Chapter XXXV: Part II: The Middle Ages and the Reformation. A.D. 1381-1593 (34)

THĔĀTRUM (θέατρον), a theatre. The Athenians before the time of Aeschylus had only a wooden scaffolding on which their dramas were performed. Such a wooden theatre was only erected for the time of the Dionysiac festivals, and was afterwards pulled down. The first drama that Aeschylus brought upon the stage was performed upon such a wooden scaffold, and it is recorded as a singular and ominous coincidence that on that occasion (500 B.C.) the scaffolding broke down. To prevent the recurrence of such an accident, the building of a stone theatre was forthwith commenced on the south-eastern descent of the Acropolis, in the Lenaea; for it should be observed, that throughout Greece theatres were always built upon eminences, or on the sloping side of a hill. The new Athenian theatre was built on a very large scale, and appears to have been constructed with great skill in regard to its acoustic and perspective arrangements. Subsequently theatres were erected in all parts of Greece and Asia Minor, although Athens was the centre of the Greek drama, and the only place which produced great masterworks in this department of literature. All the theatres, however, which were constructed in Greece were probably built after the model of that of Athens, and, with slight deviations and modifications, they all resembled one another in the main points, as is seen in the numerous ruins of theatres in various parts of Greece, Asia Minor, and Sicily. The Attic theatre was, like all the Greek theatres, placed in such a manner that the place for the spectators formed the upper or north-western, and the stage with all that belonged to it the south-eastern part, and between these two parts lay the orchestra. The annexed plan has been made from the remains of Greek theatres still extant, and from a careful examination of the passages in ancient writers which describe the whole or parts of a theatre.--1. The place for the spectators was in a narrower sense of the word called _theatrum_. The seats for the spectators, which were in most cases cut out of the rock, consisted of rows of benches rising one above another; the rows themselves (_a_) formed parts (nearly three-fourths) of concentric circles, and were at intervals divided into compartments by one or more broad passages (_b_) running between them, and parallel with the benches. These passages were called διαζώματα, or κατατομαί, Lat. _praecinctiones_, and when the concourse of people was very great in a theatre, many persons might stand in them. Across the rows of benches ran stairs, by which persons might ascend from the lowest to the highest. But these stairs ran in straight lines only from one praecinctio to another; and the stairs in the next series of rows were just between the two stairs of the lower series of benches. By this course of the stairs the seats were divided into a number of compartments, resembling cones from which the tops are cut off; hence they were termed κεοκίδες, and in Latin _cunei_. The whole of the place for the spectators (θέατρον) was sometimes designated by the name κοῖλον, Latin _cavea_, it being in most cases a real excavation of the rock. Above the highest row of benches there rose a covered portico (_c_), which of course far exceeded in height the opposite buildings by which the stage was surrounded, and appears to have also contributed to increase the acoustic effect. The entrances to the seats of the spectators were partly underground, and led to the lowest rows of benches, while the upper rows must have been accessible from above.--2. The orchestra (ὀρχήστρα) was a circular level space extending in front of the spectators, and somewhat below the lowest row of benches. But it was not a complete circle, one segment of it being appropriated to the stage. The orchestra was the place for the chorus, where it performed its evolutions and dances, for which purpose it was covered with boards. As the chorus was the element out of which the drama arose, so the orchestra was originally the most important part of a theatre: it formed the centre around which all the other parts of the building were grouped. In the centre of the circle of the orchestra was the _thymele_ (θυμέλη), that is, the altar of Dionysus (_d_), which was of coarse nearer to the stage than to the seats of the spectators, the distance from which was precisely the length of a radius of the circle. In a wider sense the orchestra also comprised the broad passages (πάροδοι, _e_) on each side, between the projecting wings of the stage and the seats of the spectators, through which the chorus entered the orchestra. The chorus generally arranged itself in the space between the thymele and the stage. The thymele itself was of a square form, and was used for various purposes, according to the nature of the different plays, such as a funeral monument, an altar, &c. It was made of boards, and surrounded on all sides with steps. It thus stood upon a raised platform, which was sometimes occupied by the leader of the chorus, the flute-player, and the rhabdophori. The orchestra as well as the _theatrum_ lay under the open sky; a roof is nowhere mentioned.