A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

by William Smith

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LĂBĂRUM. [[Signa Militaria].]

LĂBRUM. [[Balneum].]

LĂBỸRINTHUS (λαβύρινθος), a labyrinth, a large and complicated subterraneous cavern with numerous and intricate passages, similar to those of a mine. The earliest and most renowned labyrinth was that of Egypt, which lay beyond lake Moeris. It had 3000 apartments, 1500 under ground, and the same number above it, and the whole was surrounded by a wall. It was divided into courts, each of which was surrounded by colonnades of white marble. The second labyrinth mentioned by the ancients was that of Crete, in the neighbourhood of Cnossus, where the Minotaur is said to have dwelt. Although the Cretan labyrinth is very frequently mentioned by ancient authors, yet none of them speaks of it as an eyewitness. It was probably some natural cavern in the neighbourhood of Cnossus. A third labyrinth, the construction of which belongs to a more historical age, was that in the island of Lemnos. A fabulous edifice in Etruria is also mentioned, to which Pliny applies the name of labyrinth. It is described as being in the neighbourhood of Clusium, and as the tomb of Lar Porsena; but no writer says that he ever saw it, or remains of it.

LĂCERNA (μανδύας, μανδύη), a cloak worn by the Romans over the toga. It differed from the paenula in being an open garment like the Greek pallium, and fastened on the right shoulder by means of a buckle (fibula), whereas the paenula was what is called a vestimentum clausum with an opening for the head. The Lacerna appears to have been commonly used in the army. In the time of Cicero it was not usually worn in the city, but it soon afterwards became quite common at Rome. The lacerna was sometimes thrown over the head for the purpose of concealment; but a cucullus or cowl was generally used for that purpose, which appears to have been frequently attached to the lacerna, and to have formed a part of the dress.

LĂCĬNĬAE, the angular extremities of the toga, one of which was brought round over the left shoulder. It was generally tucked into the girdle, but sometimes was allowed to hang down loose.

LĂCŌNĬCUM. [[Balneum].]

LĂCŪNAR. [[Domus].]

LĂCUS. [[Fons].]

LAENA (χλαῖνα), a woollen cloak, the cloth of which was twice the ordinary thickness, shaggy upon both sides, and worn over the pallium or the toga for the sake of warmth. In later times the laena seems, to a certain extent, to have been worn as a substitute for the toga.

LAMPĂDĒPHŎRĬA (λαμπαδηφορία), torch-bearing, Lampadedromia (λαμπαδηδρομία), torch-race, and often simply Lampas (λαμπάς), was a game common throughout Greece. At Athens we know of five celebrations of this game: one to Prometheus at the Prometheia, a second to Athena at the Panathenaca, a third to Hephaestos at the Hephaesteia, a fourth to Pan, and a fifth to the Thracian Artemis or Bendis. The first three are of unknown antiquity; the fourth was introduced soon after the battle of Marathon; the last in the time of Socrates. The race was usually run on foot, horses being first used in the time of Socrates; sometimes also at night. The preparation for it was a principal branch of the Gymnasiarchia, so much so indeed in later times, that the Lampadarchia (λαμπαδαρχία) seems to have been pretty much equivalent to the Gymnasiarchia. The gymnasiarch had to provide the lampas, which was a candlestick with a kind of shield set at the bottom of the socket, so as to shelter the flame of the candle; as is seen in the following woodcut, taken from a coin. He had also to provide for the training of the runners, which was of no slight consequence, for the race was evidently a severe one, with other expenses, which on the whole were very heavy, so that Isaeus classes this office with the choregia and trierarchia, and reckons that it had cost him 12 minae.

Lampae. (From a Coin.)

LAMPAS. [[Lampadephoria].]

LANCĔA. [[Hasta].]

LĂNISTA. [[Gladiatores].]

LANX, a large dish, made of silver or some other metal, and sometimes embossed, used at splendid entertainments to hold meat or fruit; and consequently at sacrifices and funeral banquets.

LAPHRĬA (Λάφρια), an annual festival, celebrated at Patrae in Achaia, in honour of Artemis, surnamed Laphria.

LĂPĬCĪDĪNAE. [[Lautumiae].]

LĂQUĔAR. [[Domus], [p. 144], b.]

LĂQŬEĀTŌRES. [[Gladiatores].]

LĂQUĔUS, a rope, was used to signify the punishment of death by strangling. This mode of execution was never performed in public, but only in prison and generally in the Tullianum. Hence we find the words carcer and laqueus frequently joined together. Persons convicted of treason were most frequently put to death by strangling, as for instance the Catilinarian conspirators (laqueo gulam fregere).

LĂRĀRĬUM, a place in the inner part of a Roman house, which was dedicated to the Lares, and in which their images were kept and worshipped. It seems to have been customary for religious Romans in the morning, immediately after they rose, to perform their prayers in the lararium.

LĀRENTĀLĬA, sometimes written LĀRENTINĀLIA and LAURENTĀLIA, a Roman festival in honour of Acca Larentia, the wife of Faustulus and the nurse of Romulus and Remus. It was celebrated in December, on the 10th before the calends of January.

LARGĪTĬO. [[Ambitus].]

LĂTER πλίνθος, a brick. The Romans distinguished between those bricks which were merely dried by the sun and air (lateres crudi), and those which were burnt in the kiln (cocti or coctiles). They preferred for brick making clay which was either whitish or decidedly red. Pliny calls the brickfield lateraria, and to make bricks lateres ducere, corresponding to the Greek πλίνθους ἕλκειν or ἔρυειν.

LĀTĬCLĀVĬI. [[Clavus].]

LĂTĪNAE FĔRĬAE. [[Feriae].]

LĂTĪNĬTAS, LĂTĬUM, JUS LĂTĬI. All these expressions are used to signify a certain status intermediate between that of cives and peregrini. Before the passing of the Lex Julia de Civitate (B.C. 90) the above expressions denoted a certain nationality, and as part of it a certain legal status with reference to Rome; but after the passing of that lex, these expressions denoted only a certain status, and had no reference to any national distinction. About the year B.C. 89, a Lex Pompeia gave the jus Latii to all the Transpadani, and consequently the privilege of obtaining the Roman civitas by having filled a magistratus in their own cities. To denote the status of these Transpadani, the word Latinitas was used, which since the passing of the Lex Julia had lost its proper signification; and this was the origin of that Latinitas which thenceforth existed to the time of Justinian. This new Latinitas or jus Latii was given to whole towns and countries; as, for instance, by Vespasian to the whole of Spain. It is not certain wherein this new Latinitas differed from that Latinitas which was the characteristic of the Latini before the passing of the Lex Julia. It is, however, clear that all the old Latini had not the same right with respect to Rome; and that they could acquire the civitas on easier terms than those by which the new Latinitas was acquired.

LĂTRUNCŬLI (πεσσοί, ψήφοι), draughts. The invention of a game resembling draughts was attributed by the Greeks to Palamedes; and it is mentioned by Homer. There were two sets of men, one set being black, the other white or red. Being intended to represent a miniature combat between two armies, they were called soldiers (milites), foes (hostes), and marauders (latrones, dim. latrunculi); also calculi, because stones were often employed for the purpose. The Romans often had twelve lines on the draught-board, whence the game so played was called duodecim scripta.

LAUDĀTĬO. [[Funus].]

LAURENTĀLĬA. [[Larentalia].]

LAUTŬMĬAE, LAUTŎMIAE, LĀTOMIAE, Or LĀTUMIAE (λιθοτομίαι, λατομίαι, Lat. Lapicidinae), literally places where stones are cut, or quarries, and more particularly the public prison of Syracuse. It lay in the steep and almost inaccessible part of the town which was called Epipolae, and had been built by Dionysius the tyrant. It was cut to an immense depth into the solid rock, so that nothing could be imagined to be a safer or stronger prison, though it had no roof, and thus left the prisoners exposed to the heat of the sun, the rain, and the coldness of the nights. The Tullianum at Rome was also sometimes called lautumiae. [[Carcer].]

LECTICA (κλίνη, κλινίδιον, or φορεῖον), was a kind of couch or litter, in which persons, in a lying position, were carried from one place to another. Lecticae were used for carrying the dead [[Funus]] as well as the living. The Greek lectica consisted of a bed or mattress, and a pillow to support the head, placed upon a kind of bedstead or couch. It had a roof, consisting of the skin of an ox, extending over the couch and resting on four posts. The sides of this lectica were covered with curtains. In the republican period it appears to have been chiefly used by women, and by men only when they were in ill health. When this kind of lectica was introduced among the Romans, it was chiefly used in travelling, and very seldom in Rome itself. But towards the end of the republic, and under the empire, it was commonly used in the city, and was fitted up in the most splendid manner. Instead of curtains, it was frequently closed on the sides with windows made of transparent stone (lapis specularis), and was provided with a pillow and bed. When standing, it rested on four feet, generally made of wood. Persons were carried in a lectica by slaves (lecticarii), by means of poles (asseres) attached to it, but not fixed, so that they might easily be taken off when necessary. The number of lecticarii employed in carrying one lectica varied according to its size, and the display of wealth which a person might wish to make. The ordinary number was probably two; but it varied from two to eight, and the lectica is called hexaphoron or octophoron, accordingly as it was carried by six or eight persons.

LECTISTERNIUM. Sacrifices being of the nature of feasts, the Greeks and Romans, on occasion of extraordinary solemnities, placed images of the gods reclining on couches, with tables and viands before them, as if they were really partaking of the things offered in sacrifice. This ceremony was called a lectisternium. The woodcut here introduced exhibits one of these couches, which is represented with a cushion covered by a cloth hanging in ample folds down each side. This beautiful pulvinar is wrought altogether in white marble, and is somewhat more than two feet in height.

Pulvinar used at Lectisternium. (From the Glyptothek at Munich.)

LECTUS (λέχος, κλίνη, εὐνή), a bed. The complete bed (εὐνή) of a wealthy Greek in later times generally consisted of the following parts:—κλίνη, ἐπίτονοι, τυλεῖον or κνέφαλον, προσκεφάλειον, and στρώματα. The κλίνη is, properly speaking, merely the bedstead, and seems to have consisted only of posts fitted into one another and resting upon four feet. At the head part alone there was a board ( ἀνάκλιντρον or ἐπίκλιντρον) to support the pillow and prevent its falling out. Sometimes, however, the bottom part of a bedstead was likewise protected by a board, so that in this case a Greek bedstead resembled what we call a French bedstead. The bedstead was provided with girths (τόνοι, ἐπίτονοι, κειρία) on which the bed or mattress (κνέφαλον, τυλεῖον, or τύλη) rested. The cover or ticking of a mattress was made of linen or woollen cloth, or of leather, and the usual material with which it was filled was either wool or dried weeds. At the head part of the bed, and supported by the ἐπίκλιντρον, lay a round pillow (προσκεφάλειον) to support the head. The bed-covers (στρώματα) were generally made of cloth, which was very thick and woolly, either on one or on both sides. The beds of the Romans (lecti cubiculares) in the earlier periods of the republic were probably of the same description as those used in Greece; but towards the end of the republic and during the empire, the richness and magnificence of the beds of the wealthy Romans far surpassed every thing we find described in Greece. The bedstead was generally rather high, so that persons entered the bed (scandere, ascendere) by means of steps placed beside it (scamnum). It was sometimes made of metal, and sometimes of costly kinds of wood, or veneered with tortoise-shell or ivory; its feet (fulcra) were frequently of silver or gold. The bed or mattress (culcita and torus) rested upon girths or strings (restes, fasciae, institae, or funes), which connected the two horizontal side-posts of the bed. In beds destined for two persons the two sides are distinguished by different names; the side at which persons entered was open, and bore the name sponda; the other side, which was protected by a board, was called pluteus. The two sides of such a bed are also distinguished by the names torus exterior and torus interior, or sponda exterior and sponda interior; and from these expressions it is not improbable that such lecti had two beds or mattresses, one for each person. Mattresses were in the earlier times filled with dry herbs or straw, and such beds continued to be used by the poor. But in subsequent times wool, and, at a still later period, feathers, were used by the wealthy for the beds as well as the pillows. The cloth or ticking (operimentum or involucrum) with which the beds or mattresses were covered, was called toral, torale, linteum, or segestre. The blankets or counterpanes (vestes stragulae, stragula, peristromata, peripetasmata) were in the houses of wealthy Romans of the most costly description, and generally of a purple colour, and embroidered with beautiful figures in gold. Covers of this sort were called peripetasmata Attalica, because they were said to have been first used at the court of Attalus. The pillows were likewise covered with magnificent casings. The lectus genialis or adversus was the bridal bed, which stood in the atrium, opposite the janua, whence it derived the epithet adversus. It was generally high, with steps by its side, and in later times beautifully adorned. Respecting the lectus funebris see [Funus]. An account of the disposition of the couches used at entertainments is given under [Triclinium].

LĒGĀTĬO LĪBĔRA. [[Legatus].]

LĒGĀTUM, a part of the hereditas which a testator gives out of it, from the heres (ab herede); that is, it is a gift to a person out of that whole (universum) which is diminished to the heres by such gift. There were several laws limiting the amount of property which a person might give in legacies; and it was at last fixed by the Lex Falcidia (B.C. 40), that he should not bequeath more than three-fourths of his property in legacies, and thus a fourth was left to the heres. By the Law of the Twelve Tables a man could dispose of his property as he pleased, and he might exhaust (erogare) the whole hereditas by legacies and bequests of freedom to slaves, so as to leave the heres nothing. The consequence was that in such cases the scripti heredes refused to take the hereditas, and there was of course an intestacy. Legata were inutilia or void, if they were given before a heres was instituted by the will, for the will derived all its legal efficacy from such institution; there was the same rule as to a gift of freedom.

