Chapter XXIX: Part II: The Middle Ages and the Reformation. A.D. 1381-1593 (28)

PORTA (πύλη, _dim._ πυλίς), the gate of a city, citadel, or other open space inclosed by a wall, in contradistinction to JANUA, which was the door of a house or any covered edifice. The terms _porta_ and πύλη are often found in the plural, even when applied to a single gate, because it consisted of two leaves. The gates of a city were of course various in their number and position. Thus Megara had 5 gates; Thebes, in Boeotia, had 7; Athens had 8; and Rome 20, or perhaps even more. The jambs of the gate were surmounted, 1. by a lintel, which was large and strong in proportion to the width of the gate. 2. By an arch, as we see exemplified at Pompeii, Paestum, Sepianum, Volterra, Suza, Autun, Besançon, and Treves. 3. At Arpinum, one of the gates now remaining is arched, whilst another is constructed with the stones projecting one beyond another. Gates sometimes had two passages close together, the one designed for carriages entering, and the other for carriages leaving the city. In other instances we find only one gate for carriages, but a smaller one on each side of it (παραπυλίς) for foot-passengers. When there were no sideways, one of the valves of the large gate sometimes contained a wicket (_portula_, πυλίς: ῥινοπύλη), large enough to admit a single person. The gateway had commonly a chamber (called πυλών) either on one side or on both, which served as the residence of the porter or guard. Statues of the gods were often placed near the gate, or even within it in the barbican, so as to be ready to receive the adoration of those who entered the city.

PORTĬCUS (στοά), a walk covered with a roof, and supported by columns, at least on one side. Such shaded walks and places of resort are almost indispensable in the southern countries of Europe, where people live much in the open air, as a protection from the heat of the sun and from rain. The porticoes attached to the temples were either constructed only in front of them, or went round the whole building, as is the case in the so-called Temple of Theseus at Athens. They were originally intended as places for those persons to assemble and converse in who visited the temple for various purposes. As such temple-porticoes, however, were found too small, or not suited for the various purposes of private and public life, most Grecian towns had independent porticoes, some of which were very extensive; and in most of these _stoae_, seats (_exedrae_) were placed, that those who were tired might sit down. They were frequented not only by idle loungers, but also by philosophers, rhetoricians, and other persons fond of intellectual conversation. The Stoic school of philosophy derived its name from the circumstance, that the founder of it used to converse with his disciples in a stoa. The Romans derived their great fondness for such covered walks from the Greeks; and as luxuries among them were carried in everything to a greater extent than in Greece, wealthy Romans had their private porticoes, sometimes in the city itself, and sometimes in their country-seats. In the public porticoes of Rome, which were exceedingly numerous and very extensive (as those around the Forum and the Campus Martius), a variety of business was occasionally transacted: we find that law-suits were conducted here, meetings of the senate held, goods exhibited for sale, &c.

PORTISCŬLUS (κελευστής), an officer in a ship, who gave the signal to the rowers, that they might keep time in rowing. This officer is sometimes called _Hortator_ or _Pausarius_.

PORTĬTŌRES. [PUBLICANI.]

PORTŌRĬUM, a branch of the regular revenues of the Roman state, consisting of the duties paid on imported and exported goods. A portorium, or duty upon imported goods, appears to have been paid at a very early period, for it is said that Valerius Publicola exempted the plebes from the portoria at the time when the republic was threatened with an invasion by Porsena. The time of its introduction is uncertain; but the abolition of it, ascribed to Publicola, can only have been a temporary measure; and as the expenditure of the republic increased, new portoria must have been introduced. In conquered places, and in the provinces, the import and export duties, which had been paid there before, were generally not only retained, but increased, and appropriated to the aerarium. Sicily, and above all, Asia, furnished to the Roman treasury large sums, which were raised as portoria. In B.C. 60 all the portoria in the ports of Italy were done away with by a Lex Caecilia, but were restored by Julius Caesar and the subsequent emperors. Respecting the amount of the import or export duties we have but little information. In the time of Cicero the portorium in the ports of Sicily was one-twentieth (_vicesima_) of the value of taxable articles; and it is probable that this was the average sum raised in all the other provinces. In the times of the emperors the ordinary rate of the portorium appears to have been the fortieth part (_quadragesima_) of the value of imported goods; and at a later period the exorbitant sum of one-eighth (_octava_) is mentioned. The portorium was, like all other vectigalia, farmed out by the censors to the publicani, who collected it through the _portitores_. [VECTIGALIA; PUBLICANI.]

POSSESSĬO. [AGER PUBLICUS.]

POSTĪCUM. [JANUA.]

POSTLĪMĬNĬUM, POSTLĪMĬNII JUS. If a Roman citizen during war came into the possession of an enemy, he sustained a _diminutio capitis maxima_ [CAPUT], and all his civil rights were in abeyance. Being captured by the enemy, he became a slave; but his rights over his children, if he had any, were not destroyed, but were said to be in abeyance (_pendere_) by virtue of the _Jus Postliminii_: when he returned, his children were again in his power; and if he died in captivity, they became sui juris. Sometimes by an act of the state a man was given up bound to an enemy, and if the enemy would not receive him, it was a question whether he had the Jus Postliminii. This was the case with Sp. Postumius, who was given up to the Samnites, and with C. Hostilius Mancinus, who was given up to the Numantines; but the better opinion was, that they had no _Jus Postliminii_, and Mancinus was restored to his civic rights by a lex. It appears that the Jus Postliminii was founded on the fiction of the captive having never been absent from home; a fiction which was of easy application, for, as the captive during his absence could not do any legal act, the interval of captivity was a period of legal non-activity, which was terminated by his showing himself again.

PŎTESTAS. [PATRIA POTESTAS.]