--3. The stage. Steps led from each side of the orchestra to the stage, and by them the chorus probably ascended the stage whenever it took a real part in the action itself. The back side of the stage was closed by a wall called the _scena_ (σκηνή), from which on each side a wing projected which was called the _parascenium_ (παρασκήνιον). The whole depth of the stage was not very great, as it only comprised a segment of the circle of the orchestra. The whole space from the scena to the orchestra was termed the _proscenium_ (προσκήνιον), and was what we should call the real stage. That part of it which was nearest to the orchestra, and where the actors stood when they spoke, was the _logeium_ (λογείον), also called _ocribas_ (ὀκρίβας), in Latin _pulpitum_, which was of course raised above the orchestra, and probably on a level with the thymele. The _scena_ was, as we have already stated, the wall which closed the stage (_proscenium_ and _logeium_) from behind. It represented a suitable background, or the locality in which the action was going on. Before the play began it was covered with a curtain (παραπέτασμα, προσκήνιον, αὐλαίαι), Latin _aulaea_ or _siparium_. When the play began this curtain was let down, and was rolled up on a roller underneath the stage. The proscenium and logeium were never concealed from the spectators. As regards the scenery represented on the _scena_, it was different for tragedy, comedy, and the satyric drama, and for each of these kinds of poetry the scenery must have been capable of various modifications, according to the character of each individual play; at least that this was the case with the various tragedies, is evident from the scenes described in the tragedies still extant. In the latter however the back-ground (_scena_) in most cases represented the front of a palace with a door in the centre (_i_) which was called the _royal door_. This palace generally consisted of two stories, and upon its flat roof there appears to have been some elevated place from which persons might observe what was going on at a distance. The palace presented on each side a projecting wing, each of which had its separate entrance. These wings generally represented the habitations of guests and visitors. All the three doors must have been visible to the spectators. The protagonistes always entered the stage through the middle or royal door, the deuteragonistes and tritagonistes through those on the right and left wings. In tragedies like the Prometheus, the Persians, Philoctetes, Oedipus in Colonus, and others, the back-ground did not represent a palace. There are other pieces again in which the scena must have been changed in the course of the performance, as in the Eumenides of Aeschylus and the Ajax of Sophocles. The dramas of Euripides required a great variety of scenery; and if in addition to this we recollect that several pieces were played in one day, it is manifest that the mechanical parts of stage performance, at least in the days of Euripides, must have been brought to great perfection. The scena in the satyric drama appears to have always represented a woody district with hills and grottos; in comedy the scena represented, at least in later times, the fronts of private dwellings or the habitations of slaves. The art of scene-painting must have been applied long before the time of Sophocles, although Aristotle ascribes its introduction to him. The whole of the cavea in the Attic theatre must have contained about 50,000 spectators. The places for generals, the archons, priests, foreign ambassadors, and other distinguished persons, were in the lowest rows of benches, and nearest to the orchestra, and they appear to have been sometimes covered with a sort of canopy. The rows of benches above these were occupied by the senate of 500, those next in succession by the ephebi, and the rest by the people of Athens. But it would seem that they did not sit indiscriminately, but that the better places were let at a higher price than the others, and that no one had a right to take a place for which he had not paid. The usual fee for a place was two obols, which was subsequently given to the poorer classes by a law of Pericles. [THEORICA.] Women were allowed to be present during the performance of tragedies, but not of comedies.--The Romans must have become acquainted with the theatres of the Italian Greeks at an early period, whence they erected their own theatres in similar positions upon the sides of hills. This is still clear from the ruins of very ancient theatres at Tusculum and Faesulae. The Romans themselves, however, did not possess a regular stone theatre until a very late period, and although dramatic representations were very popular in earlier times, it appears that a wooden stage was erected when necessary, and was afterwards pulled down again, and the plays of Plautus and Terence were performed on such temporary scaffoldings. In the mean while, many of the neighbouring towns of Rome had their stone theatres, as the introduction of Greek customs and manners was less strongly opposed in them than in the city of Rome itself. Wooden theatres, adorned with the most profuse magnificence, were erected at Rome even during the last period of the republic. In B.C. 55 Cn. Pompey built the first stone theatre at Rome, near the Campus Martius. It was of great beauty, and is said to have been built after the model of that of Mytilene; it contained 40,000 spectators. The construction of a Roman theatre resembled, on the whole, that of a Greek one. The principal differences are, that the seats of the spectators, which rose in the form of an amphitheatre around the orchestra, did not form more than a semicircle; and that the whole of the orchestra likewise formed only a semicircle, the diameter of which formed the front line of the stage. The Roman orchestra contained no thymele, and was not destined for a chorus, but contained the seats for senators and other distinguished persons, such as foreign ambassadors, which are called _primus subselliorum ordo_. In B.C. 68 the tribune L. Roscius Otho carried a law which regulated the places in the theatre to be occupied by the different classes of Roman citizens: it enacted that fourteen ordines of benches were to be assigned as seats to the equites. Hence these quatuordecim ordines are sometimes mentioned without any further addition, as the honorary seats of the equites. They were undoubtedly close behind the seats of the senators and magistrates, and thus consisted of the rows of benches immediately behind the orchestra.

