proditionis, ii. 10. persons guilty of certain crimes, as treachery or sedition, were devoted to Pluto and the infernal gods, and therefore any one might slay them with impunity. In after times, a consul, dictator, or prætor, might devote not only himself, but any one of the legion, (ex legione Romana, called Scripta, because perhaps the soldiers not included in the legion, the Velites, Subitarii, Tumultuarii, &c. were excepted), and slay him as an expiatory victim, (piaculum, i. e. in piaculum, hostiam cædere). Liv. viii. 10.* In the first ages of the republic human sacrifices seem to have been offered annually, Macrob. Sat. i. 7. and it was not till the year of the city 657. that a decree of the senate was made to prohibit it; ne homo immolaretur, Plin. xxx. i. s. 3. Mankind, says Pliny, are under inexpressible obligations to the Romans for abolishing so horrid a practice, (qui sustulere monstra, in quibus hominem occidere religio sissimum erat, mandi vero etiam saluberrimum.) Ibid. We read however of two men who were slain as victims with the usual solemnities in the Campus Martius by the Pontifices and Flamen of Mars, as late as the time of Julius Cæsar, A. U. 708. Dio. xliii. 24. Whence it is supposed that the decree of the senate mentioned by Pliny respected only private and magical sacred rites, as those alluded to, Horat. Epod. 5. Augustus, after he had compelled L. Antonius to a surrender at Perusia, ordered 400 senators and equites, who had sided with Antony, to be sacrificed as victims at the altar of Julius Cæsar, on the ides of March, A. U. 713. Dio. xlviii. 14. Suetonius makes them only 300, Aug. 15. To this savage action Seneca alludes, de Clem. i. 11. In like manner, Sex. Pompeius threw into the sea not only horses, but also men alive, as victims to Neptune, Dio. xlviii. 48. Boys used to be cruelly put to death, even in the time of Cicero and Horace for magical purposes, Cic. Vat. 14. Horat. Epod. 5.

A place reared for offering sacrifices was called ARA or ALTARE, an altar: ALTARIA (ab altitudine) tantum diis superis consecrabantur; ARE et diis superis et inferis, Serv. in Virg. Ecl. v. 66. Æn. ii. 515. In the phrase, Pro aris et focis, ARA is put for the altar in the impluvium or middle of the house, where the Penates were worshipped; and Focus, for the hearth in the atrium or hall, where the Lares were worshipped, Cic. Dom. 40. 41. Dejot. 3. Sext. 42. Phil. ii. 30. Sallust. Cat. 52. A secret place in the temple, where none but the priests entered, was called ADYTUM, Cas. B. C. iii. 105. universally revered, Pausan. x. 32.

* The Christian religion, wheresoever disseminated, has brought the practice of buman sacrifices into utter detestation. The one sacrifice upon the Cross has abolished the rite in all its forms, and that forever.

Altars used to be covered with leaves and grass, called VERBENA, i. e. herba sacra, Serv. Virg. Æn. xii. 120. Ecl. viii. 65. Donat. Ter. iv. 4. 5. Horat. Od. iv. 11. 7. adorned with flowers, Qvid. Trist. iii. 13. 15. Stat. Theb. 8. 298. Sil. 16. 309. and bound with woollen fillets, Prop. iv. 6. 6. Virg. Æn. iv. 459. therefore called nexœ torques, i. e. carona, Id. G. iv. 276.

* Altars and temples afforded an Asylum or place of refuge among the Greeks and Romans, Nep. Paus. 4. Cic. Nat. D. iii. 10. Q. Rosc. 2. Ovid. Trist. v. 2. 43. as among the Jews, 1 Kings, i. 50, chiefly to slaves from the cruelty of their masters, Terent. Heaut. v. 2. 22. Plaut. Rud. iii. 4. 18. Most. v. i. 45. to insolvent debtors and criminals, Tacit. Annal. iii. 60. where it was reckoned impious to touch them, Cic. Tusc. i. 35. Virg. Æn. i. 349. ii. 513. 550. and whence it was unlawful to drag them, Cic. Dom. 41. but sometimes they put fire and cumbustible materials around the place, that the persons might appear to be forced away, not by men, but by a god, (Vulcan), Plaut. Most. v. i. 65. or shut up the temple and unroofed it, (tectum sunt demoliti), that he might perish under the open air, Nep. Paus. 5. p. 63. hence ara is put for refugium, Ovid. Trist. iv. 5. 2.

