MĀTRĬMŌNĬUM NUPTĬAE (γάμος), marriage. (1) Greek. The ancient Greek legislators considered the relation of marriage as a matter not merely of private, but also of public or general interest. This was particularly the case at Sparta, where proceedings might be taken against those who married too late or unsuitably, as well as against those who did not marry at all. But independent of public considerations, there were also private or personal reasons, peculiar to the ancients, which made marriage an obligation. One of these was the duty incumbent upon every individual to provide for a continuance of representatives to succeed himself as ministers of the Divinity; and another was the desire felt by almost every one, not merely to perpetuate his own name, but to leave some one who might make the customary offerings at his grave. We are told that with this view childless persons sometimes adopted children. The choice of a wife among the ancients was but rarely grounded upon affection, and scarcely ever could have been the result of previous acquaintance or familiarity. In many cases a father chose for his son a bride whom the latter had never seen, or compelled him to marry for the sake of checking his extravagances. By the Athenian laws a citizen was not allowed to marry with a foreign woman, nor conversely, under very severe penalties, but proximity by blood (ἀγχιστεία), or consanguinity (συγγένεια), was not, with some few exceptions, a bar to marriage in any part of Greece; direct lineal descent was. At Athens the most important preliminary to marriage was the betrothal (ἐγγύησις), which was in fact indispensable to the complete validity of a marriage contract. It was made by the natural or legal guardian (ὁ κύριος) of the bride elect, and attended by the relatives of both parties as witnesses. The wife’s dowry was settled at the betrothal. On the day before the gamos, or marriage, or sometimes on the day itself, certain sacrifices or offerings (προτέλεια γάμων or προγάμεια) were made to the gods who presided over marriage. Another ceremony of almost general observance on the wedding day, was the bathing of both the bride and bridegroom in water fetched from some particular fountain, whence, as some think, the custom of placing the figure of a λουτροφόρος or “water carrier” over the tombs of those who died unmarried. After these preliminaries, the bride was generally conducted from her father’s to the house of the bridegroom at nightfall, in a chariot (ἐφ’ ἁμάξης) drawn by a pair of males or oxen, and furnished with a kind of couch (κλινίς) as a seat. On either side of her sat the bridegroom and one of his most intimate friends or relations, who from his office was called the paranymph (παράνυμφος or νυμφευτής); but as he rode in the carriage (ὄχημα) with the bride and bridegroom, he was sometimes called the πάροχος. The nuptial procession was probably accompanied, according to circumstances, by a number of persons, some of whom carried the nuptial torches. Both bride and bridegroom (the former veiled) were decked out in their best attire, with chaplets on their heads, and the doors of their houses were hung with festoons of ivy and bay. As the bridal procession moved along, the hymenaean song was sung to the accompaniment of Lydian flutes, even in olden times, as beautifully described by Homer, and the married pair received the greetings and congratulations of those who met them. After entering the bridegroom’s house, into which the bride was probably conducted by his mother, bearing a lighted torch, it was customary to shower sweetmeats upon them (καταχύσματα), as emblems of plenty and prosperity. After this came the nuptial feast, to which the name gamos was particularly applied; it was generally given in the house of the bridegroom or his parents; and besides being a festive meeting, served other and more important purposes. There was no public rite, whether civil or religious, connected with the celebration of marriage amongst the ancient Greeks, and therefore no public record of its solemnisation. This deficiency then was supplied by the marriage feast, for the guests were of course competent to prove the fact of a marriage having taken place. To this feast, contrary to the usual practice amongst the Greeks, women were invited as well as men; but they seem to have sat at a separate table, with the bride still veiled amongst them. At the conclusion of this feast she was conducted by her husband into the bridal chamber; and a law of Solon required that on entering it they should eat a quince together, as if to indicate that their conversation ought to be sweet and agreeable. The song called the Epithalamium was then sung before the doors of the bridal chamber. The day after the marriage, the first of the bride’s residence in her new abode, was called the epaulia (ἐπαύλια); on which their friends sent the customary presents to the newly married couple. On another day, the apaulia (ἀπαύλια), perhaps the second after marriage, the bridegroom left his house, to lodge apart from his wife at his father’s-in-law. Some of the presents made to the bride by her husband and friends were called anacalypteria (ἀνακαλυπτήρια), as being given on the occasion of the bride first appearing unveiled: they were probably given on the epaulia, or day after the marriage. Another ceremony observed after marriage was the sacrifice which the husband offered up on the occasion of his bride being registered amongst his own phratores. The above account refers to Athenian customs.