THENSAE or TENSAE, highly ornamented sacred vehicles, which, in the solemn pomp of the Circensian games, conveyed the statues of certain deities with all their decorations to the pulvinaria, and after the sports were over bore them back to their shrines. We are ignorant of their precise form. We know that they were drawn by horses, and escorted (_deducere_) by the chief senators in robes of state, who, along with pueri patrimi [PATRIMI], laid hold of the bridles and traces, or perhaps assisted to drag the carriage by means of thongs attached for the purpose (and hence the proposed derivation from _tendo_). So sacred was this duty considered, that Augustus, when labouring under sickness, deemed it necessary to accompany the tensae in a litter. If one of the horses knocked up, or the driver took the reins in his left hand, it was necessary to recommence the procession, and for one of the attendant boys to let go the thong, or to stumble, was profanation. The only gods distinctly named as carried in tensae are Jupiter and Minerva, though others appear to have had the same honour paid them.

THĔŎPHĂNĬA (θεοφάνια), a festival celebrated at Delphi, on the occasion of which the Delphians filled the huge silver crater which had been presented to the Delphic god by Croesus.

THĔŌRĬA. [THEORI.]

THĔŌRĬCA (θεωρικά). Under this name at Athens were comprised the monies expended on festivals, sacrifices, and public entertainments of various kinds; and also monies distributed among the people in the shape of largesses from the state. There were, according to Xenophon, more festivals at Athens than in all the rest of Greece. At the most important of the public festivals, such as the Dionysia, Panathenaea, Eleusinia, Thargelia, and some others, there were not only sacrifices, but processions, theatrical exhibitions, gymnastic contests, and games, celebrated with great splendour and at a great expense. A portion of the expense was defrayed by the individuals upon whom the burden of the liturgies devolved; but a considerable, and perhaps the larger, part was defrayed by the public treasury. Demosthenes complains, that more money was spent on a single Panathenaic or Dionysiac festival than on any military expedition. The religious embassies to Delos and other places, and especially those to the Olympian, Nemean, Isthmian, and Pythian games, drew largely upon the public exchequer, though a part of the cost fell upon the wealthier citizens who conducted them. The largesses distributed among the people had their origin at an early period, and in a measure apparently harmless, though from a small beginning they afterwards rose to a height most injurious to the commonwealth. The Attic drama used to be performed in a wooden theatre, and the entrance was free to all citizens who chose to go. It was found, however, that the crushing to get in led to much confusion and even danger. On one occasion, about B.C. 500, the wooden scaffolding of the theatre fell down, and caused great alarm. It was then determined that the entrance should no longer be gratuitous. The fee for a place was fixed at two obols, which was paid to the lessee of the theatre, (called θεατρώνης, θεατροπώλης, or ἀρχιτέκτων), who undertook to keep it in repair, and constantly ready for use, on condition of being allowed to receive the profits. This payment continued to be exacted after the stone theatre was built. Pericles, to relieve the poorer classes, passed a law which enabled them to receive the price of admission from the state; after which all those citizens who were too poor to pay for their places applied for the money in the public assembly, which was then frequently held in the theatre. In process of time this donation was extended to other entertainments besides theatrical ones; the sum of two oboli being given to each citizen who attended; if the festival lasted two days, four oboli; and if three, six oboli; but not beyond. Hence all theoric largesses received the name of _diobelia_ (διωβελία). It is calculated that from 25 to 30 talents were spent upon them annually. So large an expenditure of the public funds upon shows and amusements absorbed the resources, which were demanded for services of a more important nature. By the ancient law, the whole surplus of the annual revenue which remained after the expense of the civil administration (τὰ περίοντα χρήματα τῆς διοικήσεως) was to be carried to the military fund, and applied to the defence of the commonwealth. Since the time of Pericles various demagogues had sprung up, who induced the people to divert all that could be spared from the other branches of civil expenditure into the theoric fund, which at length swallowed up the whole surplus, and the supplies needed for the purpose of war or defence were left to depend upon the extraordinary contributions, or property-tax (εἰσφοραί). An attempt was made by the demagogue Eubulus to perpetuate this system. He passed a law, which made it a capital offence to propose that the theoric fund should be applied to military service. The law of Eubulus was a source of great embarrassment to Demosthenes, in the prosecution of his schemes for the national defence; and he seems at last, but not before B.C. 339, to have succeeded in repealing it. In the earlier times there was no person, or board of persons, expressly appointed to manage the theoric fund. The money thus appropriated was disbursed by the Hellenotamiae. After the anarchy, the largess system having been restored by Agyrrhius, a board of managers was appointed. They were elected by show of hands at the period of the great Dionysia, one from each tribe.

THĔŌRI (θεωροί), persons sent on special missions (θεωρίαι) to perform some religious duty, as to consult an oracle, or to offer a sacrifice, on behalf of the state. There were among some of the Dorian states, as the Aeginetans, Troezenians, Messenians, and Mantineans, official priests called _Theori_, whose duty it was to consult oracles, interpret the responses, &c., as among the Spartans there were men called _Pythii_, chosen by the kings to consult the oracle at Delphi. At Athens there were no official persons called _Theori_, but the name was given to those citizens who were appointed from time to time to conduct religious embassies to various places; of which the most important were those that were sent to the Olympian, Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian games, those that went to consult the God at Delphi, and those that led the solemn procession to Delos, where the Athenians established a quadriennial festival, in revival of the ancient Ionian one, of which Homer speaks. The expense of these embassies was defrayed partly by the state, and partly by wealthy citizens, to whom the management of them was entrusted, called _Architheori_ (ἀρχιθέωροι), chiefs of the embassy. This was a sort of liturgy, and frequently a very costly one; as the chief conductor represented the state, and was expected to appear with a suitable degree of splendour; for instance, to wear a golden crown, to drive into the city with a handsome chariot, retinue, &c. The Salaminian, or Delian, ship was also called θεωρὶς ναῦς, and was principally used for conveying embassies to Delos, though, like the Paralus, it was employed on other expeditions besides.

THERMAE. [BALNEUM.]

THĒSAURUS (θησαυρός), a treasure-house. Tradition points to subterranean buildings in Greece, of unknown antiquity and of peculiar formation, as having been erected during the heroic period, for the purpose of preserving precious metals, arms, and other property (κειμήλια). Such are the treasury of Minyas, at Orchomenus, of which some remains still exist, and those of Atreus and his sons at Mycenae, the chief one of which, the so-called Treasury of Atreus, still exists almost in a perfect state. It is, however, very questionable whether these edifices were treasuries at all: some of the best archaeologists maintain that they were tombs. In the historical times, the public treasury was either in a building attached to the _agora_, or in the _opisthodomus_ of some temple. Respecting the public treasury at Rome, see AERARIUM.

