Chapter XXIII: Part II: The Middle Ages and the Reformation. A.D. 1381-1593 (22)

RŬPĬLĬAE LĒGES (B.C. 131), were the regulations established by P.
Rupilius, and ten legati, for the administration of the province of
Sicily, after the close of the first servile war. They were made
in pursuance of a consultum of the senate. Cicero speaks of these
regulations as a decretum of Rupilius, which he says they call
Lex Rupilia; but it was not a lex proper. The powers given to the
commissioners by the Lex Julia Municipalis were of a similar kind.

SĂCRĀTAE. Leges were properly so called which had for their object
to make a thing or person _sacer_. A lex sacrata militaris is also
mentioned by Livy.

SAENĬA DE PATRICIORUM NUMERO AUGENDO, enacted in the 5th consulship
of Augustus.

SĂTŬRA. [LEX, p. 226, _a_.]

SCANTĪNĬA, proposed by a tribune; the date and contents are not
known, but its object was to suppress unnatural crimes. It existed
in the time of Cicero.

SCRĪBŌNĬA. The date and whole import of this lex are not known; but
it enacted that a right to servitutes should not be acquired by
usucapion.

SCRĪBŌNIA VĬĀRIA or DE VIIS MUNIENDIS, B.C. 51.

SEMPRŌNĬAE, the name of various laws proposed by Tiberius and Caius
Sempronius Gracchus.

AGRARIA. In B.C. 133 the tribune Tib. Gracchus revived the Agrarian
law of Licinius [LEGES LICINIAE]: he proposed that no one should
possess more than 500 jugera of the public land, and that the
surplus land should be divided among the poor citizens, who were
not to have the power of alienating it: he also proposed, as a
compensation to the possessors deprived of the land on which they
had frequently made improvements, that the former possessors should
have the full ownership of 500 jugera, and each of their sons, if
they had any, half that quantity: finally, that three commissioners
(_triumviri_) should be appointed every year to carry the law into
effect. This law naturally met with the greatest opposition, but
it was eventually passed in the year in which it was proposed, and
Tib. Gracchus, C. Gracchus, and Appius Claudius were the three
commissioners appointed under it. It was, however, never carried
fully into effect, in consequence of the murder of Tib. Gracchus.
Owing to the difficulties which were experienced in carrying his
brother’s agrarian law into effect, it was again brought forward by
C. Gracchus, B.C. 123.

DE CAPITE CIVIUM ROMANORUM, proposed by C. Gracchus B.C. 123,
enacted that the people only should decide respecting the caput or
civil condition of a citizen. This law continued in force till the
latest times of the republic.

FRUMENTARIA, proposed by C. Gracchus B.C. 123, enacted that corn
should be sold by the state to the people once a month at the price
of 6⅓ asses for each modius, which was equal to 1 gallon and nearly
8 pints English. This was only a trifle more than half the market
price.

JUDICIARIA. [JUDEX, p. 216.]

MILITARIS, proposed by C. Gracchus B.C. 123, enacted that the
soldiers should receive their clothing gratis, and that no one
should be enrolled as a soldier under the age of seventeen.
Previously a fixed sum was deducted from the pay for all clothes
and arms issued to the soldiers.

NE QUIS JUDICIO CIRCUMVENIRETUR, proposed by C. Gracchus, B.C. 123,
punished all who conspired to obtain the condemnation of a person
in a judicium publicum. One of the provisions of the Lex Cornelia
de Sicariis was to the same effect.

DE PROVINCIIS CONSULARIBUS, proposed by C. Gracchus B.C. 123,
enacted that the senate should fix each year, before the comitia
for electing the consuls were held, the two provinces which were to
be allotted to the two new consuls. There was also a Sempronian law
concerning the province of Asia, which probably did not form part
of the Lex de Provinciis Consularibus: it enacted that the taxes
of this province should be let out to farm by the censors at Rome.
This law was afterwards repealed by J. Caesar.

SEMPRŌNIA DE FĒNŎRE, B.C. 193, was a plebiscitum proposed by a
tribune, M. Sempronius, which enacted that the law (_jus_) about
money lent (_pecunia credita_) should be the same for the Socii and
Latini (_Socii ac nomen Latinum_) as for Roman citizens. The object
of the lex was to prevent Romans from lending money in the name of
the Socii, who were not bound by the fenebres leges. The lex could
obviously only apply within the jurisdiction of Rome.

SERVĪLĬA AGRĀRIA, proposed by the tribune P. S. Rullus in the
consulship of Cicero, B.C. 63, was a very extensive agrarian
rogatio. It was successfully opposed by Cicero; but it was in
substance carried by J. Caesar, B.C. 59 [LEX JULIA AGRARIA], and is
the lex called by Cicero _Lex Campana_, from the public land called
ager campanus being assigned under this lex.

SERVĪLĬA GLAUCIA DE CĪVĬTĀTE. [REPETUNDAE.]

SERVĪLIA GLAUCIA DE RĔPĔTUNDIS. [REPETUNDAE.]

SERVĪLIA JŪDĬCĬĀRIA, B.C. 106. [JUDEX, p. 216.] It is assumed by
some writers that a lex of the tribune Servius Glaucia repealed the
Servilia Judiciaria two years after its enactment.

SĪLĬA, relating to Publica Pondera.

SILVĀNI ET CARBŌNIS. [LEX PAPIRIA PLAUTIA.]

SULPĬCĬAE, proposed by the tribune P. Sulpicius Rufus, a
supporter of Marius, B.C. 88, enacted the recall of the exiles,
the distribution of the new citizens and the libertini among the
thirty-five tribes, that the command in the Mithridatic war should
be taken from Sulla and given to Marius, and that a senator should
not contract debt to the amount of more than 2000 denarii. The last
enactment may have been intended to expel persons from the senate
who should get in debt. All these leges were repealed by Sulla.

