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

SALIXAE.

327

SALTATIO.

Tullus Hostilius, or the Quivinalian, from
the Tities alone : a third college for the Lu-
ceres was never established.

SALIXAE (aAai, aAon-rjyiov), a salt-work.
Throughout the Roman empire the salt-works
were commonly public property, and were
let by the government to the highest bidder.
The first salt-works are said to have been
established by Ancus Marcius at Ostia. The
publicani who farmed these works appear to
have sold this most necessary of all com-
modities at a very high price, whence the
censors M. Livius and C. Claudius (b.c. 204)
fixed the price at which those who took the
lease of them were obliged to sell the salt to
the people. At Rome the medius was, ac-
cording to this regulation, sold for a sextans,
while in other parts of Italy the price was
higher and varied. The salt-works in Italy
and in the provinces were very numerous.

SALIXUM, a salt-cellar. All Romans who
were raised above poverty had one of silver,
which descended from father to son, and was

accompanied by a silver plate, which wa§
used together with the salt-cellar in the
domestic sacrifices. [Patera.] These two
articles of silver were alone compatible with
the simplicity of Roman manners in the early
times of the republic.

SALTATIO (Sprats, opxrjcmjs), dancing.
The dancing of the Greeks as well as of the
Romans had very little in common with the
exercise which goes by that name in modern
times. It may he divided into two kinds,
gymnastic and mimetic; that is, it was in-
tended either to represent bodily activity, or
to express by gestures, movements, and atti-
tudes certain ideas or feelings, and also single
events, or a series of events, as in the modern
ballet. All these movements, however, were
accompanied by music ; but the terms op\r]<ns
and saltatio were used in so much wider a
sense than our word dancing, that they were
applied to designate gestures, even when the
body did not move at all. "We find dancing
prevalent among the Greeks from the earliest

A Dance. (Lamberti, Villa Borgheie.J

times. It was originally closely connected
with religion. In all the public festivals,
which were so numerous among the Greeks,
dancing formed a very prominent part. We
find from the earliest times that the worship
of Apollo was connected with a religious

Phrygia and in Crete; the dancers were
armed, struck their swords against their
shields, and displayed the most extravagant
fury ; it was accompanied chiefly by the flute.
Respecting the dances in the theatre, see
Chorus. Dancing was applied to gymnastic

dance, called Byporchema (v7i6px?)^a.). All purposes and to training for war, especially
the religious dances, with the exception of | in the Doric states, and was believed to have
the Bacchic and the Corybantian, were very | contributed very much to the success of the
simple, and consisted of gentle movements of Dorians in war, as it enabled them to per-
the body, with various turnings and windings j form their evolutions simultaneously and in
around the altar : such a dance was the order. There were various dances in early

Geranus (ye'pavos), which Theseus is said to
have performed at Delos on his return from
Crete. The Dionysiac or Bacchic, and the
Corybantian, were of a very different nature.
In the former the life and adventures of the

times, which served as a preparation for war :
hence Homer calls the Hoplites 7rpvAets, a
war-dance having been called 7rpv'At9 by the
Cretans. Of such dances the most celebrated
was the Pyrrhic (17 7ruppi'x>j), of which the

god were represented by mimetic dancing. 7rp0Ais was probably only another name. It
[Dioxysia.] The Corybantian was of a very was danced to the sound of the flute, and its
wild character : it was chiefly danced in time was very quick and light, as is shown

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