an exhibition of grace, agility, and strength, in which the movements of the feet and body perform the essential part, without any direct attempt at mimetic representation, as exhibited by the annexed group, from a fictile vase. Such performances were chiefly exhibited for the amusement of the guests at great banquets; and numerous representations of the persons who performed in them, both male and female, have been found amongst the paintings of Herculaneum and Pompeii, all showing the great degree of perfection to which the art of mere dancing was advanced by the ancient artistes.
SALTA'TOR (ὀρχηστὴς παντόμιμος). A dancer; only of mimetic dances on the stage (SALTATIO III.), or of operatic dancers at banquets and public places (SALTATIO IV.); not the performer in a religious, nor in a war-dance (SALTATIO I. and II.); the two former being regarded by the Romans as a degrading or unbecoming employment, but the two latter in nowise derogatory. Hence the term always contains an implied sense of contempt or reproach. Cic. Mur. 6. Id. Off. 1. 42. Macrob. Sat. ii. 10.
SALTATRI'CULA. Diminutive of SALTATRIX; the diminutive conveying a notion of disparagement. Aul. Gell. i. 5.
SALTA'TRIX (ὀρχήστρια). A dancing girl; a class of women common in ancient Greece and Italy, as now in the East, of indifferent morals but considerable personal beauty, who hired themselves out to dance at great banquets and entertainments for the amusement of the guests. (Cic. Pis. Ammian. xiv. 6. 19. Macrob. Sat. ii. 10.) Females of this description are frequently represented in the Pompeian paintings, from one of which the annexed figure is copied; mostly furnished with a large and transparent piece of drapery, which is sometimes wrapped in graceful folds round the person, sometimes, as in the example, allowed to expand itself as a partial veil, and at others entirely removed from the figure, and carried floating in the air, so as to leave the body altogether exposed to the gaze of the spectators,— a scandal which is not to be ascribed to the caprice of the artist, but which, at least under the corruptions of the Imperial age, was actually practised. Tertull. de Spectac. p. 269.
SALTUA'RIUS. Strictly, a slave charged with the superintendance of a tract of woodland and pasture (saltus), whom we might call a forester or ranger (Inscript. ap. Orelli, 1599.); but the word is mostly applied in a more general sense to designate the steward of a landed estate, who performed the same duties, and stood in a similar relation to the country tenants of his master, as the insularius in the city; i. e. he had the general superintendance of the lands and farms, attended to the letting and keeping up of repairs, that the property might not be wilfully or carelessly deteriorated. Pet. Sat. 53. 9. Pomp. Dig. 7. 8. 16. African. Dig. 32. 1. 58.
SALUTIGER'ULI sc. pueri. A class of slaves whose occupation consisted in carrying out complimentary messages, salutations, &c., to the friends and acquaintances of their masters. Plaut. Aul. iii. 5. 28.
SAMBU'CA (σαμβύκη). A stringed instrument with chords of different lengths and substance, similar to our harp. (Scipio African. ap. Macrob. Sat. ii. 10. Persius v. 95. Porphyr. in Ptol. Harm.) It was sometimes of small dimensions, like the Welsh harp; at others a large and powerful instrument, like our own, and highly ornamented, as shown by the annexed example, from an Egyptian painting, now well-known as Bruce's harp, who first made it public.
2. A military engine employed for scaling walls. (Festus s. v. Veg. Mil. iv. 21. Vitruv. x. 16. 9.) In the absence of any representation of the machine, we may easily conceive its use and character from the above figure, as a moveable platform raised up and down by a number of ropes attached to pullies on the top of the frame, like the strings of a harp.
SAMBU'CINA and SAMBUCIS'TRIA (σαμβυσκίστρια). A female harpist (Plaut. Stich. ii. 3. 57.); mostly a foreign woman of Egyptian or Asiatic race. (Liv. xxxix. 6.) When playing, they either stood upright, in the position of the preceding figure, or knelt and sat upon their hams, as in the annexed example, which represents an Egyptian performer, from the tombs of Beni Hassan.
SAMNI'TES. A class of gladiators (Cic. Sext. 64.), who wore the same kind of armour as the Samnite soldiers, viz. a close helmet with wings (pinnæ) at the sides (Varro, L. L. v. 142.), a shield of the kind called scutum, a greave (ocrea) on the left leg (Liv. ix. 40.); and a piece of armour or armlet (manica, Juv. vi. 256.) on the right arm, which was not protected by the shield. Most of these particulars are distinctly visible in the annexed figure, from a bas-relief in stucco, on a tomb at Pompeii; which from that circumstance is believed to represent a gladiator of the class in question. It will, however, be observed that both the legs are furnished with greaves, instead of the left one only, as expressly mentioned by Livy and Juvenal (ll. cc.); but since the original has entirely perished, in consequence of the fragile nature of the material in which it was formed; and had, moreover suffered from time before it was first discovered, it will not be unreasonable to assume that Mazois, the artist to whom we are indebted for the design, has added the greave to the right leg to make both match, in ignorance of the real fact, or, perhaps, misled by the corrosions of the stucco.
SANDALIGER'ULÆ. Female slaves who carried their mistresses' dress slippers (sandalia) when they went out. Plaut. Trin. ii. 1. 29.
SANDA'LIUM (σανδάλιον, σάνδαλον). A highly-ornamented slipper worn by the ladies of Greece, from whom it was adopted by those of Rome. (Terent. Eun. v. 7. 4. Turpil. ap. Non. s. Priores, p. 427.) In character it appears to have possessed an intermediate form between the calceolus and the solea, having a sole and upper leather over the toes and front half of the foot, but leaving the heel and back part uncovered, like a modern slipper; and to this part it is probable that a strap or a sandal, as it is now called, was, sometimes at least, attached to fasten it over the instep. The use of it was exclusively confined to the female sex; and accordingly the example here introduced, which also shows the manner of decorating the upper leather, is worn by a female in a Roman bas-relief; another, of precisely similar form, is met with on the feet of a female figure in one of the Pompeian paintings. Mus. Borb. vii. 39.
SANDAP'ILA. A coarse and common kind of coffin or bier, in which the corpses of indigent people and of malefactors were carried out to burial. Fulgent. s. v. Suet. Dom. 17.
SANDAPILA'RIUS. One who carries out the bier called sandapila. Sidon. Ep. ii. 8.
SANGUIC'ULUS. A sort of black-pudding, made with the blood of a kid. Plin. H. N. xxviii. 58.
SAN'NIO. Literally one who grins or makes grimaces; whence a stage buffoon, who endeavours to excite the merriment of the spectators by any kind of grotesque gesture, ridiculous manner, or distortion of the face and body, in the manner exhibited by the annexed figure, representing a performer of the kind described, from an engraved gem. Cic. Or. ii. 61.
SAP'A (ἕψημα, σίραιον). Must, or new wine boiled down to one third of its original quantity (Plin. H. N. xiv. 11.), employed principally for seasoning and strengthening other wine. Columell. xii. 19.
SARABAL'LA and SARABA'RA (σαράβαλλα and -βαρα). Long and loose trowsers (fluxa ac sinuosa, Isidor. Orig. xix. 23.) reaching from the waist to the instep, worn by the Parthians (Publius ap. Isidor. l. c.), Medes (Tertull. Pall. 4.), and some others of the Asiatics; and also by the Northern people, as represented by the annexed figure of a German auxiliary on the column of Trajan.
SA'PO (σάπων). A Celtic or German word, containing the elements of the low German sepe, and our soap, but indicating an article of different character, both in quality and use, from what is now understood by that term; inasmuch as the ancient sapo was not made for washing, but as a pommade for tinging the hair of a light brown colour. It was composed with goat's tallow and beech wood ashes, the most approved quality being manufactered by its inventors the Germans, the next best in Gaul. It was made up into balls, and imported at Rome for the use of women and young fashionables, amongst whom light hair was considered extremely beautiful, as it is by their descendants of the present time. Plin. H. N. xxviii. 51. Compare Mart. viii. 33. 20. Id. xiiv. 26. Beckman, History of Inventions, vol. ii. p. 92. Lond. 1846.
SARA'PIS (σάραπις). A tunic worn exclusively by the kings of Persia, which had a sort of reddish-purple tint (purpureus, πορφύρεος) decorated with a stripe of white down the front (μεσόλευκος), as is plainly shown by the annexed illustration, representing Darius at the battle of Issus, from the celebrated mosaic of Pompeii, in which the shades of colour are tinted as described. Plaut. Pœn. v. 5. 33. Compare Curt. iii. 3. 28 Hesych. s. v.
SAR'CINA. A pack or bundle of things collected together and made up into a lump for the convenience of carriage by men, beasts of burden, or in vehicles (Pet. Sat. 117. 11. Phædr. ii. 7. Hirt. B. Afr. 75.), as contradistinguished from fascis, a bundle tied up into a faggot. The example is from the column of Trajan, and shows the way in which the ancient packs are uniformly represented when tied up.
2. The personal baggage belonging to, and carried by, a Roman on the march; viz. his arms, clothes, rations for a certain number of days, and the utensils for cooking them; as contradistinguished from impedimenta, the baggage of the entire army. Cæs. B. G. i. 24. Id. B. C. iii. 76. Hirt. B. Afr. 75. The illustration represents a Roman soldier, with his baggage as described, on the column of Trajan.
SARCINA'LIS and SARCINA'RIUS. A pack-horse, or other animal, which carries a load on his back, made up into the form of a sarcina, as exhibited by the annexed illustration from the arch of Constantine. Cæs. B. C. i. 81. Ammian. xv. 5. xxix. 5.
SARCINA'TOR. One whose trade consists in mending and repairing garments (Lucil. Sat. xxviii. 33. Plaut. Aul. iii. 5. 41. Paul. Dig. 47. 2. 82.); not a tailor, in our sense of that word, for the garments of the ancients did not require to be cut out and fitted like our own, the outer ones being chiefly formed by a large rectangular piece of cloth, the underneath ones of two or more breadths of similar shape, merely sewed together at the sides and top, excepting where openings were left for the arms and head to come through. By such means, and the practice of weaving round upon an upright loom, all the varieties of habiliments exhibited in the course of these pages could be produced.
SARCINA'TRIX. A female who exercises the same trade as the sarcinator, that of mending and repairing garments. Varro, ap. Non. s. v. p. 56. Cajus, Dig. 15. 1. 27.
SARCIN'ULA. Diminutive of SARCINA.
SARCOPH'AGUS (σαρκοφάγος). Literally carnivorous, whence the name was given to a particular kind of limestone quarried at Assos in Troas, and remarkable for possessing the peculiar power of consuming or eating away the flesh and bones, with the exception of the teeth, of a body enclosed within it, in the short period of forty days. (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 27.) On account of this property it was extensively employed for making coffins, when the corpse was buried entire without burning; and thence the term came to be used in a general sense for any kind of coffin or tomb, without regard to the materials of which it was made. Juv. x. 172.
SARCULA'TIO. The act of hoeing or earthening up round the roots of young plants and crops with the sarculum. Pallad. iii. 24. 6.
SAR'CULUM and -US (σκαλίς). A hoe, of a lighter and smaller description than the ligo; employed chiefly for weeding in fields and gardens (Plin. H. N. xviii. 65. § 2. Id. xix. 33. Columell. ii. 11. 10.); and in mountain districts, where the soil is usually of little depth, and the inequalities of surface forbid the use of a plough, the sarculum was employed instead of that implement. (Plin. H. N. xviii. 49. § 2.) The example is copied from a Roman bas-relief representing a race in the circus; and an accessory of the same kind is commonly introduced by the ancient sculptors in scenes of this description, where it was used for hoeing out a trench across that part of the arena in which athletic contests were conducted, as explained s. SCAMMA.
2. Sarculum bicorne (Pallad i. 43. 3.). A two-pronged hoe, specially called BIDENS; where see the illustration.
SARIS'SA (σάρισσα). A pike peculiar to the infantry of the Macedonian phalanx (Liv. ix. 19.), of prodigious length (Id. xxxviii. 7.), not less than 18 or 20 feet (Polyb. xviii. 12.), and of a similar description to the contus, only much longer (Veg. Mil. iii. 24.). A proximate notion of the general character and dimensions of this weapon, the longest and most ponderous of the class of spears in use amongst the ancients may be obtained by referring to the figure of the contus carried by Alexander at p. 200.
SARISSOPH'ORUS (σαρισσοφόρος). Armed with the sarissa; a title given to the soldiers who formed the Macedonian phalanx, to whom that weapon was peculiar. Liv. xxxvi. 18. Curt. iv. 15. Polyb. xii. 20. 2.
SARRA'CULUM. Ammian. xxxi. 2. 18. Diminutive of SARRACUM.{TR: Lemma added by transcriber.}
SARRA'CUM. A particular kind of wagon or cart, of foreign origin, but adopted into Italy (Sisenn. ap. Non. s. Carra, p. 195. Capitolin. M. Antonin. 13.), where it was commonly employed by the agricultural population as a conveyance for themselves and families (Cic. Fragm. in Pis. ap. Quint. viii. 3. 21.), and for transporting the produce of their farms to market. The circumstance of its being mentioned by the Roman authors in connexion with the plaustrum (Juv.iii. 254.), or as a quasi synonynme with it (Id. v. 23.), indicates that it must have had considerable resemblance to that particular conveyance, though at the same time with some difference from it; hence the inducement for proposing the figure exhibited by the annexed illustration as a genuine example of a sarracum. It is copied from a painting representing a group of country people in the market-place of Herculaneum, and possesses two principal qualities which characterize a genuine plaustrum: viz. a thick platform of boarding placed upon a pair of solid wheels (tympana) instead of radiated ones (rotæ), but differs from it in the essential particular, that it has a regular body with close sides affixed to the platform instead of a mere basket placed upon it, or an open railing, or nothing at all, as was usual with that kind of wagon, and will be perceived by referring to the article and illustration s. PLAUSTRUM.
SARRI'TIO or SARI'TIO. The act of hoeing out weeds from young plants and crops. (Columell. ii. 11. 4. Plin. H. N. xviii. 50.) It was performed with the sarculum; but differs from sarculatio, which expresses the hoeing up of earth to the plant; and from runcatio, which expresses the weeding and thinning with the hand and the instrument termed runco.
SARRI'TOR or SARI'TOR. A labourer who performs the sarritio, as just explained. Columell. xi. 13. 1.
SARRITU'RA. Same as SARRITIO.
SARTA'GO (τήγανον). A kitchen utensil, believed to be the same as our frying-pan, of which an example is afforded by the annexed illustration from an original of bronze, discovered at Pompeii. Plin. H. N. xvi. 22. Juv. x. 64.
SAR'TOR (from sarcio). Same as SARCINATOR. Non. s. v. p. 7.
2. (from sarrio.) Same as SARRITOR. Plaut. Capt. iii. 5. 3.
SAT'RAPA, SAT'RAPES, and SATRAP'S (σατράπης). A satrap; i. e. a Persian officer of high rank, who acted in the capacity of governor of a province, or viceroy for the king. (Quint. Curt. iii. 13. Nepos, Con. 2.) One of the distinctive badges of these personages consisted in the right of wearing a tall, stiff, upright cap (tiara recta), which, as being worn by the annexed figure, from a Persepolitan sculpture, induces the belief that it represents an officer of the quality described.
SAV'ANUM. See SABANUM.
SAVIL'LUM or SUAVIL'LUM. A sort of pudding, made of flour, cheese, eggs, and honey, and served up to table in the vessel it was cooked in, like our puddings in a pie-dish. Cato, R. R. 84.
SAXUM QUADRATUM. A rock of volcanic formation, termed by the Italian geologists "lithoid tufo" (tufa litoide), the same as that which forms the basis of the Capitoline hill, and which received the name from the rectangular masses into which its natural fissures divide it. All the earlier buildings ascribed to the legendary period of the kings, the underground dungeon of Servius Tullius, the Cloaca Maxima, and the substructions of the Capitolium, are built of this material, which in fact was the only one in use until the introduction of the Appian and Gabian stone, now designated by the name of peperino. It is consequently this which Livy designates by the name of saxum quadratum (vi. 4.), when speaking of the foundations of the Capitoline temple; and the same material is intended (x. 23.) when he says that the road from the Porta Capena to the temple of Mars was paved saxo quadrato; not that the stones were regularly squared, like ashlar, since the Romans always employed polygonal blocks for road paving (see the article and illustration s. VIA), but that the material used was lithoid tufo, instead of silex, which in his time was the usual one. Brocchi, Suolo di Roma.
SCABEL'LUM. Diminutive of SCAMNUM (Quint. i. 4. 12.); a small square stool, forming but one step, or consisting of a single height (Varro, L. L. v. 168.), employed as a bedstep, when the bedstead was not a very high one (Varro, l. c.), as shown by the annexed illustration from a Roman bas-relief.
2. (ὑποπόδιον). A foot-stool, of similar character, placed before a chair or seat for the feet to rest upon as in the annexed example from a Pompein painting. Isidor. Orig. xx. 11. 8.
3. (κρουπέζια). A musical instrument; consisting of a very thick-soled wooden shoe (Pollux, vii. 87.) with a deep fissure under the toes, which, when yielding to the pressure of the foot, emitted certain notes from a small machine of metal (compare Lucian, Salt. 83.) placed between its upper and lower surfaces. It was worn by the pipe-player (tibicen) at the theatre (Pollux, x. 153.); and was especially used to give notice of the commencement and termination of an Act (Cic. Cæl. 27.); to beat the time, and make an accompaniment with other instruments (Suet. Cal. 54. August. de Mus. 3.) Although some doubts are entertained respecting the accuracy of the interpretation here given, yet the numerous remaining representations of a contrivance similar to the one exhibited by the woodcut, from an ancient marble statue, and the characters by whom it is used, afford a very strong evidence of its correctness. A terra-cotta of the British Museum shows a figure by the side of a wine-vat playing on the double pipes (tibiæ pares) while he beats time upon an instrument similar to the one engraved above; a marble sarcophagus published by Visconti (Mus. Pio Clem. v. tav. C.) exhibits a female playing the Phrygian pipes (tibia Phrygia) and beating time upon a similar instrument; and a female statue of the Capitol (Mus. Capitolin. iii. 36.) has the same contrivance under her foot.
SCA'LÆ (κλίμαξ). A ladder; or machine for ascending (from scando), but used in the plural because it was composed by a number of separate steps, arranged one over another and between two uprights, in the same manner as practised at the present day. (Sall. Plin. Cæs. Tac. Ov. Virg.) The illustration represents one of the Roman soldiers in Trajan's army carrying a scaling ladder for the assault of a Dacian fortress.
2. A ship's ladder, of the same construction, but carried on board, and let down from the sides of the vessel when required for the convenience of embarkation or disembarkation, as in the annexed example from an ancient fresco painting discovered at Rome (Virg. Æn. x. 653. Liv xxvi. 45.); whereas the pons, or ship's bridge, was a mere plank, thrown out from the deck or side of a small vessel in a horizontal position to the top of a quay, or any prominence on the shore of corresponding height with the vessel itself, as shown by the illustration s. PONS, 5.
3. A staircase, conducting from the bottom to the upper stories of a private house or other edifice. The ancient builders formed their staircases much in the same way as the modern ones, either by fixing them against a wall in the interior, so as to leave one side open, like the ordinary stairs of private houses in England, or on the exterior of the building (Liv. xxxix. 14.), as is still a common practice in Italy; or they enclosed it altogether by side walls, like a staircase formed in the thickness of a wall, so that the person ascending or descending was concealed from the view of all others above and below, excepting only such as happened to be upon the same flight with himself. These were specially termed Greek staircases (scalæ Græcæ, Vitruv. ix. Præf. 7. Aul. Gell x. 15. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. iv. 646.), and from the nature of their construction would of necessity be dark and generally narrow, which explains the reason why the staircase is so often mentioned as a hiding-place (Cic. Mil. 15. Id. Phil. ii. 9. Hor. Ep. ii. 2. 15.); a notion so much at variance with modern usages, by which the stairs are the most open and public parts of the house, that the commentators upon all the passages cited, from not being acquainted with the constructive peculiarity just described, are reduced to the expedient of misconstruing their authors by substituting one preposition for another, as if the person took refuge under the staircase instead of upon it.
4. At a much later period the same word appears to have been the first Latin one employed to designate a pair of stirrups; being first met with in a treatise on the art of war written by the emperor Mauritius at the end of the sixth century. It is sufficiently ascertained that the pure Greeks and Romans did not ride upon regular saddles, made like our own upon a tree (see sella equestris), but only upon pads (ephippia). Consequently, as stirrups were not used until the regular saddle was invented, the word is not to be regarded as pure Latinity in this sense, nor as characteristic of really ancient manners, but as one adopted during the period of transition from ancient to modern times. Mauricii,
SCAL'MUS (σκαλμός). The thowl; a strong wooden stay on the inside of a vessel to which the oar was attached by means of a thong (struppus) to keep it firm and steady in rowing. (Cic. Brut. 53. Id. Or. i. 38. Vitruv. x. 3. 6.) Being inside the vessel, this object is not apparent in any ancient work of art; but there can be no doubt that it was formed in the same way as in the Mediterranean galleys of the 16th century, from which the example is taken.
SCALPEL'LUM and -US (σμιλίον). Diminutive of SCALPER or SCALPRUM. A small sharp surgical knife, employed for cutting away the proud flesh round a wound (Columell. vi. 32. Plin. H. N. xxviii. 28. Cic. Sext. 65.); and for opening veins to let blood. (Cels. ii. 10.)
SCAL'PER. Same as SCALPRUM.{TR: Lemma added by transcriber.}
SCAL'PRUM (σμίλη, κολαπτήρ). A sharp, cutting instrument, employed by artists and mechanics for a variety of purposes, and belonging to the class which we denominate chisels or celts (Isidor. Orig. xix. 19. 13.); that is, which are driven with a mallet, or, when applied for cutting are thrust from the person using them, instead of being drawn towards him; though the name was also given to several other instruments ordinarily used for cutting, as explained in the subsequent paragraphs.
1. Scalprum fabrile. A common chisel, driven by a mallet (Liv. xxvii. 49. malleo adactum) of the same description with those still in use, as shown by the annexed examples, both from originals in the British museum; the left hand one being formed to receive a wooden handle, like those used by carpenters, the other entirely of metal, like those used by stonemasons.
2. A leather-cutter's, or shoe-maker's knife (Hor. Sat. ii. 3. 106. Jul. Pollux, vii. 83.); of the same form as those used for similar purposes in our own times, as shown by the annexed example, from an original found at Pompeii.
3. An instrument employed by surgeons (Jul. Poll. iv. 181. x. 141.) for opening wounds, and cutting away parts of the diseased flesh (Celsus, viii. 3. and 4.); for which purpose the annexed example, from an original found in a surgeon's shop at Pompeii, is supposed by medical men to have been intended.
4. A pen-knife; used by the transcribers and copyists (librarii) in the employ of private individuals or of booksellers, for tempering the reed pen (arundo, calamus), with which an ancient MS. was written. (Tac. Ann. v. 8. Suet. Vitell. 2.) The example is from an original excavated at Rome; the handle is of bone, into which the blade is made to shut, precisely in the same manner as now practised.
5. A particular part of the vinedresser's pruning hook (falx vinitoria) situated between the sinus and the rostrum, as will be understood by referring to the article and illustration at p. 274 s. FALX, 5. Columell. iv. 25. 1. Plin. H. N. xvii. 26.
SCALP'TOR. An artist who executes with the chisel (scalprum), as in the annexed illustration from an engraved gem found at Pompeii, which represents an artist at work upon a marble vase. Scholars differ greatly in opinion respecting the accurate meaning of the two words Scalptor and Sculptor; some considering them to be purely synonymous (B. Crusius, Clavis Suet. s. Scalpere); others that the first designates an engraver of gems only, the latter a sculptor of marble (Ernesti ad Suet. Aug. 50. Nero, 46.); others that the scalptor means an artist who executes coarser or commoner kinds of work than the sculptor (Oudendorp, ad Suet. Galb. 10.); and others leave the matter in dobut as one which cannot be decided. (Bremi ad Suet. Aug. 50. Heindorf. ad Hor. Sat. ii. 3. 22.) Thus the term is used to designate a gem engraver (Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 15. scalptor gemmarum); a sculptor (Id. xxxvi. 5. scalptor marmorum); and an artist who makes the dies for coins. (Inscript. ap. Marin. Iscriz. Alb. p. 109. scalptor monetæ.)
SCALPTO'RIUM. An instrument made in the form of the human hand for scratching any part of the person not otherwise easily accesible. Mart. xiv. 83.
SCALPTURA'TUS. Engraved with the chisel (scalprum).
2. Pavimentum scalpturatum. See PAVIMENTUM, 5.
SCA'MMA (σκάμμα). A Greek word signifying that which is dug, as a trench or ditch; thence a ring in the gymnasium, within which the wrestlers contended, because it was defined by a small trench scraped in the sand, to mark the limits beyond which no competitor was permitted to retreat. (Cæl. Aurel. Tard. ii. 1. Polyb. xl. 55.) Amongst the Romans, athletic contests were exhibited in the broad end of the circus; which explains the otherwise unaccountable introduction of two accessories commonly met with in bas-reliefs representing the Circensian games, viz., a hoe (sarculum), and a basket of sand (haphe), the former being used to make the ring, the latter to sprinkle over the bodies of the wrestlers.
SCAMNA'TUS (sc. ager). See SCAMNUM, 4.
SCAM'NUM. A bed-side step or stool (Ov. A. Am. ii. 211.), of an intermediate size between the scabellum and gradus (Varro, L. L. v. 168.), which was used when the bedstead was of a middle size, between the highest and lowest. (Isidor. Orig. xx. 11. 8.) Hence the expression (scandere lectum, means strictly to get into bed by the assistance of this contrivance. The example is taken from a bas-relief; the legs upon which the stool is raised indicate the increased height, serving the purpose of an extra step, and if compared with the illustrations s. SCABELLUM, 1. and GRADUS, 1. will at once demonstrate the accurate distinctions between those three words and the objects expressed by them.
2. A foot-stool; of a higher and consequently more dignified character than the common one (scabellum, suppedaneum), consisting of a double step, so that the feet could rest at different elevations, as in the annexed illustration, from a marble bas-relief in which it is appropriately placed under the feet of Jupiter to indicate the majesty of the god, and the grandeur of the throne on which he sits. The epithet cavum, the hollow foot-stool, applied by Ovid (A. Am. i. 162.) to this object may be intended to describe the incavation formed by cutting away the step in front, as in the example; or to its being actually hollow underneath, like the preceding specimen.
3. A seat formed with a step below for the feet to rest upon, as in the annexed example from a Pompeian painting. It is this property which, accurately speaking, constitutes the difference between a scamnum and a subsellium; though the distinction is not strictly preserved. Ov. Fast. vi. 305. Mart. v. 41.
