MAENIĀNUM, signified, originally, a projecting balcony, which was erected round the Roman forum, by the censor, C. Maenius,B.C.318, in order to give more accommodation to the spectators of the gladiatorial combats. Hence balconies in general came to be calledmaeniana.
MĂGĂDIS. [Lyra.]
MĂGISTER., which contains the same root asmag-isandmag-nus, was applied at Rome to persons possessing various kinds of offices, and especially to the leading person in a collegium or corporation [Collegium]; thus themagister societatiswas the president of the corporation of equites, who farmed the taxes at Rome.
MĂGISTER ĔQUITUM. [Dictator.]
MĂGISTRĀTUS was a personqui juri dicundo praeerat. The King was originally the sole Magistratus; he had all the Potestas. On the expulsion of the Kings, two Consuls were annually appointed, and they were Magistratus. In course of time other Magistratus were appointed; namely, dictators, censors, praetors, aediles, tribunes of the plebs, and the decemviri litibus judicandis. The governors of provinces with the title of propraetor or proconsul were also Magistratus. The word Magistratus contains the same element asmag(ister)andmag(nus); and it signifies both the person and the office, as we see in the phrasese magistratu abdicare. The auspicia maxima belonged to the consuls, praetors, and censors, and the minora auspicia to the other magistrates; accordingly the consuls, praetors, and censors were calledMajores, and they were elected at the comitia centuriata; the other magistratus were calledMinores. The former had the imperium, the latter had not. The magistratus were also divided into curules and those who were not curules: the magistratus curules were the dictator, consuls, praetors, censors, and the curule aediles, who were so called, because they had the jus sellae curulis. The magistrates were chosen only from the patricians in the early republic, but in course of time the plebeians shared these honours, with the exception of that of the Interrex: the plebeian magistratus, properly so called, were the plebeian aediles and the tribuni plebis.
MAJESTAS pretty nearly corresponds to treason in English law; but all the offences included under majestas comprehend more than the English treason. One of the offences included in majestas was the effecting, aiding in, or planning the death of a magistratus populi Romani, or of one who had imperium or potestas. Though the phrasecrimen majestatiswas used, the complete expression wascrimen laesae,imminutae,diminutae, orminutae majestatis. The word majestas, consistently with its relation tomag(nus), signifies the magnitude or greatness of a thing. Accordingly, the phrasesmajestas populi Romani,imperii majestas, signify the whole of that which constituted the Roman state; in other words, the sovereign power of the Roman state. The expressionminuere majestatemconsequently signifies any act by which this majestas is impaired. In the republican period the termmajestas laesaorminutawas most commonly applied to cases of a general betraying or surrendering hisarmy to the enemy, exciting sedition, and generally by his bad conduct in administration impairing the majestas of the state. The old punishment of majestas was perpetual interdiction from fire and water. In the later imperial period, persons of low condition were thrown to wild beasts, or burnt alive; persons of better condition were simply put to death. In the early times of the republic, every act of a citizen which was injurious to the state or its peace was calledperduellio, and the offender (perduellis) was tried before the populus (populi judicio), and, if convicted, put to death.Perduellisoriginally signifiedhostis; and thus the old offence of perduellio was equivalent to making war on the Roman state. The trial for perduellio (perduellionis judicium) existed to the later times of the republic; but the name seems to have almost fallen into disuse, and various leges were passed for the purpose of determining more accurately what should be majestas. These were a lex Apuleia, probably passed in the fifth consulship of Marius, the exact contents of which are unknown, a lex VariaB.C.91, a lex Cornelia passed by L. Cornelius Sulla, and the lex Julia, which continued under the empire to be the fundamental enactment on this subject. This lex Julia is by some attributed to C. Julius Caesar, and assigned to the yearB.C.48. Under the empire the term majestas was applied to the person of the reigning Caesar, and we find the phrases majestas Augusta, imperatoria, and regia. It was, however, nothing new to apply the term to the emperor, considered in some of his various capacities, for it was applied to the magistratus under the republic, as to the consul and praetor. Horace even addresses Augustus in the termsmajestas tua, but this can hardly be viewed otherwise than as a personal compliment, and not as said with reference to any of the offices which he held.
MALLĔŎLUS, a hammer, the transverse head of which was formed for holding pitch and tow, which, having been set on fire, was projected slowly, so that it might not be extinguished during its flight, upon houses and other buildings in order to set them on fire: it was therefore commonly used in sieges together with torches and falaricae.
MĀLUS. [Navis.]
MANCEPS has the same relation to Mancipium that Auspex has to Auspicium. It is properlyqui manu capit. But the word has several special significations. Mancipes were they who bid at the public lettings of the censors for the purpose of farming any part of the public property. Sometimes the chief of the publicani generally are meant by this term, as they were no doubt the bidders and gave the security, and then they shared the undertaking with others or underlet it. The mancipes would accordingly have distinctive names according to the kind of revenue which they took on lease, asDecumani,Portitores,Pecuarii.
MANCĬPĀTĬO. [Mancipium.]
