P

PAEAN (παιήων,παιάν,παιών), a hymn or song, which was originally sung in honour of Apollo. It was always of a joyous nature, and its tune and sounds expressed hope and confidence. It was a song of thanksgiving, when danger was passed, and also a hymn to propitiate the god. It was sung at the solemn festivals of Apollo, and especially at the Hyacinthia. The paean was also sung as a battle-song, both before an attack on the enemy and after the battle was finished. It is certain that the paean was in later times sung to the honour of other gods besides Apollo. Thus Xenophon relates that the Greek army in Asia sung a paean to Zeus.

PAEDĂGŌGUS (παιδαγωγός), a tutor. The office of tutor in a Grecian family of rank and opulence was assigned to one of the most trustworthy of the slaves. The sons of his master were committed to his care on attaining their sixth or seventh year, their previous education having been conducted by females. They remained with the tutor until they attained the age of puberty. His duty was rather to guard them from evil, both physical and moral, than to communicate instruction. He went with them to and from the school or theGymnasium; he accompanied them out of doors on all occasions; he was responsible for their personal safety, and for their avoidance of bad company. In the Roman empire the namepaedagogiorpaedagogiawas given to beautiful young slaves, who discharged in the imperial palace the duties of the modernpage, which is in fact a corruption of the ancient name.

PAEDŎNŎMUS (παιδονόμος), a magistrate at Sparta, who had the general superintendence of the education of the boys.

PAENŬLA, a thick cloak, chiefly used by the Romans in travelling, instead of the toga, as a protection against the cold and rain. It appears to have had no sleeves, and only an opening for the head, as shown in the following figure.

Paenula, travelling cloak. (From Bartholini.)

PĀGĀNĀLĬA. [Pagi.]

PĀGĀNI. [Pagi.]

PĀGI were fortified places in the neighbourhood of Rome, to which the country-people might retreat in case of a hostile inroad. Each of the country tribes is said to have been divided by Numa into a certain number of pagi; which name was given to the country adjoining the fortified village, as well as to the village itself. There was a magistrate at the head of each pagus, who kept a register of the names and of the property of all persons in the pagus, raised the taxes, and summoned the people, when necessary, to war. Each pagus had its own sacred rites, and an annual festival calledPaganalia. Thepagani, or inhabitants of the pagi, had their regular meetings, at which they passed resolutions. The division of the country-people into pagi continued to the latest times of the Roman empire. The term Pagani is often used in opposition to milites, and is applied to all who were not soldiers, even though they did not live in the country. The Christian writers gave the name of pagani to those persons who adhered to the old Roman religion, because the latter continued to be generally believed by the country-people, after Christianity became the prevailing religion of the inhabitants of the towns.

PĂLAESTRA (παλαίστρα), properly meansa place for wrestling (παλαίειν,πάλη), and appears to have originally formed a part of the gymnasium. At Athens, however, there was a considerable number of palaestrae, quite distinct from the gymnasia. It appears most probable that the palaestrae were chiefly appropriated to the exercises of wrestling and of the pancratium, and were principally intended for the athletae, who, it must be recollected, were persons that contended in the public games, and therefore needed special training. The Romans had originally no places corresponding to the Greek gymnasia and palaestrae; and when towards the close of the republic wealthy Romans, in imitation of the Greeks, began to build places for exercise in their villas, they called them indifferently gymnasia and palaestrae.

PĂLĪLIA, a festival celebrated at Rome every year on the 21st of April, in honour of Pales, the tutelary divinity of shepherds. The 21st of April was the day on which, according to the early traditions of Rome, Romulus had commenced the building of the city, so that the festival was at the same time solemnised as the dies natalitius of Rome. It was originally a shepherd-festival, and continued to be so among country people till the latest times, but in the city it lost its original character, and was only regarded as the dies natalitius of Rome. The first part of the solemnities was a public purification by fire and smoke. The things burnt in order to produce this purifying smoke were the blood of theOctober-horse, the ashes of the calves sacrificed at the festival of Ceres, and the shells of beans. The people were also sprinkled with water, they washed their hands in spring-water, and drank milk mixed with must. As regards theOctober-horse(equus October) it must be observed that in early times no bloody sacrifice was allowed to be offered at the palilia, and the blood of the October-horse mentioned above, was the blood which had dropped from the tail of the horse sacrificed in the month of October to Mars in the Campus Martius. This blood was preserved by the vestal virgins in the temple of Vesta for the purpose of being used at the palilia. The sacrifices consisted of cakes, millet, milk, and other kinds of eatables. The shepherds then offered a prayer to Pales. After these solemn rites were over, the cheerful part of the festival began: bonfires were made of heaps of hay and straw, and the festival was concluded by a feast in the open air, at which the people sat or lay upon benches of turf, and drank plentifully.

