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

632 INAUR.IS.. INCENDIUM.
inauguratio, especially that of the rex sacrificulus 2' 3
and of the flamines, was sometimes perfornled by
the college of pontiffs in the comitia calata. (Gell.
xv. 27.) But all other priests, as wvell as new
members of the college of augurs, continued to be f
inaugurated by the augurs, or sometimes by the
augurs in conjunction with some of the pontiffs / ]
(Liv. xxvii. 8, xl. 42); the chief pontiff had the
right to enforce the inauguratio, if it was- refused
by the augurs, and if he considered that there was
no sufficient ground for refusing it. Sometimes
one augur alone performed the rite of inauguratio,
as in the case of Numa Pompilius (Liv. i. 18;
compare Cic. Brut. 1; Macrob. Soat. ii. 9); and it
awould seem that in some cases a newly appointed 6
priest might himself not only fix upon the day, but
also upon the particular augur by whom he desired
to be inaugurated. (Cic. 1. c.; and Philip. ii. 43.)
During the kingly period of Rome the inauguration of persons was not confined to actual priests; 7 8
but the kings, after their election by the populus,
were inaugurated by the augurs, and thus became.
the high-priests of their people. After the civil
and military power of the kings had been conferred
upon the consuls, and the office of high-priest was Sen. de Ben. vii. 9;Ovid. Met. x. 265; Claud. de
given to a distinct person, the rex sacrorum, he VI. Cons. Honor. 528; Sen. Hippol. ii. 1. 33), and
was, as stated above, inaugurated by the pontiffs precious stones (Nos. 3, 5, 6). The pearls were
in the comitia calata, in which the chief pontiff valued for being exactly spherical (Hor. Epod. viii.
presided. But the high republican magistrates, 1 3), as well as for their great size and delicate
nevertheless, likewise continued to be inaugurated whiteness; but those of an elongated form, called
(Dionys. ii. 6), and for this ptupose they were elenchii, were also much esteemed, being adapted to
summoned by the augurs (condictio, denunciatio) terminate the drop, and being sometimes placed
to appear on the capitol on the third day after their two or three together for this purpose. (Plin. H. N.
election. (Serv. ad Virg. Aen. iii. 117.) This ix. 56; Jay. vi. 364.) In the Iliad (xiv. 182, 183),
inauguratio conferred no priestly dignity upon the Hera, adorning herself in the most captivating
magistrates, but was merely a method of obtaining maimnner, puts on ear-rings made with three drops
the sanction of the gods to their election, and gave resembling mulberries. (See Eustath. ad loc.) Pliny
them the right to take the auspicia; and on im- observes (xi. 50) that greater expense was lavished
portant emergencies it vas their duty to make use of on no part of the dress than on the ear-rings.
this privilege. At the time of Cicero, however, this According to Seneca (1. c.) the ear-ring, No. 3, in
duty was scarcely ever observed. (Cic. de Divin. the preceding woodcut, in which a couple of pearls
ii. 36.) As nothing of any importance was ever are strung both above and below the precious stone,
introduced or instituted at Rome without consult- was worth a patrimony. (See also De Vita Beata,
ing the pleasure of the gods by augury, we read of 17.) All the ear-rings above engraved belong to
the inauguratio of the tribes,'c. [L. S.] the Hamilton collection in the British Museum.
INAURIS, an ear-ring; called in Greek e'vc- In opulent families the care of the ear-rings was
Triov, because it was worn in the ear (obs), and the business of a female slave, who was called
EhAdtLov. because it was inserted into the lobe of Auriculeae Ort.alrix (Gruter, Inscrip.). The Venus
the ear (;Xo6s), which was bored for the purpose. de' Medici, and other female statues, have the ears
(Hom. II. xiv. 182, Hymn. iiE in Ven. 9; Plin. pierced, and probably once had ear-rings in them.
Ir. N. xii. 1.) The statue of Achilles at Sigeum, representing him
Ear-rings were worn by both sexes in oriental in female attire, likewise had this ornament. (Serv.
countries (Plin. H. N. xi. 50); especially by the in Virg. Aen. i. 30; Tertull. de Pall. 4.) [J. Y.]
Lydians (Xen. Anab. iii. 1. ~ 31), the Persians INCE'NDIUM, the crime of setting any object
(Diod. Sic. v. 45), the Babylonians (Juv. i. 104), on fire, by which the property of a man is endanand also by the Libyans (Macrob. Sat. vii. 3), and gered. It was thus a more general term than
the Carthaginians (Plaut. Poen. v. 2. 21). Among the modern Arson, which is limited to the act of
the Greeks and Romans they were worn only by wilfully and maliciously burning the property of
females. another. The crime of incendium was the subject
This ornament consisted of the ring (pt'KOS, of one of the laws of the Twelve Tables, which inDiod. Sic. 1. c.) and of the drops (stalaqmia, Festus, flicted a severe punishment on the person who set
s. v.; Plaut. Men. iii. 3. 18.) The ring was gene- fire to property maliciously (sciens, prudens); but if
rally of gold, although the common people also it was done by accident (casz, id est, negligentia), the
wore ear-rings of bronze. See Nos. 1, 4, from the law obliged the offender to repair the injury he
Egyptian collection in the British Museum. Instead had committed. (Dig. 47. tit. 9. s. 9.) The punof a ring a hook was often used, as shown in Nos. ishment, however, of burning alive, which is men6, 8.' The women of Italy still continue the tioned in the passage of the Digest referred to, is
same practice, passing the hook through the lobe supposed by modern commentators not to have been
of the ear without any other fastening. The drops contained in the Twelve Tables, but to have been
were sometimes of gold, very finely wrought (see transferred from the imperial period to earlier times.
Nos. 2, 7, 8), and sometimes of pearls (Plin. 1l.cc.; In the second Punic war a great fire broke out at