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

AXONES. BALNEAEA.'i83
AU THE'NTICA. [NO-vELLAR.] mann, Grkcll. Staatsalterltl. ~ 107, n. 1; WachsAUTHEPSA (a'OiEji4s), which literally means muth Hell. Altetlhunssk. vol. i. p. 491, 2nd ed.)
"self-boiling" or "self-cooking," was the name o'
a vessel, which is supposed by Bbittiger to have
been used for heating water, or for keeping it hot. B.
Its form is not known for certain; but Blittiger
(Sabina, vol. ii. p. 30) conjectures that a vessel, BACCHANA'LIA. [DIONTYSIA.]
which is engraved in Caylus (Recueil d'Antiquilts, BAKTE/RIA ($a T'Vpla), a staff borne by the
vol. ii. tab. 27), is a specimen of an authepsa. dicast- at Athens. [DICAsTES.]
Cicero (pro Rose. Amerin. 46) speaks of authepsae BA'LATRO, a professional jester, buffoon, or
among other costly Corinthian and Delian vessels. parasite. (Hor. Sat. i. 2. 2.) In Horace (Sat ii.
In later times they were made of silver. (Lam- 8. 21) Balatro is used as a proper name-Servilius
prid. Heliogab. 19; but the reading is doubtful.) Balatro. An old Scholiast, in commenting on this
The cacabus seems to have been a vessel of a word, derives the common word from the proper
similar kind. names; buffoons being called balatrones, because
AUTOMOLIAS GRAPHE' (aT7rotoXias Servilius Balatro was a buffoon: but this is op-?yparpd), the accusation of persons charged with posed to the natural inference from the former pashaving deserted and gone over to the enemy during sage, and was said to get rid of a difficulty. Festus
war (Pollux, vi. 151). There are no speeches derives the word from blatea, and supposes buffoons
extant upon this subject. Petitus, however, col- to have been called balatrones, because they were
lects (Leg. Att. p. 674) from the words of a cam- dirty follows, and were covered with spots of mud
inentator upon Demosthenes (Ulpian), that the (blaeteae), with which they got spattered in walking;
punishment of this crime was death. Meier (Att. but this is opposed to sound etymology and com-.
Proc. p. 365) awards the presidency of the court in mion sense. Another writer has derived it from
which it was tried to the generals; but the circum- barathrum, and supposes buffoons to have been
stance of persons who left the city in times of called balatrones, because they, so to speak, carried
danger without any intention of going over to the their jesting to market, even into the very depth
enemy, being tried by the Areiopagus as traitors (barsatl -u sm) of the shambles (barathlrzu smacelli,
(Lycurg. c. Leocrat. p. 177), will make us pause Hor. Ep. i. 15. 31). Perhaps balatro may be
before we conclude that persons not enlisted as connected with bala-se (to bleat like a sheep, and
soldiers could be indicted of this offence before a hence) to speak sillily. It is probably connected
military tribunal. [J. S. M.] with blatero, a busy-body. (Gell. i. 15.) BalaAUTO'NOMI (av'rTdoetoL), the name given trones were paid for their jests, and the tables of
by the Greeks to those states which were governed the wealthy were generally open to them for the
by their own laws, and were not subject to any sake of the amusement they afforded. [A. A.]
foreign power. (Thuc. v. 18, 27; Xen. Hell. v. 1. BALISTA. [TORMENTUM.]
~ 31.) This name was also given to those cities BA'LNEAE, Balineae, Balneum, Balinezuns,
subject to the Romans, which were permitted to T]ernzae (ia'd/rvOos, f3aAare7ov, Aoe'rpv, XovTrpo').
enjoy their own laws, and elect their own magis- These words are all commonly translated by our
trates (Omanes, suis legibus et judiciis usae, aVTroso- general term bath or baths; but in the writings
isav' adeptae, revixerunt, Cic. Ad Alt. vi. 2). of the earlier and better authors they are used
This permission was regarded as a great privilege, with discrimination. Balneum or balineusn., which
and mark of honour; and we accordingly find it is derived from the Greek BaXaaveov,Varro, Deo
recorded on coins and imedals, as, for instance, on Ling. Lat. ix. 68, ed. MUiller), signifies, in its
those of Antioch ANT1OXEf1N MHTPOIIOA. primary sense, a bath or bathing-vessel, such as
ATTONOMOT, on those of Halicarnassus AAIKAP- most persons of any consequence amongst the RoNACCErIN ATTONOMIN, and on those of many mans possessed in their own houses (Cic. Ad Art.
other cities. (Spanheim, De Praest. et Usu Nu- ii. 3), and hence the chamber which contained the
snisrs. p. 789. Amst. 1671.) bath (Cic. Ad Fam. xiv. 20), which is also the
AVU'LSIO. [CONFUSIO.] proper translation of the word balnearium. The
AUXILIA'RES. [SOCIL.] diminutive balneolums is adopted by Seneca (Ep.
AXAMENTA. [SaLII.] 86) to designate the bath-r(om of Scipio, in the
AXINE (&glvsi). [SECURss.] villa at Liternum, and is expressly used to chaAXIS. [CURRUS.] racterise the modesty of republican manners as
A'XONES (6tovEes), also called kurbeis (vup- compared with the luxury of his own times. But
~iei), wooden tablets of a square or pyramidical when the baths of private individuals became more
form made to turn on an axis, on which were sumptuous, and comprised many rooms, instead of
written the laws of Solon. According to some the one small chamber described by Seneca, the
writers the Axones conltained the civil, and the plural balnea or balinea was adopted, which still,
Kurbeis the religious laws; according to others the in correct language, had reference only to the baths
Kurbeis had four sides and the Axones three sides. of private persons. Thus Cicero terms the baths
But at Athens, at all events, they must have been at the villa of his brother Quintus (Ad Q. Frat. iii.
identical, since such is the statement of Aristotle 1. ~ 1) balnearia. Balneae and balineae, which
(ap. Plut. Sol. 25). They were at first preserved according to Varro (De Ling. Lat. viii. 25, ix. 41,
in the acropolis, but were afterwards placed, ed. Miiller) have no singular number *, were the
through the advice of Ephialtes, in the agora, in public baths. Thus Cicero (Pro Cael. 25) speaks
order that all persons might be able to read them. of balneas Senias, balheaspul9icus, and is vestibleo
A sinall portion of them was preserved in the time
of Plutarch in the pr ytaneium. (Plut. Sol. 25; * Balnea is, however, used in the singular to deSchol. ad Aristopis. Av. 1360; Schol. ad Apoll. signate a private bath in an inscription quoted by
Ilowd. iv. 280; Harpocrat. 6 Kac60EdOE, V4OS; Her- Reinesius. (Inscr. xi. 115.)