DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13855#0136
DECEXNALIA.
128
DELIA.
chosen from the patricians and five from the
plebeians. Subsequently their number was
still further increased to fifteen (quindecem-
viri), probably by Sulla. It was also the
duty rf the decemviri to celebrate the games
of Apollo, and the secular games.
DECENNALIA or DECENNIA, a festival
celebrated with games every ten years by the
Roman emperors. This festival owed its
origin to the fact that Augustus refused the
supreme power when offered to him for his
life, and would only consent to accept it for
ten years, and when these expired, for
another period of ten years, and so on to the
end of his life.
DEClMATIO, the selection, by lot, of every
tenth man for punishment, when any number
of soldiers in the Roman army had been
guilty of any crime. The remainder usually
had barley allowed to them instead of wheat.
This punishment appears not to have been
inflicted in the early times of the republic.
DECRETUM seems to mean that which is
determined in a particular case after exami-
nation or consideration. It is sometimes
applied to a determination of the consuls, and
sometimes to a determination of the senate.
A decretum of the senate would seem to differ
from a senatus-consultum, in the way above
indicated : it was limited to the special occa-
sion and circumstances, and this would be
true whether the decretum was of a judicial
or a legislative character. But this distinc-
tion in the use of the two words, as applied
to an act of the senate, was, perhaps, not
always observed.
DECUMAE (sc. partes) formed a portion
of the vectigalia of the Romans, and were
paid by subjects whose territory, either by
conquest or deditio, had become the property
of the state {ager publicus). They consisted,
as the name denotes, of a tithe or tenth of
the produce of the soil, levied upon the culti-
vators [aratores) or occupiers (possessorcs) of
the lands, which, from being subject to this
payment, were called agri decuman i. The tax
of a tenth was, however, generally paid by corn
lands : plantations and vineyards, as requir-
ing no seed and less labour, paid a fifth of the
produce. A similar system existed in Greece
also. Peisistratus, for instance, imposed a
tax of a tenth on the lands of the Athenians,
which the Peisistratidae lowered to a twen-
tieth. At the time of the Persian war the
confederate Greeks made a vow, by which all
the states who had surrendered themselves to
the enemy were subjected to the payment of
tithes for the use of the god at Delphi. The
tithes of the public lands belonging to Athens
were farmed out as at Rome to contractors,
called fc/caTwai : the term SeKanjAdvoi was
applied to the collectors ; but the callings
were, as we might suppose, often united in
the same person. The title SeKarevTai is ap-
plied to both. A BeKOiTr), or tenth of a differ-
ent kind, was the arbitrary exaction imposed
by the Athenians (b. c. 410) on the cargoes
of all ships sailing into or out of the Pontus.
They lost it by the battle of Aegospotami
(b. c. 405) ; but it was re-established by
Thrasybulus about b. c. 391. The tithe was
let out to farm.
DECU>"CIS, another name for the Dex-
tans. [As.]
DECURIA. [Exercitus.]
DECURIONES. [Colo.n-ia : Exekcitts.]
DECUSSIS. [As.]
DEDICATIO. [Ixaugukatio.]
DEDITICII, were those who had taken up
arms against the Roman people, and being
conquered, had surrendered themselves. Such
people did not individually lose their freedom,
but as a community all political existence,
and of course had no other relation to Rome
than that of_subjects.
DEDUCTORES. [Ambitus.]
DEIGMA (Selyn-a), a particular place in the
Peiraeeus, as well as in the harbours of other
states, where merchants exposed samples of
their goods for sale. The samples themselves
were also called deigmata.
DEIPXON. [Coen-a.]
DELATOR, an informer. The delatores,
under the emperors, were a class of men who
gained their livelihood by informing against
their fellow-citizens. They constantly brought
forward false charges to gratify the avarice
or jealousy of the different emperors, and
were consequently paid according to the im-
portance of the information which they gave.
DELECTUS. [Exekcitvs.]
DELIA (WAca), ihe name of festivals and
games celebrated in the island of Delos, to
which the Cyciades and the neighbouring Io-
nians on the coasts belonged. The Delia had
existed from very early times, and were cele-
brated every fifth year. That the Athenians
took part in these solemnities at a very early
period, is evident from the Deliastae (after-
wards called eeiopcu) mentioned in the laws of
Solon; the sacred vessel (fletopi's), moreover,
which they sent to Delos every year, was
said to be the same which Theseus had sent
after his return from Crete. In the course
of time the celebration of this ancient pane-
gyris in Delos had ceased, and it was not re-
vived until b.c. 426, when the Athenians,
after having purified the island in the winter
of that year, restored the ancient solemnities,
and added horse-races, which had never
before taken place at the Delia. After this
restoration, Athens, being at the head of the
128
DELIA.
chosen from the patricians and five from the
plebeians. Subsequently their number was
still further increased to fifteen (quindecem-
viri), probably by Sulla. It was also the
duty rf the decemviri to celebrate the games
of Apollo, and the secular games.