SULPĬCĬA SEMPRŌNĬA, B.C. 304. No name is given to this lex by Livy,
but it was probably proposed by the consuls. It prevented the
dedicatio of a templum or altar without the consent of the senate
or a majority of the tribunes.

SUMPTUĀRĬAE, the name of various laws passed to prevent inordinate
expense (_sumptus_) in banquets, dress, &c. In the states of
antiquity it was considered the duty of government to put a check
upon extravagance in the private expenses of persons, and among the
Romans in particular we find traces of this in the laws attributed
to the kings, and in the Twelve Tables. The censors, to whom
was entrusted the _disciplina_ or _cura morum_, punished by the
_nota censoria_ all persons guilty of what was then regarded as
a luxurious mode of living; a great many instances of this kind
are recorded. But as the love of luxury greatly increased with
the foreign conquests of the republic and the growing wealth of
the nation, various leges sumptuariae were passed at different
times with the object of restraining it. These, however, as may be
supposed, rarely accomplished their object, and in the latter times
of the republic they were virtually repealed. The following list of
them is arranged in chronological order:--

OPPIA, proposed by the tribune C. Oppius in B.C. 215, enacted
that no woman should have above half an ounce of gold, nor wear a
dress of different colours, nor ride in a carriage in the city or
in any town, or within a mile of it, unless on account of public
sacrifices. This law was repealed twenty years afterwards, whence
we frequently find the Lex Orchia mentioned as the first lex
sumptuaria.

ORCHIA, proposed by the tribune C. Orchius in B.C. 181, limited the
number of guests to be present at entertainments.

FANNIA, proposed by the consul C. Fannius, B.C. 61, limited the
sums which were to be spent on entertainments, and enacted that not
more than 100 asses should be spent on certain festivals named in
the lex, whence it is called _centussis_ by Lucilius; that on ten
other days in each month not more than 30 asses, and that on all
other days not more than 10 asses, should be expended; also that no
other fowl but one hen should be served up, and that not fattened
for the purpose.

DIDIA, passed B.C. 143, extended the Lex Fannia to the whole of
Italy, and enacted that not only those who gave entertainments
which exceeded in expense what the law had prescribed, but also
all who were present at such entertainments, should be liable to
the penalties of the law. We are not, however, told in what these
consisted.

LICINIA, agreed in its chief provisions with the Lex Fannia, and
was brought forward, we are told, that there might be the authority
of a new law upon the subject, inasmuch as the Lex Fannia was
beginning to be neglected. It allowed 200 asses to be spent on
entertainments upon marriage days, and on other days the same as
the Lex Fannia; also, that on ordinary days there should not be
served up more than three pounds of fresh, and one pound of salt
meat. It was probably passed in B.C. 103.

CORNELIA, a law of the dictator Sulla, B.C. 81, was enacted on
account of the neglect of the Fannian and Licinian Laws. Like
these, it regulated the expenses of entertainments. Extravagance in
funerals, which had been forbidden even in the Twelve Tables, was
also restrained by a law of Sulla.

AEMILIA, proposed by the consul Aemilius Lepidus, B.C. 78, did not
limit the expenses of entertainments, but the kind and quantity of
food that was to be used.

ANTIA, of uncertain date, proposed by Antius Resto, besides
limiting the expenses of entertainments, enacted that no actual
magistrate, or magistrate elect, should dine abroad anywhere except
at the houses of certain persons. This law however was little
observed; and we are told that Antius never dined out afterwards,
that he might not see his own law violated.

JULIA, proposed by the dictator C. Julius Caesar, enforced the
former sumptuary laws respecting entertainments which had fallen
into disuse. He stationed officers in the provision market to seize
upon all eatables forbidden by the law, and sometimes sent lictors
and soldiers to banquets to take everything which was not allowed
by the law.

JULIA, a lex of Augustus, allowed 200 sesterces to be expended
upon festivals on dies profesti, 300 on those of the calends,
ides, nones, and some other festive days, and 1000 upon marriage
feasts. There was also an edict of Augustus or Tiberius, by which
as much as from 300 to 2000 sesterces were allowed to be expended
upon entertainments, the increase being made with the hope of
securing thereby the observance of the law. Tiberius attempted to
check extravagance in banquets; and a senatusconsultum was passed
in his reign for the purpose of restraining luxury, which forbade
gold vases to be employed, except for sacred purposes, and also
prohibited the use of silk garments to men. This sumptuary law,
however, was but little observed. Some regulations on the subject
were also made by Nero and by succeeding emperors, but they appear
to have been of little or no avail in checking the increasing love
of luxury in dress and food.

TĂBELLĀRĬAE, the laws by which the ballot was introduced in voting
in the comitia. As to the ancient mode of voting at Rome, see
COMITIA, p. 107.

GABINIA, proposed by the tribune Gabinius B.C. 139, introduced the
ballot in the election of magistrates; whence Cicero calls the
tabella _vindex tacitae libertatis_.

CASSIA, proposed by the tribune L. Cassius Longinus B.C. 137,
introduced the ballot in the _judicium populi_, or cases tried in
the comitia by the whole body of the people, with the exception of
cases of perduellio.

PAPIRIA, proposed by the tribune C. Papirius Carbo, B.C. 131,
introduced the ballot in the enactment and repeal of laws.

CAELIA, proposed by C. Caelius Caldus, B.C. 107, introduced the
ballot in cases of perduellio, which had been excepted in the
Cassian law. There was also a law brought forward by Marius, B.C.
119, which, was intended to secure freedom and order in voting.

TARPĒIA ATERNĬA. [ATERNIA TARPEIA.]

TĔRENTĪLĬA, proposed by the tribune C. Terentilius, B.C. 462, but
not carried, was a rogatio which had for its object an amendment of
the constitution, though in form it only attempted a limitation of
the imperium consulare. This rogatio probably led to the subsequent
legislation of the decemviri.

TESTĀMENTĀRĬAE. Various leges, such as the Cornelia, Falcidia,
Furia, and Voconia, regulated testamentary dispositions.