MANCĬPĬUM, MANCĬPĀTIO. These words are used to indicate the formal transfer of the ownership of a thing, and are derived from the fact that the person who received the thing took hold of it (mancipatio dicitur quia manu res capitur). It was not a simple corporeal apprehension, but one which was accompanied with certain forms described by Gaius the jurist:—“Mancipatio is effected in the presence of not less than five witnesses, who must be Roman citizens and of the age of puberty (puberes), and also in the presence of another person of the same status, who holds a pair of brazen scales, and hence is calledLibripens. The purchaser (qui mancipio accipit), taking hold of the thing, says: I affirm that this slave (homo) is mine Ex Jure Quiritium, and he is purchased by me with this piece of money (aes) and brazen scales. He then strikes the scales with the piece of money, and gives it to the seller as a symbol of the price (quasi pretii loco).” This mode of transfer applied to all free persons or slaves, animals or lands, all of which persons and things were calledRes Mancipi; other things were calledNec Mancipi. Lands (praedia) might be thus transferred, though the parties to the mancipatio were not on the lands; but all other things, which were objects of mancipatio, were only transferable in the presence of the parties, because corporeal apprehension was a necessary part of the ceremony. The party who transferred the ownership of a thing pursuant to these forms was saidmancipio dare; he who thus acquired the ownership was saidmancipio accipere. The verbmancipareis sometimes used as equivalent tomancipio dare. Mancipium may be used as equivalent to complete ownership, and may thus be opposed toususand tofructus. Sometimes the word mancipium signifies a slave, as being one of the res mancipi.
MANDĀTUM, often signifies a command from a superior to an inferior. Under the empire the mandata principum were the commands and instructions given to governors of provinces and others.
MĂNĬPŬLUS. [Exercitus.]
MANSĬOσταθμός, a post-station at the end of a day’s journey. The word is derived frommanere, signifying to pass the night at a place in travelling. On the great Roman roadsthe mansiones were at the same distance from one another as on those of the Persian empire, where such resting-places (khans or caravanseras) were first provided, viz. at intervals of about 20 English miles. They were originally calledcastra, being probably mere places of encampment formed by making earthen entrenchments. In process of time they included, not only barracks and magazines of provisions (horrea) for the troops, but commodious buildings adapted for the reception of travellers of all ranks, and even of the emperor himself, if he should have occasion to visit them. At those stations the cisiarii kept gigs for hire and for conveying government despatches. [Cisium;Essedum.] Themansiowas under the superintendence of an officer calledmansionarius.
MĂNŬBĬAE. [Spolia.]
MĂNŪMISSĬO was the form by which slaves were released from slavery. There were three modes by which this was effected, namely, Vindicta, Census, and Testamentum. Of these the manumissio by vindicta is probably the oldest, and perhaps was once the only mode of manumission. It is mentioned by Livy as in use at an early period; and, indeed, he states that some persons refer the origin of the vindicta to the event which he relates, and derive its name from Vindicius; the latter part, at least, of the supposition is of no value. The ceremony of the manumissio by the vindicta was as follows:—The master brought his slave before the magistratus, and stated the grounds (causa) of the intended manumission. The lictor of the magistratus laid a rod (festuca) on the head of the slave, accompanied with certain formal words, in which he declared that he was a freeman ex jure quiritium, that is,vindicavit in libertatem. The master in the meantime held the slave, and after he had pronounced the wordshunc hominem liberum volo, he turned him round and let him go (emisit e manu), whence the general name of the act of manumission. The word vindicta itself, which is properly the resvindicata, is used for festuca by Horace. In the case of the census the slave was registered by the censors as a citizen with his master’s consent. The third mode of manumission was, when a master gave liberty to a slave by his will (testamentum). The act of manumission established the relation of patronus and libertus between the manumissor and the manumitted. When manumitted by a citizen, the libertus took the praenomen and the gentile name of the manumissor, and became in a sense a member of the gens of his patron. To these two names he added some other name as a cognomen, either some name by which he was previously known, or some name assumed on the occasion: thus we find the names M. Tullius Tiro, P. Terentius Afer, and other like names. The relation between a patronus and libertus is stated underPatronus. Before the yearB.C.311, the libertini had not the suffragium, but in that year the censor Appius Claudius gave the libertini a place in the tribes, and from this time the libertini had the suffragium after they were duly admitted on the censors’ roll. In the yearB.C.304, they were placed in the tribus urbanae, and not allowed to perform military service. In the censorship of Tiberius Gracchus,B.C.169, they were placed in one of the tribus urbanae, determined by lot. Subsequently, by a law of Aemilius Scaurus, aboutB.C.116, they were restored to the four city tribes, and this remained their condition to the end of the republic, though various attempts were made to give them a better suffrage. A tax was levied on manumission by a lex Manlia,B.C.357: it consisted of the twentieth part of the value of the slave, hence calledVicesima.
MĂNUS FERREA. [Harpago.]
MARSŪPĬUM (μαρσύπιον,βαλάντιον), a purse. The purse used by the ancients was commonly a small leathern bag, and was often closed by being drawn together at the mouth (σύσπαστα βαλάντια). Mercury is commonly represented holding one in his hand. (See cut,p. 63.)