4. In the technical language of the agricultural people, a balk, or long line of earth between two furrows left unbroken by the plough (Columell. ii. 2. 25. Plin. H. N. xviii. 49. § 2.); also a tract of the same character left between the ridges that are made with the hoe. Columell. iii. 13. 2.
5. In the technical language of land-surveyors (agrimensores), the breadth of a field, as opposed to striga, its length. Auct. R. Agrar. pp. 46. 125. 198. ed. Goes.
SCAN'DULA or SCIN'DULA (σχίδαξ). A shingle; i. e. a small board about a foot long, employed in early times instead of tiles, for covering the roof of a house. Shingles continued to be commonly used at Rome until the period of the war with Pyrrhus. Plin. H. N. xvi. 15. Pallad. i. 22.
SCANDULA'RIS. Made or covered with shingles (scandulæ). Apul. Met. iii. p. 54.
SCANDULA'RIUS. One whose business consists in laying a roof with shingles (scandulæ). Arcad. Dig. 50. 6. 6.
SCANSO'RIA MACHINA (ἀκροβατική μηχανή). A scaffolding for working upon at any elevation above the ground. Vitruv. x. 1. 1.
SCAPH'A (σκάφη). A skiff, cutter, long-boat, or jolly-boat, carried on board larger vessels, to be lowered and used as occasion required. (Cæs. B. C. iii. 24. Cic. Inv. ii. 79. Pet. Sat. 101. 7.) The modern name of skiff, which appears to retain the elements of the ancient term, and designates a form of boat precisely similar to the one exhibited by the annexed wood-cut, from a Pompeian painting — that is, with a broad body, sharpish head, and small flat stern, — favours the conjecture that it affords a genuine specimen of the model designated by the term scapha; but even if that be doubtful, the example is in every respect worthy of attention, as one of the very few remaining illustrations of ancient ship or boat building, which affords a practical model, with correctness of form and detail, instead of the usual imperfect and conventional style of representation, so generally adopted by the ancient artists when treating marine subjects.
2. A smaller boat, constructed upon the same model as the preceding, but rowed only by a pair of oars (Hor. Od. iii. 29. 62. biremis scapha), and employed for river and coasting occupations, such as fishing (Justin. ii. 13. piscatoria scapha), &c.
SCAPH'E (Vitruv. ix. 8.) Same as SCAPHIUM, 2.
SCAPH'IUM (σκάφιον). A vessel of small dimensions and Greek invention, employed at the dinner table as a wine cup. It was sometimes made of silver (Phylarch. ap. Athen. iv. 21.), and elaborately ornamented as an object of luxury (Plaut. Stich. v. 4. 11. Cic. Verr. ii. 4. 17.); and appears to have belonged to the same class of utensils as the patera or phiala, since Plutarch (Agid. et Cleom. p. 811.) uses the latter term to designate the same vessel which is called scaphium by Phylarchus (Athen. l. c.). Perhaps the real distinction between these words consisted in this, that when the cup was a mere saucer without any handle, it was called a patera by the Romans, and phiala (φιάλη) by the Greeks; when furnished with a projecting handle, like the annexed example from an original found at Pompeii, (which gives to the whole object a certain similitude to the boat scapha, after which it was named,) then it received the special name of scaphium and σκάφιον. The same article is also enumerated amongst the necessaries of a woman's dressing-room (Juv. vi. 263. Ulp. Dig. 34. 2. 28.), but for what particular purpose is not sufficiently ascertained.
2. A sun-dial, formed by a hollow circular vessel, within which the hour lines were drawn (Marc. Capell. vi. 194.), as in the example from a statue formerly existing at Ravenna. It received the present name from its resemblance in form to the bowl of the preceding utensil, but was also termed hemisphærium, from its affinity with that figure. Vitruv. ix. 8.
SCAPH'ULA (σκαφίδιον). Diminutive of SCAPHA. Veg. Mil. iii. 7.
SCA'PUS (σκᾶπος). In its primary sense means an object upon or by which any other thing supports itself, as the stalk of a plant, for instance, which supports the head and blossom; the notion obtaining from the primitive sense of the Greek word σκήπτω, "to prop or support oneself by a staff." This root, from which the Latin form is derived, also furnishes an appropriate meaning for the following special and technical applications of the term.
1. The shaft of a column; which supports the capital (capitulum) and rests upon the base (spira). The top of the shaft directly under the capital is distinguished by the expression summus capus; the bottom of it, just above the base, by that of imus scapus. (Vitruv. iii. 5.) All these parts are sufficiently displayed by the left-hand figure in the annexed wood-cut, representing the column of Trajan at Rome.
2. The shaft or pillar, which supports one end of each stair in a stair-case (Vitruv. ix. Præf. 8.), as shown by the right-hand figure of the above woodcut, representing the internal construction of the same column.
3. The stile of a door; that is, the vertical piece on each side of the valve, into which the transverse pieces or rails (impages) are mortised (Vitruv. iv. 6. 5.); exhibited by the four uprights decorated with bosses in the following illustration, representing an ancient door of bronze now belonging to the church of S. Theodore at Rome.
4. Scapus cardinalis (στρόφιγξ). The main stile of a door which carried the pivots (cardines), by which each leaf is kept in an upright position, when not fixed with hinges (ginglymus), and made to revolve as the pivots turned in a socket excavated in the sill and lintel respectively. (Vitruv. iv. 6. 4.) It is seen on the right side of the annexed wood-cut, which exhibits an ancient marble door-case, with the original valves of bronze, now standing at Rome; but represented in the drawing for the purpose of illustration, as it would appear if that portion of the ornamental facing (antepagmentum), which conceals it on the opposite side, were removed.
5. (καυλός). The shaft or stem of a lamp-stand (candelabrum); that is, the portion between the base or foot upon which it stood, and the capital or flat tray (superficies) at the top, on which the lamp was placed. (Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 6.) The use of the term also implies that a tall stand, with a slender stem like the stalk of a plant, is alluded to. It was intended to stand upon the ground, and consequently made of considerable height, in order that the light might be raised to a convenient elevation for illuminating the chamber; and for this purpose, the stem of the example here introduced, from an original found at Pompeii, is made to draw out from the mouldings observable on it, in the same manner as our telescopes.
6. The beam of a steelyard (statera, Vitruv. x. 3. 4.), as contradistinguished from jugum, the yoke of a balance (libra). The example is from a bronze original found at Pompeii.
7. A wooden cylinder round which books and paper were rolled, as maps now are. Plin. H. N. xiii. 23.
8. The yarn-beam of a weaver's loom, to which the threads of the warp (stamen) are fastened, and situated at the opposite extremity to the cloth-beam (insubulum). It is seen in the illustration, from an Egyptian painting, at the bottom of the warp, attached by a sliding brace at each end to the two uprights of the loom, and is termed "noisy" (Lucret. v. 1352. sonans), either because weights were sometimes fastened under it to keep the warp on the stretch, and which would rattle against each other when shaken by the strokes of the batten (spatha), in driving home the weft, or from the noise of the braces as they played against the uprights under the same process.
SCEL'ETUS (σκελετός). Literally dried or parched up like a mummy (Apul. Apol. pp. 504. 507.); not a skeleton in our notion of the word, for that was termed larva.
SCE'NA (σκηνή). The scene of an ancient theatre; under which name were included the stage on which the actors performed, and the scenes, in our sense, consisting of a permanent wall at the back of the stage, with three doors; the one in the centre, through which the chief actor entered, being termed the royal door (valvæ regiæ), and the two lateral ones (hospitales, Vitruv. v. 6. 8.), all of which are distinctly marked on the illustration annexed, which exhibits the scena of the great theatre at Pompeii in its present state; as well as the movable side-scenes, adapted for the representation of any particular locality, in which the subject of the piece was supposed to take place, and distinguished by the epithets versatiles and ductiles (Serv. ad Virg. Georg. iii. 24.) accordingly as they were constructed to turn round on a pivot, or to slide forward in a groove.
SCE'NA or SACE'NA. An old Latin name for the double-edged hatchet, employed in killing the victim at a sacrifice, having the broad blade of an axe (securis) on one side, and the small cutting edge of the dolabra on the other, as exhibited by the annexed specimen from a bas-relief of the Villa Borghese. Festus observes (s. v.) that the scena was evidently a cutting instrument (genus cultri), but whether belonging to the class of secures or dolabræ was to him a matter of doubt. Yet the passage which he quotes from Livius Andronicus — corruit, quasi ictus scena — evidently expresses an instrument which dealt out a blow rather than a gash or stab, precisely such as would be conveyed by the one exhibited in the woodcut, which also accounts for the uncertainty entertained respecting the actual character of the instrument, by the fact of its possessing both the qualities mentioned, that of cutting as well as striking.
SCENOGRAPH'IA (σκενογραφία). The perspective draught of a building, &c., as it really appears to the eye of a spectator, and would be represented in landscape or scene painting (Vitruv. 1, 2, 3.); and as contradistinguished from the geometrical draught (orthographia), which represents the same as it would appear if it could be viewed from an infinite distance. It has been said that the ancient draughtsmen were not acquainted with the art of linear perspective; and the numerous errors observable in the architectural and landscape scenes amongst the Pompeian designs are referred to in corroboration of that opinion; but it must be remembered that the artists who executed those works were merely provincial house-painters and decorators, of unequal merits, some of whom were certainly deficient in this respect; but the intricate and accurate designs of many amongst them, evince, on the other hand, a perfect knowledge of perspective. There is, consequently, no sufficient reason for doubting the genuineness of the term, nor for altering the reading in the above passage of Vitruvius, as some commentators propose.
SCEP'TRUM (σκῆπτρον). Strictly a Greek word, for which the Romans frequently use another form of the same Greek root, scipio; though both words bear a very similar signification. The original sceptrum was a long staff, like the shaft of a spear (Justin. xliii. 3.), formed from a sapling or young tree, cut down to the roots (Virg. Æn. xii. 206.), which in early times served for support in walking, while its imposing length gave an air of importance to the person who bore it, as is well exemplified by the illustration, which represents Agamemnon with a staff of the nature described, from a bas-relief of Greek workmanship.
2. A sceptre; the emblem of royal authority (Cic. Sext. 57.); consequently ascribed to Jupiter (Suet. Aug. 94.), Juno, kings, and actors on the stage (Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 6.) who personated them; and which, in its original form, was nothing more than a long staff, like the preceding one, converted into an ornament of state by the addition of a decorative head-piece, like the example annexed, representing Latinus in the Vatican Virgil.
3. Sceptrum eburneum. An ivory sceptre; especially the royal sceptre introduced at Rome by the kings of the Etruscan dynasty, and subsequently appropriated to themselves by the consuls of the republic. (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. xi. 238.) This was much shorter than the primitive Greek sceptre, as is shown by the annexed example, from an engraved gem, representing Porsena sitting in judgment upon Mucius Scævola; and is more commonly designated by the Latin word scipio, instead of the purely Greek one sceptrum. Liv. v. 41. Val. Max. iv. 4. § 5.
4. Sceptrum Augusti. (Suet. Galb. 1.) The imperial and triumphal sceptre; which was not identical with the regal and consular ones, but was decorated with the figure of an eagle on the top (Juv. x. 43.), and was carried by a victorius general at his triumph, during the republican period, as well as by the emperors generally under the empire, as shown by the annexed example, representing Antoninus, from the base of the column erected in his honor.
SCEPTU'CHUS (σκηπτοῦχος). A high officer in the Persian court, so termed from the sceptre which he bore as a badge of office, as our own titles of "gold and silver stick," or of "black rod," have arisen from like causes. He was generally, if not always, a eunuch, though regarded as a personage of consideration, having the command over some province assigned to him; but his costume and badges are believed to be represented by the annexed figure from one of the sculptures of Persepolis. Tac. Ann. vi. 33. Xen. Cyr. vii. 3. 17. viii. 1. 38.
SCHED'A or SCIDA (σχίδη). A strip cut from the inner bark of the papyrus, and used for the purpose of making sheets of paper to write books upon; which was effected in the following manner. The inner skin was first peeled off in thin coats (philyræ) of the largest size which could be obtained without flaws or fractures. These were cut into strips (schedæ), and glued together by their largest sides, to form the writing surface; the back part being strengthened by other strips stuck on in a transverse direction, to prevent the paper from splitting up in the direction of the fibres. One row of strips thus prepared and joined together was called a length or a breadth (plagula); a certain number of which were then glued together into one large sheet to make a book or roll (liber, volumen). Plin. H. N. xiii. 23. Hence the word is frequently used in the sense of a leaf, a single piece of paper, or the fractional part of a sheet, like our page. Cic. Att. i. 20. Quint. i. 8. 19. Mart. iv. 91.
SCHŒNIC'ULÆ. Women who perfumed themselves with a very coarse and common kind of ointment, manufactured from a species of rush (schœnus), possessing odoriferous properties; intended as a contemptuous nickname. Festus, s. v. Varro, L. L. vii. 64. Compare Plaut. Pœn. i. 2. 58. schœno delibutas.
SCHŒNOB'ATES (σχοινοβάτης). A Greek term for a rope-dancer (Juv. iii. 77.); for which the genuine Latin expression is FUNAMBULUS.
SCHOL'A (σχολὴ). Literally means rest from bodily labour, which affords an opportunity for mental recreation or study; whence the term is transferred to the place where teachers and their pupils assemble for the purpose of instruction, our school (Cic. Or. ii. 7. Suet. Gramm. 16. Auson. Idyll. iv. 6., and LUDUS); and to a room in which philosophers and literati assemble together for conversation and discussion. Plin. H. N. xxxv. 37. xxxvi. 4. § 5.
2. Schola alvei. Schola labri. The vacant space on the floor of the thermal chamber (caldarium) in a set of baths, which surrounds the warm water bath (alveus); or the circular basin (labrum) situated at the opposite end of the room, where the bathers, who were waiting to use either of these vessels, might sit or stand until their turn came. (Vitruv. v. 10. 4.) We might translate it the waiting or resting place, which fully expresses the primary as well as secondary notion of the word schola. In the annexed illustration, representing the circular end of the thermal chamber in the baths at Pompeii, with its labrum in the centre, the schola labri is the passage round the basin; and a reference to the wood-cut, s. LABRUM 1., which exhibits the bathers standing round the vessel, will further elucidate the matter, by showing how that vessel was occupied by one set of bathers, while the others were compelled to stand by until they could find a vacant place at their disposal.
SCIMPOD'IUM (σκιμπόδιον). A small couch or sofa, of Greek invention; or, rather, an invalid's chair, constructed so as to support the legs and feet in an easy position, like our gouty chair, for it was used by persons subject to that complaint during an access of the malady. Aul. Gell. xix. 10. 1.
SCIN'DULA. See SCANDULA.
SCIOTHE'RICON (σκιοθηρικὸν). A term coined from the Greek language (Plin. H. N. ii. 78.), for which the Latins use SOLARIUM.
SCI'PIO (σκίπων). A staff and a sceptre; applied in the same sense as SCEPTRUM; both words being only different forms from the same Greek root σκήπτω.
SCIR'PEA or SIR'PEA. A large basket made of rushes (scirpus) platted together, and employed more especially to form the body of a wagon (plaustrum) used for agricultural purposes, as in the annexed example from a marble bas-relief; whence scirpea stercoraria, dung-basket or dung-cart. Varro, L. L. v. 139. Ov. Fast. vi. 680. Cato, R. R. x. 3. xi. 4.
SCIRPIC'ULA or SIRPIC'ULA. A small portable basket of platted rush (scirpus) employed for a variety of purposes, as for holding flowers (Prop. iv. 2. 40.); vegetables (Lucil. ap. Non.); as a fishing basket. (Plaut. Capt. iv. 2. 37. &c.) The example is from a Pompeian painting, and represents a flower-basket placed on a bench beside the garland makers (coronarii), engraved at p. 208.
SCIS'SOR. A slave who cut up the viands for the company at an entertainment. He was always expected to carve with skill and science, and a certain sleight of hand; but at the banquet of the ridiculous Trimalchio, the carver is made to flourish his knife and dissect the food with sundry gesticulations, to the sounds and measures of a musical accompaniment. Pet. Sat. 36. 6.
SCOBI'NA. A rasp, for scraping wood, as used by carpenters (Isidor. Orig. xix. 19. Varro, L. L. vii. 68. Plin. H. N. xi. 68.), and contradistinguished from lima, a file, which is enumerated amongst the implements of smiths and metal workers. Isidor. Orig. xix. 7.
SCO'PÆ (κάλλυντρον, σάρωθρον). In the singular means a thin twig; but the word is rarely used except in the plural, when it signifies a birch broom (Cato, R. R. 152. Plaut. Stich. ii. 3. 27.), made up from a number of twigs, like our own. See the woodcut at p. 55, which exhibits an Egyptian at the edge of a treshing-floor with such a broom in his hands.
SCOPA'RIUS. A slave whose occupation consisted in sweeping out rooms or other places with a birch broom (scopæ). Ulp. Dig. 33. 7. 8.
SCO'PULA. Diminutive of SCOPA. A birch, or hand-brush, of twigs, sometimes myrtle (Columell. xii. 38. 4.), tied together, used for cleansing the interior of small objects, such as wine-jars, &c. Cato, R. R. 26.
SCORDISCA'RIUS. One who makes and sells horses' clothings (scordisca). Hieron. Ep. 51. 5.
SCORDIS'CUM. A housing or clothing for horses (Veg. Vet. iii. 60.), made of untanned leather or skins (Isidor. Gloss. Edict. Dioclet. 24.), and adapted to the shape of the animal, very much in the same style as now practised. But the ancients appear to have used it not so much for the purpose of warm clothing, as to provide a defence for the animal on the field of battle. This may be inferred in part from the strong material of which it was made, from its being designated in the edict of Diocletian (l. c.) as a military accoutrement, and from the fact of its being frequently represented in the Egyptian paintings and Etruscan vases on the bodies of horses, when harnessed to the war-chariot. The example is copied from a Greek medal.
SCOR'PIO, -US and -OS (σκορπίος, -πίων). A weapon for discharging stones, plummets, and arrows (Veget. Mil. iv. 22. Ammian. xxii. 4.), handled by a single man, but requiring skill to be used effectively (Vitruv. x. 1. 3.); and probably the same as, or very similar to, the modern cross-bow, the form of which has a close affinity to that of a scorpion, the insect after which it was named.
2. A heap of stones piled up to a point, and employed as a boundary mark between adjacent properties. Sicul. Flacc. de Condit. Agror. pp. 4. 6. Goes.
SCOT'IA (σκοτία, τροχίλος). The scotia in architecture; that is, a hollow moulding in the base of a column, between the fillets of the upper and lower torus, which received its name from the dark shadow (σκότος, darkness) cast upon its receding surface by the projecting cushion of the torus, as shown by the tinted portion of the annexed example. Vitruv. iii. 5. 2.
2. A groove or channel cut into the under surface of the corona in the Doric order, and near its edge, the object of which is to prevent the rain water which trickles over the cornice from re-entering underneath it. Vitruv. iv. 3. 6. Marquez. Ord. Dor. p. 47.
SCRI'BA (γραμματεύς. Generally any person employed in writing; but more especially applied to the public notary or clerk, who was a free man, professionally employed by the state in copying public documents, &c.; whereas the ordinary copyist (librarius) was a slave, who worked for the individual that owned him. Cic. Liv. Suet.
SCRIBILI'TA or SCRIBLI'TA. A particular sort of plain pasty, eaten hot from the oven, and made of cheese and flour, with honey poured over the top; something like our cheese-cake. Cato, R. R. 78. Pet. Sat. 35. 4. Mart. iii. 17.
SCRIBLITA'RIUS. One who makes cheese-cakes (scriblitæ). Afran. ap. Non. s. Lucuns. p. 131.
SCRI'NIUM. A circular box or case (Plin. H. N. xvi. 84.) in which books, papers, letters (Sall. Cat. 47. Hor. Ep. ii. 1. 112.), or other small portable objects, such as scents and unguents (Plin. H. N. vii. 30.), were kept. The exact difference between a scrinium and capsa is not easily ascertained; since they were both formed with the same external shape and materials, and used for similar purposes. A passage of Pliny, however (H. N. xvi. 84.), clearly distinguishes them from each other; whence it has been conjectured that the scrinium was a capsa, but divided internally into a number of separate compartments (quasi secernium); and this supposition gains some sort of authority from the annexed illustration, representing the scrinium unguentarium of Venus, in a Pompeian painting, amongst a number of other articles appertaining to the toilette of that goddess. Though the inside of the case is not exposed, yet the form of the lid, rising in the centre to give room for the largest bottle, sufficiently indicates the purpose for which it was intended to be used; and a case containing many bottles would answer its object very imperfectly, unless divisions were made in it for the reception of each one, distinct from the rest. Quaranta. Mus. Borb. xi. 16. Compare CAPSA.
SCRI'PULUM or SCRU'PULUM. A scruple; the smallest gold coin of the Roman currency, weighing one-third of the denarius. (Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 16.) It is distinguished by the head of Mars in a helmet, and an eagle with the word ROMA on the reverse, as in the example, from a specimen belonging to the Royal Library at Paris. The coin is extremely rare.
SCULPO'NEÆ (κρούπεζαι). A common kind of shoe or sandal, with a thick wooden sole, worn by slaves in the agricultural districts (Cato, R. R. 135. 1. Id. 59. Plaut. Cas. ii. 8. 59.); possibly represented by the annexed wood-cut from a small bronze figure of an agricultural serf. Pignor. de Serv. p. 526.
SCULP'TOR. Apparently synonymous with scalptor; and applied to the sculptors who work in marble (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 5. §. 2. Plin. Jun. Ep. i. 10.); as well as to the engraver of gems. Plin. H. N. xxix. 38. SCALPTOR.
SCUR'RA. A polished gentleman, or one who has acquired the habits of good society and town life, as opposed to awkward and provincial manners (Plaut. Most. i. 1. 14.); afterwards, one who toadies great and wealthy individuals for the purpose of getting invitations to dinner, which he repays by flattering his host and amusing the guests with his anecdotes and bon-mots (Plaut. Pœn. iii. 2. 35. Hor. Ep. i. 18. 10.); and finally, in a sense of contemptuous reproach, a mere buffoon. Hor. Sat. i. 5. 49. Plin. Ep. ix. 17. 1.
SCUTA'LE. Either the purse of a sling (funda) in which the missile is placed, or the thong by which it is projected; but opinions differ respecting which is the proper interpretation, as the term only occurs in a solitary passage of Livy (xxxviii. 29.).
SCUTA'RIUS. One who makes shields (scuta). Plaut. Epid. i. 35.
2. Scutarii. The title given to a class of foreign troops introduced by Constantine; probably as a bodyguard. Ammian. xx. 4.
SCUTA'TUS. Armed with the oblong rectangular shield, termed scutum, as exhibited by the annexed figure of a Roman soldier from the column of Trajan. (Liv. xxviii. 2. Virg. Æn. ix. 370.) The legionary soldiers (legionarii) on Trajan's column are uniformly represented with a long square shield, made of a convex form to take the shape of the body; and never, as some writers have supposed, with one of a long flat oval, or of an hexagonal form; for those figures are without exception given to the cavalry (equites), to the Prætorian troops (prætoriani), or to the enemy and allied troops from foreign nations. But the scutum was likewise used by the Samnites, and consequently was carried by the Samnite gladiators, as may be seen by the figure introduced in illustration of that word.
SCUTEL'LA. A diminutive of SCUTRA. A salver or waiter upon which other vessels were placed to be brought up and handed round to the guests at table (Ulp. Dig. 34. 2. 20.); thus potionis scutella (Cic. Tusc. iii. 19.), a salver on which goblets of wine, or any other beverage, are handed about, like the annexed example, from a picture of "still life" painted at Pompeii.
SCUT'ICA. A whip with a thong made of leather (Mart. x. 62.), whence the name (from the Greek σκυτικός). As an instrument of punishment it was sharper than the switch (ferula), but milder than the scourge (flagellum, Hor. Sat. i. 3. 119. Juv. vi. 479., where all the three words are instanced distinctively). The example is from a marble bas-relief.
SCUTRA. A sort of tray or dish (Plaut. Pers. i. 3. 8. Cato, R. R. clvii. 11.); of which nothing definitive is ascertained beyond the supposition that it received its name from the Roman shield, scutum, after which it was probably formed; since the word is so written by Lucilius (Sat. v. 28. Gerlach.), who moreover states that it was made of wood.
SCUTRIS'CUM. Probably a diminutive of the last word. Cato, R. R. x. and xi.
SCUT'ULA (σκυτάλη). A wooden roller or cylinder placed under objects of great weight for the purpose of assisting in moving them. Cæs. B. C. iii. 40.
2. (Diminutive of SCUTRA.) A small dish or platter, of which nothing decisive has been ascertained; but supposed from other analogies of the word to have possessed a diamond or lozenge shape. Mart. xi. 31. 19.
3. A segment of marble, or other artificial material, cut into the shape of a diamond or rhomb, and used for inlaying floors or pavements, like the three white patterns in the centre division of the annexed example, which represents a portion of the ancient mosaic pavement now remaining in the church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, at Rome. Vitruv. vii. 1. 4. Pallad. i. 9. 5.
4. A check, or diamond figure woven in the pattern of a piece of cloth, like the border on the drapery of the annexed figure from a fictile vase. Plin. H. N. viii. 74.
SCUTULA'TUS. Applied to drapery; ornamented with a pattern in checks, as shown by the preceding wood-cut. Juv. ii. 97. Plin. H. N. viii. 73.
2. Applied to animals as horses; it corresponds with our team flea-bitten. Pallad. iv. 13. 4.
SCU'TULUM (Cic. N. D. i. 29.). Diminutive of SCUTUM.
SCU'TUM (θυρεός). The large oblong shield generally adopted by the Roman infantry instead of the round buckler (clipeus), at the period when the military ceased to serve without pay. It was about 4 feet long by 2½ wide; formed out of boards, like a door (whence the Greek terms θύρα and θυρεός), firmly joined together and covered over with coarse cloth, under an outer coating of raw hide, attached and strengthened round the edges by a metal rim. The men of each legion had their shields painted of different colour, and charged with distinctive symbols, as is exhibited by the illustration representing three scuta, as they stand upon the ground in the column of Trajan, distinguished severally by the image of a thunderbolt, of a wreath, and the same bolt with a pair of wings. Liv. i. 43. viii. 8. Plin. H. N. xvi. 77. Virg.
SCYPH'US (σκύφος). A cup for drinking wine out of, very commonly used at convivial parties. (Hor. Od. i. 27. 1. Id. Epod. ix. 33.) It was sometimes of beech wood (Tibull. i. 10. 8.), or of silver (Varro ap. Gell. iii. 14. 1.), or of earthenware, the material used for the original from which the annexed example is copied The figure conceived under our term cup affords a very true and accurate notion of its form, which was circular and deep, so as to be adapted for holding a large measure; whence it is the vessel commonly given to Hercules by the poets and artists (Val. Flacc. ii. 272. Virg. Æn. viii. 278. Serv. ad l.); whereas the calix, patera, and others, which were of a more open and shallow form, have a closer affinity to the figure of our saucers.