THŎRĬA, passed B.C. 121, concerned the public land in Italy as
far as the rivers Rubico and Macra, or all Italy except Cisalpine
Gaul, the public land in the province of Africa, the public land in
the territory of Corinth, and probably other public land besides.
It relieved a great part of the public land of the land-tax
(_vectigal_). Some considerable fragments of this lex have come
down to us, engraved on the back part of the same bronze tablet
which contained the Servilia Lex Judiciaria, and on Repetundae.

TĬTĬA, similar in its provisions to the Lex Publicia.

TĬTĬA, DE TUTORIBUS. [JULIA ET TITIA.]

TRĒBONĬA, a plebiscitum proposed by L. Trebonius, B.C. 448, which
enacted that if the ten tribunes were not chosen before the comitia
were dissolved, those who were elected should not fill up the
number (_co-optare_), but that the comitia should be continued till
the ten were elected.

TRĒBŌNĬA DE PRŌVINCIIS CONSULĀRĬBUS. (Plut. _Cat. Min._ 43; Liv.
_Epit._ 105.)

TRĬBŪNĬTĬA. (1) A law passed in the times of the kings under
the presidency of the tribunus celerum, and was so called to
distinguish it from one passed under the presidency of the king.
[LEX REGIA.]--(2) Any law proposed by a tribune of the plebs.--(3)
The law proposed by Pompey in B.C. 70, restoring to the tribunes of
the plebs the power of which they had been deprived by Sulla.

TULLĬA DE AMBĬTU. [AMBITUS.]

TULLIA DE LĒGĀTIŌNE LĪBĔRA. [LEGATUS, p. 224.]

VĂLĔRĬAE, proposed by the consul P. Valerius Publicola, B.C. 508,
enacted, 1. That whoever attempted to obtain possession of royal
power should be devoted to the gods, together with his substance.
2. That whoever was condemned by the sentence of a magistrate to
be put to death, to be scourged, or to be fined, should possess
the right of appeal (_provocatio_) to the people. The patricians
possessed previously the right of appeal from the sentence of a
magistrate to their own council the curiae, and therefore this
law of Valerius probably related only to the plebeians, to whom
it gave the right of appeal to the plebeian tribes, and not to
the centuries. Hence the laws proposed by the Valerian family
respecting the right of appeal are always spoken of as one of
the chief safeguards of the liberty of the plebs. The right of
appeal did not extend beyond a mile from the city, where unlimited
imperium began, to which the patricians were just as much subject
as the plebeians.

VĂLĔRĬAE ET HŎRĀTĬAE, three laws proposed by the consuls L.
Valerius and M. Horatius, B.C. 449, in the year after the
decemvirate, enacted, 1. That a plebiscitum should be binding on
the whole people, respecting the meaning of which expression, see
PLEBISCITUM. 2. That whoever should procure the election of a
magistrate without appeal should be outlawed, and might be killed
by any one with impunity. 3. Renewed the penalty threatened against
any one who should harm the tribunes and the aediles, to whom were
now added the judices and decemviri. There is considerable doubt as
to who are meant by the _judices_ and _decemviri_.

VĂLĔRĬA, proposed by the consul M. Valerius, B.C. 300, re-enacted
for the third time the celebrated law of his family respecting
appeal (_provocatio_) from the decision of a magistrate. The law
specified no fixed penalty for its violation, leaving the judges to
determine what the punishment should be.

VĂRĬA. [MAJESTAS.]

VĂTĪNĬA DE PRŌVINCIIS, was the enactment by which Julius Caesar
obtained the province of Gallia Cisalpina with Illyricum for
five years, to which the senate added Gallia Transalpina. This
plebiscitum was proposed by the tribune Vatinius. A Trebonia Lex
subsequently prolonged Caesar’s imperium for five years.

VĂTĪNĬA DE CŎLŌNIS, under which the Latina Colonia [LATINITAS] of
Novum-Comum in Gallia Cisalpina was planted, B.C. 59.

VĂTĪNIA DE REJECTIŌNE JŪDĬCUM. (Cic. _in Vatin._ 11.)

DE VI. [VIS.]

VĬĀRĬA. A viaria lex which Cicero says the tribune C. Curio
talked of; but nothing more seems to be known of it. Some modern
writers speak of leges viariae, but there do not appear to be any
leges properly so called. The provisions as to roads in many of
the Agrarian laws were parts of such leges, and had no special
reference to roads.

VISELLĬA, made a Latinus who assumed the rights of an ingenuus
liable to prosecution.

VILLĬA ANNĀLIS. [LEX ANNALIS.]

VŎCŌNIA, enacted on the proposal of Q. Voconius Saxa, a tribunus
plebis, B.C. 169. One provision of the lex was, that no person
who should be rated in the census at 100,000 sesterces (_centum
millia aeris_) after the census of that year, should make any
female (_virginem neve mulierem_) his heres. The lex allowed no
exceptions, even in favour of an only daughter. It applied simply
to testaments, and therefore a daughter or other female could
inherit ab intestato to any amount. The vestal virgins could make
women their heredes in all cases, which was the only exception to
the provisions of the lex. Another provision of the lex forbade
a person who was included in the census to give more in amount,
in the form of a legacy to any person, than the heres or heredes
should take. This provision secured something to the heres or
heredes, but still the provision was ineffectual, and the object of
the lex was only accomplished by the Lex Falcidia, B.C. 44, which
enacted that a testator should not give more than three-fourths in
legacies, thus securing a fourth to the heres.

LĪBELLA, a small Roman silver coin, which existed in the early age of the city. The name was retained later as a proverbial expression for a very small value. The _libella_ was equal in value to the old full-weight _as_; and it seems most probable that the coin ceased being struck at the time of the reduction of the _as_, on account of the inconveniently small size which it would have assumed. The _libella_ was subdivided into the _sembella_, its half, and the _teruncius_, its quarter. Cicero uses these words to express fractions of an estate, with reference to the _denarius_ as the unit, the _libella_ signifying 1-10th, and the _teruncius_ 1-40th of the whole.

