It should be borne in mind, that this work does not profess to give an abridged account of all the subjects which are comprised in the larger work. On many matters, such as those relating to Jurispru dence, and several departments of Art, the reader must refer for information to the other Dictionary. On many subjects likewise, which are contained in this Abridgment, only the most important facts are stated; those who desire more detailed information, and an account of the conflicting views held by modern scholars on certain points inust consult the original work. In such cases the present work will serve as a convenient introduction to the other, and will enable the student to use the latter with more advantage and profit than he would otherwise have been able to do. It has been considered unnecessary to give in this Abridgment references to ancient and modern writers, as they are not required by the class of persons for whose use the book is designed, and they are to be found in the original work. London, May 20th, 1845. WILLIAM SMITH. PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. THE Editor believes that he is rendering a very acceptable service to the young student, in presenting him with a corrected and im proved edition of the present work, both on account of the aid which it will afford him in his classical reading, and because the information contained in it will be found to be far more accurate and worthy of reliance than that given in any similar work ever published in this country. In preparing this volume for the press, errors in the London edition have been corrected, many important articles have been added, and the amount of illustrations has been very materially enlarged. The Greek Index, also, which abounded in errors, has been carefully revised and augmented. Col, Coll. Feb. 9th, 1846. 2 ACCUBATIO. ACINACES. ACA TIUM (άkáтiov, a diminutive of ka- | other hand, we find cases of women reclining, TOC), a small vessel or boat used by the where there was conceived to be nothing bold Greeks, which appears to have been the or indelicate in their posture. Such is the same as the Roman scapha. The Acatia were case in the following woodcut, which seems also sails adapted for fast sailing. ACCENSUS. 1. A public officer, who attended on several of the Roman magistrates. He anciently preceded the consul who had not the fasces, which custom, after being long disused, was restored by Julius Cæsar in his first consulship. Accensi also attended on the governors of provinces. 2. The accensi were also a class of soldiers in the Roman army, who were enlisted after the full number of the legion had been completed, in order to supply any vacancies that might occur in the legion. They were taken, according to the census of Servius Tullius, from the fifth class of citizens, and were placed in battle in the rear of the army, behind the triarii. ACCLAMATIO was the public expression of approbation or disapprobation, pleasure or displeasure, by loud acclamations. On many occasions, there appear to have been certain forms of acclamations always used by the Romans; as, for instance, at marriages, Io Hymen, Hymenaee, or Talassio; at triumphs, Io Triumphe; at the conclusion of plays, the last actor called out Plaudite to the spectators; orators were usually praised by such expressions as Bene et praeclare, Belle et festive, Non potest melius, &c. ACCU BITA, the name of couches which were used in the time of the Roman emperors, instead of the triclinium, for reclining on at meals. The mattresses and feather-beds were softer and higher, and the supports (fulcra) of them lower in proportion than in the triclinium. The clothes and pillows spread over them were called accubitalia. ACCUBA TIO, the act of reclining at meals. The Greeks and Romans were accustomed, in later times, to recline at their meals; but this practice could not have been of great antiquity in Greece, since Homer always describes persons as sitting at their meals; and Isidore of Seville, an ancient grammarian, also attributes the same custom to the ancient Romans. Even in the time of the early Roman emperors, children in families of the highest rank used to sit together, while their fathers and elders reclined on couches at the upper part of the room. Roman ladies continued the practice of sitting at table, even after the recumbent position had become common with the other sex. It appears to have been considered more decent, and more agreeable to the severity and purity of ancient manners for women to sit, more especially if many persons were present. But, on the whence Horace speaks of the Medus acinaces. | (ůкρоσтóλιоv), which was frequently made in The acinaces was a short and straight weapon, the shape of an animal or a helmet, &c., ap. and thus differed from the Roman sica, which pears to have been sometimes covered with was curved. It was worn on the right side of brass, and to have served as a weapon of the body, whereas the Greeks and Romans offence against the enemy's vessels. usually had then swords suspended on the left side. The form of the acinaces, with the mode of wearing it, is illustrated by the following Persepolitan figures. Acinaces, Persian Sword ACLIS, a kind of dart with a leathern thong attached to it. [AMENTUM.] ACROA MA (άкрóаμа), which properly means anything heard, was the name given to a concert of players on different musical instruments, and also to an interlude performed during the exhibition of the public games. The word is also applied to the actors and musicians who were employed to amuse guests during an entertainment, and is sometimes used to designate the anagnostae. [ANAGNOSTES.] ACRO POLÍS (άкрóжоλiç). In almost all Greek cities, which were usually built upon a hill, rock, or some natural elevation, there was a castle or a citadel, erected upon the highest part of the rock or hill, to which the name of Acropolis, higher or upper city, was given. Thus we read of an acropolis at Athens, Corinth, Argos, Messene, and many other places. The Capitolium at Rome answered the same purpose as the acropolis in the Greek cities; and of the same kind were the tower of Agathocles at Utica, and that of Antonia at Jerusalem. ACROSTOLIUM (акроoтóλiov), the extremity of the oróλos The oróλos projected from the head of the prow and its extremity ACROTE RIUM (йкрwτýрιоv), signifies the extremity of anything, and was applied by the Greeks to the extremities of the prow of a vessel (ἀκροστόλιον), which were usually taken from a conquered vessel as a mark of victory the act of doing so was called ἀκρωτηριάζειν. : ACTA DIURNA (proceedings of the day), was a kind of gazette or newspaper published daily a: Rome, under the authority of the government. It contained an account of the proceedings of the public assemblies, of the law courts, of the punishment of offenders, and a list of births, marriages, deaths, &c. The proceedings