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].]