LĬBELLUS, the diminutive form of liber, signifies properly a little book. It was distinguished from other kinds of writings, by being written like our books by pages, whereas other writings were written _transversa charta_. It was used by the Romans as a technical term in the following cases:--1. _Libelli accusatorum_ or _accusatorii_, the written accusations which in some cases a plaintiff, after having received the permission to bring an action against a person, drew up, signed, and sent to the judicial authorities. 2. _Libelli famosi_, libels or pasquinades, intended to injure the character of persons. A law of the Twelve Tables inflicted very severe punishments on those who composed defamatory writings. 3. _Libellus memorialis_, a pocket or memorandum book. 4. _Libellus_ is used by the Roman jurists as equivalent to _Oratio Principis_. 5. The word libellus was also applied to a variety of writings, which in most cases probably consisted of one page only; such as short letters, advertisements, &c.

LĬBER (βιβλίον), a book. The most common material on which books were written by the Greeks and Romans, was the thin coats or rind (_liber_, whence the Latin name for a book) of the Egyptian papyrus. This plant was called by the Egyptians Byblos (βύβλος), whence the Greeks derived their name for a book (βιβλίον). The papyrus-tree grows in swamps to the height of ten feet and more, and paper (_charta_) was prepared from the thin coats or pellicles which surround the plant. Next to the papyrus, parchment (_membrana_) was the most common material for writing upon. It is said to have been invented by Eumenes II. king of Pergamus, in consequence of the prohibition of the export of papyrus from Egypt by Ptolemy Epiphanes. It is probable, however, that Eumenes introduced only some improvement in the manufacture of parchment, as Herodotus mentions writing on skins as common in his time, and says that the Ionians had been accustomed to give the name of skins (διφθέραι) to books. The ancients wrote usually on only one side of the paper or parchment. The back of the paper, instead of being written upon, was usually stained with saffron colour or the cedrus, which produced a yellow colour. As paper and parchment were dear, it was frequently the custom to erase or wash out writing of little importance, and to write upon the paper or parchment again, which was then called _Palimpsestus_ (παλιμψήστος). The paper or parchment was joined together so as to form one sheet, and when the work was finished, it was rolled on a staff, whence it was called a _volumen_; and hence we have the expression _evolvere librum_. When an author divided a work into several books, it was usual to include only one book in a volume or roll, so that there was generally the same number of volumes as of books. In the papyri rolls found at Herculaneum, the stick on which the papyrus is rolled does not project from the papyrus, but is concealed by it. Usually, however, there were balls or bosses, ornamented or painted, called _umbilici_ or _cornua_, which were fastened at each end of the stick and projected from the papyrus. The ends of the roll were carefully cut, polished with pumice-stone and coloured black; they were called the _geminae frontes_. The way in which a book was held while reading is shown in the following cut, taken from a painting at Herculaneum. To protect the roll from injury it was frequently put into a parchment case, which was stained with a purple colour or with the yellow of the Lutum. The title of the book (_titulus_, _index_) was written on a small strip of papyrus or parchment with a light red colour (_coccum_ or _minium_).

LĪBĔRĀLĬA. [DIONYSIA.]

LĪBĔRI. [INGENUI; LIBERTUS.]

LĪBERTUS, LĪBERTĪNUS. Freemen (_liberi_) were either _Ingenui_ [INGENUI] or _Libertini_. _Libertini_ were those persons who had been released from legal servitude. A manumitted slave was _Libertus_ (that is, _liberatus_) with reference to his master; with reference to the class to which he belonged after manumission, he was _Libertinus_. Respecting the mode in which a slave was manumitted, and his status after manumission, see MANUMISSIO.--At Athens, a liberated slave was called ἀπελεύθερος. When manumitted he did not obtain the citizenship, but was regarded as a _metoicus_ [METOICUS], and, as such, he had to pay not only the _metoicion_ μετοίκιον but a triobolon in addition to it. His former master became his patron προστάτης to whom he owed certain duties.

LĬBĬTĪNĀRĬI. [FUNUS.]

LĪBRA, _dim._ LĪBELLA σταθμός, a balance, a pair of scales. The principal parts of this instrument were, 1. The beam (_jugum_). 2. The two scales, called in Greek τάλαντα, and in Latin _lances_. The beam was made without a tongue, being held by a ring or other appendage (_ligula_, ῥῦμα) fixed in the centre.

LĪBRA or AS, a pound, the unit of weight among the Romans and Italians. The uncial division, which has been noticed in speaking of the coin As, was also applied to the weight.--(See Tables at the end.) The divisions of the ounce are given under UNCIA. Where the word _pondo_, or its abbreviations P. or POND., occur with a simple number, the weight understood is the _libra_. The name _libra_ was also given to a measure of horn, divided into twelve equal parts (_unciae_) by lines marked on it, and used for measuring oil.

LIBRĀRĬI, the name of slaves, who were employed by their masters in writing or copying, sometimes called _antiquarii_. They must be distinguished from the Scribae publici, who were freemen [SCRIBAE], and also from the booksellers [BIBLIOPOLA], to both of whom this name was also applied.

LĪBRĀTOR, in general a person who examines things by a LIBRA; but specially applied to two kinds of persons.--(1) _Libratores aquae_, persons whose knowledge of hydrostatics was indispensable in the construction of aquaeducts, sewers, and other structures for the purpose of conveying a fluid from one place to another.--(2) _Libratores_ in the armies were probably soldiers who attacked the enemy by hurling with their own hands (_librando_) lances or spears against them.

LIBRĬPENS. [MANCIPIUM.]

LĬBURNA, LĬBURNĬCA, a light vessel, which derived its name from the Liburni. The ships of this people were of great assistance to Augustus at the battle of Actium; and experience having shown their efficiency, vessels of a similar kind were built and called by the name of the people.