—At Sparta the betrothal of the bride by her father or guardian (κύριος) was requisite as a preliminary of marriage, as well as at Athens. Another custom peculiar to the Spartans, and a relic of ancient times, was the seizure of the bride by her intended husband, but of course with the sanction of her parents or guardians. She was not, however, immediately domiciled in her husband’s house, but cohabited with him for some time clandestinely, till he brought her, and frequently her mother also, to his home.—The Greeks, generally speaking, entertained little regard for the female character. They considered women, in fact, as decidedly inferior to men, qualified to discharge only the subordinate functions in life, and rather necessary as helpmates than agreeable as companions. To these notions female education for the most part corresponded, and in fact confirmed them; it did not supply the elegant accomplishments and refinement of manners which permanently engage the affections, when other attractions have passed away. Aristotle states, that the relation of man to woman is that of the governor to the subject; and Plato, that a woman’s virtue may be summed up in a few words, for she has only to manage the house well, keeping what there is in it, and obeying her husband. Among the Dorians, however, and especially at Sparta, women enjoyed much more estimation than in the rest of Greece.—(2) Roman. A legal Roman marriage was called justae nuptiae, justum matrimonium, as being conformable to jus (civile) or to law. A legal marriage was either Cum conventione uxoris in manum viri or it was without this convention. But both forms of marriage agreed in this: there must be connubium between the parties, and consent. The legal consequences as to the power of the father over his children were the same in both. Connubium is merely a term which comprehends all the conditions of a legal marriage. Generally it may be stated, that there was only connubium between Roman citizens; the cases in which it at any time existed between parties, not both Roman citizens, were exceptions to the general rule. Originally, or at least at one period of the republic, there was no connubium between the patricians and the plebeians; but this was altered by the Lex Canuleia (B.C. 445.), which allowed connubium between persons of those two classes. There were various degrees of consanguinity and affinity, within which there was no connubium. An illegal union of a male and female, though affecting to be, was not a marriage: the man had no legal wife, and the children had no legal father: consequently they were not in the power of their reputed father. The marriage Cum conventione differed from that Sine conventione, in the relationship which it effected between the husband and the wife; the marriage cum conventione was a necessary condition to make a woman a materfamilias. By the marriage cum conventione, the wife passed into the familia of her husband, and was to him in the relation of a daughter, or, as it was expressed, in manum convenit. In the marriage sine conventione, the wife’s relation to her own familia remained as before, and she was merely uxor. “Uxor,” says Cicero, “is a genus of which there are two species; one is materfamilias, quae in manum convenit; the other is uxor only.” Accordingly, a materfamilias is a wife who is in manu, and in the familia of her husband. A wife not in manu was not a member of her husband’s familia, and therefore the term could not apply to her. Matrona was properly a wife not in manu, and equivalent to uxor; and she was called matrona before she had any children. But these words are not always used in these their original and proper meanings. It does not appear that any forms were requisite in the marriage sine conventione; and apparently the evidence of such marriage was cohabitation matrimonii causa. The matrimonii causa might be proved by various kinds of evidence. In the case of a marriage cum conventione, there were three forms, 1. Usus, 2. Farreum, and 3. Coemptio.