A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

by William Smith

S

SACCUS (σάκκος) signified in general any kind of sack or bag made of hair, cloth, or other materials. We have only to notice here its meaning as—(1) A head-dress. [[Coma].]—(2) A sieve for straining wine. [[Colum].]—(3) A purse for holding money. Hence the phrase in Plautus ire ad saccum, “to go a begging.”

SĂCELLUM is a diminutive of sacer, and signifies a small place consecrated to a god, containing an altar, and sometimes also a statue of the god to whom it was dedicated, but it was without a roof. It was therefore a sacred inclosure surrounded by a fence or wall, and thus answered to the Greek περίβολος.

SĂCERDOS, SĂCERDŌTĬUM. As all the different kinds of priests are treated of separately in this work, it is only necessary here to make some general remarks. In comparison with the civil magistrates, all priests at Rome were regarded as homines privati, though all of them, as priests, were sacerdotes publici, in as far as their office (sacerdotium) was connected with any worship recognised by the state. The appellation of sacerdos publicus was, however, given principally to the chief pontiff and the flamen dialis, who were at the same time the only priests who were members of the senate by virtue of their office. All priestly offices or sacerdotia were held for life, without responsibility to any civil magistrate. A priest was generally allowed to hold any other civil or military office besides his priestly dignity; some priests, however, formed an exception, for the duumviri, the rex sacrorum, and the flamen dialis were not allowed to hold any state office, and were also exempt from service in the armies. Their priestly character was, generally speaking, inseparable from their person as long as they lived: hence the augurs and fratres arvales retained their character even when sent into exile, or when they were taken prisoners. It also occurs that one and the same person held two or three priestly offices at a time. Thus we find the three dignities of pontifex maximus, augur, and decemvir sacrorum united in one individual. Bodily defects incapacitated a person at Rome, as among all ancient nations, from holding any priestly office. All priests were originally patricians, but from the year B.C. 367 the plebeians also began to take part in the sacerdotia [[Plebes]]; and those priestly offices which down to the latest times remained in the hands of the patricians alone, such as that of the rex sacrorum, the flamines, salii, and others, had no influence upon the affairs of the state. As regards the appointment of priests, the ancients unanimously state, that at first they were appointed by the kings, but after the sacerdotia were once instituted, each college of priests—for nearly all priests constituted certain corporations called collegia—had the right of filling up, by cooptatio, the vacancies which occurred. [[Pontifex].] Other priests, on the contrary, such as the vestal virgins and the flamines, were appointed (capiebantur) by the pontifex maximus, a rule which appears to have been observed down to the latest times; others again, such as the duumviri sacrorum, were elected by the people, or by the curiae, as the curiones. But in whatever manner they were appointed, all priests after their appointment required to be inaugurated by the pontiffs and the augurs, or by the latter alone. Those priests who formed colleges had originally, as we have already observed, the right of cooptatio; but in the course of time they were deprived of this right, or at least the cooptatio was reduced to a mere form, by several leges, called leges de sacerdotiis, such as the Lex Domitia, Cornelia, and Julia; their nature is described in the article [Pontifex], and what is there said in regard to the appointment of pontiffs applies equally to all the other colleges. All priests had some external distinction, as the apex, tutulus, or galerus, the toga praetexta, as well as honorary seats in the theatres, circuses, and amphitheatres. Most of the priestly colleges possessed landed property, and some priests had also a regular annual salary (stipendium), which was paid to them from the public treasury. This is expressly stated in regard to the vestal virgins, the augurs, and the curiones, and may therefore be supposed to have been the case with other priests also. The pontifex maximus, the rex sacrorum, and the vestal virgins had moreover a domus publica as their place of residence.

SACRA. This word, in its widest sense, expresses what we call divine worship. In ancient times, the state, as well as all its subdivisions, had their own peculiar forms of worship, whence at Rome we find sacra of the whole Roman people, of the curies, gentes, families, and even of private individuals. All these sacra, however, were divided into two great classes, the public and private sacra (sacra publica et privata), that is, they were performed either on behalf of the whole nation, and at the expense of the state, or on behalf of individuals, families, or gentes, which had also to defray their expenses. This division is ascribed to Numa. All sacra, publica as well as privata, were superintended and regulated by the pontiffs.

SACRĀMENTUM, the military oath, which was administered in the following manner:—Each tribunus militum assembled his legion, and picked out one of the men, to whom he put the oath, that he would obey the commands of his generals, and execute them punctually. The other men then came forward, one after another, and repeated the same oath, saying that they would do like the first.

SACRĀRĬUM was any place in which sacred things were deposited and kept, whether this place was a part of a temple or of a private house.

SACRIFĬCĬUM (ἱερεῖον), a sacrifice. Sacrifices or offerings formed the chief part of the worship of the ancients. They were partly signs of gratitude, partly a means of propitiating the gods, and partly also intended to induce the deity to bestow some favour upon the sacrificer, or upon those on whose behalf the sacrifice was offered. Sacrifices in a wider sense would also embrace the [Donaria]; in a narrower sense sacrificia were things offered to the gods, which merely afforded momentary gratification, and which were burnt upon their altars, or were believed to be consumed by the gods. All sacrifices may be divided into bloody sacrifices and unbloody sacrifices.—Bloody sacrifices. In the early times of Greece we find mention of human sacrifices, but with a few exceptions these had ceased in the historical ages. Owing to the influence of civilisation, in many cases animals were substituted for human beings; in others, a few drops of human blood were thought sufficient to propitiate the gods. The custom of sacrificing human life to the gods arose from the belief that the nobler the sacrifice and the dearer to its possessor, the more pleasing it would be to the gods. Hence the frequent instances in Grecian story of persons sacrificing their own children, or of persons devoting themselves to the gods of the lower world. That the Romans also believed human sacrifices to be pleasing to the gods, might be inferred from the story of Curtius and from the self-sacrifice of the Decii. The symbolic sacrifice of human figures made of rushes at the Lemuralia [[Lemuralia]] also shows that in the early history of Italy human sacrifices were not uncommon. For another proof of this practice, see [Ver Sacrum]. A second kind of bloody sacrifices were those of animals of various kinds, according to the nature and character of the divinity. The sacrifices of animals were the most common among the Greeks and Romans. The victim was called ἱερεῖον, and in Latin hostia or victima. In the early times it appears to have been the general custom to burn the whole victim (ὁλοκαυτεῖν) upon the altars of the gods, and the same was in some cases also observed in later times. But as early as the time of Homer it was the almost general practice to burn only the legs (μηροί, μηρία, μῆρα) enclosed in fat, and certain parts of the intestines, while the remaining parts of the victim were consumed by men at a festive meal. The gods delighted chiefly in the smoke arising from the burning victims, and the greater the number of victims, the more pleasing was the sacrifice. Hence it was not uncommon to offer a sacrifice of one hundred bulls (ἑκατόμβη) at once, though it must not be supposed that a hecatomb always signifies a sacrifice of a hundred bulls, for the name was used in a general way to designate any great sacrifice. Such great sacrifices were not less pleasing to men than to the gods, for in regard to the former they were in reality a donation of meat. Hence at Athens the partiality for such sacrifices rose to the highest degree. The animals which were sacrificed were mostly of the domestic kind, as bulls, cows, sheep, rams, lambs, goats, pigs, dogs, and horses; and each god had his favourite animals which he liked best as sacrifices. The head of the victim, before it was killed, was in most cases strewed with roasted barley meal (οὐλόχυτα or οὐλοχύται) mixed with salt (mola salsa). The persons who offered the sacrifice wore generally garlands round their heads, and sometimes also carried them in their hands, and before they touched anything belonging to the sacrifice they washed their hands in water. The victim itself was likewise adorned with garlands, and its horns were sometimes gilt. Before the animal was killed, a bunch of hair was cut from its forehead, and thrown into the fire as primitiae (κατάρχεσθαι). In the heroic ages the princes, as the high priests of their people, killed the victim; in later times this was done by the priests themselves. When the sacrifice was to be offered to the Olympic gods, the head of the animal was drawn heavenward; when to the gods of the lower world, to heroes, or to the dead, it was drawn downwards. While the flesh was burning upon the altar, wine and incense were thrown upon it, and prayers and music accompanied the solemnity. The most common animal sacrifices at Rome were the suovetaurilia or solitaurilia, consisting of a pig, a sheep, and an ox. They were performed in all cases of a lustration, and the victims were carried around the thing to be lustrated, whether it was a city, a people, or a piece of land. [[Lustratio].] The Greek trittya (τριττύα), which likewise consisted of an ox, a sheep, and a pig, was the same sacrifice as the Roman suovetaurilia. The customs observed before and during the sacrifice of an animal were on the whole the same as those observed in Greece. But the victim was in most cases not killed by the priests who conducted the sacrifice, but by a person called popa, who struck the animal with a hammer before the knife was used. The better parts of the intestines (exta) were strewed with barley meal, wine, and incense, and were burnt upon the altar. Those parts of the animal which were burnt were called prosecta, prosiciae, or ablegmina. When a sacrifice was offered to gods of rivers, or of the sea, these parts were not burnt, but thrown into the water. Respecting the use which the ancients made of sacrifices to learn the will of the gods, see [Haruspex] and [Divinatio].—Unbloody sacrifices. Among these we may first mention the libations (libationes, λοιβαί or σπονδαί). Bloody sacrifices were usually accompanied by libations, as wine was poured upon them. The wine was usually poured out in three separate streams. Libations always accompanied a sacrifice which was offered in concluding a treaty with a foreign nation, and that here they formed a prominent part of the solemnity, is clear from the fact that the treaty itself was called σπονδαί. But libations were also made independent of any other sacrifice, as in solemn prayers, and on many other occasions of public and private life, as before drinking at meals, and the like. Libations usually consisted of unmixed wine (ἔνσπονδος, merum), but sometimes also of milk, honey, and other fluids, either pure or diluted with water. The libations offered to the Furies were always without wine. Incense was likewise an offering which usually accompanied bloody sacrifices, but it was also burned as an offering for itself. A third class of unbloody sacrifices consisted of fruit and cakes. The former were mostly offered to the gods as primitiae or tithes of the harvest, and as a sign of gratitude. They were sometimes offered in their natural state, sometimes also adorned or prepared in various ways. Cakes were peculiar to the worship of certain deities, as to that of Apollo. They were either simple cakes of flour, sometimes also of wax, or they were made in the shape of some animal, and were then offered as symbolical sacrifices in the place of real animals, either because they could not easily be procured, or were too expensive for the sacrificer.

SACRĬLĔGĬUM, the crime of stealing things consecrated to the gods, or things deposited in a consecrated place. A Lex Julia appears to have placed the crime of sacrilegium on an equality with peculatus. [[Peculatus].]

SAECŬLUM was, according to the calculation of the Etruscans, which was adopted by the Romans, a space of time containing 110 lunar years. The return of each saeculum at Rome was announced by the pontiffs, who also made the necessary intercalations in such a manner, that at the commencement of a new saeculum the beginning of the ten months’ year, of the twelve months’ year, and of the solar year coincided. But in these arrangements the greatest caprice and irregularity appear to have prevailed at Rome, as may be seen from the unequal intervals at which the ludi saeculares were celebrated. [[Ludi Saeculares].] This also accounts for the various ways in which a saeculum was defined by the ancients; some believed that it contained thirty, and others that it contained a hundred years: the latter opinion appears to have been the most common in later times, so that saeculum answered to our century.

SĂGITTĀRĬI. [[Arcus].]

SAGMĬNA, were the same as the verbenae, namely, herbs torn up by their roots from within the inclosure of the Capitoline, which were always carried by the Fetiales or ambassadors, when they went to a foreign people to demand restitution for wrongs committed against the Romans, or to make a treaty. [[Fetiales].] They served to mark the sacred character of the ambassadors, and answered the same purpose as the Greek κηρύκεια.

SĂGUM, the cloak worn by the Roman soldiers and inferior officers, in contradistinction to the paludamentum of the general and superior officers. [[Paludamentum].] It is used in opposition to the toga or garb of peace, and we accordingly find, that when there was a war in Italy, all citizens put on the sagum even in the city, with the exception of those of consular rank (saga sumere, ad saga ire, in sagis esse). The sagum was open in the front, and usually fastened across the shoulders by a clasp: it resembled in form the paludamentum (see cut, [p. 281]). The cloak worn by the general and superior officers is sometimes called sagum, but the diminutive sagulum is more commonly used in such cases. The cloak worn by the northern nations of Europe is also called sagum. The German sagum is mentioned by Tacitus: that worn by the Gauls seems to have been a species of plaid (versicolor sagum).

SĂLĂMINĬA. [[Paralus].]

SĂLĬI, priests of Mars Gradivus, said to have been instituted by Numa. They were twelve in number, chosen from the patricians even in the latest times, and formed an ecclesiastical corporation. They had the care of the twelve Ancilia, which were kept in the temple of Mars on the Palatine hill, whence these priests were sometimes called Salii Palatini, to distinguish them from the other Salii mentioned below. The distinguishing dress of the Salii was an embroidered tunic bound with a brazen belt, the trabea, and the apex, also worn by the Flamines. [[Apex].] Each had a sword by his side, and in his right hand a spear or staff. The festival of Mars was celebrated by the Salii on the 1st of March and for several successive days; on which occasion they were accustomed to go through the city in their official dress, carrying the ancilia in their left hands or suspended from their shoulders, and at the same time singing and dancing, whence comes their name. The songs or hymns which they sang on this occasion were called Asamenta, ssamenta, or Axamenta, and were chiefly in praise of Mamurius Veturius, generally said to be the armourer, who made eleven ancilia like the one that was sent from heaven (ancile), though some modern writers suppose it to be merely another name of Mars. The praises of the gods were also celebrated in the songs of the Salii. In later times these songs were scarcely understood even by the priests themselves. At the conclusion of the festival the Salii were accustomed to partake of a splendid entertainment in the temple of Mars, which was proverbial for its excellence. The members of the collegium were elected by co-optation. We read of the dignities of praesul, vates, and magister in the collegium. The shape of the ancile is exhibited in the annexed cut, which illustrates the accounts of the ancient writers that its form was oval, but with the two sides receding inwards with an even curvature, and so as to make it broader at the ends than in the middle. The persons engaged in carrying these ancilia on their shoulders, suspended from a pole, are probably servants of the Salii. At the top of the cut is represented one of the rods with which the Salii were accustomed to beat the shield in their dance, as already described.

Salii carrying the Ancilia. (From an ancient Gem.)

Tullus Hostilius established another collegium of Salii, in fulfilment of a vow which he made in a war with the Sabines. These Salii were also twelve in number, chosen from the patricians, and appear to have been dedicated to the service of Quirinus. They were called the Salii Collini, Agonales or Agonenses. It is supposed that the oldest and most illustrious college, the Palatine Salii, were chosen originally from the oldest tribe, the Ramnes, and the one instituted by Tullus Hostilius, or the Quirinalian, from the Tities alone: a third college for the Luceres was never established.

SĂLĪNAE (ἁλαὶ, ἁλοπήγιον), a salt-work. Throughout the Roman empire the salt-works were commonly public property, and were let by the government to the highest bidder. The first salt-works are said to have been established by Ancus Marcius at Ostia. The publicani who farmed these works appear to have sold this most necessary of all commodities at a very high price, whence the censors M. Livius and C. Claudius (B.C. 204) fixed the price at which those who took the lease of them were obliged to sell the salt to the people. At Rome the medius was, according to this regulation, sold for a sextans, while in other parts of Italy the price was higher and varied. The salt-works in Italy and in the provinces were very numerous.

SĂLĪNUM, a salt-cellar. All Romans who were raised above poverty had one of silver, which descended from father to son, and was accompanied by a silver plate, which was used together with the salt-cellar in the domestic sacrifices. [[Patera].] These two articles of silver were alone compatible with the simplicity of Roman manners in the early times of the republic.

A Dance. (Lamberti, Villa Borghese.)

SALTĀTĬO (ὄρχησις, ὀρχηστύς), dancing. The dancing of the Greeks as well as of the Romans had very little in common with the exercise which goes by that name in modern times. It may be divided into two kinds, gymnastic and mimetic; that is, it was intended either to represent bodily activity, or to express by gestures, movements, and attitudes certain ideas or feelings, and also single events, or a series of events, as in the modern ballet. All these movements, however, were accompanied by music; but the terms ὄρχησις and saltatio were used in so much wider a sense than our word dancing, that they were applied to designate gestures, even when the body did not move at all. We find dancing prevalent among the Greeks from the earliest times. It was originally closely connected with religion. In all the public festivals, which were so numerous among the Greeks, dancing formed a very prominent part. We find from the earliest times that the worship of Apollo was connected with a religious dance, called Hyporchema (ὑπόρχημα). All the religious dances, with the exception of the Bacchic and the Corybantian, were very simple, and consisted of gentle movements of the body, with various turnings and windings around the altar: such a dance was the Geranus (γέρανος), which Theseus is said to have performed at Delos on his return from Crete. The Dionysiac or Bacchic, and the Corybantian, were of a very different nature.

Corybantian Dance. (Visconti, Mus. Pio Clem., vol. iv. tav. 9.)