LICTOR, a public officer, who attended on the chief Roman magistrates. The number which waited on the different magistrates is stated in the article FASCES. The office of lictor is said to have been derived by Romulus from the Etruscans. The lictors went before the magistrates one by one in a line; he who went last or next to the magistrate was called _proximus lictor_, to whom the magistrate gave his commands; and as this lictor was always the principal one, we also find him called _primus lictor_. The lictors had to inflict punishment on those who were condemned, especially in the case of Roman citizens; for foreigners and slaves were punished by the Carnifex; and they also probably had to assist in some cases in the execution of a decree or judgment in a civil suit. The lictors likewise commanded persons to pay proper respect to a magistrate passing by, which consisted in dismounting from horseback, uncovering the head, standing out of the way, &c. The lictors were originally chosen from the plebs, but afterwards appear to have been generally freedmen, probably of the magistrate on whom they attended. Lictors were properly only granted to those magistrates who had the Imperium. Consequently, the tribunes of the plebs never had lictors, nor several of the other magistrates. Sometimes, however, lictors were granted to persons as a mark of respect or for the sake of protection. Thus by a law of the Triumvirs every vestal virgin was accompanied by a lictor, whenever she went out, and the honour of one or two lictors was usually granted to the wives and other female members of the Imperial family. There were also thirty lictors called _Lictores Curiati_, whose duty it was to summon the curiae to the comitia curiata; and when these meetings became little more than a form, their suffrages were represented by the thirty lictors.

LĬGŬLA, a Roman measure of fluid capacity, containing one-fourth of the CYATHUS. It signifies _a spoonful_, like _cochlear_; only the _ligula_ was larger than the _cochlear_. The spoon which was called _ligula_, or _lingula_ (dim. of _lingua_) from its shape, was used for various purposes, especially to clean out small and narrow vessels, and to eat jellies and such things. The word is also used for the leather tongue of a shoe.

LĪMEN. [JANUA.]

LINTER, a light boat, frequently formed of the trunk of a tree, and drawing little water.

LĬTHOSTRŌTA. [DOMUS, p. 144.]

LITRA λίτρα, a Sicilian silver coin, equal in value to the Aeginetan obol.

LĬTUUS, probably an Etruscan word signifying _crooked_.--(1) The crooked staff borne by the augurs, with which they divided the expanse of heaven, when viewed with reference to divination (_templum_), into regions (_regiones_).--(2) A sort of trumpet slightly curved at the extremity. It differed both from the _tuba_ and the _cornu_, the former being straight, while the latter was bent round into a spiral shape. Its tones are usually characterised as harsh and shrill. The Liticines, or blowers on the Lituus, formed a Collegium along with the Cornicines. [CORNU.]

LIXAE. [CALONES.]

LŎCŬPLĒTES or ASSĬDŬI, the name of the Roman citizens included in the five classes of the Servian constitution, and opposed to the _Proletarii_.

LŌDIX, a small shaggy blanket. It was also used as a carpet.

LOGISTAE. [EUTHYNE.]

Lorica, as worn by a Roman Emperor. (Statue of Caligula in Louvre.)]

LŌRĪCA (θώραξ), a cuirass. The cuirass was worn by the heavy-armed infantry both among the Greeks and Romans. The soldiers commonly wore cuirasses made of flexible bands of steel, or cuirasses of chain mail; but those of generals and officers usually consisted of two γύαλα, the breast-piece and back-piece, made of bronze, iron, &c., which were joined by means of buckles (περόναι). The epithets λεπιδωτός and φολιδωτός are applied to a cuirass; the former on account of its resemblance to the scales of fish (λεπίσιν), the latter to the scales of serpents (φολίσιν). Among the Asiatic nations the cuirass was frequently made of cotton, and among the Sarmatians and other northern nations of horn.

Lorica. λεπιδωτός.
Lorica. φολιδωτός.
(Bartoli, ‘Arcus Triumph.’)]

LŪCAR. [HISTRIO.]

LŪCĔRES. [TRIBUS.]

LŬCERNA (λύχνος), an oil lamp. The Greeks and Romans originally used candles; but in later times candles were chiefly confined to the houses of the lower classes. [CANDELA.] A great number of ancient lamps has come down to us; the greater part of which are made of terra cotta, but also a considerable number of bronze. Most of the lamps are of an oval form, and flat upon the top, on which there are frequently figures in relief. In the lamps there are one or more round holes, according to the number of wicks (_ellychnia_) burnt in them; and as these holes were called from an obvious analogy, μυκτῆρες or μύξαι, literally nostrils or nozzles, the lamp was also called _Monomyxos_, _Dimyxos_, _Trimyxos_, or _Polymyxos_, according as it contained one, two, three, or a greater number of nozzles or holes for the wicks. The following is an example of a _dimyxos lucerna_, upon which there is a winged boy with a goose. The next woodcut represents one of the most beautiful bronze lamps which has yet been found. Upon it is the figure of a standing Silenus. The lamps sometimes hung in chains from the ceiling of the room, but they generally stood upon a stand. [CANDELABRUM.]

LUCTA, LUCTĀTĬO (πάλη, πάλαισμα, παλαισμοσύνη, or καταβλητική), wrestling. The Greeks ascribed the invention of wrestling to mythical personages, and Hermes, the god of all gymnastic exercises, also presided over wrestling. In the Homeric age wrestling was much practised: during this period wrestlers contended naked, and only the loins were covered with the perizoma (περίζωμα), and this custom probably remained throughout Greece until Ol. 15, from which time the perizoma was no longer used, and wrestlers contended entirely naked. In the Homeric age the custom of anointing the body for the purpose of wrestling does not appear to have been known, but in the time of Solon it was quite general, and was said to have been adopted by the Cretans and Lacedaemonians at a very early period. After the body was anointed, it was strewed over with sand or dust, in order to enable the wrestlers to take a firm hold of each other. If one combatant threw the other down three times, the victory was decided. Wrestling was practised in all the great games of the Greeks. The most renowned wrestler was Milon, of Croton. [PANCRATIUM.]