SCYT'ALA or SCYT'ALE (σκυτάλη). A Greek term for a stick; thence a roller or staff employed at Sparta for the purpose of enabling the government to communicate secret despatches to their generals, which was effected in the following manner. A strip of leather was first rolled slantwise upon a wooden cylinder, and upon this the orders written lengthwise; so that when the leather was unrolled from the cylinder, it contained only a series of single letters without any consecutive meaning. In this state the strip was transmitted to their officer, who ascertained the contents by applying it to another cylinder of precisely the same dimensions, given to him before he set out for the campaign. Nep. Paus. 3. Aul. Gell. xvii. 9. 3.
SECES'PITA. A sort of knife, employed at the sacrifice, with a sharp-pointed iron blade and round handle, made of ivory, and ornamented with gold and silver. (Festus, s. v. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. iv. 262. Suet. Tib. 25.) The example is copied from the frieze of an ancient temple, still remaining in the Forum at Rome, on which it appears amongst various other sacrificial implements.
SECTILIS. See PAVIMENTUM, 2.
SECURIC'ULA (πελεκύδιον). Diminutive of SECURIS; a little axe, for a child's toy. Plaut. Rud. iv. 4. 114. and woodcut s. CREPUNDIA.
2. (πελεκῖνος). A mortise or dove-tail in carpentry, produced by a recessed cutting in the shape of a hatchet head, which receives the tenon or projecting end of a corresponding form, left on another piece of timber, so as to bind the two together at a given angle. Vitruv. x. 11. 8. Id. iv. 7. 4.
SECU'RIS (πέλεκυς). An axe or hatchet, employed as a battle-axe (Curt. iii. 4.); for slaughtering cattle at the sacrifice (Hor. Od. iii. 23. 12. Ov. Trist. iv. 2. 5.); or as a woodman's axe for felling timber (Ov. Fast. iv. 649.), &c. The example is from the column of Trajan.
2. Securis dolabrata. A hatchet with a small cutting edge, like that of the dolabra, projecting from the back part of the regular blade, like the annexed example from the Vatican Virgil; and as contradistinguished from the bipennis, which has two perfect blades, and from the common hatchet, also termed securis simplex, because it has no addition beyond the simple blade. Pallad. R. R. i. 43.
3. The axe inserted in the bundle of rods (fasces) carried by Roman lictors, and with which a criminal was beheaded after he had been beaten with the rods. (Cic. Pis. 34. Liv. ii. 5.) The illustration exhibits the axe and rods bound up together, from a marble bas-relief in the Mattei palace, at Rome.
4. The lunated member on the back part of the vine-dresser's pruning-bill, which is clearly detailed in the annexed illustration, representing a design of that instrument, from a very ancient MS. of Columella. Columell. iv. 25. 1.
5. A pick-axe, of similar form, use, and character to the same instrument in our own day; as shown by the annexed example, from a sepulchral bas-relief. Stat. Sylv. ii. 2. 87.
SECUTO'RES. Pursuers; the name given to a particular class of gladiators, who were trained to combat with the Retiarii (Juv. viii. 210. Suet. Cal. 30. Isidor. Orig. xviii. 55.), receiving the name from the manner in which they pursued round the arena an adversary, who had made an unsuccessful cast with this net, and who, in consequence of being unprotected with defensive armour, was compelled to immediate flight until he could succeed in gathering up his net for another throw. The arms of the secutor were a sword and shield (Xiphil. lxxii. 19.), precisely as seen in the annexed illustration, from an ancient mosaic in which several different classes of gladiators are represented. The retiarius, who is on the ground, and in a simple tunic, as described by Suetonius (l. c. retiarii tunicati), has thrown his net over the secutor, but without entangling him sufficiently in its toils to hamper the pursuit, or prevent himself from being overtaken.
SEDE'CULA (σιφρίσκος). A settee; a low seat or stool; see the illustration s. SELLA 1, of which it is only a diminutive form. Cic. Att. iv. 10. Pollux, x. 47.
SE'DES (ἕδρα). A seat; in the same general sense as our own term, and thus including all the particular kinds which are enumerated in the Classed Index.
SEDI'LE. Any seat or thing to sit upon; used in the singular with same general meaning as SEDES; but the plural SEDILIA is commonly used to designate a row of seats, such as were permanently constructed of stone or marble in the theatres, &c. (Plin. Ep. v. 6. Hor. Ep. iv. 15. GRADUS 3), or of wood put up for temporary accommodation in public places, at shows and ceremonies (Suet. Aug. 43.); or on which the rowers sat on board ship. Virg. Æn. v. 837. REMEX.
SEGES'TRE or -ES'TRIUM (στέγαστρον). Any covering or wrapper, made of straw matting (Varro, L. L. v. 166.), or fur skins (Festus, s. v.), and employed very generally for packing goods (Plin. H. N. xiii. 23.), as a coverlet for beds, or wrapper for persons exposed to the weather. Suet. Aug. 83.
SEGMENTA'TUS. Ornamented with segmenta. Juv. vi. 89. Isidor. Orig. xix. 22. 18.
SEGMEN'TUM. An ornament attached to the dresses of females (Val. Max. v. 2. 1. Ov. A. Am. iii. 169. Juv. ii. 124.); consisting of one or more strips of gold tissue, or some other richly coloured material, sewed on to the skirts of the drapery in parallel lines, one above the other, like tucks (Isidor. Orig. xix. 22. 18.), as shown by the annexed example, representing one of the figures in the celebrated Roman fresco of the Vatican, which goes by the name of the Aldobrandini marriage. This interpretation is further confirmed by a passage of Pliny (H. N. vi. 39.), in which the word segmentum means a division formed by parallel circles — segmenta mundi, quæ nostri circulos appellavere. Græci parallelos.
SE'JUGIS. A chariot drawn by six horses yoked abreast. Liv. xxxviii. 35.
SELIQUAS'TRUM. An old-fashioned or antiquated kind of seat (Festus, s. v.), but of what precise character is not ascertained. Varro, L. L. v. 128. Hygin. Astron. ii. 10. iii. 9.
SELLA (δίφρος). A low seat of the characteristic kind which we understand by our terms stool or settle, in opposition to chair (cathedra); that is, without back or arms, such as was commonly used by females (Cic. Div. 1. 46.) and artizans (Id. Cat. iv. 8.) engaged in sedentary occupations. The illustration represents Penelope in a Pompeian painting; and compare the wood-cuts s. CALCEOLARIUS, CALCULATOR.
2. Sella curulis (δίφρος ἀγκυλόπους). A curule seat; that is, a stool with bent legs, made to open and shut like our camp-stools, for the convenience of being transported with its owner wherever he went. The example exhibits an original of bronze, discovered at Pompeii. The left-hand figure shows one side of the frame, as it would stand when opened out to receive the seat, which fitted into the incavations observable at the top; the right-hand one shows it when it is shut up and the four legs brought close together. Seats of this kind were introduced from Etruria, and were originally used exclusively by the kings at Rome, but were subsequently granted as a privilege to the consuls, praetors, and curule ædiles of the republic. In early times they were inlaid or embossed with ivory carving, but subsequently enriched with ornaments in gold. Liv. i. 8. ix. 46. Suet. Aug. Ov. Pont. iv. 9. 27.
3. Sella castrensis. A camp-stool (Suet. Galb. 18.); made to open and shut upon the same principle as the preceding example, but probably formed in a much simpler manner, without any adventitious ornaments, and with straight legs instead of the bent ones, which consituted the essential and distinguishing features of the sella curulis. The illustration is from a bas-relief, which originally decorated the triumphal arch of Trajan, and represents the emperor in the act of addressing his troops from a camp-stool of the precise character described.
4. Sella balnearis. A bath-seat; in which a bather sat to have warm water poured over him, and to be steamed by vapour whilst he remained in it, closely enveloped in wrappers. Every bathing establishment was furnished with a sufficient number of these conveniences; the Thermæ of Antoninus alone contained as many as 1600, all made of marble, one of which, from the original, is exhibited in the illustration. It has a very low circular margin round the back, a flat seat, hollow underneath, but perforated by a horse-shoe aperture in front (whence it is also termed sella pertusa. Cato, R. R. 157. 11.), which served to carry off the water thrown over the person occupying it, or to transmit the steam if it was used for a vapour bath. Sidon.
5. Sella pertusa. Same as the preceding.
6. Sella familiarica. A night-stool. Varro, R. R. i. 13. 4. Scrib. Comp. 193.
7. Sella tonsoria. A barber's chair; which was low, and had a narrow rest for the back, like the example inserted, and supports for the arms, not lying in a horizontal position, but sloping downwards from the front. A seat of this construction was recommended to paralytic patients by the Roman physicians, in consequence of the assistance it afforded in raising the body from a sitting posture. Cœl. Aurel. Tard. ii. 1.
8. Sella gestatoria, fertoria, and portoria (δίφρος κατάστεγος, φορεῖον κατάστεγον). A sedan chair; in which the inmate was transported in a sitting, instead of recumbent position, as was the case in a lectica. (Suet. Claud. 25. Nero, 26. Vit. 16.) It was generally covered with a roof (Tac. Ann. xv. 57.), and closed at the sides (Juv. i. 124.), though not always (Suet. Aug. 53.); and was more especially used for females, whence it is also designated sella muliebris (Suet. Otho. 6.). No representation of this conveyance has been discovered, but its character may be readily imagined from the above details.
9. Sella bajulatoria. A saddle for beasts of burden, made upon a wooden frame covered with leather, and of a considerable size, adapted for receiving the packages to be loaded upon it. (Cœl. Aurel. Acut. i. 11. Veg. Vet. iii. 59. 2.) The example is from a painting of Herculaneum, representing a scene in the market-place of that city.
10. Sella equestris. A riding-saddle (Veg. Vet. vi. 6. 4. Cod. Theodos. 8. 5. 47.), made upon a tree, with a high pommel (fulcrum, Sidon. Ep. iii. 30.) in front, and a cantle behind, covered with leather, and stuffed inside. The genuine Greeks and Romans either rode upon the bare back or upon a pad (ephippium); but the regular saddle is supposed to have been invented about the middle of the 4th century, as an order of the Emperor Theodosius, in the year 385, forbids persons who rode post-horses from using saddles of more than sixty pounds weight; and the example introduced is designed by Ginzrot (Wagen and Fahrwerke, pl. 80.), from one of the trooper's saddles on the Theodosian column. Consequently, this sense of the word is to be regarded as of late Latinity.
SELLA'RIA. A room furnished with settles (sellæ), as a reception room. Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 19. § 24. xxxvi. 24. § 5.
SELLA'RIS, sc. equus. A saddle-horse. Veg. Vet. ii. 28. 34. SELLA, 10.
2. sc. gestatio. A riding in a sedan chair. Cœl. Aurel. Tard. i. 4. n. 92. SELLA, 8.
SELLISTER'NIUM. A religious feast offered to the female deities (Val. Max. ii. 1. 2. Tac. Ann. xv. 44.), of the same nature as the LECTISTERNIUM; but with this difference, that their statues were disposed upon settles (sellæ), instead of couches (lecti), because the ancient women were not accustomed to recline at table, like the men, but sat upon the edge of the couch, or on a seat apart, as explained by the article and illustrations s. ACCUBO.
SEL'LULA. Diminutive of SELLA, 8. A small or ordinary sedan. Tac. Hist. iii. 85.
SELLULA'RII (βάναυλοι). Artistans and mechanics who work at sedentary occupations, such as shoe-makers, tailors, &c.; so termed because they sat upon a stool or settle (sella) Liv. viii. 20. Compare Aul. Gell. iii. 1. 3. and wood-cuts s. CALCEOLARIUS and CORONARIUS.
SEMBEL'LA. A small piece of Roman money, equal to half the libella, or the twentieth part of a denarius. (Varro, L. L. v. 174.) It would belong to the silver currency; but probably was only a nominal division, never actually coined.
SEMICINC'TIUM. A cloth fastened round the loins for the same objects and purposes as the kilt (cinctus), but of smaller dimensions, or, as the name implies, not exceeding half the width of that object. (Isidor. Orig. xix. 33. 1. Pet. Sat. 94. 8. Mart. xiv. 153.) In the annexed illustration it is worn by Dædalus on an engraved gem.; and a similar article is frequently met with in sculpture and painting on persons engaged in active occupations.
SEMIMIT'RA (Ulp. Dig. 34. 2. 26.). A half mitra; same as MITELLA, where an illustration is given.
SEMIOB'OLUS (ἡμιόβολος). A
SEMIPHALA'RICA or SEMIFALA'RICA. (Aul. Gell. x. 25.) A FALARICA of half the ordinary size.
SEMISPATH'A. (Veg. Mil. ii. 15.) A SPATHA of half the usual size.
SEMIS'SIS. Half an As; a copper coin weighing six ounces (unciæ), stamped with the letter S to denote the value, and the head of Jupiter, Juno, Pallas, &c., with the prow of a vessel on the reverse, as in the annexed example, from an original, drawn one quarter of the actual size.
SE'MITA. An narrow pathway (Varro, L. L. v. 35.); as a foot-path in the country (Liv. xliv. 43. Suet. Nero, 48.); or a narrow lane in a town, as opposed to via, a broad street. (Cic. Agr. ii. 35. Mart. vii. 61.) Hence the term is used specially in the same sense as CREPIDO, the trottoir for foot passengers on either side of the carriage road (agger). Plaut. Trin. ii. 4. 80. id. Curc. ii. 3. 8.
SEMUN'CIA. A half ounce weight (Liv. xxxiv. 1.); a half ounce measure (Columell. xii. 21. 2.); and a small piece of money containing the twenty-fourth part of an AS. Varro, L. L. v. 171.
2. The semiuncia is also enumerated by Cato (R. R. x. and xi.) in a list of farming implements and stock, but without any context to suggest a notion of the object intended. Some commentators suppose it to be a small pair of panniers of half the usual size.
SENA'CULUM. A place in which the senate used to meet. Three of these are recorded in the city of Rome, — one on a site between the Capitol and Forum, where the temple of Concord was afterwards built; a second at the Porta Capena; and a third near the temple of Bellona. Varro, L. L. v. 156. Festus, s. v. Val. Max. ii. 2. 6.
SE'NIO. The six-point on the dice; whence this name was given to the throw when all sizes were turned up, which was considered a favourable one, but not so good as the Venus. Suet. Aug. 71. Pers. iii. 48.
SENTI'NA (ἄντλος). The hold or lowest part in the interior of a ship, where the bilge water settles (Cic. Fam. ix. 15.); and the bilge water itself (Cæs. B. C. iii. 28.); whence sentinam trahere (Sen. Ep. 30.), "to make leakage;" sentinam exhaurire (Cic. Sen. 6.), "to pump out the ship."
SENTINA'CULUM. A pump, with which the bilge water (sentina) is worked up from the hold of a vessel. Paul. Nol. Ep. vi. 3.
SEPLASIA'RIUS. A dealer in medicinal herbs, and in medicines compounded from them, answering in some respects, though not exactly, to the chemist and druggist of the present day. It is not easy, however, to determine the precise branch of trade carried on under this name; but from the passages cited below, it is clear that the seplasiarius sold herbs to veterinaries for the cure of cattle, and also medicines ready made up to physicians, like our dealer in patent medicines. Veg. Vet. iv. 3. 6. Plin. xxxiv. 11. Lamprid. Elag. 30. Beckmann, History of Inventions, vol. i. p. 328. Lond.
SEPTIZO'NIUM and SEMPTEMZO'DIUM. A particular kind of edifice, of great magnificence, consisting of seven stories of columns, one above the other, supporting seven distinct entablatures or zones, from which it received the name. It does not appear for what particular purpose these structures were designed; but two such are specially recorded in the city of Rome, one in the XIIth Region, which existed before the time of the Emperor Titus (Suet. Tit. 2. Ammian. xv. 6. 3.), and the other in the Xth Region, under the Palatine hill, and near to the Circus Maximus, which was built by Septimius Severus. (Spart Sev. 19.) Three stories of this last structure remained standing during the pontificate of Sixtus V., but were taken down by him for the purpose of employing the columns in building the Vatican. These are exhibited by the annexed wood-cut, from an engraving of the 16th century (Gamucci, Antichità di Roma); and though they form but a small portion of the original structure in its entirety, yet that is sufficient to convey an accurate notion of the general plan upon which such monuments were designed.
SEP'TUM, in a general sense, is applied to any enclosure surrounded by barriers, walls, palings, hedges, &c.; such as a sheep-fold, homestead for cattle, den for wild beasts, and the like (Cic. Virg. Varro); but in the plural the name SEPTA was specially used to designate a number of enclosures in the Campus Martius within which the tribes or centuries, were collected at the Roman Comitia, before they proceeded to vote. (Ov. Fast. i. 53. Lucan. vii. 306. Cic. Att. iv. 16.) Each of these was termed a pen (OVILE, and wood-cut s. v.), and was originally partitioned off by wooden railings; but subsequently the whole site was furnished with marble fittings, and surrounded by colonnades as well as other architectural decorations. B. Crus. ad Suet. Aug. 43.
SEPTUN'X. Seven-twelfths of any whole, as of an As; a nominal piece of money, never in actual coinage. Varro, L. L. v. 171.
SEPUL'CRUM. A sepulchre; a general term for any kind of tomb in which the corpse was buried, or the bones and ashes deposited. (Ulp. Dig. 11. 7. 2.). Edifices of this nature would of course vary in details, materials, and embellishments, according to the wealth of the proprietor, and taste of the architect who designed them. A single sepulchral chamber, in which the remains were deposited, comprised all that was essentially requisite, and sufficed alone for tombs of the ordinary description (see example, No. 2.); but those of a more ostentatious character had one or two stories built over the burial-room, containing apartments, richly decorated with paintings and stucco work, which were intended to accommodate the members of the family when they went to perform religious rites or to visit the remains of their deceased relatives, but not to receive cinerary urns nor coffins; for these were deposited only in the sepulchral chamber, the entrance to which was in general studiously concealed, in order to secure its contents from violation. All these particulars are elucidated by the annexed illustration, representing in half section and elevation an ancient sepulchre of three stories, on the Via Asinaria, near Rome, the identical one in which the celebrated Barberini or Portland Vase, now preserved in the British Museum, was discovered. The lowest compartment is the sepulchral chamber, in which the vase was deposited.
2. Sepulcrum familiare. A family sepulchre; that is, which was constructed by an individual for himself and the other members of his family and household, including also the freed men and women. (Ulp. Dig. 11. 7. 5.) A sepulchre of this description is recognised by the different deposits contained in it, as well as by inscription like the following: SIBI . ET . CONJUGI . ET . LIBERIS . ET . LIBERTIS . LIBERTABUSQUE . POSTERISQUE . EORUM . FECIT. and is shown by the design on the last column, from an interior in the streets of the tombs at Pompeii.
3. Sepulcrum commune. A common sepulchre; that is, which received the remains of many different individuals belonging to the same or to many different families. (Cic. Off. i. 17. Auson. Epitaph. xxxvii. 1. Inscript.) It consisted of a chamber divided into numerous rows of niches (columbaria), sometimes to the amount of several hundreds, and all regularly numbered, in each of which a pair of cinerary jars (ollæ) could be deposited; and it was the common practice for the person to whom the sepulchre belonged, to give, sell, or bequeath by will the right of possession in so many niches, set out by number in the document. (Inscript. ap. Fabrett. 16. 71.) The illustration represents the interior of a sepulchre of this kind, which was discovered near the Porta Pia at Rome.
SEPULTU'RA. A burying or sepulture; properly meaning the disposal of the body or ashes in a tomb (sepulcrum), as contradistinguished from humatio, interment in a grave. Plin. H. N. vii. 55. Cic. Leg. ii. 22.
SER'A. A padlock; that is, a lock constructed to hang upon a staple, or from the link of a chain, so as to make a fastening upon the same principle as is commonly adopted at the present day. That the sera was not a permanent fixture, but loose and removeable, like a modern padlock, is clear from many passages, in which it is spoken of as being "put on" (apposita. Tibull. i. 8. 76. Ov. Fast. i. 266.) or "taken off" (demta. Ov. Fast. i. 280.; remota, Varro, L. L. vii. 108. Non. s. Reserare, p. 41.), or falling down from its holding (sera sua sponte delapsa cecidit, remissæque subito fores. Pet. Sat. xvi. 2.); and that it was employed with a chain (catena) is expressly mentioned by Propertius (iv. 11. 26.). When used for fastening doors, it was linked on to a staple, or some such contrivance, inserted in the door-post (postis), whence the expression, inserta posti sera (Ov. Am. ii. 1. 28.), indicates the door being locked; excute poste seram (Ib. i. 6. 2.), on the contrary, describes the process of opening it. The illustration represents a movable iron lock of the character described, which was found, with the key belonging to it, in a tomb at Rome; and the barrel of another specimen, exactly similar in form, is now preserved, with its key rusted in it, amongst the Roman antiquites of the British Museum. The circular plate on the left shows the cap of the barrel, removed from its place for illustration, with its keyhole and the orifice through which a return of the link-rod, now broken off, but originally bent like the right-hand side, would enter when the lock was closed. The example in the British Museum has lost this adjunct altogether.
SE'RIA. An earthenware vessel chiefly employed for holding wine and oil (Columell. xii. 18. 5. Varro, R. R. iii. 2. 8.), though also put to other uses, as a jar for potted meats (Columell. xii. 55. 4. Plaut. Capt. iv. 4. 9.), burying money (Pers. ii. 11.), &c. We have no passages which detail the exact form of the vessel in question, excepting that it had a full body, terminated by a narrow throat (faux, Columell. xii. 55. 4.), and that it was smaller than the dolium, but larger than the amphora (Id. xii. 28. 1.) The annexed figure is copied from an original in earthenware, discovered, amongst many others of different shapes and sizes, in a wine cellar under the walls of Rome, of which a plan and description are given at p. 141. s. CELLA, 2.; and as it bears a distinct outline from the well-ascertained forms of the dolium and amphora, whilst possessing the properties above mentioned, it is here introduced as a probable example of the model known by the name of Seria; the more so as the locality where it was found fully testifies its quality and use.
SE'RIOLA. (Pers. iv. 29. Pallad. iv. 10. 9.) Diminutive of SERIA.
SERPERAS'TRUM. A sort of splint or other contrivance fastened to the knees of infants for the purpose of keeping their legs straight, and counteracting any tendency to distortion (Varro, L. L. ix. 11.); whence Cicero gives the name allusively to the officers of his cohort (Att. vii. 3.), because it was their duty to keep the army in order.
SER'RA (πρίων). A saw; an iron toothed instrument for cutting wood. (Vitruv. i. 5. 7. Virg. Georg. i. 143. Senec. Ep. 90.) The saws of the ancients were made in the same manner, and possessed the same variety of forms and sizes, adapted to the nature of the work for which they were applied, as those now in use. The example represents a frame-saw, of the kind used by sawyers for cutting timber into planks; the blade (lamina) is copied in detail from a sepulchral bas-relief; and the frame has been added through the rings at each of its extremities, upon the authority of a similar instrument roughly delineated on an Etruscan vase.
2. A saw for cutting stone, made of iron, but without teeth, like those still used by our stonemasons; the place of teeth being supplied by emery or very fine sand, by means of which even the hardest marbles, such as porphyry or granite, can be cut into slabs. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 9.
SERRA'CUM. See SARRACUM.
SERRA'RIUS. A saw-maker (Senec. Ep. 56.), not a sawyer (prista); the termination in arius, according to the usual analogy, describing the person who makes, not the one who uses, the object to which it is added, like calceolarius, coronarius, restiarius, sellarius, and many others enumerated in the Classed Index of trades. Thus Seneca (l. c.) complains of the noise inflicted by such tradesmen on their neighbours; which would scarcely be reasonable if the mere sawing of timber were the nuisance objected to; but the disagreeable sounds produced by constantly filing up the teeth of this instrument (stridor serræ tum, cum acuitur. Cic. Tusc. v. 40.), will be readily admitted to be an intolerable infliction.
SERR'ULA (πριόνιον). Diminutive of SERRA. A small saw; such as employed by carpenters (wood-cut s. FABRICA), surgeons (Celsus, vii. 33.), woodsmen (Columell. Arb. vi. 4.), &c. The illustration represents an implement of this description, from a sepulchral bas-relief, of the class now called bow-saws by our mechanics.
2. Serrula manubriata. A small saw having the blade fastened into a short handle (manubrium) at one end, instead of being set in a frame, like the last two specimens. (Pallad. i. 43. 2.) The example is from a marble bas-relief, where it appears in the hands of Dædalus.
SER'TA, plural; (στέμματα). A festoon, or long wreath of many flowers sewed together, and employed chiefly in decorating altars, temples, or the doorways of private houses upon occasions of festivity; whereas the corollæ and coronæ were more particularly intended to be worn as ornaments for the person; but this distinction is not always observed. (Plaut. As. iv. 1. 58. Virg. Æn. 1. 421. Cic. Tusc. iii. 18.) The illustration exhibits a festoon of the kind described, which is carried by a young woman in a bas-relief, representing a marriage festivity, to decorate the doors of the bridal mansion; and the last illustration s. INFULATUS, p. 131., shows the manner of suspending it over the doorway of a house or temple.
SESTER'TIUS. A Roman coin, worth two asses and a half, the fourth part of a denarius, and equal in value to a fraction more than two pence of our money. It belonged originally to the silver coinage; but subsequently was made of the metal called aurichalcum, a very fine quality of brass. (Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 2.) The example is from an original of silver, and of the actual size; but specimens in the latter metal are much larger.
SEX'TANS. A copper coin of Roman currency, weighing two ounces (unciæ), and equal in value to the sixth part of an As. (Varro, L. L v. 171.) It bore the impress of a caduceus and a strigilis, with two balls to denote its value, as exhibited by the annexed specimen, from an original, drawn of one-third the actual size.
SEXTA'RIUS. A Roman measure both for liquids and dry things; containing a sixth part of the congius, and the fourth part of the modius. Rhemn. Fann. De Pond. 71. Hor. Sat. i. 1. 74. Columell. ii. 9. Plin. H. N. xviii. 35.
SEX'TULA. The smallest denomination in Romany money, containing the sixth part of an uncia or ounce. Varro, L. L. v. 171. Rhemn. Fann. De Pond. 22.