LĒGĀTUS, from lego, a person commissioned or deputed to do certain things. They may be divided into three classes:—1. Legati or ambassadors sent to Rome by foreign nations; 2. Legati or ambassadors sent from Rome to foreign nations and into the provinces; 3. Legati who accompanied the Roman generals into the field, or the proconsuls and praetors into the provinces. 1. Foreign legati at Rome, from whatever country they came, had to go to the temple of Saturn, and deposit their names with the quaestors. Previous to their admission into the city, foreign ambassadors seem to have been obliged to give notice from what nation they came and for what purpose; for several instances are mentioned, in which ambassadors were prohibited from entering the city, especially in case of a war between Rome and the state from which they came. In such cases the ambassadors were either not heard at all, and obliged to quit Italy, or an audience was given to them by the senate (senatus legatis datur) outside the city, in the temple of Bellona. This was evidently a sign of mistrust, but the ambassadors were nevertheless treated as public guests, and some public villa outside the city was sometimes assigned for their reception. In other cases, however, as soon as the report of the landing of foreign ambassadors on the coast of Italy was brought to Rome, especially if they were persons of great distinction, or if they came from an ally of the Roman people, some one of the inferior magistrates, or a legatus of a consul, was despatched by the senate to receive, and conduct them to the city at the expense of the republic. When they were introduced into the senate by the praetor or consul, they first explained what they had to communicate, and then the praetor invited the senators to put their questions to the ambassadors. The whole transaction was carried on by interpreters, and in the Latin language. [[Interpres].] After the ambassadors had thus been examined, they were requested to leave the assembly of the senate, who now began to discuss the subject brought before them. The result was communicated to the ambassadors by the praetor. In some cases ambassadors not only received rich presents on their departure, but were at the command of the senate conducted by a magistrate, and at the public expense, to the frontier of Italy, and even farther. By the Lex Gabinia it was decreed, that from the 1st of February to the 1st of March, the senate should every day give audience to foreign ambassadors. There was a place on the right-hand side of the senate-house, called Graecostasis, in which foreign ambassadors waited. All ambassadors, whencesoever they came, were considered by the Romans throughout the whole period of their existence as sacred and inviolable. 2. Legati to foreign nations in the name of the Roman republic were always sent by the senate; and to be appointed to such a mission was considered a great honour, which was conferred only on men of high rank or eminence: for a Roman ambassador had the powers of a magistrate and the venerable character of a priest. If a Roman during the performance of his mission as ambassador died or was killed, his memory was honoured by the republic with a public sepulchre and a statue in the Rostra. The expenses during the journey of an ambassador were, of course, paid by the republic; and when he travelled through a province, the provincials had to supply him with every thing he wanted. 3. The third class of legati, to whom the name of ambassadors cannot be applied, were persons who accompanied the Roman generals on their expeditions, and in later times the governors of provinces also. They are mentioned at a very early period as serving along with the tribunes, under the consuls. They were nominated (legabantur) by the consul or the dictator under whom they served, but the sanction of the senate was an essential point, without which no one could be legally considered a legatus. The persons appointed to this office were usually men of great military talents, and it was their duty to advise and assist their superior in all his undertakings, and to act in his stead both in civil and military affairs. The legati were thus always men in whom the consul placed great confidence, and were frequently his friends or relations: but they had no power independent of the command of their general. Their number varied according to the greatness or importance of the war, or the extent of the province: three is the smallest number that we know of, but Pompey, when in Asia, had fifteen legati. Whenever the consuls were absent from the army, or when a proconsul left his province, the legati or one of them took his place, and then had the insignia as well as the power of his superior. He was in this case called legatus pro praetore, and hence we sometimes read that a man governed a province as legatus without any mention being made of the proconsul whose vicegerent he was. During the latter period of the republic, it sometimes happened that a consul carried on a war, or a proconsul governed his province, through his legati, while he himself remained at Rome, or conducted some other more urgent affairs. When the provinces were divided at the time of the empire [[Provincia]], those of the Roman people were governed by men who had been either consuls or praetors, and the former were always accompanied by three legati, the latter by one. The provinces of the emperor, who was himself the proconsul, were governed by persons whom the emperor himself appointed, and who had been consuls or praetors, or were at least senators. These vicegerents of the emperor were called legati augusti pro praetore, legati praetorii, legati consulares, or simply legati, and they, like the governors of the provinces of the Roman people, had one or three legati as their assistants. During the latter period of the republic it had become customary for senators to obtain from the senate the permission to travel through or stay in any province at the expense of the provincials, merely for the purpose of managing and conducting their own personal affairs. There was no restraint as to the length of time the senators were allowed to avail themselves of this privilege, which was a heavy burden upon the provincials. This mode of sojourning in a province was called legatio libera, because those who availed themselves of it enjoyed all the privileges of a public legatus or ambassador, without having any of his duties to perform. At the time of Cicero the privilege of legatio libera was abused to a very great extent. Cicero, therefore, in his consulship (B.C. 63) endeavoured to put an end to it, but, owing to the opposition of a tribune, he only succeeded in limiting the time of its duration to one year. Julius Caesar afterwards extended the time during which a senator might avail himself of the legatio libera to five years.

LĔGĬO. [[Exercitus].]

LEITURGIA (λειτουργία, from λεῖτον, Ion. λήϊτον, i.e. δημόσιον, or, according to others, πρυτανεῖον), a liturgy, is the name of certain personal services which, at Athens, every citizen who possessed a certain amount of property had to perform towards the state. These personal services, which in all cases were connected with considerable expenses, were at first a natural consequence of the greater political privileges enjoyed by the wealthy, who, in return, had also to perform heavier duties towards the republic; but when the Athenian democracy was at its height the original character of these liturgies became changed, for, as every citizen now enjoyed the same rights and privileges as the wealthiest, they were simply a tax upon property connected with personal labour and exertion. All liturgies may be divided into two classes: 1, ordinary or encyclic liturgies (ἐγκύκλιοι λειτουργίαι); and 2, extraordinary liturgies. The former were called encyclic, because they recurred every year at certain festive seasons, and comprised the Choregia, Gymnasiarchia, Lampadarchia, Architheoria, and Hestiasis. Every Athenian who possessed three talents and above was subject to them, and they were undertaken in turns by the members of every tribe who possessed the property qualification just mentioned, unless some one volunteered to undertake a liturgy for another person. But the law did not allow any one to be compelled to undertake more than one liturgy at a time, and he who had in one year performed a liturgy was free for the next, so that legally a person had to perform a liturgy only every other year. Those whose turn it was to undertake any of the ordinary liturgies were always appointed by their own tribe. The persons who were exempt from all kinds of liturgies were the nine archons, heiresses, and orphans until after the commencement of the second year of their coming of age. Sometimes the exemption from liturgies (ἀτελεία) was granted to persons for especial merits towards the republic. The only kind of extraordinary liturgy to which the name is properly applied is the trierarchia (τριηραρχία); in the earlier times, however, the service in the armies was in reality no more than an extraordinary liturgy. [See [Eisphora] and [Trierarchia].] In later times, during and after the Peloponnesian war, when the expenses of a liturgy were found too heavy for one person, we find that in many instances two persons combined to defray its expenses. Such was the case with the choragia and the trierarchy.

LEMBUS, a skiff or small boat, used for carrying a person from a ship to the shore. The name was also given to the light boats which were sent ahead of a fleet to obtain information of the enemy’s movements.

LEMNISCUS (λημνίσκος), a kind of coloured ribbon which hung down from crowns or diadems at the back part of the head. Coronae adorned with lemnisci were a greater distinction than those without them. This serves to explain an expression of Cicero (palma lemniscata, pro Rosc. Am. 35), where palma means a victory, and the epithet lemniscata indicates the contrary of infamis, and at the same time implies an honourable as well as lucrative victory. Lemnisci were also worn alone and without being connected with crowns, especially by ladies, as an ornament for the head.

LĔMŬRĬA, a festival for the souls of the departed, which was celebrated at Rome every year in the month of May. It was said to have been instituted by Romulus to appease the spirit of Remus, whom he had slain, and to have been called originally Remuria. It was celebrated at night and in silence, and during three alternate days, that is, on the ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth of May. During this season the temples of the gods were closed, and it was thought unlucky for women to marry at this time and during the whole month of May, and those who ventured to marry were believed to die soon after, whence the proverb, mense Maio malae nubent. Those who celebrated the Lemuria walked barefooted, washed their hands three times, and threw black beans nine times behind their backs, believing by this ceremony to secure themselves against the Lemures. As regards the solemnities on each of the three days, we only know that on the second there were games in the circus in honour of Mars, and that on the third day the images of the thirty Argei, made of rushes, were thrown from the Pons Sublicius into the Tiber by the Vestal virgins [[Argei]]. On the same day there was a festival of the merchants, probably because on this day the temple of Mercury had been dedicated in the year 495 B.C.

LĒNAEA. [[Dionysia].]

LESCHĒ (λέσχη), an Ionic word, signifying council or conversation, and a place for council or conversation. There is frequent mention of places of public resort, in the Greek cities, by the name of Leschae, some set apart for the purpose, and others so called because they were so used by loungers; to the latter class belong the agora and its porticoes, the gymnasia, and the shops of various tradesmen. The former class were small buildings or porticoes, furnished with seats, and exposed to the sun, to which the idle resorted to enjoy conversation, and the poor to obtain warmth and shelter: at Athens alone there were 360 such. In the Dorian states the word retained the meaning of a place of meeting for deliberation and intercourse, a council-chamber or club-room. There were generally chambers for council and conversation, called by this name, attached to the temples of Apollo. The Lesche at Delphi was celebrated through Greece for the paintings with which it was adorned by Polygnotus.

LEX. Of Roman leges, viewed with reference to the mode of enactment, there were properly two kinds, Leges Curiatae and Leges Centuriatae. Plebiscita are improperly called leges, though they were laws, and in the course of time had the same effect as leges. [[Plebiscitum].] Originally the leges curiatae were the only leges, and they were passed by the populus in the comitia curiata. After the establishment of the comitia centuriata, the comitia curiata fell almost into disuse; but so long as the republic lasted, and even under Augustus, a shadow of the old constitution was preserved in the formal conferring of the imperium by a lex curiata only, and in the ceremony of adrogation being effected only in these comitia. [[Adoptio].] Those leges, properly so called, with which we are acquainted, were passed in the comitia centuriata, and were proposed (rogabantur) by a magistratus of senatorial rank, after the senate had approved of them by a decretum. Such a lex was also designated by the name Populi Scitum.—The word rogatio (from the verb rogo) properly means any measure proposed to the legislative body, and therefore is equally applicable to a proposed lex and a proposed plebiscitum. It corresponds to our word bill, as opposed to act. When the measure was passed, it became a lex or plebiscitum; though rogationes, after they had become laws, were sometimes, but improperly, called rogationes. A rogatio began with the words velitis, jubeatis, &c., and ended with the words ita vos Quirites rogo. The corresponding expression of assent to the rogatio on the part of the sovereign assembly was uti rogas. The phrases for proposing a law are rogare legem, legem ferre, and rogationem promulgare; the phrase rogationem accipere applies to the enacting body. The terms relating to legislation are thus explained by Ulpian the jurist:—“A lex is said either rogari or ferri; it is said abrogari, when it is repealed; it is said derogari, when a part is repealed; it is said subrogari, when some addition is made to it; and it is said obrogari, when some part of it is changed.”—A privilegium is an enactment that had for its object a single person, which is indicated by the form of the word (privilegium), privae res being the same as singulae res. The word privilegium did not convey any notion of the character of the legislative measures; it might be beneficial to the party to whom it referred, or it might not. Under the empire, the word is used in the sense of a special grant proceeding from the imperial favour.—The title of a lex was generally derived from the gentile name of the magistratus who proposed it, as the Lex Hortensia from the dictator Hortensius. Sometimes the lex took its name from the two consuls or other magistrates, as the Acilia Calpurnia, Aelia or Aelia Sentia, Papia or Papia Poppaea, and others. It seems to have been the fashion to omit the word et between the two names, though instances occur in which it was used. A lex was also designated, with reference to its object, as the Lex Cincia de Donis et Muneribus, Lex Furia Testamentaria, Lex Julia Municipalis, and many others. Leges which related to a common object, were often designated by a collective name, as Leges Agrariae, Judiciariae, and others. A lex sometimes took its name from the chief contents of its first chapter, as Lex Julia de Maritandis Ordinibus. Sometimes a lex comprised very various provisions, relating to matters essentially different, and in that case it was called Lex Satura.—The number of leges was greatly increased in the later part of the republican period, and Julius Caesar is said to have contemplated a revision of the whole body. Under him and Augustus numerous enactments were passed, which are known under the general name of Juliae Leges. It is often stated that no leges, properly so called, or plebiscita, were passed after the time of Augustus; but this is a mistake. Though the voting might be a mere form, still the form was kept. Besides, various leges are mentioned as having been passed under the Empire, such as the Lex Junia under Tiberius, the Lex Visellia, the Lex Mamilia under Caligula, and a Lex Claudia on the tutela of women. It does not appear when the ancient forms of legislation were laid aside. A particular enactment is always referred to by its name. The following is a list of the principal leges, properly so called; but the list includes also various plebiscita and privilegia:—

ACĪLĬA, De Coloniis Deducendis. (Liv. xxxii. 29.)