MARTỸRĬA (μαρτύρια), signifies strictly the deposition of a witness in a court of justice, though the word is applied metaphorically to all kinds of testimony. At Athens none but freemen could be witnesses. The incapacity of women may be inferred from the general policy of the Athenian law, and the absence of any example in the orators where a woman’s evidence is produced. The same observation applies to minors. Slaves were not allowed to give evidence, unless upon examination by torture (βάσανος). Citizens who had been disfranchised (ἠτιμωμένοι) could not appear as witnesses (any more than as jurors or plaintiffs) in a court of justice; for they had lost all honourable rights and privileges. But there was no objection to alien freemen. The party who desired the evidence of a witness, summoned him to attend for that purpose. The summons was calledπρόσκλησις. If the witness promised to attend and failed to do so, he was liable to an action calledδίκη λειπομαρτυρίου. Whether he promised or not, he was bound to attend, and if his absence caused injury to the party, he was liable to an action (δίκη βλάβης). The attendance of the witness was first required at theἀνάκρισις, where he was to make his deposition before the superintending magistrate(ἡγεμὼνδικαστηρίου). The party in whose favour he appeared, generally wrote the deposition at home upon a whitened board or tablet (λελευκωμένον γραμματεῖον), which he brought with him to the magistrate’s office, and, when the witness had deposed thereto, put into the box (ἐχῖνος) in which all the documents in the cause were deposited. An oath was usually taken by the witness at theἀνάκρισις, where he was sworn by the opposite party at an altar. The witness, whether he had attended before the magistrate or not, was obliged to be present at the trial, in order to confirm his testimony. The only exception was, when he was ill or out of the country, in which case a commission might be sent to examine him. [Ecmartyria.] All evidence was produced by the party during his own speech, theκλεψύδραbeing stopped for that purpose. The witness was called by an officer of the court, and mounted on the raised platform (βῆμα.) of the speaker, while his deposition was read over to him by the clerk; he then signified his assent, either by express words, or bowing his head in silence.—We conclude by noticing a few expressions.Μαρτυρεῖν τινιis to testify in favour of a man,καταμαρτυρεῖν τινοςto testify against.Μαρτύρεσθαιto call to witness (a word used poetically),διαμαρτύρεσθαιand sometimesἐπιμαρτύρεσθαι τοὺς παρόντας, to call upon those who are present to take notice of what passes, with a view to give evidence.Ψευδομαρτυρεῖνandἐπιορκεῖνare never used indifferently, which affords some proof that testimony was not necessarily on oath. Theμάρτυς(witness in the cause) is to be distinguished from theκλητὴρorκλήτωρ, who merely gave evidence of the summons to appear.
MASTĪGŎPHŎRI or MASTĪGŎNOMI (μαστιγοφόροιorμαστιγονόμοι), the name of the lower police officers in the Greek states, who carried into execution the corporal punishments inflicted by the higher magistrates. In the theatre the mastigophori preserved order, and were stationed for this purpose in the orchestra, near the thymele. In the Olympic games theῥαβδοῦχοιperformed the same duties. At Athens they were discharged by the public slaves, called bowmen (τοξόται), or Scythians (Σκύθαι). [Demosii.]
MĀTERFĂMĬLĬAS. [Matrimonium.]
MATRĀLĬA, a festival celebrated at Rome every year on the 11th of June, in honour of the goddess Mater Matuta, whose temple stood in the Forum Boarium. It was celebrated only by Roman matrons, and the sacrifices offered to the goddess consisted of cakes baked in pots of earthenware. Slaves were not allowed to take part in the solemnities, or to enter the temple of the goddess. One slave, however, was admitted by the matrons, but only to be exposed to a humiliating treatment, for one of the matrons gave her a blow on the cheek, and then sent her away from the temple. The matrons on this occasion took with them the children of their sisters, but not their own, held them in their arms, and prayed for their welfare.
MĀTRŌNĀLĬA, a festival celebrated on the Kalends of March in honour of Juno Lucina. Hence Horace says, “Martiiscaelebsquid agam Kalendis.”
MĀTRĬMŌNĬUM NUPTĬAE (γάμος), marriage. (1)Greek.The ancient Greek legislators considered the relation of marriage as a matter not merely of private, but also of public or general interest. This was particularly the case at Sparta, where proceedings might be taken against those who married too late or unsuitably, as well as against those who did not marry at all. But independent of public considerations, there were also private or personal reasons, peculiar to the ancients, which made marriage an obligation. One of these was the duty incumbent upon every individual to provide for a continuance of representatives to succeed himself as ministers of the Divinity; and another was the desire felt by almost every one, not merely to perpetuate his own name, but to leave some one who might make the customary offerings at his grave. We are told that with this view childless persons sometimes adopted children. The choice of a wife among the ancients was but rarely grounded upon affection, and scarcely ever could have been the result of previous acquaintance or familiarity. In many cases a father chose for his son a bride whom the latter had never seen, or compelled him to marry for the sake of checking his extravagances. By the Athenian laws a citizen was not allowed to marry with a foreign woman, nor conversely, under very severe penalties, but proximity by blood (ἀγχιστεία), or consanguinity (συγγένεια), was not, with some few exceptions, a bar to marriage in any part of Greece; direct lineal descent was. At Athens the most important preliminary to marriage was the betrothal (ἐγγύησις), which was in fact indispensable to the complete validity of a marriage contract. It was made by the natural or legal guardian (ὁ κύριος) of the bride elect, and attended by the relatives of both parties as witnesses. The wife’s dowry was settled at the betrothal. On the day before thegamos, or marriage, or sometimes on the day itself, certain sacrifices or offerings (προτέλεια γάμωνorπρογάμεια)were made to the gods who presided over marriage. Another ceremony of almost general observance on the wedding day, was the bathing of both the bride and bridegroom in water fetched from some particular fountain, whence, as some think, the custom of placing the figure of aλουτροφόροςor “water carrier” over the tombs of those who died unmarried. After these preliminaries, the bride was generally conducted from her father’s to the house of the bridegroom at nightfall, in a chariot (ἐφ’ ἁμάξης) drawn by a pair of males or oxen, and furnished with a kind of couch (κλινίς) as a seat. On either side of her sat the bridegroom and one of his most intimate friends or relations, who from his office was called theparanymph(παράνυμφοςorνυμφευτής); but as he rode in the carriage (ὄχημα) with the bride and bridegroom, he was sometimes called theπάροχος. The nuptial procession was probably accompanied, according to circumstances, by a number of persons, some of whom carried the nuptial torches. Both bride and bridegroom (the former veiled) were