PRACTŎRES (πράκτορες), subordinate officers at Athens, who collected the fines and penalties (ἐπιβολάς and τιμήματα) imposed by magistrates and courts of justice, and payable to the state.

PRAECINCTĬO. [AMPHITHEATRUM.]

PRAECŌNES, criers, were employed for various purposes: 1. In sales by auction, they frequently advertised the time, place, and conditions of sale: they seem also to have acted the part of the modern auctioneer, so far as calling out the biddings and amusing the company, though the property was knocked down by the _magister auctionis_. [AUCTIO.] 2. In all public assemblies they ordered silence. 3. In the comitia they called the centuries one by one to give their votes, pronounced the vote of each century, and called out the names of those who were elected. They also recited the laws that were to be passed. 4. In trials, they summoned the accuser and the accused, the plaintiff and defendant. 5. In the public games, they invited the people to attend, and proclaimed the victors. 6. In solemn funerals they also invited people to attend by a certain form; hence these funerals were called _funera indictiva_. 7. When things were lost, they cried them and searched for them. 8. In the infliction of capital punishment, they sometimes conveyed the commands of the magistrates to the lictors. Their office, called _Praeconium_, appears to have been regarded as rather disreputable: in the time of Cicero a law was passed preventing all persons who had been praecones from becoming decuriones in the municipia. Under the early emperors, however, it became very profitable, which was no doubt partly owing to fees, to which they were entitled in the courts of justice, and partly to the bribes which they received from the suitors, &c.

PRAEDA signifies moveable things taken by an enemy in war. Such things were either distributed by the Imperator among the soldiers or sold by the quaestors, and the produce was brought into the Aerarium. The difference between Praeda and Manubiae is this:--Praeda is the things themselves that are taken in war, and Manubiae is the money realized by their sale. It was the practice to set up a spear at such sales, which was afterwards used at all sales of things by a magistrates in the name of the people. [SECTIO.]

PRAEFECTŪRA. [COLONIA.]

PRAEFECTUS AERĀRĬI. [AERARIUM.]

PRAEFECTUS ANNŌNAE, the praefect of the provisions, especially of the corn-market, was not a regular magistrate under the republic, but was only appointed in cases of extraordinary scarcity, when he seems to have regulated the prices at which corn was to be sold. Augustus created an officer under the title of _Praefectus Annonae_, who had jurisdiction over all matters appertaining to the corn-market, and, like the _Praefectus Vigilum_, was chosen from the equites, and was not reckoned among the ordinary magistrates.

PRAEFECTUS ĂQUĀRUM. [AQUAE DUCTUS.]

PRAEFECTUS CASTRŌRUM, praefect of the camp, is first mentioned in the reign of Augustus. There was one to each legion.

PRAEFECTUS CLASSIS, the commander of a fleet. This title was frequently given in the times of the republic to the commander of a fleet; but Augustus appointed two permanent officers with this title, one of whom was stationed at Ravenna on the Adriatic, and the other at Misenum on the Tuscan sea, each having the command of a fleet.

PRAEFECTUS FABRUM. [FABRI.]

PRAEFECTUS JŪRI DĪCUNDO. [COLONIA.]

PRAEFECTUS LĔGĬŌNIS. [EXERCITUS.]

PRAEFECTUS PRAETŌRĬO, was the commander of the troops who guarded the emperor’s person. [PRAETORIANI.] This office was instituted by Augustus, and was at first only military, and had comparatively small power attached to it; but under Tiberius, who made Sejanus commander of the praetorian troops, it became of much greater importance, till at length the power of these praefects became only second to that of the emperors. From the reign of Severus to that of Diocletian, the praefects, like the vizirs of the east, had the superintendence of all departments of the state, the palace, the army, the finances, and the law: they also had a court in which they decided cases. The office of praefect of the praetorium was not confined to military officers; it was filled by Ulpian and Papinian, and other distinguished jurists. Originally there were two praefects; afterwards sometimes one and sometimes two; from the time of Commodus sometimes three, and even four. They were, as a regular rule, chosen only from the equites; but from the time of Alexander Severus the dignity of senator was always joined with their office.

PRAEFECTUS VĬGĬLUM. [EXERCITUS, p. 171, _a_.]

PRAEFECTUS URBI, praefect or warden of the city, was originally called _Custos Urbis_. The name _praefectus urbi_ does not seem to have been used till after the time of the decemvirs. The dignity of _custos urbis_, being combined with that of _princeps senatus_, was conferred by the king, as he had to appoint one of the decem primi as princeps senatus. The functions of the _custos urbis_, however, were not exercised except in the absence of the king from Rome; and then he acted as the representative of the king: he convoked the senate, held the comitia, if necessary, and on any emergency, might take such measures as he thought proper; in short, he had the imperium in the city. During the kingly period, the office of _custos urbis_ was probably for life. Under the republic, the office, and its name of _custos urbis_, remained unaltered; but in B.C. 487 it was elevated into a magistracy, to be bestowed by election. The _custos urbis_ was, in all probability, elected by the curiae. Persons of consular rank were alone eligible. In the early period of the republic the _custos urbis_ exercised within the city all the powers of the consuls, if they were absent: he convoked the senate, held the comitia, and, in times of war, even levied civic legions, which were commanded by him. When the office of praetor urbanus was instituted, the wardenship of the city was swallowed up in it; but as the Romans were at all times averse to dropping altogether any of their old institutions, a praefectus urbi, though a mere shadow of the former office, was henceforth appointed every year, only for the time that the consuls were absent from Rome for the purpose of celebrating the Feriae Latinae. This praefectus had neither the power of convoking the senate nor the right of speaking in it; in most cases he was a person below the senatorial age, and was not appointed by the people, but by the consuls. An office very different from this, though bearing the same name, was instituted by Augustus on the suggestion of Maecenas. This new praefectus urbi was a regular and permanent magistrate, whom Augustus invested with all the powers necessary to maintain peace and order in the city. He had the superintendence of butchers, bankers, guardians, theatres, &c.; and to enable him to exercise his power, he had distributed throughout the city a number of milites stationarii, whom we may compare to a modern police. His jurisdiction, however, became gradually extended; and as the powers of the ancient republican praefectus urbi had been swallowed up by the office of the praetor urbanus, so now the power of the praetor urbanus was gradually absorbed by that of the praefectus urbi; and at last there was no appeal from his sentence, except to the person of the princeps himself, while any body might appeal from the sentence of any other city magistrate, and, at a later period, even from that of a governor of a province, to the tribunal of the praefectus urbi.

