A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

by William Smith

D

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

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

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

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

DAMIURGI. [[Demiurgi].]

DAMŎSĬA. [[Exercitus].]

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

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

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

Dareicus. (British Museum.)

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

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

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

DĔCĂTE (δεκάτη). [[Decumae].]

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

DĔCEMPRĪMI. [[Senatus].]

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

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

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

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

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

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

DĔCŬRĬA. [[Exercitus].]

DĔCŬRĬŌNES. [[Colonia]: [Exercitus].]

DĔCUSSIS. [[As].]

DĒDĬCĀTĬO. [[Inauguratio].]

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

DĒDUCTŌRES. [[Ambitus].]

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

DEIPNON. [[Coena].]

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

DĒLECTUS. [[Exercitus].]

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

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

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

DĒLŪBRUM. [[Templum].]

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

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

DĒMĬNŪTIO CĂPĬTIS. [[Caput].]

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

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

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

DĒMUS (δῆμος), originally indicated a district or tract of land; and in this meaning of a country district, inhabited and under cultivation, it is contrasted with πόλις. When Cleisthenes, at Athens, broke up the four tribes of the old constitution, he substituted in their place ten local tribes (φυλαὶ τοπικαί), each of which he subdivided into ten demi or country parishes, possessing each its principal town; and in some one of these demi were enrolled all the Athenian citizens resident in Attica, with the exception, perhaps, of those who were natives of Athens itself. These subdivisions corresponded in some degree to the naucrariae (ναυκραρίαι) of the old tribes, and were originally one hundred in number. These demi formed independent corporations, and had each their several magistrates, landed and other property, with a common treasury. They had likewise their respective convocations or “parish meetings,” convened by the demarchi, in which was transacted the public business of the demus, such as the leasing of its estates, the elections of officers, the revision of the registers or lists of δημόται, and the admission of new members. Independent of these bonds of union, each demus seems to have had its peculiar temples and religious worship. There were likewise judges, called δικασταὶ κατα δημους, who decided cases where the matter in dispute was of less value than ten drachmae. Admission into a demus was necessary before any individual could enter upon his full rights and privileges as an Attic citizen. The register of enrolment was called ληξιαρχικὸν γραμματεῖον.

DĒNĀRĬUS, the principal silver coin among the Romans, was so called because it was originally equal to ten asses; but on the reduction of the weight of the as [[As]], it was made equal to sixteen asses, except in military pay, in which it was still reckoned as equal to ten asses. The denarius was first coined five years before the first Punic war, B.C. 269. [[Argentum].] The average value of the denarii coined at the end of the commonwealth is about 8½d., and those under the empire about 7½d. If the denarius be reckoned in value 8½d., the other Roman coins of silver will be of the following value:

	Pence.	Farth.
Teruncius	—	·53125
Sembella	—	1·0625
Libella	—	2·125
Sestertius	2	·5
Quinarius or Victoriatus	4	1
Denarius	8	2

Denarius. (British Museum.)

Some denarii were called serrati, because their edges were notched like a saw, which appears to have been done to prove that they were solid silver, and not plated; and others bigati and quadrigati, because on their reverse were represented chariots drawn by two and four horses respectively.

DĒSIGNĀTOR. [[Funus].]

DĒSULTOR, a rider in the Roman games, who generally rode two horses at the same time, sitting on them without a saddle, and vaulting upon either of them at his pleasure.

DĔUNX. [[As], [Libra].]

DEXTANS. [[As], [Libra].]

DĬĂDĒMA, originally a white fillet, used to encircle the head. It is represented on the head of Dionysus, and was, in an ornamented form, assumed by kings as an emblem of sovereignty.

DĬAETĒTAE (διαιτηταί), or arbitrators, at Athens, were of two kinds; the one public and appointed by lot (κληρωτοί), the other private, and chosen (αἱρετοί) by the parties who referred to them the decision of a disputed point, instead of trying it before a court of justice; the judgments of both, according to Aristotle, being founded on equity rather than law. The number of public arbitrators seems to have been 40, four for each tribe. Their jurisdiction was confined to civil cases.

DĬĀLIS FLĀMEN. [[Flamen].]

DĬĂMASTĪGŌSIS (διαμαστίγωσις), a solemnity performed at Sparta at the festival of Artemis Orthia. Spartan youths were scourged on the occasion at the altar of Artemis, by persons appointed for the purpose, until their blood gushed forth and covered the altar. Many anecdotes are related of the courage and intrepidity with which young Spartans bore the lashes of the scourge; some even died without uttering a murmur at their sufferings, for to die under the strokes was considered as honourable a death as that on the field of battle.

DĬĂPSĔPHĬSIS (διαψήφισις), a political institution at Athens, the object of which was to prevent aliens, or such as were the offspring of an unlawful marriage, from assuming the rights of citizens. By this method a trial of spurious citizens was to be held by the demotae, within whose deme intruders were suspected to exist.

DĪĂSĬA (διάσια), a great festival celebrated at Athens, without the walls of the city, in honour of Zeus, surnamed Μειλίχιος. The whole people took part in it, and the wealthier citizens offered victims, while the poorer classes burnt such incense as their country furnished. The diasia took place in the latter half of the month of Anthesterion with feasting and rejoicings, and was, like most other festivals, accompanied by a fair.

DĬCASTĒS (δικαστής), the name of a judge, or rather juryman, at Athens. The conditions of his eligibility were, that he should be a free citizen, in the enjoyment of his full franchise (ἐπιτιμία), and not less than thirty years of age, and of persons so qualified 6,000 were selected by lot for the service of every year. Their appointment took place annually under the conduct of the nine archons and their official scribe; each of these ten personages drew by lot the names of 600 persons of the tribe assigned to him; the whole number so selected was again divided by lot into ten sections of 500 each, together with a supernumerary one, consisting of 1000 persons, from among whom the occasional deficiencies in the sections of 500 might be supplied. To each of the ten sections one of the ten first letters of the alphabet was appropriated as a distinguishing mark, and a small tablet (πινάκιον), inscribed with the letter of the section and the name of the individual, was delivered as a certificate of his appointment to each dicast. Before proceeding to the exercise of his functions, the dicast was obliged to swear the official oath. This oath being taken, and the divisions made as above mentioned, it remained to assign the courts to the several sections of dicasts in which they were to sit. This was not, like the first, an appointment intended to last during the year, but took place under the conduct of the thesmothetae, de novo, every time that it was necessary to impanel a number of dicasts. As soon as the allotment had taken place, each dicast received a staff, on which was painted the letter and the colour of the court awarded him, which might serve both as a ticket to procure admittance, and also to distinguish him from any loiterer that might endeavour clandestinely to obtain a sitting after business had begun. While in court, and probably from the hand of the presiding magistrate (ἡγέμων δικαστηρίου), he received the token or ticket that entitled him to receive his fee (δικαστικόν). This payment is said to have been first instituted by Pericles, and was originally a single obolus; it was increased by Cleon to thrice that amount about the 88th Olympiad.