PALLĬUM,dim.PALLIŎLUM,poet.PALLA (ἱμάτιον,dim.ἱματίδιον;Ion.andpoet.φᾶρος), an outer garment. The Englishcloak, though commonly adopted as the translation of these terms, conveys no accurate conception of the form, material, or use of that which they denoted. The article designated by them was always a rectangular piece of cloth, exactly, or at least nearly square. It was indeed used in the very form in which it was taken from the loom, being made entirely by the weaver, without any aid from the tailor, except to repair the injuries which it sustained by time. Whatever additional richness and beauty it received from the art of the dyer, was bestowed upon it before its materials were woven into cloth or even spun into thread. Most commonly it was used without having undergone any process of this kind. The raw material, such as wool, flax, or cotton, was manufactured in its natural state, and hence pallia were commonly white, although from the same cause brown, drab, and grey were also prevailing colours. As the pallium was the most common outer garment, we find it continually mentioned in conjunction with the tunica, which constituted the indutus. Such phrases as “coat and waistcoat,” or “shoes and stockings,” are not more common with us than the following expressions, which constantly occur in ancient authors:tunica palliumque,ἱμάτιον καὶ χιτών,τὸ ἱμάτιον καὶ ὁ χιτωνίσκος,φᾶρος ἠδὲ χιτών, &c. To wear the pallium withoutthe underclothing indicated poverty or severity of manners, as in the case of Socrates. One of the most common modes of wearing the pallium was to fasten it with a brooch over the right shoulder, leaving the right arm at liberty, and to pass the middle of it either under the left arm so as to leave that arm at liberty also, or over the left shoulder so as to cover the left arm. The figure in the preceding cut is attired in the last-mentioned fashion.

Pallium. (Museo Pio-Clement., vol. i. tav. 48.)

PALMA. [Pes.]

PALMĬPES, a Roman measure of length, equal to a foot and a palm.

PALMUS, properly the width of the open hand, or, more exactly, of the four fingers, was used by the Romans for two different measures of length, namely, as the translation of the Greekπαλαιστή, orδῶρονin old Greek, andσπιθαμήrespectively. In the former sense it is equal to 4 digits, or 3 inches, or 1-4th of a foot, or 1-6th of the cubit. The larger palm of 9 inches only occurs in later Roman writers. From this largepalmusthe modern Romanpalmois derived.

Paludamentum, Military Cloak. (Statue of a Roman Emperor.)

PĂLŪDĀMENTUM, the cloak worn by a Roman general commanding an army, his principal officers and personal attendants, in contradistinction to thesagumof the common soldiers, and thetogaor garb of peace. It was the practice for a Roman magistrate, after he had received theimperiumfrom the comitia curiata and offered up his vows in the Capitol, to march out of the city arrayed in the paludamentum (exire paludatus), attended by his lictors in similar attire (paludatis lictoribus), nor could he again enter the gates until he had formally divested himself of this emblem of military power. The paludamentum was open in front, reached down to the knees or a little lower, and hung loosely over the shoulders, being fastened across the chest by a clasp. The colour of the paludamentum was commonly white or purple, and hence it was marked and remembered that Crassus on the morning of the fatal battle of Carrhae went forth in a dark-coloured mantle. In the cut below, representing the head of a warrior, we see the paludamentum flying back in the charge, and the clasp nearly in front.

Paludamentum, Military Cloak. (From a Mosaic at Pompeii.)

PAMBOEŌTĬA (παμβοιώτια), a festive panegyris of all the Boeotians, like the Panathenaea of the Atticans, and the Panionia of the Ionians. The principal object of the meeting was the common worship of Athena Itonia, who had a temple in the neighbourhood of Coronea, near which the panegyris was held.

