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

METOPA.

255

MIMUS.

phobia]. These services were, however, in
all probability not intended to hurt the feel-
ings of the aliens, but were simply acts sym-
bolical of their relation to the citizens. Aliens
were not allowed to acquire landed property
in the state they had chosen for their resi-
dence, and were consequently obliged to live
in hired houses or apartments. As they did
not constitute a part of the state, and were
yet in constant intercourse and commerce with
its members, every alien was obliged to select
a citizen for his patron (Trpocn-anjs), who was
not only the mediator between them and the
state, through whom alone they could trans-
act any legal business, whether private or
public, but was at the same time answerable
(eyyvr)TT)s) to the state for the conduct of his
client. On the other hand, however, the
state allowed the aliens to carry on all kinds
of industry and commerce under the protec-
tion of the law; in fact, at Athens nearly all
business was in the hands of aliens, who on
this account lived for the most part in the
Peiraeeus. Each family of aliens, whether
they availed themselves of the privilege of
carrying on any mercantile business or not,
had to pay an annual tax (/xerot'/ctoi/ or fen/cd)
of twelve drachmae, or if the head of the
family was a widow, of only six drachmae.
If aliens did not pay this tax, or if they
assumed the right of citizens, and probably
also in case they refused to select a patron,
they not only forfeited the protection of the
state, but were sold as slaves. Extraordinary
taxes and liturgies (etcripopcu and Aeii-oupyiai)
devolved upon aliens no less than upon citi-
zens. The aliens were also obliged, like
citizens, to serve in the regular armies and
in the fleet, both abroad and at home, for the
defence of the city. Those aliens who were
exempt from the burthens peculiar to their
class were called isoteles (icroTeAeis). They
had not to pay the /xeTouacw {ardAeia /aeToi-
iciov), were not obliged to choose a -n-pocrTan)?,
and in fact enjoyed all the rights of citizens,
except those of a political nature. Their con-
dition was termed icroreAeta, and t<roTroAt.Tei'a.

METOPA or METOPE OeTOTnj), the name
applied to each of the spaces between the
triglyphs in the frieze of the Doric order, and
by metonymy to the sculptured ornament
with which those spaces were filled up. In
the original significance of the parts the tri-
glyphs represent the ends of the cross-beams
or joists which rested on the architrave ; the
beds of these beams were called 07rai, and
hence the spaces between them p-eiwai.
Originally they were left open ; next they
were filled up with plain slabs, as in the
propylaea at Eleusis, and many other build-
ings, and lastly, but still at an early period,

they were adorned with sculptures either in
low or high relief. The metopes from the
Parthenon in the British Museum are
adorned with sculptures in high relief.

METRETES (p-erpTj-nj;), the principal Greek
liquid measure. The Attic metretes was equal
in capacity to the amphora, containing 8
galls. 7-365 pints, English. See the Tables.
[Chous : Choenix ; Xestks ; Cotyla.]

METROPOLIS. [Colonia.]

MILIARE, MILLIARIUM, or MILLE
PASSUUM (ju.1A.101O, the Roman mile, con-
sisted of 1000 paces (passus) of 5 feet each,
and was therefore =5000 feet. Taking the
Roman foot at 11-G496 English inches [Pes],
the Roman mile would be 1618 English
yards, or 142 yards less than the English
statute mile. The most common term for
the mile is mille passuum, or only the initials
M. P. ; sometimes the word passuum is omit-
ted. The Roman mile contained 8 Greek
stadia. The mile-stones along the Roman
roads were called mUHaria. They were also
called lapides ; thus we have ad tertium lapi-
dem (or without the word lapidem) for 3
miles from Rome. Augustus erected a gilt
pillar in the Forum, where the principal
roads terminated, which was called millia-
rium aureum; but the miles were not
reckoned from it, but from the gates of the
city. Such central marks appear to have
been common in the principal cities of the
Roman empire. The " London-stone " in
Cannon-street is supposed to have marked
the centre of the Roman roads in Britain.

MIMUS (/j-ip-os), the name by which, in
Greece and at Rome, a species of the drama
was designated, though the Roman mimus
differed essentially from the Greek. The
Greek mimus seems to have originated among
the Greeks of Sicily and southern Italy, and
to have consisted originally of extemporary
representations or imitations of ridiculous
occurrences of common life at certain festi-
vals. At a later period these rude repre-
sentations acquired a more artistic form,
which was brought to a high degree of per-
fection by Sophron of Syracuse (about b. c.
420). He wrote his pieces in the popular
dialect of the Dorians and a kind of rhythmi-
cal prose. Among the Romans the word
mimus was applied to a species of dramatic
plays as well as to the persons who acted in
them. It is certain that the Romans did not
derive their mimus from the Greeks in
southern Italy, but that it was of native
growth. The Greek mimes were written in
prose, and the name p-t/u-os was never applied
to an actor, but if used of a person it signified
one who made grimaces. The Roman mimes
were imitations of foolish and mostly in-