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

263 CEREALIA.. CERTI.
in early times, for the special purpose of deciding is doubtful; some think it was the ides or ] 3th
questions of quiritarian ownership; and the im- of April, others the 7th of the same month. (Ov.
porta.nce of such questions is apparent, when we Fast. iv. 389.) [R. W.]
consider that the Roman citizens were rated ac- CEREVI'SIA, CERVI'SIA (v9os), ale or
cording to their quiritarian property, that on their beer, was almost or altogether unknown to the
rating depended their class and century, and con- ancient, as it is to the modern inhabitants of
sequently their share of power in the public as- Greece and Italy. But it was used very generally
semblies. No private judex could decide on a by the surrounding nations, whose soil aid climate
right which might thus indirectly affect the caput were less favourable to the growth of vines (it
of a Roman citizen, but only a tribunal selected out Gallia, aliisque provinciis, Plin. 1. N. xxii. 82;
of all the tribes. Consistently with this hypothesis Theophrast. De Causis Plant. vi. 11; Diod. Sic.
we find not only the rei vindicatio withisl the iv. 2, v. 26; Strab. xvii. 2. 5; Tacit. Germ. 23).
jurisdiction of the centumviri, but also the heredi- According to Herodotus (ii. 77), the Egyptians
tatis petitio and actio confessoria. Hollweg is of commonly drank 6 barley-wine," to which custom
opinion that, with the Aebutia Lex a new epoch in Aeschylus alludes (ic KplO&, TeHOv, Szppl. 954;
the history of the centumviri commences; the legis Pelusiaci pocula zythi, Coluni. x. 116). Diodorus
actiones were abolished, and the formula [AcTIo] Siculus (i. 20, 34) says, that the Egyptian beer
was introduced, excepting, however, as to the was nearly equal to wine in strength and flavour.
cansae centuntvirales. (Gaius, iv. 30, 31; Gell. xvi. The Iberians, the Thracians, and the people in the
1 0.) The formula is in its nature adapted only north of Asia Minor, instead of drinking their ale
to personal actions; but it appears that it was also or beer out of cups, placed it before them in a large
adapted by a legal device to vindicationes; and bowl or vase (KpaTrip), which was sometimes of
lIollweg attributes this to the Aebutia Lex, by gold or silver. This being full to the brim with
which lie considers that the twofold process was the grains, as well as the fermented liquor, the
introduced:- 1. per legis actionem apud centum- guests, when they pledged one another, drank to.
viros; 2. per formulam or per sponsionem before a gether out of the same bowl by stooping down to
judex. Thus two modes of procedure in the case it, although, when this token of friendship was
of actiones in rem were established, and such nIot intended, they adopted the more refined method
actions were no longer exclusively within the juris- of sucking up the fluid through tubes of cane.
diction of the centumviri. (Archil. Fracy. p. 67, ed. Liebel; Xen. Anab. iv.
Under Augustus, according to Iollweg, the ~ 5, 26; Athen. i. 28; Virg. Geoyg. iii. 380;
functions of the centumviri were so far modified Serv. ad loc.) The Stuevi, and other northern
that the more important vindicationcs were put nations, offered to their gods libations of beer,
under the cognizance of the centumviri, and the and expected that to drink it in the presence of
less important were determined per sponsionem Odin would be among the delights of Valhalla.
and before a judex. Under this emperor the court (Keysler, Antiq. Septcet. p. 150-156.) BpTrosy,
also resumed its former dignity and importance. one of the names for beer (Archil. I. c.; Hella(Dial. de Cans. Corrupt. Eloq. c. 38.) inicus, p. 91, ed. Sturtz; Athen. x. 67), seems to
The younger Pliny, who practised in this court be an ancient passive participle, from the verb to:
(Ep. ii. 14), makes frequent allusions to it in his brew. [J. Y.]
letters. (Ep. i. 5, v. 1, ix. 23.) The centumviri CE'RNERE I-IEREDITA'TEM. [HEREs.]
are mentioned in two excerpts in the Digest (5. CERO'MA (icopvlAa) was the oil mixed with
tit. 2. s. 13, 17) and perhaps elsewhere; one ex- wax (Kcips) with which wrestlers were anointed.
cerpt is fiom C. Scaevola and the other from After they had been anointed with this oil, they
Paulus. were covered with dust or a soft sand; whence
The foregoing notice is founded on Hollweg's Seneca (EPp. 57) says —A ceromate enos Lalpzeo
ingenious essay; his opinions on some points, how- (&ipO) excepit iz crypta NeaTpolitana.
ever, are hardly established by authorities. Those Ceroma also signified the place where wrestlers
who desire to investigate this exceedingly obscure were anointed (the elaeothesiuma, Vitruv. v. 11),
matter may compare the two essays cited at the and also, in later times, the place where they
head of this article. [G. L.] wrestled. This word is often used in connection
CENTU'RIA. [COMsITIA; ErERCITUvs.] withpalaestra (Plin. IT N. xxxv. 2), but we do not
CENTURIA'TA COMI'TIA. [COMITIA.] know in what respect these places differed. Seneca
CENTU'RIO. [EXERCITUS.] (De BreC. Vit. 12) speaks of the ceroma as a
CENTUSSIS. [As.] place which the idle were accustomed to frequent,
CERA (Kcpos), wax. For its employment in in order to see the gymnastic sports of boys. Arpainting, see PICTvRA, No. 7; and for its ap- nobius (Adlv. Gent. iii. 23) informs us that the
plication as a writing material, see TABULAR and ceroma was under the protection of Mercury.
TESTAMENTUM. (Krause, Gymnastik send Agonistik der Iellenenz,
CEREA'LIA, a festival celebrated at Rome in vol. i. p. 106, &c.)
honour of Ceres, whose walderings in search of CERTAIMINA. [ATHLETAE.]
her lost daughter Proserpine were represented CERTI, INCERTI ACTIO, is a name which
by women clothed in white, running about with has been given by some modern writers to those
lighted torches. (Ov. Fast. iv. 494.) During its actions in which a determinate or indeterminate
continuance, games were celebrated in the Circus sum, as the case may be, is mentioned in the forMaximus (Tacit. Ann. xv. 53), the spectators of mula (condenznatio certae pecuniae vel incertae,
which appeared in white (Ov. Fast. iv. 620); but Gains, iv. 49, &c.).
on any occasion of public mourning the games and The expression incerta formula, which occurs in
festivals were not celebrated at all, as the ma- Gains (iv. 54), implies a certa formula. With
trons could not appear at them except in white. respect to the intentio, it may be called certa
(Liv. xxii. 56, xxxiv. 6.) The day of the Cerealia when the demand of the actor is determinate,..