ACĪLIA. [[Repetundae].]

ACĪLIA CALPURNĬA or CALPURNIA. [[Ambitus].]

AEBUTĬA, of uncertain date, which with two Juliae Leges put an end to the Legis Actiones, except in certain cases. This or another lex of the same name prohibited the proposer of a lex, which created any office or power (curatio ac potestas), from having such office or power, and even excluded his collegae, cognati, and affines.

AELIA. This lex and a Fufia Lex, passed about the end of the sixth century of the city, gave to all the magistrates the obnunciatio, or power of preventing or dissolving the comitia, by observing the omens and declaring them to be unfavourable.

AELĬA, De Coloniis Deducendis. (Liv. xxxiv. 53.)

AELĬA SENTĬA, passed in the time of Augustus (about A.D. 3). This lex contained various provisions as to the manumission of slaves.

AEMĬLĬA. A lex passed in the dictatorship of Mamercus Aemilius (B.C. 433), by which the censors were elected for a year and a half, instead of a whole lustrum. After this lex they had accordingly only a year and a half allowed them for holding the census and letting out the public works to farm.

AEMĬLĬA BAEBĬA. [[Cornelia Baebia].]

AEMĬLĬA. [[Leges Sumptuariae].]

AGRĀRÏAE, the name of laws which had relation to the ager publicus. [[Ager Publicus].] The most important of these are mentioned under the names of their proposers. [[Appuleia]; [Cassia]; [Cornelia]; [Flaminia]; [Flavia]; [Julia]; [Licinia]; [Sempronia]; [Servilia]; [Thoria].]

AMBĬTUS. [[Ambitus].]

AMPĬA, to allow Cn. Pompeius to wear a crown of bay at the Ludi Circenses, &c. Proposed by T. Ampius and T. Labienus, tr. pl. B.C. 64.

ANNĀLIS or VILLĬA, proposed by L. Villius Tapulus in B.C. 179, fixed the age at which a Roman citizen might become a candidate for the higher magistracies. It appears that until this law was passed, any office might be enjoyed by a citizen after completing his twenty-seventh year. The Lex Annalis fixed 31 as the age for the quaestorship, 37 for the aedileship, 40 for the praetorship, and 43 for the consulship.

ANTĬA. [[Sumptuariae Leges].]

ANTŌNĬA De Thermensibus, about B.C. 72, by which Thermessus in Pisidia was recognised as Libera.

ANTŌNĬAE, the name of various enactments proposed or passed by the influence of M. Antonius, after the death of the dictator J. Caesar.

APPŬLĒIA, respecting sureties.

APPŬLĒIA AGRĀRĬA, proposed by the tribune L. Appuleius Saturninus, B.C. 101.

APPŬLĒIA FRŪMENTĀRĬA, proposed about the same time by the same tribune.

APPŬLĒIA, De Coloniis Deducendis. (Cic. pro Balbo, 21.)

APPŬLĒIA MAJESTĀTIS. [[Majestas].]

ATERNIA TARPĒIA, B.C. 455. This lex empowered all magistrates to fine persons who resisted their authority; but it fixed the highest fine at two sheep and thirty cows, or two cows and thirty sheep, for the authorities vary in this.

ĂTĬA DE SĂCERDŌTIIS (B.C. 63), proposed by the tribune T. Atius Labienus, repealed the Lex Cornelia de Sacerdotiis.

ĂTĪLĬA MARCĬA, B.C. 312, empowered the populus to elect 16 tribuni militum for each of four legions.

ĂTĪLĬA, respecting tutores.

ĂTĪNĬA, respecting thefts.

ĂTĪNĬA, of uncertain date, was a plebiscitum which gave the rank of senator to a tribune. This measure probably originated with C. Atinius, who was tribune B.C. 130.

AUFĬDĬA. [[Ambitus].]

AURĒLĬA (B.C. 70), enacted that the judices should be chosen from the senators, equites, and tribuni aerarii. [[Judex].]

AURĒLĬA TRĬBŪNĬCĬA, respecting the tribunes.

BAEBĬA (B.C. 192 or 180), enacted that four praetors and six praetors should be chosen alternately; but the law was not observed.

BAEBĬA CORNĒLĬA. [[Ambitus].]

CAECĬLĬA DE CENSŌRĬBUS or CENSŌRIA (B.C. 54), proposed by Metellus Scipio, repealed a Clodia Lex (B.C. 58), which had prescribed certain regular forms of proceeding for the censors in exercising their functions as inspectors of mores, and had required the concurrence of both censors to inflict the nota censoria. When a senator had been already convicted before an ordinary court, the lex permitted the censors to remove him from the senate in a summary way.

CAECĬLĬA DE VECTĪGĀLĬBUS (B.C. 62), released lands and harbours in Italy from the payment of taxes and dues (portoria). The only vectigal remaining after the passing of this lex was the Vicesima.

CAECĬLĬA DĪDĬA (B.C. 98) forbade the proposing of a Lex Satura, on the ground that the people might be compelled either to vote for something which they did not approve, or to reject something which they did approve, if it was proposed to them in this manner. This lex was not always operative.

CAELIA. [[Leges Tabellariae].]

CĂLĬGŬLAE LEX AGUĀRĬA. [[Mamilia].]

CALPURNĬA DE AMBĬTU. [[Ambitus].]

CALPURNĬA DE RĔPĔTUNDIS. [[Repetundae].]

CĂNŬLĒIA. (B.C. 445) established connubium between the patres and plebs, which had been taken away by the law of the Twelve Tables.

CASSĬA (B.C. 104), proposed by the tribune L. Cassius Longinus, did not allow a person to remain a senator who had been convicted in a judicium populi, or whose imperium had been abrogated by the populus.

CASSĬA empowered the dictator Caesar to add to the number of the patricii, to prevent their extinction.

CASSĬA AGRĀRĬA, proposed by the consul Sp. Cassius, B.C. 486. This is said to have been the first agrarian law. It enacted that of the land taken from the Hernicans, half should be given to the Latins, and half to the plebs, and likewise that part of the public land possessed by the patricians should be distributed among the plebeians. This law met with the most violent opposition, and appears not to have been carried. Cassius was accused of aiming at the sovereignty, and was put to death. [[Ager Publicus].]

CASSĬA TĂBELLĀRĬA. [[Leges Tabellariae].]

CASSĬA TĔRENTĬA FRŪMENTĀRĬA (B.C. 73) for the distribution of corn among the poor citizens and the purchasing of it.

CINCĬA DE DŌNIS ET MŪNĔRĬBUS, a plebiscitum passed in the time of the tribune M. Cincius Alimentus (B.C. 204). It forbade a person to take any thing for his pains in pleading a cause. In the time of Augustus, the Lex Cincia was confirmed by a senatus-consultum, and a penalty of four times the sum received was imposed on the advocate. The law was so far modified in the time of Claudius, that an advocate was allowed to receive ten sestertia; if he took any sum beyond that, he was liable to be prosecuted for repetundae. It appears that this permission was so far restricted in Trajan’s time, that the fee could not be paid till the work was done.

CLAUDĬA, passed under the emperor Claudius, took away the agnatorum tutela in case of women.

CLAUDĬA de Senatoribus, B.C. 218 (Liv. xxi. 63), the provisions of which are alluded to by Cicero as antiquated and dead in his time.

CLŌDIAE, the name of various plebiscita, proposed by Clodius, when tribune, B.C. 58.

Clodia de Auspiciis prevented the magistratus from dissolving the comitia tributa, by declaring that the auspices were unfavourable. This lex therefore repealed the Aelia and Fufia. It also enacted that a lex might be passed on the dies fasti. [[Aelia Lex].]

Clodia de Censoribus. [[Caecilia].]

Clodia de Civibus Romanis Interemptis, to the effect that “qui civem Romanum indemnatum interemisset, ei aqua et igni interdiceretur.” It was in consequence of this lex that the interdict was pronounced against Cicero, who considers the whole proceeding as a privilegium.

Clodia Frumentaria, by which the corn, which had formerly been sold to the poor citizens at a low rate, was given.

Clodia de Sodalitatibus or de Collegiis restored the Sodalitia, which had been abolished by a senatus-consultum of the year B.C. 80, and permitted the formation of new Sodalitia.

Clodia de Libertinorum Suffragiis. (Cic. pro Mil. 12, 33.)

Clodia de Rege Ptolemaeo et de Exsulibus Byzantinis. (Vell. Pat. ii. 45.)

There were other so-called Leges Clodiae, which were however privilegia.

COMMISSORĬA LEX, respecting sales.

CORNĒLĬAE. Various leges passed in the dictatorship of Sulla, and by his influence, are so called.

Agraria, by which many of the inhabitants of Etruria and Latium were deprived of the complete civitas, and retained only the commercium, and a large part of their lands were made public, and given to military colonists.

De Civitate. (Liv., Epit. 86.)

De Falsis, against those who forged testaments or other deeds, and against those who adulterated or counterfeited the public coin, whence Cicero calls it testamentaria and nummaria.

De Injuriis. [[Injuria].]

Judiciaria. [[Judex].]

De Magistratibus, partly a renewal of old plebiscita. (Appian, B.C. i. 100, 101.)

Majestatis. [[Majestas].]

De Parricidio. [See below: De Sicariis.]

De Proscriptione et Proscriptis. [[Proscriptio].]

De Provinciis Ordinandis. (Cic. ad Fam. i. 9; iii. 6, 8, 10.)

De Repetundis. [[Repetundae].]

De Sacerdotiis. [[Sacerdos].]

De Sicariis et Veneficis, contained provisions as to death or fire caused by dolus malus, and against persons going about armed with the intention of killing or thieving. The law not only provided for cases of poisoning, but contained provisions against those who made, sold, bought, possessed, or gave poison for the purpose of poisoning; also against a magistratus or senator who conspired in order that a person might be condemned in a judicium publicum, &c.

Sumptuariae. [[Leges Sumptuariae].]

Tribunicia, which diminished the power of the Tribuni Plebis.

Unciaria appears to have been a lex which lowered the rate of interest, and to have been passed about the same time with the Leges Sumptuariae of Sulla.

CORNĒLĬAE, which were proposed by the tribune C. Cornelius about B.C. 67. One limited the edictal power by compelling the praetors Jus dicere ex edictis suis perpetuis.—Another lex of the same tribune enacted that no one legibus solveretur, unless such a measure was agreed on in a meeting of the senate at which two hundred members were present, and afterwards approved by the people; and it enacted that no tribune should put his veto on such a senatus-consultum.—There was also a Lex Cornelia concerning the wills of those Roman citizens who died in captivity (apud hostes).

CORNĒLIA DE NOVIS TABELLIS, proposed by P. Corn. Dolabella, B.C. 47.

CORNĒLIA ET CAECĬLĪA, B.C. 57, gave Cn. Pompeius the superintendence of the Res Frumentaria for five years.

CORNĒLĬA BAEBĬA DE AMBĬTU, proposed by the consuls P. Cornelius Cethegus and M. Baebius Tamphilus, B.C. 181. This law is sometimes, but erroneously, attributed to the consuls of the preceding year, L. Aemilius and Cn. Baebius. [[Ambitus].]

CŪRIĀTA LEX DE IMPERIO. [[Imperium].]

CŪRIĀTA LEX DE ADOPTIONE. [[Adoptio].]

DĔCEMVĬRĀLIS. [[Lex Duodecim Tabularum].]

DĔCĬA DE DUUMVIRIS NAVALIBUS. (Liv. ix. 30.)

DĪDĬA. [[Leges Sumptuariae].]

DOMĬTĬA DE SĂCERDŌTIIS. [[Sacerdos].]

DUĪLĬA (B.C. 449), a plebiscitum proposed by the tribune Duilius, which enacted that whoever left the people without tribunes, or created a magistrate from whom there was no appeal (provocatio), should be scourged and beheaded.

DUĪLĬA MAENĬA, proposed by the tribunes Duilius and Maenius (B.C. 357), restored the old uncial rate of interest (unciarium fenus), which had been fixed by the Twelve Tables. [[Fenus].] The same tribunes carried a measure which was intended, in future, to prevent such unconstitutional proceedings as the enactment of a lex by the soldiers out of Rome, on the proposal of the consul.

DŬŎDĔCIM TĂBŬLĀRUM. In the year B.C. 454 the Senate assented to a Plebiscitum, pursuant to which commissioners were to be sent to Athens and the Greek cities generally, in order to make themselves acquainted with their laws. Three commissioners were appointed for the purpose. On the return of the commissioners, B.C. 452, it was agreed that persons should be appointed to draw up the code of laws (decemviri Legibus scribundis), but they were to be chosen only from the Patricians, with a provision that the rights of the Plebeians should be respected by the decemviri in drawing up the laws. In the following year (B.C. 451) the Decemviri were appointed in the Comitia Centuriata, and during the time of their office no other magistratus were chosen. The body consisted of ten Patricians, including the three commissioners who had been sent abroad: Appius Claudius, Consul designatus, was at the head of the body. Ten Tables of Laws were prepared during the year, and after being approved by the Senate were confirmed by the Comitia Centuriata. As it was considered that some further Laws were wanted, Decemviri were again elected B.C. 450, consisting of Appius Claudius and his friends. Two more Tables were added by these Decemviri, which Cicero calls “Duae tabulae iniquarum legum.” The provision which allowed no connubium between the Patres and the Plebs is referred to the Eleventh Table. The whole Twelve Tables were first published in the consulship of L. Valerius and M. Horatius after the downfall of the Decemviri, B.C. 449. This the first attempt to make a code remained also the only attempt for near one thousand years, until the legislation of Justinian. The Twelve Tables are mentioned by the Roman writers under a great variety of names: Leges Decemvirales, Lex Decemviralis, Leges XII., Lex XII. tabularum or Duodecim, and sometimes they are referred to under the names of Leges and Lex simply, as being pre-eminently The Law. The Laws were cut on bronze tablets and put up in a public place. They contained matters relating both to the Jus Publicum and the Jus Privatum (fons publici privatique juris). The Jus Publicum underwent great changes in the course of years, but the Jus Privatum of the Twelve Tables continued to be the fundamental law of the Roman State. The Roman writers speak in high terms of the precision of the enactments contained in the Twelve Tables, and of the propriety of the language in which they were expressed.

