Chapter XIX: Part II: The Middle Ages and the Reformation. A.D. 1381-1593 (18)

The urnae were also of various shapes, but most commonly square or round; and upon them there was usually an inscription or epitaph (_titulus_ or _epitaphium_), beginning with the letters D. M. S., or only D. M., that is, DIS MANIBUS SACRUM, followed by the name of the deceased, with the length of his life, &c. The woodcut opposite is a representation of a sepulchral urn in the British Museum. It is of an upright rectangular form, richly ornamented with foliage, and supported at the sides with pilasters. It is to the memory of Cossutia Prima. Its height is 21 inches, and its width at the base 14 inches 6-8ths. Below the inscription an infant genius is represented driving a car drawn by four horses.--After the bones and ashes of the deceased had been placed in the urn, the persons present were thrice sprinkled by a priest with pure water from a branch of olive or laurel for the purpose of purification; after which they were dismissed by the _praefica_, or some other person, by the solemn word _Ilicet_, that is, _ire licet_. At their departure they were accustomed to bid farewell to the deceased by pronouncing the word _Vale_. The urns were placed in sepulchres, which, as already stated, were outside the city, though in a few cases we read of the dead being buried within the city. Thus Valerius Publicola, Tubertus, and Fabricius, were buried in the city; which right their descendants also possessed, but did not use. The vestal virgins and the emperors were buried in the city.--The verb _sepelire_, like the Greek θάπτειν, was applied to every mode of disposing of the dead; and _sepulcrum_ signified any kind of tomb in which the body or bones of a man were placed. The term _humare_ was originally used for burial in the earth, but was afterwards applied like _sepelire_ to any mode of disposing of the dead: since it appears to have been the custom, after the body was burnt, to throw some earth upon the bones.--The places for burial were either public or private. The public places of burial were of two kinds; one for illustrious citizens, who were buried at the public expense, and the other for poor citizens, who could not afford to purchase ground for the purpose. The former was in the Campus Martius, which was ornamented with the tombs of the illustrious dead, and in the Campus Esquilinus; the latter was also in the Campus Esquilinus, and consisted of small pits or caverns, called _puticuli_ or _puticulae_; but as this place rendered the neighbourhood unhealthy, it was given to Maecenas, who converted it into gardens, and built a magnificent house upon it. Private places for burial were usually by the sides of the roads leading to Rome; and on some of these roads, such as the Via Appia, the tombs formed an almost uninterrupted street for many miles from the gates of the city. They were frequently built by individuals during their lifetime; thus Augustus, in his sixth consulship, built the Mausoleum for his sepulchre between the Via Flaminia and the Tiber, and planted round it woods and walks for public use. The heirs were often ordered by the will of the deceased to build a tomb for him; and they sometimes did it at their own expense.--Sepulchres were originally called _busta_, but this word was afterwards employed in the manner mentioned under Bustum. Sepulchres were also frequently called _monumenta_, but this term was also applied to a monument erected to the memory of a person in a different place from that where he was buried. _Conditoria_ or _conditiva_ were sepulchres under ground, in which dead bodies were placed entire, in contradistinction to those sepulchres which contained the bones and ashes only.--The tombs of the rich were commonly built of marble, and the ground enclosed with an iron railing or wall, and planted round with trees. The extent of the burying-ground was marked by cippi [CIPPUS]. The name of mausoleum, which was originally the name of the magnificent sepulchre erected by Artemisia to the memory of Mausolus, king of Caria, was sometimes given to any splendid tomb. The open space before a sepulchre was called forum, and neither this space nor the sepulchre itself could become the property of a person by usucapion. Private tombs were either built by an individual for himself and the members of his family (_sepulcra familiaria_), or for himself and his heirs (_sepulcra hereditaria_). A tomb, which was fitted up with niches to receive the funeral urns, was called _columbarium_, on account of the resemblance of these niches to the holes of a pigeon-house. In these tombs the ashes of the freedmen and slaves of great families were frequently placed in vessels made of baked clay, called _ollae_, which were let into the thickness of the wall within these niches, the lids only being seen, and the inscriptions placed in front. Tombs were of various sizes and forms, according to the wealth and taste of the owner. A sepulchre, or any place in which a person was buried, was _religiosus_; all things which were left or belonged to the Dii Manes were _religiosae_; those consecrated to the Dii Superi were called _sacrae_. Even the place in which a slave was buried was considered religiosus. Whoever violated a sepulchre was subject to an action termed _sepulcri violati actio_. After the bones had been placed in the urn at the funeral, the friends returned home. They then underwent a further purification, called _suffitio_, which consisted in being sprinkled with water and stepping over a fire. The house itself was also swept with a certain kind of broom; which sweeping or purification was called _exverrae_, and the person who did it _everriator_. The _Denicales Feriae_ were also days set apart for the purification of the family. The mourning and solemnities connected with the dead lasted for nine days after the funeral, at the end of which time a sacrifice was performed, called _novendiale_.--A feast was given in honour of the dead, but it is uncertain on what day; it sometimes appears to have been given at the time of the funeral, sometimes on the novendiale, and sometimes later. The name of _silicernium_ was given to this feast. Among the tombs at Pompeii there is a funeral triclinium for the celebration of these feasts, which is represented in the annexed woodcut. It is open to the sky, and the walls are ornamented by paintings of animals in the centre of compartments, which have borders of flowers. The triclinium is made of stone, with a pedestal in the centre to receive the table. After the funeral of great men, there was, in addition to the feast for the friends of the deceased, a distribution of raw meat to the people, called _visceratio_, and sometimes a public banquet. Combats of gladiators and other games were also frequently exhibited in honour of the deceased. Thus at the funeral of P. Licinius Crassus, who had been Pontifex Maximus, raw meat was distributed to the people, 120 gladiators fought, and funeral games were celebrated for three days, at the end of which a public banquet was given in the forum. Public feasts and funeral games were sometimes given on the anniversary of funerals. At all banquets in honour of the dead, the guests were dressed in white.--The Romans, like the Greeks, were accustomed to visit the tombs of their relatives at certain periods, and to offer to them sacrifices and various gifts, which were called _inferiae_ and _parentalia_. The Romans appear to have regarded the manes or departed souls of their ancestors as gods; whence arose the practice of presenting to them oblations, which consisted of victims, wine, milk, garlands of flowers, and other things. The tombs were sometimes illuminated on these occasions with lamps. In the latter end of the month of February there was a festival, called _feralia_, in which the Romans were accustomed to carry food to the sepulchres for the use of the dead. The Romans were accustomed to wear mourning for their deceased friends, which appears to have been black under the republic for both sexes. Under the empire the men continued to wear black in mourning, but the women wore white. They laid aside all kinds of ornaments, and did not cut either their hair or beard. Men appear to have usually worn their mourning for only a few days, but women for a year when they lost a husband or parent. In a public mourning on account of some signal calamity, as, for instance, the loss of a battle, or the death of an emperor, there was a total cessation from business, called _justitium_, which was usually ordained by public appointment. During this period the courts of justice did not sit, the shops were shut, and the soldiers freed from military duties. In a public mourning the senators did not wear the latus clavus and their rings, nor the magistrates their badges of office.