PĂNĂTHĒNAEA (παναθήναια), the greatest and most splendid of the festivals celebrated in Attica in honour of Athena, in the character of Athena Polias, or the protectress of the city. It was said to have been instituted by Erichthonius, and its original name, down to the time of Theseus, was believed to have been Athenaea; but when Theseus united all the Atticans into one body, this festival, which then became the common festival of all the Attic tribes, was called Panathenaea. There were two kinds of Panathenaea, the greater and the lesser; the former were held every fourth year (πενταετηρίς), the latter every year. The lesser Panathenaea were probably celebrated on the 17th of the monthHecatombaeon; the great Panathenaea in the third year of every Olympiad, and probably commenced on the same day as the lesser Panathenaea. The principal difference between the two festivals was, that the greater one was more solemn, and that on this occasion the peplus of Athena was carried to her temple in a most magnificent procession, which was not held at the lesser Panathenaea. The solemnities, games, and amusements of the Panathenaea were, rich sacrifices of bulls, foot, horse, and chariot races, gymnastic and musical contests, and the lampadephoria; rhapsodists recited the poems of Homer and other epic poets, philosophers disputed, cock-fights were exhibited, and the people indulged in a variety of other amusements and entertainments. The prize in these contests was a vase filled with oil from the ancient and sacred olive tree of Athena on the Acropolis. A great many of such vases, called Panathenaic vases, have in late years been found in Etruria, southern Italy, Sicily, and Greece. They represent on one side the figure of Athena, and on the other the various contests and games in which these vases were given as prizes to the victors. Of the discussions of philosophers and orators at the Panathenaea we still possess two specimens, theλόγος Παναθηναικόςof Isocrates, and that of Aristeides. Herodotus is said to have recited his history to the Athenians at the Panathenaea. The management of the games and contests was entrusted to persons calledAthlothetae(ἀθλοθέται), whose number was ten, one being taken from every tribe. Their office lasted from one great Panathenaic festival to the other. The chief solemnity of the great Panathenaea was the magnificent procession to the temple of Athena Polias, which probably took place on the last day of the festive season. The whole of the procession is represented in the frieze of the Parthenon, the work of Phidias and his disciples, now deposited in the British Museum. The chief object of the procession was to carry the peplus of the goddess to her temple. This peplus was a crocus-coloured garment for the goddess, and made by maidens, calledἐργαστῖναι. In it were woven Enceladus and the giants, as they were conquered by the goddess. The peplus was not carried to the temple by men, but suspended from the mast of a ship. The procession proceeded from the Ceramicus, near a monument called Leocorium, to the temple of Demeter at Eleusis, and thence along the Pelasgic wall and the temple of Apollo Pythius to the Pnyx, and thence to the Acropolis, where the statue of Minerva Polias was adorned with the peplus. In this procession nearly the whole population of Attica appears to have taken part, either on foot, on horseback, or in chariots, as may be seen in the frieze of the Parthenon. Aged men carried olive branches, and were calledThallophori(θαλλοφόροι); young men attended, at least in earlier times, in armour, and maidens who belonged to the noblest families of Athens carried baskets, containing offerings for the goddess, whence they were calledCanephori(κανηφόροι). Respecting the part which aliens took in this procession, and the duties they had to perform, seeHydriaphoria. Men who had deserved well of the republic were rewarded with a gold crown at the great Panathenaea, and the herald had to announce the event during the gymnastic contests.

Pancratiastae. (Krause, Gymnastik und Agonistik der Hellen, tav. 21.)

PANCRĂTĬUM (παγκράτιον), is derived fromπάνandκράτος, and accordingly signifies an athletic game, in which all the powers of the fighter were called into action. The pancratium was one of the games or gymnastic contests which were exhibited at all the great festivals of Greece; it consisted of boxing and wrestling (πυγμήandπάλη), and was reckoned to be one of the heavy or hard exercises (ἀγωνίσματα βαρέαorβαρύτερα), on account of the violent exertions it required, and for this reason it was not much practised in the gymnasia. In Homer we find neither the game nor the name of the pancratium mentioned, and as it was not introduced at the Olympic games until Ol. 33, we may presume that the game, though it may have existed long before in a rude state, was not brought to any degree of perfection until a short time before that event. The name of the combatants wasPancratiastae(παγκρατιασταί) orPammachi(πάμμαχοι). They fought naked, and had their bodies anointed and covered with sand, by which they were enabled to take hold of one another. When the contest began, each of the fighters mightcommence by boxing or by wrestling, accordingly as he thought he should be more successful in the one than in the other. The victory was not decided until one of the parties was killed, or lifted up a finger, thereby declaring that he was unable to continue the contest either from pain or fatigue.