PRAEFĬCAE. [FUNUS.]

PRAEJŪDĬCĬUM is used both in the sense of a precedent, in which case it is rather _exemplum_ than _praejudicium_ (_res ex paribus causis judicatae_); and also in the sense of a preliminary inquiry and determination about something which belongs to the matter in dispute (_judiciis ad ipsam causam pertinentibus_), from whence also comes the name Praejudicium.

PRAELŪSĬO. [GLADIATORES.]

PRAENŌMEN. [NOMEN.]

PRAERŎGĀTĪVA TRIBUS. [COMITIA, p. 109.]

PRAES, is a surety for one who buys of the state. The goods of a Praes were called _Praedia_. The _Praediator_ was a person who bought a _praedium_, that is, a thing given to the state as a security by a praes.

PRAESCRIPTĬO, or rather TEMPŎRIS PRAESCRIPTĬO, signifies the Exceptio or answer which a defendant has to the demand of a plaintiff, founded on the circumstance of the lapse of time. The word has properly no reference to the plaintiff’s loss of right, but to the defendant’s acquisition of a right by which he excludes the plaintiff from prosecuting his suit. This right of a defendant did not exist in the old Roman law.

PRAESES. [PROVINCIA.]

PRAESUL. [SALII.]

PRAETEXTA. [TOGA.]

PRAETOR (στρατηγός), was originally a title which designated the consuls as the leaders of the armies of the state. The period and office of the command of the consuls might appropriately be called _Praetorium_. Praetor was also a title of office among the Latins. The first praetor specially so called was appointed in B.C. 366, and he was chosen only from the patricians, who had this new office created as a kind of indemnification to themselves for being compelled to share the consulship with the plebeians. No plebeian praetor was appointed till the year B.C. 337. The praetor was called _collega consulibus_, and was elected with the same auspices at the comitia centuriata. The praetorship was originally a kind of third consulship, and the chief functions of the praetor (_jus in urbe dicere_, _jura reddere_) were a portion of the functions of the consuls. The praetor sometimes commanded the armies of the state; and while the consuls were absent with the armies, he exercised their functions within the city. He was a magistratus curulis, and he had the imperium, and consequently was one of the magistratus majores: but he owed respect and obedience to the consuls. His insignia of office were six lictors; but at a later period he had only two lictors in Rome. The praetorship was at first given to a consul of the preceding year.--In B.C. 246 another praetor was appointed, whose business was to administer justice in matters in dispute between peregrini, or peregrini and Roman citizens; and accordingly he was called _praetor peregrinus_. The other praetor was then called _praetor urbanus, qui jus inter cives dicit_, and sometimes simply _praetor urbanus_ and _praetor urbis_. The two praetors determined by lot which functions they should respectively exercise. If either of them was at the head of the army, the other performed all the duties of both within the city. Sometimes the military imperium of a praetor was prolonged for a second year. When the territories of the state were extended beyond the limits of Italy, new praetors were made. Thus, two praetors were created B.C. 227, for the administration of Sicily and Sardinia, and two more were added when the two Spanish provinces were formed, B.C. 197. When there were six praetors, two stayed in the city, and the other four went abroad. The senate determined their provinces, which were distributed among them by lot. After the discharge of his judicial functions in the city, a praetor often had the administration of a province, with the title of _propraetor_. Sulla increased the number of praetors to eight, which Julius Caesar raised successively to ten, twelve, fourteen, and sixteen. Augustus, after several changes, fixed the number at twelve. Under Tiberius there were sixteen. Two praetors were appointed by Claudius for matters relating to fideicommissa, when the business in this department of the law had become considerable, but Titus reduced the number to one; and Nerva added a praetor for the decision of matters between the fiscus and individuals. Thus there were eventually eighteen praetors, who administered justice in the state.--The praetor urbanus was specially named praetor, and he was the first in rank. His duties confined him to Rome, as is implied by the name, and he could only leave the city for ten days at a time. It was part of his duty to superintend the Ludi Apollinares. He was also the chief magistrate for the administration of justice; and to the edicta of the successive praetors the Roman law owes in a great degree its development and improvement. Both the praetor urbanus and the praetor peregrinus had the jus edicendi, and their functions in this respect do not appear to have been limited on the establishment of the imperial power, though it must have been gradually restricted, as the practice of imperial constitutions and rescripts became common. [EDICTUM.] The chief judicial functions of the praetor in civil matters consisted in giving a judex. [JUDEX.] It was only in the case of interdicts that he decided in a summary way. [INTERDICTUM.] Proceedings before the praetor were technically said to be _in jure_. The praetors also presided at trials of criminal matters. These were the quaestiones perpetuae, or the trials for repetundae, ambitus, majestas, and peculatus, which, when there were six praetors, were assigned to four out of the number. Sulla added to these quaestiones those of falsum, de sicariis et veneficis, and de parricidis, and for this purpose he added two, or, according to some accounts, four praetors. On these occasions the praetor presided, but a body of judices determined by a majority of votes the condemnation or acquittal of the accused. [JUDEX.] The praetor, when he administered justice, sat on a sella curulis in a tribunal, which was that part of the court which was appropriated to the praetor and his assessors and friends, and is opposed to the subsellia, or part occupied by the judices, and others who were present.

