Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

1042 SERV US, SESTERTIUS.
year. They also got a small quantity of wine with I information respecting the different classes of slaves
an additional allowance on the Saturnalia and and thlleir various occupations. Other sepulchres
Compitalia (Cato, R. R. 57), and sometimes fruit, of the same time have been also discovered in the
but seldom vegetables. Butcher's meat seems to neighbourhood of Rome.
have been hardly ever given them. (Pignorius, (de Servis et eorIum- aud F7eter'e
Under the republic they were not allowed to illinisteriis; Popma, de Operis Servorzu; Blair,
serve in the army, though after the battle of Can- -i Fn2qubiy ito t/ie' State of Slaviery amoS2s tilfe
nae, when the state was in such imminent danger, IRomans, Edinburgl, 1833; Becker, Galluts, vol. i.
8000 slaves were purchased by the state for the p. 103, &c.)
army, and subsequently manumitted on account of SESCUNX. [As, p. 140, b.]
their bravery. (Liv. xxii. 57, xxiv, 14-16.) SESQUIPLA'RES and SESQUIPLA'RIT.
The offences of slaves were punished with [ExEacITvS, p. 509, a.]
severity and frequently the utmost barbarity. Onle SESTE'RTIUM, a place outside Romne, disof the mildest punishments was the removal fiom talt two Roman mniles and a half (whence the
the familia urbana to the rustica, where they were nlnlie) from the Esquiline gate, where slaves and
obliged to work in chains or fetters. (Plaut. ilfo:st. malefactors of the lowest class were put to death
i. 1 18; Ter. Pihor07. ii. 1. 20.) They were fre- (Schol. ad [or. Epod. 5; Ilut. Galb. 28; in bocun
quently beaten with sticks or scourged with the (i.e. Sestertizmi) sienili/zs 7oelis sepositimo, Tac.
whip (of which an account is given under FLA- Ann. xv. 60).
CRum), but these were such every-day punishments, SESTE'RTIUS, a Romlan coiln, which properly
that many slaves ceased almost to care for them:: belonged to the silver coinage, in which it was onethus Chrysalus says (Plant. Bacldd. i. 3. 131), fourth of the denarius, and therefore equal to 2}1
i illi sunt virgae ruri, at mihi tergumn est domi." asses. Ience the namne, which is an abbreviation
of semis tertise (sc.?2mrlneals), the Roman mode of
Runaway slaves (fitgilii) and thieves (fi'es) expressing 29. (Varro, L. L. v. 173, ed. MIiiller;
were branded on the forehead with a mask (stqma)ac), Festus, s. v.; Plin. l..Ar xxxiii. 3. s. 13.) The
wvhence they are said to be notati or ilscripti. word N.Aemln2us is often expressed with scstcrties,
(Mart. viii. 75. 9.) Slaves were also punished by and often it stands alone, meaning sesterlties.
being hung up by their hands with weights sus- Hence the symbol.H S or I I S, which-is used
pended to their feet (Plant. Ashi. ii. 2. 37, 38), or to designate the sestertius. It stands either for
by being sent to work in the Ergastulum or Pistri- L L S (Libra Libra et Sremis), or for II S, the tvwo
num. [ERGAsTvLusM; foLA]. The carrying of I's merely forming the numeral two (sc. asses or
the firca was a very common mode of punishment. librae), and the whole being in either case equi[FuRcA.] The toilet of the Roman ladies was a valent to dzepondius et semis. (Priscian, de Ponder.
dreadful ordeal to the female slaves, who were often p. 1347; Festus, p. 347, Mller.)
barbarously punished by their mistresses for the When the as xmas reduced to half an ounce, and
slightest mistake in the arrangement of the hair or the number of asses in the denarius wa-s made
a part of the dress. (Ovid. Am. i. 14. 15, Ar. Am-. sixteen instead of ten [As, DEN.ARIUS], the sesiin. 235; Mart. ii. 66; Juv. vi. 498, &c.) tertius was still ~ of the denarius, and therefore
Masters might work their slaves as many hours contained no longer 21, but 4 asses. The old reckin the day as they pleased, but they usually allowed oning of 1 0 asses to the denarius was kept, howthem holidays on the public festivals. At the fes- ever, in paying the troops. (Plin. xxxiii. 3. s. 13.)
tival of Satumrns in particular, special indulgences After this change the sestertius was coined in brass
were granted to all slaves, of which an account is as well as in silver; the metal used for it was that
given under SATURNALIA. called ORICsHALCueM, which was unmuch finer than
There was no distinctive dress for slaves. It the comlmon aEs, of' which the asses were made
was once proposed in the senate to give slaves a (Plin. iH.. xxxiv. 2.)
distinctive costume, but it was rejected since it The sum of 1000 seslertii was called sesterotiuem.
was considered dangerous to show them their This was also denoted by the symbol H S, the
sTumber. (Sen. de Clem. i. 24.) Male slaves were obvious explanation of which is " I S (2') milnot allowed to wear the toga or bulla, nor females lia;" but Gronovius understands it as 21 pounds
the stola, but otherwise they were dressed nearly of silver (seste'tiliue pondigs argenti), which he conin the same way as poor people, in clothes of a dark siders to have been worth originally 1000 sestertii,
colour (pullatti) and slippers (crejpidae). (Vestis and therefore to have represented this value ever
servilis, Cic. in Pis. 38.) after. (Pec. Vet. i. 4, 1 1.) The sestertimnt was al
The rights of burial, however, were not denied wvays a sunm of money, never a coin,; the coim used
to slaves, for as the Romans regarded slavery as an in the payment of large sums was-the denarius.
institution of society, death wvas conlsidered to put According to the value we have assigned to the
an end to the distinction between slaves and free- DENAInrUS, up to the time of Augustus, we hai-e
nmen. Slaves were sometimes even buried with
their masters, and we find funeral inscriptions ad- tsesttius 0 0.
dressed to the Dii Manes of slaves (Dis MAla/nibus). the sestertiam 8 17 1
It seems to have been considered a duty for a master after the reign of Augustus
to bury his slave, since we find that a person, who the sestertins 0 0 1 35
buried the slave of another, had a right of action the sestertium = 7 16 3
against the master for the expenses of the funIeral.
(Dig. 11. tit. 7. s. 31-) In 1726 the burial vaults Taking the earlier value of the sestertius, and
of the slaves belonging to Augustus and Livia were neglecting the half farthing, we have 1 sestertius
discovered near the Via Appia, where numerous, two-pence, 6 sestertii =, 1 shilling, and 120 sesinscriptions were found, which have been illustrated tertii = It. sterling. Hence we get tile following
by Bianchini and Gori and give us considerable very convenient RULE: to convert sestertnii into