PĂNĒGỸRIS (πανήγυρις), signifies a meeting or assembly of a whole people for the purpose of worshipping at a common sanctuary. The word is used in three significations:—1. For a meeting of the inhabitants of one particular town and its vicinity; 2. For a meeting of the inhabitants of a whole district, a province, or of the whole body of people belonging to a particular tribe [Delia;Panionia]; and 3. For great national meetings, as the Olympic, Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemean games. Although in all panegyreis which we know, the religious character forms the most prominent feature, other subjects, political discussions and resolutions, as well as a variety of amusements, were not excluded, though they were perhaps more a consequence of the presence of many persons than objects of the meeting. Every panegyris, moreover, was made by tradespeople a source of gain, and it may be presumed that such a meeting was never held without a fair, at which all sorts of things were exhibited for sale.

PĂNIŌNĬA (πανιώνια), the great national panegyris of the Ionians on mount Mycalé, where the national god Poseidon Heliconius had his sanctuary called the Panionium. One of the principal objects of this national meeting was the common worship of Poseidon, to whom splendid sacrifices were offered on the occasion. But religious worship was not the only object for which they assembled at the Panionium; on certain emergencies, especially in case of any danger threatening their country, the Ionians discussed at their meetings political questions, and passed resolutions which were binding upon all.

PĂNOPLĬA (πανοπλία), a panoply or suit of armour. The articles of which it consisted both in the Greek and in the Roman army, are enumerated underArma.

PANTŎMĪMUS, the name of a kind of actors peculiar to the Romans, who very nearly resembled in their mode of acting the modern dancers in the ballet. They did not speak on the stage, but merely acted by gestures, movements, and attitudes. All movements, however, were rhythmical like those in the ballet, whence the general term for them issaltatio,saltare; the whole art was calledmusica muta; and to represent Niobe or Leda was expressed bysaltare Niobenandsaltare Ledam. During the time of the republic the name pantomimus does not occur, though the art itself was known to the Romans at an early period; for the first histriones said to have been introduced from Etruria were in fact nothing but pantomimic dancers [Histrio], whence we find that under the empire the names histrio and pantomimus were used as synonymous. The pantomimic art, however, was not carried to any degree of perfection until the time of Augustus. The greatest pantomimes of this time were Bathyllus, a freedman and favourite of Maecenas, and Pylades and Hylas. Mythological love-stories were from the first the favourite subjects of the pantomimes, which were disgraced by the most licentious scenes. In Sicily pantomimic dances were calledballismi(βαλλισμοί), whence perhaps the modern words ball and ballet.

PĂPȲRUS. [Liber.]

PĂRĂDĪSUS (παράδεισος), the name given by the Greeks to the parks or pleasure-grounds, which surrounded the country residences of the Persian kings and satraps. They were generally stocked with animals for the chase, were full of all kinds of trees, watered by numerous streams, and enclosed with walls.

PĂRĂGRĂPHĒ (παραγραφή). This word does not exactly correspond with any term in our language, but may without much impropriety be calleda plea. It is an objection raised by the defendant to the admissibility of the plaintiff’s action. Theparagraphé, like every other answer (ἀντιγραφή) made by the defendant to the plaintiff’s charge, was given in writing; as the word itself implies. If the defendant merely denied the plaintiff’s allegations, a court was at once held for the trial of the cause. If, however, he put in aparagraphé, a court was to be held to try the preliminary question, whether the cause could be brought into court or not. Upon this previous trial the defendant was considered theactor. If he succeeded, the whole cause was at an end; unless the objection was only to the form of action, or some other such technicality, in which case it might be recommenced in the proper manner. If, however, the plaintiff succeeded, the original action, which in the mean time had been suspended, was proceeded with.