THĒSEIA (θησεῖα), a festival celebrated by the Athenians in honour of their national hero Theseus, whom they believed to have been the author of their democratical form of government. In consequence of this belief donations of bread and meat were given to the poor people at the Theseia, which was thus for them a feast at which they felt no want, and might fancy themselves equal to the wealthiest citizens. The day on which this festival was held was the eighth of every month (ὀγδόαι), but more especially the eighth of Pyanepsion, whence the festival was sometimes called ὀγδόδιον. It is probable that the festival of the Theseia was not instituted till B.C. 469, when Cimon brought the remains of Theseus from Scyrus to Athens.

THESMŎPHŎRĬA (θεσμοφόρια), a great festival and mysteries, celebrated in honour of Demeter in various parts of Greece, and only by women, though some ceremonies were also performed by maidens. It was intended to commemorate the introduction of the laws and regulations of civilised life, which was universally ascribed to Demeter. The Attic thesmophoria probably lasted only three days, and began on the 11th of Pyanepsion, which day was called ἄνοδος or κάθοδος, because the solemnities were opened by the women with a procession from Athens to Eleusis. In this procession they carried on their heads sacred laws (νόμιμοι βίβλοι or θεσμοί), the introduction of which was ascribed to Demeter (Θεσμοφόρος), and other symbols of civilised life. The women spent the night at Eleusis in celebrating the mysteries of the goddess. The second day, called νηστεία, was a day of mourning, during which the women sat on the ground around the statue of Demeter, and took no other food than cakes made of sesame and honey. On this day no meetings either of the senate or the people were held. It was probably in the afternoon of this day that the women held a procession at Athens, in which they walked barefooted behind a waggon, upon which baskets with mystical symbols were conveyed to the thesmophorion. The third day, called καλλιγένεια, from the circumstance that Demeter was invoked under this name, was a day of merriment and raillery among the women themselves, in commemoration of Iambe, who was said to have made the goddess smile during her grief.

THESMŎTHĔTAE. [ARCHON.]

THĒTES. [CENSUS.]

THOLOS (θόλος, also called σκιάς), a name given to any round building which terminated at the top in a point, whatever might be the purpose for which it was used. At Athens the name was in particular applied to the new round prytaneium near the senate-house, which should not be confounded with the old prytaneium at the foot of the acropolis. It was therefore the place in which the prytanes took their common meals and offered their sacrifices. It was adorned with some small silver statues, and near it stood the ten statues of the Attic Eponymi.

THŌRAX. [LORICA.]

THRĀCES. [GLADIATORES.]

THRANĪTAE. [NAVIS.]

THRŎNUS (θρόνος), a throne, is a Greek word, for which the proper Latin term is _Solium_. This did not differ from a chair (καθέδρα) [CATHEDRA; SELLA] except in being higher, larger, and in all respects more magnificent. On account of its elevation it was always necessarily accompanied by a foot-stool (_subsellium_, ὑποπόδιον, θράνιον). The accompanying cut shows two gilded thrones with cushions and drapery, intended to be the thrones of Mars and Venus, which is expressed by the helmet on the one and the dove on the other.

THỸMĔLĒ. [THEATRUM.]

THỸRSUS (θύρσος), a pole carried by Bacchus, and by Satyrs, Maenades, and others who engaged in Bacchic festivities and rites. [DIONYSIA.] It was sometimes terminated by the apple of the pine, or fir-cone, that tree (πεύκη) being dedicated to Bacchus in consequence of the use of the turpentine which flowed from it, and also of its cones, in making wine. The monuments of ancient art, however, most commonly exhibit, instead of the pine-apple, a bunch of vine or ivy-leaves, with grapes or berries, arranged into the form of a cone. The fabulous history of Bacchus relates that he converted the thyrsi carried by himself and his followers into dangerous weapons, by concealing an iron point in the head of the leaves. Hence his thyrsus is called “a spear enveloped in vine-leaves,” and its point was thought to incite to madness.

TĬĀRA or TĬĀRAS (τιάρα or τιάρας: _Att._ κυρβασία), a hat with a large high crown. This was the head-dress which characterised the north-western Asiatics, and more especially the Armenians, Parthians, and Persians, as distinguished from the Greeks and Romans, whose hats fitted the head, or had only a low crown. The king of Persia wore an erect tiara, whilst those of his subjects were soft and flexible, falling on one side. The Persian name for this regal head-dress was _cidaris_.