decked out in their best attire, with chaplets on their heads, and the doors of their houses were hung with festoons of ivy and bay. As the bridal procession moved along, the hymenaean song was sung to the accompaniment of Lydian flutes, even in olden times, as beautifully described by Homer, and the married pair received the greetings and congratulations of those who met them. After entering the bridegroom’s house, into which the bride was probably conducted by his mother, bearing a lighted torch, it was customary to shower sweetmeats upon them (καταχύσματα), as emblems of plenty and prosperity. After this came the nuptial feast, to which the namegamoswas particularly applied; it was generally given in the house of the bridegroom or his parents; and besides being a festive meeting, served other and more important purposes. There was no public rite, whether civil or religious, connected with the celebration of marriage amongst the ancient Greeks, and therefore no public record of its solemnisation. This deficiency then was supplied by the marriage feast, for the guests were of course competent to prove the fact of a marriage having taken place. To this feast, contrary to the usual practice amongst the Greeks, women were invited as well as men; but they seem to have sat at a separate table, with the bride still veiled amongst them. At the conclusion of this feast she was conducted by her husband into the bridal chamber; and a law of Solon required that on entering it they should eat a quince together, as if to indicate that their conversation ought to be sweet and agreeable. The song called theEpithalamiumwas then sung before the doors of the bridal chamber. The day after the marriage, the first of the bride’s residence in her new abode, was called theepaulia(ἐπαύλια); on which their friends sent the customary presents to the newly married couple. On another day, theapaulia(ἀπαύλια), perhaps the second after marriage, the bridegroom left his house, to lodge apart from his wife at his father’s-in-law. Some of the presents made to the bride by her husband and friends were calledanacalypteria(ἀνακαλυπτήρια), as being given on the occasion of the bride first appearing unveiled: they were probably given on theepaulia, or day after the marriage. Another ceremony observed after marriage was the sacrifice which the husband offered up on the occasion of his bride being registered amongst his own phratores. The above account refers to Athenian customs.—At Sparta the betrothal of the bride by her father or guardian (κύριος) was requisite as a preliminary of marriage, as well as at Athens. Another custom peculiar to the Spartans, and a relic of ancient times, was the seizure of the bride by her intended husband, but of course with the sanction of her parents or guardians. She was not, however, immediately domiciled in her husband’s house, but cohabited with him for some time clandestinely, till he brought her, and frequently her mother also, to his home.—The Greeks, generally speaking, entertained little regard for the female character. They considered women, in fact, as decidedly inferior to men, qualified to discharge only the subordinate functions in life, and rather necessary as helpmates than agreeable as companions. To these notions female education for the most part corresponded, and in fact confirmed them; it did not supply the elegant accomplishments and refinement of manners which permanently engage the affections, when other attractions have passed away. Aristotle states, that the relation of man to woman is that of the governor to the subject; and Plato, that a woman’s virtue may be summed up in a few words, for she has only to manage the house well, keeping what there is in it, and obeying her husband. Among the Dorians, however, and especially at Sparta, women enjoyed much more estimation than in the rest of Greece.—(2)Roman.A legal Roman marriage was calledjustae nuptiae,justum matrimonium, as being conformable tojus(civile) or to law. A legal marriage was eitherCum conventione uxoris in manum virior it was withoutthis convention.But both forms of marriage agreedin this: there must be connubium between the parties, and consent. The legal consequences as to the power of the father over his children were the same in both.Connubiumis merely a term which comprehends all the conditions of a legal marriage. Generally it may be stated, that there was only connubium between Roman citizens; the cases in which it at any time existed between parties, not both Roman citizens, were exceptions to the general rule. Originally, or at least at one period of the republic, there was no connubium between the patricians and the plebeians; but this was altered by the Lex Canuleia (B.C.445.), which allowed connubium between persons of those two classes. There were various degrees of consanguinity and affinity, within which there was no connubium. An illegal union of a male and female, though affecting to be, was not a marriage: the man had no legal wife, and the children had no legal father: consequently they were not in the power of their reputed father. The marriageCum conventionediffered from thatSine conventione, in the relationship which it effected between the husband and the wife; the marriagecum conventionewas a necessary condition to make a woman amaterfamilias. By the marriage cum conventione, the wife passed into the familia of her husband, and was to him in the relation of a daughter, or, as it was expressed,in manum convenit. In the marriage sine conventione, the wife’s relation to her own familia remained as before, and she was merelyuxor. “Uxor,” says Cicero, “is a genus of which there are two species; one ismaterfamilias, quae in manum convenit; the other isuxoronly.” Accordingly, a materfamilias is a wife who is in manu, and in the familia of her husband. A wife not in manu was not a member of her husband’s familia, and therefore the term could not apply to her.Matronawas properly a wife not in manu, and equivalent to uxor; and she was called matrona before she had any children. But these words are not always used in these their original and proper meanings. It does not appear that any forms were requisite in the marriage sine conventione; and apparently the evidence of such marriage was cohabitation matrimonii causa. The matrimonii causa might be proved by various kinds of evidence. In the case of a marriage cum conventione, there were three forms, 1.Usus, 2.Farreum, and 3.Coemptio.—1. Marriage was effected byusus, if a woman lived with a man for a whole year as his wife; and this was by analogy to usucaption of movables generally, in which usus for one year gave ownership. The Law of the Twelve Tables provided, that if a woman did not wish to come into the manus of her husband in this manner, she should absent herself from him annually for three nights (trinoctium) and so break the usus of the year. 2.Farreumwas a form of marriage, in which certain words were used in the presence of ten witnesses, and were accompanied by a certain religious ceremony, in which panis farreus was employed; and hence this form of marriage was also calledconfarreatio. It appears that certain priestly offices, such as that of Flamen Dialis, could only be held by those who were born of parents who had been married by this ceremony (confarreati parentes). 