ĪNŌA (ἰνῶα), festivals celebrated in several parts of Greece, in honour of Ino.
INQUĬLĪNUS. [[Exsilium].]
INSTĬTA (περιπόδιον), a flounce; a fillet. The Roman matrons sometimes wore a broad fillet with ample folds, sewed to the bottom of the tunic and reaching to the instep. The use of it indicated a superior regard to decency and propriety of manners.
INSŬLA was, properly, a house not joined to the neighbouring houses by a common wall. An insula, however, generally contained several separate houses, or at least separate apartments or shops, which were let to different families; and hence the word domus under the emperors seems to be applied to the house where a family lived, whether it were an insula or not, and insula to any hired lodgings.
INTERCESSĬO was the interference of a magistrates to whom an appeal [[Appellatio]] was made. The object of the intercessio was to put a stop to proceedings, on the ground of informality or other sufficient cause. Any magistratus might intercedere, who was of equal rank with or of rank superior to the magistratus from or against whom the appellatio was. Cases occur in which one of the praetors interposed (intercessit) against the proceedings of his colleague. The intercessio is most frequently spoken of with reference to the tribunes, who originally had not jurisdictio, but used the intercessio for the purpose of preventing wrong which was offered to a person in their presence. The intercessio of the tribunes of the plebs was auxilium, and it might be exercised either in jure or in judicio. The tribune qui intercessit could prevent a judicium from being instituted. The tribunes could also use the intercessio to prevent execution of a judicial sentence. A single tribune could effect this, and against the opinion of his colleagues.
INTERCĪSI DĬES. [[Dies].]
INTERDICTUM. “In certain cases (certis ex causis) the praetor or proconsul, in the first instance (principaliter), exercises his authority for the termination of disputes. This he chiefly does when the dispute is about possession or quasi-possession; and the exercise of his authority consists in ordering something to be done, or forbidding something to be done. The formulae and the terms, which he uses on such occasions, are called either interdicta or decreta. They are called decreta when he orders something to be done, as when he orders something to be produced (exhiberi) or to be restored: they are called interdicta when he forbids something to be done, as when he orders that force shall not be used against a person who is in possession rightfully (sine vitio), or that nothing shall be done on a piece of sacred ground. Accordingly all interdicta are either restitutoria, or exhibitoria, or prohibitoria.” This passage, which is taken from Gaius, the Roman jurist, contains the essential distinction between an actio and an interdictum. In the case of an actio, the praetor pronounces no order or decree, but he gives a judex, whose business it is to investigate the matter in dispute, and to pronounce a sentence consistently with the formula, which is his authority for acting. In the case of an actio, therefore, the praetor neither orders nor forbids a thing to be done, but he says, Judicium dabo. In the case of an interdict, the praetor makes an order that something shall be done or shall not be done, and his words are accordingly words of command; Restituas, Exhibeas, Vim fieri veto. This immediate interposition of the praetor is appropriately expressed by the word principaliter.
INTERPRES, an interpreter. This class of persons became very numerous and necessary to the Romans as their empire extended. In large mercantile towns the interpreters, who formed a kind of agents through whom business was done, were sometimes very numerous. All Roman praetors, proconsuls, and quaestors, who were entrusted with the administration of a province, had to carry on all their official proceedings in the Latin language, and as they could not be expected to be acquainted with the language of the provincials, they had always among their servants [[Apparitores]] one or more interpreters, who were generally Romans, but in most cases undoubtedly freedmen. These interpreters had not only to officiate at the conventus [[Conventus]], but also explained to the Roman governor everything which the provincials might wish to be laid before him.
INTERREGNUM. [[Interrex].]
INTERREX. This office is said to have been instituted on the death of Romulus, when the senate wished to share the sovereign power among themselves, instead of electing a king. For this purpose, according to Livy, the senate, which then consisted of one hundred members, was divided into ten decuries; and from each of these decuries one senator was nominated. These together formed a board of ten, with the title of Interreges, each of whom enjoyed in succession the regal power and its badges for five days; and if no king was appointed at the expiration of fifty days, the rotation began anew. The period during which they exercised their power was called an Interregnum. These ten interreges were the Decem Primi, or ten leading senators, of whom the first was chief of the whole senate. The interreges agreed among themselves who should be proposed as king, and if the senate approved of their choice, they summoned the assembly of the curiae, and proposed the person whom they had previously agreed upon; the power of the curiae was confined to accepting or rejecting him. Interreges were appointed under the republic for holding the comitia for the election of the consuls, when the consuls, through civil commotions or other causes, had been unable to do so in their year of office. Each held the office for only five days, as under the kings. The comitia were hardly ever held by the first interrex; more usually by the second or third; but in one instance we read of an eleventh, and in another of a fourteenth interrex. The interreges under the republic, at least from B.C. 482, were elected by the senate from the whole body, and were not confined to the decem primi or ten chief senators, as under the kings. Plebeians, however, were not admissible to this office; and consequently, when plebeians were admitted into the senate, the patrician senators met without the plebeian members to elect an interrex. For this reason, as well as on account of the influence which the interrex exerted in the election of the magistrates, we find that the tribunes of the plebs were strongly opposed to the appointment of an interrex. The interrex had jurisdictio. Interreges continued to be appointed occasionally till the time of the second Punic war, but after that time we read of no interrex, till the senate, by command of Sulla, created an interrex to hold the comitia for his election as dictator, B.C. 82. In B.C. 55 another interrex was appointed, to hold the comitia in which Pompey and Crassus were elected consuls; and we also read of interreges in B.C. 53 and 52, in the latter of which years an interrex held the comitia in which Pompey was appointed sole consul.