FURCA, which properly means a fork, was also the name of an instrument of punishment. It was a piece of wood in the form of the letter Λ, which was placed upon the shoulders of the offender, whose hands were tied to it. Slaves were frequently punished in this way, and were obliged to carry about the furca wherever they went; whence the appellation of _furcifer_ was applied to a man as a term of reproach. The furca was used in the ancient mode of capital punishment among the Romans; the criminal was tied to it, and then scourged to death. The _patibulum_ was also an instrument of punishment, resembling the furca; it appears to have been in the form of the letter Π. Both the furca and patibulum were also employed as crosses, to which criminals appear to have been nailed.

FURĬŌSUS. [CURATOR.]

FUSCĬNA (τρίαινα), a trident, more commonly called _tridens_, meaning _tridens stimulus_, because it was originally a three-pronged goad, used to incite horses to greater swiftness. Neptune was supposed to be armed with it when he drove his chariot, and it thus became his usual attribute, perhaps with an allusion also to the use of the same instrument in harpooning fish. It is represented in the cut on p. 84. In the contests of gladiators, the _retiarius_ was armed with a trident. [GLADIATORES]

FUSTŬĀRĬUM (ξυλοκοπία), was a capital punishment inflicted upon Roman soldiers for desertion, theft, and similar crimes. It was administered in the following manner:--When a soldier was condemned, the tribune touched him slightly with a stick, upon which all the soldiers of the legion fell upon him with sticks and stones, and generally killed him upon the spot. If, however, he escaped, for he was allowed to fly, he could not return to his native country, nor did any of his relatives dare to receive him into their houses.

FŪSUS (ἄτρακτος), the spindle, was always, when in use, accompanied by the distaff (_colus_, ἠλακάτη), as an indispensable part of the same apparatus. The wool, flax, or other material, having been prepared for spinning, was rolled into a ball (τολύπη, _glomus_), which was, however, sufficiently loose to allow the fibres to be easily drawn out by the hand of the spinner. The upper part of the distaff was then inserted into this mass of flax or wool, and the lower part was held under the left arm in such a position as was most convenient for conducting the operation. The fibres were drawn out, and at the same time spirally twisted, chiefly by the use of the fore-finger and thumb of the right hand; and the thread (_filum, stamen_, νήμα) so produced was wound upon the spindle until the quantity was as great as it would carry. The spindle was a stick, 10 or 12 inches long, having at the top a slit or catch (_dens_, ἄγκιστρον) in which the thread was fixed, so that the weight of the spindle might continually carry down the thread as it was formed. Its lower extremity was inserted into a small wheel, called the whorl (_vorticellum_), made of wood, stone, or metal (see woodcut), the use of which was to keep the spindle more steady, and to promote its rotation. The accompanying woodcut shows the operation of spinning, at the moment when the woman has drawn out a sufficient length of yarn to twist it by whirling the spindle with her right thumb and fore-finger, and previously to the act of taking it out of the slit to wind it upon the bobbin (πήνιον) already formed. It was usual to have a basket to hold the distaff and spindle, with the balls of wool prepared for spinning, and the bobbins already spun. [CALATHUS.] The distaff and spindle, with the wool and thread upon them, were carried in bridal processions; and, without the wool and thread, they were often suspended by females as offerings of religious gratitude, especially in old age, or on relinquishing the constant use of them. They were most frequently dedicated to Pallas, the patroness of spinning, and of the arts connected with it. They were exhibited in the representations of the three Fates, who were conceived, by their spinning, to determine the life of every man.

GĂBINUS CINCTUS. [TOGA.]

GAESUM (γαισός), a term probably of Celtic origin, denoting a kind of javelin which was used by the Gauls wherever their ramifications extended. It was a heavy weapon, the shaft being as thick as a man could grasp, and the iron head barbed, and of an extraordinary length compared with the shaft.