In the former the life and adventures of the god were represented by mimetic dancing. [[Dionysia].] The Corybantian was of a very wild character: it was chiefly danced in Phrygia and in Crete; the dancers were armed, struck their swords against their shields, and displayed the most extravagant fury; it was accompanied chiefly by the flute. Respecting the dances in the theatre, see [Chorus]. Dancing was applied to gymnastic purposes and to training for war, especially in the Doric states, and was believed to have contributed very much to the success of the Dorians in war, as it enabled them to perform their evolutions simultaneously and in order. There were various dances in early times, which served as a preparation for war: hence Homer calls the Hoplites πρυλέες, a war-dance having been called πρύλις by the Cretans. Of such dances the most celebrated was the Pyrrhic (ἡ πυῤῥίχη), of which the πρύλις was probably only another name. It was danced to the sound of the flute, and its time was very quick and light, as is shown by the name of the Pyrrhic foot (˘˘), which must be connected with this dance. In the non-Doric states it was probably not practised as a training for war, but only as a mimetic dance: thus we read of its being danced by women to entertain a company. It was also performed at Athens at the greater and lesser Panathenaea by ephebi, who were called Pyrrhichists (πυῤῥιχισταί), and were trained at the expense of the choragus. In the mountainous parts of Thessaly and Macedon dances are performed at the present day by men armed with muskets and swords. The Pyrrhic dance was introduced in the public games at Rome by Julius Caesar, when it was danced by the children of the leading men in Asia and Bithynia. There were other dances, besides the [Pyrrhic], in which the performers had arms; but these seem to have been entirely mimetic, and not practised with any view to training for war. Such was the Carpaea (καρπαία), peculiar to the Aenianians and Magnetes, and described by Xenophon in the Anabasis. Such dances were frequently performed at banquets for the entertainment of the guests, where also the tumblers (κυβιστῆρες) were often introduced, who in the course of their dance flung themselves on their head and alighted again upon their feet. These tumblers were also accustomed to make their somersets over knives and swords, which was called κυβιστάν εἰς μαχαίρας. We learn from Tacitus that the German youths also used to dance among swords and spears pointed at them. Other kinds of dances were frequently performed at entertainments, in Rome as well as in Greece, by courtezans, many of which were of a very indecent and lascivious nature. Among the dances performed without arms one of the most important was the Hormos (ὅρμος), which was danced at Sparta by youths and maidens together: the youth danced first some movements suited to his age, and of a military nature; the maiden followed in measured steps and with feminine gestures. Another common dance at Sparta was the bibasis (βίβασις), in which the dancer sprang rapidly from the ground and struck the feet behind.—Dancing was common among the Romans in ancient times, in connection with religious festivals and rites, because the ancients thought that no part of the body should be free from the influence of religion. The dances of the Salii, which were performed by men of patrician families, are described elsewhere. [[Ancile].] Dancing, however, was not performed by any Roman citizens except in connection with religion, and it was considered disgraceful for any freeman to dance. The mimetic dances of the Romans, which were carried to such perfection under the empire, are described under [Pantomimus]. The dancers on the tight-rope (funambuli) under the empire were as skilful as they are in the present day.

Tumbler. (Museo Borbonico, vol. VII. tav. 58.)

SĂLŪTATŌRES, the name given in the later times of the republic, and under the empire, to a class of men who obtained their living by visiting the houses of the wealthy early in the morning, to pay their respects to them (salutare), and to accompany them when they went abroad. This arose from the visits which the clients were accustomed to pay to their patrons, and degenerated in later times into the above-mentioned practice: such persons seem to have obtained a good living among the great number of wealthy and vain persons at Rome, who were gratified by this attention. [[Sportula].]

SAMBŪCA (σαμβύκη), a harp, was of oriental origin. The performances of sambucistriae (σαμβυκίστριαι) were only known to the early Romans as luxuries brought over from Asia. Sambuca was also the name of a military engine, used to scale the walls and towers of besieged cities. It was called by this name on account of its general resemblance to the form of a harp.

SAMNĪTES. [[Gladiatores].]

SANDĂLĬUM (σανδάλιον or σάνδαλον), a kind of shoe worn only by women. The sandalium must be distinguished from the hypodema (ὑπόδημα), which was a simple sole bound under the foot, whereas the sandalium was a sole with a piece of leather covering the toes, so that it formed the transition from the hypodema to real shoes. The piece of leather over the toes was called ζυγός or ζυγόν.

SANDĂPĬLA. [[Funus].]

SARCŎPHĂGUS. [[Funus].]

SARISSA. [[Hasta].]

SARRĀCUM, a kind of common cart or waggon, which was used by the country-people of Italy for conveying the produce of their fields, trees, and the like, from one place to another.

SĂTŬRA, the root of which is sat, literally means a mixture of all sorts of things. The name was accordingly applied by the Romans in many ways, but always to things consisting of various parts or ingredients, e.g. lanx satura, an offering consisting of various fruits, such as were offered at harvest festivals and to Ceres; lex per saturam lata, a law which contained several distinct regulations at once, and to a species of poetry, afterwards called Satira.

SĀTURNĀLĬA, the festival of Saturnus, to whom the inhabitants of Latium attributed the introduction of agriculture and the arts of civilized life. Falling towards the end of December, at the season when the agricultural labours of the year were fully completed, it was celebrated in ancient times by the rustic population as a sort of joyous harvest-home, and in every age was viewed by all classes of the community as a period of absolute relaxation and unrestrained merriment. During its continuance no public business could be transacted, the law courts were closed, the schools kept holiday, to commence a war was impious, to punish a malefactor involved pollution. Special indulgences were granted to the slaves of each domestic establishment; they were relieved from all ordinary toils, were permitted to wear the pileus, the badge of freedom, were granted full freedom of speech, and partook of a banquet attired in the clothes of their masters, and were waited upon by them at table. All ranks devoted themselves to feasting and mirth, presents were interchanged among friends, cerei or wax tapers being the common offering of the more humble to their superiors, and crowds thronged the streets, shouting, Io Saturnalia (this was termed clamare Saturnalia), while sacrifices were offered with uncovered head, from a conviction that no ill-omened sight would interrupt the rites of such a happy day. Many of the peculiar customs of this festival exhibit a remarkable resemblance to the sports of our own Christmas and of the Italian Carnival. Thus on the Saturnalia public gambling was allowed by the aediles, just as in the days of our ancestors the most rigid were wont to countenance card-playing on Christmas-eve; the whole population threw off the toga, wore a loose gown, called synthesis, and walked about with the pileus on their heads, which reminds us of the dominos, the peaked caps, and other disguises worn by masques and mummers; the cerei were probably employed as the moccoli now are on the last night of the Carnival; and lastly, one of the amusements in private society was the election of a mock king, which at once calls to recollection the characteristic ceremony of Twelfth-night. During the republic, although the whole month of December was considered as dedicated to Saturn, only one day, the XIV. Kal. Jan., was set apart for the sacred rites of the divinity. When the month was lengthened by the addition of two days upon the adoption of the Julian Calendar, the Saturnalia fell on the XVI. Kal. Jan., which gave rise to confusion and mistakes among the more ignorant portion of the people. To obviate this inconvenience, and allay all religious scruples, Augustus enacted that three whole days, the 17th, 18th, and 19th of December, should in all time coming be hallowed, thus embracing both the old and new style. Under the empire the merry-making lasted for seven days, and three different festivals were celebrated during this period. First came the Saturnalia proper, commencing on XVI. Kal. Dec., followed by the Opalia, anciently coincident with the Saturnalia, on XIV. Kal. Jan.; these two together lasted for five days, and the sixth and seventh were occupied with the Sigillaria, so called from little earthenware figures (sigilla, oscilla) exposed for sale at this season, and given as toys to children.

SCALPTŪRA or SCULPTŪRA, originally signified cutting figures out of a solid material, but was more particularly applied to the art of cutting figures into the material (intaglios), which was chiefly applied to producing seals and matrices for the mints; and 2. the art of producing raised figures (cameos), which served for the most part as ornaments. Sculpture in our sense of the word was usually designated by the term [Statuaria]. The first artist who is mentioned as an engraver of stones is Theodoras, the son of Telecles, the Samian, who engraved the stone in the ring of Polycrates. The most celebrated among them was Pyrgoteles, who engraved the seal-rings for Alexander the Great. Several of the successors of Alexander and other wealthy persons adopted the custom of adorning their gold and silver vessels, craters, candelabras, and the like, with precious stones on which raised figures (cameos) were worked. The art was in a particularly flourishing state at Rome under Augustus and his successors, in the hands of Dioscurides and other artists, many of whose works are still preserved. Numerous specimens of intaglios and cameos are still preserved in the various museums of Europe.

SCAMNUM, dim. SCĂBELLTUM, a step which was placed before the beds of the ancients in order to assist persons in getting into them, as some were very high: others which were lower required also lower steps, which were called scabella. A scamnum was also used as a footstool. A scamnum extended in length becomes a bench, and in this sense the word is frequently used. The benches in ships were sometimes called scamna.

SCĒNA. [[Theatrum].]

SCEPTRUM (σκῆπτρον), which originally denoted a simple staff or walking-stick, was emblematic of station and authority. In ancient authors the sceptre is represented as belonging more especially to kings, princes, and leaders of tribes: but it is also borne by judges, by heralds, and by priests and seers. The sceptre descended from father to son, and might be committed to any one in order to express the transfer of authority. Those who bore the sceptre swore by it, solemnly taking it in the right hand and raising it towards heaven. The ivory sceptre of the kings of Rome, which descended to the consuls, was surmounted by an eagle.

SCHOENUS (ὁ, ἡ, σχοῖνος), an Egyptian and Persian measure, the length of which is stated by Herodotus at 60 stadia, or 2 parasangs. It was used especially for measuring land.

SCORPĬO. [[Tormentum].]

SCRĪBAE, public notaries or clerks, in the pay of the Roman state. They were chiefly employed in making up the public accounts, copying out laws, and recording the proceedings of the different functionaries of the state. The phrase scriptum facere was used to denote their occupation. Being very numerous, they were divided into companies or classes (decuriae), and were assigned by lot to different magistrates, whence they were named Quaestorii, Aedilicii, or Praetorii, from the officers of state to whom they were attached. The appointment to the office of a “scriba” seems to have been either made on the nomination of a magistrate, or purchased. Horace, for instance, bought for himself a “patent place as clerk in the treasury” (scriptum quaestorium comparavit). In Cicero’s time, indeed, it seems that any one might become a scriba or public clerk by purchase, and consequently, as freedmen and their sons were eligible, and constituted a great portion of the public clerks at Rome, the office was not highly esteemed, though frequently held by ingenui or free-born citizens. Very few instances are recorded of the scribae being raised to the higher dignities of the state. Cn. Flavius, the scribe of Appius Claudius, was raised to the office of curule aedile in gratitude for his making public the various forms of actions, which had previously been the exclusive property of the patricians [[Actio]]; but the returning officer refused to acquiesce in his election till he had given up his books and left his profession.

SCRĪNĬUM. [[Capsa].]

SCRIPTA DUŎDĔCIM. [[Latrunculi].]

SCRIPTŪRA, that part of the revenue of the Roman Republic which was derived from letting out, as pasture land, those portions of the ager publicus which were not taken into cultivation. The names for such parts of the ager publicus were, pascua publica, saltus, or silvae. They were let by the censors to the publicani, like all other vectigalia; and the persons who sent their cattle to graze on such public pastures had to pay a certain tax or duty to the publicani, which of course varied according to the number and quality of the cattle which they kept upon them. The publicani had to keep the lists of persons who sent their cattle upon the public pastures, together with the number and quality of the cattle. From this registering (scribere) the duty itself was called scriptura, the public pasture land ager scripturarius, and the publicani, or their agents who raised the tax, scripturarii. The Lex Thoria (B.C. 111) did away with the scriptura in Italy, where the public pastures were very numerous and extensive, especially in Apulia, and the lands themselves were now sold or distributed. In the provinces, where the public pastures were also let out in the same manner, the practice continued until the time of the empire; but afterwards the scriptura is no longer mentioned.

SCRŪPŬLUM, or more properly Scripulum or Scriplum (γράμμα), the smallest denomination of weight among the Romans. It was the 24th part of the [Uncia], or the 288th of the [Libra], and therefore = 18·06 grains English, which is about the average weight of the scrupular aurei still in existence. [[Aurum].] As a square measure, it was the smallest division of the jugerum, which contained 288 scrupula. [[Jugerum].]

SCŪTUM (θυρεός), the Roman shield worn by the heavy-armed infantry, instead of being round, like the Greek [Clipeus], was adapted to the form of the human body, by being made either oval or of the shape of a door, (θύρα), which it also resembled in being made of wood or wicker-work, and from which consequently its Greek name was derived. Polybius says that the dimensions of the scutum were 4 feet by 2½.

Scuta, shields. (Bartoli, Arcus Triumph.)

SCỸTĂLĒ (σκυτάλη) is the name applied to a secret mode of writing, by which the Spartan ephors communicated with their kings and generals when abroad. When a king or general left Sparta, the ephors gave to him a staff of a definite length and thickness, and retained for themselves another of precisely the same size. When they had any communications to make to him, they cut the material upon which they intended to write into the shape of a narrow riband, wound it round their staff, and then wrote upon it the message which they had to send to him. When the strip of writing material was taken from the staff, nothing but single letters appeared, and in this state the strip was sent to the general, who, after having wound it round his staff, was able to read the communication.

SCỸTHAE (Σκύθαι). [[Demosii].]

SĔCESPĬTA, an instrument used by the Roman priests in killing the victims at sacrifices, probably an axe. In the annexed coin, the reverse represents a culter, a simpuvium, and a secespita.

Secespita, Culter, and Simpuvium. (Coin of Sulpicia Gens.)

SECTĬO, the sale of a man’s property by the state (publice). This was done in consequence of a condemnatio, and for the purpose of repayment to the state of such sums of money as the condemned person had improperly appropriated; or in consequence of a proscriptio. Sometimes the things sold were called sectio. Those who bought the property were called sectores. The property was sold sub hasta.

SECTOR. [[Sectio].]

SĔCŪRIS (ἀξινη, πέλεκυς), an axe or hatchet. The axe was either made with a single edge, or with a blade or head on each side of the haft, the latter kind being denominated bipennis. The axe was used as a weapon of war chiefly by the Asiatic nations. It was a part of the Roman fasces. [[Fasces].]

SĔCŪTŌRES. [[Gladiatores].]

Sellae Curules. (The top figure from the Vatican collection;
the two bottom figures from the Museum at Naples.)

SELLA, the general term for a seat or chair of any description.—(1) Sella Curulis, the chair of state. Curulis is derived by the ancient writers from currus, but it more probably contains the same root as curia. The sella curulis is said to have been used at Rome from a very remote period as an emblem of kingly power, having been imported, along with various other insignia of royalty, from Etruria. Under the republic the right of sitting upon this chair belonged to the consuls, praetors, curule aediles, and censors; to the flamen dialis; to the dictator, and to those whom he deputed to act under himself, as the magister equitum, since he might be said to comprehend all magistracies within himself. After the downfall of the constitution, it was assigned to the emperors also, or to their statues in their absence; to the augustales, and perhaps, to the praefectus urbi. It was displayed upon all great public occasions, especially in the circus and theatre; and it was the seat of the praetor when he administered justice. In the provinces it was assumed by inferior magistrates, when they exercised proconsular or propraetorian authority. We find it occasionally exhibited on the medals of foreign monarchs likewise, as on those of Ariobarzanes II. of Cappadocia, for it was the practice of the Romans to present a curule chair, an ivory sceptre, a toga praetexta, and such-like ornaments, as tokens of respect and confidence to those rulers whose friendship they desired to cultivate. The sella curulis appears from the first to have been ornamented with ivory; and at a later period it was overlaid with gold. In shape it was extremely plain, closely resembling a common folding camp-stool with crooked legs. The sella curulis is frequently represented upon the denarii of Roman families. In the following cut are represented two pair of bronze legs, belonging to a sella curulis, and likewise a sella curulis itself.—(2) Sella Gestatoria, or Fertoria, a sedan used both in town and country, and by men as well as by women. It is expressly distinguished from the [Lectica], a portable bed or sofa, in which the person carried lay in a recumbent position, while the sella was a portable chair, in which the occupant sat upright. It differed from the cathedra also, but in what the difference consisted, it is not easy to determine. [[Cathedra].] It appears not to have been introduced until long after the lectica was common, since we scarcely, if ever, find any allusion to it until the period of the empire. The sella was sometimes entirely open, but more frequently shut in. It was made sometimes of plain leather, and sometimes ornamented with bone, ivory, silver, or gold, according to the fortune of the proprietor. It was furnished with a pillow to support the head and neck (cervical); the motion was so easy that one might study without inconvenience, while at the same time it afforded a healthful exercise.—(3) Chairs for ordinary domestic purposes have been discovered in excavations, or are seen represented in ancient frescoes, many displaying great taste.

Sellae, Chairs. (The right-hand figure from the Vatican collection;
the left-hand figure from a Painting at Pompeii.)

SĒMIS, SĒMISSIS. [[As].]

SĒMUNCĬA. [[Uncia].]

SĒMUNCIĀRĬUM FĒNUS. [[Fenus].]