DĬCĒ (δίκη), signifies generally any proceedings at law by one party directly or mediately against others. The object of all such actions is to protect the body politic, or one or more of its individual members, from injury and aggression; a distinction which has in most countries suggested the division of all causes into two great classes, the public and the private, and assigned to each its peculiar form and treatment. At Athens the first of these was implied by the terms public δίκαι, or ἀγῶνες, or still more peculiarly by γραφαί; causes of the other class were termed private δίκαι, or ἀγῶνες, or simply δίκαι in its limited sense. In a δίκη, only the person whose rights were alleged to be affected, or the legal protector (κύριος) of such person, if a minor or otherwise incapable of appearing suo jure, was permitted to institute an action as plaintiff; in public causes, with the exception of some few in which the person injured or his family were peculiarly bound and interested to act, any free citizen, and sometimes, when the state was directly attacked, almost any alien, was empowered to do so. The court fees, called prytaneia, were paid in private but not in public causes, and a public prosecutor that compromised the action with the defendant was in most cases punished by a fine of a thousand drachmae and a modified disfranchisement, while there was no legal impediment at any period of a private lawsuit to the reconciliation of the litigant parties.—The proceedings in the δίκη were commenced by a summons (πρόσκλησις) to the defendant to appear on a certain day before the proper magistrate (εἰσαγωγεύς), and there answer the charges preferred against him. This summons was often served by the plaintiff in person, accompanied by one or two witnesses (κλητῆρες), whose names were endorsed upon the declaration (λῆξις or ἔγκλημα). Between the service of the summons and appearance of the parties before the magistrate, it is very probable that the law prescribed the intervention of a period of five days. If both parties appeared, the proceedings commenced by the plaintiff putting in his declaration, and at the same time depositing his share of the court fees (πρυτανεῖα), which were trifling in amount, but the non-payment of which was a fatal objection to the further progress of a cause. When these were paid, it became the duty of the magistrate, if no manifest objection appeared on the face of the declaration, to cause it to be written out on a tablet, and exposed for the inspection of the public on the wall or other place that served as the cause list of his court. The magistrate then appointed a day for the further proceedings of the anacrisis [[Anacrisis]]. If the plaintiff failed to appear at the anacrisis, the suit, of course, fell to the ground; if the defendant made default, judgment passed against him. An affidavit might at this, as well as at other periods of the action, be made in behalf of a person unable to attend upon the given day, and this would, if allowed, have the effect of postponing further proceedings (ὑπωμοσία); it might, however, be combated by a counter-affidavit, to the effect that the alleged reason was unfounded or otherwise insufficient (ἀνθυπωμοσία); and a question would arise upon this point, the decision of which, when adverse to the defendant, would render him liable to the penalty of contumacy. The plaintiff was in this case said ἐρήμην ἑλεῖν; the defendant, ἐρήμην ὀφλεῖν, δίκην being the word omitted in both phrases. The anacrisis began with the affidavit of the plaintiff (προωμοσία), then followed the answer of the defendant (ἀντωμοσία or ἀντιγραφή), then the parties produced their respective witnesses, and reduced their evidence to writing, and put in originals, or authenticated copies, of all the records, deeds, and contracts that might be useful in establishing their case, as well as memoranda of offers and requisitions then made by either side (προκλήσεις). The whole of the documents were then, if the cause took a straightforward course (εὐθυδικία), enclosed on the last day of the anacrisis in a casket (ἐχῖνος), which was sealed, and entrusted to the custody of the presiding magistrate, till it was produced and opened at the trial. During the interval no alteration in its contents was permitted, and accordingly evidence that had been discovered after the anacrisis was not producible at the trial.—In some causes, the trial before the dicasts was by law appointed to come on within a given time; in such as were not provided for by such regulations, we may suppose that it would principally depend upon the leisure of the magistrate. Upon the court being assembled, the magistrate called on the cause, and the plaintiff opened his case. At the commencement of the speech, the proper officer (ὁ ἐφ’ ὕδωρ) filled the clepsydra with water. As long as the water flowed from this vessel the orator was permitted to speak; if, however, evidence was to be read by the officer of the court, or a law recited, the water was stopped till the speaker recommenced. The quantity of water, or, in other words, the length of the speeches, was different in different causes. After the speeches of the advocates, which were in general two on each side, and the incidental reading of the documentary and other evidence, the dicasts proceeded to give their judgment by ballot.—When the principal point at issue was decided in favour of the plaintiff, there followed in many cases a further discussion as to the fine or punishment to be inflicted on the defendant (παθεῖν ἢ ἀποτῖσαι). All actions were divided into two classes,—ἀγῶνες ἀτίμητοι, suits not to be assessed, in which the fine, or other penalty, was determined by the laws; and ἀγῶνες τιμητοί, suits to be assessed, in which the penalty had to be fixed by the judges. If the suit was an ἀγῶν τιμητος, the plaintiff generally mentioned in the pleadings the punishment which he considered the defendant deserved (τίμημα); and the defendant was allowed to make a counter-assessment (ἀντιτιμᾶσθαι or ὑποτιμᾶσθαι), and to argue before the judges why the assessment of the plaintiff ought to be changed or mitigated. In certain causes, which were determined by the laws, any of the judges was allowed to propose an additional assessment (προστίμημα); the amount of which, however, appears to have been usually fixed by the laws. Thus, in certain cases of theft, the additional penalty was fixed at five days’ and nights’ imprisonment. Upon judgment being given in a private suit, the Athenian law left its execution very much in the hands of the successful party, who was empowered to seize the moveables of his antagonist as a pledge for the payment of the money, or institute an action of ejectment (ἐξούλης) against the refractory debtor. The judgment of a court of dicasts was in general decisive (δίκη αὐτοτελής); but upon certain occasions, as, for instance, when a gross case of perjury or conspiracy could be proved by the unsuccessful party to have operated to his disadvantage, the cause, upon the conviction of such conspirators or witnesses, might be commenced de novo.

DICTĀTOR, an extraordinary magistrate at Rome. The name is of Latin origin, and the office probably existed in many Latin towns before it was introduced into Rome. We find it in Lanuvium even in very late times. At Rome this magistrate was originally called magister populi and not dictator, and in the sacred books he was always designated by the former name down to the latest times. On the establishment of the Roman republic the government of the state was entrusted to two consuls, that the citizens might be the better protected against the tyrannical exercise of the supreme power. But it was soon felt that circumstances might arise in which it was of importance for the safety of the state that the government should be vested in the hands of a single person, who should possess for a season absolute power, and from whose decision there should be no appeal to any other body. Thus it came to pass that in B.C. 501, nine years after the expulsion of the Tarquins, the dictatorship (dictatura) was instituted. By the original law respecting the appointment of a dictator (lex de dictatore creando) no one was eligible for this office unless he had previously been consul. We find, however, a few instances in which this law was not observed.—When a dictator was considered necessary, the senate passed a senatus consultum, that one of the consuls should nominate (dicere) a dictator; and without a previous decree of the senate the consuls had not the power of naming a dictator. The nomination or proclamation of the dictator was always made by the consul, probably without any witnesses, between midnight and morning, and with the observance of the auspices (surgens or oriens nocte silentio dictatorem dicebat). The technical word for this nomination or proclamation was dicere (seldom creare or facere). Originally the dictator was of course a patrician. The first plebeian dictator was C. Marcius Rutilus, nominated in B.C. 356 by the plebeian consul M. Popillius Laenas. The reasons which led to the appointment of a dictator, required that there should be only one at a time. The dictators that were appointed for carrying on the business of the state were said to be nominated rei gerundae causa, or sometimes seditionis sedandae causa; and upon them, as well as upon the other magistrates, the imperium was conferred by a Lex Curiata. The dictatorship was limited to six months, and no instances occur in which a person held this office for a longer time, for the dictatorships of Sulla and Caesar are of course not to be taken into account. On the contrary, though a dictator was appointed for six months, he often resigned his office long previously, immediately after he had dispatched the business for which he had been appointed. As soon as the dictator was nominated, a kind of suspension took place with respect to the consuls and all the other magistrates, with the exception of the tribuni plebis. The regular magistrates continued, indeed, to discharge the duties of their various offices under the dictator, but they were no longer independent officers, but were subject to the higher imperium of the dictator, and obliged to obey his orders in every thing. The superiority of the dictator’s power to that of the consuls consisted chiefly in the three following points—greater independence of the senate, more extensive power of punishment without any appeal (provocatio) from their sentence to the people, and irresponsibility. To these three points, must of course be added that he was not fettered by a colleague. We may naturally suppose that the dictator would usually act in unison with the senate; but it is expressly stated that in many cases where the consuls required the co-operation of the senate, the dictator could act on his own responsibility. That there was originally no appeal from the sentence of the dictator is certain, and accordingly the lictors bore the axes in the fasces before them even in the city, as a symbol of their absolute power over the lives of the citizens, although by the Valerian law the axes had disappeared from the fasces of the consuls. Whether, however, the right of provocatio was afterwards given cannot be determined. It was in consequence of the great and irresponsible power possessed by the dictatorship, that we find it frequently compared with the regal dignity, from which it only differed in being held for a limited time.—There were however a few limits to the power of the dictator. 1. The most important was that which we have mentioned above, that the period of his office was only six months. 2. He had not power over the treasury, but could only make use of the money which was granted him by the senate. 3. He was not allowed to leave Italy, since he might thus easily become dangerous to the republic; though the case of Atilius Calatinus in the first Punic war forms an exception to this rule. 4. He was not allowed to ride on horseback at Rome, without previously obtaining the permission of the people; a regulation apparently capricious, but perhaps adopted that he might not bear too great a resemblance to the kings, who were accustomed to ride.—The insignia of the dictator were nearly the same as those of the kings in earlier times; and of the consuls subsequently. Instead however of having only twelve lictors, as was the case with the consuls, he was preceded by twenty-four bearing the secures as well as the fasces. The sella curulis and toga praetexta also belonged to the dictator.—The preceding account of the dictatorship applies more particularly to the dictator rei gerundae causa; but dictators were also frequently appointed, especially when the consuls were absent from the city, to perform certain acts, which could not be done by any inferior magistrate. These dictators had little more than the name; and as they were only appointed to discharge a particular duty, they had to resign immediately that duty was performed. The occasions on which such dictators were appointed, were principally:—1. For the purpose of holding the comitia for the elections (comitiorum habendorum causa). 2. For fixing the clavus annalis in the temple of Jupiter (clavi figendi causa) in times of pestilence or civil discord, because the law said that this ceremony was to be performed by the praetor maximus, and after the institution of the dictatorship the latter was regarded as the highest magistracy in the state. 3. For appointing holidays (feriarum constituendarum causa) on the appearance of prodigies, and for officiating at the public games (ludorum faciendorum causa), the presidency of which belonged to the consuls or praetors. 4. For holding trials (quaestionibus exercendis.) 5. And on one occasion, for filling up vacancies in the senate (legendo senatui).—Along with the dictator there was always a magister equitum, the nomination of whom was left to the choice of the dictator, unless the senatus consultum specified, as was sometimes the case, the name of the person who was to be appointed. The magister equitum had, like the dictator, to receive the imperium by a lex curiata. The dictator could not be without a magister equitum, and, consequently, if the latter died during the six months of the dictatorship, another had to be nominated in his stead. The magister equitum was subject to the imperium of the dictator, but in the absence of his superior he became his representative, and exercised the same powers as the dictator. The magister equitum was originally, as his name imports, the commander of the cavalry, while the dictator was at the head of the legions, the infantry; and the relation between them was in this respect similar to that which subsisted between the king and the tribunus celerum. Dictators were only appointed so long as the Romans had to carry on wars in Italy. A solitary instance of the nomination of a dictator for the purpose of carrying on war out of Italy has been already mentioned. The last dictator rei gerundae causa was M. Junius Pera, in B.C. 216. From that time dictators were frequently appointed for holding the elections down to B.C. 202, but after that year the dictatorship disappears altogether.—After a lapse of 120 years, Sulla caused himself to be appointed dictator in B.C. 82, reipublicae constituendae causa, but neither his dictatorship nor that of Caesar is to be compared with the genuine office. Soon after Caesar’s death the dictatorship was abolished for ever by a lex proposed by the consul Antonius. During the time, however, that the dictatorship was in abeyance, a substitute was invented for it, whenever the circumstances of the republic required the adoption of extraordinary measures, by the senate investing the consuls with dictatorial power. This was done by the well-known formula, Videant or dent operam consules, ne quid respublica detrimenti capiat.