LŪDI, the common name for the whole variety of games and contests which were held at Rome on various occasions, but chiefly at the festivals of the gods; and as the ludi at certain festivals formed the principal part of the solemnities, these festivals themselves are called ludi. Sometimes ludi were also held in honour of a magistrate or a deceased person, in which case they may be considered as ludi privati. All ludi were divided by the Romans into two classes, _ludi circenses_ and _ludi scenici_, accordingly as they were held in the circus or in the theatre; in the latter case they were mostly theatrical representations with their various modifications; in the former they consisted of all or of a part of the games enumerated in the articles CIRCUS and GLADIATORES. Another division of the ludi into _stati_, _imperativi_, and _votivi_, is analogous to the division of the feriae. [FERIAE.] The superintendence of the games, and the solemnities connected with them, was in most cases intrusted to the aediles. [AEDILES.] If the lawful rites were not observed in the celebration of the ludi, it depended upon the decision of the pontiffs whether they were to be held again (_instaurari_) or not. An alphabetical list of the principal ludi is subjoined.

LUDI APOLLINARES were instituted at Rome during the second Punic war, after the battle of Cannae (212 B.C.), at the command of an oracle contained in the books of the ancient seer Marcius, in order to obtain the aid of Apollo. They were held every year under the superintendence of the praetor urbanus, and ten men sacrificed to Apollo, according to Greek rites, a bull with gilt horns and two white goats also with gilt horns, and to Latona a heifer with gilt horns. The games themselves were held in the Circus Maximus, the spectators were adorned with chaplets, and each citizen gave a contribution towards defraying the expenses. In B.C. 208, it was ordained that they should always be celebrated on the 6th of July.

LUDI AUGUSTALES. [AUGUSTALES.]

LUDI CAPITOLINI were instituted B.C. 387, after the departure of the Gauls from Rome, as a token of gratitude towards Jupiter Capitolinus, who had saved the Capitol in the hour of danger. The superintendence of the games was entrusted to a college of priests called _Capitolini_.

LUDI CIRCENSES, ROMANI or MAGNI, were celebrated every year during several days, from the fourth to the twelfth of September, in honour of the three great divinities, Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, or, according to others, in honour of Jupiter, Consus, and Neptunus Equestris. They were superintended by the curule aediles. For further particulars see CIRCUS.

LUDI COMPITALICII. [COMPITALIA.]

LUDI FLORALES. [FLORALIA.]

LUDI FUNEBRES were games celebrated at the funeral pyre of illustrious persons. Such games are mentioned in the very early legends of the history of Greece and Rome, and they continued with various modifications until the introduction of Christianity. It was at such a ludus funebris, in B.C. 264, that gladiatorial fights were exhibited at Rome for the first time, which henceforwards were the most essential part in all funeral games. [GLADIATORES.]

LUDI LIBERALES. [DIONYSIA.]

LUDI MEGALENSES. [MEGALESIA.]

LUDI PLEBEII were instituted probably in commemoration of the reconciliation between the patricians and plebeians after the first secession to the Mons Sacer, or, according to others, to the Aventine. They were held on the 16th, 17th, and 18th of November, and were conducted by the plebeian aediles.

LUDI SAECULARES. During the time of the republic these games were called _ludi Tarentini_, _Terentini_, or _Taurii_, and it was not till the time of Augustus that they bore the name of _ludi saeculares_. The names _Tarenti_ or _Taurii_ are perhaps nothing but different forms of the same word, and of the same root as Tarquinius. There were various accounts respecting the origin of the games, yet all agree in stating that they were celebrated for the purpose of averting from the state some great calamity by which it had been afflicted, and that they were held in honour of Dis and Proserpina. From the time of the consul Valerius Publicola down to that of Augustus, the Tarentine games were held only three times, and again only on certain emergencies, and not at any fixed period, so that we must conclude that their celebration was in no way connected with certain cycles of time (_saecula_). Not long after Augustus had assumed the supreme power in the republic, the quindecimviri announced that according to their books _ludi saeculares_ ought to be held, and at the same time tried to prove from history that in former times they had not only been celebrated repeatedly, but almost regularly once in every century. The festival, however, which was now held, was in reality very different from the ancient Tarentine games; for Dis and Proserpina, to whom formerly the festival belonged exclusively, were now the last in the list of the divinities in honour of whom the ludi saeculares were celebrated. The festival took place in summer, and lasted for three days and three nights. On the first day the games commenced in that part of the Campus Martius, Which had belonged to the last Tarquin, from whom it derived its name Tarentum, and sacrifices were offered to Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Minerva, Venus, Apollo, Mercury, Ceres, Vulcan, Mars, Diana, Vesta, Hercules, Latona, the Parcae, and to Dis and Proserpina. The solemnities began at the second hour of the night, and the emperor opened them by the river side with the sacrifice of three lambs to the Parcae upon three altars erected for the purpose, and which were sprinkled with the blood of the victims. The lambs themselves were burnt. A temporary scene like that of a theatre was erected in the Tarentum, and illuminated with lights and fires. In this scene festive hymns were sung by a chorus, and various other ceremonies, together with theatrical performances, took place. During the morning of the first day the people went to the Capitol to offer solemn sacrifices to Jupiter; thence they returned to the Tarentum, to sing choruses in honour of Apollo and Diana. On the second day the noblest matrons, at an hour fixed by an oracle, assembled in the Capitol, offered supplications, sang hymns to the gods, and also visited the altar of Juno. The emperor and the quindecimviri offered sacrifices which had been vowed before, to all the great divinities. On the third day Greek and Latin choruses were sung in the sanctuary of Apollo by three times nine boys and maidens of great beauty, whose parents were still alive. The object of these hymns was to implore the protection of the gods for all cities, towns, and officers of the empire. One of these hymns was the _carmen saeculare_ by Horace, which was especially composed for the occasion and adapted to the circumstances of the time. During the whole of the three days and nights, games of every description were carried on in all the circuses and theatres, and sacrifices were offered in all the temples. The first celebration of the ludi saeculares in the reign of Augustus took place in the summer of B.C. 17.