—1. Marriage was effected by usus, if a woman lived with a man for a whole year as his wife; and this was by analogy to usucaption of movables generally, in which usus for one year gave ownership. The Law of the Twelve Tables provided, that if a woman did not wish to come into the manus of her husband in this manner, she should absent herself from him annually for three nights (trinoctium) and so break the usus of the year. 2. Farreum was a form of marriage, in which certain words were used in the presence of ten witnesses, and were accompanied by a certain religious ceremony, in which panis farreus was employed; and hence this form of marriage was also called confarreatio. It appears that certain priestly offices, such as that of Flamen Dialis, could only be held by those who were born of parents who had been married by this ceremony (confarreati parentes). 3. Coemptio was effected by mancipatio, and consequently the wife was in mancipio. [[Mancipium].] A woman who was cohabiting with a man as uxor, might come into his manus by this ceremony, in which case the coemptio was said to be matrimonii causa, and she who was formerly uxor became apud maritum filiae loco. Sponsalia were not an unusual preliminary of marriage, but they were not necessary.—The sponsalia were an agreement to marry, made in such form as to give each party a right of action in case of non-performance, and the offending party was condemned in such damages as to the judex seemed just. The woman who was promised in marriage was accordingly called sponsa, which is equivalent to promissa; the man who was engaged to marry was called sponsus.—The sponsalia were of course not binding, if the parties consented to waive the contract. Sometimes a present was made by the future husband to the future wife by way of earnest (arrha, arrha sponsalitia), or, as it was called, propter nuptias donatio.—The consequences of marriage were—1. The power of the father over the children of the marriage, which was a completely new relation, an effect indeed of marriage, but one which had no influence over the relation of the husband and wife. [[Patria Potestas].] 2. The liabilities of either of the parties to the punishments affixed to the violation of the marriage union. [[Adulterium]; [Divortium].] 3. The relation of husband and wife with respect to property. [[Dos].] When marriage was dissolved, the parties to it might marry again; but opinion considered it more decent for a woman not to marry again. A woman was required by usage (mos) to wait a year before she contracted a second marriage, on the pain of infamia.—It remains to describe the customs and rites which were observed by the Romans at marriages. After the parties had agreed to marry and the persons in whose potestas they were had consented, a meeting of friends was sometimes held at the house of the maiden for the purpose of settling the marriage-contract, which was written on tablets, and signed by both parties. The woman after she had promised to become the wife of a man was called sponsa, pacta, dicta, or sperata. It appears that, at least during the imperial period, the man put a ring on the finger of his betrothed, as a pledge of his fidelity. This ring was probably, like all rings at this time, worn on the left hand, and on the finger nearest to the smallest. The last point to be fixed was the day on which the marriage was to take place. The Romans believed that certain days were unfortunate for the performance of the marriage rites, either on account of the religious character of those days themselves, or on account of the days by which they were followed, as the woman had to perform certain religious rites on the day after her wedding, which could not take place on a dies ater. Days not suitable for entering upon matrimony were the calends, nones, and ides of every month, all dies atri, the whole months of May and February, and a great number of festivals. On the wedding-day, which in the early times was never fixed upon without consulting the auspices, the bride was dressed in a long white robe with a purple fringe, or adorned with ribands. This dress was called tunica recta, and was bound round the waist with a girdle (corona, cingulum, or zona), which the husband had to untie in the evening. The bridal veil, called flammeum, was of a bright yellow colour, and her shoes likewise. Her hair was divided on this occasion with the point of a spear. The bride was conducted to the house of her husband in the evening. She was taken with apparent violence from the arms of her mother, or of the person who had to give her away. On her way she was accompanied by three boys dressed in the praetexta, and whose fathers and mothers were still alive (patrimi et matrimi). One of them carried before her a torch of white thorn (spina), or, according to others, of pine wood; the two others walked by her side, supporting her by the arm. The bride herself carried a distaff and a spindle, with wool. A boy called camillus carried in a covered vase (cumera, cumerum, or camillum), the so-called utensils of the bride and playthings for children (crepundia). Besides these persons who officiated on the occasion, the procession was attended by a numerous train of friends, both of the bride and the bridegroom. When the procession arrived at