3.Coemptiowas effected by mancipatio, and consequently the wife was in mancipio. [Mancipium.] A woman who was cohabiting with a man as uxor, might come into his manus by this ceremony, in which case the coemptio was said to be matrimonii causa, and she who was formerly uxor becameapud maritum filiae loco.Sponsaliawere not an unusual preliminary of marriage, but they were not necessary.—The sponsalia were an agreement to marry, made in such form as to give each party a right of action in case of non-performance, and the offending party was condemned in such damages as to the judex seemed just. The woman who was promised in marriage was accordingly calledsponsa, which is equivalent to promissa; the man who was engaged to marry was calledsponsus.—The sponsalia were of course not binding, if the parties consented to waive the contract. Sometimes a present was made by the future husband to the future wife by way of earnest (arrha,arrha sponsalitia), or, as it was called,propter nuptias donatio.—The consequences of marriage were—1. The power of the father over the children of the marriage, which was a completely new relation, an effect indeed of marriage, but one which had no influence over the relation of the husband and wife. [Patria Potestas.] 2. The liabilities of either of the parties to the punishments affixed to the violation of the marriage union. [Adulterium;Divortium.] 3. The relation of husband and wife with respect to property. [Dos.] When marriage was dissolved, the parties to it might marry again; but opinion considered it more decent for a woman not to marry again. A woman was required by usage (mos) to wait a year before she contracted a second marriage, on the pain of infamia.—It remains to describe the customs and rites which were observed by the Romans at marriages. After the parties hadagreed to marry and the persons in whose potestas they were had consented, a meeting of friends was sometimes held at the house of the maiden for the purpose of settling the marriage-contract, which was written on tablets, and signed by both parties. The woman after she had promised to become the wife of a man was calledsponsa,pacta,dicta, orsperata. It appears that, at least during the imperial period, the man put a ring on the finger of his betrothed, as a pledge of his fidelity. This ring was probably, like all rings at this time, worn on the left hand, and on the finger nearest to the smallest. The last point to be fixed was the day on which the marriage was to take place. The Romans believed that certain days were unfortunate for the performance of the marriage rites, either on account of the religious character of those days themselves, or on account of the days by which they were followed, as the woman had to perform certain religious rites on the day after her wedding, which could not take place on a dies ater. Days not suitable for entering upon matrimony were the calends, nones, and ides of every month, all dies atri, the whole months of May and February, and a great number of festivals. On the wedding-day, which in the early times was never fixed upon without consulting the auspices, the bride was dressed in a long white robe with a purple fringe, or adorned with ribands. This dress was calledtunica recta, and was bound round the waist with a girdle (corona,cingulum, orzona), which the husband had to untie in the evening. The bridal veil, calledflammeum, was of a bright yellow colour, and her shoes likewise. Her hair was divided on this occasion with the point of a spear. The bride was conducted to the house of her husband in the evening. She was taken with apparent violence from the arms of her mother, or of the person who had to give her away. On her way she was accompanied by three boys dressed in the praetexta, and whose fathers and mothers were still alive (patrimi et matrimi). One of them carried before her a torch of white thorn (spina), or, according to others, of pine wood; the two others walked by her side, supporting her by the arm. The bride herself carried a distaff and a spindle, with wool. A boy calledcamilluscarried in a covered vase (cumera,cumerum, orcamillum), the so-called utensils of the bride and playthings for children (crepundia). Besides these persons who officiated on the occasion, the procession was attended by a numerous train of friends, both of the bride and the bridegroom. When the procession arrived at the house of the bridegroom, the door of which was adorned with garlands and flowers, the bride was carried across the threshold bypronubi,i.e.men who had been married to only one woman, that she might not knock against it with her foot, which would have been an evil omen. Before she entered the house, she wound wool around the door-posts of her new residence, and anointed them with lard (adeps suillus) or wolf’s fat (adeps lupinus). The husband received her with fire and water, which the woman had to touch. This was either a symbolic purification, or a symbolic expression of welcome, as the interdicere aqua et igni was the formula for banishment. The bride saluted her husband with the words:ubi tu Caius, ego Caia. After she had entered the house with distaff and spindle, she was placed upon a sheep-skin, and here the keys of the house were delivered into her hands. A repast (coena nuptialis) given by the husband to the whole train of relatives and friends who accompanied the bride, generally concluded the solemnity of the day. Many ancient writers mention a very popular song,TalasiusorTalassio, which was sung at weddings; but whether it was sung during the repast or during the procession is not quite clear, though we may infer from the story respecting the origin of the song, that it was sung while the procession was advancing towards the house of the husband. It may easily be imagined that a solemnity like that of marriage did not take place among the merry and humorous Italians without a variety of jests and railleries, and the ancient writers mention songs which were sung before the door of the bridal apartment by girls, after the company had left. These songs were probably the old Fescennina [Fescennina], and are frequently calledEpithalamia. At the end of the repast the bride was conducted by matrons who had not had more than one husband (pronubae), to the lectus genialis in the atrium, which was on this occasion magnificently adorned and strewed with flowers. On the following day the husband sometimes gave another entertainment to his friends, which was calledrepotia, and the woman, who on this day undertook the management of the house of her husband, had to perform certain religious rites; on which account, as was observed above, it was necessary to select a day for the marriage which was not followed by a dies ater. These rites probably consisted of sacrifices to the Dii Penates. The position of a Roman woman after marriage was very different from that of a Greek woman. The Roman presided over the whole household; she educatedher children, watched over and preserved the honour of the house, and as the materfamilias she shared the honours and respect shown to her husband. Far from being confined like the Greek women to a distinct apartment, the Roman matron, at least during the better centuries of the republic, occupied the most important part of the house, the atrium.
