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

INCESTUM. INCITEGA. 633
Rome, which was evidently occasioned leumzan1 is the sexual connection of a male and a female,
/faude. The offenders were discovered and pun- whether under the form of marriage ornot, if such
ished (animadvzessunl est), but Livy unfortunately persons cannot marry by reason of consanguinity.
does not state (xxvi. 27) in what manner. The There was no connubium between persons recrime of incendium was the subject of various lated by blood in the direct line, as parents and
enactments in the last century of the republic. children. If such persons contracted a marriage it
Sulla, in his Ler Cornelia de Sicariis, punished ma- was Nefariae et Incestae nuptiae. There was no
licious (dolo malo) incendio!m, but only in the city, connubium between persons who stood in the relaor within a thousand paces of it, with aquae et ignis tion of parent and child by adoption, not even
interdictio, since it was frequently employed as a after the adopted child was emancipated. There
means for the perpetration of murder, which was were also restrictions as to connubiuml between
especially the subject of this law. (Dig. 48. tit. 8. collateral kinsfolk (ex t'ansver-soggradu cogatioeiis):
s. 1.) Cn. Pompeius, in B.c. 52, made incendium therc was no connhtbium between brothers and
a crime of Vis by his Lex Pom7peta dae Vi, in conse- sisters, either of the whole or of the half blocd;
quence of the burning of the Curia and the Porcia nor between children of the blood and children by
Basilica on the burial of Clodius * and Julius Cmsar adoption, so long as the adoption continued, or so
also included it in his Lex Julia de Vi, which en- long as the children of the blood remained in the
acted that any act of incendium committed by power of their father. There was connubiurm belarge numbers of men, even if the object of their tween an uncle and his brother's daughter, after
assembling together was not incendium, should be the emperor Claudius had set the example by
treated as Vis, and punished with aquae et ignis marrying Agrippina; but there was none between
interdictio. (Cic. Pthil. i. 9; comp. Parad. 4.) The an uncle and a sister's daughter. There was no
more recent Lex Julia de Vi seems to have been connubium between a man and his amita or materless severe, but it is uncertain what punishment it tera [CoaNATI]; nor between a man and his
ordained. (Paull. v. 26. ~ 3.) Besides the two socrus, nurus, privigna or noverca. In all such
criminal prosecutions given by the Lex Cornelia cases when there was no connubium, the children
and Lex Julia, a person could also bring actions to had a mother, but no legal father.
recover compensation for the injury done to his Incest between persons in the direct line was
property: 1. By the actio legis Aquilliae, in case punishable in both parties; in other cases only in
of accidental inlcendium. (Dig. 9. tit. 2. s. 27 ~ 5.) the man. The punishment was Relegatio, as -in
2. In the case of a person who had committed the case of adultery. Concubinage between near
robbery or done injury during an incendium, kinsfolk was put on the same footing as marriage.
there was a praetorian action de incendio, which (Dig. 23. tit. 2. s. 56.) In the case of adulteriuml
compelled him to restore fourfold the amount. (Dig. and stuprum between persons who had no connu47. tit. 9. ss. 1, 5.) In the imperial period various biunm, there was a double offence: the man was
distinctions were made in the crime. First, a dis- punished with deportatio, and the woman was subtinction was made according to the greater or smaller ject to the penalties of the Lex Julia. (Dig. 48.
danger of the incendium to the contiguous objects: tit. 18. s. 5.) Among slaves there was no incesthus incendiuim in the city was punished with less tum, but after they became fiee their marriages
severity than incendioum in the country. Secondly, were regulated according to the analogy of the
a distinction was made according as the act had connubium among free persons. It was incestunl
been performed doleo, ceulla, or casu. If the incen- to have knowledge of a vestal virgin, and both
dium was not malicious, but still might have been parties were punished with death.
avoided by ordinary care, a person had to make That which was stuprum, was considered incescompensation; but if the incendium was purely ac- tumrn when the connection was between parties who
cidental, no compensation was necessary. The had no connubium. Incestum, therefore, was
cognitio was ea-raordinaria and belonged to the stuprum, aggravated by the circumstance of real or
Praefectus urbi, who could inflict whatever pun- legal consanguinity, and, in some cases, affinity.
ishment he pleased, for it appears that there was It was not the form of marriage between such perno punishment fixed by law. We accordingly find sons that constituted the incestum; for the nuptiae
mention of execution by the sword, burning alive, were incestae, and therefore no marriage, and the
condemnation to the mines and to public works, incestuous act was the sexual connection of the
deportatio, relegation flogging, &c., as punishments parties. Sometimes incestunm is said to be contra
inflicted on account of incendium. (Dig. 48. tit. 19, fas, that is, an act in violation of religion. The
s. 28. ~ 12; 9. tit. 2. s. 30. ~ 3.; 47. tit. 9. ~ 1; rules as to Incestum were founded partly on the
Paull. v. 20. ~ 1. v. 3. ~ 6; Coll. Leg. tit. 12.) Jus Gentium and partly on the Jus Civile; but
The preceding account is taken from Rein, Das the distinction did not exist in the early periods,
O-riminalrecht der Rineer, pp. 765-774, where all and the rules as to Incestum were only such as
the authorities are given. were recognized by the Jus Gentium. Though
INCENSUS. [CAPUT; CENsus, p. 263, a.] the rules as to Incestum were afterwards more
INCESTUM or INCESTUS. Incestumn is exactly determined by the Jus Civile, there does
non casturn, and signifies generally all immoral not seem to have been any complete lex on the
and irreligious acts. In a narrower sense it denotes matter. The Lex Julia de adulteriis only treated
the unchastity of a Vestal, and sexual intercourse Incestum incidentally, or so far as it was also
of persons within certain degrees of consanguinity. adultery: but the jurists connected all the imIf a man married a woman whom it was for- perial legislation on this matter and their own interbidden for him to marry by positive morality pretation with the Lex Julia. (Rein, Das Crimni(moribus), he was said to commit incestum. (Dig. nal'ecldt doer Rl1er,; p. 869, &c.) [G. L.]
23. tit. 2. s. 39.) Such a marriage was in fact no IN CI T E'G A, a corruption of the Greek
marriage, for the necessary connubium between &7-yyoOXKeX or iyvyuOecv, a term used to denote a
the parties was wanting. Accordingly, incestunl piece of domestic furniture, variously formed ac