GĂLĔA (κράνος, _poet_. κόρυς, πήληξ), a helmet; a casque. The helmet was originally made of skin or leather, whence is supposed to have arisen its appellation, κυνέη, meaning properly a helmet of dog-skin, but applied to caps or helmets made of the hide of other animals, and even to those which were entirely of bronze or iron. The leathern basis of the helmet was also very commonly strengthened and adorned by the addition of either bronze or gold. Helmets which had a metallic basis were in Latin properly called _cassides_, although the terms _galea_ and _cassis_ are often confounded. The additions by which the external appearance of the helmet was varied, and which served both for ornament and protection, were the following:--1. Bosses or plates (φάλος), proceeding either from the top or the sides, and varying in number from one to four (ἀμφίφαλος, τετράφαλος). The φάλος was often an emblematical figure, referring to the character of the wearer. Thus in the colossal statue of Athena in the Parthenon at Athens, she bore a sphinx on the top of her helmet, and a griffin on each side. 2. The helmet thus adorned was very commonly surmounted by the crest (_crista_, λόφος), which was often of horse-hair. 3. The two cheek-pieces (_bucculae_, παραγναθίδες), which were attached to the helmet by hinges, so as to be lifted up and down. They had buttons or ties at their extremities, for fastening the helmet on the head. 4. The beaver, or visor, a peculiar form of which is supposed to have been the αὐλῶπις τρυφάλεια, _i.e._ the perforated beaver. The gladiators wore helmets of this kind.

GĂLĒRUS or GALĒRUM, originally a covering for the head worn by priests, especially by the _flamen dialis_. It appears to have been a round cap made of leather, with its top ending in an apex or point. [APEX.] In course of time the name was applied to any kind of cap fitting close to the head like a helmet. _Galerus_ and its diminutive _Galericulum_ are also used to signify a covering for the head made of hair, and hence a wig.

GALLI, the priests of Cybelé, whose worship was introduced at Rome from Phrygia. The Galli were, according to an ancient custom, always castrated, and it would seem that, impelled by religious fanaticism, they performed this operation on themselves. In their wild, enthusiastic, and boisterous rites they resembled the Corybantes. They seem to have been always chosen from a poor and despised class of people, for, while no other priests were allowed to beg, the Galli were permitted to do so on certain days. The chief priest among them was called _archigallus_.

GĂMĒLĬA (γαμηλία). The demes and phratries of Attica possessed various means to prevent intruders from assuming the rights of citizens. Among other regulations, it was ordained that every bride, previous to her marriage, should be introduced by her parents or guardians to the phratria of her husband. This introduction of the young women was accompanied by presents to their new phratores, which were called _gamelia_. The women were enrolled in the lists of the phratries, and this enrolment was also called _gamelia_.

GAUSĂPA, GAUSĂPE, or GAUSĂPUM, a kind of thick cloth, which was on one side very woolly, and was used to cover tables and beds, and by persons to wrap themselves up after taking a bath, or in general to protect themselves against rain and cold. It was worn by men as well as women. The word gausapa is also sometimes used to designate a thick wig, such as was made of the hair of Germans, and worn by the fashionable people at Rome at the time of the emperors.

GĔNĔSIA. [FUNUS.]

GĔNOS (γένος). [TRIBUS, GREEK.]

GENS. According to the traditional accounts of the old Roman constitution, the _Gentes_ were subdivisions of the _curiae_, just as the _curiae_ were subdivisions of the three ancient tribes, the _Ramnes_, _Titienses_, and _Luceres_. There were ten gentes in each curia, and consequently one hundred gentes in each tribe, and three hundred in the three tribes. Now if there is any truth in the tradition of this original distribution of the population into tribes, curiae, and gentes, it follows that there was no necessary kinship among those families which belonged to a gens, any more than among those families which belonged to one curia. The name of the gens was always characterised by the termination _ia_, as Julia, Cornelia, Valeria; and the gentiles, or members of a gens, all bore the name of the gens to which they belonged. As the gentes were subdivisions of the three ancient tribes, the populus (in the ancient sense) alone had gentes, so that to be a patrician and to have a gens were synonymous; and thus we find the expressions gens and patricii constantly united. Yet it appears that some gentes contained plebeian familiae, which it is conjectured had their origin in marriages between patricians and plebeians before there was connubium between them. A hundred new members were added to the senate by the first Tarquin. These were the representatives of the _Luceres_, the third and inferior tribe; which is indicated by the gentes of this tribe being called _minores_, by way of being distinguished from the older gentes, _majores_, of the Ramnes and Tities, a distinction which appears to have been more than nominal. [SENATUS.] There were certain sacred rites (_sacra gentilitia_) which belonged to a gens, to which all the members of a gens, as such, were bound. It was the duty of the pontifices to look after the due observance of these gentile sacra, and to see that they were not lost. Each gens seems to have had its peculiar place (_sacellum_) for the celebration of these sacra, which were performed at stated times. By the law of the Twelve Tables the property of a person who died intestate devolved upon the gens to which he belonged.

GĔŌMŎRI. [TRIBUS, GREEK.]