FĂBĬA DE PLĂGIO. [[Plagium].]

FĂBĬA DE NUMERO SECTATORUM. (Cic. pro Murena, 34.)

FALCIDIA. [[Lex Voconia].]

FANNĬA. [[Leges Sumptuariae].]

FANNĬA. [[Junia de Peregrinis].]

FLĀMĬNĬA was an Agraria Lex for the distribution of lands in Picenum, proposed by the tribune C. Flaminius, in B.C. 228 according to Cicero, or in B.C. 232 according to Polybius. The latter date is the more probable.

FLĀVĬA AGRĀRĬA, B.C. 60, for the distribution of lands among Pompey’s soldiers, proposed by the tribune L. Flavius, who committed the consul Caecilius Metellus to prison for opposing it.

FRŪMENTĀRĬAE. Various leges were so called which had for their object the distribution of grain among the people, either at a low price or gratuitously. [[Frumentariae Leges], [p. 182].]

FŪFĬA DE RĒLĬGĬŌNE, B.C. 61, was a privilegium which related to the trial of Clodius.

FŪFĬA JŪDĬCĬĀRĬA. [[Judex], [p. 217].]

FŪRIA or FŪSĬA CĂNĪNĬA limited the number of slaves to be manumitted by testament.

FŪRIA or FŪSĬA TESTĂMENTĀRĬA, enacted that a testator should not give more than three-fourths of his property in legacies, thus securing one-fourth to the heres.

GĂBĪNĬA TĂBELLĀRĬA. [[Leges Tabellariae].] There were various Gabiniae Leges, some of which were privilegia, as that for conferring extraordinary power on Cn. Pompeius for conducting the war against the pirates. A Gabinia Lex, B.C. 58, forbade all loans of money at Rome to legationes from foreign parts. The object of the lex was to prevent money being borrowed for the purpose of bribing the senators at Rome.

GALLĬAE CISALPĪNAE. [[Rubria].]

GELLIA CORNĒLĬA, B.C. 72, which gave to Cn. Pompeius the extraordinary power of conferring the Roman civitas on Spaniards in Spain, with the advice of his consilium.

GENUCĬA, B.C. 341, forbade altogether the taking of interest for the use of money.

HĬĔRŎNĬCA was not a lex properly so called. Before the Roman conquest of Sicily, the payment of the tenths of wine, oil, and other produce had been fixed by Hiero; and the Roman quaestors, in letting these tenths to farm, followed the practice which they found established.

HŎRĀTĬAE ET VALĔRĬAE. [[Leges Valeriae].]

HORTENSIA DE PLĒBISCĪTIS. [[Leges Publiliae]; [Plebiscitum].] Another Lex Hortensia enacted that the nundinae, which had hitherto been feriae, should be dies fasti. This was done for the purpose of accommodating the inhabitants of the country.

ICILĬA, B.C. 456, by which the Aventinus was assigned to the plebs. This was the first instance of the ager publicus being assigned to the plebs. Another Lex Icilia, proposed by the tribune Sp. Icilius, B.C. 470, had for its object to prevent all interruption to the tribunes while acting in the discharge of their duties. In some cases the penalty was death.

JŪLĬAE. Most of the Juliae Leges were passed in the time of C. Julius Caesar and Augustus.

De Adulteriis. [[Adulterium].]

Agraria, B.C. 59, in the consulship of Caesar, for distributing the ager publicus in Campania among 20,000 poor citizens, who had each three children or more.

De Ambitu. [[Ambitus].]

De Bonis Cedendis. This lex provided that a debtor might escape all personal molestation from his creditors by giving up his property to them for the purpose of sale and distribution. It is doubtful if this lex was passed in the time of Julius Caesar or of Augustus, though probably of the former.

De Caede et Veneficio (Suet. Ver. 33), perhaps the same as the Lex De Vi Publica.

De Civitate was passed in the consulship of L. Julius Caesar and P. Rutilius Lupus, B.C. 90. [[Civitas]; [Foederatae Civitates].]

De Fenore, or rather De Pecuniis Mutuis or Creditis (B.C. 47), passed in the time of Julius Caesar. The object of it was to make an arrangement between debtors and creditors, for the satisfaction of the latter. The possessiones and res were to be estimated at the value which they had before the civil war, and to be surrendered to the creditors at that value; whatever had been paid for interest was to be deducted from the principal. The result was, that the creditor lost about one-fourth of his debt; but he escaped the loss usually consequent on civil disturbance, which would have been caused by novae tabulae.

Judiciariae. [[Judex].]

De Liberis Legationibus. [[Legatus].]

De Majestate. [[Majestas].]

De Maritandis Ordinibus. [See below: Julia et Papia Poppaea.]

Municipalis, commonly called the Table of Heraclea. In the year 1732 there were found near the Gulf of Tarentum and in the neighbourhood of the city of ancient Heraclea, large fragments of a bronze table, which contained on one side a Roman lex, and on the other a Greek inscription. The whole is now in the Museo Borbonico at Naples. The lex contains various provisions as to the police of the city of Rome, and as to the constitution of communities of Roman citizens (municipia, coloniae, praefecturae, fora, conciliabula civium Romanorum). It was accordingly a lex of that kind which is called Satura. It was probably passed in B.C. 45.

Julia et Papia Poppaea. Augustus appears to have caused a lex to be enacted about B.C. 18, which is cited as the Lex Julia de Maritandis Ordinibus, and is referred to in the Carmen Seculare of Horace, which was written in the year B.C. 17. The object of this lex was to regulate marriages, as to which it contained numerous provisions; but it appears not to have come into operation till the year B.C. 13. In the year A.D. 9, and in the consulship of M. Papius Mutilus and Q. Poppaeus Secundus (consules suffecti), another lex was passed as a kind of amendment and supplement to the former lex, and hence arose the title of Lex Julia et Papia Poppaea, by which this lex is often quoted. The lex is often variously quoted, according as reference is made to its various provisions; sometimes it is called Lex Julia, sometimes Papia Poppaea, sometimes Lex Julia et Papia, sometimes Lex de Maritandis Ordinibus, from the chapter which treated of the marriages of the senators, sometimes Lex Caducaria, Decimaria, &c. from the various chapters. The Lex Julia forbade the marriage of a senator or senator’s children with a libertina, with a woman whose father or mother had followed an ars ludicra, and with a prostitute; and also the marriage of a libertinus with a senator’s daughter. In order to promote marriage, various penalties were imposed on those who lived in a state of celibacy (caelibatus) after a certain age, and various privileges were given to those who had three or more children. A candidate for the public offices who had several children was preferred to one who had fewer. After the passing of this lex, it became usual for the senate, and afterwards the emperor (princeps), to give occasionally, as a privilege to certain persons who had not children, the same advantage that the lex secured to those who had children. This was called the Jus Liberorum, and sometimes the Jus trium Liberorum.

Peculatus, cited in the Digest, related to sacrilege as well as peculatus.

Julia et Plautia, respecting stolen things.

Julia Papiria. [[Papiria].]

De Provinciis. [[Provinciae].]

Repetundarum. [[Repetundae].]

Sacrilegis. [See above: Julia Peculatus.]

Sumptuariae. [[Leges Sumptuariae].]

Theatralis, which permitted Roman equites, in case they or their parents had ever had a census equestris, to sit in the fourteen rows (quatuordecim ordines) fixed by the Lex Roscia Theatralis, B.C. 69.

Julia et Titia, respecting Tutors.

De Vi Publica and Privata. [[Vis].]

Vicesimaria. [[Vicesima].]

JŪNĬA DE PĔRĔGRĪNIS, proposed B.C. 126, by M. Junius Pennus, a tribune, banished peregrini from the city. A lex of C. Fannius, consul B.C. 122, contained the same provisions respecting the Latini and Italici; and a lex of C. Papius, perhaps B.C. 65, contained the same respecting all persons who were not domiciled in Italy.

JŪNĬA LĬCĬNĬA. [[Licinia Junia].]

JŪNIA NORBĀNA, of uncertain date, but probably about A.D. 17, enacted that when a Roman citizen had manumitted a slave without the requisite formalities, the manumission should not in all cases be ineffectual, but the manumitted person should have the status of a Latinus.

JŪNIA RĒPĔTUNDĀRUM. [[Repetundae].]

LAETŌRIA, the false name of the Lex Plaetoria. [[Curator].] Sometimes the lex proposed by Volero for electing plebeian magistrates at the comitia tributa is cited as a Lex Laetoria.

LĬCĬNĬA DE SŎDĀLĬTIIS. [[Ambitus].]

LĬCĬNIA. [[Aebutia].]

LĬCĬNIA DE LŪDIS ĂPOLLĬNĀRĬBUS. (Liv. xxvii. 23.)

LĬCĬNIA JŪNIA, or, as it is sometimes called, Junia et Licinia, passed in the consulship of L. Licinius Murena and Junius Silanus, B.C. 62, enforced the Caecilia Didia, in connection with which it is sometimes mentioned.

LĬCĬNIA MŪCĬA DE CĪVĬBUS RĔGUNDIS, passed in the consulship of L. Licinius Crassus and Q. Mucius Scaevola, B.C. 95, enacted a strict examination as to the title to citizenship, and deprived of the exercise of civic rights all those who could not make out a good title to them. This measure partly led to the Marsic war.

LĬCĬNIA SUMPTUĀRIA. [[Leges Sumptuariae].]

LĬCĬNIAE, proposed by C. Licinius, who was tribune of the people from B.C. 376 to 367, and who brought the contest between the patricians and plebeians to a happy termination. He was supported in his exertions by his colleague L. Sextius. The laws which he proposed were: 1. That in future no more consular tribunes should be appointed, but that consuls should be elected as in former times, one of whom should always be a plebeian. 2. That no one should possess more than 500 jugera of the public land, nor keep upon it more than 100 head of large, or 500 of small cattle. It is related that Licinius was accused and condemned for violating his own law. Livy states that Licinius, together with his son, held 1000 jugera of the public land, and by emancipating his son had acted in fraud of the law. The son thus possessed 500 jugera in his own name, while his father had the actual enjoyment. 3. A law regulating the affairs between debtor and creditor, which ordained that the interest already paid for borrowed money should be deducted from the capital, and that the remainder of the latter should be paid back in three yearly instalments. 4. That the Sibylline books should be entrusted to a college of ten men (decemviri), half of whom should be plebeians, in order that no falsifications might be introduced in favour of the patricians. These rogations were passed after a most vehement opposition on the part of the patricians, and L. Sextius was the first plebeian who, in accordance with the first of them, obtained the consulship for the year B.C. 366.

LĬCĬNIA, also called MANLĬA, B.C. 196, created the triumviri epulones.

LĪVĬAE, various enactments proposed by the tribune M. Livius Drusus, B.C. 91, for establishing colonies in Italy and Sicily, distributing corn among the poor citizens at a low rate, and admitting the foederatae civitates to the Roman civitas. He is also said to have been the mover of a law for adulterating silver by mixing with it an eighth part of brass. Drusus was assassinated, and the senate declared that all his laws were passed contra auspicia, and were therefore not leges.

LUTĀTIA DE VI, proposed by the consul Q. Lutatius Catulus, with the assistance of Plautius the tribune: usually called Lex Plautia or Plotia. [[Vis].]

MAENĬA LEX, is only mentioned by Cicero, who says that M. Curius compelled the patres ante auctores fieri in the case of the election of a plebeian consul, “which,” adds Cicero, “was a great thing to accomplish, as the Lex Maenia was not yet passed.” The lex therefore required the patres to give their consent at least to the election of a magistratus, or, in other words, to confer or agree to confer the imperium on the person whom the comitia should elect. It was probably proposed by the tribune Maenius B.C. 287.

MAJESTĀTIS. [[Majestas].]

MAMILĬA DE JŬGURTHAE FAUTŌRĬBUS. (Sall. Jug. 40.)

MAMILIA FINIUM RĔGUNDŌRUM, B.C. 239 or 165, respecting boundaries.

MĀNĪLĬA, proposed by the tribune C. Manilius, B.C. 66, was a privilegium by which was conferred on Pompey the command in the war against Mithridates. The lex was supported by Cicero when praetor.

MANLĬA. [[Licinia].]

MANLIA DE VĪCĒSĬMA, B.C. 357, imposed the tax of five per cent. (vicesima) on the value of manumitted slaves.

MARCĬA, probably about the year B.C. 352, adversus feneratores.