SIB'INA or SIB'YNA (σιβύνη). A particular kind of hunting-spear (venabulum), but of which the peculiar properties are unknown. (Tertull. adv. Marc. i. 1. Hesych. s. v.) It was, however, used as a
SI'CA. A sort of knife or dagger with a sharp point and curved blade (Gloss. Philox. ξίφος ἐπικαμπὲς), like a wild boar's tusk (Plin. H. N. xviii. 1. apri dentium sicas exacuunt), which rendered it particularly efficacious for stabbing and ripping up. It was the national weapon of the Thracians (Val. Max. iii. 2. 12.); and was consequently employed by the gladiators, who took their name and accoutrements from that people (Suet. Cal. 32. Mart. iii. 16. and next next wood-cut.) But amongst the Romans it was only regarded as the weapon of a ruffian and assassin (Cic. Cat. i. 10. Quint. Decl. 321. Isidor. Orig. xviii. 6. 8.), like the knife of the lowest Italian population, which is formed and used in a similar way, to stab at the abdomen, and rip upwards. The example is in the hand of a barbarian on the column of Antoninus.
SICA'RIUS. In a general sense, one who makes use of the curved knife or dagger termed sica; but as that weapon amongst the Romans was chiefly employed for ruffianly purposes, the word sicarius was commonly used to designate a bandit, murderer, or assassin (Cic. Rosc. Am. 36. Hor. Sat. i. 4. 3.), even without reference to the instrument by which the murder was accomplished. Quint. x. 1. 12.
2. A gladiator (Cic. Rosc. Am. 3. sicarios atque gladiatores) belonging to the class called Thracians, who were armed with the sica, a national weapon in Thrace, instead of the sword (gladius), as exhibited by the annexed figure of a Thracian gladiator, from the device on a terra-cotta lamp.
SICILIC'ULA. Diminutive of SICILIS; the reading of some editions of Plaut. Rud. iv. 4. 124., but of which the correctness is very doubtful.
SICI'LIS. A spear-head, characterised by the broadness of its point (Ennius and Festus, s. v.), and a partial resemblance to the outline of the Caspian sea (Plin. H. N. vi. 15.); both which properties are sufficiently apparent in the annexed figure, from an original spear-head found at Pompeii, to admit of its being produced as a probable example of the form in question. A spear-head of exactly the same shape occurs twice on the column of Trajan.
SICINNIS'TA (σικιννιστής). One who dances the sicinnium, a dance of Satyrs, introduced in the Greek Satyric drama (Schol. Vet. ad Aristoph. Nub. 540.), in which the performers accompanied themselves by their own music and singing (Aul. Gell. xx. 3.), as in the annexed illustration, from a fictile vase of Italo-Greek workmanship, which is believed to afford a representation of the dance in question. In the original the open mouth and expression of the female figure, both of which are lost in our wood-cut from the minute scale of the drawing, clearly indicate that she is singing. The very peculiar poses and gestures of the performers are, moreover, worthy of attention, because they express the exact attitudes and steps of the modern Neapolitan tarantella, which may be consequently regarded as a relic of this old classic dance.
SICINN'IUM (σίκιννις). The Sicinnis; a Greek Satyric dance, described and illustrated in the preceding article. Gell. xx. 3.
SIGILLA'TUS. Ornamented with small figure in relief (sigilla); like the embossed ornaments on a vase (Cic. Verr. ii. 4. 14.), or carved devices on a well cover. Id. Att. i. 10. PUTEAL, 1.
SIGIL'LUM. A small statue, figure, or image (Ov. A. Am. i. 407.); embossed or affixed to vases of gold and silver (Cic. Verr. ii. 4. 22.); cast in terra-cotta moulds for architectural decorations (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 59.), formed by the impressions of a signet ring (Cic. Acad. iv. 26.); or worked in embroidery. Ov. Met. vi. 86.
SIG'MA. A semicircular dining-couch (Mart. xiv. 87. Apul. Met. v. p. 90. suggestum semirotundum), adapted for use with a round table (orbis); and so named because it resembled one of the early forms of the Greek letter Sigma, which was written like our C. It was not invented until the square dining-table (quadra) fell into disuse, when the introduction of the circular form necessitated a similar change in the shape of the sofa used with it. But it was more convenient than the old lectus tricliniaris, because it did not like that require the fixed number of nine guests, but could be arranged for smaller parties; for six (Mart. ix. 60.), seven (Id. x. 48.) or eight (Lamprid. Elag. 25.); and the order of precedence in the places upon it ran straight on in regular succession, from the highest to the lowest.
2. A circular seat round the bottom of the hot-water bath, on which the bathers sat and washed themselves. (Sidon. Ep. ii. 2.) Also the bath itself. Id. ib.
SIG'NIFER (σημαιοφόρος). An ensign or standard-bearer in the Roman armies (Cic. Div. i. 35. Cæs. B. G. ii. 25.); a general term, which will include all the individual officers, who nevertheless received a special title from the particular kind of ensign they carried, such as the Imaginifer, Draconarius, &c., whose ensigns were all classed under the name of signa militaria. The annexed example, from Trajan's Colum, exhibits the signifer of a cohort, whose standard is different from either of those mentioned.
SIGNI'NUM (sc. opus). Signine work; the name given to a particular kind of material employed for making floorings; consisting of tiles broken up into minute particles and mixed with mortar, then beaten down into a solid substance with the rammer. It acquired the name from the town of Signia (now Segni), which was famous for its tiles, and where it was first introduced. Columell. i. 6. 12. Plin. H. N. xxxv. 46. Vitruv. viii. 6. 14.
SIG'NUM (σημεῖον). In a general sense, any mark, sign, or signal by which something is known; whence the following more special applications have obtained.
1. An image or figure, whether of metal, marble, wrought, cast, sculptured, or embroidered (Cic. Verr. ii. 4. 1. Virg. Æn. ix. 263. Ib. i. 648. Plin. Ep. i. 20. 5.); but strictly used to designate the image of a deity (Plin. Ep. ix. 39.), as contradistinguished from statua, an image of men. Inscrip. ap. Grut. 174. 8. SIGNUM MARTIS ET STATUAM SIBI POSUIT.
2. The image or device engraved upon a seal, and the signet or impression made by it. (Cic. Cat. iii. 5. Id. Quint. 6. id. Att. ix. 10.) The example is from an original.
3. The sign of a shop (Quint. vi. 3. 38.); indicating, by some emblematical representation, the nature of the business carried on inside, like the annexed example of two men carrying an amphora, which is executed in terra-cotta, and forms the sign of a wine-shop at Pompeii. A milkman's in the same town is distinguished by the sign of a boy milking a goat.
4. A constellation or sign in the heavens, formed by a group of stars apparently representing the form of certain animals; as in the annexed illustration, from a statue of Atlas with the heavens on his shoulders. Ov. Fast. v. 113. Id. Met. xiii. 619.
5. Signa militaria. Military standards or ensigns, including in reality, the eagle (aquila), which was the general ensign of the entire legion, but more commonly used with reference to the different standards belonging to each separate maniple and cohort, as distinct from the eagle. (Cic. Cat. ii. 6. Tac. Hist. 11. 29. Id. Ann. i. 18.) The illustration, from a medal, shows the eagle between two standards of cohorts; the name of each ensign is enumerated in the Classed Index, and an example given under its own denomination.
SILENTIA'RIUS. A domestic slave whose duty it was to preserve silence in the household, and keep the whole establishment from making the slightest noise in the presence of their master; even a cough or sneeze being immediately checked by the ready stroke of the rod. Salvian. Gub. D. iv. 3. Inscript. ap. Fabrett. p. 206. n. 54. Compare Senec. Ep. 47.
2. Silentiarius sacri palatii. At a late period of the Empire, one of thirty officers who were persons of some consequence at the Byzantine court, acting under the authority of three superiors (decuriones), and appointed for the purpose of preserving order, silence, and decorum within the precincts of the palace. Imp. Anastas. Cod. 15. 62. 25. Inscript. ap. Grut. 1053. 10.
SIL'EX. Generally a common flint or flint-stone; but in a more special sense a large hard stone of volcanic formation, cut by the mason into polygonal blocks, and then dovetailed accurately together, which was extensively used in the construction of walls (Vitruv. i. 5. 8.), and for the paving of streets and roads (Liv. xli. 27. xxxviii. 28.); in the manner shown by the annexed example from a piece of Roman pavement near Rome. It is thus frequently opposed to lapis, a square flag-stone, and to saxum, also used in polygonal masses, and likewise of a volcanic formation, but possessing properties which geologists call tufa, instead of a flinty substance.
SILICER'NIUM (περίδειπνον). A funeral feast given in honour of a deceased person, either at the funeral or within a few days after it (Varro, ap. Non. s. v. p. 48.); whence the term is sometimes used in mockery, to designate a decrepit old man. (Terent. Ad. iv. 3. 34.) Amongst the Romans it would appear that this entertainment took place at the sepulchre itself (ad sepulcrum, Varro, l. c.); and the highly decorated chambers, so commonly met with as appendages to their tombs (SEPULCRUM 1. and illustration), but never used to receive deposits, were doubtless intended for the purpose; while a regular triclinium, with its couches and stand for the table, is still to be seen within one of the sepulchral enclosures at Pompeii. But amongst the Greeks it was always given in the house of the nearest relative to the deceased, and immediately after the funeral. Demosth. de Coron. p. 321. 25. Cic. Leg. ii. 25. The annexed illustration represents the relatives of a young Greek lady at a funeral feast of the kind described, from a marble bas-relief sculptured upon her tomb. The objects in the cornice above are merely intended to represent various articles of the female toilette and work-table.
SI'MA. An architectural moulding, so termed from the character of its outline, which resembles the snub nose of a goat, being hollow in its upper surface but swelling below, as exhibited by the figure annexed. It is chiefly employed for the crowning or uppermost member of a cornice, being placed over the corona, and is now termed "sima," or "cyma recta," by English architects, and "ogee" by the workmen. Vitruv. iii. 5. 12.
SIM'PULUM. A ladle or cup (cyathus) with a long handle, employed at the sacrifice for taking the wine in small quantities (Varro, L. L. v. 124.) out of the crater or other large vessel, in order to make libations. (Festus, s. v. Apul. Apol. p. 434.) The right side of the following wood-cut exhibits the implement itself, from an original found in a fictile vase, which has a picture on its outside, representing a priestess in the act of filling a cup with wine, taken out of a larger vessel with the simpulum, as shown by the illustration.
SIMPUV'IUM. A vessel employed at the sacrifice, supposed to be only another name for simpulum, which see. Plin. H. N. xxxv. 46. Juv. vi. 343.
SIN'DON (σινδών). A very fine sort of linen cloth, or muslin, employed for clothing by the natives of India, Egypt, and Asia. The same fabric was also imported into Italy, and used by persons of refined habits, at least in late times, for light summer dresses, both of the inner (indutus) and outer apparel (amictus). Mart. ii. 16. iv. 19. Auson. Ephem. in Parecb. 2.
2. A wrapper for books. Mart. xi. 1. Same as MEMBRANA, 2.
SI'NUM and -US (δῖνος). A very large, round, and deep bowl for wine (Varro, L. L. v. 123. Id. De Vit. Popl. Rom. ap. Non. p. 547. Plaut. Curc. i. 1. 82.), or milk (Virg. Ecl. vii. 33.); like the annexed example, which represents Ulysses presenting a bowl of wine to Polyphemus, in a bas-relief of the Villa Pamfili. The fabled size of the Sicilian monster is thus appropriately expressed by the great capacity of the vessel containing the potation proffered to him.
SIN'US (κόλπος). Literally, any surface bent into a semicircular or hollow form, whence the following expressive senses:—
1. A semicircular fold in a loose outside garment, produced by catching up one of its sides and throwing the end over the opposite shoulder, in the manner described s. ANABOLIUM; thus contradistinguished from gremium, a lap formed by holding up the lower portion of the dress, and from ruga, a small irregular crease, arising from the constraint of a girdle (cingulum). The ordinary sinus was formed immediately across the breast, so as to make but a short belly, thence termed sinus brevis (Quint. xi. 3. 137.), as in the left-hand figure of the annexed wood-cut, from a statue at Venice; whence the word is frequently used to designate that part of the human person. (Phædr. v. 5. 16. Terent. Heaut. iii. 3. 2. Tac. Hist. iii. 10.) But it might be lengthened out to a much lower sweep by dropping the right hand and arm, and drawing the end down with it from the shoulder, as Cæsar is represented to have done when about to fall beneath the strokes of his assassins, — simul sinistra manu sinum ad ima crura deduxit (Suet. Cæs. 82.); it was then termed sinux laxus (Hor. Sat. ii. 3. 172.), because it made a long and loose belly, in the manner represented by the part marked 2. on the right-hand figure, from a statue of the Villa Pamfili. In the late fashion of adjusting the toga, a double sinus was formed, a short one drawn from under the right arm to the top of the left shoulder (Quint. xi. 3. 102.), as shown by the right-hand figure, at the part marked 4, and the loose one lower down, marked 2. Both sexes were accustomed to adjust their outer drapery in this style, and the hollow thus created served as a convenient receptacle for carrying about their persons any object which they wished to keep concealed, such as a letter, purse, &c. Cic. Verr. ii. 5. 57. Ov.
2. The purse of a fishing and hunting net. Plaut. Truc. i. 1. 15. Grat. Cyneg. 29.
3. The bosom of a sail when filled by the wind. Virg. Ov. Tibull.
4. A bay or gulf on a coast, formed by the retiring of the land into a semicircular recess. Cic. Virg. Plin.
5. The curved or hollow part of the sharp edge in a vine-dresser's bill-hook (Columell. iv. 25. 1.), which resembles in form a bay of the sea, as exhibited by the annexed example from an ancient MS. of Columella.
6. A large full-bodied vessel for wine or milk. See SINUM.
SIPA'RIUM. A folding-screen, employed at the theatre, and consisting of several leaves, which could be opened out or folded together (Apul. Met. i. p. 7. siparium complicato. Id. x. p. 232., complicitis sipariis) like a modern screen. Some antiquaries think that the siparium was the drop-scene used only in comedy, and the aulæum only in tragedy. But Apuleius speaks of both as used together; while his language implies that the aulæum was let down (subductum) under the stage when the play commenced, and the siparium folded up (complicatum) at the same moment. He represents this as taking place upon the presentation of a pantomimic ballet, descriptive of the judgment of Paris; and as it is known that in some of the large theatres of the Macedonian era, the part of the orchestra situated between the front of the regular stage (proscenium) and the altar of Bacchus (thymele) was converted into a lower stage, upon which the mimes and dancers performed (Muller, Hist. of Greek Literature, vol. i. p. 299.), it may be fairly inferred that the siparium was intended to conceal this lower stage; and that it was folded up to reveal the dancers upon it, at the moment when the aulæum was let down to show the scenery upon the regular stage.
SI'PHO (σίφων). A pipe or tube through which water is made to rise by its own pressure, or by artificial means, into a jet d'eau (Senec. Q. N. ii. 16. Plin. H. N. ii. 66.) The illustration represents a fountain in the fulling establishment at Pompeii; the tubes still remain projecting from each of the square reservoirs, but the water has been added in the drawing, to show the manner in which it played from them, and fell in an united stream in the labrum, or central basin.
2. A siphon, or pipe, by which liquids are drawn out of casks (Cic. Fin. ii. 8. Pollux, vi. 2. x. 20.), in the same manner as practised at the present day. The invention is of very great antiquity, and of Egyptian origin, for the name of the instrument is traced back to the Egyptian root "sif," to imbibe (Wilkinson, Manners and Customs of Ancient Egypt., iii. p. 341.), and is represented in the annexed engraving from a painting at Thebes. The right-hand figure pours the liquid into three vases placed on the top of a high sand, while the one on the opposite side draws it off by three separate siphons into a larger vessel below. One of the siphons is applied to his mouth in the act of exhausting the air, and the liquid is already flowing through the other two, which are held in his right hand.
3. A double-actioned forcing-pump used also as a fire-engine. (Plin. Ep. x. 35. Isidor. Orig. xx. 6. Ulp. Dig. 32. 7. 12.) A machine of this kind, discovered in the last century at Castrum Novum, near Civita Vecchia, and supposed to have been used for pumping up the water into the public baths of that town, is exhibited on the following page. It is constructed upon the same principle as the Ctesibica machina, described by Vitruvius (x. 7.), but is more simple in its parts; and, since it agrees in all respects with the directions given by Hero (de Spirit. p. 180.), who was a pupil of Ctesibius, we can have no hesitation in receiving it as a model of the original pump invented by Ctesibius with the improvements effected by his pupil. The parts of which it is composed, and their technical names, are as follows:—AA (, modioli gemelli), two cylinders, in which the suckers, B (ἔμβολοι, emboli), and pistons, C (κανόνια, regulæ), work alternately up and down; D, a horizontal tube (σώλην) communicating with and connecting the two cylinders, and into the centre of which another upright tube, E, (ἕτερον σώλην) is inserted. FFFF, on the section below, four self-acting valves (ἀσσάρια, asses), two of which are affixed to the bottom of the two cylinders, and the others to the neck of the upright tube, one on each side of it. The pump was placed, in the same position as shown by the engraving, over the reservoir, with the lower ends of the two cylinders (FF) immersed in the water. The action was precisely similar to that described under the article CTESIBICA MACHINA. The two pistons work simultaneously, but inversely, the one up and the other down. As one rises, the valve at the bottom of the cylinder opens, and allows the water to be drawn in through the aperture thus created, while the one which descends in the other cylinder closes its own valve, and thus forces the water contained in it into the horizontal tube, forcing open the neck valve at its own side, and closing the other one; so that the water, having the communication with the opposite cylinder shut off, is driven into the upright tube (E), and forced out of it, with a continuous stream, through a pipe or a hose, fastened on to its upper end; which is not shown in the engraving, because the top was in a mutilated state when discovered. The adaptation of such a contrivance for fire engines will be readily understood; it, in fact, proceeds upon the same principle as that employed in the construction of such machines amongst ourselves.
SIPHONA'RII. Firemen; or, as the French language more closely renders the term, pompiers, who worked the engines (siphones) kept for extinguishing conflagrations. They formed part of the cohort of watchmen (vigiles) established by Augustus. Inscript. ap. Mur. 788. 3.
SIPHUN'CULUS. Diminutive of SIPHO. A small pipe or tube through which water is discharged to form a jet d'eau. Plin. Ep. v. 6. 23. and illustration s. SIPHO, 1.
SIR'PEA. See SCIRPEA.
SIRPIC'ULA. See SCIRPICULUS.
SISTRA'TUS. One who carries the Egyptian rattle (sistrum); thence, by implication, a priest or priestess of Isis, who made use of that instrument in their religious ceremonies, holding it up and shaking it with the right hand, in the manner exhibited by the annexed figure from a Pompeian painting, in which various classes of the Egyptian priesthood are represented. Mart. xii. 29.
SIS'TRUM (σεῖστρον). A sort of rattle, used by the Egyptians in the religious ceremonies of Isis (Ov. A. Am. iii. 635. Met. ix. 783.), and in war instead of the trumpet. (Virg. Æn. viii. 696. Prop. iii. 11. 43.) It consisted of a number of metal rods (virgulæ) inserted into a thin oval frame (laminam angustam in modum baltei recurvatam) of the same material (Apul. Met. xi. p. 240.); to this a short handle was attached, by which it was held up and rapidly shaken, so as to make the rods give out a sharp and rattling noise. The example is from an original of bronze.
SITEL'LA. Diminutive of SITULA. A vessel with a full belly and narrow throat, employed at the Roman Comitia for the purpose of drawing by lot the names of the tribes or centuries, in order to fix the rotation in which they were to vote. The lots (sortes), made of wood, were dropped into this vessel, which was filled with water, so that when shaken only one of them could present itself at a time, in consequence of the narrowness of the throat, through which it had to be drawn out. (Plaut. Cas. ii. 4. 17. Ib. ii. 5. 34. Liv. xxv. 3.) The example is copied from the device upon a coin of the Cassian gens.
SIT'ICEN (τυμβαύλης). A musician who performed at funerals, upon a particular kind of straight horn (tuba) (Capito. ap. Gell. xx. 2.), the characteristics of which are not however explained.
SIT'ULA. A
2. A vessel used for drawing lots. (Plaut. Cas. ii. 6. 6. Cic. Verr. ii. 2. 51.) Same as SITELLA.
SIT'ULUS. (Cato, R. R. x. 2. Vitruv. x. 4. 4.) Same as SITULA.
SOCCA'TUS. Wearing the shoe or slipper termed soccus. Sen. Ben. ii. 2.
SOC'CIFER. Same as the preceding.
SOC'CULUS. (Sen. Ben. ii. 12. Suet. Vit. 2.) Diminutive of SOCCUS.{TR: Lemma added}
SOC'CUS. A loose slipper, or shoe without any tie to it, but which completely covered the foot, so that a person wearing it is said to be soccis indutus (Cic. Or. iii. 32.), or soccis calceatus. (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 4. § 13.) Amongst the Greeks it was commonly worn by both sexes (Cic. Rab. Post. 10. Terent. Heaut. i. 1. 72.); but at Rome its use was strictly confined to females (soccus muliebris, Suet. Cal. 52.), and to actors on the comic stage, in order to form a contrast with the high-soled boot (cothurnus) of the tragic drama (Hor. A. P. 80. Ov. Pont. iv. 16. 29. Quint. x. 2. 22.); so that whenever an instance occurs of the soccus being worn by a Roman off the stage, it is recorded as a singularly anti-national affectation, and reprobated accordingly. (Sen. l. c. Suet. l. c. Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 6.) The example here introduced is worn by a comic dancer in an ancient painting.
SOLA'RIUM (σκιάθηρον). A sun-dial; a general term, including many different kinds and forms of the same instrument, with distinct and appropriate names, enumerated in the Classes Index, and described, each one under its own special denomination. Varro, L. L. vi. 4. Plin. H. N. vii. 60.
2. Solarium ex aqua. A water-glass, which performed the uses of a clock; showing the hours by the decrease of water contained in it, against a certain number of spaces (spatia, Sidon. Apoll. Ep. ii. 9.) partitioned off on the body of the vessel from which it escaped, or of the one into which it distilled. (Cic. N. D. ii. 34.) In this passage Cicero uses the term solarium both for a sun-dial and for a water-clock; but distinguishes them by calling the former solarium descriptum, the latter solarium ex aqua.
3. (ἡλιαστήριον). A terrace on the top of a house built with a flat roof, or over a porch, surrounded by a parapet wall, but open to the sky, to which the inhabitants retired to enjoy the sunshine and fresh breezes in fair weather, as is still a common practice at Naples and in the East. (Isidor. Orig. xv. 3. 12. Suet. Nero, 16. Plaut. Mil. ii. 4. 25.) A terrace of this kind was discovered on the second story of a house excavated at Herculaneum of which a description is given at p. 251. and a plan of the same, on which it is marked G. Subsequently, however, the solarium was covered with a roof (Inscript. ap. Fabrett. p. 724. n. 443.) as a protection against the sun, and formed, in fact, the upper story of a house, open to the air on all sides, except the top, as in the example, representing Dido's palace, from the Vatican Virgil. When thus constructed it was employed in hot weather as a cœnaculum, or refreshment room. Inscript. l. c.
SOLDU'RII (εὐχωλιμαῖοι). Properly a Gallic word, employed by the ancient Gauls (Cæs. B. G. iii. 22.) in a sense somewhat similar to our vassals or retainers, thereby intending to designate a body of men attached to some chieftain, whom they served with the utmost fidelity and devotion.
SOL'EA. A sort of clog or sandal, of the simplest form; consisting of a mere sole underneath the foot (Festus, s. v. Isidor. Orig. xix. 34. 11. Aul. Gell. xiii. 21.), bound on by a strap across the instep, like the annexed example from a Pompeian painting, and the clogs now used by the Capuchin friars. It was worn by both sexes indiscriminately. Ov. A. Am. ii. 212. Hor. Ep. i. 13. 15. Plaut. Truc. ii. 4. 12.
2. Solea spartea. A shoe or boot made of the Spanish broom, for the purpose of protecting the feet of cattle and beats of burden, when tender or diseased. (Columell. vi. 12. 3. Veg. Vet. i. 26. 3. ii. 45. 3.) The example annexed is not from an ancient original, but shows a contrivance of the same kind now used by the inhabitants of Japan, consisting of a small basket, made to the shape of the animal's foot, on to which it is bound by a strap round the fetlock.
3. Solea ferrea. A protection for the feet of mules (Catull. xvii. 26.) employed in draught; intended to answer the same object as the modern horse-shoe, though differing materially in its quality and manner of fixing; for the concurrent testimony of antiquity, both written, sculptured, and painted, bears undeniable evidence to the fact that neither the Greeks nor the Romans were in the habit of shoeing their animals by nailing a piece of iron on to the hoof as we now do. The contrivance they employed was probably a sock made of leather or some such material, and similar in form and general character to the solea spartea last described; being passed under and over the foot, and bound round the pastern joint and shanks of the animal by thongs of leather, like the carbatinæ of the peasantry. This sock was not permanently worn, but was put on by the driver during the journey in places or upon occasions when the state of the roads required, and taken off again when no longer necessary. Both the nature of the contrivance, showing that it was a close shoe covering the entire foot, and the practice of putting it on and removing it occasionally is sufficiently testified by the particular terms employed to designate the object itself and the manner of applying it — mulas calceare (Suet. Vesp. 23.); mulis soleas induere (Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 49.) — as will be understood by referring to the articles CALCEUS and INDUTUS. When the underneath part of the sock was strengthened by a plate of iron, it was termed solea ferrea; but under the extravagant habits of the empire, silver plates were sometimes used instead of iron, when it was called solea argentea (Suet. Nero, 30.); and sometimes gold, solea ex auro. (Plin. l. c. It is consequently an iron plate of this kind which Catullus speaks of (l. c.) as being left in the mud, by getting detached from the sock under which it was fastened; and not one nailed on to the hoof, like a modern horse-shoe.
4. Solea lignea. A sort of wooden clog or fetter, into which the feet of criminals were inserted, to prevent them from escaping while being conducted to prison. Cic. Inv. ii. 50.
5. An instrument, or a machine employed for bruising olives to make oil (Columell. xii. 52. 6.); the nature of which is entirely unknown.
SOLEA'RIUS. One who makes soleæ. Plaut. Aul. iii. 5. 40.
SOLEA'TUS. Wearing soleæ, as shown by the wood-cut s. SOLEA, 1. When the word is used with reference to the Romans, it is indicative of a person being in-doors, or in dishabille; as these articles were considered unbecoming for out-door use, and to betoken affected manners or a foreign style of dress. Senec. Ira. iii. 18. Castric. ap. Gell. xiii. 21. Cic. Verr. ii. 5. 33. Pis. 6.
SOLIFER'REUM or SOLLIFER'REUM. A sort of javelin made of solid iron, both head and shaft. Liv. xxxiv. 14. Festus, s. Sollo.