DICTYNNĬA (δικτύννια), a festival with sacrifices, celebrated at Cydonia in Crete, in honour of Artemis, surnamed Δίκτυννα or Δικτύνναια, from δίκτυον, a hunter’s net.

DĬES (ἡμέρα), a day. The name dies was applied, like our word day, to the time during which, according to the notions of the ancients, the sun performed his course around the earth, and this time they called the civil day (dies civilis, in Greek νυχθήμερον, because it included both night and day). The natural day (dies naturalis), or the time from the rising to the setting of the sun, was likewise designated by the name dies. The civil day began with the Greeks at the setting of the sun, and with the Romans at midnight. At the time of the Homeric poems the natural day was divided into three parts. The first, called ἠώς, began with sunrise, and comprehended the whole space of time during which light seemed to be increasing, i.e. till mid-day. The second part was called μέσον ἦμαρ or mid-day, during which the sun was thought to stand still. The third part bore the name of δείλη or δείελον ἦμαρ, which derived its name from the increased warmth of the atmosphere. Among the Athenians the first and last of the divisions made at the time of Homer were afterwards subdivided into two parts. The earlier part of the morning was termed πρωΐ or πρῲ τῆς ἡμέρας: the latter, πληθούσης τῆς ἀγορᾶς, or περὶ πλήθουσαν ἀγοράν. The μέσον ἦμαρ of Homer was afterwards expressed by μεσημβρία, μέσον ἡμέρας, or μέση ἡμέρα, and comprehended, as before, the middle of the day, when the sun seemed neither to rise nor to decline. The two parts of the afternoon were called δείλη πρωΐη or πρωΐα, and δείλη ὀψίη or ὀψία. This division continued to be observed down to the latest period of Grecian history, though another more accurate division was introduced at an early period; for Anaximander, or, according to others, his disciple Anaximenes, is said to have made the Greeks acquainted with the use of the Babylonian chronometer or sun-dial (called πόλος, or ὡρολόγιον), by means of which the natural day was divided into twelve equal spaces of time. The division of the day most generally observed by the Romans, was that into tempus antemeridianum and pomeridianum, the meridies itself being only considered as a point at which the one ended and the other commenced. But as it was of importance that this moment should be known, an especial officer [[Accensus]] was appointed, who proclaimed the time of mid-day. The division of the day into twelve equal spaces, which were shorter in winter than in summer, was first adopted when artificial means of measuring time were introduced among the Romans from Greece. This was about the year B.C. 291, when L. Papirius Cursor, after the war with Pyrrhus in southern Italy, brought to Rome an instrument called solarium horologium, or simply solarium. But as the solarium had been made for a different latitude, it showed the time at Rome very incorrectly. Scipio Nasica, therefore, erected in B.C. 159 a public clepsydra, which indicated the hours of the night as well as of the day. Even after the erection of this clepsydra it was customary for one of the subordinate officers of the praetor to proclaim the third, sixth, and ninth hours; which shows that the day was, like the night, divided into four parts, each consisting of three hours.—All the days of the year were, according to different points of view, divided by the Romans into different classes. For the purpose of the administration of justice all days were divided into dies fasti and dies nefasti. Dies fasti were the days on which the praetor was allowed to administer justice in the public courts; they derived their name from fari (fari tria verba; do, dico, addico). On some of the dies fasti comitia could be held, but not on all. The regular dies fasti were marked in the Roman calendar by the letter F, and their number in the course of the year was 38.—Besides these there were certain days called dies intercisi, on which the praetor might hold his courts, but not at all hours, so that sometimes one half of such a day was fastus, while the other half was nefastus. Their number was 65 in the year.—Dies nefasti were days on which neither courts of justice nor comitia were allowed to be held, and which were dedicated to other purposes. The term dies nefasti, which originally had nothing to do with religion, but simply indicated days on which no courts were to be held, was in subsequent times applied to religious days in general, as dies nefasti were mostly dedicated to the worship of the gods.—In a religious point of view all days of the year were either dies festi, or dies profesti, or dies intercisi. According to the definition given by Macrobius, dies festi were dedicated to the gods, and spent with sacrifices, repasts, games, and other solemnities; dies profesti belonged to men for the administration of their private and public affairs. Dies intercisi were common between gods and men, that is, partly devoted to the worship of the gods, partly to the transaction of ordinary business. Dies profesti were either dies fasti, or dies comitiales, that is, days on which comitia were held, or dies comperendini, that is, days to which any action was allowed to be transferred; or dies stati, that is, days set apart for causes between Roman citizens and foreigners; or dies proeliales, that is, all days on which religion did not forbid the commencement of a war.

DIFFARRĔĀTĬO. [[Divortium].]

DĬĬPŎLEIA (διιπόλεια), also called Διπόλεια or Διπόλια, a very ancient festival celebrated every year on the acropolis of Athens in honour of Zeus, surnamed Πολιεύς.

DĬMĂCHAE (διμάχαι), Macedonian horse-soldiers, who also fought on foot when occasion required, like our dragoons.

DĪMĬNŪTĬO CĂPĬTIS. [[Caput].]

DĬŎCLEIA (διόκλεια), a festival celebrated by the Megarians in honour of an ancient Athenian hero, Diocles, around whose grave young men assembled on the occasion, and amused themselves with gymnastic and other contests. We read that he who gave the sweetest kiss obtained the prize, consisting of a garland of flowers.