SĔNĀTUS. In all the republics of antiquity the government was divided between a senate and a popular assembly; and in cases where a king stood at the head of affairs, as at Sparta and in early Rome, the king had little more than the executive. A senate in the early times was always regarded as an assembly of elders, which is in fact the meaning of the Roman senatus, as of the Spartan (γερουσία), and its members were elected from among the nobles of the nation. The number of senators in the ancient republics always bore a distinct relation to the number of tribes of which the nation was composed. [[Boule]; [Gerousia].] Hence in the earliest times, when Rome consisted of only one tribe, its senate consisted of one hundred members (senatores or patres; compare [Patricii]), and when the Sabine tribe or the Tities became united with the Latin tribe or the Ramnes, the number of senators was increased to two hundred. This number was again augmented to three hundred by Tarquinius Priscus, when the third tribe or the Luceres became incorporated with the Roman state. The new senators added by Tarquinius Priscus were distinguished from those belonging to the two older tribes by the appellation patres minorum gentium, as previously those who represented the Tities had been distinguished, by the same name, from those who represented the Ramnes. Under Tarquinius Superbus the number of senators is said to have become very much diminished, as he is reported to have put many to death and sent others into exile. This account however appears to be greatly exaggerated, and it is probable that several vacancies in the senate arose from many of the senators accompanying the tyrant into his exile. The vacancies which had thus arisen were filled up immediately after the establishment of the republic, when several noble plebeians of equestrian rank were made senators. These new senators were distinguished from the old ones by the name of Conscripti; and hence the customary mode of addressing the whole senate henceforth always was: Patres Conscripti, that is, Patres et Conscripti.—The number of 300 senators appears to have remained unaltered for several centuries. The first permanent increase to their number was made by Sulla, and the senate seems henceforth to have consisted of between five and six hundred. Julius Caesar augmented the number to 900, and raised to this dignity even common soldiers, freedmen, and peregrini. Augustus cleared the senate of the unworthy members, who were contemptuously called by the people Orcini senatores, and reduced its number to 600.—In the time of the kings the senate was probably elected by the gentes, each gens appointing one member as its representative; and as there were 300 gentes, there were consequently 300 senators. The whole senate was divided into decuries, each of which corresponded to a curia. When the senate consisted of only one hundred members, there were accordingly only ten decuries of senators; and ten senators, one being taken from each decury, formed the Decem Primi, who represented the ten curies. When subsequently the representatives of the two other tribes were admitted into the senate, the Ramnes with their decem primi retained for a time their superiority over the two other tribes, and gave their votes first. The first among the decem primi was the princeps senatus, who was appointed by the king, and was at the same time custos urbis. [[Praefectus urbi].] Respecting the age at which a person might be elected into the senate during the kingly period, we know no more than what is indicated by the name senator itself, that is, that they were persons of advanced age.—Soon after the establishment of the republic, though at what time is uncertain, the right of appointing senators passed from the gentes into the hands of the consuls, consular tribunes, and subsequently of the censors. At the same time, the right which the magistrates possessed of electing senators was by no means an arbitrary power, for the senators were usually taken from among those whom the people had previously invested with a magistracy, so that in reality the people themselves always nominated the candidates for the senate, which on this account remained, as before, a representative assembly. After the institution of the censorship, the censors alone had the right of introducing new members into the senate from among the ex-magistrates, and of excluding such as they deemed unworthy. [[Censor].] The exclusion was effected by simply passing over the names, and not entering them on the lists of senators, whence such men were called Praeteriti Senatores. On one extraordinary occasion the eldest among the ex-censors was invested with dictatorial power for the purpose of filling up vacancies in the senate.—As all curule magistrates, and also the quaestors, had by virtue of their office a seat in the senate, even if they had not been elected senators, we must distinguish between two classes of senators, viz., real senators, or such as had been regularly raised to their dignity by the magistrates or the censors, and such as had, by virtue of the office which they held or had held, a right to take their seats in the senate and to speak (sententiam dicere, jus sententiae), but not to vote. To this ordo senatorius also belonged the pontifex maximus and the flamen dialis. Though these senators had no right to vote, they might, when the real senators had voted, step over or join the one or the other party, whence they were called Senatores Pedarii, an appellation which had in former times been applied to those juniores who were not consulars. When at length all the state offices had become equally accessible to the plebeians and the patricians, and when the majority of offices were held by the former, their number in the senate naturally increased in proportion. The senate had gradually become an assembly representing the people, as formerly it had represented the populus, and down to the last century of the republic the senatorial dignity was only regarded as one conferred by the people. But notwithstanding this apparently popular character of the senate, it was never a popular or democratic assembly, for now its members belonged to the nobiles, who were as aristocratic as the patricians. [[Nobiles].] The office of princeps senatus, which had become independent of that of praetor urbanus, was now given by the censors, and at first always to the eldest among the ex-censors, but afterwards to any other senator whom they thought most worthy; and unless there was any charge to be made against him, he was re-elected at the next lustrum. This distinction, however, great as it was, afforded neither power nor advantages, and did not even confer the privilege of presiding at the meetings of the senate, which only belonged to those magistrates who had the right of convoking the senate.—During the republican period no senatorial census existed, although senators naturally always belonged to the wealthiest classes. The institution of a census for senators belongs to the time of the empire. Augustus first fixed it at 400,000 sesterces, afterwards increased it to double this sum, and at last even to 1,200,000 sesterces. Those senators whose property did not amount to this sum received grants from the emperor to make it up. As regards the age at which a person might become a senator, we have no express statement for the time of the republic, although it appears to have been fixed by some custom or law, as the aetas senatoria is frequently mentioned, especially during the latter period of the republic. But we may by induction discover the probable age. We know that, according to the lex annalis of the tribune Villius, the age fixed for the quaestorship was 31. Now as it might happen that a quaestor was made a senator immediately after the expiration of his office, we may presume that the earliest age at which a man could become a senator was 32. Augustus at last fixed the senatorial age at 25, which appears to have remained unaltered throughout the time of the empire.—No senator was allowed to carry on any mercantile business. About the commencement of the second Punic war, some senators appear to have violated this law or custom, and in order to prevent its recurrence a law was passed, with the vehement opposition of the senate, that none of its members should be permitted to possess a ship of more than 300 amphorae in tonnage, as this was thought sufficiently large to convey to Rome the produce of their estates abroad. It is clear, however, that this law was frequently violated.—Regular meetings of the senate (senatus legitimus) took place during the republic, and probably during the kingly period also, on the calends, nones, and ides of every month: extraordinary meetings (senatus indictus) might be convoked on any other day, with the exception of those which were atri, and those on which comitia were held. The right of convoking the senate during the kingly period belonged to the king, or to his vicegerent, the custos urbis. This right was during the republic transferred to the curule magistrates, and at last to the tribunes also. If a senator did not appear on a day of meeting, he was liable to a fine, for which a pledge was taken (pignoris captio) until it was paid. Towards the end of the republic it was decreed, that during the whole month of February the senate should give audience to foreign ambassadors on all days on which the senate could lawfully meet, and that no other matters should be discussed until these affairs were settled.—The places where the meetings of the senate were held (curiae, senacula) were always inaugurated by the augurs. [[Templum].] The most ancient place was the Curia Hostilia, in which alone originally a senatus-consultum could be made. Afterwards, however, several temples were used for this purpose, such as the temple of Concordia, a place near the temple of Bellona [[Legatus]], and one near the porta Capena. Under the emperors the senate also met in other places: under Caesar, the Curia Julia, a building of extraordinary splendour, was commenced; but subsequently meetings of the senate were frequently held in the house of a consul.—The subjects laid before the senate belonged partly to the internal affairs of the state, partly to legislation, and partly to finance; and no measure could be brought before the populus without having previously been discussed and prepared by the senate. The senate was thus the medium through which all affairs of the whole government had to pass: it considered and discussed whatever measures the king thought proper to introduce, and had, on the other hand, a perfect control over the assembly of the populus, which could only accept or reject what the senate brought before it. When a king died, the royal dignity, until a successor was elected, was transferred to the Decem Primi, each of whom in rotation held this dignity for five days. Under the republic, the senate had at first the right of proposing to the comitia the candidates for magistracies, but this right was subsequently lost: the comitia centuriata became quite free in regard to elections, and were no longer dependent upon the proposal of the senate. The curies only still possessed the right of sanctioning the election; but in the year B.C. 299 they were compelled to sanction any election of magistrates which the comitia might make, before it took place, and this soon after became law by the Lex Maenia. When at last the curies no longer assembled for this empty show of power, the senate stepped into their place, and henceforth in elections, and soon after also in matters of legislation, the senate had previously to sanction whatever the comitia might decide. After the Lex Hortensia a decree of the comitia tributa became law, even without the sanction of the senate. The original state of things had thus gradually become reversed, and the senate had lost very important branches of its power, which had all been gained by the comitia tributa. In its relation to the comitia centuriata, however, the ancient rules were still in force, as laws, declarations of war, conclusions of peace, treaties, &c., were brought before them, and decided by them on the proposal of the senate.—The powers of the senate, after both orders were placed upon a perfect equality, may be thus briefly summed up. The senate continued to have the supreme superintendence in all matters of religion; it determined upon the manner in which a war was to be conducted, what legions were to be placed at the disposal of a commander, and whether new ones were to be levied; it decreed into what provinces the consuls and praetors were to be sent [[Provincia]], and whose imperium was to be prolonged. The commissioners who were generally sent out to settle the administration of a newly-conquered country, were always appointed by the senate. All embassies for the conclusion of peace or treaties with foreign states were sent out by the senate, and such ambassadors were generally senators themselves, and ten in number. The senate alone carried on the negotiations with foreign ambassadors, and received the complaints of subject or allied nations, who always regarded the senate as their common protector. By virtue of this office of protector it also settled all disputes which might arise among the municipia and colonies of Italy, and punished all heavy crimes committed in Italy, which might endanger the public peace and security. Even in Rome itself, the judices to whom the praetor referred important cases, both public and private, were taken from among the senators, and in extraordinary cases the senate appointed especial commissions to investigate them; but such a commission, if the case in question was a capital offence committed by a citizen, required the sanction of the people. When the republic was in danger, the senate might confer unlimited power upon the magistrates by the formula, Videant consules, ne quid respublica detrimenti capiat, which was equivalent to a declaration of martial law within the city. This general care for the internal and external welfare of the republic included, as before, the right of disposing of the finances requisite for these purposes. Hence all the revenue and expenditure of the republic were under the direct administration of the senate, and the censors and quaestors were only its ministers or agents. [[Censor]; [Quaestor].] All the expenses necessary for the maintenance of the armies required the sanction of the senate, before anything could be done, and it might even prevent the triumph of a returning general, by refusing to assign the money necessary for it. There are, however, instances of a general triumphing without the consent of the senate.—How many members were required to be present in order to constitute a legal assembly, is uncertain, though it appears that there existed some regulations on this point, and there is one instance on record, in which at least one hundred senators were required to be present. The presiding magistrate opened the business with the words Quod bonum, faustum, felix fortunatumque sit populo Romano Quiritibus, and then laid before the assembly (referre, relatio) what he had to propose. Towards the end of the republic the order in which the question was put to the senators appears to have depended upon the discretion of the presiding consul, who called upon each member by pronouncing his name; but he usually began with the princeps senatus, or if consules designati were present, with them. The consul generally observed all the year round the same order in which he had commenced on the first of January. A senator when called upon to speak might do so at full length, and even introduce subjects not directly connected with the point at issue. It depended upon the president which of the opinions expressed he would put to the vote, and which he would pass over. The majority of votes always decided a question. The majority was ascertained either by numeratio or discessio; that is, the president either counted the votes, or the members who voted on the same side separated from those who voted otherwise. The latter mode seems to have been the usual one. What the senate determined was called senatus consultum, because the consul, who introduced the business, was said senatum consulere. In the enacting part of a lex the populus were said jubere, and in a plebiscitum scire; in a senatusconsultum the senate was said censere. Certain forms were observed in drawing up a senatusconsultum, of which there is an example in Cicero: “S. C. Auctoritates Pridie Kal. Octob. in Aede Apollinis, scribendo adfuerunt L. Domitius Cn. Filius Ahenobarbus, &c. Quod M. Marcellus Consul V. F. (verba fecit) de prov. Cons. D. E. R. I. C. (de ea re ita censuerunt Uti, &c.)” The names of the persons who were witnesses to the drawing up of the senatusconsultum were called the auctoritates, and these auctoritates were cited as evidence of the fact of the persons named in them having been present at the drawing up of the S.C. There can be no doubt that certain persons were required to be present scribendo, but others might assist if they chose, and a person in this way might testify his regard for another on behalf of whom or with reference to whom the S. C. was made. Besides the phrase scribendo adesse, there are esse ad scribendum and poni ad scribendum. When a S. C. was made on the motion of a person, it was said to be made in sententiam ejus. If the S. C. was carried, it was written on tablets, and placed in the Aerarium. Senatusconsulta were, properly speaking, laws, for it is clear that the senate had legislative power even in the republican period; but it is difficult to determine how far their legislative power extended. A decretum of the senate was a rule made by the senate as to some matter which was strictly within its competence, and thus differed from a senatusconsultum, which was a law; but these words are often used indiscriminately and with little precision. Many of the senatusconsulta of the republican period were only determinations of the senate, which became leges by being carried in the comitia. One instance of this kind occurred on the occasion of the trial of Clodius for violating the mysteries of the Bona Dea. A rogatio on the subject of the trial was proposed to the comitia ex senatusconsulto, which is also spoken of as the auctoritas of the senate. A senate was not allowed to be held before sunrise or to be prolonged after sunset: on extraordinary emergencies, however, this regulation was set aside.—During the latter part of the republic the senate was degraded in various ways by Sulla, Caesar, and others, and on many occasions it was only an instrument in the hands of the men in power. In this way it became prepared for the despotic government of the emperors, when it was altogether the creature and obedient instrument of the princeps. The emperor himself was generally also princeps senatus, and had the power of convoking both ordinary and extraordinary meetings, although the consuls, praetors and tribunes continued to have the same right. The ordinary meetings, according to a regulation of Augustus, were held twice in every month. In the reign of Tiberius the election of magistrates was transferred from the people to the senate, which, however, was enjoined to take especial notice of those candidates who were recommended to it by the emperor. At the demise of an emperor the senate had the right of appointing his successor, in case no one had been nominated by the emperor himself; but the senate very rarely had an opportunity of exercising this right, as it was usurped by the soldiers. The aerarium at first still continued nominally to be under the control of the senate, but the emperors gradually took it under their own exclusive management, and the senate retained nothing but the administration of the funds of the city (arca publica), which were distinct both from the aerarium and from the fiscus. Augustus ordained that no accusations should any longer be brought before the comitia, and instead of them he raised the senate to a high court of justice, upon which he conferred the right of taking cognisance of capital offences committed by senators, of crimes against the state and the person of the emperors, and of crimes committed by the provincial magistrates in the administration of their provinces. Respecting the provinces of the senate, see [Provincia]. Under the empire, senatusconsulta began to take the place of leges, properly so called, and as the senate was, with the exception of the emperor, the only legislating body, such senatusconsulta are frequently designated by the name of the consuls in whose year of office they were passed.—The distinctions and privileges enjoyed by senators were: 1. The tunica with a broad purple stripe (latus clavus) in front, which was woven in it, and not, as is commonly believed, sewed upon it. 2. A kind of short boot, with the letter C. on the front of the foot. This C. is generally supposed to mean centum, and to refer to the original number of 100 (centum) senators. 3. The right of sitting in the orchestra in the theatres and amphitheatres. This distinction was first procured for the senators by Scipio Africanus Major, 194 B.C. 4. On a certain day in the year a sacrifice was offered to Jupiter in the Capitol, and on this occasion the senators alone had a feast in the Capitol; the right was called the jus publice epulandi. 5. The jus liberae legationis. [[Legatus], [p. 224].]

SĔNĬŌRES. [[Comitia].]

SEPTEMVĬRI ĔPŬLŌNES. [[Epulones].]

SEPTĬMONTĬUM, a Roman festival which was held in the month of December. It was celebrated by the montani, or the inhabitants of the seven ancient hills or rather districts of Rome, who offered on this day sacrifices to the gods in their respective districts. These sacra were, like the Paganalia, not sacra publica, but privata. They were believed to have been instituted to commemorate the enclosure of the seven hills of Rome within the walls of the city, and must certainly be referred to a time when the Capitoline, Quirinal, and Viminal were not yet incorporated with Rome.

SEPTUM. [[Comitia], [p. 107].]

SEPTUNX. [[As].]

SĔPULCRUM. [[Funus].]

SĔRA. [[Janua].]

SĒRĬCUM (σηρικόν), silk, also called bombycinum. Raw silk was brought from the interior of Asia, and manufactured in Cos, as early as the fourth century B.C. From this island it appears that the Roman ladies obtained their most splendid garments [[Coa Vestis]], which were remarkably thin, sometimes of a fine purple dye, and variegated with transverse stripes of gold. Silk was supposed to come from the country of the Seres in Asia, whence a silk garment is usually called Serica vestis. Under the empire the rage for such garments was constantly on the increase. Even men aspired to be adorned with silk, and hence the senate, early in the reign of Tiberius, enacted ne vestis Serica viros fœdaret. The eggs of the silkworm were first brought into Europe in the age of Justinian, A.D. 530, in the hollow stem of a plant from “Serinda,” which was probably Khotan in Little Bucharia, by some monks who had learnt the method of hatching and rearing them.

