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].]