A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

by William Smith

FOOTNOTE:

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

Arch of Tiryns. (Gell’s Itinerary, pl. 16.)

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

Arch of Drusus at Rome

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

Arcus, Bow. (From paintings on vases.)

Corytus, Bow-case. (From a Relief in the
Vatican, Visconti, iv. tav. 43.)

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

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

ĂRĒNA. [[Amphitheatrum].]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Aries, Battering Ram. (From Column of Trajan.)

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

Greek Soldier. (From an ancient vase.)

Roman Soldiers. (From Column of Trajan.)

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

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

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

Armillae, Bracelets. (Museo Borbonico, vol. ii. tav. 14
vol. vii. tav. 46.)

Armilla, Bracelet. (On Statue of Sleeping
Ariadne in Vatican.)

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

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

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

ARRŎGĀTĬO. [[Adoptio].]

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

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

ARTOPTA. [[Pistor].]

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

ĂRUSPEX. [[Haruspex].]

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

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

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

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

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

Asciae, adzes. (From ancient monuments and a coin.)

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

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

Ascoliasmus. (From an ancient gem.)

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

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

ASSĀRĬUS NUMMUS. [[As].]

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

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

ASSĬDUI. [[Locupletes].]

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

Astragalus. (Capital of an Ionic Column. Dilettanti Society, Ionian Antiquities.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Atlantes. (From Temple at Agrigentum: Professor Cockerell.)

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

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

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

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

AUCTŌRĀMENTUM, the pay of gladiators. [[Gladiatores].]

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

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

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

Coin representing the lituus and capis on the reverse.

AŪGŬRĀCŬLUM. [[Arx]; [Augur], [p. 50], b.]

AUGŬRĀLE. [[Augur], [p. 50], b.]

AUGŬRIUM. [[Augur].]

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

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

AULAEUM. [[Siparium].]

AURĔUS. [[Aurum].]

AURĪGA. [[Circus].]

Aureus Nummus. (British Museum.)

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

Aureus of Augustus. (British Museum.)

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

AURUM VĪCĒSĬMĀRĬUM. [[Aerarium].]

AUSPEX. [[Augur].]

AUSPĬCĬUM. [[Augur].]

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

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

AUXĬLĬA. [[Socii].]

AXĀMENTA. [[Salii].]

AXĪNĒ. [[Securis].]

AXIS. [[Currus].]

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