SOLITAURI'LIA. See SUOVETAURILIA.
SOL'IUM (θρόνος). In the original and strict meaning, a square high-backed chair, with closed sides for arms, as if cut out from a block of solid wood, which was employed in early times for the king to sit in, that his person might have some protection against any sudden or secret violence from behind. (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. i. 506.) The example, which agrees exactly with the above description of Servius, represents the chair used by Latinus in the Vatican Virgil.
2. A chair of state, like our throne, upon which the gods, kings, and great rulers sat. (Virg. Æn. x. 116. Cic. Fin. ii. 21. Ov. Fast. vi. 353.) It differs from an ordinary chair (cathedra), in being made of more valuable materials and costly workmanship. In works of art it is mostly represented with a back, arms, and cushions, frequently covered with rich drapery; but always with a foot-stool in front (scabellum, scamnum) to indicate its height. The example shows the solium of Venus in a painting of Pompeii.
3. A large arm-chair, in which the Roman lawyer used to sit and receive the clients, who came to consult them (Cic. Leg. i. 3. Id. Or. ii. 55.); whence the expression, a subselliis in otium soliumque se conferre (Id. Or. ii. 33.), means to retire from court to chamber practice; that is, from active pleading in court, wherer the advocates sat upon benches (subsellia), to the comparative leisure of attending consultations in an arm-chair (solium) at home.
4. Solium eburneum. An ivory chair (Claud. Laud. Stil. 199.); meaning thereby the Curule seat, which was decorated with ivory;—only a pompous expression for SELLA CURULIS.
5. A receptacle for the dead body, like what we now call a sarcophagus, that is, of an imposing character, made of valuable marbles (Suet. Nero, 50.), and enriched by sculpture; especially used as a deposit for kings and great personages (Curt. x. 10. Flor. iv. 11. 11.), of which the annexed illustration affords a remarkable specimen, from an original in which the body of L. C. Scipio Barbatus was deposited.
6. The seat at the bottom of a circular warm-water bath, on which the bather sat and washed himself (Suet. Aug. 82. Festus, s. v.), usually made of the same substance as the bath itself (Pallad. i. 41.), but sometimes of wood (Suet. l. c.), and even of silver. (Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 54.) See the illustration s. BAPTISTERIUM, at the bottom of which a similar seat is exhibited. But in some of the above passages, as well as others (Celsus, vii. 26. 5. Sidon. Apoll. Ep. ii. 2., solii capacis hemicyclium), the word is used for the bath itself.
SPAR'SIO. An artificial sprinkling, or mist (nimbus, Mart. Spect. 3. Id. v. 25.) of scented waters, made to fall over the interior of a theatre or amphitheatre by means of pipes and machinery. (Senec. Controv. v. Præf. Id. Ep. 90. Q. N. ii. 9.) This treat was not an ordinary occurrence, but given occasionally by the munificence of some individual; and consequently it was customary to announce it by an advertisement (album) posted in prominent parts of the city, such as the following found at Pompeii.—VENATIO . ATHLETÆ . SPARSIONES . VELA ERUNT. That is, "There will be a hunt of wild beasts, an exhibition of athletic contests, a discharge of perfumed waters, and an awning over the spectators."
2. A scattering of presents to be scrambled for by the people (Stat. Sylv. i. 6. 65. Compare Suet. Cal. i. 8. Dom. 4.); same as MISSILIA.
SPAR'TEA. See SOLEA, 2.
SPAR'UM or -US. A weapon, properly speaking, peculiar to the agricultural population (agrestis sparus, Virg. Æn. xi. 682.; telum rusticum, Serv. ad l.), which had a wooden shaft (hastile, Nepos, Epam. 9.), and an iron head with a curved blade attached to it (in modum pedi recurvum, Serv. l. c.), but also ending in a sharp point, to fit it for being discharged as a missile (Nepos, l. c. Sisenn. ap. Non. s. v. p. 555.) It was used in hunting (Varro, ap. Non. l. c.); and sometimes in warfare; but in that case it is not to be regarded as a regular weapon; only such as might be adopted by rude levies of the peasantry, or in sudden risings, where every man arms himself as he best can. (Sall. B. Cat. 59.) The annexed figure is copied from a bas-relief in the collection at Ince-Blundell, where it is used at a hunt; and as the very peculiar form of its head agrees so characteristically with the description collected from the various incidental passages cited above, it does not appear that any doubts can be entertained respecting the name and quality of the object it was intended to represent.
SPATH'A (σπάθη). A batten; a flat wooden instrument used in weaving, for the purpose of driving home the threads of the woof or tram (subtemen, trama) so as to knit the whole closely and compactly together (Senec. Ep. 90.); probably similar to the instrument still employed for the same object in Iceland, where the manner of weaving is extremely primitive, and which is represented by the figure annexed.
2. A broad and flat wooden spatula, employed for stirring, mashing, and mixing medicines or other ingredients. Columell. xii. 41. 3. Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 26. Celsus, vii. 12.
3. A large, broad, and long, two-edged sword, with a sharp acuminated point (Veg. Mil. ii. 15. Tac. Ann. xii. 35. Apul. Met. i. p. 3.); as shown by the annexed example from the sarcophagus of Alexander Severus. In length it reaches from the ground to the top of the wearer's hip.
4. A wooden implement employed by surgeons in replacing a dislocated shoulder. Celsus, viii. 15.
SPATHAL'IUM (σπαθάλιον). An ornament worn by women round the wrist (Plin. H. N. xiii. 52. Tertull.
SPECIL'LUM (μήλη). A surgeon's probe, for sounding wounds, and other purposes. (Cic. N. D. iii. 22. Celsus, vii. 8. Id. vi. 9.) The example is from an original of iron, six inches long, which was found in the house of a surgeon at Pompeii.
SPEC'ULA (σκοπιά, σκοπή). A watch-tower, on which guards were regularly stationed to keep a look-out and transmit signals. (Varro, L. L. vi. 82. Liv. xxii. 19. Cic. Fam. iv. 3. Id. Verr. ii. 5. 35.) The illustration represents a coast view, from a painting of Pompeii, with five watch-towers situated upon as many eminences, very similar to those with which the Italian coasts of the Mediterranean are now furnished.
SPECULA'RIA. Window panes; made of thin plates of talc (lapis specularis); a transparent substance, which the ancients employed for the above purpose, before the invention of glass, both as a closing over the aperture of a window (Senec. Ep. 90. Ib. 86. Q. N. iv. 13.), and for covering conservatories, garden frames, &c. Plin. H. N. xix. 23. Columell. xi. 3. 52.
SPECULA'TORES. Lookers-out; a term applied generally to any persons who acted the part of scouts or spies (Liv. xxii. 33. Sall. Jug. 114.); but specially to a small number of men attached to each Roman legion (Tac. Hist. i. 25. Hirt. B. Hisp. 13. Inscript. ap. Grut. 520. 5. Appian. B. C. v. 132.), whose duty it was to collect information respecting the numbers and motions of the enemy, and to act as aides-de-camp to the general in transmitting his orders to the different divisions of the army. Hirt. B. Afr. 31.
2. Under the Empire, the name was given to a select body of men retained for the service of the prince's person, as a sort of detective force and body guard. (Tac. Hist. i. 24. Ib. ii. 11. Suet. Cal. 44. Claud. 35.) They were armed with a lance (lancea, Suet. l. c. id. Galb. 18.); and are frequently represented on the columns of Trajan and Antoninus in attendance upon the emperor, or keeping guard before his tent, in the manner shown by the example annexed.
SPEC'ULUM (ἔνοπτρον, κάτοπτρονgrk>). A mirror; originally made of white metal, formed by the admixture of copper and tin (Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 45.), but afterwards of silver (Plin. l. c. Plaut. Most. i. 3. 111.), which is less brittle; the surface being kept bright by the use of pounded pumice-stone and a sponge, usually fastened to the frame by a short string. Glass was also employed at a later period for the mirror. The annexed wood-cut represents two originals of silver, both found at Pompeii, one of a circular shape, the most usual one, with a short handle for holding it up, when used, in the manner exhibited by the female figure, from a painting in the same city; the other, of an oblong square form, intended to be held by one slave before her mistress, whilst others adjusted the toilette, as is often represented on Greek vases and other works of art; but the ancient dressing-mirror was never made in a frame to stand upon the table, as a piece of furniture, like the modern ones.
2. A looking-glass (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 66.), covered at the back with tin and lead (Beckman, History of Inventions, vol. ii. pp. 69—76.), and employed as a piece of ornamental furniture, like our pier-glass, consisting of a mirror as tall as the human body (Senec. Q. N. i. 17.), sometimes permanently fixed to the wall (Ulp. Dig. 34. 2. 19. § 8.), at others arranged in such a manner that it could be drawn up and down to different levels, like a sash. Vitruv. ix. 8. 2.
SPEC'US (σπέος). Literally, a cave or cavern; whence transferred to the dark, covered channel which forms the water-way in an aqueduct (Front. Aq. 17. 21. 91.) Vitruv. viii. 7.), as shown by the part marked A in the illustration, representing a portion of the Alexandrine duct now existing at Rome. It was sometimes tunnelled through a hill, at others raised upon one or more tiers of arches, accordingly as the level of the source, or the undulating nature of the country required; and in some cases two, and even three, of these channels were carried, one above the other, over the same file of arches.
SPHÆRISTE'RIUM (σφαιριστήριον). An apartment for playing the game at ball, attached to the Gymnasia, Thermæ, and other places of public resort, as well as to the private mansions of wealthy people; and as the players at this game were usually stripped, it was frequently warmed by flues from a furnace (hypocausis) underneath the floor. Plin. Ep. ii. 17. 12. Id. v. 6. 27. Suet. Vesp. 20. Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 30.
SPHÆROMACH'IA (σφαιρομαχία). A match at the game of ball. Senec. Ep. 80. Stat. Sylv. iv. Præf.
SPI'CA TESTACEA. An oblong brick, employed by the Romans for making floorings (Vitruv. vii. 1. 5.); so termed because each one was arranged in such a manner as to imitate the setting of the grains in an ear of corn (spica), as shown by the example, from an ancient flooring in the Thermæ of Titus. A pattern of this description was termed spicata testacea (Vitruv. vii. 1. 4. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 62.), which answers to our expression herring-boned; for we, as well as the modern Italians, who call it a spina di pesce, deduce the resemblance from the set of the bones in a fish's back.
SPI'CULUM (λόγχη). The barbed head of an arrow or spear (Ov. Met. viii. 375. Hor. Od. i. 15. 17. Celsus, vii. 5. 2. Ammian. xxv. 1. 13.) which presents several jagged points like those in an ear of corn (spica), as exemplified by the annexed example from the arch of Constantine. Hence the Latin and Greek words are frequently used in the plural to include the point with its barbs.
2. In later times synonymous with PILUM. Veg. Mil. ii. 15.
3. (σαυρωτήρ, οὐρίαχος, στύραξ). The point attached to the butt-end of a lance or spear (Gloss. Vet. ap. Alstorp. de Hast. p. 68.), which served for fixing it upright in the ground (Virg. Æn. xii. 130.), or might be used offensively, if the regular point (cuspis) got damaged or broken off. (Polyb. vi. 25.) We have no express authority, beyond that of the glossary cited, for this usage of the term in Latin; but the Greek names are thoroughly authentic, as well as the object itself, which is represented at large by the top figure in the annexed wood-cut, from a fictile vase; while the lower one shows the spear complete, with its regular head on the left end, and pointed butt on the right. In early times the Roman lance had no adjunct of this kind; but they adopted it after coming in contact with the Greeks (Polyb. l. c.); which may perhaps account for the circumstance of there not being any distinct term in the Latin language to designate it.
SPI'NA. The barrier of a race-course (Cassiodor. Var. Ep. iii. 51. Schol. Vet. ad Juv. Sat. vi. 588.); a long low wall extending lengthwise down the centre of the circus for about two-thirds of its length, and which received the present name from the similarity of its position to the spine or dorsal bone in animals. The object of it was to determine the length of the course, and hinder the chariots from coming into collision front to front, as they had to run seven times round it at each race. The goals (metæ), round which they turned, were situated at a small distance from each of its ends; and the whole length of the wall was decorated with various objects on its top; an obelisk, an altar, and columns on which the eggs (ova curriculorum) and dolphins (delphinorum columnæ), intended to announce to the spectators the number of courses ran, were put up. The whole of these objects are exhibited in the illustration from an engraved gem, which represents an elevation of the spina, with one side of the course and the racing chariots in it. The position it occupied in the general building, and relative length in regard to it, will be seen by referring to the ground-plan of the circus of Caracalla (p. 165), on which it is marked B.
SPIN'THER (σφιγκτήρ). A particular kind of bracelet, worn by females on the left arm (Festus, s. v.); made of gold (Plaut. Men. iii. 3. 7.), and without any clasp; but retaining its place on the arm of the wearer by the natural elasticity of its own pressure. From this peculiarity the name arose, in allusion to the action of the sphincter muscle, which naturally remains in a state of contraction. The illustration is from an original of gold, which possesses all the elastic property described.
SPI'RA (σπεῖρα). A circular body forming a succession of twists or coils; whence the following special applications.
1. A coil of ropes. Pacuvius ap. Fest. s. v.
2. An ornament worn by women, which appears to have been a sort of wreath with many pendants to it, twined and interlaced round the head, like the coils and heads of the serpents commonly represented on the edge of Minerva's ægis, and on the head of Medusa. Plin. H. N. ix. 58. Compare Val. Flacc. vi. 396.
3. The string or tie with which the bonnet (galerus) of the Salian priests was fastened under the chin, as exhibited by the annexed wood-cut, from a marble bas-relief of Roman sculpture. Juv. viii. 208.
4. A particular kind of biscuit or pastry, made in a spiral form. Cato, R. R. 77.
5. The base of a column (Festus, s. v. Vitruv. iii. 5. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 56.) which rests upon the plinth (plinthus), or upon a continued basement (podium) instead of a plinth. In its simplest form it consists of a single torus surmounted by an astragal, as in the Tuscan and Roman Doric orders; or of an upper and lower torus, divided by a scotia and fillets (quadræ), and with or without the astragal, as in the annexed example, representing a very beautiful and simple specimen, now known as the "Attic base," in which form it was applied to the Ionic and Corinthian orders. The Greek Doric had no spira.
SPI'RULA. Diminutive of SPIRA, 5. (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. ii. 217.); of SPIRA, 4. (Arnob. ii. 73).
SPLENIA'TUS. Covered with patches of sticking-plaster (splenium). Mart. x. 22.
SPOLIA'RIUM. An undressing room, in which the arms and clothing were stripped from the gladiators who were slain in combat (Senec. Ep. 93. Lamprid. Commod. 18. and 19. Inscript. ap. Grut. 489. 12.); whence the term is also applied generally to any place in which a person is plundered or murdered. Senec. Prov. 3.
2. An undressing room in a set of baths (Gloss. Isidor.); same as APODYTERIUM; but this usage of the word rests upon no other authority than the one cited.
SPON'DA (ἐνήλατον). Any one of the four bars in the frame of a sofa, or a bedstead (lectus), to which the cords supporting the mattress (torus) are affixed (Pet. Sat. 97. 4. Ov. Met. viii. 656.), as exhibited by the above example from the device on a terra-cotta lamp. But when the bedstead or sofa was furnished with sides and a backboard (pluteus), as in the annexed example from a Roman bas-relief, the open rail or front, at which the occupant got into it, was termed sponda more expressly (Mart. iii. 91. Hor. Epod. iii. 22.), and the part against the back sponda interior. Isidor. Orig. xx. 11. 5. Suet. Cæs. 49.
2. A couch or bier upon which the dead were carried out. Mart. x. 5. 9.
SPONDAU'LES (σπονδαύλης). A musician who played an accompaniment upon a pair of long pipes (tibia longa) (Marius Victorin. 1. 2478. Diomed. iii. 472.) to the hymns which were sung at the sacrifice during libation, as shown by the annexed illustration from the column of Trajan. The minister (camillus) stands in front of the altar with the incense box (acerra, hence libare acerra), the spondaules with a pair of pipes behind him, and Trajan with a patera on the right side, the left of the group in the original composition being occupied by the popa and the victim.
SPON'SA, SPON'SUS. A betrothed couple; but not yet married. Amongst the Romans young persons were frequently betrothed to each other long before the marriage was intended to take place; and the act was performed in presence of the relatives and friends of both parties, when the marriage contract (sponsalia) was signed by the affianced pair, who then mutually joined hands, and pledged themselves to one another; the man putting the ring on the finger of his betrothed as a token of fidelity. The act is represented by the annexed wood-cut from a Roman bas-relief. The woman was termed sperata, during courtship; pacta, when the lover had made his proposals, and been accepted by the girl and her father; sponsa, when they had mutually pledged their faith; and nupta, when a bride. Non. s. v. p. 439.
SPOR'TA. A round plaited basket, with a small flat bottom, and handles on the top for the purpose of suspending it from the arm, or on a pole (jugum), when carried with its contents from place to place. It was employed for many uses (Columell. viii. 7. 1. Varro ap. Non. s. v. p. 177. Plin. H. N. xxi. 49.), and especially as a fishing-basket. (Mart. x. 37., and wood-cut s. HAMIOTA.) The example is from the statue of a young fisherman, in the Royal Neapolitan Museum.
SPORTEL'LA (σπυρίδιον). Diminutive of SPORTA; especially a small basket in which cakes, fruit, and eatables were handed round at table. Pet. Sat. 40. 3. Cic. Fam. ix. 20. Suet. Dom. 4.
SPOR'TULA (σπυρίδιον). Diminutive of SPORTA; a small fishing-basket (Plaut. Stich. ii. 2. 16.) Apul. Met. 1. p. 19.), like the preceding example. It would appear that baskets of this description were also employed for handing round certain kinds of eatables at table; whence the term was adopted to signify a dole, consisting of a small basket of provisions, given by great personages to their clients and retainers, as a substantial return for the court paid to them, when they assembled at the great man's door to make their daily compliments. Latterly, as manners grew more refined and morals less so, the dole of provisions was commuted for a sum of money; whence a gift or present of any kind was also termed a sportula. Juv. iii. 294. Mart. xiv. 125. Plin. Ep. ii. 14. 4.
SPU'MA, (sc. caustica or Batava). A pommade, manufactured by the Germans and Gauls, from goat's tallow and beech-wood ashes, and employed for the purpose of giving a light brown tinge to the hair. Mart. xiv. 26. Id. viii. 33. 20. Also termed SAPO.
SQUA'MA (λεπὶς, φολίς). See LORICA, 3. and 4.
STABULA'RIUS. A livery-stable keeper, who keeps a set of stables, and takes in horses to bait. Ulp. Dig. 4. 9. 1. Caius, ib.
2. An inn-keeper, or master of a stabulum, which afforded accommodation for "man and beast." Senec. Ben. i. 14. Apul. Met. i. p. 13.
STAB'ULUM (σταθμός). In a general sense, any standing-place (from stare) which serves as an abode or shelter for man or beast; as a stable for horses (Virg. Georg. iii. 184. EQUILE); a pen or fold for sheep and goats (Ib. iii. 295. Æn. x. 723.); a shed or stall for oxen (Columell. vi. 23. BUBILE); an aviary for poultry and domestic birds (Columell. viii. 1. 3. ORNITHON. CHORS); a shed for bee-hives (Id. ix. 6. 4. APIARIUM); a stock pond for fish (Id. viii. 17. 7. PISCINA.)
2. (πανδοκεῖον). An inn or public-house, for the temporary accommodation of travellers. (Pet. Sat. vi. 8. Id. xvi. 4, Plin. Ep. vi. 19. 4.) A distinction between the stabulum and caupona is drawn in the Pandects (Ulp. Dig. 4. 9. 1.), though without any particulars to explain the difference. But to judge from the general meanings of the two words, and the particular applications given to them, we may conjecture that the latter was only intended for the reception of lodgers who travelled on foot, the former for the accommodation of man and beast. Such a distinction would be perfectly consonant with our own customs, since the keepers of many public houses at this day do not take horses in to bait; but amongst the Romans it would be the more necessary, as the great majority of travellers journeyed on foot, and those who were wealthy enough to use horses and carriages, generally took advantage of private hospitality, instead of resorting to an inn. A stabulum, thus understood, would then be an establishment of much less common occurrence than the caupona, and probably always opened on the roadside, or near the entrance of a town, at which persons coming from the country could put up their horses and carriages, without driving them through the streets; whereas the caupona was mostly in the heart of the city. This notion is further confirmed by the discovery of an inn for man and beast, just outside the gates of Pompeii, on the road to Herculaneum, having a very large range of stables attached to it, in which the skeleton of an ass was found, as well as several bits, wheels, and other pieces of harness.
STADIOD'ROMUS (σταδιοδρόμος). One who runs a race in the Greek stadium. Plin. H. N. xxxviii. 19. § 3.
STAD'IUM (στάδιον). A race-course for foot-racing, so named because the famous race-course at Olympia measured exactly one stade (στάδιον), which contained 600 Greek feet, equal to 606¾ English, and about one-eighth of a Roman mile. A course of this description usually formed one of the principal appendages to the Greek gymnasia and Roman thermæ, and in these other athletic contests, as well as foot-races, were exhibited; but separate and isolated structures were also laid out for the same purpose. In its general plan the stadium approximated very closely the Greek hippodrome and the Roman circus, without the barrier (spina)and stalls (carceres), forming a narrow oblong area, terminated in a semicircle at one end, and by a straight line at the other, the seats for the spectators being sometimes excavated on the slope of a hill, sometimes formed upon an artificial embankment of earth, or raised upon arches of masonry and brickwork like the Roman circus. The names appropriated to the several parts were the same as those employed for the hippodrome; with the exception of the circular end, which had a special term of its own, being called the σφενδόνη (funda), either from its elliptical figure, or its resemblance to a sling, or to the bezel of a ring; but this was not used in the foot-race, for the 600 feet comprised in the length of the stadium extended only as far as the straight sides of the enclosure, from A, the starting place (ἄφεσις), to the two angular projections of masonry which terminate the σφενδόνη, marekd B. The illustration represents the ground plan of a stadium at Cibyra (now Buraz) in Lycia, still in considerable preservation; to which nothing is added but the two projecting walls, near the circular extremity on the inside, for the purpose of showing the σφενδόνη, and these are copied from existing remains in the stadium at Ephesus. It stands on a hill side, from which a certain portion is cut away to form a long flat terrace, having its outer edge bounded by a walled embankment represented by the double lines on the top of the plan, and sufficiently deep to carry several rows of seats arranged along it; the opposite side, and the circular end is excavated out of the slope of the hill, which is cut into twenty-one rows of seats, rising like steps one above the other, and subdivided by staircases, in the same manner as the cavea of a theatre or amphitheatre.
STALAG'MIUM. An ear-ring, furnished with one or more drops of gold, pearls, beads, or precious stones, which depend from it and imitate the shape of a drop of water (στάλαγμα), which is the meaning of the Greek word after which the Latin one is formed. (Festus s. v. Plaut. Men. iii. 3. 18.) The annexed illustration affords an example, from an original in the British Museum.
STA'MEN (στήμων). A spun thread (Ov. Her. iii. 76.); consisting of several fibres drawn down from the top of the distaff (colus; deducere stamina colo. Tibull. i. 3. 86.), and twisted together by the thumb (stamina pollice torque. Ov. Met. xii. 475.) and the rotary motion of the spindle (fusus), as it hung in a perpendicular line from the distaff, the upright position suggesting the name. All these particulars are distinctly illustrated by the wood-cut, representing a female spinning, from a Roman bas-relief.
2. The warp or warp threads in an upright loom, at which the weaver stood instead of sitting. (Varro, L. L. v. 113. Ov. Met. vi. 54, 55. 58. Senec. Ep. 90.) They were extended in a perpendicular direction from the warp-beam (insubulum), or from the yoke of the loom (jugum), as exhibited in the annexed figure, representing Circe's loom in the Vatican Virgil; and formed the groundwork into which the threads of the woof (subtemen) were inserted; whence the term is also given to any thing made of thread, as a garment (Claud. in Eutrop. i. 304.); or a fillet round the head. Prop. iv. 9. 52.
3. The strings of a lyre (Ov. Met. xi. 169.); so named from the resemblance which they bore to the warp-threads of an upright loom, as exhibited by the annexed figure from a painting in the Nasonian sepulchre near Rome.
STAPES or STAPIA. A word found in some inscriptions, evidently not of an early character, in which it signifies a stirrup. It appears to be formed from the German staff, a step; and though inserted in the Latin dictionaries is to be considered as a word of modern invention, for which there is not the slightest ancient authority. Compare SCALA 4.
STATE'RA. A steel-yard; an instrument of much later invention than the balance (libra). It consisted of the yard (scapus) divided into fractional parts by points (puncta), and suspended from above by a hook or chain, called the handle (ansa). The short end of the yard was furnished with a hook, to which the objects to be weighed were fixed, and sometimes with a scale (lancula) for holding them; the longest end, on the other side of the centre of revolution, with a sliding weight (æquipondium). Vitruv. x. 3. 4. The whole of these particulars mentioned by Vitruvius are exhibited in the annexed figures, both from originals discovered at Pompeii.
2. Sometimes used without discrimination for libra, a balance. Pet. Sat. 35. 4. Suet. Vesp. 25.
3. A curricule bar or joke, placed across the withers of a pair of horses, and to which the pole (temo) was attached, as in the annexed example from a painting at Pompeii. Stat. Sylv. iv. 3. 35.
4.{TR: "3." → "4."} A kind of dish, probably of a flat circular form, like the scale appended to the steel-yard in the first example. Corn. Nepos. ap. Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 52.
STATO'RES. Officials or public servants who attended upon Roman magistrates in the provinces, and more especially employed for carrying letters, messages, dispatches, &c. (Cic. Fam. ii. 17. ib. 19. x. 21.) Their office was abolished by Septimius Severus, and the duties discharged by them transferred to the military. Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 52. Ulp. Dig. 1. 16. 4.
STEG'A (στέγη). A word merely transferred from the Greek, signifying the deck of a ship (Plaut. Bacch. ii. 3. 44. Id. Stich. iii. 1. 12.); for which the Romans use the expression CONSTRATUM NAVIS, under which an illustration is given.
STE'LE (στήλη). A word merely transferred from the Greek (Plin. H. N. vi. 32.); for which the genuine Latin term is CIPPUS.
STEMMA (στέμμα). Properly speaking a Greek word, in which language it signified a garland or wreath bound round with fillets of wool and worn as a chaplet on the head, or employed as a decoration for other objects, as well as the person (CORONA. INFULA). But the Romans adopted the term in a more special sense to designate a long scroll decorated with garlands, and having a list of the family names emblazoned on it, which it was customary to hang upon the ancestral busts, as they stood in their cases (ædiculæ) round the atrium (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 2. Senec. Ben. iii. 28.); whence the word came also to signify a genealogical tree, pedigree, or lineal stem. Suet. Galb. 2. Nero, 37.l Mart. v. 35.