PĂRĂLUS (πάραλος), and SĂLAMĪNĬA (σαλαμινία). The Athenians from very early times kept for public purposes two sacred or state vessels, the one of which was calledParalusand the otherSalaminia: the crew of the one bore the name ofπαραλῖταιorπάραλοι, and that of the otherσαλαμίνιοι. The Salaminia was also calledΔηλίαorΘεωρίς, because it was used to convey theθεωροὶto Delos, onwhich occasion the ship was adorned with garlands by the priest of Apollo. Both these vessels were quick-sailing triremes, and were used for a variety of state purposes: they conveyed theories, despatches, &c. from Athens, carried treasures from subject countries to Athens, fetched state criminals from foreign parts to Athens, and the like. In battles they were frequently used as the ships in which the admirals sailed. These vessels and their crews were always kept in readiness to act, in case of any necessity arising; and the crew, although they could not for the greater part of the year be in actual service, received their regular pay of four oboli per day all the year round. The names of the two ships seem to point to a very early period of the history of Attica, when there was no navigation except between Attica and Salamis, for which the Salaminia was used, and around the coast of Attica, for which purpose the Paralus was destined. In later times the names were retained, although the destination of the ships was principally to serve the purposes of religion, whence they are frequently called the sacred ships.

PĂRĂNOIĀS GRĂPHĒ (παρανοίας γραφή). This proceeding may be compared to our commission of lunacy, or writde lunatico inquirendo. It was a suit at Athens that might be instituted by a son or other relation against one who, by reason of madness or mental imbecility, had become incapable of managing his own affairs. If the complaint was well grounded, the court decreed that the next heir should take possession of the lunatic’s property, and probably also made some provision for his being put in confinement, or under proper care and guardianship. The celebrated tale of Iophon, the son of Sophocles, accusing his father of lunacy, is related in the life of Sophocles in theClassical Dictionary.

PĂRĂNŎMŌN GRĂPHĒ (παρανόμων γραφή), an indictment at Athens for propounding an illegal, or rather unconstitutional measure or law. In order to check rash and hasty legislation, the mover of any law or decree, though he succeeded in causing it to be passed, was still amenable to criminal justice, if his enactment was found to be inconsistent with other laws that remained in force, or with the public interest. Any person might institute against him theγραφὴ παρανόμωνwithin a year from the passing of the law. If he was convicted, not only did the law become void, but any punishment might be inflicted on him, at the discretion of the judges before whom he was tried. A person thrice so convicted lost the right of proposing laws in future. The cognizance of the cause belonged to the Thesmothetae.

PĂRAPRESBEIA (παραπρεσβεία), signifies any corrupt conduct, misfeasance, or neglect of duty on the part of an ambassador; for which he was liable to be called to account and prosecuted on his return home. Demosthenes accused Aeschines ofParapresbeiaon account of his conduct in the embassy to Philip.

PĂRĂPHERNA. [Dos.]

PĂRĂSANGA (ὁ παρασάγγης), a Persian measure of length, frequently mentioned by the Greek writers. It is still used by the Persians, who call itferseng. According to Herodotus the parasang was equal to 30 Greek stadia. Xenophon must also have calculated it at the same, as he says that 16,050 stadia are equal to 535 parasangs. (16,050 ÷ 535 = 30.) Other ancient writers give a different length for the parasang. Modern English travellers estimate it variously at from 3½ to 4 English miles, which nearly agrees with the calculation of Herodotus.

PĂRĂSĪTI (παράσιτοι) properly denotes persons who dine with others. In the early history of Greece the name had a very different meaning, being given to distinguished persons, who were appointed as assistants to certain priests and to the highest magistrates. Their services appear to have been rewarded with a third of the victims sacrificed to their respective gods. Such officers existed down to a late period of Greek history. Solon in his legislation called the act of giving public meals to certain magistrates and foreign ambassadors in the prytaneumπαρασιτεῖν, and it may be that the parasites were connected with this institution. The class of persons whom we call parasites was very numerous in ancient Greece, and appears to have existed from early times. The characteristic features common to all parasites are importunity, love of sensual pleasures, and above all the desire of getting a good dinner without paying for it. During the time of the Roman emperors a parasite seems to have been a constant guest at the tables of the wealthy.

PĂRĔDRI (πάρεδροι). Each of the three superior archons was at liberty to have two assessors (πάρεδροι) chosen by himself, to assist him by advice and otherwise in the performance of his various duties. The assessor, like the magistrate himself, had to undergo adocimasia(δοκιμασία) in the Senate of Five Hundred and before a judicial tribunal, before he could be permitted to enter upon his labours. He was also to render an account (εὐθύνη) at the end of the year. The duties of the archons, magisterial and judicial, were so numerous, that one of the principalobjects of having assessors must have been to enable them to get through their business. From theparedriof the archons we must distinguish those who assisted theeuthyniin examining and auditing magistrates’ accounts.