LUDI TARENTINI or TAURII. [LUDI SAECULARES.]

LŪDUS. [GLADIATORES.]

LŪDUS TRŌJAE. [CIRCUS.]

LŬPERCĀLĬA, one of the most ancient Roman festivals, which was celebrated every year in honour of Lupercus, the god of fertility. It was originally a shepherd-festival, and hence its introduction at Rome was connected with the names of Romulus and Remus, the kings of shepherds. It was held every year, on the 15th of February, in the Lupercal, where Romulus and Remus were said to have been nurtured by the she-wolf; the place contained an altar and a grove sacred to the god Lupercus. Here the Luperci assembled on the day of the Lupercalia, and sacrificed to the god goats and young dogs. Two youths of noble birth were then led to the Luperci, and one of the latter touched their foreheads with a sword dipped in the blood of the victims; other Luperci immediately after wiped off the bloody spots with wool dipped in milk. Hereupon the two youths were obliged to break out into a shout of laughter. This ceremony was probably a symbolical purification of the shepherds. After the sacrifice was over, the Luperci partook of a meal, at which they were plentifully supplied with wine. They then cut the skins of the goats which they had sacrificed, into pieces: with some of which they covered parts of their body in imitation of the god Lupercus, who was represented half naked and half covered with goatskin. The other pieces of the skins they cut in the shape of thongs, and holding them in their hands they ran with them through the streets of the city, touching or striking with them all persons whom they met in their way, and especially women, who even used to come forward voluntarily for the purpose, since they believed that this ceremony rendered them fruitful, and procured them an easy delivery in child-bearing. This act of running about with thongs of goatskin was a symbolic purification of the land, and that of touching persons a purification of men, for the words by which this act is designated are _februare_ and _lustrare_. The goatskin itself was called _februum_, the festive day _dies februata_, the month in which it occurred _Februarius_, and the god himself _Februus_. The festival of the Lupercalia, though it necessarily lost its original import at the time when the Romans were no longer a nation of shepherds, was yet always observed in commemoration of the founders of the city. M. Antonius, in his consulship, was one of the Luperci, and not only ran with them half naked and covered with pieces of goatskin through the city, but even addressed the people in the forum in this rude attire.

LŬPERCI, the priests of the god Lupercus. They formed a college, the members of which were originally youths of patrician families, and which was said to have been instituted by Romulus and Remus. The college was divided into two classes, the one called _Fabii_ or _Fabiani_, and the other _Quinctilii_ or _Quinctiliani_. The office was not for life, but how long it lasted is not known. Julius Caesar added to the two classes of the college a third with the name of _Julii_ or _Juliani_, and made Antonius their high-priest. He also assigned to them certain revenues (_vectigalia_) which were afterwards withdrawn from them.

LŬPUS FERREUS, the iron wolf used by the besieged in repelling the attacks of the besiegers, and especially in seizing the battering-ram and diverting its blows.

LUSTRĀTĬO (κάθαρσις) was originally a purification by ablution in water. But the lustrations of which we possess direct knowledge are always connected with sacrifices and other religious rites, and consisted in the sprinkling of water by means of a branch of laurel or olive, and at Rome sometimes by means of the aspergillum, and in the burning of certain materials, the smoke of which was thought to have a purifying effect. Whenever sacrifices were offered, it seems to have been customary to carry them around the person or thing to be purified. Lustrations were made in ancient Greece, and probably at Rome also, by private individuals when they had polluted themselves by any criminal action. Whole cities and states also sometimes underwent purifications to expiate the crime or crimes committed by a member of the community. The most celebrated purification of this kind was that of Athens, performed by Epimenides of Crete, after the Cylonian massacre. Purification also took place when a sacred spot had been unhallowed by profane use, as by burying dead bodies in it, as was the case with the island of Delos. The Romans performed lustrations on many occasions, on which the Greeks did not think of them; and the object of most Roman lustrations was not to atone for the commission of crime, but to obtain the blessing of the gods upon the persons or things which were lustrated. Thus fields were purified after the business of sowing was over, and before the sickle was put to the corn. [ARVALES FRATRES.] Sheep were purified every year at the festival of the Palilia. All Roman armies before they took the field were lustrated; and as the solemnity was probably always connected with a review of the troops, the word lustratio is also used in the sense of the modern review. The establishment of a new colony was always preceded by a lustratio with solemn sacrifices. The city of Rome itself, as well as other towns within its dominion, always underwent a lustratio after they had been visited by some great calamity, such as civil bloodshed, awful prodigies, and the like. A regular and general lustratio of the whole Roman people took place after the completion of every lustrum, when the censor had finished his census and before he laid down his office. This lustratio (also called lustrum) was conducted by one of the censors, and held with sacrifices called _Suovetaurilia_, because the sacrifices consisted of a pig (or ram), a sheep, and an ox. It took place in the Campus Martius, where the people assembled for the purpose. The sacrifices were carried three times around the assembled multitude.