STEREOB'ATA. (Vitruv. iv. 3. 1.) Same as STYLOBATA.
STIBAD'IUM. A circular dining couch, adapted to a round table (Plin. Ep. v. 6. 36. Mart. xiv. 87. Sidon. Ep. i. 11. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. i. 698.); otherwise called SIGMA.
STIG'MA (στίγμα). Literally a mark made by puncture; whence, a brand, or mark pricked into (scriptum and inscriptum, Quint. vii. 4. 14. Sen. Ben. iv. 47.), or stamped upon (impressum, Pet. Sat. 105. 11.), the forehead of a slave (Id. 103. 2. and 4.), convicted of thieving, running away, &c. A single letter, such as F, for fur, might in some cases be deemed sufficient for the purpose; but the last passage cited from Petronius expressly mentions an entire word, if not a sentence, in large letters covering the face.
2. A mark pricked into the arm of conscripts (Veg. Mil. i. 8. Id. ii. 5.) after they had been approved as capable of military duty, in order that they might be called out when required; and likewise upon labourers employed in the state factories to prevent them from deserting{TR: "deser ing" → "deserting"} their employments, and accepting work form other masters. (Impp. Arcad. et Honor. Cod. 11. 9. 3.) The same was sometimes pricked on the hand. Imp. Zeno Cod. 42. 10.
STIGMAT'IAS (στιγματίας). A slave marked with the stigma. Cic. Off. ii. 7.
STIGMO'SUS (Pet. Sat. 109. 8.) Same as the preceding.
STIL'US or STYL'US (γραφίς). An instrument made of iron or bone (Isidor. Orig. vi. 9.), pointed at one end, but having a broad flat blade at the other (Symphos. Ænigm. 1.), and employed for writing upon tablets covered with a thin coat of wax (Plaut. Bacch. iv. 3. 79. and 91.). The point served for tracing the letters, and the flat end for making corrections by smoothing over the surface of the wax so as to obliterate the writing, whence the expression vertere stilum (Hor. Sat. i. 10. 72.) means to erase or correct the composition. Scholars generally trace the word to the Greek one, στῦλος, a pillar; but as the best Latin authorities spell it with an i instead of y, and the Latin penult is short, while the Greek one is long, it is more probable that it comes from στέλεχος, a stalk, which is also one of the meanings of the Latin stilus (Columell. xi. 3. 46. v. 10. 2.).
2. Stilus cæcus; the spike of a caltrop, which was placed upon the ground, so that it would be concealed by herbage, while it effectually disabled cavalry from advancing. (Hirt. B. Afr. 31. Sil. Ital. x. 414.) The example is from an original.
3. The pin or index of a sundial (Mart. Capell. vi. 194.); otherwise called GNOMON, under which an example is given.
4. A bronze needle, or sharp-pointed rod, employed for destroying maggots and insects in fruit trees. Pallad. iv. 10. 20.
5. A wooden probe employed in the kitchen garden for inoculating the seed of one plant into the pithy stalk of a different species. Columell. xi. 3. 53.
STIM'ULUS (κέντρον). A goad or stick with an iron prick at the end, employed for driving animals, oxen, horses, mules, and slaves. (Tibull. i. 1. 10. Columell. ii. 2. 26. Sil. Ital. vii. 702. Plaut. Most. i. 1. 54.) The example is from a terra-cotta at Veletri, after Ginzrot.
2. Stimulus cuspidatus rallo. A goad with a spud (rallum) affixed to one end, which was employed by the ploughman in cleansing the ploughshare, as the point was driving his oxen. Plin. H. N. xviii. 49. § 2. The example is from an Etruscan bronze.
STI'PES (στύπος). A round stake fixed in the ground (Festus s. v.); as a land mark (Ov. Fast. ii. 642.); as a stay for tethering other things to (Id. iv. 331. Suet. Nero, 29.), or for supporting them, as in the annexed example from the column of Trajan, which represents the manner in which the soldiery piled their helmets and shields when engaged upon field works, making fortifications, &c.
2. A stake set up for practising recruits at their exercises (Mart. vii. 32.); same as PALUS.
STI'VA (ἐχέτλη). The plough-staff, or handle of a plough; consisting, in its simplest form, of a single upright branch (Varro, L. L. v. 135.), forming part of the same piece as the plough tail (buris), which the ploughman held in his left hand to guide the machine, or pressed down to make the share penetrate the ground, in the manner shown by the annexed example, from a Roman bas-relief; which also graphically illustrates such expressions as stivæ pæne rectus innititur (Columell. i. 9. .3); stivæ innixus (Ov. Met. viii. 218.); stivam premens (Id. Fast. iv. 826.). Other plough-staffs, upon a more improved plan, are exhibited under the words ARATRUM and BURA.
STLA'TA. A particular kind of sea-going vessel (Aul. Gell. x. 25. Auson. Ep. xxii. 31.), constructed with an unusual breadth of beam, and lying low upon the water (Festus s. v.); characteristics which are not sufficiently apparent on any ancient monuments to afford a trustworthy example.
STOL'A. A female robe, which constituted the characteristic feature in the attire of a Roman matron, as the toga did in that of the male sex (Pet. Sat. 81. 5. Compare Cic. Phil. ii. 18. though in the latter passage the reading has been controverted). It was a tunic made very full, and sometimes with long sleeves; at others with short ones, fastened down the fleshy part of the arm with clasps, but put on as an indumentum (Senec. Vit. B. 13.) over the chemise (tunica intima), and fastened with a double girdle (succincta, Enn. ap. Non. p. 198.), one under the breast, and the other over the hips, so as to produce an ample display of small irregular folds (ruga, Mart. iii. 93.) when compressed by and drawn through its ligatures. Thus far the stola does not materially differ from the outer tunic usually worn by the Roman ladies. But what constituted its distinguishing feature was an appendage termed instita, sewed on under the girdle (subsuta, Hor. Sat. i. 2. 29.), and trailing behind, so as to cover the back half of the feet (medios pedes. Ov. A. Am. i. 32.), from the astragals or ankle bones (talos, Hor. l. c. Ib. i. 2. 99.), which it is now confidently suggested is exhibited by the long train (instita longa, Ov. l. c.) so distinctly visible behind the lower half of the annexed figure, believed to represent Veturia, the mother of Coriolanus, from a fresco painting in the Thermæ of Titus. It is to be observed that neither lexicographers nor archæologists have been able to specify with certainty what the instita really was, though general assent is found to describe it as a sort of flounce sewed round the bottom of a tunic in order to constitute a stola; which opinion was adopted, doubtfully however and undecidedly, in the explanation given under that word. But a subsequent examination of the engraving, from which the figure here is copied, and which had previously escaped attention; as well as the very peculiar character of the train attached behind, which in the original design is still more forcibly shown to be a seperate adjunct fastened under the lowest girdle, and not a component part of the tunic; and an attentive consideration of the passages above cited from Horace and Ovid, manifestly resolving that the instita was not an addition all round the bottom of the dress, but one which hung behind and concealed only the heels or half the feet, exactly as shown by the example, altogether produce a chain of evidence so clear, circumstantial, and harmoniously supported, that it is difficult not to be impressed with its truth. Moreover the image presented by a passage of Statius (Theb. vii. 654.), which describes an instita as being tied for an ornament under the head of a thyrsus—pampineo subnectitur instita, &c—agrees far better with the notion of a long breadth or scarf, like the one above, than that of a circular flounce, as will be readily acknowledged upon a reference to the article and illustration s. MITRA. 1., for which term the one employed by Statius is merely adopted as a poetical expression.
2. (στολὴ). The Greeks made use of the term in a more general sense, applying it to any kind of robe worn by men as well as women; and in this they were followed by the elder Latin writers. Ennius ap. Non. s. v. p. 537.
3. A long and loose flowing tunic worn by musicians (Varro, R. R. iii. 13. 3.), and possessing considerable resemblance to the female robe described above, for it was of considerable length, and made much wider at bottom than at the top, so that it would trail on the ground behind, as if there were an instita attached to it The illustration, from a statue of Apollo in the Vatican, will establish the above-mentioned affinity, and thus account for the name; though it was more commonly termed palla citharœdica.
4. At a later period, a robe worn by certain priests (Apul. Met. xi. p. 257.); probably of a similar character to the last example.
STOLA'TA. Wearing the robe of a Roman matron (Pet. Sat. 44. 18.), as described and illustrated s. STOLA 1.; particularly as indicative of a chaste and virtuous female (whence pudor stolatus. Mart. i. 36.), because women of abandoned character, or who had been divorced on the ground of adultery, were not permitted to wear that article of attire.
STOR'EA and STO'RIA. A covering or a mat, made of rushes or string. Cæs. B. C. ii. 9. Liv. xxx. 3. Plin. H. N. xv. 18. § 1.
STRA'GULUM (στρῶμα). A general term for any thing which is spread out or over something else, to make an under coverlet for lying upon; more particularly applied to the articles used for laying over the mattress of a sleeping bed (Cic. Tusc. v. 21. Varro, L. L. v. 167. Senec. Ep. 87.); or a bier upon which the corpse is laid out (Pet. Sat. 42. 6. Id. 78. 1.); in all which passages the term is used to distinguish the under sheet or blanket upon which the body reposes, as contradistinct from the upper one, or coverlet (operimentum, opertorium), thrown over it.
2. (ἐπίβλημα). A caparison for riding horses (Mart. xiv. 86.); placed under the padsaddle (ephippium), or used instead of it, and consisting of the furred skin of some wild beast, such as the lion or tiger (Virg. Æn. viii. 553. Sil. Ital. v. 148.), of sufficient size to cover nearly the whole body of the animal (Virg. l. c.), like the sheep skins of our heavy cavalry, and the example above from a Greek coin; or, without the fur, and then made of leather covered over with scale armour (Virg. Æn. xi. 770.), like the present example from the Theodosian column, which exactly resembles in its outlines the caparisons now used in our light cavalry regiments.
STRA'TOR (ἀναβολεύς). A soldier who acted as military groom, or equerry to the emperor, and to a consul or prætor in the Roman armies (Ulp. Dig. i. 16. 4.); it being his duty to purchase cavalry horses for the service of the commander (Ammian. xxix. 3. 5.), as well as to saddle them, lead them out, and assist the officer in mounting (Id. xxx. 5. 19. Spart. Caracall. 7.), as stirrups were not brought into use until a very late period. The illustration represents an equerry of this description, holding the emperor's horse, from the column of Trajan. He wears the military cloak, paludamentum, thus indicating that his rank was considerable. Other examples are frequently represented on the triumphal arches and columns, both with and without the said cloak, though always in military costume; but civilians of rank and fortune also kept servants who performed the same duties, and went by the same description.
STRE'NA. A present which the Romans were accustomed to send to one another on a festal day, or clients to their patrons, and citizens to the emperor; more particularly on the calends of January, as a new year's gift. Festus, s. v. Suet. Aug. 57. Id. Cal. 42.
STRIA (ῥάβδος, ξυστρίς). The flute of a column, including the list or fillet between two channels, as well as the channel itself. Vitruv. iii. 5. 14. Id. iv. 4. 2.
STRIATU'RA (βάβδωσις). The fluting of columns. (Vitruv. iv. 3. 9.) STRIA.
STRIA'TUS (ῥαβδωτός). Fluted, like a column. Vitruv. vii. 5. 3.
STRIGILE'CULA (στλεγγίδιον). (Apul. Flor. ii. 9. 2.) Diminutive of STRIGILIS.{TR: Lemma added by transcriber.}
STRIG'ILIS (στλεγγίς, ξυστρίς). A strigil or scraper, employed in Greece and Italy for scraping off the moisture and impurities thrown out upon the surface of the skin by the heat of the vapour bath, or the violent exercise of the palæstra. (Cic. Fin. iv. 12. Suet. Aug. 80. Pers. v. 126.) It was made of iron or bronze, with a handle, into which the hand could be inserted (clausula), and a curved blade (Mart. xiv. 51.) hollowed into a channel (tubulatio), down which the moisture and perspiration would flow as in a gutter (Apul. Flor. ii. 9. 2.) When used, the edge was lubricated with a few drops of oil, to prevent abrasion of the skin. The example, which possesses all the properties enumerated, is copied from an original of bronze, discovered at Pompeii, together with three others, upon a ring, which also held an oil flask (ampulla), and a shallow pan with a handle (scaphium); the whole as mentioned by Plautus (Pers. i. 3. 44.). The method of using it is shown by the woodcut s. ALIPTES.
2. (ὠτεγχύτης). A surgical instrument for introducing lotions into the ear (Celsus. vi. 7. Plin. H. N. xxv. 103.); which may be readily imagined to have received the name from being formed with a hollow channel down its length, like that of the scraper above described.
STRO'MA (στρῶμα). (Capitol. Ver. 4.) A Greek word, corresponding with the Latin STRAGULUM; which see.
STROPHIA'RIUS. One who makes and sells strophia. Plaut. Aul. 111. 5. 42.
STROPH'IOLUM. Diminutive of STROPHIUM. A small chaplet or twisted band for the head. Plin. H. N. xxi. 2. Tertull. Cor. Mil. 15.
STROPH'IUM (στρόφιον). A sash, or rather scarf (mitra), twisted or rolled up into a long, round, and even form (tereti strophio, Catull. lxiv. 65. στρογγύλη ζώνη. Hesych.), and fastened round the bust close under the breast, to serve as a support to the bosom for young women who had attained their full development. (Cic. Fragm. ap. Non. s. v. p. 538. Catull. l. c.). It was not flat, nor was it worn next to the skin, like the bosom band (mamillare), but over a little tunic or chemise (tunicula), as is clear from a passage of Turpilius (ap. Non. l. c.), in which a girl is introduced lamenting the loss of a letter that she had deposited between her chemise and strophium — inter vias epistola cecidit mihi, Infelix, inter tuniculam et strophium quam collocaveram — and precisely as exhibited by the annexed figure, from a statue believed to represent a young Doric female, dressed for the foot-race (compare Pausan. v. 16. 2., who there describes a costume of exactly the same character as the one her shown). A similar appendage is frequently met with on statues and other representations of Diana, the huntress, which is unaccountably mistaken for the chlamys. We may also infer from these peculiar instances, that it was not intended as a contrivance for compressing the form artificially, nor worn by all females, but only by those whose figures, or active habits of life, rendered such an assistance necessary.
2. A wreath worn round the head, Virg. Cop. 31., where it is made of roses: see the wood-cuts s. CORONA, 10. and 11.
3. The cable of an anchor. Apul. Met. xi. p. 250. ANCORALE, and wood-cut s. v.
STRUC'TOR (τραπεζοποιός). A slave whose duty it was to arrange the several dishes of each course upon the trays (fercula, Serv. ad Virg. Æn. i. 704.), and place them in proper order in the dinner-basket (repositorium, Pet. Sat. 35. 2.); sometimes also to take upon himself the office of carver (Mart. x. 48. Juv. v. 120.), and to set out in a tasty manner, or construct in artificial devices, the fruits and delicacies of the dessert. Lamprid. Elag. 27.
STRUCTU'RA. Generally, the putting together of things in regular order; whence the term is specially applied to designate masonry, or the constructive arrangement of stones in a wall. (Vitruv. ii. 8. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 51.) Six different styles are enumerated in the practice of the Roman and Greek architects, each presenting a distinct pattern to the eye, as exhibited in contrast by the annexed engraving; viz. 1. reticulata, reticulated, which has a chequered pattern like the meshes of a net, A. 2. cæmenticia antiqua or incerta, irregular masonry of stones, not squared nor cut into any certain form, B. 3. isodomum, ashlar, of large stones, and in which all the courses are of the same height, C; 4. pseudisodomum, also ashlar, and of large stones, but in which the courses are of different relative heights, D. 5. emplecton, in which both the outside surfaces of the wall are formed of ashlar, E, bound together by girders, F, and the central part filled in with rubble, G. 6. diamicton, which is the same as the last, without the girders.
STRUPPUS (τροπός, τροπωτήρ). A twisted thong of leather, or cord, by which the oar is fastened to its thowl (scalmus). (Vitruv. x. 3. 6. Liv. ap. Isidor. Orig. xix. 4. 9.) The contrivance is explained by the annexed wood-cut, which exhibits the manner of fastening the oars in the Mediterranean galleys of the 16h century.
2. The thong of a palanquin (lectica), (Gracchus, ap. Gell. x. 3. 2.); by which the conveyance was attached to its carrying-pole (asser), as an oar is to its thowl. it was fastened down (deligatus) to the shafts (amites), like the back-band of a cart, and the carrying-pole passed through it; which raised and supported the carriage by resting on the shoulders of the bearers, in the manner represented by the annexed engraving, which exhibits the mode of transporting a palanquin in China. Although the illustration is not from a genuine Greek or Roman model, little doubt will be felt that the contrivance employed by those nations was the same, if reference be made to the wood-cut s. PHALANGARII, which exhibits the same object applied in a very similar manner to the transport of a butt of wine.
STYLOB'ATA or -ATES (στυλοβάτης). A stylobate or pedestal; upon which a column, or row of columns is raised, in order to lengthen or give an extra elevation to them. (Vitruv. iv. 3. 3. and 5. Varro, R. R. iii. 5. 11.) A separate stylobate is sometimes placed under each column, as in the annexed example, representing the arch of Septimius Severus; at others a long continuous one is constructed, upon which the whole range rests; as in the illustration s. PRONAUS.
STYLUS. See STILUS.
SUA'RIUS (ὑοβοσκός). A swine-herd (Plin. H. N. iii. 77.); a pig-dealer (Id. xxi. 7. Inscript. ap. Orelli. 2672.).
SUAVIL'LUM or SAVIL'LUM. A sort of sweet cake, made with flour, eggs, cheese, and honey. Cato, R. R. 84.
SUBARMA'LE. An article of clothing, the precise nature of which is not satisfactorily ascertained. Some suppose it to be so termed from passing under one shoulders (armus), like an exomis (see the wood-cut s. v.); others from being worn under the body armour (arma), like the equestrian stature of N. Balbus (see the wood-cut s. LORICA, 2.), and many of the soldiers on the triumphal arches and columns. Mart. Capell. v. 136. Spart. Sev. 6. Vopisc. Aurel. 13.
SUBCENTU'RIO. An adjunct to the centurion, by whom he was selected to watch over and protect his superior in the dangers of the field. Liv. viii. 8.
SUBGRUNDA'RIUM. A place where infants who died before they had cut their teeth were deposited; for it was not customary to burn them at that tender age. (Fulgent. s. v. p. 560. Compare Plin. H. N. vii. 15. Juv. xv. 139.) The illustration is from a work on the antiquities of Cadiz, by Jo. Bapt. Suarez, which also accounts for the peculiarity of the term, by showing that the deposits were arranged, like swallows' nests, under a projecting roof or eaves (sub-grunda).
SUBJUG'IUM (μέσαβον). the under-yoke; a wooden frame fastened underneath the yoke (jugum), at each of its extremities, by a bolt, or a leathern thong (lorum subjugium, Cato, R. R. lxiii. Id. cxxxv. 5.), which rested upon the animal's neck, and encircled it like a collar, as exhibited by the annexed example, from an ancient MS. of Hesiod. (Vitruv. x. 3. 8. Hesiod. Op. 469. Callim. Gram. ap. Procl. ad l. μέσσαβα βοῦς ὑποδύς) When the yoke itself was formed with two curvatures at its extremities, as was frequently the case (see the example s. JUGUM), there would be no necessity for these additional collars; but their object was to enable the carter, or ploughman, to distribute the work between two animals of unequal powers in a proportion suitable to the strength of each, by making the point of draught farther removed from the centre on one side than on the other, which would throw the most work upon the animal nearest to the pole (Vitruv. l. c.), and could be easily effected by shifting one of the collars nearer to, or further from it.
SUB'LICA. A pile driven into the earth, or into the ground under water, for the purpose of raising some other superstructure upon it. Liv. xxiii. 37. Vitruv. iv. 3. 2.
SUBLIC'IUS. Made of wood, and supported upon piles. See PONS, 3.
SUBLIGA'CULUM (διάζωμα). A cloth fastened round the waist, then passed through or between the thighs, and fastened under the fork (Non. s. v. p. 29.), to answer the purpose of drawers, like that worn by itinerant tumblers in our own streets, as shown by the annexed example, from a small figure in the Collegio Romano. It was also worn upon the stage as a safeguard against any casual or indelicate exposure of the person. Cic. Off. i. 35.
SUB'LIGAR. (Mart. iii. 87. Juv. vi. 70.) Same as the preceding.
SUBLIGA'TUS. Wearing the subligar; of men, as shown by the preceding example; of women (Mart. vii. 67.), as shown by the annexed one, representing a female tumbler, from a fictile vase of Italo-Greek manufacture.
SUBMIN'IA. A garment mentioned by Plautus (Epid. ii. 2. 48.) in a catalogue of female apparel. Probably, only a name in vogue at his day, descriptive of a reddish tint (minium) with which it was dyed.
SUB'SCUS. A tenon, in carpentry, joinery, &c.; that is, the end of a piece of wood or metal cut or moulded into a certain form, to be received into a hole of corresponding size and shape, called a mortise (securicula), for the joining of both together. Vitruv. x. 5. 2. Id. iv. 7. 4.
SUBSEL'LIUM. A moveable bench or form supported upon legs, but without any back, and of sufficient length to contain seveal persons upon it at the same time (Celsus, vii. 26. 1. Varro, L. L. v. 128.); especially used in places where a number of people are assembled together; in a dining-room (Suet. Terent.; auction-room (Id. Cal. 39.); senate-house (Cic. Cat. i. 7. Suet. Claud. 23.); for the judges, lawyers, suitors, and witnesses in a court of justice. (Cic. Vat. 14. Rosc. Am. 6.) The example is from an original of bronze found in the baths of Pompeii.
2. In the theatre, amphitheatre, or circus (Plaut. Amph. Prol. 65. Id. Pœn. Prol. 5. Suet. Aug. 43. and 44.), a line of seats encircling the interior of the edifice (cavea), and rising in tiers or steps one over the other, as explained and illustrated GRADUS, 3.
SUBSTRUC'TIO (ἀνάλημμα). A wall, pier, buttress, or any work of like nature, constructed underground as a foundation (Vitruv. vi. 11. 5.); or above ground as an underprop to support a superincumbent structure (Liv. xxxviii. 28. Dionys. iii. 69.); such, for example, as the elder Tarquin is reputed to have raised on the Capitoline hill, for the purpose of forming a level platform as a site for the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, some remains of which are still extant; or those on the sde of the same hill facing the forum, which were executed by Q. Catulus as a support for the tabularium (Inscript. ap. Orelli, 3267.), and still remain exposed to view in a state of considerable preservation.
SUBTE'MEN or SUBTEG'MEN (κρόκη, ἐφύφη). The weft or woof in weaving; that is, the cross-thread which is passed alternately under and over those of the warp (stamen), to make a piece of cloth. (Varro, L. L. v. 113. Plin. H. N. xi. 28. Ov. Met. vi. 56.) The illustration represents an Egyptian in the act of inserting the weft into the warp upon a frame stretched on the ground. Though more like mat-making than weaving, it exhibits the object and process distinctly, as a part of the warp, on which he sits, is seen by itself, while the other half is already interlaced by the weft loosely inserted and not driven up close by the batten.
SUBU'CULA. The innermost tunic, made of woollen (Suet. Aug. 82.), and worn next the skin, under the regular outer one (Hor. Ep. i. 1. 95.), which then was specially designated indusium or supparus, according to the style in which it was made. (Varro, L. L. v. 131. Id. ap. Non. s. v. p. 542.) It had long sleeves, which the outer one had not, and was worn by both sexes, though some scholars confine it to the male attire, contrary to the express testimony of Varro (l. c.), by whom it is also enumerated amongst the articles of female dress. It is very clearly exhibited on the annexed figure from a marble bas-relief; and two terra-cottas of the Museo Borbonico (xiv. 37.) represent a male and female both draped in a very similar manner, with two tunics, the underneath one in both cases having long sleeves.
SU'BULA (ὄπεας). A leather-closer's and shoemaker's awl. (Mart. iii. 16. Columell. vi. 5.) The example is copied from a sepulchral stone, found on the Via Cassia, and bearing an inscription which testifies that it was erected in memory of the wife of a sutor.
SUBUL'CUS (συβώτης, ὑφορβός). A swineherd. Varro, R. R. ii. 4. 20.
SUCCI'DIA Pork salted or cured, like our bacon and ham. Varro, L. L. v. 110. Id. R. R. ii. 4. 3.
SUCCINC'TUS (ὑποζώστος). Wearing a girdle round the tunic, low down under the ribs (from the Greek ὑπόζωμα, which signifies the diaphragm or midriff). The object of this was not simply to keep the dress closely adjusted to the figure, but to enable the wearer to shorten it by drawing up the skirts through the belt in order to leave the lower extremities free and unembarrassed by drapery; consequently the usage of the term invariably indicates that the person to whom it is applied is engaged in active or violent exercise. Thus, the huntress Diana is appropriately equipped in a succinct tunic (Ov. Am. iii. 2. 31. Id.
2. Succinctus gladio, pugione, cultro, &c. Wearing a sword, dagger, knife, &c., attached to a belt or girdle, encircling the diaphragm, or just over the loins, as exhibited by the annexed figure from a painting of Pompeii. Auctor. ad Herenn. iv. 52. Cic. Phil. xiii. 16. Liv. vii. 5.
SUCCING'ULUM (ὑποζώνιον). A girdle or a belt, worn low down the figure, just round the diaphragm, as explained and illustrated under the preceding word. Plaut. Men. i. 3. 17.
SUCCOLLA'TUS. Literally, carried on the neck and shoulders. (Suet. Otho. 6. Varro, R. R. iii. 16. compared with Virg. Georg. iv. 217.) But the verb succollare is specially used to describe the method of carrying a palanquin (lectica, Suet. Claud. 10.), and other heavy loads, which was affected by the aid of a pole (asser, phalanga), resting on the shoulders, and from which the weight to be carried was suspended, in the manner represented by the annexed illustration from the column of Trajan. The principle upon which it was applied to the transport of a palanquin is explained and illustrated s. STRUPPUS, 2.
SUC'ULA. A capstan; for drawing weights, constructed upon the same principle as the modern ones. Vitruv. x. 2. 2. Cato, R. R. xii. and xix.