MAUSŌLĒUMΜαυσωλεῖον, signified originallythe sepulchre of Mausolus, which was a magnificent monument erected at HalicarnassusB.C.353, by Artemisia, the widow of Mausolus. (SeeClassical Dict., art. Artemisia.) It was adorned with beautiful works of art, and was regarded as one of the seven wonders of the world. The wordMausoleumwas used by the Romans as a generic name for any magnificent sepulchral edifice. Mausolus, the dynast of Caria, having died inB.C.353, his queen Artemisia evinced her sorrow by observing his funeral rites with the most expensive splendour, and by commencing the erection of a sepulchral monument to him at Halicarnassus, which should surpass any thing the world had yet seen. The building extended 63 feet from north to south, being shorter on the fronts, and its whole circuit was 411 feet (or, according to the Bamberg MS., 440); it rose to the height of 25 cubits (37½ feet); and was surrounded by 36 columns. This part of the building was calledPteron. It was adorned with sculptures in relief, on its eastern face by Scopas, on the northern by Bryaxis, on the southern by Timotheus, on the western by Leochares. Above thispteronwas a pyramid equal to it in height, diminishing by 24 steps to its summit, which was surmounted by the marble quadriga made by Pythis. The total height, including this ornament, was 140 feet. In the RomanMausoleathe form chiefly employed was that of a succession of terraces in imitation of therogus. Of these the most celebrated were those of Augustus and of Hadrian; the latter of which, stripped of its ornaments, still forms the fortress of modern Rome (the castle of S. Angelo); but of the other, which was on a still larger scale, and which was considered as one of the most magnificent buildings of Augustus, there are only some insignificant ruins.
MĔDĬASTĪNI, the name given to slaves, used for any common purpose. The name is chiefly given to certain slaves belonging to the familia rustica, but it is also applied sometimes to slaves in the city.
MĔDIMNUSμέδιμνος, the principal dry measure of the Greeks. It was used especially for measuring corn. The Attic medimnus was equal to six Roman modii. For its subdivisions seeTablesat the end. [Metretes;Choenix;Xestes;Cotyla.]
MĒDIX TUTICUS, the name of the supreme magistrate among the Oscan people.Medixappears to have signified a magistrate of any kind, andtuticusto have been equivalent tomagnusorsummus. Livy, therefore, in calling the medix tuticus thesummus magistratus, gives a literal translation of the word.
MĔGĂLĒSĬA, MĔGĂLENSĬA, or MĔGĂLENSES LŪDI, a festival with games, celebrated at Rome in the month of April and in honour of the great mother of the gods (Cybelé,μεγάλη θεός, whence the festival derived its name). The statue of the goddess was brought to Rome from Pessinus inB.C.203, and the day of its arrival was solemnised with a magnificent procession, lectisternia, and games, and great numbers of people carried presents to the goddess on the Capitol. The regular celebration of the Megalesia, however, did not begin till twelve years later (B.C.191), when the temple, which had been vowed and ordered to be built inB.C.203, was completed and dedicated by M. Junius Brutus. The festival lasted for six days, beginning on the 4th of April. The season of this festival, like that of the whole month in which it took place, was full of general rejoicings and feasting. It was customary for the wealthy Romans on this occasion to invite one another mutually to their repasts. The games which were held at the Megalesia were purely scenic, and not circenses. They were at first held on the Palatine, in front of the temple of the goddess, but afterwards also in the theatres. The day which was especially set apart for the performance of scenic plays was the third of the festival. Slaves were not permitted to be present at the games, and the magistrates appeared dressed in a purple toga and praetexta, whence the proverb,purpura Megalensis. The games were under the superintendence of the curule aediles, and we know that four of the extant plays of Terence were performed at the Megalesia.
MEMBRĀNA. [Liber.]
MENSA (τράπεζα), a table. The simplest kind of table was a round one with three legs, called in Greekτρίπους. Tables, however, must usually have had four legs, as the etymology ofτράπεζα, the common word for table, indicates. For the houses of the opulent, tables were made of the most valuable and beautiful kinds of wood, especially of maple, or of the citrus of Africa, which was a species of cypress or juniper. As the table was not large, it was usual to place the dishes and the various kinds of meat upon it, andthen to bring it thus furnished to the place where the guests were reclining. On many occasions, indeed, each guest either had a small table to himself, or the company was divided into parties of two or three, with a separate table for each party, as is distinctly represented in the cut underSymposium. Hence we have such phrases asmensam apponereoropponere, andmensam auferreorremovere. The two principal courses of adeipnonandcoena, or a Greek and Roman dinner, were called respectivelyπρώτη τράπεζα,δεύτερα τράπεζα, andmensa prima,mensa secunda. [Coena;Deipnon.]
MENSĀRĬI, MENSŬLĀRĬI, or NŪMŬLĀRĬI, a kind of public bankers at Rome who were appointed by the state; they were distinct from the argentarii, who were common bankers, and did business on their own account. [Argentarii.] The mensarii had their tables or banks (mensae) like ordinary bankers, in the forum, and in the name of the aerarium they offered ready money to debtors who could give security to the state for it. Such an expediency was devised by the state only in times of great distress. The first time that mensarii (quinqueviri mensarii) were appointed was inB.C.352, at the time when the plebeians were so deeply involved in debt, that they were obliged to borrow money from new creditors in order to pay the old ones, and thus ruined themselves completely. On this occasion they were also authorised to ordain that cattle or land should be received as payment at a fair valuation. With the exception of this first time, they appear during the time of the republic to have always beentriumviri mensarii. One class of mensarii, however (perhaps an inferior order), themensulariiornumularii, seem to have been permanently employed by the state, and these must be meant when we read, that not only the aerarium, but also private individuals, deposited in their hands sums of money which they had to dispose of.