TĪBĬA (αὐλός), a pipe, the commonest musical instrument of the Greeks and Romans. It was very frequently a hollow cane, perforated with holes in the proper places. In other instances it was made of some kind of wood, especially box, and was bored with a gimblet. When a single pipe was used by itself, the performer upon it, as well as the instrument, was called _monaulos_. Among the varieties of the single pipe the most remarkable were the bagpipe, the performer on which was called _utricularius_ or ἀσκαύλης; and the ἀυλὸς πλάγιος or πλαγίαυλος, which, as its name implies, had a mouth-piece inserted into it at right angles. Pan was the reputed inventor of this kind of tibia as well as of the _fistula_ or _syrinx_ [SYRINX]. But among the Greeks and Romans it was much more usual to play on two pipes at the same time. Hence a performance on this instrument (_tibicinium_), even when executed by a single person, was called _canere_ or _cantare tibiis_. This act is exhibited in very numerous works of ancient art, and often in such a way as to make it manifest that the two pipes were perfectly distinct, and not connected, as some have supposed, by a common mouth-piece. The mouth-pieces of the two pipes often passed through a capistrum. Three different kinds of pipes were originally used to produce music in the Dorian, Phrygian, and Lydian modes. It appears, also, that to produce the Phrygian mode the pipe had only two holes above, and that it terminated in a horn bending upwards. It thus approached to the nature of a trumpet, and produced slow, grave, and solemn tunes. The Lydian mode was much quicker, and more varied and animating. Horace mentions “Lydian pipes” as a proper accompaniment, when he is celebrating the praise of ancient heroes. The Lydians themselves used this instrument in leading their troops to battle; and the pipes employed for the purpose are distinguished by Herodotus as “male and female,” i.e. probably bass and treble, corresponding to the ordinary sexual difference in the human voice. The corresponding Latin terms are _tibia dextra_ and _sinistra_: the respective instruments are supposed to have been so called, because the former was more properly held in the right hand and the latter in the left. The “tibia _dextra_” was used to lead or commence a piece of music, and the “sinistra” followed it as an accompaniment. The comedies of Terence having been accompanied by the pipe, the following notices are prefixed to explain the kind of music appropriate to each: _tibiis paribus_, i.e. with pipes in the same mode; _tib. imparibus_, pipes in different modes; _tib. duabus dextris_, two pipes of low pitch; _tib. par. dextris et sinistris_, pipes in the same mode, and of both low and high pitch. The use of the pipe among the Greeks and Romans was three-fold, viz. at sacrifices (_tibiae sacrificae_), entertainments (_ludicrae_), and funerals. The pipe was not confined anciently, as it is with us, to the male sex, but αὐλητρίδες, or female tibicines were very common.

TIMĒMA (τίμημα). The penalty imposed in a court of criminal justice at Athens, and also the damages awarded in a civil action, received the name of Τίμημα, because they were _estimated_ or _assessed_ according to the injury which the public or the individual might respectively have sustained. The penalty was either fixed by the judge, or merely declared by him according to some estimate made before the cause came into court. In the first case the trial was called ἀγὼν τιμητὸς, in the second case ἀγὼν ἀτίμητος, a distinction which applies to civil as well as to criminal trials. Where a man sought to recover an estate in land, or a house, or any specific thing, as a ring, a horse, a slave, nothing further was required, than to determine to whom the estate, the house, or the thing demanded, of right belonged. The same would be the case in an action of debt, χρέους δίκη, where a sum certain was demanded. In these and many other similar cases the trial was ἀτίμητος. On the other hand, wherever the damages were in their nature _unliquidated_, and no provision had been made concerning them either by the law or by the agreement of the parties, they were to be assessed by the dicasts. The following was the course of proceeding in the τιμητοὶ ἀγῶνες. The bill of indictment (ἔγκλημα) was always superscribed with some penalty by the person who preferred it. He was said ἐπιγράφεσθαι τίμημα, and the penalty proposed is called ἐπίγραμμα. If the defendant was found guilty, the prosecutor was called upon to support the allegation in the indictment, and for that purpose to mount the platform and address the dicasts (ἀναβαίνειν εἰς τίμημα). If the accused submitted to the punishment proposed on the other side, there was no further dispute; if he thought it too severe, he made a counter proposition. He was then said ἀντιτιμᾶσθαι, or ἑαυτῷ τιμᾶσθαι. He was allowed to address the court in mitigation of punishment. After both parties had been heard, the dicasts were called upon to give their verdict. Sometimes the law expressly empowered the jury to impose an additional penalty (προστίμημα) besides the ordinary one. Here the proposition emanated from the jury themselves, any one of whom might move that the punishment allowed by the law should be awarded. He was said προστιμᾶσθαι, and the whole dicasts, if (upon a division) they adopted his proposal, were said προστιμᾷν.

TINTINNĀBŬLUM (κώδων), a bell. Bells were of various forms among the Greeks and Romans, as among us.

TĪRO, the name given by the Romans to a newly enlisted soldier, as opposed to _veteranus_, one who had had experience in war. The mode of levying troops is described under EXERCITUS. The age at which the liability to military service commenced was 17. From their first enrolment the Roman soldiers, when not actually serving against an enemy, were perpetually occupied in military exercises. They were exercised every day, the tirones twice, in the morning and afternoon, and the veterani once. The state of a tiro was called _tirocinium_; and a soldier who had attained skill in his profession was then said _tirocinium ponere_, or _deponere_. In civil life the terms _tiro_ and _tirocinium_ were applied to the assumption of the toga virilis, which was called _tirocinium fori_ [TOGA], and to the first appearance of an orator at the rostrum, _tirocinum eloquentiae_.

TĪRŌCĬNĬUM. [TIRO.]

TĬTĬI SODĀLES, a sodalitas or college of priests at Rome, who represented the second tribe of the Romans, or the Tities, that is, the Sabines, who, after their union with the Ramnes or Latins, continued to perform their own ancient Sabine sacra. To superintend and preserve these, T. Tatius is said to have instituted the Titii sodales. During the time of the republic the Titii sodales are no longer mentioned, as the sacra of the three tribes became gradually united into one common religion. Under the empire we again meet with a college of priests bearing the name of Sodales Titii or Titienses, or Sacerdotes Titiales Flaviales; but they had nothing to do with the sacra of the ancient tribe of the Tities, but were priests instituted to conduct the worship of an emperor, like the Augustales.

