A complete dictionary of the Greek and Roman antiquities explaining the obscure places in classic authors and ancient historians relating to the religion, mythology, history, geography and chronology of the ancient Greeks and Romans, their ... rites and customs, laws, polity, arts and engines of war : also an account of their navigations, arts and sciences and the inventors of them : with the lives and opinions of their philosophers / compiled originally in French ... by Monsieur Danet ; made English, with the addition of very useful mapps.

ADOPTIO,

Adoption, an act by which any one is adopted. The Custom of Adopting was very common among the Romans, yet it was not practis'd, but for certain Causes express'd in the Laws, and with certain Formalities usual in such Cases. He that would adopt any Per∣son, was to have no Children of his own, or to be past the Age of getting any. In the Infan∣cy of the Republick he was to address himself to the Pontifices, that he might have leave ac∣cording to Law. This Right of the High-Priests lasted but a little while, and after that application made to the People to obtain it, in the presence of his Father who was to be adopt∣ed, to whom the Question was put, Whether he would abandon his Son, together with the full extent of his paternal Authority, and sur∣render up the power of Life and Death over him, which Question was call'd Adrogatio. The usual Form upon such occasions was this; Veli∣tis jubeatis, uti L. Valerius Licio Titio tam lege ju∣reque filius sibi siet, quam si ex eo patre matreque familiar ejus natus esset, utique ei vitae necisque in eum potestas siet uti pariundo filio est. Hoc ita, ut dixi, ita vos, quirites rego. In the last Age of the Republick, when it was just expiring, A∣doptions were made by the Sovereign Autho∣rity of the Emperors, who granted that Privi∣lege even to Women who had no Children, by their Letters of Concession, the words where∣of were these; Quoniam in solatium amissorum tuo∣rum filiorum cupis privignum tuum vicem legitimae so∣bolis obtiuere, annuimus votis tuis, & eum perinde atque ex te progenitum ad vicem naturalis legitimi∣que filii habere permittimus, Imper. Dioclesianus & Maximianus A. A.

Since, for your comfort, under the Loss of your Children, you desire to adopt your Son-in-Law, we grant your Request, and permit you to take him for your natural and lawful Son.

Adoptions also were practis'd in their last Wills, either as for Name or Goods; In imâ cerâ C. Octavium etiam in fa∣miliam nomenque adoptavit;

He adopted into his Family, and to bear his Name C. Octavius in the last page of his Will.

Titus Livius, tells us, that Caecilius adopted Atticus when he was dying by his last Will, Gaecilius moriens testamento Atticum adoptavit. Those who were adopted assum'd the Name and Sir-Name of him who adopted them, and to de∣note their Family and Birth, they added only

at the end the Name of the Family from which they were descended; or the Sirname of their private Family, with this difference nevertheless, says Lipsius, that if they us'd this Sirname, they made an Adjective of it: As for instance, M. Junius Brutus being adopted by Q. Servilius Caepio Agalo, he assum'd all these Names, and retain'd only the Sirname of his own Family, calling himself Q. Servilius Caepio Agalo Brutus. Octavius, on the contrary, retain'd the Name of his House, and chang'd it into an Adjective, calling himself C. Julius Caesar Octavianus, which yet did not hinder but they might retain the Sirname which they had assum'd, as Atticus did, who being adopted by Q. Caecilius, was Sir∣nam'd Q. Caecilius Pomponianus Atticus, or acquire a new one by their brave Exploits, as Octavius did, who was afterwards sirnam'd Augustus. 'Tis with reference to this Rule of Adoption, that we must understand what Suetonius says of Tiberius, That be being adopted by M. Gallius, a Senator, took possession of his Goods, but would not assume his Name, because he was a contrary Party to Augustus. Tacitus, Lib. XV. Cap. 8. of his Annals, tells us of the feign'd Adoptions which were condemn'd by the Se∣nate: A pernicious Custom, says he, was intro∣duc'd, of making many feign'd Adoptions, when the time drew near of chusing Magistrates, and dividing the Provinces among them by Lot; for when they had obtain'd their Offices and Employments, they emanci∣pated those whom they had adopted: Whereupon the Persons aggriev'd came and made their complaint to the Senate, alledging the Law of Nature, and the trouble of Education against these short and fraudu∣lent Adoptions: And therefore it was ordain'd, That for the future no regard should be had to these Adop∣tions, either in Offices or in Successions to an Inheritance.