Stilus. (Museo Borbonico, vol. vi. tav. 35.)
STIPENDĬĀRĬI. The stipendiariae urbes of the Roman provinces were so denominated, as being subject to the payment of a fixed money-tribute, stipendium, in contradistinction to the vectigales, who paid a certain portion as a tenth or twentieth of the produce of their lands, their cattle, or customs. The word stipendium was used to signify the tribute paid, as it was originally imposed for and afterwards appropriated to the purpose of furnishing the Roman soldiers with pay. The condition of the urbes stipendiariae is generally thought to have been more honourable than that of the vectigales, but the distinction between the two terms was not always observed. The word stipendiarius is also applied to a person who receives a fixed salary or pay, as a stipendiarius miles.
STĪPENDĬUM, a pension or pay, from stipem and pendo, because before silver was coined at Rome the copper-money in use was paid by weight and not by tale. According to Livy, the practice of giving pay to the Roman soldiers was not introduced till B.C. 405, on the occasion of the taking of Tarracina or Anxur. It is probable, however, that they received pay before this time, but, since it was not paid regularly, its first institution was referred to this year. In B.C. 403 a certain amount of pay was assigned to the knights also, or [Equites], [p. 156], b. This, however, had reference to the citizens who possessed an equestrian fortune, but had no horse (equus publicus) assigned to them by the state, for it had always been customary for the knights of the 18 centuries to receive pay out of the common treasury, in the shape of an allowance for the purchase of a horse, and a yearly pension of 2000 asses for its keep. [[Aes Equestre]; [Aes Hordearium].] In the time of the republic the pay of a legionary soldier amounted to two oboli, or 3⅓ asses; a centurion received double, and an eques or horseman triple. Polybius states that foot soldiers also received in corn every month an allowance (demensum) of ⅔ of an Attic medimnus, or about 2 bushels of wheat: the horsemen 7 medimni of barley and 2 of wheat. The infantry of the allies received the same allowance as the Roman: the horsemen 1⅓ medimni of wheat and 5 of barley. But there was this difference, that the allied forces received their allowances as a gratuity; the Roman soldiers, on the contrary, had deducted from their pay the money value of whatever they received in corn, armour, or clothes. There was indeed a law passed by C. Gracchus, which provided that besides their pay the soldiers should receive from the treasury an allowance for clothes; but this law seems either to have been repealed or to have fallen into disuse. The pay was doubled for the legionaries by Julius Caesar before the civil war. He also gave them corn whenever he had the means, without any restrictions. Under Augustus it appears to have been raised to 10 asses a day (three times the original sum). It was still further increased by Domitian. The praetorian cohorts received twice as much as the legionaries.
STŎLA, a female dress worn over the tunic; it came as low as the ankles or feet, and was fastened round the body by a girdle, leaving above the breast broad folds. The tunic did not reach much below the knee, but the essential distinction between the tunic and stola seems to have been that the latter always had an instita or flounce sewed to the bottom and reaching to the instep. Over the stola the palla or pallium was worn [[Pallium]], as we see in the cut annexed. The stola was the characteristic dress of the Roman matrons, as the toga was of the Roman men. Hence the meretrices were not allowed to wear it, but only a dark-coloured toga; and accordingly Horace speaks of the matrona in contradistinction to the togata. For the same reason, women who had been divorced from their husbands on account of adultery, were not allowed to wear the stola, but only the toga.
Stola, female dress. (Museo Borbonico, vol. iii. tav. 37.)
STRĂTĒGUS (στρατηγός), general. This office and title seems to have been more especially peculiar to the democratic states of ancient Greece: we read of them, for instance, at Athens, Tarentum, Syracuse, Argos, and Thurii; and when the tyrants of the Ionian cities in Asia Minor were deposed by Aristagoras, he established strategi in their room, to act as chief magistrates. The strategi at Athens were instituted after the remodelling of the constitution by Clisthenes, to discharge the duties which had in former times been performed either by the king or the archon polemarchus. They were ten in number, one for each of the ten tribes, and chosen by the suffrages (χειροτονία) of the people. Before entering on their duties they were required to submit to a docimasia, or examination of their character; and no one was eligible to the office unless he had legitimate children, and was possessed of landed property in Attica. They were, as their name denotes, entrusted with the command on military expeditions, with the superintendence of all warlike preparations, and with the regulation of all matters in any way connected with the war department of the state. They levied and enlisted the soldiers, either personally or with the assistance of the taxiarchs. They were entrusted with the collection and management of the property-taxes (εἰσφοραί) raised for the purposes of war; and also presided over the courts of justice in which any disputes connected with this subject or the trierarchy were decided. They nominated from year to year persons to serve as trierarchs. They had the power of convening extraordinary assemblies of the people in cases of emergency. But their most important trust was the command in war, and it depended upon circumstances to how many of the number it was given. At Marathon all the ten were present, and the chief command came to each of them in turn. The archon polemarchus also was there associated with them, and, according to the ancient custom, his vote in a council of war was equal to that of any of the generals. Usually, however, three only were sent out; one of these (τρίτος αὐτός) was considered as the commander-in-chief, but his colleagues had an equal voice in a council of war. The military chiefs of the Aetolian and Achaean leagues were also called strategi. The Achaean strategi had the power of convening a general assembly of the league on extraordinary occasions. Greek writers on Roman affairs give the name of strategi to the praetors.
STRĒNA, a present given on a festive day, and for the sake of good omen. It was chiefly applied to a new year’s gift, to a present made on the calends of January. In accordance with a senatusconsultum, new year’s gifts had to be presented to Augustus in the Capitol, even when he was absent.
STRĬGIL. [[Balneum].]
STRŎPHĬUM (ταινία, ταινίδιον, ἀπόδεσμος), a girdle or belt worn by women round the breast and over the inner tunic or chemise. It appears to have been usually made of leather.