MARCĬA, an agrarian law proposed by the tribune L. Marcius Philippus, B.C. 104.

MĂRĬA, proposed by Marius when tribune, B.C. 119, for narrowing the pontes at elections.

MEMMIA or REMMĬA. [[Calumnia].]

MENSĬA, respecting the marriage of a Roman woman with a peregrinus, declared the offspring of such marriages peregrini.

MĬNŬCĬA, B.C. 216, created the triumviri mensarii.

NERVAE AGRĀRIA, the latest known instance of a lex.

OCTĀVĬA, B.C. 91, one of the numerous leges frumentariae which repealed a Sempronia Frumentaria. It is mentioned by Cicero as a more reasonable measure than the Sempronia, which was too profuse.

OGULNĬA, proposed by the tribunes, B.C. 300, increased the number of pontifices to eight, and that of the augurs to nine; it also enacted that four of the pontifices and five of the augurs should be taken from the plebes.

OPPĬA. [[Leges Sumptuariae].]

ORCHĬA. [[Leges Sumptuariae].]

ŎVĪNĬA, of uncertain date, was a plebiscitum which gave the censors certain powers in regulating the lists of the senators (ordo senatorius): the main object seems to have been to exclude all improper persons from the senate, and to prevent their admission, if in other respects qualified.

PĀPĬA DE PĔRĔGRĪNIS. [[Lex Junia de Peregrinis].]

PĀPIA POPPAEA. [[Lex Julia et Papia Poppaea].]

PĂPĪRĬA or JŪLIA PĂPĪRIA DE MULCTĀRUM AESTĬMĀTIŌNE (B.C. 430), fixed a money value according to which fines were paid, which formerly were paid in sheep and cattle. Some writers make this valuation part of the Aternian law [[Aternia Tarpeia]], but in this they appear to have been mistaken.

PĂPĪRIA, by which the as was made semuncialis, one of the various enactments which tampered with the coinage.

PĂPĪRĬA, B.C. 332, proposed by the praetor Papirius, gave the Acerrani the civitas without the suffragium. It was properly a privilegium, but is useful as illustrating the history of the extension of the civitas Romana.

PĂPĪRĬA, of uncertain date, enacted that no aedes should be declared consecratae without a plebiscitum.

PĂPĪRIA PLAUTĬA, a plebiscitum of the year B.C. 89, proposed by the tribunes C. Papirius Carbo and M. Plautius Silvanus, in the consulship of Cn. Pompeius Strabo and L. Porcius Cato, is called by Cicero a lex of Silvanus and Carbo. [See [Civitas]; [Foederatae Civitates].]

PĂPĪRIA POETELĬA. [[Lex Poetelia].]

PĂPĪRIA TĂBELLĀRĬA. [[Leges Tabellariae].]

PĔDĬA, relating to the murderers of Caesar.

PĒDŪCAEA, B.C. 113, a plebiscitum, seems to have been merely a privilegium, and not a general law against incestum.

PESULĀNĬA, provided that if an animal did any damage, the owner should make it good, or give up the animal.

PĔTILLĬA, De Pecunia Regis Antiochi. (Liv. xxxviii. 54.)

PETRĒIA, de decimatione militum, in case of mutiny.

PETRŌNĬA, probably passed in the time of Augustus, and subsequently amended by various senatusconsulta, forbade a master to deliver up his slave to fight with wild beasts.

PĪNĀRĬ, related to the giving of a judex within a limited time.

PLAETŌRĬA. [[Curator].]

PLAUTĬA or PLŎTIA DE VI. [[Vis].]

PLAUTIA or PLŌTIA JŪDĬCĬĀRIA, enacted that fifteen persons should be annually taken from each tribe to be placed in the Album Judicum.

PLAUTIA ET PLŌTIA DE RĔDĬTU LĔPĬDĀNORUM. (Suet. Caes. 5.)

POETELĬA, B.C. 358, a plebiscitum, was the first lex against ambitus.

POETELIA PĂPĪRIA, B.C. 326, made an important change in the liabilities of the Nexi.

POMPĒIAE. There were various leges so called.

De Civitate, proposed by Cn. Pompeius Strabo, the father of Cn. Pompeius Magnus, probably in his consulship B.C. 89, gave the jus Latii or Latinitas to all the towns of the Transpadani, and probably the civitas to the Cispadani.

De Ambitu. [[Ambitus].]

De Imperio Caesari Prorogando. (Vell. Pat. ii. 46; Appian, B.C. ii. 18.)

Judiciaria. [[Judex], [p. 217], a.]

De Jure Magistratuum, forbade a person to be a candidate for public offices (petitio honorum) who was not at Rome; but J. Caesar was excepted. This was doubtless the old law, but it had apparently become obsolete.

De Parricidiis. [[Parricidium].]

Tribunitia (B.C. 70), restored the old tribunitia potestas, which Sulla had nearly destroyed. [[Tribuni].]

De Vi, was a privilegium, and only referred to the case of Milo.

PORCĬAE DE CĂPĬTE CĪVĬUM, or DE PRŌVŎCĀTIŌNE, enacted that no Roman citizen should be scourged or put to death.

PORCIA DE PRŌVINCIIS, about B.C. 198, the enactments of which are doubtful.

PUBLĬCĬA, permitted betting at certain games which required strength.

PUBLĪLĬA. In the consulship of L. Pinarius and P. Furius, B.C. 471, the tribune Publilius Volero proposed, in the assembly of the tribes, that the tribunes should in future be appointed in the comitia of the tribes (ut plebeii magistratus tributis comitiis fierent), instead of by the centuries, as had formerly been the case; since the clients of the patricians were so numerous in the centuries, that the plebeians could not elect whom they wished. This measure was violently opposed by the patricians, who prevented the tribes from coming to any resolution respecting it throughout this year; but in the following year, B.C. 471, Publilius was re-elected tribune, and together with him C. Laetorius, a man of still greater resolution than Publilius. Fresh measures were added to the former proposition: the aediles were to be chosen by the tribes, as well as the tribunes, and the tribes were to be competent to deliberate and determine on all matters affecting the whole nation, and not such only as might concern the plebes. This proposition, though still more violently resisted by the patricians than the one of the previous year, was carried. Some said that the number of the tribunes was now for the first time raised to five, having been only two previously.

PUBLĪLĬAE, proposed by the dictator Q. Publilius Philo, B.C. 339. According to Livy, there were three Publiliae Leges. 1. The first is said to have enacted, that plebiscita should bind all Quirites, which is to the same purport as the Lex Hortensia of B.C. 286. It is probable, however, that the object of this law was to render the approval of the senate a sufficient confirmation of a plebiscitum, and to make the confirmation of the curiae unnecessary. 2. The second law enacted, ut legum quae comitiis centuriatis ferrerentur ante initum suffragium patres auctores fierent. By patres Livy here means the curiae; and accordingly this law made the confirmation of the curiae a mere formality in reference to all laws submitted to the comitia centuriata, since every law proposed by the senate to the centuries was to be considered to have the sanction of the curiae also. 3. The third law enacted that one of the two censors should necessarily be a plebeian. It is probable that there was also a fourth law, which applied the Licinian law to the praetorship as well as to the censorship, and which provided that in each alternate year the praetor should be a plebeian.

PŪPĬA, mentioned by Cicero, seems to have enacted that the senate could not meet on comitiales dies.

QUINTĬA, was a lex proposed by T. Quintius Crispinus, consul B.C. 9, for the preservation of the aquaeductus.

RĒGĬA. A Lex Regia during the kingly period of Roman history might have a two-fold meaning. In the first place it was a law which had been passed by the comitia under the presidency of the king, and was thus distinguished from a Lex Tribunicia, which was passed by the comitia under the presidency of the tribunus celerum. In later times all laws, the origin of which was attributed to the time of the kings, were called Leges Regiae, though it by no means follows that they were all passed under the presidency of the kings, and much less, that they were enacted by the kings without the sanction of the curies. Some of these laws were preserved and followed at a very late period of Roman history. A collection of them was made, though at what time is uncertain, by Papisius or Papirius, and this compilation was called the Jus Civile Papirianum or Papisianum. The second meaning of Lex Regia during the kingly period was undoubtedly the same as that of the Lex Curiata de Imperio. [[Imperium].] This indeed is not mentioned by any ancient writer, but must be inferred from the Lex Regia which we meet with under the empire, for the name could scarcely have been invented then; it must have come down from early times, when its meaning was similar, though not nearly so extensive. During the empire the curies continued to hold their meetings, though they were only a shadow of those of former times; and after the election of a new emperor, they conferred upon him the imperium in the ancient form by a Lex Curiata de Imperio, which was now usually called Lex Regia. The imperium, however, which this Regia Lex conferred upon an emperor, was of a very different nature from that which in former times it had conferred upon the kings. It now embraced all the rights and powers which the populus Romanus had formerly possessed, so that the emperor became what formerly the populus had been, that is, the sovereign power in the state. A fragment of such a lex regia, conferring the imperium upon Vespasian, engraved upon a brazen table, is still extant in the Lateran at Rome.

REMNĬA. [[Calumnia].]

RĔPĔTUNDĀRUM. [[Repetundae].]

RHŎDĬA. The Rhodians had a maritime code which was highly esteemed. Some of its provisions were adopted by the Romans, and have thus been incorporated into the maritime law of European states. It was not, however, a lex in the proper sense of the term.

ROSCĬA THEĀTRĀLIS, proposed by the tribune L. Roscius Otho, B.C. 67, which gave the equites a special place at the public spectacles in fourteen rows or seats (in quatuordecim gradibus sive ordinibus) next to the place of the senators, which was in the orchestra. This lex also assigned a certain place to spendthrifts. The phrase sedere in quatuordecim ordinibus is equivalent to having the proper census equestris which was required by the lex. There are numerous allusions to this lex, which is sometimes simply called the Lex of Otho, or referred to by his name. It is erroneously supposed by some writers to have been enacted in the consulship of Cicero, B.C. 63.

RUBRĬA. The province of Gallia Cisalpina ceased to be a provincia, and became a part of Italia, about the year B.C. 43. When this change took place, it was necessary to provide for the administration of justice, as the usual modes of provincial administration would cease with the determination of the provincial form of government. This was effected by a lex, a large part of which, on a bronze tablet, is preserved in the Museum at Parma. The name of this lex is not known, but it is supposed by some to be the Lex Rubria.

RŬPĬLĬAE LĒGES (B.C. 131), were the regulations established by P. Rupilius, and ten legati, for the administration of the province of Sicily, after the close of the first servile war. They were made in pursuance of a consultum of the senate. Cicero speaks of these regulations as a decretum of Rupilius, which he says they call Lex Rupilia; but it was not a lex proper. The powers given to the commissioners by the Lex Julia Municipalis were of a similar kind.

SĂCRĀTAE. Leges were properly so called which had for their object to make a thing or person sacer. A lex sacrata militaris is also mentioned by Livy.

SAENĬA DE PATRICIORUM NUMERO AUGENDO, enacted in the 5th consulship of Augustus.

SĂTŬRA. [[Lex], [p. 226], a.]

SCANTĪNĬA, proposed by a tribune; the date and contents are not known, but its object was to suppress unnatural crimes. It existed in the time of Cicero.

SCRĪBŌNĬA. The date and whole import of this lex are not known; but it enacted that a right to servitutes should not be acquired by usucapion.

SCRĪBŌNIA VĬĀRIA or DE VIIS MUNIENDIS, B.C. 51.

SEMPRŌNĬAE, the name of various laws proposed by Tiberius and Caius Sempronius Gracchus.

Agraria. In B.C. 133 the tribune Tib. Gracchus revived the Agrarian law of Licinius [[Leges Liciniae]]: he proposed that no one should possess more than 500 jugera of the public land, and that the surplus land should be divided among the poor citizens, who were not to have the power of alienating it: he also proposed, as a compensation to the possessors deprived of the land on which they had frequently made improvements, that the former possessors should have the full ownership of 500 jugera, and each of their sons, if they had any, half that quantity: finally, that three commissioners (triumviri) should be appointed every year to carry the law into effect. This law naturally met with the greatest opposition, but it was eventually passed in the year in which it was proposed, and Tib. Gracchus, C. Gracchus, and Appius Claudius were the three commissioners appointed under it. It was, however, never carried fully into effect, in consequence of the murder of Tib. Gracchus. Owing to the difficulties which were experienced in carrying his brother’s agrarian law into effect, it was again brought forward by C. Gracchus, B.C. 123.

De Capite Civium Romanorum, proposed by C. Gracchus B.C. 123, enacted that the people only should decide respecting the caput or civil condition of a citizen. This law continued in force till the latest times of the republic.

Frumentaria, proposed by C. Gracchus B.C. 123, enacted that corn should be sold by the state to the people once a month at the price of 6⅓ asses for each modius, which was equal to 1 gallon and nearly 8 pints English. This was only a trifle more than half the market price.

Judiciaria. [[Judex], [p. 216].]

Militaris, proposed by C. Gracchus B.C. 123, enacted that the soldiers should receive their clothing gratis, and that no one should be enrolled as a soldier under the age of seventeen. Previously a fixed sum was deducted from the pay for all clothes and arms issued to the soldiers.

Ne quis Judicio circumveniretur, proposed by C. Gracchus, B.C. 123, punished all who conspired to obtain the condemnation of a person in a judicium publicum. One of the provisions of the Lex Cornelia de Sicariis was to the same effect.