SUDA'RIOLUM. Apul. Apol. p. 491. Diminutive of SUDARIUM.{TR: Lemma added by transcriber.}
SUDA'RIUM (καψιδρώτιον). A cloth or handkerchief carried about the person or loose in the hand, to wipe perspiration from the face, and perform the same services as the modern pocket-handkerchief. (Quint. vi. 3. 60. xi. 3. 148. Suet. Nero, 48. Catull. xii. 14. xxv. 7.) It is carried in the left hand of a statue belonging to the Farnese collection, and supposed to represent a Roman empress, a portion of which is here engraved upon a scale sufficiently large to show that the object does not form part of the general drapery, but is a separate handkerchief carried in the hand, as a modern woman carries hers.
SUDA'TIO, -ATO'RIUM. The sudatory or sweating-room in a set of baths (Senec. V. B. vii. 7. Id Ep. 51.), which was heated by flues, arranged under the flooring (suspensura), and sometimes also constructed in the walls of the chamber, when it was specially termed sudatio concamerata (Vitruv. v. 11. 2.), as in the annexed example representing a set of baths, from a painting in the Thermæ of Titus, in which the warm-water bath (balneum) and the sudatory form two separate rooms. But when both these departments, the water and the vapour bath, were comprised in a single chamber (caldarium), then the central part of it, between the two extremities, formed the sudatory, as explained s. CALDARIUM.
SUFFI'BULUM. A large oblong square piece of white cloth placed over the head, and fastened by a brooch (fibula) under the chin; worn by the Vestals (Festus, s. v.), and priests (Varro, L. L. vi. 21.), at the sacrifice. The annexed figure, representing the Emperor Trajan offering a sacrifice to Mars, from a bas-relief now inserted into the arch of Constantine, exhibits a piece of drapery so similar to the one described, that if it be not actually the suffibulum in question, it will at least afford a good proximate idea of the character it bore, and manner in which it was adjusted.
SUFFLA'MEN (ἐποχεύς, τροχοπέδη). A break or drag-chain for locking the wheel of a carriage or a cart, to prevent it from running upon the horses in steep declivities. (Juv. viii. 148. Prud. Psych. 417.) It is seen underneath the carriage part of the annexed cart, just in advance of the hind-wheel, though not very distinctly, in consequence of the minute scale of the drawing; but in the original monument, which is a sepulchral bas-relief, found at Langres in France, two chains are distinctly seen, one with a ring, the other with a hook at the end, to lock round the felloe between two of the spokes, and thus stop the revolution, or, as it were, make a fetter for the wheel, which is the literal meaning of the latter Greek word bracketed above.
SUGGES'TUM or SUGGES'TUS. In a general sense, any elevated place made of earth, stones, &c., but especially a raised platform on which orators stood to address a concourse (Cic. Tusc. v. 20.), generals to harangue their troops (Tac. Hist. i. 55., wood-cut s. ALLOCUTIO), or magistrates sat to hear causes (Liv. xxxi. 29.), &c. The illustration, from a bas-relief, represents Trajan sitting on an elevated stage of the kind described, to receive the submission of a Parthian king.
2. In a wine and oil cellar. Cato, R. R. 154. Same as CALCATORIUM.
SUGGRUNDA'RIUM. See SUBGRUNDARIUM.
SUI'LE. A piggery, containing a number of separate sties (haræ). Columell. vii. 9. 14.
SU'MEN. The udder of a sow; a favourite dish amongst the Romans; considered to be in perfection if the animal was killed one day after farrowing, and before the teats had been sucked. Plin. H. N. xi. 84. Plaut. Curc. ii. 3. 44. Mart. xiii. 44.
SUOVETAURI'LIA (τριττύα). A purificatory sacrifice, consisting of three animals, the pig, sheep, and bull, which were conducted in solemn procession round the spot or concourse requiring purification and then slain. (Cato, R. R. 141. 1. Varro, R. R. ii. 1. 10. Liv. i. 44.) It is exhibited by the annexed illustration from a Roman bas-relief; and other compositions representing the same subject contain a numerous band of instrumental performers, accompanying the ceremony.
SUPERCIL'IUM. The lintel of a doorcase (Vitruv. iv. 6. 2. and 4.), which stretches from the top of one doorpost (postis) to the other, and over the doorway, like an eyebrow over the eye. The example represents a stone doorway to one of the houses at Pompeii.
SUPERFIC'IES. Literally, the upper part of anything; or that which is placed over anything; as the roof of an edifice (Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 7.); or the entire elevation above the ground on which a building stands (Liv. v. 54. Cic. Att. iv. 1.); whence the following special senses are derived.
1. (ὄγκος). A mask, with a wig and bonnet arranged in a pyramidal form on the top of the head, like the roof of a house, or the greek letter Λ (λαβδοειδές. Jul. Poll. iv. 133.), and having a hunch or protuberance at the back (caput gibberum. Varro, ap. Non. p. 452.). It was usually worn by tragic actors in order to increase the stature, and give a corresponding altitude to the upper part of the figure, which the high boot (cothurnus) did to the lower extremities; and is exhibited by the annexed example, from a painting representing a tragic scene at Pompeii, in which both the penthouse form of the superficies, and the protuberance behind are distinctly delineated.
2. (λύχνου ἐπίθεμα, πινάκον, δίσκος). The uppermost member of a lampstand (candelabrum), upon which the lamp was placed, usually consisting of a small flat circular dish or tray, as shown by the annexed example, from an original of bronze found at Pompeii, and indicated by the last two of the Greek names bracketed above. Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 6. Jul. Poll. x. 115. vi. 109.
SUP'PARUM and -US. A sail which only had one sheet (pes. Isidor. Orig. xix. 3. 4.), so that it must have resembled in form the latin sail now so common in the Mediterranean, or the figure of an inverted triangle, with its base attached to the yard, as in the annexed example, from a Pompeian painting. It was particularly employed when great expedition was required, or the wind slack (Isidor. l. c. Lucan. v. 428.): and as the upper part of the sail in such cases is the one which catches what air there is astir, as Seneca remarks with regard to the supparum (Ep. 77.), it seems highly probable that the figure here introduced, which has the broadest part upwards, really exhibits the model in question. It was, moreover hoisted as a topsail, over the velum or mainsail (Stat. Sylv. iii. 2. 27. summis adnectite suppara velis. Compare Lucan. l. c. Senec. Herc. Œt. 698.); though not so represented in the painting from which the present illustration is copied. But this circumstance, which at the first blush appears to involve a contradistinction, and to negative the conjecture hazarded representing the name and character of the very peculiar sail under observation, will not present any difficulty to those who are conversant with the principles of composition uniformly followed by the artists of the Greek and Roman schools, both sculptors and painters. Their sole object being to give a prominent interest to the human figure, and not, like the modern artists, to produce a faithful copy of the localities and accessories belonging to the scenes or actions they represented, it was usual with them to neglect the truthfulness of representation in their back-grounds, accessories, and subordinate parts of the composition, merely indicating the time, place, or circumstances of the action by a few conventional signs, expressing the ideas they wished to convey, and which would be readily recognised by the majority of spectators. Thus the picture from which our illustration is selected represents the desertion of Ariadne, whose person forms the principal object in the foreground, stretched upon the earth in an agony of grief at the moment of discovering the flight of her lover. The ship is just in the offing; and the artist has ingeniously contrived to express the haste with which the faithless hero escaped, by merely placing on his vessel two sails of the kind which seamen hoisted when they wished to press their craft with the utmost expedition through the water.
2. A banner stretched upon a cross-tree (Festus, s. v.), affixed to an upright shaft, like the vexillum and labarum (Tertull. Apol. 16.); for each of which it is only a more recent name.
3. An article of the indutus in female apparel (Afran. ap. Non. p. 540.), made of linen and worn over the subucula (Varro, L. L. v. 131.), and made with a short and tightish sleeve, which covered the fleshy part of the arm from the shoulder to the elbow-joint. (Lucan, ii. 363. Suppara nudatos cingunt angusta lacertos.) There are no passages which prescribe its length; but the other objects expressed by the same term naturally lead the imagination to a short vest, which sets upon the upper part of the person, as a topsail above the mainsail, or a banner on the top of its shaft, like the annexed figure, from a bas-relief found at Herculaneum, and the one introduced s. SUBUCULA.
SUPPEDA'NEUM (ὑποπόδιον). (Isidor. Orig. xx. 11. 8. Lactant.) A foot-stool; same as SCABELLUM or SCAMNUM.
SUPPLEX. One who supplicates in a kneeling posture, or with his knees bent under him (sub and plico), as the annexed figure of a German captive supplicating Trajan, from the column of that emperor. Virg. Cic. &c.
SUPPLICA'TIO. A praying upon the bent knees, or in a kneeling posture, as contradistinguished from the erect one (precatio), in which the Romans usually offered up their prayers.
2. The supplicatio was also a solemn public thanksgiving offered to the gods, when all the temples were thrown open, and the statues of the deities brought out and placed upon couches for the people to worship, which, it may be presumed from the term, was done by kneeling down before them. Liv. Cic. &c.
SUPPOSITIT'II. Substitutes; the name given to gladiators substituted in the room of others who had been defeated or killed. Mart. v. 24.
SUSPENSU'RA. In general, any building or flooring raised from the ground by being supported upon arches, pillars, or piles; and especially applied to the flooring of a bath-room, when it is suspended over the flues of a furnace upon low pillars in order that the warm vapour may circulate freely under it (Vitruv. v. 10. 2. Senec. Ep. 90. Pallad. i. 40. 2.), as in the annexed example showing the section of a bath-room, discovered in an ancient Roman villa at Tusculum, in which the floor of the room is supported upon tubular tiles, themselves hollow and perforated down the sides to admit the vapour.
SU'TILIS. Belonging to any thing which is sewed or stitched together; as
1. Corona sutilis. (Plin. H. N. xxi. 8. Mart. ix. 91.) A chaplet of flowers sewed together. See CORONA, 11.
2. Thyrsus sutilis. (Auct. Priap. xix. 3.) A thyrsus which has the head concealed in a wreath of ivy leaves. See HASTA, 7.
3. Cymba, navis sutilis. (Virg. Æn. vi. 414. Plin. H. N. xxiv. 40. Varro, ap. Gell. xvii. 3. 2.) A boat or larger vessel covered with hides or papyrus, stitched over it. See CARABUS.
4. Domus sutilis. (Val. Flacc. vi. 81.) A Scythian tent, made of skins sewed together, and fixed upon waggons, which transported it from place to place.
SU'TOR (ῥάπτης). A
SUTRI'NA (σκυτεῖον). A leather-closer's or a shoemaker's shop. Plin. H. N. x. 60. xxxv. 37.
SYMPHO'NIA (συμφωνία). The harmony of many voices or instruments concerted together, as contradistinguished from cantus, the melody of a single voice or instrument. Cic. Cæl. 15.
2. (ῥοπτηρόν βυρσοπαγές). A long drum, or barrel drum, made by a hollow cylinder of wood or copper, with a skin strained over both its ends, and beaten by a pair of drum-sticks (virgulæ) on both sides at once. (Isidor. Orig. iii. 21. 14.) It was used as a military instrument by the Egyptians (Prudent. adv. Symm. ii. 527.); and by the Parthians (Plut. Crass. 23.); but not by the Greeks or Romans, though it appears upon a bas-relief published by Licetus (De gemmis anulorum), slung round the drummer's neck by a broad belt, in the same position as it is borne by the figure on the left side of the illustration, which is copied from an Egyptian painting. The right-hand figure exhibits a copper drum, also Egyptian, from an original found at Thebes; and the bottom one, a wooden drum-stick, from the same country, now preserved in the museum at Berlin. The marks on the sides of the drums, along and across their barrels, show the cords which braced up the skins. The knob at the end of the drum-stick is formed for being covered with leather wadded underneath; and the shape of the handle distinctly proves that it was to be used as one of a pair intended for striking a drum placed in a horizontal position, similar to the one carried by the figure immediately above it. Burney expresses an opinion that a drum of the kind described was not an ancient invention (Hist. of Music, i. 116.), mainly induced by not having met with any representation of it in works of art; but the example of Licetus was not known to him, and those engraved above had not been discovered when he wrote. Scholars, moreover, and lexicographers, are inclined to regard the term symphonia as one of doubtful Latinity, in the sense here ascribed to it, because it is thought that the language affords no positive authority for the usage of an earlier period than that of Prudentius and Isidorus. Celsus, however (iii. 18.), applies the term most distinctly to some musical instrument in conjunction with cymbals, and intended to make a very great noise, for which none more appropriate than the drum could be suggested; and the word would bear a similar interpretation in a passage of Pliny (H. N. ix. 8.), where it is united with the hydraulic organ; though in that instance a different interpretation may be preferable. At all events, it is certain, from the specimens introduced above, that the barrel drum was used in very early times by the Egyptians, and, in consequence, that it could not have been unknown to the Romans, who would naturally invent or adopt some name, by which to distinguish it. If, in pure Latinity, that name was not symphonia, how was it called? Assuredly not tympanum; for that word expresses an object of very different form, though somewhat allied in character, as is clearly and accurately distinguished by Isidorus, who says that the tympanum had its skin only strained over one face (Orig. iii. 21. 10. corium ex una parte extentum), but the symphonia over two surfaces (Orig. iii. 21. 14. ex utraque parte pelle extenta).
SYMPHO'NIACI. Musicians who sang or played a piece of music in concert. The name was specially conferred upon young slaves educated as choristers, for the purpose of entertaining their masters at the dinner-table (Cic. Mil. 21.); and to a band of musicians employed on board ship to keep the rowers in stroke, by singing or playing the naval chaunt (celeusma), or to make signals and transmit commands by the sound of music. Cic. Div. Verr. 17. Ascon. ad. l.
SYMPOS'IUM (συμπόσιον). A Greek word, and properly descriptive of the manners of that people. (Cic. Fam. ix. 24.) It signifies a wine-party or drinking-bout, which took place after the meal, and to which other guests besides those who partook of the dinner were frequently invited to come and join the convivial part of the entertainment. At these parties, the company of dancing and singing girls, as well as drinking to a considerable extent, was indulged in by the youth of Greece. Becker, Charicles, Excurs. ii.
SYNTHES'INA. (Suet. Nero, 51.) Same as SYNTHESIS.{TR: Lemma added by transcriber.}
SYN'THESIS (σύνθεσις). A dress worn by the Romans at meal-time (Mart. v. 79.); but not at other times, nor in public, excepting during the Saturnalian festival, when the whole city was engaged in the feasting and gaiety of a modern carnival. (Mart. xiv. 1. and 141.) It is impossible to ascertain the characteristic peculiarities distinguished by the term; but the bas-reliefs and paintings which exhibit figures at their meals, represent them with the upper part of the person quite naked, or more usually clothed in a loose ungirt tunic, either with short or long sleeves; the legs and lower half of the body being folded in a loose piece of drapery, which is sometimes also raised as a mantle over the shoulders, as shown by the wood-cuts s. ACCUBO and LECTUS TRICLINIARIS. Possibly the two together, the indumentum and the amictus, constituted a synthesis; which is more consonant to the primitive meaning of the term, and analogous with its other senses, than any single piece of drapery would be; for all of them have reference to a combination of several things; as, a set of vessels composing a table-service (Stat. Sylv. iv. 9. 44.); a medicinal mixture composed of various ingredients (Seren. Sammon. xxx. 578.); a wardrobe or entire suit of clothes. (Scæv. Dig. 34. 2. 39.)
SYN'TONUM. (Quint. ix. 4. 142.) A musical instrument, supposed to be the same as, or similar to, the SCABILLUM.
SY'RINX (σῦριγξ). The Greek name for the pastoral pipe invented by Pan, and formed of reeds or canes of several unequal lengths joined together, as in the annexed example, from a statue found at Pompeii. By the Romans it was termed arundo or fistula.
SYR'MA (σύρμα). A long robe trailing on the ground; more particularly worn upon the tragic stage (Juv. viii. 229.) by actors who performed the parts of divine or heroic personages, as in the annexed figure, representing the character of Hercules, from a group of actors on a marble bas-relief. It was intended to give grandeur and dignity to the person, and conceal the unsightly appearance of the high-soled tragic boot (cothurnus) at the back of the actor.
SYS'TYLOS (σύστολος). Close columned; a term employed by the ancient architects to designate an intercolumniation of only two diameters apart, as shown by the second line of the annexed diagram, which exhibits at one view the relative distances of the five different styles of intercolumniation in use amongst them. Vitruv. iii. 2.
TABEL'LA (πινάκιον, σανίδιον). In a general sense, any small flat board; whence the following specific usages are derived.
1. A small tablet made of wood, with a raised margin round the edges, which was covered with sand, or with a coat of wax, and used by schoolboys as a slate, or for writing on with a metal point (stilus). (Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 19. Ov. A. Am. i. 437. iii. 469.) The example is from a Pompeian painting.
2. A small, or, as we should say, cabinet picture painted on panel, as contradistinguished from a painting on canvass, or upon a wall. (Cic. Fam. vii. 23. Suet. Tib. 43. Juv. xii. 100.); and which might be hung up with a nail on the sides of a room, or over the door, in the manner shown by the annexed illustration, from a painting at Pompeii.
3. A small votive tablet, which used to be hung up in the temples, and before the statue of a divinity, as a grateful acknowledgment by persons who had escaped from any calamity or accident, such as shipwreck, &c., or who had been cured of some malady by the miraculous interposition, as it was believed, of the deity to whom the acknowledgment was made. (Hor. Sat. ii. 1. 33. Cic. Ov. Tibull. Juv. &c.) These tablets contained a rude representation of the supposed miracle, with an inscription recording the circumstances attending it, similar to what is now commonly seen in Roman Catholic churches; or a mere portraiture of the member saved or restored, executed upon a marble slab, and dedicated in gratitude to the protecting power, as shown by the illustration, from a specimen found at Rome, and supposed, from the inscription, to have been dedicated to Hygeia, the goddess of health, by an individual who had arrived safe from a long journey, or who had escaped some disease or accident in the feet.
4. A small tablet employed in voting at the Comitia and in courts of justice. (Cic. Fl. 39. Senec. Ben. iii. 7. Suet. Aug. 33. Cæs. B. C. iii. 83.) At the Comitia, two of these tablets were delivered to the voter, one marked with the letters U. R. for uti roga, i. e. I vote as you propose; the other with the letter A, for antiquo, i. e. I vote for the old law, as exhibited by the annexed example, from a coin of the Cassian gens, which represents the voter dropping his tablet into the basket (cista). But in a court of justice three tablets were given to the judges; one marked with the latter A, for absolvo, I acquit, or not guilty; the other with C, for condemno, I condemn, or guilty; and the third with N. L., for non liquet, it is not clear, which was tantamount to no verdict amongst ourselves.
5. Tabella absolutoria. The tablet of acquittal, marked with the letter A, as explained in the last paragraph. Suet. Aug. 33.
6. Tabella damnatoria. The tablet which expressed a verdict of guilty, marked with the letter C, as explained in paragraph 4. Suet. Aug. 33.
7. A small gaming-board; but of what precise description, or for what particular game, is not ascertained. Ov. A. Am. iii. 365. Id. Trist. ii. 481.
8. A small fan (Ov. Am. iii. 2. 28. Id. A. Am. i. 161.), made by stretching a piece of linen over a square frame with a handle attached to it; but the only remaining representations of ancient fans on the fictile vases and Pompeian paintings are made of feathers and lotus leaves, as explained and illustrated s. FLABELLUM.
9. Tabella liminis. The leaf of a wooden door; which was made, like our own, out of a nubmer of separate slabs. Catull. xxxii. 5. and JANUA.
10. A booth, made of boards, and erected by the candidates at the Comitia for the reception of their voters, to shelter them from the heat of the sun or moisture of the atmosphere. Varro, R. R. iii. 2. 1.
11. A particular kind of pastry, so termed for being made in a flat square mould. Mart. xi. 31.
TABELLARIUS
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TESTU and TESTUM. The lid of an earthenware vessel, and the vessel itself. Cato, R. R. 74. Ov. Fast. v. 510., and wood-cuts s. OLLA.
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TIGNA'RIUS sc. faber. A timber worker; meaning strictly one who hews and puts together the timbers and beams (tigna) of a roof (Cic. Brut. 73.); this constituted a trade by itself amongst the Romans, whose members were associated in a distinct corporation. (Inscript. ap. Grut. 360. 2.) But in the language of the law books the term was applied in a more general signification, like our builder, and included all those who were engaged in any description of building operations. Cajus. Dig. 50. 16. 235.
TIGNUM
TINA
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TOG'A (τήβεννα). A toga; the principal outer garment of the Romans, which formed the distinctive national costume of that people, as the pallium did of the Greeks. It was usually made of white wool, excepting in cases of private mourning, or amongst the very poorest classes, who could not afford the expense of frequent cleaning; in both which cases dark wool of the natural colour was employed.
As the size and manner of adjusting this garment was not always the same, but partook of several modifications at different epochs, much doubt and difficulty has been experienced by scholars and antiquarians in determining the precise form and measure of the drapery which composed it; for although a great number of figures clothed in the toga still remain, both in bas-reliefs and as single statues, yet they belong, almost without exception, to the Imperial period, and only represent the latest and most ostentatious fashion in which it was adjusted. It is, consequently, to the works of Etruscan art, from which nation either directly or indirectly, the toga descended to the Romans, that we must look for the earliest specimens of its style; and in them we find demonstrative evidence that it was made of a lunated or semicircular piece of cloth, as Dionysius states (iii. 61.), and that it was of moderate dimensions, so as not to form any bend or sinus across the chest, agreeably to the account of Quintilian (xi. 3. 137.) The first of these properties is exemplified by the figure in the last page, from a small Etruscan bronze, in which the crescent-like shape of the cloth is manifestly indicated by the numerous parallel folds at its extremities, produced by drawing the hollow edge into a straight line, or tight across the back, which constitutes the first process in adjusting the draperty to the person, as exhibited by the figure. After the centre of the smallest or upper curve had been raised against the back of the neck, both ends were drawn over the shoulders, so as to hang down perpendicularly in front, like the Greek pallium (see wood-cut s. PALLIUM, 1.), but without any brooch under the chin; the right one was then taken up and drawn tight under the chin, so as not to produce any sinus, and then cast over the left shoulder, so that the extremity fell like a lappet down the back, in which case both the arms would be completely covered by the drapery, as shown by the annexed example from an engraved gem, also of Etruscan workmanship; or, if the wearer wished to leave his right arm free for action, instead of drawing the right side over the top of the shoulder, he passed it under the armpit (see the first figure), and then threw it over the opposite shoulder, in the manner exhibited by the third example from an Etruscan statue of bronze. Moreover, in all these instances the restricted size of the drapery, as compared with the later styles of the same garment, satisfactorily explains why a toga of this kind is termed toga restricta. Suet. Aug. 73.
The first alteration introduced, as it is reasonable to conclude, under the republic, consisted in increasing the size of the drapery, without altering the character of its outline, which still retained the lunated form, when spread out, but consisted of a larger segment than the original semicircle, and thus produced a garment of intermediate size, between the first and early style just explained, and the last fashion described by the next paragraph; such as was usually worn by Augustus, and is distinguished by the expression, neque restricta, neque fusa (Suet. Aug. 73.), that is, neither scanty nor profuse. But these enlarged dimensions made it necessary to adopt some alteration in the manner of adjusting it upon the person, and led to the formation of a very short sinus (perquam brevis. Quint. xi. 3. 137.) which was first brought into use by the age which succeeded to the primitive one (Quint. l. c.); its object being to carry off the additional length given to the drapery, by depressing a certain portion of it in front of the person, in order that the end cast over the shoulder might not hang too low behind. The arrangement is distinctly exhibited on the annexed figure, from a statue in the library of St. Mark, at Venice; in which it will be perceived, upon a comparison with the preceding examples, that the right side, crossing the chest, instead of being drawn close under the chin, or tight under the arm-pit, is depressed a little in front, so as to form the short sinus above mentioned, and thus create a bed for the arm to rest in, which is itself completely convered, leaving nothing but the hand and a small part of the chest exposed. This is the attitude intended by the expression brachium veste continebatur (Quint. l. c.); and was the one commonly adopted by the orators of the republic, who in this respect imitated the style of the Greeks. (Quint. l. c.) Indeed, all the examples hitherto produced present a very close resemblance to the figures draped in the Greek palliums. v.); the principal difference consisting in the greater number and amplitude of the folds exhibited on the toga, and which naturally result from the curved outline of the drapery, whereas those of the pallium are fewer and more scanty, and sit closer to the body, as would be a natural consequence from the rectangular form of the cloth which composed it. The distinction here pointed out has not been lost sight of in the wood-cuts; for it is sufficiently indicated by the different character of the markings upon them, as will appear by comparing them together, and observing them narrowly; but it would be at once self-evident if they could have been executed upon a larger scale, to give room for more perfect and minute details, or to those who may have an opportunity of inspecting the originals.
The ample toga, toga fusa (Suet. Aug. 73.) or last style, which prevailed in the age of Augustus and the succeeding emperors, though presenting a very different appearance to the eye, was only produced by still further enlarging the size of the drapery, until its outer circumference formed a complete circle (rotunda, Quint. xi. 3. 139.) when spread out upon the ground, in the manner of an Italian or Spanish cloak; the inner edge being likewise hollowed out, like the preceding instances, but in such a manner as would produce a greater breadth of fold when wound round the person, which Quintilian indicated by the expression "well cut" (apte cæsa, l. c.). This increase of dimension, like the last one, produced a new fashion of adjustment, in which all resemblance to the Greek pallium is lost, and the drapery itself appears an entirely distinct dress. It was first put on the left shoulder, in such a manner that about one-third of its entire length covered the left side, and fell down in front of the wearer to the ground between the feet, as shown by the parts marked 1. in both the front and back view of the{TR: "tho" → "the"} annexed examples. The rest was passed behind the back, and under the right arm; then turned down or doubled together at about the middle of its breadth, carried across the front of the body, and thrown over the left shoulder, so that it hung down to the heels, as shown by the back view in the illustration. The portion thus folded down produces a double sinus, as mentioned by Quintilian (l. c. 103.); one formed by the outer edge of the drapery folded over, which in the present example falls to the level of the knees (2.), in other statues reaches still lower, so as to set a little above the under edge of the drapery (ima toga, 3.), which Quintilian considers the most becoming (decentissimus); the other produced by the double part of the fold (4), and proceeding, as above mentioned, from under the right arm to the top of the left shoulder, so as to present the appearance of a shoulder-belt (balteus. Quint. l. c.); but which, it is directed, should lie, as it here does, easily across the breast, and not to be drawn so straight and tight as in the earliest manner, exemplified by the third illustration to this article, nor yet so loose as the Greek style, exhibited by the fourth figure—nec strangulet, nec fluat. (Quint. l. c.) Lastly, as the end of that side which was first put over the left shoulder would have trailed upon the ground and impeded the motion of the wearer (Suet. Cal. 35.), in consequence of the great length of the entire piece of drapery, a part of it was drawn up from underneath this belt or upper sinus (4.), and turned over it in a small round fold (5.), termed umbo (Tertull. de Pall. 5.), which thus kept it at a proper level. The illustration, presenting a front view, is from a statue of the Villa Pamfili; the other, with the back turned, form a statue of the Villa Medici.