DĬŎNȲSĬA (διονύσια), festivals celebrated in various parts of Greece in honour of Dionysus, and characterised by extravagant merriment and enthusiastic joy. Drunkenness, and the boisterous music of flutes, cymbals, and drums, were likewise common to all Dionysiac festivals. In the processions called θίασοι (from θείαζω), with which they were celebrated, women also took part in the disguise of Bacchae, Lenae, Thyades, Naiades, Nymphs, &c., adorned with garlands of ivy, and bearing the thyrsus in their hands, so that the whole train represented a population inspired, and actuated by the powerful presence of the god. The choruses sung on the occasion were called dithyrambs, and were hymns addressed to the god in the freest metres and with the boldest imagery, in which his exploits and achievements were extolled. [[Chorus].] The phallus, the symbol of the fertility of nature, was also carried in these processions. The indulgence in drinking was considered by the Greeks as a duty of gratitude which they owed to the giver of the vine; hence in some places it was thought a crime to remain sober at the Dionysia. The Attic festivals of Dionysus were four in number: the Rural or Lesser Dionysia (Διονύσια κατ’ ἀγρούς, or μικρά), the Lenaea (Λήναια), the Anthesteria (Ἀνθεστήρια), and the City or Great Dionysia (Διονύσια ἐν ἄστει, ἀστικά, or μεγάλα). The season of the year sacred to Dionysus was during the months nearest to the shortest day; and the Attic festivals were accordingly celebrated in Poseideon, Gamelion, Anthesterion, and Elaphebolion.—The Rural or Lesser Dionysia, a vintage festival, were celebrated in the various demes of Attica in the month of Poseideon, and were under the superintendence of the several local magistrates, the demarchs. This was doubtless the most ancient of all, and was held with the highest degree of merriment and freedom; even slaves enjoyed full freedom during its celebration, and their boisterous shouts on the occasion were almost intolerable. It is here that we have to seek for the origin of comedy, in the jests and the scurrilous abuse with which the peasants assailed the bystanders from a waggon in which they rode about. The Dionysia in the Peiraeeus, as well as those of the other demes of Attica, belonged to the lesser Dionysia.—The second festival, the Lenaea (from ληνός, the wine-press, from which also the month of Gamelion was called by the Ionians Lenaeon), was celebrated in the month of Gamelion; the place of its celebration was the ancient temple of Dionysus Limnaeus (from λίμνη, as the district was originally a swamp). This temple was called the Lenaeon. The Lenaea were celebrated with a procession and scenic contests in tragedy and comedy. The procession probably went to the Lenaeon, where a goat (τράγος, whence the chorus and tragedy which arose out of it were called τραγικὸς χορός, and τραγῳδία) was sacrificed, and a chorus standing around the altar sang the dithyrambic ode to the god. As the dithyramb was the element out of which, by the introduction of an actor, tragedy arose [[Chorus]], it is natural that, in the scenic contests of this festival, tragedy should have preceded comedy. The poet who wished his play to be brought out at the Lenaea applied to the second archon, who had the superintendence of this festival, and who gave him a chorus if the piece was thought to deserve it.—The third festival, the Anthesteria, was celebrated on the 11th, 12th, and 13th days of the month of Anthesterion. The second archon likewise superintended the celebration of the Anthesteria, and distributed the prizes among the victors in the various games which were carried on during the season. The first day was called πιθοιγία: the second, χόες: and the third, χύτροι. The first day derived its name from the opening of the casks to taste the wine of the preceding year; the second from χοῦς, the cup, and seems to have been the day devoted to drinking. The third day had its name from χύτρος, a pot, as on this day persons offered pots with flowers, seeds, or cooked vegetables, as a sacrifice to Dionysus and Hermes Chthonius. It is uncertain whether dramas were performed at the Anthesteria; but it is supposed that comedies were represented, and that tragedies which were to be brought out at the great Dionysia were perhaps rehearsed at the Anthesteria. The mysteries connected with the celebration of the Anthesteria were held at night.—The fourth festival, the City or Great Dionysia, was celebrated about the 12th of the month of Elaphebolion; but we do not know whether they lasted more than one day or not. The order in which the solemnities took place was as follows:—the great public procession, the chorus of boys, the comus [[Chorus]], comedy, and, lastly, tragedy. Of the dramas which were performed at the great Dionysia, the tragedies at least were generally new pieces; repetitions do not, however, seem to have been excluded from any Dionysiac festival. The first archon had the superintendence, and gave the chorus to the dramatic poet who wished to bring out his piece at this festival. The prize awarded to the dramatist for the best play consisted of a crown, and his name was proclaimed in the theatre of Dionysus. As the great Dionysia were celebrated at the beginning of spring, when the navigation was re-opened, Athens was not only visited by numbers of country people, but also by strangers from other parts of Greece, and the various amusements and exhibitions on this occasion were not unlike those of a modern fair.—The worship of Dionysus, whom the Romans called Bacchus, or rather the Bacchic mysteries and orgies (Bacchanalia), are said to have been introduced from southern Italy into Etruria, and from thence to Rome, where for a time they were carried on in secret, and, during the latter period of their existence, at night. The initiated, according to Livy, not only indulged in feasting and drinking at their meetings, but when their minds were heated with wine they indulged in the coarsest excesses and the most unnatural vices. The time of initiation lasted ten days; on the tenth, the person who was to be initiated took a solemn meal, underwent a purification by water, and was led into the sanctuary (Bacchanal). At first only women were initiated, and the orgies were celebrated every year during three days. But Pacula Annia, a Campanian matron, pretending to act under the direct influence of Bacchus, changed the whole method of celebration: she admitted men to the initiation, and transferred the solemnisation, which had hitherto taken place during the daytime, to the night. Instead of three days in the year, she ordered that the Bacchanalia should be held during five days in every month. It was from that time that these orgies were carried on with frightful licentiousness and excesses of every kind. The evil at length became so alarming, that, in B.C. 186, the consuls, by the command of the senate, instituted an investigation into the nature and object of these new rites. The result was that numerous persons were arrested, and some put to death; and that a decree of the senate was issued, commanding that no Bacchanalia should be held either in Rome or Italy; that if any one should think such ceremonies necessary, or if he could not neglect them without scruples or making atonements, he should apply to the praetor urbanus, who might then consult the senate. If the permission should be granted to him in an assembly of the senate, consisting of not less than one hundred members, he might solemnise the Bacchic sacra; but no more than five persons were to be present at the celebration; there should be no common fund, and no master of the sacra or priest. A brazen table containing this important document was discovered near Bari, in southern Italy, in the year 1640, and is at present in the imperial Museum of Vienna. While the Bacchanalia were thus suppressed, another more simple and innocent festival of Bacchus, the Liberalia (from Liber, or Liber Pater, a name of Bacchus), continued to be celebrated at Rome every year on the 16th of March. Priests and aged priestesses, adorned with garlands of ivy, carried through the city wine, honey, cakes, and sweetmeats, together with an altar with a handle (ansata ara), in the middle of which there was a small fire-pan (foculus), in which from time to time sacrifices were burnt. On this day Roman youths who had attained their sixteenth year received the toga virilis.

DĬŎSCŪRĬA (διοσκούρια), festivals celebrated in various parts of Greece in honour of the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux). Their worship was very generally adopted in Greece, especially in the Doric and Achaean states; but little is known of the manner in which their festivals were celebrated. At Athens the festival was called Anaceia.

DĬŌTA, a vessel having two ears (ὦτα) or handles, used for holding wine. It appears to have been much the same as the amphora. [[Amphora].]

DIPHTHĔRA (διφθέρα), a kind of cloak made of the skins of animals, and worn by herdsmen and country people. It had a covering for the head (ἐπικράνον), in which respect it would correspond to the Roman cucullus.

DIPLŌMA, a writ or public document, which conferred upon a person any right or privilege. During the republic, it was granted by the consuls and senate; and under the empire, by the emperor and the magistrates whom he authorised to do so. It consisted of two leaves, whence it derived its name.

DIPTỸCHA (δίπτυχα), two writing tablets, which could be folded together. They were commonly made of wood and covered over with wax.

DĬRĬBĬTŌRES. [[Comitia].]

