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

MAENIANTM.

246

MAJESTAS.

touched with a little staff called plectrum i the corporation of equites, who farmed the
(-\7)KTpoi>), hut among the paintings dis- taxes at Home.

covered at Herculaneum we find several in- MAGISTER EQUITUM. [Dictator.]
stances where the persons play the lyre with MAGISTRATUS was a person qui juri di-
their fingers. The lyre was at all times only i cundo praeerat. The King was originally the
played as an accompaniment to songs. The . sole Magistratus ; he had all the Potestas.

On the expulsion of the Kings, two Consuls
were annually appointed, and they were Ma-
gistratus. In course of time other Magistra-
tus were appointed ; namely, dictators, cen-
sors, praetors, aediles, tribunes of the plebs,
and the decemviri litihus judicandis. The
governors of provinces with the title of pro-
praetor or proconsul were also Magistrates.
The word Magistratus contains the same
element as mag{ister) and mag{nus) ; and it
signifies both the person and the office, as
we see in the phrase se magistrate ahilicare.
The auspicia maxima belonged to the con-
suls, praetors, and censors, and the minora
auspicia to the other magistratus; accord-
ingly the consuls, praetors, and censors were
called Mujores, and they were elected at the
comitia centuriata; the other magistratus
were called Minores. The former had the
imperium, the latter had not. The magistra-
tus were also divided into curules and those
who were not curules: the magistratus cu-
rules were the dictator, consuls, praetors,
censors, and the curule aediles, who were so
called, because they had the jus sellae cu-
rulis. The magistrates were chosen only
from the patricians in the early republic, but
in course of time the plebeians shared these
honours, with the exception of that of the
Interrex : the plebeian magistratus, properly
so called, were the plebeian aediles and the
tribuni plebis,

MAJESTAS pretty nearly corresponds tc
treason in English law; but all the offences
included under majestas comprehend more
than the English treason. One of the offences
included in majestas was the effecting, aiding
in, or planning the death of a magistratus
populi Romani, or of one who had imperium
or potestas. Though the phrase crimen ma-
jcstatis was used, the complete expression
was crimen laesae, imminutae, diminutae,
or minutae majestatis. The word majestas,
consistently with its relation to mag(nus),
signifies the magnitude or greatness of a
thing. Accordingly, the phrases majestas
populi Romani, imperii majestas, signify the
whole of that which constituted the Roman
state ; in other words, the sovereign power
of the Roman state. The expression minuerr
majestatem consequently signifies any act by
which this majestas is impaired. In the re-
publican period the term majestas laesa or
minuta was most commonly applied to cases
of a general betraving or surrendering his

Anacreon playing the Lvro. (Vase-painting in the British
Museum.)

Latin name fides, which was used for a lyre
as well as a cithara, is probably the same as
the Greek o-^iSes, which signifies gut-string.
The lyre [cithara or phorminx) was at first
used in the recitations of epie poetry, though
it was probably not played during the reci-
tation itself, but only as a prelude before the
minstrel commenced his story, and in the
intervals or pauses between the several parts.
The lyre has given its name to a species of
poetry called lyric ; this kind of poetry was
originally never recited or sung without the
accompaniment of the lyre, and sometimes
also of an appropriate dance.

MAENIANUM, signified, originally, a pro-
jecting balcony, which was erected
round the Roman forum, by the censor, C.
Maenius, b. c. 318, in order to give more
accommodation to the spectators of the gladia-
torial combats. Hence balconies in general
came to be called maeniana.
MAGADIS. [Lyra.]

MAGISTER, which contains the same root
as mag-is and mag-nus, was applied at Rome
to persons possessing various kinds of offices,
and especially to the leading person in a col-
legium or corporation [Collegium] ; thus
the magister societatis was the president of