PĂRENTĀLĬA. [Funus.]

PĂRĬES. [Domus.]

PARMA,dim.PARMŬLA, a round shield, three feet in diameter, carried by thevelitesin the Roman army. Though small, compared with theClipeus, it was so strongly made as to be a very effectual protection. This was probably owing to the use of iron in its frame-work. The parma was also worn by the cavalry. We find the termparmaoften applied to the target [Cetra], which was also a small round shield, and therefore very similar to the parma.

Parma. (From the Columna Trajana.)

PĂROCHI, certain people paid by the state to supply the Roman magistrates, ambassadors, and other official persons, when travelling, with those necessaries which they could not conveniently carry with them. They existed on all the principal stations on the Roman roads in Italy and the provinces, where persons were accustomed to pass the night. Of the things which the parochi were bound to supply, hay, fire-wood, salt, and a certain number of beds appear to have been the most important.

PĂROPSIS (παροψίς), any food eaten with theὅψονas theμάζα, a kind of frumenty or soft cake, broth, or any kind of condiment or sauce. It was, likewise, the name of the dish or plate, on which such food was served up, and it is in this latter signification that the Roman writers use the word.

PARRĬCĪDA, PARRĬCĪDĬUM. A parricida signified originally a murderer generally, and is hence defined to be a person who kills anotherdolo malo. It afterwards signified the murderer of a parent, and by an ancient law such a parricide was sewed up in a sack (culleus), and thrown into a river. A law of the dictator Sulla contained some provisions against parricide, and probably fixed the same punishment for the parricide, as the Lex Pompeia de Parricidiis, passed in the time of Cn. Pompeius. This law extended the crime of parricide to the killing of a brother, sister, uncle, aunt, and many other relations, and enacted that he who killed a father or mother, grandfather or grandmother, should be punished (more majorum) by being whipped till he bled, sewed up in a sack with a dog, cock, viper, and ape, and thrown into the sea. Other parricides were simply put to death.

PASSUS, a measure of length, which consisted of five Roman feet. [Pes.] The passus was not the step, or distance from heel to heel, when the feet were at their utmost ordinary extension, but the distance from the point which the heel leaves to that in which it is set down. Themille passuum, or thousand paces, was the common name of the Roman mile. [Milliare.]

PĂTER FĂMĬLIAE. [Familia;Matrimonium.]

PĂTER PĂTRĀTUS. [Fetiales.]

PĂTĔRA,dim.PĂTELLA (φιάλη), a round plate or dish. The paterae of the most common kind were small plates of thecommon red earthenware, on which an ornamental pattern was drawn, and which were sometimes entirely black. The more valuable paterae were metallic, being chiefly of bronze; but every family, raised above poverty, possessed one of silver, together with a silver salt-cellar. The accompanying cut exhibits a highly ornamented patera, made of bronze. The view of the upper surface is accompanied by a side-view, showing the form and depth of the vessel.

Patera. (From Pompeii.)

PĂTĬBŬLUM. [Furca.]

PĂTĬNA (λεκάνη), a basin or bowl of earthenware, rarely of bronze or silver. The patina was of a form intermediate between thepateraand theolla, not so flat as the former, nor so deep as the latter. The most frequent use of thepatinawas in cookery.

PATRES. [Patricii.]

PĂTRĬA POTESTAS. Potestas signifies generally a power or faculty of any kind by which we do anything. “Potestas,” says Paulus, a Roman jurist, “has several significations: when applied to magistrates, it is Imperium; in the case of children, it is the patria potestas; in the case of slaves, it is Dominium.” According to Paulus then, potestas, as applied to magistrates, is equivalent to imperium. Thus we find potestas associated with the adjectives praetoria, consularis. But potestas is applied to magistrates who had not the imperium, as for instance to quaestors and tribuni plebis; and potestas and imperium are often opposed in Cicero. [Imperium.] Thus it seems that this word potestas, like many other Roman terms, had both a wider signification and a narrower one. In its wider signification it might mean all the power that was delegated to any person by the state, whatever might be the extent of that power. In its narrower significations, it was on the one hand equivalent to imperium; and on the other, it expressed the power of those functionaries who had not the imperium. Sometimes it was used to express a magistratus, as a person; and hence in the Italian language the word podestà signifies a magistrate. Potestas is also one of the words by which is expressed the power that one private person has over another, the other two being manus and mancipium. The potestas is either dominica, that is, ownership as exhibited in the relation of master and slave [Servus]; or patria as exhibited in the relation of father and child. The mancipium was framed after the analogy of the potestas dominica. [Mancipium.] Patria potestas then signifies the power which a Roman father had over the persons of his children, grandchildren, and other descendants (filii-familias,filiae-familias), and generally all the rights which he had by virtue of his paternity. The foundation of the patria potestas was a legal marriage, and the birth of a child gave it full effect. [Matrimonium.] It does not seem that the patria potestas was ever viewed among the Romans as absolutely equivalent to the dominica potestas, or as involving ownership of the child; and yet the original notion of the patria came very near to that of the dominica potestas. Originally the father had the power of life and death over his son as a member of his familia; and he could sell him, and so bring him into the mancipii causa. He could also give his daughter in marriage, or give a wife to his son, divorce his child, give him in adoption, and emancipate him at his pleasure.