SERTA. [[Corona].]

SERVUS (δοῦλος), a slave. (1) Greek. Slavery existed almost throughout the whole of Greece; and Aristotle says that a complete household is that which consists of slaves and freemen, and he defines a slave to be a living working-tool and possession. None of the Greek philosophers ever seem to have objected to slavery as a thing morally wrong; Plato in his perfect state only desires that no Greeks should be made slaves by Greeks, and Aristotle defends the justice of the institution on the ground of a diversity of race, and divides mankind into the free and those who are slaves by nature; under the latter description he appears to have regarded all barbarians in the Greek sense of the word, and therefore considers their slavery justifiable. In the most ancient times there are said to have been no slaves in Greece, but we find them in the Homeric poems, though by no means so generally as in later times. They are usually prisoners taken in war, who serve their conquerors: but we also read as well of the purchase and sale of slaves. They were, however, at that time mostly confined to the houses of the wealthy. There were two kinds of slavery among the Greeks. One species arose when the inhabitants of a country were subdued by an invading tribe, and reduced to the condition of serfs or bondsmen. They lived upon and cultivated the land which their masters had appropriated to themselves, and paid them a certain rent. They also attended their masters in war. They could not be sold out of the country or separated from their families, and could acquire property. Such were the Helots of Sparta [[Helotes]], and the Penestae of Thessaly [[Penestae]]. The other species of slavery consisted of domestic slaves acquired by purchase, who were entirely the property of their masters, and could be disposed of like any other goods and chattels: these were the δοῦλοι properly so called, and were the kind of slaves that existed at Athens and Corinth. In commercial cities slaves were very numerous, as they performed the work of the artisans and manufacturers of modern towns. In poorer republics, which had little or no capital, and which subsisted wholly by agriculture, they would be few: thus in Phocis and Locris there are said to have been originally no domestic slaves. The majority of slaves was purchased; few comparatively were born in the family of the master, partly because the number of female slaves was very small in comparison with the male, and partly because the cohabitation of slaves was discouraged, as it was considered cheaper to purchase than to rear slaves. It was a recognised rule of Greek national law that the persons of those who were taken prisoners in war became the property of the conqueror, but it was the practice for Greeks to give liberty to those of their own nation on payment of a ransom. Consequently almost all slaves in Greece, with the exception of the serfs above-mentioned, were barbarians. The chief supply seems to have come from the Greek colonies in Asia Minor, which had abundant opportunities of obtaining them from their own neighbourhood and the interior of Asia. A considerable number of slaves also came from Thrace, where the parents frequently sold their children.—At Athens, as well as in other states, there was a regular slave-market, called the κύκλος, because the slaves stood round in a circle. They were also sometimes sold by auction, and were then placed on a stone, as is now done when slaves are sold in the United States of North America: the same was also the practice in Rome, whence the phrase homo de lapide emtus. [[Auctio].] At Athens the number of slaves was far greater than the free population. Even the poorest citizen had a slave for the care of his household, and in every moderate establishment many were employed for all possible occupations, as bakers, cooks, tailors, &c.—Slaves either worked on their masters’ account or their own (in the latter case they paid their masters a certain sum a day); or they were let out by their master on hire, either for the mines or any other kind of labour, or as hired servants for wages. The rowers on board the ships were usually slaves, who either belonged to the state or to private persons, who let them out to the state on payment of a certain sum. It appears that a considerable number of persons kept large gangs of slaves merely for the purpose of letting out, and found this a profitable mode of investing their capital. Great numbers were required for the mines, and in most cases the mine-lessees would be obliged to hire some, as they would not have sufficient capital to purchase as many as they wanted. The rights of possession with regard to slaves differed in no respect from any other property; they could be given or taken as pledges. The condition, however, of Greek slaves was upon the whole better than that of Roman ones, with the exception perhaps of Sparta, where, according to Plutarch, it is the best place in the world to be a freeman, and the worst to be a slave. At Athens especially the slaves seem to have been allowed a degree of liberty and indulgence which was never granted to them at Rome. The life and person of a slave at Athens were also protected by the law: a person who struck or maltreated a slave was liable to an action; a slave too could not be put to death without legal sentence. He could even take shelter from the cruelty of his master in the temple of Theseus, and there claim the privilege of being sold by him. The person of a slave was, of course, not considered so sacred as that of a freeman: his offences were punished with corporal chastisement, which was the last mode of punishment inflicted on a freeman; he was not believed upon his oath, but his evidence in courts of justice was always taken with torture. Notwithstanding the generally mild treatment of slaves in Greece, their insurrection was not unfrequent: but these insurrections in Attica were usually confined to the mining slaves, who were treated with more severity than the others. Slaves were sometimes manumitted at Athens, though not so frequently as at Rome. Those who were manumitted (ἀπελεύθεροι) did not become citizens, as they might at Rome, but passed into the condition of metoici. They were obliged to honour their former master as their patron (προστάτης), and to fulfil certain duties towards him, the neglect of which rendered them liable to the δίκη ἀποστασίου, by which they might again be sold into slavery. Respecting the public slaves at Athens, see [Demosii]. It appears that there was a tax upon slaves at Athens, which was probably three oboli a year for each slave.—(2) Roman. The Romans viewed liberty as the natural state, and slavery as a condition which was contrary to the natural state. The mutual relation of slave and master among the Romans was expressed by the terms Servus and Dominus; and the power and interest which the dominus had over and in the slave was expressed by Dominium. Slaves existed at Rome in the earliest times of which we have any record; but they do not appear to have been numerous under the kings and in the earliest ages of the republic. The different trades and the mechanical arts were chiefly carried on by the clients of the patricians, and the small farms in the country were cultivated for the most part by the labours of the proprietor and of his own family. But as the territories of the Roman state were extended, the patricians obtained possession of large estates out of the ager publicus, since it was the practice of the Romans to deprive a conquered people of part of their land. These estates probably required a larger number of hands for their cultivation than could readily be obtained among the free population, and since the freemen were constantly liable to be called away from their work to serve in the armies, the lands began to be cultivated almost entirely by slave labour. Through war and commerce slaves could easily be obtained, and at a cheap rate, and their number soon became so great, that the poorer class of freemen was thrown almost entirely out of employment. This state of things was one of the chief arguments used by Licinius and the Gracchi for limiting the quantity of public land which a person might possess. In Sicily, which supplied Rome with so great a quantity of corn, the number of agricultural slaves was immense: the oppressions to which they were exposed drove them twice to open rebellion, and their numbers enabled them to defy for a time the Roman power. The first of these servile wars began in B.C. 134 and ended in B.C. 132, and the second commenced in B.C. 102 and lasted almost four years. Long, however, after it had become the custom to employ large gangs of slaves in the cultivation of the land, the number of those who served as personal attendants still continued to be small. Persons in good circumstances seem usually to have had one only to wait upon them, who was generally called by the name of his master with the word por (that is, puer) affixed to it, as Caipor, Lucipor, Marcipor, Publipor, Quintipor, &c. But during the latter times of the republic and under the empire the number of domestic slaves greatly increased, and in every family of importance there were separate slaves to attend to all the necessities of domestic life. It was considered a reproach to a man not to keep a considerable number of slaves. The first question asked respecting a person’s fortune was Quot pascit servos, “How many slaves does he keep?” Ten slaves seem to have been the lowest number which a person could keep in the age of Augustus, with a proper regard to respectability in society. The immense number of prisoners taken in the constant wars of the republic, and the increase of wealth and luxury, augmented the number of slaves to a prodigious extent. A freedman under Augustus, who had lost much property in the civil wars, left at his death as many as 4,116. Two hundred was no uncommon number for one person to keep. The mechanical arts, which were formerly in the hands of the clients, were now entirely exercised by slaves: a natural growth of things, for where slaves perform certain duties or practise certain arts, such duties or arts are thought degrading to a freeman. It must not be forgotten, that the games of the amphitheatre required an immense number of slaves trained for the purpose. [[Gladiatores].] Like the slaves in Sicily, the gladiators in Italy rose in B.C. 73 against their oppressors, and under the able generalship of Spartacus, defeated a Roman consular army, and were not subdued till B.C. 71, when 60,000 of them are said to have fallen in battle.—A slave could not contract a marriage. His cohabitation with a woman was contubernium; and no legal relation between him and his children was recognized. A slave could have no property. He was not incapable of acquiring property, but his acquisitions belonged to his master. Slaves were not only employed in the usual domestic offices and in the labours of the field, but also as factors or agents for their masters in the management of business, and as mechanics, artisans, and in every branch of industry. It may easily be conceived that, under these circumstances, especially as they were often entrusted with property to a large amount, there must have arisen a practice of allowing the slave to consider part of his gains as his own; this was his Peculium, a term also applicable to such acquisitions of a filius-familias as his father allowed him to consider as his own. [[Patria Potestas].] According to strict law, the peculium was the property of the master, but according to usage, it was considered to be the property of the slave. Sometimes it was agreed between master and slave, that the slave should purchase his freedom with his peculium when it amounted to a certain sum. A runaway slave (fugitivus) could not lawfully be received or harboured. The master was entitled to pursue him wherever he pleased; and it was the duty of all authorities to give him aid in recovering the slave. It was the object of various laws to check the running away of slaves in every way, and accordingly a runaway slave could not legally be an object of sale. A class of persons called Fugitivarii made it their business to recover runaway slaves. A person was a slave either jure gentium or jure civili. Under the republic, the chief supply of slaves arose from prisoners taken in war, who were sold by the quaestors with a crown on their heads (sub corona venire, vendere), and usually on the spot where they were taken, as the care of a large number of captives was inconvenient. Consequently slave-dealers usually accompanied an army, and frequently after a great battle had been gained many thousands were sold at once, when the slave-dealers obtained them for a mere nothing. The slave trade was also carried on to a great extent, and after the fall of Corinth and Carthage, Delos was the chief mart for this traffic. When the Cilician pirates had possession of the Mediterranean, as many as 10,000 slaves are said to have been imported and sold there in one day. A large number came from Thrace and the countries in the north of Europe, but the chief supply was from Africa, and more especially Asia, whence we frequently read of Phrygians, Lycians, Cappadocians, &c. as slaves. The trade of slave-dealers (mangones) was considered disreputable; but it was very lucrative, and great fortunes were frequently realised from it. Slaves were usually sold by auction at Rome. They were placed either on a raised stone (hence de lapide emtus), or a raised platform (catasta), so that every one might see and handle them, even if they did not wish to purchase them. Purchasers usually took care to have them stripped naked, for slave-dealers had recourse to as many tricks to conceal personal defects as the horse-jockeys of modern times: sometimes purchasers called in the advice of medical men. Newly imported slaves had their feet whitened with chalk, and those that came from the East had their ears bored, which we know was a sign of slavery among many eastern nations. The slave-market, like all other markets, was under the jurisdiction of the aediles, who made many regulations by edicts respecting the sale of slaves. The character of the slave was set forth in a scroll (titulus) hanging around his neck, which was a warranty to the purchaser: the vendor was bound to announce fairly all his defects, and if he gave a false account had to take him back within six months from the time of his sale, or make up to the purchaser what the latter had lost through obtaining an inferior kind of slave to what had been warranted. The chief points which the vendor had to warrant, were the health of the slave, especially freedom from epilepsy, and that he had not a tendency to thievery, running away, or committing suicide. Slaves sold without any warranty wore at the time of sale a cap (pileus) upon their head. Slaves newly imported were generally preferred for common work: those who had served long were considered artful (veteratores); and the pertness and impudence of those born in their master’s house, called vernae, were proverbial. The value of slaves depended of course upon their qualifications; but under the empire the increase of luxury and the corruption of morals led purchasers to pay immense sums for beautiful slaves, or such as ministered to the caprice or whim of the purchaser. Eunuchs always fetched a very high price, and Martial speaks of beautiful boys who sold for as much as 100,000 or 200,000 sesterces each (885l. 8s. 4d. and 1770l. 16s. 8d.). Slaves who possessed a knowledge of any art which might bring profit to their owners, also sold for a large sum. Thus literary men and doctors frequently fetched a high price, and also slaves fitted for the stage.—Slaves were divided into many various classes: the first division was into public or private. The former belonged to the state and public bodies, and their condition was preferable to that of the common slaves. They were less liable to be sold, and under less control, than ordinary slaves: they also possessed the privilege of the testamenti factio to the amount of one half of their property, which shows that they were regarded in a different light from other slaves. Public slaves were employed to take care of the public buildings, and to attend upon magistrates and priests. A body of slaves belonging to one person was called familia, but two were not considered sufficient to constitute a familia. Private slaves were divided into urban (familia urbana) and rustic (familia rustica); but the name of urban was given to those slaves who served in the villa or country residence as well as in the town house; so that the words urban and rustic rather characterised the nature of their occupations than the place where they served. Slaves were also arranged in certain classes, which held a higher or a lower rank according to the nature of their occupation. These classes are ordinarii, vulgares, and mediastini.—Ordinarii seem to have been those slaves who had the superintendence of certain parts of the housekeeping. They were always chosen from those who had the confidence of their master, and they generally had certain slaves under them. To this class the actores, procuratores, and dispensatores belong, who occur in the familia rustica as well as the familia urbana, but in the former are almost the same as the villici. They were stewards or bailiffs. To the same class also belong the slaves who had the charge of the different stores, and who correspond to our house-keepers and butlers: they are called cellarii, promi, condi, procuratores peni, &c.—Vulgares included the great body of slaves in a house who had to attend to any particular duty in the house, and to minister to the domestic wants of their master. As there were distinct slaves or a distinct slave for almost every department of household economy, as bakers (pistores), cooks (coqui), confectioners (dulciarii), picklers (salmentarii), &c., it is unnecessary to mention these more particularly. This class also included the porters (ostiarii), the bed-chamber slaves (cubicularii), the litter-bearers (lecticarii), and all personal attendants of any kind.—Mediastini, the name given to slaves used for any common purpose, was chiefly applied to certain slaves belonging to the familia rustica.—The treatment of slaves of course varied greatly, according to the disposition of their masters, but they were upon the whole, as has been already remarked, treated with greater severity and cruelty than among the Athenians. Originally the master could use the slave as he pleased; under the republic the law does not seem to have protected the person or life of the slave at all; but the cruelty of masters was to some extent restrained under the empire by various enactments. In early times, when the number of slaves was small, they were treated with more indulgence, and more like members of the family: they joined their masters in offering up prayers and thanksgivings to the gods, and partook of their meals in common with their masters, though not at the same table with them, but upon benches (subsellia) placed at the foot of the lectus. But with the increase of numbers and of luxury among masters, the ancient simplicity of manners was changed: a certain quantity of food was allowed them (dimensum or demensum), which was granted to them either monthly (menstruum) or daily (diarium). Their chief food was the corn called far, of which either four or five modii were granted them a month, or one Roman pound (libra) a day. They also obtained an allowance of salt and oil: Cato allowed his slaves a sextarius of oil a month and a modius of salt a year. They also got a small quantity of wine, with an additional allowance on the Saturnalia and Compitalia, and sometimes fruit, but seldom vegetables. Butcher’s meat seems to have been hardly ever given them. Under the republic they were not allowed to serve in the army, though after the battle of Cannae, when the state was in imminent danger, 8000 slaves were purchased by the state for the army, and subsequently manumitted on account of their bravery. The offences of slaves were punished with severity, and frequently with the utmost barbarity. One of the mildest punishments was the removal from the familia urbana to the rustica, where they were obliged to work in chains or fetters. They were frequently beaten with sticks or scourged with the whip. Runaway slaves (fugitivi) and thieves (fures) were branded on the forehead with a mark (stigma), whence they are said to be notati or inscripti. Slaves were also punished by being hung up by their hands with weights suspended to their feet, or by being sent to work in the Ergastulum or Pistrinum. [[Ergastulum].] The carrying of the furca was a very common mode of punishment. [[Furca].] The toilet of the Roman ladies was a dreadful ordeal to the female slaves, who were often barbarously punished by their mistresses for the slightest mistake in the arrangement of the hair or a part of the dress. Masters might work their slaves as many hours in the day as they pleased, but they usually allowed them holidays on the public festivals. At the festival of Saturnus, in particular, special indulgences were granted to all slaves, of which an account is given under [Saturnalia]. There was no distinctive dress for slaves. It was once proposed in the senate to give slaves a distinctive costume, but it was rejected, since it was considered dangerous to show them their number. Male slaves were not allowed to wear the toga or bulla, nor females the stola, but otherwise they were dressed nearly in the same way as poor people, in clothes of a dark colour (pullati) and slippers (crepidae). The rights of burial, however, were not denied to slaves, for, as the Romans regarded slavery as an institution of society, death was considered to put an end to the distinction between slaves and freemen. Slaves were sometimes even buried with their masters, and we find funeral inscriptions addressed to the Dii Manes of slaves (Dis Manibus).

SESCUNX. [[As].]