Another method of adjusting the toga, termed CINCTUS GABINUS, is explained and illustrated under that term.
2. Toga prætexta. A toga ornamented with a broad border of purple, originally derived from the Etruscans, and worn with the bulla by freeborn children of both sexes, as well as the chief magistrates, dictators, consuls, prætors, and ædiles, the kings, and some priests, both at Rome and in the colonies. (Prop. iv. 1. 131. Liv. xxxiv. 7. Festus, s. v. Cic. Phil. ii. 43. Plin. H. N. ix. 63. Eutrop. i. 17.) It differed in no other respect than the addition of the border (which would not be represented by sculptors) from the examples above introduced, as is testified by numerous statues still existing of young persons wearing the toga with the bulla round their necks (Bartoli, Sep. 27. Mus. Borb. vii. 49. Mus. Pio-Clem. iii. 24. Villa Borghese v. 3. and 4.); in all which, and many other instances, the prætexta is adjusted in the same manner as exhibited by the two last figures.
3. Toga pura, or virilis. The common toga usually worn by men, made of white wool, without ornament or colour. Cic. Att. v. 20. Id. Phil. ii. 18.
4. Toga picta. A toga ornamented with embroidery (acu picta); originally worn together with the tunica palmata by the consul at his triumph; but, under the Empire, by the consuls, and also by the prætors when they celebrated the Circensian games; whence it is often to be seen on the consular diptychs of a late period, from one of which the annexed figure is copied, representing the consul in his character of president of the games, holding up a handerkchief (mappa) as a signal for the races to commence. Liv. x. 7. Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 40.
5. Toga palmata. Sometimes used in the same sense as toga picta (Mart. vii. 2. Serv. ad Virg.
6. A wrapper for books. Mart. x. 93. Same as MEMBRANA, 2.
TOGATA'RIUS. An actor in a play representing events of Roman life, who consequently wore the toga, or national costume. Suet. Aug. 45.
TOGA'TULUS. Diminutive of TOGATUS; and indicative of a very poor or humble person, who wore a coarse, shabby, or scanty toga (togula). Mart. x. 74.
TOGATUS
TOGATA
TOGULA
TOLLENO
TOMACINA
TOMACULUM
TOMENTUM
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TONSILLA
TONSOR
TONSTRICULA
TONSTRINA
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TONSUS
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TOPIARIUS
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TOREUMA
TORMENTUM
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TRABEATUS
TRABEC'ULA. (Cato, R. R. viii. 5.) Diminutive of
TRABS (τράπηξ). Generally, any large wooden beam, such as the rib of a ship, the beam of a battering-ram, &c.; whence, in a more special sense, by architects, a wooden architrave, or large beam laid horizontally on a row of columns in order to form a continuous bed for the other timbers of the roof to rest upon (Vitruv. iv. 2. 1.), like that marked A in the annexed plan. In the Etruscan temples and other edifices where the space between column and column exceeded the width of three and a half diameters, the architrave was always a timber, even though the rest of the building were constructed in masonry, because stone or marble would not support a superincumbent weight over a void of such extent; but when the intercolumniation was not so great, the architrave was made of the same materials as the other parts of the strcture, and is then more usally styled epistylium, forming the lowest of the three principal members into which the entablature of an order is divided on its exterior.
TRACTATOR
TRACTATRIX
TRACTUM/TRACTA
TRAGULA
TRAGULARII/TRAGULARIUS
TRAHA/TRAHEA
TRAMA
TRAMES
TRANSENNA
TRANSTILLUM
TRANSTRUM
TRAPETUM/TRAPETUS/TRAPES
TRAPEZITA
TRAPEZOPHORUM
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TRIBON
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TRIBULUS
TRIBUNAL
TRIBUNUS
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TRICHORUM
TRICLINIARCHES
TRICLINIARIS
TRICLINIUM
TRIDENS
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TRIERARCHUS
TRIERIS
TRIFAX
TRIGA
TRIGARIUM
TRIGARIUS
TRIGLYPHUS
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TRILIX
TRILO'RIS. A hybrid word, half Greek and half Latin, which means, literally, furnished with three thongs; but it is used to designate a garment brocaded with a triple set of ornamental stripes or other pattern, termed paragundæ, as explained under that word. Aurel. Vopisc. 46.
TRIMODIA/TRIMODIUM
TRIOBOLUS
TRIPETIA
TRIPUDIUM
TRIPUS
TRIREMIS
TRISPASTOS
TRITURA
TRIUMPHALIA
TRIUMPHUS
TRIVIUM
TROCHILUS
TROCHLEA
TROCHUS
TROPAEUM
TRUA
TRULLA
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TRULLISSATIO
TRUTINA
TRYBLIUM
TUBA
TUBICEN
TUCETUM
TUDES/TUDIS
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TUGURIUM
TULLIANUM
TUMULATUS
TUMULUS
TUNICA
TUNICATUS
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TURRIS (τύρσις, πύρσος). In a general sense, any very lofty building or pile of buildings; whence the term is applied indiscriminately to objects of civil or military architecture, a palatial residence, or a fortified place. Liv. xxxiii. 48. Sall. Jug. 103. Suet. Nero, 38. Ov. A. Am. iii. 416.
2. A tower of fortification, disposed at intervals in the walls of a city, stationary camp, or any other fortified enclosure. (Cic. Cæs. Liv. &c.) They were built both round and square, were run up to several stories high, with turrets (pinnæ) on the top, loop-holes (fenestræ) on the face, and frequently a sally-port (fornix) below, and in general were situated at short distances from one another, so that an attacking party would be exposed to a discharge of missiles on both flanks at the same moment. The illustration exhibits three towers, two round and one square, now standing by the side of the Porta Asinaria, in the walls of Rome.
3. Turris mobilis, or ambulatoria. A moveable tower used in sieges, made of wood, covered with iron, raw hides, or stuffed mattresses, to break the force of the blows directed against it, and placed upon wheels, by means of which it could be driven close up to the enemy's walls. It was divided into several stories or platforms (tabulata), the lower one containing the battering-ram (aries), the upper ones, various kinds of drawbridges and other contrivances for raising and lowering the besiegers on to the walls (pons, sambuca, tolleno), and the highest of all being filled with light troops who cleared the opposite ramparts of their defenders before the bridges were let down for the assault. Liv. xxi. 11. Vitruv. x. 13. Veg.
4. A tower erected upon the deck of a ship of war, into which the troops ascended to annoy the crew of an enemy's vessel with their missiles, or to scale a fortress from the seaboard. (Liv. xxiv. 34. Ammian. xxi. 12. 9—10.) The illustration is taken from a marble bas-relief.
5. A tower fastened on the back of an elephant, in which armed men were stationed on the battle-field. (Liv. xxxvii. 40.) The illustration is copied from an engraved gem.
6. A particular kind of battle-array, in which the army was disposed in the figure of an oblong-square column. Cato ap. Fest. s. Serra præliari. Aul. Gell. x. 9.
TURRITUS
TURUNDA
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TUTELA
TUTULATUS
TUTULUS
TYMPANISTA
TYMPANISTRIA
TYMPANIUM
TYMPANOTRIBA
TYMPANUM
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TYROTARICHUS
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UTER
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UTRICULUS
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VAGINA
VALLA'TUS. Protected by a vallum. Hirt. B. Alex. 27.
VALLUM
VALLUS
VALVAE
VALVATUS
VANGA
VANNUS
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VAPPA
VARA
VASCUS
VECTIARIUS
VECTIS
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VEHELA
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VELUM
VENABULUM
VENATIO
VENATOR
VENATRIX
VENTILABRUM
VENTILATOR
VENTRALE
VENUS
VERBER
VEREDARIUS
VEREDUS
VERMICULATUS
VERRICULUM
VERRUCULA
VERSIPELLIS
VERTICILLUS
VERU
VERUCULATUS
VERUCULUM/VERICULUM
VERUI'NA. Same as VERUTUM. Fulgent. 33. Plaut. Bacch. iv. 7. 46.
VERUTUM
VESICA
VESPILLONES/VESPILLO
VESTALES/VESTALIS
VESTIARIUM
VESTIARIUS
VESTIBULUM
VESTIPLICA
VESTISPICA
VETERINARIUS
VEXILLARIUS
VEXILLATIO
VEXILLUM
VIA
VIATORES/VIATOR
VIBIA
VICARIUS
VICTIMA
VICTIMARII/VICTIMARIUS
VICTORIATUS
VICUS
VIDULUS
VIETOR
VIGILES/VIGIL
VIGILIARIUM
VILLICUS
VINARIUM
VINCULUM
VINDEMIA
VINDEMIATOR
VINDICTA
VI'NEA. A shed employed by the Roman soldiers to protect themselves from the missiles of the enemy, whilst occupied in undermining or breaching the walls of a fortress. It had a sloping roof of planks and wicker-work supported upon uprights, and was closed on three of its sides b similar materials, the whole frame being covered outside with raw hides or horse-hair cloth, to insure it from being set on fire. Each vinea, by itself, was about eight feet high and sixteen in length; but a sufficient number of them were joined together in a line, and run up close to the walls, so that the ram and other engines could be securely plied against the foundations underneath them. Cæs. B.C. ii. 2. Liv. xxxvii. 26. Veg. Mil. iv. 15.
VI'NITOR (ἀμπελουργός). A vine-dresser. Cic. Fin. v. 14. Cato, R. R. iii. 3. 8.
VINITO'RIUS. See FALX, 5.
VIOLA'RIUS. One who dyes cloth of a violet colour. Plaut. Aul. iii. 5. 36.
VIRGA (ῥάβδος). Literally, a green bough (Varro, R. R. i. 594.); whence applied to various objects, which are made from a long straight branch cut off from the tree, corresponding with our terms a wand, rod, switch, amongst which the most characteristic are as follows:—
1. A switch for riding (Mart. ix. 23.) or driving (Juv. iii. 317.), thin and tapering, without any thong, as in the annexed example, from a fictile vase.
2. A switch or cane for punishing boys at school (Juv. vii. 210.), or for carrying in the hand as a walking-cane (Ov. Fast. ii. 706.); but smaller, lighter, and shorter than the regular walking-stick or staff (baculum), as exemplified by the annexed example, from a Pompeian painting representing Ulysses.
3. A stick, which the lictor carried in his right hand for the purpose of clearing the way before the magistrate on whom he attended, and of knocking at the doors of the houses where the magistrate visited. (Liv. vi. 34. Compare Mart. viii. 66.) The example is from a sepulchral bas-relief.
4. A wand, carried as a mark of distinction by persons of consequence, such as poets or the principal actors in a play; or by those in authority, such as the master or overseer of a band of workmen, who in works of art is always distinguished from his men by this badge; or the trainer of a band of gladiators, always distinguished by the same emblem, and one of whom is represented by the annexed figure, from a Roman mosaic. Serv. ad Virg. Æn. iv. 242.
5. A magic wand, such as was attributed to Mercury (Hor. Od. i. 10. 18.) and to Circe (Virg. Æn. iv. 242., with which she transformed the companions of Ulysses into swine, as represented by the illustration, from a marble bas-relief.
6. Virgæ (αἱ ῥάβδοι), in the plural; the rods of birch or elm which formed a lictor's fasces, and with which a criminal was beaten. Plin. H. N. xvi. 30. Cic. Verr.. ii. 5. 62. FASCIS, 2.
7. Plural. The ribs upon which an umbrella or parasol is extended. Ov. A. Am. ii. 209. UMBELLA.
VIRGA'TUS (ῥαβδωτός). Striped, like a tiger (Sil. Ital. v. 148.); hence, of drapery ornamented with long stripes (virgæ) of gold or various colours woven into the pattern, as exhibited on the tunic of the annexed figure, representing Priam, in the Vatican Virgil. Virg. Æn. viii. 660. Sil. Ital. iv. 155.
2. Made or plaited with twigs (virgæ), like a basket. Catull. 64. 319.
VIR'GULA. Diminutive of VIRGA; a small branch (Nepos. Thras. 4.); a magic wand (Cic. Off. i. 44. VIRGA, 5.); a metal rod, forming the rattle of a sistrum (Apul. Met. xi. p. 240. SISTRUM); a drum-stick. (Isidor. Orig. iii. 21. 14. SYMPHONIA, 2.)
VI'RIA. An old name for ARMILLA. Isidor. Orig. xix. 31. 16. Tertull. Pall. 4.
VIRIA'TUS. Same as ARMILLATUS; applied to Hannibal. Lucil. Sat. xxvi. 24.
VIRIC'ULUM. Plin. H. N. xxxxv. 41. Same as CESTRUM.
VIRIDA'RIUM or VIRIDIA'RIUM. A pleasure-garden; or, probably, the shrubbery in a garden. Suet. Tib. 60. Cic. Att. ii. 3.
VIRIDA'RIUS. A pleasure-gardener. (Inscript. ap. Grut. 602. 2.) There does not appear to be any positive distinction between the occupation of the viridarius and the topiarius.
VI'RIOLA. Diminutive of VIRIA. Isidor. Orig. xix. 31. 16. Ulp. Dig. 18. 1. 14.
VITIC'OMUS. Wearing a chaplet of vine-leaves, especially apllied as an epithet of Bacchus. Avien. in Arat.. Compare CORYMBUS, 1.
VI'TIS. Literally, a vine; thence, the branch of a vine, cut into a stick or baton, which the Roman centurions employed for punishing any of the men who had neglected their military duties. (Plin. H. N. xiv. 3. Ov. A. Am. iii. 527. Juv. viii. 247.) The illustration represents a centurion with the vitis in his right hand, from a bas-relief. Compare the wood-cut s. EVOCATI.
2. Same as VINEA. Lucil. Sat. p. 89. 69. ed. Gerlach. ex Fest. Sub vitem præliarii.
VITREA'RIUS (ὑαλουργος). A glass-worker. Sen. Ep. 90.
VIT'REUS (ὑάλινος. Made of glass; whence Vitrea absolutely in the plural, glass vessels (Mart. i. 42. Stat. Sylv. i. 6. 74.); in the manufacture of which the ancients were exceedingly skilful, making excellent imitations of precious stones, mixing together a variety of colours, and working the material with an exquisite finish after it had been blown. The Portland vase in the British Museum, which is made of glass, affords an unrivalled specimen of this branch of ancient art.
2. Pila vitrea. See PILA, 3.
3. (ὑαλοειδής). Like glass, transparent; as toga vitrea, a toga made of very fine texture, so that the tunic could be seen through it. Varro ap. Non. s. Vitreum, p. 448.
VITTA. A riband, or band, commonly worn round the head by free-born ladies both before and after marriage (Virg. Æn. ii. 168. Prop. iv. 3. 16.), to confine the hair in a neat and modest manner (Ov. Met. ii. 413. Id. A. Am. i. 31.); and to distinguish them from women of easy virtue (Id. Rem. 386.), who dressed so as to attract observation by their meretricious appearance. The illustration is from a painting at Pompeii.
2. The sacred vitta, strictly speaking, is the long riband which fastened together the flocks of wool forming an infula, the two ends of which, with their fringed extremities (tæniæ) hung down at the back of the neck (Virg. Georg. iii. 487. Id. Æn. x. 538. Isidor. Orig. xix. 30. 4.); whence the term is frequently used, in a collective sense, for the fillet itself, formed of these three parts, and which was born by both sexes of the priesthood (Virg. Æn. ii. 221. Ib. vii. 418. Juv. iv. 9.), and especially by those attached to the service of Vesta (Ov. Fast. iii. 30.), as exhibited by the illustration, which represents a Vestal virgin on a medal, bearing the inscription BELLICIÆ MODESTÆ, V. V.
3. A riband of the same description fastened round the infula, with which the head of a victim was dressed at the sacrifice (Serv. ad Virg. Æn. ii. 133.Ov. Pont. iii. 2. 75.); or round the festoons (serta) with which altars, temples, and houses were decorated upon solemn occasions (Virg. Ecl. viii. 64. Æn. iii. 64. Prop. iv. 9. 27. Tac. Hist. iv. 53.), as in the annexed example from a sculptured altar. In this sense the term is likewise applied collectively to the whole ornament as well as the ligature which bound it.
VITTA'TUS. Decorated with a vitta, as described and exemplified by the preceding article and illustrations; of women (Ov. Am. i. 7. 17.), vestals (Lucan. i. 597.), cattle at the sacrifice (Ov. Met. xii. 151.).
VIVA'RIUM (ζωγρεῖον). A very general term for any place in which beasts, fowls, fish, or any kind of animals were kept alive, either for the purposes of gain or pleasure; a park for game, a warren, fish-pond, decoy, preserve for oysters, &c. Aul. Gell. ii. 20. Plin. H. N. viii. 50. Ib. 78. Id. ix. 81.
VOL'GIOLUS. An implement used in husbandry and horticulture for making beds smooth and level. Plin. H. N. xvii. 14.
VOLSELLA and VULSELLA (τριχολαβίς). A pair of tweezers, for pulling hairs out by the roots. (Mart. ix. 28.) The example is from an original found in an excavation near Rome.
2. A pair of small pincers employed by dentists for removing any decayed or broken fragments of a tooth which might be left behind when the tooth was extracted. (Celsus, vi. 12. 1.) The example is from an original found amongst several other surgical instruments at Pompeii.
3. A surgical instrument for taking up the proud flesh or edge of a wound to facilitate the operation of cutting away any portions which require removal. Celsus, vi. 18. 3.
4. A surgical instrument used for replacing broken and protruding bones, made like a smith's forceps. Celsus, vii. 10. 7.
VOLU'MEN. A roll, or book, which was written upon one long sheet, made out of a number of strips of papyrus, glued together, and when completed, rolled round a cylinder, so that the reader unrolled it as he read; whence the expression evolvere volumen means "to read a book." (Cic. Att. x. 10. Hor. Tibull. Propert. Mart.) The illustration represents five rools tied up together, from originals as they were discovered in a house at Herculaneum.
2. A volume, in our sense of the term, that is, a certain portion of a work contained in one roll; for when the MSS. ran to any length, it was customary to divide it into separate parts or books, each of which was rolled upon a separate stick. Ov.
VOLU'TA (κάλχη. Hesych. and Inscript.). A volute; the spiral scroll which constitutes the distinguishing feature of an Ionic capital, curling down under each angle of the abacus, and which is said by Vitruvius to have been designed in imitation of a bunch of curls on each side of the female face; but the Greek name, which literally means the murex or limpet, indicates that the idea was suggested by the spirals of a fish's shell. Vitruv. iv. 1. 7. Id. iii. 5. 5.
2. (ἕλιξ). The volute which curls down under each of the four corners of the abacus in a Corinthian capital, and which imitate the stalks of a parasitical plant bent down by a superincumbent obstacle. The two small ones which meet under the rosette (flos) in the centre of each face are distinguished by the term helices minores. Vitruv. iv. 1. 12.
VO'MER and VO'MIS (ὕννις or ὕνις). A ploughshare (Varro, L. L. v. 135. Virg. Georg. i. 45. Cic. Phil. ii. 40.), formed of a metal plate (C), affixed to the share-beam (dentale), as in the annexed example from a bas-relief, which exhibits a specimen of the share termed vomer resupinus. (Plin. H. N. xviii. 48.) Other examples of simpler kinds, employed in light soils (Plin. l. c.), are represented by the wood-cuts s. DENS, 4., and DENTALE; and a share furnished with a coulter, also described by Pliny (l. c.), is given under the word CULTER, 7.
VOMITO'RIA. In theatres and amphitheatres, the vomitories, or doors of entrance from the internal lobbies, which gave immediate admission to the tiers of seats occupied by the spectators. (Macrob. Sat. vi. 4.) The illustration represents a portion of the cavea in the great theatre at Pompeii, comprising four vomitories, shown by the four small doorways at the top, two in each præcinctio; but others were disposed at relative distances round both circular belts, opening upon the head of every flight of stairs (scalæ), down which the spectators descended till they came to the step or circle (gradus, sedile), where every one's seat was marked out and numbered (wood-cut s. LINEA, 7.). Each of these vomitories corresponded likewise with one or more staircases formed in the shell of the building, and communicating with the exterior (see the wood-cut and description s. AMPHITHEATRUM, p. 29.), so that the whole company could retire, almost at once, without the least crowding or inconvenience. It is calculated that the Flavian amphitheatre was capable of containing more than 90,000 spectators, and was furnished with vomitories and staircases sufficient for the whole concourse to disperse in less than five minutes.
VULGA'RES. A class of slaves next in point of househould rank to the ordinarii. The title includes all who had a specific occupation as in-door or out-door servants, as well the entire body of those who practised any handicraft, art, or scientific pursuit, in the service of their masters; as, for instance, the house-porter (ostiarius), the valets and ladies' maids (cosmetæ, ornatrices), the palanquin-bearers (lecticarii), the cook (coquus), confectioner (dulciarius), barber (tonsor), &c. &c. Ulp. Dig. 47. 10. 15. Cic. Rosc. Am. 46.
VULTU'RIUS. A term given to one of the throws of the dice. (Plaut. Curc. ii. 3. 77.) It is not ascertained what particular numbers came up to make a "vulture;" but it was not a good throw, though not so bad as the "dog" (canis), which was the worst of all.
VULVA. A favourite dish with the Romans, consisting of the womb of a sow which had miscarried at her first farrow, or which was killed immediately after farrowing. Plin. H. N. xi. 84. Hor. Ep. i. 15. 41. Mart. xiii. 56.
XEN'IA (ξένια). Presents which it was customary amongst the Greeks and Romans for a host to give or send to his guests, as a mark of hospitality and friendship (Plin. Ep. vi. 31. 14.), consisting, for the most part, of delicacies for the table; as may be collected from the thirteenth book of Martial, which is inscribed with the title Xenia, and relates chiefly to articles of consumption.
2. Pictures of still life, such as dead game, poultry, fish, fruit, vegetables, &c. (Vitruv. vi. 7. 4. Philostr. Imag. i. 31. ii. 25.); so termed because they represented such objects as a host sent in presents to his guests. Many pictures of this kind have been found amongst the paintings of Pompeii, one of which is inserted as a specimen of the style. It contains a fowl trussed in the modern manner, a bundle of asparagus, a loaf of bread, two oysters, and several kinds of fish.
XYSTAR'CHA or XYSTAR'CHES (ξυστάρχης). An officer who superintended the exercises of the xystus; the same as, or very similar to, the GYMNASIARCHUS. Ammian. xxi. 1.
XYS'TICUS (ξυστικός). An athlete who practises his exercise in a covered corridor or xystus. Suet. Aug. 45. Galb. 15.
XYS'TUS or XYS'TUM (ξυστός or -όν). Amongst the Greeks, a covered corridor in the gymnasium (see the plan p. 324. T T){TR: "p. 342." → "p. 324."} where the athletes exercised in winter. Vitruv. v. 11. 4. Id. vi. 7. 5.
2. Amongst the Romans, an open walk or terrace in a garden, amidst flower-beds edged with box. Plin. Ep. ii. 17. 17. Id. v. 6. 19. Suet. Aug. 72. Phædr. ii. 5.
ZANCHA or ZANGA. A high and close boot, made of soft black leather (Schol. Acron .ad Hor. Sat. i. 6. 27.), worn by the Oriental races under their trowsers (bracæ). Imp. Gall. ap. Treb. Claud. 17. Impp. Arcad. et Honor. Cod. Theodos. 14. 10. 2.
ZEMA (ζέμα). A saucepan for boiling. Apic. viii. 1.
ZODIACUS sc. circulus (ζωδιακός κύκλος). The zodiac. Aul. Gell. xiii. 9. 3. See CIRCULUS, 4.
ZO'NA (ζώνη). The zone; a flat and broadish girdle worn by young unmarried women round their hips (Hom. Od. v. 231. Ov. Fast. ii. 321.); whereas the common girdle (CINGULUM) was placed immediately under the bosom, as exemplified by the wood-cuts, which show the two objects in juxta-position. The left-hand one exhibits a zone by itself, from a fictile vase, and its place upon the person, from a group representing Electra and Orestes; the right-hand figure, from a marble statue, wears a cingulum under the breast. The zone was not laid aside until after the wedding, when the bridegroom had unfastened it with his own hands; whence the expression zonam solvere (Catull. ii. 13. Compare Ov. Her. ii. 115.) means "to enter the married state."
2. A broad belt worn by men round their loins (Hom. Il. xi. 234. Plaut. Merc. v. 2. 84.), and made double or hollow like our shot-belts, for the purpose of carrying money deposited in it about the person (C. Gracch. ap. Gell. xv. 12. Suet. Vit. 16.); whence the expression zonam perdere (Hor. Ep. ii. 2. 40.) means "to loose one's money."
3. The Greek writers also use the term for a soldier's belt, worn round the loins, to cover the juncture of the cuirass and the kilt of leather straps (πτέρυγες) attached to its rim (Hom. Il. v. 539.), as shown by the annexed example, representing a Greek warrior on a fictile vase; but in this sense the Romans adopt the word cingulum.
ZONARIUS (ζωνιοπλόκος). One who makes zonæ. Cic. Flacc. 7.
ZONULA (ζώνιον). Diminutive of ZONA, 1. (Catull. lxi. 53.); of ZONA, 2. (Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 52.)
ZO'PHORUS (ζωοφόρος). The frieze; a member situated between the architrave and cornice in the entablature of an order. (Vitruv. iii. 5. 10.) It covers externally the space occupied by the tiebeams (tigna) which form the timber-work fo the roof (see the wood-cut s. MATERIATIO, d d d d d), and in the Doric order are represented by triglyphs on the frieze. In the Ionic order it mostly, though not always, consists of a plain marble face, as in the annexed example from a temple of Bacchus at Teos; but in the Corinthian it is more frequently enriched with sculpture, representing sacrificial implements, war trophies, festoons of fruit and flowers, or altars and candelabra intermixed with fabulous animals, especially griffins, as shown by the annexed wood-cut from a slab on the frieze of the temple of Antoninus and Faustina at Rome; and this practice is supposed to have suggested its ancient name, which means literally, bearing animals, or figures.
ZOTHE'CA. A small private chamber or cabinet, adjoining a larger one, and affording privacy for business or study. Plin. Ep. ii. 17. 21.
2. A niche, for a statue or other object (Inscript. ap. Orelli. 1368. ap. Murat. 690. 2.), like the central recess in the annexed engraving which represents one side of a sepulchral chamber excavated near Rome.
ZOTHE'CULA. Diminutive of ZOTHECA, 1. Plin. Ep. v. 6. 38.
ZY'THUM (ζυθος). A strong and intoxicating beverade made from barley and other grain; a sort of ale or beer. Columell. x. 116. Plin. H.N. xxii. 82. Ulp. Dig. 33. 6. 9.