MENSIS. [Calendarium.]
MĔRENDA. [Coena.]
MĔTAE. [Circus.]
MĔTALLUM (μέταλλον), amineandmetal. The metals which have been known from the earliest period of which we have any information are those which were long distinguished as the seven principal metals, namely, gold, silver, copper, tin, iron, lead, and mercury. If to this list we add the compound of gold and silver calledelectrum, the compound of copper and tin calledχαλκόςandaes(bronze), and steel, we have, in all probability, a complete list of the metals known to the Greeks and Romans, with the exception of zinc, which they do not seem to have known as a metal, but only in its ores, and of brass, which, they regarded as a sort of bronze. The early Greeks were no doubt chiefly indebted for a supply of the various metals to the commerce of the Phoenicians, who procured them principally from Arabia and Spain, and tin from our own island and the East. They were perfectly acquainted with the processes of smelting the metal from the ore, and of forging heated masses into the required shapes, by the aid of the hammer and tongs. The smith’s instruments were the anvil (ἄκμων) with the block on which it rested (ἀκμόθετον), the tongs (πυράγρη) and the hammer (ῥαιστήρ,σφῦρα). The advances made in the art of metallurgy in subsequent times are chiefly connected with the improvements in the art of statuary. The method of working, as described in Homer, seems to have long prevailed, namely by beating out lumps of the material into the form proposed, and afterwards fitting the pieces together by means of pins or keys. It was calledσφυρήλατον, fromσφῦρα, a hammer. The next mode, among the Greeks, of executing metal works seems to have been by plating upon a nucleus, or general form, of wood—a practice which was employed also by the Egyptians. It is extremely difficult to determine at what date the casting of metal was introduced. According to the statements of Pausanias and Pliny, the art of casting in bronze and in iron was invented by Rhoecus and Theodorus of Samos, who probably lived in the sixth and fifth centuries before our era.
MĔTOICI (μέτοικοι), the name by which, at Athens and in other Greek states, theresident alienswere designated. They must be distinguished from such strangers as made only a transitory stay in a place, for it was a characteristic of ametoicus, that he resided permanently in the city. No city of Greece perhaps had such a number of resident aliens as Athens, since none afforded to strangers so many facilities for carrying on mercantile business, or a more agreeable mode of living. In the census instituted by Demetrius Phalereus (B.C.309), the number of resident aliens at Athens was 10,000, in which number women and children were probably not included. The jealousy with which the citizens of the ancient Greek republics kept their body clear of intruders, is also manifest in their regulations concerning aliens. However long they might have resided in Athens, they were always regarded as strangers, whence they are sometimes calledξένοι, and to remind them of their position, they had on some occasions to perform certain degrading services for the Athenian citizens [Hydriaphoria].These services were, however, in all probability not intended to hurt the feelings of the aliens, but were simply acts symbolical of their relation to the citizens. Aliens were not allowed to acquire landed property in the state they had chosen for their residence, and were consequently obliged to live in hired houses or apartments. As they did not constitute a part of the state, and were yet in constant intercourse and commerce with its members, every alien was obliged to select a citizen for his patron (προστάτης), who was not only the mediator between them and the state, through whom alone they could transact any legal business, whether private or public, but was at the same time answerable (ἐγγυητής) to the state for the conduct of his client. On the other hand, however, the state allowed the aliens to carry on all kinds of industry and commerce under the protection of the law; in fact, at Athens nearly all business was in the hands of aliens, who on this account lived for the most part in the Peiraeeus. Each family of aliens, whether they availed themselves of the privilege of carrying on any mercantile business or not, had to pay an annual tax (μετοίκιονorξενικά) of twelve drachmae, or if the head of the family was a widow, of only six drachmae. If aliens did not pay this tax, or if they assumed the right of citizens, and probably also in case they refused to select a patron, they not only forfeited the protection of the state, but were sold as slaves. Extraordinary taxes and liturgies (εἰσφοραίandλειτουργίαι) devolved upon aliens no less than upon citizens. The aliens were also obliged, like citizens, to serve in the regular armies and in the fleet, both abroad and at home, for the defence of the city. Those aliens who were exempt from the burthens peculiar to their class were calledisoteles(ἰσοτελεῖς). They had not to pay theμετοίκιον(ἀτέλια μετοικίου), were not obliged to choose aπροστάτης, and in fact enjoyed all the rights of citizens, except those of a political nature. Their condition was termedἰσοτέλειαandἰσοπολιτεία.
MĔTOPA or MĔTŎPE (μετόπη), the name applied to each of the spaces between the triglyphs in the frieze of the Doric order, and by metonymy to the sculptured ornament with which those spaces were filled up. In the original significance of the parts the triglyphs represent the ends of the cross-beams or joists which rested on the architrave; the beds of these beams were calledὀπαί, and hence the spaces between themμετόπαι. Originally they were left open; next they were filled up with plain slabs, as in the propylaea at Eleusis, and many other buildings, and lastly, but still at an early period, they were adorned with sculptures either in low or high relief. The metopes from the Parthenon in the British Museum are adorned with sculptures in high relief.
MĔTRĒTES (μετρητής), the principal Greek liquid measure. The Attic metretes was equal in capacity to the amphora, containing 8 galls. 7·365 pints, English. See theTables. [Chous;Choenix;Xestes;Cotyla.]
MĒTRŎPŎLIS. [Colonia.]