SESTERTĬUS, a Roman coin, which properly belonged to the silver coinage, in which it was one-fourth of the denarius, and therefore equal to 2½ asses. Hence the name, which is an abbreviation of semis tertius (sc. nummus), the Roman mode of expressing 2½. The word nummus is often expressed with sestertius, and often it stands alone, meaning sestertius. Hence the symbol HS or IIS, which is used to designate the sestertius. It stands either for LLS (Libra Libra et Semis), or for IIS, the two I’s merely forming the numeral two (sc. asses or librae), and the whole being in either case equivalent to dupondius et semis. When the as was reduced to half an ounce, and the number of asses in the denarius was made sixteen instead of ten [[As], [Denarius]], the sestertius was still ¼ of the denarius, and therefore contained no longer 2½, but 4 asses. The old reckoning of 10 asses to the denarius was kept, however, in paying the troops. After this change the sestertius was coined in brass as well as in silver; the metal used for it was that called aurichalcum, which was much finer than the common aes, of which the asses were made. The sum of 1000 sestertii was called sestertium. This was also denoted by the symbol HS, the obvious explanation of which is “IIS (2½ millia).” The sestertium was always a sum of money, never a coin; the coin used in the payment of large sums was the denarius. According to the value we have assigned to the [Denarius], up to the time of Augustus, we have—

			£.	s.	d.	farth.
	the sestertius	=	0	0	2	·5
	the sestertium	=	8	17	1
After the reign of Augustus—
	the sestertius	=	0	0	1	3·5
	the sestertium	=	7	16	3

The sestertius was the denomination of money almost always used in reckoning considerable amounts. There are a very few examples of the use of the denarius for this purpose. The mode of reckoning was as follows:—Sestertius = sestertius nummus = nummus. Sums below 1000 sestertii were expressed by the numeral adjectives joined with either of these forms. The sum of 1000 sestertii = mille sestertii = M sestertium (for sestertiorum) = M nummi = M nummum (for nummorum) = M sestertii nummi = M sestertium nummum = sestertium. These forms are used with the numeral adjectives below 1000: sometimes millia is used instead of sestertia: sometimes both words are omitted: sometimes nummum or sestertium is added. For example, 600,000 sestertii = sescenta sestertia = sescenta millia = sescenta = sescenta sestertia nummum. For sums of a thousand sestertia (i.e. a million sestertii) and upwards, the numeral adverbs in ies (decies, undecies, vicies, &c.) are used, with which the words centena millia (a hundred thousand) must be understood. With these adverbs the neuter singular sestertium is joined in the case required by the construction. Thus, decies sestertium = decies centena millia sestertium = ten times a hundred thousand sestertii = 1,000,000 sestertii = 1000 sestertia: millies HS = millies centena millia sestertium = a thousand times one hundred thousand sestertii = 100,000,000 sestertii = 100,000 sestertia. When the numbers are written in cypher, it is often difficult to know whether sestertii or sestertia are meant. A distinction is sometimes made by a line placed over the numeral when sestertia are intended, or in other words, when the numeral is an adverb in ies. Thus

HS. M.C.	=	1100 sestertii, but
HS. M̄.C̄.	=	HS millies centies
	=	110,000 sestertia
	=	110,000,000 sestertii.

Sesterce is sometimes used as an English word. If so, it ought to be used only as the translation of sestertius, never of sestertium.

SĒVIR. [[Equites].]

SEX SUFFRĀGĬA. [[Equites].]

SEXTANS. [[As].]

SEXTĀRĬUS, a Roman dry and liquid measure. It was one-sixth of the congius, and hence its name. It was divided, in the same manner as the As, into parts named uncia, sextans, quadrans, triens, quincunx, semissis, &c. The uncia, or twelfth part of the sextarius, was the [Cyathus]; its sextans was therefore two cyathi, its quadrans three, its triens four, its quincunx five, &c. (See [Tables].)

SĬBYLLĪNI LIBRI. These books are said to have been obtained in the reign of Tarquinius Priscus, or according to other accounts in that of Tarquinius Superbus, when a Sibyl (Σίβυλλα), or prophetic woman, presented herself before the king, and offered nine books for sale. Upon the king refusing to purchase them, she went and burnt three, and then returned and demanded the same price for the remaining six as she had done for the nine. The king again refused to purchase them, whereupon she burnt three more, and demanded the same sum for the remaining three as she had done at first for the nine; the king’s curiosity now became excited, so that he purchased the books, and then the Sibyl vanished. These books were probably written in Greek, as the later ones undoubtedly were. They were kept in a stone chest under ground in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, under the custody of certain officers, at first only two in number, but afterwards increased successively to ten and fifteen, of whom an account is given under [Decemviri]. The public were not allowed to inspect the books, and they were only consulted by the officers, who had the charge of them, at the special command of the senate. They were not consulted, as the Greek oracles were, for the purpose of getting light concerning future events; but to learn what worship was required by the gods, when they had manifested their wrath by national calamities or prodigies. Accordingly we find that the instruction they give is in the same spirit; prescribing what honour was to be paid to the deities already recognised, or what new ones were to be imported from abroad. When the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was burnt in B.C. 82, the Sibylline books perished in the fire; and in order to restore them, ambassadors were sent to various towns in Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor, to make fresh collections, which on the rebuilding of the temple were deposited in the same place that the former had occupied. The Sibylline books were also called Fata Sibyllina and Libri Fatales. Along with the Sibylline books were preserved, under the guard of the same officers, the books of the two prophetic brothers, the Marcii, the Etruscan prophecies of the nymph Bygoe, and those of Albuna or Albunea of Tibur. Those of the Marcii, which had not been placed there at the time of the battle of Cannae, were written in Latin.

SĪCA, dim. SĪCĪLA, whence the English sickle, a curved dagger, adapted by its form to be concealed under the clothes, and therefore carried by robbers and murderers. Sica may be translated a scimitar, to distinguish it from [Pugio], which denoted a dagger of the common kind. Sicarius, though properly meaning one who murdered with the sica, was applied to murderers in general. Hence the forms de sicariis and inter sicarios were used in the criminal courts in reference to murder. Thus judicium inter sicarios, “a trial for murder;” defendere inter sicarios, “to defend against a charge of murder.”

SĬGILLĀRĬA. [[Saturnalia].]

SIGNA MĪLĬTĀRĬA (σημεῖα, σημαίαι), military ensigns or standards. The most ancient standard employed by the Romans is said to have been a handful of straw fixed to the top of a spear or pole. Hence the company of soldiers belonging to it was called Manipulus. The bundle of hay or fern was soon succeeded by the figures of animals, viz. the eagle, the wolf, the minotaur, the horse, and the boar. These appear to have corresponded to the five divisions of the Roman army as shown on [p. 165]. The eagle (aquila) was carried by the aquilifer in the midst of the hastati, and we may suppose the wolf to have been carried among the principes, and so on. In the second consulship of Marius, B.C. 104, the four quadrupeds were entirely laid aside as standards, the eagle being alone retained. It was made of silver, or bronze, and with expanded wings, but was probably of a small size, since a standard-bearer (signifer) under Julius Caesar is said in circumstances of danger to have wrenched the eagle from its staff, and concealed it in the folds of his girdle. Under the later emperors the eagle was carried, as it had been for many centuries, with the legion, a legion being on that account sometimes called aquila, and at the same time each cohort had for its own ensign the serpent or dragon (draco, δράκων), which was woven on a square piece of cloth, elevated on a gilt staff, to which a cross-bar was adapted for the purpose, and carried by the draconarius. Another figure used in the standards was a ball (pila), supposed to have been emblematic of the dominion of Rome over the world; and for the same reason a bronze figure of Victory was sometimes fixed at the top of the staff. Under the eagle or other emblem was often placed a head of the reigning emperor, which was to the army the object of idolatrous adoration. The minor divisions of a cohort, called centuries, had also each an ensign, inscribed with the number both of the cohort and of the century. By this provision every soldier was enabled with the greatest ease to take his place. The standard of the cavalry, properly called vexillum, was a square piece of cloth expanded upon a cross in the manner already indicated, and perhaps surmounted by some figure. The following cut, containing several standards, represents the performance of the sacrifice called suovetaurilia. The imperial standard from the time of Constantine was called labarum; on it a figure or emblem of Christ was woven in gold upon purple cloth, and this was substituted for the head of the emperor. Since the movements of a body of troops and of every portion of it were regulated by the standards, all the evolutions, acts, and incidents of the Roman army were expressed by phrases derived from this circumstance. Thus signa inferre meant to advance, referre to retreat, and convertere to face about; efferre, or castris vellere, to march out of the camp; ad signa convenire, to re-assemble. Notwithstanding some obscurity in the use of terms, it appears that, whilst the standard of the legion was properly called aquila, those of the cohorts were in a special sense of the term called signa, their bearers being signiferi, and that those of the manipuli or smaller divisions of the cohort were denominated vexilla, their bearers being vexillarii. In time of peace the standards were kept in the [Aerarium], under the care of the [Quaestor].

Military Standards. (Bellori, Vet. Arc. Aug.)

SĬLĬCERNĬUM. [[Funus].]

SIMPŬLUM or SIMPŬVĬUM, the name of a small cup used in sacrifices, by which libations of wine were offered to the gods. It is represented on the coin figured under [Secespita]. There was a proverbial expression excitare fluctus in simpulo, “to make much ado about nothing.”

SĪPĂRĬUM, a piece of tapestry stretched on a frame, which rose before the stage of the theatre, and consequently answered the purpose of the drop-scene with us, although, contrary to our practice, it was depressed when the play began, so as to go below the level of the stage (aulaea premuntur), and was raised again when the performance was concluded (tolluntur). It appears that human figures were represented upon it, whose feet seemed to rest upon the stage when this screen was drawn up. These figures were sometimes those of Britons woven in the canvass, and raising their arms in the attitude of lifting up a purple curtain, so as to be introduced in the same manner as Atlantes, Persae, and Caryatides. [[Caryatides].] In a more general sense, siparium denoted any piece of cloth or canvass stretched upon a frame.

SISTRUM (σεῖστρον), a mystical instrument of music, used by the ancient Egyptians in their ceremonies, and especially in the worship of Isis. It was held in the right hand (see cut), and shaken, from which circumstance it derived its name. The introduction of the worship of Isis into Italy shortly before the commencement of the Christian aera made the Romans familiar with this instrument.

Sistra. (The two figures on the left hand from paintings found at Portici;
the right-hand figure represents a Sistrum formerly belonging to the library of St. Genovefa at Paris.)

SĬTELLA. [[Situla].]

SĪTŎPHỸLĂCES (σιτοφύλακες), a board of officers, chosen by lot, at Athens. They were at first three, afterwards increased to fifteen, of whom ten were for the city, five for the Peiraeus. Their business was partly to watch the arrival of the corn ships, take account of the quantity imported, and see that the import laws were duly observed; partly to watch the sales of corn in the market, and take care that the prices were fair and reasonable, and none but legal weights and measures used by the factors; in which respect their duties were much the same as those of the Agoranomi and Metronomi with regard to other saleable articles.

SĪTOS (σῖτος), corn. The soil of Attica, though favourable to the production of figs, olives, and grapes, was not so favourable for corn; and accordingly a large quantity of corn was annually imported. Exportation was entirely prohibited, nor was any Athenian or resident alien allowed to carry corn to any other place than Athens. Whoever did so, was punishable with death. Of the corn brought into the Athenian port two-thirds was to be brought into the city and sold there. No one might lend money on a ship that did not sail with an express condition to bring a return cargo, part of it corn, to Athens. Strict regulations were made with respect to the sale of corn in the market. Conspiracies among the corn-dealers (σιτοπῶλαι) to buy up the corn (συνωνεῖσθαι), or raise the price (συνιστάναι τὰς τιμὰς), were punished with death. The sale of corn was placed under the supervision of a special board of officers called Sitophylaces (σιτοφύλακες), while that of all other marketable commodities was superintended by the agoranomi. It was their business to see that meal and bread were of the proper quality, and sold at the legal weight and price. Notwithstanding these careful provisions, scarcities (σιτοδεῖαι) frequently occurred at Athens. The state then made great efforts to supply the wants of the people by importing large quantities of corn, and selling it at a low price. Public granaries were kept in the Odeum, Pompeum, Long Porch, and naval storehouse near the sea. Sitonae (σιτῶναι) were appointed to get in the supply and manage the sale. Persons called apodectae (ἀποδέκται) received the corn, measured it out, and distributed it in certain quantities.

SĪTOU DĬCĒ (σίτου δίκη). If anything happened to sever a marriage contract, the husband or his representative was bound to repay the marriage portion (προῖξ); or, if he failed to do so, he was liable to pay interest upon it at the rate of eighteen per cent. per annum. A woman’s fortune was usually secured by a mortgage of the husband’s property; but whether this was so or not, her guardian might bring an action against the party who unjustly withheld it; δίκη προικὸς, to recover the principal, δίκη σίτου, for the interest. The interest was called σῖτος (alimony or maintenance), because it was the income out of which the woman had to be maintained. The word σῖτος is often used generally for provisions, just as we use the word bread.

SĬTŬLA, dim. SĬTELLA (ὑδρία), was probably a bucket or pail for drawing and carrying water, but was more usually applied to the vessel from which lots were drawn. The diminutive sitella, however, was more commonly used in this signification. It appears that the vessel was filled with water (as among the Greeks, whence the word ὑδρία), and that the lots (sortes) were made of wood; and as, though increasing in size below, it had a narrow neck, only one lot could come to the top of the water at the same time, when it was shaken. The vessel used for drawing lots was also called urna or orca as well as Situla or Sitella. It is important to understand the difference in meaning, between Sitella and Cista, in their use in the comitia and courts of justice, since they have been frequently confounded. The Sitella was the urn, from which the names of the tribes or centuries were drawn out by lot, so that each might have its proper place in voting, and the Cista was the ballot-box into which the tabellae were cast in voting. The Cista seems to have been made of wicker or similar work.

Cista. Sitella.

SOCCUS, dim. SOCCŬLUS, was nearly if not altogether equivalent in meaning to [Crepida], and denoted a slipper or low shoe, which did not fit closely, and was not fastened by any tie. The Soccus was worn by comic actors, and was in this respect opposed to the [Cothurnus].

Socci, slippers, worn by a Mimus or Buffoon. (From an ancient Painting.)

SŎCĬI (σύμμαχοι). In the early times, when Rome formed equal alliances with any of the surrounding nations, these nations were called Socii. After the dissolution of the Latin league, when the name Latini, or Nomen Latinum, was artificially applied to a great number of Italians, only a few of whom were real inhabitants of the old Latin towns, and the majority of whom had been made Latins by the will and the law of Rome, there necessarily arose a difference between these Latins and the Socii, and the expression Socii Nomen Latinum is one of the old asyndeta, instead of Socii et Nomen Latinum. The Italian allies again must be distinguished from foreign allies. The Italian allies consisted, for the most part, of such nations as had either been conquered by the Romans, or had come under their dominion through other circumstances. When such nations formed an alliance with Rome, they generally retained their own laws; or if they were not allowed this privilege at first, they usually obtained it subsequently. The condition of the Italian allies varied, and mainly depended upon the manner in which they had come under the Roman dominion; but in reality they were always dependent upon Rome. The following are the principal duties which the Italian Socii had to perform towards Rome: they had to send subsidies in troops, money, corn, ships, and other things, whenever Rome demanded them. The number of troops requisite for completing or increasing the Roman armies was decreed every year by the senate, and the consuls fixed the amount which each allied nation had to send; in proportion to its population capable of bearing arms, of which each nation was obliged to draw up accurate lists, called formulae. The consul also appointed the place and time at which the troops of the socii, each part under its own leader, had to meet him and his legions. The infantry of the allies in a consular army was usually equal in numbers to that of the Romans; the cavalry was generally three times the number of the Romans: but these numerical proportions were not always observed. The consuls appointed twelve praefects as commanders of the socii, and their power answered to that of the twelve military tribunes in the consular legions. These praefects, who were probably taken from the allies themselves, and not from the Romans, selected a third of the cavalry, and a fifth of the infantry of the socii, who formed a select detachment for extraordinary cases, and who were called the extraordinarii. The remaining body of the socii was then divided into two parts, called the right and the left wing. The infantry of the wings was, as usual, divided into cohorts, and the cavalry into turmae. In some cases also legions were formed of the socii. Pay and clothing were given to the allied troops by the states or towns to which they belonged, and which appointed quaestors or paymasters for this purpose: but Rome furnished them with provisions at the expense of the republic: the infantry received the same as the Roman infantry, but the cavalry only received two-thirds of what was given to the Roman cavalry. In the distribution of the spoil and of conquered lands they frequently received the same share as the Romans. They were never allowed to take up arms of their own accord, and disputes among them were settled by the senate. Notwithstanding all this, the socii fell gradually under the arbitrary rule of the senate and the magistrates of Rome; and after the year B.C. 173, it even became customary for magistrates, when they travelled through Italy, to demand of the authorities of allied towns to pay homage to them, to provide them with a residence, and to furnish them with beasts of burden when they continued their journey. The only way for the allies to obtain any protection against such arbitrary proceedings, was to enter into a kind of clientela with some influential and powerful Roman. Socii who revolted against Rome were frequently punished with the loss of their freedom, or of the honour of serving in the Roman armies. Such punishments however varied according to circumstances. After the civitas had been granted to all the Italians by the Lex Julia de Civitate (B.C. 90), the relation of the Italian socii to Rome ceased. But Rome had long before this event applied the name Socii to foreign nations also which were allied with Rome, though the meaning of the word in this case differed from that of the Socii Italici. There were two principal kinds of alliances with foreign nations: 1. foedus aequum, such as might be concluded either after a war in which neither party had gained a decisive victory, or with a nation with which Rome had never been at war; 2. a foedus iniquum, when a foreign nation conquered by the Romans was obliged to form the alliance on any terms proposed by the conquerors. In the latter case the foreign nation was to some extent subject to Rome, and obliged to comply with anything that Rome might demand. But all foreign socii, whether they had an equal or unequal alliance, were obliged to send subsidies in troops when Rome demanded them; these troops, however, did not, like those of the Italian socii, serve in the line, but were employed as light-armed soldiers, and were called milites auxiliares, auxiliarii, auxilia, or sometimes auxilia externa. Towards the end of the republic all the Roman allies, whether they were nations or kings, sank down to the condition of mere subjects or vassals of Rome, whose freedom and independence consisted in nothing but a name. [Compare [Foederatae Civitates].]