GĔROUSĬA (γερούσια), or _assembly of elders_, was the aristocratic element of the Spartan polity. It was not peculiar to Sparta only, but found in other Dorian states, just as a _Boulé_ (βουλή) or democratical council was an element of most Ionian constitutions. The _Gerousia_ at Sparta, including the two kings, its presidents, consisted of thirty members (γέροντες): a number which seems connected with the divisions of the Spartan people. Every Dorian state, in fact, was divided into three tribes: the Hylleis, the Dymanes, and the Pamphyli. The tribes at Sparta were again subdivided into _obae_ (ὠβαί), which were, like the _Gerontes_, thirty in number, so that each oba was represented by its councillor: any inference which leads to the conclusion that two obae at least of the Hyllean tribe, must have belonged to the royal house of the Heracleids. No one was eligible to the council till he was sixty years of age, and the additional qualifications were strictly of an aristocratic nature. We are told, for instance, that the office of a councillor was the reward and prize of virtue, and that it was confined to men of distinguished character and station. The election was determined by vote, and the mode of conducting it was remarkable for its old-fashioned simplicity. The competitors presented themselves one after another to the assembly of electors; the latter testified their esteem by acclamations, which varied in intensity according to the popularity of the candidates for whom they were given. These manifestations of esteem were noted by persons in an adjoining building, who could judge of the shouting, but could not tell in whose favour it was given. The person whom these judges thought to have been most applauded was declared the successful candidate. The office lasted for life. The functions of the councillors were partly deliberative, partly judicial, and partly executive. In the discharge of the first, they prepared measures and passed preliminary decrees, which were to be laid before the popular assembly, so that the important privilege of initiating all changes in the government or laws was vested in them. As a criminal court, they could punish with death and civil degradation (ἀτιμία). They also appear to have exercised, like the Areiopagus at Athens, a general superintendence and inspection over the lives and manners of the citizens, and probably were allowed a kind of patriarchal authority, to enforce the observance of ancient usage and discipline. It is not, however, easy to define with exactness the original extent of their functions, especially as respects the last-mentioned duty, since the ephors not only encroached upon the prerogatives of the king and council, but also possessed, in very early times, a censorial power, and were not likely to permit any diminution of its extent.

GERRHA (γέῤῥα), in Latin, _Gerrae_, properly signified any thing made of wicker-work, and was especially used as the name of the Persian shields, which were made of wicker-work, and were smaller and shorter than the Greek shields.

GLĂDĬĀTŌRES (μονομάχοι) were men who fought with swords in the amphitheatre and other places, for the amusement of the Roman people. They are said to have been first exhibited by the Etrurians, and to have had their origin from the custom of killing slaves and captives at the funeral pyres of the deceased. [BUSTUM; FUNUS.] A show of gladiators was called munus, and the person who exhibited (_edebat_) it, _editor_, _munerator_, or _dominus_, who was honoured during the day of exhibition, if a private person, with the official signs of a magistrate. Gladiators were first exhibited at Rome in B.C. 264, in the Forum Boarium, by Marcus and Decimus Brutus, at the funeral of their father. They were at first confined to public funerals, but afterwards fought at the funerals of most persons of consequence, and even at those of women. Combats of gladiators were also exhibited at entertainments, and especially at public festivals by the aediles and other magistrates, who sometimes exhibited immense numbers, with the view of pleasing the people. Under the empire the passion of the Romans for this amusement rose to its greatest height, and the number of gladiators who fought on some occasions appears almost incredible. After Trajan’s triumph over the Dacians, there were more than 10,000 exhibited. Gladiators consisted either of captives, slaves, and condemned malefactors, or of freeborn citizens who fought voluntarily. Freemen, who became gladiators for hire, were called _auctorati_, and their hire _auctoramentum_ or _gladiatorium_. Even under the republic, free-born citizens fought as gladiators, but they appear to have belonged only to the lower orders. Under the empire, however, both knights and senators fought in the arena, and even women.--Gladiators were kept in schools (_ludi_), where they were trained by persons called _lanistae_. The whole body of gladiators under one lanista was frequently called _familia_. They sometimes were the property of the lanistae, who let them out to persons who wished to exhibit a show of gladiators; but at other times they belonged to citizens, who kept them for the purpose of exhibition, and engaged lanistae to instruct them. Thus we read of the ludus Aemilius at Rome, and of Caesar’s ludus at Capua. The gladiators fought in these ludi with wooden swords, called _rudes_. Great attention was paid to their diet, in order to increase the strength of their bodies.--Gladiators were sometimes exhibited at the funeral pyre, and sometimes in the forum, but more frequently in the amphitheatre. [AMPHITHEATRUM.]--The person who was to exhibit a show of gladiators, published some days before the exhibition bills (_libelli_), containing the number and frequently the names of those who were to fight. When the day came, they were led along the arena in procession, and matched by pairs; and their swords were examined by the editor to see if they were sufficiently sharp. At first there was a kind of sham battle, called _praelusio_, in which they fought with wooden swords, or the like, and afterwards at the sound of the trumpet the real battle began. When a gladiator was wounded, the people called out _habet_ or _hoc habet_; and the one who was vanquished lowered his arms in token of submission. His fate, however, depended upon the people, who pressed down their thumbs if they wished him to be saved, but turned them up if they wished him to be killed, and ordered him to receive the sword (_ferrum recipere_), which gladiators usually did with the greatest firmness. If the life of a vanquished gladiator was spared, he obtained his discharge for that day, which was called _missio_; and hence in an exhibition of gladiators _sine missione_, the lives of the conquered were never spared. This kind of exhibition, however, was forbidden by Augustus. Palms were usually given to the victorious gladiators. Old gladiators, and sometimes those who had only fought for a short time, were discharged from the service by the editor, at the request of the people, who presented each of them with a rudis or wooden sword; whence those who were discharged were called _Rudiarii_.--Gladiators were divided into different classes, according to their arms and different mode of fighting, or other circumstances. The names of the most important of these classes are given in alphabetical order:--_Andabatae_ wore helmets without any aperture for the eyes, so that they were obliged to fight blindfold, and thus excited the mirth of the spectators.--_Catervarii_ was the name given to gladiators when they did not fight in pairs, but when several fought together.--_Essedarii_ fought from chariots, like the Gauls and Britons. [ESSEDA.]--_Hoplomachi_ appear to have been those who fought in a complete suit of armour.--_Laqueatores_ were those who used a noose to catch their adversaries.--_Meridiani_ were those who fought in the middle of the day, after combats with wild beasts had taken place in the morning. These gladiators were very slightly armed.--_Mirmillones_ are said to have been so called from their having the image of a fish (_mormyr_, μορμύρος) on their helmets. Their arms were like those of the Gauls, whence we find that they were also called Galli. They were usually matched with the Retiarii or Thracians.--_Provocatores_ fought with the Samnites, but we do not know any thing respecting them except their name.--_Retiarii_ carried only a three-pointed lance, called _tridens_ or _fuscina_ [FUSCINA], and a net (_rete_), which they endeavoured to throw over their adversaries, and they then attacked them with the fuscina while they were entangled. The retiarius was dressed in a short tunic, and wore nothing on his head. If he missed his aim in throwing the net, he betook himself to flight, and endeavoured to prepare his net for a second cast, while his adversary followed him round the arena in order to kill him before he could make a second attempt. His adversary was usually a _secutor_ or a _mirmillo_. In the following woodcut a combat is represented between a retiarius and a mirmillo; the former has thrown his net over the head of the latter, and is proceeding to attack him with the fuscina. The lanista stands behind the retiarius.--_Samnites_ were so called, because they were armed in the same way as that people, and were particularly distinguished by the oblong _scutum_.--_Secutores_ are supposed by some writers to be so called because the secutor in his combat with the retiarius pursued the latter when he failed in securing him by his net.

