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TERGIVERSATIO 100.00%
The Roman term for the dereliction of duty involved in a legal prosecution being dropped by the prosecutor. Under Nero this offence was punished by fines and disgrace (infamia).
 
INFAMIA 100.00%
The Latin term for the loss of certain political rights; resembling, but not identical with, deminutio capitis (q.v.). It was the direct consequence of dishonourable conduct, or of some shameless act (such as a widow not observing the usual year of mourning, bigamy, bankruptcy, going on the stage, or becoming a gladiator, pandering, or becoming a prostitute, etc.). It also resulted from a condemnation for felony, robbery, fraud, embezzlement of a deposit, whether belonging to a society or a ward, or in fact for any criminal offence. The infamis was expelled from his tribe, lost his vote and his capacity for filling public offices (ius suffrgII and ius honorum), and could not appear in a court of law either on his own account or on behalf of another. (Cp. ATIMIA.)
 
BONORUM EMPTIO 50.72%
The technical term in Roman jurisprudence for the seizure of goods. If a man sentenced to pay a certain sum did not perform his obligation within thirty days, the creditor obtained permission from the praetor to attach his goods. After a renewed respite of thirty days the sale followed by auction to the highest bidder, the intending purchaser bidding for the whole property, with its assets and liabilities. The former proprietor might intervene and promise payment at any time before the fall of the hammer. The property once knocked down to him, the buyer became the absolute owner. A person against whom these proceedings were taken incurred infamia.
 
REPETUNDARUM CRIMEN 35.17%

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The name given by the Romans to the charge brought against officials for extorting money from Roman subjects or allies. Such charges were at first brought before the Senate, which heard the case itself, or else passed it on to a commission, or, again, caused it to be brought before the comitia by the tribunes. At last, in 149 B.C., a standing court of justice (See QUAeSTIO perpetua), in fact, the first in Rome, was instituted by the Lex Calpurnia, containing more precise definitions of acts liable to punishment, with forms of legal procedure, and determining the amount of the penalty. The increasing inclination of the officials to use the administration of the provinces as means of enriching themselves at the expense of the provincials led to repeated legislation with a view to increasing the penalty. The last law on the subject was Caesar's Lex Iulia, which was the basis of the procedure in such cases under the Empire. During that period, in consequence of the improved condition of provincial government, extortion on the part of officials became much rarer. Such extortion was generally punished by having to pay four times the amount extorted it was also attended with a certain degree of disgrace (infamia), even if a still more severe punishment were not added for other offences committed at the same time and (as usual) included in the indictment (e.g. the offence of laesa maiestas).
 
ATIMIA 25.20%

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This Greek word does not imply dishonour in the modern sense, but deprivation of civil rights, whether partial, complete, temporary, or perpetual. Partial atimia at Athens might consist, for instance, in depriving a citizen of the right to appear again as prosecutor, in case he had, in this capacity, failed to obtain a fifth part of the votes; or of the right to propose a law again to the assembly, if he had been three times condemned for making illegal propositions. In cases of complete atimia, a person was excluded from taking part in any public proceeding whatever. He was forbidden access to the agora and the public sanctuaries; he was incapacitated from appearing in court as a prosecutor. In case of very serious offences the atimia might be followed by confiscation of property, and might even be extended to a man's children. Atimia might also be inflicted on debtors to the State, if the debt was not paid within the appointed time. It was then accompanied with a fine equivalent to the amount already owed. The payment of the debt brought the atimia to an end. But where it was inflicted for other offences, it was seldom removed, and then only after a vote of at least six thousand citizens. In Sparta complete atimia was mostly inflicted on persons who had been guilty of cowardice in war. The offender was not only cut off from all civil rights, and from the common meals and exercises, but had to submit to every kind of insult. At the public festivals he had to take a low place. He was obliged to wear a patchwork cloak, to have his hair cut on one side; to give way in the street to every one, even to young men; no one would give him light for his fire, marry his daughter, or give him his daughter to wife. [Plutarch, Agesilaus 30.] Bachelors were also subject to a kind of atimia. They were not allowed to be present at certain festivals, and had no claim to the marks of respect which the young, in other cases, were expected to show. The full possession of civic rights and privileges was called epitimia. (See INFAMIA.)
 