PRAETŌRĬA CŎHORS. [PRAETORIANI.]

PRAETŌRĬĀNI, sc. _milites_, or _praetoriae cohortes_, a body of troops instituted by Augustus to protect his person and his power, and called by that name in imitation of the _praetoria cohors_, or select troops which attended the person of the praetor or general of the Roman army. They originally consisted of nine or ten cohorts, each comprising a thousand men, horse and foot. Augustus, in accordance with his general policy of avoiding the appearance of despotism, stationed only three of these cohorts in the capital, and dispersed the remainder in the adjacent towns of Italy. Tiberius, however, under pretence of introducing a stricter discipline among them, assembled them all at Rome in a permanent camp, which was strongly fortified. Their number was increased by Vitellius to sixteen cohorts, or 16,000 men. The praetorians were distinguished by double pay and especial privileges. Their term of service was originally fixed by Augustus at twelve years, but was afterwards increased to sixteen years; and when they had served their time, each soldier received 20,000 sesterces. They soon became the most powerful body in the state, and, like the janissaries at Constantinople, frequently deposed and elevated emperors according to their pleasure. Even the most powerful of the emperors were obliged to court their favour; and they always obtained a liberal donation upon the accession of each sovereign. After the death of Pertinax (A.D. 193) they even offered the empire for sale, which was purchased by Didius Julianus; but upon the accession of Severus in the same year they were disbanded, on account of the part they had taken in the death of Pertinax, and banished from the city. The emperors, however, could not dispense with guards, and accordingly the praetorians were restored on a new model by Severus, and increased to four times their ancient number. Diocletian reduced their numbers and abolished their privileges; they were still allowed to remain at Rome, but had no longer the guard of the emperor’s person, as he never resided in the capital. Their numbers were again increased by Maxentius; but after his defeat by Constantine, A.D. 312, they were entirely suppressed by the latter, their fortified camp destroyed, and those who had not perished in the battle between Constantine and Maxentius were dispersed among the legions. The commander of the praetorians was called PRAEFECTUS PRAETORIO.

PRAETŌRĬUM, the name of the general’s tent in the camp, and so called because the name of the chief Roman magistrate was originally praetor, and not consul. [CASTRA.] The officers who attended on the general in the _praetorium_, and formed his council of war, were called by the same name. The word was also used in several other significations, which were derived from the original one. Thus the residence of a governor of a province was called the _praetorium_; and the same name was also given to any large house or palace. The camp of the praetorian troops at Rome, and frequently the praetorian troops themselves, were called by this name. [PRAETORIANI.]

PRANDĬUM. [COENA, p. 96, _b_.]

PRĒLUM. [VINUM.]

PRĪMĬPĪLUS. [CENTURIO.]

PRINCEPS JŬVENTŪTIS. [EQUITES.]

PRINCEPS SĔNĀTUS. [SENATUS.]

PRINCĬPES. [EXERCITUS, p. 168, _b_.]

PRINCĬPĬA, PRINCĬPĀLIS VIA. [CASTRA.]

PRĪVĬLĒGĬUM. [LEX.]

PRŎBŎLĒ (προβολή), an accusation of a criminal nature, preferred before the people of Athens in assembly, with a view to obtain their sanction for bringing the charge before a judicial tribunal. The _probolé_ was reserved for those cases where the public had sustained an injury, or where, from the station, power, or influence of the delinquent, the prosecutor might deem it hazardous to proceed in the ordinary way without being authorised by a vote of the sovereign assembly. In this point it differed from the _eisangelia_, that in the latter the people were called upon either to pronounce final judgment, or to direct some peculiar method of trial; whereas, in the _probolé_ after the judgment of the assembly, the parties proceeded to trial in the usual manner. The cases to which the _probolé_ was applied were, complaints against magistrates for official misconduct of oppression; against those public informers and mischief-makers who were called _sycophantae_ (συκοφάνται); against those who outraged public decency at the religious festivals; and against all such as by evil practices exhibited disaffection to the state.

PRŎBOULEUMA. [BOULE.]

PRŎBOULI (πρόβουλοι), a name applicable to any persons who are appointed to consult or take measures for the benefit of the people. Ten _probouli_ were appointed at Athens, after the end of the Sicilian war, to act as a committee of public safety. Their authority did not last much longer than a year; for a year and a half afterwards Pisander and his colleagues established the council of Four Hundred, by which the democracy was overthrown.

PRŌCONSUL (ἀνθύπατος), an officer who acted in the place of a consul, without holding the office of consul itself. The proconsul, however, was generally one who had held the office of consul, so that the proconsulship was a continuation, though a modified one, of the consulship. The first time when the imperium of a consul was prolonged, was in B.C. 327, in the case of Q. Publilius Philo, whose return to Rome would have been followed by the loss of most of the advantages that had been gained in his campaign. The power of proconsul was conferred by a senatusconsultum and plebiscitum, and was nearly equal to that of a regular consul, for he had the imperium and jurisdictio, but it differed inasmuch as it did not extend over the city and its immediate vicinity, and was conferred, without the auspicia, by a mere decree of the senate and people, and not in the comitia for elections. When the number of Roman provinces had become great, it was customary for the consuls, who during the latter period of the republic spent the year of their consulship at Rome, to undertake at its close the conduct of a war in a province, or its peaceful administration, with the title of proconsuls. There are some extraordinary cases on record in which a man obtained a province with the title of proconsul without having held the consulship before. The first case of this kind occurred in B.C. 211, when young P. Cornelius Scipio was created proconsul of Spain in the comitia centuriata.