Other writers think that they were the same as the _supposititii_, who were gladiators substituted in the place of those who were wearied or were killed.--_Thraces_ or _Threces_ were armed, like the Thracians, with a round shield or buckler, and a short sword or dagger (_sica_). They were usually matched, as already stated, with the mirmillones. The following woodcut represents a combat between two Thracians. A lanista stands behind each.

GLĂDĬUS (ξίφος, _poet._ ἄορ, φάσγανον), a sword or glaive, by the Latin poets called _ensis_. The ancient sword had generally a straight two-edged blade, rather broad, and nearly of equal width from hilt to point. The Greeks and Romans wore them on the left side, so as to draw them out of the sheath (_vagina_, κολεός) by passing the right hand in front of the body to take hold of the hilt with the thumb next to the blade. The early Greeks used a very short sword. Iphicrates, who made various improvements in armour about 400 B.C., doubled its length. The Roman sword was larger, heavier, and more formidable than the Greek.

GLANDES. [FUNDA.]

GRAECŎSTĂSIS, a place in the Roman forum, on the right of the Comitium, so called because the Greek ambassadors, and perhaps also deputies from other foreign or allied states, were allowed to stand there to hear the debates. When the sun was seen from the Curia coming out between the Rostra and the Graecostasis, it was mid-day; and an accensus of the consul announced the time with a clear loud voice.

GRAMMĂTEUS (γραμματεύς), a clerk or scribe. Among the great number of scribes employed by the magistrates and government of Athens, there were three of a higher rank, who were real state-officers. One of them was appointed by lot, by the senate, to serve the time of the administration of each prytany, though he always belonged to a different prytany from that which was in power. He was, therefore, called γραμματεὺς κατὰ πρυτανείαν. His province was to keep the public records, and the decrees of the people which were made during the time of his office, and to deliver to the thesmothetae the decrees of the senate.--The second _grammateus_ was elected by the senate, by χειροτονία, and was entrusted with the custody of the laws. His usual name was γραμματεὺς τῆς βουλῆς.--A third _grammateus_ was called γραμματεὺς τῆς πόλεως, or γραμματεὺς τῆς βουλῆς καὶ τοῦ δήμου. He was appointed by the people, by χειροτονία, and the principal part of his office was to read any laws or documents which were required to be read in the assembly or in the senate.

GRĂPHĒ (γραφή). [DICE.]

GRĂPHĬĀRĬUM. [STILUS.]

GRĂPHIS. [PICTURA.]

GRĂPHĬUM. [STILUS.]

GŬBERNĀCŬLUM (πηδάλιον). [NAVIS.]

GUSTĀTĬO. [COENA.]

GUTTUS, a vessel with a narrow mouth or neck, from which the liquid was poured in drops, whence its name. It was especially used in sacrifices, and hence we find it represented on the Roman coins struck by persons who held any of the priestly offices. The guttus was also used for keeping the oil, with which persons were anointed in the baths. [See p. 56.]