DISCUS (δίσκος), a circular plate of stone, or metal, made for throwing to a distance as an exercise of strength and dexterity. It was one of the principal gymnastic exercises of the ancients, being included in the Pentathlum.

Discobolus. (Osterley, Denk. der alt Kunst, vol. 1. No. 139)

DISPENSĀTOR. [[Calculator].]

DITHỸRAMBUS. [[Chorus].]

DĪVERSŌRĬUM. [[Caupona].]

DĪVĪNĀTĬO (μαντική), a power in man which foresees future things by means of those signs which the gods throw in his way. Among the Greeks the manteis (μάντεις), or seers, who announced the future, were supposed to be under the direct influence of the gods, chiefly that of Apollo. In many families of seers the inspired knowledge of the future was considered to be hereditary, and to be transmitted from father to son. To these families belonged the Iamids, who from Olympia spread over a considerable part of Greece; the Branchidae, near Miletus; the Eumolpids, at Athens and Eleusis; the Telliads, the Acarnanian seers, and others. Along with the seers we may also mention the Bacides and the Sibyllae. Both existed from a very remote time, and were distinct from the manteis so far as they pretended to derive their knowledge of the future from sacred books (χρησμοί) which they consulted, and which were in some places, as at Athens and Rome, kept by the government or some especial officers, in the acropolis and in the most revered sanctuary. The Bacides are said to have been descended from one or more prophetic nymphs of the name of Bacis. The Sibyllae were prophetic women, probably of Asiatic origin, whose peculiar custom seems to have been to wander with their sacred books from place to place. The Sibylla, whose books gained so great an importance at Rome, is reported to have been the Erythraean: the books which she was said to have sold to one of the Tarquins were carefully concealed from the public, and only accessible to the duumvirs. Besides these more respectable prophets and prophetesses, there were numbers of diviners of an inferior order (χρησμολόγοι), who made it their business to explain all sorts of signs, and to tell fortunes. They were, however, more particularly popular with the lower orders, who are everywhere most ready to believe what is most marvellous and least entitled to credit. No public undertaking of any consequence was ever entered upon by the Greeks and Romans without consulting the will of the gods, by observing the signs which they sent, especially those in the sacrifices offered for the purpose, and by which they were thought to indicate the success or the failure of the undertaking. For this kind of divination no divine inspiration was thought necessary, but merely experience and a certain knowledge acquired by routine; and although in some cases priests were appointed for the purpose of observing and explaining signs [[Augur]; [Haruspex]], yet on any sudden emergency, especially in private affairs, any one who met with something extraordinary, might act as his own interpreter. The principal signs by which the gods were thought to declare their will, were things connected with the offering of sacrifices, the flight and voice of birds, all kinds of natural phenomena, ordinary as well as extraordinary, and dreams.—The interpretation of signs of the first class (ἱερομαντεία or ἱεροσκοπία, haruspicium or ars haruspicina) was, according to Aeschylus, the invention of Prometheus. It seems to have been most cultivated by the Etruscans, among whom it was raised into a complete science, and from whom it passed to the Romans. Sacrifices were either offered for the special purpose of consulting the gods, or in the ordinary way; but in both cases the signs were observed, and when they were propitious, the sacrifice was said καλλιερεῖν. The principal points that were generally observed were, 1. The manner in which the victim approached the altar. 2. The nature of the intestines with respect to their colour and smoothness; the liver and bile were of particular importance. 3. The nature of the flame which consumed the sacrifice. Especial care was also taken during a sacrifice, that no inauspicious or frivolous words were uttered by any of the bystanders: hence the admonitions of the priests, εὐφημεῖτε and εὐφημία, or σιγᾶτε, σιωπᾶτε, favete linguis, and others; for improper expressions were not only thought to pollute and profane the sacred act, but to be unlucky omens.—The art of interpreting signs of the second class was called οἰωνιστική, augurium, or auspicium. It was, like the former, common to Greeks and Romans, but never attained the same degree of importance in Greece as it did in Rome. [[Auspicium].] The Greeks, when observing the flight of birds, turned their face toward the north, and then a bird appearing to the right (east), especially an eagle, a heron, or a falcon, was a favourable sign; while birds appearing to the left (west) were considered as unlucky signs. Of greater importance than the appearance of animals, at least to the Greeks, were the phenomena in the heavens, particularly during any public transaction. Among the unlucky phenomena in the heavens (διοσημεῖα, signa, or portenta) were thunder and lightning, an eclipse of the sun or moon, earthquakes, rain of blood, stones, milk, &c. Any one of these signs was sufficient at Athens to break up the assembly of the people.—In common life, things apparently of no importance, when occurring at a critical moment, were thought by the ancients to be signs sent by the gods, from which conclusions might be drawn respecting the future. Among these common occurrences we may mention sneezing, twinkling of the eyes, tinkling of the ears, &c.—The art of interpreting dreams (ὀνειροπολία), which had probably been introduced into Europe from Asia, where it is still a universal practice, seems in the Homeric age to have been held in high esteem, for dreams were said to be sent by Zeus. In subsequent times, that class of diviners who occupied themselves with the interpretation of dreams, seems to have been very numerous and popular; but they never enjoyed any protection from the state, and were chiefly resorted to by private individuals.—The subject of oracles is treated in a separate article. [[Oraculum].]—The word divinatio was used in a particular manner by the Romans as a law term. If in any case two or more accusers came forward against one and the same individual, it was, as the phrase ran, decided by divination, who should be the chief or real accuser, whom the others then joined as subscriptores; i.e. by putting their names to the charge brought against the offender. This transaction, by which one of several accusers was selected to conduct the accusation, was called divinatio, as the question here was not about facts, but about something which was to be done, and which could not be found out by witnesses or written documents; so that the judices had, as it were, to divine the course which they had to take. Hence the oration of Cicero, in which he tries to show that he, and not Q. Caecilius Niger, ought to conduct the accusation against Verres, is called Divinatio in Caecilium.

DĪVĪSOR. [[Ambitus].]

DĪVORTĬUM (ἀπόλειψις, ἀπόπεμψις), divorce. (1) Greek. The laws of Athens permitted either the husband or the wife to call for and effect a divorce. If it originated with the wife, she was said to leave her husband’s house (ἀπολείπειν); if otherwise, to be dismissed from it (ἀποπεμπέσθαι). After divorce, the wife resorted to her male relations, with whom she would have remained if she had never quitted her maiden state; and it then became their duty to receive or recover from her late husband all the property that she had brought to him in acknowledged dowry upon their marriage. If, upon this, both parties were satisfied, the divorce was final and complete: if otherwise, an action ἀπολείψεως, or ἀποπέμψεως, would be instituted, as the case might be, by the party opposed to the separation. A separation, however, whether it originated from the husband or the wife, was considered to reflect discredit on the latter.—(2) Roman. Divorce always existed in the Roman polity. As one essential part of a marriage was the consent and conjugal affection of the parties, it was considered that this affection was necessary to its continuance, and accordingly either party might declare his or her intention to dissolve the connection. No judicial decree, and no interference of any public authority, was requisite to dissolve a marriage. The first instance of divorce at Rome is said to have occurred about B.C. 234, when Sp. Carvilius Ruga put away his wife, on the ground of barrenness: it is added, that his conduct was generally condemned. Towards the latter part of the republic, and under the empire, divorces became very common. Pompey divorced his wife Mucia for alleged adultery; and Cicero divorced his wife Terentia, after living with her thirty years, and married a young woman. Cato the younger divorced his wife Marcia, that his friend Hortensius might marry her, and have children by her; for this is the true meaning of the story that he lent his wife to Hortensius. If a husband divorced his wife, the wife’s dowry, as a general rule, was restored; and the same was the case when the divorce took place by mutual consent. Corresponding to the forms of marriage by confarreatio and coemtio, there were the forms of divorce by diffarreatio and remancipatio. In course of time, less ceremony was used; but still some distinct notice or declaration of intention was necessary to constitute a divorce. The term repudium, it is said, properly applies to a marriage only contracted, and divortium to an actual marriage; but sometimes divortium and repudium appear to be used indifferently. The phrases to express a divorce are, nuntium remittere, divortium facere; and the form of words might be as follows—Tuas res tibi habeto, tuas res tibi agito. The phrases used to express the renunciation of a marriage contract were, renuntiare repudium, repudium remittere, dicere, and repudiare; and the form of words might be, Conditione tua non utor.