PRŌCŪRĀTOR, a person who has the management of any business committed to him by another. Thus it is applied to a person who maintains or defends an action on behalf of another, or, as we should say, an attorney [ACTIO]: to a steward in a family [CALCULATOR]: to an officer in the provinces belonging to the Caesar, who attended to the duties discharged by the quaestor in the other provinces [PROVINCIA]: to an officer engaged in the administration of the fiscus [FISCUS]: and to various other officers under the empire.

PRŌDĬGĬUM, in its widest acceptation, denotes any sign by which the gods indicated to men a future event, whether good or evil, and thus includes omens and auguries of every description. It is, however, generally employed in a more restricted sense, to signify some strange incident or wonderful appearance which was supposed to herald the approach of misfortune, and happened under such circumstances as to announce that the calamity was impending over a whole community or nation rather than over private individuals. The word may be considered synonymous with _ostentum_, _monstrum_, _portentum_. Since prodigies were viewed as direct manifestations of the wrath of heaven, it was believed that this wrath might be appeased by prayers and sacrifices duly offered to the offended powers. This being a matter which deeply concerned the public welfare, the necessary rites were in ancient times regularly performed, under the direction of the pontifices, by the consuls before they left the city, the solemnities being called _procuratio prodigiorum_.

PRODŎSĬA (προδοσία) included not only every species of treason, but also every such crime as (in the opinion of the Greeks) would amount to a betraying or desertion of the interest of a man’s country. The highest sort of treason was the attempt to establish a despotism (τυραννίς), or to subvert the constitution (καταλύειν τὴν πολιτείαν), and in democracies καταλύειν τὸν δῆμον or τὸ πλῆθος. Other kinds of treason were a secret correspondence with a foreign enemy; a betraying of an important trust, such, as a fleet, army, or fortress, a desertion of post, a disobedience of orders, or any other act of treachery, or breach of duty in the public service. But not only would _overt acts_ of disobedience or treachery amount to the crime of προδοσία, but also the neglect to perform those active duties which the Greeks in general expected of every good citizen. Cowardice in battle (δειλία) would be an instance of this kind; so would any breach of the oath taken by the ἔφηβοι at Athens; or any line of conduct for which a charge of disaffection to the people (μισοδημία) might be successfully maintained. The regular punishment appointed by the law for most kinds of treason appears to have been death, which, no doubt, might be mitigated by decree of the people, as in the case of Miltiades and many others. The goods of traitors, who suffered death, were confiscated, and their houses razed to the ground; nor were they permitted to be buried in the country, but had their bodies cast out in some place on the confines of Attica and Megara. Therefore it was that the bones of Themistocles, who had been condemned for treason, were brought over and buried secretly by his friends. The posterity of a traitor became ἄτιμοι, and those of a tyrant were liable to share the fate of their ancestor.

PRŎĔDRI. [BOULE.]

PRŌFESTI DĬES. [DIES.]

PRŌLĒTĀRĬI. [CAPUT.]

PRŎMĒTHEIA (προμήθεια), a festival celebrated at Athens in honour of Prometheus. It was one of the five Attic festivals, which were held with a torch-race in the Ceramicus [comp. LAMPADEPHORIA], for which the gymnasiarchs had to supply the youths from the gymnasia. Prometheus himself was believed to have instituted this torch-race, whence he was called the torch-bearer.

PRŌMULSIS. [COENA, p. 96, _b_.]

PRŌNŬBAE, PRŌNŬBI. [MATRIMONIUM.]

PROPRAETOR. [PRAETOR.]

PRŎPỸLAEA (προπύλαια), the entrance to a temple, or sacred enclosure, consisted of a gateway flanked by buildings, whence the plural form of the word. The Egyptian temples generally had magnificent _propylaea_, consisting of a pair of oblong truncated pyramids of solid masonry, the faces of which were sculptured with hieroglyphics. In Greek, except when the Egyptian temples are spoken of, the word is generally used to signify the entrance to the Acropolis of Athens, which was executed under the administration of Pericles.

PRŌQUAESTOR. [QUAESTOR.]

PRŌRA. [NAVIS, p. 263.]

PRŌSCĒNĬUM. [THEATRUM.]

PRŌSCRIPTĬO. The verb _proscribere_ properly signifies to exhibit a thing for sale by means of a bill or advertisement. But in the time of Sulla it assumed a very different meaning, for he applied it to a measure of his own invention (B.C. 82), namely, the sale of the property of those who were put to death at his command, and who were themselves called _proscripti_. After this example of a proscription had once been set, it was readily adopted by those in power during the civil commotions of subsequent years. In the proscription of Antonius, Caesar, and Lepidus (B.C. 43), Cicero and some of the most distinguished Romans were put to death.

PRŎSTĂTĒS (προστάτης). [LIBERTUS.]

PRŎSTĂTĒS TOU DĒMOU (προστάτης τοῦ δήμου), a leader of the people, denoted at Athens and in other democratical states, a person who by his character and eloquence placed himself at the head of the people, and whose opinion had the greatest sway amongst them: such was Pericles. It appears, however, that προστάτης τοῦ δήμου was also the title of a public officer in those Dorian states in which the government was democratical.

PRŎTHESMĬA (προθεσμία), the term limited for bringing actions and prosecutions at Athens. The Athenian expression προθεσμίας νόμος corresponds to our _statute of limitations_. The time for commencing actions to recover debts, or compensation for injuries, appears to have been limited to five years at Athens.

