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

LENAEA.

225

LEX.

■Bring the whole month of May, and those
who ventured to marry "were believed to die
soon after, whence the proverb, mense Maio
malae nubent. Those who celebrated the
Lemuria walked barefooted, washed their
hands three times, and threw black beans
nine times behind their backs, believing by
this ceremony to secure themselves against
the Lemures. As regards the solemnities on
each of the three days, we only know that on
the second there were games in the circus in
honour of Mars, and that on the third day
the images of the thirty Argei, made of
rushes, were thrown from the Pons Sublicius
into the Tiber by the Yestal virgins [Argei].
On the same day there was a festival of the
merchants, probably because on this day the
temple of Mercury had been dedicated in the
year 49a b.c.

LENAEA. [Diontsia.]

LESCHE (AeVxi), an Ionic word, signify-
ing council or conversation, and a place for
council or conversation. There is frequent
mention of places of public resort, in the
Greek cities, by the name of Leschae, some
set apart for the purpose, and others so called
because they were so used by loungers; to
the latter class belong the agora and its por-
ticoes, the gymnasia, and the shops of various
tradesmen. The former class were small
buildings or porticoes, furnished with seats,
and exposed to the sun, to which the idle
resorted to enjoy conversation, and the poor
to obtain warmth and shelter : at Athens
alone there were 360 such. In the Dorian
states the word retained the meaning of a
place of meeting for deliberation and inter-
course, a council-chamber or club-room.
There were generally chambers for council
and conversation, called by this name, at-
tached to the temples of Apollo. The Lesche
at Delphi was celebrated through Greece for
the paintings with which it was adorned by
Polygnotus.

LEX. Of Roman leges, viewed with re-
ference to the mode of enactment, there were
properly two kinds, Leges Curiatae and Leges
Centuriatae. Plebiscita are improperly called
leges, though they were laws, and in the
course of time had the same effect as leges.
[Plebiscitum.] Originally the leges curiatae
were the only leges, and they were passed by
the populus in the comitia curiata. After
the establishment of the comitia centuriata,
the comitia curiata fell almost into disuse ;
but so long as the republic lasted, and even
under Augustus, a shadow of the old consti-
tution was preserved in the formal conferring
of the imperium by a lex curiata only, and
in the ceremony of adrogation being effected
only in these comitia. [Adoptio.] Those

leges, properly so called, with which we are
acquainted, were passed in the comitia cen-
turiata, and were proposed (rogabantur) by
a magistratus of senatorial rank, after the
senate had approved of them by a decretum.
Such a lex was also designated by the name
Populi Scitum.—The word rogatio (from the
verb rogo) properly means any measure pro-
posed to the legislative body, and therefore
is equally applicable to a proposed lex and a
proposed plebiscitum. It corresponds to our
word bill, as opposed to act. When the
measure was passed, it became a lex or ple-
biscitum ; though rogationes, after they had
become laws, were sometimes, but impro-
perly, called rogationes. A rogatio began
with the words velitis, jubeatis, &c, and
ended with the words ita vos Quirites rogo.
The corresponding expression of assent to
the rogatio on the part of the sovereign as-
sembly was uti rogas. The phrases for pro-
posing a law are rogare legem, legem ferre,
and rogationempromulgare ; the phrase roga-
tioneni accipere applies to the enacting body.
The terms relating to legislation are thus
explained by LTpian the jurist:—" A lex is
said either rogari or ferri; it is said abro-
gari, when it is repealed; it is said dcrogari,
w hen a part is repealed; it is said subrogari,
when some addition is made to it; and it
is said obrogari, when some part of it is
changed." — A privilegium is an enactment
that had for its object a single person, which
is indicated by the form of the word [privile-
gium), privae res being the same as singulae
res. The word privilegium did not convey
any notion of the character of the legislative
measures; it might be beneficial to the party
to whom it referred, or it might not. Under
the empire, the word is used in the sense of
a special grant proceeding from the imperial
favour.—The title of a lex was generally de-
rived from the gentile name of the magis-
tratus who proposed it, as the Lex Hortcnsia
from the dictator Hortcnsius. Sometimes
the lex took its name from the two consuls
or other magistrates, asthe^dciVia Calpurnia,
Aelia or AeliaSentia, Papiaov Papia Poppaea,
and others. It seems to have been the fa-
shion to omit the word et between the two
names, though instances occur in which it was
used. A lex was also designated, with refer-
ence to its object, as the Lex Cincia ale Donis
et Muneribus, Lex L'uria Testamentaria, Lex
Julia Municipalis, and many others. Leges
which related to a common object, were often
designated by a collective name, as Leges
Agrariae, Judiciariae, and others. A lex
sometimes took its name from the chief con-
tents of its first chapter, as Lex Julia de
Maritandis Ordinibus. Sometimes a lex