De Provinciis Consularibus, proposed by C. Gracchus B.C. 123, enacted that the senate should fix each year, before the comitia for electing the consuls were held, the two provinces which were to be allotted to the two new consuls. There was also a Sempronian law concerning the province of Asia, which probably did not form part of the Lex de Provinciis Consularibus: it enacted that the taxes of this province should be let out to farm by the censors at Rome. This law was afterwards repealed by J. Caesar.

SEMPRŌNIA DE FĒNŎRE, B.C. 193, was a plebiscitum proposed by a tribune, M. Sempronius, which enacted that the law (jus) about money lent (pecunia credita) should be the same for the Socii and Latini (Socii ac nomen Latinum) as for Roman citizens. The object of the lex was to prevent Romans from lending money in the name of the Socii, who were not bound by the fenebres leges. The lex could obviously only apply within the jurisdiction of Rome.

SERVĪLĬA AGRĀRIA, proposed by the tribune P. S. Rullus in the consulship of Cicero, B.C. 63, was a very extensive agrarian rogatio. It was successfully opposed by Cicero; but it was in substance carried by J. Caesar, B.C. 59 [[Lex Julia Agraria]], and is the lex called by Cicero Lex Campana, from the public land called ager campanus being assigned under this lex.

SERVĪLĬA GLAUCIA DE CĪVĬTĀTE. [[Repetundae].]

SERVĪLIA GLAUCIA DE RĔPĔTUNDIS. [[Repetundae].]

SERVĪLIA JŪDĬCĬĀRIA, B.C. 106. [[Judex], [p. 216].] It is assumed by some writers that a lex of the tribune Servius Glaucia repealed the Servilia Judiciaria two years after its enactment.

SĪLĬA, relating to Publica Pondera.

SILVĀNI ET CARBŌNIS. [[Lex Papiria Plautia].]

SULPĬCĬAE, proposed by the tribune P. Sulpicius Rufus, a supporter of Marius, B.C. 88, enacted the recall of the exiles, the distribution of the new citizens and the libertini among the thirty-five tribes, that the command in the Mithridatic war should be taken from Sulla and given to Marius, and that a senator should not contract debt to the amount of more than 2000 denarii. The last enactment may have been intended to expel persons from the senate who should get in debt. All these leges were repealed by Sulla.

SULPĬCĬA SEMPRŌNĬA, B.C. 304. No name is given to this lex by Livy, but it was probably proposed by the consuls. It prevented the dedicatio of a templum or altar without the consent of the senate or a majority of the tribunes.

SUMPTUĀRĬAE, the name of various laws passed to prevent inordinate expense (sumptus) in banquets, dress, &c. In the states of antiquity it was considered the duty of government to put a check upon extravagance in the private expenses of persons, and among the Romans in particular we find traces of this in the laws attributed to the kings, and in the Twelve Tables. The censors, to whom was entrusted the disciplina or cura morum, punished by the nota censoria all persons guilty of what was then regarded as a luxurious mode of living; a great many instances of this kind are recorded. But as the love of luxury greatly increased with the foreign conquests of the republic and the growing wealth of the nation, various leges sumptuariae were passed at different times with the object of restraining it. These, however, as may be supposed, rarely accomplished their object, and in the latter times of the republic they were virtually repealed. The following list of them is arranged in chronological order:—

Oppia, proposed by the tribune C. Oppius in B.C. 215, enacted that no woman should have above half an ounce of gold, nor wear a dress of different colours, nor ride in a carriage in the city or in any town, or within a mile of it, unless on account of public sacrifices. This law was repealed twenty years afterwards, whence we frequently find the Lex Orchia mentioned as the first lex sumptuaria.

Orchia, proposed by the tribune C. Orchius in B.C. 181, limited the number of guests to be present at entertainments.

Fannia, proposed by the consul C. Fannius, B.C. 61, limited the sums which were to be spent on entertainments, and enacted that not more than 100 asses should be spent on certain festivals named in the lex, whence it is called centussis by Lucilius; that on ten other days in each month not more than 30 asses, and that on all other days not more than 10 asses, should be expended; also that no other fowl but one hen should be served up, and that not fattened for the purpose.

Didia, passed B.C. 143, extended the Lex Fannia to the whole of Italy, and enacted that not only those who gave entertainments which exceeded in expense what the law had prescribed, but also all who were present at such entertainments, should be liable to the penalties of the law. We are not, however, told in what these consisted.

Licinia, agreed in its chief provisions with the Lex Fannia, and was brought forward, we are told, that there might be the authority of a new law upon the subject, inasmuch as the Lex Fannia was beginning to be neglected. It allowed 200 asses to be spent on entertainments upon marriage days, and on other days the same as the Lex Fannia; also, that on ordinary days there should not be served up more than three pounds of fresh, and one pound of salt meat. It was probably passed in B.C. 103.

Cornelia, a law of the dictator Sulla, B.C. 81, was enacted on account of the neglect of the Fannian and Licinian Laws. Like these, it regulated the expenses of entertainments. Extravagance in funerals, which had been forbidden even in the Twelve Tables, was also restrained by a law of Sulla.

Aemilia, proposed by the consul Aemilius Lepidus, B.C. 78, did not limit the expenses of entertainments, but the kind and quantity of food that was to be used.

Antia, of uncertain date, proposed by Antius Resto, besides limiting the expenses of entertainments, enacted that no actual magistrate, or magistrate elect, should dine abroad anywhere except at the houses of certain persons. This law however was little observed; and we are told that Antius never dined out afterwards, that he might not see his own law violated.

Julia, proposed by the dictator C. Julius Caesar, enforced the former sumptuary laws respecting entertainments which had fallen into disuse. He stationed officers in the provision market to seize upon all eatables forbidden by the law, and sometimes sent lictors and soldiers to banquets to take everything which was not allowed by the law.

Julia, a lex of Augustus, allowed 200 sesterces to be expended upon festivals on dies profesti, 300 on those of the calends, ides, nones, and some other festive days, and 1000 upon marriage feasts. There was also an edict of Augustus or Tiberius, by which as much as from 300 to 2000 sesterces were allowed to be expended upon entertainments, the increase being made with the hope of securing thereby the observance of the law. Tiberius attempted to check extravagance in banquets; and a senatusconsultum was passed in his reign for the purpose of restraining luxury, which forbade gold vases to be employed, except for sacred purposes, and also prohibited the use of silk garments to men. This sumptuary law, however, was but little observed. Some regulations on the subject were also made by Nero and by succeeding emperors, but they appear to have been of little or no avail in checking the increasing love of luxury in dress and food.

TĂBELLĀRĬAE, the laws by which the ballot was introduced in voting in the comitia. As to the ancient mode of voting at Rome, see [Comitia], [p. 107].

Gabinia, proposed by the tribune Gabinius B.C. 139, introduced the ballot in the election of magistrates; whence Cicero calls the tabella vindex tacitae libertatis.

Cassia, proposed by the tribune L. Cassius Longinus B.C. 137, introduced the ballot in the judicium populi, or cases tried in the comitia by the whole body of the people, with the exception of cases of perduellio.

Papiria, proposed by the tribune C. Papirius Carbo, B.C. 131, introduced the ballot in the enactment and repeal of laws.

Caelia, proposed by C. Caelius Caldus, B.C. 107, introduced the ballot in cases of perduellio, which had been excepted in the Cassian law. There was also a law brought forward by Marius, B.C. 119, which, was intended to secure freedom and order in voting.

TARPĒIA ATERNĬA. [[Aternia Tarpeia].]

TĔRENTĪLĬA, proposed by the tribune C. Terentilius, B.C. 462, but not carried, was a rogatio which had for its object an amendment of the constitution, though in form it only attempted a limitation of the imperium consulare. This rogatio probably led to the subsequent legislation of the decemviri.

TESTĀMENTĀRĬAE. Various leges, such as the Cornelia, Falcidia, Furia, and Voconia, regulated testamentary dispositions.

THŎRĬA, passed B.C. 121, concerned the public land in Italy as far as the rivers Rubico and Macra, or all Italy except Cisalpine Gaul, the public land in the province of Africa, the public land in the territory of Corinth, and probably other public land besides. It relieved a great part of the public land of the land-tax (vectigal). Some considerable fragments of this lex have come down to us, engraved on the back part of the same bronze tablet which contained the Servilia Lex Judiciaria, and on Repetundae.

TĬTĬA, similar in its provisions to the Lex Publicia.

TĬTĬA, De Tutoribus. [[Julia et Titia].]

TRĒBONĬA, a plebiscitum proposed by L. Trebonius, B.C. 448, which enacted that if the ten tribunes were not chosen before the comitia were dissolved, those who were elected should not fill up the number (co-optare), but that the comitia should be continued till the ten were elected.

TRĒBŌNĬA DE PRŌVINCIIS CONSULĀRĬBUS. (Plut. Cat. Min. 43; Liv. Epit. 105.)

TRĬBŪNĬTĬA. (1) A law passed in the times of the kings under the presidency of the tribunus celerum, and was so called to distinguish it from one passed under the presidency of the king. [[Lex Regia].]—(2) Any law proposed by a tribune of the plebs.—(3) The law proposed by Pompey in B.C. 70, restoring to the tribunes of the plebs the power of which they had been deprived by Sulla.

TULLĬA DE AMBĬTU. [[Ambitus].]

TULLIA DE LĒGĀTIŌNE LĪBĔRA. [[Legatus], [p. 224].]

VĂLĔRĬAE, proposed by the consul P. Valerius Publicola, B.C. 508, enacted, 1. That whoever attempted to obtain possession of royal power should be devoted to the gods, together with his substance. 2. That whoever was condemned by the sentence of a magistrate to be put to death, to be scourged, or to be fined, should possess the right of appeal (provocatio) to the people. The patricians possessed previously the right of appeal from the sentence of a magistrate to their own council the curiae, and therefore this law of Valerius probably related only to the plebeians, to whom it gave the right of appeal to the plebeian tribes, and not to the centuries. Hence the laws proposed by the Valerian family respecting the right of appeal are always spoken of as one of the chief safeguards of the liberty of the plebs. The right of appeal did not extend beyond a mile from the city, where unlimited imperium began, to which the patricians were just as much subject as the plebeians.

VĂLĔRĬAE ET HŎRĀTĬAE, three laws proposed by the consuls L. Valerius and M. Horatius, B.C. 449, in the year after the decemvirate, enacted, 1. That a plebiscitum should be binding on the whole people, respecting the meaning of which expression, see [Plebiscitum]. 2. That whoever should procure the election of a magistrate without appeal should be outlawed, and might be killed by any one with impunity. 3. Renewed the penalty threatened against any one who should harm the tribunes and the aediles, to whom were now added the judices and decemviri. There is considerable doubt as to who are meant by the judices and decemviri.

VĂLĔRĬA, proposed by the consul M. Valerius, B.C. 300, re-enacted for the third time the celebrated law of his family respecting appeal (provocatio) from the decision of a magistrate. The law specified no fixed penalty for its violation, leaving the judges to determine what the punishment should be.

VĂRĬA. [[Majestas].]

VĂTĪNĬA DE PRŌVINCIIS, was the enactment by which Julius Caesar obtained the province of Gallia Cisalpina with Illyricum for five years, to which the senate added Gallia Transalpina. This plebiscitum was proposed by the tribune Vatinius. A Trebonia Lex subsequently prolonged Caesar’s imperium for five years.

VĂTĪNĬA DE CŎLŌNIS, under which the Latina Colonia [[Latinitas]] of Novum-Comum in Gallia Cisalpina was planted, B.C. 59.

VĂTĪNIA DE REJECTIŌNE JŪDĬCUM. (Cic. in Vatin. 11.)

DE VI. [[Vis].]

VĬĀRĬA. A viaria lex which Cicero says the tribune C. Curio talked of; but nothing more seems to be known of it. Some modern writers speak of leges viariae, but there do not appear to be any leges properly so called. The provisions as to roads in many of the Agrarian laws were parts of such leges, and had no special reference to roads.

VISELLĬA, made a Latinus who assumed the rights of an ingenuus liable to prosecution.

VILLĬA ANNĀLIS. [[Lex Annalis].]

VŎCŌNIA, enacted on the proposal of Q. Voconius Saxa, a tribunus plebis, B.C. 169. One provision of the lex was, that no person who should be rated in the census at 100,000 sesterces (centum millia aeris) after the census of that year, should make any female (virginem neve mulierem) his heres. The lex allowed no exceptions, even in favour of an only daughter. It applied simply to testaments, and therefore a daughter or other female could inherit ab intestato to any amount. The vestal virgins could make women their heredes in all cases, which was the only exception to the provisions of the lex. Another provision of the lex forbade a person who was included in the census to give more in amount, in the form of a legacy to any person, than the heres or heredes should take. This provision secured something to the heres or heredes, but still the provision was ineffectual, and the object of the lex was only accomplished by the Lex Falcidia, B.C. 44, which enacted that a testator should not give more than three-fourths in legacies, thus securing a fourth to the heres.

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LĪBELLA, a small Roman silver coin, which existed in the early age of the city. The name was retained later as a proverbial expression for a very small value. The libella was equal in value to the old full-weight as; and it seems most probable that the coin ceased being struck at the time of the reduction of the as, on account of the inconveniently small size which it would have assumed. The libella was subdivided into the sembella, its half, and the teruncius, its quarter. Cicero uses these words to express fractions of an estate, with reference to the denarius as the unit, the libella signifying 1-10th, and the teruncius 1-40th of the whole.