PRŌVINCĬA. This word is merely a shortened form of _providentia_, and was frequently used in the sense of “a duty” or “matter entrusted to a person.” But it is ordinarily employed to denote a part of the Roman dominion beyond Italy, which had a regular organisation, and was under Roman administration. Livy likewise uses the word to denote a district or enemy’s country, which was assigned to a general as the field of his operations, before the establishment of any provincial governments.--The Roman state in its complete development consisted of two parts with a distinct organisation, _Italia_ and the _Provinciae_. There were no Provinciae in this sense of the word till the Romans had extended their conquests beyond Italy; and Sicily was the first country that was made a Roman province: Sardinia was made a province B.C. 235. The Roman province of Gallia Ulterior in the time of Caesar was sometimes designated simply by the term Provincia, a name which has been perpetuated in the modern Provence. A conquered country received its provincial organisation either from the Roman commander, whose acts required the approval of the senate; or the government was organised by the commander and a body of commissioners appointed by the senate out of their own number. The mode of dealing with a conquered country was not uniform. When constituted a provincia, it did not become to all purposes an integral part of the Roman state; it retained its national existence, though it lost its sovereignty. The organisation of Sicily was completed by P. Rupilius with the aid of ten legates. The island was formed into two districts, with Syracuse for the chief town of the eastern and Lilybaeum of the western district: the whole island was administered by a governor annually sent from Rome. He was assisted by two quaestors, and was accompanied by a train of praecones, scribae, haruspices, and other persons, who formed his cohors. The quaestors received from the Roman aerarium the necessary sums for the administration of the island, and they also collected the taxes, except those which were farmed by the censors at Rome. One quaestor resided at Lilybaeum, and the other with the governor or praetor at Syracuse. For the administration of justice the island was divided into _Fora_ or _Conventus_, which were territorial divisions. [CONVENTUS.] The island was bound to furnish and maintain soldiers and sailors for the service of Rome, and to pay tributum for the carrying on of wars. The governor could take provisions for the use of himself and his cohors on condition of paying for them. The Roman state had also the portoria which were let to farm to Romans at Rome. The governor had complete jurisdictio in the island, with the imperium and potestas. He could delegate these powers to his quaestors, but there was always an appeal to him, and for this and other purposes he made circuits through the different conventus.--Such was the organisation of Sicilia as a province, which may be taken as a sample of the general character of Roman provincial government. The governor, upon entering on his duties, published an edict, which was often framed upon the Edictum Urbanum. Cicero, when proconsul of Cilicia, says that on some matters he framed an edict of his own, and that as to others he referred to the Edicta Urbana. There was one great distinction between Italy and the provinces as to the nature of property in land. Provincial land could not be an object of Quiritarian ownership, and it was accordingly appropriately called Possessio. Provincial land could be transferred without the forms required in the case of Italian land, but it was subject to the payment of a land-tax (_vectigal_).--The Roman provinces up to the battle of Actium are: Sicilia, Sardinia et Corsica; Hispania Citerior et Ulterior; Gallia Citerior; Gallia Narbonensis et Comata; Illyricum; Macedonia; Achaia; Asia; Cilicia; Syria; Bithynia et Pontus; Cyprus; Africa; Cyrenaica et Creta; Numidia; Mauritania. Those of a subsequent date, which were either new or arose from division, are: Rhaetia; Noricum; Pannonia; Moesia; Dacia; Britannia; Mauritania Caesariensis and Tingitana; Aegyptus; Cappadocia; Galatia; Rhodus; Lycia; Commagene; Judaea; Arabia; Mesopotamia; Armenia; Assyria.--At first praetors were appointed as governors of provinces, but afterwards they were appointed to the government of provinces, upon the expiration of their year of office at Rome, and with the title of propraetores. In the later times of the republic, the consuls also, after the expiration of their year of office, received the government of a province, with the title of proconsules: such provinces were called consulares. The provinces were generally distributed by lot, but the distribution was sometimes arranged by agreement among the persons entitled to them. By a Sempronian Lex the proconsular provinces were annually determined before the election of the consuls, the object of which was to prevent all disputes. A senatus consultum of the year 55 B.C. provided that no consul or praetor should have a province till after the expiration of five years from the time of his consulship or praetorship. A province was generally held for a year, but the time was often prolonged. When a new governor arrived in his province, his predecessor was required to leave it within thirty days. The governor of a province had originally to account at Rome (_ad urbem_) for his administration, from his own books and those of his quaestors; but after the passing of a Lex Julia, B.C. 61, he was bound to deposit two copies of his accounts (_rationes_) in the two chief cities of his province, and to forward one (_totidem verbis_) to the aerarium. If the governor misconducted himself in the administration of the province, the provincials applied to the Roman senate, and to the powerful Romans who were their patroni. The offences of repetundae and peculatus were the usual grounds of complaint by the provincials; and if a governor had betrayed the interests of the state, he was also liable to the penalties attached to majestas. Quaestiones were established for inquiries into these offences; yet it was not always an easy matter to bring a guilty governor to the punishment that he deserved.--With the establishment of the imperial power under Augustus, a considerable change was made in the administration of the provinces. Augustus took the charge of those provinces where a large military force was required; the rest were left to the care of the senate and the Roman people. Accordingly we find in the older jurists the division of provinciae into those which were _propriae populi Romani_, and those which were _propriae Caesaris_; and this division, with some modifications, continued to the third century. The senatorian provinces were distributed among consulares and those who had filled the office of praetor, two provinces being given to the consulares and the rest to the praetorii: these governors were called _proconsules_, or _praesides_, which latter is the usual term employed by the old jurists for a provincial governor. The praesides had the jurisdictio of the praetor urbanus and the praetor peregrinus: and their quaestors had the same jurisdiction that the curule aediles had at Rome. The imperial provinces were governed by _legati Caesaris_, with praetorian power, the proconsular power being in the Caesar himself, and the legati being his deputies and representatives. The legati were selected from those who had been consuls or praetors, or from the senators. They held their office and their power at the pleasure of the emperor; and he delegated to them both military command and jurisdictio, just as a proconsul in the republican period delegated these powers to his legati. These legati had also legati under them. No quaestors were sent to the provinces of the Caesar. In place of the quaestors, there were _procuratores Caesaris_, who were either equites or freedmen of the Caesar. Egypt was governed by an eques with the title of praefectus. The procuratores looked after the taxes, paid the troops, and generally were intrusted with the interests of the fiscus. Judaea, which was a part of the province of Syria, was governed by a procurator, who had the powers of a legatus. It appears that there were also procuratores Caesaris in the senatorian provinces, who collected certain dues of the fiscus, which were independent of what was due to the aerarium. The regular taxes, as in the republican period, were the poll-tax and land-tax. The taxation was founded on a census of persons and property, which was established by Augustus. The portoria and other dues were farmed by the publicani, as in the republican period.