TĬTĬES or TĬTĬENSES. [PATRICII.]

TŎGA (τήβεννος), a gown, the name of the principal outer garment worn by the Romans, seems to have been received by them from the Etruscans. The toga was the peculiar distinction of the Romans, who were thence called _togati_ or _gens togata_. It was originally worn only in Rome itself, and the use of it was forbidden alike to exiles and to foreigners. Gradually, however, it went out of common use, and was supplanted by the pallium and lacerna, or else it was worn in public under the lacerna. [LACERNA.] But it was still used by the upper classes, who regarded it as an honourable distinction, in the courts of justice, by clients when they received the SPORTULA, and in the theatre or at the games, at least when the emperor was present. The exact form of the toga, and the manner of wearing it, have occasioned much dispute; but the following account, for which the writer is indebted to his friend Mr. George Scharf, jun., will set these matters in a clearer light than has hitherto been the case. The complete arrangement of this dress may be seen in many antique statues, but especially in that of Didius Julianus, in the Louvre, and a bronze figure of the elder Drusus discovered at Herculaneum. (See figs. 2, 3.)

The letters upon particular parts of the illustrations correspond with each other, and refer to the same places upon the general form of the toga given above. The method of adjusting the toga is simply this: the straight edge (_a b g d_) being kept towards the neck, and the rounded towards the hand, the first part of the toga hangs in front over the left shoulder to the ground (_a_, fig. 4), so as to cover that entire half of the figure viewed in front. The remainder falling behind is wrapped round the body, being carried _under_ the right arm, and brought upwards, like a belt, across the chest, covering the left arm and shoulder for a second time. It again falls behind, and terminates in the point _d_ (fig. 5), somewhat higher than the front portion (_a_).

Mode of putting on the Toga.]

So far any mantle of sufficient length might be folded, but two distinctive features of Roman dress, the umbo (_f_) and the sinus (_c e_), have yet to be considered. The sinus (_c e_) is that upper hanging portion with the curved edge downwards which shows conspicuously upon the right thigh. When the toga has been brought round to the front of the right leg, it has attained its greatest width (_e c e_), although on the figure less space is required for it. It is therefore folded over at the top, the upper part falling forward, down almost to the knee. It may be easily raised (see fig. 5) and used as a lap--hence the name sinus--to carry fruits and flowers, so often represented in ancient art. The fold at _c_ thus becomes the upper edge, and forms the balteus, which may be made still more effective by being rolled round and slightly twisted, as in figs. 2 and 5. A variety again was sometimes produced by lifting the hanging edge (_e_) of this sinus up on to the shoulder, so as to cover the right arm with that alone, and Quintilian hints that it is not ungraceful to throw back the extreme edge of that again, an effect still to be admired in some of the ancient sculptures. Fig. 5 is in the act of raising the edge. The umbo (_f_), a projecting mass of folds in front of the body, like the boss of a shield, was formed _after_ the rest of the dress had been put on in a very simple manner: a part of the front upright line (_a b_), almost covered up by the adjustment of the upper shoulder portion (_g_), was pulled out and made to hang down over the balteus or belt-like part (fig. 6). It is clearly traceable in both statues here given (figs. 2 and 3), and fig. 4 is intended to show the formation of the umbo more clearly by the right hand holding the edge, which falls over the fingers instead of the balteus. In proportion as the umbo (_f_) projects, so of course the end (_a_) is raised from the ground. The smaller figures (4 and 5) are both drawn without under-garments in order to avoid confusion. During sacrifice, when necessary to cover the head, the edge (_b_) nearest the neck was pulled up and made to cover the head, as in fig. 3, where the entire length of the edge, passing from the umbo into the sinus, is very clearly visible. The dress here is very ample, and can spare an extra length, but in the statue of a priest in the Louvre the head is covered at the expense of the umbo, which has entirely disappeared. Fig. 6 is intended to show the interlacing and arrangement of the toga by following the course of the straight edge alone from _a_ to _d_.