SŎDĀLĬTĬUM. [[Ambitus].]

SŌLĀRIUM. [[Horologium].]

SŎLĔA was the simplest kind of sandal [[Sandalium]], consisting of a sole with little more to fasten it to the foot than a strap across the instep.

SŎLĬDUS. [[Aurum].]

SOLĬTAURĪLĬA. [[Sacrificium]; [Lustratio]; and woodcut on [p. 343].]

SOPHRŌNISTAE. [[Gymnasium].]

SORTES, lots. It was a frequent practice among the Italian nations to endeavour to ascertain a knowledge of future events by drawing lots (sortes): in many of the ancient Italian temples the will of the gods was consulted in this way, as at Praeneste, Caere, &c. These sortes or lots were usually little tablets or counters, made of wood or other materials, and were commonly thrown into a sitella or urn, filled with water, as is explained under [Situla]. The lots were sometimes thrown like dice. The name of sortes was in fact given to anything used to determine chances, and was also applied to any verbal response of an oracle. Various things were written upon the lots according to circumstances, as for instance the names of the persons using them, &c.: it seems to have been a favourite practice in later times to write the verses of illustrious poets upon little tablets, and to draw them out of the urn like other lots, the verses which a person thus obtained being supposed to be applicable to him.

SPĔCŬLĀRĬA. [[Domus].]

SPĔCŬLĀTŌRES, or EXPLŌRĀTŌRES, were scouts or spies sent before an army, to reconnoitre the ground and observe the movements of the enemy. Under the emperors there was a body of troops called Speculatores, who formed part of the praetorian cohorts, and had the especial care of the emperor’s person.

SPĔCŬLUM (κάτοπτρον, ἔσοπτρον, ἔνοπτρον), a mirror, a looking-glass. The looking-glasses of the ancients were usually made of metal, at first of a composition of tin and copper, but afterwards more frequently of silver. The ancients seem to have had glass mirrors also like ours, consisting of a glass plate covered at the back with a thin leaf of metal. They were manufactured as early as the time of Pliny at the celebrated glass-houses of Sidon, but they must have been inferior to those of metal, since they never came into general use, and are never mentioned by ancient writers among costly pieces of furniture, whereas metal mirrors frequently are. Looking-glasses were generally small, and such as could be carried in the hand. Instead of their being fixed so as to be hung against the wall or to stand upon the table or floor, they were generally held by female slaves before their mistresses when dressing.

Looking-glass held by a Nymph. (From a Painting at Herculaneum.)

SPĔCUS. [[Aquae Ductus].]

SPHAERISTĒRIUM. [[Gymnasium].]

SPĪCŬLUM. [[Hasta].]

SPĪRA (σπεῖρα), dim. SPĪRŬLA, the base of a column. This member did not exist in the Doric order of Greek architecture, but was always present in the Ionic and Corinthian, and, besides the bases properly belonging to those orders, there was one called the Attic, which may be regarded as a variety of the Ionic [Atticurges]. In the Ionic and Attic the base commonly consisted of two tori (torus superior and torus inferior) divided by a scotia (τρόχιλος), and in the Corinthian of two tori divided by two scotiae. The upper torus was often fluted (ῥαβδωτός), and surmounted by an astragal [[Astragalus]], as in the left-hand figure of the annexed woodcut, which shows the form of the base in the Ionic temple of Panops on the Ilissus. The right-hand figure in the same woodcut shows the corresponding part in the temple of Minerva Polias at Athens. In this the upper torus is wrought with a plaited ornament, perhaps designed to represent a rope or cable. In these two temples the spira rests not upon a plinth (plinthus, πλίνθος), but on a podium.

Spirae (bases) of Columns. (From ancient Columns.)

SPŎLĬA. Four words are commonly employed to denote booty taken in war, Praeda, anubiae, Exuviae, Spolia. Of these Praeda bears the most comprehensive meaning, being used for plunder of every description. Manubiae would seem strictly to signify that portion of the spoil which fell to the share of the commander-in-chief, the proceeds of which were frequently applied to the erection of some public building. Exuviae indicates anything stripped from the person of a foe, while Spolia, properly speaking, ought to be confined to armour and weapons, although both words are applied loosely to trophies, such as chariots, standards, beaks of ships and the like, which might be preserved and displayed. Spoils collected on the battlefield after an engagement, or found in a captured town, were employed to decorate the temples of the gods, triumphal arches, porticoes, and other places of public resort, and sometimes in the hour of extreme need served to arm the people; but those which were gained by individual prowess were considered the undoubted property of the successful combatant, and were exhibited in the most conspicuous part of his dwelling, being hung up in the atrium, suspended from the door-posts, or arranged in the vestibulum, with appropriate inscriptions. They were regarded as peculiarly sacred, so that even if the house was sold the new possessor was not permitted to remove them. But while on the one hand it was unlawful to remove spoils, so it was forbidden to replace or repair them when they had fallen down or become decayed through age; the object of this regulation being doubtless to guard against the frauds of false pretenders. Of all spoils the most important were the spolia opima, a term applied to those only which the commander-in-chief of a Roman army stripped in a field of battle from the leader of the foe. Plutarch expressly asserts that Roman history up to his own time afforded but three examples of the spolia opima. The first were said to have been won by Romulus from Acro, king of the Caeninenses, the second by Aulus Cornelius Cossus from Lar Tolumnius, king of the Veientes, the third by M. Claudius Marcellus from Viridomarus, king of the Gaesatae. In all these cases, in accordance with the original institution, the spoils were dedicated to Jupiter Feretrius.

SPONSA, SPONSUS, SPONSĀLĬA. [[Matrimonium].]

SPORTŬLA. In the days of Roman freedom, clients were in the habit of testifying respect for their patron by thronging his atrium at an early hour, and escorting him to places of public resort when he went abroad. As an acknowledgment of these courtesies, some of the number were usually invited to partake of the evening meal. After the extinction of liberty, the presence of such guests, who had now lost all political importance, was soon regarded as an irksome restraint, while at the same time many of the noble and wealthy were unwilling to sacrifice the pompous display of a numerous body of retainers. Hence the practice was introduced under the empire of bestowing on each client, when he presented himself for his morning visit, a certain portion of food as a substitute and compensation for the occasional invitation to a regular supper (coena recta), and this dole, being carried off in a little basket provided for the purpose, received the name of sportula. For the sake of convenience it soon became common to give an equivalent in money, the sum established by general usage being a hundred quadrantes. The donation in money, however, did not entirely supersede the sportula given in kind, for we find in Juvenal a lively description of a great man’s vestibule crowded with dependents, each attended by a slave bearing a portable kitchen to receive the viands and keep them hot while they were carried home. Under the empire great numbers of the lower orders derived their whole sustenance, and the funds for ordinary expenditure, exclusively from this source, while even the highborn did not scruple to increase their incomes by taking advantage of the ostentatious profusion of the rich and vain.

STĂDĬUM (ὁ στάδιος and τὸ στάδιον), a Greek measure of length, and the chief one used for itinerary distances. It was equal to 600 Greek or 625 Roman feet, or to 125 Roman paces; and the Roman mile contained 8 stadia. Hence the stadium contained 606 feet 9 inches English. This standard prevailed throughout Greece, under the name of the Olympic stadium, so called because it was the exact length of the stadium or foot-race course at Olympia, measured between the pillars at the two extremities of the course. The first use of the measure seems to be contemporaneous with the formation of the stadium at Olympia when the Olympic games were revived by Iphitus (B.C. 884 or 828). This distance doubled formed the δίαυλος, the ἱππικον was 4 stadia, and the δόλιχος is differently stated at 6, 7, 8, 12, 20, and 24 stadia. A day’s journey by land was reckoned at 200 or 180 stadia, or for an army 150 stadia. The stadium at Olympia was used not only for the foot-race, but also for the other contests which were added to the games from time to time [[Olympia]], except the horse-races, for which a place was set apart, of a similar form with the stadium, but larger; this was called the Hippodrome (ἱππόδρομος). The name stadium was also given to all other places throughout Greece wherever games were celebrated. The stadium was an oblong area terminated at one end by a straight line, at the other by a semicircle having the breadth of the stadium for its base. Round this area were ranges of seats rising above one another in steps.

STĀTĒR (στατῆρ), which means simply a standard (in this case both of weight and more particularly of money), was the name of the principal gold coin of Greece, which was also called Chrysus (χρυσοῦς). The stater is said to have been first coined in Lydia by Croesus, and probably did not differ materially from the stater which was afterwards current in Greece, and which was equal in weight to two drachmae, and in value to twenty. The Macedonian stater, which was the one most in use after the time of Philip and his son Alexander the Great, was of the value of about 1l. 3s. 6d. In calculating the value of the stater in our money the ratio of gold to silver must not be overlooked. Thus the stater of Alexander, which we have valued, according to the present worth of gold, at 1l. 3s. 6d., passed for twenty drachmae, which, according to the present value of silver, were worth only 16s. 3d. But the former is the true worth of the stater, the difference arising from the greater value of silver in ancient times than now.

STĂTĬŌNES. [[Castra].]

STĂTOR, a public servant, who attended on the Roman magistrates in the provinces. The Statores seem to have derived their name from standing by the side of the magistrate, and thus being at hand to execute all his commands; they appear to have been chiefly employed in carrying letters and messages.

STĀTŬĀRĬA ARS is in its proper sense the art of making statues or busts, whether they consist of stone or metal or other materials, and includes the art of making the various kinds of reliefs (alto, basso, and mezzo relievo). These arts in their infant state existed among the Greeks from time immemorial. There is no material applicable to statuary which was not used by the Greeks. As soft clay is capable of being shaped without difficulty into any form, and is easily dried, either by being exposed to the sun or by being baked, we may consider this substance to have been the earliest material of which figures were made. The name plastic art (ἡ πλαστική), by which the ancients sometimes designate the art of statuary, properly signifies to form or shape a thing of clay. The second material was wood, and figures made of wood were called ξόανα, from ξέω, “polish” or “carve.” It was chiefly used for making images of the gods, and probably more on account of the facility of working in it, than for any other reason. Stone was little used in statuary during the early ages of Greece, though it was not altogether unknown, as we may infer from the relief on the Lion-gate of Mycenae. In Italy, where the soft peperino afforded an easy material for working, stone appears to have been used at an earlier period and more commonly than in Greece. But in the historical times the Greeks used all the principal varieties of marble for their statues. Different kinds of marble and of different colours were sometimes used in one and the same statue, in which case the work is called Polylithic statuary. Bronze (χάλκος, aes), silver, and gold were used profusely in the state of society described in the Homeric poems. At that period, however, and long after, the works executed in metal were made by means of the hammer, and the different pieces were joined together by pins, rivets, cramps, or other mechanical fastenings, and, as the art advanced, by a kind of glue, cement, or solder. Iron came into use much later, and the art of casting both bronze and iron is ascribed to Rhoecus and to Theodoras of Samos. Ivory was employed at a later period than any of the before-mentioned materials, and then was highly valued both for its beauty and rarity. In its application to statuary, ivory was generally combined with gold, and was used for the parts representing the flesh. The history of ancient art, and of statuary in particular, may be divided into five periods.

I. First Period, from the earliest times till about 580 B.C.—Three kinds of artists may be distinguished in the mythical period. The first consists of gods and daemons; such as Athena, Hephaestus, the Phrygian or Dardanian Dactyli, and the Cabiri. The second contains whole tribes of men distinguished from others by the mysterious possession of superior skill in the practice of the arts, such as the Telchines and the Cyclopes. The third consists of individuals who are indeed described as human beings, but yet are nothing more than personifications of particular branches of art, or the representatives of families of artists. Of the latter the most celebrated is Daedalus, whose name indicates nothing but a smith, or an artist in general, and who is himself the mythical ancestor of a numerous family of artists (Daedalids), which can be traced from the time of Homer to that of Plato, for even Socrates is said to have been a descendant of this family. Smilis (from σμίλη, a carving-knife) exercised his art in Samos, Aegina, and other places, and some remarkable works were attributed to him. Endoeus of Athens is called a disciple of Daedalus. According to the popular traditions of Greece, there was no period in which the gods were not represented in some form or other, and there is no doubt that for a long time there existed no other statues in Greece than those of the gods. The earliest representations of the gods, however, were only symbolic. The presence of a god was indicated by the simplest and most shapeless symbols, such as unhewn blocks of stone (λίθοι ἀργοί), and by simple pillars or pieces of wood. The general name for a representation of a god not consisting of such a rude symbol was ἄγαλμα. In the Homeric poems there are sufficient traces of the existence of statues of the gods; but they probably did not display any artistic beauty. The only work of art which has come down to us from the heroic age is the relief above the ancient gate of Mycenae, representing two lions standing on their hind legs, with a sort of pillar between them (woodcut under [Murus]). The time which elapsed between the composition of the Homeric poems and the beginning of the fifth century before our aera may be termed the age of discovery; for nearly all the inventions, upon the application of which the development of the arts is dependent, are assigned to this period. Glaucus of Chios or Samos is said to have invented the art of soldering metal (σιδήρου κόλλησις). The two artists most celebrated for their discoveries were the two brothers Telecles and Theodoras of Samos, about the time of Polycrates. They invented the art of casting figures of metal. During the whole of this period, though marble and bronze began to be extensively applied, yet wood was more generally used for representations of the gods. These statues were painted [[Pictura]], and in most cases dressed in the most gorgeous attire. The style in which they are executed is called the archaic or the hieratic style. The figures are stiff and clumsy, the countenances have little or no individuality, the eyes long and small, and the outer angles turned a little upwards; the mouth, which is likewise drawn upwards at the two corners, has a smiling appearance. The hair is carefully worked, but looks stiff and wiry, and hangs generally down in straight lines, which are curled at the ends. The arms hang down the sides of the body, unless the figure carries something in its hands. The drapery is likewise stiff, and the folds are very symmetrical and worked with little regard to nature.

II. Second Period, from 580 to 480 B.C.—The number of artists who flourished during this period is truly astonishing. The Ionians of Asia Minor and the islanders of the Aegean, who had previously been in advance of the other Greeks in the exercise of the fine arts, had their last flourishing period from 560 to 528 B.C. Works in metal were produced in high perfection in Samos, in Aegina and Argos, while Chios gained the greatest reputation from its possessing the earliest great school of sculptors in marble, in which Bupalus and Anthermus were the most distinguished about 540 B.C. Their works were scattered over various parts of Greece, and their value may be inferred from the fact that Augustus adorned with them the pediment of the temple of Apollo on the Palatine. Sicyon also possessed a celebrated school of sculptors in marble, and about 580 B.C. Dipoenus and Scyllis, who had come from Crete, were at the head of it, and executed several marble statues of gods. Respecting Magna Graecia and Sicily we know few particulars, though it appears that the arts here went on improving and continued to be in advance of the mother-country. The most celebrated artists in southern Italy were Dameas of Croton, and Pythagoras of Rhegium. In Athens the arts made great progress under the patronage of the Pisistratids. The most celebrated among the Athenian sculptors of this period were Critias and Hegias, or Hegesias, both distinguished for their works in bronze. The former of them made in 477 B.C. the statues of Harmodius and Aristogiton. Argos also distinguished itself, and it is a curious circumstance, that the greatest Attic artists with whom the third period opens, and who brought the Attic art to its culminating point, are disciples of the Argive Ageladas (about 516 B.C.) In the statues of the gods (ἀγάλματα), which were made for temples as objects of worship, the hieratic style was more or less conscientiously retained, and it is therefore not in these statues that we have to seek for proofs of the progress of art. But even in temple-statues wood began to give way to other and better materials. Besides bronze, marble also, and ivory and gold were now applied to statues of the gods, and it was not uncommon to form the body of a statue of wood, and to make its head, arms, and feet of stone (ἀκρόλιθοι), or to cover the whole of such a wooden figure with ivory and gold. From the statues of the gods erected for worship we must distinguish those statues which were dedicated in temples as ἀναθήματα, and which now became customary instead of craters, tripods, &c. In these the artists were not only not bound to any traditional or conventional forms, but were, like the poets, allowed to make free use of mythological subjects, to add, and to omit, or to modify the stories, so as to render them more adapted for their artistic purposes. A third class of statues, which were erected during this period in great numbers, were those of the victors in the national games, and, though more rarely, of other distinguished persons (ἀνδριάντες). Those of the latter kind appear generally to have been portraits (εἰκόνες, statuae iconicae). The first iconic statues of Harmodius and Aristogiton were made by Antenor in 509 B.C., and in 477 B.C. new statues of the same persons were made by Critias. It was also at the period we are now describing that it became customary to adorn the pediments, friezes, and other parts of temples with reliefs or groups of statues of marble. We still possess two great works of this kind which are sufficient to show their general character during this period. 1. The Selinuntine Marbles, or the metopes of two temples on the acropolis of Selinus in Sicily, which were discovered in 1823, and are at present in the Museum of Palermo. 2. The Aeginetan Marbles, which were discovered in 1812 in the island of Aegina, and are now at Munich. They consist of eleven statues, which adorned two pediments of a temple of Athena, and represent the goddess leading the Aeacids against Troy, and contain manifest allusions to the war of the Greeks with the Persians.