MĬLIĀRE, MILLĬĀRĬUM, or MILLE PASSUUM (μίλιον), the Roman mile, consisted of 1000 paces (passus) of 5 feet each, and was therefore = 5000 feet. Taking the Roman foot at 11·6496 English inches [Pes], the Roman mile would be 1618 English yards, or 142 yards less than the English statute mile. The most common term for the mile ismille passuum, or only the initials M. P.; sometimes the wordpassuumis omitted. The Roman mile contained 8 Greek stadia. The mile-stones along the Roman roads were calledmilliaria. They were also calledlapides; thus we havead tertium lapidem(or without the wordlapidem) for 3 miles from Rome. Augustus erected a gilt pillar in the Forum, where the principal roads terminated, which was calledmilliarium aureum; but the miles were not reckoned from it, but from the gates of the city. Such central marks appear to have been common in the principal cities of the Roman empire. The “London-stone” in Cannon-street is supposed to have marked the centre of the Roman roads in Britain.
MĪMUS (μῖμος), the name by which, in Greece and at Rome, a species of the drama was designated, though the Roman mimus differed essentially from the Greek. The Greek mimus seems to have originated among the Greeks of Sicily and southern Italy, and to have consisted originally of extemporary representations or imitations of ridiculous occurrences of common life at certain festivals. At a later period these rude representations acquired a more artistic form, which was brought to a high degree of perfection by Sophron of Syracuse (aboutB.C.420). He wrote his pieces in the popular dialect of the Dorians and a kind of rhythmical prose. Among the Romans the word mimus was applied to a species of dramatic plays as well as to the persons who acted in them. It is certain that the Romans did not derive their mimus from the Greeks in southern Italy, but that it was of native growth. The Greek mimes were written in prose, and the nameμῖμοςwas never applied to an actor, but if used of a person it signified one who made grimaces. The Roman mimes were imitations of foolish and mostly indecentoccurrences, and scarcely differed from comedy except in consisting more of gestures and mimicry than of spoken dialogue. At Rome such mimes seem originally to have been exhibited at funerals, where one or more persons (mimi) represented in a burlesque manner the life of the deceased. If there were several mimi, one of them, or their leader, was calledarchimimus. These coarse and indecent performances had greater charms for the Romans than the regular drama. They were performed on the stage as farces after tragedies, and during the empire they gradually supplanted the place of the Atellanae. It was peculiar to the actors in these mimes, to wear neither masks, the cothurnus, nor the soccus, whence they are sometimes called planipedes.
MĬNA. [Talentum.]
MIRMILLŌNES. [Gladiatores.]
MISSĬO. [Exercitus.]
MISSĬO. [Gladiatores.]
MITRA (μίτρα), in general a band of any kind, and specifically, (1) A belt or girdle worn by warriors round the waist. [Zona.]—(2) A broad band of cloth worn round the head, to which the name ofanademawas sometimes given. [Coma.]
MODĬUS, the principal dry measure of the Romans, was equal to one-third of the amphora, and therefore contained nearly two gallons English. (See theTables.) The modius was one-sixth of the medimnus.
MŎLA (μύλος), a mill. All mills were anciently made of stone, the kind used being a volcanic trachyte or porous lava (pyrites,silices,pumiceas). Every mill consisted of two essential parts, the upper mill-stone, which was moveable (catillus,ὄνος,τὸ ἐπιμύλιον), and the lower, which was fixed and by much the larger of the two. Hence a mill is sometimes calledmolaein the plural. The principal mills mentioned by ancient authors are the following:—I. The hand-mill, or quern, calledmola manuaria, versatilis, ortrusatilis. The hand-mills were worked among the Greeks and Romans by slaves. Their pistrinum was consequently proverbial as a place of painful and degrading labour; and this toil was imposed principally on women. II. The cattle-mill,mola asinaria, in which human labour was supplied by the use of an ass or some other animal. III. The water-mill (mola aquaria,ὑδραλέτης). A cogged wheel, attached to the axis of the water wheel, turned another which was attached to the axis of the upper mill-stone: the corn to be ground fell between the stones out of a hopper (infundibulum), which was fixed above them. IV. The floating-mill. V. The saw-mill. VI. The pepper-mill.
MŎNARCHĬA (μοναρχία), a general name for any form of government in which the supreme functions of political administration are in the hands of a single person. The termμοναρχίαis applied to such governments, whether they are hereditary or elective, legal or usurped. In its commonest application, it is equivalent toβασιλεία, whether absolute or limited. But the rule of anaesymnetesor atyrantwould equally be called aμοναρχία. Hence Plutarch uses it to express the Latindictatura. It is by a somewhat rhetorical use of the word that it is applied now and then to theδῆμος.
MŎNĒTA, the mint, or the place where money was coined. The mint of Rome was a building on the Capitoline, and attached to the temple of Juno Moneta, as the aerarium was to the temple of Saturn. The officers who had the superintendence of the mint were theTriumviri Monetales, who were perhaps first appointed aboutB.C.269. Under the republic, the coining of money was not a privilege which belonged exclusively to the state. The coins struck in the time of the republic mostly bear the names of private individuals; and it would seem that every Roman citizen had the right of having his own gold and silver coined in the public mint, and under the superintendence of its officers. Still no one till the time of the empire had the right of putting his own image upon a coin; Julius Caesar was the first to whom this privilege was granted.
MŎNĪLE (ὅρμος), a necklace. Necklaces were worn by both sexes among the most polished of those nations which the Greeks called barbarous, especially the Indians, the Egyptians, and the Persians. Greek and Roman females adopted them more particularly as a bridal ornament. They were of various forms, as may be seen by the following specimens:—