PRŌVŎCĀTĬO. [APPELLATIO.]

PRŌVŎCĀTŌRES. [GLADIATORES.]

PROXĔNUS (πρόξενος). [HOSPITIUM.]

PRỸTĂNEIUM (πρυτανεῖον), the public hall or town-hall in a Greek state. The _prytaneia_ of the ancient Greek states and cities were to the communities living around them, what private houses were to the families which occupied them. Just as the house of each family was its home, so was the _prytaneium_ of every state or city the common home of its members or inhabitants. This correspondence between the _prytaneium_ or home of the city, and the private home of a man’s family, was at Athens very remarkable. A perpetual fire was kept burning on the public altar of the city in the prytaneium, just as in private houses a fire was kept up on the domestic altar in the inner court of the house. Moreover, the city of Athens exercised in its prytaneium the duties of hospitality, both to its own citizens and to strangers. Thus foreign ambassadors were entertained here, as well as Athenian envoys, on their return home from a successful or well-conducted mission. Here, too, were entertained from day to day the successive prytanes or presidents of the senate, together with those citizens who, whether from personal or ancestral services to the state, were honoured with what was called the σίτησις ἐν πρυτανείῳ, or the privilege of taking their meals there at the public cost. This was granted sometimes for a limited period, sometimes for life, in which latter case the parties enjoying it were called ἀείσιτοι. Moreover, from the ever-burning fire of the prytaneium, or home of a mother state, was carried the sacred fire which was to be kept burning in the prytaneia of her colonies; and if it happened that this was ever extinguished, the flame was rekindled from the prytaneium of the parent city. Lastly, a prytaneium was also a distinguishing mark of an independent state. The prytaneium of Athens lay under the Acropolis on its northern side (near the ἀγορά), and was, as its name denotes, originally the place of assembly of the _prytanes_; in the earliest times it probably stood on the Acropolis. Officers called _prytanes_ (πρυτανεῖς) were entrusted with the chief magistracy in several states of Greece, as Corcyra, Corinth, Miletus. At Athens they were in early times probably a magistracy of the second rank in the state (next to the archon), acting as judges in various cases (perhaps in conjunction with him), and sitting in the prytaneium. That this was the case is rendered probable by the fact, that even in after-times the fees paid into court by plaintiff and defendant, before they could proceed to trial, and received by the dicasts, were called _prytaneia_.

PRỸTĂNES. [PRYTANEIUM; BOULE.]

PSĒPHISMA. [BOULE; NOMOTHETES.]

PSĒPHUS (ψῆφος), a ball of stone, used by the Athenian dicasts in giving their verdict. [CADISCUS.] Hence ψηφίζεσθαι and its various derivatives are used so often to signify _voting_, _determining_, &c.

PSEUDENGRĂPHĒS GRĂPHĒ (ψευδεγγραφῆς γραφή). The name of every state debtor at Athens was entered in a register by the praetores, whose duty it was to collect the debts, and erase the name of the party when he had paid it. If they made a false entry, either wilfully, or upon the suggestion of another person, the aggrieved party might institute a prosecution against them, or against the person upon whose suggestion it was made. Such prosecution was called γραφὴ ψευδεγγραφῆς. It would lie also, where a man was registered as debtor for more than was really due from him.

PSEUDŎCLĒTEIAS GRĂPHĒ (ψευδοκλητείας γραφή), a prosecution against one, who had appeared as a witness (κλητήρ or κλήτωρ) to prove that a defendant had been duly summoned, and thereby enabled the plaintiff to get a judgment by default. The false witness (κλητήρ) was liable to be criminally prosecuted, and punished at the discretion of the court. The γραφὴ ψευδοκλητείας came before the Thesmothetae, and the question at the trial simply was, whether the defendant in the former cause had been summoned or not.

PSĪLI (ψιλοί). [ARMA.]

PSYCTĒR (ψυκτήρ, _dim._ ψυκτηρίδιον), a wine-cooler, was sometimes made of bronze or silver. One of earthenware is preserved in the Museum of Antiquities at Copenhagen. It consists of one deep vessel for holding ice, which is fixed within another for holding wine. The wine was poured in at the top. It thus surrounded the vessel of ice and was cooled by the contact. It was drawn off so as to fill the drinking-cups by means of a cock at the bottom.

PŪBES, PŪBERTAS. [IMPUBES; INFANS.]