III. Third Period, from 480 to 336 B.C.—During this period Athens was the centre of the fine arts in Greece. Statuary went hand in hand with the other arts and with literature: it became emancipated from its ancient fetters, from the stiffness and conventional forms of former times, and reached its culminating point in the sublime and mighty works of Phidias. His career begins about 452 B.C. The genius of this artist was so great and so generally recognised, that all the great works which were executed in the age of Pericles were placed under his direction, and thus the whole host of artists who were at that time assembled at Athens were engaged in working out his designs and ideas. Of these we have still some remains:—1. Parts of the eighteen sculptured metopes, together with the frieze of the small sides of the cella of the temple of Theseus. Ten of the metopes represent the exploits of Hercules, and the eight others those of Theseus. The figures in the frieze are manifestly gods, but their meaning is uncertain. Casts of these figures are in the British Museum. 2. A considerable number of the metopes of the Parthenon, which are all adorned with reliefs in marble, a great part of the frieze of the cella, some colossal figures, and a number of fragments of the two pediments of this temple. The greater part of these works is now in the British Museum, where they are collected under the name of the Elgin Marbles. Besides the sculptures of these temples, there are also similar ornaments of other temples extant, which show the influence which the school of Phidias exercised in various parts of Greece. Of these the most important are, the Phigalian marbles, which belonged to the temple of Apollo Epicurius, built about 436 B.C., by Ictinus. They were discovered in 1812, and consist of twenty-three plates of marble belonging to the inner frieze of the cella. They are now in the British Museum. The subjects represented in them are fights with Centaurs and Amazons, and one plate shows Apollo and Artemis drawn in a chariot by stags. About the same time that the Attic school rose to its highest perfection under Phidias, the school of Argos was likewise raised to its summit by Polycletus. The art of making bronze statues of athletes was carried by him to the greatest perfection: ideal youthful and manly beauty was the sphere in which he excelled. One of his statues, a youthful Doryphorus, was made with such accurate observation of the proportions of the parts of the body, that it was looked upon by the ancient artists as a canon of rules on this point. Myron of Eleutherae, about 432 B.C., adhered to a closer imitation of nature than Polycletus, and as far as the impression upon the senses was concerned, his works were most pleasing. The cow of Myron in bronze was celebrated in all antiquity. The change which took place after the Peloponnesian war in the public mind at Athens could not fail to show its influence upon the arts also. It was especially Scopas of Paros and Praxiteles of Athens, about one generation after Myron and Polycletus, who gave the reflex of their time in their productions. Their works expressed the softer feelings and an excited state of mind, such as would make a strong impression upon and captivate the senses of the beholders. Both were distinguished as sculptors in marble, and both worked in the same style; the legendary circles to which most of their ideal productions belong are those of Dionysus and Aphrodite, a fact which also shows the character of the age. Cephissodorus and Timarchus were sons of Praxiteles. There were several works of the former at Rome in the time of Pliny; he made his art subservient to passions and sensual desires. Most of the above-mentioned artists, however widely their works differed from those of the school of Phidias, may yet be regarded as having only continued and developed its principles of art in a certain direction; but towards the end of this period Euphranor and Lysippus of Sicyon carried out the principles of the Argive school of Polycletus. Their principal object was to represent the highest possible degree of physical beauty and of athletic and heroic power. The chief characteristic of Lysippus and his school is a close imitation of nature, which even contrived to represent bodily defects in some interesting manner, as in his statues of Alexander.

IV. Fourth Period, from 336 to 146 B.C.—During the first fifty years of this period the schools of Praxiteles and Lysippus continued to flourish, especially in works of bronze; but after this time bronze statues were seldom made, until the art was carried on with new vigour at Athens about the end of the period. The school of Lysippus gave rise to that of Rhodes, where his disciple Chares formed the most celebrated among the hundred colossal statues of the sun. It was seventy cubits high, and partly of metal. It stood near the harbour, and was thrown down by an earthquake about 225 B.C. Antiquarians assign to this part of the fourth period several very beautiful works still extant, as the magnificent group of Laocoon and his sons, which was discovered in 1506 near the baths of Titus, and is at present at Rome. This is, next to the Niobe, the most beautiful group among the extant works of ancient art; it was according to Pliny the work of three Rhodian artists: Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus. The celebrated Farnesian bull is likewise the work of two Rhodian artists, Apollonius and Tauriscus. In the various kingdoms which arose out of the conquests of Alexander the arts were more or less cultivated. Not only were the great master-works of former times copied to adorn the new capitals, but new schools of artists sprang up in several of them. At Pergamus the celebrated groups were composed which represented the victories of Attalus and Eumenes over the Gauls. It is believed by some that the so-called dying gladiator at Rome is a statue of a Gaul, which originally belonged to one of these groups. The Borghese gladiator in the Louvre is supposed to be the work of an Ephesian Agasias, and to have originally formed a part of such a battle-scene. About the close of this period, and for more than a century afterwards, the Romans, in the conquest of the countries where the arts had flourished, made it a regular practice to carry away the works of art. The triumphs over Philip, Antiochus, the Aetolians, the Gauls in Asia, Perseus, Pseudo-Philip, and above all the taking of Corinth, and subsequently the victories over Mithridates and Cleopatra, filled the Roman temples and porticoes with the greatest variety of works of art. The sacrilegious plunder of temples and the carrying away of the sacred statues from the public sanctuaries became afterwards a common practice. The manner in which Verres acted in Sicily is but one of many instances of the extent to which these robberies were carried on. The emperors, especially Augustus, Caligula, and Nero, followed these examples, and the immense number of statues which, notwithstanding all this, remained at Rhodes, Delphi, Athens, and Olympia, is truly astonishing.—We can only briefly advert to the history of statuary among the Etruscans and Romans down to the year 146 B.C. The Etruscans were on the whole an industrious and enterprising people. With the works of Grecian art they must have become acquainted at an early time through their intercourse with the Greeks of southern Italy, whose influence upon the art of the Etruscans is evident in numerous cases. The whole range of the fine arts was cultivated by the Etruscans at an early period. Statuary in clay (which here supplied the place of wood, ξόανα, used in Greece) and in bronze appears to have acquired a high degree of perfection. In 267 B.C. no fewer than 2000 bronze statues are said to have existed at Volsinii, and numerous works of Etruscan art are still extant, which show great vigour and life, though they do not possess a very high degree of beauty. Some of their statues are worked in a Greek style; others are of a character peculiar to themselves, and entirely different from works of Grecian art, being stiff and ugly: others again are exaggerated and forced in their movements and attitudes, and resemble the figures which we meet with in the representations of Asiatic nations. The Romans previously to the time of the first Tarquin are said to have had no images of the gods; and for a long time afterwards their statues of gods in clay or wood were made by Etruscan artists. During the early part of the republic the works executed at Rome were altogether of a useful and practical, and not of an ornamental character; and statuary was in consequence little cultivated. But in the course of time the senate and the people, as well as foreign states which desired to show their gratitude to some Roman, began to erect bronze statues to distinguished persons in the Forum and other places.

V. fifth period, from B.C. 146 to the fall of the Western Empire.—During this period Rome was the capital of nearly the whole of the ancient world, not through its intellectual superiority, but by its military and political power. But it nevertheless became the centre of art and literature, as the artists resorted thither from all parts of the empire for the purpose of seeking employment in the houses of the great. The mass of the people, however, had as little taste for and were as little concerned about the arts as ever. In the time of Nero, who did much for the arts, we meet with Zenodorus, a founder of metal statues, who was commissioned by the emperor to execute a colossal statue of 110 feet high, representing Nero as the Sun. In the reign of Hadrian the arts seem to begin a new aera. He himself was undoubtedly a real lover of art, and encouraged it not only at Rome, but in Greece and Asia Minor. The great Villa of Hadrian below Tivoli, the ruins of which cover an extent of ten Roman miles in circumference, was richer in works of art than any other place in Italy. Here more works of art have been dug out of the ground than anywhere else within the same compass. Some statues executed at this time are worthy of the highest admiration. Foremost among these stand the statues and busts of Antinous, for whom the emperor entertained a passionate partiality, and who was represented in innumerable works of art. The colossal bust of Antinous in the Louvre is reckoned one of the finest works of ancient art, and is placed by some critics on an equality with the best works that Greece has produced. There are also some very good works in red marble which are referred to this period, as that material is not known to have been used before the age of Hadrian. As the arts had received such encouragement and brought forth such fruits in the reign of Hadrian, the effects remained visible for some time during the reigns of the Antonines. The frieze of a temple, which the senate caused to be erected to Antoninus Pius and Faustina, is adorned with griffins and vessels of very exquisite workmanship. The best among the extant works of this time are the equestrian statue of M. Aurelius of gilt bronze, which stands on the Capitol, and the column of M. Aurelius with reliefs representing scenes of his war against the Marcomanni. After the time of the Antonines the symptoms of decline in the arts became more and more visible. The most numerous works continued to be busts and statues of the emperors, but the best among them are not free from affectation and mannerism. In the time of Caracalla many statues were made, especially of Alexander the Great. Alexander Severus was a great admirer of statues, not from a genuine love of art, but because he delighted in the representations of great and good men. The reliefs on the triumphal arch of Septimius Severus, representing his victories over the Parthians, Arabs, and Adiabenians, have scarcely any artistic merits. Art now declined with great rapidity: busts and statues were more seldom made than before, and are awkward and poor; the hair is frequently indicated by nothing else but holes bored in the stone. The reliefs on the sarcophagi gradually become monotonous and lifeless. The reliefs on the arch of Constantine, which are not taken from that of Trajan, are perfectly rude and worthless, and those on the column of Theodosius were not better. Before concluding, it remains to say a few words on the destruction of ancient works of art. During the latter part of the reign of Constantine many statues of the gods were destroyed, and not long after his time a systematic destruction began, which under Theodosius spread to all parts of the empire. The spirit of destruction, however, was not directed against works of art in general and as such, but only against the pagan idols. The opinion, therefore, which is entertained by some, that the losses we have sustained in works of ancient art, are mainly attributable to the introduction of Christianity, is too sweeping and general. Of the same character is another opinion, according to which the final decay of ancient art was a consequence of the spiritual nature of the new religion. The coincidence of the general introduction of Christianity with the decay of the arts is merely accidental. That the early Christians did not despise the arts as such, is clear from several facts. We know that they erected statues to their martyrs, of which we have a specimen in that of St. Hippolytus in the Vatican library. The numerous works, lastly, which have been found in the Christian catacombs at Rome, might alone be a sufficient proof that the early Christians were not hostile towards the representation of the heroes of their religion in works of art. In fact, Christianity during the middle ages became as much the mother of the arts of modern times, as the religion of Greece was the mother of ancient art. Another very general and yet incorrect notion is, that the northern barbarians after the conquest of Rome intentionally destroyed works of art. This opinion is not supported by any of the contemporary historians, nor is it at all probable. The barbarians were only anxious to carry with them the most precious treasures in order to enrich themselves; a statue must have been an object of indifference to them. What perished, perished naturally by the circumstances and calamities of the times. In times of need bronze statues were melted down and the material used for other purposes; marble statues were frequently broken to pieces and used for building materials. If we consider the history of Rome during the first centuries after the conquest of Italy by the Germans, we have every reason to wonder that so many specimens of ancient art have come down to our times. The greatest destruction, at one time, of ancient works of art is supposed to have occurred at the taking of Constantinople, in the beginning of the thirteenth century. Among the few works saved from this devastation are the celebrated bronze horses which now decorate the exterior of St. Mark’s church at Venice. They have been ascribed, but without sufficient authority, to Lysippus.

STĬLUS or STỸLUS is in all probability the same word with the Greek στύλος, and conveys the general idea of an object tapering like an architectural column. It signifies, (1) An iron instrument, resembling a pencil in size and shape, used for writing upon waxed tablets. At one end it was sharpened to a point for scratching the characters upon the wax, while the other end, being flat and circular, served to render the surface of the tablets smooth again, and so to obliterate what had been written. Thus, vertere stilum means to erase, and hence to correct. The stylus was also termed graphium, and the case in which it was kept graphiarium.—(2) A sharp stake or spike placed in pitfalls before an entrenchment, to embarrass the progress of an attacking enemy.

Stilus. (Museo Borbonico, vol. vi. tav. 35.)

STIPENDĬĀRĬI. The stipendiariae urbes of the Roman provinces were so denominated, as being subject to the payment of a fixed money-tribute, stipendium, in contradistinction to the vectigales, who paid a certain portion as a tenth or twentieth of the produce of their lands, their cattle, or customs. The word stipendium was used to signify the tribute paid, as it was originally imposed for and afterwards appropriated to the purpose of furnishing the Roman soldiers with pay. The condition of the urbes stipendiariae is generally thought to have been more honourable than that of the vectigales, but the distinction between the two terms was not always observed. The word stipendiarius is also applied to a person who receives a fixed salary or pay, as a stipendiarius miles.

STĪPENDĬUM, a pension or pay, from stipem and pendo, because before silver was coined at Rome the copper-money in use was paid by weight and not by tale. According to Livy, the practice of giving pay to the Roman soldiers was not introduced till B.C. 405, on the occasion of the taking of Tarracina or Anxur. It is probable, however, that they received pay before this time, but, since it was not paid regularly, its first institution was referred to this year. In B.C. 403 a certain amount of pay was assigned to the knights also, or [Equites], [p. 156], b. This, however, had reference to the citizens who possessed an equestrian fortune, but had no horse (equus publicus) assigned to them by the state, for it had always been customary for the knights of the 18 centuries to receive pay out of the common treasury, in the shape of an allowance for the purchase of a horse, and a yearly pension of 2000 asses for its keep. [[Aes Equestre]; [Aes Hordearium].] In the time of the republic the pay of a legionary soldier amounted to two oboli, or 3⅓ asses; a centurion received double, and an eques or horseman triple. Polybius states that foot soldiers also received in corn every month an allowance (demensum) of ⅔ of an Attic medimnus, or about 2 bushels of wheat: the horsemen 7 medimni of barley and 2 of wheat. The infantry of the allies received the same allowance as the Roman: the horsemen 1⅓ medimni of wheat and 5 of barley. But there was this difference, that the allied forces received their allowances as a gratuity; the Roman soldiers, on the contrary, had deducted from their pay the money value of whatever they received in corn, armour, or clothes. There was indeed a law passed by C. Gracchus, which provided that besides their pay the soldiers should receive from the treasury an allowance for clothes; but this law seems either to have been repealed or to have fallen into disuse. The pay was doubled for the legionaries by Julius Caesar before the civil war. He also gave them corn whenever he had the means, without any restrictions. Under Augustus it appears to have been raised to 10 asses a day (three times the original sum). It was still further increased by Domitian. The praetorian cohorts received twice as much as the legionaries.

STŎLA, a female dress worn over the tunic; it came as low as the ankles or feet, and was fastened round the body by a girdle, leaving above the breast broad folds. The tunic did not reach much below the knee, but the essential distinction between the tunic and stola seems to have been that the latter always had an instita or flounce sewed to the bottom and reaching to the instep. Over the stola the palla or pallium was worn [[Pallium]], as we see in the cut annexed. The stola was the characteristic dress of the Roman matrons, as the toga was of the Roman men. Hence the meretrices were not allowed to wear it, but only a dark-coloured toga; and accordingly Horace speaks of the matrona in contradistinction to the togata. For the same reason, women who had been divorced from their husbands on account of adultery, were not allowed to wear the stola, but only the toga.

Stola, female dress. (Museo Borbonico, vol. iii. tav. 37.)

STRĂTĒGUS (στρατηγός), general. This office and title seems to have been more especially peculiar to the democratic states of ancient Greece: we read of them, for instance, at Athens, Tarentum, Syracuse, Argos, and Thurii; and when the tyrants of the Ionian cities in Asia Minor were deposed by Aristagoras, he established strategi in their room, to act as chief magistrates. The strategi at Athens were instituted after the remodelling of the constitution by Clisthenes, to discharge the duties which had in former times been performed either by the king or the archon polemarchus. They were ten in number, one for each of the ten tribes, and chosen by the suffrages (χειροτονία) of the people. Before entering on their duties they were required to submit to a docimasia, or examination of their character; and no one was eligible to the office unless he had legitimate children, and was possessed of landed property in Attica. They were, as their name denotes, entrusted with the command on military expeditions, with the superintendence of all warlike preparations, and with the regulation of all matters in any way connected with the war department of the state. They levied and enlisted the soldiers, either personally or with the assistance of the taxiarchs. They were entrusted with the collection and management of the property-taxes (εἰσφοραί) raised for the purposes of war; and also presided over the courts of justice in which any disputes connected with this subject or the trierarchy were decided. They nominated from year to year persons to serve as trierarchs. They had the power of convening extraordinary assemblies of the people in cases of emergency. But their most important trust was the command in war, and it depended upon circumstances to how many of the number it was given. At Marathon all the ten were present, and the chief command came to each of them in turn. The archon polemarchus also was there associated with them, and, according to the ancient custom, his vote in a council of war was equal to that of any of the generals. Usually, however, three only were sent out; one of these (τρίτος αὐτός) was considered as the commander-in-chief, but his colleagues had an equal voice in a council of war. The military chiefs of the Aetolian and Achaean leagues were also called strategi. The Achaean strategi had the power of convening a general assembly of the league on extraordinary occasions. Greek writers on Roman affairs give the name of strategi to the praetors.

