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

SPOXSA.

348

STADIUM.

Manubiae, Exuviae, Spolia. Of these Pineda
bears the most comprehensive moaning, being
used for plunder of every description. Manu-
biae would seem strictly to signify that por-
tion of the spoil which fell to the share of
the commander-in-chief, the proceeds of
which were frequently applied to the erection
of seme public building. Exuviae indicates
anything stripped from the person of a foe,
while Spolia, properly speaking, ought to be
confined to armour and weapons, although
both words are applied loosely to trophies,
such as chariots, standards, beaks of ships
and the like, which might be preserved and
displayed. Spoils collected on the battle-
field after an engagement, or found in a
captured town, were employed to decorate
the temples of the gods, triumphal arches,
porticoes, and other places of public resort,
and sometimes in the hour of extreme need
served to arm the people ; but those which
were gained by individual prowess were
considered the undoubted property of the
successful combatant, and were exhibited in
the most conspicuous part of his dwelling,
being hung up in the atrium, suspended
from the door-posts, or arranged in the ves-
tibulum, with appropriate inscriptions. They
were regarded as peculiarly sacred, so that
even if the house was sold the new possessor
was not permitted to remove them. But
while on the one hand it was unlawful to
remove spoils, so it was forbidden to replace
or repair them when they had fallen down or
become decayed through age; the object of
this regulation being doubtless to guard
against the frauds of false pretenders. Of
all spoils the most important were the spolia
opima, a term applied to those only which
the commander-in-chief of a Roman army
stripped in a field of battle from the leader
of the foe. Plutarch expressly asserts that
Koman history up to his own time afforded
but three examples of the spolia opima. The
first were said to have been won by Romulus
from Aero, king of the Caeninenses, the
second by AuluS Cornelius Cossus from Lar
Tolumnius, king of the Veientes, the third by
M. Claudius Marcellus from A'iridomarus,
king of the Gaesatae. In all these cases, in
accordance with the original institution, the
spoils were dedicated to Jupiter Feretrius.
SPOXSA, SPONSUS, SPOXSALIA. [JU-

trimoxium.]

SPORTULA. In the days of Roman free-
dom, clients were in the habit of testifying
respect for their patron by thronging his
atrium at an early hour, and escorting him
to places of public resort when he went
abroad. As an acknowledgment of these
courtesies, some of the number were usually

invited to partake of the evening meal.
After the extinction of liberty, the presence
of such guests, who had now lost all political
importance, was soon regarded as an irksome
restraint, while at the same time many of
the noble and wealthy were unwilling to
sacrifice the pompous display of a numerous
body of retainers. Hence the practice was
introduced under the empire of bestowing on
each client, when he presented himself for his
morning visit, a certain portion of food as a sub-
stitute and compensation for the occasional in-
vitation to a regular supper (coena recta), and
this dole, being carried off in a little basket pro-
vided for the purpose, received the name of
sportula. For the sake of convenience it
soon became common to give an equivalent
in money, the sum established by general
usage being a hundred quadrantes. The
donation in money, however, did not entirely
supersede the sportula given in kind, for we
find in Juvenal a lively description of a great
man's vestibule crowded with dependents,
each attended by a slave bearing a portable
kitchen to receive the viands and keep them
hot while they were carried home. Under
the empire great numbers of the lower orders
derived their whole sustenance, and the
funds for ordinary expenditure, exclusively
from this source, while even the highborn
did not scruple to increase their incomes by
taking advantage of the ostentatious profusion
of the rich and vain.

STADIUM (6 oraSios and to maZiov), a
Greek measure of length, and the chief one
used for itinerary distances. It was equal to
GOO Greek or G25 Roman feet, or to 125
Pvoman paces ; and the Roman mile contained
8 stadia. Hence the stadium contained GOG
feet 9 inches English. This standard pre-
vailed throughout Greece, under the name of
the Olympic stadium, so called because it was
the exact length of the stadium or foot-race
course at Olympia, measured between the
pillars at the two extremities of the course.
The first use of the measure seems to be con-
temporaneous with the formation of the
stadium at Olympia when the Olympic games
were revived by Iphitus (b. c. 884 or 828).
This distance doubled formed the Si'auAos, the
lttttikov was 4 stadia, and the ooaixos is dif-
ferently stated at 6, 7, 8, 12, 20, and 24
stadia. A day's journey by land was reckoned
at 200 or 180 stadia, or for an army 150
stadia. The stadium at Olympia was used
not only for the foot-race, but also for the
other contests which were added to the games
from time to time [Olympia], except the
horse-races, for which a place was set apart,
of a similar form with the stadium, but
larger ; this was callec1 the Hippodrome (inno-