LĬBELLUS, the diminutive form of liber, signifies properly a little book. It was distinguished from other kinds of writings, by being written like our books by pages, whereas other writings were written transversa charta. It was used by the Romans as a technical term in the following cases:—1. Libelli accusatorum or accusatorii, the written accusations which in some cases a plaintiff, after having received the permission to bring an action against a person, drew up, signed, and sent to the judicial authorities. 2. Libelli famosi, libels or pasquinades, intended to injure the character of persons. A law of the Twelve Tables inflicted very severe punishments on those who composed defamatory writings. 3. Libellus memorialis, a pocket or memorandum book. 4. Libellus is used by the Roman jurists as equivalent to Oratio Principis. 5. The word libellus was also applied to a variety of writings, which in most cases probably consisted of one page only; such as short letters, advertisements, &c.

Ancient Writing Materials. (From a Painting at Herculaneum.)

LĬBER (βιβλίον), a book. The most common material on which books were written by the Greeks and Romans, was the thin coats or rind (liber, whence the Latin name for a book) of the Egyptian papyrus. This plant was called by the Egyptians Byblos (βύβλος), whence the Greeks derived their name for a book (βιβλίον). The papyrus-tree grows in swamps to the height of ten feet and more, and paper (charta) was prepared from the thin coats or pellicles which surround the plant. Next to the papyrus, parchment (membrana) was the most common material for writing upon. It is said to have been invented by Eumenes II. king of Pergamus, in consequence of the prohibition of the export of papyrus from Egypt by Ptolemy Epiphanes. It is probable, however, that Eumenes introduced only some improvement in the manufacture of parchment, as Herodotus mentions writing on skins as common in his time, and says that the Ionians had been accustomed to give the name of skins (διφθέραι) to books. The ancients wrote usually on only one side of the paper or parchment. The back of the paper, instead of being written upon, was usually stained with saffron colour or the cedrus, which produced a yellow colour. As paper and parchment were dear, it was frequently the custom to erase or wash out writing of little importance, and to write upon the paper or parchment again, which was then called Palimpsestus (παλιμψήστος). The paper or parchment was joined together so as to form one sheet, and when the work was finished, it was rolled on a staff, whence it was called a volumen; and hence we have the expression evolvere librum. When an author divided a work into several books, it was usual to include only one book in a volume or roll, so that there was generally the same number of volumes as of books. In the papyri rolls found at Herculaneum, the stick on which the papyrus is rolled does not project from the papyrus, but is concealed by it. Usually, however, there were balls or bosses, ornamented or painted, called umbilici or cornua, which were fastened at each end of the stick and projected from the papyrus. The ends of the roll were carefully cut, polished with pumice-stone and coloured black; they were called the geminae frontes. The way in which a book was held while reading is shown in the following cut, taken from a painting at Herculaneum. To protect the roll from injury it was frequently put into a parchment case, which was stained with a purple colour or with the yellow of the Lutum. The title of the book (titulus, index) was written on a small strip of papyrus or parchment with a light red colour (coccum or minium).

Book held by a crowned Poet. (From a Painting at Herculaneum.)

LĪBĔRĀLĬA. [[Dionysia].]

LĪBĔRI. [[Ingenui]; [Libertus].]

LĪBERTUS, LĪBERTĪNUS. Freemen (liberi) were either Ingenui [[Ingenui]] or Libertini. Libertini were those persons who had been released from legal servitude. A manumitted slave was Libertus (that is, liberatus) with reference to his master; with reference to the class to which he belonged after manumission, he was Libertinus. Respecting the mode in which a slave was manumitted, and his status after manumission, see [Manumissio].—At Athens, a liberated slave was called ἀπελεύθερος. When manumitted he did not obtain the citizenship, but was regarded as a metoicus [[Metoicus]], and, as such, he had to pay not only the metoicion μετοίκιον but a triobolon in addition to it. His former master became his patron προστάτης to whom he owed certain duties.

LĬBĬTĪNĀRĬI. [[Funus].]

LĪBRA, dim. LĪBELLA σταθμός, a balance, a pair of scales. The principal parts of this instrument were, 1. The beam (jugum). 2. The two scales, called in Greek τάλαντα, and in Latin lances. The beam was made without a tongue, being held by a ring or other appendage (ligula, ῥῦμα) fixed in the centre.

LĪBRA or AS, a pound, the unit of weight among the Romans and Italians. The uncial division, which has been noticed in speaking of the coin As, was also applied to the weight.—(See [Tables] at the end.) The divisions of the ounce are given under [Uncia]. Where the word pondo, or its abbreviations P. or POND., occur with a simple number, the weight understood is the libra. The name libra was also given to a measure of horn, divided into twelve equal parts (unciae) by lines marked on it, and used for measuring oil.

LIBRĀRĬI, the name of slaves, who were employed by their masters in writing or copying, sometimes called antiquarii. They must be distinguished from the Scribae publici, who were freemen [[Scribae]], and also from the booksellers [[Bibliopola]], to both of whom this name was also applied.

LĪBRĀTOR, in general a person who examines things by a LIBRA; but specially applied to two kinds of persons.—(1) Libratores aquae, persons whose knowledge of hydrostatics was indispensable in the construction of aquaeducts, sewers, and other structures for the purpose of conveying a fluid from one place to another.—(2) Libratores in the armies were probably soldiers who attacked the enemy by hurling with their own hands (librando) lances or spears against them.

LIBRĬPENS. [[Mancipium].]

LĬBURNA, LĬBURNĬCA, a light vessel, which derived its name from the Liburni. The ships of this people were of great assistance to Augustus at the battle of Actium; and experience having shown their efficiency, vessels of a similar kind were built and called by the name of the people.

LICTOR, a public officer, who attended on the chief Roman magistrates. The number which waited on the different magistrates is stated in the article [Fasces]. The office of lictor is said to have been derived by Romulus from the Etruscans. The lictors went before the magistrates one by one in a line; he who went last or next to the magistrate was called proximus lictor, to whom the magistrate gave his commands; and as this lictor was always the principal one, we also find him called primus lictor. The lictors had to inflict punishment on those who were condemned, especially in the case of Roman citizens; for foreigners and slaves were punished by the Carnifex; and they also probably had to assist in some cases in the execution of a decree or judgment in a civil suit. The lictors likewise commanded persons to pay proper respect to a magistrate passing by, which consisted in dismounting from horseback, uncovering the head, standing out of the way, &c. The lictors were originally chosen from the plebs, but afterwards appear to have been generally freedmen, probably of the magistrate on whom they attended. Lictors were properly only granted to those magistrates who had the Imperium. Consequently, the tribunes of the plebs never had lictors, nor several of the other magistrates. Sometimes, however, lictors were granted to persons as a mark of respect or for the sake of protection. Thus by a law of the Triumvirs every vestal virgin was accompanied by a lictor, whenever she went out, and the honour of one or two lictors was usually granted to the wives and other female members of the Imperial family. There were also thirty lictors called Lictores Curiati, whose duty it was to summon the curiae to the comitia curiata; and when these meetings became little more than a form, their suffrages were represented by the thirty lictors.

LĬGŬLA, a Roman measure of fluid capacity, containing one-fourth of the [Cyathus]. It signifies a spoonful, like cochlear; only the ligula was larger than the cochlear. The spoon which was called ligula, or lingula (dim. of lingua) from its shape, was used for various purposes, especially to clean out small and narrow vessels, and to eat jellies and such things. The word is also used for the leather tongue of a shoe.

LĪMEN. [[Janua].]

LINTER, a light boat, frequently formed of the trunk of a tree, and drawing little water.

LĬTHOSTRŌTA. [[Domus], [p. 144].]

LITRA λίτρα, a Sicilian silver coin, equal in value to the Aeginetan obol.

Lituus, Augur’s Staff. (Centre figure from an Etruscan sculpture; the two others are Roman coins.)

LĬTUUS, probably an Etruscan word signifying crooked.—(1) The crooked staff borne by the augurs, with which they divided the expanse of heaven, when viewed with reference to divination (templum), into regions (regiones).—(2) A sort of trumpet slightly curved at the extremity. It differed both from the tuba and the cornu, the former being straight, while the latter was bent round into a spiral shape. Its tones are usually characterised as harsh and shrill. The Liticines, or blowers on the Lituus, formed a Collegium along with the Cornicines. [[Cornu].]

Lituus, Trumpet. (From Fabretti.)

LIXAE. [[Calones].]

LŎCŬPLĒTES or ASSĬDŬI, the name of the Roman citizens included in the five classes of the Servian constitution, and opposed to the Proletarii.

LŌDIX, a small shaggy blanket. It was also used as a carpet.

LOGISTAE. [[Euthyne].]

Lorica, as worn by a Greek Warrior.
(From a Vase.)

Lorica, as worn by a Roman Emperor.
(Statue of Caligula in Louvre.)

LŌRĪCA (θώραξ), a cuirass. The cuirass was worn by the heavy-armed infantry both among the Greeks and Romans. The soldiers commonly wore cuirasses made of flexible bands of steel, or cuirasses of chain mail; but those of generals and officers usually consisted of two γύαλα, the breast-piece and back-piece, made of bronze, iron, &c., which were joined by means of buckles (περόναι). The epithets λεπιδωτός and φολιδωτός are applied to a cuirass; the former on account of its resemblance to the scales of fish (λεπίσιν), the latter to the scales of serpents (φολίσιν). Among the Asiatic nations the cuirass was frequently made of cotton, and among the Sarmatians and other northern nations of horn.

Lorica. λεπιδωτός.

Lorica. φολιδωτός.

LŪCAR. [[Histrio].]

LŪCĔRES. [[Tribus].]

Lucerna, lamp. (Museo Borbonico, vol. iv. pl. 10.)

LŬCERNA (λύχνος), an oil lamp. The Greeks and Romans originally used candles; but in later times candles were chiefly confined to the houses of the lower classes. [[Candela].] A great number of ancient lamps has come down to us; the greater part of which are made of terra cotta, but also a considerable number of bronze. Most of the lamps are of an oval form, and flat upon the top, on which there are frequently figures in relief. In the lamps there are one or more round holes, according to the number of wicks (ellychnia) burnt in them; and as these holes were called from an obvious analogy, μυκτῆρες or μύξαι, literally nostrils or nozzles, the lamp was also called Monomyxos, Dimyxos, Trimyxos, or Polymyxos, according as it contained one, two, three, or a greater number of nozzles or holes for the wicks. The following is an example of a dimyxos lucerna, upon which there is a winged boy with a goose. The next woodcut represents one of the most beautiful bronze lamps which has yet been found. Upon it is the figure of a standing Silenus. The lamps sometimes hung in chains from the ceiling of the room, but they generally stood upon a stand. [[Candelabrum].]

Lucerna lamp. (Museo Borbonico, vol. i. pl 10.)

LUCTA, LUCTĀTĬO (πάλη, πάλαισμα, παλαισμοσύνη, or καταβλητική), wrestling. The Greeks ascribed the invention of wrestling to mythical personages, and Hermes, the god of all gymnastic exercises, also presided over wrestling. In the Homeric age wrestling was much practised: during this period wrestlers contended naked, and only the loins were covered with the perizoma (περίζωμα), and this custom probably remained throughout Greece until Ol. 15, from which time the perizoma was no longer used, and wrestlers contended entirely naked. In the Homeric age the custom of anointing the body for the purpose of wrestling does not appear to have been known, but in the time of Solon it was quite general, and was said to have been adopted by the Cretans and Lacedaemonians at a very early period. After the body was anointed, it was strewed over with sand or dust, in order to enable the wrestlers to take a firm hold of each other. If one combatant threw the other down three times, the victory was decided. Wrestling was practised in all the great games of the Greeks. The most renowned wrestler was Milon, of Croton. [[Pancratium].]

LŪDI, the common name for the whole variety of games and contests which were held at Rome on various occasions, but chiefly at the festivals of the gods; and as the ludi at certain festivals formed the principal part of the solemnities, these festivals themselves are called ludi. Sometimes ludi were also held in honour of a magistrate or a deceased person, in which case they may be considered as ludi privati. All ludi were divided by the Romans into two classes, ludi circenses and ludi scenici, accordingly as they were held in the circus or in the theatre; in the latter case they were mostly theatrical representations with their various modifications; in the former they consisted of all or of a part of the games enumerated in the articles [Circus] and [Gladiatores]. Another division of the ludi into stati, imperativi, and votivi, is analogous to the division of the feriae. [[Feriae].] The superintendence of the games, and the solemnities connected with them, was in most cases intrusted to the aediles. [[Aediles].] If the lawful rites were not observed in the celebration of the ludi, it depended upon the decision of the pontiffs whether they were to be held again (instaurari) or not. An alphabetical list of the principal ludi is subjoined.

Ludi Apollinares were instituted at Rome during the second Punic war, after the battle of Cannae (212 B.C.), at the command of an oracle contained in the books of the ancient seer Marcius, in order to obtain the aid of Apollo. They were held every year under the superintendence of the praetor urbanus, and ten men sacrificed to Apollo, according to Greek rites, a bull with gilt horns and two white goats also with gilt horns, and to Latona a heifer with gilt horns. The games themselves were held in the Circus Maximus, the spectators were adorned with chaplets, and each citizen gave a contribution towards defraying the expenses. In B.C. 208, it was ordained that they should always be celebrated on the 6th of July.

Ludi Augustales. [[Augustales].]