STRĒNA, a present given on a festive day, and for the sake of good omen. It was chiefly applied to a new year’s gift, to a present made on the calends of January. In accordance with a senatusconsultum, new year’s gifts had to be presented to Augustus in the Capitol, even when he was absent.

STRĬGIL. [[Balneum].]

STRŎPHĬUM (ταινία, ταινίδιον, ἀπόδεσμος), a girdle or belt worn by women round the breast and over the inner tunic or chemise. It appears to have been usually made of leather.

STUPRUM. [[Adulterium].]

SUBSIGNĀNI, privileged soldiers in the time of the empire, who fought under a standard by themselves, and did not form part of the legion. They seem to have been the same as the vexillarii.

SUFFRĀGĬA SEX. [[Equites].]

SUFFRĀGĬUM, a vote. At Athens the voting in the popular assemblies and the courts of justice was either by show of hands (χειροτονία) or by ballot (ψῆφος). Respecting the mode of voting at Rome, see [Comitia], [p. 107], and [Leges Tabellariae].

SUGGESTUS, means in general any elevated place made of materials heaped up (sub and gero), and is specially applied: (1) To the stage or pulpit from which the orators addressed the people in the comitia. [[Rostra].]—(2) To the elevation from which a general addressed the soldiers.—(3) To the elevated seat from which the emperor beheld the public games, also called cubiculum. [[Cubiculum].]

SUOVĔTAURĪLĬA. [[Sacrificium], [p. 325]; [Lustratio]; and woodcut on [p. 343].]

SUPPĂRUM. [[Navis], [p. 267], b.]

SUPPLĬCĀTĬO, a solemn thanksgiving or supplication to the gods, decreed by the senate, when all the temples were opened, and the statues of the gods frequently placed in public upon couches (pulvinaria), to which the people offered up their thanksgivings and prayers. [[Lectisternium].] A supplicatio was decreed for two different reasons. 1. As a thanksgiving, when a great victory had been gained: it was usually decreed as soon as official intelligence of the victory had been received by a letter from the general in command. The number of days during which it was to last was proportioned to the importance of the victory. Sometimes it was decreed for only one day, but more commonly for three or five days. A supplication of ten days was first decreed in honour of Pompey at the conclusion of the war with Mithridates, and one of fifteen days after the victory over the Belgae by Caesar, an honour which had never been granted to any one before. Subsequently a supplicatio of twenty days was decreed after his conquest of Vercingetorix. A supplicatio was usually regarded as a prelude to a triumph, but it was not always followed by one. This honour was conferred upon Cicero on account of his suppression of the conspiracy of Catiline, which had never been decreed to any one before in a civil capacity (togatus).—2. A supplicatio, a solemn supplication and humiliation, was also decreed in times of public danger and distress, and on account of prodigies, to avert the anger of the gods.

SȲCŎPHANTĒS (συκοφάντης). At an early period in Attic history a law was made prohibiting the exportation of figs. Whether it was made in a time of dearth, or through the foolish policy of preserving to the natives the most valuable of their productions, we cannot say. It appears, however, that the law continued in force long after the cause of its enactment, or the general belief of its utility, had ceased to exist; and Attic fig-growers exported their fruit in spite of prohibitions and penalties. To inform against a man for so doing was considered harsh and vexatious; as all people are apt to think that obsolete statutes may be infringed with impunity. Hence the term συκοφαντεῖν, which originally signified to lay an information against another for exporting figs, came to be applied to all ill-natured, malicious, groundless, and vexatious accusations. Sycophantes in the time of Aristophanes and Demosthenes designated a person of a peculiar class, not capable of being described by any single word in our language, but well understood and appreciated by an Athenian. He had not much in common with our sycophant, but was a happy compound of the common barrator, informer, pettifogger, busybody, rogue, liar, and slanderer. The Athenian law permitted any citizen (τὸν βουλόμενον) to give information against public offenders, and prosecute them in courts of justice. It was the policy of the legislator to encourage the detection of crime, and a reward (such as half the penalty) was frequently given to the successful accuser. Such a power, with such a temptation, was likely to be abused, unless checked by the force of public opinion, or the vigilance of the judicial tribunals. Unfortunately, the character of the Athenian democracy and the temper of the judges furnished additional incentives to the informer. Eminent statesmen, orators, generals, magistrates, and all persons of wealth and influence were regarded with jealousy by the people. The more causes came into court, the more fees accrued to the judges, and fines and confiscations enriched the public treasury. The prosecutor therefore in public causes, as well as the plaintiff in civil, was looked on with a more favourable eye than the defendant, and the chances of success made the employment a lucrative one. It was not always necessary to go to trial, or even to commence legal proceedings. The timid defendant was glad to compromise the cause, and the conscious delinquent to avert the threat of a prosecution, by paying a sum of money to his opponent. Thriving informers found it not very difficult to procure witnesses, and the profits were divided between them.

SȲLAE (σῦλαι). When a Greek state, or any of its members, had received an injury or insult from some other state or some of its members, and the former was unwilling, or not in a condition, to declare open war, it was not unusual to give a commission, or grant public authority to individuals to make reprisals. This was called σύλας, or σῦλα, διδόναι. This ancient practice may be compared with the modern one of granting letters of marque and reprisal.

SYLLOGEIS (συλλογεῖς), usually called Συλλογεῖς τοῦ δήμου, or the Collectors of the People, were special commissioners at Athens, who made out a list of the property of the oligarchs previously to its confiscation.

SYMBOLAEON, SỸNALLAGMA, SYNTHĒCĒ (συμβόλαιον, συνάλλαγμα, συνθήκη), are all words used to signify a contract, but are distinguishable from one another. Συμβόλαιον is used of contracts and bargains between private persons, and peculiarly of loans of money. Thus, συμβαλεῖν εἰς ἀνδράποδον is, to lend upon the security of a slave. Συνάλλαγμα signifies any matter negotiated or transacted between two or more persons, whether a contract or anything else. Συνθήκη is used of more solemn and important contracts, not only of those made between private individuals, but also of treaties and conventions between kings and states.

SYMPŎSĬUM (συμπόσιον, comissatio, convivium), a drinking-party. The symposium must be distinguished from the deipnon (δεῖπνον), for though drinking almost always followed a dinner-party, yet the former was regarded as entirely distinct from the latter, was regulated by different customs, and frequently received the addition of many guests, who were not present at the dinner. For the Greeks did not usually drink at their dinner, and it was not till the conclusion of the meal that wine was introduced. Symposia were very frequent at Athens. Their enjoyment was heightened by agreeable conversation, by the introduction of music and dancing, and by games and amusements of various kinds: sometimes, too, philosophical subjects were discussed at them. The symposia of Plato and Xenophon give us a lively idea of such entertainments at Athens. The name itself shows, that the enjoyment of drinking was the main object of the symposia: wine from the juice of the grape (οἴνος ἀμπέλινος) was the only drink partaken of by the Greeks, with the exception of water. The wine was almost invariably mixed with water, and to drink it unmixed (ἄκρατον) was considered a characteristic of barbarians. The mixture was made in a large vessel called the [Crater], from which it was conveyed into the drinking-cups. The guests at a symposium reclined on couches, and were crowned with garlands of flowers. A master of the revels (ἄρχων τῆς πόσεως, συμποσίαρχος, or βασιλεύς) was usually chosen to conduct the symposium, whose commands the whole company had to obey, and who regulated the whole order of the entertainment, proposed the amusements, &c. The same practice prevailed among the Romans, and their symposiarch was called Magister, or Rex Convivii, or the Arbiter Bibendi. The choice was generally determined by the throwing of astragali or tali. The proportion in which the wine and water were mixed was fixed by him, and also how much each of the company was to drink, for it was not usually left to the option of each of the company to drink as much or as little as he pleased. The cups were always carried round from right to left (ἐπὶ δεξιά), and the same order was observed in the conversation, and in everything that took place in the entertainment. The company frequently drank to the health of one another, and each did it especially to the one to whom he handed the same cup. Respecting the games and amusements by which the symposia were enlivened, it is unnecessary to say much here, as most of them are described in separate articles in this work. Enigmas or riddles (αἰνίγματα or γρῖφοι) were among the most usual and favourite modes of diversion. Each of the company proposed one in turn to his right-hand neighbour; if he solved it, he was rewarded with a crown, a garland, a cake, or something of a similar kind, and sometimes with a kiss; if he failed, he had to drink a cup of unmixed wine, or of wine mixed with salt water, at one draught. The cottabos was also another favourite game at symposia, and was played at in various ways. [[Cottabus].] Representations of symposia are very common on ancient vases. Two guests usually reclined on each couch (κλίνη), as is explained on [p. 95], but sometimes there were five persons on one couch. A drinking-party among the Romans was sometimes called convivium, but the word comissatio more nearly corresponds to the Greek symposium. [[Comissatio].] The Romans, however, usually drank during their dinner (coena), which they frequently prolonged during many hours, in the later times of the republic and under the empire. Their customs connected with drinking differed little from those of the Greeks, and have been incidentally noticed above.

Symposium (From a Painting on a Vase.)

SYNDĬCUS (σύνδικος), an advocate, is frequently used as synonymous with the word synegorus (συνήγορος), to denote any one who pleads the cause of another, whether in a court of justice or elsewhere, but was peculiarly applied to those orators who were sent by the state to plead the cause of their countrymen before a foreign tribunal. Aeschines, for example, was appointed to plead before the Amphictyonic council on the subject of the Delian temple; but a certain discovery having been made, not very creditable to his patriotism, the court of Arciopagus took upon themselves to remove him, and appoint Hyperides in his stead. There were other syndici, who acted rather as magistrates or judges than as advocates, though they probably derived their name from the circumstance of their being appointed to protect the interests of the state. These were extraordinary functionaries, created from time to time to exercise a jurisdiction in disputes concerning confiscated property.

SỸNĔDRI (σύνεδροι), a name given to the members of any council, or any body of men who sat together to consult or deliberate. The congress of Greeks at Salamis is called συνέδριον. Frequent reference is made to the general assembly of the Greeks, τὸ κοινὸν τῶν Ἑλλήνων συνέδριον, at Corinth, Thermopylae, or elsewhere. The congress of the states belonging to the new Athenian alliance, formed after B.C. 377, was called συνέδριον, and the deputies σύνεδροι, and the sums furnished by the allies συντάξεις, in order to avoid the old and hateful name of φόρος or tribute. The name of συνέδριον was given at Athens to any magisterial or official body, as to the court of Areiopagus, or to the place where they transacted business, their board or council-room.

SỸNĒGŎRUS (συνήγορος). In causes of importance, wherein the state was materially interested, more especially in those which were brought before the court upon an εἰσαγγελία, it was usual to appoint public advocates (called συνήγοροι, σύνδικοι, or κατήγοροι) to manage the prosecution. In ordinary cases however the accuser or prosecutor (κατήγορος) was a distinct person from the συνήγορος, who acted only as auxiliary to him. It might be, indeed, that the συνήγορος performed the most important part at the trial, or it might be that he performed a subordinate part, making only a short speech in support of the prosecution, which was called ἐπίλογος. But however this might be, he was in point of law an auxiliary only, and was neither entitled to a share of the reward (if any) given by the law to a successful accuser, nor liable, on the other hand, to a penalty of a thousand drachms, or the ἀτιμία consequent upon a failure to get a fifth part of the votes. The fee of a drachm (τὸ συνηγορικόν) mentioned by Aristophanes was probably the sum paid to the public advocate whenever he was employed on behalf of the state. There appears to have been (at least at one period) a regular appointment of συνήγοροι, ten in number. For what purpose they were appointed, is a matter about which we have no certain information: but it is not unreasonable to suppose that these ten συνήγοροι were no other than the public advocates who were employed to conduct state prosecutions.

SYNGRĂPHĒ (συγγραφή), signifies a written contract: whereas συνθήκη and συμβόλαιον do not necessarily import that the contract is in writing; and ὁμολογία is, strictly speaking, a verbal agreement. At Athens important contracts were usually reduced to writing; such as leases (μισθώσεις), loans of money, and all executory agreements, where certain conditions were to be performed. The whole was contained in a little tablet of wax or wood (βιβλίον or γραμματεῖον, sometimes double, δίπτυχον), which was sealed, and deposited with some third person, mutually agreed on between the parties.

SỸNOIKĬA (συνοίκια).—(1) A festival celebrated every year at Athens on the 16th of Hecatombaeon in honour of Athena. It was believed to have been instituted by Theseus to commemorate the concentration of the government of the various towns of Attica at Athens.—(2) A house adapted to hold several families, a lodging-house, insula, as the Romans would say. The lodging-houses were let mostly to foreigners who came to Athens on business, and especially to the μέτοικοι, whom the law did not allow to acquire real property, and who therefore could not purchase houses of their own. The rent was commonly paid by the month. Lodging-houses were frequently taken on speculation by persons called ναύκληροι or σταθμοῦχοι, who made a profit by underletting them.

SYNTHĔSIS, a garment frequently worn at dinner, and sometimes also on other occasions. As it was inconvenient to wear the toga at table, on account of its many folds, it was customary to have dresses especially appropriated to this purpose, called vestes coenatoriae, or coenatoria, accubitoria, or syntheses. The synthesis appears to have been a kind of tunic, an indumentum rather than an amictus. [[Amictus].] That it was, however, an easy and comfortable kind of dress, as we should say, seems to be evident from its use at table above mentioned, and also from its being worn by all classes at the [Saturnalia], a season of universal relaxation and enjoyment. More than this respecting its form we cannot say; it was usually dyed with some colour, and was not white, like the toga.

SȲRINX (σύριγξ), the Pan’s pipe, or Pandean pipe, was the appropriate musical instrument of the Arcadian and other Grecian shepherds, and was regarded by them as the invention of Pan, their tutelary god. When the Roman poets had occasion to mention it, they called it fistula. It was formed in general of seven hollow stems of cane or reed, fitted together by means of wax, having been previously cut to the proper lengths, and adjusted so as to form an octave; but sometimes nine were admitted, giving an equal number of notes. A syrinx of eight reeds is represented on [p. 278].

Pan with a Syrinx. (Mus. Worsleyanum, pl. 9.)

SYRMA (σύρμα), which properly means that which is drawn or dragged (from σύρω), is applied to a dress with a train. It was more especially the name of the dress worn by the tragic actors, which had a train to it trailing upon the ground. Hence we find syrma used metaphorically for tragedy itself.

SYSSĪTĬA (συσσίτια). The custom of taking the principal meal of the day in public prevailed extensively amongst the Greeks from very early ages, but more particularly in Crete and at Sparta. The Cretan name for the syssitia was Andreia (ἀνδρεῖα), the singular of which is used to denote the building or public hall where they were given. This title affords of itself a sufficient indication that they were confined to men and youths only. All the adult citizens partook of the public meals amongst the Cretans, and were divided into companies or “messes,” called hetaeriae (ἑταιρίαι), or sometimes andreia. The syssitia of the Cretans were distinguished by simplicity and temperance. They always sat at their tables, even in later times, when the custom of reclining had been introduced at Sparta. In most of the Cretan cities, the expenses of the syssitia were defrayed out of the revenues of the public lands, and the tribute paid by the perioeci, the money arising from which was applied partly to the service of the gods, and partly to the maintenance of all the citizens, both male and female; so that in this respect there might be no difference between the rich and the poor. The Spartan syssitia were in the main so similar to those of Crete, that one was said to be borrowed from the other. They differed from the Cretan in the following respects. The expenses of the tables at Sparta were not defrayed out of the public revenues, but every head of a family was obliged to contribute a certain portion at his own cost and charge; those who were not able to do so were excluded from the public tables. The guests were divided into companies, generally of fifteen persons each, and all vacancies were filled up by ballot, in which unanimous consent was indispensable for election. No persons, not even the kings, were excused from attendance at the public tables, except for some satisfactory reason, as when engaged in a sacrifice, or a chase, in which latter case the individual was required to send a present to his table. Each person was supplied with a cup of mixed wine, which was filled again when required: but drinking to excess was prohibited at Sparta as well as in Crete. The repast was of a plain and simple character, and the contribution of each member of a mess (φειδίτης) was settled by law. The principal dish was the black broth (μέλας ζωμός), with pork. Moreover, the entertainment was enlivened by cheerful conversation, though on public matters. Singing also was frequently introduced. The arrangements were under the superintendence of the polemarchs.