DICE 23.62%
Games with dice were of high antiquity and very popular among the Greeks. They were usually played on a board with a vessel called a tower (pyrgos, turricula, fritillus, etc.), narrower at the top than at the bottom, and fitted inside with gradually diminishing shelves. There were two kinds of games. In the first, three dice (kybos, tessera), and in later times two were used. These were shaped like our dice and were marked on the opposite sides with the dote 1-6, 2-5, 3-4. The game was decided by the highest throw, and each throw had a special name. The best (3 or 4 x 6) was called Aphrodite or Venus, the worst (3 x 1) the dog (kyon or canis). In the second, four dice (astragalos or talus) were used, made of the bones of oxen, sheep or goats, or imitations of them in metal or ivory. They had four long sides, two of which, one concave and the other convex, were broad, and the other two narrow, one being more contracted than the other, and two pointed ends, on which they could not stand, and which therefore were not counted. The two broad sides were marked 3 and 4; of the narrow sides the contracted one was marked 6, and the wider one 1, so that 2 and 5 were wanting. As in the other game, so here, every possible throw had its name. The luckiest throw (Venus) was four different numbers, 1, 3, 4, 6; the unluckiest (canis) four aces. Dicing as a game of hazard was early forbidden in Rome, and only allowed at the Saturnalia. The penalty was a fine and infamia. The aediles were responsible for preventing dicing in taverns. If a private individual allowed it in his house, he had no legal remedy for any irregularities that might occur. In spite of this, dicing was quite common at drinking bouts, especially under the empire. Indeed some emperors, e.g. Claudius, were passionate players. Others however did their best to check the evil. Justinian went so far as to allow a claim for the recovery of money lost at play.
 
DRAMA 23.23%
 
TUTELA 16.87%
The office of guardian among the ROMANS. It affected not only minors, but also widows and grown up daughters up to the time of their marriage, with the exception of the Vestals. In the case of impuberes or pupilli, ordinary minors, the guardian (tutor) managed their property until the time of their majority, which with girls began at twelve, with boys at fourteen. At this age the guardianship determined, and girls became, like widows, possessed of independent power over their property, but still remained so far under guardianship, that they were unable to take legal proceedings without the consent of their guardians. Three kinds of tutores have been distinguished: (1) tutor testamentarius, who was named in the will. By a provision in the will women were sometimes allowed the choice of their guardian, who was then called tutor optivus (" chosen guardian "), to distinguish him from the tutor dativus (or " specified guardian "). If no guardian was named in the will, or the guardian named declined the office, or subsequently resigned it, the next of kin stopped in as (2) tutor legitimus. In the case of a widow, this was the son, if of age, or the husband's brother, and so on. In the case of a daughter, the brother, if of age, the uncle on the father's side, and so on. Among the patricians, if there were no kinsmen, the gentiles undertook the duties. (3) If there were neither a tutor testamentarius nor a tutor legitimus, then the praetor appointed a tutor Atilianus, so called because the lex Atilia (about 188 B.C.) had introduced this kind of guardian. Under the Empire these guardians were named by the consuls, from the time of Marcus Aurelius by a regular proetor tutelaris. Women having three children were exempted from all guardianship by Augustus. Then Claudius abolished guardianship on the part of the agnati in the case of all women. Diocletian extended this abolition to the case of minors. After the time of Diocletian, guardianship over women fell into disuse, and afterwards women were themselves allowed to act as guardians. A guardian found guilty of betraying his trust was punished by infamia (q.v.). (Cp. CURA.) Among the ATHENIANS the guardian (epitropos), if not named by the father in the will, was generally appointed by the archon from the nearest relations. The archon was also the proper authority in suits relating to guardianship, which, during the minority of the ward, could be brought forward in the form of a public prosecution; and, after the ward had attained his majority, in that of a private lawsuit.
 