The Triumviri consecrated a chapel to Cæsar in the forum, on the place where he was burnt; and ordained that no person who fled thither for sanctuary should be taken thence to punishment;

Not only altars and temples, but tombs, statues, and other monuments of considerable personages, were Asyla in ancient times. Thus the temple of Diana at Ephesus was as a refuge for debtors, and the tomb of Theseus for slaves. The cities of refuge, the temple, and the altar of burnt offerings, were Asyla among the Jews.

The cities of Thebes and Athens, as well as Rome, were originally peopled by being declared Asyla.

Lyons and Vienne among the ancient Gauls were places of refuge, and some cities in Germany are said still to preserve the ancient right of Asylum. Hence the medals of several ancient cities, particularly in Syria, had the inscription AɛTAOI, to which is added IEPAI; which, according to Spanheim, referred to their temples, and the gods revered in them.

In London, the Verge of the Court, which formerly extended twelve miles, and Holyrood-house in Edinburgh, are considered as places of exemption from arrest for debt in certain cases to this day.

The Emperors HONORIUS and THEODOSIUS, having made churches Asyla, the bishops and monks laid hold of a certain tract or territory, without which they fixed the bounds of the secular jurisdiction. Convents accordingly, in a short time became next akin to fortresses; where the most atrocious villains were in safety, and braved the power of the Magistrate.

These privileges were at length extended to bishops' houses, whence the criminal could not be removed, without a legal assurance of life, and an entire remission of the crime.

The sanctuaries were at length stript of their immunities, because they only served as an encouragement to guilt, and are now every where almost entirely abolished. See Encycl. Brit. Blackstone, M Kenzie.

a thing which, says Dio, had been granted to no one before, not even to a divinity; except the asylum of Romulus, which remained only in name, being so blocked up, that no one could enter it, Dio. xlvii. 19. But the shrine of Julius was not always esteemed inviolable; the son of Antony was slain by Augustus, although he fled to it, Suet. Aug. 17.

There were various vessels and instruments used in sacrifices; as acerra vel thuribulum, a censer for burning incense; simpulum vel simpuvium, guttum, capis, -idis, patera, cups used in libations, olla, pots; tripodes, tripods; secures vel bipennes, axes; cultri vel secespitæ, knives, &c. But these will be better understood by representation than description.

The ROMAN YEAR.

R OMULUS is said to have divided the year into ten months; the first of which was called Martius, March, from Mars his supposed father; Ovid. Fast. iii. 75. & 98. the second Aprilis, either from the Greek name of Venus, (Apgodirn), Ovid. Fast. i. 39. Horat. Od. iv. 11. or because then trees and flowers open (se aperiunt) their buds, Plutarch. in Numa, Ovid. Fast. iv. 87. the third, Maius, May, from Maia, the mother of Mercury, or in honour of the old, (majorum), Ovid. Fust. v. 427; and the fourth, Junius, June, from the goddess Juno, or in honour of the young, (juniorum). The rest were named from their number, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, December, ibid. i. 41. Quintilis was afterwards called Julius, from Julius Cæsar, and Sextilis Augustus, from Augustus Cæsar; because in it he had first been made consul, and had obtained remarkable victories, Suet. 31. Dio. lv. 6 in particular, he had become master of Alexandria in Egypt, A. U. 724, and fifteen years after (lustro tertio) on the same day, probably the 29th of August, had vanquished the Rhæti, by means of Tiberius, Horat. Od. iv. 14. 34. Other emperors gave their names to particular months, but these were forgotten after their death, Suet. Domit. 13. Plin. Pan. 54.

Numa added two months, called Januarius, from Janus; and Februarius, because then the people were purified (februabatur, i. e. purgabatur vel lustrabatur), by an expiatory sacrifice (Februalia) from the sins of the whole year; for this anciently was the last month in the year, Cic. de legg. ii. 21. Ovid. Fast. ii. 49. Tibull,

iii. 1. 2.

318

ROMAN ANTIQUITIES.

