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

648 FRENUM. FRUM ENTAPIAE LEGES.
FRATRES ARVA'LES. [ARVALES FRA- Not only was the bridle dispensed with in the
TRES.] management of creatures invented by the imagiFRAUS. [POENA.] nation of the poet (Aeschyl. Proom. 294), but of
FRENUM (Xa o',se), a bridle. That Belle- some which were actually trained by manl to go
rophon might be enabled to perform the exploits without it. Thus the Numidian JESULTOR guided
required of him by the king of Lycia, he was pre- his two horses by the whip, and the Gallic ESSEsented by Athena with a bridle as the means of DARIUS, on the banks of the Rhone, directed and
subduing the winged horse Pegasus, who submitted animated his mules entirely by the voice. (Claud.
to receive it whilst he was slaking his thirst at the Epig. 4.) [J. Y.]
fountain Peirene. See the annexed woodcut, from FRIGIDAIRIUM. [BALNEAE, pp. 189, 190.]
FRITILLTJS (p'Cuts), a dice-box of a cylindrical form, and therefore called also tlurriczula
(Mart. xiv. 1t6), or jrqES (Sidon. Epist. viii. 12),
and formed with parallel indentations (gradus) on' /7'5~"4 tWM5?aayp the inside, so as to make a rattling noise when the
dice was shaken it. (Mart. iv. 14, xiv. 1; Hor.
(_,_z7'"% M 1> f it ~AZSat. ii. 7. 17, who uses the Greek form plimus.); f,/ (Becker, Galls, vol. ii. p. 222.) [J. Y.]
8<es f)<'m11,X,/'-BFRONTA'LE. [AniPx.x
FRUJMENTA'RIAE LEGES. From the
earliest times the supply of corn at Rome was con/ 1-l Y4X~u\> \'i>;::, sidered one of the duties of the government. Not
c J) \s,~11 j \ & 2y>S~t Vonly was it expected that the government should?'_;'=.~ ~"'~ ]~~ —- E ~,._ G) ~_' ~;take care that the corn-market (annona) was proK,j/$l t-j A'di —- ~-~'~'._ ~'~~-' — perly supplied, but likewise that in all seasons of
scarcity, they should purchase corn in the suran antique which represents this event, and com- rounding countries, and sell it to the people at a
pare Pindar, Oljup3. xiii.'85-115. Such was the moderate price (Liv. ii. 9, 34, iv. 12, 52, x. 1.,
Grecian account of the invention of the bridle, and &c. xxvi. 4i0;:Cic. pro Dome. 5.) This price, which
in reference to it Athena was worshipped at is spoken of as annona vetzis (Liv. ii. 34), could
Corinth under the titles "Irrta and XaXivl'ts. not rise much, without exciting formidable discon(Paus. ii. 4. ~~ 1, 5.) The several parts of the tent; and the administration was in all such cases
bridle, more especially the bit, are engraved from considered to have neglected one of its most imancient authorities in the treatises of Invernizi portant duties. The superintendence of the corn(De Frenis), Ginzrot (Ueber Wigenz), and Bracy market belonged in ordinary times to the aediles,
Clark (C/lalinolog, Lound. 1835). but when great scarcity prevailed, an extraordiThe bit (orea, Festus, s. v.; Ni]Ty,ya, Brunck, nary officer was appointed for the purpose under
Anal. ii. 237.; o-roto,, Aeschyl. Prome. 1045) the title of Praefectus Annonae (Liv. iv. 12).
was commuonlly made of several pieces, and flexible, With the decay of agriculture in Italy, which folso as not to hurt th e horse's mouth; for the Greeks lowed the importation of corn from the provinces,
considered a kind and gentle treatment the best and the decrease of the free population, the governdiscipline, although, when the horse was intract- ment had to pay still further attention to the supply
able, they taught it submission by the use of a bit of corn for the city. In addition to this, an inwhich was armed with protuberances resembling digent population gradually increased in Rome,
wolves'-teeth, and therefore called lupatum. (Xel. which could not even purchase corn at the moderate
De Re Eq. vi. 1.3, x. 6; Virg. Georg. iii. 208; Hor. price at which it was usually sold, and who deCarmz. i. 8. 7; Ovid, Alsor. i. 2. 15.) The bit manded to he fed at the expence of the state.
was held in its place by a leathern strap passing Even in early times it had been usual for the state on
under the chin, and called v7roxaXvmi'o,,, for which certain occasions, and for wealthy individuals who
a chain (4aXiov) was often substituted; a rope or wished to obtain popularity and influence, to make
thong, distinct from the reins, was sometimes fast- occasional donations of corn to the people (donalio,
ened to this chain or strap by means of a ring, and Iargitio, divisio; subsequently called f-iumentatio).
was used to lead the horse (purawy;-yevs, Xen.. c. But such donations were only casual;'and it was not
vii. 1; Aristoph. Pac. 154). The upper part of till the year B.c. 123, that the first legal provision
the bridle, by which it was fixed round the ears, is was made for supplying the poor at Rome with
called by Xenophon Kopuvpafa (iii. 2), and it in- corn at a price much below its market value. In
cluded the AMPYX, which was often ornamental. that year C. Sempronius Gracchus brought forward
The cheek-pieces (7rapsiov, Hoem. II. iv. 142; the first LexFruzzentaria, by which each citizen was
7rapayvaOiraos, Eustath. ad loc.), which joined this entitled to receive every month a certain quantity of
supper portion to the bit, were also in some cases wheat (triticum) at the price of 6- asses for the morichly adorned, especially among the nations of dius, which was equal to 1 gallon and nearly 8 pints
Asia. Those who took delight in horsemanship English.* (Liv. Epit. 60; Appian, B. C. i. 21;
bestowed, indeed, the highest degree of splendour
and elegance upon every part of the bridle, not ex- * The price of 6~ asses (senos aeris et trientes) occepting the bit, which, though commeonly of bronze curs in the Schol. Bob. ad Cic. Sext. c. 25. p. 300.
or iron, -was sometimes silver or gold (fulsvumos c. 48, p. 300; but in the editions of Livy (Ep. 60),
mandunt sub dentibus au-rusm, Virg. Aen. vii. 279). we find ut senzisse et trientefruzmentumplebi dareeur,
These precious metals were also either embossed that is, at,ths of an as. But instead of sezaisse,
(frena caelata, Apul. De Deo Sec.) or set with the manuscripts have semis, sexis, sesis, evidently for
jewels. (Claud, Epig. 3t4 36.) seais, anid therefore there can be little doubt that