PATRĬCĬI. This word is evidently a derivative frompater, which frequently occurs in the Roman writers as equivalent to senator.Patriciitherefore signifies those who belonged to thepatres, but it is a mistake to suppose that the patricii were only the offspring of the patres in the sense of senators. On the contrary, the patricians were, in the early history of Rome, the whole body of Roman citizens, thepopulus Romanus, and there were no real citizens besides them. The other parts of the Roman population, namely clients and slaves, did not belong to the populus Romanus, and were not burghers or patricians. The senators or patres (in the narrower sense of the word) were a select body of the populus or patricians, which acted as their representatives. The burghers or patricians consisted originally of three distinct tribes, which afterwards became united into the sovereign populus. These tribes had founded settlements upon several of the hills which were subsequently included within the precincts of the city of Rome. Their names were Ramnes, Tities, and Luceres, or Ramnenses, Titienses, and Lucerenses. Each of these tribes consisted of ten curiae, and each curia of ten gentes, and of the same number of decuries, which were established for representative and military purposes. [Senatus.] The first tribe, or the Ramnes, were a Latin colony on the Palatine hill, said to have been founded by Romulus. As long as it stood alone, it contained only one hundred gentes, and had a senate of one hundred members. When the Tities, or Sabine settlers on the Quirinal and Viminal hills, under king Tatius, became united with the Ramnes, the number of gentes, as well as that of senators, was increased to 200. These two tribes after their union continued probably for a considerable time to be the patricians of Rome, until thethird tribe, the Luceres, which chiefly consisted of Etruscans, who had settled on the Caelian hill, also became united with the other two as a third tribe. The amalgamation of these three tribes did not take place at once: the union between Latins and Sabines is ascribed to the reign of Romulus, though it does not appear to have been quite perfect, since the Latins on some occasions claimed a superiority over the Sabines. The Luceres existed for a long time as a separate tribe without enjoying the same rights as the two other tribes, until Tarquinius Priscus, himself an Etruscan, caused them to be placed on a footing of equality with the others. For this reason he is said to have increased the number of senators to 300. The Luceres, however, are, notwithstanding this equalisation, sometimes distinguished from the other tribes by the namepatresorpatricii minorum gentium. During the time of the republic, distinguished strangers and wealthy plebeians were occasionally made Roman patricians; for instance, Appius Claudius and his gens, and Domitius Ahenobarbus. When the plebeians became a distinct class of citizens [Plebes], the patricians, of course, ceased to be the only class of citizens, but they still retained the exclusive possession of all the power in the state. All civil and religious offices were in their possession, and they continued as before to be the populus, the nation now consisting of the populus and the plebes. In their relation to the plebeians or the commonalty, the patricians were a real aristocracy of birth. A person born of a patrician family was and remained a patrician, whether he was rich or poor, whether he was a member of the senate, or an eques, or held any of the great offices of the state, or not: there was no power that could make a patrician a plebeian. As regards the census, he might indeed not belong to the wealthy classes, but his rank remained the same. The only way in which a patrician might become a plebeian was when of his own accord he left his gens and curia, gave up the sacra, &c. A plebeian, on the other hand, or even a stranger, might be made a patrician by a lex curiata. But this appears to have been done very seldom; and the consequence was, that in the course of a few centuries the number of patrician families became so rapidly diminished, that towards the close of the republic there were not more than fifty such families. Although the patricians throughout this whole period had the character of an aristocracy of birth, yet their political rights were not the same at all times. During the first centuries of the republic there was an almost uninterrupted struggle between patricians and plebeians, in which the former exerted every means to retain their exclusive rights, but which ended in the establishment of the political equality of the two orders. [Plebes.] Only a few insignificant priestly offices, and the performance of certain ancient religious rites and ceremonies, remained the exclusive privilege of the patricians; of which they were the prouder, as in former days their religious power and significance were the basis of their political superiority. At the time when the struggle between patricians and plebeians ceased, a new kind of aristocracy began to arise at Rome, which was partly based upon wealth, and partly upon the great offices of the republic, and the term nobiles was given to all persons whose ancestors had held any of the curule offices. (CompareNobiles.) This aristocracy of nobiles threw the old patricians as a body still more into the shade, though both classes of aristocrats united as far as was possible to monopolise all the great offices of the state. In their dress and appearance the patricians were scarcely distinguished from the rest of the citizens, unless they were senators, curule magistrates, or equites, in which case they wore like others the ensigns peculiar to these classes. The only thing by which they seem to have been distinguished in their appearance from other citizens was a peculiar kind of shoe, which covered the whole foot and part of the leg, though it was not as high as the shoes of senators and curule magistrates. These shoes were fastened with four strings (corrigiaeorlora patricia) and adorned with a lunula on the top.