GYMNĀSIUM (γυμνάσιον). The whole education of a Greek youth was divided into three parts,--grammar, music, and gymnastics (γράμματα, μουσική, γυμναστική), to which Aristotle adds a fourth, the art of drawing or painting. Gymnastics, however, were thought by the ancients a matter of such importance, that this part of education alone occupied as much time and attention as all the others put together; and while the latter necessarily ceased at a certain period of life, gymnastics continued to be cultivated by persons of all ages, though those of an advanced age naturally took lighter and less fatiguing exercises than boys and youths. The ancients, and more especially the Greeks, seem to have been thoroughly convinced that the mind could not possibly be in a healthy state, unless the body was likewise in perfect health, and no means were thought, either by philosophers or physicians, to be more conducive to preserve or restore bodily health than well-regulated exercise. The word gymnastics is derived from γυμνός (naked), because the persons who performed their exercises in public or private gymnasia were either entirely naked, or merely covered by the short _chiton_. Gymnastic exercises among the Greeks seem to have been as old as the Greek nation itself; but they were, as might be supposed, of a rude and mostly of a warlike character. They were generally held in the open air, and in plains near a river, which afforded an opportunity for swimming and bathing. It was about the time of Solon that the Greek towns began to build their regular gymnasia as places of exercise for the young, with baths, and other conveniences for philosophers and all persons who sought intellectual amusements. There was probably no Greek town of any importance which did not possess its gymnasium. Athens possessed three great gymnasia, the Lyceum (Λύκειον), Cynosarges (Κυνόσαργες), and the Academia (Ἀκαδημία); to which, in later times, several smaller ones were added. Respecting the superintendence and administration of the gymnasia at Athens, we know that Solon in his legislation thought them worthy of great attention; and the transgression of some of his laws relating to the gymnasia was punished with death. His laws mention a magistrate, called the gymnasiarch (γυμνασίαρχος or γυμνασιάρχης), who was entrusted with the whole management of the gymnasia, and with everything connected therewith. His office was one of the regular liturgies like the choregia and trierarchy, and was attended with considerable expense. He had to maintain and pay the persons who were preparing themselves for the games and contests in the public festivals, to provide them with oil, and perhaps with the wrestlers’ dust. It also devolved upon him to adorn the gymnasium, or the place where the agones were held. The gymnasiarch was a real magistrate, and invested with a kind of jurisdiction over all those who frequented or were connected with the gymnasia. Another part of his duties was to conduct the solemn games at certain great festivals, especially the torch-race (λαμπαδηφορία), for which he selected the most distinguished among the ephebi of the gymnasia. The number of gymnasiarchs was ten, one from every tribe. An office of very great importance, in an educational point of view, was that of the _Sophronistae_ (σωφρονίσται). Their province was to inspire the youths with a love of σωφροσύνη, and to protect this virtue against all injurious influences. In early times their number at Athens was ten, one from every tribe, with a salary of one drachma per day. Their duty not only required them to be present at all the games of the ephebi, but to watch and correct their conduct wherever they might meet them, both within and without the gymnasium. The instructions in the gymnasia were given by the _Gymnastae_ (γυμνασταί) and the _Paedotribae_ (παιδοτριβαί); at a later period _Hypopaedotribae_ were added. The Paedotribae were required to possess a knowledge of all the various exercises which were performed in the gymnasia; the Gymnastes was the practical teacher, and was expected to know the physiological effects and influences on the constitution of the youths, and therefore assigned to each of them those exercises which he thought most suitable. The anointing of the bodies of the youths and strewing them with dust, before they commenced their exercises, as well as the regulation of their diet, was the duty of the aliptae. [ALIPTAE.]--Among all the different tribes of the Greeks the exercises which were carried on in a Greek gymnasium were either mere games, or the more important exercises which the gymnasia had in common with the public contests in the great festivals. Among the former we may mention, 1. The game at ball (σφαιριστική), which was in universal favour with the Greeks. [PILA.] Every gymnasium contained one large room for the purpose of playing at ball in it (σφαιριστήριον). 2. Παίζειν ἑλκυστίνδα, διελκυστίνδα, or διὰ γραμμῆς, was a game in which one boy, holding one end of a rope, tried to pull the boy who held its other end, across a line marked between them on the ground. 3. The top (βεμβηξ, βέμβιξ, ῥόμβος, στρόβιλος), which was as common an amusement with Greek boys as it is with ours. 4. The πεντάλιθος, which was a game with five stones, which were thrown up from the upper part of the hand and caught in the palm. 5. Σκαπέρδα, which was a game in which a rope was drawn through the upper part of a tree or a post. Two boys, one on each side of the post, turning their backs towards one another, took hold of the ends of the rope and tried to pull each other up. This sport was also one of the amusements at the Attic Dionysia. The more important games, such as running (δρόμος), throwing of the δίσκος and the ἄκων, jumping and leaping (ἅλμα, with and without ἁλτῆρες), wrestling (πάλη), boxing (πυγμή), the pancratium (παγκράτιον), πένταθλος, λαμπαδηφορία, dancing (ὀρχήσις), &c., are described in separate articles. A gymnasium was not a Roman institution. The regular training of boys in the Greek gymnastics was foreign to Roman manners, and even held in contempt. Towards the end of the republic, many wealthy Romans who had acquired a taste for Greek manners, used to attach to their villas small places for bodily exercise, sometimes called gymnasia, sometimes palaestrae, and to adorn them with beautiful works of art. The emperor Nero was the first who built a public gymnasium at Rome.

GYMNĒSII or GYMNĒTES (γυμνήσιοι, or γυμνῆτες), a class of bond-slaves at Argos, who may be compared with the Helots at Sparta. Their name shows that they attended their masters on military service in the capacity of light-armed troops.

GYMNŎPAEDĬA (γυμνοπαιδία), the festival of “naked youths,” was celebrated at Sparta every year in honour of Apollo Pythaeus, Artemis, and Leto. The statues of these deities stood in a part of the agora called χορός, and it was around these statues that, at the gymnopaedia, Spartan youths performed their choruses and dances in honour of Apollo. The festival lasted for several, perhaps for ten, days, and on the last day men also performed choruses and dances in the theatre; and during these gymnastic exhibitions they sang the songs of Thaletas and Alcman, and the paeans of Dionysodotus. The leader of the chorus (προστάτης or χοροποιός) wore a kind of chaplet in commemoration of the victory of the Spartans at Thyrea. This event seems to have been closely connected with the gymnopaedia, for those Spartans who had fallen on that occasion were always praised in songs at this festival. The boys in their dances performed such rhythmical movements as resembled the exercises of the palaestra and the pancration, and also imitated the wild gestures of the worship of Dionysus. The whole season of the gymnopaedia, during which Sparta was visited by great numbers of strangers, was one of great merriment and rejoicings, and old bachelors alone seem to have been excluded from the festivities. The introduction of the gymnopaedia is generally assigned to the year 665 B.C.

GỸNAECONĪTIS. [DOMUS, GREEK.]