the house of the bridegroom, the door of which was adorned with garlands and flowers, the bride was carried across the threshold by pronubi, i.e. men who had been married to only one woman, that she might not knock against it with her foot, which would have been an evil omen. Before she entered the house, she wound wool around the door-posts of her new residence, and anointed them with lard (adeps suillus) or wolf’s fat (adeps lupinus). The husband received her with fire and water, which the woman had to touch. This was either a symbolic purification, or a symbolic expression of welcome, as the interdicere aqua et igni was the formula for banishment. The bride saluted her husband with the words: ubi tu Caius, ego Caia. After she had entered the house with distaff and spindle, she was placed upon a sheep-skin, and here the keys of the house were delivered into her hands. A repast (coena nuptialis) given by the husband to the whole train of relatives and friends who accompanied the bride, generally concluded the solemnity of the day. Many ancient writers mention a very popular song, Talasius or Talassio, which was sung at weddings; but whether it was sung during the repast or during the procession is not quite clear, though we may infer from the story respecting the origin of the song, that it was sung while the procession was advancing towards the house of the husband. It may easily be imagined that a solemnity like that of marriage did not take place among the merry and humorous Italians without a variety of jests and railleries, and the ancient writers mention songs which were sung before the door of the bridal apartment by girls, after the company had left. These songs were probably the old Fescennina [[Fescennina]], and are frequently called Epithalamia. At the end of the repast the bride was conducted by matrons who had not had more than one husband (pronubae), to the lectus genialis in the atrium, which was on this occasion magnificently adorned and strewed with flowers. On the following day the husband sometimes gave another entertainment to his friends, which was called repotia, and the woman, who on this day undertook the management of the house of her husband, had to perform certain religious rites; on which account, as was observed above, it was necessary to select a day for the marriage which was not followed by a dies ater. These rites probably consisted of sacrifices to the Dii Penates. The position of a Roman woman after marriage was very different from that of a Greek woman. The Roman presided over the whole household; she educated her children, watched over and preserved the honour of the house, and as the materfamilias she shared the honours and respect shown to her husband. Far from being confined like the Greek women to a distinct apartment, the Roman matron, at least during the better centuries of the republic, occupied the most important part of the house, the atrium.
MAUSŌLĒUM Μαυσωλεῖον, signified originally the sepulchre of Mausolus, which was a magnificent monument erected at Halicarnassus B.C. 353, by Artemisia, the widow of Mausolus. (See Classical Dict., art. Artemisia.) It was adorned with beautiful works of art, and was regarded as one of the seven wonders of the world. The word Mausoleum was used by the Romans as a generic name for any magnificent sepulchral edifice. Mausolus, the dynast of Caria, having died in B.C. 353, his queen Artemisia evinced her sorrow by observing his funeral rites with the most expensive splendour, and by commencing the erection of a sepulchral monument to him at Halicarnassus, which should surpass any thing the world had yet seen. The building extended 63 feet from north to south, being shorter on the fronts, and its whole circuit was 411 feet (or, according to the Bamberg MS., 440); it rose to the height of 25 cubits (37½ feet); and was surrounded by 36 columns. This part of the building was called Pteron. It was adorned with sculptures in relief, on its eastern face by Scopas, on the northern by Bryaxis, on the southern by Timotheus, on the western by Leochares. Above this pteron was a pyramid equal to it in height, diminishing by 24 steps to its summit, which was surmounted by the marble quadriga made by Pythis. The total height, including this ornament, was 140 feet. In the Roman Mausolea the form chiefly employed was that of a succession of terraces in imitation of the rogus. Of these the most celebrated were those of Augustus and of Hadrian; the latter of which, stripped of its ornaments, still forms the fortress of modern Rome (the castle of S. Angelo); but of the other, which was on a still larger scale, and which was considered as one of the most magnificent buildings of Augustus, there are only some insignificant ruins.
MĔDĬASTĪNI, the name given to slaves, used for any common purpose. The name is chiefly given to certain slaves belonging to the familia rustica, but it is also applied sometimes to slaves in the city.