In many ancient statues the sleeves and folds of the tunic, being very full, are apt to be confounded with the rest, but in the best style of art this is not the case. Quintilian cautions his orators against these incumbrances. A difference in size and fulness of the toga, modified according to the rank of the wearer, may be detected in coins and sculpture, but in all cases the mode of adjustment appears to be the same.--One mode of wearing the toga was the Cinctus Gabinus. It consisted in forming a part of the toga itself into a girdle, by drawing its outer edge round the body and tying it in a knot in front, and at the same time covering the head with another portion of the garment. It was worn by persons offering sacrifices, by the consul when he declared war, and by devoted persons, as in the case of Decius. Its origin was Etruscan, as its name implies. Persons wearing this dress were said to be _procincti_ (or _incincti_) _cinctu_ (or _ritu_) _Gabino_.--The colour of the toga worn by men (_toga virilis_) was generally white, that is, the natural colour of white wool. Hence it was called _pura_ or _vestimentum purum_, in opposition to the _praetexta_ mentioned below. A brighter white was given to the toga of candidates for offices (_candidati_ from their _toga candida_) by rubbing it with chalk. There is an allusion to this custom in the phrase _cretata ambitio_. White togas are often mentioned as worn at festivals, which does not imply that they were not worn commonly, but that new or fresh-cleaned togas were first put on at festivals. The toga was kept white and clean by the fuller. When this was neglected, the toga was called _sordida_, and those who wore such garments _sordidati_. This dress (with disarranged hair and other marks of disorder about the person) was worn by accused persons, as in the case of Cicero. The _toga pulla_, which was of the natural colour of black wool, was worn in private mourning, and sometimes also by artificers and others of the lower orders.--The _toga picta_, which was ornamented with Phrygian embroidery, was worn by generals in triumphs [TRIUMPHUS], and under the emperors by the consuls, and by the praetors when they celebrated the games. It was also called _Capitolina_. The _toga palmata_ was a kind of toga picta.--The _toga praetexta_ had a broad purple border. It was worn with the BULLA, by children of both sexes. It was also worn by magistrates, both those of Rome, and those of the colonies and municipia; by the sacerdotes, and by persons engaged in sacred rites or paying vows. Among those who possessed the _jus togae praetextae habendae_, the following may be more particularly mentioned: the dictator, the consuls, the praetors (who laid aside the praetexta when about to condemn a Roman citizen to death), the augurs (who, however, are supposed by some to have worn the trabea), the decemviri sacris faciundis, the aediles, the triumviri epulones, the senators on festival days, the magistri collegii, and the magistri vicorum when celebrating games. In the case of the tribuni plebis, censors, and quaestors, there is some doubt upon the subject. The toga praetexta is said to have been derived from the Etruscans, and to have been first adopted, with the latus clavus [CLAVUS LATUS], by Tullus Hostilius as the royal robe, whence its use by the magistrates in the republic. The toga praetexta and the bulla aurea were first given to boys in the case of the son of Tarquinius Priscus, who, at the age of fourteen, in the Sabine war, slew an enemy with his own hand. Respecting the leaving off of the toga praetexta, and the assumption of the toga virilis, see IMPUBES and CLAVUS LATUS. The occasion was celebrated with great rejoicings by the friends of the youth, who attended him in a solemn procession to the Forum and Capitol. This assumption of the toga virilis was called _tirocinium fori_, as being the young man’s introduction to public life. Girls wore the praetexta till their marriage.--The _trabea_ was a toga ornamented with purple horizontal stripes. There were three kinds of trabeae; one wholly of purple, which was sacred to the gods, another of purple and white, and another of purple and saffron, which belonged to augurs. The purple and white trabea was a royal robe, and is assigned to the Latin and early Roman kings, especially to Romulus. It was worn by the consuls in public solemnities, such as opening the temple of Janus. The equites wore it at the _transvectio_, and in other public solemnities. Hence the _trabea_ is mentioned as the badge of the equestrian order. Lastly, the toga worn by the Roman emperors was wholly of purple. It appears to have been first assumed by Julius Caesar.--The material of which the toga was commonly made was wool. It was sometimes thick and sometimes thin. The former was the _toga densa_, _pinguis_, or _hirta_. A new toga, with the nap neither worn off nor cut close, was called pexa, to which is opposed the _trita_ or _rasa_, which was used as a summer dress. The toga was originally worn by both sexes; but when the stola came to be worn by matrons, the toga was only worn by the meretrices, and by women who had been divorced on account of adultery. [STOLA.] In war the toga was laid aside, and replaced by the PALUDAMENTUM and SAGUM. Hence _togatus_ is opposed to _miles_.

TONSOR. [BARBA.]

TORCŬLAR, TORCŬLUM. [VINUM.]

TORMENTUM (ἀφετήρια ὄργανα), a military engine, so called from the twisting (_torquendo_) of hairs, thongs, and vegetable fibres. The principal military engines were the _balista_ and _catapulta_. The _balista_ (πετροβόλος) was used to shoot stones; the _catapulta_ (καταπέλτης, καταπελτική) to project darts, especially the falarica [HASTA], and a kind of missile, 4½ feet long, called _trifax_. Whilst in besieging a city the ram [ARIES] was employed in destroying the lower part of the wall, the balista was used to overthrow the battlements (_propugnacula_, ἐπαλξεῖς), and the catapult to shoot any of the besieged who appeared between them: the forms of these machines being adapted to the objects which they were intended to throw; the catapult was long, the balista nearly square. Instances are recorded in which the balista threw stones to the distance of a quarter of a mile. Some balistae threw stones weighing three hundredweight. Of the _scorpio_ or _onager_, which was also a species of tormentum, we know next to nothing.

TORMENTUM (βάσανος), torture. (1) GREEK.--By a decree of Scamandrius it was ordained that no free Athenian could be put to the torture, and this appears to have been the general practice. The evidence of slaves was, however, always taken with torture, and their testimony was not otherwise received. From this circumstance their testimony appears to have been considered of more value than that of freemen. Any person might offer his own slave to be examined by torture, or demand that of his adversary, and the offer or demand was equally called πρόκλησις εἰς βάσανον. The parties interested either superintended the torture themselves, or chose certain persons for this purpose, hence called βασανισταὶ, who took the evidence of the slaves. (2) ROMAN.--During the time of the republic freemen were never put to the torture, and slaves only were exposed to this punishment. Slaves, moreover, could not be tortured to prove the guilt of their own master, except in the case of incestus, which was a crime against the gods, or unless the senate made an exception in some special instance. At a later time slaves might be tortured to bear witness against their masters in cases of majestas and adultery. Under the emperors even free persons were put to the torture to extract evidence from them in cases of majestas; and although this indignity was confined for the most part to persons in humble circumstances, we read of cases in which even Roman senators and equites were exposed to it.

