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

CAP UT. - CAPUT. 239
The slaves who had the charge of these Look- latter, havingo little or no property, were barely
chests were called capsarii, and also custodes scri- rated as so many head of citizens. (Gell. xvi. 10;
niorunz; and the slaves who carried in a capsa Cic. De Rep. ii. 22.)
behind their young masters the books, &c. of He who changed his condition for an inferior
the sons of respectable Romans, when they went one was said to be capite minutes, denziznutus, or
to school, were also called capsarii. (Juv. x. 117.) capitis minor. (Hor. Cares. iii. 5. 42.)'The phrase
We accordingly find them mentioned together with se capite demsinuere was also applicable in case of a
the paedagogi. (Suet. Ner. 36.) voluntary change of condition. (Cic. Top. c. 4.)
When the capsa contained books of importance, The definition of Festus (s. v. deminutsus) is, "Deit was sealed or kept inder lock and key (Mart. i. minutus capite appellatur qui civitate mutatus est;
67); whence Horace (Ep. i. 20. 3) says to his et ex alia familia in aliam adoptatus, et qui liber
work, Odisti claves, et grata sigilla pudico. (Becker, alteri mancipio datus est: et qui in hostium potesGallus, vol. i. p. 191; Bbttiger, Sabina, vol. i. tatem venit: et cui aqua et igni interdictum est."
p. 102, &c.) There has been some discussion whether we should
CAPSA'RII, the name of three different classes use capitis deminutio or diminutio, but it is indif.
of slaves: - 1. Of those who took care of the ferent which we write.
clothes of persons while bathing in the public There were three divisions of Capitis deminutio
baths. [BALNEAE, p. 189.] In later times they -Maxima, Media, sometimes called Minor, and
were subject to the jurisdiction of the praefectus Minima. The maxima capitis deminutio consisted
vigilum. (Dig. 1. tit. 15. s. 3.) 2. Of those who in the loss of libertas (freedom), in the change of
had the care of the capsae, in which books and the condition of a free man (whether ingenuus or
letters were kept. [CAPSA.] 3. Of those who libertinus) into that of a slave. The media concarried the books, &c. of boys to school. [CAPsA.] sisted in the change of the condition of a civis
CA'PSULA. [CAPSA.] into that of a peregrinus, as, for instance, in the
CA'PULUS (iccSrj7, AaGO). 1. The hilt of a case of deportatio under the empire; or the
sword, which was frequently much ornamented. change of the condition of a civis into that of a
[GLaAIUS.] The handles of knives were also Latinus. The minima consisted in the change of
much ornamented; and of the beautiful work- the condition of a pater familias into that of a filius
manship sometimes bestowed on them, a judgment familias, as by aclrogation, and, in the later law,
by legitimation; and in a wife in manu, or a
filius familias coming into mancipii causa; consequently, when a filius familias was emancipated
or adopted, there was a capitis deminutio, for both
A'~'^1 i / A iw4)!(these ceremonies were inseparably connected with'J/ /'~/'El~~f/~// /,, ithe mancipii causa (cum emancipari nemo possit
/ J('/' nisi in imaginariam servilem causam deductus.
f Gaius, i. 134, 162). This explains how a filius
familias, who by emancipation becomes sui juris,
and thus improves his social condition, is still said:~I,~~/'~.,&, to have undergone a capitis deminutio; which expression, as observed, applies to the form by which
the emancipation is effected.
Capitis mimntio, which is the same as deminutio,
A is defined by Gaius (Dig. 4. tit. 5. s. 1) to be
status permutatio; but this definition is not sufficiently exact. That capitis deminutio which had
the most consequence was the maxima, of which
eCA.41 )jjI'j the media or minor was a milder form. The
(ii~i,4d,#,~j)j'i minima, as already explained, was of a technical
___ ~ ll~iii character. The maxima capitis deminutio was
sustained by those who refused to be registered at
may be formed from the three specimens here in- the census, or neglected the registration, and were
troduced. (Moltfaucon, Ant. Eapliquzee, iii. 122. thence called incensi. The incensuss was liable to
pl. 61.) be sold, and so to lose his liberty; but this being
2. A bier or coffin. [FuNuS.] a matter which concerned citizenship and freedom,
CAPUT, the head. The term" head " is often such penalty could not be inflicted directly, and
used by the Roman writers as equivalent to "' per- the object was only effected by the fiction of the.
son," or " human being." (Caes. Bell. Gall. iv. 15.) citizen having himself abjured his freedom. Those
By an easy transition, it was used to signify " life: " who refused to perform military service might also
thus, capite damnari, plecti, &c. are equivalent to be sold. (Cic. Pro Caecina, 34; Ulp. Fsrag. xi. 11.)
capital punishment. A Roman citizen who was taken prisoner by the
Caput is also used to express a man's civil con- enemy, lost his civil rights, together with his
dition; and the persons who were registered in the liberty, but he might recover them on returning to
tables of the censor are spoken of as capita, some- his country. [POSTLsMINIUsM.] Persons contimes with the addition of the word civium, and demned to ignominious punishments, as to the
sometimes not. (Liv.iii. 24, x. 47.) Thus to be mines, sustained the maxima capitis deminntio. A
registered in the census was the same thing as free womnan who cohabited with a slave, after
caput lhabere: and a slave and a filius familias, in notice given to her by the owner of the slave, bethis sense of the word, were said to have no caputt. came an ancilla, by a senatus-consultum, passed iL
The lowest century of Servius Tullius comprised the time of Claudius. (Ulp. Frog. xi. 11; cornthe proletarii and the capite censi, of whom the pare Tacit. Ane. xii. 53, and Suet. Vce,. 1l.?