PĂTRĪMI ET MĀTRĪMI were children born of parents, who had been married by the religious ceremony called confarreatio: they are almost always mentioned in connection with religious rites and ceremonies.

PĂTRŎNŎMI (πατρονόμοι), magistrates at Sparta, who exercised, as it were, a paternal power over the whole state. They did not exist till a late period, and they succeeded to the powers which the ephori formerly possessed.

PĂTRŌNUS. The act of manumission created a new relation between the manumissor and the slave, which was analogous to that between father and son. The manumissor became with respect to the manumitted person his patronus, and the manumitted person became the libertus of the manumissor. The word patronus (from pater) indicates the nature of the relation. If the manumissor was a woman, she became patrona. The libertus adopted the gentile nameof the manumissor. Cicero’s freedman Tiro was called M. Tullius Tiro. The libertus owed respect and gratitude to his patron, and in ancient times the patron might punish him in a summary way for neglecting those duties. This obligation extended to the children of the libertus, and the duty was due to the children of the patron. It was the duty of the patron to support his freedman in case of necessity, and if he did not, he lost his patronal rights; the consequence was the same if he brought a capital charge against him. The most important of the patronal rights related to the property of liberti, as in certain cases the patronus had a right to the whole or a part of the property of a libertus.

PAUPĔRĬES, the legal term for mischief done by an animal (quadrupes) contrary to the nature of the animal, as if a man’s ox gored another man. In such cases the law of the Twelve Tables gave the injured person an action against the owner of the animal for the amount of the damage sustained. The owner was bound either to pay the full amount of damages or to give up the animal to the injured person (noxae dare).

PĂVĪMENTUM. [Domus,p. 144,b.]

PECTEN (κτείς), a comb. The Greeks and Romans used combs made of box-wood. The Egyptians had ivory combs, which also came into use by degrees among the Romans. The wooden combs, found in Egyptian tombs, are toothed on one side only; but the Greeks used them with teeth on both sides. The principal use of the comb was for dressing the hair, in doing which the Greeks of both sexes were remarkably careful and diligent. To go with uncombed hair was a sign of affliction.

PĔCŬLĀTUS, is properly the misappropriation or theft of public property. The person guilty of this offence waspeculator. The origin of the word appears to bepecus, a term which originally denoted that kind of moveable property which was the chief sign of wealth. Originally trials forpeculatuswere before the populus or the senate. In the time of Cicero matters ofpeculatushad become one of the quaestiones perpetuae.

PĔCŪLĬUM. [Servus.]

PĔCŪNĬA. [Aes;Argentum;Aurum.]

PĔDĀRĬI. [Senatus.]

PĔDĬSĔQUI, a class of slaves, whose duty was to follow their master when he went out of his house. There was a similar class of female slaves, calledPedisequae.

PĔDUM (κορώνη), a shepherd’s crook. On account of its connection with pastoral life, the crook is often seen in works of ancient art, in the hands of Pan, Satyrs, Fauns, and shepherds. It was also the usual attribute of Thalia, as the muse of pastoral poetry.

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