Ludi Capitolini were instituted B.C. 387, after the departure of the Gauls from Rome, as a token of gratitude towards Jupiter Capitolinus, who had saved the Capitol in the hour of danger. The superintendence of the games was entrusted to a college of priests called Capitolini.

Ludi Circenses, Romani or Magni, were celebrated every year during several days, from the fourth to the twelfth of September, in honour of the three great divinities, Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, or, according to others, in honour of Jupiter, Consus, and Neptunus Equestris. They were superintended by the curule aediles. For further particulars see [Circus].

Ludi Compitalicii. [[Compitalia].]

Ludi Florales. [[Floralia].]

Ludi Funebres were games celebrated at the funeral pyre of illustrious persons. Such games are mentioned in the very early legends of the history of Greece and Rome, and they continued with various modifications until the introduction of Christianity. It was at such a ludus funebris, in B.C. 264, that gladiatorial fights were exhibited at Rome for the first time, which henceforwards were the most essential part in all funeral games. [[Gladiatores].]

Ludi Liberales. [[Dionysia].]

Ludi Megalenses. [[Megalesia].]

Ludi Plebeii were instituted probably in commemoration of the reconciliation between the patricians and plebeians after the first secession to the Mons Sacer, or, according to others, to the Aventine. They were held on the 16th, 17th, and 18th of November, and were conducted by the plebeian aediles.

Ludi Saeculares. During the time of the republic these games were called ludi Tarentini, Terentini, or Taurii, and it was not till the time of Augustus that they bore the name of ludi saeculares. The names Tarenti or Taurii are perhaps nothing but different forms of the same word, and of the same root as Tarquinius. There were various accounts respecting the origin of the games, yet all agree in stating that they were celebrated for the purpose of averting from the state some great calamity by which it had been afflicted, and that they were held in honour of Dis and Proserpina. From the time of the consul Valerius Publicola down to that of Augustus, the Tarentine games were held only three times, and again only on certain emergencies, and not at any fixed period, so that we must conclude that their celebration was in no way connected with certain cycles of time (saecula). Not long after Augustus had assumed the supreme power in the republic, the quindecimviri announced that according to their books ludi saeculares ought to be held, and at the same time tried to prove from history that in former times they had not only been celebrated repeatedly, but almost regularly once in every century. The festival, however, which was now held, was in reality very different from the ancient Tarentine games; for Dis and Proserpina, to whom formerly the festival belonged exclusively, were now the last in the list of the divinities in honour of whom the ludi saeculares were celebrated. The festival took place in summer, and lasted for three days and three nights. On the first day the games commenced in that part of the Campus Martius, Which had belonged to the last Tarquin, from whom it derived its name Tarentum, and sacrifices were offered to Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Minerva, Venus, Apollo, Mercury, Ceres, Vulcan, Mars, Diana, Vesta, Hercules, Latona, the Parcae, and to Dis and Proserpina. The solemnities began at the second hour of the night, and the emperor opened them by the river side with the sacrifice of three lambs to the Parcae upon three altars erected for the purpose, and which were sprinkled with the blood of the victims. The lambs themselves were burnt. A temporary scene like that of a theatre was erected in the Tarentum, and illuminated with lights and fires. In this scene festive hymns were sung by a chorus, and various other ceremonies, together with theatrical performances, took place. During the morning of the first day the people went to the Capitol to offer solemn sacrifices to Jupiter; thence they returned to the Tarentum, to sing choruses in honour of Apollo and Diana. On the second day the noblest matrons, at an hour fixed by an oracle, assembled in the Capitol, offered supplications, sang hymns to the gods, and also visited the altar of Juno. The emperor and the quindecimviri offered sacrifices which had been vowed before, to all the great divinities. On the third day Greek and Latin choruses were sung in the sanctuary of Apollo by three times nine boys and maidens of great beauty, whose parents were still alive. The object of these hymns was to implore the protection of the gods for all cities, towns, and officers of the empire. One of these hymns was the carmen saeculare by Horace, which was especially composed for the occasion and adapted to the circumstances of the time. During the whole of the three days and nights, games of every description were carried on in all the circuses and theatres, and sacrifices were offered in all the temples. The first celebration of the ludi saeculares in the reign of Augustus took place in the summer of B.C. 17.

Ludi Tarentini or Taurii. [[Ludi Saeculares].]

LŪDUS. [[Gladiatores].]

LŪDUS TRŌJAE. [[Circus].]

LŬPERCĀLĬA, one of the most ancient Roman festivals, which was celebrated every year in honour of Lupercus, the god of fertility. It was originally a shepherd-festival, and hence its introduction at Rome was connected with the names of Romulus and Remus, the kings of shepherds. It was held every year, on the 15th of February, in the Lupercal, where Romulus and Remus were said to have been nurtured by the she-wolf; the place contained an altar and a grove sacred to the god Lupercus. Here the Luperci assembled on the day of the Lupercalia, and sacrificed to the god goats and young dogs. Two youths of noble birth were then led to the Luperci, and one of the latter touched their foreheads with a sword dipped in the blood of the victims; other Luperci immediately after wiped off the bloody spots with wool dipped in milk. Hereupon the two youths were obliged to break out into a shout of laughter. This ceremony was probably a symbolical purification of the shepherds. After the sacrifice was over, the Luperci partook of a meal, at which they were plentifully supplied with wine. They then cut the skins of the goats which they had sacrificed, into pieces: with some of which they covered parts of their body in imitation of the god Lupercus, who was represented half naked and half covered with goatskin. The other pieces of the skins they cut in the shape of thongs, and holding them in their hands they ran with them through the streets of the city, touching or striking with them all persons whom they met in their way, and especially women, who even used to come forward voluntarily for the purpose, since they believed that this ceremony rendered them fruitful, and procured them an easy delivery in child-bearing. This act of running about with thongs of goatskin was a symbolic purification of the land, and that of touching persons a purification of men, for the words by which this act is designated are februare and lustrare. The goatskin itself was called februum, the festive day dies februata, the month in which it occurred Februarius, and the god himself Februus. The festival of the Lupercalia, though it necessarily lost its original import at the time when the Romans were no longer a nation of shepherds, was yet always observed in commemoration of the founders of the city. M. Antonius, in his consulship, was one of the Luperci, and not only ran with them half naked and covered with pieces of goatskin through the city, but even addressed the people in the forum in this rude attire.

LŬPERCI, the priests of the god Lupercus. They formed a college, the members of which were originally youths of patrician families, and which was said to have been instituted by Romulus and Remus. The college was divided into two classes, the one called Fabii or Fabiani, and the other Quinctilii or Quinctiliani. The office was not for life, but how long it lasted is not known. Julius Caesar added to the two classes of the college a third with the name of Julii or Juliani, and made Antonius their high-priest. He also assigned to them certain revenues (vectigalia) which were afterwards withdrawn from them.

LŬPUS FERREUS, the iron wolf used by the besieged in repelling the attacks of the besiegers, and especially in seizing the battering-ram and diverting its blows.

LUSTRĀTĬO (κάθαρσις) was originally a purification by ablution in water. But the lustrations of which we possess direct knowledge are always connected with sacrifices and other religious rites, and consisted in the sprinkling of water by means of a branch of laurel or olive, and at Rome sometimes by means of the aspergillum, and in the burning of certain materials, the smoke of which was thought to have a purifying effect. Whenever sacrifices were offered, it seems to have been customary to carry them around the person or thing to be purified. Lustrations were made in ancient Greece, and probably at Rome also, by private individuals when they had polluted themselves by any criminal action. Whole cities and states also sometimes underwent purifications to expiate the crime or crimes committed by a member of the community. The most celebrated purification of this kind was that of Athens, performed by Epimenides of Crete, after the Cylonian massacre. Purification also took place when a sacred spot had been unhallowed by profane use, as by burying dead bodies in it, as was the case with the island of Delos. The Romans performed lustrations on many occasions, on which the Greeks did not think of them; and the object of most Roman lustrations was not to atone for the commission of crime, but to obtain the blessing of the gods upon the persons or things which were lustrated. Thus fields were purified after the business of sowing was over, and before the sickle was put to the corn. [[Arvales Fratres].] Sheep were purified every year at the festival of the Palilia. All Roman armies before they took the field were lustrated; and as the solemnity was probably always connected with a review of the troops, the word lustratio is also used in the sense of the modern review. The establishment of a new colony was always preceded by a lustratio with solemn sacrifices. The city of Rome itself, as well as other towns within its dominion, always underwent a lustratio after they had been visited by some great calamity, such as civil bloodshed, awful prodigies, and the like. A regular and general lustratio of the whole Roman people took place after the completion of every lustrum, when the censor had finished his census and before he laid down his office. This lustratio (also called lustrum) was conducted by one of the censors, and held with sacrifices called Suovetaurilia, because the sacrifices consisted of a pig (or ram), a sheep, and an ox. It took place in the Campus Martius, where the people assembled for the purpose. The sacrifices were carried three times around the assembled multitude.

LUSTRUM (from luo, Gr. λούω) is properly speaking a lustration or purification, and in particular the purification of the whole Roman people performed by one of the censors in the Campus Martius, after the business of the census was over. [[Census]; [Lustratio].] As this purification took place only once in five years, the word lustrum was also used to designate the time between two lustra. The first lustrum was performed in B.C. 566, by king Servius, after he had completed his census, and it is said to have taken place subsequently every five years, after the census was over. The census might be held without the lustrum, and indeed two cases of this kind are recorded which happened in B.C. 459 and 214. In these cases the lustrum was not performed on account of some great calamities which had befallen the republic. The time when the lustrum took place has been very ingeniously defined by Niebuhr. Six ancient Romulian years of 304 days each were, with the difference of one day, equal to five solar years of 365 days each, or the six ancient years made 1824 days, while the five solar years contained 1825 days. The lustrum, or the great year of the ancient Romans, was thus a cycle, at the end of which the beginning of the ancient year nearly coincided with that of the solar year. As the coincidence, however, was not perfect, a month of 24 days was intercalated in every eleventh lustrum. Now it is highly probable that the recurrence of such a cycle or great year was, from the earliest times, solemnised with sacrifices and purifications, and that Servius Tullius did not introduce them, but merely connected them with his census, and thus set the example for subsequent ages. Many writers of the latter period of the republic and during the empire, use the word lustrum for any space of five years, and without any regard to the census, while others even apply it in the sense of the Greek pentaeteris or an Olympiad, which contained only four years.

LỸCAEA (λύκαια), a festival with contests, celebrated by the Arcadians in honour of Zeus surnamed Λυκαῖος. It was said to have been instituted by the ancient hero Lycaon, the son of Pelasgus, who is also said, instead of the cakes which had formerly been offered to the god, to have sacrificed a child to Zeus, and to have sprinkled the altar with its blood.

Lyre with four strings, from a Lycian coin. (Cabinet of Sir Charles Fellows.)

Lyre with seven strings, from a coin of Chalcis. (British Museum.)

LỸRA (λύρα, Lat. fides), a lyre, one of the most ancient musical instruments of the stringed kind. The Greeks attributed the invention of the lyre to Hermes, who is said to have formed the instrument of a tortoise-shell, over which he placed gut-strings. The name λύρα, however, does not occur in the Homeric poems, and the ancient lyre, called in Homer phorminx (φόρμιγξ) and citharis (κίθαρις), seems rather to have resembled the cithara of later times, which was in some respects like a modern guitar. In the cithara the strings were drawn across the bottom, whereas in the lyra of ancient times they were free on both sides. The lyre is also called χέλυς or χελώνη, and in Latin testudo, because it was made of a tortoise-shell. The lyre had originally three or four strings, but after the time of Terpander of Antissa (about B.C. 650), who is said to have added three more, it was generally made with seven. The ancients, however, made use of a variety of lyres; and about the time of Sappho and Anacreon several stringed instruments, such as magadis, barbiton, and others, were used in Greece, and especially in Lesbos. They had been introduced from Asia Minor, and their number of strings far exceeded that of the lyre, for we know that some had even twenty strings, so that they must have more resembled a modern harp than a lyre. But the lyra and cithara had in most cases no more than seven strings. The lyre had a great and full-sounding bottom, which continued as before to be made generally of tortoise-shell, from which the horns rose as from the head of a stag. A transverse piece of wood connecting the two horns at or near their top-ends served to fasten the strings, and was called ζύγον, and in Latin transtillum. The horns were called πήχεις or cornua. These instruments were often adorned in the most costly manner with gold and ivory. The lyre was considered as a more manly instrument than the cithara, which, on account of its smaller-sounding bottom, excluded full-sounding and deep tones, and was more calculated for the middle tones. The lyre when played stood in an upright position between the knees, while the cithara stood upon the knees of the player. Both instruments were held with the left hand, and played with the right. It has generally been supposed that the strings of these instruments were always touched with a little staff called plectrum (πλῆκτρον), but among the paintings discovered at Herculaneum we find several instances where the persons play the lyre with their fingers. The lyre was at all times only played as an accompaniment to songs. The Latin name fides, which was used for a lyre as well as a cithara, is probably the same as the Greek σφίδες, which signifies gut-string. The lyre (cithara or phorminx) was at first used in the recitations of epic poetry, though it was probably not played during the recitation itself, but only as a prelude before the minstrel commenced his story, and in the intervals or pauses between the several parts. The lyre has given its name to a species of poetry called lyric; this kind of poetry was originally never recited or sung without the accompaniment of the lyre, and sometimes also of an appropriate dance.

Anacreon playing the lyre. (Vase-painting in the British Museum.)