MĔDIMNUS μέδιμνος, the principal dry measure of the Greeks. It was used especially for measuring corn. The Attic medimnus was equal to six Roman modii. For its subdivisions see [Tables] at the end. [[Metretes]; [Choenix]; [Xestes]; [Cotyla].]
MĒDIX TUTICUS, the name of the supreme magistrate among the Oscan people. Medix appears to have signified a magistrate of any kind, and tuticus to have been equivalent to magnus or summus. Livy, therefore, in calling the medix tuticus the summus magistratus, gives a literal translation of the word.
MĔGĂLĒSĬA, MĔGĂLENSĬA, or MĔGĂLENSES LŪDI, a festival with games, celebrated at Rome in the month of April and in honour of the great mother of the gods (Cybelé, μεγάλη θεός, whence the festival derived its name). The statue of the goddess was brought to Rome from Pessinus in B.C. 203, and the day of its arrival was solemnised with a magnificent procession, lectisternia, and games, and great numbers of people carried presents to the goddess on the Capitol. The regular celebration of the Megalesia, however, did not begin till twelve years later (B.C. 191), when the temple, which had been vowed and ordered to be built in B.C. 203, was completed and dedicated by M. Junius Brutus. The festival lasted for six days, beginning on the 4th of April. The season of this festival, like that of the whole month in which it took place, was full of general rejoicings and feasting. It was customary for the wealthy Romans on this occasion to invite one another mutually to their repasts. The games which were held at the Megalesia were purely scenic, and not circenses. They were at first held on the Palatine, in front of the temple of the goddess, but afterwards also in the theatres. The day which was especially set apart for the performance of scenic plays was the third of the festival. Slaves were not permitted to be present at the games, and the magistrates appeared dressed in a purple toga and praetexta, whence the proverb, purpura Megalensis. The games were under the superintendence of the curule aediles, and we know that four of the extant plays of Terence were performed at the Megalesia.
MEMBRĀNA. [[Liber].]
MENSA (τράπεζα), a table. The simplest kind of table was a round one with three legs, called in Greek τρίπους. Tables, however, must usually have had four legs, as the etymology of τράπεζα, the common word for table, indicates. For the houses of the opulent, tables were made of the most valuable and beautiful kinds of wood, especially of maple, or of the citrus of Africa, which was a species of cypress or juniper. As the table was not large, it was usual to place the dishes and the various kinds of meat upon it, and then to bring it thus furnished to the place where the guests were reclining. On many occasions, indeed, each guest either had a small table to himself, or the company was divided into parties of two or three, with a separate table for each party, as is distinctly represented in the cut under [Symposium]. Hence we have such phrases as mensam apponere or opponere, and mensam auferre or removere. The two principal courses of a deipnon and coena, or a Greek and Roman dinner, were called respectively πρώτη τράπεζα, δεύτερα τράπεζα, and mensa prima, mensa secunda. [[Coena]; [Deipnon].]
MENSĀRĬI, MENSŬLĀRĬI, or NŪMŬLĀRĬI, a kind of public bankers at Rome who were appointed by the state; they were distinct from the argentarii, who were common bankers, and did business on their own account. [[Argentarii].] The mensarii had their tables or banks (mensae) like ordinary bankers, in the forum, and in the name of the aerarium they offered ready money to debtors who could give security to the state for it. Such an expediency was devised by the state only in times of great distress. The first time that mensarii (quinqueviri mensarii) were appointed was in B.C. 352, at the time when the plebeians were so deeply involved in debt, that they were obliged to borrow money from new creditors in order to pay the old ones, and thus ruined themselves completely. On this occasion they were also authorised to ordain that cattle or land should be received as payment at a fair valuation. With the exception of this first time, they appear during the time of the republic to have always been triumviri mensarii. One class of mensarii, however (perhaps an inferior order), the mensularii or numularii, seem to have been permanently employed by the state, and these must be meant when we read, that not only the aerarium, but also private individuals, deposited in their hands sums of money which they had to dispose of.
MENSIS. [[Calendarium].]