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

SCALPTURA.

330

SCRIPT URA.

nrtlia proper, commencing: on xvi. Kal. Dec,
followed by the Opalia, anciently coincident
with the Saturnalia, on XIV. Kal. Jan.; these
two together lasted for five days, and the
sixth and seventh were occupied with the
Sigillaria, so called from little earthenware
figures (siffilla, oscilla) exposed for sale at
this season, and given as toys_to children.

SCALPTURA or SCULPTL'RA, originally
signified cutting figures out of a solid mate-
rial, but was more particularly applied to the
art of cutting figures into the material (intag-
lios), which was chiefly applied to producing
seals and matrices for the mints ; and 2. the
art of producing raised figures (cameos),
which served for the most part as ornaments.
Sculpture in our sense of the word was
usually designated by the term Statuaria.
The first artist who Is mentioned as an en-
graver of stones is Theodorus, the son of
Telecles, the Samian, who engraved the stone
IE the ring of Polycrates. The most cele-
brated among them was Pyrgoteles, who
engraved the seal-rings for Alexander the
Great. Several of the successors of Alexander
and other wealthy persons adopted the cus-
tom of adorning their gold and silver vessels,
craters, candelabras, and the like, with pre-
cious stones on which raised figures (cameos)
were worked. The art was in a particularly
flourishing state at Rome under Augustus
and his successors, in the hands of Dioscu-
rides and other artists, many of whose works
are still preserved. Numerous specimens of
intaglios and cameos are still preserved in
the various museums of Europe.

SCAMN'UM, dim. SCABELLUM, a step
which was placed before the beds of the
ancients in order to assist persons in get-
ting into them, as some were very high :
others which were lower required also lower
steps, which were called scabella. A scam-
num was also used as a footstool. A scam-
uum extended in length becomes a bench,
and in this sense the word is frequently
used. The benches in ships were sometimes
called scamna.

SCENA. [Thkatrum.]

SCEPTRUM (aicqnTpov), which originally
denoted a simple staff or walking-stick, was
emblematic of station and authority. In
ancient authors the sceptre is represented as
belonging more especially to kings, princes,
and leaders of tribes : but it is also borne by
judges, by heralds, and by priests and seers.
The sceptre descended from father to son,
and might be committed to any one in order
to express the transfer of authority. Those
who bore the sceptre swore by it, solemnly
taking it in the right hand and raising it
towards heaven. The ivory sceptre of the

kings of Rome, which descended to the con-
suls, was surmounted by an eagle.

SCHOENUS (o, 17, o^o'tos), an Egyptian
and Persian measure, the length of which is
stated by Herodotus at 60 stadia, or 2 para-
sangs. It was used especially for measuring
land.

SCORPIO. [TORMK.VTrM.]

SCRIBAE, public notaries or clerks, in
the pay of the Roman state. They were
chiefly employed in making up the public
accounts, copying out laws, and recording the
proceedings of the different functionaries of
the state. The phrase scriptum faccre was
used to denote their occupation. Being very
numerous, they were divided into companies
or classes (decuriae), and were assigned by
lot to different magistrates, whence they
were named Quaestorii, Aedilicii, or Praetorii,
from the officers of state to whom they were
attached. The appointment to the office of a
" scriba " seems to have been either made on
the nomination of a magistrate, or purchased.
Horace, for instance, bought for himself a
" patent place as clerk in the treasury"
(scriptum guaestorium comparacit). In Ci-
cero's time, indeed, it seems that any one
might become a scriba or public clerk by
purchase, and consequently, as freedmen and
their sons were eligible, and constituted a
great portion of the public clerks at Rome,
the office was not highly esteemed, though
frequently held by ingenui or free-born citi-
zens. Very few instances are recorded of
the scribae being raised to the higher digni-
ties of the state. Cn. Flavius, the scribe of
Appius Claudius, was raised to the office of
curule aedile in gratitude for his making
public the various forms of actions, which
had previously been the exclusive property
of the patricians [Actio] ; but the returning
officer refused to acquiesce in his election
till he had given up his books and left his
profession.

SCRIXIUM. [Capsa.]

SCRIPTA DUODECIM. [Latrunculi.]

SCRIPTURA, that part of the revenue of
the Roman Republic which was derived from
letting out, as pasture land, those portions of
the ager publieus which were not taken into
cultivation. The names for such parts of the
ager publieus were, pascua publica, saltus, or
silrae. They were let by the censors to the
publieani, like all other vectigalia ; and the
persons who sent their cattle to graze on
such public pastures had to pay a certain tax
or duty to the publieani, which of course
varied according to the number and quality
of the cattle which they kept upon them.
The publieani had to keep the lists of persons
who sent their cattle upon the public pas-