PUBLĬCĀNI, farmers of the public revenues of the Roman state (_vectigalia_). Their name is formed from _publicum_, which signifies all that belongs to the state, and is sometimes used by Roman writers as synonymous with _vectigal_. The revenues which Rome derived from conquered countries, consisting chiefly of tolls, tithes, harbour duties, the scriptura, or the tax which was paid for the use of the public pasture lands, and the duties paid for the use of mines and salt-works (_salinae_), were let out, or, as the Romans expressed it, were sold by the censors in Rome itself to the highest bidder. This sale generally took place in the month of Quinctilis, and was made for a lustrum. The terms on which the revenues were let, were fixed by the censors in the so-called _leges censoriae_. The people or the senate, however, sometimes modified the terms fixed by the censors, in order to raise the credit of the publicani; and in some cases even the tribunes of the people interfered in this branch of the administration. The tithes raised in the province of Sicily alone, with the exception of those of wine, oil, and garden produce, were not sold at Rome, but in the districts of Sicily itself, according to a practice established by Hiero. The persons who undertook the farming of the public revenue of course belonged to the wealthiest Romans, and during the latter period of the republic they belonged almost exclusively to the equestrian order. Their wealth and consequent influence may be seen from the fact, that as early as the second Punic war, after the battle of Cannae, when the aerarium was entirely exhausted, the publicani advanced large sums of money to the state, on condition of repayment after the end of the war. The words equites and publicani are sometimes used as synonymous. The publicani had to give security to the state for the sum at which they bought one or more branches of the revenue in a province; but as for this reason the property of even the wealthiest individual must have been inadequate, a number of equites generally united together, and formed a company (_socii_, _societas_, or _corpus_), which was recognised by the state, and by which they were enabled to carry on their undertakings upon a large scale. Such companies appear as early as the second Punic war. The shares which each partner of such a company took in the business were called _partes_, and if they were small, _particulae_. The responsible person in each company, and the one who contracted with the state, was called _manceps_ [MANCEPS]; but there was also a _magister_ to manage the business of each society, who resided at Rome, and kept an extensive correspondence with the agents in the provinces. He seems to have held his office only for one year; his representative in the provinces was called _sub magistro_, who had to travel about, and superintend the actual business of collecting the revenues. Nobody but a Roman citizen was allowed to become a member of a company of publicani; freedmen and slaves were excluded. No Roman magistrate, however, or governor of a province, was allowed to take any share whatever in a company of publicani, a regulation which was chiefly intended as a protection against the oppression of the provincials. The collection of the taxes in the provinces was performed by an inferior class of men, who were said _operas publicanis dare_, or _esse in operis societatis_. They were engaged by the publicani, and consisted of freemen as well as slaves, Romans as well as provincials. The separate branches of the public revenue in the provinces (_decumae_, _portoria_, _scriptura_, and the revenues from the mines and salt-works) were mostly leased to separate companies of publicani; whence they were distinguished by names derived from that particular branch which they had taken in farm; _e.g._ _decumani_, _pecuarii_ or _scripturarii_, _salinarii_ or _mancipes salinarum_, &c. [DECUMAE; PORTORIUM; SALINAS; SCRIPTURA.] The _portitores_ were not publicani properly so called, but only their servants engaged in examining the goods imported or exported, and levying the custom-duties upon them. They belonged to the same class as the publicans of the New Testament.

PUBLĬCUM. [PUBLICANI.]

PŬGĬLĀTUS (πύξ, πυγμή, πυγμαχία, πυγμοσύνη), boxing, was one of the earliest athletic games among the Greeks, and is frequently mentioned in Homer. In the earliest times boxers (_pugiles_, πύκται) fought naked, with the exception of a girdle (ζῶμα) round their loins; but this was not used when boxing was introduced at Olympia, as the contests in wrestling and racing had been carried on there by persons entirely naked ever since Ol. 15. Respecting the leathern thongs with which pugilists surrounded their fists, see Cestus, where its various forms are illustrated by woodcuts. The Ionians, especially those of Samos, were at all times more distinguished pugilists than the Dorians, and at Sparta boxing is said to have been forbidden by the laws of Lycurgus. But the ancients generally considered boxing as a useful training for military purposes, and a part of education no less important than any other gymnastic exercise.

PŬGILLĀRES. [TABULAE.]

PŬGĬO (μάχαιρα), a dagger; a two-edged knife, commonly of bronze, with the hand in many cases variously ornamented or enriched.

PULLĀRĬUS. [AUSPICIUM.]

PULPĬTUM. [THEATRUM.]

PULVĪNAR, a couch provided with cushions or pillows (_pulvini_), on which the Romans placed the statues of the gods at the _Lectisternia_. [EPULONES; LECTISTERNIUM.] There was also a _pulvinar_, on which the images of the gods were laid, in the Circus.

PŪPILLA, PŪPILLUS, the name given to every _impubes_ not in the power of their father, but subject to a guardian. [IMPUBES; TUTELA.]

PUPPIS. [NAVIS.]

PŬTĔAL, properly means the enclosure surrounding the opening of a well, to protect persons from falling into it. It was either round or square, and seems usually to have been of the height of three or four feet from the ground. It was the practice in some cases to surround a sacred place with an enclosure open at the top, and such enclosures, from the great similarity they bore to _putealia_, were called by this name. There were two such places in the Roman forum; one of these was called _Puteal Libonis_ or _Scribonianum_, because a chapel (_sacellum_) in that place had been struck by lightning, and Scribonius Libo expiated it by proper ceremonies, and erected a puteal around it, open at the top, to preserve the memory of the place. The form of this puteal is preserved on several coins of the Scribonian gens. This puteal seems to have been near the atrium of Vesta, and was a common place of meeting for usurers. The other puteal was in the comitium, on the left side of the senate-house, and in it were deposited the whetstone and razor of ATTUS NAVIUS.

PUTĬCŬLI. [FUNUS.]

PỸANEPSIA (πυανέψια), a festival celebrated at Athens every year on the seventh of Pyanepsion, in honour of Apollo, said to have been instituted by Theseus after his return from Crete. The festival, as well as the month in which it took place, are said to have derived their names from πύαμος, another form for κύαμος, _i.e._ pulse or beans, which were cooked at this season and carried about.

PỸLĂGŎRAE. [AMPHICTYONES.]

PỸRA. [FUNUS.]

PYRRHĬCA. [SALTATIO.]