DŎCĂNA (τὰ δόκανα, from δοκός, a beam) was an ancient symbolical representation of the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux), at Sparta. It consisted of two upright beams with others laid across them transversely.

DŎCĬMĂSĬA (δοκιμασία). When any citizen of Athens was either appointed by lot, or chosen by suffrage, to hold a public office, he was obliged, before entering on its duties, to submit to a docimasia, or scrutiny into his previous life and conduct, in which any person could object to him as unfit. The docimasia, however, was not confined to persons appointed to public offices; for we read of the denouncement of a scrutiny against orators who spoke in the assembly while leading profligate lives, or after having committed flagitious crimes.

DODRANS. [[As].]

DŎLĀBRA, dim. DŎLĀBELLA (σμίλη, dim. σμιλίον), a chisel, a celt, was used for a variety of purposes in ancient as in modern times. Celtes is an old Latin word for a chisel, probably derived from coelo, to engrave. Celts, or chisels, were frequently employed in making entrenchments and in destroying fortifications; and hence they are often found in ancient earth-works and encampments. They are for the most part of bronze, more rarely of hard stone. The sizes and forms which they present, are as various as the uses to which they were applied. The annexed woodcut is designed to show a few of the most remarkable varieties.

Dolabrae, Celts. (From different Collections in Great Britain.)

DŌLĬUM, a cylindrical vessel, somewhat resembling our tubs or casks, into which new wine was put to let it ferment.

DŎLO (δόλων). (1) A secret poniard or dagger contained in a case, used by the Italians. It was inserted in the handles of whips, and also in walking sticks, thus corresponding to our sword-stick.—(2) A small top-sail.

DŎMĬNĬUM signifies quiritarian ownership, or property in a thing; and dominus, or dominus legitimus, is the owner. The dominus has the power of dealing with a thing as he pleases, and differs from the bare possessor, who has only the right of possession, and has not the absolute ownership of the thing.

DŎMUS (οἶκος), a house.—(1) Greek. A Greek house was always divided into two distinct portions, the Andronitis, or men’s apartments (ἀνδρωνῖτις), and the Gynaeconitis, or women’s apartments (γυναικωνῖτις). In the earliest times, as in the houses referred to by Homer, and in some houses at a later period, the women’s apartments were in the upper story (ὑπερῷον), but usually at a later time the gynaeconitis was on the same story with the andronitis, and behind it. The front of the house towards the street was not large, as the apartments extended rather in the direction of its depth than of its width. In towns the houses were often built side by side, with party-walls between. The exterior wall was plain, being composed generally of stone, brick, and timber, and often covered with stucco. There was no open space between the street and the house-door, like the Roman vestibulum. The πρόθυρα, which is sometimes mentioned, seems to be merely the space in front of the house, where there was generally an altar of Apollo Agyieus, or a rude obelisk emblematical of the god. Sometimes there was a laurel tree in the same position, and sometimes a head of the god Hermes. A few steps (ἀναβαθμοί) led up to the house-door, which generally bore some inscription, for the sake of a good omen, or as a charm. The door sometimes opened outwards; but this seems to have been an exception to the general rule, as is proved by the expressions used for opening, ἐνδοῦναι, and shutting it, ἐπισπάσασθαι and ἐφελκύσασθαι. The handles were called ἐπισπαστῆρες. The house-door was called αὔλειος or αὔλεια θύρα, because it led to the αὐλή. It gave admittance to a narrow passage (θυρωρεῖον, πυλών, θυρών), on one side of which, in a large house, were the stables, on the other the porter’s lodge. The duty of the porter (θυρωρός) was to admit visitors and to prevent anything improper from being carried into or out of the house. The porter was attended by a dog. Hence the phrase εὐλαβεῖσθαι τὴν κύνα, corresponding to the Latin Cave canem. From the θυρωρεῖον we pass into the peristyle or court (περιστύλιον, αὐλή) of the andronitis, which was a space open to the sky in the centre (ὕπαιθρον), and surrounded on all four sides by porticoes (στοαί), of which one, probably that nearest the entrance, was called προστόον. These porticoes were used for exercise, and sometimes for dining in. Here was commonly the altar on which sacrifices were offered to the household gods. In building the porticoes the object sought was to obtain as much sun in winter, and as much shade and air in summer as possible. Round the peristyle were arranged the chambers used by the men, such as banqueting rooms (οἶκοι, ἀνδρῶνες), which were large enough to contain several sets of couches (τρίκλινοι, ἑπτάκλινοι, τριακοντάκλινοι, and at the same time to allow abundant room for attendants, musicians, and performers of games; parlours or sitting rooms (ἐξέδραι), and smaller chambers and sleeping rooms (δωμάτια, κοιτῶνες, οἰκήματα); picture-galleries and libraries, and sometimes store-rooms; and in the arrangement of these apartments attention was paid to their aspect. The peristyle of the andronitis was connected with that of the gynaeconitis by a door called μέταυλος, μέσαυλος, or μεσαύλιος, which was in the middle of the portico of the peristyle opposite to the entrance. By means of this door all communication between the andronitis and gynaeconitis could be shut off.

Ground-plan of a Greek House.

α, House-door, αὔλειος θύρα: θυρ’, passage, θυρωρεῖον or θυρών: Α, peristyle, or αὐλή of the andronitis; ο, the halls and chambers of the andronitis; μ, μέταυλος or μέσαυλος θύρα: Γ, peristyle of the gynaeconitis; γ, chambers of the gynaeconitis; π, προστάς or παραστάς: θ, θάλαμος and ἀμφιθάλαμος: Ι, rooms for working in wool (ἱστῶνες); Κ, garden-door, κηταία θύρα.

