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

570 GENS. GEOMORI.
presentatives of the Luceres, the third and inferior It is probable that even in the time of Cicero
tribe; and they were called Patres Minorum gen. the proper notion of a gens and its rights were ill
tium (Liv. i. 35). See the curious letter of Cicero understood; and still later, owing to the great
to Paetus (ad Famo. ix. 21). changes in the constitution, and the extinction of
If the gentes were such subdivisions of a curia, so many ancient gentes, the traces of the jus genas already stated, it may be asked what is meant tilitium were nearly effaced. Thus we find that
by now gentes being introduced among the curiae, the words gens and familia are used indifferently
for this undoubtedly took place. Tullus Hostilius by later writers, though Livy carefully distinincorporated the Julii, Servilii, and others, among guishes them. The " elder Pliny speaks of the
the Patricii, and consequently among the curiae. sacra Serviliae familiae; Macrohius of the sacra
The Claudii were a Sabine gens, who, it was said familiae Claudiae, Aemiliae, Juliae, Corneliae; and
(Liv. iv. 3), were received among the patricii after an ancient inscription mentions an Aedituus and a
the banishment of the kings. A recent writer Sacerdos Sergiae familiae, though those were all
(Goettling) attempts to remove this difficulty by well known ancient gentes, and these sacra, in the
assuming, according to his interpretation of Diony- more correct language of the older writers, would
sius (ii. 7), a division of the curiae into ten decuriae, certainly have been called sacra gentilitia." (Saand by the further assumption of an indefinite vigny, Zeitschrift, &e. vol. ii. p. 385.)
number of gentes in each decuria. Consistently In the time of Gaius (the age of the Antonines),
with this, he assumes a kinship among the mem- the jus gentilitium had entirely fallen into disuse.
bers of the same gens, according to which hypo- (Gaius, iii. 17.) Thus an ancient institution,
thesis the several patres-familiae of such gens must which formed an integral part of the old constituhave descended, or claimed descent, from a common tion, and was long held together by the conancestor. Thus the gentes would be nothing more servative power of religious rights, gradually lost its
than aggregates of kindred families, and it must primitive character in the changes which circumhave been contrived in making the division into stances impressed on the form of the Roman state,
decuriae, that all the members of a gins (thus and was finally extinguished.
runderstood) must have been included in the same The word Gens has recently been rendered in
decuria. But to assume this, is nothing more than English by the word House, a term which has here
to say that the political system was formed by be- been purposely not used, as it is not necessary,
ginning with aggregations of families; for if the and can only lead to misconception.
ultimate political division, the decuriae, was to The subject of the gens is discussed with great
consist of aggregates of gentes (thus understood), acuteness both by Niebuhr (Reino. Hist. vol. i.) and
such arrangement could only be effected by making by Maiden (Hist. of Rome, published by the Soaggregation of families the basis of the political ciety for the Diffusion of Useful KInowledge).
system, and then ascending from them to decuriae, The views of Goettling are contained in his
from decuriae to curiae, and from curiae to tribes; Gescliclde der Rum. Staatsverfasssung, Halle, 1 840,
a proceeding which is inconsistent with saying that and those of Becker in his Handbacls der RMmniscesen
the curiae were subdivided into decuriae, for this Alterthiimer 2ter Theil, iste Abth. See also Samode of expression implies that the curiae were vigny, Zeitschirift, &c. vol. ii. p. 380, &c., and Unformed before the decuriae. But the introduction terholzner, Zeitschrift, &c. vol. v. p. 119. [G. L.]
of new gentes is conceivable even on the hypo. GENTILES. [GENs.]
thesis of the gens being a mere political division. GENTrIL'ITAS. [GENS.]
If the number was originally limited, it is perfectly GEO'MORI ('yeOwgpot; Doric, yciidpoo) is the
consistent with what we know of the Roman con- name of the second of the three classes into which
stitution, which was always in a state of progres- Theseus is said to have divided the inhabitants of
sive change, to suppose that the strict rule of limi- Attica. (Plut. T/les. 25; Pollux, viii. Ill.) This
tation was soon neglected. Now if a new gens was class was, together with the third, the 8-zaLovpyoi,
introduced, it must have been assimilated to the excluded from the great civil and priestly offices
old gentes by having a distinctive name; and if a which belonged exclusively to the eupatrids, so
number of foreigners were admitted as a gens, it is that there was a great distinction between the first
conceivable that they would take the name of some and the two inferior classes. We possess, howdistinguished person among them, who might be ever, no means to ascertain any particulars respectthe head of a family consisting of many branches, ing the relation in which the Tyecouopoi stood to the
each with a numerous body of retainers. And this two other classes. The name may either signify
is the better tradition as to the patrician Claudii, independent laud-owners, or peasants who cultiwho came to Rome with Atta Claudius, their head vated the lands of others as tenants. The?yeWo6opoe
(gentis princeps), after the expulsion of the kings, have, accordingly, by some writers been thought to
and were co-optated (cooptati) by the patres among be free land-owners, while others have conceived
the patricii; which is the same thing as saying that them to have been a class of tenants. It seems,
this immigrating body was recognised as a Roman however, inconsistent with the state of affairs in
gens. (Sueton. Tib. 1; Liv. ii. 16.) According to Attica, as well as with the manner in which the
the tradition, Atta Claudius received a tract of land name -yeowlupoi was used in other Greek states, to
for his clients on the Anio, and a piece of burying- suppose that the whole class consisted of the latter
ground, under the Capitol, was given to him by only; there were undoubtedly among them a conthe state (publice). According to the original con- siderable number of freemen who cultivated their
stitution of a gens, the possession of a common own lands (Timaeus, Glossar. s. V. f. ewoopo;
burying-place, and the gentile right to interment Valckenaer ad Herod. v. 77), but had by their
therein, were a part of the gentile sacra. (Cic. birth no claims to the rights and privileges of the
Leq. ii.22; Vell. Pat. ii. 119; Festus, s. v. CimciC; nobles. We do not hear of any political distincLiv. iv. 3, vi. 40; Virgil, Aen. vii. 706. As to tions between the yew.oJdpoi and the 3rtuoupoyoi;
the (gens Octavia, see Suetonius, Aug7. 2.) and it may either be that there existed lnone atall,