GỸNAECŎNŎMI or GỸNAECŎCOSMI (γυναικονόμοι or γυναικοκόσμοι), magistrates at Athens, originally appointed to superintend the conduct of Athenian women. Their power was afterwards extended in such a manner that they became a kind of police for the purpose of preventing any excesses or indecencies, whether committed by men or by women. Hence they superintended the meetings of friends even in private houses, for instance, at weddings and on other festive occasions.

HALTĒRES (ἁλτῆρες) were certain masses of stone or metal, which were used in the gymnastic exercises of the Greeks and Romans. Persons who practised leaping frequently performed their exercises with halteres in both hands; but they were also frequently used merely to exercise the body in somewhat the same manner as our dumb-bells.

HARMĂMAXA (ἁρμάμαξα), a carriage for persons, covered overhead and inclosed with curtains. It was in general large, often drawn by four horses, and attired with splendid ornaments. It occupied among the Persians the same place which the carpentum did among the Romans, being used, especially upon state occasions, for the conveyance of women and children, of eunuchs, and of the sons of the king with their tutors.

HARMOSTAE (ἁρμοσταί, from ἁρμόζω, to fit or join together), the name of the governors whom the Lacedaemonians, after the Peloponnesian war, sent into their subject or conquered towns, partly to keep them in submission, and partly to abolish the democratical form of government, and establish in its stead one similar to their own. Although in many cases they were ostensibly sent for the purpose of abolishing the tyrannical government of a town, and to restore the people to freedom, yet they themselves acted like kings or tyrants.

HARPĂGO (ἁρπάγη: λύκος: κρεάγρα), a grappling-iron, a drag, a flesh-hook. In war the grappling-iron, thrown at an enemy’s ship, seized the rigging, and was then used to drag the ship within reach, so that it might be easily boarded or destroyed. These instruments appear to have been much the same as the _manus ferreae_. The flesh-hook (κρεάγρα) was an instrument used in cookery, resembling a hand with the fingers bent inwards, used to take boiled meat out of the caldron.

HARPASTUM. [PILA.]

HĂRUSPĬCES, or ĂRUSPĬCES (ἱεροσκόποι), soothsayers or diviners, who interpreted the will of the gods. They originally came to Rome from Etruria, whence haruspices were often sent for by the Romans on important occasions. The art of the haruspices resembled in many respects that of the augurs; but they never acquired that political importance which the latter possessed, and were regarded rather as means for ascertaining the will of the gods than as possessing any religious authority. They did not in fact form any part of the ecclesiastical polity of the Roman state during the republic; they are never called sacerdotes, they did not form a collegium, and had no magister at their head. The art of the haruspices, which was called _haruspicina_, consisted in explaining and interpreting the will of the gods from the appearance of the entrails (_exta_) of animals offered in sacrifice, whence they are sometimes called _extispices_, and their art _extispicium_; and also from lightning, earthquakes, and all extraordinary phenomena in nature, to which the general name of _portenta_ was given. Their art is said to have been invented by the Etruscan Tages, and was contained in certain books called _libri haruspicini_, _fulgurales_, and _tonitruales_. This art was considered by the Romans so important at one time, that the senate decreed that a certain number of young Etruscans, belonging to the principal families in the state, should always be instructed in it. In later times, however, their art fell into disrepute among well-educated Romans; and Cicero relates a saying of Cato, that he wondered that one haruspex did not laugh when he saw another. The name of haruspex is sometimes applied to any kind of soothsayer or prophet.

HASTA (ἔγχος), a spear. The spear is defined by Homer, δόρυ χαλκήρες, “a pole fitted with bronze,” and δόρυ χαλκοβάρες, “a pole heavy with bronze.” The bronze, for which iron was afterwards substituted, was indispensable to form the point (αἰχμή, ἀκωκή, Homer; λόγχη, Xenophon; _acies_, _cuspis_, _spiculum_) of the spear. Each of these two essential parts is often put for the whole, so that a spear is called δόρυ and δοράτιον, αἰχμή, and λόγχη. Even the more especial term μελία, meaning an ash-tree, is used in the same manner, because the pole of the spear was often the stem of a young ash, stripped of its bark and polished. The bottom of the spear was often inclosed in a pointed cap of bronze, called by the Ionic writers σαυρωτῆρ and οὐρίαχος, and in Attic or common Greek στύραξ. By forcing this into the ground the spear was fixed erect. Many of the lancers who accompanied the king of Persia, had, instead of this spike at the bottom of their spears, an apple or a pomegranate, either gilt or silvered. Fig. 1. in the annexed woodcut shows the top and bottom of a spear, which is held by one of the king’s guards in the sculptures at Persepolis. The spear was used as a weapon of attack in three different ways:--1. It was thrown from catapults and other engines [TORMENTUM]. 2. It was thrust forward as a pike. 3. It was commonly thrown by the hand. The spear frequently had a leathern thong tied to the middle of the shaft, which was called ἀγκύλη by the Greeks, and _amentum_ by the Romans, and which was of assistance in throwing the spear. The annexed figure represents the amentum attached to the spear at the centre of gravity, a little above the middle.

