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

CONSTITUTIONES. CONSUALIA. 351
(Cic. ad Att. xvi. 8; Curt. vi. 2). Congciarisum (4. tit. 2. s. 9. ~ 3) to signify an interlocutory of
was, moreover, occasionally used simply to desig. the praetor.
nate a present or a pension given by a person of high An imperial constitutio in its widest sense might
rank, or a prince, to his friends; and Fabius Maxi- mean everything by which the head of the state
mus called the presents which Augustus made to declared his pleasure, either in a matter of legis.
his friends, on account of their smallness, Alenzinaria, lation, administration, orjurisdiction. A decretum
instead of congicaiai, because henizincs was only the was a judgment in a matter in dispute between
twelfth part of a congius. (Quintil. 1. c.; compare two parties which came before him, either in the
Cic. ad FPamz. viii..; Seneca, De Brevit. Vit., De way of appeal or in the first instance. Edicta, so
Ben. ii. 16; Suet. Yesp. 18, Caes. 27.) [L. S.] called from their analogy to the old edict (Gaius,
CO'NGIUS, a Roman liquid measure, which i. 93), edictales leges, generales leges, leges percontained six sextarii (Rhem. Fann. v. 72), or the petuae, &c. were laws binding on all the emperor's
eighth part of the amphora, that is, not quite six subjects. Under the general head of rescripta
pints. It was equal to the larger chous of the (Gaius, i. 72, 73, &c.) were contained epistolae,
Greeks. [CHovs.] subscriptiones, and annotationes (Gaius, i. 94, 96,
There is a congius in existence, called the con- 104), which were the answers of the emperor to
gius of Vespasian, or the Farnese congius, bearing those who consulted him either as public ftlnctionan inscription, which states that it was made in aries or individuals. (Plin. EPp. x. 2.) The episthe year 75 A. D., according to the standard mea- tola, as the name implies, was in the form of a
sure in the capitol, and that it contained, by letter: subscriptiones and annotationes were short
weight, ten pounds. (Ilmp. Caes. vi. T. Cues. Aug. answers to questions propounded to the emperor,
F. iiii. Cos. Mlensurae exactae in Capitolio, P. x.; and written at the foot or margin of the paper
see also Festus, s. e. PublicaPondera.) This congius which contained the questions. In the time of
is one of the means by which the attempt has been Tiberius, the word rescriptum had hardly obtained
made to fix the weight of the Roman pound. the legal signification of the time of Gaius. (Tacit.
[LIBRnA.] Ann. vi. 9.) It is evident that decreta and reCato tells us that he was wont to give each of scripta could not from their nature have the force
his slaves a conlgius of wine at the Saturnalia and of leges generales, but inasmuch as these determiCompitalia. (De R. R. c. 57.) Pliny relates, among nations in particular cases might be of general
other examples of hard drinking (HI. N. xiv. 22. application, they might gradually obtain the force
s. 28), that Novellius Torquatus Mediolanensis ob. of law.
tained a cognomen (tricogzyius, a nine-bottle-man) Under the early emperors, at least in the time
by drinking three cosgjii of wvine at once. of Augustus, many leges were enacted, and in his
A congius is represented in Fabretti (Inscr-ipt. time, and that of his successors, to about the time
p. 536). [P. S.] of.Hadrian, we find mention of numerous senatusCONNU'BIUM. [MATRIaIONIUs.] consulta. In fact the emperor, in whom the suCONOPE'UM (KccOPCOEUV), a gnat or mans- preme power was vested from the time of Augustus,
quito-curtain, i. e. a covering made to be expanded exercised his power through the medium of a
over beds and couches to keep away gnats and senatus-consultum, which he introduced by an
other flying insects, so called from KcvweCok, a gnat. oratio or libellus, and the senatus-consultum was
The gnat-curtains mentioned by Horace (Epod. said to be made "imperatore auctore." Probably,
ix. 16) were probably of linen, but of the texture about the time of Hadrian, senatus-consulta became
of gauze. The use of them is still common in less common, and finally imperial constitutiones
Italy, Greece, and other countries surrounding the became the common form in which a law was
Mediterranean. Conopeezz is the origin of the made.
English word canopy. (See Judithz, x. 21, xiii. 9, At a later period, in the Institutes, it is dexvi. 19; Juv.,i. 80; Varr. De Re Rust. ii. 10. dared that whatever the imperator determined
~ 8.) [J. Y.] (cosstitzit) by epistola, or decided judicially (cogCONQUISITO'RES, persons employed to go noscenss decrevit), or declared by edict, was law;
about the country and impress soldiers, when there with this limitation, that those constitutions were
was a difficulty in completing a levy. (Liv. xxi. not laws which in their nature were limited to
11; Cic. pro 3lIll. 25; Hirt, B. Alex. 2.) Some- special cases.
times commissioners were appointed by a decree of Under the general l!ead of constitutiones we
the senate for the purpose of making a conquisitio. also read of mandata, or instructions by the Caesar
(Liv. xxv. 5.) [R. IV.] to his officers.
CONSANGUItNEI. [COCTNATI.] MIany of these constitutions are preserved in
CONSCRIPTI. [SEN.ATUS.] their original form in the extant codes. [CODEX
CONSECRA'TIO. [APOT.EOSISs; INAU- TIEOUOSIuANars, &C.] [G. L.]
GURATIO.] CONSUA'LIA, a festival, with games, celeCONSENSUS. [OBLIGnTIOmES.] brated by the Romans, according to Festus, Ovid
CONSILIA'RII. [CONVENTUS.] (Fast. iii. 199), and others, in honour of Consus,
CONSI'IIUM.: [CoNvENTUS.] the god of secret deliberations, or, according to Livy
CONSTITU'TA PECU'NIA. [PECUNIA.] (i. 9), of Neptunus Equestris. Plutarch (Quzaest.
CONSTITUTIO'NES. " Constitutio princi- Rom. 45), Dionysius of Halicarnassus (ii. 31),
pis," says Gaius (i. 5), " is that which the im- and the Pseudo Asconius, however (ad Cic. in Ve-r.
perator has constituted by decretum, edictumn, or p. 142. ed. Orelli), saythat Neptunus Equestris and
epistola; nor has it ever been doubted that such Coensus were only different names for one and the
constitutio has the force of law, inasmuch as by same deity. It was solemnised every year in the
law the imperator receives the imperium." Hence circus, by the symbolical ceremony of uncovering
such laws were often called principales constitu- an altar dedicated to the god, which was buried in
tiones. The word constitutio is used in the Digest the earth. For Romulus, who was considered as