DECENNALIA or DECENNIA, a festival
celebrated with games every ten years by the
Roman emperors. This festival owed its
origin to the fact that Augustus refused the
supreme power when offered to him for his
life, and would only consent to accept it for
ten years, and when these expired, for
another period of ten years, and so on to the
end of his life.
DEClMATIO, the selection, by lot, of every
tenth man for punishment, when any number
of soldiers in the Roman army had been
guilty of any crime. The remainder usually
had barley allowed to them instead of wheat.
This punishment appears not to have been
inflicted in the early times of the republic.
DECRETUM seems to mean that which is
determined in a particular case after exami-
nation or consideration. It is sometimes
applied to a determination of the consuls, and
sometimes to a determination of the senate.
A decretum of the senate would seem to differ
from a senatus-consultum, in the way above
indicated : it was limited to the special occa-
sion and circumstances, and this would be
true whether the decretum was of a judicial
or a legislative character. But this distinc-
tion in the use of the two words, as applied
to an act of the senate, was, perhaps, not
always observed.
DECUMAE (sc. partes) formed a portion
of the vectigalia of the Romans, and were
paid by subjects whose territory, either by
conquest or deditio, had become the property
of the state {ager publicus). They consisted,
as the name denotes, of a tithe or tenth of
the produce of the soil, levied upon the culti-
vators [aratores) or occupiers (possessorcs) of
the lands, which, from being subject to this
payment, were called agri decuman i. The tax
of a tenth was, however, generally paid by corn
lands : plantations and vineyards, as requir-
ing no seed and less labour, paid a fifth of the
produce. A similar system existed in Greece
also. Peisistratus, for instance, imposed a
tax of a tenth on the lands of the Athenians,
which the Peisistratidae lowered to a twen-
tieth. At the time of the Persian war the
confederate Greeks made a vow, by which all
the states who had surrendered themselves to
the enemy were subjected to the payment of
tithes for the use of the god at Delphi. The
tithes of the public lands belonging to Athens
were farmed out as at Rome to contractors,
called fc/caTwai : the term SeKanjAdvoi was
applied to the collectors ; but the callings
were, as we might suppose, often united in
the same person. The title SeKarevTai is ap-
plied to both. A BeKOiTr), or tenth of a differ-
ent kind, was the arbitrary exaction imposed
by the Athenians (b. c. 410) on the cargoes
of all ships sailing into or out of the Pontus.
They lost it by the battle of Aegospotami
(b. c. 405) ; but it was re-established by
Thrasybulus about b. c. 391. The tithe was
let out to farm.
DECU>"CIS, another name for the Dex-
tans. [As.]
DECURIA. [Exercitus.]
DECURIONES. [Colo.n-ia : Exekcitts.]
DECUSSIS. [As.]
DEDICATIO. [Ixaugukatio.]
DEDITICII, were those who had taken up
arms against the Roman people, and being
conquered, had surrendered themselves. Such
people did not individually lose their freedom,
but as a community all political existence,
and of course had no other relation to Rome
than that of_subjects.
DEDUCTORES. [Ambitus.]
DEIGMA (Selyn-a), a particular place in the
Peiraeeus, as well as in the harbours of other
states, where merchants exposed samples of
their goods for sale. The samples themselves
were also called deigmata.
DEIPXON. [Coen-a.]
DELATOR, an informer. The delatores,
under the emperors, were a class of men who
gained their livelihood by informing against
their fellow-citizens. They constantly brought
forward false charges to gratify the avarice
or jealousy of the different emperors, and
were consequently paid according to the im-
portance of the information which they gave.
DELECTUS. [Exekcitvs.]
DELIA (WAca), ihe name of festivals and
games celebrated in the island of Delos, to
which the Cyciades and the neighbouring Io-
nians on the coasts belonged. The Delia had
existed from very early times, and were cele-
brated every fifth year. That the Athenians
took part in these solemnities at a very early
period, is evident from the Deliastae (after-
wards called eeiopcu) mentioned in the laws of
Solon; the sacred vessel (fletopi's), moreover,
which they sent to Delos every year, was
said to be the same which Theseus had sent
after his return from Crete. In the course
of time the celebration of this ancient pane-
gyris in Delos had ceased, and it was not re-
vived until b.c. 426, when the Athenians,
after having purified the island in the winter
of that year, restored the ancient solemnities,
and added horse-races, which had never
before taken place at the Delia. After this
restoration, Athens, being at the head of the