Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

ACCLAM ATIO.

ACETABULUM.

to court; they preserved order in the courts
and proclaimed the time of the day when it
was the third hour, the sixth hour, and the
ninth hour. An aeeensus anciently preceded
the consul who had not the fasces, -which
custom, after heing long disused, was re-
stored by Julius Cajsar 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
Scrvius Tullius, from the filth class of citizens,
and were placed in battle in the rear of the
army, behind the triarii.

ACCLAM.ItIO, 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 Ro-
mans ; as, for instance, at marriages, Io
Hymen, Hi/menace, or Talassio; at triumphs,
Io Triumphe; at the conclusion of plays, the
last actor called out Plaudite to the specta-
tors ; orators were usually praised by such ex-
pressions as Bene et pracclarc, Belle et festive,
yon potest melius, &c. Under the empire the
name of acelaniationes was given to the praises
and flatteries bestowed by the senate upon the
reigning emperor and his family.

ACCUBATiO, 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 an-
tiquity in Greece, since Homer always de-
scribes persons as sitting at their meals ; and
Isidore of Seville, an ancient grammarian,
also attributes the same custom to the an-
cient 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

Accubatio, Act of Reclining. (Montt'auion, Ant. Exp.,
Suppl., iii. 600

upper part of the room. Roman ladies con-
tinued 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 nit, more especially if
many persons were present. But, on the
other hand, we find cases of women reclining,
where there was conceived to be nothing bold
or indelicate in their posture. Such is the
case in the preceding woodcut, which seems
intended to represent a scene of matrimonial
felicity. For an account of the disposition of
the couches, and of the place which each
guest occupied in a Greek and Roman enter-
tainment, see Symposium and Triclinium.
ACCUSATOR, ACCUSATIO. [Judex.]
ACERRA (fuu.icmjpioi', •U/SafiuTpi's), the in-
cense-box or censer used in sacrifices. The
acerra was also a small moveable altar placed
before the dead, on which perfumes were
burnt. The use of acerrae at funerals was
forbidden by a law of the Twelve Tables as
an unnecessary expense.

Accrra. (From a Frieze in the Museum Capitolinum.)

ACETABULUM (6ffe, ofuPacpov, ofu£acfHOv).
(1) A vinegar-cup, wide and open above, as
we see in the annexed cut. The name was

Acetabulum. (Dennis, Etruria, p. xcri.)

also given to all cups resembling it in size and
form, to whatever use they might be applied.
— (2) A Roman measure of capacity, fluid
and dry. It was one-fourth of the hemin.;,
and therefore one-eighth of the sextarius