Accordingly Xenophon calls it θύρα βαλανωτός. Its name μέσαυλος is evidently derived from μέσος, and means the door between the two αὐλαί or peristyles. This door gave admittance to the peristyle of the gynaeconitis, which differed from that of the andronitis in having porticoes round only three of its sides. On the fourth side were placed two antae [[Antae]], at a considerable distance from each other. A third of the distance between these antae was set off inwards, thus forming a chamber or vestibule, which was called προστάς, παραστάς, and πρόδρομος. On the right and left of this προστάς were two bed-chambers, the θάλαμος and ἀμφιθάλαμος, of which the former was the principal bed-chamber of the house, and here also seem to have been kept the vases, and other valuable articles of ornament. Beyond these rooms were large apartments (ἱστῶνες) used for working in wool. Round the peristyle were the eating-rooms, bed-chambers, store-rooms, and other apartments in common use. Besides the αὔλειος θύρα and the μέσαυλος θύρα, there was a third door (κηπαία θύρα) leading to the garden. The preceding is a conjectural plan of the ground-floor of a Greek house of the larger size. There was usually, though not always, an upper story (ὑπερῷον διῆρες), which seldom extended over the whole space occupied by the lower story. The principal use of the upper story was for the lodging of the slaves. The access to the upper floor seems to have been sometimes by stairs on the outside of the house, leading up from the street. Guests were also lodged in the upper story. But in some large houses there were rooms set apart for their reception (ξενῶνες) on the ground-floor. The roofs were generally flat, and it was customary to walk about upon them. In the interior of the house the place of doors was sometimes supplied by curtains (παραπετάσματα), which were either plain, or dyed, or embroidered. The principal openings for the admission of light and air were in the roofs of the peristyles; but it is incorrect to suppose that the houses had no windows (θυρίδες), or at least none overlooking the street. They were not at all uncommon. Artificial warmth was procured partly by means of fire-places. It is supposed that chimneys were altogether unknown, and that the smoke escaped through an opening in the roof (καπνοδόκη), but it is not easy to understand how this could be the case when there was an upper story. Little portable stoves (ἐσχάραι, ἐσχαρίδες) or chafing-dishes (ἀνθράκια) were frequently used. The houses of the wealthy in the country, at least in Attica, were much larger and more magnificent than those in the towns. The latter seem to have been generally small and plain, especially in earlier times, when the Greeks preferred expending the resources of art and wealth on their temples and public buildings; but the private houses became more magnificent as the public buildings began to be neglected. The decorations of the interior were very plain at the period to which our description refers. The floors were of stone. At a late period coloured stones were used. Mosaics are first mentioned under the kings of Pergamus. The walls, up to the 4th century B.C., seem to have been only whited. The first instance of painting them is that of Alcibiades. This innovation met with considerable opposition. We have also mention of painted ceilings at the same period. At a later period this mode of decoration became general.—(2) Roman. The houses of the Romans were poor and mean for many centuries after the foundation of the city. Till the war with Pyrrhus the houses were covered only with thatch or shingles, and were usually built of wood or unbaked bricks. It was not till the latter times of the republic, when wealth had been acquired by conquests in the East, that houses of any splendour began to be built; but it then became the fashion not only to build houses of an immense size, but also to adorn them with columns, paintings, statues, and costly works of art. Some idea may be formed of the size and magnificence of the houses of the Roman nobles during the later times of the republic by the price which they fetched. The consul Messalla bought the house of Autronius for 3700 sestertia (nearly 33,000l.), and Cicero the house of Crassus, on the Palatine, for 3500 sestertia (nearly 31,000l.). The house of Publius Clodius, whom Milo killed, cost 14,800 sestertia (about 131,000l.); and the Tusculan villa of Scaurus was fitted up with such magnificence, that when it was burnt by his slaves, he lost 100,000 sestertia, upwards of 885,000l.—Houses were originally only one story high; but as the value of ground increased in the city they were built several stories in height, and the highest floors were usually inhabited by the poor. Till the time of Nero, the streets in Rome were narrow and irregular, and bore traces of the haste and confusion with which the city was built after it had been burnt by the Gauls; but after the great fire in the time of that emperor, by which two-thirds of Rome was burnt to the ground, the city was built with great regularity. The streets were made straight and broad; the height of the houses was restricted, and a certain part of each was required to be built of Gabian or Alban stone, which was proof against fire. The principal parts of a Roman house were the, 1. Vestibulum, 2. Ostium, 3. Atrium or Cavum Aedium, 4. Alae, 5. Tablinum, 6. Fauces, 7. Peristylium. The parts of a house which were considered of less importance, and of which the arrangement differed in different houses, were the, 1. Cubicula, 2. Triclinia, 3. Oeci, 4. Exedrae, 5. Pinacotheca, 6. Bibliotheca, 7. Balineum, 8. Culina, 9. Coenacula, 10. Diaeta, 11. Solaria. We shall speak of each in order.—1. [Vestibulum] did not properly form part of the house, but was a vacant space before the door, forming a court, which was surrounded on three sides by the house, and was open on the fourth to the street.—2. [Ostium], which is also called janua and fores, was the entrance to the house. The street-door admitted into a hall, to which the name of ostium was also given, and in which there was frequently a small room (cella) for the porter (janitor or ostiarius), and also for a dog, which was usually kept in the hall to guard the house. Another door (janua interior) opposite the street-door led into the atrium.—3. [Atrium] or [Cavum Aedium], also written Cavaedium, are probably only different names of the same room.

Atrium of the House of Ceres at Pompeii.

The Atrium or Cavum Aedium was a large apartment roofed over with the exception of an opening in the centre, called compluvium, towards which the roof sloped so as to throw the rain-water into a cistern in the floor, termed impluvium, which was frequently ornamented with statues, columns, and other works of art. The word impluvium, however, is also employed to denote the aperture in the roof. The atrium was the most important room in the house, and among the wealthy was usually fitted up with much splendour and magnificence. Originally it was the only sitting-room in the house; but in the houses of the wealthy it was distinct from the private apartments, and was used as a reception-room, where the patron received his clients, and the great and noble the numerous visitors who were accustomed to call every morning to pay their respects or solicit favours. But though the atrium was not used by the wealthy as a sitting-room for the family, it still continued to be employed for many purposes which it had originally served. Thus the nuptial couch was placed in the atrium opposite the door, and also the instruments and materials for spinning and weaving, which were formerly carried on by the women of the family in this room. Here also the images of their ancestors were placed, and the focus or fire-place, which possessed a sacred character, being dedicated to the Lares of each family.—4. Alae, wings, were small apartments or recesses on the left and right sides of the atrium.—5. [Tablinum] was in all probability a recess or room at the further end of the atrium opposite the door leading into the hall, and was regarded as part of the atrium. It contained the family records and archives. With the tablinum the Roman house appears to have originally ceased; and the sleeping-rooms were probably arranged on each side of the atrium. But when the atrium and its surrounding rooms were used for the reception of clients and other public visitors, it became necessary to increase the size of the house; and the following rooms were accordingly added:—6. Fauces appear to have been passages, which passed from the atrium to the peristylium or interior of the house.—7. Peristylium was in its general form like the atrium, but it was one-third greater in breadth, measured transversely, than in length. It was a court open to the sky in the middle; the open part, which was surrounded by columns, was larger than the impluvium in the atrium, and was frequently decorated with flowers and shrubs.—The arrangement of the rooms, which are next to be noticed, varied according to the taste and circumstances of the owner. It is therefore impossible to assign to them any regular place in the house.—1. Cubicula, bed-chambers, appear to have been usually small. There were separate cubicula for the day and night; the latter were also called dormitoria.—2. [Triclinia] are treated of in a separate article. [[Triclinium].]—3. Oeci, from the Greek οἶκος, were spacious halls or saloons borrowed from the Greeks, and were frequently used as triclinia. They were to have the same proportions as triclinia, but were to be more spacious on account of having columns, which triclinia had not.—4. Exedrae were rooms for conversation and the other purposes of society.—5. Pinacotheca, a picture-gallery.—6, 7. [Bibliotheca] and [Balineum] are treated of in separate articles.—8. [Culina], the kitchen.

Kitchen of the House of Pansa at Pompeii.

The food was originally cooked in the atrium: but the progress of refinement afterwards led to the use of another part of the house for this purpose. In the kitchen of Pansa’s house at Pompeii, a stove for stews and similar preparations was found, very much like the charcoal stoves used in the present day. Before it lie a knife, a strainer, and a kind of frying-pan with four spherical cavities, as if it were meant to cook eggs.—9. Coenacula, properly signified rooms to dine in; but after it became the fashion to dine in the upper part of the house, the whole of the rooms above the ground-floor were called coenacula.—10. Diaeta, an apartment used for dining in, and for the other purposes of life. It appears to have been smaller than the triclinium. Diaeta is also the name given by Pliny to rooms containing three or four bed-chambers (cubicula). Pleasure-houses or summer-houses are also called diaetae.—11. Solaria, properly places for basking in the sun, were terraces on the tops of houses. The preceding cut represents the atrium of a house at Pompeii. In the centre is the impluvium, and the passage at the further end is the ostium or entrance hall.—The preceding account of the different rooms, and especially of the arrangement of the atrium, tablinum, peristyle, &c., is best illustrated by the houses which have been disinterred at Pompeii. The ground-plan of one is accordingly subjoined.

Ground-plan of a House at Pompeii.