of the public assemblies and the law courts, were obtained by means of reporters (actuarii). The proceedings of the senate (acta senatus) were not published till the time of Julius Cæsar, but this custom was prohibited by Augustus. An account of the proceedings of the senate was still preserved, though not published, and some senator seems to have been chosen by the emperor to compile the account. The Acta Diurna, which were also called Acta populi, Acta publica, Acta urbana, and by the simple name of Acta, were frequently consulted and appealed to by later historians. ACTA SENATUS. [ACTA DIURNA] ACTIA (йктia), a festival celebrated every three years at Actium in Epirus, with wrest ling, horse-racing, and sea-fights, in honour of Apollo. There was a celebrated temple of Apollo at Actium. After the defeat of Antony off Actium, Augustus enlarged the temple, and instituted games to be celebrated every five years in commemoration of his victory. ACTIO, is defined by a Roman jurist to be the right of pursuing by judicial means what is a man's due. The old actions of the Roman law were called legis actiones or legitimae, either because they were expressly provided for by the laws of the Twelve Tables, or because they were strictly adapted to the words of the laws, and therefore could not be varied. But these forms of action gradually fell into disuse, in conse quence of the excessive nicety required, and the failure consequent on the slightest error in the pleadings, and they were eventually abolished by the Lex Aebutia, and two Leges Juliae, except in a few cases. In the old Roman constitution, the knowl edge of the law was most closely connected with the institutes and ceremonial of religion ACTIO. and was accordingly in the hands of the patricians alone, whose aid their clients were obliged to ask in all their legal disputes. App. Claudius Caecus, perhaps one of the earliest writers on law, drew up the various forms of actions, probably for his own use and that of his friends: the manuscript was stolen or copied by his scribe Cn. Flavius, who made it public; and thus, according to the story, the plebians became acquainted with those legal forms which hitherto had been the exclusive property of the patricians. After the abolition of the old legal actions, a suit was prosecuted in the following manner : An action was commenced by the plaintiff summoning the defendant to appear before the praetor or other magistrate who had jurisdictio: this process was called in jus vocatio; and, according to the laws of the Twelve Tables, was in effect a dragging of the defendant before the praetor, if he refused to go quietly; and although this rude proceeding was somewhat modified in later times, we find in the time of Horace that if the defendant would not go quietly, the plaintiff called upon any bystander to witness, and dragged the defendant into court. The parties might settle their dispute on their way to the court, or the defendant might be bailed by a vindex. The vindex must not be confounded with the vades. This settlement of disputes on the way was called transactio in via, and serves to explain a passage in St. Matthew, v., 25. When before the praetor, the parties were said jure agere. The plaintiff then prayed for an action, and if the praetor allowed it (dabat actionem), he then declared what action he intended to bring against the defendant, which he called edere actionem. This might be done in writing, or orally, or by the plaintiff taking the defendant to the album [ALBUM], and showing him which action he intended to rely on. As the formulae on the album comprehended, or were supposed to comprehend, every possible form of action that could be required by a plaintiff, it was presumed that he could find among all the formulae some one which was adapted to his case; and he was, accordingly, supposed to be without excuse if he did not take pains to select the proper formulae. If he took the wrong one, or if he claimed more than his due, he lost his cause (causa cadebat); but the praetor sometimes gave him leave to amend his claim or intentio. It will be observed that as the formulae were so numerous and comprehensive, the plaintiff had only to select the formulae which he supposed to be suitable to his case, and it would require no farther variation than the insertion of the names of the parties and of the thing claimed, ACTIO. or the subject-matter of the suit, with the amount of damages, &c., as the case migh be. When the praetor had granted an action, the plaintiff required the defendant to give security for his appearance before the praetor (in jure) on a day named, commonly the day but one after the in jus vocatio, unless the matter in dispute was settled at once. The defendant, on finding a surety, was said vades dare, vadimonium promittere, or facere; the surety, vas, was said spondere; the plaintiff, when satisfied with the surety,was said vadari reum, to let him go on his sureties, or to have sureties from him. When the defendant promised to appear in jure on the day named, without giving any surety, this was called vadimonium purum. In some cases, recuperatores [JUDEX] were named, who, in case of the defendant making default, condemned him in the sum of money named in the vadimonium. If the defendant appeared on the day ap pointed, he was said vadimonium sistere; if he did not appear, he was said vadimonium deseruisse; and the praetor gave to the plaintiff the bonorum possessio. Both parties, on the day appointed, were summoned by a crier (pracco), when the plaintiff made his claim or demand, which was very briefly expressed, and may be considered as corresponding to our declaration at law. The defendant might either deny the plaintiff's claim, or he might reply to it by a plea, exceptio. If he simply denied the plaintiff's claim, the cause was at issue, and a judex might be demanded. The forms of the excep tio, also, were contained in the praetor's edict, or, upon hearing the facts, the praetor adapt ed the plea to the case. The plaintiff might reply to the defendant's exceptio. The plaintiff's answer was called replicatio. If the defendant answered the replicatio, his answer was called duplicatio; and the parties might go on to the triplicatio and quadruplicatio, and even further, if the matters in question were such that they could not otherwise be brought to an issue. A person might maintain or defend an action by his cognitor or procurator, or, as we should say, by his attorney. The plaintiff and defendant used a certain form of words in appointing a cognitor, and it would appear that the appointment was made in the presence of both parties. The cognitor needed not to be present, and his appointment was complete when by his acts he had signified his assent. When the cause was brought to an issue, a judex or judices might be demanded of the praetor, who named or appointed a judex, and |