MAGISTRATUS 12.38%

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A term used by the Romans both to designate the magistracy and the person who held it. The magistrates of the Republic were partly ordinary, chosen at regular intervals: consules, censores, praetores, adiles curules, quaestores, tribuni plebis, and aediles plebis; partly extraordinary, chosen only under special circumstances, the principal being dictator, magister equitum, and interrex. Among these the consuls, praetors, and dictator are distinguished from the others by the possession of the imperium (q.v.) derived from the regal power (the interrex had it for five days only); they and the censors, who, without possessing the imperium, derived their duties from the regal power, constitute the higher magistrates, magistratus maiores, while the rest are the lower, minores, with the exception of the tribunes, who have a position of their own. For those offices, which could originally be held by patricians alone, the term patrician was preserved, even after they had become accessible to the plebeians. The plebeian offices also, the tribunate and plebeian aedileship, do not designate any political contrast after plebeians and patricians had been made legally equal, although only plebeians could hold them. Another distinction is that into magistratus curules and non curules, which refers to the right of having a aella curulis (q.v.). This and the toga praetexta, a white toga edged with purple, were accorded to the higher magistrates, the aediles curules and the magister equitum. Only the magistratus cum imperio and the magister equitum were permitted to have lictors with the fasces (q.v.). All the magistrates were elected, except the dictator and the magister equitum; the magistratus maiores at the comitia centuriata, the rest at the comitia tributa. Every magistrate had the right to call the people to a contio (q.v.), to issue edicts, which had the force of laws as long as his authority (potestas) lasted, to take auspices which were binding for the district within his jurisdiction, and to exercise a limited right of punishment; the higher magistrates and the tribunes had the power, generally speaking, of convoking the comitia and the senate (cp. IMPERIUM). The power of the magistrates was limited by the senate, the intercession of the tribunes and of magitrates of equal or higher rank, the right of appeal of the citizens, and the liability to give account after retirement from office; for no charge could be brought, at any rate against the higher magistrates, as long as they held it. The following were the conditions for obtaining an office : (1) Personal application before the election, the right of rejection being in the hands of the magistrate who directed them (a consul in the case of the higher magistrates, a tribune for the plebeian, a consul-afterwards also the praetor of the city-for the rest). (2) Eligibility, dependent on membership of a citizen family, full possession of personal liberty and honorary rights (See INFAMIA), and the absence of bodily blemish (note also that patricians could not hold plebeian offices). (3) A minimum age for each office, at first according to a certain tradition, then regulated by law, so that in Cicero's time a candidate for the quaestorship had to be in his 30th year at least; in his 37th for the curule aedileship; in his 40th for the raestorship; and in his 43rd for the consulship. (4) At this time also the traditional order of the above-mentioned offices was considered law, and a man was compelled to hold the lower office before he could proceed to the higher, except that the aedileship could be neglected, (6) An interval of two years had to elapse between the aedileship, praetorship, and consulate, and of one year between the tribunate and any other office. (6) Ten years had to elapse before the same office could be held again; in this, and with regard to age, order of offices, and intervals between them, exceptions were permitted under special circumstances. The date of the elections was fixed by the senate; in Cicero's time they usually took place in July [Ad Att. i 16; Ad Fam. viii 4]. From B.C. 153 the magistrates, whose names were solemnly announced (renuntiatio) at the end of the elections, mostly entered upon' their office on January 1st. (See articles on the individual magistrates.) Just as on this occasion they swore to keep the laws, so at the end of their term of office, which was a year, except in the case of the censors, the dictator, and the magister equitum, (q.v.), they affirmed on oath before a contio, that they had done nothing contrary to the laws. The officials elected to an office vacated before the end of the year (suffecti) simply held it for the remainder of that year. The only thing that could legally compel a magistrate to resign before the end of his time was a formal error in the taking of the auspices at the elections. The magistrates received no salaries whatsoever, but they were indemnified for official expenses within the town (e.g. for the games) or without it; those officials more especially who were going to the provinces as procurators received a sufficient sum from the treasury for their equipment and the support of themselves and their suite. Under the Empire the old magistracies continued to exist, though their authority was considerably limited; cp, the several articles, and for their election, see COMITIA (end). Besides these, numerous new offices came into existence, especially the various praefecti (q.v.), some of whom received an actual salary. The magistracies were completely remodelled by Diocletian and Constantine, especially with regard to their pay; all imperial officials received salaries, while the municipal did not. Cp. the several articles mentioned in the beginning.
 
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