Like most of the other houses at Pompeii, it had no vestibulum according to the meaning given above. 1. The ostium or entrance-hall, which is six feet wide and nearly thirty long. Near the street-door there is a figure of a large fierce dog worked in mosaic on the pavement, and beneath it is written Cave Canem. The two large rooms on each side of the vestibule appear from the large openings in front of them to have been shops; they communicate with the entrance-hall, and were therefore probably occupied by the master of the house. 2. The atrium, which is about twenty-eight feet in length and twenty in breadth; its impluvium is near the centre of the room, and its floor is paved with white tesserae, spotted with black. 3. Chambers for the use of the family, or intended for the reception of guests, who were entitled to claim hospitality. 4. A small room with a staircase leading up to the upper rooms. 5. Alae. 6. The tablinum. 7. The fauces. 8. Peristyle, with Doric columns and garden in the centre. The large room on the right of the peristyle is the triclinium; beside it is the kitchen; and the smaller apartments are cubicula and other rooms for the use of the family.—Having given a general description of the rooms of a Roman house, it remains to speak of the (1) floors, (2) walls, (3) ceilings, (4) windows, and (5) the mode of warming the rooms. For the doors, see [Janua].—(1.) The floor (solum) of a room was seldom boarded: it was generally covered with stone or marble, or mosaics. The common floors were paved with pieces of bricks, tiles, stones, &c., forming a kind of composition called ruderatic. Sometimes pieces of marble were imbedded in a composition ground, and these probably gave the idea of mosaics. As these floors were beaten down (pavita) with rammers (fistucae), the word pavimentum became the general name for a floor. Mosaics, called by Pliny lithostrota (λιθόστρωτα), though this word has a more extensive meaning, first came into use in Sulla’s time, who made one in the temple of Fortune at Praeneste. Mosaic work was afterwards called Musivum opus, and was most extensively employed.—(2.) The inner walls (parietes) of private rooms were frequently lined with slabs of marble, but were more usually covered by paintings, which in the time of Augustus were made upon the walls themselves. This practice was so common that we find even the small houses in Pompeii have paintings upon their walls.—(3.) The ceilings seem originally to have been left uncovered, the beams which supported the roof or the upper story being visible. Afterwards planks were placed across these beams at certain intervals, leaving hollow spaces, called lacunaria or laquearia, which were frequently covered with gold and ivory, and sometimes with paintings. There was an arched ceiling in common use, called [Camara].—(4.) The Roman houses had few windows (fenestrae). The principal apartments, the atrium, peristyle, &c., were lighted from above, and the cubicula and other small rooms generally derived their light from them, and not from windows looking into the street. The rooms only on the upper story seem to have been usually lighted by windows. The windows appear originally to have been merely openings in the wall, closed by means of shutters, which frequently had two leaves (bifores fenestrae). Windows were also sometimes covered by a kind of lattice or trellis work (clathri), and sometimes by net-work, to prevent serpents and other noxious reptiles from getting in. Afterwards, however, windows were made of a transparent stone, called lapis specularis (mica); such windows were called specularia. Windows made of glass (vitrum) are first mentioned by Lactantius, who lived in the fourth century of the Christian era; but the discoveries at Pompeii prove that glass was used for windows under the early emperors.—(5.) The rooms were heated in winter in different ways; but the Romans had no stoves like ours. The cubicula, triclinia, and other rooms, which were intended for winter use, were built in that part of the house upon which the sun shone most; and in the mild climate of Italy this frequently enabled them to dispense with any artificial mode of warming the rooms. Rooms exposed to the sun in this way were sometimes called heliocamini. The rooms were sometimes heated by hot air, which was introduced by means of pipes from a furnace below, but more frequently by portable furnaces or braziers (foculi), in which coal or charcoal was burnt. The caminus was also a kind of stove, in which wood appears to have been usually burnt, and probably only differed from the foculus in being larger and fixed to one place. The rooms usually had no chimneys for carrying off the smoke, which escaped through the windows, doors, and openings in the roof; still chimneys do not appear to have been entirely unknown to the ancients, as some are said to have been found in the ruins of ancient buildings.

DŌNĀRĬA (ἀναθήματα or ἀνακείμενα), presents made to the gods, either by individuals or communities. Sometimes they are also called dona or δῶρα. The belief that the gods were pleased with costly presents was as natural to the ancients as the belief that they could be influenced in their conduct towards men by the offering of sacrifices; and, indeed, both sprang from the same feeling. Presents were mostly given as tokens of gratitude for some favour which a god had bestowed on man; as, for instance, by persons who had recovered from illness or escaped from shipwreck; but some are also mentioned, which were intended to induce the deity to grant some especial favour. Almost all presents were dedicated in temples, to which in some places an especial building was added, in which these treasures were preserved. Such buildings were called θησαυροί (treasuries); and in the most frequented temples of Greece many states had their separate treasuries. The act of dedication was called ἀνατιθέναι, donare, dedicare, or sacrare.

DŌNĀTĪVUM. [[Congiarium].]

DORMĪTŌRĬA. [[Domus].]

DOS (φερνή, προΐξ), dowry. (1) Greek. In the Homeric times it was customary for the husband to purchase his wife from her relations, by gifts called ἕδνα or ἔεδνα. But at Athens, during the historical period, the contrary was the case; for every woman had to bring her husband some dowry, and so universal was the practice, that one of the chief distinctions between a wife and a παλλακή, or concubine, consisted in the former having a portion, whereas the latter had not; hence, persons who married wives without portions appear to have given them or their guardians an acknowledgment in writing by which the receipt of a portion was admitted. Moreover, poor heiresses were either married or portioned by their next of kin, according to a law, which fixed the amount of portion to be given at five minae by a Pentacosiomedimnus, three by a Horseman, and one and a half by a Zeugites. The husband had to give to the relatives or guardians of the wife security (ἀποτίμημα) for the dowry, which was not considered the property of the husband himself, but rather of his wife and children. The portion was returned to the wife in case of a divorce.—(2) Roman. The dos among the Romans was every thing which on the occasion of a woman’s marriage was transferred by her, or by another person, to the husband. All the property of the wife which was not made dos continued to be her own, and was comprised under the name of parapherna. The dos upon its delivery became the husband’s property, and continued to be his so long as the marriage relation existed. In the case of divorce, the woman, or her relations, could bring an action for the restitution of the dos; and, accordingly, a woman whose dos was large (dotata uxor) had some influence over her husband, inasmuch as she had the power of divorcing herself, and thus of depriving him of the enjoyment of her property.

Attic Drachma. (British Museum.)

DRACHMA (δραχμή), the principal silver coin among the Greeks. The two chief standards in the currencies of the Greek states were the Attic and Aeginetan. The average value of the Attic drachma was 9¾d. of our money. It contained six obols (ὀβολοί); and the Athenians had separate silver coins, from four drachmae to a quarter of an obol. There were also silver pieces of two drachmae and four drachmae. (See tables.) The tetradrachm in later times was called stater. The latter word also signifies a gold coin, equal in value to twenty drachmae [[Stater]]. The obolos, in later times, was of bronze: but in the best times of Athens we only read of silver obols. The χαλκοῦς was a copper coin, and the eighth part of an obol. The Attic standard prevailed most in the maritime and commercial states. It was the standard of Philip’s gold, and was introduced by Alexander for silver also.—The Aeginetan standard appears to have been the prevalent one in early times: we are told that money was first coined at Aegina by order of Pheidon at Argos. In later times the Aeginetan standard was used in almost all the states of the Peloponnesus, except Corinth. The average value of the Aeginetan drachma was 1s. 1¾d. in our money; and the values of the different coins of this standard are as follows:—

	Shill.	Pence.	Farth.
½ Obol	-	1	0·583
Obol	-	2	1·166
Diobolus	-	4	2·33
Triobolus	-	6	2·5
Drachma	1	1	3
Didrachm	2	3	2

Aeginetan Drachma. (British Museum.)

As the Romans reckoned in sesterces, so the Greeks generally reckoned by drachmae; and when a sum is mentioned in the Attic writers, without any specification of the unit, drachmae are usually meant.

DRĂCO. [[Signa Militaria].]

DŬCĒNĀRĬI.—(1) The name given to the Roman procuratores, who received a salary of 200 sestertia. The procuratores first received a salary in the time of Augustus.—(2) A class or decuria of judices, first established by Augustus. They were so called because their property, as valued in the census, amounted only to 200 sestertia. They appear to have tried cases of small importance.

DŬCENTĒSĬMA. [[Centesima].]

DŬŎDĔCIM SCRIPTA. [[Latrunculi].]

DŬŎDĔCIM TĂBŬLĀRUM LEX. [[Lex].]

DUPLĀRĬI or DUPLĬCĀRĬI, were soldiers who received on account of their good conduct double allowance (duplicia cibaria), and perhaps in some cases double pay likewise.

DŬPONDĬUS. [[As].]

DUSSIS. [[As].]

DUUMVĬRI, or the two men, the name of various magistrates and functionaries at Rome, and in the coloniae and municipia. (1) Duumviri Juri Dicundo were the highest magistrates in the municipal towns. [[Colonia].]—(2) Duumviri Navales, extraordinary magistrates, who were created, whenever occasion required, for the purpose of equipping and repairing the fleet. They appear to have been originally appointed by the consuls and dictators, but were first elected by the people, B.C. 311.—(3) Duumviri Perduellionis. [[Perduellio].]—(4) Duumviri Quinquennales, were the censors in the municipal towns, and must not be confounded with the duumviri juri dicundo. [[Colonia].]—(5) Duumviri Sacrorum originally had the charge of the Sibylline books. Their duties were afterwards discharged by the decemviri sacris faciundis. [[Decemviri].]—(6) Duumviri were also appointed for the purpose of building or dedicating a temple.