Under the general terms _hasta_ and ἔγχος were included various kinds of missiles, of which the principal were as follow:--_Lancea_ (λόγχη), the lance, a comparatively slender spear commonly used by the Greek horsemen. The appendage shown in woodcut, Fig. 2, enabled them to mount their horses with greater facility.--_Pilum_ (ὑσσός), the javelin, much thicker and stronger than the Grecian lance. Its shaft, often made of cornel, was 4½ feet (three cubits) long, and the barbed iron head was of the same length, but this extended half way down the shaft, to which it was attached with extreme care, so that the whole length of the weapon was about 6 feet 9 inches. It was used either to throw or to thrust with; it was peculiar to the Romans, and gave the name of _pilani_ to the division of the army by which it was adopted.--Whilst the heavy-armed Roman soldiers bore the long lance and the thick and ponderous javelin, the light-armed used smaller missiles, which, though of different kinds, were included under the general term _hastae velitares_ (γρόσφοι). The γρόσφος was a dart, with a shaft about three feet long and an inch in thickness: the iron head was a span long, and so thin and acuminated as to be bent by striking against anything, and thus rendered unfit to be sent back against the enemy. Fig. 3, in the preceding woodcut, shows one which was found in a Roman entrenchment in Gloucestershire.--The light infantry of the Roman army used a similar weapon, called _a spit_ (_veru_, _verutum_; σαύνιον). It was adopted by them from the Samnites and the Volsci. Its shaft was 3½ feet long, its point 5 inches. Fig. 4, in the preceding woodcut, represents the head of a dart in the Royal Collection at Naples; it may be taken as a specimen of the _verutum_, and may be contrasted with fig. 5, which is the head of a lance in the same collection.--The Romans adopted in like manner the _gaesum_, which was properly a Celtic weapon; it was given as a reward to any soldier who wounded an enemy. [GAESUM.]--_Sparus_ is evidently the same word with the English _spar_ and _spear_. It was the rudest missile of the whole class.--Besides the terms _jaculum_ and _spiculum_ (ἄκων, ἀκόντιον), which probably denoted darts, resembling in form the lance and javelin, but much smaller, adapted consequently to the light-armed (_jaculatores_), and used in hunting as well as in battle, we find in classical authors the names of various other spears, which were characteristic of particular nations.--Thus, the _sarissa_ was the spear peculiar to the Macedonians. This was used both to throw and as a pike. It exceeded in length all other missiles.--The Thracian _romphea_, which had a very long point, like the blade of a sword, was probably not unlike the sarissa.--With these weapons we may also class the Illyrian _sibina_, which resembled a hunting-pole.--The iron head of the German spear, called _framea_, was short and narrow, but very sharp. The Germans used it with great effect either as a lance or a pike: they gave to each youth a framea and a shield on coming of age.--The _Falarica_ or _Phalarica_ was the spear of the Saguntines, and was impelled by the aid of twisted ropes; it was large and ponderous, having a head of iron a cubit in length, and a ball of lead at its other end; it sometimes carried flaming pitch and tow.--The _matura_ and _tragula_ were chiefly used in Gaul and Spain: the tragula was probably barbed, as it required to be cut out of the wound.--The _Aclis_ and _Cateia_ were much smaller missiles.--Among the decorations which the Roman generals bestowed on their soldiers, more especially for saving the life of a fellow-citizen, was a spear without a head, called _hasta pura_. The _celibaris hasta_, having been fixed into the body of a gladiator lying dead on the arena, was used at marriages to part the hair of the bride. A spear was erected at auctions [AUCTIO], and when tenders were received for public offices (_locationes_). It served both to announce, by a conventional sign conspicuous at a distance, that a sale was going on, and to show that it was conducted under the authority of the public functionaries. Hence an auction was called _hasta_, and an auction-room _hastarium_. It was also the practice to set up a spear in the court of the CENTUMVIRI.

HASTĀTI. [EXERCITUS, p. 168, b.]

HĔCĂTOMBĒ. [SACRIFICIUM.]

HECTĒ or HECTEUS (ἕκτη, ἑκτεύς), and its half, _Hemiecton_ or _Hemiecteon_ (ἡμίεκτον, ἡμιεκτέον). In dry measures, the _hecteus_ was the sixth part of the _medimnus_, and the _hemiecteon_, of course, the twelfth part. The _hecteus_ was equal to the Roman _modius_, as each contained 16 ξέσται or sextarii. The _Hecte_ or _Hecteus_ and _Hemiecton_ were also the names of coins, but the accounts we have of their value are very various. The only consistent explanation is, that there were different _hectae_, derived from different units; in fact, that these coins were not properly _denominations_ of money, but _subdivisions_ of the recognised denominations.

HĔLĔPŎLIS (ἑλέπολις), “the taker of cities,” a machine constructed by Demetrius Poliorcetes, when he besieged the city of Salamis in Cyprus. Its form was that of a square tower, each side being 90 cubits high and 45 wide. It rested on four wheels, each eight cubits high. It was divided into nine stories, the lower of which contained machines for throwing great stones, the middle large catapults for throwing spears, and the highest other machines for throwing smaller stones, together with smaller catapults. It was manned with 200 soldiers, besides those who moved it by pushing the parallel beams at the bottom. At the siege of Rhodes, B.C. 306, Demetrius employed an helepolis of still greater dimensions and more complicated construction. In subsequent ages we find the name of “helepolis” applied to moving towers which carried battering rams, as well as machines for throwing spears and stones.

HELLĀNŎDĬCAE (ἑλλανοδίκαι), the judges in the Olympic games, of whom an account is given under OLYMPIA. The same name was also given to the judges or court-martial in the Lacedaemonian army, and they were probably first called by this name when Sparta was at the head of the Greek confederacy.

HELLĒNOTĂMĬAE (ἑλληνοταμίαι), or treasurers of the Greeks, were magistrates appointed by the Athenians to receive the contributions of the allied states. They were first appointed B.C. 477, when Athens, in consequence of the conduct of Pausanias, had obtained the command of the allied states. The money paid by the different states, which was originally fixed at 460 talents, was deposited in Delos, which was the place of meeting for the discussion of all common interests; and there can be no doubt that the hellenotamiae not only received, but were also the guardians of, these monies. The office was retained after the treasury was transferred to Athens on the proposal of the Samians, but was of course abolished on the conquest of Athens by the Lacedaemonians.