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

408 DIES. DIES.
find at a later time that the magister equitum had plied, like our word day, to the time during which,
the insignia of a praetor (Dion Cass. xlii. 27). according to the notions of the ancients, the sun
The magister equitum was originalliy, as his name performed his course round the earth, and this
imports, the commander of the cavalry, while the time they called the civil day (dies civilis, in Greek
dictator was at the head of the legions, the in- vVxOtS0Epov, because it included both night and
fantry (Liv. iii. 27), and the relation between day. See Censorin. De Die Nat. 23; Plin. H. N.
them was in this respect similar to that which ii. 77, 79; Varro, De Re Rust. i. 28; Macrob. Sat.
subsisted between the king and the tribunus i. 3). The natural day (clies naturalis), or the
celerum. time from the rising to the setting of the sun, was
Dictators were only appointed so long as the likewise designated by the name dies. The civil
Romans had to carry on wars in Italy. A solitary day began with the Greeks at the setting of the
instance occurs in the first Punic war of the nomi- sun, and with the Romans at midnight; with the
nation of a dictator for the purpose of carrying Babylonians at the rising of the sun, and with the
on war out of Italy (Liv. Epit. 19); but this was Umbrians at midday. (Macrob. I. c.; Gellius, iii.
never repeated, because, as has been already re- 2.) We have here only to consider the natural
imarked, it was feared that so great a power might day, and as its subdivisions were different at difbecome dangerous at a distance from Rome. But ferent tines, and not always the same among the
after the battle of Trasimene in B. c. 216, when Greels as among the Romans, we shall endeavour
Rome itself was threatened by Hannihbal, recourse to give a brief account of the various parts into
was again had to a dictator, and Q. Fabius Maxi- which it was divided by the Greeks at the diffemus was appointed to the office. In the next rent periods of their history, and then proceed to
year, B. c. 216, after the battle of Cannae, M. Ju- consider its divisions among the Romans, to which
nius Pera was also nominated dictator, but this will be subjoined a short list of remarkable days.
was the last time of the appointment of a dictator At the time of the Homeric poems, the natural
rei gerundae causa. From that time dictators day was divided into three parts (I1. xxi. 111).
were frequently appointed for holding the elections The first, called ci&s, began with sunrise, and comdown to B... 202, but from that year the dictator- prehended the whole space of time during which
ship disappears altogether. After a lapse of 120 light seemed to be increasing, i. e. till midday. (II.
years, Sulla caused himself to be appointed dic- viii. 66, ix. 84, Od. ix. 56.) Some ancient gramtator in B.C. 82, reipubldicee constituendae causa marians have supposed that in some instances
(Vell. Pat. ii. 28), but as Niebuhr remarks, " the Homer used the word AcIs for the whole day, but
title was a mere name, without any ground for Nitzsch (Aesner7kzugen zur Odyssee, i. 125) has
such a use in the ancient constitution." Neither shown the incorrectness of this opinion. The
the magistrate (interrex) who nominated himn, nor second part was called Eizoo {,uap or midday, durthe time for which he was appointed, nor the ex- ing which the sun was thought to stand still.
tent nor exercise of his power, was in accordance (Hermias, ad Plat. Phaedr. p. 342.) The third
with the ancient laws and precedents; and the part bore the name of 8EX77 or sieXov iutap (Od.
same was the case with the dictatorship of Caesar. xvii. 606; compare Buttmann's Lexilog. ii. n. 95),
Soon after Caesar's death the dictatorship was which derived its name from the increased warmth
abolished for ever by a lex proposed by the consul of the atmosphere. The last part of the 86EsXq was
Antonius (Cic. Phil. i. 1; Liv. LEpit. 116; Dion sometimes designated by the words -os- E'oa-repav
Cass. xliv. 51). The title indeed was offered to or 3ouXvwrds (Od. xvii. 191, Il. xvi. 779). Besides
Augustus, but he resolutely refused it in conse- these three great divisions no others seem to have
quence of the odium attached to it from the tyranny been known at the time when the Homeric poems
of Sulla when dictator (Suet. Aug. 52). were composed. The chief information respecting
During the time, however, that the dictatorship the divisions of the day in the period after Homer,
was in abeyance, a substitute was invented for it, and more especially the divisions made by the
whenever the circumstances of the republic re- Athenimans, is to be derived from Pollux (Onone. i.
quired the adoption of extraordinary measures, by 68). The first and last of the divisions made
the senate investing the consuls with dictatorial at the time of I-omer were afterwards subdivided
power. This was done by the well-known formula, into two parts. The earlier part of the morning
Videant or dealt operame consules, ne quid r'espublica was termed 7rpwt or'rpub i-s?47 Epas: the later,
detrimenti capiat. (Comp. Sall. Cartil. 29.) wAxlOoaojs'rs &aopas, or 7repl 7ArhAiovrav a&opa&
(The preceding account has been mostly taken (Hlerod. iv. 181; Xen. Iremoanob. i. 1. ~ 10,
from Becker, Handbuec der Rlimissehen Alter- fellen. i. 1. ~ 30; Dion Chrysost. Orat. lxvii).
thiibner, vol. ii. part ii. p. 150, &c.; comp. Niebuhr, The io'aov tAoap of Homer was afterwards expresHist. of Rome, vol. i. p. 563, &c.; Gbttling, Ges- sed by speor7yfpil, jue'ov 7lpipar, or pe'nv1 {pai,
ceichte der Rinzisch. Staatsverjssuzng, p. 279, &c.) and comprehended, as before, the middle of the day,
DICTY'NNIA (8KcrV'7vma), a festival with when the sun seemed neither to rise nor to decline.
sacrifices, celebrated at Cydonia in Crete, in honour The two parts of the afternoon were called MAsX7
of Artemis, surnamed AcirsTvna or ALKTv'vaia, 7rpooil- or 7rpwsa, and eAisx dmfVn or 0si~a (Herod.
from afKivoo, a hunter's net. (Diodor. Sic. v. 76; vii. 167, viii. 6; Thucyd. iii. 74, viii. 26; comcompare Strabo x. p. 479;. Pausan. ii. 30. ~ 3.) pare Libanius, Eipist. 1084). This division conParticulars respecting its celebration are not known. tinued to be observed down to the latest period of
Artemis Aftvyva was also worshipped at Sparta Grecian history, though another more accurate
(Paus. iii. 12. ~ 7), and at Ambrysus in Phocis. division, and more adapted to the purposes of com(Paus. x. 36. ~ 3; compare the Schol. ad Asristoph. mon life, was introduced at an early period; for
Ran. 1284, Vesp. 357; and Meursius, Creta, Anaximander, or according to others, his disciple
c. 3.) [L. S.] Anaximenes, is said to have made the Greeks acDIES (of the same root as Msdr and deus, Butt- quainted with the use of the Babylonian chronomann, Alythol. ii. p. 74). The name dies was ap- meter or sun-dial (called rAhos or &ppoA&yLov,