LUSTRUM (from _luo_, Gr. λούω) is properly speaking a lustration or purification, and in particular the purification of the whole Roman people performed by one of the censors in the Campus Martius, after the business of the census was over. [CENSUS; LUSTRATIO.] As this purification took place only once in five years, the word lustrum was also used to designate the time between two lustra. The first lustrum was performed in B.C. 566, by king Servius, after he had completed his census, and it is said to have taken place subsequently every five years, after the census was over. The census might be held without the lustrum, and indeed two cases of this kind are recorded which happened in B.C. 459 and 214. In these cases the lustrum was not performed on account of some great calamities which had befallen the republic. The time when the lustrum took place has been very ingeniously defined by Niebuhr. Six ancient Romulian years of 304 days each were, with the difference of one day, equal to five solar years of 365 days each, or the six ancient years made 1824 days, while the five solar years contained 1825 days. The lustrum, or the great year of the ancient Romans, was thus a cycle, at the end of which the beginning of the ancient year nearly coincided with that of the solar year. As the coincidence, however, was not perfect, a month of 24 days was intercalated in every eleventh lustrum. Now it is highly probable that the recurrence of such a cycle or great year was, from the earliest times, solemnised with sacrifices and purifications, and that Servius Tullius did not introduce them, but merely connected them with his census, and thus set the example for subsequent ages. Many writers of the latter period of the republic and during the empire, use the word lustrum for any space of five years, and without any regard to the census, while others even apply it in the sense of the Greek pentaeteris or an Olympiad, which contained only four years.

LỸCAEA (λύκαια), a festival with contests, celebrated by the Arcadians in honour of Zeus surnamed Λυκαῖος. It was said to have been instituted by the ancient hero Lycaon, the son of Pelasgus, who is also said, instead of the cakes which had formerly been offered to the god, to have sacrificed a child to Zeus, and to have sprinkled the altar with its blood.

LỸRA (λύρα, Lat. _fides_), a lyre, one of the most ancient musical instruments of the stringed kind. The Greeks attributed the invention of the lyre to Hermes, who is said to have formed the instrument of a tortoise-shell, over which he placed gut-strings. The name λύρα, however, does not occur in the Homeric poems, and the ancient lyre, called in Homer _phorminx_ (φόρμιγξ) and _citharis_ (κίθαρις), seems rather to have resembled the _cithara_ of later times, which was in some respects like a modern guitar. In the cithara the strings were drawn across the bottom, whereas in the lyra of ancient times they were free on both sides. The lyre is also called χέλυς or χελώνη, and in Latin _testudo_, because it was made of a tortoise-shell. The lyre had originally three or four strings, but after the time of Terpander of Antissa (about B.C. 650), who is said to have added three more, it was generally made with seven. The ancients, however, made use of a variety of lyres; and about the time of Sappho and Anacreon several stringed instruments, such as _magadis_, _barbiton_, and others, were used in Greece, and especially in Lesbos. They had been introduced from Asia Minor, and their number of strings far exceeded that of the lyre, for we know that some had even twenty strings, so that they must have more resembled a modern harp than a lyre. But the lyra and cithara had in most cases no more than seven strings. The lyre had a great and full-sounding bottom, which continued as before to be made generally of tortoise-shell, from which the horns rose as from the head of a stag. A transverse piece of wood connecting the two horns at or near their top-ends served to fasten the strings, and was called ζύγον, and in Latin _transtillum_. The horns were called πήχεις or _cornua_. These instruments were often adorned in the most costly manner with gold and ivory. The lyre was considered as a more manly instrument than the cithara, which, on account of its smaller-sounding bottom, excluded full-sounding and deep tones, and was more calculated for the middle tones. The lyre when played stood in an upright position between the knees, while the cithara stood upon the knees of the player. Both instruments were held with the left hand, and played with the right. It has generally been supposed that the strings of these instruments were always touched with a little staff called _plectrum_ (πλῆκτρον), but among the paintings discovered at Herculaneum we find several instances where the persons play the lyre with their fingers. The lyre was at all times only played as an accompaniment to songs. The Latin name _fides_, which was used for a lyre as well as a cithara, is probably the same as the Greek σφίδες, which signifies gut-string. The lyre (_cithara_ or _phorminx_) was at first used in the recitations of epic poetry, though it was probably not played during the recitation itself, but only as a prelude before the minstrel commenced his story, and in the intervals or pauses between the several parts. The lyre has given its name to a species of poetry called lyric; this kind of poetry was originally never recited or sung without the accompaniment of the lyre, and sometimes also of an appropriate dance.

MAENIĀNUM, signified, originally, a projecting balcony, which was erected round the Roman forum, by the censor, C. Maenius, B.C. 318, in order to give more accommodation to the spectators of the gladiatorial combats. Hence balconies in general came to be called _maeniana_.

MĂGĂDIS. [LYRA.]

MĂGISTER., which contains the same root as _mag-is_ and _mag-nus_, was applied at Rome to persons possessing various kinds of offices, and especially to the leading person in a collegium or corporation [COLLEGIUM]; thus the _magister societatis_ was the president of the corporation of equites, who farmed the taxes at Rome.

MĂGISTER ĔQUITUM. [DICTATOR.]

MĂGISTRĀTUS was a person _qui juri dicundo praeerat_. The King was originally the sole Magistratus; he had all the Potestas. On the expulsion of the Kings, two Consuls were annually appointed, and they were Magistratus. In course of time other Magistratus were appointed; namely, dictators, censors, praetors, aediles, tribunes of the plebs, and the decemviri litibus judicandis. The governors of provinces with the title of propraetor or proconsul were also Magistratus. The word Magistratus contains the same element as _mag(ister)_ and _mag(nus)_; and it signifies both the person and the office, as we see in the phrase _se magistratu abdicare_. The auspicia maxima belonged to the consuls, praetors, and censors, and the minora auspicia to the other magistrates; accordingly the consuls, praetors, and censors were called _Majores_, and they were elected at the comitia centuriata; the other magistratus were called _Minores_. The former had the imperium, the latter had not. The magistratus were also divided into curules and those who were not curules: the magistratus curules were the dictator, consuls, praetors, censors, and the curule aediles, who were so called, because they had the jus sellae curulis. The magistrates were chosen only from the patricians in the early republic, but in course of time the plebeians shared these honours, with the exception of that of the Interrex: the plebeian magistratus, properly so called, were the plebeian aediles and the tribuni plebis.