TORQUES or TORQUIS (στρεπτός), an ornament of gold, twisted spirally and bent into a circular form, which was worn round the neck by men of distinction among the Persians, the Gauls, and other Asiatic and northern nations. It was by taking a collar from a Gallic warrior that T. Manlius obtained the cognomen of _Torquatus_. Such collars were among the rewards of valour bestowed after an engagement upon those who had most distinguished themselves.

TŎRUS, a bed covered with sheets or blankets, called _Toralia_.

TRĂBEA. [TOGA.]

TRĂGOEDIA (τραγῳδία), tragedy. (1) GREEK. The tragedy of the ancient Greeks as well as their comedy confessedly originated in the worship of the god Dionysus. The peculiarity which most strikingly distinguishes the Greek tragedy from that of modern times, is the lyrical or choral part. This was the offspring of the dithyrambic and choral odes from which, as applied to the worship of Dionysus, Greek tragedy took its rise. The name of Tragedy (τραγῳδία) is probably derived from the goatlike appearance of the Satyrs who sang or acted with mimetic gesticulations (ὄρχησις) the old Bacchic songs, with Silenus, the constant companion of Dionysus, for their leader. The Dionysian dithyrambs were sometimes of a gay and at other times of a mournful character: it was from the latter that the stately and solemn tragedy of the Greeks arose. Great improvements were introduced in the dithyramb by Arion, a contemporary of Periander. Before his time the dithyramb was sung in a wild and irregular manner; but he is said to have invented the Cyclic chorus, by which we are to understand that the Dithyramb was danced by a chorus of fifty men round an altar. The choral Dithyrambic songs prevailed to some extent, as all choral poetry did, amongst the Dorians of the Peloponnesus; whence the choral element of the Attic tragedy was always written in the Dorian dialect, thus showing its origin. The lyrical poetry was, however, especially popular at Sicyon and Corinth. In the latter city Arion made his improvements; in the former “tragic choruses,” i.e. dithyrambs of a sad and plaintive character, were very ancient. From the more solemn Dithyrambs then, as improved by Arion, ultimately sprang the dramatic tragedy of Athens, somewhat in the following manner. The choruses were under the direction of a leader or exarchus, who, it may be supposed, came forward separately, and whose part was sometimes taken by the poet himself. We may also conjecture that the exarchus in each case led off by singing or reciting his part in a solo, and that the chorus dancing round the altar then expressed their feelings of joy or sorrow at his story, representing the perils and sufferings of Dionysus, or some hero, as it might be. The subjects of this Dithyrambic tragedy were not, however, always confined to Dionysus. Even Arion wrote Dithyrambs, relating to different heroes, a practice in which he was followed by succeeding poets. It is easy to conceive how the introduction of an actor or speaker independent of the chorus might have been suggested by the exarchs coming forward separately and making short off-hand speeches, whether learnt by heart beforehand, or made on the spur of the moment. [CHORUS.] But it is also possible, if not probable, that it was suggested by the rhapsodical recitations of the epic and gnomic poets formerly prevalent in Greece: the gnomic poetry being generally written in Iambic verse, the metre of the Attic dialogue. This however is certain, that the union of the Iambic dialogue with the lyrical chorus took place at Athens under Pisistratus, and that it was attributed to Thespis, a native of Icaria, one of the country demes or parishes of Attica where the worship of Dionysus had long prevailed. The alteration made by him, and which gave to the old tragedy a new and dramatic character, was very simple but very important. He introduced an actor, as it is recorded, for the sake of giving rest to the chorus, and independent of it, in which capacity he probably appeared himself, taking various parts in the same piece, under various disguises, which he was enabled to assume by means of linen masks, the invention of which is attributed to him. Now as a chorus, by means of its leader, could maintain a dialogue with the actor, it is easy to see how with one actor only a dramatic action might be introduced, continued, and concluded, by the speeches between the choral songs expressive of the joy or sorrow of the chorus at the various events of the drama. With respect to the character of the drama of Thespis there has been much doubt: some writers, and especially Bentley, have maintained that his plays were all satyrical and ludicrous, i.e. the plot of them was some story of Bacchus, the chorus consisted principally of satyrs, and the argument was merry. But perhaps the truth is that in the early part of his career Thespis retained the satyrical character of the older tragedy, but afterwards inclined to more serious compositions, which would almost oblige him to discard the Satyrs from his choruses. That he did write serious dramas is intimated by the titles of the plays ascribed to him, as well as by the character of the fragments of Iambic verse quoted by ancient writers as his. It is evident that the introduction of the dialogue must also have caused an alteration in the arrangement of the chorus, which could not remain cyclic or circular, but must have been drawn up in a rectangular form about the thymele or altar of Bacchus in front of the actor, who was elevated on a platform or table (ἐλεός), the forerunner of the stage. The lines of Horace (_Ar. Poet._ 276):--

“Dicitur et plaustris vexisse poemata Thespis,
Quae canerent agerentque peruncti faecibus ora”--