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

MALLEOLUS.

247

MANSIO.

army to the enemy, exciting- sedition, and
generally by his bad conduct in administra-
tion impairing the majestas of the state. The
old punishment of majestas was perpetual
interdiction from fire and water. In the
later imperial period, persons of low condi-
tion were thrown to wild beasts, or burnt
alive ; persons of better condition were sim-
ply put to death. In the early times of the
republic, every act of a citizen which was
injurious to the state or its peace was called
perduellio, and the offender (perduellis) was
tried before the populus (populi judicio), and,
if convicted, put to death. Perduellis origin-
ally signified hostis ; and thus the old offence
of perduellio was equivalent to making war
on the Roman state. The trial for perduellio
(perduelliotiis judicium) existed to the later
times of the republic; but the name seems to
have almost fallen into disuse, and various
leges were passed for the purpose of deter-
mining more accurately what should be ma-
jfstas. These were a lex Apuleia, probably
passed in the fifth consulship of Marius, the
exact contents of which are unknown, a lex
■aria b. c. 91, a lex Cornelia passed by L.
Cornelius Sulla, and the lex Julia, which
continued under the empire to be the funda-
mental enactment on this subject. This lex
Julia is by some attributed to C. Julius Cae-
sar, and assigned to the year b. c. 4S. Under
the empire the term majestas was applied to
the person of the reigning Caesar, and we
find the phrases majestas Augusta, impera-
toria, and regia. It was, however, nothing
new to apply the term to the emperor, consi-
dered in some of his various capacities, for it
■was applied to the magistratus under the
republic, as to the consul and praetor. Ho-
race even addresses Augustus in the terms ma-
jestas tua, but this can hardly be viewed other-
wise than as a personal compliment, and not
as said with reference to any 0/ the offices
which he held.

MALLEOLUS, a hammer, the transverse
head of which was formed for holding pitch
and tow, which, having been set on fire, was
projected slowly, so that it might not be ex-
tinguished during its flight, upon houses and
other buildings in order to set them on fire :
it was therefore commonly used in sieges
together with torches and falaricae.

MALUS. [Navis.]

MAXCEPS has the same relation to Man-
cipium that Auspex has to Auspicium. It is
properly qui maim capit. But the word has
leveral special significations. Mancipes were
they who bid at the public lettings of the
censors for the purpose of farming any part
of the public property. Sometimes the chief
of the publicani generally are meant by this

term, as they were no doubt the bidders and
gave the security, and then they shared the
undertaking with others or underlet it. The
mancipes would accordingly have distinctive
names according to the kind of revenue which
they took on lease, as Decumani, Portitorcs,
Pecuarii.

MANCIPATIO. [MAN-cirrpr.]

MANCIPIUM, MANCIPATIO. These
words are used to indicate the formal transfer
of the ownership of a thing, and are derived
from the fact that the person who received
the thing took hold of it (mancipatio dicitur
quia manu res capitur). It was not a simple
corporeal apprehension, but one which was
accompanied with certain forms described by
Gaius the jurist :—" Mancipatio is effected
in the presence of not less than five wit-
nesses, who must be Roman citizens and of
the age of puberty (puberes), and also in the
presence of another person of the same status,
who holds a pair of brazen scales, and hence
is called Lihripens. The purchaser [qui man-
ciple accipit), taking hold of the thing, says :
I affirm that this slave (homo) is mine Ex
Jure Quiritium, and he is purchased by me
with this piece of money (aes) and brazen
scales. He then strikes the scales with the
piece of money, and gives it to the seller as a
symbol of the price (quasi pretii loco)." This
mode of transfer applied to all free persons
or slaves, animals or lands, all of which per-
sons and things were called Pes Mancipi;
other things were called Nee Mancipi. Lands
(praedia) might be thus transferred, though
the parties to the mancipatio were not on the
lands ; but all other things, which were ob-
jects of mancipatio, were only transferable in
the presence of the parties, because corporeal
apprehension was a necessary part of the
ceremony. The party who transferred the
ownership of a thing pursuant to these forms
was said mancipio dare; he who thus ac-
quired the ownership was said mancipio acci-
pere. The verb mancipare is sometimes
used as equivalent to mancipio dare. Man-
cipium may be used as equivalent to complete
ownership, and may thus be opposed to usus
and to fructus. Sometimes the word manci-
pium signifies a slave, as being one of the
res mancipi.

MANDATUM, often signifies a command
from a superior to an inferior. Under the
empire the mandata principum were the
commands and instructions given to governors
of provinces and others.

MAXIPULUS. [Exercitus.]

MANSIO (a-Taflfios), a post-station at the
end of a day's journey. The word is derived
trommanere, signifying to pass the night at a
place in travelling. On the great Roman roads