A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

by William Smith

DĪVERSŌRĬUM. [[Caupona].]

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

DĪVĪSOR. [[Ambitus].]

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

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

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

DODRANS. [[As].]

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

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