Numa, in imitation of the Greeks, divided the year into twelve months, according to the course of the moon, consisting in all of 354 days; he added one day more, Plin. xxxiv. 7. to make the number odd, which was thought the more fortunate. But as 10 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, (or rather 48 minutes, 57 seconds,) were wanting to make the lunar year correspond to the course of the sun, he appointed, that every other year an extraordinary month, called Mensis Intercalaris, or Mercedonius, should be inserted between the 23d and 24th day of February, Liv. i. 19. The intercalating of this month was left to the discretion (arbitrio) of the Pontifices; who, by inserting more or fewer days, used to make the current year longer or shorter, as was most convenient for themselves or their friends; for instance, that a magistrate might sooner or later resign his office, or contractors for the revenue might have longer or shorter time to collect the taxes, Cic. de legg. ii. 12. Fam. vii. 3. 12. viii. 6. Att. v. 9. 13. vi. 1. Suet. Cæs. 40. Dio. xl. 62. Censorin. 20. Macrob. Sat. i. 13. In consequence of this license, the months were transposed from their stated seasons; the winter months carried back into autumo, and the autumnal into summer, Cic. Att. x. 17.

Julius Cæsar, when he became master of the state, resolved to put an end to this disorder, by abolishing the source of it, the use of the intercalations; and for that purpose, A. U. 707. adjusted the year according to the course of the sun, and assigned to each month the number of days which they still contain. To make matters proceed regularly, from the 1st of the ensuing January, he inserted in the curent year, besides the intercalary month of 23 days, which fell into it of course, two extraordinary months between November and December, the one of thirty-three, and the other of thirty-four days; so that this year, which was called the last year of confusion, consisted of sixteen months, or 445 days, Suet. Cæs. 40. Plin. xviii. 25. Macrob. Sat. i. 14. Censorin. de die Nat. 20.

All this was effected by the care and skill of Sosigènes, a celebrated astronomer of Alexandria, whom Cæsar had brought to Rome for that purpose and a new calendar was formed from his arrangement by Flavius a scribe, digested according to the order of the Roman festivals, and the old manner of computing the days by kalends, nones, and ides; which was published and authorized by the dictator's edict.

This is the famous JULIAN or solar year, which continues in use to this day in all Christian countries, without any other variation, than that of the old and new style; which was occasioned by a regulation of Pope Gregory, A. D. 1582; who observing that the vernal equinox, which, at the time of the council of Nice, A. D. 325,

had been on the 21st March, then happened on the 10th, by the advice of astronomers, caused ten days to be entirely sunk and thrown out of the current year, between the 4th and 15th of October: and, to make the civil year for the future to agree with the real one, or with the annual revolution of the earth round the sun; or, as it was then expressed, with the annual motion of the sun round the ecliptic, which is completed in 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, nearly, ordained, that every 100th year should not be leap year; excepting the 400th; so that the difference will hardly amount, to a day in 7000 years, or, according to a more accurate computation of the length of the year, to a day in 5200 years.

This alteration of the style was immediately adopted in all the 1 Roman Catholic countries; but not in Britain till the year 1752, when eleven days were dropt between the 2d and 14th September, so that, that month contained only nineteen days; and thenceforth the new style was adopted as it had been before in the other countries of Europe. The same year also, another alteration was made in England, that the legal year, which before had begun the 25th March, should begin upon the 1st of January, which first took place 1st January, 1752.

The Romans divided their months into three parts, by Kalends, Nones, and Ides. The first day was called KALENDÆ vel Calendæ, (a calando vel vocando), from a priest calling out to the people that it was new moon; the 5th day, NONE, the nones; the 13th, IDUS, the ides, from the obsolete verb iduare, to divide; because the ides nearly divided the month. The nones were so called, because counting inclusively, they were nine days from the

ides.

In March, May, July, and October, the nones fell on the 7th, and the ides on the 15th. The first day of the intercalary month was called CALENDE INTERCALARES, Cic. Quint. 25. of the former of those inserted by Cæsar. KAL. INTERCALARES PRIORES, Cic. Fam. vi. 14.-Intra septimas Calendas, in 7 months, Martial. i. 100. 6. Sexta kalendæ, i. e. Kalendæ sexti mensis, the first day of June, Ovid. Fast. vi. 181.

Cæsar was led to this method of regulating the year by observing the manner of computing time among the Egyptians; who divided the year into 12 months, each consisting of 30 days, and added 5 intercalary days at the end of the year, and every fourth year 6 days, Herodot. ii. 4. These supernumerary days Cæsar disposed of among those months which now consist of 31 days, and also the two days which he took from February; having adjusted the year so exactly to the course of the sun, says Dio, that